The warmth of the early morning rays of the sun slowly woke Em, chasing away the cold on her face from the night before. For some reason, the rest of her body felt already warm, very warm. The sun had not even broken from the light blue horizon when Em opened her eyes and stared up at the fading dark blue of the sky. Em groaned, closed her eyes again, and stretched her stiff neck muscles. She hadn't had the best of sleep last night.

"Glad to know ye didn't freeze up 'ere milady," Mr. Drummond's voice drifted up to her from somewhere below.

Em unwillingly opened her dark brown eyes again and slowly uncurled herself from the fetal position she had slept in, stretching out her taut limbs. That's when she noticed that something had been thrown over her body. Em sat up and a black trench coat slid off her upper body. The coat had been the source that had kept her body warm. With a hand, Em brought the coat closer to her sleep-bleary eyes.

There was a soft thump next to her and Em turned her gaze away from the mysterious coat and looked up at Mr. Drummond's sea-worn face smiling affectionately down at her. Looking into his yellowed eyes, Em knew immediately that it hadn't been her old lookout that had given her this coat. He didn't even wear one. The only recognizable person she knew who wore a trench coat as this was Jack Sparrow. Em's eyes widened in realization as a thought hit her. Jack had given her his own coat to keep her warm!

Mr. Drummond craned his neck forward so that he could get a better look at his captain. "Emelia?" he asked curiously, seeing her eyes widen to the size of tea saucers so suddenly.

Em shook her head and used the mast to help her up with Jack's coat still held firmly in her hand. "It's nothing Mr. Drummond," she told him dismissively. She slipped on Jack's coat over her shoulders, surreptitiously inhaling deeply the male scent that clung to the fabric. The coat was fairly large for her slender figure. It hung loose around her shoulders and the hem of the coat reached less than half a foot to her ankles. As she ran her other hand through her unruly long hair, she turned to Mr. Drummond and asked who else was up at this hour.

"On'y Mr. Gibbs, milady," the old man told her in his rusty voice. "'E was mutterin' 'bout bad luck when I left 'im to check up on ye."

Em nodded and turned around. "I think I'll walk around the deck a little," she told him and slowly began her descent down the rope net. She jumped down the last couple of feet and felt a satisfying pop in her left knee as she landed on top of the deck. For a moment, Em haled in deeply the fresh morning air that only the sea could provide and felt a little more awake now as the soft wind whipped her long hair about. Holding Jack's coat tighter to her body for warmth, she walked towards the bow where the angel figurehead greeted her eyes when she got there.

"Hello Angel," Em mumbled as she braced herself against the edge of the left side. Em looked down and immediately a smile broke across her sleepy face as a high pitched squeak greeted her from down below in the water. One of the dolphins was down there, the same one of the five that she had seen yesterday with Mr. Gibbs.

Is that you Tobias? she silently asked the dolphin, also thinking about what Gibbs had told her yesterday about these playful creatures. As if he (or she, though Em highly doubted it) had read her thoughts, the dolphin dove back into the still water. Em bent over curiously, wondering where he would have gone. Her question's answer was for the same dolphin to suddenly jump in the air from the water and blow water into her face by its blowhole before diving back into the water.

Em stood there with cold seawater dripping down her wet face and hair for a long moment before she slowly raised her hand and wiped her face dry with the worn sleeve of Jack's coat. Em looked down at the dolphin and told him, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you are Tobias."

The dolphin's response was to jump up so it looked like it stood on its tail and clap its front flippers at Em while barking.

Em wrinkled her nose at the sea animal. "Thought so," she muttered, though inwardly she felt a stir of happiness inside of her. Em's ears picked up a set of heavy footsteps approaching her and turned her back on the dolphin. She met a pair of charcoal-rimmed eyes that belonged to none other than Jack Sparrow.

With the absence of his trench coat, Jack only wore his long boots, fading trousers with the usual items strapped to his belt, and an also fading blue vest that he must have obviously stolen from a merchant of the fleet over his long-sleeved cotton shirt. As was expected of him, Jack also wore his beloved black tricorn hat snuggly over his wild shoulder-length hair and red bandana.

For a long moment, Em simply couldn't keep her eyes off of him. He was that dashing, that roguishly handsome, in her eyes. Another gust of wind, this time a little stronger, blew past her coming directly from the bow. The first few buttons of Jack's shirt were open to reveal the top of his muscular chest, and as the wind blew, Em could now plainly see how the little pendant hanging off the necklace she had given him two years before shined bright in the rise of the morning sun against Jack's very tan skin. It felt as if a hand gripped at her heart then. Jack's gruff voice brought her back to the present.

