Chapter Four - Long Nights and the Galley

Lying awake beneath Jack's arm was the absolute longest hour of my life. I was either staring at the ceiling or being used as a pillow when he decided to lash out and change positions. He really wasn't the calmest sleeper, and sleeping next to him in the tiny bed didn't feel extremely safe.

. . .But, somehow, at the same time, it did. It made all the sense in the world, staying close to him. He was a powerful man. Trapped on a pirate ship, far from home in some distant realm, yet lying here next to Captain Jack Sparrow was the most natural, protected place I could've imagined.

I cringed when he began to stir again. He rolled onto his belly and threw his left arm across my stomach, tucking his hand around my hip. "Jack, Jack, Jack," I murmured, rolling my eyes. I noticed his red bandana had slipped off of his head sometime during the night.

"Me. . .blasted rum. Where 'ave ye gone?" Jack grumbled into my shoulder.

"Jack and his alcohol," I thought aloud to myself. "He even dreams about it."

When Jack's head tilted toward me, near my shoulder, I glanced down at him. "Finally. I've been awake for more than an hour."

He smiled slowly, untangling himself from me. We stretched simultaneously. "Ye could've managed your way out of bed."

"Yeah, right. Every time I tried you just pushed me closer to the wall or cuddled like there was no tomorrow."

There was a slight pause, and I rolled my head to the left to watch him tie his bandana back onto his head. There was a drunken glimmer to his motions and I briefly thought that perhaps he didn't sleep it off entirely. I sighed and crossed my arms across my stomach. "What was your life like, Jack?" I asked, quite personally.

He seemed a bit startled and then thoughtful for a moment as he mentally debated whether or not to share. I was surprised when he rolled to his left and onto his feet. He turned and faced me, leaning forward with his hands on the bed. Squinting, the pirate smirked, "That's a story for another time, love."

"I just wanna know about you, Jack. I mean, I'm a curious person, and it's not often you have the opportunity to meet someone like you."

Jack glanced at me and smirked. "Is that correct?"

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be so full of yourself. You just seem like this. . .really well-
traveled person. And, come on, being a pirate – I mean, it has to suck. Seems to me like you're trapped on a ship, sail for weeks at a time. . ."

"Months," he corrected.

"Months. You do nothing but hope you have enough food to survive, drink way too much, and shoot your canons at other ships."

"There's a lot more to piracy than that," Jack explained, using his arms to portray his earnestness as he moved toward me with the relaxed stride that I could only describe as 'sashaying'. "It's not all rum and death and carnage or even looking for a bit o' female company at the next port. There's very much more to pirating." His arms fell, but his expression brightened. "But, you can only see for yerself, love. Afraid you must wait till tonight. In the meantime – are ye hungry?"

"Yes!" I replied, getting to my feet with no delay.

"I'll scamper over to the galley, bring you somethin' back, aye?"

"No." My expression completely changed. "I don't want to be cooped up here, Jack. It's so bleak and depressing. . .and have you thought about getting some flowers or something down here?"

"The galley's nothin' to see either, love," Jack smiled, snatching his pirate hat from his desk and throwing his heavy, dark jacket over his arm.

Realizing that he was prepared to leave me behind, I moved to catch up with him. "I want to go." What was his problem? He'd been like this since the storm.

Jack glanced at me over his shoulder, watching me with knowingly concerned eyes, begging me to trust him. I saw his eyes glaze regrettably over the bandage above my right eye. Had he been blaming himself for this? It was the very moment when I understood him best. The moment that made me wonder just which of his crew he didn't entirely trust. Still, I wasn't staying behind.

I tried to match his honest intensity. "I can defend myself, Jack. And I'm not glass, you know. Besides, how much safer can a girl get than with the captain?"

Compared to how nervous I'd been to first meet his crew, I was surprised at just how anxious I was to face them all. Although, at the moment, anything was better than sitting in the cabin alone with nothing to do but read navigation books.

