Chapter: Sun and Storm

-

Sophia stared at nothing a long time before she actually woke. She'd dreamed of Jack again.

With a groan, Sophia sat up, her crumpled sheets falling into her lap, and ran a hand over her face, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her lips were tender and somewhat swollen, she noticed, as she touched the pad of her finger against her mouth. The kisses had been hard.

Sophia let the bedding lie untouched and unmade as she slipped into a mid-calf length skirt of rough fabric, simply tucking the shirt she had slept in into the waist. She closed the door of her cabin quietly after stepping out into the red of the rising sun. Her body felt tired and taxed of its strength, as if she had never stopped Jack's advances and their bodies had been straining and arching all throughout the night, together, warm, satisfied. Sophia shivered.

Immediately Sophia noticed a change in the crew. Chatting animatedly amongst themselves, the men were smiling, interested, and even amidst the already sweltering heat of the morning. Sophia heard snippets of their conversations.

". . .won't even bloody tell us where we headed. . ."

"Ektibar? Jesus, mate. S'posed t' be nothin' but bleedin' nonsense. . ."

". . .'e says he knows where it is. . . 'e is th' captain. . ."

"He is a bit daft, mind you. I don' really trust. . ."

Sophia raised an eyebrow mildly. So Jack had finally discovered were the treasure was hidden, and had told the crew that they were after it, but not where they actually were going.

Carefully skirting the crowd, Sophia wandered over to sit at the mast, her back resting against the sturdy column of wood. She picked up the vast sail that still sported a rip down the center from several months ago, found a needle stuck within the canvas, and set to work, her mind drifting as she methodically sewed up the rent.

Sophia's father had told her that Tortuga was barely a town when Bernardo Ektibar had come upon it. It was the perfect place to hide the treasure of a lifetime, with steep, jagged sides with only a narrow path to lead adventurers and wandering drunks. Many caves, both small and massive, littered the slopes.

Thoughts of Tortuga led her to thoughts of home, and thoughts of home led her to thoughts of the night before, when such thoughts kept her from following her body's desire. These connections were made very fast, and Sophia could barely keep up with her mind. It was all very confusing, she thought, as she shook her head and continued to sew.

A shadow fell across the sail that she was mending. Sophia looked up, blinking. It was Jack, and he was staring down at her with an expression void of any acknowledgement, his eyes dark and veiled. Sophia rose slowly to her feet, leaving the sail on the deck.

"Jack. . ." She began softly, her hands fidgeting awkwardly in front of her, her eyes focused intently over his shoulder. His closeness was making her very uncomfortable, and a strange heat was rising from between her breasts and across her chest and neck. She prayed that she was not blushing.

"It's Tortuga, aye?" He asked, his voice a gruff rumble, lowered so that the crew would not overhear them. Jack was concentrating very hard on Sophia's expression and reaction, rather than the actual contours of her face, his brow furrowed and eyes sharp as he awaited her reaction. He didn't let his eyes fall below her chin, and considered this a great feat indeed.

Sophia, having expected her affirmative movements and speech to be inhibited by her curse, was surprised at her ability to nod. "It is, yes," she answered slowly. She could feel the familiar bout of anger swell in her chest in response to his bluntly coarse demeanor, but pushed the rising tantrum out of her mind. It was not the time.

Much to Sophia's shock, Jack flashed her a cheerful, lop-sided grin, a flash of gold, and patted her cheek with a calloused palm. "Tha's me girl. Mending th' sails, aye?"

Sophia nodded again, a brow raised in disbelief. How could he act as if nothing had changed? She could feel the heat rising between their bodies, although Jack stood nearly a yard from her, and could almost see the strain and tension in his eyes.

"Ah. . . very good. Mus' be off, now," said Jack, turning on the heel of his boot and striding away in his own swaying gait, very much aware of Sophia's incredulous stare at his back.

Jack exhaled slowly once he was out of Sophia's earshot and line of sight, running a hand over his forehead and letting his palms come to rest over his eyes. Blessed darkness, everything blank. Every muscle in his body was tight with unspent energy, both sexual and otherwise, his belly twisting with need and nerves. This was going to be a long trip.

"Damn woman."

-

Sophia resigned herself to a passive attitude when conversations of the Fortunes and The Black Pearl's destination arose at supper that night. In response to her uncharacteristic silence, the men were shooting her very strange looks over the table, to which Sophia ignored, her attention focused solely on the gray sort of stew that was being served on this particular evening. She had carefully chosen a seat far away from Jack; she didn't want to cope with his unnerving cheerfulness. In fact, she didn't want to cope with much of anything at the moment, and was mulling over a steadily growing threat in her mind.

Sophia knew the reason that Jack did not reveal that the Fortunes of Ektibar were hidden, rather ironically so, in Tortuga – she was not so ignorant in the ways of sailors as that. Give up the bearings, and you give up your safety. The crew could snatch their fingers around the position of the treasure nad run, leaving their captain marooned on a lone stretch of sand with nothing but blue expanses of water for company.

But what if Jack had let slip that she was the key to finding Ektibar's treasure?

