Thanks for the reviews and advice!!!
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Amber woke with a start to the sound of laughter, she groaned and looked at her watch. She had slept the afternoon away, it was six o'clock and as her tummy was reminding her, also dinner time. Amber climbed slowly out of bed, surprised that she still felt quite tired. She changed into a clean shirt and headed to the dining room/lounge/mess, walking quickly driven by her hunger.
"Well if it isn't miss shark wrangler herself!" Joked Tommy, his eyes teasing as Amber walked into the room, Amber smiled.
"Is that my new name now? I was just starting to get used to young, naïve, fool." Said Amber pointedly, as she eyed the food that covered every inch of the table.
"About that, we apologize, it's just…" Amos trailed off, Amber gave them a knowing look.
"Forget about it. But, if I ever hear somebody call me that again, I swear I'll knock them upside over!" Said Amber, only half joking. Jack burst through the doors and wasted no time talking before grabbing a bun and stuffing it in his mouth. He paused when he saw Amber, he swallowed before saying anything.
"I didn't expect to see you up so soon." Said Jack, looking surprised, Amber sat down next to him and started to fill herself a plate.
"Right, like I could go without dinner!" Laughed Amber, piling chicken legs onto her plate.
"Somebody better bring Annamaria a plate." Said Jack thoughtfully, Amber swallowed and quickly made up her mind.
"I'll bring her one." Offered Amber, grabbing a empty plate and filling it with potatoes and corn.
"No, you sit down and eat. Tommy will bring it to her." Said Jack, taking the plate from her. Amber thought she detected a caring tone in his voice.
"No it's ok, really, I'll take it." Said Amber firmly, Jack looked surprised but shrugged.
"Whatever you want, love." He said, handing the plate back to her, Amber paused and turned around when she reached the door.
"Anybody who touches my plate dies!" Warned Amber, she knocked on the door before walking in.
"Come in!" Called Annamaria, she pursed her lips and her eyes narrowed when she saw it was Amber.
"How does you're arm feel?" Asked Amber, setting the plate down on the bedside table.
"It feels like a bloody shark tried to rip it off. That's how it feels!" Snapped Annamaria, in a second Amber's temper flared and she stood up her hands placed angrily on her hips.
"What the hell is your bloody problem!" Said Amber angrily, her eyes planted on Annamaria, waiting tensely for an answer.
"You! You and you're thinking you can make it on a ship like this!" Cried Annamaria, her voice rising. "You think you know everything! What you need is a hook on reality!" Amber's green eyes sparked with anger as she listened to Annamaria.
"Oh really? I think you're the one who needs a hook on reality! In case you forgot, I saved you're life today, not just once, but twice! Now, I don't expect you to Hail Mary me or anything, I don't even care if you thank me! But, what I think I deserve is a little bit of respect!" Said Amber, trying to keep her voice under control, Annamaria smiled sarcastically.
"You didn't do diddly squat!" Scoffed Annamaria, Amber tried to keep the surprise at those words off her face.
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Growled Amber, she wasn't bragging about what she had done that afternoon, but she wouldn't say she didn't do anything.
"You only came in after me to look good for Jack!" Said Annamaria, looking very proud of herself for coming to that untrue conclusion. Amber couldn't help herself, she started to laugh.
"Yeah, that's exactly why I jumped into shark infested water, to impress a man!" Laughed Amber, Annamaria looked quite disappointed at Amber's reaction, but anger quickly replaced her expressions.
"If that's true then why did you stop me from ripping the damn things gills apart? You just wanted to make yourself look good because you haven't been measuring up!" Said Annamaria, her voice rising agen. Amber stopped laughed and sat on the stool nest to the bed and bent close to Annamaria.
"Is that why you think I did that?" Said Amber quietly, almost in a whisper, her green eyes now flaming. "Do you want to know what would have happened if I had let you?" Annamaria didn't say anything, Amber looked infuriated. "Let me tell you what would have happened. When a sharks gills get ripped they can't breath, when they can't breath they can't swim, when they can't swim they sink. And where do you think they sink, they sink to the bottom of the deep blue sea. And he would have taken you with him without a doubt, then you would have had a real problem my dear, because nobody would be able to reach you down there." Finished Amber, Annamaria was at loss for words, Amber walked to the closet and pulled out a blanket and put it on the bed.
"Its important you keep warm and eat." Said Amber calmly, but you could hear the tenseness in her voice. "Get a good nights sleep." Amber walked to the door and paused before leaving, she looked at Annamaria with an almost smirk on her face. "And do try to get over yourself."
Amber was still fuming when she walked back to the dining room, she heard a shout of laughter.
"So we get repairs and don't have to do them!" Hooted Amos, Amber frowned, what were they talking about?
"Right, we just get Amber to go in and charm the general and we sit back and take a rest!" Said Jack, Amber sat down nest to him and raised her eyebrows.
"I'm charming who?" Asked Amber, taking a bite of her chicken.
"Here's the plan love, as you know the Pearl needs some repairs. And you also know its not easy for a pirate to get the things we need for such things, so, we take her into Port Royal, but with different sails and you as the owner. See, there's a chap named General Walker there who is in charge of ships and all that, and you just happen to have a British accent! So, we send you in as a cousin from England of a chap named Will Turner and you just happen to be needin' repairs on your darling ship. You charm you're way into General Walker's heart and get him to do them for you, then, before it comes time to pay we sail out!" Said Jack, looking quite proud of himself.
"I cumph ooo da!" Yelped Amber, unfortunately her mouth was full and nobody understood a word she had said.
"What was that,love?" Asked Jack, with an amused smile on his face, Amber quickly swallowed.
