And here we go, part 2 of 3! I have to say, I do enjoy doing it like this. That way I don't have to feel as pressured to get you guys the next chapter and you don't have to be left hanging! :D

Pirates of the Caribbean - Disney, Blue/Isabeau - Memememe!

Magda suddenly leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially. "Would you like to know a secret?"

I had to smile and ducked nearer, even though it was just the two of us in my cabin. "Always, my friend. Always."

He snickered slyly. "Whenever I do pull a prank, no one suspects me. To this day, some of the greatest ones I've done, like replacing all of the crews hair ribbons with pink lace, have still gone unpunished because they never discovered the culprit."

I burst into mad giggles at that. The mental image of the entire crew of the Mary, all resplendent in their uniforms, pink lacey things in their hair, was just too much.

"Oh, that's evil! Even the Captain's?" I wheezed, clutching my stomach.

He nodded, laughing as well. "It was tricky, but yes, even his. And the worst part was we were hosting a visiting admiral. Everyone had to keep a straight face!"

We dissolved into giggling laughter after that. I could easily imagine it, the stern-faced captain, his masculine features offset by this pink thing tied around his black hair. The thought of even poor Lesaro having to deal with that made me laugh harder.

Eventually, the laughter died down to only slight wheezing as I struggled to catch my breath. "So I have a question."

"Hmm?" Magda was still smiling from the memory of his prank.

"The officer that kept making the Captain angry, the one that died and Lesaro took over his duties. Did you pull any pranks on him?" I asked curiously, wondering why I still felt this odd irritation at the thought of some asshole yanking on the Captain's chain.

At my question, Magda's smile took on a decidedly evil glint. "Oh, yes…"

"You made his life a living hell?"

Magda's grin only widened and grew more demented.

I nodded in satisfaction. "Good boy."

He snorted at that, then his humor abruptly blackened. "He wasn't worthy to serve under the Capitán," he spat, and I drew back a little, surprised at the sudden change in attitude.

"Tell me?" I wasn't sure what to do to lighten his mood, so I did what I usually did when confronted with irritation and frustration and didn't know how to help; I offered to listen.

Magda muttered what sounded like unflattering terms in Spanish for a moment, then switched to English. "Perdón, I'd rather not. It makes me very…" He suddenly stopped, inhaling sharply as his face tightened in anger.

"You don't have to, I understand," I said quietly, my teeth clenched and I was grimly grateful that the fucker was already dead. Otherwise, I would've been very tempted to slip a sharp implement between his ribs. Bastard made my cinnamon rolls angry...

Magda suddenly sprung to his feet, making me jump at the sudden movement, and shook himself vigorously, tossing off the melancholy memories. "No more of that, we have work to do! We can't laze about all day! Come, come!"

He snatched up my wrist and proceeded to haul me towards the door. I tripped over my feet and fell face first into his back with a yelp, only to be set to rights and yanked out the door.

"Oof!" I grunted as I narrowly missed getting clipped by a corner. "Magda! Holy shit! Slow the fuck down!"

Ignoring my cussing, he simply charged on until he finally stopped at a small room and pulled out s sheaf of papers.

"You're going to help me with inspections, then we'll go from there. Agreed?"

Still breathless from being yanked about full tilt, I could only nod mutely. I was eager to get out of my room, and hopefully I could enjoy some freedom before a certain Spaniard found out. And I was curious about the intricacies of how the Silent Mary ran so efficiently.

At first glance, there was so. Much. Work. To do aboard an 18th century sailing vessel. Another thing is that it was friggin hotter than a hellscape once belowdeck out of the breeze wearing almost full uniform and two shirts, and I was seriously unequipped to deal with the heat.

I kept pace with Magda for a good while during his inspections as he made sure the Mary was running in top form. Eventually, however, I couldn't stop the dizziness slowly building and he noticed that I was starting to overheat. I was forced to go up top and sit down in a shady spot before I passed out.

"Drink, slowly." He held out a cup of water and watched worriedly as I drained it, holding my breath when I was done to stave off the nausea. I'd fucking murder someone for an A/C unit right now. Or a freezer to stand in. I'll take either one, not picky.

