Sorry guys, I've had a lot of Chemistry lately, lol. (you should see the stories on my other sites that have gone for months without an update) Anyhoo, here ya go:

Chapter 5

Oh, that man had gall. Anyone who would say such a thing to a lady…his lack of manners made Gin shudder in anger. And then to lock her up in this cabin-she looked around-no matter how nice, was even worse.

Jack had claimed he knew where Will would be heading, most likely hauling Elizabeth along with him. She had asked how he knew. If Will had ever told him what he would do if there was an attack. Will hadn't. So she had asked him again how he could be certain. And he had just smiled at her and said:

"It's in the blood, darling."

Whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

And then he'd put her in here and practically ordered her to get some sleep. She had heard the lock click on his way out. Every now and then she would hear one of what she assumed was the crew murmuring in their sleep through the walls.

She turned to the bed and fingered the sheets. Silk sheets.

"Most things on this ship are stolen."

You would think if he could steal everything else he owned he could get himself some decent clothes. Or all pirates for that matter. Sighing in submission, she plopped down on the rather large bed and practically sank down into the softness of it.

Well…even if it's stolen, it's comfortable, she conceded to herself, lying back into the pillows. She sighed and allowed her eyes to slip shut.

* * * * *

"Come about!"

Gin bolted up in her bed, breathing hard at the sudden disturbance of her sleep. Shoving the blanket aside, she stood, crossed the room to a nearby port hole and peered out of it. From what she could see through the water crashing against it, the sun was just rising. Who was screaming at this ungodly hour?

She heard other shouts such as 'hoist the sails' and 'I'm not scrubbing the deck today, you are'.

Turning back from the window to her room she spotted a tray or what appeared to be some sort of porage and a very dry biscuit. Apparently breakfast had already been served. But if someone had brought it to her, that meant someone had come inside here, and if someone had come inside here…

She walked briskly toward the door and turned the knob. It opened with a satisfying click. She almost happily ascended the stairs at the end of a small hallway to the deck.

When she stepped into the nearly blinding sun, she was immediately approached by a young, cocoa skinned woman.

"You must be Miss Harold," she greeted her. Gin's eyebrows shot up, surprised at the formal greeting. "I'm Anamaria. Jack mentioned you."

"Hello," Gin replied, taking the opportunity to examine the rest of the crew. Most just as shabbily dressed as their Captain, though none of them seemed quite as strange.

"Ah, Ginny!"

She cringed at the voice and felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

"Didn't expect you up so soon," Jack commented, stepping up next to Anamaria and throwing an arm around the woman's shoulders. Gin briefly wondered if they were involved. Surprisingly, the idea bothered her.

"Likewise," Gin said, unable to keep the frustration from her voice.

"I'm sorry, love," he apologized with false sympathy. "Did we wake you?"

Gin shook her head, dismissing the subject.

"Everyone gets an early start on my ship," he explained, unnecessarily. "It's the rules. Ain't that right, Ana?"

Anamaria rolled her eyes, shrugged his arm off and walked up the platform, taking hold of the steering wheel in Jack's place.

"She's easily offended," he told Gin. This earned him another glare from the female pirate. "So, Ginny," he began, tossing the arm he'd had around Anamaria around her shoulders now. "We got a good three day's journey ahead of us."

"Wonderful," she said sardonically, wishing he wouldn't touch her.

"Now, now," He tsked at her, "none of that. Three days is a long time. Who knows? Ya may even start to like me."

"I doubt it," she whispered under her breath.

"Jack!" another voice called out. An older burly man approached them, rope in hand.

"Ginny, this is Gibbs," Jack introduced her. "Gibbs, Ginny."

"It's Miss Harold," she corrected him, not looking at Gibbs in order to be able to glare at Jack.

"Frightful bad luck to have a woman on board, Cap'n," Gibbs reminded him, eyeing Gin up and down warily. Obviously she was the matter he had wished to discuss. "'Specially one so insolent."

This comment surprised Gin in two ways. One, she was surprised this Gibbs man knew the meaning of the word 'insolent'. Two, he couldn't possibly be implying that Jack deserved some sort of respect from her?

Gibbs stared back at her. "Most would've been thrown overboard by now," he told her. "Consider yourself lucky. He must like ya." He nodded at Jack and began helping another crew member with tying a sail down to the mast.

Jack stood there, his arm still around her shoulder as if it were the most natural position for him in the world, unfazed by Gibbs' comment, silently observing his crew's progress.

"What am I supposed to do for three days?" Gin demanded suddenly, more to break the (one-sided) uncomfortable silence than out of genuine curiosity.

His gaze turned from facing forward to her. There was that lopsided grin again. "I'm sure I can find something to keep you occupied."

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Will and Lizzie come in the next post, cuz we haven't checked on them in a while!

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