Are you serious right now?” Wesley practically put his fist through the table when he heard the situation. “I will kill them, I will rip him limb from limb...”
“You will do nothing of the sort,” Harold growled at him. “Unless you want to put every person in this house at risk, including your wife.”
“There won't be a risk,” Wesley said. “We'll take him down with the same power we use on the ship. Isn't that right, Morgan?”
“Whatever you want, mate,” Morgan said, raising his hands. “You're first mate; I’ll follow your orders.”
“Wesley, we're going to think this through logically,” Harold said “And we are going to make calm and rational moves.”
He often tried not to pull rank on Wesley, but it was difficult. Sometimes, Harold's mind went back fifteen years, to when he and Aaron were newly promoted, and Wesley was the young and bullied powder monkey. They had been kind to him, and it had turned into a lifelong friendship. Harold often felt he was still teaching him, still guiding him, even after all these years. Married, with a title and a forged path or not, Wesley was often still the stubborn child, defensive because he'd rather be angry than hurt.
“Ask Captain, he'll agree,” Wesley said. “He would not want this household in danger.”
“First of all, you won't ask him anything,” Harold said. “He doesn't need this stress.”
“You will ask him,” Wesley stood up. “Because he is actually head of this household. Oh my Lord, Harold, if you were guarding my title, it would slip through your fingers in moments.”
“Excuse me?” Harold turned bright red, standing up,
“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” Lola tried to diffuse the situation, while not raising her voice and waking half the household. “It's late, tempers are running high.”
“Tempers are running high because there is a threat against our lives!” Harold cut her off. “And you shouldn't have gotten involved!”
“Don't talk to my wife that way,” Wesley's temper rose further.
“We aren't going to die tonight,” Morgan said. “The doors are locked, there's only 2 of them, and they are probably long passed out by now. Everyone calm down.”
Wesley's mind was calculating quickly.
“Why was he with you?” he asked Lola.
“What?” Lola asked.
“Why,” he said. “Was Morgan at the theater with you involved in this plot, and I was at home?”
“I---” she glanced to Morgan. “We thought it was best. We worked well together.”
“Sorry?” Wesley couldn't believe his ears. “Rather than me?”
“What is going on here?”
All of them turned to the stairway, where Aaron was standing, with a death grip on the rail.
“Aaron, you should be resting,” Harold said.
“I'm not dead yet,” Aaron said. Lola moved forward, to give him support. He put a hand on her shoulder, making his way down the stairs. “Hmm? Harold? Wesley?”
“We're just having a difference of opinion,” Harold managed “You don't need to exhaust yourself over it.”
“So what I heard from here,” Aaron pointed to a pipe running up the wall. “Which I don't know if you've figured, runs right upstairs, and can let you hear everything from down here, is that someone is going to die, in terrible circumstances, and Lola did exactly what I told her not to do.”
“Did you expect any less?” Lola asked him and he smiled at her.
“So,” Aaron settled down in a chair. “Tell me exactly what is happening, and talk quietly, lest you wake up all the children.”
“Talk quietly about the death plot that Lola uncovered?” Harold raised an eyebrow.
“Or the fact that Lola took...”
“Stop,” Aaron said, waving his hands. “This isn't going somewhere useful. Wesley, where are you with that letter?”
Wesley was so full of rage he had completely forgotten the letter that he had spent half the evening on.
“It's done.”
“It's done?” Harold asked in shock. “How could you possibility...” He knew that Wesley's mind knew no bounds, and it frustrated him often. He was considered extremely intelligent, but beside Wesley, he was an idiot child. Harold often had trouble with things he couldn't understand, and Wesley's brain was one of them.
“This is Wesley we are speaking of here,” Aaron said. “I'm surprised it took him so long. What does it say?”
“Damned if I know,” Wesley handed it to Harold, who pulled out the cipher from his pocket. He laid it down on the table, lining it up. Wesley glanced over his shoulder, and within seconds, gasped.
“Sweet Jesus,” he said, doing quick calculations. “That's enough fire power to sink the entire British fleet.”
“When is the attack set?” Harold asked and Wesley shook his head.
“This isn't the whole message. They've put a lot of work into us. Is there any more?”
“In head office? We might have more. But if there's an attack imminent, we may not have time...”
