Shout Outs!
Nada Zimri—Ah a helm! *nods and tries to pretend she knew that* Thank you, thank you...*jots that down* Here's an updation from my lazy behind just for you. :D
Reese Sparrow – Thanks I'm glad you think it's funny, I try.
Et-spiritus-sancti – Do you like Boondock Saints? That's what your name reminds me of. I'm sure that real pirates were no where near as accommodating as Disney made theirs. Eeek...some real horror stories I bet. I'm glad you like it, your review made my ego bigger. ;D
When Annie awoke, she had Ethan tucked into the crook of one elbow and one half of her body was half-off her mattress. Smacking her lips, she tried to clear her throat thickly and winced. Her head was throbbing and it felt like someone had stuffed her mouth full of cotton.
Rolling over, she peered in the dimness of the cabin at the pallet that Anna Maria slept on. It was empty, a quilt all jumbled in a ball on the end. Groaning and holding her head, she rose on wobbly legs and made her way down the corridor after checking on a still sleeping Gwen to find some water. Out on deck, she saw that it was just barely dawn, but the pirates were all out and about, doing their daily chores.
Jack was nowhere to be found, for which Annie was glad, after last night's kiss. Holding her head she staggered towards Anna Maria who was gulping water out of a dipper. Dipping it into a bucket she held it out towards Annie who greedily sucked it down.
Someone roared a good-morning, and Annie squinted over at the pirate Duffy who was grinning from ear to ear. Anna Maria muttered something about finding her dagger which sent Duffy on his way, but not after good- naturedly slapping Anna Maria's bottom. She sprang a foot into the air and shook her fist at his retreating back.
"Men!" she spat after him, throwing her head back and wincing. Soaking her bandanna in some water she re-fastened it about her forehead. Annie took the dipper from her and doused her head with the lukewarm water. Taking a deep breath, she heard a sudden high pitched wailing and darted back below deck to tend to the children.
Ethan had awoken, and was sitting on the pallet, his eyes wide, cheeks stained with tears. Annie gathered him into her arms, and he muffled his whimpers into one of her sleeves. She brushed her long hair over a shoulder and started rocking him back and forth.
"I miss Auntie Sally," he whispered looking up at her forlornly. She felt her throat tighten and she forced a cheerful smile onto her face while casting about for his breeches and vest.
"Aren't you hungry? I am! I could eat a whole whale." It worked for Ethan sniffed loudly and looked at her a slightly interested light shining in his large blue eyes. His sleep tousled hair stuck up at odd angles and Annie tried smoothing it down with a hand. She finished dressing him and he started chattering at her while she changed Gwen's underclothes and freed her from her swaddling blanket. Gwen cooed up at her, and Annie smiled briefly.
Finding her cast off shawl laying on the floor, she wrapped it around her shoulders and hefted Gwen up into her arms. Catching Ethan's hand in her own, she set off towards the kitchen. Peeking inside, she saw the old man who had the parrot leaning against the galley table and another older man with long hair pulled back into a loose queue and large copper earrings stirring something in a kettle.
"Excuse me," she said hesitantly. Ethan just marched right in and yanked on the mute pirate's pant leg. The pirate looked down, his eyes wide with surprise. Ethan crossed his arms and scowled looking so much like Anna Maria that it was all Annie could do not to laugh.
"I'm hungry," he announced. The two pirates blinked down at him before he glowered further and waved a finger menacingly. Annie bit her lip and tried not to snicker.
"Feed me or you're dead men," Ethan trilled. The cook had stopped stirring and was wiping his hands on a filthy white apron. He put large beefy hands onto his hips and peered down in shock at the boy. Then suddenly, he threw back his head and let out a laugh that was half-bark half guffaw.
"Will you listen to that? My Lord he's a pirate already!" Annie chose this moment to come all the way into the kitchen, her mouth pursed into a thin line.
"He is NOT a pirate, nor will he ever be one. Ethan, manners." The little terror grinned up at her and accepted the mute pirate's hand as he led the boy to a stool and helped him up into it.
Ethan made a face at the bowl of gruel that was put before him, but he readily started eating it when it was made plain that it was all he was getting. The pirate cook handed Annie a bowl as well which she started in on, realizing all of a sudden that she was starving.
