Rythmteck: Hey! *big huggle to rythmteck* I'm glad you liked the bit in the rowing boat :) That was one of those high-on-giggles-unable-to-stop-laughing-three-in-the-morning-sleepover ideas, and since it didn't seem to lose its appeal even after I finished having hysterics, I thought it couldn't hurt to include it. Yup - Kate would agree with you about Ioade overstepping her bounds; but she's a desperate woman - what can I say? I hope this update is soon enough, (ha ha! Beat you to it! :p) and I shall get working on chapter 8 as soon as is humanly (and courseworkly) possible. Luv ya, m'hunni! Xxx
Savvy-Z: Glad you thought installment 7 was worth the wait - it was certainlt a long one ;) Uhuh, you guessed right - Ioade's trouble, but she does have redeeming features. As Ildera pointed out in her review, Ioade's a sweetie in all honesty; it just also happens that she's a sweetie with a bad sting in the tail (as Jack will discover on numerous occasions throughout this saga). Thank you for your review, and I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. *^-^*
Ildera: Where do I start, darling? :) Thank you for your support firstly I feel - they've made up now, so I'm happy again, but isn't it awful when they scare you like that? Parents. *meh* Secondly, yeah - Jack did what you thought he did. What do you expect? He's a man! And give him my condolences about the trick-or-treaters - that must have been quite a shock for him. Yeah, Ioade's a sweetypie, really, isn't she? She can be wonderfully waspish when she wants to be, though, so its always best to keep a gun behind your back, because she'll most certainly have one behind hers. ;) I'm glad you liked Boostrap as the interpreter, too - I figures there had to be a way in which Kate knew him, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to recognise Will. Anywho, bless you, fair shrew, for your review (hee - I love Twelth Night!), and I'll speak to you really soon. Loads of luv to you, m'dear xxxx
Disclaimer: I think it's only right that I say this: Will belongs to Elizabeth, and Jack will never be mine. *sniff* They're all the property of Disney (lucky sod), I'm just having a bit of fun with 'em. ;)
-~*~-
Kneeling before a small mirror in the candlelit cabin, something of a smile passed over Kate's face as she wound a dark tress around the hot curling tong.
Will's words had given her no end of grace and spirit with which to deal with the task in hand; it wasn't often that pirates got sympathy, and she had accustomed herself to doing without it.
Carefully sliding the iron rod out from the centre of the spiralling lock, she brushed it back over her shoulder, and selected another uncurled one.
After she had given herself time to cool down outside, she had gone back to Ioade's cabin with a renewed sense of rationality, to discuss the arrangements for her liason with Jack. Despite her first mate's reluctance, Ioade - being young and eager - had been vehement that it should happen that night, and had almost immediately followed this proclamation with sending Kate to go and get herself ready.
"You know how Sparrow looks at a bottle of rum when he's thirsty?" Ioade had asked. "Well, I want him to be looking at you like that. Make yourself as irresistible as you possibly can."
The young captain had followed her determined words through with matching actions, too - she had had the curling tongs warmed in the kitchen fire, raided the Pearl's hold and picked out a beautiful nightgown from an assortment of garments in an old chest.
"Of course," She had smirked slightly as she handed it to Kate. "Jack will be so keen to get it off you he probably won't notice how nice it is."
Kate had then gone on to point out that a nightgown would be far more suspicious than a simple shirt, and was therefore not a good idea, but Ioade had waved this concern aside by informing her first mate that she was quite happy for Jack to suspect what was happening, so that she could rub his nose in it. The dark-haired woman was far too used to her companion's snarky snipes to give any reaction. Unappealing and unpleasant duties cropped up every now and again - it was inevitable when you were a buccaneer, and though on occasion it cost her alot of self-control, Kate had learnt to distance herself from the personal side of it. This was a business liason.
Kate raised her eyebrows archly as she released another curl - well, Ioade may have deemed it that, but she certainly hadn't heard of pirates holding negotiations in bed.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Kate called, turning her head from side to side to inspect her handiwork.
There was a brief shriek of un-oiled hinges and damp wood, and then a loud whistle.
The pistoleer looked back over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Marlin.
"Scrub up nicely, you do." He grinned.
"That'll do nicely, thank you." Kate said shortly, pursing her lips.
"Cap'n wants to know if you're ready."
"Why? Is she going to escort me to Sparrow's cabin in person?"
The West Indian pirate shrugged.
"I don't question the Cap'n's orders."
Kate blinked slowly, indicating that she had picked up on the reference.
