Chapter 15

Jack and Allie were walking down the street, both keeping an eye out for Liz and Will. Jack spotted a man who was carrying a bunch of boxes coming towards them. He shook his head.

"Poor sap. I pity the bloody man who has to carry all of those boxes." Allie blinked, then squinted her eyes. She started laughing. Jack turned to look at her. "What's so funny, luv?"

"Tha' 'poor sap' as ye put it, is none other than William Turner! But if that's Will, then where is…Liz?!" Allie couldn't believe what her best friend was wearing. "Where on Earth did ye get all that?"

"The store. You likes?" Liz asked, spinning around so her friend could see her new dress.

"I love it! You bought a cloak?!" Allie asked, staring at the cloak with envy.

"Si."

"Not fair! I've always wanted one!" Jack chuckled. "What's so funny, Jack?" Allie asked.

"Ye are, luv. I never thought ye'd be one to engage in such…girl talk."

"Well, I have a secret for you, Captain Sparrow." She motioned for him to come closer. "I am a girl, and as such, I have every right to engage in 'girl talk' as ye put it. Savvy?" Allie winked at him, then turned back to Liz. "Liz, why did you make poor Will carry all your boxes?"

"I didn't make him carry them! In fact, I told him that I didn't want him to. I told him I was quite capable of carrying them myself, but he wouldn't listen!" Everyone looked at him.

"The gal has ye whipped whelp." Jack laughed. Will blushed.

"It was the gentlemanly thing to do." he defended. Liz looked at the books that Allie was holding and changed the subject for Will.

"What are those?" Will smiled graciously at her and she returned it.

"Books."

"Well, I know that, dummy. Which ones?" Liz said now looking at her friend.

"Um," Allie looked at the titles, "Don Quixote, Utopia, and The Castle of Otranto."

"Cool. I'll have to read them when you're done."

"Fine by me." Jack spoke up.

"How long will it take ye to read those books, luv?" Allie thought for a minute.

"Well, it depends," she said.

"On what?" Jack wanted to know. Allie grinned mischievously.

"On how much time off you give me," Allie said with a wink. Jack laughed and draped an arm over her shoulders.

"Not much chance of that, luv." Allie screwed up her nose in distaste.

"In that case, who knows how long it will take me to get through them. If I didn't have to work, I could finish the books off in a week, two at the most."

"When did you get a sword?" Liz asked, noticing the sword hanging from Allie's side.

"Jack just bought it for me," Allie said, grinning. She pulled it out and swung it around a few times. She tried to twirl it fancily, but ended up dropping it on the ground. Jack laughed as Allie bent over to pick up her sword.

"Guess I need some practice," Allie said, laughing as well. "Well, I'm getting hungry. What say ye to us heading back to the ship and getting something to eat?" Allie asked, sliding her sword back into its sheath.

"I've a better idea, luv," Jack said, moving his arm from her shoulders to around her waist. "Let's go to a tavern and get a meal there; give Liz a break from the kitchen." Liz beamed at this statement.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Captain." Then she looked over at Will. "What about my stuff?"

"We'll stop by the Pearl so that Will can unload," Jack said, staring to walk in that direction, one arm still wrapped around Allie's waist.

Allie suddenly realized something. "Did you just call me 'dummy'?" she asked, turning to face Liz.

Liz grinned. "Why yes, so I did," she said in a Homestar Runner voice.

Allie cracked up.

"What's so funny, luv?" Jack inquired, confused. Allie just shook her head.

"Never mind, Jack. Don't ask."

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

An hour later, they stepped into some nameless tavern. Allie looked around. It wasn't like the ones in Tortuga, thank heavens. This one was a tad more civilized. There were some drunks around, but the place wasn't overflowing with them. Still, she was a little wary about being in a tavern, but she tried not to let it show. Apparently she wasn't doing a very good job.

Jack pulled her a little closer to him. "Don't worry, luv. I won't let anything happen to ye, savvy?" Allie looked up at him.

"Who says that I'm worried?" she questioned. Jack laughed.

"I can just tell, luv. When we walked in here, ye tensed up a bit. Ye need to relax." Allie just rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

They found a table to sit down at and Jack waved a waitress over. The others talked while Jack ordered. After doing so, he turned to Allie.

"So, luv, I overheard ye and Liz talking earlier today in the galley."

"Really?" Allie said nonchalantly. "What about?" she asked, taking a sip of her water.

"About me," Jack said, grinning. Allie choked and almost spewed water all over the table. Liz started laughing.

"What did you hear, Captain?" Liz asked, grinning madly. "Ow!" she yelped when Allie kicked her under the table. Will shot Allie a dirty look, but Allie wasn't paying any attention. She was too busy glaring daggers at her friend.

