Author's Notes -

Not much for now except that I delivered, as promised, the chapter on October 10th. So, on with the thanks!

-A-

Author Thanks -

Autumn Sunlight - Thanks! Enjoy!

Dimonah Tralon - Thanks! Its okay, I completely understand how it feels to be busy. Enjoy!

TriGemini - Thanks! You know, I could tell you who the crew member is and why Christy feels uncomfortable around him but ... I'd have to kill you. And frankly, I don't feel up to it. I like having my reviewers alive ... its hard to read and write posthumously and I don't think that I'd be allowed to update from prison so ... I guess you're gonna have to wait, lol. But trust me, more is yet to come. Enjoy!

Moulin-Rouge-Pirate - Thanks! Again, I'm really sorry about not thanking your last review! I felt awful about it. Enjoy!

S.S.I. - Thanks! Wow you were hyper. LOL. I have my days too. The plot definitely thickens ... just wait and see how thick it gets. Enjoy!

JessicaVanHelsing - Thanks! I know what you mean. :-) Enjoy!

Lil Bit - Thanks, poppet! You did a good job at work the other night, btw. In the planner we trust. Enjoy!

RMB - Thanks! Tall Dark and Handsome, eh? lol. Wait and see. Yeah, I be right edumakated. I be intelegentish! lol. Enjoy!

Anaknusan - Thanks! As for who the mystery aman is see my response to TriGemini, lol. Yeah, Calc. is the bane of my existance but c'est la vie. Enjoy!

-A-

Last Time -

Abandoning my thoughts for a later time, I strode over to the bed. I was strangely tired today...so, doing the only thing that made sense, I laid down on the bed and fell almost instantly asleep.

-A-

Beyond the Horizon

Chapter 6 - Dream Heeding and Mistresses

I had strange dreams when I slept, all my life flashed by in blurs that were skewed and out of order until it landed on the present time and what was going on.

Until it flipped into something completely different...and more bizarre.

I dreamt of mosquitoes, oddly enough, buzzing around and lifting a big black ship - obviously the Pearl - up into the air and carrying it east. I saw a woman with long blonde hair standing at the prow, watching the mosquitoes carrying her but also everything below. The ship continued to be carried until it reached land and then, as they got closer, the mosquitoes started speaking in Spanish. The woman at the front was pulled away from the men and forced to watch as the men were tackled by the mosquitoes. Then she fought and got away and threw herself off the edge of the ship, landing in the deep water. As she fell, I heard the sound of a little girl sobbing in the background from far away and a man screaming...

But I never heard what he screamed...because when I woke, the only thing that I heard was myself screaming.

Someone beside me had rolled over and was patting blindly near me, trying to comfort me...but it seemed like a threat more than anything...and I was too panicked to realise that it was Jack.

I struggled to get out of the bed but he was beside me and I couldn't throw off the covers, they had tangled around me too much to move enough. So, I kicked and hit and squirmed like a child as I worked against both bed and bed-partner.

A minute hadn't elapsed by the time that there was someone sitting up beside me, talking in a soothing voice and stroking my face gently and I calmed down and looked into the eyes of Jack.

"What the bloody hell has you so upset?" he asked, sounding slightly sleepy but more worried.

I sat up and leaned back against the headboard. "Dream," I panted.

"All this over a dream? Was it good?"

"Do you think that I would be screaming if it was?"

Jack smirked, his gold teeth glinted in the faint morning light coming through the windows. "Depends. Bet I could make you scream, Christy."

"Yeah, I bet you could..."

"Care to try?"

I glared at him. "Jack, I just had a dream about my death, show a bit of sympathy, all right?" I paused. Oops. Hadn't meant to say that... I mentally kicked myself... even over a dream, Jack might worry... and I knew that he worried about me, just as I worried about him.

"What was the dream, love?"

I paused, took a deep breath and told him an account of the dream...odd as it was. "You know, I'm sure it doesn't mean anything. I'm just worried, that's all. Nothing majour," I added after I had recited the dream. "Its just a nightmare...that's all. A combination of things going on and all the inconsequential worries stuffed into my head."

"Honestly, darling, I think that you've been in the sun for too long. Even yer dreams are mad."

I scoffed. "Thanks, Jack. I appreciate the vote of confidence, I truly do."

"Christy, it may come as a shock to you, but, I do care."

'Hmm...he said that a bit too seriously for the occasion,' the thought strolled into my head idly, like a person walking into a shop on a sunny afternoon. Propping myself up on an elbow, I ran my free hand down the side of Jack's face slowly. "It was just a dream. I have them all the time, same as everyone. Its nothing to worry about."

Jack flashed me a grin, his gold teeth glinting in the darkness. Slowly, painfully slowly, he leaned in for a kiss. Like a swim in the sea, the kiss cooled my fears gently. When we pulled apart, I positioned myself so that my back was against his chest. Gently, he wrapped his arms around me and I lay my head on his shoulder, breathing deeply to ingrain the smell of salt, sweat and man into my mind forever.

And so we sat, entwined in each other's arms in a purely innocent fashion as the sea rocked us gently to sleep.

-A-

The next morning dawned in a more positive fashion than all the mornings preceding it. I had hope. I knew that there was a possibility for a cure and that I wasn't going to loose one of my best friends.

I woke up early, and, finding myself still wrapped blissfully in Jack's arms, decided to lay there, even though there were other things that I could do.

It never ceased to amaze me how lucky I was. I wasn't married and I had had hard times, my fair share of them, but I was happy, I was with a man who loved me as much as I loved him, sometimes more and we had a daughter. A beautiful dancing sprite of a daughter who lit up the room with her smile.