"Well, you may inform our captain that she is a goose for not coming to ask me that herself-"
"She's afraid you might refuse to do it." Marlin put in.
"And to have Grapple deposit a bottle of rum in Mr Sparrow's chambers."
"For incase you need to numb your senses, eh?"
Kate's eyes glowed dangerously.
"Go."
"Aye ma'am."
-~*~-
Jack's hand found its way up to his cheek again as he gazed out of the gallery window at the sea below. A healthy weal had now risen where Ioade had struck him that afternoon; he hadn't seen her since. He wasn't too fussed about that - pretty soon, she'd cool down, come to her senses and start talking to him again. Co-operation generally required successful communication between the two or more participating parties, for some reason.
Jack had handed the helm over to Cotton and retired for the evening, to watch the Sun set and splice the main brace. From what he had gathered, young Mr Turner and his turtledove had had a similar idea, only devoid of the alcohol.
The Captain smiled - Elizabeth seemed to have developed quite a passion for being kidnapped; ironic for someone who was intending to marry a boy with pirate in his blood. Alot more respect for Will had been instated into Jack's attitude, too;
'Wise lad.' He thought on the subject of Will not having proposed yet as he lit a lantern.
Will had insisted to his friend that he and Elizabeth were simply playing out their courtship to its fullest extent because it was the proprietas thing to do, but the pirate also suspected that it was because he was anxious about 'getting hitched', though the young blacksmith firmly denied he wasn't.
The sky beyond the warped glass panes was now a deep velvet blue blending into a fiery orange along the horizon, little white tails of pith peeling away from the inky black wake of the Pearl.
Taking a seat at the table, Jack poured himself a tankard of rum, reclined in his chair and put his boots up on the table. Now he could at last have some time to muse over the finer points of this venture...
A knock on the door.
Jack scowled, muttering a choice oath under his breath as he set down his rum and went to answer the door.
His eyes widened.
"Hello, luv."
Kate was stood across the threshold, her cat-like features glowing in the candlelight. She had done things with her hair that made her look particularly appealing, Jack noted, and his approval was only pushed to new heights by the fact that she was wearing a very flattering lace-trimmed nightgown. Jack's mind informed him immediately that this was not a safe situation.
She smiled.
"Can I come in?" She asked. "I need to talk to you about something."
As he stood back and opened the door further to allow her in, Jack's eyes skimmed over her body, and the corner of his mouth hitched up in a grin.
"Well, darlin', what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" He inquired, closing the door and resuming his seat at the table.
"I wanted to apologise for my behaviour earlier on today." She replied in her rich voice.
Jack watched her over his tankard; this was definately not a safe situation.
'No, you didn't.' He thought, taking a draught. 'You've been sent by Ioade, or I'm a guppy.'
"Apology accepted, luv." He said. "But you didn't have to get out of bed to come and tell me that."
"My father always told me it's best not to retire on bad terms." Kate answered. Jack felt something twist in his abdomen as she looked at him through lowered lashes, the russet depths of her eyes glittering.
"Right." He managed, taking another hasty swig.
'Keep your head, mate, or you're lost.'
"So what are your plans for us now, Captain?" Kate asked, her head questioningly to one side.
"Sail North, and find the Chalice." Jack shrugged.
"And after you've found the Chalice - what then?"
Jack knew that he wasn't meant to hear these words - the quality of her voice alone informed him of that. They were stroking him, lowering his guard; she was subtle, he gave her that.
"Haven't got a clue, luv." He replied. "I don't like to plan my life - it's such a constricting thing to do. 'Pirate' means that the furthest you plan is the horizon, and beyond that, you take it as it comes."
Kate smiled inwardly; he'd picked her up.
"And since we're on the subject," Jack continued, frowning slightly. "Why did you go on the account?"
In response to this, Kate smiled outwardly, too.
"You're very persistent, aren't you, Mr Sparrow?"
Jack's characteristic grin flitted onto his face again.
"I think that's the word people use, yes."
Kate sighed.
"I think you know I'm not going to answer that question." She told him. "At least not tonight."
Jack took another sip of rum from his tankard. The purpose of steering her off onto this tangent had been to give him time to think through the situation, and weigh up the pros and cons in his head. Draining the last of the drink, he made the decision, and rose from his chair.
"Well, if you're not going to answer that question," He said in a much quieter voice, approaching Kate where she sat looking up at him. "At least answer me this one."
The pirate captain bent down so that his face was close to hers, and cupped the side of her neck in his hand.
