Before we continue, I want to thank my wonderful beta-reader Julie for her wonderful insight and advice. Without you, this story would be adrift. Thank-you for all your help and inspiration.
And to everyone who has reviewed, thank-you!!!!
Chapter 5, Almost There
The rain slackened to a drizzle by late morning, and ceased altogether shortly past noon. The Pearl remained anchored in the bay while the crew worked to repair the damage wrought by the storm.
The subject of most of everyone's thoughts remained conspicuously absent. No one saw hide or hair of Jack Sparrow since Ana Maria stomped out of his cabin earlier in the day, and as for Ana Maria, no one dared cross her path. No one except Will and Elizabeth who apparently didn't know any better, but then seeing as they were cornered below deck when she tracked them down there wasn't much place for them to run to.
"What did Jack say to you?"
The young couple looked somewhat uncomfortable. "He told us the history of the bay." Will answered. "A story about a family killed by smugglers. Is it true?"
Ana felt a headache developing at her temples. It surprised her that Jack would tell that particular story, but then she had her suspicions he hadn't told all of it. "That depends on what he told you, doesn't it? Did he mention the part he played in his tale?"
"As one of the smugglers."
The tension in the air surrounding Ana Maria increased to the point Will feared it might suffocate them all. The woman looked ready to say something, but she remained silent.
"Did he really participate in killing the family living there?" Elizabeth prodded.
"He believes he did."
There were many beliefs that Elizabeth modified since being rescued by Jack on the day of Norrington's promotion ceremony but fortunately, the evil of killing was not one of them. It was true that she didn't know Jack Sparrow for very long or very well, but she had a hard time coming to terms with the thought that he would be involved in the cold blooded murder of an innocent family. In fact, the only person she witnessed Jack kill was Barbosa.
"Jack doesn't kill." Apparently, Will's thoughts were similar to hers.
"Jack does kill." The three of them turned to face the object of their discussion. Jack stepped off the ladder and leaned against one of the bunks. He looked almost back to his old self, dressed in dry clothing, hair re-braided and beaded, and his eyes circled with charcoal. What worried Ana wasn't his attire or manner, but the remaining coarseness in his voice and the haze of fever in his eyes.
"Speak of the devil." Ana muttered.
He grinned wickedly. "And here I am. Now, if you will all resist gossiping for a moment, I have an announcement to make. The men are needing a much deserved break after the excitement of the storm we've just weathered, and so tonight we shall all make camp on the beach to celebrate our little victory over nature with a bonfire and plenty of rum."
"What of the ghosts?" Elizabeth asked, and the taunting in her voice made Jack laugh out loud.
"They can have some rum too, least we can do seeing as it's their beach." He bowed and climbed back up onto the deck with his first mate following closely behind.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
If it weren't for the grip she held on his arm he probably wouldn't have stopped to argue with her. Ana guessed that his stopping had to do with two main facts, one, having the Captain and First Mate wrestling on the main deck wasn't the most dignified example to be setting for the crew, and two, due to his recent swim to shore he probably wasn't all that sure of coming out on top of said tussle.
"We'll discuss this later."
"No. We discuss this now."
After a brief stare down, which apparently Ana Maria won, they retreated to Jack's quarters to argue in private. He sat down on the bench and rested his arms on the table.
"What do you want?"
She advanced on him and yet again took his temperature with the palm of her hand. "You are sick. You should be in bed."
"No. I should be dead." He paused a moment to give the words emphasis. "But I'm not, and I've no intention of attaining that graceful state of being any time soon." Before she could say anything in rebuttal, he continued. "And as for being sick, I'll remain sick whether I'm moving about on my ship, or laying on my back doing nothing in my bunk. Of the two, I prefer to remain up and moving. Savvy?"
"I savvy that you are an obstinate fool with a death wish."
"Good, then we have an accord. I remain up and moving freely about my ship and you'll stop acting like an old fishwife."
If she had a gun with her that moment, she might have used it. "And you intend to join the festivities tonight?" She inquired instead.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"And Will Turner? If Bootstrap won't show himself to you, what makes you think he'll welcome coming public in front of the entire crew?"
"We won't be with the entire crew though, will we? I intend on taking young William for a tour of the sites, alone."
"You had this planned all along didn't you?"
"Yes, absolutely. The storm was all my idea, as was the loose barrel that took Miss Swann and myself for a swim, as well, and isn't this brilliant, I even pretended to drown just to catch Bootstrap's attention. I admit it, I orchestrated everything." On that note, he stood up and positioned himself inches from her face.
"That's not what I meant."
"Isn't it?"
"No." She stood her ground and didn't back off. "You don't know how it felt, thinking I might have lost you." Their eyes were locked on each other, neither daring to look away. She leaned into him slightly and tenderly brushed her lips against his. She felt his mouth open and his warm moist tongue lightly caressed her lips. "And I promised…" Heat enveloped her body; she could hear nothing beyond the throbbing of her heart pounding in her head. "If I were to ever see you again, I promised that…"
"What did you promise?"
His voice sent shivers running up and down her spine, she leaned into him further and wanted nothing more then to lose her self to him. "I promised I'd tell you…"
"Tell me what?"
It felt like a dance. His hands travelled across her shoulders and down to her hips. Her body moulded to his in a perfect match. "I promised I'd tell you what we did to your hat."
The dance ended, the moment of heat sputtered and died. In perfect synchronicity, they both took a step back from each other. Jack slowly took his pirate hat from his head and studied it in his hands. "What did you do to my hat?"
"We." Ana corrected, feeling as though she just dodged a bullet. "When you passed out at the Faithful Bride last month we stole your hat and took it to a voodoo witch."
"A voodoo witch?"
"And she anointed it with a kind of potion that would make your hair fall out. Just temporarily. We made her promise that it'd grow back, and we all felt really bad about it afterwards."
Jack blinked and raised a hand to his head, just to make sure everything that should be there still was. "But my hair didn't fall out."
"I didn't say she was any good."
With his beloved hat back on his head, Jack sat down. "So let me get this straight. You thought I was dead, and you vowed that if you ever saw me again you'd confess to taking my hat to a voodoo witch who put a spell on it to make me go bald, none of which happened in any case, but you just felt this would be the opportune moment for you to confess your sins?"
Ana Maria nodded.
"Oh. Well then." He stood back up and walked past her. "Let's get this party started."
Authors note: as usual this is where I beg for more feedback, what did you think? Is anyone there? That sort of thing. Thanks! Chapter Six coming soon to a web page near you!
-Rat