Don't own PotC.

Thanks to those that reivewed,

kristhegreat : *griins widly* Glad you like it^^ Hope you liked this chapter too!

etheriumsangel : don't worry about it... Doesn't really make any difference... Your reviews have been getting sparser (hint, hint)... I'll give you one WHOLE week with Jack if you review this time... Bit of incentive never went amiss, eh?!

Beg ye pardon once again for the suspense, Novalea... And Fen's past is coming some time soon - hopefully - DaydreamBeliever14... *cringes*

This chapter's longer than I usually write them... but I hope you all like it!!

PLEASE R&R!!!

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Chapter 9 : Roses are red...

They reached the Black Pearl. Jack froze, causing Fen, just behind him, to crash into his back. They both fell to the floor, Fen right on top of Jack. But he didn't seem to notice. All he could do was push Fen off him and stare in utter amazement at the deck of his up-till-now dear ship.

(Fen)

Fen stood up, somewhat disgruntled. She brushed her knees off, annoyed and turned to make some sarcastic remark along the lines of "Your dear ship sleeping with someone else?" to Jack. But the words never left her mouth. Jack was gaping, and I mean really gaping at the sight before him. His jaw had dropped to about the height of his knees and his kohl-lined eyes were looking like they could hardly believe what they were seeing.

Fen frowned and waved her hand up and down in front of his face. It did some good. That is, it caused Jack to blink repeatedly and close his mouth. He faced Fen, "Me... me... me ship," he croaked blankly.

"Yes, yes, yes... Your ship is CLEAN! A well done, might be in order... I mean, it only took me HOURS to do it!" Fen said frustratedly. To think she'd even thought he would be grateful. As if!! CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow... actually be grateful?! No... he'd rather feed his tongue to the sharks.

Maybe she should seriously think about the Navy... Before, she'd never given a thought to an idea like that, but now... Well, she'd proven she could survive off the island, something Pintel would never have even dreamed of letting her attempt. Hell, she'd even proven she could turn into a boy. That wasn't an everyday feat.

"Why roses?" Jack interrupted her thoughts.

She blinked. Oh, it was her 'noble' captain questioning her judgement again. Nothing new. "I don't know... I thought, after scrubbing this dinghy's mangly deck for bloody hours on end, that I might add, what shall we call it... a finishing touch..."

"Aye, but why roses?" He frowned at her, not even noticing the insult. "Roses are colourful, they come in a variety of delicate colours, and, well I've never seen them before. I thought they were just right to brighten the place up a bit." She said half sarcastically, half truthfully.

Jack swallowed, "All right..." he said, gritting his teeth, "You are trying to tell me that you have covered the deck of my ship - MY ship, mark that - with rose petals, that you have hung roses of VARIOUS colours, as you say, from every empty space on the foresaid ship, for the sole reason that you have never seen them and that they BRIGHTEN the place up a bit?!"

"That's two reasons," she pointed out, cringing.

"In my - your - cabin, NOW!"

Fen winced. Jack was angry. Happy-go-lucky, calmly-calculating-but-still- more-than-ready-to-act-on-the-spur-of-the-moment Jack was angry. She was, for the first time in her life, amused. Amused to the point that she felt like she would start grinning and hugging the first person that walked by. Sure, she'd lauged before, with Pintel, with the Ocean, with a lot of other things beside, but she had never had the sweet pleasure of driving someone straight up the wall.

Couldn't let Jack see, though, else she'd have to go and find a place in the Navy . On second thoughts, that would be dreadful - they surely wouldn't be half as good fun. She supressed a smile. Weird somehow, one minute she'd been confused out of her brains with all this talk of back rooms and Jack being half dressed, or half naked, depending on the way you put it, and now here she was, having the time of her life because the person she hated a minute ago had finally been sent up the creek without a paddle and lost his temper.

Jack grabbed her by the wrist and towed her into his - or her as it was now - cabin.

He slammed the door behind them and pushed Fen onto the bed, provoking, despite her good mood, more than one curse from the foresaid person - he couldn't just push her around like he wanted to, she was a person in her own right, damn it, even if she didn't know a first thing about ships and boxes. Hmm, talking of boxes, she was in one now...

