Dude, it's been so long since I've updated. I'm sorry! ::apologizes profusely:: On with the show!

Maribelle hadn't had a real night's sleep in the two days since she had been on the ship. Funny, everything she had wanted for so long was driving her absolutely insane.

"I would've expected freedom to be more enjoyable than this," she groaned, lying in bed and making a futile effort at sleeping. "Honestly, the world doesn't know when to shut up."

And it was true. Gulls were cawing, wood was creaking, waves were crashing- -

"Hold on," she muttered. "Waves?" There was no wind. The ship wasn't even moving. In surprise, she sprang out of bed, stumbled out of her cabin, and out into the cold air.

It was incredibly dark, and she had to squint towards where the horizon would be in order to see it, but, with some effort, she could tell that something was there.

"Bloody hell," she muttered. She squinted even harder at the ship in the impending distance, and saw a large flag flying on it. "French," she spat in disgust. "Would've seen that one." She ran quickly to Will and Elizabeth's cabin and knocked on the door. A very peaky looking Elizabeth opened the door.

"I don't think the sea agrees with me," she said sickly. Maribelle groaned.

"Horrible timing," she muttered. She went to the next door down, and practically knocked down the door to Jack's cabin. "Get your bloody ass out of bed and act captainly, would you?" she snapped

Jack rubbed his eyes and stumbled rather drunkenly out of bed. "Couldn't sleep, love?" he growled patronizingly. Maribelle rolled her eyes.

"There's a French ship heading our way," she snapped.

"Oh, that's all?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow as Maribelle practically dragged him out of his cabin. "The wind'll carry us. Ye worry too much."

"Wind!" Maribelle said, yelling hysterically at no one in particular. "God Almighty, you hear that? He's talking! And about what? Wind! Bloody hell, Jack! What wind? WE'RE NOT MOVING!"

Jack pursed his lips and looked upwards pensively. Then, he licked his finger and held it up to the air.

"Bloody hell, you're right!" ha said rather cheerily. Maribelle looked at him as though he was completely insane, which he damn well may have been.

"I'm right," she smirked bitterly. "Well, that's good to know that for once, you admitted it. It's a lovely parting gift!"

"Parting gift?" Jack said. "Not planning on jumping ship, are ye, love?"

"Might as well!" Maribelle snapped, looking quickly at the side of the ship in near panic. "Once those bloody pigs catch up with us, I'll just be dragged kicking and screaming back to France anyway! Might as well just have a bit of fun with the sharks instead!"

"What make ye think they're going to catch up?" Jack asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh, CHRIST!" Maribelle growled in exasperation. "They're rowing faster than wind, there is no wind to begin with, and WE'RE STILL NOT MOVING!"

"Not yet," Jack smirked matter-of-factly. "You're forgetting…I'm Jack Sparrow."

"Yes, and I'm Maribelle Winthrop," she said sarcastically. "Now that we're properly introduced, you must excuse me. I'm overdue to throw myself down to swim with the fishes in Davy Jones' Locker!" She began to stalk around to the side of the ship when Jack grabbed hold of the back of her dress.

"A tad suicidal?" Jack chuckled. Maribelle whirled around and glared at him.

"Mother's love, Jack, who do you think you are?" Maribelle snapped. "Don't you dare think that you don't owe me! I saved your bloody life, and don't you forget it! And now, I'm the one who's in trouble, and you're making it sound like a bloody joke!"

"You're not getting caught, love," Jack chuckled, "Not while I'm captain."

"Yes, and some captain you are," Maribelle muttered. "You think you'd realize something after being on the receiving end of two mutinies- -"

"Tha's enough," Jack said darkly. If there was anything that the man simply wouldn't tolerate, it was anyone even suggesting that his loss of the Black Pearl was in any way his fault. Maribelle looked at him and smiled bitterly.

"What're you going to do, Captain?" She said mockingly. "What's the price for telling the truth on this ship?"

"If you fancy being thrown out to the sharks, then by all means, don't shut your mouth yet," Jack said. Maribelle was still undaunted.

