Chapter 9
Sure enough the next morning enough of the crew appeared on the Black Pearl to help Jack sail back to Port Royal. He might have a strange crew, but they were loyal (this time) and they liked to help their captain when possible. Also there was Gibbs to thank, who was responsible in convincing the crew to do many things, which he seemed to be good at. Everyone appeared to trust him, including Jack, otherwise he would not have been the first mate.
Jack was on deck first thing in the morning awaiting the arrivals of the crew who did not choose to sleep on the ship and decided that they would like to come along. At first he was doubtful at how many would show, he knew that he would not want to take days out of his Tortuga time to help someone that he didn't even know, but before he knew it almost half the crew was there, which was enough for a day's worth of sailing.
He was content with the turnout, and they made way. He predicted they would make it there around the next morning. Since his ship was the fastest in the Caribbean, they could make it there that night, but he wanted to take time. Any normal person would probably have wanted Amelia off their ship the fastest they could, but for one reason or another, which Jack was unaware of, in his subconscious something wanted to stall Amelia's return.
Jack was not going to stop to think about it though, so he gave the helm over to Gibbs for the time being and decided to head back to his cabin for more rum. Rum made the thoughts go away and distracted him from analyzing his mind.
Will was on board, savoring his moments at sea. Anyone could tell that he missed the ocean and sailing by the look in his eyes and how he reacted to being at sea. After all, pirate was in his blood, so that taste for the ocean would always be there for him. Especially after having that adventure with the notorious pirate captain himself.
Not that Will would deny his hidden love for the sea, but he also had another love in his life that he had devoted himself to. That love being his wife, Elizabeth Turner. He had loved her all his life and finally getting his chance to be with her meant the world to him. So no, at this point in his life he would not risk his life with her on some adventure, even though he still had a part of him that longed for it. Last time the only reason he went on one was to save the love of his life, which to him was the best reason there was. Our Will was a hopeless romantic.
That was of course a major reason of why Jack insisted on calling him a whelp and a Eunuch, but another one was how his wife constantly ordered him around like a puppy dog and he always obeyed. That was something that Jack did not want for himself, to become like Will, and as long as he had something to say about it he won't.
During the year after Will's only adventure, his life pretty much settled down. He had his wedding with Elizabeth, which the governor helped them with. Then he bought out Brown's blacksmith shop and changed it to be his own, having their house on top of the shop. Things were more convenient for him that way, and if Will was working downstairs it would be easier for Elizabeth to keep tabs on him.
Yeah, for a moment there Will was actually thinking over his decisions, wondering if he had made the right ones. Most people do that from time to time. He doubted the success of that lifestyle for them, but later he realized that he was happy that way and, hopefully, they would soon be having their own children. That was all Elizabeth wanted to talk about, until he brought home Amelia that one day.
Will slowly made his way over to where Gibbs was standing at the helm after Jack went below deck and he stood next to him. He looked out and seemed as if he were soaking in all he could of the sea air and the ocean.
"Ye miss 'er, don't ye?" Gibbs asked, not even having to look at Will to know how he was feeling at that time.
"Miss who?" Will asked, wondering what Gibbs was referring to as a 'her'.
"The ocean o' course." Gibbs replied, thinking before that he had been blatantly obvious. "She sort o' calls to ye, she does."
Will did not respond, he was thinking about what Gibbs had said and wondering how people like him could be so stupid at times, and then other times be completely philosophical. It amazed him how the mind of pirates worked, not all of course, but some of them who actually were smarter then they appeared. He guess that it was sort of a defense mechanism.
"So Gibbs," Will began, deciding to change the subject to a more lighter one. "what has the crew of the Black Pearl been up to? Anything out of the ordinary happen?"
"That depends on yer definition of ordinary." Gibbs answered first, then continued talking. "After we picked up Jack we headed out to sea and plundered ships 'ere and there. When we'd had enough we'd go back to Tortuga, spend the money, and head back out again."
Will nodded, most pirate ships did the same thing, but since this ship and crew was different he thought that maybe something interesting found have found them once again. He thought Gibbs was done explaining what they did and began to loose interest, until his voice picked up again.
