A/N: Thanks for all the people who reviewed the last chapter! I hope this one is good enough!
Ele
XxX
Nellie woke up, her head feeling fuzzy and a dull throbbing in her shoulder. She tried to sit up, but that only intensified the ache in her shoulder. She lay back with a groan, rubbing her head. She looked to her right, and saw a sleeping Sweeney Todd sitting in a chair next to her bed. She frowned at this, trying to remember what exactly happened to her.
She remembered fighting with Angelica and then….
That bitch shot her!
She scowled and sat straight up, forgetting her achy shoulder. When the pain flared she cried out, slumping back against the pillows and gingerly touching the bandages around her shoulder that covered most of her right side, ending almost at her elbow.
"Bloody woman, go back to sleep, or you'll keep bleeding through your stitches," a voice said behind her, pushing her back against her pillows and pulling her blankets up again.
"Todd? What- what's happened? How did I get here?" she asked him, fuzzily realizing that she was only wearing an oversized cotton shirt.
"Angelica shot you when you were fighting. I brought you back to the ship, but the rest of your bloody crew were off drinking for the night. I had to clean up your wound and stitch it myself," he said exasperatedly, "But you move too much in your sleep, and you kept bleeding through your stitches."
She remembered so clearly now.
Nellie turned her back for a mere second, and a loud shot went off. The next thing she knew, she had a faceful of sand and a searing pain in her shoulder.
"Nellie!"
Someone slid to a halt on their knees beside her, dropping down in the soft sand beside her. Gentle hands turned her over, and she was graced with an oddly worried looking Sweeney Todd.
"Jesus Christ, Nell," he muttered, cradling her gently.
"Nellie?!"
Jack dropped to her other side, reaching for her shoulder, but Todd hissed in complaint.
"Don't you fucking touch her! You are the bloody reason she's in this mess in the first place!"
Jack stared at the red staining her shirtsleeves a brilliant scarlet, unable to say a single word. Todd gently scooped her up, carrying her away as Jack sat there, dumbfounded.
"What about Jack? Where is he?" she asked him.
He shrugged.
"I don't know. I left him so that I could get you all cleaned up before you could die. He's too much of a coward to face you now, it would seem. He hasn't once tried to see you while you were out cold," he sneered in contempt.
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days. I'm sorry about your different clothes…but you were all bloody and sandy from the fight…I had to change you into something that would make it easy for me to get to your stitches and also be comfortable for you to sleep in," he said sheepishly, and she could swear she saw a light blush to his pale skin.
"No-no, it's fine. I'm…I'm grateful for what you did. As long as you didn't touch anything you weren't supposed to," she joked, giving him a mock glare.
His blush deepened.
"O-of course I didn't!"
She chuckled at him.
"I'm only joking. I didn't really mean it, Todd," she told him, fiddling with the blanket covering up to her waist.
He glared at her a moment, before he stood up and stretched.
"I'm hungry. Do you want anything to eat?" he asked her as he stood at the side of her bed.
She shook her head. I don't think I can stomach anything right now. Maybe just some water?" she told him.
He frowned.
"Nell, You haven't eaten anything in three days…Will you at least try some dry bread?" he said.
She sighed.
"Fine. But if I throw up, I'm blaming you. And you have to clean it too," she said as she grinned wickedly at him.
He rolled his eyes and left the room, but a small smile played around his lips.
XxX
Over the next few weeks, the two fell into a routine.
Sweeney would pester her about eating and not pulling on her stitches, and three times a day he cleaned her stitched skin, putting a clean bandage around it. And of course, they fought. But more playful banter than actual fights.
On one such occasion, a very strange thing happened.
Sweeney had just untied her shift as she lay on her stomach, quietly allowing him to clean her stitches with gin. He brushed the shoulder of the white fabric away, his fingers ghosting over her skin as he did so. She shivered, a strange reaction, for both of them. Sweeney thought nothing of it, just went about his work normally, gently cleaning the stitches with a soft cloth. But he couldn't help but notice that each time his fingers came into contact with her skin, she would shiver. Curiously, he brushed his fingertips from her shoulder to her neck, and she actually let out a muffled whimper.
Uncontrollably, he leant down and ran his mouth along the length of revealed skin, noting every light brown freckle that dotted her skin, till he reached the curve of her neck and he sucked gently. She gasped and sighed lightly, and he watched in fascination as her right hand fisted in her sheets. He straddled her petite body, his hands lightly running up and down her sides, as he sucked her ear lobe into his mouth, delighting in how she writhed beneath him.
