Disclaimer: I tried to steal Jack Sparrow from Disney, but they caught me, so I don't own him.

AN: Not much to say in this author's note except this: please don't hate me if anything seems historically incorrect in any way; I needed it for my fic to work, so please don't flame me for anything wrong in this story! Also, I'm not doing any preaching against drinking (though I think too much of it is a bad idea), I just need it for the storyline. Thanks, and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 6: Fitting In:

Ellie's POV:

It's much harder to fit in on a pirate ship then one would believe. I'd been on the Pearl for a month, and I was still learning how to fit in with those that had never fit into society in the first place! It was as though I had to go through etiquette lessons all over again, and it was extremely frustrating. I'd thought that living in high society was difficult, but learning how to deal with pirates is another, more challenging story all together.

First, a person must win over the captain, which I'd unknowingly done the first moment he'd spotted me on my ship. Next, a person has to win over the crew, which was much harder, as there were more of them. Although I was a favorite of Jack's and the crew wouldn't dare try to harm me, it didn't stop them from disliking the fact that I was onboard the ship. Personally, I felt they didn't like the fact that I was constantly here and, being the "Captain's Girl," I was untouchable whenever they 'needed company' for the night.

It took a great deal of time, but I was now able to learn how to work on the ship and be worth something since Jack wouldn't let me do any raiding (as I couldn't fight or kill). Since I could do mathematics better than anyone presently on the Pearl, I was asked to keep track of how much each piece of 'swag' was worth in port so that merchants or traders wouldn't cheat the crewmembers. I was also asked to keep a list of much-needed supplies, mostly because the men tended to forget what was needed or eat us out of one supply and claim that we'd never had it in the first place. I'd like to think that it was my keeping track of the funds that made everybody happy I was there, since they were now getting more than what they'd been selling for previously. The supplies probably helped, too, since no one was missing out on any food they sorely wanted. And Jack…well, Jack was just happy that the crew was no longer grumpy or muttered about being hungry all the time.

'And then there's Jack himself,' I thought, sighing to myself, not focusing on the paper in my hands. I pulled my thoughts away from the list of numbers and plunder in front of me and looked up, spotting Jack at his desk from my position by the rear balcony window overlooking the blue Caribbean waters.

Jack was a good man, despite the way he had treated me the first night I'd been aboard. Not only had he created two jobs for me to do on the Pearl, but he no longer forced himself on me at night. However, I knew that he couldn't go long without a night of us 'being together', so I made sure that we had at a couple nights in bed together a week, just to keep him happy. I didn't like bedding the man, but I knew that if I didn't, Jack would get angry, and if he was angry, the crew would know that I wasn't 'sharing myself' with him. And if the crew ever knew that I wasn't sleeping with the captain, they would likely force themselves on me, and I would kill myself before I let that happen. So, to spare myself from being raped by a mob of pirates, I willingly bedded with Jack, who had grown amazingly gentle during our nightly encounters.

But despite everything he'd done to keep me in good graces with the crew, the only problem that disturbed me about Jack was his enormous intake of rum. The man drank it as though it were water, and I knew it couldn't be good for him. I had first become concerned during dinner on my fourth night here; I had always noticed rum being served, and had always refused, preferring the water we kept aboard. While I drank my water eagerly to make up for the sweat I'd lost during the day, I noticed Jack guzzling down his rum as quickly as I drank the cool water in my mug. When he started his second bottle, I watched in horror and fascination as the brown liquid seemed to magically vanish between Jack's lips, and a memory came to mind.

My own grandfather, rest his soul, died because of too much drink. It had been far too early for the Lord Above to take him, and he'd died so suddenly that it nearly broke my mother; she had barely had a chance to return to her old home to see him and to be at both his and our grandmother's side when it happened. When Father, Edward and I all arrived a day after her, we were told to go upstairs and say 'goodbye' before it was too late. Grandfather had died the same night, and Mother had collapsed when the doctor had told her that, if Grandfather had stopped, or at least lessened, the amount he drank, he could have lived to see at least 80 years of age. I couldn't let that happen to Jack, so I did my best to stop him.

The first time I'd asked him to stop drinking, he'd frowned at me and told me that it was none of my business, that rum was a part of his life and no one could take that away from him, free soul that he was. The second and third times I had pleaded, Jack had growled and told me to leave him alone before stalking off towards the galley. The fourth time, he had yelled and called me many names that are best not spoken out loud. Finally, I told Jack the story of my grandfather and how I worried about his health, that I didn't want anything to happen to him and that I wanted him to follow a path that would help him live a longer, and better, life.

After the telling of my story, Jack had looked thoughtful, suddenly serious, and his eyes focused on something that wasn't me. I had simply stood there for a few moments before tapping his shoulder and snapping him out of his thoughts. In the days that followed, Jack had slowly lessened his intake of rum and had become much better to be around. Truth be told, it had frightened me that he would drink himself into a stupor and become violent towards me. I'd heard of such things from my father, and it had frightened me that Jack would hurt me, albeit unknowing or unwillingly. Now I felt safer with him than before…and I think he knew that.

Meanwhile, Jack's POV:

Jack rubbed his eyes as he sat at his desk, removing his gaze from a map of the Caribbean. He couldn't believe that having Ellie (as she'd told him to call her) aboard could make such a difference in him. In a month's time, that woman had changed the very air surrounding the Black Pearl. The crew was happier that someone besides them was in charge of the worth of the plunder, and had never been happier now that food and rum were now being ordered in a plentiful amount.

'She's even managed to change me!' he thought, smiling.