Driven by some inexplicable urge at the sight of his concerned frown, I did something extremely rare for me and reached out to voluntarily touch him, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. "I'll be fine. Just got a little overheated. Give me a few minutes to cool down and I'll be ready to keep helping."

Even before I finished speaking, Magda was already shaking his head. "I forget that only a short while ago, you were almost in Death's embrace. You bear it very well but I pushed you much too far, too soon. Catch your breath and drink more, then-"

"Nuh-uh, I'm not going back to my room yet," I cut him off, nipping that in the bud. So far, neither the Captain nor anyone else seemed to have noticed the short, odd sailor tagging along in Magda's shadow. Reíno might have said something, but he was currently up by the Lieutenant at the helm. And I was going to take as much freedom as I could get away with.

Magda stared at me, hard, as if he was trying to force me to cooperate through sheer will. I would have laughed at him if I didn't still feel like puking up a lung. So far, the only person I'd ever met in my entire lifetime that could make me bend through will alone was Capitán Armando Salazar.

And it was so frustrating that I was so frickin' attracted to the douche.

I shook myself like a dog and glancing up, was surprised to see Reíno still up by Lesaro at the helm, looking very uncomfortable as Salazar moved to stand next to his lieutenant. Far as I'd ever seen, Reíno had never been up at that deck before and I was curious as to why, as well as what made him look so uneasy next to his captain.

"Hey, Magda?" I asked, still keeping an eye on my friend and wondering if the captain had said something to him after last night.

"Hmm?"

"Do you know if the captain talked with Reíno this morning or last night?" As I watched, Salazar eyed Reíno with a glare before appearing to dismiss him off the deck, even as the captain stepped down to be waylaid Lady Bekatt, who had just appeared from the bowels of her rat hole.

"I believe he was called to the Capitán's cabin early this morning, but I am not aware of the details," Magda answered, cocking his head slightly at my interest, swiveling around to see what had caught my attention.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at Salazar's imposing form as he was tortured by the English hyena. He'd better not have gone after my cinnamon roll…

"The Capitán has caught your interest?" Magda asked slyly, grinning when I shot him an unamused glower.

"No, I'm just hoping Reíno didn't get into any trouble for something. That's it," I added firmly, even as he opened his mouth, then closed it again with a smug smirk.

"I apologize, but I must see to the rest of my duties." Magda pressed a refilled cup of water in my hand, letting the subject of my unwilling fascination drop. "Drink this, and more if you can, and if you insist on not returning to your cabin, please do not push yourself further."

I nodded in agreement, yet he hesitated further. I grinned and gave him a little push. "Go on, go take care of your stuff. I'll be a good girl, I promise."

With a mock disbelieving snort, to which I only giggled at, he finally turned away and strode off, leaving me to stare up at the impressively large sails of the Silent Mary, once again taken aback at just how big this ship was. Even though I was used to gas-powered engines and electricity, it didn't mean I couldn't appreciate the deadly work of art that was the Mary.

I made sure I was out of the way and out of Salazar's line of sight as I observed the comings and goings of the crew as I cooled down, the sun eventually warming the back of my neck but I was too fascinated to move. There was a hurried determination to the sailors' movements, not an urgent rush like it probably was when they were about to attack pirates, but there wasn't a sense of dawdling either. It made me exhausted just by watching.

Apparently I was a little too out of the way, as one of the sailors inadvertently tried to sit on me, bringing me back to the present with a jolt. I felt really bad when he leapt to his feet like a scalded cat when I yelped in surprise. He muttered apologies so fast I could barely understand him, bowing and scraping as he shuffled backwards, even as I tried to tell him there was no harm done. A look of abject horror was frozen on his face as he gave into the urge and ran for cover, ducking and making a run for it like I was going to send flaming arrows at his head.

Seriously? Even if I had any spells, I certainly wouldn't be wasting them for someone mistaking me for a chair. On second thought… Rolling my eyes, I figured it was time to vacate the area before someone came to investigate any rumors of someone getting turned into a cat. Toads were so cliché, and cats were infinitely more useful, in my opinion.

I suddenly heard the lilting feminine tones of Lady BeKatt speaking Spanish, only to be replied to by Salazar in the same tongue and I cursed, slipping around the huge main mast to try and make it to the stairs to go below. I told that nimrod that this wasn't a good idea! But noooo, what do I know? And now he's run off, with my permission, while I have to friggin' stealth my ass outta here before it's capped!

