A/N: And another chapter for your enjoyment :) Please review… and I will give you… a COOKIE :D Brilliant, eh?
And I've read some people on other KK fanfics go on 'Well, I wrote this because it was annoying me how unrealistic other Jimmy/OC fanfics were, and…' blah blah blah. And I would just like to say that if one of those people are reading this story and think it's unrealistic (and even I think that about my story at times) and find it annoying, I'm afraid that's tough. I enjoy writing it, people enjoy reading it (I hope :D), it's a good deal more realistic then Twilight, and most importantly, when it comes to my stories, I make my own reality. Also, if you don't like my story, you don't have to read it… I'm just sayin'.
Sorry for the rant. That was just really bugging me…
Thank you to all who have reviewed! *deep announcer voice* AND YOU ARE:
KenzieMarz, KenzieMars and R i v e r B l e u. HERE ARE COOKIES FOR YOU ALL! *a shower of cookies descends.
Thanks especially to KenzieMars (My computer autocorrected your name to Enzymes XD (Are you the same person as KenzieMarz by the way? *granny voice* I'm old, and easily confused ;D Actually I'm not that old :D )) for requesting I write more Elizabeth and Jimmy moments… because I really enjoy them ;D I've got a few in here for you, hope you enjoy them ;)
Disclaimer: I only own Elizabeth, Cameron, Scott, Cyril and Elizabeth's cow of a Mum. If you haven't grasped that by now then… well… ;)
Chapter Seven: "Heard Enough?"
Jimmy
Jimmy's eyes opened and with a tired, lopsided smile he stretched underneath his blankets, feeling warm and cosy as he did every morning. He felt he could have stayed there all day, but instead he pushed himself into a sitting position with the assistance of his elbows and after a moment, swung his legs out of bed onto the rough floorboards. He stood up and looked around the cargo hold. His eyes travelled along the bars of his cage, then down to the grains of the wooden floor before travelling up one of the legs of Elizabeth's bed, along the creases in her blanket and finally to her face. She looked troubled, even in sleep. Her brow was creased and her lips were pursed. Her golden hair fell across the white nightdress and her shoulders like spun gold.
Jimmy gulped as he remembered the occurrences of the previous night and what the good Captain had said to him. It was then he realised that she was shivering. In the night she had somehow managed to kick at her blanket until it was in a bunch at her feet. Jimmy went over to her, walking as if in a daze. He was barely aware of what he was doing as he pulled up the blankets to her shoulders. The backs of his fingers brushed against the paper-thin fabric of her nightdress. He gulped and tried not to think of how angelic and frail it had made her look the previous night.
But Lord she looked good in it… Jimmy shook his head, wondering what was the name of the tiny demon that was making him think such things. All the same, he found himself reaching out and caressing her shoulder. Her skin was the colour of Devonshire cream, and was so soft, and smooth…
Jimmy abruptly stopped and yanked his hand away before turning his back on her and heading over to his side of the room. He grabbed his clothes off his bed and changed. He then staggered out of the cage and up the stairs to the light and fresh air above.
Just a few moments later he was sitting in the galley, eating Lumpy's famous porridge à la walnuts out of a wooden bowl. It still tasted pretty foul to him, but you got used to it after a while… more or less.
"Oi!"
Jimmy looked up towards the door of the galley where the very familiar voice had hailed him from. He couldn't help grinning, despite the fact that the last meeting between he and his friend had ended in little more than irritation and anger.
"Squirrel!" Jimmy exclaimed. Cyril rolled his eyes, his mop of black curls falling over them.
"See?" He said. "You can't act as if I'm the only one that uses annoying nicknames." Jimmy scoffed.
"So…" Cyril began, grabbing a bowl of cooling porridge and sitting himself in front of Jimmy. "How's life?"
"Pretty darn rotten," Jimmy replied. Cyril grinned.
"And why's that I wonder? Because of a certain blonde vixen by any chance?" Jimmy pursed his lips and frowned. Cyril's grin grew until you could count almost every single one of his shining white teeth. He shovelled another spoonful of porridge into his mouth.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'," he said through a mouthful of porridge. He swallowed it down and carried on, despite Jimmy's discomfort.