"I'm Magoo," the pirate cook said after giving the gruel in the kettle another savage swirl with his wooden spoon. He had tattoos running up his arms, and he wore a stained shirt and breeches underneath his apron. He and the mute pirate were both barefoot. Magoo had a weathered, lined face and almost no teeth left in his head. But his green eyes were friendly if you could call them that and the mute pirate just nodded his head and waved slightly at Annie.
"That's Mr. Cotton," Magoo said. Annie lifted her chin silently in recognition. She wasn't sure, but she thought that she had already been introduced to the man. Mr. Cotton's pirate squawked something about 'really bad eggs' and fell silent after ruffling his colorful feathers. Annie shifted her grip on Gwen in the crook of her elbow and resisted licking the wooden bowl.
The swinging door to the galley suddenly burst inward and a disgruntled, swaying Jack Sparrow entered. He gave Annie a baleful look and then focused his anger onto Magoo, demanding to know why the man had only purchased such and such amounts of hard tack when he had asked him to buy a certain amount.
Magoo looked at the raving man, his eyes calm before setting his spoon down onto the table. Placing his hands onto the surface of the table in front of him, he raised his eyes heavenward as if praying.
"Captain," he said slowly, stressing the word rather impudently.
"I only bought so much of the tack because you told me to purchase more alcohol so that the ship wouldn't run dry in the middle of the Caribbean." Jack stopped ranting and raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at Magoo. Swirling a hand around elegantly he brought his palms together and bowed in Magoo's direction.
"A thousand pardons, my good man. I only bring it up because the crew is hungry. But not to worry we shall be in Port Royal before tomorrow morning." Magoo groaned softly and muttered a prayer under his breath. Jack grinned, showing off his golden teeth before turning on his boot heel and exiting. Annie looked after him curiously.
"Port Royal? Why Port Royal and why don't you want to go there?" Magoo rested his forearms on the table and watched Ethan finger paint with the rest of his gruel on the tabletop.
"Captain Sparrow has friends in Port Royal, a blacksmith who has married the Governor's daughter. However, the Commodore is his enemy and has vowed to not rest until he sees Sparrow dangling from the end of a rope. Every time we risk going into that port, it's one more chance that the Captain will get caught and we'll all be dancing dead men." Annie frowned thoughtfully.
"Then why is he risking it this time?" Magoo's eyes darted away from her face and she sensed that he was hiding something from her. For whatever reason, Magoo didn't think that Jack wanted this wench to know that he was just going to dump them into the arms of someone else, thereby negating his responsibility and just taking off.
"Who knows Miss? It's the Captain's plan and he doesn't explain things to us." Annie bit her lip and when Magoo went back to cooking, she left the galley with Ethan in tow, pausing long enough at her cabin to nurse Gwen in private before searching out Captain Sparrow. Ethan spied Anna Maria and Gibbs as they sat on the deck tying complicated knots into ropes and darted over to them.
"Show me!" he demanded brusquely. Gibbs gave him a pained smile, and Anna Maria's eyes were bloodshot and not amused. When neither pirate stopped, Ethan stuck a finger in Anna Maria's face and shook it.
"Show me!" he yelped again, this time jutting out his chin and scowling fiercely. Anna Maria glanced up and her eyes filled with amusement at the familiar stance the boy was in. He looked just like she had when she had accosted the Captain yesterday with Annie's arrival. Gibbs whistled and raised bushy eyebrows.
"Ye are a scary one aren't ye lad? Sit here by me, we'll show you how to tie these here knots." Annie started to gather Ethan back up, but Anna Maria shook her head, a sudden stiff wind raising her raven colored locks around her face for a moment.
"Nay let the lad stay 'tisn't a bother. Besides, you look like you have something important to do." Her tone was clipped, but not angry. Gibbs nodded as well and Annie reluctantly left Ethan in their care. The boy flopped down his face wreathed in smiles as Gibbs handed him a piece of rope.
Annie made her way slowly across the pitching deck of the Pearl, eyes scanning about impatiently for Jack. She saw the door to his cabin ajar so she poked her head in, shifting Gwen to her other shoulder and drawing her shawl tightly around them both.
