Chapter eighteen: When the war is over

"Jez...I think you can come out now. For good." Jack said, coming in around ten like he had been doing from two weeks. I almost cried when he said those words, I was so happy.

"Really?" I gasped out, jumping up to get out of the littel cramped cell.

"Really." He smiled, and my ankle was pleased not to be tied up again. It had been rubbed almost raw from the rope, and it hurt me horribly. I think it might be infected.

I spoke my thoughts aloud to Jack, who when coming out of the brig, inspected it.

"Im sorry," He said, and his face was stoney, but his eyes were dancing. "Here, come on, I will take you to the doc." He swooped me up in a way you might hold a baby, and I was totally and utterly shocked, that I couldn't protest. He led me to the bunks and there was an elderly looking man sitting in a hammock, writing in a leather bond book.

"Mr. Cunnins, this 'ere lady be needing some of your fine doc'trin. Can you 'elp 'er?" He asked in his swarthiest voice. He set me down on a hammock opposite the man, and he grabbed up my foot to look at it.

"Ye shouldn't be goin' a barefoot now," He said in a very heavy Irish accent. "Why don't you have shoes on?" I jabbed my head in the direction of Jack, who was suddenly occupied by a small cabin boy, who was whispering ergently into his ear.

"Ahhh...Naew, most of the skin around yer ankle is been rubbed off. I will have to wrap it up, and ye must keep off it as much as ye can." He put on a salve that stung, then wrapped up my ankle in soft linen strips. The cabin boy rushed out, and Jack turned to me, his face grave.

"You will have to stay in my cabin, love." He said, picking me back up, againts my will.

"Why!" I demanded, scowling.

"Because, a merchant ship is coming up on us, and we have reason to believe there are soilders aboard as well. So you wait here. Besides, Cunnins said you needed to keep off your foot." I marveled that he heard that, being preoccupied with the little cabin boy.

"If my ankle is bad, its all your fault. Tying me up like a mule..." He laughed at that, and swung me down on his soft bed.

"You know you would have jumped ship as soon as you were free...Ah ah, dont try to deny it, I know you would. So, as a token of my sorrow and as an apology, after we get all of this settled out with the ship, I will fetch India for you...hows that?" I nodded, pleased that he was almost reading my mind. He left without saying anything else.

I ran my fingers across the soft eider down matress, and sateen sheets. I hadn't slept well in a little over two weeks. I got up and went through Jack's chest of clothes until I found a soft linen shirt of his that was clean, and slipped off my dingy old clothes. His shirt fell down to my knees, and I blushed red because I didn't have any knickers. I have no clue why. We had both seen each other naked. I slipped between his sheets, damning that he slept here everyother night he wasn't on watch, when I had to sleep on a cold hard piece of metal. I feel asleep instantly.

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I was abruptly awakened to someone bursting through the room. It was maybe mid-day, and I saw Jack stumble in. I jumped up to see what was the matter.

"Fought 'em off, so we did. I think I got shot...I.." Then he passed out clean on the floor. I kneeled down besides him, and turned him over. Blood was oozing out a wound on his right shoulder. I sighed in relief that it hadn't been on the left. I called for someone to get Cunnins, and I ripped of his shirt and held it tight over his wound to stop up the flow of blood. I had to pull my hair up in a knot because it kept getting in the way, and finally, after many minutes, Cunnins showed up.

"I told ye to keep off that ankle," was the first thing he said to me. I ignored it, and helped him get Jack positioned so he could get the bullet out.

When I asked him why we couldn't do it on the bed, he said: "Would you want to get those sheets bloodstained?" and I had to agree with that.

After the bullet was removed and his wound wrapped up same as my ankle, then we put him on the bed. It wasn't until after we finished that I was aware that I was still wearing Jacks shirt. Cunnins said nothing, but told me to stay with Jack when he woke up. I asked how the "battle" went, and he shortly said that we won, and have a new ship plus a whole lot of bolts of cloth, tea and spices. I nodded, and he left. I pulled up a chair next to Jack's bed, and ended up falling asleep.

I woke up to: "Why! I get shot and here is an angel sleeping besides me in one my shirts!" My eyes snapped open, and I saw Jack sitting up in bed, a look of pain on his fact, but he still had a smile.

"I am no angel." I said solemly. I got up and poked his shoulder.

"How'ya feeling?" I asked sympathetically. He grabbed my finger, and kissed it.

"Like I was bloody shot...how do you think I feel?" I pulled away my finger, and saw two empty rum bottles besides his bed.

"I think you are drunk, Captain Jack Sparrow," I said, sitting back down in the chair.

"I think you are right," and then...he actually giggled. I near bout died for laughing. He lost his pleasant look, and that of a sour face came to haunt his handsome ruggedness.

"Whats the conditions then?" He asked, suddenly sounding not-so-drunk.

