A/N: Everyone hold his or her applause! I, Ana the Great, have actually brought you chapter thirteen before I am to go back to school. So enjoy, I may not update for quite a while. I just couldn't deal with leaving you on the cliffhanger. And besides, I got enough 'you are so evil' reviews. I just love those! ^. ~
Chapter 13: Captured, Arguments, Father; what else could go wrong?
Kat stared at the Royal Naval Captain standing in the way of Jack and to freedom. He came over to her and gave her a hug, placing one of his hands behind her head and the other on her lower back. Kat closed her eyes, looking disgusted and stood limp in his arms not making a single effort to hug him back. He took a step back holding both her arms firmly on his grip. He looked her in the eyes and breathed out her name, "Katerina . . ."
"Timothy Belstrude, what are you doing here?" Kat asked still shocked and disgusted from the hug.
"I heard that there were pirates, of course I had to come and see . . . especially if it held any possibility that you may be there as well," he leaned in to give her peck on the cheek, but Kat leaned out of his grasp."
"Well, you've seen us, now you can go on your way and we'll go on ours," Kat said walking toward Jack.
Timothy Belstrude grabbed her arm and turned her toward him, she grabbed her arm away, "Just what do you mean by 'us' and 'ours'? You can't seriously take me to believe that you are in league with this ruffian," Belstrude ended in a slight chuckle.
"What are you laughing at? It's all true," Kat tore her arm away from him and started to poke him in the chest making him back up. He stopped laughing at her once he hit the wall on the other side of the room and watched her stand in the middle of the room, defiant with hands on her hips. He couldn't help but to look at her with confusion.
"If you admit to piracy, then you can be . . . but you-" he turned toward Jack and stared at him in the face, "You did this! What did you say to her?"
"Belstrude!" Kat yelled, punching him hard in the face and watching him fall to the ground holding his chin, "Jack did nothing, but save my life more than enough times. He deserves a medal, not a bloody screaming match!"
"Nice hit, luv," Jack called from her side.
"Thank you, Jack," Kat said back to him.
"Listen to yourself Katerina! You are defending him!" Belstrude pushed himself off the floor, "You have punched me over a sniveling dog!"
Kat put on her determined face and stepped forward, "He is a first-rate captain."
Jack smiled at the compliment and would have given the other captain a smug look if he could have moved his head. It was hard enough to give Kat her last compliment.
"I can't believe this! He is a pirate- captain of the Black Pearl for God's sake!" he threw his hands up in retaliation.
"At least someone realizes tha'," Jack muttered under his breath.
"Yes, and a better captain than you'll ever be," Kat said with her arms crossed.
"Oh, a big blow to ye I imagine," jack commented to Belstrude making some of his men chuckle at him. The laughing abruptly stopped once they received a look from the officer.
"If I were you, pirate, I would keep my mouth shut. I could probably shoot you right now on any charges imaginable and no one would care," he raised his pistol and aimed it straight at Jack, "Actually sounds like a very good idea."
"I would care," Kat stood right in front of Belstrude's gun. She backed up toward Jack so that absolutely no shot could be taken without her being hit.
"Luv-" Jack began.
"Jack, trust me," Kat whispered behind her, "Captain Sparrow deserves a trail as any man would and you know it. If he is guilty so am I. I sailed under his command as a pirate!"
"Kat!" Jack said struggling between the two guards.
"I don't deny it! I am a pirate!"
"Katerina, what are you doing?" Harriet breathed under her breath.
"How sweet . . . a 'crewmember' trying to save her captain," Belstrude slowly sauntered up to Kat, grabbed her by the arm and threw her toward her cousin, "I really think you should take a clue from Harriet and to shut your mouth. It's not a woman's place to talk."
Kat fought her way from Harriet's grasp, ignoring her pleas to stay down. She took her place back in front of Jack once again and stared down the barrel of Belstrude's gun. He began to chuckle and looked at both of them. Kat showed true determination as Jack had a mixture of confusion, fear for Kat and hatred toward Belstrude.
"I can't play this game all night," he went to grab for her arm again until she slapped it away from her, "What do you think you are-"
"Doing? I'm doing what's right for me," Kat said proudly, "Now, this is the only time that I will beg of you for anything, Timothy. Let me talk to my father, let me at least try."
"I tough you said that your father was never worth talking to or trying to convince."
"I can try."
Belstrude fought with himself and slowly brought down his gun, "Take him to the jail house. At the most, he will be killed by the end of the week."
"Not if I have anything to say or to do about it," Kat growled as Belstrude made his way toward the door.
He turned toward her and glared into her eyes, "I don't know what he did to you, but I will get the lovely Katerina I once knew back. The one that used to love me."
Kat scoffed at him, "You are kidding yourself. I never loved you, I never will."
"We will see, Katerina," he put his hat back over his white wig and walked briskly to the doorway. He passed by Harriet who kept her head down and her eyes to the floor until he passed.
Kat turned to Jack, "I will try my best with my father. Will you be all right?"
"Don' worry 'bout me, luv. I can take care of meself. If this place is like it was when Norrington was aroun' then I'll be jus' fine," he gave her a wink.
