Chapter 11

Jack saw Mr. Coleman over by the stairs leading down to below decks. He walked over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Mr. Coleman," Jack said, with barely controlled anger, when the man had turned around, "if I hear ye call the ladies 'strumpets' ever again, ye will spend time in the brig. Savvy?" Without waiting for an answer, Jack turned and went back to the helm.

Mr. Coleman watched him leave. I'm going to make that girl pay! he vowed to himself.

After making sure that Jack wasn't watching, he went below decks in search of the lass.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Allie was below decks, down by the brig, taking inventory when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw a very angry Mr. Coleman coming towards her.

Without warning, he tried to hit her. Tried being the operative word there. Allie blocked his hand with her right arm, then cuffed him on the side of the head with her left. Mr. Coleman staggered back, surprised. Then his look turned to rage.

"Ye'll pay for that one, strumpet," he said. Allie smirked.

"Oh yeah?" she challenged. "Bring it on." Mr. Coleman lunged at her, and Allie easily stepped to the side, causing him to fall to the floor. Allie laughed.

"Anger is of the darkside, ya know."

Mr. Coleman picked himself up off the floor and ran towards Allie again. Just as he got near enough she uppercutted him and he went stumbling back. He tried to punch her but she dodged to the left, then the right. Allie was surprised how easy it was to hurt him. Then she smelt the alcohol on him. She rolled her eyes when he came at her again to hurt her. She put all her strength into a last kick in the groin. He went down and never came back up.

Allie sighed and rolled her eyes again. Then she noticed that one of her knuckles was hurting. She looked down and gasped. Her knuckle was split open, and blood was running down her hand.

"That looks like a nasty cut, luv." Allie jumped and spun around.

"Captain! I didn't hear you come down the stairs." She looked at Mr. Coleman, who was still lying on the floor whimpering in pain, then back up at Jack. "Look, I can explain…" she began, but Jack cut her off.

"No need to, luv. I saw the whole thing. Ye handled yerself pretty well," Jack said, surprised.

"Well, it's a good thing he was drunk; I wouldn't stand a chance otherwise."

"Based on what I just saw, luv, ye'd do fine," Jack told her with a smile. Bending down, he grabbed Mr. Coleman by the collar and dragged him over to one of the cells, threw him in, and locked the door. "Ye'll be staying in the brig until we reach the next port, where ye will be disembarking and staying off," Jack told Mr. Coleman coldly. Then he turned back to Allie. "Come on, lass. Let's go get that cut cleaned up."

Allie followed him back to his cabin where Jack had her sit on the bed. She watched him as he rummaged around the room, looking for something.

"Ah-ha!" he said triumphantly, holding up a bottle of rum and some bandages. Jack walked over and sat down next to Allie. "Give me your hand," he instructed.

Allie did, and Jack started to gently wipe away the blood around her knuckle and on her hand. Neither of them spoke, but rather they sat in a comfortable silence while Jack worked.

After the blood had been cleaned off, Jack reached over and picked up the rum bottle. Allie's eyes widened as she watched him pour some onto a new bandage. She knew what was coming. She tried to pull her hand away, but Jack was too quick. He grabbed her hand and held it fast.

"I need to clean the cut, luv. Ye can't have it get infected, savvy?" Without giving her any warning, Jack pressed the rum-soaked rag onto Allie's open wound. Allie hissed in pain and automatically tried to pull away again, but Jack simply tightened his grip on her hand.

"I know it hurts, luv," Jack murmured. "But it needs to be cleaned."

After what seemed like an eternity, Jack put the rag down, and picked up a clean bandage. He carefully wrapped it around her hand, then tied it in place.

"There. Good as new," he said, releasing her hand. Allie smiled.

"Thank you, Captain." Jack smiled back.

"Yer welcome, lass." He stood up and walked towards the door. "Best get back to work, luv. I'll see ye later."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Will was at his small desk looking over maps but he wasn't concentrating on what was in front of him. He was thinking about this morning or trying not to is more like it. He couldn't for the life of him think of a good excuse for himself why he had breakfast with Liz or why he offered to dine again with her at lunch. Worst of all, Will didn't know why he couldn't stop thinking about her. He hadn't even known her for a full three days.

