Author's Note:
The song in this chapter is by Kenny Chesney, not me! I give him all the credit! - Artemis

Chapter 6

The next day was an unusually long day. When I awoke, I found myself on Jack's couch. I looked around and saw him asleep in his canopy bed, snoring rather loudly. When I stood up, I realized something was different. We weren't moving. I slid out of the room and went up on deck. The site I saw was very strange indeed. There was no one on deck. I looked out to sea and saw it to be completely flat. No waves or anything. Then I realized how hot it was. We weren't moving because there was no wind. It was incredibly hot and humid and with no wind, it seemed even hotter. There were no clouds to block the sun, not even the white fluffy ones. I went straight to the cabins of each crew member and slowly opened the door. I saw the same scene in every room. The occupant was sound asleep in their hammock. I went down the hall until I reached Jack's cabin. I went into the cabin and found Jack sitting on the couch having a cup of coffee.

"Hey Jack. D'you notice anything strange," I asked.

"No. Why? Is something wrong," Jack replied.

"Try we're not movin'. The sea's totally flat and there's no wind," I replied, going to the window. Jack got up and followed me to the window. When he saw the flat water, he gave a rather exasperated sigh.

"Well, where's the crew," he asked.

"Sleepin' in their cabins," I answered. "Since we aren't moving, there's really no point in them being on deck."

"Well, there's still chores to be done. Go and assemble the crew on deck and get

the chores done," Jack ordered, not taking his eyes from the still sea.

"Jack, it's unbearably hot out. I don't wanna risk anyone getting sick," I replied.

"Angel. I told you to assemble the crew not give me a weather report!" Jack yelled his temper flaring faster than I had ever seen it. "Now get your ass out there and make sure the work gets done!" Without thinking, I began arguing, trying to convince him that it was too hot, but I should have held my tongue. Without warning, he whipped around and struck me across the face with the back of his hand and ordered me to leave. Three welts appeared on my face, blood oozing down my cheek. Without another word, I left the cabin, tears streaming from my eyes. I went up to the quarterdeck and rang the bell.

"ALL HANDS, ALL HANDS!" I screamed, my voice cracking with emotion. I had barely been outside five minutes and I was already sweating like crazy. Moments later, the crew assembled on deck below me, confused.

"What's all the fuss about, Angel," Anamaria asked, shielding her eyes against the sun as she looked up at me. "I was sleeping, something I don't get to do very often."

"Sorry to have woken all of you, but Jack gave me orders to have all of you do daily chores," I replied. "So Anamaria, you'll be scrubbing the railing, and Gibbs, you'll be..."

"Hold up! We have to work in this heat," Anamaria asked, rather shocked at the order. "We're all gonna die out here!"

"Hey! I don't need complainers!" I snapped, my temper rising faster than the heat. "I'm just giving orders and you are to carry them out! And I don't wanna hear any whining! Understand?" Everyone nodded. "Besides, I tried to tell Jack that it was too hot for hard labor, but he won't listen, so I'm here to make sure the work gets done. NOW GET TO WORK YOU BILGE RATS!" Everyone scampered off and began working double time. I instantly felt horrible for the way I had treated the crew, so I called them all back. I apologized, and everyone, thankfully, forgave me.

"It's the heat, Angel," Anamaria said with a smile. "All is forgiven." I was very happy that they had forgiven me, so I decided to help with the chores. I grabbed a bucket of water, a bar of ivory soap, and a hard brush and began scrubbing the quarterdeck. I soon found myself humming.

"What's that you're humming," Anamaria asked.

"It's called When the Sun Goes Down and it's by a singer from my time named Kenny Chesney." I replied.

"Sounds like a fun song. Why don't you sing it," Anamaria responded. With a smile, I broke into song:

Sun tanned toes, ticklin' the sand,
Cold drink chillin' in my right hand.
Watchin' ya sleep in the evenin' light,
Restin' up for a long long night

Cause when the sun goes down, we'll be groovin'
When the sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright,
When the sun sinks down, over the water
Everything gets hotter when the sun goes down.
Yeah.

All day long just takin' it easy,
Layin' in the hammock where it's nice and breezy.
And sleepin' off the night before
Cause when the sun goes down we'll be back for more.

When the sun goes down, we'll be groovin'
When the sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright,
When the sun sinks down, over the water
Everything gets hotter when the sun goes down.