“What do I suggest I do?” Harold asked. “March the two of you into the head office and ask for clemency?”
A silence fell over the table.
“If the Navy knew,” Lola continued. “They could take care of both Gilles and Tannoy and the entire threat to both the titles. It is His majesty's navy, after all.”
“It's not that easy,” Harold said “They aren't just going to say that it was alright, what we did on the ship, in exchange for one...”
“So don't make it one,” Lola said. “Wesley could go in there and decipher a whole book faster than the rest of the military put together.”
“Thank you for putting your trust in me now,” Wesley said. “As opposed to earlier this evening.”
“Wesley, we're talking about code right now,” Aaron tried to bring the focus back to the letter.
“And maybe you want to continue to put your trust elsewhere then, Lola?” Wesley wasn't going to back down.
“You want me to sleep elsewhere?” she asked. “That's fine. Can I have another room?”
“Uh---” Harold looked rattled, looking between the two of them. Lola and Wesley fighting was part for the course, and it always threw him off. He never fought with Annabelle like that; was never so angry at her. He loved Annabelle, he would never snap at her the way these two tore at each other.
“That's fine, you can have ten rooms,” Aaron said. “Code, ladies and gentlemen, before this whole country is blown up.”
“What if...” Lola took a deep breath, trying to focus. “If Wesley did it undercover, and they were so grateful...and then we revealed it?”
“This isn't one of your plays, Lola,” Wesley said. “Can you try and think like a Countess concerned with her title and her country instead of living in a fantasy land?”
“Because I'm an actress, I don't have a right to an opinion? Or I'm not concerned about the war? You think, oh husband of mine, I sat here care free while you were off risking your lives?”
“I think it's a fine plan,” Aaron put in. “Morgan, don't you agree?”
“Why am I involved?” Morgan said it casually, but with surprise. He had been content to watch them battle it out, confused why they would think that such pettiness mattered in the long run. Then, ever since he experienced true loss, he rarely argued over small points. Death had a way of deciding between the things that mattered and the things that didn't.
“Are you kidding? We need you,” Aaron said. “You've spent more time in other countries than we have; you've sailed around the world how many times? Your experience in foreign strategy is going to help us with this.”
“I don't want to be involved the royal navy, mate,” Morgan said. “I can help you, but---”
“Why?” Harold asked.
“Just let him be,” Lola stood up for him, which made Wesley glare even harder. Aaron had a feeling if he wasn't in a house full of sleeping children, he would explode.
“What exactly went on at the theater?”
“So we have a plan,” Aaron leaned over, coughing. He winced, his head nearly exploding, and it quieted down the tense group. “Harold?”
“I can...put it into practice,” Harold said “But we take a risk with the reveal.”
“And if we don't, we enter a murder plot, the entire British Navy possibly sinks, and we live in this hell of pretending to be other people,” Aaron tried to put a smile on it, but the words were not lost on anyone.
Harold looked up, meeting his best friend's eyes.
“You want this as a way out,” he said, at last. “To go back to the way things were. Do you know what kind of risk you put yourself at?”
“I die, this time for good?” Aaron said. “What minimal amount of difference would that make, really?”
“Your family wouldn't have you.”
“My family doesn't have me now,” Aaron said, softly. “Not really. That's the only risk. There won't be repercussions for you, everyone knows you are alive.”
“Alive and married to an actress who has done God knows what this evening.”
“Oh my Lord, Wesley,” she rolled her eyes. “This is why I asked Morgan instead of you. There was a lot less drama.”
“That's rich,” Wesley laughed.
“You're proving her point, you know that?” Morgan said. “Since she's come home, it's been nothing but noise from you.”
“Did I ask you for your opinion, or did you just butt in like you do normally?” Wesley asked.
“Can we just go to bed?” Aaron asked. “Everyone? Quietly? Because there will be a price to pay if we wake my daughter.”
“Aaron---” Lola said and he closed a hand over her wrist.
“You sit. The rest of us, we're done here.”
Aaron so rarely snapped, it was shocking to everyone.
“You realize,” Harold said quietly. “That if the Navy behaves unfavorably, it's a risk to all of us.”
“It won't be,” Aaron said. “I will take all the blame.”
“I will say I'm the one to take it instead of you,” Wesley said. “Let them prosecute me.”
“I hate this plan,” Lola put in.
