by Poppets of the Pearl
a.k.a. Cherry-Alanna and LittleBlackStarz
Disclaimer: You know what we own. Adelia. Odessa. The plot. No stealing. And please no flames--be kind. Don't spoil the movie for us. But, Constructive criticism is accepted, with thanks.
Chapter 10: Kindled Love
Odessa sat alone in her room that night, staring out of her open window that gave a view of down into the street. The moonlight danced across her face and shimmered in her dark eyes as she sighed.
Being the romantic that she was, she was sure that she was in love. She'd never felt this queer way about anyone before, but she'd always imagined it.
Her heart was always aflutter when he was around; her mind always opening with fresh, new ideas involving no one but him. She felt all of her defenses drop whenever he smiled and any thought of him in pain had tears stinging her eyes.
Odessa took a deep breath and realized she'd definitely been thinking too much. She'd some to the unhealthy decision that Jack Sparrow was already lovers with Adelia, which in turn meant that she, Odessa, could never compete. Jack didn't seem like the kind of guy who would want some love-sick gypsy when he could have a beautiful and free spirited pirate.
Feeling an embarrassing tear fall down her cheek, Odessa tried to focus on more positive things. She did have her brother now, and Jack shouldn't even be on her mind.
Suddenly, she heard her bedroom door open. Turning, she saw Jack slyly step in.
"Jack!" Odessa cried, wiping away her foolish tears wildly and standing up. She smiled at him, but even in the dim moonlight he could see that she was unhappy.
"Are you alright, lass?" he asked, his face concerned. Odessa nodded slowly, her eyes solemnly on Jack's. He stepped towards her, his hands crammed into his coat pockets. "I wanted to apologize for Adelia and Will walking our on dinner...there is a lot of drama right now, and the two love birds are bickering."
Odessa looked at him strangely. "Love birds?"
"Funny term, aye?" Jack replied, grinning. Odessa felt a smile come across her face as the realization of the source of her problems came to. Adelia didn't love Jack, she loved Will!
"Oh, Jack!" Odessa cried, running into his arms. He felt a shock go over him as this girl was suddenly in his arms.
Jack couldn't deny his own feelings for Will's sister, he'd felt them since the moment he'd seen her glowing face. But he'd never assumed that this would happen.
As she pulled away from him, she looked up into his eyes.
"Jack, I may just be a hopeless romantic, but I feel I am possibly in love with you."
Jack felt any cool he had left in him fade with those words. His jaw dropped and he gaped at her like a fool.
Odessa's eyes sparkled at her confession, and tears of joy were glinting in them. A bright smile was on her face and, oh, how Jack longed to kiss those lips.
Taking a deep breath, Jack felt that there was a better way to explain his own feelings to her. Leaning in close, Jack brushed his lips across hers, causing her to tremble as she brought her hands to rest on his chest.
Emotion and need surging through him, Jack crushed his lips on hers, taking in the moment.
As their kiss ensued, another was begging to begin up on deck of the Black Pearl:
"Look, I know you lied to me," Will sighed, leaning against the edge of the ship.
"Why, whatever, do you mean?" Adelia replied, grinning. The truth was, the look on Will's face frightened her more than she knew. She kept her distance, and every time Will approached her she'd back up, all the while keeping her cool and calm visage.
"You think I'm some kind of fool, don't you?" Will asked, clenching his teeth. Why did love of any sort always have to kick him in the ass?
"Well, I'm certainly not disagreeing," Adelia smirked, her eyes matching his, glare against glare.
Will had just about had it with her and her snappy attitude. Well, he couldn't argue that her temper was something that he admired, and daresay loved, about he, but not when it kept him from truly knowing her.
Some kind of anger mixed with confusion and sorrow was flooding through his system like some rampant hurricane. He didn't want to come out a fool, but if confessing meant it had to be so, then let it be.
"I think I love you, Adelia," he said quietly, not making eye contact with her for fear of what she might do to him. instead, he only heard silence, and when he glanced up, Adelia's back was to him.
