Now that my other stories are done I promise to update this one much more often. Sorry to keep you all waiting, and thanks for the reviews.
Replies are at the end of the chapter, please review!
***
Jack left Emmaleanna and Liam in the brig, racing up on deck with rapid fervour. He glanced around, realising that, with the exception of Gibbs and Anamaria, who stood talking at the tiller, there was nobody about. He crept back below to the galley, making his way to Meryl's cabin and laying down beside her as she slept.
Jack stroked her face gently with his hand. She stirred and opened her eyes. The first thing she was a pair of dark, kohl-lined eyes staring at her from the other side of her bed. She screamed and jumped backwards, flying out of the bed and landing with a painful crash on the wooden floor.
"Sweet Jesus, Jack, don't ever scare me like that again!" Meryl yelled from her crumpled position on the floor. She reached out her hand to him. "Help me up."
He pulled her to her feet, but she winced in pain. "Something wrong, luv?"
"My bloody ankle." She threw her arms around Jack's shoulders shamelessly for support. "Jack, I think it's broken."
He bent down to examine the now red and bashed-up limb. Meryl still leaned on his back for support. "Looks bad, luv." She whimpered in pain. Jack, who could stand many things, but not the tears of a woman, attempted to lighten the mood. "Looks like I'll be the winner of all our little fencing duels now, aye?"
Meryl hopped backwards awkwardly and picked up her sword from where it lay leaning against the stood beside her bed. "This will determine that."
Jack's hand moved to his hilt sceptically. "You sure you can do this?" Meryl nodded. "Alright then." He unsheathed his blade and the two swords flickered off each other swiftly.
Meryl took an awkward one-footed step backwards. Jack circled around her. She attempted to follow him but lost her balance and fell, lying on her back at his feet. He pointed his sword at her and smiled devilishly. "Surrender, luv?"
She moved her good foot to hook around the back of his legs, setting him off balance. The pirate fell forward and caught himself just overtop of Meryl.
He paused to consider what innuendo one might make of seeing him off the ground just above Meryl, both of them gasping for air. "Well now," He observed breathlessly, "this brings back memories."
She laughed. He lowered his head and kissed her, his hands tousling her hair fondly. His tongue slid into her mouth . Stop now, her common sense told her. Stop now, someone's bound to come in. Stop…
She ignored the warning, and one might say that Jack would've done the same. They rolled over on the hard wooden floor. Suddenly the door creaked open.
Jack pushed Meryl off of him reluctantly and turned to see his sister standing in the doorway looking very displeased. She glanced at Meryl, then turned her attentions back to her older brother.
"I thought you and Morgan were getting married?" She said coolly.
He stood up. "No. Not anymore."
"But I though-" She paused. "But you two are still together?"
He smiled. "Indeed."
Emmaleanna stared disapprovingly at Meryl, who was struggling to her feet. An idea was brewing in her devious little mind, an idea characteristic of being a Sparrow. "Jack," She said calmly and quietly. "you are going to celebrate my engagement to Liam. You are going to treat him like a brother and a friend. And if you refuse to do so," She paused, an air of tension about her. "you can be assured that a little bird will make sure Morgan knows all about your little 'fencing practices' with Meryl." She paused. This speech needed some new affect. "Savvy?" She added.
The last word rolled of her tongue spitefully. Jack placed his fingertips together apologetically. "Well mate," He said with an obviously fake smile, "tell Liam I says congratulations." She grinned and left the room, closing the door behind her. Jack turned back to Meryl. "Where were we?"
For once these words were not met with a slap in the face.
***
Jack, Liam, and Emmaleanna stood on deck, baking in the hot sun, going over the tedious details of the wedding one last time.
"So you want me to go to the mainland and do what?" Jack asked Liam sceptically.
"Steal a priest." Liam said flatly.
"What in bloody-"
"How else do you propose we work the wedding then?" Emmaleanna interrupted.
"Maybe you could just not get married." Jack muttered.
"What?" Emmaleanna hissed, her eyes boring into Jack's threateningly.
Her brother sighed. "A priest?" He looked at the couple in disbelief. "Emmaleanna, this is a priest we're talking about! I cant kidnap a priest!"
She raised her eyebrows. "Oh yes, I suppose you'd need more fencing practice to pull that off!"
He rolled his eyes. "Fine! I'll kidnap a priest for you!"
She smiled at her brother spitefully. "You'd better, or your duels might get an unexpected drop-in by Lady Morgan."
Liam looked confused. "Emm?"
She waved her hand at him chidingly. "Never you mind, William."
Jack frowned. "Yet another William. Bloody eunuchs…"
"Jack!" Emmaleanna warmed.
"Aye?"
"Watch your sword." Her threat was strange, and yet Jack seemed to decipher its meaning quite easily.
He placed his palms together submissively. "My apologies."
"Speaking of which…" Emmaleanna nodded towards Morgan, who was ambling over to them. "… here comes the lady now."
"Morgan darling!" Jack exclaimed, enveloping her in his arms tenderly.
"Good morning, Jack." She smiled falsely and slunk her way out of his grasp, turning to face Liam. "Sir, you were in Port not too long ago. Tell me, how is my father?"
Liam looked tense. "James Land? He's faring better than before." He paused. "He misses you. And your mother. He's a sad man now…"
Morgan's face fell. "I miss him, I really do."
"He knows, M'lady. I'm sure he does."
Morgan looked as if she were about to fall into Liam's arms sobbing. Jack noticed this, and scowled at Liam bitterly. Morgan should be looking to fall into my arms, not that stupid Royal Navy git's.
"I wish I'd seen my mother before she died." Morgan confessed to Liam. "I really wish…"
"She was in delirium, Madame." Liam said softly. "I'm sure she thought you were there."
Tears sprung up in Morgan's eyes and she began to cry. Liam strode over to her and took her in his arms in a brotherly embrace. This was more than Jack could handle. He felt like wrenching Morgan away from Liam and wringing the little git's neck. Instead he turned and raced down the steps to his captains quarters sulkily.
"Where the bloody hell are you going is such a rush?" Meryl asked as he ran past her. She was limping a little, though her ankle was only bruised and not broken.
Jack sighed. "Going to steal a priest. Wanna come?"
***
Review Replies:
justjess22-
Well, no more mean Jack… for a while. I promise I'll update a lot more now that I only have this one story. Glad you like it and thanks for reviewing!
Lizard-
Yes, Jack is a little weird.
n/a-
Yes, that Will thing was bad. But if you thought that Will and Aletté made a cute couple WITHOUT adultery, read The Rain Cant Hurt Me Now. I just finished it. Thanks for reviewing. I'll email you about the update, but I think you should just get an account and use author alerts instead because I normally don't use my email at all.
Erin Richards-
Thanks for all your reviews- please tell me when Love My Way is updated. I'll keep checking anyways. I think just sticking to one story is better (not that I wouldn't looooooove to read more of your work!) because when you have more than two it just gets hectic. Trust me, I wont be doing that again. Yeah, I don't like studying history very much either. Oh well.
PLEASE REVIEW!
-SQ
