Summary:Jayme lands herself on the Pearl, caught up in the world of Pirates, and finds her self exceptionally close to Jack Sparrow.

Notes: Rewritten and reposted May 6, 2014

Disclaimer: I do not own POTC or it's story-lines. All original characters and plots are of my own.

Under-whelmed

Rock The Boat

Jayme walked down to the galley later that morning and smiled at Cotton as she placed a bucket that she used to clean up her rags back where it belonged. He was watching her very closely today, while he usually ignored her. "What?" She asked but tried to sound friendly. When he didn't answer but instead went back to tying up the tables and chairs, Jayme sighed and walked over to help him. Jayme decided she couldn't stand another day of silence, and glanced over to Cotton before starting to talk.

"Where's your birdie, Mr. Cotton?" She asked sweetly, and smiled when the man just pointed 'up' towards the deck.

"Bet it's nice for him to stretch his wings." Jayme continued, and paused for a long while as she focused on her work. "Yanno I used to run every day." Cotton at least spared her a questioning glance at this, and Jayme grinned. "Yup, and ran for time every Sunday, and distance every Wednesday..." She trailed off, remembering running for over 40 minutes along her property line in her leggings coat and ear muffs at 5 am just two days before she came here.

She sighed and shook her head. "No wonder I'm so bored. I never really realized how much I ran."

Another large hunk of time went by and finally, once the tables and chairs were done and they were starting on the floors, Jayme asked, "You think anyone would mind much if I just ran in circles around the ship?" She was joking, and was pleasantly surprised to look over and see Cotton silently chuckling.

A short time later, Jack walked down the stairs after handing the helm over to Gibbs for the time being. He had noticed that the ring on his left, middle finger seemed a bit lackluster, so he was on his way to the hold to find himself a new one. Jack passed the galley but stopped mid-stride and about-faced on the toes of one foot when he realized that he had seen a flash of long brown hair and bare skin.

There she was, in that tank top helping Cotton tie up the galley. It was a good thing Cotton was too tired and old to pay much attention to the fact that she had a habit of shedding layers.

Jack shook his head and left the room, continuing on his way to the hold with a grin on his face.

Not noticing the captain walk past, Jayme and Cotton finished up their work and while Jayme would usually leave, she tiredly sat down on the floor and watched as Cotton took out a bowl and took a small bag of something out of his vest. He shook it a few times, before pouring a small amount into a bowl and standing to wait with a blank stare at the wall behind Jayme.

A few moments later, the parrot came hopping down the hall way, jumping a few feet and flapping his wings a bit to carry him along where he couldn't fly below deck.

Jayme let out a squeal of glee and watched the bird flap up to his owner, and start eating. "Hold on," Jayme said, holding a hand out to Cotton as if he was going to leave right then, and took off out of the room. She returned a few moments later with the scraps of her lunch from where she ate it tucked away under the stairs next to the door to Jack's quarters. It was only a little bit of bread and her apple core, but she was excited to share it.

Returning to the galley, she took up a knife and started to shave the remaining apple fruit off the core, and asked if she could give it to the bird. Cotton agreed and soon Jayme was laying on her stomach on the floor playing with her new friend.

That was how Jack found them when he walked back by. Cotton had left to go on deck to tend to his next chore, and Jayme had a good hunk of free time so she felt no guilt staying below.

"Ah, and what do we have here?" Jack asked, leaning on the doorframe, watching Jayme look over her shoulder at him before raising herself up on her knees to sit on the floor properly. "Made a friend, eh?"

Jayme didn't know whether or not he was mocking her, so she slightly stuck her nose in the air and reached out to use a finger to pet the back of the bird's head. "Yep," she answered. "And he's the coolest friend ever."

"Land Ho! Land Ho!" He cawed and Jayme tilted her head at him.

"Did he just call me a ho?" She asked Jack, but was distracted by his smoldering gaze and almost missed the bird bouncing out of the room,

Jack cleared his throat before straightening up and using his hand to gesture for her to follow him out of the room. "We are to make port in a few hours, Mr. Cotton's parrot is ready to disembark... apparently."

"Right- okay," Jayme got up off the floor and moved to leave with Jack.

