Disclaimer: I succeeded in capturing Jack, but Disney stole him back, so I don't own him.
AN: Not a lot of reviews for this story, which is a shame, considering how much I love writing it for others. Well, I hope that more people review, since it helps boost the confidence I have in my writing abilities. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 4: Too Much Like a Pirate:
Three Weeks Later: Author's POV:
Everyone has secrets. It's a fact that is widely known, and nearly everyone in the world, in their deepest heart, knows that the one you trust most could hold something in their mind and body that could destroy them should that one secret be known. Thus was so with Nerissa Fox, and everyone on the Pearl, save Jack Sparrow, knew that there was a secret to be had…and were suspicious of it.
It wasn't as though they suspected her of any sort of wrongdoing…after all, each of the Pearl's crewmembers had done some fairly shameful things in their lifetimes, and were all too aware of the proverb judge not lest ye be judged. However, that didn't stop them from thinking that the pretty noblewoman-turned-pirate was hiding something, something that couldn't possibly bring good fortune to the Pearl…
Or to its Captain.
Jack's POV:
It had been three weeks since Nerissa had been kidnapped from Port Royal, and Jack was running out of excuses for her not earning her keep on the Pearl. The crew knew that their Captain had a certain soft spot for the noblewoman, and respected his orders for them to not touch or harm her in any way. Still, if the woman didn't start earning her keep on the ship, Jack knew that there was no possible way for him to keep his crew from tossing her off at the first opportune port. Or worse, they might…force some sort of work out of her, and that Jack would not allow! But if there were a fight, there was only one Captain against at least two dozen crewmembers, and he couldn't protect her from all of them.
"No, the lass is going to have to earn her stay aboard the ship," Jack muttered to himself as he lay on his bed in his cabin. "But she's obviously not used to hard work, so where could I possibly send her?"
The cannons and weaponry were out of the question…after all, he didn't go through all the trouble of kidnapping the woman only to have her accidentally shoot herself! And since she was a noblewoman, she was of no use in the galley; Mr. Cotton could cook very well, for a man who couldn't actually taste the food he was cooking, and Nerissa might just ruin the food beyond recognition.
"Deck duty it is," he muttered to himself. He could only hope her tender fingers and muscles could adapt to working with ropes and lifting. "Guess she'll just have to go slowly."
Sighing, Jack rolled over and closed his eyes for a quick nap.
Two Days Later: Nerissa's POV:
"Now, this is how you tie a really secure knot," Mr. Gibbs said, demonstrating the action to her.
Nerissa rolled her eyes behind the older man's back. The crewmen were treating her as though she had no brain in her head, and it was driving her insane!
'For goodness sakes, I'm not a child, or an adult with the brain of one!' she thought angrily to herself. She briefly smiled when Gibbs turned back to see if she was watching. 'They probably think I'm the usual noblewoman who can't handle anything beyond tea parties, fanning myself, and talking about suitors and fashions! If Elizabeth were here, we'd both be speaking our minds about this whole thing!'
But her dear, independently thinking cousin wasn't there, and if Nerissa were to raise any kind of fuss, she was sure the crew would think she was throwing a typical tantrum to get her own way in the matter. That was the last thing that she wanted, so she simply put on an understanding and innocent smile, acting as though everything were alright with the world.
"And that's how ye do it!" Mr. Gibbs finished, smiling proudly at the knot. "Now, let's see you give it a try!"
There was nothing ill-mannered about the last sentence; he was simply offering her a chance to do it for herself. However, she could easily see how many of the nearby crewmen were snickering behind their hands at the thought of a noble's daughter tying knots on a pirate ship.
"It'll probably fall apart on her the first chance it gets!" one man whispered to another.
His friend snickered, and although Nerissa looked around to see who the culprit was, she couldn't read anyone's expression. Biting back a retort, she knelt and took the rope in her hands. Falling back into her mind, she recalled a familiar training session that she'd had when she was a small child. The lesson had been about ropes, and had taken three days to teach her and three days for her to get it rightfully memorized and trained. That particular lesson had involved knots, including how to tie them as well as how to escape them. Her father had insisted on the teaching, since there might come a day where she would likely be kidnapped and tied up to be held for ransom. Nerissa silently thanked her father for his thoughtfulness and returned to the task at hand.
Lost in that memory, the rope in her hands became familiar and her fingers quickly started to move. Before she knew it, the rope was tied in a perfect knot, one even better than Mr. Gibbs'! As she looked up for approval from her instructor, she saw a dozen gaping mouths swallowing up the sea breezes. Amused, she cleared her throat in an attempt to get their attention. Most of the gapers closed their mouths instantly, but Mr. Gibbs still seemed intent on swallowing the winds coming off the ocean. Giggling, Nerissa reached out with a finger and closed his mouth.
