They only stopped when they had put a big enough distance between
themselves and the tavern, after all those ruffians could have followed
them out on the street. Valentina was breathing heavily from the exertion.
Jack was leaning on her for support, so that meant she had practically
dragged him the whole way. And why on earth was he still walking with his
arm around her?! As quick as lightning she extricated herself from under
his embrace and stepped back. Jack stopped walking and looked at her with a
baffled expression, probably asking himself why he was now swaying just a
little bit more than two seconds ago.
"I think we are safe for now," she informed him curtly.
"Where'd we be?" he squinted his eyes together, looking around curiously.
"Somewhere I don't want to be, with someone I never wanted to see again," she growl.
"It was yer idea to be me girlfriend," Jack slurred and approach her walking in zigzag, only stopping when their faces were only inches apart. She cringed her nose in discomfort, "Ya smell nice," he murmured with a smile on his face.
"And you smell of rum," Valentina answered dryly and gently, but determinedly, pushed him back on arm length.
"Are ya always this snappish? No wonder nobody likes ya but me. Should scare all the other men away eff..effectively. Their bad, I say," he grinned at her.
The young woman rolled her eyes exasperatedly. All she wanted was to do was get rid off him and in order to do that, she had to drop him off at the Pearl - leaving him in the streets equalled sentencing him to certain death and as she hadn't been able to do just that only minutes ago at the 'Queen of the Caribbean', she figured that wasn't an option any more. She sighed in frustration.
"Give me your sword, Jack."
"Never! It's mine and ya won't get it," he grabbed it possessively.
"I need it in case anybody attacks us. You are in no condition to fight," she explained slowly as if talking to a child.
"Only if ya ask nicely," Jack said cocking his head at her with a drunken smirk, showing off his gold teeth.
The hell she was going to ask nicely! She took a step towards him and sneaked the sword away from, after all she was a thief. He reached out to stop her hand in mid movement, under normal circumstances he would have undoubtedly been able to, she acknowledged suddenly feeling a hint of respect towards him, but drunk as he was, he grabbed into thin air.
"No fair," he said crossing his arms over his chest childishly.
"I don't play fair," Valentina smirked at him, looking at the steel blade in approval.
"So, Sparrow, just out of curiosity, what business did you have with those Italians?" she asked starting to walk towards the harbour, hoping he would take her hint and follow her.
"They were those rumrunners who rescued me from that bloody island, savvy?" Jack answered disgustedly.
"What island?"
"That godforsaken island where I was marooned on by me own mutinous crew, back when Barbossa took me beloved Pearl away from me. Left me there to die with nothing but me pistol, one shot and me sword, those mangy, filthy bastards," his coal rimmed brown eyes narrowed as he lost himself in a seemingly endless chain of curses.
"Jack?! You were telling a story. Remember?" Valentina reminded him, when his cursing became more elaborate. Hell, she didn't even no if that sort of things were anatomically possible!
"Where was I?" Jack slurred, scratching his head sheepishly. "Yes, of course! The island. I found a hidden rum stash near the shore. Helped to ease me pain over losing me ship a little bit. Spent three days on the beach getting drunk until those Italian rumrunners appeared. Had to promise them a whole lot of treasure before they agreed to take me with them," he told her, sounding more ill humoured by the minute.
"Apparently they have a good memory," Jack added in an after thought.
"It appears so," she said and raised her eyebrow. He still hadn't moved an inch, standing in the middle of the road swaying back and forth like a willow in the wind.
"Alright," she rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the hand, dragging him towards the harbour.
After a few minutes they arrived at the docks, where the Pearl lay, swaying calmly in the cool waters of the Caribbean sea. They were almost there. Just a few more steps and she would finally get rid off him - piece of cake. But unfortunately it turned out that getting the drunk captain on board was not an easy task at all. Especially walking up the landing-stage was challenging, as Jack seemed to have an overwhelmingly strong desire to take a dip in the ice cold sea water, stirring them, at least once or twice, dangerously close to the edge. She cursed loudly which attracted the attention of Gibbs and Ana Maria who stood guard on deck and had used the opportunity for a chat between old friends.
"Having a hard time getting ol' Jack home safe n' sound, aye?" the bearded pirate called down with a smirk, not moving a single finger to help her. A bottle of ale was dangling from his hand.
"No, everything's just perfect. We are having a marvellous time actually, but thanks for asking," she answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm, while she shoved Jack towards deck and safety.
"So it appears," Ana Maria answered grinning from ear to ear in amusement. "Rum again?"
