When Jack had returned with the doctor, the ageing man had explained to Nicolette what exact state his daughter Evelyn had found her in and how he had gone about fixing it. She had felt Jack's eyes watching her carefully as she listened and he had remained just as caring as the Doctor said she was safe to leave his care given her fever had broken. Jack had helped her stand from the bed as if she were a China doll and basically carried her from the small house to the The Ol' Sailor where he had rented out a room for her for the next two weeks.
Imelda was a mess at first, seeing Nic all bruised, and then she became just as overbearing as Jack, if not more so, instructing the girl that she 'was not to leave the property for at least a week or else!' Not that Nicolette minded really. Her ribs still hurt like a bitch and she would rather not walk the streets looking like a spoiled painting.
That was four days ago now and Nicolette still hadn't had the chance to find Evelyn and thank her and she still had a very masculine nurse like presence watching her every move, although there was something else plaguing his mind too, she just hadn't worked out what it was yet.
On this particular evening, the eve of when Jack was due to leave Tortuga for an unknown destination, Nicolette sat with him at a small table in a dark hidden nook of the Sailor drinking to pass the time. He was looking over charts, ones she couldn't recall him ever going to collect from the Pearl or anywhere else for that matter, but the large pieces of parchment covered the table making her groan with annoyance each time she tried to put her drink down and Jack scowled at her.
"What exactly is it that you're doing?" She asked, taking a break from scanning the crowds. No one interesting was in for her to watch, a brawl hadn't broken out for at least twenty minutes now and they were so secluded she couldn't even get a little amusement from the whores who walked past their table to throw her jealous glances.
For her company being Jack Sparrow, the night was peculiarly boring.
"Tracking." He spoke so randomly and so long after her original question she forgot she had asked him anything in the first place and jumped, startled at the sound of his voice.
"And…" Nic trailed off, expecting a little more than a one word answer from him. "What is it that you are tracking?"
"Things." With a heavy groan and dramatic roll of her eyes, Nicolette slumped in her seat and sighed. When exactly did he become such a big dull dud? Is it what he was like on land?
She groaned again when her huff didn't emote anything from him and she started to ponder.
"When I get a ship, do you think I should go by Captain Barker, or Captain Barbossa?" Jack dropped his blunt chip of charcoal and looked to her. There was no way she could have known her question would have aroused a reaction from Jack, but she hoped and she would be lying if she said it didn't make her proud to know she could get a rise so easily which such little effort. "You know, I mean Barker's got a bite of it's own to it but all the good tales have a scorned widow don't they?" She rolled her eyes through the air, landing her pupils on Jack's blank face and pouting her lips. "No?"
Jack sucked on his cheeks, dark narrow eyes giving her a once over which she assumed was meant as a warning. "Barker…sounds better on the tongue love. And the image is a lot easier on the mind." She smirked but pursed her lips, making a high pitched squeak as she considered his input.
"Hmm, Nicolette Barbossa always was a mouthful." When she looked back at him, Jack had returned to reading the charts with such depth that he was once again otherwise deaf… "Oh what's wrong Jack you haven't been much fun at all these past few nights?"
Without missing a beat, Jack replied in a murmur.
"The occupants of the room next to yours would beg to differ." This time, Nicolette's face fell into a flat expression and the hint of a smirk came to his face as he watched her from the corner of his eye.
"If that's the only genre of entertainment you offer then you'll have to let me know your standing rate?" Nicolette snarled, bringing her almost drained chalice of wine to her lips.
"Oh you paid me enough love, don't you worry."
She stared at him hard, almost as if she was trying to burn the stupid grin off his face with her pupils and then slowly turned her face away and downed the remaining bitter blood red liquid. It was going to be great when he finally left tomorrow, when she could finally go back to trying to win some money, sometimes succeeding, while trying to find that little low life who had took was she earned. She could finally go out, get some good food; not that the Sailors cook was bad but they seemed to lack knowledge of salt…
Just to have some roasted pork or stewed carrots…sticky lemon cake or hot pineapple from that old woman's stall by the black bay. Oh it was all she could think about now. The nights would be colder and quieter and the loneliness she had tried to ignore during the past month would surely return quicker than it had last time…but still…that woman knew how to bake a good cake.
