Chapter 26

"I Wouldn' Hurt You"

The next morning, Jack woke up, his back sore and his neck stiff. "Bloody floor," he grumbled. He wiped the remnants of sleep from his eyes and stood. He looked over at his son, contently cuddling into the young woman beside him. "Enjoy it, lad." He left the cabin and yawned, eyes closed as he walked onto the deck. When he opened them again, he turned around. "Jess! Up! Now!"

Jess shot right up without hesitation, the sound in his father's voice letting him know that suddenly every second was life or death. Deana didn't take the wake up call as well. She was confused and still half asleep. Jess quickly caressed her face, saying, "Stay here, Love." Deana's response was no more than a weak nod. "How bad is it, Dad?"

"We're in for a bit o' a ride, Jess." The two pirates disappeared.

Deana sat up in bed, covers pulled up to her chin. She felt it now, the movement of the ship far from pleasant. She knew that she should have been a bit more afraid than she was, but her mind kept flashing to the previous night. Jess was in love with her…and she finally admitted to herself that she was no longer merely falling for him.

Evangeline wasn't as lucky as Deana - she didn't have a clue as to what was happening. She had barely slept all night, and the churning of the ship wasn't the most pleasant of ways to wake. She looked out of the cabin's window and saw nothing but gray - and it was getting darker.

Seeing as it wasn't raining, she decided to venture onto the deck to try to find out what was going to happen to them. She dressed as quickly as she could, and left the cabin. Nobody seemed to notice her. The crew was following the various orders Jack was barking at them. Sails were pulled in; various odd and ends on deck were being tied down…it looked like organized chaos.

Evangeline began to shout to Jess, who was nearby, when the rain started to fall…in sheets. The water stung Evangeline's skin and her voice was drowned out of the air. Understanding her foolish mistake, she turned to go back into the cabin, but the ship was struck with a wave and she fell, face first, onto the deck.

Her head aching from the fall, Evangeline tried to get back on her feet, only to slide backward along the deck as the ship was tossed once again. She could hear words shouted by various crewmembers, but couldn't understand them. She made another attempt at getting up, and this time succeeded. She took no less than three steps toward Jack's cabin before a mess of rope fell from one of the masts. Her body once again made contact with the deck and her right foot became tangled in the rope.

Evangeline screamed ship churned once again and the rope tightened around her foot, causing her ankle to bend in a very unnatural fashion. The pain flew up her body and she realized that there was no way of getting back to the dry, safe confines of the cabin; she couldn't even reach the rope to release herself.

"We 'ave t' ride this one out, men!" Jack screamed over the storm. "The Pearl'll hold up fine! Everyone off deck!" The crew followed Jack's orders and headed to their cabins. Jess rushed back to Deana, Jack following him…until he saw Evangeline. "Jesus!" She didn't see him as she was facing the wrong direction. Jack rushed to her, immediately seeing the problem. He unraveled the rope as quickly as he could, Evangeline crying out at the fiery pain. Jack didn't give her any words of reassurance; he was more focused on getting her out of the storm. He tossed the rope out of the way and scooped the young woman into his arms, heading for his cabin as quickly as he could.

He placed Evangeline on the floor of his cabin, wanting to keep the bed dry for her. Look at what you've turned into, you pan…No, it's not me. I've ne'er been one t'…She thinks I was forcin' myself on her. I need t' show her that I wasn'… "Evangeline, what were you doing out there?" His tone was one of concern, not anger.

Evangeline looked to the side, avoiding Jack's eyes. "I…I didn't know what was going on…" She sniffled, trying her best not to cry in front of the pirate.

"Jus' so you know, next time the sky looks a bit fierce, stay in here." He looked at her ankle. "You won' be walkin' too well any time soon."

"I'll be fine," Evangeline insisted.

"Oh?" Jack said innocently. "Let's see you get up then, hm?"

Evangeline's body ached from being tossed about the deck, and the pain in her ankle was more than she could bear. "I…I need to lay still for a while…" She also realized that with the ship being tossed about as it was, she would once again wind up on the ground.

"Let me help you, lass."

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't need any help."

"I wasn' tryin' t' force ye t' do anythin' yesterday!" Jack's voice had a slight tone of desperation to it. "I really thought tha' ye an' I were playin' some kind o' game with each other an' I'm sorry that I upset ye."

Evangeline's eyes relaxed a little. By the look on his face and the tone of his voice, Evangeline could tell that Jack was being sincere. "No games," she said softly.

"I wouldn' hurt you, lass." He pushed some of her wet hair away from her face. "That bein' said, this might hurt like hell." Jack looked at the shoes she was wearing and knew that no matter how he went about doing so, getting the one off of her right foot was going to be an incredibly painful experience for her.