Disclaimer: I don't own POTC and yes, I do cry about it
Chapter Seven: Old Scars
Rachel awoke with a start, nightmares still plaguing her dreams, especially now with her close encounter in the ocean not hours before. Once she woke, she noticed instantly that there was something different: the warmth radiating from her right side. She looked over to see a sleeping pirate captain. From this, Rachel decided that it must have been very early because Jack was always the first to rise.
He was sleeping very soundly with a small smirk on his face as he held her fairly tightly to his side. Rachel gently pried herself out of Jack's grip so as not to wake him and got up. She turned around quickly at the sound of movement coming from the bed. Unsettled by her absence, Jack rolled on to his stomach in a hazy state trying to find his lost source of heat.
Not wanting to disturb him anymore, Rachel quietly crept out of the cabin and walked up on deck to see a sad sight indeed: not only was the Black Pearl in obvious need of repair, but the barely conscious crew keeping watch was also in desperate need of fixing.
She walked over to the three crew members and told them to get some rest and that she would keep watch, assuring them that if anything happened that she would wake them immediately. They did not need to be told twice, and they quickly found a comfortable spot on the deck to doze until morning.
Rachel walked up to the helm and noticed the Pearl was being steered by merely a damp rope. She stood behind the wheel and hesitantly placed her hands upon it, trying to understand what Jack saw, what he felt, when he was in this position himself. She stared intently at the horizon, but found her gaze drifting up to the ink black sky, stars starting to appear through the fading storm clouds. She sighed, getting lost in the cosmic eternity above her.
"Beautiful night, eh?" came Jack's voice from the deck, "Ironic, seein' as it was hell jest a few hours ago."
Rachel smiled down to him, beginning to feel comfortable together, especially now after their little nap.
"I'm sorry, Jack, did I wake you?" she asked sweetly, wanting the temporary peace in the world to last forever.
"Ye know, 'tis funny," Jack said, walking up to the helm and standing behind her, placing his hands over her own, which were still on the wheel of the Pearl, "I seemed to 'ave gotten used to yer presence in me bed mighty quick. I woke after ye left me all by meself," Jack whispered, his warm breath tickling her neck.
Having Jack that close to her caused Rachel to get nervous. Being used to violence coming from men and sometimes even women, this was a very big change for her. Since she was not comfortable with this new caring male attention, Rachel turned around to face him, and in the process had broken the contact between them.
Rachel decided that now would be as good a time as any to express her gratitude for him saving her. Not until now had she fully understood how Jack felt when she saved his own life.
"I want to thank you for doing what you did earlier," she started unsteadily, not sure how to explain how thankful she was, but also how much remorse she now felt from keeping things from Jack. She wasn't usually like this, she was tough! She killed men for a living – how could this one man, a pirate to boot, make her have a conscience? Rachel continued, trying to avoid eye contact, "I don't know how to tell you much I appreciate it-" Jack cut her off.
"I know exactly wha' ye mean, love. I've been there, remember?" Jack said, capturing her gaze. "Now we're square."
She smiled at him, happy that he understood. It was when she noticed that his gaze intensified as he allowed it to trail down to her lips and back to her eyes that her smile disappeared. His eyes also seemed to have turned darker, and then Rachel realized what he was thinking. Her first thought was to let him kiss her, but a quick flashback to her previous encounter with a pirate captain such as himself made her change her mind completely.
"I better go start making breakfast," she said awkwardly, backing away from Jack.
"I'm no' dealin' with a virgin now, am I?" Jack asked, slightly teasing, but partly curious as to why she evaded him.
"Far from it, Mr. Sparrow," she said smartly, and slipped away down to the galley, leaving Jack quite disappointed.
"You!" Rachel growled, unable to rein her anger, and stalked over to him. "Who the hell do you think you are? Tryin' to kill me is that it?" she asked furiously, her blood positively boiling.
Jonathon backed away, only to run into the wall. "I did'n mean to, I was aimin' fer Jack," he stammered.
"That ain't helpin' you any, whelp. You just told me tha' you wanted to off yer captain?" Rachel shook her head, getting within a foot of him and stopping. "That can't be right by the code, now can it?" she asked lowly.
Jonathon glanced behind her and noticed a small silent audience, and he would never back down to a woman in front of an audience.
"Well, I thought tha' ye would 'ave sharper skills than tha', t' go an' fall over th' side o' a ship. Wouldn't expect it from ye, truth be told." He spoke too much.