Nicolette heard mumbling from her side and opened a ear to Jack should he have awoken from his tiring chores, but she soon realised he was still just as enthralled in his out of date sketches, he had just now taken to taking to himself…lovely. "Now…by my reckoning, the bloody thing should be in Turkey….here…" Nicolette rolled her eyes and sank back into her seat, her hand rising to rub her temple soothingly. "The blithering…" The curses turned into harsh whispers under Jack's breath as his face practically met the map unfurled on the tavern table.
A barmaid, one of those unknown to her, past by and she rose her cup to catch her attention. "Another, if you'd be so kind…" The girl nodded, and upon hearing Jack growl at himself she caught the girl's eye. "To the top."
Originally, when she had returned, she had expected to know a lot more faces that she did. There was Imelda of course, but back then there had also been Winny, another barmaid ten years Nic's senior who taught her all the little hacks of the trade. Then there were the resident harlots, Delmara, Serine, Alexandra, Delilah…oh and Katrine, she was the closest to Nic. There were more but those girls were her best friends growing up. They were the ones who teased her after the night Jack had been a customer and helped her pack when she left.
Now, she had no clue where even one of them was. She had asked Imelda after a few days of waiting for one of them to appear, but even she didn't know.
"You know how life is for these girl's lass, one day they're here and the next another takes their place."
One by one they had vanished, the only one Imelda could confirm dead was Delilah; found naked behind the tavern with her throat slit and all of her belongings gone. That's why she had helped Evelyn. She was far to kind of a girl to be doing what she was, sitting on the knees of drunken strangers and allowing them to feel up her skirts, when she could fix a bullet wound in someone and wrap them up safe.
Nic had give her a share of her winnings one night, told her to go home and find herself something better, then the next night she past over another share and then another. In the end she gave the girl so much she didn't have enough for lodgings anymore, but then she had offered Nic a place in her own home.
She needed to find her, once Jack was gone and Nic was free to roam. She needed to find that girl and thank her properly for everything.
"You know..Maybe, if I can sneak in through here…no that-" Nic accidentally tuned back into to his incessant muttering and that was enough, until he was going to act normal…or at least normal for Jack, she was going to have to find something else to do.
As she stood from the table Nicolette didn't bother trying to sneak away or act sleuth, instead she just sauntered off towards the main hall to look for something more interesting…which compared to Jack could have been a barrel of bile.
She could pay a whore to talk to her? Jenny was her favourite these days as she had the same bleak outlook on men and even a more depressing past than herself. But she was otherwise held up by a sailor already. She could find a game of cards to jump into…but then she would have to deal with the embarrassment of Jack pulling her away by the ear once he realised she was missing and what she had replaced him with.
Her nose crinkled and Nicolette clicked her nails together with yet another deep sigh. Then, just as she was about to turn around and head back to Jack, she heard a familiar voice from behind her at the bat.
"Not playing tonight?" She turned, smiling in relief when she saw it was only Loras. He was harmless, clever and young and quite handsome now she thought about it, but harmless and nothing more than a regular at the table she played cups at a few times a night in the tavern two doors down from here.
Nicolette shook her head and approached him slowly at where he sat on the edge of the bar, turned outwards so he could watch the slowly growing crowd as afternoon turned to evening.
"Drink?" Loras asked casually, smiling as she inhaled a deep breath.
"Wine." Her answer came seconds later and she took the stool beside him as he hailed the barmaid.
Once her drink was ordered, he turned back to her, sweeping the dark brown curls out of his eyes and grinned. "You would have had a right laugh with Richie tonight, sod was so drunk he couldn't see his cards with his good eye."
"Why is it when I'm unavailable you all turn into easy targets?" Nicolette muttered as a rusted silver chalice was placed in front of her and she took a long sip. If she continued like this she would be drunk before the sun had set, and tonight that sounded like a very good plan indeed. "But if that is the case, why are you here?"
Loras smirked, taking a hold of his own fresh mug of ale. "They might be easy winnings, but they're not much to look at."
"Oh is that right?" Nic perked an eyebrow and snuck a glance at him. "You seem to stay quite late all of the nights when I'm there." Was she fishing? Maybe only a little bit. She said he was harmless, that didn't mean they didn't enjoy a bit of harmless flirting or pawing once in a while.
"Granted the scenery is always a little more attractive on those nights."
"Only a little?" Loras had indulged her and so she fished a little deeper, her tongue running over her teeth before she bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes darkening as he started to lean in to her.
"Nicolette!"