"What are you doing with me coat?" Jack asked in bewilderment and gestured with his right hand always tied with a black cloth to his clothing article hanging loosely around her.

It was Em's turn to give Jack a confused look of her own. "Didn't you give this to me?" she asked.

A look on Jack's face that appeared identical to the one he had every time he got slapped appeared on his face. Jack cleared his throat loudly and replied, "I don't believe so because I specifically remember giving it to your dear Mr. Drummond up in the crow's nest before the rum sent me straight to sleep." Jack shrugged casually. "He must've given it to you then," he concluded.

If it had been anyone but Jack that had told her that, Em would have almost believed that person. Yet, some of the timing was wrong. Jack had said "up in the crow's nest," but if he had, then Em would have seen him last night because she never left the main deck when she had stormed out of his office. Em opened her mouth to accuse Jack of his falsehood but as she stared into his eyes, she saw a familiar twinkle in their mesmerizing depths and knew what he already knew but didn't want to say: That Jack had given the cloak to Em because he really cared enough to not want her to freeze last night.

Jack saw her hesitation and inwardly sighed in relief that he didn't have to explain himself. Em already had it figured out. He held out his hand. "Me coat?"

Em wordlessly shrugged off Jack's trench coat and handed it to him. She couldn't help watching his fluid movements as he tucked one strong arm into the sleeve and then the other, shrugging on the rest of his coat. The gold soaring bird that was the tiny pendant hanging off of the necklace around his neck was hidden underneath the extra layer of clothing. She held back the temptation of helping him straighten his coat out for him on his hard, lean body.

Jack tilted his hat down a bit so that his eyes were shaded against the rising rays of the sun and turned his attention back to Emelia. He smirked seeing that she was staring at him with passion in her eyes, though seemingly lost in thought as well. Emelia looked so lovely in his eyes at the moment with the wind blowing about her long hair and tugging at her clothes that left nothing for his wild imagination. He began to tiptoe up to her quietly.

Em suddenly felt strong arms wrap around her waist and gasped in surprise. She snapped her head up and immediately came eye to eye with Jack Sparrow. "What are you doing?" she demanded once her initial shock wore off. She felt Jack pull her closer to his body and out of instinct placed her hands on his chest. Em glared up at him warningly.

Jack grinned down at her, and Em swore that the familiar twinkle in his eye grew brighter. "I'm not doing anythin' love," he said cheerfully. "Can't a man cherish in the company of a lovely woman such as yerself?" he asked.

Em gave him a dirty look that bordered on offense on her part. "Not if said man expects something in the return of the time he spent in said lovely woman's company!" she snapped.

"And what would that somethin' be, Miss Kraven?" Jack asked seriously.

Em's glare intensified a few deadly notches. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" she retorted.

Jack threw his head back and laughed. He felt Em attempt to break away from his hold and held onto her tighter, simultaneously closing what was left of space they had between them. He lowered his head so close to the side of her head that his lips teasingly brushed her ear as he spoke softly into it, "That something in return would be just to be in your company, Emelia."

Feeling his hot breath on her ear sent shivers down Em's spine and the longing in his words made Em's heart skip a beat or two. At the same time, he had put out her temper with his answer. Em closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Jack's neck. "Jack, please don't say that," she murmured. She felt his left thumb caress a small portion of her smooth stomach underneath the layers of the corset and silk shirt she wore and bit her bottom lip to keep from moaning.

"I know what you mean, darling," Jack surprisingly replied and disentangled himself from Em. When Em opened her eyes, it was to be suddenly led towards Jack's quarters by the pirate himself. "What are you doing?" she asked for the second time that morning.

Jack grinned down at her from her left side. His right arm was wrapped around her waist. "Thought we'd go somewhere more private so as not to be disturbed," he told her candidly.

Em rolled her eyes thinking, Leave it to Jack to turn a perfectly romantic thing into something for physical pleasure. As they entered through the doors, Em removed Jack's arm and strode towards his writing desk. When she unceremoniously sat on Jack's chair, she looked up and saw an annoyed look on Jack's face.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked her with a small jerk of his head.

Em smirked. She crossed her arms around her chest and sat back. "I think it be best that we start planning the rest of the route since we are here already," she told him smartly.

Jack crinkled his nose with rising annoyance. "Alrigh' then," he said sullenly and crossed the room. When he reached the side where Em sat, he gave her a hard stare.