"Have you woke her up then yet?"
"Er… no…" Cyril clicked his tongue.
"Tut tut, you can't let your emotions get in the way of your duty." He said sardonically. Jimmy rolled his eyes. Cyril abruptly leaned forward. His eyes flickered to Lumpy, who was making a good din whilst washing the dishes, before he spoke.
"Word is you were with Elizabeth on the deck last night," Cyril began in a hushed voice. Jimmy blushed and his eyes widened. Cyril smirked, his brown eyes twinkling.
"That's a yes then. Talking about homesickness, was it?" Jimmy didn't reply, but instead rebuffed with his own question.
"Who told you?"
"Choy."
Jimmy clenched his fists. "Dammit…" He muttered. Cyril smirked.
"Oh, aye. It's common knowledge by now," Lumpy's hoarse voice said. Both boys jumped. They hadn't known the older sailor had heard them talking. Jimmy groaned and let his head fall backwards, hitting the back of the chair with a dull thud. Lumpy grinned and finished wiping the last dish before grabbing something off of one of the units.
"What did you talk about anyway?" Cyril asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Nothing…" Jimmy said, blushing a rosy red and taking a great interest in the grey-ish remains of his porridge.
"Your blush says otherwise," Lumpy said with a smirk. Even he seemed like he wanted to know what had happened the previous night. Jimmy scowled at him, before sighing.
"Fine… I just asked why she was up, she said she couldn't sleep. I asked her if she was homesick, she said she supposed so, then she went in."
"And what did the Captain say?" Cyril asked as Lumpy lowered himself heavily onto a chair, a filthy cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Jimmy looked at Cyril sharply.
"How do you… I suppose Choy told you that too?" Jimmy asked, frowning. Cyril smiled knowingly.
"That I will not tell you," Jimmy said, firmly. He got to his feet, amid Cyril's high-pitched protests, and so did Lumpy. He handed the boy a plate he had been holding in his hands.
"Lambs brains in walnut sauce, for out resident screenwriter," He said, balancing his cigarette on his bottom lip. Jimmy smirked.
"I'll give it to him, don't you worry," And off Jimmy went as fast as he could. He didn't relish being in there with Cyril and his curiosity.
Jimmy headed over to the stairs to the cargo hold and headed down them. He supposed he'd better wake up Elizabeth. She didn't have the luxury of sleeping in anymore. Balancing the plate in his hand he made his way over to her bed, debating on how to wake her up. He had just about decided to yell in her face, when her eyes flickered open. Jimmy gave an evil smile. He prepared himself to do something he was sure she wouldn't be happy with, and in just a few brief seconds, he wondered whether he was doing it to annoy her, to, as Captain Englehorn had said, 'get her attention' whilst hiding the fact that he felt something towards her, or to quite simply, touch her again.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth awoke slowly, a few rays of golden sunlight somehow finding it's way through the forest of cages and falling upon her face gently, like the kiss of falling blossom. She snuggled up more in the worn blankets before giving a small screech as an unseen hand tickled her in the ribs.
"Wake up sleepy head! Lord, I thought you were dead." Jimmy stated with a grin. She gave him a sour frown. If there were two things she hated, it was mornings and being tickled. Especially being tickled. Especially when she was being tickled by a certain boy. A certain boy whose name began with a 'J'….
"Ugh… go away…" She mumbled, and was about to pull the covers over her head when Jimmy grabbed them and threw them onto the floor. She opened her mouth to protest but Jimmy interjected
"No can do, you're lucky I let you stay up this late! You have got work to do now, you know!" Elizabeth sat up, rolled her eyes and gave a groan before spotting the plate of food that Jimmy held. He tipped it forward for her to get a closer look.
"Oh my God!" Elizabeth pulled away making a face of disgust. She felt decidedly sick. The girl swallowed back the sour tasting bile that was coming up her throat.
"What is that?"
"Lambs brains in walnut sauce," Jimmy said, his eyes dancing with laughter. Elizabeth's eyes widened.