By the time she made it to the deck, Cotton was standing a few feet away from the railing, looking to the horizon in front of them with a straight face, but Jayme didn't miss the very slight outline of land expanding in front of them with a beautiful sunset behind them turning everything orange. She slid her eyes over to the bird and gave him an unsure look before looking up to the Crow's Nest, where "Land Ho!" was being shouted.

Jack ambled up the behind them, admiring his new ring without watching where he was going. "We'll be stopping in Esperanza for a few days." He told them, and let his eyes settle on the strip of land in the distance.

"Esperanza? Like 'Hope'?" Jayme looked over her shoulder and met Jack's eyes. She could tell he was trying to read something in hers, but she wasn't sure what.

Jack watched her for a moment before raising an eyebrow and walking away from the railing and motioning for her to follow. "If you'd be so kind, love."

Cotton didn't seem to notice anything going on, was just staring at the horizon with a happy, wrinkly grin, so Jayme didn't bother saying goodbye to him and followed the Captain into his quarters.

"You can stay in here tonight, our hostages will be remaining with us until we dock tomorrow." Jack said, taking his coat off and draping it over the back of a chair at his table. Jayme took a moment to look around the room. There was a large table, a mapping desk, a few chairs and an incredibly comfy looking arm chair. Trinkets and baubles littered every surface, but Jack seemed to be a fairly meticulous person, especially with his maps.

Jayme grinned and ran and hand over the back of the arm chair before looking up at Jack. He was standing with one hand on his hip and his head tilted back a bit as he regarded her. "Thank you," she muttered, but it was with a fairly wicked smirk and it was clear a few comments were running through her head about being handed to the sailor prisoners.

Jack grunted and waved a hand towards the bedroom, and then stepped back out onto the deck. Jayme was tempted to sleep in his bed again, but this time she wasn't sure he was going to be out of the room all night playing pirates, and she felt a little strange taking his bed. It wasn't for her safety or virtue, (she was an 18 year old from the new millennium, she had no virtue) but out of the old fashioned manners her mom and dad had pounded into her. She didn't need to take his bed when he needed it. Besides, that arm chair looked a lot like the one in her old living room.

..

Hours later, Jack quietly walked into his quarters and immediately walked towards the bed without looking around at the dark room first. The lanterns had been doused, and besides the window being propped open, Jack didn't immediately notice anything different. After shedding his belt, sword, gun and boots, Jack turned to his bed and found it empty and unmade, just as he left it earlier in the day.

With a shot of adrenaline, Jack turned around and slid back into the main room and though his eyes first landed on the opened window, they very quickly then settled on Jayme curled up like a cat asleep in his armchair. She looked equally comfortable and uncomfortable sitting in the chair with both her feet pulled up into her chest, one arm tucked under her as she half faced the back of the chair and the other set gently on the armrest.

Jack sighed walked over, and he was about to reach out to wake her up when she let out a little groan and moved a bit on her own. She bit her lip and curled her toes and when Jack tore his eyes from where her hand had lightly gripped the armrest, he saw her stretch her neck just a little and exhale audibly. It was fairly obvious to him what she was dreaming about. With a wicked grin, Jack gently grabbed her wrist and without much of a second though latched his lips onto the exposed section of her neck.

Jayme gasped and tried her hardest to figure out where her dream ended and reality started, and once she realized the hot tongue on her throat was real she tilted her head back further and pulled her other arm out from under her to grab onto Jack's shirt sleeve. Jack's second arm came up and threaded in to her long brown hair at the back of her head and moved his mouth up her neck to her jaw.

Jayme ignored the small bit of her brain that was muttering about Johnny Depp and age differences, and listened the majority of her body that was responding nicely to Jack Sparrow's mouth. She unfolded her legs to put her feet on the ground and squeezed her eyes shut when Jack placed his knee between hers and pressed her back into the chair and finally caught her mouth with his.

Only a few show stopping moments passed in which Jayme tried to remember the last time she had been kissed like that, and suddenly Jack had pulled her up by one wrist and a hand on the small of her back and they stood and very ungracefully started to make their way towards the bed.