She smiled an leaned up to whisper something to him and to give him a quick kiss on the cheek when one of the guards connected the rifle butt to the back of her head. She fell to the floor unconscious from the blow to the head. Jack tries to jump and almost frees himself from the guards' grasps.
"Ye dogs! Try tha' with me! Touch her again and I swear-"
He was cut short as the same rifle hit him in the gut. He doubled over in pain. Not only was the security tighter in Port Royal, the guards were stronger as well. Both guards dragged him upright and out of the house. As they passed Harriet and Lina –the help- Jack squints his eyes open to the two women.
"Check on Kat," he groaned as he was pushed out the door.
Harriet watched as Jack was loaded into a cart and dragged off to the barracks. She nodded to Jack as he looked back at her and let Lina shut the door. She hurried to the next room and found Kat unconscious on the floor.
"Oh my Lord," Harriet kneeled down and brought Kat to sit up. Of course, Robert- along with the rest of the help- was up and was racing down the stairs.
"Harriet?" Robert entered the room and saw his wife holding the limp form of Katerina, "It can't be . . ."
"Robert! Call for the doctor!" he nodded and ran toward the door, "Kat! Come on, Kat! Open your eyes! If you can stay awake after being thrown off of a horse than you can out do this. Come on, cousin."
Harriet rocked her cousin in her arms as she did with Olivia. With all the commotion, the nanny took Olivia out of her crib and down stairs. The little girl's eyes were wiped of sleep as soon as she saw her mommy holding what looked like her 'Kitty Kat'. She struggled down from her nanny's grip and started to run toward the scene. She was soon swept up b her father and whisked into the next room.
***
Kat felt the warm sun dance over her face and comforters surrounding all sides of her body. The bright light from the sun triggered the pain from the hit of the gun. She groaned and placed her hand where the butt of the rifle hit. Ti hurt like nothing else, but she was thankful it was hidden by her hair and that neither a bruise nor bump would show immediately. She slowly opened her eyes, careful not to have the sun directly shinning in them. She looked around herself and found that she was in her room. Not her cabin aboard the Pearl, but in her old room at the Benikin's Estate.
Kat sat herself up and took a better look around, making sure that her vision stayed clear. She held her head and tried to make heads or tails on the time and date. She took a deep breath and looked at the old clock that was ticking away on her wall.
'Ten until Noon,' Kat thought to herself, 'I hope I'm not too late.' She slung her feet over the side of the bed and looked toward the open sea, 'Jack, I'm so sorry . . .'
Suddenly the bedroom doors swung open and a young housemaid hurried into the room and to Kat's side, "Miss, you shouldn't be up like this! You can hurt yourself, lie back in bed now."
"I am not porcelain. I do not break that easily," Kat stood up on her own, but immediately sunk back down, "But I would like a nice, warm bath. Could you be so kind as to draw one for me?"
"I was to do that anyways, Miss. The master wanted you washed and ready when you woke up."
"Ready? For what may I ask?"
The maid walked over to Kat's beau and removed a dark red dress from its drawers; "According to Captain Belstrude you wanted to talk to your father about that awful pirate, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did," Kat pushed herself back up and walked next to the maid, "And while in my presence don't ever call any pirate you do not know awful."
"Yes, ma'am."
//////////////////////
Later that evening, Katerina was still being pampered by the other ladies who stood around her. They finished trimming the dress length and were finishing her hair. When they stepped away from Kat she didn't know who she was anymore. Everything that she made of herself was hidden below the miles and layers of foundation and hair products. Around her neck she found a necklace that held her family's crest- or should it be her old family's crest. She turned away the mirror and excused the maids around her.
As they all began to leave Kat caught one of them carrying her bandana toward a rag bucket, "Wait! I want to keep that . . . at least that."
The maid handed it to her without protest. Kat stuck it safely in one of the pockets Dena sewed into the dresses many layers. That reminded her . . . Dena.
"Where is Dena, the head maid?" Kat asked. Although that was never Dena's actual position, Kat had always pretended that it was; and everyone whom she meant when she asked.
"She's no longer with us, Miss," a younger girl replied.
"What do you mean?" Kat asked, worry apparent in her voice.
"She was sold to Mrs. Harriet, quite a while ago. The Master didn't want to deal with her crying any longer."
"Thank you," Kat said politely as they left. Trying to keep her breath in the new corset and think of a reason why Harriet failed to mention anything about Dena at the same time was quite a challenge.
She made her way out of her room, down the dark hall toward her father's study. The sun had set only a few moments before and the whole estate seemed to sink into darkness. Soon enough Kat was at her father's doors so filled with hatred she found herself busting though them without another thought.
"Father, release him!" Kat slammed her fists on her father's desk making him look up at her with a quizzical look.
"I see that you are up. Nice that you finally came back to us," he put down the papers he was reviewing in his hands and looked at her in the eyes, "Why should I release the pirate? He is a very wanted man. Really, a catch like this should not be treated lightly."
"Lightly!? Father, he has saved my life countless times! Without him I would have been dead long before now. And you . . . you want to keep him locked up?"
