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Chapter 11- Rock The Boat

The sky was fading fast from a dark, deep purple to a much lighter mauve. As the lavender ocean rippled unbeknownst beneath the impending sunrise, it could have been mistaken as the start of any other day. On this particular morning however, this was not so.

"Beautiful, isn't she?"

I glanced sideways at Jack before returning my eyes to the colors of the horizon. I'd stayed by Jack's side during the night while he commandeered The Black Pearl. After all, with all that had recently occurred between us, there could be no denying we had a lot to talk about. Unsurprisingly, our discussion had stretched long into the early hours.

"Aye, she is," I replied.

I quickly clamped a hand over my mouth at the sudden slip of speech. I heard Jack chuckling next to me. "Always knew ye'd make a good pirate, love," he said, a cheeky smirk on his face.

I sat down on the dais that was home to the large, wooden wheel Jack was steering, smiling slightly at the comment. I knew I should return to my room before Edward awoke and found me missing, but staying a little longer, I decided, could do no harm.

"Still yet to miss a sunrise?" I asked Jack.

The pirate Captain glanced down at me, a sparkle in his eye. "Ah, yer forgettin',Em," he said.

It was then that I remembered what he was referring to and the memory caused the heat to rise in my cheeks. Jack had been at the helm to witness the birth of each new day since becoming Captain of The Black Pearl. However, there was one morning which he did not see; the morning after we had spent the night together for the first time.

I was not easily embarrassed, but Jack sure knew what to say to make me blush. "You still blame for that?" I asked playfully, although I avoided meeting his eyes.

"Aye. There was someone preoccupying me that mornin'," Jack went on, my face deepening to crimson. "Could swear on The Pearl, it was you."

I gave an uneasy laugh, shifting uncomfortably. The conversation breached what was deemed appropriate considering I was now engaged. Although it must be said, Jack had never been one to care for correctness. Knowing the sun would be rising soon, I stood and meandered to the bow of the ship, placing my hands on the rail as I looked out.

"How's yer Mother?"

Jack's question was most certainly unexpected and I gave a slight frown that he didn't see. "She's fine," I replied, although I felt guilty for lying to him after everything that had happened.

A silence fell briefly and then a soft jingling of beads warned me of Jack's presence behind me. Turning around to face him, I leant the backs of my elbows on the rail. "So yer wouldn't mind if I took the longer, more scenic view to Livorno port?" Jack inquired, sounding much too casual to be genuine.

My shoulders slumped. "You've known all along about my Mother, haven't you?" I asked, eying him.

"Let's face facts, yer always were a bad liar, love," Jack returned with a half smile. "Ye would never 'ave asked for passage with me onesies jus' to visit yer family."

"That's true," I replied, laughing when Jack furrowed his brow at my answer.

"Does yer Mother still disapprove of me?" he asked, a mischievous sparkle in his eye.

"Jack, she's always liked you," I corrected him, smiling. "But this," I reached up to touch the trinkets tied haphazardly into his dark, scruffy hair. "She disapproved of."

Jack's eyes met mine in a moment of awkwardness and my hand froze in his tangled hair. I quickly retracted it but the unease remained. Perhaps I wanted to deny it, but there was something still there. In fact, it had never really gone away. Even when I had believed he'd been with another woman due to his own desire, I had not been able to hate him. Now though, with the notion that things should have stayed unchanged, it was difficult for me to be so close to him knowing it could not be. Jack's dark eyes studied my blue ones and I knew he thought the same.

"What are we going to do, Jack?" I asked quietly, my voice barely above a whisper in fear it could yet break the fragile situation.

Even though he stood not far from me already, Jack swaggered closer until a suitable gap no longer remained between us. He leant the palm of his hand against the rail behind me, his body brushing against mine. "I've thought of somethin'," Jack answered, his golden face slowly moving down to mine.

I desperately wished I could tell him 'no'. Yet just when I needed my voice it had completely abandoned me. Jack's lips traced the outline of mine and my eyes closed on their own accord. I knew this was wrong, but my body had gone weak. Jack had a way with me that no-else did or possibly could.

The nervous flutter in my stomach and the temptation was improper for a woman who would soon be married. These thoughts stirred me from the false hope we were holding onto. "Jack," I murmured against his lips that were still teasing mine. "Please don't."

I knew what it was like to be hurt by betrayal, even though it had turned out to be untrue. I could not put my fiancé through the same thing. Jack studied my face as though to determine what to do and I prayed he would step back away me.

It was at the same time, a slight twinge of pink and orange was teasing the horizon until a flickering of yellow began to reveal itself. Within moments, golden rays seemingly broke the surface of the ocean as the sun greeted the new day.

Its warmth caressed my back, and even though Jack and I had stayed up to see the beauty of that phenomenon, neither of us saw it. A high, stray wave bumped the side of the ship making me stumble forward into Jack. The ocean, it seemed, willed us to be together and perhaps if we'd stayed in the warm embrace for a moment longer, the sea would have got its way.

