Ma Petite
Disclaimer: Seeing as it gets a bit redundant to have one of these at the beginning of every chapter, I've decided that the disclaimer in the first chapter is good enough for the entire story. If the situation should change, I'll inform you.
Kristin: Sadly, this chapter is even shorter than the last one. Oops.
***
Captain Jack's usual front of nonchalant optimism abandoned him the moment that the little demon in his arms began to cover his beautiful beard with its drool. Why didn't it just go ahead and burn his hat while it was at it? With a somewhat reproachful glare, Jack grasped his beard firmly in his hand and yanked it out of the child's mouth. The pint-sized menace stared up at Jack, its blue eyes already filled with tears. With only this as a warning, the baby scrunched its eyes closed, opened its mouth as wide as it could, and screamed piercingly. As the rest of the crew clapped their hands over their ears, Jack attempted to shove the braided length back into the creature's mouth; he had decided that the thing couldn't possibly be human, nothing human could ever make such an awful racket. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and the child no longer wanted its new chew toy. Jack winced as his hand was pushed away by two surprisingly strong, miniature ones and the screaming continued, now even more shrilly than before.
"Donner me Joelle!" Jack's head snapped toward the child's mother, who had collapsed back onto the deck after the men holding her had loosened their grips in order to save their ears. How he had ever managed to hear her feeble voice over the baby's ear shattering, and quite accurate, imitation of a tortured prisoner would forever remain a mystery. The woman's eyes were bloodshot and wild with fever, caused by both concern for her child and illness; however, as her eyes locked with Jack's they seemed to clear for a moment and she tried again. "Give me Joelle. You are upsetting her." With a grimace, Jack shoved the girl into her mother's up stretched arms.
"Just make her stop yowling, savvy?" The change was instantaneous. Once back in the woman's familiar arms and thoroughly comforted by gentle murmurings in French, Joelle immediately began smiling with a happy burble, tangled one hand in her mother's limp tawny curls, and used her other hand to shove a silver rosary into her mouth. Now that her daughter was calm again, the Frenchwoman seemed to lose what little control over her body that she had gained back during her frantic worrying.
"Je ne me sens pas bien," she said slowly, in a surprisingly clear voice, before fainting. Joelle giggled gaily as she rolled out of her unconscious mother's arms and on top of the toes of Jack's boots. With one more cheerful babble, she latched her lips onto his pants and began to merrily gum away at them.
*
The shipwrecked woman, who was probably quite pretty when her face wasn't covered with a sunburn that made her resemble a lobster, that they had rescued was not only in his quarters, but lying in his bed wearing nothing but her shift. Why then was Jack in such a foul mood? Because, Anna Maria refused to let him in the room with the little French strumpet. The civilized conversation that the two pirates had had about the situation was long, loud, and ended with Jack giving up his rooms with nothing more to show for it than a throbbing cheek. However, this wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that while Anna Maria played the part of the nurse in the little drama that sprung up aboard the Black Pearl, he was left to watch after the baby. Yes, the fearsome Captain Jack Sparrow, who had beaten the odds and the undead just to get his ship back, had been turned into a nanny.
He didn't even want to think about the fact that they had just brought two completely useless people onto his ship, who would be eating his food, sleeping in his bed, which would have been alright if he had been allowed to join the young woman, and in return do nothing but convert oxygen into carbon dioxide. He hadn't even been able to get any loot out of it. The woman's dress had been at the pinnacle of fashion and, even with the few tears that were strewn across it, would have fetched a good price. Unfortunately, the delicate, light green silks that the dress was made of had been ruined beyond repair by the briny seawater. The silver rosary that hung around the woman's neck was of fine quality, but the words engraved on the back of the cross would make it difficult to sell. Another option was the almost obscenely large diamond that adorned her left ring finger, but once again there was the annoying trouble with all of that nasty engraving business.
The only good thing, if it could even be called that, that had come out of all the writing on the jewelry was that Anna Maria was now fairly certain that the woman's name was Chantelle Du Pont. What kind of names were Chantelle and Joelle, anyways? Couldn't the French come up with anything better than those? Somebody should go over to that country and teach them a few better names. Sure, a name like Chantelle could roll off the tongue in such a way that it seemed to leave a pleasant flavor in the speaker's mouth, but it sounded almost too fancy for everyday use. What use was a name that was unsuitable for anyplace but a ballroom?
Jack frowned at Joelle, who was laying at his feet, smacking the deck with the palms of her hands and squealing with delight at the slapping sound that resulted. With a small grimace, he scooped her up into his arms. "Stop that now, lovey, or you might give yourself a splinter. Not that I care, just that I don't want to have to listen to your screaming again if it can be helped, savvy?"
The tiny girl looked up at Jack with a look of mild unhappiness for a moment before grabbing his braided beard in her hands once again and pulling on them as roughly as possible. Now that his face was nearly level with hers, Joelle released his beard, clasped his face between her chubby hands, and blew a raspberry at him. Squeaking with delight, she released his face and began to chew on his beard again. With a resigned sigh Jack allowed her to continue. After all, at least she had stopped screaming.
"WAAAAAAAA!"
