Just an Illusion, by Ortain
Chapter 18 – All You Wanted
Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney does. I've also inserted a song, All You Wanted by Michelle Branch, this doesn't belong to me, it belongs to whoever owns it.
Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated for ages, my computers wouldn't turn off last week, and when I turned the power off it wouldn't turn on, so I got really pissed and banged on the keyboard (it's a laptop) it turned on but the internet connection kept going on and off every minute and I never got to upload this. Extra long chapter this time to make up for the non uploading for ages. : - D
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Josephine had a strange dream that night. She dreamt that she was in the brig again, but she had been put there by force. The was a fierce wind and she was rattling the bars of the brigs. Gibbs and the crew were saying "The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story. And this one, is very good. This one is perfect."
Were this the end of the story, was she to be locked up in the brig so that the end of the story was to be 'perfect'.
She decided she had to escape from the jail. A gust of wind blew the bars away and the crew up the stairs of the brig.
Josephine walked up the stairs onto deck. It was nighttime but a full moon illuminated the ship.
Jack and another woman was linking hands. The woman was dressed in a wedding gown even though Jack was in his usual clothes. They were getting...married.
Josephine watched speechlessly. "Do you agree to love Miss Crowne in sickness and in health (yadda yadda yadda)?" "I do" replied Jack. Josephine gasped, Miss Crowne?
"Do you agree to love Mr. Sparrow in sickness and in health...?"
"No." cried Josephine, "Don't say yes." The woman turned and looked at Josephine. It was...a twin of herself, an identical twin, a clone.
"An imposter, get her." Shrieked Josephine's clone. The crew advanced towards her. But Josephine shook her head.
"No, you shall not pass." A great gust of wind blew the crew away.
Just then Josephine woke up and found that wind was blowing from the hole in the side of the wall of the cell she was sleeping in. The wind had wrapped the covers her makeshift bed around her.
She moved directly under her 'window' and the wind wasn't blowing directly at her anymore.
All You Wanted, Michelle Branch
I wanted to be like you
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away
I didn't know that it was so cold
And you needed someone
to show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out
That when the tide comes
I'd take you away
If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted
was somebody who cares
Three weeks had passed since Josephine and Jack had emerged from their 'battle' with Barbossa.
Josephine felt herself growing more and more lonely, if that was possible. The crew pretty much ignored her, nobody had any incentive to make a conversation with her. Everything she said was replied with a grunt.
Jack was making a steady recovery he had left his cabin many times but Josephine was avoiding him. She hadn't seen him since she went into his room to collect sheets and a pillow. She felt she couldn't face him, she had been so vulnerable, if she saw him again, she was afraid her heart act on her own accord and she would fall in love with him...again. That couldn't happen, it certainly couldn't.
Josephine wanted so much to be accepted in the little circle of the crew. She was invisible, to others she drifted around, doing random jobs and disappearing to sleep in the brig at night.
She climbed up to the crow's nest, the sky was grey to match her mood. It started to rain, just an overhead shower, nothing serious, no storm. The raindrops were comforting to Josephine, it had been a hot day. She was like all other girls regardless of how much money her father had, regardless of how many maids there were to dress her. She wanted someone to love her, someone to hold her when she was sad and someone to care.
Josephine found her tears mingling with the raindrops. She didn't know if she was happier here, on the ship or back in Port Royal.
Josephine returned to the brig to find her 'bed' soaking wet, there had been a leak somewhere. She definitely couldn't sleep in the puddle that had formed.
She needed new sheets and a pillow, there was only one way to get them, from the Captain's cabin. Josephine didn't want to go in there. She knew Jack would be in there, probably drunk at this time of day.
She also needed somewhere to sleep, the deck was wet and everywhere she went there had been some kind of a leak. She longed for a proper bed and somewhere warm to spend the night.
Josephine opened the door of Jack's Cabin. He was asleep on the bed, "Perfect!" she thought. She crept to the cupboard where the pillows and sheets were stored and opened its door. Half a dozen empty rum bottles fell out and smashed on the floor making a huge noise that probably woke the whole crew, not to mention Jack up.
