Chapter 2

The two didn't talk very much after that. Jack couldn't blame her for clamming up. He would've too. The big man who was supposed to be watching her never did come back. Jack and Melia sat there until the early hours of the morning, and he simply never showed up. When Melia fell asleep huddled up in a corner he decided it was time they both leave. He began to scoop her up into his strong arms, when she suddenly screamed and he almost dropped her. She stared up into his face, fear darkened her eyes.

"What is it?" He asked, gently setting her down, but leaving his arm around her.

"On board the ship. Someone tried to pick me up in the middle of the night. That time I was very tried. I didn't wake up." Her shoulders shook. "I was...never mind."

"Oh. I'm sorry." She drew the cloak more tightly around herself.

"Tis in the past. I know longer let it control me."

"What happened to the man, if I may be so bold to ask?"

"I told the captain about the pawing and I never saw the man again. Something about it being against the code..." Jack nodded. Twas against the code to do such a thing to a woman who didn't want to. They sat in silence for a long time.

"Well now that you're awake shall we get something to drink perhaps?" Jack asked. "Melia?" He looked down at her. A smile played around the corners of his lips. She'd fallen asleep, her small body curled up against his. This time when he gently picked her up, she didn't wake. He carried her to a boarding house on the edge of the small town where he knew she'd be safe. After seeing to that she was comfortably tucked under the blankets of the small bed in the small room he'd rented for her, he kissed her sleeping lips and left Tortuga.

******************************************************************

"Melia! I need you taking orders out here!" Called Treva, the big woman who owned the boarding house/restaurant where she lived. The eighteen year old rolled her eyes. Treva sounded like she was drunk. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence. She stood up from the worn table and dumped the rest of something that resembled stew back into the bubbling pot. Treva wasn't that good of a cook either, but when you'd had nothing but hardtack for weeks at a time, she supposed anything would taste good. She wiped her hands on the apron that circled her twice and entered the loud dining room. Glancing at the broken clock that hung precariously on the wall she sighed with relief, dinner hours were almost over. Soon all the pirates that lined the tables would head over to the 'henhouses' to get drunk and finally feel wanted. She squared her shoulders and entered the room with renewed vigor.

An hour and a half later the costumers were finally beginning to trickle out of the restaurant. Suddenly the doors flew open and the remainder room fell silent. Melia glanced over her shoulder to see what was going on. The man that met her gaze made her freeze. It was the man who had eight weeks previously had boarded the ship she was sailing to England on, killed the whole crew before her eyes, while some of his men took everything and anything from the ship, and taken her captive. The same man had let a her 'bodyguard' take her to a henhouse and forgot her there. Eight months later he was back, for her. The crowd of people between them parted like the Red Sea.

"Ye. Come wid me. Now."

"I see no reason why I should." Her voice was deadly cold. The man drew a pistol, cocked it, and aimed directly at her head. She looked at the pistol, at the man, and at the pistol again.

"Let me get my things."

"Yer tings are right where ye left dem on me ship." She blinked and looked at the gun again.

"Well then, lets go." She slowly moved toward him, pausing to say a few words to one person or another. Once she reached him he grabbed her arm a held the gun to her head.

"You're in a good mood, aren't ya." She muttered.

"That's enough." Turned her around and pushed her out the door.

"Remind me again why you're doing this?" She asked halfway there.

He grunted.

"Oh." She decided it would be best if she just shut up for the rest of their walk.