Em rolled her eyes and stood up. It was her turn for an annoyed look to appear on her face as Jack made hand motions for her to move. "Satisfied?" she asked sarcastically when she did. She watched as Jack grinned and sat on his chair like a triumphant king would sit on his coronation throne with his leg propped over his knee. Em rolled her eyes and gingerly sat down at the edge of the hard, wooden armrest. For joy, another few hours of torture for my buttocks, she thought as she leaned over the map in front of them.

Later that night after supper was finished and Em had managed to convince Mr. Drummond that it was alright that she take the night watch for now on, the female pirate lay in the same cramped position she had been in last night laying on her back staring up at the star-filled cold night sky with her leg in a weird and uncomfortable position. Em knew that it was going to be a bit harder getting to sleep this night and sighed softly to herself. She had hoped she wouldn't have to come down to this, but some desperate, sleepless times called for some desperate measures.

Slowly getting to her feet, less she fall out of the crow's nest, Em brushed herself off before beginning to climb down the main mast. She went down the winding wooden stairs that led below deck. For a moment, she stopped on the second deck where the crew was sleeping all over the whole floor. In narrow, lumpy cots or in cloth hammocks identical to the one Jack slept in suspended by hooks nailed to the ceiling above, every man slept. Em's dark brown eyes rested briefly on the sleeping figure of Mr. Drummond, who was actually sharing a rather large cot with Michael, and she smiled fondly at the both of them before she continued observing the rest of the men. Well as Em took the time to scan the room, she found not necessarily every man was sleeping.

Tim seemed to be missing. One lone hammock that hung off to the left side of the quarters directly above Ozz was swinging emptily. Em quietly traversed the room until she stood next to Ozz's cot and the hammock, staring warily at the latter. She raised her left hand to stop its lazy movement before pivoting back around and ambled towards the stairs with a slightly quickly step.

Down the stairs she walked until she stood on the next floor. The galley to her left, Em walked to the right where the rum cellar was located. No longer feeling tense when she had seen Tim's empty hammock, and even feeling quite happy seeing the rack filled still full with rum bottles, Em plucked out the nearest bottle and sloshed the alcohol inside a bit to hear the comforting swishing sound it made.

Three floors above Em in his spacey Captain's Quarters where he slept as comfortably as his hammock would allow him, the corner of Jack Sparrow's right eye twitched ever so slightly before he was suddenly jolted out of his sleep as if ice-cold water had been thrown on him.

"RUM!!" Jack cried as his jerky movements sent his hammock flipping him over where he then landed face down on the floor with a terrible crash.

Having not heard the commotion, Em heartily thanked whoever it was who invented rum before she clutched the bottle close to her chest and started for the stairs.

The wind had drastically picked up as Em emerged from the hatch leading below deck and blew through her, tossing her long hair about. Em pulled the scarlet satin trench coat she wore over her usual clothes closer to her body. At the edges of the collar were otter fur sowed on. The coat reached a few inches past her buttocks. Em had taken it from a wealthy merchant who had been at the time working for the Company and had not regretted robbing the man it in the least; not even when she had ordered the torching of his fine ship. Another gust of wind blew and Em shivered, though careful not to drop the bottle of rum she still clutched firmly in her left hand.

"Bloody wind," she murmured. Out of the corner of her left eye, Em saw a shadow of movement near to the bow of the Pearl and spun around. "Who's there?" she demanded and even took her pistol from its place in her belt for good measure. She saw a figure step out into her line of fire from behind the foremast and tensed up, but she soon relaxed once she saw Tim McIlrath come into the light of the half-full moon which hung drowsily up in the sky like a half-closed eye.

"Em?" Tim asked and stepped closer to where he had supposedly heard her voice last. His dark green eyes widened when he first saw the pistol aimed at him before he saw the dark beauty that was his captain. When his eyes did gaze on the rest of Em, Tim couldn't help but become almost entranced at the image the light of the moon was revealing to him.

In Tim's eyes, Em looked like a fierce siren like those in sailors' tales that were said to lure sailors into their depths by their lovely, mesmerizing voices. Em seemed to fit that description, with the exception of her eyes. Her eyes were her lovely, mesmerizing voice. Tim licked his lips and then swallowed hard as sharp lust rose up from the pit of his stomach.

