Author's Note: Hey all! Short chapter this time… Wil's been very unhelpful…. (Wil's my muse, no relation to Will Turner) But really… I've been so unbelievably, err, lazy and tired and preoccupied with writing my speech for school, and then I've taken to walking home which takes FOREVER but it's good exercise so I'm not complaining only when I get home I'm too tired to drag myself to the computer… All of this was written, like, last night. It was longer, but it was going slowly downhill so I just kinda hacked it off right in the middle. Yup. There's a credit at the bottom of the page too…
Oh yeah, also….. I'M 14 NOW! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (I'm pretty happy about that, if you couldn't tell) I also got a fish for my birthday named Armand but we won't go into that… All I'll say is that he's named after one of the vampire chronicles characters! (was gonna name him Lestat… but he seemed like more of an Armand)
Roz: Sorry for putting you in agony… cheesy gushiness… I love it too! (I still think it deserves a spot on fromage 2005. Like that's gonna happen anytime soon…..) Yay! I'm glad they're back together too! Ha, it's actually surprising that I came close to spelling fermé la bouche right… I'm brutal at French! Yet I still go around yelling things in French…. O.o Thanks for the review!!! (gah which reminds me I still hafta reply to your comments on elfwoood! Lazy me)
Jeyke: Glad you liked it! Yup, Smith's Jack's brother… Same mother, different fathers, I may have explained something about that in chapter 8 I think… Hmm, yeah, I suppose they grew up together… Obviously Smith hates Jack but Jack just can't figure out why… Scallywag's right! Firne de la bouch pretty much means shut up in French, I learned it from my friend from Quebec… Thanks for the review!!!
~Kris (the great)
Chapter 12
"OW! Be careful!" Mia screamed, jerking her arm away from Jacob as he attempted to bandage it.
"Hold still!" Jacob commanded. "I know it hurts, but it'll just get worse if it's left open!" He struggled to keep Mia from thrashing around as he tried yet again to bandage the wound adorning her arm. She gave one last violent pull on her arm, causing the poor surgeon to let go. Her arm came jerking backwards, succeeding in knocking over one of the many bottles of medicine on the table beside her bed, the table and the rest of its contents rattling dangerously as the bottle came crashing to the floor. Jacob sighed as he watched the bottle smash and the dark greenish brown liquid rapidly spread across the floor. Mia triumphantly lay back in the bed, panting slightly from the strain she had just put herself through and holding her hand firmly over her wound. She hadn't minded it so much when he had removed the bullet (she was definitely NOT going to live the rest of her life with a chunk of metal lodged in her shoulder) but her arm could heal damn well enough on its own.
After a moment of lying back in bed and regaining her strength, Mia lifted her head up to study the silent Jacob. He was staring passively down at the still-spreading liquid, shaking his head slightly. Besides being a respectable and talented surgeon, he was probably the most patient man Mia had ever seen. So patient, in fact, that he could give even Will a run for his money (which was pretty good, considering he had been putting up with Mia for the past few weeks). He was relatively young, with tousled sandy coloured hair and thoughtful green eyes. His jaw was squared off and a slight hint of stubble showed on his tanned face, creating contrasting shadow against the faint bags under his eyes. He wasn't exactly handsome, but he wasn't the worst looking surgeon Mia had ever seen. She felt a slight pang of guilt, something that had become more and more usual in the past few weeks, when she saw him sigh once again and turn back to her.
"Are you done yet?" he asked, his face showing hints of fatigue as he held up the bandage once again.
"No…" Mia groaned, pulling her arm back out of his reach.
"Mia, this would go so much quicker if you would just cooperate with me…" Jacob started, but was interrupted by the door to the room being quietly opened as Will walked in. He cast a sympathetic look in Mia's direction and a quizzical one over the now medicine covered floor, but said nothing about it as he turned to Jacob.
"Do you need some help in here?" he said, ignoring the loud snort coming from Mia.
"You, Mr. Turner," Jacob said, clapping him on the shoulder, "Are a lifesaver. That damn loblolly of mine is never around when I need him… Please, could you hold her down so I can bandage her arm properly?"
Mia, who (though she didn't show it) had been relatively glad to see Will, widened her eyes in horror. She almost yelled out a complaint, but thought better of it. She definitely did not want to look like a temperamental three year old in front of the man who had just recently saved her life.
Will promptly held her arms down against the bed as Jacob bandaged her arm, taking care not to pull too tightly as he tied it in place.