Thinking himself unchangeable from his ways of life, Jack had been extremely surprised that his intake of rum had managed to decrease, almost as if by magic. The story she had told him was one he'd heard a thousand times by people and doctors he had known over the years, but this one had been different…mostly because it was Eleanor telling him, and it was Eleanor's concern for him and his health.

'Never thought I'd listen to a noblewoman more than a doctor or a close friend,' Jack thought, smirking to himself. He remembered his last visit to Will and Elizabeth, who had spent nearly the whole time telling him to stop drinking himself into an early grave. 'I've gotten myself into a right mess with this one, though. Bloody woman's having an effect on me, like a woman would have on her husband.'

That last thought was like a punch to the gut, and Jack could swear that he had stopped breathing for a brief moment. He had listened to Ellie like a man would listen to his wife, the light of wisdom and concern in a man's life. But he didn't have the same feelings for her, did he? No, he couldn't, he was a pirate, and pirates didn't love.

'Liar,' snapped a voice in the back of his mind. 'Remember Bootstrap? How would Will have come into being if Bootstrap hadn't loved and married the woman who eventually gave him a son? Bill was too honorable to leave a woman with a bastard, and the last thought in the man's head was probably of her!'

Still, Jack wasn't the marrying type. Even if he did love Ellie (which he was sure he didn't), he wasn't sure he wanted to marry her. As a mere woman onboard his ship, she was safe from harm whenever they went to land because everyone knew Jack's way of protecting women. What would it look like to the crew, not to mention his numerous enemies, if he married Ellie? He was sure that someone would use Ellie against him as a means of revenge, and he couldn't allow that to happen.

'You know the crew would love it if you got married and stopped treating them like mangy dogs,' whispered the voice in his head again. 'You've been up their asses since Port Joseph five years ago, and you haven't let up on them. How do you think that looks to Ellie, seeing you yell at the crew that is supposed to be your support during raids? It's amazing they haven't turned on you yet, and they probably don't because they're too scared of you!'

Jack growled and slammed his fists on his desk. "Shut up!" he said, trying to quiet the voice.

He heard someone yelp, and turned to find a startled Eleanor sitting by the window, a sheet of paper on the floor in front of her. He had completely forgotten that she had asked to join him in the cabin to go over the latest list of pillaged loot they'd gathered two nights before. Realizing that he'd startled her, Jack stood up and approached her, picking up the paper and handing it to her with a small apologetic smile and an ashamed look on his face.

"Sorry, luv, didn't mean to scare ye," he said, watching as she took the paper from him.

"What were you yelling about?" she asked, a curious look flickering in her blue eyes. "Was I being too loud for you while reading silently at the back of the cabin?" she joked, a small smile on her lips.

Jack grinned. "Nah, just some little voice in my head telling me stuff I didn't want to hear."

Ellie raised a slim brown eyebrow. "You hear voices?" She sounded like she didn't know whether to believe him or not.

"Just ones that tell me to do things certain ways," Jack said, sighing.

"I believe that's called a conscience, Jack," she said. "We all have one, and it's usually a good idea to listen to what it says."

"Usually?" Jack was amused and curious now. "Why usually?"

"Yes, usually. Sometimes it just wants to spoil your fun," she said, grinning outright.

Jack laughed out loud. "Too true, luv," he said, smiling down at her. Looking up towards the sea, he noticed how low the sun had gotten and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Ellie asked, standing up and positioning herself at his right arm. "Jack?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, just realized how late it's become," he said, looking back and smiling at her.

She smiled back. "I suppose it's time for supper, then?"

Jack couldn't hold back a large grin. He had a special surprise for her tonight to celebrate the month she'd spent aboard the Pearl, a surprise he'd asked Gibbs and Mr. Cotton to keep quiet (although asking Mr. Cotton to keep quiet was like asking the sea to stay wet: it did have a choice in the matter).

"Aye, time for dinner," he said, reaching out and surprising them both by gently caressing her cheek. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

With a sway of his hips, he was out the door, headed for the galley.

Twenty Minutes Later, Ellie's POV:

Jack surprised me with a formal dinner the likes of which I hadn't seen since my family's noble house in England. Everything had been purchased in secret in the town we'd been in two days before, and had been perfectly prepared by Mr. Cotton and Mr. Gibbs. How they had done it was beyond my comprehension, but it had still been done. However, that wasn't the surprise of the night.

When dinner had been half over, I was shocked to see that Jack had not consumed one drop of rum the entire night. Instead, he had water and a single glass of wine with me, and I felt like the night couldn't be any more perfect. At the end of the night, Jack astounded me with his story about his adventures from his experience, answering all the questions I had about them.

When the two of us settled into bed that night, I felt Jack wrap his arms around me and hold me close to him, one hand tangling in my hair and the other wrapping itself around my waist. I could smell the sea and the sunlight he'd absorbed during the day. It was a soothing scent, and I couldn't help but relish it, burying my nose in his chest and taking a small sniff before I fell asleep.

Jack's POV:

He heard her breath in his scent before her breathing became deep and even, telling him she was asleep. Never before had a woman relished the smells of the sea or of him; they'd only been after two things, sex and gold.

'And yet, here's a woman who likes the way I smell and who cares about me,' he thought, frowning as his arms tightened protectively around Ellie's sleeping body.

Not since Jack had been a young child had he had a woman care about him and his wellbeing. His mother had always looked after him, right until the day she died of fever when he was ten. After that, Jack had experienced few, if any, caring females who just wanted to take care of him, and he wasn't sure how to handle it. Sighing, Jack closed his eyes and fell into a comfortable sleep with Ellie in his arms.

AN: Short and boring chapter, I know, but the next one will be longer, and with better stuff happening, I promise! Please review, I love feedback!