"Captain?" the room was dim, and a few candles sputtered. The sky had dawned a pearly grey and hadn't changed in hue even with it being mid- morning. It felt like rain, and Annie was excited about being stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean with the possibility of a storm coming. A form slouched over at a large oaken table in the center of the room lurched to an upright position at the sound of her voice.
"S'matter love?" a slurred voice said. She squinted, and saw Jack waving her into his cabin. Shutting the door behind her, she cautiously walked in and over to the table. Jack blinked blearily up at her, happy to take a break from his maps and charts. He pushed a sextant away from him, muttering under his breath as he looked up at her expectantly.
"Why are we going to Port Royal when everyone says that it's so dangerous for you to do so?" Jack shrugged and yawned, stretching his arms high over his head, his loose sleeves slipping down. Annie saw the 'P' branded into his wrist, forever marking him as a pirate, and above that, one of his tattoos. Scratching his chest through the undone laces of his shirt front, he shrugged again.
"Respectable city, more fitting to raise children in than Tortuga, don't you think? Besides, I have friends there...they'd be happy to take you, I mean show you around and get you settled." Annie narrowed her eyes at the charming smile on the pirate's lean face. So he thought he could dump her and the children just like that did he? She'd show him, if he was trying to leave her with the first willing person in an inappropriate habitat. She was certain that any friends of his would be far from respectable.
"Now you listen here, Captain," she began her voice firm and eyes turning bright with anger. Gwen jerked in her arms, and she realized that the baby had fallen asleep but was now awake courtesy of her loud voice. Beginning to fuss, Annie searched around frantically for the wooden rattle that the teething infant chewed on. Realizing that she had left it in the galley, she thrust Gwen into Jack's arms.
"Here hold her, I'll be right back." Jack watched, stunned as Annie left the cabin in a whirl of skirts and red hair. Gingerly holding the infant as if it was a fragile piece of porcelain, he inspected her closely, his nose wrinkled.
"Hmm...No rotten egg smell, that must mean ye haven't excused yerself in your drawers again." Gwen latched onto the braids that dangled from his chin and yanked. Jack winced and held her away at arm's length. Gwen dangled awkwardly before letting out a yowl, face crumpling in and turning bright red.
"Nay, nay lass none of that." Cradling her against his narrow chest he grimaced in pain as she found one of his braids again. Having the wee baby pull on one of his braids so tightly caused him to have to hold his head at a rather uncomfortable angle. It was like this that Annie found them when she came back, Captain Sparrow begging in his husky voice for the baby to let go, while gently trying to untangle her fingers. Every time he did so, Gwen would scrunch up her face and start to cry.
Brown eyes gave Annie a startled, rather fearful look and he raised his eyebrows.
"Help?" he said carefully. Annie felt a smile spread across her face as she crossed the room to take the baby away from the pirate captain. Gwen chuckled in a deep, throaty baby way as Annie lifted her out of Jack's arms. Jack rubbed his chin and glared at the infant.
"Laughin' at me is she? Time to walk the plank." That last bit was muttered but Annie shot Jack a look to which he smiled winningly.
"Wouldn't dream of it, really lass. My my aren't we the touchy one this morning." Annie snorted and turned to go but Jack's arm suddenly snaked around her waist and yanked her back. Looking down at him in shock, she saw him smirking.
"Care to repeat last night's performance?" Annie's face flushed a bright red, and she ripped herself out of his arms, mortified.
"You bloody, pig-headed..." Sputtering she all but ran out of his cabin, clutching Gwen to her chest. Jack's melodic laughter followed her, sticking in her ears, taunting her. Feeling sick, she stalked past Anna Maria, Gibbs, and Ethan. Ethan frowned and made as if to go after her, but Anna Maria stopped him with a gentle hand and shook her head.
"Nay lad, best to stay with us right now. Methinks your Auntie Annie needs to be alone." Anna Maria watched Annie's disappearing back with a knowing smile and Gibbs saw her black eyes dart towards Jack's cabin and the leer widened before she caught Gibbs looking at her and she returned her attention to the rope in her slim hands.
"Jesus, Joseph, and Mary," Gibbs softly said under his breath before shaking his shaggy head and tying another knot. What a trip this was going to be for certain. Saint's preserve them he only hoped he survived the ordeal.