The word 'rum' seemed to attract Jack's attention immediately, his head shot up and he looked around searchingly, in short the only thing that would have been able to emphasize his unquenchable thirst for rum even more, would have been him drooling greedily. "Rum! We always need more rum!" he exclaimed his finger high up in the air, as if he was giving a speech.
"No, we don't," Valentina replied shortly, guiding the drunk pirate with some difficulty towards his quarters. Why was she doing this again, she asked herself grimly. Right, he had spared her life! But after this act of selflessness she consider her debt repaid in full.
They stumbled down the stairs, successfully getting closer and closer to their destination, as Valentina noticed with relief.
"Off goes the happy couple," the young thief heard Gibbs call out behind them, accompanied by Ana Maria's warm laughter and the clanging of two bottles.
She shoved open the door to Jack's cabin and to her surprised it revealed a rather tastefully decorated room. Well, what do you know?
"Thank you, merciful Lord, we are finally there!" she exclaimed sounding almost a little bit too cheerful. Her arms and her legs hurt hellishly. If she wasn't going to get some sleep soon she would simply drop on the floor.
"Love, I have to thank ya," Jack positioned himself in front of her, both his hands resting on her shoulders, maybe because he was trying to focus on her or stop the room from spinning. His gaze serious though a bit glassy thanks to his inebriated state.
"Not only did ya help me out at the 'Queen of the Caribbean', but ya also were so gracious as to bring me home. I owe ya me deepest thankfulness, indeed....," he stopped his expression pensive as if he wanted to add something, but couldn't remember what it was, then he simply passed out and slumped forward. Valentina let out a surprised yelp as his weight pulled her down with him. Luckily they were standing in front of his bed so their fall was stopped by soft cushions.
"Get off me!" she demanded trying to push him aside, but to no avail. She slumped her fists on the bed in frustration and cursed the day she ever made the acquaintance of Jack Sparrow, Captain of the Black Pearl.
~
Valentina was somewhere between waking and sleeping, her consciousness still warmly engulfed in sleep's maternal embrace, while her senses slowly awoke from slumber. She stretched like a content housecat, only to turn once more, postponing the unpleasant process of actually getting up. Never, as long as she could remember, had she felt that well rested, that relaxed. Something warm and soft was rapped around her protectively, maybe a warming blanket, her sleep clouded mind told her. She took in its dazzling smell with a dreamy smile on her lips and nuzzled into it with a content sigh. The blanket pulled her closer with its strong arms. Wait a second since when do blanket come with arms attached to them?!
Her eyes shot open and when they met Jack's, who had woken up about the same time because of her stirring, two twin screams could be heard from the Captain's quarters.
"Maldetta procamisera ! How did this happen? What on earth..?" She ran out of words, retreating quickly to the other side of the bed, from where she stared at Jack with huge eyes.
He held his head, where her high pitched scream still echoed back at him, obviously having a massive hangover, but nevertheless he managed to produce an enormous grin. "A wild guess: we both fell asleep?"
She refrained from answering to that and decided on just glaring at him in silent disapproval, her head cocked to a side challengingly.
"Ya seemed a lot friendlier only seconds ago," he said looking at her pointedly like he wanted to say 'just look where you are, you are sitting on my bed, in my quarters'.
Valentina blushed crimson red, she appeared to do that a lot in his presence, she noticed to her discomfort. Jack's grin became even wider, if that was still humanly possible.
"Well, " she looked around nervously, like a rabbit caught in a hunter's trap, "I'd best be going." Valentina scurried quickly towards the door, in the hope she would still get a way with her dignity, but her way was suddenly blocked by Jack. How he managed to move that quickly that early in the morning was beyond her. He leaned against the doorframe casually, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I want to make ya an offer," Jack proclaimed calmly, inspecting his nails non -challently.
"Being?" she looked at him expectantly. Perhaps the fact had passed him by that the concept of the word 'offer' generally entails two parties, wherein one party presents the other with something he or she wants to have. What could Jack Sparrow possibly offer her she'd want to have? Valentina was curious.
"Since ya obviously have nowhere else to go, assuming that yer relations with the Thieves' guild should now be rather..,"he paused searching for the right word, describing the fact that she would be killed on sight, "tense.. at present time, I offer ya the opportunity to become part of me crew, which means that ya'd then be rightfully entitled to take some of me gold, without having to sneak around at night."
"But I'd still have to endure your exceedingly annoying presence on a daily basis," she quipped.
"Aye," he shrugged his shoulders, "but ya'd have a place to stay. Ya see, I'm a very hospitable guy. Did even let ya sleep in me own bed."
"You passed out on top of me," she reminded him. Punctuating every word with her finger poking into his chest, which left Jack totally unimpressed.
