A/N: You know, since you guys have been so good at reviewing and reading this fic, I decided to get my butt in gear and give you guys the next chapter earlier than normal. And who knows, I might be able to get the chapter after this done before this week is over. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, I really appreciate it! And you guys better be thankful that I am in a very good writing mood these days. ^-~
Chapter 11: No Place Like . . . Port Royal?
Ever since that sunrise talk between the two of them, both Kat and Jack have been trying to make sense of the feelings flowing through their veins. Kat already understood somewhat about what she was feeling; while Jack on the other hand, was trying to make sense of the nausea consuming him whenever he sees her. Neither had the experiences they were going through now, and didn't know how to express it, therefore, they kept it to themselves most of the time. Kat let her feelings flow wherever she was around Anamaria, who seemed to be the only person who would understand and keep it secret. They both didn't show their feelings openly in public, as far as they knew, and the crew seemed to be none the wiser, except one.
Anamaria sat in the background watching the two fight and think their way through their feelings with an amused smile on her face. She knew what they were going through, experiencing the same feelings a few times herself. But she was still quite surprised to see that the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow would go through the stages of infatuation and -dare she say it- love. It wasn't a very good picture to see Jack Sparrow pace back and forth in his cabin trying to make sense of the developments within himself. The noise from his mumbling coming from within his cabin in itself was enough to keep a grown woman up all night.
The talk about getting to know each other was never mentioned after that morning. Jack had also said some things about his past to get Kat to laugh instead of crying that he would rather not let the rest of the crew know. Although neither really said anything, they would throw inside jokes at each other, knowing what each other meant. Even with all the laughs and jokes going around them, Jack had noticed that something was still off in Kat's behavior. She had forgiven him as far as he knew, and she sure didn't seem to be mad at him anymore.
He had placed Kat on the ropes clearly in his view from the helm. He still wanted to keep a good view open, just in case she made another slip and found herself hanging over the deck of the ship again. Although, he knew that he stationed there for another reason other than the simple task to watch her . . . or was it that simple? He did often find himself watching her chat with Anamaria as she worked other than watching the sea in front of him. Even though the sea was often clear and nothing could be seen for miles anyway.
The past few days he would often catch Kat watching the horizon, totally engrossed in her own deep thoughts and then slips back into her normal cycle of work especially after some prodding from Anamaria. She seemed to think long and hard, focusing so intently on the horizon to the West, often catching the sun setting most nights. Jack would catch her expression every night and knew it well. It was the same one he would wear whenever he saw a mug filled to the top with his favorite drink, rum. It was an expression of longing, of want, of need. Jack tried to figure what her want was if it wasn't -for the first time- him. He thought long and it finally dawned on him. Port Royal. The port was just West of them, probably no more than a good week away. Somehow Kat found her bearings out on the sea and discovered which way her island home was.
One night while watching Kat, Jack figured that the talk of home had triggered a reaction in Kat. It made her think of the people, of her old friends, and possibly even of her father on land. She was thinking of her old life and how it used to be and maybe in one way or another was missing it. Her eyes didn't show the emotion of longing for nothing. Maybe it was time that she had gone back home. Back to Port Royal and back to her old life.
Jack turned away from her outlined figure in the ropes and squeezed the wheel under his gloved hands. The thought of giving her back to her family in Port Royal had triggered a twinge of pain on his insides. He focused his eyes on the slowly darkening waves of the Caribbean and made focused on his own problems at hand. The thought of losing Kat made him hurt . . . nothing like that had ever happened with the other women in his life. Although he had to admit, she was different from any other woman he had met before. She had something about her. Something that made him want to know everything about her. Something that gave her such beauty that surprised him at times, especially when the times included her when she is in her work clothes. That something made him want just her. Not her money, not her ransom . . . just her.
He took his eyes off the rolling waves and called down to Mr. Gibbs who was tying off a loose line on the port side on the ship. The round first mate walked up to the helm and took over the sailing duties as Jack walked down the stairs toward the main deck. Most of the sailors were just finishing their duties and were heading either toward the galley for their last meal of the night or straight to their hammocks down in their cabin for some shut eye. Anamaria was one of the last people out of the ropes and found Jack waiting at the bottom.
"Evenin' Cap'n," she smiled and nodded her head slightly to him. She immediately knew what he was waiting for and looked up at the ropes and the main mast, "She's still up there. She's been thinkin' lot 'bout 'er home on land, I think she misses it."
"'As she said anythin' 'bout wantin' to go back?" Jack said with a little too much emotion stuck in his voice.
