Oooo... there's a part in this chapter that came to me after I wrote most of it. I was literally putting it into the story when an idea popped into my head. Very riskay if you know what I mean. Oh you guys are going to love me for this chapter. It will so make up for how long it took to write! If you're tempted then read. Read like the WIND!
Uh the usual don't own pirates yadah yadah blah blah. Okay.
Alexia and Jack sat across from each other on the longboat not speaking. Alexia had her arms wrapped tightly around her legs in an effort to keep warm. The island seemed to give off a colder atmosphere then the rest of the Caribbean.
"Are you cold luv?" Jack asked leaning forward and slipping off his jacket. Alexia shook her head.
"Not if it involves some stupid sexual innuendo." Alexia backed away only slightly since there was about one more inch of bench left before she fell over the edge. Jack shook his head laughing.
"Here." He held out his jacket. Alexia eyed him carefully before snatching the jacket out of his hand. Jack gave her a look for her speed.
"It won't harm you." Jack rubbed her shoulder while she shrugged into his jacket.
"No touch kay? Just cause you gave me your letterman jacket does not mean you own me. What do I look like a cheerleader?" Alexia snipped. Jack slowly took back his hand and stared rowing again. They came upon the waterfall again this time Alexia did not grab at Jack for balance.
"So, what's your plan?" Alexia asked snuggling into her new jacket; it smelled of rum and wood varnish. An odd combination that some how worked. Jack laughed again, more to himself this time.
"I'm going to, as you would say, wing it." Jack voice echoed in the small cave. Alexia shivered even in Jack's jacket. The eerie skeletons were starting to seriously creep her the hell out.
"I know you have a plan Jack." Alexia pointed out, running her fingers over the waters surface. The water was cool and she had the strongest urge to swim. Suddenly there a loud clanking noise and crazy laughter echoed in the small cave. Alexia looked around anxiously.
"And it better be a good one."
"We'll be fine." Jack reassured Alexia, rowing until the longboat until it had dug into the sandy beach inside the cove. Jack stepped out and offered Alexia his hand.
"Come on now, and put your game face on." Jack said with a straight face, Alexia rolled her eyes.
"Piss off." She snarled, Jack nodded.
"That's the ticket." He pulled Alexia along the narrow hallway.
"Okay ." Jack stopped to stare at her wistful smile for a moment before eyeing his surroundings confoundedly.
"I faintly remember you hitting me over the head with an oar in this hallway, luv." Jack touched the wall lightly as Alexia laughed loudly and slapped her hand on his shoulder.
"Nah man. You lost your footing and fell like a toddler just learning how to walk. It was so cute and I was going to help you up but Will wouldn't let me. Said Elizabeth was more important." Alexia lied quickly.
After a moment Jack nodded his head in agreement and pressed on into the huge cavern room. The crew was facing Barbossa who stood at the large treasure chest with Will. He held a jagged knife at Will's next while Jack pushed his way through the crowd.
"Begun by blood…" Barbossa started to say, his hand ready to slit Will's throat. Jack stopped at the edge of a rock, his hand raised in the air trying to get Barbossa's attention. Alexia stood beside him with her arms crossed, the same pirate who had knocked her unconscious back in Port Royal was giving her X-rated looks.
"Jack." She whined pulling on his sleeve, the pirate was moving slowly towards her.
"Excuse me." Jack pointed at Barbossa who was still trying to talk.
"…by blood un-"Barbossa had to stop again when Will struggled to look up and catch Jack's eye.
"Jack!" Will said excitingly, he then looked over and saw Alexia. She gave him a small wave.
"S'not possible." Barbossa gasped almost dropping the jagged knife into the treasure chest. Will smiled.
"Not probable." Jack corrected.
"Look the lady has come to rescue her man!" Barbossa laughed.
"Don't even." Alexia's face hardened into a diamond hard toughness as she spoke. The look alone kept Barbossa and his crew quiet.
"Yes, uh where is Elizabeth?" Will asked Jack but he was staring at Alexia the whole time. She adverted her eyes to a glittery tiara just out of her reach. Praying it would some how move through the air and into her hand, she concentrated on staring at it.
"She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like Alexia here promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we're all men of our word really except for Alexia and I guess Elizabeth who are, in fact… women." Jack rambled.
"Shut up! You're next." Barbossa threatened pointing the knife at Jack then leaning in to slit Will's throat again. Alexia held her breath.
"You don't want to be doing that, mate." Jack slightly raised his hand this time but stopped and pulled his hands behind his back. Barbossa looked up and narrowed his eyes at Jack.
"You should listen to him Barbie dear." Alexia agreed.
"No, I really think I do." Barbossa contradicted.
"Your funeral." Jack said cryptically. Alexia nodded eager for Barbossa to listen to the stupid Jack. Barbossa rolled his eyes then slammed the dagger into the side of the chest.