"I'd prefer it over being on a ship with a so-called captain who doesn't give a damn about anything more than having a bloody good time," Maribelle said coldly.

"If you'd just shut your mouth for the amount of time it takes for me to think, we'd have left already," Jack snapped, "And while we're so nicely telling the truth at the moment, let me inform you of something else. Ye have no place telling me my faults as a captain, seeing as ye don't even have the slightest clue what to do- -"

"Rubbish!" Maribelle yelled as Jack walked away to the wheel. He kept his back turned to her, and Maribelle then realized that she was being ignored. "You'd better not get me killed, Sparrow!" she added as she stormed off to her cabin.

"You'd better not get me killed, Sparrow," Jack mimicked to himself, chuckling bitterly. "If I tried, to kill that girl, she'd stay alive just to spite me,"

Meanwhile, Maribelle had thrown herself onto her bed, crying. Within minutes, she was sobbing in near hysteria. She had gotten in far over her head, and for once hadn't the slightest idea who to blame aside from herself.

And what of the others on the ship? They had all gone on this silly crusade to save her, only to be caught before they even had a chance of escaping? If the French ship on the horizon was indeed Pernot, Maribelle felt assured that they'd all be killed, and their deaths would stay on Maribelle's conscience until the day she died.

"Bloody good pirate you are," she growled to herself. "Heart of a lion," she added sarcastically. How disappointed her father would be if he really could see her now. He hadn't raised a traitor for a daughter, and yet that was exactly what she had become.

And, most complicated of all, there was Jack. Truth be told, Maribelle wasn't angry with him. She had nothing to blame him for. But she felt angry with the way he acted. They could all very well be killed or taken hostage before sunrise, and he seemed so blissfully unaware of it. If they were captured, and Jack managed to go without getting killed, he'd hate her. And somehow, that would be the worst punishment of all.

Maribelle was nearly thrown from her cot by a jolt- -the ship was moving again. She threw open her door, wiping her eyes, and saw Jack standing at what would be considered the bow of that tiny ship, looking out over the water.

"We seem to be moving now, love, right on course. Are ye through complaining?" he said sardonically. Maribelle's mouth hung open in complete amazement.

"I don't know how you do it, captain," she said, now in a very reverent tone. "Jack, I'm sorry."

"Of course ye are," he said sarcastically. "'S far easier to apologize now that ye know that I've just saved your behind again, isn't it?" Maribelle just stared at him in obvious puzzlement. "Oh, don't give me yer helpless, innocent, 'I've been so oppressed!' expression, Maribelle. I'm a pirate, not a bloody knight of the round table."

"Yes, and I'm a lady, not a pirate," she said, completely serious. Jack looked at her in obvious surprise. He'd expected to start another blazing row with her, and had every reason to do so. "But I owe you nothing." She added, her eyes meeting his with an expression of defiance. "I never asked you to come for me, Sparrow. I knew full well the things I was throwing myself into."

"I have a speck of news for ye, love. Being a martyr doesn't make ye better than everyone else. It just makes stupid because ye refuse the chance to save your own hide for someone who wouldn't do the same for you,"

"I didn't do it for you, as odd as that sounds," she said calmly. "I don't know you, Captain Sparrow, and I know better than to risk my life for a stranger. I risked my life for a little boy who I knew, years ago. A boy who would've done the same for me. When I walked into that hostel in Tortuga looking for you, I expected to see that boy, but I think I knew that the Jack Sparrow I knew had long since died."

"You're damn right that boy died," Jack said resentfully. "He died the day ye decided that ye were too good to be a pirate, and chose the easy life instead."

"Bloody hell, Jack, what would you have done?" she said, running a hand through her windswept hair. "I was a child! Would you have turned down a home back then?"

"Yeah, I would've," Jack snapped, "Because I was a real pirate. I didn't want to be tied down, but apparently you did."

"Well, then maybe I really wasn't a pirate," Maribelle said. "Because I'm not too much of a coward to stay in one place long enough to care about someone,"

"I stayed in that bloody orphanage long enough to start caring about you, didn't I?" Jack said matter-of-factly, looking out to sea as the tiny boat sailed on jerkily. "And see how much good that's done us both?"