When Jack jerked his head subtly toward the hallway, I smiled in triumph, proud that I'd been able to convince the very obstinate Captain Jack Sparrow. With no further discussion where he could possibly change his mind, Jack lead me out of his cabin and down the hall.

"We're running low on supplies. Prob'ly stop tomorrow morning if we make good time."

"Let me guess. You're going to 'plunder' that, too?" I questioned.

The galley was quite narrow, almost like a wall with protruding counter space and cabinets. It was clean enough, but very much limited to its' use. Off to the side was a rickety table with four equally wobbly chairs. Jack wasted no time retrieving a bowl from the counter top filled with fruit. I took an apple from the top of the pile and watched as Jack dropped the bowl back onto the table.

As he returned to the cabinet for what I could only assume to be a bottle of rum, I sat gently as possible into one of the chairs. When Jack plopped into the chair with no hindrance, I waited to see the legs of the unstable chair collapse beneath him.

"W'ot?" he questioned, unsure as to why I'd been observing him.

It was only a moment later when the female pirate I'd noticed just before the storm entered the galley. She appeared quite harsh. Her dark hair was tied at her neck and her clothing was large and baggy. I couldn't imagine being the only female on a pirate ship, but I assume she was respected by the others as a pirate. The woman barely acknowledged me.

"Anna Maria," Jack smiled, treating her intentionally more as a lady than as a pirate.

"Cap'n," she offered, with as much, or maybe more friendliness. He seemed to have a much better relationship with the woman of the Pearl. I was momentarily curious, and at the same time a bit jealous.

"Aye, this is Carrie." Jack reached over and pinched my arm lightly as some signal of introduction.

"Aye," Anne Maria said, nodding her head toward me.

"An' this is Anna Maria. Ol' dependable Anna Maria. . ." Jack squinted those kohl-lined eyes and smirked appreciatively. He watched intently as the female pirate swiped an apple from the fruit bowl and retreated down the hall.

Casually, I shifted in the chair and considered my words. "So. . ." I shrugged. "You talk to all your pirate 'mateys' that. . .I don't know. . .politely? I thought you were a pirate?"

Jack frowned. "What do you mean?" My stomach dropped when he began to smile. ". . .A wee bit jealous, are we, love? 'Nother female 'board – it can git a little cattish, aye?"

"What? No," I reassured him quickly. "That's not what I meant."

"That so?" Jack challenged, his eyes aglow.

"Come on. Don't be so full of yourself, Jack."

Jack leaned back in the chair, lifting his feet onto the table and swishing the rum around in the bottle. "Ah – now, there's your mistake, lass. You have assumed I meant jealous of my reactions toward the lovely Anna Maria, which you now have unintentionally relayed to me your admittance. What if my presumption of jealousy had been only of being the second female 'board the Pearl? 'Only female' – now that is quite a title."

It took me a moment to contemplate why this pirate was being so complex, but I understood it was only his mischief, and his utter control of the situation, which he endlessly craved. I found myself peering at him, trying to make sense of his entire being. He was so intriguing, like some sort of obscure puzzle with missing pieces. Pieces I was determined to find.

Unaware that I'd been thinking aloud, I found myself muttering, "You're hard to figure out."

"You, as well," Jack replied, uncrossing his feet and dropping them off the table. He leaned in toward me, running his hand across my cheek and through a strand of my hair. "Believe me – I've tried."

I searched for my voice. "Just ask, Jack. I'm right here."

"You're not."

Exasperated, I tugged myself from the moment, trying to forget he was invading my space. "You're the one that's pulling away, Jack. You're the one with the secrets."

"Just a few more hours, love. And then it's your turn." Jack winked and downed the last bit of rum.

Thanks for the reviews, everyone - Captain-Aimee, white rose-black stems, and InToDepp, who stayed with me for three chapters. D It certainly gives me some initiative.

Au revoir! - Sarah