She stood straight back up, took Jack's own wrist and forced him onto the bed instead of her.

He looked at her, a bit taken back and then put his forehead to his hand, resting with his eyes tightly shut for a fraction of a second. Then he in turn stood back up and, facing Fen - who had reverted to some form of defensive stance, certain he was going to try to murder her - extended his hand. "I beg ye pardon, where are me manners? Would you care ter take a seat?"

Fen narrowed her eyes, what on earth was he going on about? "I'd rather not be on the same bed as you." She answered suspiciously.

"So Kestrel was right, you are a girl..." Jack muttered, plonking himself down on his old bed and making himself comfortable. "Me, a girl? I think you're talking about the wrong person there, Captain..." But she lied down as well, with a bit more self-control and put hands behind her head... this was going to be a long talk...

(Jack)

Jack noticed the relaxing, and came to the same conclusion, this was going to be one very long talk.

"We'll determine your gender later on, let's start by your past shall we?" He motioned for Fen to start telling the story. "Whatever you wish, Captain," the person in front of him mock-saluted. "But I have a better idea... How about you tell your past and I shall, afterwards, tell mine?"

He gave an understanding smile. "Out of us two, I'm the Captain, so we'll follow my ideas, savvy?"

"Savvy?" Fen mimicked, in a high voice, pulling a stupid face.

(Fen)

Jack raised his eyebrows, "Look, if you want me to lose my temper then I -" "Oh, you'll lose your temper will you, poor little baby?" Gosh, she was in a devillish mood. Didn't even know where it had come from.

(Jack)

Jack was not used to be spoken with less than perfect respect, well, except from the dear Navy, but they didn't really count. And a member of his crew should not be allowed to talk like that to him... It would never do.

What would really annoy him, or her? What would break the little twit's confidence to the point where he, or her, would just tell the blasted truth. Think... think for heavens' sake, Jack... you're not going to be beaten by a little brat like that, are you?

"Lost your tongue, CAPTAIN?" Fen asked sarcastically, wondering as soon as it came out of her mouth why she had said it.

That was it! He'd got it... It would mean taking chances... very big ones... but assuming up till now Fen had told the truth, and that Kestrel was right... it would work... it had to... but you should never asume things, unless there was no other reason... Well there wasn't, he told himself.

He stood up from the bed, where he had been lying head to tails with Fen and walked around to the other side, feet clacking, mimicking a British Navy officer with his lips pursed, chin up and stiff walk.

Fen frowned, slightly confused. Jack grinned to himself, not letting Fen see - It was working!!

"Trying to be a 'civilised' person, are you?" he/she attempted to cover up his/her confusion. Jack didn't answer. He was just behind Fen. He bent down, feeling newly inspired. He put his hands on Fen's shoulders and whispered softly in her ear, making Fen shiver from the tickling, "I am Captain Jack Sparrow, luv', I don't know the meaning of the word."

(Fen)

She gulped. Whatever Jack was on about, it sure was nice. What?! Nice?! She was losing her mind now! "Look, Captain," she said nervously, without the slightest trace of sarcasm, "I don't know what you're playing at, but it isn't funny."

"Isn't funny? I was under the impression that you were having the time of your life driving me mad. Well, now the tables have turned."

Oh god... This was going wrong, very wrong... why hadn't she just agreed to tell him her past and left it there? Why, oh why?

Then the answer came to her mind... Because she wasn't just some pushover that would do whatever Jack told her to do, she had - even if she didn't have much of it - the slightest trace of free spirit and she wasn't ready to lose it.

She turned around brusquely to find Jack grinning slyly millimetres in front of her. "Go and sit back down, and I 'll tell you me story... Otherwise, I'll keep true to that threat I made of cutting your tongue out."

"Oooohh, I'm shivering," he replied and lent forward a tiny bit so that their lips brushed ever so slightly. Then he brought his hand to behind her head and pushed her closer to him. He lifted her off the bed and wrapped his arms around her, trying to deepen the kiss. Fen just stood there, limp. Everything seemed to have lost the sense it had managed to gain. What on earth was happening?

She didn't move, deciding that he had gone a bit mad and that he'd let her go in a couple of minutes. She waited, standing block still. Trying to think of anything rather than the man in front of her. It had taken her a while to find those roses, but they'd been very pretty, just the right type of flowers, erm... yeah... she thought nervously. He was warm, boiling even, ah, just STOP it, all right Jack?