"Then, the third time o' following that plan, we were out at sea when we spot a fair sized ship. We raise our jolly roger and they raise their French flag. They did not surrender, but when we attacked they didn't put up much of a fight. We pillaged that ship too, and did not find much o' any goods, it hardly seemed like it was worth the effort. Then Jack, Jack finds something interesting."
"What was it?" Will asked, finally emerged in the story. "A map?"
"Nay, nothing other then a strange silver object that looks like half o' a coin with odd designs on it. Now I would 'ave discarded it as junk, but not Jack. He insisted that it 'ave some value. Later on we discover there is another half that it belongs with. We were searching for that other half when he decided t' visit ye, seeing as we were close and I supposed he missed ye."
Jack was still up to his same ole treasure-hunt like adventures, Will thought. Gibbs's answer was no shock to him, but he wondered about the trinket that Jack found. What was the point of finding the other half? That was something Jack would do, he seemed to have some sort of radar detector for adventure- and fortune as well.
"So, is there a story behind the bauble?" Will asked, in reference to the coin-like object. He knew that Gibbs had a story for everything and he enjoyed telling them.
Meanwhile, Amelia was in her own little cabin. Nevado was sleeping once again, something that Amelia did not have the luxury of doing. She remembered back to her conversation with Governor Swann at dinner when he told her about his daughter. Then she had to laugh at the irony. She had wanted to meet Elizabeth and Will after she heard their story, and then she met them by accident when she had amnesia. She did want to meet them, but not that way.
She was excited about going back and knew exactly what she would do when she got there. The first thing she would do is eat. The food at the governor's mansion was scrumptious and she hadn't eaten much or well since her first lunch on the ship. She could almost picture the food and how good it tasted in her mind. Yes, this was sad, but when you are used to the best and then end up on a pirate ship that only feeds you gruel then you miss what you had before.
Her second plan was to take a nice long bath. She felt dirty after being on that grimy ship for days in the same dress, which was not even hers. She wanted clean clothing, but she had to admit that no, she did not miss the corset one bit.
So Amelia did miss her life in a way, but she also felt sort of weird about just going back. She shook off all of her doubt and hesitation towards the matter and chose to wait. It was kind of Jack to risk getting caught by the soldiers in order to take her back, but he didn't seem like the type to be scared of them anyway.
She decided to go visit Jack when she got the chance so that she could talk to him before they made it to Port Royal. He had said that there was a possibility they would make it there that night, if the weather was on their side. She did not want to arrive and then never be able to thank him. So that was why she found herself walking down the hall and knocking on the door of the captain's cabin.
"Come in." she heard a man slur. Amelia opened the door and saw Jack sitting at the table drowning yet another bottle of rum. There were three empty bottles next to the one in his hand, which was all but an inch from being finished. He looked up to see who it was that came to see him. "Oh, 'ello luv."
"Captain Sparrow." Amelia said, closing the door and sitting down at the table in the seat across from his. "I would like to have a word with you before we arrive at Port Royal."
"Go on." he said, wondering what the hell she wanted this time. Recently she had been reminding him a lot of Elizabeth, which was getting pretty annoying. He wondered how Elizabeth ended up acting so demanding anyway and her attitude never would have been allowed in high society, so maybe she only acted that way in front of pirates. He finished the bottle in his hand and went back to his chest for another one.
So that's what he keeps in his chest, she thought, I should have known. After all, rum was all that he would choose to drink. She wondered how many it took to actually make him drunk. She knew that he did get drunk, especially after the incident when she woke up with his arm around her. He had a nice chest though....
'Did I seriously just think that? My uncle would kill me if he knew that I was attracted to this, this pirate! Am I going crazy, that's it. I just spent too much time on a ship, it must be a side effect of seasickness or something. This is not normal!' she thought.
Jack cleared his throat in an attempt to get Amelia's attention. She seemed to have drifted off in her mind. When she did that she would stare off in space as if somewhere in her mind something big was going on that was more important then the world around her.
Her hair was down and wavy, with some curls through it. Her sea-green eyes were opened three-fourths of the way and her lips were slightly opened. Her face held no expression at the time and for once she was somewhat slouching. Then she seemed to come back.
"Huh?" she asked. Clearly she had not been paying attention. She had been too busy thinking about the fact that she was going insane.
