Ok, here is my next update. There should be more frequent updates now because my inspiration is back. I've really tried to make Jack's speech more authentic in this chapter and would appreciate your view.

Chapter 3 - The Rum Thief

Almost one week had passed. I continued to work hard during the day and at night I enjoyed a drink with Jack. Sometimes Gibbs joined us too. These evenings were the most fun I had had in ten years. I was for the first time in ages, happy. But, it was a different kind of happiness which managed to make the pain of my father's death not so strong. I had never experienced a feeling like this before. It was foreign to me. But I liked it.

One night on my way to Jack's cabin the happiness was building inside me once more as it got ready for another good time. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long. I knocked on the door and entered when I heard jacks response. I looked around the room and saw that Jack was sitting in his chair without the usual look that he had on his face. He almost looked, sober. I even saw anger flash across his face.
"Mr Adams." he snapped. "sit." he was defiantly angry. But what had I done? I Obeyed orders and sat the chair opposite.

"Have I done something wrong?" I asked. Jack acted as if I had said nothing and said "where is the key?"

"The key? What key?" Confusion spread through me.

"For the rum room. On this ship only two other people bar myself know where the location of the key is kept. Seeing as I am unable to steal from myself and Gibbs has no reason to, all fingers are pointing at you." the words that came out of his mouth were clearer, more pronounced. This probably meant that the key was stolen last night after jack was asleep. That would have given him the day to become sober and for a headache to form.

"You think I stole it?" I said slowly, letting the words sink in. He didn't listen to me again.

"Where is the key?" he stared at me. Anger and the need for a drink showing on his face.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed. In an attempt to get me voice heard. "I promise you captain, what reason do I have to take it?" I felt desperate now. This wasn't the first time I had been accused of something I was that innocent of doing.

"Very well, I will believe you for now. You are yet to do something to prove you untrustworthy." he paused "Guilty until proven innocent as they say."

"You mean innocent until proven guilty." I corrected and when Jack glared at me from across the table I hastily added "Captain."

"Yes...that." he rested his head on his right hand and began to stroke his moustache with his thumb. "I want you to report to me as soon as you hear anything, savvy?" I nodded in understanding and stood up to leave te room. As soon as the door to the cabin closed I breathed a long sigh of relief that he had decided to believe me. I hardly noticed the rain tipping down as I dragged myself to my hammock and pulled off my soggy boots. I lay soaking wet and soon managed to drift off to sleep.

XXXX

I kept my eye out for the key thief for days. I saw nothing. My daily routine continued as normal but I wasn't visiting jack's cabin every evening for rum. Mainly because we didn't have the key to access it but I knew it was because jack still thought it was me as well. This caused the hole in my chest to open up wider than it had in a while. The only sort of joy I received was in playing my guitar to the crew in the evenings. It took my mind off of things. I ached to see Jack again, I didn't know why. It was a feeling I had never felt before.

Joey's singing brought me away from my thoughts and to the current moment when I was playing Jolly sailor bold on the guitar as he had requested. I hadn't ever heard a voice quite as out of time as his but at least he was enjoying himself. By the end of the song he had most of the crew singing along. I laughed. It was a hollow laugh and not very real but I needed to look as though there was nothing wrong. I had always been good at pretending. I looked up from my guitar and gazed around the room at all the singing men. It may seem strange but it didn't bother me that I had no women for company. I had grown up on a ship full of men with not a woman in sight and the only women I had ever gotten to know turned out to be selfish and horrible. I preferred the company of men.

While looking around the crowded room of singing men I saw something that caught my eye. The rum room door was open a notch. Jack didn't have the key back yet, I knew because he would have told me of at Keats looked happier when on deck. This meant that the key thief, whoever they were, was most likely inside that room now. I could feel a tiny ball of hope burrowing into my chest. Looking down at my guitar, I finished the song.
"Great singing sailors." I tried not to sound too distracted. "But I'm afraid that's it for tonight." disappointment crossed the faces of many of the men. "Sorry" I added, as if it would make everything instantly better. I leaned down and put my guitar in its usual place under my hammock.

"How comes it was do short tonight." heard Joey voice from behind.

"I'm sorry Joe, I'm just a bit distracted, and my playing isn't as good tonight. I couldn't look up into his face, his voice sounded disappointed enough. I didn't need his facial expression to add to my feeling of guilt. He may not be the smartest of men (or cleanest) but he was certainly the nicest.

"I fought it was good" he shuffled his feet.