He was yanked back into reality by sounds of footsteps coming closer to him. As he was shaking his head to clear it from the erotic images he had been seeing in his mind, Em passed him without so much as a side-glance in his direction as she walked towards the bow where he had been a few moments before. He had noticed when he did steal a glance to her as she passed him that her pistol was stowed back in her belt and sighed with relief. He didn't like being at ends with Em - not one bit. He had missed seeing her today and yesterday but knew she had been in the company of one Captain Jack Sparrow in his own quarters calculating and chartering the route they were taking to Florida together. It made Tim's blood boil just thinking about Sparrow having Em all to himself for hours on end while he, Tim, was nowhere to even seeing her during the daytime.

However, all that didn't apply to right now. Tim turned around to face the front of the Black Pearl and saw that Em was perched on the railing on the right side of the bow, looking out into the black, calm mass of water surrounding the whole boat. Michael and Gibbs had both agreed and had ordered the men to anchor the ship to give everyone a rest.

The tall blonde heard the familiar sound of a cork being popped off of a bottle and focused his attention on Em's lonely figure again. The wind coming from the direction she looked at blew her long, tangled hair back and whipped around her like black fire. Now feeling longing along with lust rise inside of him, Tim quietly walked up to Em and stood next to her with her back facing him, careful to avoid being whipped by her hair. She held an open bottle of rum in her hands. "It's a beautiful night," he said.

Em started from surprise, nearly choking on her own saliva at the nearness of Tim's soft, warm voice. She looked back over her shoulder at him with a slight glare in her eyes, irked that he had snuck up on her. "Yes, it is," she replied curtly then took another drink from the bottle.

Tim blinked. Already he had made her mad at him. Nice going genius, a snide voice inside his head told him. Tim blinked again and mumbled, "Sorry."

Em lowered the bottle and turned around in her spot on the railing so that she faced him. She saw that he really was sincere and felt a little guilty for snapping at him like that. He still shouldn't have done it though, Em thought peevishly but rolled her eyes. She scooted over a bit and patted a spot on the railing next to her. "Come and sit with me. I can't finish this whole bottle by myself," she invited him.

For a moment, Tim was totally thunder-struck by this simple request-no, invitation. That's what it was. She, Emelia Kraven, was inviting him to sit with her and share her bottle of rum. Knowing that she could change her mind at any given moment, Tim quickly sat down, hoping he didn't seem like an overeager teenager. He felt his heart close to bursting as he accepted the bottle Em held out to him, and as his fingers brushed her own, he felt them tingle right to their very tips.

Em felt quite laid-back and very warm right now thanks to the fast working effects of the rum, courtesy of Tom and his wife Juliet who made their rum themselves. She smiled contentedly up at Tim which he returned quite brilliantly. It was Tim's turn to thank the creator of rum. Another gust of wind blew through them and despite wearing her scarlet trench coat and drinking rum, Em shivered from the cold. She was then surprised when Tim, who had been observing her closely and had seen her shiver, put his strong arm around her and pulled her close to his body.

"What are you doing?" Em half asked, half demanded. It seemed as if she was saying that a lot to people these days, most specifically to Jack. Remembering the rogue pirate and whose arm was around hers now, Em tried to move away, but Tim wouldn't let her. He responded by tightening his arm around her as he looked down at her with a smile playing around her lips.

"I just thought you'd want to be warm," he replied a little cheekily.

Em huffed. "Well I don't need your help."

Tim just continued to smile which annoyed Em even further. Yet amazingly, she hadn't lost her temper on him yet. It may have been the work of the rum which she was now drinking down greedily at the moment. "Why aren't you sleeping like the others?" she asked him when she had lowered the bottle from her wet lips.

Tim took the bottle from her and took a swig too. "Why aren't you sleeping?" he countered.

Em's left eye twitched. "Just answer my question!"

Tim chuckled and drew her closer to his body. He met no resistance, surprisingly, and felt very pleased. Maybe she was finally starting to warm up to him after all. "I couldn't sleep," he said simply. He added just to see her smile, "And some of the snoring in there is plain horrible." His plan worked and she graced him with a soft smile.

"I know. I heard it all when I checked on you all before getting Jack's rum," she told him.

Tim's eyebrows rose skeptically. "Jack's rum?" he questioned. "And here I was actually thinking that you were the one who ordered and bought the rum with your own money," he added sarcastically.

Em laughed, and it was like music to Tim's ears. Siren, he thought as he looked deep into her dark brown eyes. Em nodded. "I did buy the rum, but Jack loves to keep a tight hold on any rum on his ship," she explained.