"I said go on. Ye did want t' tell me something, aye?" Jack asked her in response. He wondered what she had been thinking about, and then wondered why he was wondering that in the first place.
"Yes." Amelia answered, remembering her reason for being there. She had to stay focused and stop thinking about idiotic things. 'Like how he grins when he is happy or thinks that he is being funny...' she thought. 'WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I'm not here to think about this nonsense!'
"I wanted to thank you for everything. It was very kind of you to take me in for these several days when I was incapable of remembering anything. I don't know what I would have done otherwise. Also I am sorry for any inconvenience I have caused you or the crew, especially that one episode in the kitchen. I appreciate how you put up with me when you did not have to and I would like to pay you when I return. I am sure that when my uncle hears of your benevolence to me he will also want to give you some sort of recognition for your efforts." Amelia told him as if she had rehearsed this speech in her cabin and was waiting for the right moment to say it.
"It was my pleasure, luv." Jack replied. Was she kidding him? "Ye weren't that big o' a problem, I've had rats worse then ye. 'N I won't take yer money."
Amelia was surprised. She knew she had been a pain for him since day one. She was sure that he would accept the money in return. Maybe he only takes money if it's not being offered to him, she thought. Either way, she wanted to give him something for his troubles. It was just the polite thing to do. Besides, a part of her felt guilty, like she was some sort of criminal, and she thought that if she paid him then she would feel better about things.
"What do you mean you won't take my money?" she asked, stunned.
"I won't accept it." he responded simply. Then he changed the subject by getting out another bottle of rum and handing it to her. "But ye can have some rum."
She accepted the bottle and he opened it for her. She slowly took a couple sips, holding back a look of disgust. She was still not yet accustomed to the taste of the hard liquor and she didn't want him to know. After all, rule number one was that she was supposed to get used to rum. The only alcohol she had been used to drinking was wine, and rum was far from wine.
"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Amelia asked. Everyone wants something, she thought. She wanted to reimburse him as compensation for being on his ship. Why wouldn't he let her have that satisfaction? She didn't even have the chance to work it off.
"Nothing that ye can give me, darling." Jack answered honestly with a half grin, thinking about the piece of silver in his pocket.
"Oh." she said. She had to look at the bottle of rum in her hands in order to avoid looking at that grin of his. She took another sip, just so she had something to do and so she wouldn't seem like she was avoiding looking at him in the eyes even though she was.
Jack took another large swig of his rum. Then he watched Amelia. He noticed how she only took tiny sips of hers and was fiddling with her fingers as a means to distract herself from something. She kept her eyes on the bottle and did not look up at him once. Was she trying to avoid his eyes? Or maybe she was just trying to hide the truth that was in hers?
The awkward silence went on like that for quite a while. Then Jack decided to try to break this uncomfortable moment by showing her some maps. It was the first thing he could think of. So he had some more rum, slammed the mug down on the table, and jumped abruptly from his seat.
His fast movements must have surprised Amelia, because seconds after he did that she tried to get up and her skirts caught around her ankles, causing her to fall. Jack turned around and saw her on the floor, so he went over to help her.
Amelia glanced up and saw a hand being offered to her. She graciously accepted it by placing her small delicate hand in Jack's strong tan one. He pulled her up and she stood with a small smile on her face, her hand still in his. They stood like that for a moment, just standing there looking at each other in their eyes with their eyes together.
It was as if their eyes spoke for them. They slowly began to move closer together. Jack's head tilted slightly, and soon their faces were only inches from each other. Neither of them loosed their grip on each other's hand and the minute grew more intense.
Both of them leaned in even closer, their lips barely touching, about to kiss...
Then a knock came from the door. Since there was no answer from within, the door flung open and it was Will. He was about to about to ask something, you could tell by his face, but then he looked at both of them in confusion and the expression on his face changed.
"Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt something?" he asked.
Then Jack and Amelia looked from Will to each other and realized that they were still holding the other's hand. Both of them yanked their hands apart and moved backwards away from the other in an attempt to act like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.
"Actually I was just leaving." Amelia said, walking fast towards the door. "I just came to thank Jack for his help."
She was out of the room within seconds and was practically running to her room. Will looked at Jack as if asking him what was going on in that room, but Jack only walked back to the table and picked up his rum.