Anamaria smiled and looked back at Jack to find him looking straight at Kat, "I asked 'er the same question."
"And?"
"She says she wants to stay on the Pearl, Cap'n," Jack turned his attention back to Anamaria with eyes wide open and she continued, "She does miss it, I'm gessin', but she says she'd miss this ship more than she'd ever miss 'er old life."
"But she still longs fer home, don' she?" Jack asked as Anamaria as she started to walk away.
"Cap'n, in all 'onesty . . . I still miss meh home," Anamaria turned back toward the cabins below deck, "'Night, Cap'n."
"Good-nigh', Anamaria," Jack mumbled and stared back up into the netting.
Kat brought her knees into her chest, wrapped her arms around them and rested her head on top. She was used to balancing on the thin mast, having more than enough practice, and had no problem staying on top of the wood beam. The sun had long past set, but she couldn't take her eyes away from the line were the horizon line should still be. Port Royal was in that direction, and she knew it. It was waiting out there for her, although she wasn't totally sure if she willing to go back.
Sure, she missed her cousin Harriet, her husband Robert and Dena . . . and especially little Olivia. She was even starting to miss the estate. The white mansion has been a common background in her dreams of late, and she couldn't really understand why. Through all that misery and punishments that she had endured in those empty halls, a part of her still longed to go back.
'To what?' she always asked herself after the flashing pictures of the estate ran through her mind, 'To a man that would care less?'
She turned her head with the reminder that he did in fact send out a reward for her safe return of all things, 'Probably Timothy or Harriet's doing. I hope them both well. Yes, even Timothy. I hope he found another woman more suited to his tastes and they are wed. It would take a lot of the worry from my mind if he had. And Harriet . . . she and her family must be doing well, little Olivia must be growing up fast. She is to turn –what is it- three years in a few weeks. It must be, with all this time at sea; I can't seem to keep my dates straight in my head anymore. Knowing my train of thoughts, I will have probably passed over my own birthday soon, if it has not passed already.'
She gave herself a slight chuckle and smirk at the thoughts of missing her own birthday.
"Well, tha's somethin' I 'aven't seen on yer face very recently," Kat turned her head slightly to see Jack sitting on the mast behind her.
"Hello, Captain," Kat said calmly and shifted her self around to face him, "What brings you out here? Am I taking on too much work again, or do I just need to get down?"
"No, no . . . yer doin' a fine job. I jus' 'ave noticed that ye've been doin' a good amount of thinkin' these past few days."
"I have," Kat said looking at the handiwork she had done over the day.
Jack watched her as she made the last adjustments and sat back down, "May a captain inquire to the subject?"
"Wow Jack you surprised me. Those are some pretty sophisticated words for you to pack into your brain," Kat smirked and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I think it's all the time I spend with ye," he smirked back, "If I don' watch me back, I migh' turn out to be a stand up gentleman."
"And no one would want that," Kat said sarcastically. They both began to climb down, Jack first since he was the one closest to the mast and Kat second, following very closely. Jack helped her down, by holding her hips as she jumped off the mast and on to the deck. She whispered a light thank you and kept her head down.
"So, ye never answered me question," Jack continued, putting his hands behind his back and walking in step with Kat toward her cabin.
"As to what I was thinking?"
"Aye."
"Well . . . If you must know- and will probably insist on knowing- so I might as well get on with it-"
"Ye know me all too well, luv."
"I was thinking of Port Royal . . . the estate . . . and the others I left behind," Kat watched the floorboards pass underneath her feet as they went.
"Ye miss them?" Jack asked turning toward her.
She picked up her head and turned to him, "Strangely . . . I don't know the answer to that."
"Strange indeed," she looked at him with confusion, "Ye usually know the answer to everythin'."
"Very amusing, Captain," Kat gave a bemused smirk and continued, "I do miss them, and yet, I don't. I miss holding little Olivia in my arms and rocking her to sleep. That little girl has so much spirit; she will make a man very happy some day. I will regret not watching her grow up into a fine young lady."
"Ye don' 'ave to, ye know," Jack said and watched as Kat stopped in her tracks and fell behind a bit. She soon regained her composure and ran back into step with Jack.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I can take ye back to Port Royal if ye want," Jack tried not to show it, but couldn't help but squint slightly at the suggestion.
"No," came Kat's immediate reply, "Don't take me back."
"Why not, luv?" Jack turned to her as they stopped right outside her cabin door.
"I can't go back. Not now, not ever," she looked him in the eyes, "If I go back . . . I don't know what I'd do."