"And what would that be?" The dark-haired woman asked, straightening up slightly so that their faces were closer still.
Jack gazed at her intently.
"Why did you really come here?"
Kate looked at him for a moment, and then smiled.
"Very shrewd of you, Jack." She approved.
"So there was another reason." Jack inched his face a little closer. "And there was me thinking you wanted to apologise."
Their mouths met.
The kiss was passionate, fierce; a kiss of lust and rivalry rather than affection.
"Remind me," Jack murmured against her lips as the kiss broke momentarily. "Why...are you here?"
Kate sighed as she reached up and wound her fingers in his coarse hair.
"On business." She whispered.
It was a confused tangle of moments that passed as they made their way through to the bed. The only sensations Kate was able to remember accurately were Jack's mouth on hers, both pairs of hands feverishly removing items of clothing as they stumbled into the next room, and then the sheets rushing up to meet her back, and Jack's weight coming down on top of her.
-~*~-
The door to the cabins swung open, and Jack strode out onto the deck, beaming in a metallic grin that nearly split his face in two.
"Fine morning, William!" He greeted Will, who cast the Captain a slightly concerned look over the cutlass he was polishing.
"What's put you in such a fine humour, sir?" Gibbs queried from the helm as Jack sauntered to the fore.
Over by the rail, Ioade smiled in a self-satisfied way, and Elizabeth glanced at her curiously.
"Enjoy yourself, Captain?" Ioade called. 'That should dampen his humour' She thought smugly.
Jack wheeled round to look at her, and his frown was quickly replaced by a grin.
"Rather a lot, actually!"
"I'm glad to hear it, Mr-"
"Captain."
"Sparrow." Ioade said, pushing away from the rail and starting up to join him. "I figured that if you two had some catching up to do, so to speak, I'd be best put just to let you get on with it."
The crew, by this time, were all looking interestedly at Jack, who was giving Ioade a highly disconcerted look. Then he swallowed and raising an eyebrow at her, narrowed his eyes.
"Think maybe you and I need to have a little talk, luv." He suggested.
"Later, perhaps." Ioade replied with an understanding smile that was far too out of character for Jack to assume that it was genuine. "I do appreciate that as a captain - being one myself, of course - you're busy getting everything up," Ioade paused, savouring the little twinge in Jack's face. "And running at this time of the morning; you've risen late enough already, so chop, chop!" Ioade's smile widened. "Don't want to keep anyone waiting, now, do we?"
Jack stared at her.
"Well, I must be having words with my first mate." Ioade said then, turning round to address Kate, who had stepped out on deck just a few moments previously, and was now looking as though she secretly wished that a giant squid would rise out of the depths and swallow her. "I think we have a lot to talk about, don't you?"
Kate's passive expression seemed a little more forced than usual.
"If you'll excuse us, everyone."
-~*~-
"What on earth did you think you were playing at out there?" Kate asked calmly as Ioade closed the cabin door with a barely suppressed grin.
"I'm in a good mood this morning." Ioade replied brightly, walking past her first mate to take a seat on the nearest palette. "And apparently, I'm not the only one. You obviously worked very hard to please last night."
Kate's face remained expressionless, but she slammed her fist rather hard into the wooden wall.
"Do not expect me to do that for you again, Ioade." She warned. "That was an exception, and it will not happen again."
"But you made Sparrow so happy!" Ioade exclaimed, feigning shock. "He looked like the cat that got the cream when he minced out on deck."
"That's because he bloody well did." Kate muttered mutinously.
"Anyway, let's talk about tonight's arrangements." Ioade smiled, leaning forward on the cot edge, and reaching out for the bottle of rum that sat on the floor nearby. "I think you need to..."
"It was a one off." Kate interrupted quietly.
Ioade sighed pityingly.
"Kate. Kate."
The young captain rose, and clapped her companion's shoulder.
"Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate. Be reasonable; look at all the things I've done for you!"
Kate looked at her evenly.
"Like what?"
Ioade opened her mouth, and thrust her rum bottle up in the air gesticulatively.
There was a long silence.
"I'm sure there's something." Ioade frowned, lowering her rum bottle. "But you know how I get sometimes - it's the drink, you know." She added sagely.
In the pause that followed, something clicked into place in Kate's head.
"Give it up then." She said quietly.
Ioade cast her a confused expression.
"What?"
"Give up drink." Kate repeated, in a slightly surer tone. "If I have to sleep with Sparrow, you have to stop drinking."