"Now, how was that, Mr. Gibbs?" she asked, smiling.
"Um," the older man seemed too stunned to speak. "Well done, lass. We'll, um, get started on the next knot in a couple minutes, so go enjoy a quick break by the bow of the ship."
Nerissa nodded and walked away, hearing murmuring voices from the crew as they inspected the knot she had made.
A Week Later: Jack's POV:
Gripping the wheel of the helm, Jack noticed that his crew was starting to act a bit odd lately. In fact, they had been acting strangely for almost a week, ever since Nerissa had started pitching in on the Pearl. The crewmen were muttering and whispering to each other more often, and whenever Nerissa walked by to start on the chores that Annamaria or Gibbs gave her, the men would fall silent and stare at her.
Now, Jack didn't mind the muttering, considering that speech is a part of keeping one's mind entertained while at sea for an ungodly amount of time. However, it was the staring that made him very unhappy, for he felt that his crew was eyeing a woman he respected and admired. He made a small mental note to talk to them about it later…
"Cap'n?" called a voice.
Jack snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the speaker. "Yes, Gibbs?" he sighed, trying not to roll his eyes. "What is it?"
"Might I have a word with ye, Cap'n?" Gibbs asked, suddenly nervous. "Privately?"
'I swear if he's going to complain about there being another woman aboard the Pearl, I'll give him privy duty for the next three months,' Jack thought to himself. However, he was puzzled at the sudden change of attitude in the old man.
Putting that puzzlement aside for the moment, Jack nodded. "Anna!" he roared. The female pirate magically appeared from below deck. "Take the helm! I'm needed elsewhere for a bit!"
Annamaria gave a curt nod and took his place at the helm. Once he was sure everything was running smoothly, Jack motioned for Gibbs to follow him into his cabin. After the door was closed behind them and the two were comfortably seated at the large eating table, Jack waved his hand in a silent command for his friend to speak his mind. Gibbs cleared his throat for a few moments before speaking.
"Well, sir, ye see…" he trailed off, obviously unsure as how to proceed.
"Oh, for the love of God, Gibbs, would you spit it out already?" Jack said, rolling his eyes. He hated it when people just beat around the bush. "Get to the point, would you?"
"Right, sir," Gibbs said, rubbing the top of his head. "Um, the crew and I…well, we sort of…have a problem with the pretty little miss."
It took Jack a moment for him to realize whom it was Gibbs was speaking of. "Nerissa?" he said, looking at his first mate for confirmation that it was whom he was talking about. "What's wrong with her? I thought she was doing fairly well with all the chores. There obviously haven't been any serious problems with her so far or else someone would have told me. What's wrong?"
Gibbs shifted uneasily in his seat. "Well, actually, sir, it's the fact that there's nothing to complain about that's got us upset."
Jack merely stared and blinked at the elderly man for a few seconds before speaking. "So there's nothing wrong but for the fact that you and the crew have nothing to complain about, which is in turn the problem?" Jack said, trying to make it clear.
"Aye, that would just about do it, sir," Gibbs said, glad that his captain had understood the situation.
The pirate captain merely rubbed his temples. "Gibbs, are you trying to give me a headache?" he asked. "Because if that is what you have in mind, it's working."
"That's not what we're trying to do, Cap'n," the older pirate stated, rubbing the back of his neck. "We're merely upset that, for every task we give her, she does it almost perfectly!"
"Well, there you go!" exclaimed Jack, who stood up from his chair. "The lass just happens to be a natural sailor! She does well because she's probably seen tons of work being done on all of the ships that she traveled on. Hell, it might even be likely that she was taught some things by the crews she sailed with and forgot to tell us!" He reached over and slapped Gibbs hard on the back. "Next time, Gibbs, save your complaining for when they really needed, like the next bad storm or raid, savvy?"
The other man sighed. "Aye, sir."
Both men made their way to the door of the cabin. Jack suddenly paused right before opening the door and turned to his first mate. "Be sure to tell the rest of the crew the same thing, aye, Gibbs?"
A quick nod of the head was the only answer that Jack got before they both separated to go about their daily work.
Author's POV:
Ignoring the 'natural sailing talents' of Miss Nerissa Fox was easier said than done. Sailors are suspicious by nature of things that don't make sense, and to them, the astounding abilities of the newest crewmember did not, by any means, make sense to their minds. Nobles did not educate their daughters in the ways of sailing and hard physical labor, and yet this one noblewoman seemed to possess the abilities of a seasoned sailor!