"Why don't I want to be doing it?" Barbossa asked sarcastically. Will, who was still being held down by Barbossa, was trying to get Alexia's attention by smiling like an idiotic penguin. She had to figure out why he liked her so much.
"Well, because," Jack slapped the arm of the pirate holding him back and walked forward closer to Barbossa," because the HMS Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore. Waiting for you."
"Just hear me out, mate. You order your men to row out to the Dauntless. They do what they do best." The crew laughed along filling the room with an awful stench of rotting teeth.
"Robert's your Uncle, Fannie's you Aunt, there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet." Jack stretched his arms out in front of himself as if displaying the make believe fleet. Barbossa leaned back on the chest dreaming about that fleet.
"Course you'll take the grandest as your flagship, and who's argue? But what of the Pearl?" Jack had already made his way to Barbossa side, Alexia floated somewhere behind him. Will twisted in Barbossa's grip in attempt to see her.
"Name me Captain, I'll sail under you colors, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder and you get to introduce yourself as…Commodore Barbossa. Savvy?" Jack bargained but Barbossa saw the strings that were attached.
"I s'pose in exchange, you want me not to kill the whelp." Barbossa stroked his beard.
"Yes." Alexia said too quickly earning her a loving stare from Will.
"Oh damn." She sighed rolling her eyes. Jack gave Alexia a look for her outburst when a mischievous glint crossed her eyes and she snapped her teeth at her like a cat. Jack jumped back out of surprise and turned back to Barbossa.
"No, no, not at all by all means, kill the whelp. Just not yet." Jack said with crazy hand gestures that came close to poking himself in the eye many times.
"Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment. For instance…" Jack picked a few medallions, "After you've killed Norrington's men…" He threw each coin back one at a time.
"Every…" clink "Last…" clink "One." Jack secretly hid a coin in the scarf around his hand. Will and Alexia see Jack pocket the last coin as Will began to struggle in Barbossa's grip.
"Blink once miss more, blink twice miss less." Alexia said in a singsong voice. Will looked confused until a thought hit him.
"You've been planning this from the beginning. Ever since you learned my name!" Will said outranged. Jack nodded proud of his plan.
"Yeah, pretty much." Jack said still nodding. Barbossa turned to Jack, a hand on his hip like a woman.
"I want fifty percent of your plunder." Barbossa negotiated. Alexia moved forward trying to untie Will's hand.
"Fifteen." Jack eyed Barbossa and Alexia behind him.
"Forty." Alexia pulled at ropes with no use.
"Twenty-five," Jack pointed a finger in Barbossa's face, "And I'll buy you a hat. A really big one… Commodore."
"We have an accord." The main men shook hands on their accord while Alexia moved back to her place beside Will. Jack lost himself in the heat of the moment.
"All hands to the boats!" Barbossa gives Jack a sideways glance. Jack lowered his arms back down to his side.
"Apologies mate. You give the orders." Jack surrendered his none powers. Barbossa looked around the room at all his crewmembers and smiled.
"Gents… take a walk." The crew walked away laughing and acting very zombie like.
"Not to the boats?" Jack questioned. Barbossa shook his head like he had remembered that joke from when the Will had made his terms on the Pearl earlier that day.
After the cavern emptied Jack started inspecting the goods that were littered about. Alexia sat on a small stepping stone staring at the water ripple as she dropped gold coins into it. Barbossa stood by the chest with a tied Will close by, waiting for his crew to come back. There were only three other pirates in the cavern who posed a threat. Alexia eyed them every now and again, sizing them up. Jack, making a loud racket from his treasure hunting, passed by Alexia and dropped the coveted sapphire adorned tiara on her head. She glared up at Jack while the tiara fell over her one of her eyes.
"Nice." Alexia said sarcastically, letting Jack pull her up from her seat on the stepping stone.
"Saw you eyeing it up so I thought you might want it. Plus you've proved yourself worthy of the name pirate." Alexia clapped her hands and leap up and down. She then beamed at Jack and hugged him forcibly.
"Aww… Jack! You have no idea how happy that makes me. To be a full blown pirate!" Jack spun Alexia around before placing her on back on the ground.
"Do I get a pin or something?" Alexia asked. Jack searched his pockets and pulled out a huge brooch type pin tangled within some gold chains. The pin was bigger than Alexia's fist and had "Pirate" etched in perfect calligraphy with some crazy flower petal designs. She noticed it and raised her eyebrow.
"Here ya go." Jack dropped the necklaces and pin in Alexia's out stretched hand and went on with his hunt.
"Hey Johnny Boy you didn't make this pin did you?" Alexia asked sarcastically, Jack looked around for this Johnny boy before answering her question.
"No, why?" Jack asked confused. Alexia half shrugged.
