okay heres next chapter, i hope to have the next one up sometime in tha very very near future! hehe.. lata

Chapter 33
"The Letter"

We decided to head toward Port Royal, with the Commodore gone we had no further use of the prisoners that remained in the brig. We also had to remove the weight of the many men we had on the ship. I laid on Jack's bed, half asleep yet half awake. Well, until I heard a loud CRASH. I wondered who the hell had the nerve to wake me up. I opened my right eye, looking around. I moved my head to the source. I saw Jack standing over the table he somehow kicked and the bottles that had fallen to the floor. He wore only his breeches. He was hunched over slightly, I watched him put his right finger up to his lips as he let out an "shhhh."

"What are ye doing?" I questioned, sleepily

He quickly looked over at me.

"RUM!" He grinned, holding the bottle up

"Ohh, give me some."

"No, ye should be sleeping." He replied I watched him walk over to me, swaying from side to side as he walked.

"Well, I'm wide awake now. Someone woke me up."

"Sorry 'bout that, luv. I needed a drink."

"Me too, bottle please." I said, holding out my hand He shook his head no; I watched the beads and coins sway from his movement.

"I'm thirsty." I pouted

"Ye can have sum water."

My nose scrunched up as the thought of water passed through my head, "eww." I stood; pulling the sheet that had become wrapped around me through the night. "Where are me clothes?"

"Over 'ere, over there.. Little of everywhere." He smirked

I shook my head and found them in a pile on the floor next to the table. I picked them up and then looked to Jack.

"Turn around." I demanded

"Why would I do that? Not like I haven't seen ye naked before." He smiled smugly, crossing his arms across his chest, looking me up and down. I rolled my eyes.

"Juss do it."

"Fine." He said, turning toward the door.

I smirked to myself; I loved having that kind of power over him. I dropped the sheet and threw my clothes on quickly; having a feeling he could turn around at any moment. Once I had the bodice pulled over my body he turned around. I heard his movement and quickly looked to him.

"Yer to late." I smirked, securing it over my body.

Jack frowned as he picked up his shirt.

"Don't look so down, Gullible."

"I'm not down."

"Okay disappointed."

"Not disappointed."

"Ye sure are stubborn."

"I know."

I smiled smugly.

"I 'ave to get to the 'elm and make sure everyone's doing as they are supposed to be."

"Aye, get yer ass out there." I smiled

He nodded, putting his shirt on. "See ye in a little while."

I nodded, I watched him exit though the door. I sighed and combed out my hair. I left the cabin and walked out onto deck, the salty sea air filled my lungs. The day was sunny; a few clouds lingered in the sky. I smiled and made my way below deck. I walked over to the brig, looking to my left at the men still dressed in red coats. I stood in front of the small cell where half of them had been compiled; the others were behind me along with Ana Maria.

"Who's in charge? Ye know, next in line after The Commodore?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I Am." I heard a man say, he walked to the front of the cell.

I eyed him; he was about the same height as I. He wore a white wig and looked to be rather pale.

"What's yer name?" I asked

"Gillette." He stated with pride "What do you plan to do with us?"

"Well, if ye will grant us free passage in and out of Port Royal, we will have no problem returning ye and yer men home. Also, we are in need of supplies and such, we would like a few day stay in Port Royal to see some of our friends."

I watched a smile slowly spread across his pale face as he thought it over.

"Do we have an accord?"

He nodded quickly. "Yes, of course."

I held out my hand, he held his through the bars as we shook on it.

"Good, no worries then. We should be in Port Royal by tomorrow morning, granted everything goes as planned." I informed them.

I turned around, looking toward the other cell. "Ana Maria."

She sat on the floor, her knees pulled tightly to her body; her eyes came up to me in a deathly stare. She looked like a savage sitting there.

"Get up here, I want to talk wit ye." I demanded, not removing my arms from my chest.

"No, I'm fine right 'ere ye have nothing of interest to say to me."

"Well, if ye want to be such a wench and do not want to speak 'bout the matter at hand. I 'ave no problem leaving ye locked in here. I'm sure these men so enjoy yer snotty attitude and bad looks."

She growled in her throat, continuing to give me a deadly stare.