She froze, praying that Jack would be so drunk that he would ignore the sound and go back to sleep.
"What'cha doing luv?" Asked Jack in that annoyingly charming voice of his. Josephine stopped praying.
"I was just getting some clean sheets from the cupboard, sorry I woke you, go back to sleep." Josephine grabbed sheets and a pillow and tried to exit but Jack had already gotten out of bed. He blocked the exit.
"Why have you been avoiding me?" So he knew, Josephine tried to walk past him to the door. When he blocked her way again she decided to make up some story.
"Well, you were pretty badly hurt by Barbossa so I though I'd let you rest." Josephine refused to meet his eye. It wasn't his fault that he didn't like her, it was nobody's fault but her own for being so stupid and believing in love and everything else.
"I could have done with some company." Jack moved closer to Josephine who back away into the wall.
"Why was she so darn scared of me anyway?" thought Jack. He would sometimes see her in a corner, eating dinner but then he would glance at her or try to catch her eye and she was gone. "Sorry, I really have to go." Snapped Josephine, more harshly than she wanted to. She made her way towards the door but Jack caught her by the shoulder. "Let me go." She pushed him away and went out the door. Jack followed.
"Where are you going to sleep tonight?" he shouted at her.
"Elsewhere!" she called back.
"Stop, I command you, stop." Jack caught up with Josephine and grabbed her turning her around so he face her.
"Why the hell have you been avoiding me lately, ever since you brought me back to the ship I have hardly seen you. What are you afraid of?" Jack had Josephine pinned against the railing, she had nowhere to go.
But all those years of training, not for nothing. Josephine kicked Jack's shins so his knees gave way and he fell to the floor. She grabbed his right arm and forced him against the railing so now she was in control.
"Leave me alone." She hissed at him. She turned around haughtily and left but Jack grabbed her waist and pulled her to the floor. It was another one of those wrestling matches.
Josephine struggled to get up but every time she succeeded in doing so she was pulled to the very wet floor by Jack. The back of her shirt was all wet and dirty.
One last time Jack found himself on top of a struggling Josephine. He had been bitten, slapped, punched, kicked, etc. "Stop it, you're hurting me." Panted Jack.
Josephine had forgotten about his wound, but he seemed fine, he'd live. She relaxed and stopped struggling.
He helped her up and forced her into his cabin only to find that her the back of her clothes were all wet. He threw one of his shirts at her. "Change." He commanded.
She motioned with her finger for him to turn around, and then she changed into a clean dry shirt, she also changed her pants as well.
"We need to talk." Jack sat down on the bed motioning for Josephine to sit down next to him. Surprisingly enough, she refused.
"Why are you being so hostile to me all of a sudden, you've been avoiding me and you've been sleeping in the brig." Josephine was surprised that Jack knew all this.
"I'm your hostage." Snapped Josephine "I don't expect a feather bed."
"There's a feather bed right here waiting for you to snuggle up in. You just won't come, and on the contrary you run away. You mean much more to me than a hostage. Why else would I have jumped in front when Barbossa tried to kill you? I can't lose you, Josie. "
Josephine refused to meet Jack's eyes "That's just bull shit, I'll turn around and find you sleeping with another woman. You only jumped in front of me to save your ship and your crew, a noble doing I'm sure, but nothing to do with me. You think you can just play around with women like they're..."
Josephine trailed off when she looked up and saw the expression on Jack's face, it was a mixture of sincerity and hurt. And when she looked into his eyes she knew that he was telling the truth.
She shook her head a little; she was being stupid again, jumping into relationships and conclusions. She was the one who would get hurt in the end. 'Maybe not this time.' Said a small voice in Josephine's head. Maybe this time it would be different, maybe this time she would find true love.
Jack had gotten up and was standing in front of Josephine, he wrapped his arms around her waist and this time she didn't push him away.
Josephine spent that night curled up in Jack's embrace, in the warm feather bed that she had been promised. But it was even more comfortable than she expected.
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Awwww, wasn't that sweet. sniffs back tear. Please Review.
Ortain