“Can I make my own choices, seeing as you are making your own choices?”
“Thank you all for your input,” Aaron said, clearly ending the conversation.
Harold was the first to leave, usually keeping the calmer head. He didn't mention the fact that it felt like such a weight off his shoulders, for Aaron to take the responsibility of the title.
“Lola, we need to talk,” Wesley said. Lola looked between her husband and Aaron, who shook his head.
“Lola's staying here,” Aaron said. “And I'll find her a new room to sleep in, if that's what she wants.”
“Fine,” Wesley didn't argue, and Lola knew there was another argument coming as soon as they got a moment alone.
“Do you want me to stay?” Morgan said, and Lola shook her head.
“Thank you though,” she said, smiling at him through her freshly grown tears. “For everything.”
“Only want to help, My Lady,” he said, and bowed. She gave him a nod, and he headed off, leaving her alone with Aaron. Only then did Aaron release his grip on Lola's wrist. They met eyes, exchanging the looks that they often did, when words weren't enough.
“Looks like we both have our heads on a platter,” Lola said, at last.
“And we both have figured out ways to save our titles,” Aaron answered. Lola quirked an eyebrow.
“Mmm,” Lola said.
“Do you think I'm an idiot?” Aaron asked. “I know what you are doing. The Lola I know doesn’t make eyes for dangerous pirates who aren't a class act. As much as I like Morgan, that's not your...preference, Lola.”
“Maybe I'm just getting tired of constantly fighting with him,” Lola said. “And I'm trying to save my friends from dying. Again. Having Wesley leave me....”
Aaron considered this.
“The damage is already done, Lola, if you want to look at it that way.”
“But if he leaves me, then he could repair it and not have death threats. We've been through enough death, Aaron.”
“Is this what you want?”
She took a giant breath.
“I don't know. Maybe. I think so.”
“Because you don't want to be with Wesley? Because you don't love him? You don't want to be a Countess?”
“I don't know,” she said. “Maybe all three. Will you help me?”
“I'll help you if it's really what you want,” Aaron said. “If you really think that is best. Just remember what your life was like before Wesley. Is that what you want?”
“I want....I just want us both to be free, and safe,” she said. “And this is the first step.”
“Alright,” Aaron agreed, leaning back in his chair.
“And you?” she said. “You have a wife, and a daughter. Everything to risk.”
“I'm useless to them otherwise, Lola,” he said “This life of hiding, skulking in the shadows, worried someone sees me in the yard. I don't want that for them.”
“They could kill you, Aaron,” she said. “And we can't pull another stunt. I'm good, but I'm not that good.”
“They kill me or my head does,” he said. “And likely one before the other. You've all already seen the evidence that I cannot sail anymore. What do I lose control of next?”
“Oh, your daughter in about ten years, when she starts to get suitors,” Lola replied and Aaron smiled. “Or Harold pretending to like being a noble.”
“You think he hates it?”
“Beyond belief,” Lola answered, rolling her eyes. “He controls it well, but he hates noble duties more than I do. It's Harold who wanted a quiet life in the country, more than any of us.”
“The country is beautiful, but it's not the most entertaining,” Aaron said.
“Thank you, I thought I was the only one,” Lola answered. “Although...Morgan seems to be on Harold's side. Do you know what happened to him? With his wife?”
“Yes,” Aaron said. “Not because he told me, but because I remember her. She's was a lovely person, she brought out the best in him. I saw him once or twice when he was married to her, and they were so in love, they were enchanted with each other. It was....It was a match made in heaven.”
“That's beautiful,” Lola said, softly.
“I don't think he's going to be with anyone else, truthfully,” Aaron said. “That was his heart.”
“He was lucky,” Lola said, staring off into the distance. A yawn overtook her and she stood up. “I think I'm going to head to bed. Which room?”
“Blue room should be set up,” Aaron said. “Sleep well, we have the British navy to overtake tomorrow.”
“Do you want help?” she asked and he shook his head.
“I'll be alright,” he said. “Slow and steady wins the race.”
“Just yell, then,” she said, standing up. “And thank you, Lord Bamber.”
“My pleasure, Miss Lola,” he said, careful not to address her by her title. She left him alone and he stared into the candle, his thoughts swirling.
Tomorrow was either going to go well or it would be the first day of the end of his life. Either way, he needed a change.