"All I know is that we have a new ship that has merchant things from somewhere. Mostly cloth and spices and tea. Thats all I know."

"And the crew?" He asked, sliding back down under the blankets. I jumped up and helped him get settled in.

"We have them captured, and most died."

"Funny," He said smiling, and I could tell he was trying to stay awake and talk...but pain and drink had him slipping into unconsiousness. "You said "we". Like you are part of the crew."

"I am part of the crew," I whispered, brushing back a dred, and kissing his forehead boldly. "I never really left." He smiled again, and slipped into a deep sleep. I got dressed back into my clothes and went aboard. I called for Will to keep watch over Jack while I was busy. I went onto my own ship, and India came running out to see me. She held fast to my legs, but I had to tell her she needed to stay on this ship...while mummy was taking care of the captain.

I grabbed some clothes...a couple gowns and a few pairs of breeches and shirts, and told the nanny that I would be getting some cloth, and would pay her to make up some clothes. She nodded, and I left, grabbing my book on Martin Luther. When I got back to Jack's cabin, he was throwing a fit, trying to get out of bed.

"Damnit!" He yelled as soon as I walked in the door. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I was over on my ship, checking up on India and getting some clothes," I said slowly. Will scampered out, and I went and pushed Jack back down hard on the bed. "If you get up, I will shoot you were it will really hurt." He smiled, and calmed down a bit. And the fact that he was worrying about me, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Close your eyes!' I demanded, and turned around to slip on one of the gowns. It was my favorite. It was a deep blue color with black trimmings, and bell sleeves. Its skirt was full, and I didn't bother with a petticoat. When I had turned back around, I saw his eyes on me.

"I told you not to look." I said crossly.

"But love," He smiled wickedly, "You have such a nice rump." Instead of turning red, or yelling and screaming at him, I simply sat down and brushed out my hair. He watched as if transfixed. After it was almost floating with softness, I pulled it back in a leather strap.

"Stare much?" I asked rudely. He smiled that wicked smile again. "Are you randy or what?" I asked warily.

"Love, if my shoulder wasn't mangled, I would take you right here and now." I snorted.

"Mangled, eh? Stop being a martyr. You simply got shot...everyone gets shot...I got shot." His face went slack.

"You got shot? Where?" I hitched up my dress and showed him the scar on my stomach.

"Now how in the devil did I miss that?" I knew he was reffering to our one time romp, but I shrugged.

"Too caught up in the moment, I suppose. But remember, I still had my stays on." He nodded in recignition.

"Why you women wear those things...Ill never know."

"Actually," I said, smiling, "I wear them here and there, if Im like...sad. You know. That was right after we left India in India, and I was depressed? I almost feel like a lady when I am depressed...don't ask me why. I don't really like wearing all that. And I don't like gowns that much either, but I think breeches are a bloody nuicance sometimes. Especially when you have your course." I shut my mouth suddenly.

"About that..." Jack said, his face stoney.

"Yes?"

"Well, I am sorry for being so mean, and everything that day. I was caught up in the moment. Would you like to know the truth?" I nodded, and bit my chapped lip that had seen a million nips like it.

"I had been out with a friend of mine...A..Well, shes a whore. She was talking about courses, and how one would know. I instantly thought of you, and I think I might have mentioned it. She said kids were horrible vile creatures, and a lot of women die in childbirth...And you know the reason I yelled and scream at you? And tossed you across the room?" He put his head in his hands, and I almost shrank away from him. I was scared of what he was going to say.

"Why...?" I managed in a hoarse whisper. This was the first time I saw him brek down like this. And I didn't like it. Everything in my mind was telling me to leave his cabin, but something else was telling me to stay.

"Because...I thought if you were pregnant...you would die trying to give birth to the baby...My baby! And I couldn't stand the thought of you dying. So the whore gave me advice. And I followed it. I tried to distress you, and even threw you around, in hopes that you would simply loose the baby, and it would be young enough to pass through without any real damage." I could have screamed. I jumped up from the chair, and stood there, quivering.

"Do you know, that most women who miscarry do not survive, even if they aren't that far along? Do you know that if you had come to me directly and asked me in a calm way, you would have found out the very next day, that I wasn't with child? Do you know, that that night haunted me, because of the way you treated me? I hadn't seen abuse like that in years, Jack...Years!" His eyes clouded up, and he looked away.

"But no...And what about this whore? I thought I was "your girl"...at least thats what you said around Coralie...and shes dead now too. Did you know that? I am glad you told me the truth, Jack, because now I see who you really are." I turned on my heel and went to leave. I felt a rough and strong hand grab my skirts and pull me down on the bed. In a flash he was ontop of me, his mouth bearing down hard on mine. I gave resisstance, but even with his injured shoulder, he wasn't giving up.

Something inside me awoke. The tempest who slept and was never there reared her head, and carnal lust took over.