"I will make it up to you tomorrow, how about I play a few extra songs." he smiled and nodded like a young child and wondered over to his hammock.
After the crew had gone to bed I waited no longer than about five minutes before I could hear snores echoing around the room. I stood up from my hammock and as wuittly as I could, began to creep past the sleeping crew. I almost tripped over a boot that was left lying on the floor. I could be quite clumsy sometimes, especially when tired. Fortunately nobody stirred as I stumbled. I continued to tiptoe past them until I reached the door. I could hear the uneven breaths of whoever was in there. I inched the door open just enough to see a dark figure in the corner. It was impossible to tell from here if they were male or female but my instinct was telling me male.

I pushed the door open some more, still being as quiet as possible, and grabbed the first thing I could use as a weapon, an empty bottle that no doubt once contained rum. I then began to approach the figure in the corner. Their back was turned from me so as long as I was quiet they wouldn't notice my approach. The room itself was almost pitch black so I could hardly see a thing although I could faintly make out the shape of their head. Without thinking through all possible ways of action I lifted the bottle and brought it down as fast as I could upon his head with such force that the bottle smashed and caused him to loose consciousness. I crouched down to pick up the bottle he had web hiking to stop and more rum coming out when a thought hit me. I needed to get the key off this man and lock him in the room so that I could set things straight with Jack. I knelt down on the damp floor being careful not to kneel on any broken glass and began to search the man. Although I couldn't see him, I could smell that he hadn't washed in months, possibly years.

Eventually I found the key in his ragged jacket and rushed as quickly and quietly as I could to the door leaving the man unconscious in the corner. The key then was fitted into the lock and turned before I ran as fast as possible to Jacks cabin. I was nervous, but I knew that is would give Jack back his good spirits and earn me back the trust that I had lost. The sea was calm and the sky clear and I could feel a cold wind pass as I approached the door to the cabin and knocked. Gibbs answered the door and opened his mouth to speak but before he could get a single word out I said "I need to speak to the captain immediately." I tried to look over his shoulder to get a look inside the room to see jack.

"The captain aint in the mood to see anyone at the moment Mr. Adams as ur well aware." Gibbs's eyes held a disapproving stare.

"You don't understand, this is about the rum thief, I know who it is but I need to speak with jack." I could hear some level of desperation in my voice and I think Gibbs heard it to because he said

"Ok, if it is as important as ye say I think I can make an exception." I thanked him and hastily entered the room.
I looked around to see jack sitting at his table looking at a pile of charts.

"I have the key and I know who stole it, it wasn't me." Jack looked up from what he was doing and then to Gibbs who was standing just behind me.

"Tell me what you know" any joy that was once in his voice was gone. I presented him with the key. He took it and examined it closely. "This is indeed the key, but, how do I know that you didn't steal it so that you could then give it back to me in order to gain a higher level of trust."

"uh, why would I..." he cut me off.

"If you had a higher level of trust than you already had then you would be able to do something much worse and possibly be let off with a slightly more minor punishment." he smiled at me and I couldn't help but feel that he knew more than he was letting on. "So, did you steal the key?"

"No," I said firmly, "and I can prove it." Jack smiled again.

"Alright, let's be seeing it then." I nodded and gestured for him and Gibbs to follow me to the rum room.

XXXX

The crew were still asleep when we got downstairs to the room. Jack opened the door with the key.
"Now Sam, what exactly is it that we are expecting to see?" he held the door about to open it but waiting for my response first.

"Well, the thief is probably still unconscious in the corner where I left him but there are a lot of empty bottles scattered everywhere and run spilt on the floor. He has certainly drank a lot." Jack closed his eyes and have a faint nod. I could tell this was upsetting news for him. He held his breath and then slowly opened the door. Gibbs walked forward with a lantern to light the way. The floor was littered with broken glass and empty bottles. One of the larger Crates was broken as rum was dripping out into a large puddle on the floor.

"This is almost as bad as when Elizabeth burnt all of the rum on that island" jack muttered to Gibbs. I pointed to the corner where, as suspected, the man lay unconscious on the floor where I left him. We approached with quick steps and stood around him.

"Not exactly one for the good looks is he" Gibbs murmured.

"I think he is just dirty" I responded. "What do you want us to do with him captain?" Jack picked out a bottle from the nearest crate.

"Put him is the brig, we will question him tomorrow when he is awake, if he is awake." Jack took a long drink from the run bottle and instantly looked happier than he had before. He smiled and me and I couldn't help but smile back.