"Wait… that's not… that's not my breakfast is it?" She asked fearfully, gazing with something akin to terror at the pinkish-grey 'food'.
"Me, me, me… it always has to be about you, don't it princess?" Jimmy asked with a sardonic smile. Elizabeth frowned at him angrily.
"No, it's not your breakfast. You don't have a nursemaid anymore darling." Jimmy's voice was quite condescending, as he patted her cheek as if she was a little girl. Elizabeth slapped his hand away sharply. Jimmy only laughed.
"No, this is for Mr Driscoll." Elizabeth's eyes widened again.
"You're joking? You can't make Jack eat that! It's barely edible! In fact, I doubt it's edible at all!" Jimmy only gave an airy laugh and left the cage, heading to Jack's enclosure.
"Compliments of the chef." Elizabeth heard Jimmy say, before she heard Jack react with a similar reaction as Elizabeth had upon seeing the poor man's sorry excuse for a breakfast.
"Oh Christ – Oh God!"
"Lambs brains in walnut sauce." Elizabeth could almost hear the smirk in Jimmy's voice. She shivered and retched once more before getting to her feet. They still felt heavy with sleep, as did every other part of her. The girl squealed as the boat swayed with the roll of the waves. She fell into the space between her bed and the wall and huffed unhappily.
"Jimmy!" She jumped at the sound of her father's voice and then remained sitting paralysed on the floor, squeezing her eyes shut.
Not him… anyone but him… Well… anyone but Captain Englehorn…
"You run those ropes up on deck like I told you?" He asked the boy gruffly, his voice past her now, coming from where Jimmy and Jack were talking.
"Doing it now, Mr Hayes." Jimmy replied, his voice quivering almost unnoticeably. Elizabeth got up and tiptoed to the corner of the cage by the door, where she could peer through the bars at the goings on. She wrapped her fingers gently around one of the bars and strained her ears. She saw Hayes - I've got to stop thinking of him as 'Hayes' - bar Jimmy's way and grab his loose clothing.
"How about you return Mr Driscoll's pen first?" That's not what you call a 'question' thought Elizabeth to herself. Jimmy grimaced, and dropped the pen (that Elizabeth hadn't noticed) onto the floor. He then scampered off, glowering at Elizabeth as he passed the cage, as if to say 'Stop snooping and get out of there! Go on, get out!'
When Jimmy had gone Mr Hayes picked up the pen.
"He don't mean no harm," He said, passing the pen to Jack who thanked him. Elizabeth closed her eyes and strained her ears. Hayes' voice was quite low as he spoke to Jack.
"I'll keep him out of your way," Hayes continued.
"It's okay," Jack replied compliantly.
"It's just that he likes it down here," Elizabeth caught a whiff of animal urine and wrinkled her nose. He likes it down here? God, Jimmy, you're madder than I thought…
"It's where I found him four years ago," This caught Elizabeth's interest and she strained even harder to catch Hayes' words.
"Stowed away in one of them back cages," Hayes looked at the cages on the far side of the room, as if they were whispering to him, reminding him of how he'd found Jimmy.
"His arm was broken in two places. He was wilder than half the animals in here. Still won't tell me where he came from." Hayes turned back to Jack with a grave expression on his face.
"But it wasn't anyplace good." Jack looked as if he was about to say something but Hayes left before he could, muttering a hasty 'good morning' over his shoulder as he went past Elizabeth's cage. He - thankfully - didn't notice the girl, who was still in the corner of the cage, too shocked to move. She pressed a hand to her lips. She was trembling violently and her face was ghostly white. Her eyes were glassy, as she imagined Hayes having to coax a half-mad, half-dead Jimmy out of a cage. Four years ago. Back then Jimmy had to have been… sixteen? Perhaps fifteen, or maybe even fourteen perhaps! Hayes' words echoed in her head.