Nada Zimri—Ah a helm! *nods and tries to pretend she knew that* Thank you, thank you...*jots that down* Here's an updation from my lazy behind just for you. :D
Reese Sparrow – Thanks I'm glad you think it's funny, I try.
Et-spiritus-sancti – Do you like Boondock Saints? That's what your name reminds me of. I'm sure that real pirates were no where near as accommodating as Disney made theirs. Eeek...some real horror stories I bet. I'm glad you like it, your review made my ego bigger. ;D
When Annie awoke, she had Ethan tucked into the crook of one elbow and one half of her body was half-off her mattress. Smacking her lips, she tried to clear her throat thickly and winced. Her head was throbbing and it felt like someone had stuffed her mouth full of cotton.
Rolling over, she peered in the dimness of the cabin at the pallet that Anna Maria slept on. It was empty, a quilt all jumbled in a ball on the end. Groaning and holding her head, she rose on wobbly legs and made her way down the corridor after checking on a still sleeping Gwen to find some water. Out on deck, she saw that it was just barely dawn, but the pirates were all out and about, doing their daily chores.
Jack was nowhere to be found, for which Annie was glad, after last night's kiss. Holding her head she staggered towards Anna Maria who was gulping water out of a dipper. Dipping it into a bucket she held it out towards Annie who greedily sucked it down.
Someone roared a good-morning, and Annie squinted over at the pirate Duffy who was grinning from ear to ear. Anna Maria muttered something about finding her dagger which sent Duffy on his way, but not after good- naturedly slapping Anna Maria's bottom. She sprang a foot into the air and shook her fist at his retreating back.
"Men!" she spat after him, throwing her head back and wincing. Soaking her bandanna in some water she re-fastened it about her forehead. Annie took the dipper from her and doused her head with the lukewarm water. Taking a deep breath, she heard a sudden high pitched wailing and darted back below deck to tend to the children.
Ethan had awoken, and was sitting on the pallet, his eyes wide, cheeks stained with tears. Annie gathered him into her arms, and he muffled his whimpers into one of her sleeves. She brushed her long hair over a shoulder and started rocking him back and forth.
"I miss Auntie Sally," he whispered looking up at her forlornly. She felt her throat tighten and she forced a cheerful smile onto her face while casting about for his breeches and vest.
"Aren't you hungry? I am! I could eat a whole whale." It worked for Ethan sniffed loudly and looked at her a slightly interested light shining in his large blue eyes. His sleep tousled hair stuck up at odd angles and Annie tried smoothing it down with a hand. She finished dressing him and he started chattering at her while she changed Gwen's underclothes and freed her from her swaddling blanket. Gwen cooed up at her, and Annie smiled briefly.
Finding her cast off shawl laying on the floor, she wrapped it around her shoulders and hefted Gwen up into her arms. Catching Ethan's hand in her own, she set off towards the kitchen. Peeking inside, she saw the old man who had the parrot leaning against the galley table and another older man with long hair pulled back into a loose queue and large copper earrings stirring something in a kettle.
"Excuse me," she said hesitantly. Ethan just marched right in and yanked on the mute pirate's pant leg. The pirate looked down, his eyes wide with surprise. Ethan crossed his arms and scowled looking so much like Anna Maria that it was all Annie could do not to laugh.
"I'm hungry," he announced. The two pirates blinked down at him before he glowered further and waved a finger menacingly. Annie bit her lip and tried not to snicker.
"Feed me or you're dead men," Ethan trilled. The cook had stopped stirring and was wiping his hands on a filthy white apron. He put large beefy hands onto his hips and peered down in shock at the boy. Then suddenly, he threw back his head and let out a laugh that was half-bark half guffaw.
"Will you listen to that? My Lord he's a pirate already!" Annie chose this moment to come all the way into the kitchen, her mouth pursed into a thin line.
"He is NOT a pirate, nor will he ever be one. Ethan, manners." The little terror grinned up at her and accepted the mute pirate's hand as he led the boy to a stool and helped him up into it.
Ethan made a face at the bowl of gruel that was put before him, but he readily started eating it when it was made plain that it was all he was getting. The pirate cook handed Annie a bowl as well which she started in on, realizing all of a sudden that she was starving.
