[A/N: If you haven't read False Identity, you may be confused a bit later when I refer to it, so I suggest you read it speedy quick if you haven't.]
Michelle woke up with a huge backache. Sand was not the best thing to sleep on. She slowly got up and looked around. Most of the crew was up and trying to fix the boat. She saw Will sleeping a little ways away, so she decided to go wake him up. "Hey Will," she said. He didn't move. "Will," she said a little louder, pushing him with her foot. He still didn't wake up. Michelle looked around and saw an empty cup lying in the sand. She picked it up and filled it with sea water. She then walked over to Will and poured it over his face. This woke him up. "What is it?" he asked, wiping the water off his eyes and sitting up.
"That's for all the times you used to wake me up," Michelle said. "And I was bored so I figured I'd talk to you."
"Well if that's all you want, I'm going to go back to sleep. You weren't up most of the night surveying the damage."
"How long are we going to be stuck here?"
"I don't know, but if I don't get any sleep it's going to be a long time." With that, he turned his back to her and fell back to sleep. Michelle made a mental note never to wake Will up when he's sleeping. She walked away and sat down making patterns in the sand with her fingers.
Soon, the weather had become very hot. Michelle used her hand to fan her face, but that didn't help the rest of her body become cool. She got up and walked over to the sea. She lifted her skirt and put her feet into the cool water, letting the sensation cool her down a little. She looked down into the water and gasped. She looked horrible. There was sand stuck all over her, and her hair was all tangled up and stiff from salt water and sand that had accumulated in it. She needed to wash up, but where? She wasn't going to in the sea because the salt water would just mess up her hair again and she didn't want to take off her dress in front of the whole crew. She remembered that the crew had found a small river the other day. Maybe it started as a lake. If it did, she didn't think anyone had found it yet. Making up her mind, she walked over to the palm trees and trekked through the sand to the river.
It wasn't long before she found the river. Once she did, she started to follow it away from the beach. The trees started to get greater in number the further in to the island she went, but it wasn't crowded, so she could maneuver through easily. The ground also turned grassy the farther away from the beach she became, which made it easier to walk. The sun was getting higher, making it hotter. With the combined walking and heat, Michelle was getting hotter by the minute. The fact she was in a corset didn't help either; it was making it harder for her to get air. After twenty minutes, she found what she was looking for: a small lake. She quickly undid the laces of her dress and peeled it off her body. Next, she took off her corset, leaving her in only her shift. She breathed deeply through her lungs. She had been stuck in that corset for days. The water in the lake was clear, and she could see the sand at the bottom. She walked in to the cold water until she was in the center of the small lake. The water level reached up to her mid torso. She took a deep breath and dunked her head into the water. The cold felt wonderful against her hot face. She ran her fingers through her hair to comb it out. Once she finished untangling her hair, she went back up to fill her lungs with air. She combed through her hair with her fingers one more time and started to swim around. Suddenly, Michelle thought she heard the sound of someone walking. She stopped and stood up in the water and listened carefully, but she couldn't hear anything. She was about to start swimming again when she could have sworn she heard someone. She turned to the direction of the noise. Behind a tree she could see the toe of someone's boot. She was being watched! She walked out of the water and quietly made her way over. When she was in front of the tree, she jumped around to the other side.
"AH!" yelled the person from the surprise. "Why'd you have t' go and scare me like that?"
"Jack? What are you doing here?" Michelle asked. "You weren't spying on me, where you?"
Jack looked at her. "Uh, no I wasn't, I was just… going for a walk," he said. "Yes, a walk."
Michelle noticed that Jack wasn't looking her in the face. She looked down and saw that her shift was clinging to her chest. She crossed her arms over her chest. "My face is up here Jack."
"Of course it is," said Jack, moving his gaze up to her face. "Sorry 'bout that."
"Now if you'd be so kind Jack, can you leave?"
"Sorry luv, but I can't have you out in the wilderness all by your onesy, savvy?" he told her, giving her a smile. She didn't really understand, but she just walked towards her dress and started to put out her corset. She realized that she couldn't put it on by herself. "Jack, can you help me with this?"
Jack walked over. He had taken off many corsets, but had never put them on someone before. He gave her a confused look and said, "Luv, I don't know how to do this."
