A woman sighed as she leaned against the railing of the famous pirate ship, Black Pearl. Her heart felt heavy. She hadn't felt this much pain on this ship since she had lived here under the command of Captain Tiegg Sparrow. Her shining, deep blue eyes gazed out at the sea and matched its color almost perfectly. They were filled with intense concentration and deep thought.
"O' Reilly?" came a scruffy voice from behind her, but it did not cause her to jump for it was very familiar to her.
"Yes Gibbs?" she said very quietly, basically a whisper.
"We be needin' a course. Ye are the cap'n ya know,"
"I'm aware. Head to a port, we need to pick up essential supplies, for we are running low,"
"Right away cap'n," Gibbs put a hand on her shoulder, "Is he…?"
"I don't know where he is!" she snapped, pushing him away, "But he is quite alive," she then turned and went to the steering wheel.
She commanded some orders and got the crew moving. A man suddenly appeared at the stairs leading to the wheel. He had long, wavy brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a dirtied white shirt with an old naval jacket, black pants, and dark boots. He smirked and Clarisse O'Reilly recognized him as James Norrington. He climbed the stairs and stood at her side. Ever since Captain Jack Sparrow had gone missing, Norrington had become quite close to Claire.
"Don't you have some task to be doing?" she snapped, irritated that he kept showing up like this.
"I figured you could use some company," he said, leaning on the railing behind her.
"You know where the ports are more than I do," she said, softing up a bit, "would you… like to instruct me?"
"You mean steer the ship?"
"Oh goodness no!" she looked offended, " Just assist," they both laughed a bit and continued to talk.
"I don't like how them two are communicatin'," said Pintel to Ragetti.
"There's ain't no good to that match. I feel that Captain Jack will be mad when he gets back," Ragetti said back.
"I suggest you stay in your own business fellas," Gibbs said, suddenly appearing behind them, "It's bad luck to become involved in messy love affairs…'nough that we have a woman aboard! Even one as skilled as an O'Reilly,"
They turned and looked suspiciously at the two on deck. Gibbs let his eyes wonder across their faces, especially Claire's. She was only 5'3", but she wore two inch heeled boots so she looked more normal and people couldn't insult her height. She wore one of Jack's white shirts that was covered with a green vest with black embroiderment. Her waist was synched with a black belt that held two swords and kept her baggy black pants up, which were also Jack's. One of the swords, Gibbs knew, was from Tiegg Sparrow when she first boarded the ship and the other was her father's, Captain Lucky O' Reilly of the Silver Skull. His eyes moved up her thin, curved frame, to her pale face. Her eyes shined as she laughed with Norrington and her light, curly red hair swung in the wind. She nervously adjusted her green silk bow, once again a gift from Jack.
He wished Jack were here so their usual bickering would continue and Norrington would be completely ignored and allowed to wallow in his depression again. He smiled; what a horrid thought! He was glad that Norrington was finally happy and maybe this wasn't so bad for Claire. At least she wouldn't be so depressed over Jack's missing…if she was really depressed. It was always hard to tell how she felt about him, but he knew that deep down, no matter how long she'd try to avoid it, she was in complete and absolute love with Captain Jack Sparrow, and no matter how drunk and scandalous he was he loved her back.
The whole crew kept busy until the sun began to set and the night shifts came out from below deck. Gibbs whipped the sweat from his brow with a cloth and pulled out his whiskey bottle. Empty. Again. He sighed and threw it on the deck and then turned his attentions back to the Captain. He nudged Cotton and Marty, who were standing next to him, and said, "How 'bout ya two go offer Ms. Claire some dinner? I reckon' she hasn't eaten all day again," they nodded in agreement and walked to the steering wheel.
"RARR Shiver me timbers!" cried Cotton's parrot.
"Good evening to you too sir," Claire smiled and stroked the bird's head.
"How would you like to come and dine with us Cap'n?" Marty asked, "It'd do us quite the honor!"
Claire forced herself to smile at him. She knew that this was one of Gibbs's ideas, but why didn't understand that she really wasn't hungry? She'd eat, think of that stupid Sparrow, and throw it up. She couldn't.
"I'd love to, really I would, how generous of an offer," she said sweetly, "But I must really protest. I have a lot of charting to do and will be up with the night shifts so I best go talk to them. Sorry," Marty and Cotton looked at eachother, shrugged, and walked away.
"RARR poor the rum! Rarr!" cried Cotton's parrot.
"So no luck I take it? Damn that woman," Gibbs spat on the ground, "Where's Norrington? He's 'een with her all day, maybe he can get 'er to eat,"
"I'll go find him!" Marty said and ran off.