Authors Note: Sorry about all the delays, I really have had loads to do and I was diagnosed with bone cancer back in December so I haven't been particularly motivated to write. Hopefully I can drag my computer into hospital with me and continue to write while I'm there – I seem to spend most of my life there now. Ah well, lets escape into fiction.
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Adeline looked from the open chest to her dress pooled on the floor. "Er..." she started. Jack strode into the cabin and shut the chest.
"I usually prefer it when people ask," he said.
Adeline shuffled her feet. "I'm sorry, I was only looking for something to wear..." She gestured towards her outfit. The corner of Jack's mouth twitched, "And I was enjoying having a girl on me ship," he sighed. "I prefer the dress darlin.'"
Adeline could see he was teasing her, "Oh really?" she responded playfully. "Was that because it reminded you of my class and elegance?"
Jack grinned; "no, it was just lower cut."
Adeline stalked out of the door in mock annoyance.
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There hadn't really been much for her to do. Jack had shown her over the whole ship, including a trip to the head which she didn't particularly enjoy. On the other hand it didn't really smell much worse than the back alleys of Tortuga. After that she'd tried to sit up on the deck but had only managed to get in people's way. Gibbs had told her she was a distraction to the men and suggested she go back to Jacks cabin. In a defiant attempt to prove that she couldn't be ordered about, Adeline had remained where she was. That was until a tall, scrawny sunburnt man had approached, grinning widely showing his broken teeth. As he got closer Adeline had decided that Jacks cabin was actually quite comfortable and had removed herself.
Now she sat on the bed watching the lantern swing. She glanced at the chests against the wall again. They were very intriguing, but she wasn't going to go through Jacks things again...
But it wasn't as if she was looking to take anything, she told herself. She stood up and walked up to the closest chest. It was padlocked. Adeline frowned and moved onto the next one; it was locked too. She quickly crossed the room to look at the chests she had opened that morning. All locked. Someone had come in since and made sure there was no way she could search them again. Her eyes narrowed, Jack obviously had no confidence in her however much he tried to hide it behind pretty talk. Frowning, she stormed towards the door intent on finding Jack and demanding an explanation. She was half-way across the cabin before sense reasserted itself. These weren't the most feared pirates in the Spanish Main for no reason. And if she went complaining to Jack about the locked chests then he would know she had tried to open them. Adeline grimaced as she realised how nearly she had proved herself as untrustworthy as the pirate suspected. She was still cross but now it was with herself; if she hadn't rummaged around before then she would have something to do now. Some of the anger transferred to Jack, it was his fault she was stuck here for god knows how long with nothing to do and nowhere to go. If he hadn't dragged her off… No, that wasn't fair, she was the one stood with the street women in a barely functional dress. Adeline shook her head confused, she had escaped her father thanks to Jack, but also thanks to Jack she was trapped in the cabin of a pirate ship with no control over anything that happened to her. Now she thought about it, it all stemmed back to her father. She couldn't blame it all on Jack. She remembered his roguish grin and smiled to herself. Maybe she should be nicer to him if he was in charge and it helped that he was handsome. He said he preferred the dress she remembered. Maybe she could clean it and do some sewing? She frowned as she fingered the material, it really was beyond recovery. Adeline sighed and dropped the remains of the dress back onto the floor. She pulled on a lock of her hair as she thought and pulled a face as she felt the salt-encrusted strands. Washing her hair would be a start. She started towards the door once more.