"Just grab the laces and pull. It's not that difficult to do."
"Ok," he said, and wrapped his fingers around the laces. He gave them a small tug. "Jack, you need to do it harder than that," Michelle instructed him. He nodded and gave them a harder pull, causing Michelle to gasp. "I'm sorry," he said, dropping the laces.
"No, that's what you're supposed to do," Michelle told him. "Now do that again, but this time don't drop the laces and secure them so they don't get undone." Jack regrasped the laces and pulled, this time not letting go at Michelle's quick intake of breath, and tied them. "Thank you Jack," said Michelle, turning around to face him. Because he had been standing close to her when he was lacing her up, their bodies were touching each other when Michelle turned around. They looked at one another and an awkward silence passed between them. After a minute, Jack cleared his throat, lifting the spell that had gripped them. Slightly blushing, Michelle said, "We should return back to camp."
"Right," he replied. Michelle quickly moved away from him and hurriedly put on her dress, trying to calm her racing heart. After she had successfully gotten clothed, the two walked back to the camp, not talking to each other the whole way. Once they got there, Jack was quickly taken away to see his ship. Michelle headed over to a spot near the water and lay down. The sun felt warm against her skin and she soon dozed off.
(.)
Water hit Michelle's face, causing her to wake up. She sat up and looked around for the person who had splashed her. Someone was bent over and looking in the water. He quickly reached down and splashed water everywhere. He got up and did the same thing again. "Excuse me," Michelle called. "What are you doing?"
The man turned around and Michelle saw it was Jack. "What does it look like? I'm tryin' to catch some fish to eat." He saw another fish and reached down to get it, but missed it.
"You're not doing a very good job," Michelle commented. Jack just grunted. "If you're so smart, why don't you try it?"
"Why aren't you using a net?" Michelle asked, avoiding Jack's question.
"Because all of mine were either lost in the storm or are broken."
"Then why don't you make another one?"
"Because I don't have the bloody time. Now are you going to try to catch a fish or not?" asked a rather aggravated Jack.
"Alright, don't get your knickers in a bunch." Michelle stood up, gathered her skirts around her knees, and stepped into the water. She transferred her skirts to one arm and made her way towards Jack. When she was over by him, she started to look in the water. "You're never going to catch a fish without both your hands luv," he told her.
"Be quiet Jack," Michelle ordered. She looked around and saw a rather large fish. "Aha!" she whispered. She looked over at Jack and took his gun out of the scarf it was shoved in. "What are you doing?" cried Jack. Michelle pointed her gun at the fish and shot. She gave Jack his gun back and reached in to the water. She grabbed the fish by the tail and pulled it out of the water, a hole in the middle of its head. "There you go Captain," she said smugly, handing him the dead animal.
He stood there with the gun in one hand and the fish in the other. "If I kill all the fish that way, I'll run out of bullets."
"Whatever you say Captain," Michelle replied with a smile as she walked back to shore.
"Women," Jack muttered as he looked back in the water. Soon he spotted a big fish. He looked over to the shore and saw Michelle's back facing him. He turned back to the fish and cocked his gun. He glanced at Michelle once more and shot the fish. He picked it up and smiled triumphantly.
"I heard that!" Michelle yelled. Jack's smile dropped. He trudged out of the water and dropped the two fish by the fire, where they would be gutted and fried for dinner.
(.)
When dinner was ready, the whole crew sat by the fire with plates of fish and bread in one hand and a tankard of rum in the other. Michelle sat down and started trying to eat with the spoon she was given. They had run out of forks, so it was either use a spoon or your hands. Michelle decided to use the spoon, although some of the crew members, she could see, opted with the latter. She spooned up the meat and started eating. Some of the men around her were telling stories, so she listened in. She always loved their stories, even though most the time she felt like the stories were embellished for a better effect. Ben, a man around Michelle's age who hadn't been part of the crew when she was, turned to her and said, "So Michelle, d' ye got any int'restin stories t' tell?"
"Nope, my life's been pretty boring," replied Michelle. "The only adventures in Port Royal are things like going to the market to buy some bread."
"But what about your time as a pirate?" he asked.