In a flash, Rachel grabbed his throat with her left hand and with her right she held her trusty dagger, holding it dangerously close to his eye.
"You want to see sharp skills, eh? Well, let us see just how fast and painful I can pop your fuckin' eye out right here, shall we?" Rachel was beyond furious at this point. "No lad tries to kill me, and on top of that give me lip, and lives to talk about it," she continued, her death grip on his throat getting stronger, causing him to start to choke.
"Alrigh', break it up. I wo'n 'ave fightin' on me ship," Jack said, pulling Rachel away from Jonathon. He fell to the ground, grabbing at this throat and gasping for breath.
"I have every right to stab this goddamn cur in the head right now, he tried to kill me! I almost died!" she desperately tried to reason with Jack, her thirst for revenge becoming unbearable.
"Do'n worry, lass. Ye wo'n 'ave to deal with 'im much longer. Lock 'im in the brig, Gibbs, he's off th' Pearl once we reach Tortuga." Gibbs nodded, picking Jonathon up off the floor and taking him away, as Jack did the same to Rachel, taking them to their separate corners after Round One. Once all the excitement was over, the crew ate quickly, seeing as they lost time with a show, and hurried out on deck to try to repair what they could.
Rachel's shirt was now soaked in wine from spilling it on herself in her haste to attack Jonathon. Once in Jack's cabin, the first thing he did was get her a clean shirt from his dresser, which was unnecessary because she had many more in her trunk, but she didn't press the matter.
Rachel grabbed the shirt, still seeing red, and without a second thought peeled the wet shirt off. Something in the back of her mind told her this was bad, but the only logical thing at the time was if Jack could see her womanly parts. Rachel knew he couldn't because she had undergarments on underneath, so she was slightly annoyed at the alarm going off in her head when she took off her shirt. Then she remembered.
Rachel turned quickly away from Jack and put on the clean shirt swiftly, hoping he didn't notice her stomach. But he did.
"Where did ye get tha'?" Jack asked, stepping closer and inspecting her scars. She speedily hid her stomach from his view.
"I don't remember," she lied, not looking him in the eye. They both heard the bustle of the crew members rushing past Jack's door and up onto the deck, where the sun had just risen, drying the sails on the ship.
"Aye, I think ye do remember, Miss Rachel. Who did tha' to ye?" he pressed.
"Not your business, Sparrow," she said warningly, fixing to leave to go clean up the galley. Jack stopped her.
"Yer on me ship now, missy, and I demand t' know wha' in blazes happ'ned t' ye." Jack said sternly, and one look in his eyes told Rachel that he was dead serious in knowing the source of her scars.
Rachel sighed angrily, her patience already worn thin from her confrontation with Jonathon, and now this. Fine, he wanted to know so bad, she'd make him know so he would regret ever asking her.
"You want to know, eh? Well then, have a seat, Mr. Sparrow, because it's a good story, you're one for stories, right? I bet you never heard this one before," Jack took her advice and sat at his desk. "Well, let's see. I must have been about 16 years old. I lived in a rich, uppity little town in the Caribbean. Can't remember what it was called, I try to block out as much of my horrific past as possible, but since you're forcing me to remember, I'll do my best with the details. Bear with me." Rachel said sarcastically, and throughout her whole story, her tone did not change. "I was 16 when my town was attacked. Yes, by pirates. My mother, father, an' little brother were all killed an' I was kidnapped. The captain took me and kept me in his cabin for 3 months. And do ye know wha' he kept me for, Jack? Hmm?" she asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Jack just looked on solemnly, allowing her to get it all out, and he shook his head no. She madly continued. "Well, I'll tell ye. He raped me. For 3 whole months. Do ye 'ave any idea how long tha' is? I almost went insane, Jack! But one day, one day I found courage in me t' get out of th' hell I was trapped in. I almost got 'im, I almost killed th' captain, but he was too quick to react, and while he raped me for th' last time, he took this dagger," she pulled out the dagger she always had in her boot, "and cut me stomach up until he was finished. I had passed out from th' pain, and he threw me overboard, ALIVE, with this dagger still stuck in me. Think about it Jack," she sat down across from him, pure sympathy in his eyes, "salt water on open wounds." That was all she could say.
Rachel got up and went for the door. Jack reached out and grabbed her arm, trying to get her to stay, but she wrenched her arm free, tears starting to stream down her face.
"Don't touch me."
Then she turned and left.
A/N: Please please please PLEASE review for me! please no flames, they make up i swear :)