Ioade looked at her as if she were mad, and promptly burst out laughing.
"Don't be a sot!" She gasped. "I'd never give up drink if my inebriatedness depended on it!"
"I won't do it otherwise." Kate continued. "I've been reasonable for long enough, Ioade - now it's your turn."
Slowly, the young, honey-haired captain stopped laughing, and gazed at Kate with a much greater measure of fear than before as she realised that her first mate was being serious.
"You're insane!" She quavered, subconsciously drawing the rum bottle protectively into her chest even as she spoke.
"Perhaps, but there's logic in my insanity. I'll not sleep with Sparrow if you touch even a drop of drink."
Ioade gulped, and looked tremerously down at the vessel cradled in her arms.
"For how long?"
Kate fixed her gaze forcefully.
"For as long as I'm required to warm Jack's bed."
Ioade whimpered. Then, after a moment of what looked like titanic internal struggle, she threw her head back to take one last, sealing swig of rum, and turning the bottle upsidedown, emptied the remaining contents onto the floorboards.
Kate smiled slightly.
"Waste of bloody good rum, that was." Ioade grumbled. "You'd better be setting his damned bed on fire, that's all I can say."
Kate raised an eyebrow, and then glanced down at the floor, where most of the spilt rum had already seeped down through the cracks into the brig below.
"There's going to be an awful lot of drunk rodents down there in an hour's time." She murmured.
-~*~-
Ioade knocked on the cabin door, the corners of her mouth grimly set - Kate's sanction had already started to take its toll. She was sobering up, and she didn't know that she really cared for it all that much.
"C'min!" Came the summons from within. "Ah." Jack added as his sparring partner stepped over the threshold.
"Yes. Ah." Ioade said with a forced smile. "You mentioned something about a 'little chat' earlier, I believe?"
Jack gave a nod.
"Sit down." He commanded sternly, rather like a schoolmaster to a naughty pupil.
"Jack." Ioade deadpanned. "You might be Captain in these parts, but I'm not four."
"Drink?" Sparrow continued cheerfully, brandishing a rum bottle as though she hadn't spoken.
Ioade convulsively gripped the edge of the table.
"No thank you."
Jack, who had been in the process of taking a swig from the aforementioned bottle, promptly sprayed its contents across the table, barely missing Ioade, who rocked back on two legs of her chair with a revolted expression.
"Are you feeling alright, luv?" Jack choked.
"Barely." Ioade managed through clenched teeth. "Shall we get down to business now, Captain? Please?" She added somewhat more pathetically.
"Let's..." Jack agreed slowly, still looking at Ioade as though she had grown another head.
"Right, then." The honey-haired girl beamed brightly, leaning back in her chair again, and putting her boots up on the table. "The leak; its not really that attractive, is it?"
"What leak?" Jack frowned.
"The one in Kate's and my cabin. There's a leak." Ioade stated with a slightly more fixed smile.
"Oh - that leak." Said Jack, taking another swig of rum.
"It's there on purpose, isn't it?" Ioade asked.
Silence.
"You see, I was thinking more along lines of a cabin above the water level, a window with a nice sea view, perhaps. And no leak."
"I think you might find, luv, that wherever you have a window on a ship, you're going to get a nice sea view, whether you want one or not." Jack pointed out.
"And next on the list..." Ioade interrupted in a sing-song voice. "...You are getting all of this down on paper, aren't you?"
"Now, hang on a moment, luv." Jack started, holding up his hands. "What makes you think I should be doing any of it?"
Ioade gave him a flat look. She could virtually hear the realisation clunking into place in Jack's head.
"Oh."
"Quite." Ioade agreed archly. "Are we synchronised in our thoughts?"
"If you mean 'do I have your attention', yes."
Settling back in his chair, Jack grudgingly let Ioade take the wheel of the conversation - he knew it would only make things more difficult for him if he didn't.
"Secondly," Ioade began again, her tone set. "You are to consult me on every decision you make. You want co-operation? Well, now you have it. Thirdly, all the plunder we gain on this venture, I want fifty percent of it. And fourthly, Kate is to be treated with respect, savvy? She's me mate."
"Is she, now?" Jack asked, and Ioade knew at once that she had just left herself wide open to fire. "Funny thing to make your mate a whore."
Ioade slammed her fist into the table and sprang to her feet, glaring at him.
"Don't you dare say that!" She fumed. "Don't you dare!"
"Well, that is what you're doing, basically, isn't it?"