Wilder than half the animals in here… Broken in two places… Wasn't anyplace good…
Elizabeth got to her feet, if a little unsteadily. Her legs felt dead and numb. Her face was still pale and her eyes were still glazed from hearing those things about Jimmy. She wouldn't have guessed he had had problems in the past. Never. Not in a thousand years would she have had the slightest inkling he had had a past as bad, if not worse, as hers. Unexpectedly, she found herself feeling sorry for him, even angry at whoever caused him that much pain. She leaned against the wall with one hand for support. Not Jimmy. Anyone but Jimmy. She thought. It was no use. What was will going to do to the past? Nothing, was the simple answer.
"Heard enough?"
Elizabeth raised her head to look at the speaker, who was stood in the doorway.
"Jimmy… I…" Her voice was croaky. The boy was a vivid red, and his eyes were clouded with anger.
"Are you angry?" Elizabeth asked unnecessarily.
"No, I'm not angry," Jimmy answered in a low voice. "I'm furious!" His voice had suddenly got much louder as he headed towards the girl. She backed away until she felt the cold wall behind her. Fright constricted her. She had never seen anyone as angry before, except perhaps Paul, but even that was a close thing. And if Paul had done what he did to her when he was as angry as Jimmy was now, - Elizabeth touched the scar on her leg through her nightdress - what would Jimmy do? Jimmy stayed a few feet away.
"With me?" The girl's voice was pitifully small.
"With you! With Mr Hayes! No matter how close we are, he can't just go around telling people about me and my past! And you! You shouldn't have been eavesdropping!"
"You wouldn't have told me, would you?" Jimmy seemed thrown by her detached voice.
"What? No! Of course not! If my past had happened to you, you wouldn't have told me either!"
Yes, I would. The unspoken thought hung in the stale air. Jimmy closed his eyes and sighed and after a moment he reopened his eyes and closed the distance between them.
"Sorry I yelled at you…" He wasn't angry anymore. Just sad. Painfully sad. Pitifully sad, and pitifully small. Lost. Afraid. On impulse, Elizabeth reached out and held his hand. She rubbed what she hoped were soothing circles into his palm with her thumb.
"I know what it's like to have a past you don't want to share," She began quietly. Jimmy was looking at their joined hands with a mixture of disbelief… and something else that Elizabeth couldn't put her finger on. It made her feel… curiously… warm. And that was the only way to describe it.
Before she had a chance to think twice, Elizabeth threw herself at Jimmy and wrapped her skinny little arms around his waist. She wasn't tall enough to put her chin on his shoulder, so she settled for laying her cheek against his chest. She rarely let people do this, hold her, ever since, what she referred to as, the incident with Robert. Thinking about it almost made her cry and shiver all over again. She pushed those thoughts to the side, though heaven knew that was hard to do. The emotional scars Paul and Robert had left on her were hard to smooth over.
"I'm here for you… I mean, you're not alone," Elizabeth said, somewhat nervous as to what his reaction would be.
"And I don't want you to think you are alone, because no-one deserves that." She breathed in deeply. Being even that close to someone, both physically and emotionally, was a test for her strength. She forced herself to stand still, even when Jimmy gently placed his hands warily on her back. She supposed he was as frightened as she was of letting someone in. Here it was… the fear again. Like last night's, only stronger.
Last night… Elizabeth shook her head. She didn't know whether that was a good memory or a bad one, she only knew that she didn't want it around at that moment.
It was ridiculous really. She had known Jimmy for even less than twenty-four hours, and yet it felt like twenty-four months. How could you feel anything for someone you had only known for less than a day? Elizabeth didn't know, but she did know that life was like that sometimes. It made it's own rules. She also didn't understand how emotions can change to and fro from hatred and… well, love, she supposed, in a space of a few hours, or minutes even. She supposed life did that too. Perhaps the hatred had never been there. Perhaps it had just been an illusion. Perhaps she had only been taking everything out on Jimmy. When she thought about it, that didn't seem too unlikely, especially when you considered her temperament and what she had been through, but after a while, she tried not to think about anything. Because at that moment, it didn't matter. Only one thing mattered. She was holding him, and he hadn't pulled away yet.
Jimmy
'Are you angry?' Is she being serious?