Jack had just gotten Jayme laid down and crawled up her to attach his mouth to the side of her neck again when there distant cannon fire heard. He stilled his movements with a grunt and pressed his face into the pillow for a moment before looking at her apologetically and getting up. "Stay here," he told her, and grabbed his things before heading out on deck.

Jayme laid on the bed right where she was for several long moments before finally letting out a sigh and turning on to her side. That was certainly unexpected...

..

After spending a long night watching out for trouble as the Black Pearl came into port in Esperanza, Jack was thankful to finally dock without any major conflict. The cannon fire from the previous night had been far off in the distance, but Jack didn't feel like he should just head back into his cabin when the waters were less then friendly.

He and Gibbs stayed out on the deck until morning to make sure nothing unplanned happened. They were both a little skeptical of their stowaway's circumstances and the easy overtaking of the ship the previous day. Now, as the sun rose higher in the sky and everything was ready to be unloaded, Jack couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed to see Jayme fully clothed walking around the ship and watching as the crew got ready to go to land.

He was very tired, but he would have had the energy for...

With a shake of his head he motioned for Gibbs and AnnaMaria to join Jayme. They would inconspicuously stay with her and take her to the tavern that the crew had been invited to frequent while Jack dealt with business.

Jayme wayched as the ship was finally settled and the crew started to unload everything and almost felt nervous about staying a night off the ship. Almost.

She would most certainly be nervous if it was in fact in her nature to be a nervous type of person.

But honestly, how is a perfectly functional girl supposedto feel before she walks off an imaginary boat onto an imaginary pier, at an imaginary port? And of course, it didn't help that her imagination had her on her way up to an imaginary inn where an imaginary Johnny Depp would most certainly be taking her into an imaginary room after an obscene amount of imaginary liquor and having his dandy old imaginary way with her?

Jayme shook her head at her thoughts and felt her stomach turn as she walked up the pier but immediately decided that it wasn't nerves about all this imaginary crushing, it was the ground.

"Whoa," she stopped walking and put her arms out to the side slightly. "This is wrong on so many levels."

Gibbs turned and looked at her and she felt AnnaMaria walk up behind her and look over her shoulder at her face, which was probably white... or some shade of green.

"Problem, Miss Jayme?" Gibbs asked, seeing that she had severely slowed the transfer of the majority of the crew from the ship to the dock.

"Yeah, the ground hasn't stopped moving yet." She said and placed a hand on her stomach before stepping out of the way of traffic.

"Get used to it, Missy, it'll stay with you whenever you're off the Pearl." Gibbs said and offered her his arm to lead her forward. "Let's go revel in the delights that are Esperanzas, shall we Ms. AnnaMaria?"

"Aye!" Anna cried and continued on ahead of them.

Jayme fought to keep her feet pointed straight ahead and to settle her stomach. "Come to think of it, I remember the ground moving for a while after I got off the cruise ship... that only lasted for a few days." As usual, Anna and Gibbs had no idea what Jayme was saying, so they just kept walking. "'Course that was a balanced boat."

Jayme grinned and looked over to the rest of the crew, who were still heading towards the center of the town. "I totally understand why Jack walk around like he's high now." She said and watched Gibbs smirk. "I thought I was dizzy in Tortuga, but wow... this is... actually entertaining."

Jayme felt her stomach starting to settle, but her legs were still struggling and she was on the verge of collapsing into a giggle-fit when something to the left of their path caught her eye. Just down the road, probably about as far as a city block, there was a shop of some sort that was almost glowing. The exact same thing caught her eye when she was being taken back to the Pearl in Tortuga... Maybe she could talk someone into taking her down there to see it.

By the time she was done staring at the shop down the street, Jayme looked forward to be met with another perfect movie scene. Drunk men and busty hookers all over, animals just romping around and guns being pulled randomly while liquor spilled from all sorts of odd places and splashed on the dirt...

"Disney would have a fit if they saw this." She muttered and walked past the ruckus, apparently protected in the Pearl's crew's presence. She was led again to the back of the inn that Jayme forgot to look at the name of, probably another movie knock-off. Once they were in a semi-empty section of the inn, Gibbs finally took his arm back and sat down at a picnic-bench style table next to the wall and motioned for her and Jayme to sit across from him.