"There. Now, was that so bad Mia?" Jacob said, standing up and motioning to Will so he'd let go of her. Mia blushed slightly as Jacob strode over to his desk, apparently looking for something amongst the papers and strange looking tools covering the desktop. He picked up a small silver flask and tossed it in Mia's direction, the latter who gave a slight jump and just barely caught it.
"What's this?" She said, shaking it slightly. She looked up at Will, who just shrugged.
"We always give crew members an extra flagon of rum after they've been through something like this." Jacob explained. "And, well, we're not all that clear of your position among the crew, but… err… Just don't mention it to anyone."
Mia gave a slight laugh. "Thanks a lot, patch."
Jacob laughed and shook his head. "Well, I've got to go tend to that lad in the next room… Got a splinter the size of me arm wedged in his foot. You, Mia, if you don't touch anything you can stay and rest awhile, but you're allowed to leave. Soon."
As soon as Jacob left, Mia stood up and stretched. "Shall we?" she said to Will, grinning. "I can't stand this place."
"You wouldn't." Will replied, smiling as Mia promptly led him out of the room and out onto deck.
"So, has anything exciting happened since I was down?" Mia asked, breathing in a deep breath of ocean air. "Like, say, Kris falling madly in love with Gibbs and running away to get married?"
Mia didn't receive the laughter from Will she had expected.
"Well, Amelia, there's something you should know." Will said, avoiding her gaze. "The crew was talking, and they decided that I should be the one to tell this to you…"
"What?" Mia said, ignoring the fact that he had just called her Amelia. A deep sense of dread ascended onto her, and she couldn't seem to shake it off with any of her usual cracks at, well, anything. The sympathetic look he was now giving her wasn't helping matters, especially not his light brown puppy dog eyes or the way his slightly unruly hair was falling in his face…
"Amelia…" Will started. "Mia…"
That's not good. Mia thought. He remembered my name.
"It's about Kris." Will said.
Mia's face fell. Oh god… spit it out, Turner… "What about her?"
"She's gone." Will said, looking down again to avoid Mia's gaze.
"What do you mean she's gone?"
"She's gone!" Will repeated, still not looking at her. "No one's seen her since I carried you back to the ship."
Mia stood silently for a moment, gaping slightly at him. She swallowed roughly before speaking again. "Do you think she could be…" She started, but couldn't finish. She swallowed again. "You don't think she's…" Mia almost choked on her sob, but managed to hold it down. "Dead?"
Will looked up, this time looking even more sympathetic. "Mia, I… I don't know."
"But there's a good chance." Mia finished for him. "There's a good chance she was killed."
"More than a chance." Will admitted. "But Kris is also strong. There's a chance she's alive somewhere, that she's still on that ship."
"But then why aren't we looking for her?" Mia said, practically whispering. "Why aren't we still back there searching for her?"
"Because it's too dangerous." Will replied, reaching out to pat her shoulder. "The crew voted not to go back. But I swear to god Mia, if I could, I'd go look for her. I'd be there right now! But that's just not the way it works."
Mia finally got to the point where she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "But why isn't it like that?!" she sobbed. "Why can't we just turn back around and storm those bloody bastards, send them to the ocean floor for all I care…"
Will hugged her, a brotherly embrace, as she cried. "It's alright Mia…"
"No it's not!" Mia shouted, pulling away from him. "It's not alright because Kris is gone and I'm miles away from home and no one cares enough to even TRY and save her and it's my fault she even went missing, that we even came across that ship because if it wasn't for me Jack would still be here and we'd all be in Tortunga right now and… and… I miss my father."
Will was slightly taken aback by her outburst. "Amelia… It's not your fault Jack left…"
"Yes it is!!" Mia screamed, before turning away and storming into the galley. She ignored Will calling after her as she bumped past Brett, or Bill, or whoever the hell it was and into the nearest cabin, slamming the door and slumping to the floor, sobbing.
***
"What the Pearl really is, is freedom." Kris couldn't even count how many times Jack had fed that line to her, though she was pretty sure he'd had at least a few to drink each time. Never the less, she listened attentively, staring up at him through her thick hair as her head rested in her arms, her knees pulled tightly up against her as she waited for him to continue.
"There's no feeling that can match the feeling of a ship cutting through the water, like a fish as it effortlessly glides through the oceans of eternity…" His words were surprisingly clear considering the empty bottle in his hand. "The serene flick of its tail disturbing the water… The glint of its scales in the sunlight…"
Kris stared at him in awe for a moment, completely lost in the, the depth of what he was saying. Not to mention the way the slightly faint sunlight was hitting him, sparkling off the many rings on his fingers as he raised his hand to the air, illuminating his tanned skin and brightening his deep eyes… Then she realised what she was listening to. She shook her head, jarring her from her previous state of mind, and looked up. "Can we please stop with the fish talk?"
