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Chapter 10: The Pirate?

Jack received the waiting message in his cabin and snorted in annoyance. "Ye stupid git, now look what ye've done." He walked around the cabin in a muttering huff. His cabin was a single but resembled those of Belladonna's and Willy's to the details, just about every cabin on the second deck looked identical. Finally after muttering for a good hour, Jack walked into his bathroom and glowered at his reflection in irritation. In his experience he had never had a problem getting a woman wrapped around his finger, except for maybe one but the black pearl charm saved him from that mistake. He mumbled a few choice curses climbing into the shower and later emerged to change into a black silk shirt, black slacks and muttering even more angrily slid into his black suede knee length jacket. There was no way he was going to let his plan become unraveled due to Willy Wonka, he wasn't about to let himself lose to a candy making genius.

"I'm bloody captain Jack Sparrow…no one is making a fool out of me." He stopped in his tracks hearing a light tap at his cabin door. "Bugger." He took a deep breath and adjusted his temper as best he could by taking several deep breaths.

"Jack?" he turned to the familiar voice and smirked, she had arrived. "I need to talk with you." He didn't like the sounds of that and cautiously walked to the cabin door allowing her to enter the cabin.

He hesitated a minute and then decided it wise to figure this out and soon. "What is it love?"

Belladonna couldn't believe at how hard this was for her, she did like him but her heart lay with a pair of violet eyes and a quirky disposition. "I need to sort some things out with Willy…" she took a breath seeing him raise a brow in a curious fashion. "During the long discussion I had with him some things come out and I really need to see where it's going before I hurt you or commit to anything…I am so sorry Jack." She managed it in one breath and waited for a response of outrage or something of that sort she had seen happen in movies and other relationships in the past.

"Bloody hell…this could put a hitch in things." He pondered this carefully and after a moment allowed an almost enchanting smile. "No worries love…I had a feeling ye two might have a thing for one another. If ye need someone to talk too or he needs some advice, I'll be there for ye anytime." She almost let out a startled gasp of shock, but managed to give him a surprised look instead. "Ye go sort things out." He practically shoved her out of the door, which only furthered her surprise.

Carefully Jack shut the door and smirked almost dangerously, he had a plan and those two would be on the receiving end of said plan. The only problem was they were a bit behind on finding him, thanks to their current relationship issues with each other; it gave him the perfect excuse to put his most skilled ideas to use. He also would make their lives interesting during his exploration of the ship and what he came for.

Ross noticed Willy rushing around more confused and muttering more so then usual, he couldn't help but smile at the odd behavior and realized that finally the pair had sorted things or were about to. "Why am I acting like a bigger fool then usual?" he paused in his tracks aware of several tiny giggles and glanced down at Lawson, Ross, Joyce and Yvonne who quickly covered their mouths.

He rose his brow curiously at the giggling Oompa Loompa's. "And what do you find so amusing?" He waited for a response but only got several more giggles for the effort.

Ross started to sign in a calming fashion. "You are moving around like a machine gone wonky, take a deep breath and remain yourself. We can help you if you need it, not like you do…you did the work yourself." He scowled down at Ross for the play on words and noticed the others stifle amused laughter.

"You left me to face her wrath…I should toss you overboard Ross." He proceeded through his luggage through his suits tossing things at random and hearing a muffled sound behind him.

"I resent being considered a wrathful person." Belladonna tossed the red frock coat that flew on her head square into a surprised Willy's face. "Jack took it well." She considered that a minute, suspicion reflecting in her eyes which Willy immediately noticed. "To be honest…too well." She explained the brief conversation she had with Jack to him and how easily he had shoved her into the hall afterward.

"Strange." Willy disappeared into the bathroom to change into the crimson suite Belladonna had roughly shoved into his arms smirking at his annoyed expression.

"Tell me about it…he acted almost like he was…

"Up to something?" Willy never ceased to amaze her, no matter how many layers the man wore he could always change much more quickly then she herself could. "He had struck me as odd since we met him…I just tried to be considerate of your feelings." He ducked a flying pair of his gloves seeing her scowl at him.

