Victoria wrenched her eyes open, adjusting them to the dim lighting. They stung from fatigue. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed a face with kohl-lined eyes staring into hers intently. She yelped in fear, jumping back.
"Calm down, love, it's jes' ol' Jack," Jack Sparrow said, stepping back. He was wearing another shirt. It was blue and looked new. The shirt didn't suit him at all. He didn't seem too happy to be wearing it, either.
Victoria started breathing heavily. Her lungs felt plugged up and her arm was feeling raw.
"C'mere," he said, pulling her forward. He held a white cloth in his hands. She noticed that her arm was still wrapped with his shirt. He gently took it off her arm and held it up in disgust.
"Now it really IS a bloody shirt," he said, laughing at his own joke. He took the new cloth and wrapped it around her arm. When he finished, he gently squeezed it.
"Don't bleed no more, love, or I'll be wearing these bloody sailor shirts a lot more often. To be honest as a dishonest man, I would much rather wear my shirt covered in your blood. It would make me look fierce," he said thoughtfully.
"You'd be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main!" Victoria saluted, laughing. Jack looked at her, raising his eyebrows.
"Not just the Spanish Main, love, the entire ocean. The entire wo'ld. Wherever we want to go, we go, that's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs. But what a ship is, what the Black Pearl really is, is freedom," he said. Then his face turned from an expression of excitement to contrition. Jack sighed. "And now my Pearl is free no longer."
"Jack, I'm so sorry-" Victoria began, sitting up, but Jack stopped her.
"No. It's not your fault. Just remember one thing. When you become a pirate, never trust anyone. Not a single soul," he said softly. He sat in silence, brown furrowed, trying to think of an idea. Victoria could hear him muttering to himself. Soon, she grew curious.
"Jack?" she said timidly. He looked up, snapping out of his reverie. "Uh…what are you thinking?"
"I got to get my Pearl back," he said, barely noticing her there. He walked out, leaving Victoria in the dark, confused.
Some hours later, he returned, carrying a plate of meat and bread. She sat up, staring at it in disgust.
"I'm not quite hungry," she said sheepishly.
"You have ta eat sometime, love. I can't just sit here and wait for ye to get better. The Code says that any man who falls behind is left behind. I'm bein' awful lenient to ye, dahling," Jack said. Victoria noticed that he was back to his old self again.
"Eat."
Sighing, Victoria sat up and took the plate. She began to eat like an animal, tearing off pieces of the bread with her teeth. Jack watched her, amused.
"Never in my life did I see a lady as noble as yerself eat like that," he said thoughtfully. "But then, I've never seen a noble lady trapped on an island with me, either. Or maybe they were noble before, but after being with me, they were noble no longer." He laughed to himself. " Eat the lot." Then he turned on his heel and left the room, leaving Victoria to eat the cold food alone. Moments later, she succumbed to fatigue, letting the plate of food fall to the floor with a clatter.
When she awoke again, sunlight streamed through the windows, cracking her eyes open. She kicked her feet over the side of the bed and pulled her dress on, which had dried. Then she climbed the stairs, going to the stern of the ship.
Jack was standing at the wheel, peering through a monocular. A very disgruntled looking man stood beside him.
"What's going on?" Victoria said.
"Sparrow is taking over, as usual," the man said sullenly.
"Captain Sparrow! And I'm not taking over, Jacoby! I was just helping you, you were off course," he protested, snapping the monocular shut. He backed away from the wheel.
"By all means, steer the bloody ship! No skin off me back!" he cried, shoving the monocular at Jacoby. He stood there, waiting for Jacoby to steer. Jacoby quietly stepped forward, steering the ship. While Jack stood, scrutinizing Jacoby, muttering curses under his breath in irritation, Victoria studied Jacoby. He was fairly good-looking. He had tanned skin and tired brown eyes framed by damp black hair. He noticed that she was staring at him, because he said,
"Can I help you, miss?" he said. Victoria came to with a start.
"Uhmm…I was just admiring your…." Victoria searched around in her mind for an excuse. "…ship."
"Oh!" he said, stepping back. "Would you like to try steering it?" She smiled and accepted.
"If you need any help, Jack surely knows his way around a lass-eh- I meant, ship," Jacoby said quickly, leaving. Jack scowled after him.
"Well, go ahead and try a hand at being a pirate," he said, smiling finally. Gently, she placed her hands on the wheel, afraid to break it. Jack's hands appeared over hers, guiding her way around the wheel. They stood there for almost an hour like that. Victoria grew tired as the clouds wrapped around the sun, hiding it. Her eyes leisurely dropped lower and lower. For once, she wasn't seasick from the rocking of the ship. Jack was so close to her, she could feel his heartbeat against her back. Slowly, she leaned into his chest, falling asleep standing up. All of a sudden, Jack lifted her up and heaved her over his shoulder.
"Jack!" she shouted, waking up. Victoria was facing the wooden floor of the ship. She was dangling over his shoulder.
"Ah, I knew you'd wake up if I did that," Jack said, laughing. She screamed, laughing wildly until he put her down.
"C'mon, I'm gonna get you to bed, love. You fell asleep standing up!" he said, pulling her along. When they got to the room, he pulled out her slip.
"It's going to be hot tonight. Better sleep in this," Jack said, handing it to her. She raised her eyebrows at him suspiciously.
"You are going to sleep on the floor tonight, right?" she said, holding the slip to her chest. Jack grinned slyly.
"O' course I'm not, love! I got something better!" he said exuberantly. Victoria's eyes widened.
"What exactly are you thinking of?" she said, hugging herself.
"Put on that dress thing, and follow ol' Jack outside," he said, leaving and shutting the door behind him. Once in the privacy of the room, Victoria shed her dress and slipped on the other one. She smoothed the wrinkles from it and tucked her flyaway strands of hair into her bun. Checking to see if there was anything in her teeth, she left, following Jack outside. Victoria found him lying on the deck, looking up.
"Extraordinary view, this is!" Jack hollered, patting a spot on the floor beside him.
"Come see, it's the Black Pearl in the sky!" Victoria excitedly lay down on the wooden floorboards next to him. She stared up at the magnificent view, admiring the winking stars that formed the shape of the Black Pearl.
"And look," Jack said, reaching somewhere on his other side, "I brought rum!" He gave a bottle to Victoria, as they drank merrily in the sparkling moonlight, softly singing pirate songs to fill the quiet air. Soon, they both fell asleep, dead drunk.
A/N: Note that I said dead drunk, not dead!
Ok, reviews would do me some good, thank ye very much! I LOVE JACK SPARROW! Had to get that out of my system, ahem…at least 2ce a day…