Scurrying past the main mast, I dodged a sailor and immediately hit the brakes before I plowed into Salazar's broad back. Hot damn, this dude is friggin' everywhere! Jesus, man, stay in one spot for a minute! Gulping nervously, I managed to avoid colliding into him, and was able to get to the stairs and below deck before he turned around.

And what was it with me and almost literally running into that particular male? I was never this clumsy back home, and now it was like I had two left feet and was just born yesterday. Did the universe decide, like, "Since you want nothing to do with this Spanish captain, we're going to make you run him over at every opportunity. Enjoy!"?

I didn't want to immediately return up top until enough time had passed that maybe Salazar would have gone about his business elsewhere. And now that I had cooled off, I wasn't so worried about passing out from the heat. So I wandered down the different decks, admiring just how efficiently his ship was run. From what I could see and understand, he certainly knew how to make things work smoothly.

None of the other crew so much as batted an eye, which I found a little funny, but I supposed if you were hard at work at your job, you didn't pay much attention to anything else, especially if my disguise did take a second glance to see through. Magda had done his job well, for all of his troublemaking.

The hold was blissfully quiet and I was coming to appreciate bouts of silence where I could get them, especially with being trapped on a ship with so, many, people! At least it wasn't a submarine. At that point, I'd have to say let me off at the next island or let me swim.

Suddenly I smacked facefirst into a wall of spicy-smelling muscle and fabric, making me shriek as I jumped out of my skin. My gaze flashed up to see Salazar's disapproving frown just as he reached out and gripped my upper arms to stop me from staggering backwards off balance. Instinctively, I grabbed his forearms as I struggled to catch my breath and my balance. Holy shit, where'd he come from!?

"What part of "refrain from interacting with my men" was misunderstood, Señorita Revanne?" he asked icily, aggravation deepening his baritone to a growl. The captain was very unhappy with me.

I couldn't answer as I hyperventilated, trying to get my breathing to a normal rhythm. The man had scared the everloving crap out of me and all I could hear was my heartbeat thundering in my ears.

He waited with an impatient air, still holding onto my arms, I assumed to prevent me from making a run for it. His eyes flickered over me and both brows drew sternly downwards, the air growing thicker as his voice took on a harsher tone as he all but barked, "Who gave you that uniform?"

I shook my head, in no way, shape or form going to throw anybody under the bus. I clamped my lips closed and hastily withdrew my hands that had still been clinging to his coat sleeves.

A menacing rumble sounded in his chest and his hands tightened, making me wince as he put pressure on my old bruise. Whatever he'd put on them had worked like magic and they had stopped hurting until I had all but forgotten about them, at least until he'd pressed right on it.

He realized what he was squeezing as soon as I winced and immediately released that arm but still kept a grip on the other one.

"How are your bruises?" He leaned closer, slipping a finger past the uniform collar and pulled it down enough so he could see the one on my collarbone.

Trying to ignore his nearness and unsticking my tongue at the same time, I managed to choke out, "Not hurting."

"Good." Inspection done, he stepped back and let me go, keeping me in place with the force of his stare alone. He was most definitely not happy. "I'll only ask once more; who gave you that uniform? And just what have you done to your hair?" he added, peering closer in surprise at my hair, frowning at the dark, ugly color it'd been turned.

Just so you know, it wasn't my idea, big guy. "Boot polish."

But I kept mulishly silent otherwise, not about to give anyone up. I could handle the punishment, after all I was getting booted off soon. These men were stuck on the Mary for who knows how long, several months at least, and that was a long time to be miserable.

His jaw flickered as he clenched it, scowling at me like he wanted to just reach out, wrap his big hands around my neck and squeeze. I lifted my chin slightly in defiance, inviting him to do just that. Although, it probably wasn't for the best for me to goad him. But really, how the hell was I supposed to "refrain from interacting with his men" for another week or so? Like, seriously?

Footsteps came from behind me and I twisted around to see a sailor gesturing for the captain's attention.

"Stay here," he ordered, striding past me to see what the man wanted.