Not long after, a 'wench' came and brought them each a mug of grog. AnnaMaria was sitting down on the opposite end of Jayme's bench, followed by Marty and the newest watch on the ship who went by 'Cobber'. Anna smirked as she held her own mug and glanced across the table to where Jayme had her eyes on the larger room where several strange looks were being sent to her.

Jayme looked down at herself and her clothing for a moment before shrugging and looking back to the table. Imaginary or not imaginary, she didn't need to be raped.

Jayme leaned forward and put her elbows on the table before rubbing her hands forcefully across her face. Despite her quiet day previously, she was still fairly tired and sitting in a room full of (quite loud) white noise was having a little bit of a calming effect on her.

Not long later, Jack came into the pub and sat down with a flourish next to Gibbs. Jack turned to the older man and clapped a hand on his should her and turned his head away from the rest of the table to very quietly give Gibbs some sort of an update. A moment later, he was settled and accepting a bottle of rum and a mug of grog with a tight smile to the wench.

"I could go see if they have some goat milk in the kitchen, missy." Anna said to Jayme, noticing that she hadn't drank any of her grog, and Cobber snorted while Jack just simply leaned back against the wall behind him and threw a booted foot up onto the table. This could get pretty interesting.

"Aww thanks," Jayme said and stood up just enough to swipe AnnaMaria's mug before she could even react. "You go do that and I'll finish your drink here."

Anna growled and showed her bottom teeth, which reminded Jayme of a bull dog and looked at Jack, who was admiring his nails before glaring back at Jayme. "I'll bet you wouldn't take the challenge to finish that drink."

Jayme contemplated this. It had been a few weeks since her party, but she was sure she could still hold as much liquor as before. She darted her eyes to Cobber, who was giving her a look she wasn't entirely comfortable with. "I will if you will." Jayme said, and noticed Jack look up from his nails as she gave Anna her mug back and said "Cheers," before the both of them drained their mugs.

Cobber grinned and poured a splash of rum into each of the girls' empty mugs but paid attention to the warning glance from his captain.

Jayme swallowed the rum and caught Jack's dark gaze. She forgot she was nervous about that.

Jack smirked at her over the toe of his boot on the table and proceeded to ask Gibbs about something to do with the ship. Jayme finished the last of her rum and set the down mug back with a smug look. She silently thanked her older brother for sneaking her so much hard alcohol in the past 2 years to make up for her big mouth.

The chatter went on, Jayme stayed silent and mostly ignored the remarks about loose stays, frayed sails and torn netting, and watched the rest of the tavern. It was amusing enough to people watch drunkards at her own parties, let alone in a pirate port in the 17th century.

Jayme let her gaze catch one of the barmaids as she sauntered up to a man and flirted with him. Her dress was blood-red, her chest was barely concealed, she wore heavy makeup and she had a feather in her hair- it was easy to tell what she was up to. Jayme chuckled and let her eyes wander around again until they met Jack's.

He had been watching her for a while now, intrigued by her silence. "A penny, love?" He asked as he splashed another shot of his rum in her empty.

Jayme sat up straighter and took the shot before shrugging. "Just people watching," she answered, realizing after holding so still for so long that she was actually buzzed. Her voice was deeper but she didn't slur, she was definitely a few degrees warmer and her cheeks were nice and tingly-numb. She was sure they were probably pink, and her eyes were probably half-glazed. She just hoped Cobber didn't notice. "Yanno," she started, and Jack seemed to be the only one paying much attention to her quite tone. "If prostitution was legal where I come from, I'd so do it."

It was a lie, but it was hilarious for Jayme to watch Jack's face fall and his eyes go unfocused for the shortest moment before he threw his foot off the table as he stood and made a direct path to the bar. Jayme shrugged, and looked back at the rest of her company.

"Right then," Jack said suddenly from behind Jayme's left shoulder, and she jumped slightly before swinging around to look at him. "I believe I'll show you to your room now, Miss Jayme, come come."

Jayme used a bit of caution when standing, just in case the rum made her legs wobbly, and waited until her back was to her table mates before she gave Jack a wicked grin. It was going to be a fun imaginary night.