"If I knew something was going on I wouldn't have come." Will said, as if it was any consolation. "I just wanted to see what you were up to. Gibbs wants to know if you want to take over the helm so he can get something to eat."
Jack stared at Will for a minute and walked over to where he was standing, forcing him to leave the room. "Aye." he answered solemnly, following Will out of the cabin and back on deck.
"You know Jack," Will said. Was Jack caring about someone for once in his life? Romance was out of character for him. What changed? He did not want to hurt his friend, but inform him on something. "she has a commodore waiting for her back at Port Royal."
Jack's serious expression did not waver, even though in his mind the information he just received bothered him. "Oh, and what does that 'ave t' do with me?"
"Nothing," Will answered, realizing that Jack was either in denial or he really didn't care about her. "just reminds me of me is all."
Meanwhile Amelia laid down on her bed and could only think about what happened with Jack and, more importantly, what didn't happen. What that just the rum talking? Or did Jack actually have feelings for her? And why did Will have to spoil the moment?
Maybe none of it was meant to be. That could explain why they were interrupted and why she was headed back to rejoin high society. This whole situation could have been sent to her just to test her character. If that was it then she failed.
Did she really want to go back? She was not sure if she was truly happy in her previous environment, it was like she had been a puppet her whole life. She had to make up her mind about what she wanted and she had to do it quick.
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A/N: Thank you reviewers! It's almost over, but not quite. About three chapters left. Oh, and do you think there should be a sequel? Of course the topic would be different, but it would involve most of the same characters. Let me know what you think.
Janna Hawkins- :-)
captainme- Hehehehe, I'm the evil author afterall...
EaradeGreenleaf- LOL! Thanks.
Phoebe- Yeah, but if I were I wouldn't care, ;-)
AJ-Sparrow- Yay, a new reviewer! Thank you!
Savi- Yup.
TriGemini- Once again thank you for your lovely review! Yeah well, it's not like he ever had a choice in the matter to begin with.
Lauren- lol. Oh and the whole dying giraffe thing comes from me watching way too much South Park (if you saw the south park movie you might know what I'm talking about). And it doesn't matter if you were behind cuz you made up for it in reviews! :-)
Sure enough the next morning enough of the crew appeared on the Black Pearl to help Jack sail back to Port Royal. He might have a strange crew, but they were loyal (this time) and they liked to help their captain when possible. Also there was Gibbs to thank, who was responsible in convincing the crew to do many things, which he seemed to be good at. Everyone appeared to trust him, including Jack, otherwise he would not have been the first mate.
Jack was on deck first thing in the morning awaiting the arrivals of the crew who did not choose to sleep on the ship and decided that they would like to come along. At first he was doubtful at how many would show, he knew that he would not want to take days out of his Tortuga time to help someone that he didn't even know, but before he knew it almost half the crew was there, which was enough for a day's worth of sailing.
He was content with the turnout, and they made way. He predicted they would make it there around the next morning. Since his ship was the fastest in the Caribbean, they could make it there that night, but he wanted to take time. Any normal person would probably have wanted Amelia off their ship the fastest they could, but for one reason or another, which Jack was unaware of, in his subconscious something wanted to stall Amelia's return.
Jack was not going to stop to think about it though, so he gave the helm over to Gibbs for the time being and decided to head back to his cabin for more rum. Rum made the thoughts go away and distracted him from analyzing his mind.
Will was on board, savoring his moments at sea. Anyone could tell that he missed the ocean and sailing by the look in his eyes and how he reacted to being at sea. After all, pirate was in his blood, so that taste for the ocean would always be there for him. Especially after having that adventure with the notorious pirate captain himself.
Not that Will would deny his hidden love for the sea, but he also had another love in his life that he had devoted himself to. That love being his wife, Elizabeth Turner. He had loved her all his life and finally getting his chance to be with her meant the world to him. So no, at this point in his life he would not risk his life with her on some adventure, even though he still had a part of him that longed for it. Last time the only reason he went on one was to save the love of his life, which to him was the best reason there was. Our Will was a hopeless romantic.
That was of course a major reason of why Jack insisted on calling him a whelp and a Eunuch, but another one was how his wife constantly ordered him around like a puppy dog and he always obeyed. That was something that Jack did not want for himself, to become like Will, and as long as he had something to say about it he won't.