"Dork…should have told me." He stuck out his tongue leaning down to retrieve the black velvet gloves she had attempted to use as weapons on him. "It's funny though…I got the same impression you did." This made him pause in the process of placing on the gloves and furrow his brows in thought.

"You don't think that we've been…no he isn't that smart." Willy stopped the silly question from his mouth and continued to hunt around for his nerd cane that had vanished during their wrestling match earlier.

"Fooled by him…yes I do and I think he's much smarter then either of us give him credit for." He stopped his search thanking Ross for retrieving his cane from under the bed and glanced up at her concerned look. "Willy…what if Jack is the pirate captain we're here to find?"

"Then we got a serious problem…we've been close enough for him to learn ways around our defenses, he knows us both, and has probably deduced several weak ness's." She adjusted his coat out of habit and groaned irritably. "Licorice whip…he probably knows…

"He knows…I think we've been had Willy, if we hadn't had that little spat earlier things may have gotten incredibly worse too." He winced at that nodding in agreement.

"Who says they didn't get incredibly worse?" Willy noticed her stare up at the ceiling in defeat. "Ew." He managed wrinkling his nose at their current situation at hand. "Maybe we should hide out for a while?"

Belladonna smiled at him briefly. "Are you insinuating something Willy?" he flushed scarlet narrowing his gaze at her poor choice of humor and even worse timing.

"I need to find you a pitch fork to go with the horns and tail." She started giggling at his sour look before he turned grabbing his top hat and all but yanking it down on his head. "I swear you will…

"Always be a pain in your arse." She opened his door and started to the cabin exit. "We might better see what we can come up with during dinner…it wouldn't shock me if he wasn't there somewhere to watch us and it would be safer if he didn't know we suspected." She wrapped herself around his arm smirking at his still red face and muttered candy curses.

"I hate when you're right." He started down the hall both of them chuckling together toward the lounge.

Jack sat in the back of the lounge hidden among the shadows waiting for the pair to show their faces, he needed to know that his little show of consideration played to his advantage. If they were onto him then things could get far more complicated then he wanted, then again things usually worked out in his favor. "There's the happy duo now." He smirked drinking his rum and observing the pair taking a seat near the stage, the entertainment was again a karaoke night but neither seemed to notice or care. He studied the pair amusing themselves with silly antics and name calling coming to the conclusion that they were far closer then he thought, which meant he would have to play dirty, something he was good at.

"More rum again sir?" questioned a rather bored waitress who had filled his glass several times that evening.

Jack narrowed his gaze to warning slits at the young woman who held the pitcher and nodded keeping his amused expression locked into place. "Bloody wench." She snorted at his scowl before going to wait on other customers. One of the few women he could care less about charming, he much preferred sending her overboard to the sharks. "She reminds me of someone I almost got into a rather messy situation with." He noticed the pair finally seemed to pay attention to the entertainment and he himself winced at the woman practically screeching something from a Broadway production called, "The Phantom of the Opera."

"Ick, she's killing the song." Belladonna winced at another high note the dark haired girl on the stage attempted to belt out from the song "Think Of Me." That Christina sung in the phantom of the opera.

"Sure it's not the audience." Willy noticed several people glowering at the woman and got the image of rotted fruit and vegetables flying at her from several directions. "I'm just thankful there isn't a fruit stand nearby." She giggled at his reference and almost plugged her ears at the girls attempt at hitting another high note.

"It might be her." She winced again and debated on stuffing the cloth napkins on the table in her ears. "Or I could do the audience a favor and kill her myself." He shook his head at the scowl on her face and tossed a piece of paper at her from his straw. "No throwing things." She waved a finger in warning when he attempted a second shot.

"Yes mother." He received an elbow for the trouble and stifled and amused giggle, things were better then usual between them and for once he felt that just maybe things would work out in their favor for once. "He's in the back hiding out." He nodded pretending to concentrate on the poor singing on stage. "Maybe he could shoot her…think his aims any good?" Willy thought about that for a moment and shuddered at the idea of being shot in the back with out expecting it. "I hope not."