"Ye'd live a long a prosperous life, especially with yer papa bein' rich an' all. Ye'd be provided fer."
"Wrong, Captain . . . I'd live a long life, sure, but nothing about it would be prosperous and well taken care of," she opened her cabin door and stepped inside.
"Wha' do ye mean by tha'?" Jack stepped in after her and closed the door behind him.
"You heard nearly everything about me the other day, and you still don't get it? I don't fit in there, I never will," she stepped up to the window and looked at the star sprinkled reflection of the sea, "I belong here. Out on the open sea, where I can be somebody."
"Ye are somebody, Kat," Jack stood behind her and rubbed her on the arm, "Yer Katerina Ben-"
"Please don't," Kat said sharply ending him in mid thought, "I never want to hear my first name associated with that ruffian. He is not my father, and I don't care if blood would tell otherwise."
Jack stood silent for a few moments and walked over to her bed to sit down, "I jus' though' ye'd like to go back home."
Kat turned around and walked over to him, "I am home, Captain." She gave him a weak smile and patted his hand, "And I can't refuse my duty to this ship or to her captain." She brought up her hand to cup his face and stared further into his eyes. She blinked out of her trace and dropped her hand swiftly while standing up.
"But ye do want to see them again, don' ye?"
"I . . . I . . .I don't . . ."
"Little Olivia?"
Kat stumbled for words as they all got caught up in her throat at once. She closed her eyes and turned her head the other way. Jack got up from her bed and walked toward the door.
"Good-night Kat," he said reaching for the handle.
"Good-night . . . Jack."
He didn't object her using his first name instead of 'Captain'. He gave a quick smirk to himself and then exited the room. Outside the room a dozen or so of his crew were outside leaning against the wall or trying to get up from the floor.
"I really wish ye gent's wou'd stop tryin' to sneak in on me conversations with the ladies," Jack watched each one of them.
"Come on, cap'n," one of the younger crew members complained, "We jus' wants to get a few pointers."
Jack rolled his eyes and found Anamaria closest to the door, "Anamaria, I jus' may need yer navigational skills, righ' now," he led her down the hall after shooing all the men away into their own huge cabin.
"Wha' ye need, Cap'n?"
"We need to find the quickest way to Port Royal. I think it is time we check on some old friends and reunite a family."
"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Anamaria signaled with a wink and started toward the helm.
Inside Kat's cabin, she watched Jack leave through the door and then quickly collapsed in a heap on her bed. She couldn't keep it in any longer as the tears came full blast to her eyes. She had to stay on the Pearl. If she didn't . . . if she even saw one sight of Port Royal . . . she may just break and want to stay there. But how can her heart be in two places at once, since Captain Jack Sparrow had already ensnared it here.
'What am I going to do now?' Katerina thought to herself as she began to drift into sleep.
*** A week later***
Kat was used to going to shore with Jack now. Ever since that night back at one of the rowdier ports he let her come to shore with the crew on raids and on nights off. She often served for a great distraction during the raids, which made her even more sophisticated in Jack's eyes. As the pretty woman distracted the guards, the crew would sneak into the establishment and steal whatever booty they could get their hands on. Kat was quite set against it at first, but after some persuasion from Jack and a quick reminder that they needed funds to buy food, she agreed.
This night, however, was supposed to be a night of rest and relaxation for the crew. Jack told Kat that it would be another exciting night and that she should expect a lot of surprises. She didn't know what that meant, but when she and Jack were the only ones that got off the ship, she was a little cautious. Hopefully it did not involve any other pirates, other than the ones she knew, or any more hotel rooms.
"Jack, is this suppose to be another on of your tavern tours, because I don't know if I really want to get off the Pearl if it is," Kat whispered in an annoyed voice.
"Wha'? Ye startin' not to enjoy me company?" he winked at her.
"No, it's just that- well . . . oh, never mind," she shook her head and looked around the many shops near the water's edge.
'This place seems so familiar,' she searched back through her mind trying to figure out the last place she saw such a neat and tidy dock.
"Jack?" she pulled on his sleeve of the arm she was holding, "Have we been to this port before?"
"Well, I guess ye could say tha'," he gave another cheeky grin.
"What do you mean by that?"
"We 'ave been 'ere before luv, but not together."
"Together . . ?"
"Together," Jack said in a matter-of-fact tone that he barely gets to use around Kat, "Kat, luv . . . Welcome back to Port Royal," he waved his hand at all the shops laid out before them.
"Port Royal!?"