This old guitar and my dark sunglasses.
This sweet concoction as smooth as molasses.
Nothin' to do, but breathe all day
Until the big moon rises and it's time to play.

When the sun goes down, we'll be groovin'
When the sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright,
When the sun sinks down, over the water
Everything gets hotter when the sun goes down.

When the sun goes down, we'll be groovin'
When the sun goes down, we'll be feelin' alright,
When the sun sinks down, over the water
Everything gets hotter when the sun goes down.
Yeah.

When I had finished, I noticed that someone was coming up the stairs. I turned and saw Jack standing on the stairs.

"You have a very lovely singing voice," Jack mused. Oh boy, I thought, he heard me. Now I'm in for it.

"Thanks," was all I managed. I was nervous. Very nervous. What was he going to do? Was I in huge trouble? I turned my attention back to my work, avoiding my father's penetrating stare. Everyone else was working below us, so I didn't think that he was mad about that. Actually, because of his steady, unchanging tone, I couldn't tell what his emotion was. I just continued working, praying with all my might that I wasn't about to get chewed out too badly.

"Come with me, Angel," Jack said after what seemed like an eternity of silence. I rose, still avoiding his eyes, and followed him down the stairs. I followed him all the way to his cabin and inside.

"Sit down." I sat on a stool instead of on the couch. I was very cautious as I sat down, not sure if he was going to advance on me or what.

"Angel," he said, walking to me. He reached out toward my face and I recoiled in fear. After being struck once, I wasn't going to let it happen again. He looked hurt when I did.

"There's no need to recoil, love. I'm not gonna hurt you," Warily, I regained my seat on the stool and allowed him to continue with whatever he was going to say.

"I just want to apologize for speaking harshly to you earlier. And for striking you," he explained. He was about three feet from me and began to slowly and cautiously make his way toward me again. He reached out to me again and then stopped in his tracks. He studied the side of my face where his hand had made contact. The welts where his rings had torn into my skin were clearly visible and the blood on my cheek was now dry. He moved the last few steps to me very slowly and gently put his hand to my face. The touch of his calloused hand on my raw flesh was excruciatingly painful. I flinched and sharply took a breath but didn't pull away. I was trying to show Jack that I still trusted him by not pulling back and apparently he understood the message. He moved his fingers very lightly over my cheek and I flinched again and squeezed my eyes shut, trying with all my might not to cry out. There was a great deal of pain in his eyes as the extent of the damage that he had inflicted on me registered in his mind. He went and grabbed a cloth and put it into a basin of clean water. He wrung it out and returned to where I was still sitting. He gently put the rag to my face and the pain was incredible. Unfortunately for me, it was salt water in the basin. I did everything in my power not to pull away from him or to cry out in pain, but I could do nothing about the tears that sprang into my eyes, so I let them fall. I looked into Jack's eyes and saw that they were tearing up as well. I could tell he felt awful about the pain that I was going through.

"Angel," he choked, his voice constricting in his throat. "I never in my entire life want to hurt you. And I swore to myself when you were born that I never would. And yet I did." Tears were falling freely from his eyes. Without taking my eyes from his, I took my bandana from my pocket and dried my tears and then his.

"I know, but this was my fault," I replied, still not taking my eyes from his. "If I hadn't argued, this never would have happened." Jack dropped the rag to the floor and I lowered my bandanna from my eyes and let it drop to the floor as well. For a moment, we did nothing but stare into each other's eyes. Then he fell into my arms, sobbing. I embraced him and did all I could to comfort him and to prevent myself from falling over off the stool. I promised him that the trust between us was still strong and that this didn't change anything. After about five minutes, I released Jack from my arms and he straightened himself and wiped the tears from his face and eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Angel. Do me a favor," he said.

"Anything."

"Don't mention this to anyone. Especially not to Roxanne. She'd kill me if she knew I hurt you," he finished. I promised that I wouldn't say a word and I stood from the stool. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around my waist. We stood together for a few minutes longer and then I felt something beneath my feet. I looked up into Jack's eyes with a questioning look and found the same look in his eyes.

We went up to the main deck and saw that a wind had picked up and we were moving. I sent up a cheer and Jack kissed the top of my head. We went to the helm and, standing by Jack's side, sailed the Black Pearl onwards toward the Brazilian coast.

Author's Note:
Well, that was a very eventful chapter! I hope ya enjoyed it! Reviews are always appreciated! – Artemis