"Caring about me?" Maribelle scoffed. "Oh, please! Were you really expecting us to be friends forever?"

"You swore," Jack mumbled, so softly that Maribelle could just barely hear him. "Ye think ye were such a bloody angel back then, so why would ye tell a lie?"

"So that's it then?" Maribelle said, feeling pure emotion rising in the back of her throat. "You think I'm a liar?" She felt the hairs on the back her neck prickle as she tried to keep the tears back. "Fine. At the next port we find, you can just leave me, and go off on another grand adventure."

"Ye think I'd drop ye that way?" Jack asked as Maribelle was turning to go back to bed. "After everything I just told ye- -"

"Damn right I think you'd it," Maribelle interrupted harshly, her back still turned to him. "Because you're a pirate. You said it yourself. You don't need to do anyone any favors. You don't care- -"

By the end of her sentence, she jumped in surprise when she felt Jack's hand touch hers. She whirled around and saw him standing behind her, his eyes fierce.

"Odd, isn't it?" he said vaguely, looking straight at her as she returned with gaze with near-defiance. "How exactly is it that every time I do an inherent good deed, it looks absolutely horrid? And then, regardless of my obvious good character," he added with a discreet snicker, "It's so incredibly implausible that I care about anyone?"

"You think I believe you for a moment?" Maribelle said, shaking her head. "Someone so talented with words…so talented with women…"

"I'm flattered, love," Jack chuckled. "But one who's so often insincere will always have his moments in which he sincerely must have some sincerity,"

"You're not fooling me, Sparrow," Maribelle said, crossing her arms. "You want me gone as soon as it's convenient. That's just the way you are,"

"Just the way I am," Sparrow nodded stoically. "I suppose ye can read me like a book, then?"

"You're damn right I can," Maribelle said, not at all relishing in the fact.

"Read me now, then, if yer freckled little bottom is that omnipotent," he said challengingly. Maribelle stared at him with her jaw gone slightly slack. "What am I thinking, then, Winthrop?"

Maribelle's entire countenance trembled slightly as her eyes probed into Jack's praying for some kind of a sign, some reprieve from his heinous request that she had all but asked for. She found nothing.

"You've got me, then. You're an enigma, Sparrow," she sighed, shaking her head. "A complete enigma."

"Then let me enlighten you," he said, tugging her arm gently and pulling her closer to him. Then, his other hand came with a timid firmness to hold the back of her neck and pull her face to his.

Maribelle wondered why she wasn't trying to get away. She felt that she ought to hit him across the face and lock herself in her cabin until they reached land, but she couldn't. All that registered in her mind while he kissed her was that she absolutely had to kiss him back.

She heard the sound of a door opening, and she jumped back quickly. Only then did she realize that their heated joining had moved them to the door of Jack's cabin. He stared at her with a lopsided grin and nodded toward the door. "Just a step away, love," he shrugged.

Maribelle couldn't think straight. Her mind was swimming, floating in its sea of troubles. Now, if only for once, she'd let herself drown in it. She pushed Jack the rest of the way through the door, kissing him as she locked the door behind her...

A/N's

::ahem:: Yes, they...erm...do it, so to speak, but I don't like being explicit, so imagine all the little niceties however you wish.

LoLoMo: Well, I do believe that Jack made up for ruining the moment last chapter, didn't he? And sadly enough, I wasn't inspired enough to throw Will and Elizabeth in for comic relief

DugaDugabowbow: : D

Dawnie-7: Well, I guess that no woman can resist the orders of Captain Jack Sparrow, neh?

Jack'sFreedom: Well, looks like Maribelle couldn't be stubborn forever. But wait until you see what kind of junk they get into now...

EmpathyIsMe: Oh, Maribelle doesn't just like it. She's loving it, at some level. Wouldn't you be loving it too?

Gah...maybe it'll be another long wait until the next chapter...Sorry!