Beauty and the Pirate

Disclaimer:I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this story from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl". Nor do I own any dialogue that matches up to the dialogue from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" nor any storyline plots from said movie. I solely own the characters of Isabelle and Marcel Cheney and Gaspard and all additional creative story lines. Hope you enjoy the story and feel free to send a review!

Chapter 17

Star Gazing

"So 'ow ye doin', Miss Isabelle?" Jack asked the maiden as he passed her on the way to the helm.

"Fair, I believe," Isabelle replied as she closed the book and followed behind Jack.

"Only fair?" Jack questioned as he took the wheel from Anamaria.

"Well, I've found a few stars mentioned here used for navigating, but I still don't understand how you maneuver the ship with guidance from them since they change position throughout the year. That would mean you'd have to learn each season's celestial positioning for all the different global views," Isabelle said as she took a seat on a nearby barrel and began rummaging through the pages of the book, "It's no wonder you keep this book for that kind of valuable information."

After a few minutes of gazing out at the dark sea, Jack turned to look at Isabelle, who was still madly searching through the pages of his book.

"Stop! Just stop!" Jack laughed heartily with wild hand gestures as he made his way to where she was sitting, "Put that book down!"

"But-" Isabelle whined as Jack forced the book out of her hands and pulled her to the wheel.

"First relax, and stop thinkin' so much, lookin' at the stars should be somethin' to enjoy not force ye to go into a state of logic," Jack chuckled with a wide smile as he positioned Isabelle between him and the wheel, looking out over the dark ocean before them.

"But we're not just looking at stars, we're suppose to be using them as guides so we know where to go-"

"Hush, Isabelle," Jack laughed as he covered her mouth with his hand, "I know what the book says, but I've been doin' this for a long time and this is 'ow I do it, savvy? So just try to relax."

Isabelle took a deep breath and tried relaxing as Sparrow had said as he removed his hand from her mouth.

"Now," Jack said once Isabelle finally relaxed, "look up at the sky. Just look at 'ow pretty it is, clear and full of stars."

Isabelle did as Jack said and nearly hit the captain in the face as she let her head fall back too far in trying to take in all of the night sky.

"Right," Jack said after a few moments of silence, "now if ye look off 'bout ninety degrees north there you'll see Polaris. See it?"

"Yes," whispered Isabelle in reply as she lifted her head from leaning back to see the star Jack was pointing at.

"And just 'bout ten degrees south o'er there is the star Sirius. See that one?"

"Yes," Isabelle whispered again as she turned to look in the opposite direction, then turned back to look across at the dark waters before them, "So which direction are we going? According to where Polaris stands now it looks as if we are going northwest? Am I correct?"

"Aye," Jack laughed lightly at her conclusion, "northwest to Tortuga."

As silence began to make itself present again, Isabelle let her head drop back again to look at the stars, though this time Jack moved in a way so that her head rested on his left shoulder. Having not expected to have her head rest on him, she quickly lifted her head back up.

"It's alright, Isabelle," Jack tried to assure her, "I ain't plannin' on movin' from 'ere for a while."

Isabelle simply let out a shaky breath she didn't realize she was holding in.

Jack wasn't sure what was going on through her mind, but decided to let her be, and so allowed silence to take over once again.

"So, Jack," Isabelle began very hesitantly minutes later, "can you show me how to steer a ship? And use the stars as my guide?"

"Of course, darlin', just give me your hands," Jack said softly as he let go of the wheel to take her hands from where they rested at her sides.

Isabelle didn't resist from Sparrow taking her hands and placing them on the spokes of the wheel. Once in place, Jack kept his hands firmly on hers as he began to show her how to turn the ship this way and that.