"It ain't natural," muttered some men to their friends.
Her being efficient with a mop and bucket was one thing, since an idiot could clean a deck without any problems. But when Nerissa began to tie knots and sort through ropes for weaknesses like a true sailor, the crew began to talk. The men could forgive Annamaria being onboard and sailing, especially since she was commonly born and had been taught by other sailors who were her friends. Most of the men felt that having a noblewoman who knew how to actually work aboard a ship meant that, if she was hiding that much, she was probably hiding more secrets than they cared to think about. Ordinary people having secrets was bad enough, but every time a noble kept something hidden from others, no good could come of it.
As the weeks turned into months, Nerissa was gradually handed more chores from Jack's own hands, most of which happened to be simple things like swabbing the deck, tying down ropes, and keeping a lookout for approaching ships from the crow's nest. Nerissa took all of this in stride and did them without question or complaint, which unnerved the crew even further. In their personal beliefs, nobles (especially the women) complained about any sort of work they were handed, and when they didn't, it usually meant that they might plan revenge because of the workload they were given.
Jack had tried time and again to explain that Nerissa wasn't your ordinary noblewoman, but the crew still couldn't believe that she had learned anything useful while traveling the world. It didn't feel right to them, and the fact that their captain didn't see anything wrong with the picture caused the crew of the Black Pearl to take matters into their own hands. It's wrong for a crew to plot behind their captain's back, but as long as it wasn't mutinous, then it was alright, if it was for his own good.
Nerissa's POV:
Something was not right; she could feel it. Nerissa had been taught to always trust her feelings before trying to think logically, and her feelings were telling her to keep a sharp eye out for anything unusual. Today she was to work on the ropes that held the sails in place, and she wasn't looking forward to it. She hadn't had anything to do with sails since she was twelve-years-old, and her hands had long become the soft, smooth texture that noblewomen tried so hard to achieve. As soon as Mr. Gibbs was satisfied with her abilities, Nerissa was forced to work her tender fingers raw every day. She was lucky that Annamaria had given her a salve that helped to treat rope burns. Now her hands were becoming as rough and worn as the rest of the men's, and she didn't know whether she ought to be thankful or not.
As she tugged, tied, pulled, and secured the ropes, Nerissa could feel the hair on her neck stand up. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out why. Taking a peek out of the corner of her right eye, she saw one of the crewmen spying on her work. It didn't seem as though he wanted to sabotage her ropes or anything hostile; he just seemed interested in her work.
'Perhaps he's trying to learn how to tie a better knot?' she thought to herself.
No, that couldn't be it…Mr. Gibbs was the best knot-maker on the ship, so anyone who wanted to improve their skills would go to him, not watch the newest crewmember for help! Shrugging her shoulders inconspicuously, Nerissa returned to her work, though the thought of being watched didn't leave her mind during the entire shift she was given.
When she finished her work, Nerissa could still feel eyes on her back. Pretending to be checking a loose rope, she spotted three men watching her and inwardly sighed. They were watching to see how well she did her chores, and somehow, she didn't think that they wanted to mess her up. If they were trying to sabotage her work, they would have done so long ago, like when she first started. Instead, she believed that they were trying to see what else she could do with little or no teaching.
'Well, there's more than one way to cook a fish,' she thought to herself as she heard Annamaria call her name to teach her all about the sails.
As the dark-skinned pirate woman showed her how to raise and lower the sails, Nerissa came up with a plan. When it came her turn to lower a sail, she 'accidentally' let the rope slip from her hands. The sail plummeted to the deck, falling atop three unfortunate sailors. Nerissa clamped her hands over her mouth to hide the grin she was now wearing and tried to look horrified.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she cried, racing forward to help the men currently trying to get the sail back up.
Author's POV:
The crew spent the next ten minutes undoing her little 'accident,' and after everything had been sorted out, Jack gave her a very sound lecture on how not to work the sails. He then forbid her from going anywhere near the sails or their ropes until Annamaria or Gibbs deemed her worthy of it. Nodding her head in apparent shame, Nerissa had gone back to her quarters and locked herself in, making the crew think that she was crying her eyes out because of her mistake.
A little while later, after Annamaria had brought her supper and carried away the empty tray, Nerissa lay back on her bed and smiled proudly to herself.
AN: Kind of a boring chapter, but still important to the story! I hope that people review, because lots are reading, but not many are showing their love. Oh, well, I'll keep writing anyway!