Adelia was biting her lip so hard that she could feel it start to bleed. Her eyes were wide with shock, and startled tears flowed freely down her cheeks. She was not expecting that, at least not tonight. Adelia's guard was down, and as Will approached her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder she whipped around, anger quickly rising.
"Just, back off!" she cried, turning and running to her room leaving Will Turner alone once more.
Once inside the sanctuary of her own room, Adelia practically threw herself onto her bed, desperately trying to contain her hot tears of rage. Will had to be drunk, again, she silently concluded. He had to be drunk if he was telling her he loved her. Hell, they had only known each other a few days! And aboard a ship, too; men always got strange and crazy ideas from sea living. Cabin fever is what it was called.
Yet these small, precious days, Adelia had been more lost and confused than she ever had been in her life. Feelings she didn't even know she possessed kept threatening to bubble. Pray say, could it be love?
Quickly tossing that idea aside, she told herself it couldn't be love; love wasn't for her, it was for foolish dreamers like Will Turner. And most likely Will was only just spreading his wings. For what could he possibly want a girl such as herself? A lonely, stubborn, and lost young woman.
Distracting herself from her repetitive ideas, Adelia pulled out a garnet pedant around a silver-laced necklace that she always kept on her person. Jack had given it to her when she spent her first night on the Pearl. It had been their first step towards friendship, and it reminded Adelia of how she shed her past with Jack's help.
Flashback
Adelia Emerson, now the ripe young age of six, looked down at the ship and crew beneath her. she was sitting atop the crows nest, afraid, yet excited, to be amongst pirates. Her mother would have whipped her if she knew her daughter's whereabouts.
Turning her eyes up towards the glistening stars, she closed her steel gray eyes in silent peace. Stars upon the sea, she had once been told, were the clearest they could be. Adelia certainly agreed; the lights seemed so close, she felt that if she stretched up her hands she could grab a delightful handful.
Jack quietly approached the pole that upheld the faithful crows nest. Looking upwards, he spotted the little red-headed gypsy child. He didn't know much about this Adelia, except that the girl was being abused physically and mentally, and Jack knew in his heart of hearts that that was not right.
Hoping to not frighten the already scared little rabbit, Jack climbed up the planks nailed in the pole. Tightly hanging on to the trinket he planned to show the lass, he heaved himself over the railing, silently scolding himself for not being in better shape.
Before sitting down beside the girl, he called out to her as not to scare her already shaken wits.
Turning her head towards the rugged, yet handsome, pirate, Adelia hugged her knees, as if for protection.
"Hello, lass" he said causally.
"Good evening, Mr....um..-"
He grinned. "Sparrow. But as I told ye before, call me Jack."
The young Adelia grinned in reply, somewhat relaxing.
Pleased that she seemed to be becoming comfortable, he took out the dazzling silver chain containing the simmering deep, red pendant.
Adelia's unusual eyes danced at the beautiful piece of jewelry, and without words Jack placed the gaudy piece around the child's neck.
"Now, ye're an honorary pirate of the Black Pearl," Jack declared, quite proud with himself.
Adelia was oddly touched but the gesture, after all, no one had ever given her jewelry before. Forgetting herself, the young red-headed child threw herself upon the pirate in a hug.
End Flashback
Fighting some sort of newfound courage, Adelia stood up and left her room, planning to tell Will exactly what she felt. She journeyed to the open deck, praying that he was still about.
Spying that he wasn't around, Adelia looked up for some unknown reason and felt her nerve fade and stomach flip as she locked eyes with Will, who was looking down at her from the crow's nest with those brown eyes.
When he didn't say anything, Adelia glanced around and nervously muttered, "Hello..."
"You know, Adelia, right when I think I've gotten you all figured out, you raise your voice and surprise me once again," he said, a grin coming over his face as he chuckled softly at her expression.