During the year after Will's only adventure, his life pretty much settled down. He had his wedding with Elizabeth, which the governor helped them with. Then he bought out Brown's blacksmith shop and changed it to be his own, having their house on top of the shop. Things were more convenient for him that way, and if Will was working downstairs it would be easier for Elizabeth to keep tabs on him.
Yeah, for a moment there Will was actually thinking over his decisions, wondering if he had made the right ones. Most people do that from time to time. He doubted the success of that lifestyle for them, but later he realized that he was happy that way and, hopefully, they would soon be having their own children. That was all Elizabeth wanted to talk about, until he brought home Amelia that one day.
Will slowly made his way over to where Gibbs was standing at the helm after Jack went below deck and he stood next to him. He looked out and seemed as if he were soaking in all he could of the sea air and the ocean.
"Ye miss 'er, don't ye?" Gibbs asked, not even having to look at Will to know how he was feeling at that time.
"Miss who?" Will asked, wondering what Gibbs was referring to as a 'her'.
"The ocean o' course." Gibbs replied, thinking before that he had been blatantly obvious. "She sort o' calls to ye, she does."
Will did not respond, he was thinking about what Gibbs had said and wondering how people like him could be so stupid at times, and then other times be completely philosophical. It amazed him how the mind of pirates worked, not all of course, but some of them who actually were smarter then they appeared. He guess that it was sort of a defense mechanism.
"So Gibbs," Will began, deciding to change the subject to a more lighter one. "what has the crew of the Black Pearl been up to? Anything out of the ordinary happen?"
"That depends on yer definition of ordinary." Gibbs answered first, then continued talking. "After we picked up Jack we headed out to sea and plundered ships 'ere and there. When we'd had enough we'd go back to Tortuga, spend the money, and head back out again."
Will nodded, most pirate ships did the same thing, but since this ship and crew was different he thought that maybe something interesting found have found them once again. He thought Gibbs was done explaining what they did and began to loose interest, until his voice picked up again.
"Then, the third time o' following that plan, we were out at sea when we spot a fair sized ship. We raise our jolly roger and they raise their French flag. They did not surrender, but when we attacked they didn't put up much of a fight. We pillaged that ship too, and did not find much o' any goods, it hardly seemed like it was worth the effort. Then Jack, Jack finds something interesting."
"What was it?" Will asked, finally emerged in the story. "A map?"
"Nay, nothing other then a strange silver object that looks like half o' a coin with odd designs on it. Now I would 'ave discarded it as junk, but not Jack. He insisted that it 'ave some value. Later on we discover there is another half that it belongs with. We were searching for that other half when he decided t' visit ye, seeing as we were close and I supposed he missed ye."
Jack was still up to his same ole treasure-hunt like adventures, Will thought. Gibbs's answer was no shock to him, but he wondered about the trinket that Jack found. What was the point of finding the other half? That was something Jack would do, he seemed to have some sort of radar detector for adventure- and fortune as well.
"So, is there a story behind the bauble?" Will asked, in reference to the coin-like object. He knew that Gibbs had a story for everything and he enjoyed telling them.
Meanwhile, Amelia was in her own little cabin. Nevado was sleeping once again, something that Amelia did not have the luxury of doing. She remembered back to her conversation with Governor Swann at dinner when he told her about his daughter. Then she had to laugh at the irony. She had wanted to meet Elizabeth and Will after she heard their story, and then she met them by accident when she had amnesia. She did want to meet them, but not that way.
She was excited about going back and knew exactly what she would do when she got there. The first thing she would do is eat. The food at the governor's mansion was scrumptious and she hadn't eaten much or well since her first lunch on the ship. She could almost picture the food and how good it tasted in her mind. Yes, this was sad, but when you are used to the best and then end up on a pirate ship that only feeds you gruel then you miss what you had before.
Her second plan was to take a nice long bath. She felt dirty after being on that grimy ship for days in the same dress, which was not even hers. She wanted clean clothing, but she had to admit that no, she did not miss the corset one bit.
So Amelia did miss her life in a way, but she also felt sort of weird about just going back. She shook off all of her doubt and hesitation towards the matter and chose to wait. It was kind of Jack to risk getting caught by the soldiers in order to take her back, but he didn't seem like the type to be scared of them anyway.
