Chapter 4:
It was still early in the morning , mist hovered over the water and the sky was grey. The air was heavy with humidity. Peaceful silence engulfed the Black Pearl, the crew was sleeping and consequentially so was the ship. Valentina stepped out on deck, looking around nervously. If she was lucky nobody would notice that she had emerged from Jack's quarters.
"Morning, Valentina! Slept well I suppose?" Valentina froze in tracks. Why was it that one could never sneak around on the Pearl unnoticed? Maybe she had lost her touch. She turned around, silently cursing her luck.
Ana Maria was leaning against the railing with a lopsided grin, watching her with amusement twinkling in her eyes.
"See, it is not what it looks like," Valentina rose her hands defensively. She looked at Ana Maria, but soon found that she was too embarrassed to hold her gaze for long, so she decided to study the tip of her boots carefully.
She heard the other woman giggle. "Yes, that's exactly what Jack used to say. But no worries. I know what must have happened......Judging from what I saw last night I'd say he passed out shortly after ya heaved him into his quarters."
"He is so.......," she searched for the right word to describe the fact that he was annoying the hell out of her, "......so impossibly brain numbingly sickeningly obnoxious. You wouldn't believe what happened," Valentina massaged her forehead tiredly.
"Try me," Ana Maria snorted, giving her an encouraging smile.
"Well, obviously it wasn't enough for him to let me drag him all the way from the tavern to his ship, no sir! He babbled something about how thankful he was and then the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow passed out, burying me under him with his weight," Valentina gesticulated excitedly while she spoke.
"He did?" The other woman giggled barely able to speak.
"You can bet your hat on it," Valentina answered realizing how grotesque the whole story sounded. They looked at each other for a second and then burst out in laughter simultaneously. The ice was broken.
The young thief stepped up next to Ana Maria and for a while they looked at the mysterious morning ocean in companionable silence. Mist clouds moved over the water like ghost ships, sometimes giving away a tiny peak at the nearby town and seconds later engulfing it again entirely.
"I'll stay on board," Valentina's hesitant voice broke the silence.
"So ya won't be going back to Tortuga? That's good. It can be very dangerous out there," there was a pause, before she continued, "It will be good to have another woman aboard of this ship, though I suppose ol' Gibbs will disagree - he always claims it brings bad luck. Well, I guess we have to prove him wrong, don't we?", Valentina nodded with a smile. She suddenly felt a strong sympathy blossom inside of her for the pirate lass.
"So, if ya have any questions or simply want to talk....," Ana Maria said and clapped her on the shoulder comradely. Then she sauntered off, whistling a merry tune to herself.
*
Jack's head was pounding like a herd of rhinos was running around in it being chased by a few hundred angry elephants. He rubbed his temples with a groan and slumped back into bed, his limps as heavy as rocks. Never again would he touch a bottle of rum in his whole life, Jack silently swore to himself. He closed his eyes and buried his head in his soft luxurious pillows, inhaling the pleasant and oddly familiar scent they emitted - they smelled like cinnamon and spice, exactly like her. A smile crept over his face, then realization hit him like a ton of brigs.
He rolled on his back, his head hurting again thanks to the fast movement, his eyes wide open as he stared at the wooden ceiling of his cabin. He couldn't be falling for her of all people, could he? Jack blinked rapidly as if he was trying to clear his vision. She was nice to look at, he had to give her that, but nevertheless she was utterly infuriating. But still, that was no reason not to woo her. He grinned.
Jack was that kind of man who loved to be in love, but had never truly and deeply loved someone. That was probably the reason why women slapped him in the face on a regular basis. He liked the excitement, the butterflies, the kissing (and of course he liked what came after the kissing, how could he not? Any hot blooded male does), generally speaking he loved the feeling that love brings, but his 'relations' with women always lacked depth and seriousness. Why bother when all you had to do to get out of an unpleasant situation was setting sails as soon as the morning sun appeared on the horizon?
Now was no time to concern oneself with serious thoughts, especially not when you had a massive hangover that kept you from thinking clearly. He hugged the pillow tightly to himself and decided that after a brief nap it would be time to stake out a battle plan to win Valentina's heart. He had the indefinable feeling that she would be a tough nut to crack.
*
It was early in the afternoon. They had left Tortuga a few hours ago, the sun was high up in the sky burning down on them mercilessly. Valentina and Ana Maria were sitting on deck busy with winding up a seemingly endless piece of robe. There were kinks and knots everywhere. Their task resulted somewhat difficult and required a lot of patience, but the two women didn't bothered as they kept themselves entertained by chatting with each other.