Kidnapped, tortured, her father's secrets beaten out of her by those she trusted, her crewmates. Solely responsible for Jack's starvation on a desolate island.

Raped.

Sophia narrowed her eyes at Jack across the table, their depths dark and stormy with suspicion.

Would he do such a thing?

-

Sophia found it difficult not to eavesdrop on her companions as she ate, for she was seated in a rather secluded area well out of Jack's earshot and some of the talk was less trustworthy than it should have been.

"I don' know. . . 'm sure Jack means well an' all, but the bloody Fortunes of Ektibar? The men who go after tha' are s'posed t' be raving mad," whispered Thandor, leaning forward on the table as to converse more privately with his company.

"I'm givin' it a week or two. If we don' come on somethin' by then, I'm goin' to round up some of the man an' confront th' captain. I daresay many of them'll be willin' to give 'im a talkin' to. They're not too happy with this Ektibar business. It'd be right wonderful if it's true an' all, but so many men have tried lookin' fer it, an' they. . . well. . ." Caliso trailed off, eyes shifting downwards. Sophia knew he would be thinking of the fates of the men who had tried to find The Fortunes of Ektibar. Starvation, drowning, madness. . .

"Confront?" Sophia interjected hastily, worry adding an edge to her voice.

Caliso glanced at her, his expression calculating, and Sophia had the distinct impression that he had forgotten she was there, and if he had not he wouldn't be discussing this matter so freely. After a moment, he spoke, in a strange light sort of tone, as if dodging around the subject. "Not anythin' violent, Sophia. Don' worry your pretty little 'ead; we won't let anythin' 'appen to ye." He flashed her a grin.

Sophia eyed him warily. She didn't speak for the remainder of the supper and the men returned to topics of a more untroubled manner.

-

Jack sucked in his breath harshly as Sophia stormed into his cabin later that night, paying no heed when the door smashed into the wall due to her forcefulness. Concealing his surprise and ignoring the stirring in his gut, Jack plastered a cheeky grin on his face and rose to meet her, his eyes flicking casually to the spot on the wall that Sophia had been pushed up against the night before, damp with desire and rubbing herself against him like a contented cat.

But he mustn't think about that right now.

Sophia's face was the picture of fright and anger, but, Jack noticed, it was the sort of anger that a woman worked herself towards and built upon herself, and was not spurred by a direct action or insult.

"Sophie –" he began.

"Did you tell them that I was the key to finding it?" She interrupted bluntly, her voice shaking with what Jack was sure was fear.

And it would be fear, he realized. Her knowledge and understanding of the treasure was what caused her kidnapping and rape.

Jack adopted an easy tone, hands hovering erratically as he spoke. "'Course not, love. 'Woulda thought you, of all people, would know tha' Captain Jack Sparrow's not that daft."

Sophia let out a sigh, her face relaxing into an expression of weary relief. It was only then that she realized that she had barged into Jack's cabin without knocking and was now inside – alone – with just him, in the very room in which, just last night, they had engaged in their less than reputable act. Her eyes widened.

"Oh. . . good. I just wanted to be sure," she said lamely, "er. . . I'll be leaving now, I suppose."

Jack smiled faintly at her obvious discomfort, and found himself gazing at the slender column of her neck as she turned to leave, but after several moments hastily averted his gaze.

Sophia stopped moving, her fingertips poised upon the doorknob and ready to turn, as she heard a strange clattering of something on the roof. It was not stopping.

-

Hail.

Sophia held up a hand to shield the whipping of wind and hailstones from her face, following Jack as he strode quickly towards the bow of the ship, leaning over the edge as he arrived. Jack did not shelter his face from the weather, but was looking up at the churning of dark clouds within the sky, his eyes squinted and face rapt with concentration.

Gibbs skidded on the hailstones that were accumulating rapidly on the deck as he came to join them. "Strange weather we be havin', eh?"

Jack did not answer him, and continued to gaze at the sky. Sophia shifted her gaze from the clouds to Jack's face, searching his expression for any clues concerning the rather absurd situation. Hail continued to rain down upon them, the small stones pattering across the deck and pinging off metal.

After a long while Jack turned to her, an expression of grim determination on his face, although his lips were twisting into a slightly maniacal grin. There was a strange sort of glint in his eyes, as though he couldn't wait to meet whatever had captured his attention so in the heavens. Sophia's eyes widened slightly.

"There's a storm comin'."

-

A/N: Finally! Another chapter! Even if it is one of my "transition chapters," as I like to call them. Anyway, I'm sorry I sort of disappeared. The march (it was completely and insanely awesome, by the way) and school sort of escalated and a week had gone by and I hadn't started another chapter. Shame on me.

I know you are all saying "Get on with it, dear. We want some nookie!" but you'll have to wait. Important things have to happen before that can. Storm, first big argument, lost forever in an eternal deathtrap of roiling seas (well, maybe not), for instance.

The "contented cat" comparison to desire is not mine, I'm afraid, but belongs to Philippa Gregory, the author of The Queen's Fool (wonderful book, by the way).

Thank you to the readers, of course. I'm amazed at all of the reviews! 

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