Jack leaned back and casually propped his feet up on the table, still grinning.

"Only up to the point when Allie said that she wanted to be me bonnie lass," he said, looking extremely smug.

Allie was silent for a second or two. Then she grinned.

"I repeat what ye said a few months ago, Captain: 'Forget what you heard; it was joking around between friends.'" Jack looked doubtful.

"It didn't sound that way to me, luv," he said, still looking pleased with himself.

"Yeah, well, it didn't sound like ye was joking around when you were talking with Mr. Turner about 'googly eyes' either, Jack," Allie said, picking up her mug and taking another drink, hoping that Jack would change the subject.

Liz was laughing so hard at this point, that she had to hang onto Will so that she wouldn't fall to the floor. Not surprisingly, Jack didn't drop it.

"That's completely, different, lass," he said, waving a hand dismissively, then taking a drink of his rum.

"How so, Jack?" Allie asked, quirking an eyebrow. Jack took his feet off the table and leaned in closer to her.

"Because I'm the captain and I say so, luv." Liz stopped laughing long enough to say to Jack,

"Oh, that's mature." Jack turned to look at Liz, who was laughing again.

"Is something funny, lass?" Liz just nodded, and kept laughing, tears starting to stream down her cheeks.

Jack shook his head, then turned back to Allie.

"Just admit it, luv. Ye want to be me bonnie lass," he said with an emphasis on want. Will spoke up then.

"How about we change the subject?"

"Not until she answers the question," Jack said, still looking at Allie. She rolled her eyes.

"Keep dreaming, Jack. Just keep dreamin'." I cannot wait to get back to the ship and go to bed, Allie thought to herself.

Right then the waitress came back with their food, and everyone except Liz dug in.

"What is this?" Liz asked nervously, poking at the suspicious looking object on her plate.

"It's food," Jack said as he looked up from eating.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Allie said with a grin. Jack looked at her quizzically then corrected,

"Sparrow, luv." Allie just shook her head.

"Never mind. Liz is right though, what is this? It's pretty good," she said, taking another bite. Jack grinned.

"Squid." Liz made a 'Mr. Yuck face' and put down her fork while Allie just looked up surprised and replied,

"Really? Huh. That's interesting,"

"Why is that interesting, luv?" Jack asked.

"Because I thought that I didn't like squid. Apparently, I was wrong," Allie said, taking another bite. Liz looked at her friend in disgust.

"Allie, how can you eat that?" Will looked at Liz amused.

"Princess, it's pretty good. Have a bite," he said trying to feed her some with his fork. Liz just turned her head.

"No way. It's gross. I'll just eat some bread," she said tearing a small piece off of the loaf of bread they were given with the meal. The rest of them just looked at her trying not to laugh at the face she was still giving the squid.

"Liz, you're hopeless." Allie told her friend and rolled her eyes.

"If you don't want squid, Princess, we can order you something else. I don't want you to starve." Will said putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, Mr. Turner; she's just spoiled. Aren't you Liz?" Liz felt Will's arm tighten after the mention of her being 'spoiled' and she knew who he was comparing her to for the second time that evening. Liz glared at her friend, but Allie just laughed. Liz looked back at Will and smiled.

"It's okay, Will. I'm just a Plain Jane and am not very adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. Anyways, I'm really not that hungry and I don't know if I can eat much more than bread while in this corset." She felt his arm slowly loosen and hoped she had cleared things up.

After that things lightened up. They enjoyed talking about everyday stuff and where the Pearl would go next. They even saw some members of the crew and cheerfully greeted them. Then, Jack finally started telling of some of his grand adventures. They entranced the girls. It was wonderful for all of them to spend time together away from work and become better friends with one another.

Long after the food was eaten Liz started to feel exhausted. She had still gotten up early that morning to fix breakfast and even though the crew would stay on land this evening she would still have to cook breakfast for them when they came back in the morning. Will noticed her yawn in the middle of one of Jack's stories. He smiled down at her.

"Is it that boring for you, Princess?" Jack stopped talking and looked at her. Liz was a little embarrassed someone had noticed her yawning but spoke truthfully.

"Actually I find it all captivating. It's just I got up early to start breakfast and it's been a long day. I'm really drained," she said giving Jack an apologetic smile.

"Liz, I believe yer right. It's getting late. Can't have ye two in the tavern much longer anyway. Not a sight fer ladies. " He stood up and everyone followed suit. Jack threw some coins on the table, grabbed Allie's arm, and walked out the door with out another word. Will laughed and shook his head.

"Just like Jack. Not to wait for the rest of us." He put Liz's cloak over her shoulders then offered his arm, "Shall we go my lady?" She put her hand in the crook of his elbow and he escorted her out.