"He's doing it again," Valentina said in a low conspiratorial voice, that sounded somewhat preoccupied.
"Ya must be kidding me! Ya two don't even like each other," Ana Maria answered in the same tone of voice.
"Well, look for yourself," the young woman whispered darkly, with the air of someone who was telling an extremely frightening ghost story, "Every time I see him doing it, it scares the living hell out of me!"
Ana Maria turned around, trying to act non-challently. Her jaw almost dropped when she looked at Jack, who was standing at the helm on the other side of the deck. He was staring in their direction, to be precisely in Valentina's direction, leaning leisurely on the stir. He had a confident, yet seductive smile on his face and his brown eyes were twinkling mischievously as he looked at the young woman.
"May the Gods help us! Yer right. He *is* actually flirting with ya," Ana Maria said quickly doing the sign of the cross.
"That's what I told you, but you wouldn't believe me! Maybe he has gotten himself a nasty sunburn or something..."
The other woman squinted her eyes together. "No, I know that look. He gave me that exact same look the night before he stole me ship, which he never returned by the way. Ya better watch out. Jack's on the prowl again and that always means trouble or heartache or possibly both."
*
If there was one time a day Valentina liked the most it was probably early in the evening when the whole crew, well except for her, gathered in the mess hall to have dinner. She always made a point out of spending those few minutes on her own, which could be easily done given that the whole deck was completely deserted.
She just stood at the railing watching the sun slowly set behind the horizon, as it tinted the sky orange and red. Valentina breathed in deeply. The cool sea breeze seemed to invigorate her whole being. Sailing the ocean turned out not as bad as she had expected. She actually enjoyed being on the Pearl, she had made a couple of new friends and for the first time in her life she felt carefree and at ease.
The wind softly caressed her skin and blew back her hair. She closed her eyes mesmerizing this unique moment, trying to capture every single sensation she felt in her mind. The way the setting sun warmed her skin, the smell of the ocean, the soft rocking of the ship, the faraway cry of seagulls. A content smile spread on her face.
Valentina heard footsteps approach behind her, betraying a slow yet determined swagger. Her eyes whipped open in surprise, yet she didn't need to turn around, for she already knew who it was. Even before the other person's hand could softly touched her shoulder, she felt his presence as his body warmth radiated from him, as he came to a stop closely behind her.
"I thought you were down there with the crew, Sparrow. What brings you here?" she asked without turning around.
"Came te take a breather," he said, his deep voice dangerously close to her ear. His hand was still resting on her shoulder. His fingers started to trace tiny circles, at first hesitantly, but than with more confidence as he didn't hear her protest. It had been so long since anybody caressed her or showed any kind of affection towards her. She was thirsty for it and what made matters worse, he knew. His tanned, slender hands softly, yet expertly, massaged her skin. As much as she tried to deny it Valentina had to admit that it was a very pleasant sensation. She bit her lips trying to keep them from curving into a goofy grin.
She had to get his hand away somehow, couldn't let him see how much she enjoyed this. But it felt so good. No, it didn't feel good, she corrected herself. His hand was evil and so was Jack. Evil hand! She had to get it off.
Maybe she should turn around. That ought to make it go away, her hormonally clouded mind tried to convince her. She obeyed and shortly after came to regret it thoroughly, as she almost came nose to nose with Jack. Her heart rate increased and her breath accelerated. That was certainly not helping at all. She didn't realize he was standing that close. Her eyes widened in surprise, but Jack didn't leave her any time to come to her mind and scurry away.
He lay his other arm around her waist and drew her closer. The air soundly seemed a little bit heavier. "Well, hello, love," he said with a confident smirk, his voice seductively low. It was positively driving her crazy (but this time out of other reason than usually).
"You hate him. You hate him. You hate him", reason whispered inside her head over and over again. "Just punch him in the face, trust your heel deeply into his foot and get the hell away!"
"But look at him he certainly is a fine man", her hormones screamed at her. "It certainly won't hurt staying just a little bit longer. Just to see what will happen.."
"Do ya know what I thought about all day, darlin'?" Jack pulled her closer whispering into her ear, taking away her ability to form coherent thoughts. Pleasant shivers ran down her spine.
