It was early in the morning when Katrina felt herself begin to awaken. But she was in the middle of an incredible vivid dream and she wanted to hold on to it a bit longer. It gave her such a feeling of pleasure and protection. The dream wasn't elaborate, but it didn't matter because the feeling it gave her was so strong. She had been dreaming that someone was holding her close, their arm wrapped around her waist and their cheek on her neck. The arm seemed to her strong but gentle and she never wanted it to leave her. But as she began to awaken more and more, it gradually slipped away from her mind.
Now more focused, Kat realised that she wasn't lying flat on her back; she was propped up by someone else. And their arm was slung over her waist, resting just above her hipbone. For a moment, she was clouded in the confusion of morning sleepiness – wasn't this like her dream? Twisting round as well as she could, she saw Jack's sleeping face near her shoulder. Naturally, her first reaction would be mortification – but it felt so nice. Katrina felt distressed at the feelings that were coming over her. This wasn't right! She didn't even like Jack Sparrow! And she wasn't going to let him think he could get away with cuddling her like this. Determined to push the unfamiliar feelings away, she peeled off Jack's arm and gave him a push so that he rolled away from her. But she pushed a bit too hard, causing the sleeping Jack to fall off the bed, landing on the wooden floor with a loud thud. It was such a funny sight that she couldn't help laughing. Jack's head appeared groggily over the side of the bed with a bemused look. He saw Kat lying on the bed in her white night dress, her long dark hair falling over her face as she laughed helplessly. He had never seen her when she was laughing before – only when she was angry. Her whole face lit up in a way that Jack had never noticed in anyone else before.
"Do you know you're the first woman to ever kick me out of bed?" he told her, only half-serious.
"Well, you were wrong! You do seem to have a bad case of wandering hands!"
"I'm sorry luv. I guess it's just hard to keep them to meself with a ravishing beauty such as you lying right beside me." Jack gave her a meltingly seductive look. Kat was unaffected.
"Turn off the charm, Sparrow. You're definitely sleeping on the floor tonight. And I will the following night and so on."
Jack stood up, reaching for his boots. "I don't know about you, but I don't really care for rats."
"What are you talking about?"
"Most ships have rats, luv." Jack told her innocently. "And me Pearl's no exception - they love coming out at night." He grinned at her. "Do ye still want to sleep on the floor?"
Kat was not easily tricked. "Nice try, Sparrow. Rats don't scare me. We're not both sleeping in the same place again and that's final."
Katrina got off the bed and went to pick up her dress, missing the disappointment in Jack's face. He watched her wriggle into it and when he lifted his eyes, was amused by the livid expression on her face.
"Stop staring at me like that!" she reprimanded in an appalled voice. She hated this stupid purple dress. It was getting a bit small and the laces at the front were fiddly.
"Need some help with those laces, luv?" Jack suggested eagerly and started forward.
"NO! I mean no, thank you. I can manage." Kat turned her back on him, not wanting him to see her blushing. She couldn't believe she was blushing. She had never blushed in her life!
A smile on his lips, Jack put on his hat and coat and left the room.
When Katrina came out on deck, the first person she saw was Gibbs.
"Good morning to ye, Miss Katrina. Jack wants me to take yer on a tour o' the ship."
"Oh, alright." Katrina followed him and they walked in silence until she asked him,
"If Jack wants me to have a tour of his ship, why doesn't he take me himself?"
"He says he makes yer angry a lot."
"Well, he's a very infuriating person!" Kat protested as he took her through the galley.
"Don't mind ol' Jack. He's a good man underneath. Bit of a womaniser perhaps, but what do ye expect from a pirate?"
"Well, I'M not one of his 'women' whatever you may have thought last night." Kat looked down at the floor. "He told me I was too uptight for his taste anyway."
Gibb's chuckled noisily. "Oh 'e said that did 'e? A lot o' the things Jack Sparrow says are often far from the truth, lass."
Then Gibbs led her down to the brig and began to tell her of the many prisoners who had been held there, but Kat's mind was buzzing with thoughts.
After the tour was over, Katrina and Gibbs climbed back up to the deck, the dazzling sunlight making them both squint. Gibbs made his way towards where Jack was at the helm and Katrina went off in the opposite direction. As she strolled along the deck, someone called out to her.
"Hey lass!" A pretty woman with dark skin, hair and eyes had spoken. Kat observed with envy that she was wearing pirate clothes: a large white shirt and black breeches. She was wearing a floppy hat and was tightening the ropes of the rigging. Katrina made her way over.
"So how was your first night here?" She lowered her voice. "Jack tried something, didn't he?"
"No, he didn't." Katrina answered awkwardly.
Anamaria looked surprised. "What was all that yelling about then?"
"You heard that? Well, Jack and I don't…" Kat wondered how to put it. "I suppose we just get on each other's nerves." She shrugged and looked across the deck at where Jack was standing at the helm, looking out to sea while Gibbs talked to him.
"I felt that way about Jack at first. He stole a boat from me – I needed it to get out of Tortuga. I still can't believe he tricked me!"
"How did he –"
"Don't ask."
"So you forgave him?" Kat exclaimed. "Just like that?"
"When I joined his crew I gave him a pretty good slap." Anamaria looked at her questioningly. "Have you slapped him yet?"
"Once…"
"It's great isn't it? But I think he's immune to the pain because he's upset so many girls…"
Kat smiled. "I've mostly only punched men before. But I suppose they deserved much more than a slap anyway."
Anamaria looked thoughtful. "Punching. Hmm, that's interesting."
"Well, it's only to be used in extreme cases." Katrina told her informatively. For some reason, she didn't want Anamaria to punch Jack.
"You know, you'd make a good pirate. It's in yer blood after all."
"Oh, you know about that then?"
"Jack told us last night. My guess is ye know a lot about piracy?"
"Well, my mother used to teach me to sword fight…but apart from that I don't really know much." Kat confessed.
"Ah, you'll learn. Jack called ye 'Kat' last night – that be short for Katherine?"
"It's Katrina. And you are?"
"Anamaria."
I'm sorry if not much happened in that chapter! I just needed to portray Kat's growing uncertainty about Jack and her friendship with Anamaria (I think those two would get on well together). Reviews really cheer me up, so thank you to:
kerricarri – I love your long reviews, they make me smile! And now I have another opportunity to talk about Jack, YAY! I also love it when he dives into the water to save Elizabeth, the way he takes off all his effects and jumps onto the side sigh (my family think I'm mad, but who cares). He's so fit when he dives in, ohhhh I wish he was diving in to rescue me! That's enough of that…I need to calm down now! Thanks kerricarri
Aluna – Is that your real name? It's beautiful, I'm so jealous! Thanks so much for your reviews! It's interesting to read that you're like Katrina – her character is based partly on one of my friends (she has the dark hair and feisty attitude).
Karibbean – I've read up to Chapter 13 on Including Katrina and I think it's BRILLIANT! For some reason I can't get to chapter 14, but I'll keep trying. Thank you for your review – most of us wouldn't really complain about sharing a bed with Jack, would we!
Chloe04 – Hi, thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you're pleased with the way I've written the gorgey Cap'n Jack in this story. I'll try my best to keep him in character (he's not really the romantic type, but if he cared for a woman the way he does about his Pearl, he could be!).
InToDepp – I have to say I'm lovin' your story! I'm wondering if there's going to be any Alexis + Jack or Alexis + Will in future chapters. It's quite a thing to get Jack in character and at some points whilst writing this story I was tearing my hair out for a line I could hear Jack saying, so thanks! You haven't done a bad job with his character either, so keep up the gr8 writing!
