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Chapter 29: Contemplation
Afternoon had rolled around and she found herself dozing slightly against the railing, Ragetti and Pintel were ordered quietly off, Gibbs took over the helm during this and watched Jack lean down lifting her into his arms without warning. She shook awake startled by the movement but relaxed when she realized she was safe, Jack being wise to the threatening looks he had been receiving from Kylee most of the day went quickly to his cabin and left Fiona on the bed. After being sure she was asleep he stepped out into the open and watched a dark green gaze glower at him on her way to the cabin she was currently bunking with Anna-Maria in. "Time to put that woman in her place, this is my ship." He took notice to Elizabeth and Will who were busily working on the ship and stealthily headed down the corridor toward the cabin she was staying in.
Without knocking he walked into the cabin and was startled to find Kylee standing there arms crossed, eyes locked on his entrance. "I had a feeling you would stop by to talk with me." She ignored the cross glare she received from Jack and tilted her head to the side in thought.
"That look reminds me of Elizabeth." He shook aside the thoughts and glowered at Kylee in turn. "Ye nearly killed my friend…yer lucky to still be on this ship lass." He was fighting to keep his voice at a normal volume.
"Ooo…so threatening. Apparently you're much more then Elizabeth ever described, you've gone soft for that gypsy it seems." She stepped forward coming only a few inches from Jack and meeting his threatening gaze head on. "Too bad I didn't. I'm not afraid of you Jack…been through much more then dear Liz even knows. She has no idea I was sent away for nearly killing my younger sister, she attempted to sink her claws into a man I once cared for…now I'm just corrupt." She turned to the right to walk around him and leave; his hand caught her arm before she could even attempt to exit.
"I got through to Fiona…yer too far gone for help." His grip loosened watching Kylee rub her arm thoughtfully, there was something in that cold gaze that made him just a bit nervous. "Far too gone for help, ye are cold hearted and would kill to make things go yer way." He involuntarily stepped back when she come a few inches closer to him.
Kylee smirked slightly at his reaction and studied him carefully. "No body scares me Jack, I know what I want and take it, no matter the consequences." Her voice was raspy making him very exasperated at the moment. "I also love to hurt people and know exactly what to do to really hurt that girl." Her hands locked around his neck without warning and she pressed her lips firmly against his, deepening the kiss before nipping lightly against his bottom lip. "Don't test me." With that she turned and left Jack thoroughly agitated, not to mention it was the first time he could remember wanting to sanitize his mouth.
Jack practically stomped back to his cabin swearing all the way, while vigorously wiping his mouth and trying to shake her touch from his body. He loathed that woman more then he ever thought possible, he had never hated a woman more then he did her, even Elizabeth had been spared that hatred. She was cold hearted and more manipulative then even Jack Sparrow could appreciate, she wasn't human in his opinion. "I don't like how her mind works." He opened his door and almost slammed it, but then it hit him Fiona was asleep in his cabin and took every ounce of his strength not to slam it anyway. He had always considered Carpenter evil in carnet; until he met Kylee Gracen after that he decided she was far worse. He muttered quietly to himself about how many different ways to do away with the woman, before grasping the dagger and sliding the handle over the map he had acquired from an unsuspecting man in Tortuga, he was so annoyed he couldn't concentrate on their destination and surrendered in his attempts. He sat at his desk pondering the banshee from hell on his ship for a long while, until he was startled from his thoughts. Fiona was sitting up observing him and he hadn't noticed how long she had been doing so at the time.
"What did she do to you?" It didn't take her much to figure out Kylee was the reason for Jacks mumbled ranting; the woman had a way to leave an impression on someone when needed.
He scowled at Fiona for mentioning the banshee, which he had taken to thinking of her as. "She violated my personal space…enough said." He wrinkled his face in a very disgusted look hearing her climb to her feet and hesitantly approach the desk.
"She violated your personal space?" He nodded ignoring her concerned look. "She did more than that…she had to have.." she stopped her thoughts and startled Jack by placing a finger lightly against his bottom lip, there was a spot that had been bruised lightly, she knew then what Kylee had done. She could feel the rage burning in her very being at the moment, but knew she was in no shape to do anything about it. "I'm going to murder her in her sleep." She noticed his curious expression before a small smirk lit up his eyes. "Not even someone as cocky, arrogant, and annoying as you deserves to be treated like that." She turned her dark gaze to the door hearing a hesitant knock; she had come to associate the knock with Gibbs and something involving their nightmarish guest. "Poor Gibbs, that girl is going to give him a complex."
"She may be right." Jack opened the door to the cabin and watched Gibbs stand there almost like a kicked puppy. "What is it this time mate?"