Normally that question would have provoked a snappy comeback, but right now her mind was absolutely blank. She just managed to look at him in silent fascination and shake her head.
"I was thinking about ya," he brushed a strain of black hair from her face, his fingers tracing her chin line, "About those delicious red lips that jus beg te be kissed," the tip of his thumb caressed her bottom lip. Her whole body was humming with anticipation.
"Love, may I ask ya fer a kiss?" Jack's husky voice immediately went under her skin and chased Goosebumps up and down the delicate skin of her neck.
He had just asked her something. What was it again? She tried hard to concentrate, which resulted somewhat difficult as we was standing so close. There was something she had to remember, something about Jack. Something important. And suddenly it all came back to her. First of all she could barely stand him. And secondly and more importantly, he had a woman in every port - that certainly was a mood killer. She could have sworn he just tried a cheap number on her. To be precisely the 'I've been thinking about you all day' - speech. Well, she would most certainly let him know what she was thinking about now!
She put on a honey sweet smile (other men would have thought it to be dangerous and run screaming in the other direction, but Jack was a little bit too sure of himself and his ability to seduce women to notice) "You can most certainly ask for a kiss.....," he grinned moving closer, but right before their lips met Valentina turned her head and kissed him soundly on the cheek. "There you are, darling," she petted a baffled Jack on the shoulder and put on an innocent face, making puppy dog eyes.
"Now if you'd please excuse me, honey. I'm starving so I will be off to the mess hall," and before he could protest she was gone. Valentina had a huge grin plastered on her face while she walked away. He wanted to seduce her? Her?! She had invented that game. How many times had she snug some English gentleman's pocket watch away while she was flirting with him like there was no tomorrow? If he wanted her heart he would have to prove himself and if he just wanted to get into her pants....Her eyes sparkled mischievously and her delicate eyebrow arched dangerously. Let's just say she would teach him not to mess with a woman's heart ever again.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank for the extremely nice reviews, guys!
Hmmm, you thought they were going to kiss, didn't you? Well, I want this to go a little bit different than the usual 'Jack-meets-girl-and-falls-for- her, they-marry, the-end' story. I don't think that a guy like him falls in love that easily, you know. I think he is some kind of 18th century player...Let's see how this will work out for him.
It was still early in the morning , mist hovered over the water and the sky was grey. The air was heavy with humidity. Peaceful silence engulfed the Black Pearl, the crew was sleeping and consequentially so was the ship. Valentina stepped out on deck, looking around nervously. If she was lucky nobody would notice that she had emerged from Jack's quarters.
"Morning, Valentina! Slept well I suppose?" Valentina froze in tracks. Why was it that one could never sneak around on the Pearl unnoticed? Maybe she had lost her touch. She turned around, silently cursing her luck.
Ana Maria was leaning against the railing with a lopsided grin, watching her with amusement twinkling in her eyes.
"See, it is not what it looks like," Valentina rose her hands defensively. She looked at Ana Maria, but soon found that she was too embarrassed to hold her gaze for long, so she decided to study the tip of her boots carefully.
She heard the other woman giggle. "Yes, that's exactly what Jack used to say. But no worries. I know what must have happened......Judging from what I saw last night I'd say he passed out shortly after ya heaved him into his quarters."
"He is so.......," she searched for the right word to describe the fact that he was annoying the hell out of her, "......so impossibly brain numbingly sickeningly obnoxious. You wouldn't believe what happened," Valentina massaged her forehead tiredly.
"Try me," Ana Maria snorted, giving her an encouraging smile.
"Well, obviously it wasn't enough for him to let me drag him all the way from the tavern to his ship, no sir! He babbled something about how thankful he was and then the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow passed out, burying me under him with his weight," Valentina gesticulated excitedly while she spoke.
"He did?" The other woman giggled barely able to speak.
"You can bet your hat on it," Valentina answered realizing how grotesque the whole story sounded. They looked at each other for a second and then burst out in laughter simultaneously. The ice was broken.
The young thief stepped up next to Ana Maria and for a while they looked at the mysterious morning ocean in companionable silence. Mist clouds moved over the water like ghost ships, sometimes giving away a tiny peak at the nearby town and seconds later engulfing it again entirely.
"I'll stay on board," Valentina's hesitant voice broke the silence.