Jack groaned and began to massage his temples. Why did he always have to be wrong?
*
An hour later, after learning from Anna Maria that part of taking care of children was feeding them, Joelle was finally calming down. She had filled herself up with milk that Anna Maria had managed to procured from someplace, Jack didn't know or even want to know where she had gotten it, and was chortling happily around Jack's beard, which now smelled like sour dairy. He looked down sharply when the pressure on his beard suddenly disappeared and the little burden in his arms began to squirm. To his shock, Joelle was yawning as widely as her tiny mouth could manage. Her yawn finished, she looked up at Jack with sleepy, half-lidded eyes, cooed lackadaisically, snuggled up closer to his chest, and fell asleep. Jack began to laugh with disbelief but quickly stopped when the shaking jostled Joelle, who frowned in her sleep before nuzzling closer to him.
After quickly checking that nobody was watching him, Jack allowed the tips of his lips to quirk upwards. He trailed a fingertip down her pudgy cheek and silently marveled at how soft her skin was. It may have just been the hysterical relief talking, but now that she was asleep, Joelle was actually rather cute. The twitching corners were about to widen into a full smile when he noticed the smell and remembered what Anna Maria had told him about having to change diapers. Jack smiled darkly. "Oh, this is just getting better and better, isn't it."
***
Kristin: I don't know why, but I absolutely love that baby. Isn't she just the most kawairashii thing on the face of the earth? I haven't decided if I'm going to kill off Chantelle and force Captain Jack to take care of Joelle, or if her mother will recover from the dreadful illness that she has been stricken with. If the later occurs, then she will not recover until after our favorite captain has become completely enamored with the little squirt. Give me your opinion on this matter. I need help deciding. On an entirely different note, am I torturing Jack too much?
Translations:
Donner me Joelle- Give me Joelle
Je ne me sens pas bien- I do not feel well
Special Thanks:
Hero McAllen- You're my first reviewer, and you were sweet! I could just kiss you! Well, maybe not, but thanks tons anyway.
Eskimo- *looks around* Mary Sue? Where? Must. Kill. Mary. Sue. *shudders* Dang. Mary Sues scare me. Nobody can be that perfect without being the spawn of Satan or something.
TheHumanHobbit- I don't think I did that great of a job keeping him in character for this chapter, but then again, you never really know how people will react in situations like these. *grins cheekily* Thank you for the huge compliment. I know I don't deserve it, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside anyway.
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito- Hi! I'm almost certain that I recognize your name. Of course, this is coming from a girl who constantly calls her best friend by the wrong name, so who knows? I loved that ending too. Isn't Joelle kawaii?
Disclaimer: Seeing as it gets a bit redundant to have one of these at the beginning of every chapter, I've decided that the disclaimer in the first chapter is good enough for the entire story. If the situation should change, I'll inform you.
Kristin: Sadly, this chapter is even shorter than the last one. Oops.
***
Captain Jack's usual front of nonchalant optimism abandoned him the moment that the little demon in his arms began to cover his beautiful beard with its drool. Why didn't it just go ahead and burn his hat while it was at it? With a somewhat reproachful glare, Jack grasped his beard firmly in his hand and yanked it out of the child's mouth. The pint-sized menace stared up at Jack, its blue eyes already filled with tears. With only this as a warning, the baby scrunched its eyes closed, opened its mouth as wide as it could, and screamed piercingly. As the rest of the crew clapped their hands over their ears, Jack attempted to shove the braided length back into the creature's mouth; he had decided that the thing couldn't possibly be human, nothing human could ever make such an awful racket. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and the child no longer wanted its new chew toy. Jack winced as his hand was pushed away by two surprisingly strong, miniature ones and the screaming continued, now even more shrilly than before.
"Donner me Joelle!" Jack's head snapped toward the child's mother, who had collapsed back onto the deck after the men holding her had loosened their grips in order to save their ears. How he had ever managed to hear her feeble voice over the baby's ear shattering, and quite accurate, imitation of a tortured prisoner would forever remain a mystery. The woman's eyes were bloodshot and wild with fever, caused by both concern for her child and illness; however, as her eyes locked with Jack's they seemed to clear for a moment and she tried again. "Give me Joelle. You are upsetting her." With a grimace, Jack shoved the girl into her mother's up stretched arms.
"Just make her stop yowling, savvy?" The change was instantaneous. Once back in the woman's familiar arms and thoroughly comforted by gentle murmurings in French, Joelle immediately began smiling with a happy burble, tangled one hand in her mother's limp tawny curls, and used her other hand to shove a silver rosary into her mouth. Now that her daughter was calm again, the Frenchwoman seemed to lose what little control over her body that she had gained back during her frantic worrying.
"Je ne me sens pas bien," she said slowly, in a surprisingly clear voice, before fainting. Joelle giggled gaily as she rolled out of her unconscious mother's arms and on top of the toes of Jack's boots. With one more cheerful babble, she latched her lips onto his pants and began to merrily gum away at them.