"Let's not dwell on the past, shall we? Do ya take me offer, or not?" he asked impatiently.
Valentina frowned. It was no easy decision. She hated pirates and it had never crossed her mind to become one herself. True - they were thieves, too, only that they had a ship as a getaway vehicle, but the lacked the subtlety that she thought necessary for this profession. She had always tried never to leave any traces and made sure her actions were well planned, whereas pirates simple took what they wanted, acting like the proverbial bull in the China shop.
"Let's cut this matter short," the young woman thought, "This is not about principles."
She could stay in Tortuga and hope that she didn't end up dead or worse - she could actually imagine a few things that were worse than ending up with a slit throat. Or she could sail away with the Pearl where she would be relatively save, but extremely annoyed., as she could safely predict by previous experience. Valentina carefully thought about her options. Starve - have regular meals a day, annoy some bartender - annoy Jack (very tempting that one), no loot - pillage and plunder and get part of the loot, death - being sea sick. Would wonders never cease? Who would have known? Jack's offer was actually acceptable.
"Count me in," she begrudgingly told him. "And now please let me go?"
"Had no intention of keeping you from work," he answered and over- exaggeratedly made room for her doing a mock courtesy.
When she was about to climb the stairs that led towards deck she heard Jack call out behind her.
"Love, wait!"
"What is it?" she turned around, sounding a tad bit annoyed.
"Me sword. Ya took it with ya," he pointed at his weapon dangling merrily from her belt. She looked down and noticed it, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'.
"I guess it just happened accidentally," Jack added, winking at her.
"Old habits die hard," the corner's of her mouth twitched to a warm smile, the first one Jack had actually seen on her. And it suited her very well, too. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with merriment. They were deep brown, he noticed with fascination.
"Jack!" he was ripped out of his reverie by her voice, it sounded preoccupied. The lovely smile was gone. Had he done something wrong again?
"About those rumrunners.."
"What of it, love?" he quickly caught himself. He couldn't have her realize that he actually got caught up in her sight, now could he?
"Well, I think it's highly probable we might see them again and since it is my sorry ass that literally sits in the same boat as yours, Sparrow, it's my duty to inform you about it," Valentina told him, trying to overplay the moment of friendly teasing between them by her rather harsh choice of words.
"What makes ya so sure about that?" he switched to Captain mode immediately, as matters of business where addressed.
"It's a gut feeling and also he said that they wouldn't rest until your debt to them would be repaid. So I suppose they might turn up sooner or later claiming their reward, you know?"
"I think we are safe for now," she informed him curtly.
"Where'd we be?" he squinted his eyes together, looking around curiously.
"Somewhere I don't want to be, with someone I never wanted to see again," she growl.
"It was yer idea to be me girlfriend," Jack slurred and approach her walking in zigzag, only stopping when their faces were only inches apart. She cringed her nose in discomfort, "Ya smell nice," he murmured with a smile on his face.
"And you smell of rum," Valentina answered dryly and gently, but determinedly, pushed him back on arm length.
"Are ya always this snappish? No wonder nobody likes ya but me. Should scare all the other men away eff..effectively. Their bad, I say," he grinned at her.
The young woman rolled her eyes exasperatedly. All she wanted was to do was get rid off him and in order to do that, she had to drop him off at the Pearl - leaving him in the streets equalled sentencing him to certain death and as she hadn't been able to do just that only minutes ago at the 'Queen of the Caribbean', she figured that wasn't an option any more. She sighed in frustration.
"Give me your sword, Jack."
"Never! It's mine and ya won't get it," he grabbed it possessively.
"I need it in case anybody attacks us. You are in no condition to fight," she explained slowly as if talking to a child.
"Only if ya ask nicely," Jack said cocking his head at her with a drunken smirk, showing off his gold teeth.
The hell she was going to ask nicely! She took a step towards him and sneaked the sword away from, after all she was a thief. He reached out to stop her hand in mid movement, under normal circumstances he would have undoubtedly been able to, she acknowledged suddenly feeling a hint of respect towards him, but drunk as he was, he grabbed into thin air.
"No fair," he said crossing his arms over his chest childishly.
"I don't play fair," Valentina smirked at him, looking at the steel blade in approval.
"So, Sparrow, just out of curiosity, what business did you have with those Italians?" she asked starting to walk towards the harbour, hoping he would take her hint and follow her.
"They were those rumrunners who rescued me from that bloody island, savvy?" Jack answered disgustedly.
"What island?"
