Her lungs were burning until she let out a cough and felt water flow up her trachea and out of her mouth

Marie immediately ran inside and burst into Jack's room. "Captain! There's a boat on the water. I'm pretty sure it's a Navy Frigate." Jack ran out of the room and onto the deck and saw the navy on the horizon. The words out of his mouth were some of the most colorful language that she has ever heard. "Their still so far away, maybe they haven't seen us yet." Right after the words came out of her mouth she knew how stupid it sounded.

"We're gonna have to fight. Get the cannons ready!" And she did, and he helped a little bit too, by the time they were done with the cannons, the Navy's boat was quite a bit closer, and they realized that it wasn't as big as they first thought. Actually it was small, and with a look through her telescope she realized that there were only about eight people running it. After waiting a couple minutes for the ship to come closer she pulled out her pistol and aimed for a person standing at the wheel. Marie's finger was about to pull the trigger when her captain grabbed her arm and tried to pull down the gun. "What the bloody hell are you doing! You're going to miss and we're going to get killed! Not a good idea!" He wouldn't stop grabbing her arm so she gave him a good punch in the stomach. Jack backed up and fell onto the floor with the wind knocked out of him. She took aim again at the ship and fired. She saw the person at the wheel drop to the floor and with her other gun she aimed once more, this time for a person swabbing the deck. She fired again and he dropped onto the floor in a similar lifeless way. The other six people started to panic and run around. One of them grabbed a gun and tried to aim for Marie but missed the entire ship. In a matter of minutes there was only one person on The Frigate's deck and the ship was a lot closer. She loaded her pistol and aimed for him and when she pulled the trigger her footing was lost. She looked up and saw that she had just grazed his ear. The look on his face was murderous. She quickly fired again without aim and shot him in the chest.

Marie turned around and looked at Jack lying on the ground clutching his stomach. "Oh c'mon! You asked for it. Now, get up and let's get some stuff off of their ship." She ran to the other side of the ship and came back with three boarding hooks. Jack was still on the ground with his hand on his stomach, and that made Marie huff loudly, "I'll do it myself, and if you're really hurt I'll look at it later." She ignored his gasping and tossed the hook over to the small version of a Frigate and pulled the ship closer. It took her longer than it normally would have because she was the only one pulling it. She used the other two hooks to attach the boat to The Black Pearl.

After exploring the ship for ten minutes she came back with a bag of gold, and what looked like medicines. She dropped them on The Pearl's deck and knelt beside her captain. "I couldn't have hurt you that bad. Oh!" She unbuttoned his coat and saw his shirt stained with blood. Underneath his shirt were four long and deep gashes on top of a large purple spot. She looked back at her hand and saw that her rings were covered in his blood. She felt terrible and she didn't know what to say. Sorry definitely wasn't good enough. Marie grabbed his arm and tossed it over her shoulder. He wasn't too heavy and she was just able to carry him to his bedroom. She placed him onto the red sheets and tried to gently sit him upright. With each wince that came from his mouth she felt a tremendous pound of guilt sweep across her. She went to the side of the room where there was a bucket of fresh water. She then took the handkerchief from her hair and soaked it in the water. After ringing it out Marie went back to the bed and lifted up his shirt once more to rinse off the blood. Her touch was gentle as she wiped the bruise and rinsed off the gashes. She grabbed a dry handkerchief from her pocket and got the excess water off of the wound. Marie avoided his eyes as she went out of the room.

She found fabric in a burlap sack and came back with an exceptionally large piece. She set it on the end of the bed and turned to him, "I'm gonna have to take off your coat and shirt so that I can wrap up…what I did."

He nodded and said, "Alright." with a funny sound in his voice. He was smiling. No, it was more of a smirk. The same smirk that she saw just earlier that morning. She ignored it as he leaned forward for her. The coat was easy to take off, and was hung on the edge of the headboard. Next came the shirt. She slipped her hand underneath his shirt to keep him from falling backward. When she touched his skin she felt him give an involuntary shudder. Jack lifted his arms so that she could slip the shirt off with her other hand. She leaned him back against the headboard and tossed his shirt to one side. She'd make him another one. It wouldn't be as good, but at least he'd have a new one.

Marie dampened her handkerchief again and hung it over the side of the bucket. Jack watched her walk across the room and open up the drawers of a small dresser. After each drawer was opened she'd look inside and shut it, by the third drawer she was slamming the drawers shut. "What are you looking for?" he asked.

"Rum."

"There's a small bottle underneath my pillow. But I don't think that'd be enough for both of us." He said.

"It's not for me." She reached under his pillow and retrieved a small flask. She popped the cork and smelled it for alcohol content. It was strong enough. Marie grabbed the handkerchief, sat on the left side of Jack and poured a splash of rum onto his wound. He winced and let out a small sound of pain. The alcohol cleaned out the wound and then she rinsed it off with the wet handkerchief. After drying up the water with the dry handkerchief she grabbed the long piece of fabric. She then put her hand on his back and he shuddered again. Her hand must've been cold. She sat him upright again and started wrapping him from his side, across his back and over his stomach. The fabric ended where it started and she held it there while she reached in her pocket for a pin. Instead she came up with a few pieces of wire. When you're a pirate and someone's life is on the line, you use what you have. She poked the wire through all four layers of fabric, and then back through. Marie tied the wire and did the same with the other pieces.

"Is that at all uncomfortable?" Marie asked. Jack shook his head and she helped him lay back down and pulled the covers up on his shoulders. Her hand gripped the doorknob and before she left she said, "Don't be afraid to scream your bloody head off if you need me." At that she went out the door to her little cabin.

What was it about her that interested Jack so much and pissed him off at the same time? She was a pirate, an actual pirate. She knew what to do with the limited things on the ship. She even drank like a pirate. She took out eight people while The Black Pearl was 60 feet from her target. Not one miss, if she didn't stumble. It was even more bizarre that Marie punched him; he never had someone disobey any of his orders. She was going to have to treat him with more respect. He saw her avoid his eyes as she dressed his wound, but what about when she touched his back. What made him shake like that? That was the first time that the mere touch of a hand on his back made him shudder. He gave up on trying to understand and Jack slowly fell asleep with the gentle rocking of the sea.