"We're not overly far from Tia Dalma's…that woman is at it again." He winced hearing a scuffle behind him on deck. "Anna seems to be taking care of it for the moment, she's still sore over what happened to Fiona." With that he sighed exiting the cabin and leaving Jack and Fiona to ponder the swearing from outside the cabin door.
"Anna is going to cripple her." She smiled wickedly at the amused grin on Jacks face. "I would love to see how Kylee likes having the crap kicked out of her." She was surprised when Jack walked from the open door and lifted her from the bed; he took care not to jar her too much.
"Lets go see then." Before she could respond he was carrying her from the cabin and helped her settle on one of the many barrels around the area.
Both watched Kylee attack Anna-Maria various times over, each time Kylee was on the receiving end of several painful blows, including various kicks, punches, and good old fashioned bitch slaps. Anna-Maria did not cat fight and clearly had the upper hand with Kylee who was now faced with the fact she hadn't caught her off guard, and didn't have the advantage like she had with Fiona. To her surprise Elizabeth and Will observed the situation both knowing better then to get involved, in Elizabeth's opinion though she wouldn't admit it, Kylee deserved whatever she got. After a few good smack downs, Anna-Maria walked casually off leaving Kylee to pick herself up off the deck and go sulk where there was less of an amused audience, she winced hearing a round of applause and cheering at her loss but refused to acknowledge she had been beaten.
As entertaining as it had been to watch Anna-Maria hand Kylee her own ass, so to speak Fiona was very uncomfortable with her current pains, not to mention she didn't need nor want Jack carrying her back to the cabin. Carefully she climb to her feet, brushing aside Jacks concern as best she could and retreated cautiously back to the cabin. Jack had no intention of letting her out of his sight, he quickly followed after leaving things in the capable hands of Gibbs. Once inside the cabin he froze seeing Fiona had lifted her shirt aside and was carefully inspecting her bruised body, finding bruises she hadn't found previously.
"Nothing you haven't seen before Jack." She couldn't help using his own pirate ways against him at the moment; it made her feel highly amused she had caught him off guard. "Ouch." She hissed finding that some of her ribs had apparently been fractured among her ego, she was going to find some way to pay Kylee back, eventually.
Jack hadn't realized the severity of the damage to Fiona, until he saw her without her shirt and for once he kept his usual self in check. "Yer a mess love." She glowered at him for stating the obvious. "I think I better try and do something with those ribs until we get to Tia's." with that he walked over to the trunk he deemed med supplies and pulled out material to wrap her possibly broken or fractured ribs with. "Promise ye won't throttle me?" she eyed him with a dark glare before sighing.
"It isn't like I have a choice Jack." His familiar mischievous smirk lingered there for a moment before he leaned far closer then she had expected, she then felt his hands gently wrapping the material around her ribs. "Not those magic hands again." She was again repressing urges she had wished would leave her be, and winced finding another of her many bruises on her chest. "Thanks." He leaned back seeing far more bruises then he should have and lowered his eyes to dangerous slits.
"I hope Tia Dalma has a plan for that bloody woman." Fiona's eyes met his dark gaze, she tilted her head slightly before slipping painfully back into her shirt.
"Kylee might kill Tia Dalma." She noticed Jack again acting more concerned then she expected. "Do you feel like explaining Jack, clearly you have no intention of leaving me be for a while." He realized what she was referring too and almost winced.
"Bugger." In truth he hadn't come up with a good story, or a rather long complicated way of explaining things to her. He had only come to the conclusion she was getting under his skin, he wouldn't define it as love but he wasn't sure admitting he worried for her well being was wise either. In the past it only got him trouble, hurt, and a one way ticket to and from hell. He considered his options and finally realized there was no way around it, he felt something for her, he just wasn't sure what it was or how to explain it.
He observed her a minute debating, finally he surrendered. "I know there's something love, just don't know what exactly." He knew that wasn't a great answer and waited for her reaction.
"He's still got those ever present issues; at least he admits there's something." She pondered his answer for a long while and nodded. "It's better then totally giving me an outright lie, wouldn't want to hurt you after getting along with each other, well somewhat." She smirked at the slight surprise look on his face. "As for that banshee outside…please tell me you know where to find the nearest school of sharks." She ignored the frustrated tone in her voice; she was sore, cranky, and felt like murdering Kylee. She had many more reasons to dislike the woman but then the list would never end.
"Sorry." He smirked at her annoyed expression. "What are ye up too?" he noticed an almost interested glint come into her eyes, it was one of the looks he had associated with being very much up to something, not a good thing with her.
"Wishing I wasn't sore." She didn't feel like going in to detail what she felt at the moment, if she hadn't been sore she might have let her urges take over her common sense. It had been a good enough answer for her to start to feel a little less restrictive around him.