Michelle gave him a sharp look. "How do you know I was a pirate?"
He looked down and mumbled something about the crew telling him.
Michelle laughed. "It's okay. I was just a little shocked. It's not common knowledge that I was once a pirate. In fact, only this crew and two other people in Port Royal know about it."
"I 'eard some of it from the others, but it was jus' a small bit."
Michelle smiled. "I'm guessing you want to hear the story from me." He nodded, and she started the story starting from when she was in Tortuga and how she had met Jack. Some of the men around them listened, even though most of them knew how it turned out in the end. She left out certain parts, like how Will found out about her being a woman and her romance with Jack, but other than that she tried not to leave out anything. The others nodded in agreement to what she said, and would sometimes add their own little comments. "And then I decided to leave that night in Tortuga," Michelle finished. "Not a bad story, huh?"
"Not at all," said Ben. "But why did ye leave? I would've though yeh would've stayed."
Michelle quickly glanced over at Jack, who was sitting on the other side of the fire and drinking some rum, before saying, "I just decided it was time for me to leave."
She could see Ben was going to question her further, so she quickly got up and said, "I'm going to go get some more bread." She walked over to where the food was and saw that all the bread was gone. The pirate in charge of cooking the dinner told her she could find more on board. She said thank you and walked towards the ship. She walked up the plank and onto the deck. Tools were scattered haphazardly and the sail was lying down, crooked stitches down the center in an attempt to mend it. She stepped over the mass of fabric and walked to the door of the mess hall. She looked down the stairs and saw it was pitch black. She thought and decided to look in Jack's room for a candle.
Michelle opened the door to the captain's quarters, the entrance and windows not letting any light into the dark room. She squinted and thought she could make out a table. She walked over there with her hands stretched out in front of her, trying not to run into anything. She accidentally stepped on something on the ground that rolled right out from under her feet, causing her to fall to the ground.
"Ow!" she yelled as she landed on her butt. She pulled herself back up and walked the rest of the way to the table. She reached over the surface and felt a bunch of papers. Her hand soon felt something metal. She moved her hand up and felt that it was a candle. She skimmed her hand over the top of the table and found a match. She lit the candle and held it up with the metal holder. All over the desk were maps of various waterways and ports from the Caribbean. She noticed one that seemed like it had been crumpled up in to a ball and smoothed back out again. It was a map of towns by the shore, and most of them had X's through them. Jack must've been looking for something that wasn't in these towns, probably treasure. From the look of it, he was having a hard time finding it because there were a lot of X's. He must've been so frustrated that he crumbled the paper. She took her eyes off the map and went back out the door to go to the mess hall for that bread.
Once she had found the bread, she walked over to the side of the ship facing out towards the water and munched on her bread. She blew out the candle, set it on the ground, and just looked out at the calm sea and the bright stars, savoring the solitude and peacefulness of it all. She heard the floor creak behind her and turned around to see a man standing behind her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you luv," said the man.
Michelle sighed and turned back towards the sea. "It's alright Jack."
Jack walked over and stood next to her, looking out like she was. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked, still staring out at the water.
"No," Michelle replied, keeping her eyes forward as well.
Jack turned so he was looking at her. "Who can blame ye? It's been an eventful day."
Michelle's eyes started to fill with tears. She knew where this was going. He had said the same thing to her two years ago on a night not unlike this one. "Yeah. And besides, who can resist this view?" she asked, moving her hand out towards the horizon, and trying to hold back a sob. "It's-" she swallowed and forced tears back, "it's so beautiful."
"It is," replied Jack. He put his hand on her chin and moved her face so she was looking at him. Michelle closed her eyes so she wouldn't start crying. She felt him getting closer and closer to her, his breath caressing her face, until they were barely an inch apart. He closed the small space that was between them and lightly kissed her on the lips. Michelle could smell the rum he had been drinking earlier on his breath and the salty smell of someone who has been in the ocean. It was how Michelle remembered he smelled. He hadn't changed a bit. Jack pulled away from her, his hand still on her chin. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. She couldn't see his face well, but his eyes reflected the light from the moon. Those chocolate eyes made her insides melt. He leaned down and kissed her again, this time more passionately, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Michelle broke the kiss and stepped away from Jack. "What's wrong luv?" he asked, looking confused.