"You and me both." She dropped the olive from her drink on the table and sighed in defeat. "Damn waitress anyway…she never gets it right." She tossed the olive at Willy startling him from his concentration on the menu before him.

"You tell me not to throw things." She smirked wincing when the end of the song come around and she had to hit several high notes. "I think my ears are shot."

"Then you won't hear me whisper what I might do with that chocolate hidden in your room later." She burst into a fit of giggles seeing his face turn nearly as red as the lights now on the figure on stage singing a song from a band she couldn't remember at the moment.

"Ha, Ha." He sounded so dry she smirked offering him a glass of water. "Funny Belladonna…really." She shrugged sticking out her tongue noticing someone murmuring to the DJ from the side and almost dropped the knife she was absently toying with.

"What is Jack up too?" he glanced in the direction she was staring. She noticed something twinkle in his eyes when he finally spotted them, Willy did not like the look anymore then she did. "I sense trouble…with a capital T." he nodded grasping her hand under the table in case they were found out.

She heard the sounds of the "Phantom of the Opera" and realized exactly what he was up too. Willy also seemed to gather and hesitantly nodded that he would keep track of things in case it was a trap, she smiled slightly at his familiar warning look sent Jacks way and went to the stage to join in the strange duet. Oddly enough she didn't feel totally uncomfortable singing the song with Jack, she also knew that something was definitely going on but couldn't put her finger on it. "Just keep pretending ye don't notice I'm up to something love, how much do ye two know about me?" She finished the song easily enough with him and started from the stage, to her surprise the music continued into the song "The Music of the Night." Willy observed Jack who continued with the song and easily wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her into the rhythm of the music as he went along.

The only thing comforting Willy at the moment was the fact it was too public for Jack to try anything, he noticed Jacks over confident nature was winning and he was toying with them now. He now had no doubt Jack was the pirate they were after, the problem was he knew how to manipulate the situation into his favor. This new problem created more havoc then usual for Willy and his concern for Belladonna was growing after the end of the song, he easily twirled her dipping her and returning her to her feet. Jack then smirked almost smugly leaving the stage and returning to his corner. "Thank goodness." Belladonna breathed a soft sigh of relief and slowly made her way back to Willy; the crowd had apparently enjoyed the showing off due to the applause.

"He's most definitely our…

"Pirate." Willy twirled his straw thoughtfully in the punch in front of him and noticed her gaze rest on him worriedly. "He knows we suspect…he's toying with us both." She didn't like the sounds of that; she also knew Willy was reading Jack very accurately. "I wonder if we can find out anything on Captain Jack Sparrow?" she tilted her head curiously.

"Didn't Doris send a laptop with a wireless card?" He smirked at her sharp memory and grasped her hand pulling her back to her seat.

"She did, leaving too soon could get us in trouble though." She smiled slightly seeing him turn red when she moved her hand lightly inside his frock coat. "Will you stop." He swatted away her hand feeling his face flush darker at her amused giggle. "I should just give you a shop full of pitch forks."

"I would rather handcuffs." He groaned leaning on his arm eyeing her with a scowl on his face. "Would you really want me to stop harassing you?"

"At this point…yes, otherwise I might turn so red I become blue…someone will think I'm choking." She smirked at his amused eyes even if his face was frozen in a scowl at the moment.

"Don't you have a gum that can do that?" He quirked his brows at this. "Charlie told me of your mischief when you did the whole golden ticket thing…why does it not surprise me?" he glanced up innocently at the ceiling.

"You are demented under all those layers of phony smiles and antics…I know the real you." He wagged a finger in her face.

"Keep that to yourself too." He smirked when she easily caught his finger; he then pulled his hand loose catching her wrist. "Dance?"

"Maybe." She felt herself tugged from the chair and followed him to the dance floor. "Thank goodness the karaoke thing is done." He nodded in agreement with her and shrugged off the unease he felt in the public situation.