Jack, however, respected what I wanted and pulled away to gesture towards the glowing horizon. "That would be the second sunrise ye've made me miss, darlin'," he commented, holding up two bejeweled fingers.

Before I could reply, the sound of faint voices reached my ears. I slipped further away from Jack just as the crew began filing out of their quarters. Nevertheless, a couple of the men paused to eye us suspiciously.

"Em!" Tomas greeted me with a grin. "Didn't expect to see ye up good an' early."

I forced a small smile, afraid that just by looking at us the crew would realize what had just taken place here. "I should probably get back to Edward," I told Jack, remorse filling the sudden void in my stomach.

"Aye, yer fiancé will be missin' ye."

I somehow repressed the desire to say that it could not be nearly as much as I missed him and hurried back to my room. Walking in on the naive, sleeping form of Edward caused the utmost guilt to envelope me. I'd already made one big mistake in my life and I could not afford to make a second. Edward didn't deserve this. Lying down, I draped an arm over him. "I'm sorry," I whispered, although I knew he did not hear me.

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"One rung at a time, Ed," Mervyn called to my fiancé.

I inwardly grimaced as I gazed upwards, shielding my eyes from the glare of the sun. Mervyn had stolen Edward's pocket watch and for the crew's amusement, had hidden it up inside the Crow's Nest. Despite his protests and demands for someone to retrieve it, Edward was now clinging onto the ropes halfway up.

What had taken place on a beautiful morning one week before felt like a dream, but all I had to do was steal a glance at Jack to know that this was not so. What should have been resolved to a certain extent had only succeeded in making things even more difficult, regardless of the comfort in knowing Jack had forgiven me. Nevertheless, I suspected the pirate Captain was involved in what was now currently occurring and I fought back my own amusement.

"Edward, honey, you don't need to do this," I pleaded with him, although privately hoping he would. If my fiancé returned to the deck safely with the watch in hand, he would, I could only assume, finally earn some respect.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. One rung later, Edward's foot slipped off the rope and the unexpected shift in weight to his arms caused him to plummet backwards. He attempted to reach out and latch back on, but gravity got the better of him. In an instant, I dashed forward with my arms out, prepared to prevent the impact. It was, of course, a daft thought to believe I could hold his weight, but it was not my wellbeing that was important.

I'd closed my eyes, an apprehensive reaction to the impending collision. However, the crushing sensation never came. I opened one eye, then the other, and glanced up. Edward's left foot had become entangled in the ropes and he was now dangling upside down. Laughter resounded all around him; the crew clearly enjoying the spectacle.

"I 'ave to apologies, Ed," Mervyn managed, wiping the laughter from his eyes. "I've jus' ne'er seen a gentlemen in a suit look as daft as ye."

"Would've be'n even better if Em had caught him," Tomas added, with the biggest grin I'd seen in some time.

Even I had trouble keeping away the silly smile that threatened to cross my mouth. Jack was at the helm, but as I suspected, he had been watching the event unfold. "Can't say any of me crew 'ave attempted to climb up feet first," Jack quipped, his eyes sparkling. "Ye'd 'ave to be the first, Eddie."

The pirate Captain winked at me and I laughed, unable to restrain it any longer. "Will you please get him down?" I asked Tomas, a childish grin now set on my face.

Tomas placed his hands on his waist, looked up at Edward and seemed to consider the question. "We could leave him there for a bit longer," he said. "He's jus' hangin' 'round anyway."

Even that frivolous answer was enough to start up the laughter again and when Edward finally had his two feet back on the ground, it was obvious that the only thing injured in the ordeal was his dignity. My fiancé, however, managed to dust himself off and fix his suit with surprising grace."When I return, I expect my watch to be returned to me," he said to the crew with an unnatural calmness.

Silently, we all watched him march away and disappear below deck. I looked at Tomas guiltily, who in turn glanced at Mervyn. "Race ye to the top, Merv?" he grinned.

Tomas and Mervyn scurried swiftly up the ropesand reached the Crow's Nest at the same time, but it was Tomas who nabbed the watch. He did not get long to bask in the glory because Mervyn was calling down a warning to Jack. "Looks like there's a storm a brewin', Cap'n," he said, staring out to sea.

Jack pulled out his spyglass and peered through it in the direction his crewmate was looking. Pocketing the instrument he said, "Aye, I think ye might be right, mate."

To my eyes, the weather looked fine, but then again, it was in reverence to Jack and his crew that I knew that they had yet to be wrong about an approaching storm. The pirate Captain turned to his crew who were now speaking loudly amongst themselves. "Listen 'ere, ye scavenges dogs!" Jack called out from the helm to gain their attention. "We're naught but four days outta port, but were in for rough weather. Prepare to make ready the ship. Savvy?"

"Aye, Cap'n!" the crew chorused back as they began heading off to complete their respective duties.

Tomas handed me Edward's pocket watch as he past by me and I saw Jack's eyes flicker in my direction before his attention returned to the sea. Clutching the watch in my hand, I hurried below deck to return my fiancé's possession and warn him of the impending conditions.

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update, but finally here is chapter 11! Hope you liked it and thanks so much to my wonderful reviewers:)