*
The shipwrecked woman, who was probably quite pretty when her face wasn't covered with a sunburn that made her resemble a lobster, that they had rescued was not only in his quarters, but lying in his bed wearing nothing but her shift. Why then was Jack in such a foul mood? Because, Anna Maria refused to let him in the room with the little French strumpet. The civilized conversation that the two pirates had had about the situation was long, loud, and ended with Jack giving up his rooms with nothing more to show for it than a throbbing cheek. However, this wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that while Anna Maria played the part of the nurse in the little drama that sprung up aboard the Black Pearl, he was left to watch after the baby. Yes, the fearsome Captain Jack Sparrow, who had beaten the odds and the undead just to get his ship back, had been turned into a nanny.
He didn't even want to think about the fact that they had just brought two completely useless people onto his ship, who would be eating his food, sleeping in his bed, which would have been alright if he had been allowed to join the young woman, and in return do nothing but convert oxygen into carbon dioxide. He hadn't even been able to get any loot out of it. The woman's dress had been at the pinnacle of fashion and, even with the few tears that were strewn across it, would have fetched a good price. Unfortunately, the delicate, light green silks that the dress was made of had been ruined beyond repair by the briny seawater. The silver rosary that hung around the woman's neck was of fine quality, but the words engraved on the back of the cross would make it difficult to sell. Another option was the almost obscenely large diamond that adorned her left ring finger, but once again there was the annoying trouble with all of that nasty engraving business.
The only good thing, if it could even be called that, that had come out of all the writing on the jewelry was that Anna Maria was now fairly certain that the woman's name was Chantelle Du Pont. What kind of names were Chantelle and Joelle, anyways? Couldn't the French come up with anything better than those? Somebody should go over to that country and teach them a few better names. Sure, a name like Chantelle could roll off the tongue in such a way that it seemed to leave a pleasant flavor in the speaker's mouth, but it sounded almost too fancy for everyday use. What use was a name that was unsuitable for anyplace but a ballroom?
Jack frowned at Joelle, who was laying at his feet, smacking the deck with the palms of her hands and squealing with delight at the slapping sound that resulted. With a small grimace, he scooped her up into his arms. "Stop that now, lovey, or you might give yourself a splinter. Not that I care, just that I don't want to have to listen to your screaming again if it can be helped, savvy?"
The tiny girl looked up at Jack with a look of mild unhappiness for a moment before grabbing his braided beard in her hands once again and pulling on them as roughly as possible. Now that his face was nearly level with hers, Joelle released his beard, clasped his face between her chubby hands, and blew a raspberry at him. Squeaking with delight, she released his face and began to chew on his beard again. With a resigned sigh Jack allowed her to continue. After all, at least she had stopped screaming.
"WAAAAAAAA!"
Jack groaned and began to massage his temples. Why did he always have to be wrong?
*
An hour later, after learning from Anna Maria that part of taking care of children was feeding them, Joelle was finally calming down. She had filled herself up with milk that Anna Maria had managed to procured from someplace, Jack didn't know or even want to know where she had gotten it, and was chortling happily around Jack's beard, which now smelled like sour dairy. He looked down sharply when the pressure on his beard suddenly disappeared and the little burden in his arms began to squirm. To his shock, Joelle was yawning as widely as her tiny mouth could manage. Her yawn finished, she looked up at Jack with sleepy, half-lidded eyes, cooed lackadaisically, snuggled up closer to his chest, and fell asleep. Jack began to laugh with disbelief but quickly stopped when the shaking jostled Joelle, who frowned in her sleep before nuzzling closer to him.
After quickly checking that nobody was watching him, Jack allowed the tips of his lips to quirk upwards. He trailed a fingertip down her pudgy cheek and silently marveled at how soft her skin was. It may have just been the hysterical relief talking, but now that she was asleep, Joelle was actually rather cute. The twitching corners were about to widen into a full smile when he noticed the smell and remembered what Anna Maria had told him about having to change diapers. Jack smiled darkly. "Oh, this is just getting better and better, isn't it."
***
Kristin: I don't know why, but I absolutely love that baby. Isn't she just the most kawairashii thing on the face of the earth? I haven't decided if I'm going to kill off Chantelle and force Captain Jack to take care of Joelle, or if her mother will recover from the dreadful illness that she has been stricken with. If the later occurs, then she will not recover until after our favorite captain has become completely enamored with the little squirt. Give me your opinion on this matter. I need help deciding. On an entirely different note, am I torturing Jack too much?
Translations:
Donner me Joelle- Give me Joelle
Je ne me sens pas bien- I do not feel well
Special Thanks:
Hero McAllen- You're my first reviewer, and you were sweet! I could just kiss you! Well, maybe not, but thanks tons anyway.
Eskimo- *looks around* Mary Sue? Where? Must. Kill. Mary. Sue. *shudders* Dang. Mary Sues scare me. Nobody can be that perfect without being the spawn of Satan or something.
TheHumanHobbit- I don't think I did that great of a job keeping him in character for this chapter, but then again, you never really know how people will react in situations like these. *grins cheekily* Thank you for the huge compliment. I know I don't deserve it, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside anyway.
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito- Hi! I'm almost certain that I recognize your name. Of course, this is coming from a girl who constantly calls her best friend by the wrong name, so who knows? I loved that ending too. Isn't Joelle kawaii?