She decided to go visit Jack when she got the chance so that she could talk to him before they made it to Port Royal. He had said that there was a possibility they would make it there that night, if the weather was on their side. She did not want to arrive and then never be able to thank him. So that was why she found herself walking down the hall and knocking on the door of the captain's cabin.
"Come in." she heard a man slur. Amelia opened the door and saw Jack sitting at the table drowning yet another bottle of rum. There were three empty bottles next to the one in his hand, which was all but an inch from being finished. He looked up to see who it was that came to see him. "Oh, 'ello luv."
"Captain Sparrow." Amelia said, closing the door and sitting down at the table in the seat across from his. "I would like to have a word with you before we arrive at Port Royal."
"Go on." he said, wondering what the hell she wanted this time. Recently she had been reminding him a lot of Elizabeth, which was getting pretty annoying. He wondered how Elizabeth ended up acting so demanding anyway and her attitude never would have been allowed in high society, so maybe she only acted that way in front of pirates. He finished the bottle in his hand and went back to his chest for another one.
So that's what he keeps in his chest, she thought, I should have known. After all, rum was all that he would choose to drink. She wondered how many it took to actually make him drunk. She knew that he did get drunk, especially after the incident when she woke up with his arm around her. He had a nice chest though....
'Did I seriously just think that? My uncle would kill me if he knew that I was attracted to this, this pirate! Am I going crazy, that's it. I just spent too much time on a ship, it must be a side effect of seasickness or something. This is not normal!' she thought.
Jack cleared his throat in an attempt to get Amelia's attention. She seemed to have drifted off in her mind. When she did that she would stare off in space as if somewhere in her mind something big was going on that was more important then the world around her.
Her hair was down and wavy, with some curls through it. Her sea-green eyes were opened three-fourths of the way and her lips were slightly opened. Her face held no expression at the time and for once she was somewhat slouching. Then she seemed to come back.
"Huh?" she asked. Clearly she had not been paying attention. She had been too busy thinking about the fact that she was going insane.
"I said go on. Ye did want t' tell me something, aye?" Jack asked her in response. He wondered what she had been thinking about, and then wondered why he was wondering that in the first place.
"Yes." Amelia answered, remembering her reason for being there. She had to stay focused and stop thinking about idiotic things. 'Like how he grins when he is happy or thinks that he is being funny...' she thought. 'WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I'm not here to think about this nonsense!'
"I wanted to thank you for everything. It was very kind of you to take me in for these several days when I was incapable of remembering anything. I don't know what I would have done otherwise. Also I am sorry for any inconvenience I have caused you or the crew, especially that one episode in the kitchen. I appreciate how you put up with me when you did not have to and I would like to pay you when I return. I am sure that when my uncle hears of your benevolence to me he will also want to give you some sort of recognition for your efforts." Amelia told him as if she had rehearsed this speech in her cabin and was waiting for the right moment to say it.
"It was my pleasure, luv." Jack replied. Was she kidding him? "Ye weren't that big o' a problem, I've had rats worse then ye. 'N I won't take yer money."
Amelia was surprised. She knew she had been a pain for him since day one. She was sure that he would accept the money in return. Maybe he only takes money if it's not being offered to him, she thought. Either way, she wanted to give him something for his troubles. It was just the polite thing to do. Besides, a part of her felt guilty, like she was some sort of criminal, and she thought that if she paid him then she would feel better about things.
"What do you mean you won't take my money?" she asked, stunned.
"I won't accept it." he responded simply. Then he changed the subject by getting out another bottle of rum and handing it to her. "But ye can have some rum."
She accepted the bottle and he opened it for her. She slowly took a couple sips, holding back a look of disgust. She was still not yet accustomed to the taste of the hard liquor and she didn't want him to know. After all, rule number one was that she was supposed to get used to rum. The only alcohol she had been used to drinking was wine, and rum was far from wine.
"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Amelia asked. Everyone wants something, she thought. She wanted to reimburse him as compensation for being on his ship. Why wouldn't he let her have that satisfaction? She didn't even have the chance to work it off.
"Nothing that ye can give me, darling." Jack answered honestly with a half grin, thinking about the piece of silver in his pocket.