"Well, I'm not you bag of tricks, Mr. Turner," Adelia replied hotly, feeling defensive at his comment. So what if she was unpredictable? She didn't have to impress the likes of William Turner...or did she?
Suddenly, Will climbed down from the crows nest quickly and stood in front of her. The smile was gone from his face.
"I can't help being in love to you, but if you can't love me in return, then I fear there is no place for me in this world," he said quietly, his voice earnest but stern.
Adelia fought back the temptation to crumble in his arms and be his, but as she did, she felt that what she couldn't fight were her tears. And what aggravated her even more was the fact that she was crying; she never cried!
Will didn't even flinch as Adelia began to cry, her hands covering her face as she fell to her knees. He simply stood there and stared at her.
Oh, she'd wanted him to love her, she really had...but he was making love seem so difficult and unforgiving, the way she always pictured it would be.
She'd never been in love before, and had always told herself that only fools like her mother fell in love.
And now she'd found herself in her mother's shoes: falling helplessly in love with a man who seemed too untouched, too cold, and too unreal.
She couldn't understand her actions towards him; the outbursts, the teasing, the kiss...but what she did understand was that he made her feel the feeling she'd forbidden herself from. Love.
When she ceased to cry and wiped her face, she stared up at him through red eyes. Will sensed her defeat and knelt down beside her, staring her directly in the eyes.
Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried again to his shoulder. Will held her, not even slightly surprised. He had had a feeling she would give in to her own heart one day.
As she pulled away, drying her eyes, she looked up at Will and smiled.
"You are my only weakness, Will," she said with courage. "And I hate you for it, but at the same time, I think I love you for it."
Breaking another sweet kiss, Odessa smiled contently as she momentarily rested her head against Jack's shoulder.
Today seemed to be too wonderful to be true for the maiden: her half-brother had met her grandparents and had been the most enjoyable he could; Adelia wasn't Jack's lover, so there was no need for jealousy; last but not least, here was Jack in her arms, as content as she was.
Although Odessa was happy with day's entirety, she wasn't positive if the speed of her relationship with the captain was too fast. Either way, she didn't care, but other thoughts began to form.
Slightly pulling away from him, Odessa looked up into Jack's confused eyes. "Do you think this is all happening rather too fast?"
He placed a loose, dark curl behind her ear and replied, "Live for today, Odessa. What does it matter how quickly events occur, especially since they occur anyway. It's called fate, my dear girl."
Odessa bit her lip and whispered, "What about Will?"
"What about him? He has got his hands full with Adelia; the boy is just beginning to question his feelings for the girl, and if my plan goes right, then I believe we'll be hearing weddin' bells. So, I seriously doubt what we do is goin' to affect him, or at least I hope it doesn't."
Becoming less unsure, Odessa questioned, "What about Adelia?"
"I don't see what say Adelia has in this. Just the same as she doesn't get a say about her own feelings for yer brother. What has she got to do with anything?"
Blushing a little, Odessa announced, "Well, you two seem so close. When I first met you I thought you two were lovers. You'll never believe how relieved I am that you aren't."
Jack's mouth twitched at her confinement. "Why does everyone assume that odd speculation? Anyway, enough about Will and Adelia's love life, let's get back to us."
Odessa only had time for a short giggle to escape her before Jack planted his mouth on hers once again. Her entire being melted to his as her center focus became him. Only him.
Once they broke for air, Jack muttered, "Come with me."
Odessa smiled dreamily, realization not kicking in. "Where?"
"To the Pearl. You'll journey with Will, Adelia, and I. We'll go any place our hearts desire." That was when Odessa blinked, interrupting the trance. "What?"
"You and I, Odessa...we're meant to be...I can feel it."
"Jack, I don't know if I can just leave my family like this..."
Jack simply grinned. "Have you ever been to the Caribbean? India? Africa?"
Well, no..." she replied, slowly understanding where this was going.
"Then come with us. And I'll show you everything this world has to offer."
Odessa smiled. "Alright...I'll go."
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