Jack made his way into the forest, feeling leaves and twigs crunch under his bare feet. He looked around for Kat and spotted her sitting up in a coconut tree. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly and he went to stand at the bottom of her tree. She glared down at him from where she was perched on the branches surrounded by leaves.
"Go away Sparrow, I just want to be left alone."
"Just hear me out…" Jack's hands moved quirkily.
"NO!" Kat tugged a coconut from the tree and hurled it at Jack who dodged it just in time. He nervously edged away from her tree as she glared down at him, her eyes bright with rage.
"Ye can't stay up there forever, luv." Jack pointed out smartly.
"I'll come down when I want!" Kat shouted down at him. "In fact I'm going to sleep up here tonight." She crossed her arms defiantly and looked away from him.
"If I were you I wouldn't like to be alone in here at night." Jack said casually, one hand hooked in his belt. "All sorts of creatures roam this island."
"Shut up, Sparrow. You can't scare me into coming down." Kat said haughtily.
"Watch out for the tree snakes. Nasty things they are…"
"GO AWAY!" Kat yelled impatiently. "Please Jack – just leave me alone!"
Jack raised his eyebrows but obediently turned to leave. Kat rested her head against the bark of the tree as she watched him leave. She didn't really want to be alone, but ever since he had pushed her hand away she had felt foolish. Then she heard a rustle in the leaves above her and looked up. A small yellow snake was hovering just over her head.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Kat's scream echoed through the forest. Birds flew out of trees at the sudden noise and Jack turned back to see her fall backwards out of the tree. He ran to help her up, struggling to keep a straight face. Katrina got to her feet, looking very flustered and angry.
"I told ye there were tree snakes." Jack teased as he picked a leaf out of her hair.
Kat looked at his grinning face and the glint of amusement in his eyes. Her annoyed expression disappeared as she started to laugh, seeing the funny side to it. Jack's hand lingered on her hair and Kat realised how close they were standing next to each other. For a moment, he looked deeply into her eyes.
"We'll need to get some bamboo for firewood because it'll be getting dark soon." He said suddenly, stepping past her and unsheathing his sword. Kat stared at the ground in disappointment. Why did he have to ruin that moment? She watched him hacking away at the bamboo branches and didn't say a word as he loaded her arms with the sticks he had cut. When they had enough, they made their way back to the beach.
Jack squinted at the shore and his eyes widened. The tide had come in and taken his boots out with it. They were floating out into the shallow turquoise water, having not yet reached the deeper blue ocean. Jack dropped his load of bamboo sticks and ran down the beach, cursing under his breath. He waded into the water as a wave crashed forward, taking his boots out even further. Kat watched him try to grab them just as they bobbed out of his reach and started to laugh. It looked so funny – Captain Jack Sparrow thrashing through the water, chasing his boots. Jack was now making his way back to shore, holding his boots high and tipping the water out of them. He saw Kat giggling at him and called to her,
"Are you laughing at me, Miss Scorer? Well let's see how you like it."
Katrina's smile vanished as Jack walked over to where her dry boots were on the sand and picked them up. She threw down her bamboo sticks and began to run down the beach.
"JACK! DON'T YOU DARE!" she bellowed as he began to wade back out to into the shallows with her boots. "They're the only shoes I have!"
Before she knew what she was doing, Kat was running into the shallows after him. She couldn't move so quickly through the water, the bottom of her dress becoming quickly soaked. In her sheer determination to get her boots back, she gave Jack a shove from behind and snatched them as he toppled forward. He sat up in the shallow water, water dripping off the beads in his hair.
"Ye're going to regret that, luv!" he said seriously, but his eyes were dancing playfully. Kat saw what he was planning to do and squealed. She tried to wade away from him back to the shore, but Jack was much faster. Grabbing her around the waist, he threw her down into the water with a splash. He threw his boots as far as he could back on to the beach. Kat sat in the water, her dress heavy and completely drenched. When Jack was looking at the beach to see how far his boots had landed she reached her foot out and caught his ankle, tripping him up. He landed next to her in the turquoise water with a splash. Kat stood up with difficulty, her soaked dress weighing her down.
