Chapter 33: The Bath
A week later, they all watched Amos hang. It was a very solemn occasion, though not without grim satisfaction from the three women he had tortured for so long. Will had returned to Elizabeth, and she had accepted him gladly, much to Commodore Norrington's dismay. But it did seem as though he had found someone that may suit him, a lovely young woman visiting her from London, and perhaps there would soon be a marriage for him yet.
Amara was quite taken with the governor, to everyone's immense surprise, and now hardly spent any time at all at the Bailey house. She had been legally divorced of her insane husband, who was locked in the dungeon for lack of a better place to put the madman. As it was, he was raving about how "it's her fault, it's all her fault," though no one would listen to him. Jack was, for the first time in his life, welcomed wholeheartedly by the governor and the commodore for his help in saving Elizabeth. Arianne, well, she was fully in love with Jack. She trusted him with her life, and, more importantly, her heart. Her stomach was still in bandages, but it was healing well, so the physician told her, and instead of wearing one of the torturous, corseted dresses, she wore her pirate garb--the significance of which was lost on no one. She glanced sidelong at Jack as he stood next to her and decided that today would be the day she would finally clean that dirty black hair of his. The man was going to take a proper bath, and that was all there was to it. She might have smiled if they weren't at such a grave occasion, and was glad to leave as soon after the hanging as formalities would allow. Amara stayed behind longer with Governor Swann, while Will and Elizabeth decided that they would go back to their home. Elizabeth was still not fully recovered from her week-long ordeal with Amos, as their excuse went. And well that may be true, but only in part. Elizabeth was in fine color, and had mostly healed emotionally as well, but the real reason they left to be alone--and everyone that knew them knew it--was to "reacquaint" themselves with each other. As she and Jack walked back arm in arm--they had refused the use of a carriage--Arianne realized that she was, for once, purely happy. She and Jack would leave in less than a month, after a very important ceremony took place (perhaps two!), and, she thought wryly, after she had finally gotten rid of every speck of dirt upon Jack's body. Jack's incredibly beautiful body. He had been hesitant to touch her, for which she had been both grateful and frustrated. He refused to force her into anything that she wasn't yet ready for, but she had gotten over her love of Will surprisingly quickly. So quickly that she had to wonder whether it had been love at all. She knew now, however, that even if Jack were to abandon her, that she would love him forever. But she had reason to believe that he wouldn't leave her.
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He glanced over at the satisfied smile on Arianne's face and couldn't help but smile himself. Now that all of the threats were gone from her life, she seemed far more relaxed than ever she had been before. He loved how easily she smiled now, and he was very grateful that she hadn't made him wait long to finally give in to his slightly more base desires.
As he studied her profile more clearly, he thought he saw something other than satisfaction in her smile. It looked like she was working her mind through a specific plan. He wondered if it had anything to do with him, and found himself praying that it did.
Why had he hoped her plan involved him? he wondered as he sat on a stool, bandana and decorations in his lap, wincing every few seconds as she encountered a difficult knot in his hair. He had resisted as best as he could, but her dire threats of shaving his beard made him sit obediently while she un-knotted his hair and a servant filled a bath.
Why did she want to comb out his hair anyway?
"I want you to be slightly more presentable, love," she said, seeming to read his mind. "And I would like to do this at least once a week."
"You'd like to WHAT?!" he exclaimed in shock. Why would she want to put him through this torture once a week?!
"It won't be so bad if it's done more often, Jack. I would hazard a guess that you haven't done a blasted thing to your hair in the past six years."
He had to agree with her logic, though he still wished she wasn't hurting him so much. Sighing, he resigned himself to being a clean pirate, though he suspected it would wreak havoc upon his reputation. It was a small sacrifice to make for a man that would give up even his pirating career for her.
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After what seemed to take hours, she finally finished brushing out his hair, which promptly stood out about his head with static electricity. She stifled a smile as he exclaimed in indignation at his reflection.
"Get in the bath, love, it will be better after." When he looked at her doubtfully, she did laugh. "I promise it will be better! I'll even braid your hair afterwards, so you don't look so much like a gentleman. I want my pirate lover to look like what he really is."
"Ah, but I'm more than your lover," he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead.
"I know," she whispered softly, reveling in the warm feel of him against her, in the feeling of rightness she felt whenever she was with him. She pushed him away, however, knowing that if the embrace went on much longer she might lose all will to give him a bath.
"Disrobe, you scalawag!" she said to him with a smile. He obeyed willingly, and she admired his backside until he stepped into and sat down in the large bath tub.
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He sighed in pleasure as the very warm water caressed his skin. Much as he may pretend otherwise, he loved the feel of being submerged in such lovely hot water. Even more, he loved the feeling of the woman he loved washing him in said hot water. He smiled, very satisfied, and she splashed his face before continuing to scrub.