She had been inches away, her lips parted and eyes half way shut when that bark sounded. Loras pulled back before she did, her eyes turning slowly to the Captain with impeccably bad timing as the sailor grinned…why was Loras grinning?
"Sparrow! It's been a while." Oh of course they knew each other, it was just her luck they knew each other.
At least Loras knew Jack but from his silence and the empty look in his eyes, Nic guessed Jack wasn't that familiar with the lad.
From beneath the irritation, likely caused by her closeness to Loras, Jack hummed and rocked back and forth on his heels while staring the man down. "Ah…yes…"
"Loras." Nic filled in for him and swung around in her stool so her knee no longer brushed the thigh of her newish friend.
"Loras, of course." Jack jumped in a second later but then his face soured and his lips became thin as he snarled. "Nic. A word, if you please…Now!"
As he stormed away back to the little nook they had held, Nic sent Loras an apologetic glance before following Jack. Though, she was fighting back a grin as she followed her old Captains steps upon seeing how riled Jack had become so quickly.
However as she rounded the corner and saw a glimpse of the charts still rolled out, she whimpered. "If this is about that bloody key again Jack I don't want to-" She took a sharp breath in as Jack appeared out of the shadows, grabbing her wrist and pushing her back fiercely against the wall of the tavern, pinning her there with a hand on either side of her head.
She tried to yelp but then his lips were on her, aggressively dominating her. It wasn't long before one hand gripped her hip, holding her close to him, and the other went into her hair so she couldn't pull back.
Nicolette dragged a hand up his chest, skimming his neck and tipping his hat back so she could pull him down even closer. He pulled on her thigh until her foot was off the floor and her leg was hooked around his waist allowing Jack to push his hips against hers.
She whimpered as he groaned and nipped at her bottom lip, finally pulling back from her, not a lot but enough so he could meet her eyes.
Nic smiled, watching his gold teeth glisten from beneath her lashes. "You're not jealous are you Mr Sparrow?" Jack's hand gripped her hip with a bruising force and it was then when Nicolette realised her ribs were screaming from being pushed and then crushed. Funny how passion was sometimes a better painkiller than any medicine…though that could also be the wine.
Jack groaned, fixing her chin in his hand so her head was kept in place. Anyone else and she would have been scared, because it was Jack she was scared he would stop. "Captain Sparrow love, and you bloody well know that." Nic grinned then, trying shake off his grip but he kept her firmly under his thumb.
"Hmm, what about your tracking?"
"You can help." Jack moved too quick for her to be able to keep up with his plan. Just as Nikki believed him to be retreating so he could return to his duties, he grabbed her wrist again and threw her towards the table they had been sat at. Nic managed to slow herself down before she crashed fully into the tabletop and turned just in time to be caught by Jack again.
He lifted her to sit on the table, atop the various charts and maps littering it. Some crumpled under her, others fell to the floor as she used her hands to push herself up and get closer to Jack as their lips fought for dominance. One of Jack's hands buried itself in her hair, pulling until she squeaked and they were once again separated and panting.
"Am I helping?" Nic grinned wider seeing Jack smirk with that devilish glint in his eye. He didn't answer but gave her enough space so she could stand and then he instructed her to turn around.
Silently, his hand took hers as he pressed on her back, bending her forward and together they started to trace over the charcoal courses he had drawn out over the past few hours. His other hand seemed to move painfully slow so as not to let her know what he was planning right away. By the time she realised, Jack had already undone her belt buckle and was trying to tug her breeches down.
"Ja-" She was cut off by his hand and he leant forward, pressing his chest against her back, to shush in her ear.
Someone could see, but as his hand disappeared under her breeches and she heard him undoing his own belt all thought of that disappeared and she braced herself against the table with both hands as Jack kicked her legs further apart.
Whether this was his way of proving he wasn't boring, or if this was his way of warding off other men's eyes after he left, Nicolette didn't care and she was wrong, she could wait for him to leave.
…..
When morning broke, it was the stereotypical croak of the roosters which woke Nicolette and she didn't need to open her eyes or pat the empty mattress behind her to know Jack was gone. The lack of deep snoring or warmth was enough for her to already know.
There was a moment, once she rolled onto her back and squinted up at the ceiling, during which she wondered when she would see Jack again but then she heard Imelda in the room upstairs should her girls awake and the thoughts were banished. It was time for a new day.