What was wrong with him? I'm crazy, he thought to himself, that's what's wrong. Will really did think that they could be friends, but now he wasn't so sure. She was always there with him, in his mind. Her laugh, her scent, her smile. And when she was really there his stomach did peculiar things. AAAHHHH, Will screamed silently. This cannot be happening again. Never again. Even Jack could already tell that he was fond of the girl. Will would have to be around her as little as possible no matter how much he wanted to be near. She was dangerous to him.

He glanced at his pocket watch. It was time for lunch already. He decided he would not go. He couldn't be anywhere near Miss Carter. He'd wait for the crew to be done then go and apologize for not showing up and make an excuse to leave quickly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz had just finished washing the dishes from lunch when Will walked in the kitchen. She heard him enter and turned around. Will was looking down at the table she had set up so nicely for two.

"Hey you." Liz said, "You're late, you know? Let's eat; I'm starving." He looked up from the table at her face expecting to see anger or annoyance but there was none. She was actually smiling at him.

"Well, actually I…um…okay." And with that, all of his resolve flew out the window. He didn't have the heart to break hers. She had done so much to make this meeting nice. Will walked over and pulled out Liz's chair for her, then sat down across from her.

Lunch went pretty much the same as breakfast and he couldn't wait to get out. Afterwards, Will stood up, thanked her, and tried to leave.

"And where do you think you're going?" Liz asked, hands on hips, a force to be reckoned with.

"Um, back to our room to finish charting the course?"

Liz made a puppy-dog face and batted her eyes. "I thought you were going to help me in the kitchen, Will," she said sweetly.

"What exactly do you need me to do?" he asked cautiously. The thought of having to spend more time with her was agonizing.

"Just help me peel a few potatoes." Liz said innocently, knowing full well that it would be more like 50. Will raised an eyebrow.

" 'Only a few'?" he repeated suspiciously.

"A few…dozen…or more," Liz said sweetly. "Please?" she said in a little kid voice. Will sighed. He knew it had been a bad idea to come in here.

"Alright."

"Thank you. The knives are over there. Peel away, my good friend."

Liz grabbed a knife as well, and the two of them started to peel potatoes. Liz wasn't quite as used to peeling with a knife as she thought she was, and she missed the potato after a few strokes.

She gasped in pain and dropped the knife onto the table. Will looked up and saw blood dripping down her arm. He grabbed a towel off the counter and kneeled down beside her.

Liz was holding her hand close to her body and examining the damage. Will tried to take hold of it and see for himself how bad it was but Liz was being her stubborn self and pulled her hand back.

"I have to see the wound, Princess, if I'm going to get it cleaned up."

"Will, I can take care of it. You run along to your maps now. Thanks for your help." He looked into her eyes and could see that tears were beginning to form. Liz hated anyone to see her cry.

"You better learn now that I am just as stubborn as you are. I am not leaving you here like this." He reached out and took her hand again. This time she did not protest. When Will looked at her hand he saw that she had taken off a thin layer of the right side of her palm. "Does it hurt?" he asked as he applied pressure with the towel to stop the bleeding. Liz bit her lip and nodded.

Liz looked down and noticed some dirt and grease stains on the towel. She snatched her hand back.

"You can't use that towel!" Liz said in disgust. Will looked puzzled.

"Why not?" he asked.

"It's filthy," she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You'll infect my hand."

"Would you like me to let you bleed to death, Princess?" Will said sarcastically.

"It's only a little cut, Will. I hardly think that I'm going to bleed to death."

She then instructed Will on how to properly clean a cut, without the use of rum. After the cut had been correctly cleaned and bandaged, Will got up to leave.

Liz jumped up, reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"Thank you," she said softly, when he had turned around to face her.

"'Twas nothing, Princess," Will replied, just as softly. He was fighting the urge to lean over ever so slightly and kiss her. A battle that he was quickly loosing. Liz suddenly found the gap between her and Will slowly diminishing. Liz, don't do this. Don't let him. You don't want to start something you can't finish. You have no idea when you'll go back to your own time. But for some reason, Liz wasn't following her own advise. Snap out of it, Liz! No matter what her mind said, however, Will kept getting closer. And she wasn't doing anything to stop him.

She was snapped out of her trance when she felt Will's lips graze softly against hers. She pulled back, a few tears escaping.

"Will, we…we can't do this," she whispered. "I can only give you my friendship and nothing more." Without giving Will a chance to reply, she turned and fled from the room.

A/N: Well, that was a really fun chapter to write. We hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Review, please!