"I can't do this Jack," Michelle replied, sinking on to the floor. Jack walked over to her and sat down next to her. "Why not?" he asked.
"Because I just can't," she replied, looking down at the floor instead of at him.
"Why not?" he asked again.
"I don't know, okay?" Her voice cracked a little from trying to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes, and she continued to look at the spot on the floor.
"Is it because of what happened in Tortuga?" Michelle looked at Jack when he said this. A tear rolled down her cheek, which was followed by another one. Soon, Michelle was crying hysterically into her hands. Jack reached over and pulled her in to his arms. Michelle was now crying into his chest, comforted by his muscular arms and the soft "shh" sounds he was whispering into her ear. Her crying soon stopped and she pulled away from him, wiping her tear stained cheeks. He was being so nice to her. She looked back at Jack, and she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes again. She stood up so he wouldn't have to see her cry again and started walking to the plank that would lead her off the boat. Jack got up and followed her. "Luv, I'm sorry about what happened."
Michelle kept her eyes to the front, trying to avoid looking at Jack. "There's nothing you can do about it. It's in the past."
Jack walked in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. "If it's in the past, then why won't yeh forget about it and forgive me?"
Michelle looked at him. "It may be in the past, and we can't change it, but that doesn't mean it never happened. We can't pretend everything is gone and there are no sour feelings between us, because those feelings are in the present. And we can't forget the present." Michelle tried to get past him, but he wouldn't let her move.
"But I said I was sorry," said Jack.
"When you say sorry, I can't hear any feeling behind it. The word means nothing unless you mean it."
"But I do mean it," Jack replied. "Please, can you forgive me?"
"I don't think you do, and I'm not going to forgive you unless you prove you truly want my forgiveness."
"And how am I to do that?" he asked.
Michelle sighed. "I don't know right now. But when an opportunity presents itself, I'll tell you."
Jack had loosened his hold on her shoulders, letting her sneak out of his grasp and walk off the ship. She could hear him coming down behind her. She walked straight to where Ben and the other pirates were, and she sat down in the spot she had occupied before. The men had obviously had more drinks, and Michelle wasn't in the mood to deal with a bunch of drunks, so she told them that she was tired and walked away from the fire where the light wasn't as bright. That night had been really confusing and emotional. She was too tired to think about anything, especially about Jack. She drifted off to sleep where visions of Jack swam through her head.
[A/N: ::waves white flag:: Don't hurt me! I know that this chapter is a week late, and I'm sorry, but I had to rewrite this chapter so many times that it's not even funny. I wasn't happy with the way it was going, but I think it turned out all right in the end. And I think the next chapter will be up next week. I'll work on it at school so I can get it written faster. Now, on to the reviews. I got six (6!) reviews for my last chapter. That's the most I think I've ever received for one chapter! I feel so loved!
TriGemini: It wasn't long for something to happen, but what can I say, I like to have a lot of stuff in my chapters.
Lauren: It's cool, I have a lot of school work too (another reason why this chapter was so late). And who can stay mad at Jack for long, I ask you? I can't believe she did for two years. She's my hero.
Capt'n Raven: Thanks.
Brittany Baker: I hope this one was long enough! I thought the last one was short too, so I'm happy I got a long chapter out.
Agey: blushes Thank you. I try to make each chapter really good, so I'm glad you think they're good. My favorite one though has to be from False Identity's "Tortuga" chapter. I was reading it the other day and I still laughed (which is pretty sad). I'm glad you liked the first one too. I just hope this one will be as good as that one!
Mer2y: I told you I was going to post this during the weekend (and my hearing has improved since Friday, which is a good thing!)
Well, that the last of them! I was reading False Identity the other day, and I totally forgot a lot of the stuff that was in there, like when she's fencing with Jack. It was really interesting to read it again. Anyway, I told you I was going to rename this story, but it's been False Identity 2 for so long, I don't know what to change it to! So if you have any ideas, please send them to me in a reply. The person whose title I pick gets a cookie! Yay! Ok, it's now 1:30 in the morning, so I got to go to bed! And special thanks to my buddies Stina and Chelles for beta-ing for me! R/R!]