"I'm really honored that you trust me to do that Jack, but I'm sorry I can't." Said Amber, her face was unreadable, there was no way in hell she could walk around Port Royal. Jack smiled.
"Of course you can, love!" He leaned a little closer to her. "Now I don't say this to too many people but I trust you can do this." Said Jack, Amber fought the feeling of guilt, she shook her head.
"I'm sorry Jack, I just can't." Said Amber, the whole crew was staring at her in disbelief.
"We were just jokin' when we called you naïve, you're actually quite brilliant!" Said Tommy earnestly, Amber smiled slightly.
"Thanks Tommy, but I can't." The looks of disbelief and disappointment were to much for her. "I'm going back to bed." Muttered Amber, she walked quickly out of the room.
~*~
Jack watched Amber rush out of the room, he was completely surprised with her answer. She always seemed so game to try anything.
"What do you think is wrong with her?" Asked Amos, Tommy shrugged.
"That's a woman for ya." Said Bill, "Fine one minute then all over the place the next." Jack didn't say anything, there was something more behind Amber's refusal and he was going to find out what it was!
~*~
Amber's growling stomach woke her up, she groaned inwardly as she realized she had hardly had any dinner. She got out of bed as quietly as she could, she didn't want to wake anyone up right now, all she wanted was to be alone. Which was going to be hard since Jack was sleeping down the hall and Amber was sure he could hear everything, even in his sleep!
"Bloody hell!" Gasped Amber, as she walked up onto the deck, Hermes had flown right in front of her, nearly scaring her to death. "Damn bird!" Muttered Amber, hurrying back to her compartment to grab a paper and quill. She quickly scribbled their location and after thinking for a minute she added a little note.
Fred,Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this??? The Pearl is as strong as ever and it would be a shame for you to lose one of you're ships. Don't worry, I'm not backing out on you, just making sure! If you are, we have to do this soon because we are stopping for repairs at Port Royal in two days. I know what you're thinking, Port Royal! Believe me, you don't want to know! If you don't send a reply I'll take that as a yes, we are still with the plan.
-AmberAmber tied the letter to Hermes leg, after he flew off she hurried to the dining room to answer her growling stomach. Hoping there was food still left on the table, she was surprised to see a whole chocolate cake left, and Jack sitting at the head of the table.
"I thought you'd be back for more." Said Jack, his eyes twinkling and a smirk on his face. Amber hated it when he looked at her like that, it sent shivers up her spine.
"Well aren't you a genius!" Said Amber sarcastically, sitting down next to him and cutting herself a very generous piece.
"Lets put it down as a lucky guess." Said Jack, "You see, if I was a genius I would be able to figure out why you're scared to go to Port Royal." Amber rolled her eyes and swallowed.
~*~
"I'm not scared." Said Amber firmly, taking another bite of her cake. Jack watched her eat for a moment, she didn't eat like a pirate, she chewed with her mouth closed and held her fork neatly, Jack found this quite amusing considering who it was.
"Well then, what are you?" Asked Jack, Amber looked thoughtfully at him.
"You could call me uninterested." Said Amber after a second, Jack put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.
"I could believe that, but I won't. Come on, love, this is a great chance for some free lout and fun." Said Jack, Amber laughed, her white teeth flashing, her whole face lit up when she laughed, she was fascinating.
"That's what you think! But do you have to flirt with some stuck up general? No, I do, and I'm not any good at that! Besides, I have other reasons to say no." Said Amber, she stopped laughing and looked at him seriously. "I can't Jack, its to much risk."
"Tell me what the risk is and maybe I'll change my mind about making you walk the plank!" Said Jack, Amber laughed agen.
~*~
"You wouldn't dare!" Laughed Amber, she knew he was joking. She looked at him for a moment, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell him why.
Yes, it would! The more people know the better chance you have of getting your head chopped off!
Thought Amber, she bit her lip, trying to decide.~*~
"Fine, you wan to know, I'll tell you." Sighed Amber, "As you know I ran away from my parents, and as you can imagine, it didn't sit very well with them. You see, my parents are what you'd call quite upper class, having a daughter run away to be a pirate is a huge 'don't'. Especially when she's engaged to marry a major General! So what my parents did was pretend that I was kidnapped to cover up the real story and they made up search party's, you know, the whole nine yards. So, to sum it up I can't go anywhere where upper class people will be because if they find me, I'll be taken back to the society hell for sure." Explained Amber simply, Jack took a minute to go over all this information, he looked at the young woman in front of him, looking at him expectedly. He couldn't imagine her being engaged to a stuffy old General.
"You're eighteen though, love. All grown up, they can't control you any more." Jack pointed out, Amber smiled slightly.
"If only that were true. Believe me, my father would find some sort of law to make me go with them. He's quite good with stuff like that."
~*~
Hold on, what month do they take their annual Europe trip? Thought Amber trying to remember, wondering how she had forgotten. Lets see, what month is it?…..June! Yes, they'll be overseas!
"You know what? I just remembered my parents are in Europe now, they won't be anywhere near Port Royal!" Said Amber, Jack grinned triumphantly.
"Good! So now we can go along with the plan!" Cheered Jack, pouring himself a rum, Amber hesitated.
"Jack, I'v got to tell you, I'm not any good with men." Said Amber honestly, Jack winked at her.
"Don't you worry about that, love. Any man would be out of his bloomin' mind not to want you." Said Jack, the second after he said it he looked surprised with himself, Amber blushed.
"Ah yeah, well, I'm going back to bed." Said Amber awkwardly, she got up and cut herself another slice of cake to bring with her. She'd eat it in bed, there was something funny going on with the air here, it felt tense.
"Night" Said Jack, between gulps of rum, Amber shook her head smiling and went to bed.