"So ya won't be going back to Tortuga? That's good. It can be very dangerous out there," there was a pause, before she continued, "It will be good to have another woman aboard of this ship, though I suppose ol' Gibbs will disagree - he always claims it brings bad luck. Well, I guess we have to prove him wrong, don't we?", Valentina nodded with a smile. She suddenly felt a strong sympathy blossom inside of her for the pirate lass.
"So, if ya have any questions or simply want to talk....," Ana Maria said and clapped her on the shoulder comradely. Then she sauntered off, whistling a merry tune to herself.
*
Jack's head was pounding like a herd of rhinos was running around in it being chased by a few hundred angry elephants. He rubbed his temples with a groan and slumped back into bed, his limps as heavy as rocks. Never again would he touch a bottle of rum in his whole life, Jack silently swore to himself. He closed his eyes and buried his head in his soft luxurious pillows, inhaling the pleasant and oddly familiar scent they emitted - they smelled like cinnamon and spice, exactly like her. A smile crept over his face, then realization hit him like a ton of brigs.
He rolled on his back, his head hurting again thanks to the fast movement, his eyes wide open as he stared at the wooden ceiling of his cabin. He couldn't be falling for her of all people, could he? Jack blinked rapidly as if he was trying to clear his vision. She was nice to look at, he had to give her that, but nevertheless she was utterly infuriating. But still, that was no reason not to woo her. He grinned.
Jack was that kind of man who loved to be in love, but had never truly and deeply loved someone. That was probably the reason why women slapped him in the face on a regular basis. He liked the excitement, the butterflies, the kissing (and of course he liked what came after the kissing, how could he not? Any hot blooded male does), generally speaking he loved the feeling that love brings, but his 'relations' with women always lacked depth and seriousness. Why bother when all you had to do to get out of an unpleasant situation was setting sails as soon as the morning sun appeared on the horizon?
Now was no time to concern oneself with serious thoughts, especially not when you had a massive hangover that kept you from thinking clearly. He hugged the pillow tightly to himself and decided that after a brief nap it would be time to stake out a battle plan to win Valentina's heart. He had the indefinable feeling that she would be a tough nut to crack.
*
It was early in the afternoon. They had left Tortuga a few hours ago, the sun was high up in the sky burning down on them mercilessly. Valentina and Ana Maria were sitting on deck busy with winding up a seemingly endless piece of robe. There were kinks and knots everywhere. Their task resulted somewhat difficult and required a lot of patience, but the two women didn't bothered as they kept themselves entertained by chatting with each other.
"He's doing it again," Valentina said in a low conspiratorial voice, that sounded somewhat preoccupied.
"Ya must be kidding me! Ya two don't even like each other," Ana Maria answered in the same tone of voice.
"Well, look for yourself," the young woman whispered darkly, with the air of someone who was telling an extremely frightening ghost story, "Every time I see him doing it, it scares the living hell out of me!"
Ana Maria turned around, trying to act non-challently. Her jaw almost dropped when she looked at Jack, who was standing at the helm on the other side of the deck. He was staring in their direction, to be precisely in Valentina's direction, leaning leisurely on the stir. He had a confident, yet seductive smile on his face and his brown eyes were twinkling mischievously as he looked at the young woman.
"May the Gods help us! Yer right. He *is* actually flirting with ya," Ana Maria said quickly doing the sign of the cross.
"That's what I told you, but you wouldn't believe me! Maybe he has gotten himself a nasty sunburn or something..."
The other woman squinted her eyes together. "No, I know that look. He gave me that exact same look the night before he stole me ship, which he never returned by the way. Ya better watch out. Jack's on the prowl again and that always means trouble or heartache or possibly both."
*
If there was one time a day Valentina liked the most it was probably early in the evening when the whole crew, well except for her, gathered in the mess hall to have dinner. She always made a point out of spending those few minutes on her own, which could be easily done given that the whole deck was completely deserted.
She just stood at the railing watching the sun slowly set behind the horizon, as it tinted the sky orange and red. Valentina breathed in deeply. The cool sea breeze seemed to invigorate her whole being. Sailing the ocean turned out not as bad as she had expected. She actually enjoyed being on the Pearl, she had made a couple of new friends and for the first time in her life she felt carefree and at ease.
The wind softly caressed her skin and blew back her hair. She closed her eyes mesmerizing this unique moment, trying to capture every single sensation she felt in her mind. The way the setting sun warmed her skin, the smell of the ocean, the soft rocking of the ship, the faraway cry of seagulls. A content smile spread on her face.
