A/N: Okay so this idea came to me when I was falling asleep last night and I had to write it. It turned out a lot longer then I had planned on, but thats my muse for you. This happens to be another Delia/Jack fic. This is totally anti-angst. I know I know "Riri when will you go back to writing that really good angsty stuff?" I donno. My muse was being all anti-angst with this and I think it turned out pretty good. Reviews make me a happy atom. And enough talking from me. I'll let you read the story.
There was the clink of boots on the deck as he watched her carefully. The wind blew through his dreaded locks, the coat he wore over his shoulders swung back and forth with the breeze. She looked so helpless, innocent. They weren't traits for a pirate. They were traits for a girl, a young girl that deserved to be with her parents, with the ones that loved her. Not here in the middle of god knows where with a band of pirates that were probably going to get her killed in the long run. Not here where she'd get battered and bruised, scratched and cut, sliced and diced, and all manor of things that would scar that angel like face. A hand went into his pocket, fingers clenched around the small box. He was half tempted to pull it out and look at it to make sure. He sighed, pulling his hand away from the box. A couple of steps and he was looking down at her. He was close enough that he could hear the steady intake and let out of breath, he could see her chest rising and falling with each. He shrugged the coat off of his shoulders and laid it carefully over her body trying not to wake her. He tensed as she relaxed under the warmth of the coat-turned-blanket. He began to walk away, to not look back, and to ignore the pang of guilt in his stomach. With each click of boots he felt nauseous and it just got worse. He couldn't leave her like that. He had to at least put her in her makeshift bed, had to go back for her. Quiet steps back, carefully lifting her up holding her bridal style with that innocent face pressed against his shoulder and his heavy jacket placed around her small body. He looked away from her as he wondered into his room and put the girl in the bed and under the blankets. He sat as far away as possible as if she had a disease that he would get by touching her. He listened to hear breaths that were relaxed and warm, unlike the cold shuddering breaths from the deck.
The frigid night air made her sleep and kept her asleep. She could faintly hear boots clicking and the sound of the wind across the deck. Then there was a blissful warmth and she relaxed and stretched out beneath the jacket. A brush of wind told her whose jacket it was. She didn't even need to open her eyes to know what it was or to who was walking away from her. That hurt her somewhere deep inside that he'd give her the means to survive and then leave her on her own. She missed his hurried steps back and almost awoke when she felt his arms around her. She smelt the rum on his body, like it was some kind of perfume, and to him it was. She could feel him looking this way and that making sure none of the crew came on the deck to see his brief act of kindness. She felt him let out a sigh of relief after hearing the door close. She felt his arm slip away and felt a bed beneath her. She settled into his sent and managed to block out the rest of the semi-conscious thoughts.
He watched as the girl fell into a deep slumber. She looked…What was the word…Content? Happy? Yeah. Happy. When was that girl ever happy? He thought for a moment and thought for all those times that he had seen a real genuine smile, on her lips and sparkling behind those emerald eyes. It was always hard to tell by looking at her, but if you looked into her eyes you could tell within an instant what she was feeling. Her eyes were closed but he still glanced at her eyelids. Yeah. She was happy. He stifled a yawn and sighed shifting slightly from his position against the wall. Eyelids drifted closed and then snapped open when he heard her change in breath. They were short panic gasps of air and he was torn on watching her or going to her side. He watched a moment longer and his mind was made, quick steps and the sounds of sheets being moved and then words on a breath, "Shh… It's okay." He pulled the frail girl to his chest, hugging her protectively, forcing away what ever it was that was plaguing her. He kept her there, whispering calming nonsense that he'd never tell any one else, until her breathing evened out again. He figured that it was best to keep his arms around the girl so he shifted so that his back was pressed against the wall, a tipped hat over his eyes, and the pirate against his chest breathing softly into his coat.
She could feel her body slipping into a nightmare. She began panicking trying to push it away, trying to focus on anything but that. "No." It was an almost silent plead as she watched what unfolded. Calming words broke into the horrendous dream. She felt herself being pulled against his chest, an anchor to the real word. She settled down, breathing going closer and closer to normal with each word whispered.
A soothing sleep settled around the two and they knew in the morning that neither would speak of this incident, pretend that it never happened, go on with their lives. They also knew that one another would never forget what happened. She'd use it to calm her nerves. He'd use it to remind himself that even though she looked like she could take on the world and not even flinch, that she really was completely and totally innocent, that she really did need help as much as neither wanted to admit, that they needed each other to survive.
A/N: And Viola. Another Delia fic. I told you I'd be writing more of these. ♥♥ Thank you for all of those that actually do decide to review and tell me that they like/dislike them. I honestly don't think I'd write if people didn't say so. I'll probably go back to angsty ones seeing as I'm totally addicted to angst. Remember that reviewing is love and that love makes me a happy atom.
♥♥Riri