"Well, since I no longer 'ave any business here, I'll be off. Nice talking wit ye all." I smirked at my politeness; I headed back onto the deck. I squinted my eyes in the midmorning sun as I made my way to the helm. Jack stood one hand on the many pegs of the wheel. His white shirt was partly unbuttoned, showing off his tanned chest. I slowly walked over to him, taking in the scenery that lay before us, nothing but the sea. No land and no other ships.

"Jack?" I asked. He didn't reply he just continued to stare off into the horizon.

"Jack??" Still no reply, I balled my right hand into a fist. Hitting his arm with little force.

"Huh what?" he stuttered, his head snapping over to look at me. "What is it?"

"What is wit ye, ye seem very distant this morning."

"It's nothing, what can I do fer ye?" he asked

"I've talked with.. Gillette I believe he said his name was. We have free passage to and from Port Royal, along wit a few days stay. Is that satisfactory enough?"

"Aye sounds good." He moved his head to continue to watch the horizon.

"Well, then, I guess I'll go look over the maps." I began to feel an uncomfortable silence coming on and I wanted to no part of it. I walked toward the cabin, my hair flowing behind me. I entered the cabin, closing the door behind me. I sat on a chair by the small table, noticing Jack had cleaned the cabin up. I shuffled through the maps that sat on the table in a large pile. I picked up a few of the maps to see what was all there when I noticed a crumpled piece of parchment. I looked it over, slowly picking it up. I recognized it as the piece that Jack had last night. I wasn't one to pry into Jack's affairs but this piece of parchment intrigued me. Gibbs had seemed quite funny about it last night. I unfolded it to the best of my ability. It was pretty crumpled and the writing was very sloppy.

I began to read it:

Dearest Jack,

'Captain' I added to myself.. And then continued to read.

I am sorry for what I did to Ravenika's ship, I fear she is trying to take yer ship from ye and I couldn't allow her to do it. She is right about one thing; I do have feelings for ye. I could never tell ye because I knew ye did not share the same feelings. I want to be left off at the next port. Before Ravenika goes crazy and tries to kill me or something, that is if she finds this and reads it. With that said I hope ye can find it in yer heart to let me free.

Forever yers,

Ana Maria

I felt the anger begin to boil within me. 'She wrote my man a love letter!' my mind screamed. 'I'm gonna kill her!.. No can't do that, can't let Jack know ye read his letter.'

I heard footsteps quickly approaching the door; I crumpled the piece of paper returning it to where it had previously sat. As the door opened I slammed the maps back onto the table and acted as if I had been going over them all along. I looked to Jack who stood in the doorway.

"'Ave ye seen a crumpled piece of parchment?" Jack asked nervously, shifting from side to side.

"No I 'aven't. Is it important?" I asked

"No, of course not, juss wondering if ye 'ave seen it."

I shook my head, trying to play this as innocently as possible. "No I 'avent seen it."

He nodded "okay, well, I've decided that we should drop Ana Maria off in Port Royal.. This way ye no longer 'ave to deal wit 'er.."

"Why should we do that? I was thinking she could go back to work.."

I was cut off "No, she is to be dropped in Port Royal, and that's final."

I eyed him; he had never taken this tone with me. What was going on in that head of his?

"What has gotten into ye today? Ye have been distant all morning and now yer instant to drop off a member of yer crew who has been very helpful to ye. What's going on?" I questioned

"It's nothing, I've juss been thinking is all." He sighed. "Look, Ana Maria wrote me a letter, said she want to be dropped in Port Royal for.. Reasons unknown. I plan to let her leave with no other problems between ye and her. So let's juss leave it at that, savvy?"

"Aye, its fine, whatever ye want to do Captain."

"Good!" he smiled, his hands coming together before him as he gave a small bow of thanks. "Now I must be getting back to work, we've got a lot of work if we want to make it to Port Royal by morning."

I nodded as he made his exit. I sat back on the chair and continued to look over the maps. Getting rid of Ana Maria wouldn't be so bad, everyone knows I don't like her nor get along with her but she seemed to be a valued member of the crew. Oh well, it was entirely up to him what he does with his own crew. I shrugged to myself and stared blankly at the maps that sat before me.