"I'm Magoo," the pirate cook said after giving the gruel in the kettle another savage swirl with his wooden spoon. He had tattoos running up his arms, and he wore a stained shirt and breeches underneath his apron. He and the mute pirate were both barefoot. Magoo had a weathered, lined face and almost no teeth left in his head. But his green eyes were friendly if you could call them that and the mute pirate just nodded his head and waved slightly at Annie.
"That's Mr. Cotton," Magoo said. Annie lifted her chin silently in recognition. She wasn't sure, but she thought that she had already been introduced to the man. Mr. Cotton's pirate squawked something about 'really bad eggs' and fell silent after ruffling his colorful feathers. Annie shifted her grip on Gwen in the crook of her elbow and resisted licking the wooden bowl.
The swinging door to the galley suddenly burst inward and a disgruntled, swaying Jack Sparrow entered. He gave Annie a baleful look and then focused his anger onto Magoo, demanding to know why the man had only purchased such and such amounts of hard tack when he had asked him to buy a certain amount.
Magoo looked at the raving man, his eyes calm before setting his spoon down onto the table. Placing his hands onto the surface of the table in front of him, he raised his eyes heavenward as if praying.
"Captain," he said slowly, stressing the word rather impudently.
"I only bought so much of the tack because you told me to purchase more alcohol so that the ship wouldn't run dry in the middle of the Caribbean." Jack stopped ranting and raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at Magoo. Swirling a hand around elegantly he brought his palms together and bowed in Magoo's direction.
"A thousand pardons, my good man. I only bring it up because the crew is hungry. But not to worry we shall be in Port Royal before tomorrow morning." Magoo groaned softly and muttered a prayer under his breath. Jack grinned, showing off his golden teeth before turning on his boot heel and exiting. Annie looked after him curiously.
"Port Royal? Why Port Royal and why don't you want to go there?" Magoo rested his forearms on the table and watched Ethan finger paint with the rest of his gruel on the tabletop.
"Captain Sparrow has friends in Port Royal, a blacksmith who has married the Governor's daughter. However, the Commodore is his enemy and has vowed to not rest until he sees Sparrow dangling from the end of a rope. Every time we risk going into that port, it's one more chance that the Captain will get caught and we'll all be dancing dead men." Annie frowned thoughtfully.
"Then why is he risking it this time?" Magoo's eyes darted away from her face and she sensed that he was hiding something from her. For whatever reason, Magoo didn't think that Jack wanted this wench to know that he was just going to dump them into the arms of someone else, thereby negating his responsibility and just taking off.
"Who knows Miss? It's the Captain's plan and he doesn't explain things to us." Annie bit her lip and when Magoo went back to cooking, she left the galley with Ethan in tow, pausing long enough at her cabin to nurse Gwen in private before searching out Captain Sparrow. Ethan spied Anna Maria and Gibbs as they sat on the deck tying complicated knots into ropes and darted over to them.
"Show me!" he demanded brusquely. Gibbs gave him a pained smile, and Anna Maria's eyes were bloodshot and not amused. When neither pirate stopped, Ethan stuck a finger in Anna Maria's face and shook it.
"Show me!" he yelped again, this time jutting out his chin and scowling fiercely. Anna Maria glanced up and her eyes filled with amusement at the familiar stance the boy was in. He looked just like she had when she had accosted the Captain yesterday with Annie's arrival. Gibbs whistled and raised bushy eyebrows.
"Ye are a scary one aren't ye lad? Sit here by me, we'll show you how to tie these here knots." Annie started to gather Ethan back up, but Anna Maria shook her head, a sudden stiff wind raising her raven colored locks around her face for a moment.
"Nay let the lad stay 'tisn't a bother. Besides, you look like you have something important to do." Her tone was clipped, but not angry. Gibbs nodded as well and Annie reluctantly left Ethan in their care. The boy flopped down his face wreathed in smiles as Gibbs handed him a piece of rope.
Annie made her way slowly across the pitching deck of the Pearl, eyes scanning about impatiently for Jack. She saw the door to his cabin ajar so she poked her head in, shifting Gwen to her other shoulder and drawing her shawl tightly around them both.