Unfortunately, minutes later, he still hadn't stopped and Fen was getting very nervous. What on earth was she supposed to do now?? Yeah, it was easy to cut someone's tongue out, but when that tongue was in your own mouth, it was a bit risky... wasn't it?

(Jack)

Jack lowered his head and his lips wandered down to the nape of her neck. He dropped warm kisses gently along her shoulder, stroking the her back. He drew her shirt a little further down... It was a her, wasn't it? He was pretty sure of it, but if it wasn't, well... it was going to be pretty embarassing, very embarassing even. Ugh, he didn't dare think of it. What would Anamaria say? He sniggered, spitting all over Fen's bared shoulder. Oops, that was a wrong move.

(Fen)

Fen took the opportunity brilliantly. She raised her forearm to his chin, clacking his mouth shut and making him straighten up jerkily. Before he could react, she put her left hand inside his mouth and took her dagger in her right. She grasped his tongue in her fist and yanked it partly from behind his teeth, trying not to let it slip out from her fingers. She raised the dagger level to the slimy mass in front of her. Ugh... it certainly was slimy... and it had bumps all over it. Gee, it was even squirming! She felt a wave of queasiness rise up in her. She looked up at Jack who had his eyes wide open and crossed-eyed from the effort of trying to see what was happening.

He tried to say something, "Ath a fthefthend... Ayyth a... Ayyyth a fthe- fthe- Ahhh! Ayth a fthefthend..." He stamped loudly on the ground.

"Any last wishes Captain? Before you can never talk again..." she asked smugly, trying to ignore the growing feeling of sickness. "Aith ghell ye... aith fthena ghell ye..." He stamped another two times.

The door burst open. Gibbs ran in first, then Anamaria, then Kestrel. They stopped in shock... The supposed hostage was standing not 50 cm away from the Captain, holding... what was that? The Captain's - ugh - tongue in one hand, a knife in the other, a determined look on his face. And the Captain was, shame on him, dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

"Ye wanted some help, Cap'n?" Gibbs mustered, looking disgusted. "Eth, Eth, bomp buth thpand pfthere." Jack cried, spitting saliva everywhere, including on an annoyed Fen who wiped her face with her sleeve and then yanked his tongue to punish him.

Gibbs frowned. "Bomp buth thpand pfthere, thpo sthbomsthbim..." Jack repeated. Fen meanwhile hadn't moved - as long as she had hold of the Captain's tongue, she was the one with the most power. "I think that means, don't just stand there, do something," whispered Kestrel. Anamaria didn't move - or couldn't - what could Jack possibly have done to have his tongue held hostage?! That was one even she hadn't seen before.

(Jack)

Jack finally realised everyone was too disgusted and afraid of getting the Captain's tongue hurt to actually help the poor - in his opinion - Captain. So he decided to take the matter into his own hands... or tongue, as it was really now... He steadied himself, closed his eyes and, using all the muscles his poor tongue possessed, yanked as hard as he could. His tongue snaked out from Fen's grasp. "That's better," he mumbled to himself before turning to yell at his crew, and then punish Fen. But, only problem, was that Fen, feeling his gooey tongue 'caressing' her skin, had had to let go of the last bit of control she had over her queasiness...

So the queasiness came out, in a gush, right in front of her. And consequently right over the person standing, angrily, in front of her. She smiled apologetically at Jack.

NO!! He thought. Not that! It's all over me hair an' it STINKS! He wiped his eyes. Then his nose, then his mouth. He said quiietly but with a great deal of force, "No one move" and marched out of the room, leaving everyone staring at Fen, who smiled and shrugged.

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Sorry, I know, suspense, but I had good fun writing this chapter and am now at a lack of ideas on whether should tell Fen should tell Jack that she's a girl and about the map, or make him feel downright embarassed at kissing a boy??!!

Please help, I'll put you in me little story, if you give me a usefull idea. PLEASE HELP!! AND REVIEW!! I KNOW, IT'S GETTING BORING, BUT SO AM I BORED, so get reviewing and I might have a bit of inspiration!!