"Cause its kinda gay." Alexia looked doubtfully at the gold chains then, with a sigh, she started to untangle them. After a few minutes Alexia had three thin gold chains.
"What am I supposed to do with these?" Alexia asked holding up the three chains. Jack turned, squinted at the thin chains, and shrugged.
"Dunno." He confirmed throwing a golden Buddha over his shoulder. Alexia smiled as she ran the gold chains through her fingers. As she pinned the huge pin to the front left side of her shirt she decided she would give the other two chains to Xio and Chelsea.
"If he's so perfect why don't you marry him?" Will mocked quietly from his place next to Barbossa. Alexia's head snapped up and she raised an eyebrow at Will.
"What, are we five again?" She asked heatedly. Will tried to shrug her question off but Barbossa held his arms tightly.
"I know you are but what am I." Will replied with a smart ass smile. Alexia put her tongue behind her teeth and made a clucking noise. She then turned on her heel to Barbossa.
"Hey Barbie. Could I have a word with Will privately? Promise not to do anything!" She joked grabbing Will by his tied hands and leading him to a secluded corner. Barbossa nodded and began talk to Jack about something.
In their corner Alexia pushed Will against a wall, pressing his face in the rock like her officer father taught her. She then produced a dagger from her boot and cut the ropes binding Will, just enough so they could easily be slipped on and off. After releasing him, Alexia handed the ropes to Will she sat on a small treasure chest infront of him.
"What is up with you Will? Is this because I was bonding with Jack and you were jealous cause you like me?" Alexia asked straight out. Will flinched so badly it seemed like he was having an up right seizure.
"I'm not jealous." Will said trying to be cool to cover up his flinch. Alexia tapped her finger against her chin before nodding.
"Right, but you didn't say you don't like me." Alexia pointed out crossing her arms. Will sighed.
"Well, I do not really know what's going on." Will sat down next to Alexia and proceed to bury his head in his hands. Alexia's patted his shoulder awkwardly.
"Please tell me you're not going to cry or anything." Alexia pleaded making Will laugh.
"It's so hard because you are so amazing." Will muttered. Alexia froze in mid pat.
"Really?" She asked in such a girlish way she could not help but cringe from the outburst. Will smiled.
"Yes. You're strong and more beautiful than you know." Alexia blushed.
"Will don't please. You love Elizabeth remember?" She asked pushing him back Elizabeth but he only had eyes for her, here in this private space.
"Not to mention that sharp tongue you use to get out of any trouble. And you're braver than a good number of men I know. Well most of the time." Will though back to when Alexia had freaked out when she almost drowned.
"Will, stop and think about this okay?" Alexia held a hand up to stop Will from talking.
"You and me," Alexia gestured to Will and herself, "can't happened."
"I mean don't get me wrong or anything you're hot and all but come on. How old are you?" Alexia asked witheringly, eyeing Will up and down to discourage him from lying.
"Twenty." He supplied. Alexia threw her arms in the air.
"Yeah and I'm fifteen. Way to go by the way." Alexia gave him the thumbs up sign before sighing deeply, all the fight whooshing out of her.
"People get married at that age Alexia, to older people all the time. Five years is not that big of a gap." Will tried to reason. Alexia shook her head.
"Not in my era Will. That kind of thing frowned upon most of the time." Alexia sighed again while Will was at a complete loss.
"So what does this mean?" He asked, Alexia thought for a long moment. Handsome pirate right in front of her. Take the bait.
"To hell with it." Alexia smiled slowly. One kiss was not cheating nor did it stir any guilt toward Elizabeth, okay maybe a little but what's life with out taking chance and making mistakes.
"To hell with what?" Will asked uncertainly.
"To lizzie's feelings and to my conscious telling me not to kiss you." Will's went wide.
"Is this a trick?" He asked in a way that any guy given the option would.
"Does it look like I have a black top hat and a white bunny coming out of it?" Alexia lean forward slightly and smirked.
"No." Will had leaned forward, closing the gap between them.
"Then there's your answer. No tricks, no teasing. Now come here." Alexia grabbed the back of his head and pressing her lips on his. In that one moment they seemed to melt into each other. Will put a hand behind Alexia's head while she ran her fingers through his hair. After a minute she very unwillingly moved her hands to Will's board shoulders and pushed until they broke apart.
"As much as I pain to say this we should go." Alexia said promptly standing. She looked down at Will, who seemed unresponsive and a little starry eyed.
"Up and adam pretty boy. Barbie will be wonderin where you are. Come on." Alexia said the last bit in a southern drawl pulling Will to his feet. He shook his head and nodded.
"All right." He followed her back to the pirate gathering. The rest of the gals had to be on their way about now.
Ooo... I bet you didn't see that coming. Smooch's. Read and Review.