"Locked up? No, he'll be killed; shot or hanged. I'm not quite sure which I want yet. Which ever it is I am planning to have it held at noon. Everyone will be up and able to see it."
"You're turning it into an attraction?" again Kat slammed her fists into the table, "Father, this is a man's life!"
Her father abruptly stood from his desk and came over to her, "It's a pirate's life, and he shall be executed as one. I suggest you get to bed."
He grabbed the rest of his papers and headed down the hall. Katerina wasn't giving up that easily and immediately followed him.
"I thought I told you to go to bed, you've had a long journey," he said entering another room. He sat down his papers and servants began to get his measurements for a new suit.
"I will not retire to until you free Jack!" she threw some of the tools needed for the suit and stood with anger looming in her eyes.
Her father nodded to the others in the room and stared viciously at Katerina, "Jack, is it? You're now on a first name basis with the likes of pirates?"
"Jack was my captain, sir . . . and I will not allow you to shoot him at . . . at any time. I will not stand by and watch as he dies!"
"It is my advice to you then, daughter, that you do not watch at all. For he will die tomorrow afternoon."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes, you've given me the perfect date for his execution."
"You cannot be serious! Thank of this, think of this massacre!"
"Massacre? Only you would consider this a massacre. I believe that a tight set of rules should be applied for you. Maybe eve a leash is in order."
"A leash? I am twenty years old-"
"We have had this discussion before! I will not be lectured on it again by my own daughter."
A few moments of silence filled the room and Kat lowers hear head, "You are no father to me," she lifted her head again, "You never were. Ever since mother died-"
"By your hands!" he roared.
She took a breath and continued, "I was five years old, father. I should not be continually damned because I didn't think of what would happen!"
"Exactly right! You did not think! And you're not thinking now!" he took a step away from her, ready to call his servants back in, "Now go to bed as your father has asked of you."
"I will not!" Katerina stood firm then turned toward the door with another idea.
"Where are you going?" he called to her when she was halfway across the room.
"I'm going down to the jail house," she kept walking.
"If you see him, I will disown you!" he bellowed when she was only a few feet from the door.
She stopped and walked back up to him, "Then disown me! I don't care anymore," she tore off the family crest necklace from her neck and threw it down, "Why do I call you father? By such a name . . . such a title? I should have never believed that you were my father after that night. How dare you try to push me away . . . when I reached out for you and you 'daddy'."
Katerina stopped for a moment to regain her senses and tried not to cry, then began again, "You just pushed me away into a stranger's arms, hoping that would be the end of it. Thinking that that vile thing in that man's arms would just leave and never return. But you . . . you are the vile thing. You are the evil thing that left your own daughter to wither away in her own sense of mourning. You are not the only one who lost something that night. I lost my mother and brothers . . . and I have the same pain in my heart as you. Maybe even greater, because I know –and you drilled into my mind- that it was my hand that lit that match. And I have always suffered for it, every night . . . Every night . . .
"So disown me if you must, I don't care. I'll just be known as Kat as I have been the last months . . . and you'll be rid of me. So, I would think that it would be much better if you disown me. Disown me or not, I'm going to the jail. Send guards, I will fight them if I need. Whatever you decision may be I will take my own path from now on."
Kat took off out of the room and down the halls. Her father's raging mad voice bellowing behind her. Calling and demanding that she come back. She heard none of it as she neared the jail and Jack.
A/N: So, what do you think? Wow, thirteen already . . . just seven more chapters to go! All outlined, just have to put in the detail. Yup . . . Oh yeah! I'm still typing! Oops. Well, I'll update later . . . maybe much later.
Next chapter: Prison Talk and Another Kind of Savior.
PREVIEW:
"Why are ye actually doin' here, Kat?"
Kat stood in the darkness of the barracks looking through the bars at Jack and spoke softly as if she didn't want anyone else to hear her, "I don't want to see you die tomorrow, Captain."
"There is nothin' ye could do 'bout it, luv."
"Yes there was. There was something I could have done about it," she pointed at her own chest and began to pace, "I could have been more careful. I could have never stepped foot in the Tortuga Harbor. If I could have been more careful and took hold of my temper . . . I could have . . . could have done something to prevent all this. You would be safe on the Black Pearl and I would be sitting here. Waiting for a marriage."
"A marriage that you are not ready for," Jack said gaining her attention again.
"Possibly . . . but at least neither of us would be in the situation that we are both in now. You are awaiting execution and it is my fault. If you hadn't saved me from those pirates in Tortuga that night- if had never mentioned that my father was wealthy you wouldn't have taken me onto the Black Pearl . . . then I would never had . . ." she paused and her voice was choked up in her throat. She wasn't ready to say it. She couldn't. But if she didn't say it now, when would she ever have another chance to say it?
"You would 'ave never wha', luv?"
'Fell in love with you,' she thought to herself as she raised her eyes to meet his.
She quickly looked away and focused on the keyhole for the cell door, "Never mind. You just have to believe it is my fault."
A/N: Tha's all ye land-lovers get fer now! See ya when I post chapter fourteen!
^-~ Ana the Romantic