"I hope you're happy Sparrow." she said as they both sloshed through the water back to the beach. "My dress is going to take at least another hour to dry."
"Ye'll have to take it off then." Jack told her. "The sun'll be going down soon and ye can't spend the night in damp clothes. Ye'll get cold."
"Cold?" Kat said incredulously. "Jack, it's boiling hot – we're on an island in the middle of the Caribbean. How can it be cold?"
Jack shrugged. "Suit yerself. But it'll dry quicker if ye spread it out by the fire." He gathered up the dropped bamboo branches and began to rub two of them together quickly to start a fire. Kat looked up at the sky doubtfully. The sun was going in and the sky slowly darkening. It wasn't like Jack hadn't seen her in her petticoat before, but she still didn't like it.
"Well, your clothes are wet too. I don't see you taking your…shirt off!" Kat challenged.
Jack stopped rubbing the sticks and grinned at her. "Would ye like to?"
Kat's mouth fell open and she tried hard not to blush. "No! That's not what I meant! It's just that…oh FINE!"
Jack watched in surprise as she undid the laces on her dress and took it off. It would have been better if she wasn't scowling, Jack thought – but it wasn't as though he was paying much attention to her face. Kat threw her dress at him and it landed on his head.
"Happy now?" she said grumpily and sat down on the sand.
Jack removed her dress from his head. "It was your choice to take it off, luv."
"Yes but you suggested it!" Kat retorted. "I suppose it was all a plan – you took my boots so that I'd come in after you and get my dress wet and then have to take it off to dry."
"Ye need to get yer facts straight darling." Jack said defensively. "I didn't ask you to come in after me!"
"You took my boots!"
"You were laughing because mine got wet!"
"It was funny!"
For once, Jack had no reply. He went back to rubbing the bamboo sticks, muttering something under his breath. As Kat got to her feet and started to walk down the beach, he rubbed the sticks even more vigorously. That woman was so difficult – he had never met anyone so disagreeable and argumentative. So then why did he feel so attracted to her? He wondered if the heat had done something to his senses. Or perhaps Gibbs was right about women. If it wasn't for Kat he certainly wouldn't have ended up on this bloody island again, or felt guilty about that wench in Tortuga. Just wondering how he felt about her made him frustrated because it was something he couldn't control; and Captain Jack Sparrow liked to have control of things. The sticks suddenly sparked and he was able to start up the fire. Through the flames he watched Katrina walk down the beach in her petticoat, her footprints leaving a trail in the sand.
Kat strode down the beach, wishing that she knew where she stood with Jack. She had gone over it time and time again in her head and nothing made sense. She wanted to be close to him and share things with him, but could that ever happen? From the time she had known Jack, she had learnt that he wasn't the sort of man who wanted to be attached to anyone or anything. His only love was his ship and freedom and nobody could ever change that. Also, it must be really terrible for him to be trapped on this island for the third time. Kat knew she wasn't making it any easier for him by storming off every five minutes – and that last quarrel had been her fault. Slowly, she started to walk back along her trail of footprints. When she reached Jack he was sitting by the fire, his eyes deep and sad. Kat sat down next to him and he turned to face her, the dancing flames of the fire glowing in the dark behind him.
Reviewer Response:
SilverTrinity – Thanks so much for your review! Elizabeth and Will don't come into it, but Norrington does for a chapter or so. Sorry :)
InToDepp – Thanks! The trouble is that they're both too proud for their own good :)
Karibbean – Thank you, I'm so glad you're enjoying it! That chapter was very intense and serious so I decided to make this one a bit more fun :)
Goddess of Mystery – Aluna, I LOVE your pen name! Wow, I'm so jealous! I had originally tried for one with mystery in it, but they had all been taken. Are you going to write a POTC fic?