"That godforsaken island where I was marooned on by me own mutinous crew, back when Barbossa took me beloved Pearl away from me. Left me there to die with nothing but me pistol, one shot and me sword, those mangy, filthy bastards," his coal rimmed brown eyes narrowed as he lost himself in a seemingly endless chain of curses.
"Jack?! You were telling a story. Remember?" Valentina reminded him, when his cursing became more elaborate. Hell, she didn't even no if that sort of things were anatomically possible!
"Where was I?" Jack slurred, scratching his head sheepishly. "Yes, of course! The island. I found a hidden rum stash near the shore. Helped to ease me pain over losing me ship a little bit. Spent three days on the beach getting drunk until those Italian rumrunners appeared. Had to promise them a whole lot of treasure before they agreed to take me with them," he told her, sounding more ill humoured by the minute.
"Apparently they have a good memory," Jack added in an after thought.
"It appears so," she said and raised her eyebrow. He still hadn't moved an inch, standing in the middle of the road swaying back and forth like a willow in the wind.
"Alright," she rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the hand, dragging him towards the harbour.
After a few minutes they arrived at the docks, where the Pearl lay, swaying calmly in the cool waters of the Caribbean sea. They were almost there. Just a few more steps and she would finally get rid off him - piece of cake. But unfortunately it turned out that getting the drunk captain on board was not an easy task at all. Especially walking up the landing-stage was challenging, as Jack seemed to have an overwhelmingly strong desire to take a dip in the ice cold sea water, stirring them, at least once or twice, dangerously close to the edge. She cursed loudly which attracted the attention of Gibbs and Ana Maria who stood guard on deck and had used the opportunity for a chat between old friends.
"Having a hard time getting ol' Jack home safe n' sound, aye?" the bearded pirate called down with a smirk, not moving a single finger to help her. A bottle of ale was dangling from his hand.
"No, everything's just perfect. We are having a marvellous time actually, but thanks for asking," she answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm, while she shoved Jack towards deck and safety.
"So it appears," Ana Maria answered grinning from ear to ear in amusement. "Rum again?"
The word 'rum' seemed to attract Jack's attention immediately, his head shot up and he looked around searchingly, in short the only thing that would have been able to emphasize his unquenchable thirst for rum even more, would have been him drooling greedily. "Rum! We always need more rum!" he exclaimed his finger high up in the air, as if he was giving a speech.
"No, we don't," Valentina replied shortly, guiding the drunk pirate with some difficulty towards his quarters. Why was she doing this again, she asked herself grimly. Right, he had spared her life! But after this act of selflessness she consider her debt repaid in full.
They stumbled down the stairs, successfully getting closer and closer to their destination, as Valentina noticed with relief.
"Off goes the happy couple," the young thief heard Gibbs call out behind them, accompanied by Ana Maria's warm laughter and the clanging of two bottles.
She shoved open the door to Jack's cabin and to her surprised it revealed a rather tastefully decorated room. Well, what do you know?
"Thank you, merciful Lord, we are finally there!" she exclaimed sounding almost a little bit too cheerful. Her arms and her legs hurt hellishly. If she wasn't going to get some sleep soon she would simply drop on the floor.
"Love, I have to thank ya," Jack positioned himself in front of her, both his hands resting on her shoulders, maybe because he was trying to focus on her or stop the room from spinning. His gaze serious though a bit glassy thanks to his inebriated state.
"Not only did ya help me out at the 'Queen of the Caribbean', but ya also were so gracious as to bring me home. I owe ya me deepest thankfulness, indeed....," he stopped his expression pensive as if he wanted to add something, but couldn't remember what it was, then he simply passed out and slumped forward. Valentina let out a surprised yelp as his weight pulled her down with him. Luckily they were standing in front of his bed so their fall was stopped by soft cushions.
"Get off me!" she demanded trying to push him aside, but to no avail. She slumped her fists on the bed in frustration and cursed the day she ever made the acquaintance of Jack Sparrow, Captain of the Black Pearl.
~
Valentina was somewhere between waking and sleeping, her consciousness still warmly engulfed in sleep's maternal embrace, while her senses slowly awoke from slumber. She stretched like a content housecat, only to turn once more, postponing the unpleasant process of actually getting up. Never, as long as she could remember, had she felt that well rested, that relaxed. Something warm and soft was rapped around her protectively, maybe a warming blanket, her sleep clouded mind told her. She took in its dazzling smell with a dreamy smile on her lips and nuzzled into it with a content sigh. The blanket pulled her closer with its strong arms. Wait a second since when do blanket come with arms attached to them?!
Her eyes shot open and when they met Jack's, who had woken up about the same time because of her stirring, two twin screams could be heard from the Captain's quarters.