"Woof," I muttered under my breath, cringing slightly when he slid a glower in my direction. Why couldn't I stop antagonizing him? It was against my fairly timid nature around strangers to be purposely pressing his buttons, yet for some inane reason, I just couldn't seem to stop myself.

I listened to the captain's melodic and fluid Spanish, wishing I could understand what he was saying, but speaking and/or listening to things just didn't stick in my brain. Which was might've been surprising given my adeptness with a violin and addiction to music itself, but I'd always found a better handling of written language versus oral. Still, it was a delight to listen to him speak. He had a gorgeous voice, when it wasn't grating in frustration or yelling at someone because they'd pissed him off.

"Señorita Revanne."

"Jiminy fucking Christmas!" I yelped as I spun around, startling Salazar enough into taking a step back. "How do you move as quietly as you do?! You're wearing boots on hard wood, for Pete's sake!"

"You will refrain from taking that tone with me, señorita," he said shortly, the term not sounding at all polite when said in the tone of voice he was using. "It is no fault of mine that you do not pay attention to your surroundings."

"I pay perfect attention to my surroundings," I snapped, my exasperation making me reckless. "It's when people purposely sneak up on me that I have a problem. And quite frankly, I'm really tired of it."

"If you were in your cabin where you are supposed to be, I would not be "sneaking up on you"," he retorted, my phrase sounding very uncomfortable on his tongue. "And since you refuse to tell me who your cohort is for your inability to follow a simple command, I suggest you return to your cabin in short order before I find myself in a less forgiving mood. On that note, Reíno will no longer be seeing to your…personal needs."

"The fuck you mean by that?" I snapped, growling at the back of my throat in irritation.

"The interactions between you and my officer will be severely reduced."

I gaped in stunned disbelief at his outrageous decree, and the air of finality in his tone. "Wha… Now you're just being a total ass. What the fuck did I ever do to you, besides breathe?"

Salazar moved way too close into my personal space, close enough that I could feel his heat, felt the dizziness from inhaling his scent. "Where do I start? You confess to being from the future, which is either a delusion or something I can't possibly fathom, you blatantly ignore my instructions for you to keep to your cabin, you refuse to dress in accordance to your gender-"

"I'ma stop you right there." I held a hand up in his face, causing him grind to a halt midsentence. "As far as I've understood it, Lady BeKatt has taken all the dresses and as far as I'm concerned, she's more than welcome to them. These were the only things that were offered to me while I've been using that cabin. And the fuck you mean I'm not going to see Reíno anymore?"

"It means, Señorita Revanne," his voice menacingly dropped an octave as he brushed my hand aside and lowered his face closer to mine, "that the boy will be reassigned and someone else will be assisting you. Someone whom you'll be likely to distract."

I ground my teeth for a minute, struggling to focus without becoming hypnotized by his gorgeous features being so close. Then a thought sprang to mind. In a mimicry of a sweet smile baring all my teeth, I snarked, "And here I thought you'd be happy I had someone I trusted. After all, you can just order him to tell you everything I said. Who knows? I might even spill some secrets you might one day find useful." Like learning how to chill the fuck out!

Now it was his turn to grind his teeth. It did strange not-so-unpleasant things to my insides to watch his jaw flicker. "You can hardly be trusted to divulge any pertinent information, señorita. After all, it is to be said that you are quite mad."

Unable to come up with a decent enough rejoinder, I instead gave him a somewhat disappointed look. "You know, I was told that you weren't as bad as you've come across in the entirety of my unwitting stay aboard your ship, but so far, I've yet to see any hint of that."

We stared at each other for a grim moment, him seeming fairly livid with my sheer existence, and me beyond irritated at his rigid, overbearing and quite frankly, irrational behavior. Sure, he was the captain and all, but there was such a thing as too much. And right now, I was getting real tired of it...

So ya'll probably be wondering "Seriously? This supposed to be a romance! So far, all I'm seeing is him being angry at her, her being angry at him, round 'n round...", but I promise, he'll be chillin' out here soon. Like, next chapter. :) I'm building this slowly (probably too slowly for some of you), and I apologize if you want to just get to the juicy bits (which we'll get, promise), but I think it makes it more solidified if we work out the kinks before moving to the kissy-huggy part.