"Captain?" the room was dim, and a few candles sputtered. The sky had dawned a pearly grey and hadn't changed in hue even with it being mid- morning. It felt like rain, and Annie was excited about being stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean with the possibility of a storm coming. A form slouched over at a large oaken table in the center of the room lurched to an upright position at the sound of her voice.
"S'matter love?" a slurred voice said. She squinted, and saw Jack waving her into his cabin. Shutting the door behind her, she cautiously walked in and over to the table. Jack blinked blearily up at her, happy to take a break from his maps and charts. He pushed a sextant away from him, muttering under his breath as he looked up at her expectantly.
"Why are we going to Port Royal when everyone says that it's so dangerous for you to do so?" Jack shrugged and yawned, stretching his arms high over his head, his loose sleeves slipping down. Annie saw the 'P' branded into his wrist, forever marking him as a pirate, and above that, one of his tattoos. Scratching his chest through the undone laces of his shirt front, he shrugged again.
"Respectable city, more fitting to raise children in than Tortuga, don't you think? Besides, I have friends there...they'd be happy to take you, I mean show you around and get you settled." Annie narrowed her eyes at the charming smile on the pirate's lean face. So he thought he could dump her and the children just like that did he? She'd show him, if he was trying to leave her with the first willing person in an inappropriate habitat. She was certain that any friends of his would be far from respectable.
"Now you listen here, Captain," she began her voice firm and eyes turning bright with anger. Gwen jerked in her arms, and she realized that the baby had fallen asleep but was now awake courtesy of her loud voice. Beginning to fuss, Annie searched around frantically for the wooden rattle that the teething infant chewed on. Realizing that she had left it in the galley, she thrust Gwen into Jack's arms.
"Here hold her, I'll be right back." Jack watched, stunned as Annie left the cabin in a whirl of skirts and red hair. Gingerly holding the infant as if it was a fragile piece of porcelain, he inspected her closely, his nose wrinkled.
"Hmm...No rotten egg smell, that must mean ye haven't excused yerself in your drawers again." Gwen latched onto the braids that dangled from his chin and yanked. Jack winced and held her away at arm's length. Gwen dangled awkwardly before letting out a yowl, face crumpling in and turning bright red.
"Nay, nay lass none of that." Cradling her against his narrow chest he grimaced in pain as she found one of his braids again. Having the wee baby pull on one of his braids so tightly caused him to have to hold his head at a rather uncomfortable angle. It was like this that Annie found them when she came back, Captain Sparrow begging in his husky voice for the baby to let go, while gently trying to untangle her fingers. Every time he did so, Gwen would scrunch up her face and start to cry.
Brown eyes gave Annie a startled, rather fearful look and he raised his eyebrows.
"Help?" he said carefully. Annie felt a smile spread across her face as she crossed the room to take the baby away from the pirate captain. Gwen chuckled in a deep, throaty baby way as Annie lifted her out of Jack's arms. Jack rubbed his chin and glared at the infant.
"Laughin' at me is she? Time to walk the plank." That last bit was muttered but Annie shot Jack a look to which he smiled winningly.
"Wouldn't dream of it, really lass. My my aren't we the touchy one this morning." Annie snorted and turned to go but Jack's arm suddenly snaked around her waist and yanked her back. Looking down at him in shock, she saw him smirking.
"Care to repeat last night's performance?" Annie's face flushed a bright red, and she ripped herself out of his arms, mortified.
"You bloody, pig-headed..." Sputtering she all but ran out of his cabin, clutching Gwen to her chest. Jack's melodic laughter followed her, sticking in her ears, taunting her. Feeling sick, she stalked past Anna Maria, Gibbs, and Ethan. Ethan frowned and made as if to go after her, but Anna Maria stopped him with a gentle hand and shook her head.
"Nay lad, best to stay with us right now. Methinks your Auntie Annie needs to be alone." Anna Maria watched Annie's disappearing back with a knowing smile and Gibbs saw her black eyes dart towards Jack's cabin and the leer widened before she caught Gibbs looking at her and she returned her attention to the rope in her slim hands.
"Jesus, Joseph, and Mary," Gibbs softly said under his breath before shaking his shaggy head and tying another knot. What a trip this was going to be for certain. Saint's preserve them he only hoped he survived the ordeal.