Jeyke: It's not my fault that the font size I use when I'm writing this thing makes it longer than it actually is. Thus you have no right to nag me. Especially since your chapters are so darn short! *AHEM!*

Chapter 10

*A month later*

Melia fell onto her worn bed, completely exhausted. She didn't even bother to put on a nightgown. She had woken up at the crack of dawn that morning and had spent the entire day running errands and all evening waitressing for Treva. She knew the older woman hadn't meant to work her to hard, but Melia was the only help she had during the day, and one more pretty waitress wouldn't hurt business any, even if the waitress was four and a half months pregnant. The work was fairly easy, it was just rough on her back.

She bit back tears that filled her eyes while she wished again that she had begged Jack a bit harder to let her stay on the ship until the baby was closer to being born. She had been right, the time away from him had done her some good, for the first week, then a wave of homesickness like nothing she'd ever experienced before had hit her hard. She missed him so much. She missed the warmth of his arms. She missed his fleeting smile. She missed his eyes, drilling deep within her soul. She missed the sound of his breathing, steady and rhythmic, lulling her to sleep from his pallet on the floor. She missed the good natured banter between them. She missed their frequent arguments. Strangely enough, she missed reminding herself not to love him. But that was the lunatic inside her talking, they could hardly be in each other's presence without biting the other's head off. She determined that it was just frisson, nothing more. Her heart had died with Jonathan, and she loved no other. Or so she thought.

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Meanwhile, Jack was miles away, still sailing on to some tropical island off the map. Since he'd left Melia at Treva's, he had gone through the motions of captaining, but he felt empty. The wonderful freedom of the open seas and the wheel under his fingers no longer was pleasing. He missed her something awful, it took every possible ounce of strength he possessed not to spin the ship around and go back to her. But he restrained himself, he couldn't love her. He was in no way worthy of her love. Forever indebted to her, but never worthy of her love, her heart.

There simply was too much that he needed to repay to her before he could even allow himself to dream of her.

So he busied himself with trying to figure out an appropriate name for his ship. Too long had they been sailing under a dead captain's colors and name. It was high time they started a new age of rampage on England's small colonies. But what was a name that would strike terror into the hearts of old and young alike at the very mention of it? His heart's desire was to call it the Melia, but he in no way wanted her beautiful name to slandered. He wished for the billionth time that he had waited a bit to drop her off at Tortuga, or at least that he's waited until they were on speaking terms.

*Flashback*

"Where be the lassie, Sir?" Jack turned and stared a Mitty as if he'd never seen him before in his life.

"Say what?"

"Da girl, Cap'n. Idn't she comin' wid us?"

Jack blinked, allowing the words time to register. Melia...she was...back at...Treva's if he remembered correctly. That morning he'd woken with a killed hangover and his head still ached something awful. The night before he and Melia had a terrible fight, one that was worse than any they'd ever had before. It ended in her throwing anything she could get her hands on at him and he retaliating by hurling words he was sure she'd never heard before at her, before slamming her door and then stomping down to the nearest saloon to get something, such as rum to drink. He'd only intended to take a few glasses, but he ended up getting drunk as a skunk. He'd woken in the corner of the empty saloon with a major hangover sometime in the wee hours of the morning. He was still legally drunk while talking to Mitty.

"Didn't I tell you? She be stayin' here for a bit."

"How long?" Mitty asked, dread that it a few weeks they'd have to make the long journey back to Tortuga.

"'Bout, five months or so."

"Mmm. So wha' da ye say we get on the move Cap'n?"

"You do the yelling, Mitty. I got so many voice up in here at the moment, I can't rightly tell which one is mine."

"You two 'ave a fight?"

"Aye."

"She madder den a wet hen?"

"Worse."

"Lovely."

"Let's not waste time, Mitty."

"Aye, Sir." The older man proceeded to yell a string of commands at the gathering crew in front of them. Jack turned and looked at the pirate town once more, praying to all the gods he know of that she'd be okay until he could get a hold of himself enough to be in her presence and not have to fight down the urge to spill his soul to her.

*Melia's POV*

Am I too late? He said they'd be leaving at dawn's first light. What time is it? She glanced up at the sky as she ran through the empty streets of Tortuga. If he's gone, I'll...I'll.... She decided to leave the thought unfinished, the thought of not being able to say goodbye to evil in her mind. She ran harder trying to beat the sun to the beach. Luck was not with her. The coming baby made running difficult and running along the rocks and the in the sand of the beach hindered her even more. By the time she reached the place where Jack had landed, it was too late. All she saw was the longboats fading into bright light of the rising sun heading out to the ship. She screamed bloody murder before falling to her knees and crying her soul out into the ocean. She cried for Jack, for Jonathan, for her father, her mother, her home, her baby. She cried for freedom. She cried herself to a fitful sleep, filled with visions of Jack. A few hours later the cold water of the rising tide woke her and she stumbled back to Treva's to begin her new ob for the next couple of months.

*End of Flashback*

Jack, of course, didn't know Melia had tried to say goodbye, he had been to absorbed in staying conscious, but he was aware of the pain of being separated from her, for his mind had started playing tricks on him halfway to the ship. He swore he'd saw her shrunken figure huddled up on the beach. He swore he'd heard her heart wrenching scream.