This puzzled Jack; it was a simple answer and was far too simple for the odd look he had seen her give him. "Confusing woman anyway." He stood walking to the door to see what was going on, there was a familiar commotion on deck which indicated one of two things, they were at their destination, or were being attacked. Gibbs met him halfway making him realize unfortunately it was the latter, they were under attack again and it was again Carpenter's crew. He was instantly on deck barking out orders to avoid confrontation with Carpenters crew; he had enough to deal with on board, in his visit with Tia Dalma and really did not want to put any of them in the middle of a fight at the moment. He was also concerned that Kylee might jump ship and join the other side; he wouldn't put it past the cold hearted woman. As per his orders they were soon out of range of the other ship and continuing their way to Tia Dalma's safely.
"Afraid I might do something you wouldn't like Captain?" He paused in his stride back to the cabin and turned to the familiar cold voice. "Relax Jack, I am far more amused with torturing you and your Gypsy." With that Kylee walked off to assist Elizabeth in her struggle with some ropes and heavy lifting.
Jack muttered several choice curses under his breath before turning back to his cabin. Anna-Maria glowered at the now well known menace from her work; she took note to Jacks discomfort among other things. "Tha woman is crossin the wrong people." He met Anna-Maria's gaze before shutting the door and nodded that she should keep a sharp eye on the menace, he was then gone from her sight.
Fiona sat up with effort on the bed and took notice to his agitation almost instantly. "Now what did she do?" his dark gaze met hers, almost cautiously.
"She's a bloody…
"Evil, bitchy, nightmare from the deepest parts of hell?" She considered her opinions carefully. "Oh yeah…she's a banshee too." He chuckled at how easily she was lightening his dark mood; she had learned to read him well over time.
"She's all that and then some Fiona." He walked over to his desk and continued to trace the path to the destination after visiting Tia Dalma's. "Do ye know anything about witchcraft, other then gypsy magic or voodoo?" she shrugged not really sure if she could answer that or not, her magic knowledge was very limited.
"My grandmother would…I'm still learning, otherwise you wouldn't have been graced with my unfavorable presence." He offered her an amused smirk at that, he then went back to studying the map with dagger in hand. "This isn't too dangerous, like curses and giant sea things…right?"
"Come on love, ye know me better then that." He retorted seeing her frown and offer him a familiar dark look.
"That's the problem." Fiona turned to the sound of a hesitant tap on the door, this time it wasn't Gibbs and she wasn't entirely sure how she knew that. "Not Gibbs…odd."
Jack knew it wasn't Gibbs also and gave her an odd look; he then cautiously went to the door and opened it. "Anna…what is it?" she stepped into the cabin and studied Fiona curiously.
"Jus wanted to be sure she was with ye. Tha woman be up to somethin." Both Jack and Fiona exchanged looks with one another, they reflected 'here we go again'.
"I hope she falls overboard." Fiona winced when she shifted again; Anna-Maria took notice to this and walked over to her. "I'm fine Anna." She was startled when Anna-Maria lifted her shirt and a dark look come into her eyes.
"I didn bea tha woman enough." Fiona caught her arm before she left to finish off Kylee.
"You did enough, her ego's pretty much shattered by now." She smiled at Anna-Maria who finally relented in her attempt to go finish Kylee off.
After a short discussion of the possibilities running through Kylee's mind, Anna-Maria left Jack and Fiona to ponder the situation. They weren't overly far from Tia's bayou now, that meant that things were going to get much more interesting for all of them. Fiona was secretly hoping that Kylee would push her luck, just so she could watch Tia Dalma do something rather interesting to her; the imagery was rather pleasant in her minds eye. Jack took notice to her amused look and could only guess what was going through her mind, he went back to concentrating on the map at hand and frowned in irritation, things were about to get very complicated and it was because he had a bad feeling about Kylee. The woman had been a menace since she come aboard the Black Pearl and he wasn't about to let his guard down around the woman.
Fiona felt a gently sensation of movement beside her and opened her eyes, it was early morning she could tell by the barely visible light in the cabin. "Jack?" she started to ask what was going on but felt a finger gently against her lips; he wanted her to be as silent as possible. Anna-Maria did her usual drop of fresh cloths and left as silently as she had entered, Fiona changed quickly ignoring the fact she had again stunned Jack. "I'm getting far to brave around him." She ignored her thoughts for the time being and found herself helped stiffly to her feet; she was still in a great deal of pain but was better then the previous day. Without any questions she followed Jack quietly out on the deck and over to one of the longboats, Ragetti, Pintel and Gibbs helped her into the boat while Jack climb down after her, she saw Will and Elizabeth were in the other one observing her nervously. "Kylee's still sleeping." She realized they were avoiding any confrontations with the violent woman that morning, she frowned at the thought that they were all tiptoeing around the menace, but she knew there was always a good reason for Jacks actions.