Valentina heard footsteps approach behind her, betraying a slow yet determined swagger. Her eyes whipped open in surprise, yet she didn't need to turn around, for she already knew who it was. Even before the other person's hand could softly touched her shoulder, she felt his presence as his body warmth radiated from him, as he came to a stop closely behind her.
"I thought you were down there with the crew, Sparrow. What brings you here?" she asked without turning around.
"Came te take a breather," he said, his deep voice dangerously close to her ear. His hand was still resting on her shoulder. His fingers started to trace tiny circles, at first hesitantly, but than with more confidence as he didn't hear her protest. It had been so long since anybody caressed her or showed any kind of affection towards her. She was thirsty for it and what made matters worse, he knew. His tanned, slender hands softly, yet expertly, massaged her skin. As much as she tried to deny it Valentina had to admit that it was a very pleasant sensation. She bit her lips trying to keep them from curving into a goofy grin.
She had to get his hand away somehow, couldn't let him see how much she enjoyed this. But it felt so good. No, it didn't feel good, she corrected herself. His hand was evil and so was Jack. Evil hand! She had to get it off.
Maybe she should turn around. That ought to make it go away, her hormonally clouded mind tried to convince her. She obeyed and shortly after came to regret it thoroughly, as she almost came nose to nose with Jack. Her heart rate increased and her breath accelerated. That was certainly not helping at all. She didn't realize he was standing that close. Her eyes widened in surprise, but Jack didn't leave her any time to come to her mind and scurry away.
He lay his other arm around her waist and drew her closer. The air soundly seemed a little bit heavier. "Well, hello, love," he said with a confident smirk, his voice seductively low. It was positively driving her crazy (but this time out of other reason than usually).
"You hate him. You hate him. You hate him", reason whispered inside her head over and over again. "Just punch him in the face, trust your heel deeply into his foot and get the hell away!"
"But look at him he certainly is a fine man", her hormones screamed at her. "It certainly won't hurt staying just a little bit longer. Just to see what will happen.."
"Do ya know what I thought about all day, darlin'?" Jack pulled her closer whispering into her ear, taking away her ability to form coherent thoughts. Pleasant shivers ran down her spine.
Normally that question would have provoked a snappy comeback, but right now her mind was absolutely blank. She just managed to look at him in silent fascination and shake her head.
"I was thinking about ya," he brushed a strain of black hair from her face, his fingers tracing her chin line, "About those delicious red lips that jus beg te be kissed," the tip of his thumb caressed her bottom lip. Her whole body was humming with anticipation.
"Love, may I ask ya fer a kiss?" Jack's husky voice immediately went under her skin and chased Goosebumps up and down the delicate skin of her neck.
He had just asked her something. What was it again? She tried hard to concentrate, which resulted somewhat difficult as we was standing so close. There was something she had to remember, something about Jack. Something important. And suddenly it all came back to her. First of all she could barely stand him. And secondly and more importantly, he had a woman in every port - that certainly was a mood killer. She could have sworn he just tried a cheap number on her. To be precisely the 'I've been thinking about you all day' - speech. Well, she would most certainly let him know what she was thinking about now!
She put on a honey sweet smile (other men would have thought it to be dangerous and run screaming in the other direction, but Jack was a little bit too sure of himself and his ability to seduce women to notice) "You can most certainly ask for a kiss.....," he grinned moving closer, but right before their lips met Valentina turned her head and kissed him soundly on the cheek. "There you are, darling," she petted a baffled Jack on the shoulder and put on an innocent face, making puppy dog eyes.
"Now if you'd please excuse me, honey. I'm starving so I will be off to the mess hall," and before he could protest she was gone. Valentina had a huge grin plastered on her face while she walked away. He wanted to seduce her? Her?! She had invented that game. How many times had she snug some English gentleman's pocket watch away while she was flirting with him like there was no tomorrow? If he wanted her heart he would have to prove himself and if he just wanted to get into her pants....Her eyes sparkled mischievously and her delicate eyebrow arched dangerously. Let's just say she would teach him not to mess with a woman's heart ever again.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank for the extremely nice reviews, guys!
Hmmm, you thought they were going to kiss, didn't you? Well, I want this to go a little bit different than the usual 'Jack-meets-girl-and-falls-for- her, they-marry, the-end' story. I don't think that a guy like him falls in love that easily, you know. I think he is some kind of 18th century player...Let's see how this will work out for him.