"What's wrong with the fish talk?" Jack said, lowering his hand and his gaze to look at her.
"Too many things." Kris replied.
"Like what?"
"Should I start with the weirdness of it or the fact that I find it interesting?"
"I had no idea you felt so strongly about fish." Jack replied, coyly fidgeting with the empty bottle. "I don't." Kris replied, grinning. "I just don't like being seduced by men talking about them."
"So I take it that you're being seduced by me?" Jack said, reaching over and fidgeting playfully with a strand of her hair. "Or is it just the fish?"
"Enough with the fish!" Kris exclaimed jokingly, giving a futile attempt to edge away from the arm he had now slinked around her waist. "I don't want to hear about the fish!"
"Oh really?" Jack replied, leaning closer as Kris tried to push him off again, desperately trying to conceal the smile on her face. But why did he have to smell so good? Did he know he smelt so good, or did Kris just have a strange attraction to the smell of rum?
"Um, excuse me?" a voice, trying to hide either a laugh or a note of disgust, came from the bars just above them. Delia's face peered down at them, a half smile slightly visible before she routinely scrunched her face up and shook her head. "Look, I know this is a little much to ask, but can you please keep your hands away from each other for the time being?"
Kris sheepishly stood up and smiled.
"Thank you." Delia said, giving a toss of her long blonde hair. "I don't exactly have all that much time, anyways. Jeremy still doesn't know about me helping you, and with good reason. He's been in an extremely bad mood since the ship got stormed, he's even taken to throwing plates around and…" She trailed off and plastered one of her trademark smiles across her face. "But don't worry, I'm sure he'll come around one of these days. It won't take very long, I'm positive, he'll warm up to the idea of letting you go… I mean, Jack's his brother for god's sake, that's got to count for something… And then there's Kris, I'm sure he'll let you out after a while, he doesn't have the heart to keep a woman locked up in a cell for long…"
"Though he did have the heart to lock you up in a cell." Jack pointed out. "Not a very promising thought, is it?"
"And his brother." Kris added rather sulkily. "I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a heartless man here, Delia."
"Not heartless enough to turn away a pirate's hostage when she comes to him for help." Delia said, shoving another bundle through the bars for the two prisoners. "There's some clothes for Kris in there, and more food and some water too… Now, this time try and make everything span out for more than a day, I don't know how often I can get down here."
"Thanks." Kris said, immediately grabbing the bundle. "Honestly, we really appreciate this…"
"Wait a second." Jack, who had been idly sitting leaning against the wall, spoke up. "What pirate's hostage?"
"Just some girl we found in a rowboat a couple of days ago." Delia replied, hurriedly looking around. "Look, I haven't got time for this. I have to go." And before either of them could ask any more questions, she had disappeared up the stairs.
The rest of the day was, for the most part, uneventful. Kris had hastily changed into the dress Delia had lent her (with the occasional "I swear to god Jack if you don't turn around I'll gouge your eyes out" ringing throughout the bilge until she had successfully wedged herself into it), the light blue fabric suiting her perfectly and succeeding in creating the illusion that her eyes were the same color. That was the thing about her eyes; although they were grey, they could be changed slightly to light blues or even greens, depending on what she wore, and sometimes even her mood (which changed more often than her clothes). For the first while she had been almost afraid to sit down and dirty it, but this notion was quickly abandoned when she'd become so tired she was forced to rest. She'd quickly fallen asleep, her head peacefully resting against Jack's shoulder.
~*~*~
You can so tell I cut this chapter short…. Lol… anyways, for the credit thinger. The whole fish talk bit (as in when Kris says 'enough with the fish talk!') is from Corner Gas, the best show in the world. Pretty much what happens is this girl goes on a fishing trip with Hank, just as friends, and he goes into all this 'deep' talk about fish and fishing and the water and she totally finds it irresistible but she really doesn't like him at all and then they end up kissing and……….. Long story short, it was hilarious. I laughed my head off (though I always do, corner gas is the best show in the world. They so portray good ol' Saskatchewan well) So…. Yeah. And I wrote that part right after I finished watching it, so that's probably why I felt the need to put it in. I'm sure you all won't find it as funny as I do… I think I'm one of the only people who watches Corner Gas instead of Friends (they're on at the same time for people who don't have digital or whatever) So….. yeah. Enjoy and please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!