"You know as well as me that if the situation arose, Jack Sparrow, you'd leave Gibbs to die if he fell behind? Or maybe even Will! 'Keep to the Code', you'd say!"
"Aye, maybe, but I don't recall it saying anything of the sort that applies to you in the Code." Jack said in a dangerously quiet voice.
"But isn't it obvious that she's suffered?" Ioade cried. "It's bloody well written all over her attitude that she's suffered something awful, and you just take her without a second thought?"
"Ah." Jack narrowed his eyes, leaning forward. "But who put her up to it in the first place, luv?"
Ioade fell silent, a resentfully guilty expression on her face; she was beaten.
"Now," Jack continued, reclining in his chair again, his tone reasonable. "I don't pretend to know what happened to Kate any more than she'll tell me what happened, but I reckon she's capable of dealing with it on her own. As for your terms, I think your first mate's a sight for sore eyes and all, but..." He trailed off with a shrug.
Ioade's eyes were burning.
"You owe me a ship." She said quietly. "You of all people should know what that's like, Jack. You're lucky I'm not asking for this one, but I know how much She means to you; I wouldn't sink that low."
Jack's jaw tightened - salt in the wound.
"Alright." He growled. "But seeing as how this is my ship, as Captain, I have the final say in all decisions. You're entitled to input, but if I think better of it, what I say goes. And secondly, you want an equal split of me plunder? You earn it. Savvy?"
"Aye." Ioade muttered.
"Right, then." Jack said brightly, clapping his hands together. "I'm glad we understand one another."
The Captain felt slightly bad for his female counterpart as he left the cabin. Ioade was still young - nearly a full 8 years younger than he was (or so he estimated) - and she had much to learn. The implications he had thrown at her in their haggling had been particularly nasty ones, but he had needed to gain the upper hand in their dealings, and needs must; it had still been tough on the lass, though.
"School of hard knocks, for a pirate." Jack muttered to himself as he headed down the stairs to the galley.
Reaching the bottom, he nodded with a smile to Will, who was retrieving some hard tack from a large, wooden box.
"I take it you've sorted things out with Ioade, then?" Will observed.
Jack rummaged in another nearby caddy, and selected a few strips of dried fish.
"How could you tell?" He asked, tearing a chunk off with his teeth.
Will smiled.
"I could hear you through the ceiling."
Jack chuckled.
"I take it there's a third party to these negotiations?" The blacksmith continued, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah - that would be the cause of the dulcet tongues you chanced to hear, dear William." Jack explained. "Someone got their ethics and their politics mixed up. Have you seen young Miss Cole, by the way?" He asked then, glancing curiously around the kitchen as though he expected her to appear out of thin air.
"She was talking to Elizabeth, the last time I saw her."
"Not comparing notes, I hope." Jack murmured under his breath.
Will cleared his throat awkwardly.
"What's our passage?" He inquired, chiefly for the sake of changing the subject.
The pirate looked up, frowning thoughtfully.
"Skirt around Cuba, bring Her about and up through the Bahamas. We'll probably drop anchor at Bermuda en route, sail on past Cape Sable, and on across the Atlantic. Dock at Ireland for a few weeks or so, which'll allow for any repairs or restocking, and then after that, set sail again past the North coast of Scotland and up into the Artic Circle."
"I thought you said you didn't like to plan beyond the horizon, Captain."
Jack wheeled round.
"I also say be prepared to make exceptions." He told Kate, who had suddenly appeared, sitting quite calmly by the fire. "Unless, of course, you'd prefer for us to stray into uncharted waters and run onto rocks, or reefs? Or possibly die of starvation and dehydration? That is if we don't get Scurvy, first."
"It would make life a little more exciting," Kate shrugged. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd much rather we stick with your idea."
"My sentiments exactly, luv."
"Of course, you have taken into consideration the pack ice, haven't you?" Kate continued airily. "And the sea monster?"
Jack seemed to have accidentally swallowed his tongue.
"Sea monster?" He choked.
"Aye! Well, we are dealing with Deities and the like here, ergo I think the possibility's quite high, don't you?"
"Ah, so what you're actually saying is that there might be a sea monster."
"And whatever else the Gods have set to guard the Chalice, yes."
"I've come across Heathen Gods before, Kate." Jack said sagely.
"But they weren't dealing directly with you, were they?" She pointed out.
"Luv," Jack gave the pistoleer an almost pitying look. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."
"Oh," Kate smiled. "Well - that's alright, then."
-~*~-