Suddenly, she flung herself onto her back, laying staring up at him with flushed cheeks and her chest heaving, one shoulder of her shift slung low. And then her hands were tangled in his hair, pulling him down and smashing her mouth against his, their tongues immediately finding each other. She moaned lightly as his hand found her calf, pulling it high against his waist to notch them against each other firmly. His hands ran under her back and up to cup her shoulders, and the sudden pressure against her left shoulder made her cry out, and as if breaking from a trance, stare up at him in bewilderment, both breathing heavily with flushed cheeks.
She pushed him away, and he rolled off he willingly, running a hand through his hair and sighing through his nose.
"I- I'm going to go get your lunch," he muttered, and he left without another word, and she buried her face in her pillow in confusion.
XxX
"I want to get up."
"No. You aren't healed completely yet," he said firmly.
"Goddamn it, Todd. I've been in this bloody bed for at least three weeks. I want to get up and move around," she said, glaring at him.
"Fine. But I come with you wherever you go, in case you get into trouble," he said with an exasperated sigh.
"What are you, my bloody father?" she muttered to herself as she gingerly got out of her bed, slipping behind her changing screen.
It took her about fifteen minutes longer to dress, and she even had to ask Todd to help her lace her corset and pull the drawstring tight on her fitted trousers.
Things were more than just awkward between them. Somehow their sexual tension just permeated the air around them, making them both snappy around the other.
She left her quarters with a long leather duster over her shoulders and her gun at her hip.
"Where's the rest of my crew?" she asked suspiciously.
He shrugged.
"They've taken your injury as an excuse to continue their drinking and debauchery, I imagine," he said mildly.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I need you to gather them. Tell them to restock the ship. We're leaving at first light tomorrow," she said as she strode off in a different direction.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather wait till you're fully healed before we leave?" he asked, raising a brow at her.
She glared at him.
"Just do as I've asked you to, Todd," she told him through gritted teeth.
"And what are you going to do?" he asked in a low snarl.
"Something that does not concern you. Now just go and gather the crew," she growled, spinning abruptly on her heel and walking away.
He huffed in annoyance and stalked off in the other direction.
XxX
Nellie pushed open the door to one of the less popular taverns in town. She peered around with a disgusted frown, before spotting a familiar head passed out on a table in the corner, still clutching a tankard of rum.
He snored as she neared him, and she took the end of rum in his mug and poured it over his head. He jumped with shock, and looked up at her with bleary eyes.
"Cap'n Nellie!" he slurred, grinning drunkenly at her.
She pursed her lips and sat next to him.
"Jack."
"Thought you mighta been dead. Bad 'Gelica . Shootin' off 'er loud gun at you. Hmmph," he said.
She sighed.
"Jack."
"Hmm?"
"Why didn't you come to see me?" she asked him.
"Wanted to. But wos scared. And bad Mr. Toddy- Woddy. Didn' wan' wan' to ruin yer relationship. Bit scared of him too," he slurred.
"Why were you scared, Jack?"
"Thought you'd hate me. Wos scared you died too. Couldn' live wif myself after that."
She shook her head.
"I'm not dead Jack. And I don't hate you. Bloody pissed, but that's a regular occurrence with you," she told him with a small smile.
"Really? Not mad with Jacky?"
She shook her head.
"Listen, Jack. If you really want to continue your search for the fountain…I think it's one adventure for just the great Captain Jack Sparrow. I can't continue like this, okay? But you, you were always more brave than me. I'm going to leave tomorrow, but I want you to find those chalices and accomplish a dream of yours I know that you've had for a while. Okay?" she said, placing her hand on his arm.
He smiled.
"Of course." He actually sounded sober, so she hoped he understood and remembered all this.
"Good."
She hugged him, gently wrapping her arms around him.
"We'll meet again. I'm sure."
He smiled and kissed her cheek, and she stroked his cheek once, returning the gesture before she left the tavern, heaved a sigh, and headed back to her ship.
XxX
That night she stood on the deck, staring up at the stars, and trying to figure out what was really going on in her life. But her thoughts were such a jumbled mess that she only gave her a huge headache. With an exasperated sigh, she went to bed, hoping for a better tomorrow.