Eventually, his skin began to get raw with the force of her scrubbing. He exclaimed that she was trying to rub the skin right off of him, but she just scrubbed harder at what appeared to be a particularly difficult patch of dirt on his skin. When she was finished with his body, she dunked his head unceremoniously under the water, giving him no warning whatsoever.
When he came up spluttering, she attacked his head with yet more soap, and he simply gave in to her not-so-gentle ministrations. She washed his hair a good five more times before she was satisfied that it was clean, and his beard as well. His eyes were starting to smart with the soapy water. "Blast it, woman, aren't you done yet?!" he asked in exasperation.
"Almost," she said with a wicked grin. She held up the rag with yet more soap on it, and then assaulted his face.
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She turned away as he toweled himself off, the smile evident on her face. When she turned back, it was wrapped around his waist and he was glaring at her. "Where are my clothes, love?" he asked indignantly.
"They're being burned, darling." When a murderous look came over his face, she quickly amended that with, "But don't worry! I've already arranged for a whole new set for you. Maybe in another ten years I'll by you another one," she finished with a smile. When he smiled in return, she relaxed and held up the brush once more. He groaned, but didn't even try to fight it this time, sitting down obediently.
She went at his hair again, finding it considerably easier to brush out this time, though he still flinched every time she ran into a knot.
Later, when she was at last finished brushing and carefully braiding his hair and beard (including his old decorations, of course, but adding a few new ones of her own), she stood back and examined her work. Smiling in satisfaction, she stood Jack up and let him look at himself in the mirror.
After he was finished examining himself, he promptly turned around and kissed her on the mouth. "Thank you, love," he whispered, his mouth still hovering close to hers.
"You're so very welcome," she whispered back, and pulled him close to her for a deeper kiss.
"Perhaps now we can do something that will be more enjoyable for us both," he said, breaking the kiss and leaving her breathless. He hoisted her in his arms, the towel still wrapped tightly around his waist, and carried her into her old bedroom, to take her gently and lovingly into absolute bliss once more.
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I enjoyed writing this chapter. I know that if Jack and I were to get together the first thing I would have to do would be to give him a bath and then braid his hair. Heh. But then, I have a problem with dirt, so that's just me! Also, I have no idea why the first section wouldn't do all the different paragraphs, but I'm damned annoyed with that! Grr! (FYI, no, it's not finished yet, but it's damn close! Love you all!)
A week later, they all watched Amos hang. It was a very solemn occasion, though not without grim satisfaction from the three women he had tortured for so long. Will had returned to Elizabeth, and she had accepted him gladly, much to Commodore Norrington's dismay. But it did seem as though he had found someone that may suit him, a lovely young woman visiting her from London, and perhaps there would soon be a marriage for him yet.
Amara was quite taken with the governor, to everyone's immense surprise, and now hardly spent any time at all at the Bailey house. She had been legally divorced of her insane husband, who was locked in the dungeon for lack of a better place to put the madman. As it was, he was raving about how "it's her fault, it's all her fault," though no one would listen to him. Jack was, for the first time in his life, welcomed wholeheartedly by the governor and the commodore for his help in saving Elizabeth. Arianne, well, she was fully in love with Jack. She trusted him with her life, and, more importantly, her heart. Her stomach was still in bandages, but it was healing well, so the physician told her, and instead of wearing one of the torturous, corseted dresses, she wore her pirate garb--the significance of which was lost on no one. She glanced sidelong at Jack as he stood next to her and decided that today would be the day she would finally clean that dirty black hair of his. The man was going to take a proper bath, and that was all there was to it. She might have smiled if they weren't at such a grave occasion, and was glad to leave as soon after the hanging as formalities would allow. Amara stayed behind longer with Governor Swann, while Will and Elizabeth decided that they would go back to their home. Elizabeth was still not fully recovered from her week-long ordeal with Amos, as their excuse went. And well that may be true, but only in part. Elizabeth was in fine color, and had mostly healed emotionally as well, but the real reason they left to be alone--and everyone that knew them knew it--was to "reacquaint" themselves with each other. As she and Jack walked back arm in arm--they had refused the use of a carriage--Arianne realized that she was, for once, purely happy. She and Jack would leave in less than a month, after a very important ceremony took place (perhaps two!), and, she thought wryly, after she had finally gotten rid of every speck of dirt upon Jack's body. Jack's incredibly beautiful body. He had been hesitant to touch her, for which she had been both grateful and frustrated. He refused to force her into anything that she wasn't yet ready for, but she had gotten over her love of Will surprisingly quickly. So quickly that she had to wonder whether it had been love at all. She knew now, however, that even if Jack were to abandon her, that she would love him forever. But she had reason to believe that he wouldn't leave her.