"Oh." she said. She had to look at the bottle of rum in her hands in order to avoid looking at that grin of his. She took another sip, just so she had something to do and so she wouldn't seem like she was avoiding looking at him in the eyes even though she was.
Jack took another large swig of his rum. Then he watched Amelia. He noticed how she only took tiny sips of hers and was fiddling with her fingers as a means to distract herself from something. She kept her eyes on the bottle and did not look up at him once. Was she trying to avoid his eyes? Or maybe she was just trying to hide the truth that was in hers?
The awkward silence went on like that for quite a while. Then Jack decided to try to break this uncomfortable moment by showing her some maps. It was the first thing he could think of. So he had some more rum, slammed the mug down on the table, and jumped abruptly from his seat.
His fast movements must have surprised Amelia, because seconds after he did that she tried to get up and her skirts caught around her ankles, causing her to fall. Jack turned around and saw her on the floor, so he went over to help her.
Amelia glanced up and saw a hand being offered to her. She graciously accepted it by placing her small delicate hand in Jack's strong tan one. He pulled her up and she stood with a small smile on her face, her hand still in his. They stood like that for a moment, just standing there looking at each other in their eyes with their eyes together.
It was as if their eyes spoke for them. They slowly began to move closer together. Jack's head tilted slightly, and soon their faces were only inches from each other. Neither of them loosed their grip on each other's hand and the minute grew more intense.
Both of them leaned in even closer, their lips barely touching, about to kiss...
Then a knock came from the door. Since there was no answer from within, the door flung open and it was Will. He was about to about to ask something, you could tell by his face, but then he looked at both of them in confusion and the expression on his face changed.
"Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt something?" he asked.
Then Jack and Amelia looked from Will to each other and realized that they were still holding the other's hand. Both of them yanked their hands apart and moved backwards away from the other in an attempt to act like nothing out of the ordinary was going on.
"Actually I was just leaving." Amelia said, walking fast towards the door. "I just came to thank Jack for his help."
She was out of the room within seconds and was practically running to her room. Will looked at Jack as if asking him what was going on in that room, but Jack only walked back to the table and picked up his rum.
"If I knew something was going on I wouldn't have come." Will said, as if it was any consolation. "I just wanted to see what you were up to. Gibbs wants to know if you want to take over the helm so he can get something to eat."
Jack stared at Will for a minute and walked over to where he was standing, forcing him to leave the room. "Aye." he answered solemnly, following Will out of the cabin and back on deck.
"You know Jack," Will said. Was Jack caring about someone for once in his life? Romance was out of character for him. What changed? He did not want to hurt his friend, but inform him on something. "she has a commodore waiting for her back at Port Royal."
Jack's serious expression did not waver, even though in his mind the information he just received bothered him. "Oh, and what does that 'ave t' do with me?"
"Nothing," Will answered, realizing that Jack was either in denial or he really didn't care about her. "just reminds me of me is all."
Meanwhile Amelia laid down on her bed and could only think about what happened with Jack and, more importantly, what didn't happen. What that just the rum talking? Or did Jack actually have feelings for her? And why did Will have to spoil the moment?
Maybe none of it was meant to be. That could explain why they were interrupted and why she was headed back to rejoin high society. This whole situation could have been sent to her just to test her character. If that was it then she failed.
Did she really want to go back? She was not sure if she was truly happy in her previous environment, it was like she had been a puppet her whole life. She had to make up her mind about what she wanted and she had to do it quick.
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A/N: Thank you reviewers! It's almost over, but not quite. About three chapters left. Oh, and do you think there should be a sequel? Of course the topic would be different, but it would involve most of the same characters. Let me know what you think.
Janna Hawkins- :-)
captainme- Hehehehe, I'm the evil author afterall...
EaradeGreenleaf- LOL! Thanks.
Phoebe- Yeah, but if I were I wouldn't care, ;-)
AJ-Sparrow- Yay, a new reviewer! Thank you!
Savi- Yup.
TriGemini- Once again thank you for your lovely review! Yeah well, it's not like he ever had a choice in the matter to begin with.
Lauren- lol. Oh and the whole dying giraffe thing comes from me watching way too much South Park (if you saw the south park movie you might know what I'm talking about). And it doesn't matter if you were behind cuz you made up for it in reviews! :-)