"Maldetta procamisera ! How did this happen? What on earth..?" She ran out of words, retreating quickly to the other side of the bed, from where she stared at Jack with huge eyes.
He held his head, where her high pitched scream still echoed back at him, obviously having a massive hangover, but nevertheless he managed to produce an enormous grin. "A wild guess: we both fell asleep?"
She refrained from answering to that and decided on just glaring at him in silent disapproval, her head cocked to a side challengingly.
"Ya seemed a lot friendlier only seconds ago," he said looking at her pointedly like he wanted to say 'just look where you are, you are sitting on my bed, in my quarters'.
Valentina blushed crimson red, she appeared to do that a lot in his presence, she noticed to her discomfort. Jack's grin became even wider, if that was still humanly possible.
"Well, " she looked around nervously, like a rabbit caught in a hunter's trap, "I'd best be going." Valentina scurried quickly towards the door, in the hope she would still get a way with her dignity, but her way was suddenly blocked by Jack. How he managed to move that quickly that early in the morning was beyond her. He leaned against the doorframe casually, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I want to make ya an offer," Jack proclaimed calmly, inspecting his nails non -challently.
"Being?" she looked at him expectantly. Perhaps the fact had passed him by that the concept of the word 'offer' generally entails two parties, wherein one party presents the other with something he or she wants to have. What could Jack Sparrow possibly offer her she'd want to have? Valentina was curious.
"Since ya obviously have nowhere else to go, assuming that yer relations with the Thieves' guild should now be rather..,"he paused searching for the right word, describing the fact that she would be killed on sight, "tense.. at present time, I offer ya the opportunity to become part of me crew, which means that ya'd then be rightfully entitled to take some of me gold, without having to sneak around at night."
"But I'd still have to endure your exceedingly annoying presence on a daily basis," she quipped.
"Aye," he shrugged his shoulders, "but ya'd have a place to stay. Ya see, I'm a very hospitable guy. Did even let ya sleep in me own bed."
"You passed out on top of me," she reminded him. Punctuating every word with her finger poking into his chest, which left Jack totally unimpressed.
"Let's not dwell on the past, shall we? Do ya take me offer, or not?" he asked impatiently.
Valentina frowned. It was no easy decision. She hated pirates and it had never crossed her mind to become one herself. True - they were thieves, too, only that they had a ship as a getaway vehicle, but the lacked the subtlety that she thought necessary for this profession. She had always tried never to leave any traces and made sure her actions were well planned, whereas pirates simple took what they wanted, acting like the proverbial bull in the China shop.
"Let's cut this matter short," the young woman thought, "This is not about principles."
She could stay in Tortuga and hope that she didn't end up dead or worse - she could actually imagine a few things that were worse than ending up with a slit throat. Or she could sail away with the Pearl where she would be relatively save, but extremely annoyed., as she could safely predict by previous experience. Valentina carefully thought about her options. Starve - have regular meals a day, annoy some bartender - annoy Jack (very tempting that one), no loot - pillage and plunder and get part of the loot, death - being sea sick. Would wonders never cease? Who would have known? Jack's offer was actually acceptable.
"Count me in," she begrudgingly told him. "And now please let me go?"
"Had no intention of keeping you from work," he answered and over- exaggeratedly made room for her doing a mock courtesy.
When she was about to climb the stairs that led towards deck she heard Jack call out behind her.
"Love, wait!"
"What is it?" she turned around, sounding a tad bit annoyed.
"Me sword. Ya took it with ya," he pointed at his weapon dangling merrily from her belt. She looked down and noticed it, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'.
"I guess it just happened accidentally," Jack added, winking at her.
"Old habits die hard," the corner's of her mouth twitched to a warm smile, the first one Jack had actually seen on her. And it suited her very well, too. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with merriment. They were deep brown, he noticed with fascination.
"Jack!" he was ripped out of his reverie by her voice, it sounded preoccupied. The lovely smile was gone. Had he done something wrong again?
"About those rumrunners.."
"What of it, love?" he quickly caught himself. He couldn't have her realize that he actually got caught up in her sight, now could he?
"Well, I think it's highly probable we might see them again and since it is my sorry ass that literally sits in the same boat as yours, Sparrow, it's my duty to inform you about it," Valentina told him, trying to overplay the moment of friendly teasing between them by her rather harsh choice of words.
"What makes ya so sure about that?" he switched to Captain mode immediately, as matters of business where addressed.
"It's a gut feeling and also he said that they wouldn't rest until your debt to them would be repaid. So I suppose they might turn up sooner or later claiming their reward, you know?"