And though I was in an 'undesirable relationship,' I felt no qualms about it. My relationship was better than most legal ones and happier too. The man that I was with had never raised a hand to me in anger, never shouted, he hadn't given up on me when I had been missing for nearly three months.

Every time I looked at him now, it was like falling in love all over again. I couldn't adequately explain it but there was a whole lot more to Jack than good looks. He was kind, loving, intelligent, sentimental (though only in private), he loved.

There is not much obvious difference between being loving and giving love, but there was for me. Jack's loving part came out in the little things that he did - finding a cradle for Rhia, the daily teases and verbal barbs we exchanged eagerly, the arm around my waist that told everyone that I was his. But Jack also loved - something stronger than showing love ever could be. He loved his ship, he loved me. He came after both of us, the two leading ladies in his life and he always came back. He might stray for a time but he always came back. He loved enough to be protective, to fight for those around him and to never look back longer than necessary.

I turned slightly in his arms and looked up at the face my one time captor and now the closest person in my life. I smiled as I memorized how he looked. The expression on his face was one so peaceful that I wanted to draw it, to save the image forever. But...sadly, I had no talents at drawing and anything that I attempted to draw would be more of an insult than a complement.

So, I watched him.

His cheek would twitch every once in a while and I could see his eyes darting slightly under his eyelids. He shifted slightly and pulled me closer to him, hoarding me, keeping me his. And so I was content to be.

-A-

When finally my captain woke, we mustered the strength to get out of bed. It was unbelievably odd that I had awoke before Jack, I remembered that I used to always wake up to an empty bed or in the least, he would be awake himself just without the will to leave the bed. I mentioned this observation to Jack and he smirked, saying, "Ye wear me out, love. Makin' me lazy, ye pamper me too much."

I laughed and rolled out of bed, locating my trousers and pulling them on before my legs froze in the air. Not that it was particularly cold but there was a slight bite in the air of the cabin. "Well, that's what you get for keeping two mistresses on at one time, you ignorant bloke!"

Jack looked pensive for a moment. "I count one, Christy. Unless you count yourself as two and in that case, we'll head back to land straight on."

I scrunched my nose in annoyance. "Two."

"One."

"Two."

"One."

Stomping my foot, I said strongly, "TWO, Captain. Your ship and me," despite my struggle to keep a straight face, I failed miserably and smiled broadly.

Realisation dawned on his face and a matching smile crossed his features. Fast as lightning, he had me up in his arms, lifted completely off the ground. I braced my hands on his shoulders as he said, "Do you have any idea how good it is that someone actually accepts that?"

I grinned again. "No. But I know how much you love your ship and even if someone asked you to, you wouldn't give it up. Just like you wouldn't give me up."

"You know, Christina Delcot, you're pretty clever. Perhaps we should keep you around for a while."

My smile broadened.

Gently, Jack put me back on my feet, kissed my forehead and turned to leave, giving me a playful smack on the bum before he walked out.

I laughed softly. "You had best be planning on keeping me around for a while Jack Sparrow, I know where you sleep!" I called to his back jokingly. Then, shaking my head slowly, strode out of the room, whistling a shanty.

-A-

First stop of my morning was the galley. Seeing that one of the crewmembers had already lit a fire, to my relief and started the water boiling, I withdrew several mugs from Colin's cabinets. I had enough cinchona bark crushed to use for the morning but I would have to crush more this afternoon.

After ladling the water into mugs and spooning in the cinchona bark, I put the mugs on a tray and tried to balance it against the rocking of the ship. Slowly, I walked towards the door.

Just as I got to the door, it opened, revealing none other than the mysterious crewmember.

"Senorita, we meet again."

I focused on the tray and said quietly, "So we do, senor."

Before I realised it, there was a hand at my chin, bringing my gaze up from the tray.

"Eyes that beautiful should never face the ground, senorita."

I felt my face go slightly red against my will. "Gracias, senor." And I then, deciding that this had gone far enough, squeezed past him and turned towards Colin's cabin. The odd thing was that as I brushed slightly against him, a slight electric shock passed from him into mine. My arm tingled in a manner that I was exceptionally uncomfortable with and I longed to run full speed away. But, I didn't. I turned to go down the hallway at just the right speed, drawing up composure from somewhere deep inside of me.

But, just when I thought I was out of the briar patch, I found myself right back in the middle of it once again. A question floated to my ears from the doorway to the galley.

"You speak Spanish, senorita?"

Innocent as the question might have seemed, I had a deep seeded feeling that something else was behind it. But, the habits of a well-bred lady do not die easily and I found myself turning, almost against my will, to answer the question facing my addresser. "Si. My father thought that it was necessary for me to learn more than one language as a child."

"Have a good day, senorita."

I nodded. "Gracias. You too, senor."

As I turned and padded gently down the hall, I was filled with relief that no subsequent questions met my ears. That man was curious ... but I didn't think that I wanted to find out how.

-A-

Author Notes -

Well, how was that? I hope that ya'll liked it. Tell me what you think.

So, tomorrow I'm going on an overnight visit to Truman University. If any of you out there go there, look for the blonde who looks lost, lol. It should be a good visit. I'm sitting in on a French class and an Anthropology class ... should be interesting. I have a feeling that they will put me in a French class where no english is spoken so it should be really, really interesting. Provided I survive. So, give a shout out to me in your review hint, hint if you go there.

Well, that's about all for now. Next chapter should be up as early as Thursday or as late as Saturday. Just keep a sharp eye. Savvy? Bloody hell, I love that word...lol.

I take no payment for my work (not that I'm not partial to cash donations) only reviews.

Mange Klemmar,

CrazyCanoeingGIT