A sound equaling to a rude snort erupted from Tim. "He keeps a tight hold on his rum, yet he doesn't try to keep a tight hold on you." Tim immediately regretted the words even as he said them.

Em's eyes widened and blazed with fury as jumped up back onto the deck and clenched her fists tightly on either side of her. She pointed at him. "You don't know what you are talking about!" she shouted angrily at him. "You don't know why he had to let go of me!"

Tim also stood up and faced her. The empty bottle of rum rolled away from them and stopped at the base of the foremast. "Yeah, but you don't know what you are doing!" he shot back.

Em was taken aback. "What in bloody hell do you mean?" she demanded. She caught herself, for her left hand was slowly inching towards her pistol; she had left her cutlass up in the crow's nest along with her duffel bag that she had retrieved from Jack's quarters. Em took a deep breath to calm herself lest she do something brash.

While her moment of pause, Tim replied, "Sparrow-"

"Jack!" Em corrected him. "Or rather Captain Sparrow," she added.

Tim's green eyes narrowed. "Captain Sparrow," he started with disgust dripping off the words, "can't be trusted, Emelia."

Despite her attempts to leash her temper, Em could feel it wanting to tear out of her chest. "Don't. Call. Me. Emelia!" she growled through tightly clenched teeth. "And I can trust Jack more than I can trust you!" she added harshly. Em turned sharply on her heel and started walking towards the main mast.

Tim flinched, but quickly ran after her. He caught her arm and stopped her just as she was about to climb the net leading up the large mast. He repeated what he said earlier, "You don't what you are doing!"

Eerily, a sudden calm descended upon Em with Tim's accusation as she stepped back down onto the deck and faced him. Staring coolly up at him, she replied quietly, "I know exactly what I'm doing." Underneath the serenity of her words, Tim could clearly hear the warning in them as well.

"I know you do," Tim said slowly, carefully weighing his words. He didn't trust this calm demeanor his captain was putting up. However, he still kept a firm hold on her arm. "But it's what Sparrow's doing, or planning on doing that I'm concerned about."

Em tilted her head to the side with an unreadable expression on her face. "Why must you hate him so, Tim?" she asked softly.

Tim let go of her and took a hasty step back, as if he had been holding a snake instead of her limb. "You know why," he quickly replied.

Em nodded slowly. "Yes, I do," she said mostly to herself. Then so suddenly that Em audibly gasped, Tim's hands grabbed her shoulders gently but quite firmly and pulled her closer to his body. Out of instinct, Em placed her hands on his wide, muscular chest. She looked up into his dark green eyes. "Release me," she demanded, though it sounded more like a request.

Tim shook his head and held onto her shoulders tighter. "Promise me that you will watch yourself when you are around Jack," he demanded; pleaded.

I would rather watch myself when I'm around you, Em's subconscious voice replied, but out loud she said, "Alright." She had half expected Tim to immediately release her as she had demanded, but the other half that knew that he wouldn't still didn't make the surprise she felt any smaller when Tim's warm, dry lips pressed on hers. She felt him try to pry her lips open but kept them firmly pressed together so Tim had to finally release her, arms and all.

"Get some sleep," she told him stiffly.

Tim nodded without having a smile Em had expected him to have on his face and began to walk towards the hatch leading to the lower decks. Em waited until the last sounds of his fading footsteps echoed and faded into the cold night air before she started her ascent to the crow's nest.

Em was too high up to ever hear the smart snap of the two doors leading to Jack's quarters close behind the rugged captain. Neither Em nor Tim had noticed that they had had hidden company during the time they had been up at the bow drinking rum and sea gazing. They did not know that Jack had seen everything that had happened up from the time he had seen Tim walk aimlessly around the main deck before he settled at the bow to the kiss Tim had pressed upon Em.

What Captain Jack Sparrow disliked the most about the whole thing besides the two facts that one, Em had taken a bottle of his rum without his permission, and two, Tim and Em had spent time together in which Em did no such bodily harm to him in that space of time, was the fact that Em had done practically nothing to suggest that she had been disgusted with the Kiss.

As he quietly settled back into his hammock, Jack cursed silently against Timmothy McIlrath. Jack hated him even more. He had heard the younger man's warnings to Em very plainly, for they had been arguing quite loudly, and knew that he had to take Tia Dalma's warning that she had given him more seriously.

Beware of de man who has de eyes of envy . . .

He had nightmares of dark green eyes that took Emelia away from him that night as he alone watched helplessly on the empty-crewed Pearl.