********************************
He glanced over at the satisfied smile on Arianne's face and couldn't help but smile himself. Now that all of the threats were gone from her life, she seemed far more relaxed than ever she had been before. He loved how easily she smiled now, and he was very grateful that she hadn't made him wait long to finally give in to his slightly more base desires.
As he studied her profile more clearly, he thought he saw something other than satisfaction in her smile. It looked like she was working her mind through a specific plan. He wondered if it had anything to do with him, and found himself praying that it did.
Why had he hoped her plan involved him? he wondered as he sat on a stool, bandana and decorations in his lap, wincing every few seconds as she encountered a difficult knot in his hair. He had resisted as best as he could, but her dire threats of shaving his beard made him sit obediently while she un-knotted his hair and a servant filled a bath.
Why did she want to comb out his hair anyway?
"I want you to be slightly more presentable, love," she said, seeming to read his mind. "And I would like to do this at least once a week."
"You'd like to WHAT?!" he exclaimed in shock. Why would she want to put him through this torture once a week?!
"It won't be so bad if it's done more often, Jack. I would hazard a guess that you haven't done a blasted thing to your hair in the past six years."
He had to agree with her logic, though he still wished she wasn't hurting him so much. Sighing, he resigned himself to being a clean pirate, though he suspected it would wreak havoc upon his reputation. It was a small sacrifice to make for a man that would give up even his pirating career for her.
********************************
After what seemed to take hours, she finally finished brushing out his hair, which promptly stood out about his head with static electricity. She stifled a smile as he exclaimed in indignation at his reflection.
"Get in the bath, love, it will be better after." When he looked at her doubtfully, she did laugh. "I promise it will be better! I'll even braid your hair afterwards, so you don't look so much like a gentleman. I want my pirate lover to look like what he really is."
"Ah, but I'm more than your lover," he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead.
"I know," she whispered softly, reveling in the warm feel of him against her, in the feeling of rightness she felt whenever she was with him. She pushed him away, however, knowing that if the embrace went on much longer she might lose all will to give him a bath.
"Disrobe, you scalawag!" she said to him with a smile. He obeyed willingly, and she admired his backside until he stepped into and sat down in the large bath tub.
********************************
He sighed in pleasure as the very warm water caressed his skin. Much as he may pretend otherwise, he loved the feel of being submerged in such lovely hot water. Even more, he loved the feeling of the woman he loved washing him in said hot water. He smiled, very satisfied, and she splashed his face before continuing to scrub.
Eventually, his skin began to get raw with the force of her scrubbing. He exclaimed that she was trying to rub the skin right off of him, but she just scrubbed harder at what appeared to be a particularly difficult patch of dirt on his skin. When she was finished with his body, she dunked his head unceremoniously under the water, giving him no warning whatsoever.
When he came up spluttering, she attacked his head with yet more soap, and he simply gave in to her not-so-gentle ministrations. She washed his hair a good five more times before she was satisfied that it was clean, and his beard as well. His eyes were starting to smart with the soapy water. "Blast it, woman, aren't you done yet?!" he asked in exasperation.
"Almost," she said with a wicked grin. She held up the rag with yet more soap on it, and then assaulted his face.
********************************
She turned away as he toweled himself off, the smile evident on her face. When she turned back, it was wrapped around his waist and he was glaring at her. "Where are my clothes, love?" he asked indignantly.
"They're being burned, darling." When a murderous look came over his face, she quickly amended that with, "But don't worry! I've already arranged for a whole new set for you. Maybe in another ten years I'll by you another one," she finished with a smile. When he smiled in return, she relaxed and held up the brush once more. He groaned, but didn't even try to fight it this time, sitting down obediently.
She went at his hair again, finding it considerably easier to brush out this time, though he still flinched every time she ran into a knot.
Later, when she was at last finished brushing and carefully braiding his hair and beard (including his old decorations, of course, but adding a few new ones of her own), she stood back and examined her work. Smiling in satisfaction, she stood Jack up and let him look at himself in the mirror.
After he was finished examining himself, he promptly turned around and kissed her on the mouth. "Thank you, love," he whispered, his mouth still hovering close to hers.
"You're so very welcome," she whispered back, and pulled him close to her for a deeper kiss.
"Perhaps now we can do something that will be more enjoyable for us both," he said, breaking the kiss and leaving her breathless. He hoisted her in his arms, the towel still wrapped tightly around his waist, and carried her into her old bedroom, to take her gently and lovingly into absolute bliss once more.
************************************************************************
I enjoyed writing this chapter. I know that if Jack and I were to get together the first thing I would have to do would be to give him a bath and then braid his hair. Heh. But then, I have a problem with dirt, so that's just me! Also, I have no idea why the first section wouldn't do all the different paragraphs, but I'm damned annoyed with that! Grr! (FYI, no, it's not finished yet, but it's damn close! Love you all!)