"No, I'm not angry, I'm furious!" Jimmy's loud voice resounded in his head, and he hated it. It was angry and frightening. He didn't want to be angry and frightening. He hated how he felt, as if he was coated in a sticky, piping hot substance. Elizabeth backed up to the wall as he approached her. She looked frightened, and was staring at him as if he was someone else. He didn't want to frighten her. He didn't want her to feel as if he was a stranger. He wanted to stop yelling, to make her laugh or even make her slap him, but he couldn't stop. He wanted to stand before her as Jimmy, not a stranger, but he couldn't stop yelling, and he couldn't stop feeling angry, and he couldn't stop being someone else.
"With me?" Elizabeth's voice was quiet. It broke his heart. It shouldn't be like this. He shouldn't be yelling. She shouldn't be looking at him with fear in her eyes, she shouldn't be wondering who he was. He should be laughing and teasing. She should be giggling and scolding.
"With you! With Mr Hayes! No matter how close we are, he can't just go around telling people about me and my past! And you! You shouldn't have been eavesdropping!"
"You wouldn't have told me, would you?" Her voice was even further away, so far away it couldn't seem to hear his yelling, so it was uncharacteristically calm. Fear still raged in her eyes. He was confused by her voice.
"What? No! Of course not! If my past had happened to you, you wouldn't have told me either!" He was just saying that. She would. He knew she would. And he knew she was thinking that right now.
With his anger spent, Jimmy sighed and closed his eyes to the world. He stayed like that for a few moments before he opened his eyes and shortened the distance between them.
"Sorry I yelled at you," he said. He had stopped yelling, he had stopped being angry. But he still wasn't Jimmy. He was someone distressed, someone confused, someone scared. Not Jimmy. Someone else.
But suddenly, a small, warm hand was holding his and stroking it. It was Elizabeth's hand.
"I know what it's like to have a past you don't want to share," He heard Elizabeth's voice say, as he looked at their interlaced hands in incredulity. He felt something else. Something like gratitude, something like friendship… something like love. But then she wasn't holding his hand anymore. She was hugging him and resting her cheek on his chest. And he was afraid. And she was afraid too. He knew because he could feel her fragile heart beating far too quickly under her nightdress and under her skin.
He was afraid of letting her become part of his heart. He was afraid of letting her know about him. He was afraid that this was going too quickly. After all, they had only met yesterday. He was sure she was thinking the same thing.
"I'm here for you… I mean, you're not alone," Elizabeth said. She sounded nervous. And Jimmy was nervous too. And he was positive that she knew.
"And I don't want you to think you are alone, because no-one deserves that." Jimmy closed his eyes, and tried to ignore the frantic thump, thump of his heart and the thump, thump of hers, and he put his hands on her back. He realised how small and frail she felt. Both of his hands almost spanned her entire back. A droplet of water fell in her golden hair, like a diamond. And another, and another. It took a while for Jimmy to realise that they were his tears. There were tears in her hair. There were diamonds in gold. He couldn't stop crying. It wasn't a loud sound. It was perfectly silent. He buried his head in Elizabeth's hair. She smelt of lavender and roses. He was frightened. He had let her in. It was too late to run away now. Had he done the right thing? Should he have let her in? Would she break him like he had been broken before? He didn't know. And at that moment, it didn't matter. Only one thing mattered. He was holding her, and she hadn't pulled away yet.
Sorry it was a bit short. I'm working on the next one :)
I COMPLETELY, UTTERLY LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED WRITING THAT HUGGING SCENE (even though it will probably lead to complications *light bulb over head* *evil laugh*)! :D I know it was completely unrealistic or whatevz, but it was so fun to write ^_^ I sure hope you guys enjoyed it :D I'm sure you did, 'cause I'm so fantabulous…. Not :P I'm sort of in a 'Yay! Let's down Tor!' mood so I could do with some nice reviews to cheer me up :) Please?
Also, even though I don't own King Kong or any characters/sets within, apart from my own, for paranoia reasons:
© LiveLongLoveLife-xDataRulezx 2010-2011
