Authors Note: Ok, seriously, you don't know how bad I felt waiting this long to update. Just to try and explain, junior year of high school bites sometimes, and the last two weeks have been a prime example. Between tests, projects, and god knows what else I'm repressing, I have had no time to work on this. Basically, my writing time got eaten up by that pesky sleeping thing that seems to be kind of necessary to stay sane. So here it is, a bit shorter then the last, but it seemed a good cut off point. The next section just keeps going, and that's not done quite yet, so here you are. Enjoy.
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The words slipped off her tongue unbidden and hung in the air between them, as though giving credence to the moment, before dissipating into nothing. In its wake, silence threatened to take hold until Jack finally made a move.
"Right then. Got a name, love?
"Danielle P-, Danielle. Just Danielle." She put foreword cautiously. She had never been generous with her trust, and this man certainly didn't warrant deferential treatment. Best to stay guarded until more was known.
"And you? What am I to call you?"
"Why, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." He replied with a flourish. AT her blank look, Jack blanched a bit. "Captain of the Black Pearl…" he tried again, meeting only a puzzled stare. "Great pirate threat of the Caribbean, -"
A pirate. Danielle struggled to keep the surprise out of her face. What had she gotten herself into? A place on a pirate ship. Good Lord. She should have known, really, Tortuga simply crawling with pirates as it was, and he had the look of a scallywag about him. Somehow she had failed to notice the grime, the smell of open sea and strong drink. That should have been enough for her to know. Perhaps it was his manner, she thought, that had deceived her. He seemed gentle; persuasive, surely, perhaps even forceful in his dealing, but not one to be feared outright.
Then there were his eyes. Behind them there shone a wild thing, not a creature to be tied to the land. They had a look to them that only now could be placed. She saw that look a dozen times a day, in the still moments by the docks, in the windows of the shop fronts. It was a look of yearning, a deep ache for want of freedom that she recognized as her own.
Still, a pirate. It could all end very badly, she knew. Danielle had heard tales of the cruelty of pirates, their mercilessness displayed through all manner of crime, and who was to say this one was any different, that boarding his ship wouldn't mean death, or worse. She realized, suddenly that Jack had grown silent, was watching her intently as she debated her next move. Whatever she was to do, it would have to wait for a more opportune moment.
"Well then, Captain, where are we to go from here?" Her light tone surprised Jack, but he chose to let it lie. Whatever was going through her mind would reveal itself in due course. As for now, she seemed to be compliant enough for the time being, and that was fine by Jack. Beckoning with a finger, he lead the way out of the alley and through the twisting streets of Tortuga till they reached the door of a rough-hewn two story edifice. Cracking the door open, Jack turned back to Danielle.
"Wait here." he said before slipping through the entrance. Behind him, the door snapped shut, and Danielle was left alone once again. Any thoughts of fleeing, however, were promptly jarred from her mind by the reverberating slap that sounded from behind the door. A moment later, Jack emerged, the right side of his face suspiciously red.
"That I really didn't deserve," he mumbled to himself. Then to Danielle, "Come along then. Upstairs, the master suite." Inside, doors lined the walls on either side of an imposing staircase leading to the second story. Some swung open slightly, rusted hinges squeaking, but the vast majority was shut tight, muffling moans from within. Atop the stairs, a woman dressed garishly in red glared angrily at the two of them before disappearing from sight.
Jack herded Danielle up the stairs and through an open door to the right. Moonlight streamed through an open window, illuminating the interior. The "Master Suite" consisted of a bed. A very large, somewhat dingy bed displayed prominently in the center of the room.
Danielle's muddled worries about the recent turn of events finally banded together in this knowledge. She was alone with a pirate and a very large bed. Blindly, she reached back for the door, but was dismayed to find said pirate blocking the only entrance.
"No!" Danielle yelped, torn between her want to put as much space as possible between the two of them and her dread of stepping any closer to the bed. Jack looked down at her, vaguely surprised at her outburst. Rum and fatigue were catching up with him, and his mind was not as quick as it ought to have been. Unconsciously taking a step foreword, he watched as Danielle skittered back until her leg touched the base of the bed. The contact set her darting to the furthest corner of the room.
"Oh, bloody hell," Jack muttered, exasperated. "Girl, I'm tired to the bone, and you look as though you could do with a rest yourself. But I'm not going to lay a hand on you, if that's what has you spooked. I've yet to touch a lady against her will, though the issue is rarely raised." Here, he gave a smug grin, remembering past conquests, and conveniently forgetting the consequences they tended to carry. "And…" he finished, "I don't plan to be changing that tonight."
Without waiting for a response, Jack removed his hat and coat, leaving them heaped in the nearest corner, and sprawled across the bed. Within minutes, soft snores drifted through the room, marking his descent into slumber.
It was only then that Danielle moved, making her way to the window. Easing herself onto the ledge, she breathed in the cool salt air and let the sound of waves in the distance lull her into calmness. As the panic receded, she returned to her quandary; should she stay or flee. If it were to be the latter, she would get no better opportunity. The door was unbarred and the island a haven of refuge, he would never find her. But that would leave her here, still stealing and hiding and praying for a change, when before her was that very prayer come true. Not, of course, in any way she had imagined it, but this was beyond all doubt a chance for change.
Gazing down at the familiar streets and skyline, one final truth emerged that put an end to her questioning. There was nothing holding her here. Years lived invisible had achieved their goal, she was unknown, went by unnoticed every day, and if, when, she left, she would not be missed or mourned. So that was it, she would leave. And if she had the strength, never look back.
Now all that was left to be decided was where to sleep. His words had rung true enough, and in any case, it wouldn't matter if she slept on the bed or the floor if he had lied. Despite that, the floor seemed the safer of the two. And it wasn't as though she were used to any better; floor or street, both cold and hard, it would be as every other night.
Except that every other night, there had not been a bed mere feet away and free to use. Danielle lay, unable to sleep, miserably staring at the feathers escaping the exposed tick that seemed bent on reminding her just how hard the floor was. No matter what position she chose her back ached, and it seemed that every inch of flooring was jagged with splinters.
Finally submitting, she stood and crept over to the bedside. Jack, thankfully, had not taken over the middle, and there was room enough for Danielle to stretch out on one side without the two bodies so much as touching. The mattress gave under her weight, cradling her in a sea of feathers while the blanket above it shielded her from any sharp points. Danielle sighed dreamily, any thoughts of danger or propriety clouded over by the wonderful softness. "Yes, that's what it is, it's like sleeping on a cloud." She thought hazily, before drifting off herself, to a world where she could dance light as a bird through the sky.