A/N: Aright lads and lasses, I want ye all to know that YOU ARE SPOILED! I probably shouldn't post this frequently or you'll get used to it… but I was on a roll last night (even though I was supposed to be studying for a lit test… but y'all come first. Just don't let my teacher know…
Sereture: Yay! Not crap! Rum for you! Thanks!
Nycjoc: Like I said, I'm spoiling you all by posting this fast… sorry, I'll look harder for errors next time. Rum for you for constructive criticism! Hm…. Ana / Norrington? That's one I've never heard…
And last but not least:
Cal: You're not being bitchy! You're helping me a lot, actually. First time effort, remember- I'm not offended! And this one's dedicated to you again! … I didn't mean to make you cry tho… About underestimating Jack… she just met him… our little hellcat will learn… About her body figure…well, let's just say Jack has another opinion ;) Sadly no, there is no Bootstrap, and bringing in Barbossa would be just too damn complicated. The holding his hat holding Jack… well, holding Jack himself will come soon enough ;) Hope you enjoy! Drinks All around!
Disclaimer: hugs Cal for support still… sniff don't…. sniff own… sniff Jack… sobs
Chapter Three
A Sensitive Sparrow
I woke up drowsily- I don't know how long I was asleep for, but it couldn't have been more than a few hours. I curled up into a ball out of instinct, trying to keep as much of myself covered as possible. After a moment, I realized I wasn't locked up in a brothel room. I was on the deck of a ship. A moving ship.
And I was floating.
Jack's face smiled down at me. "Sorry te wake ye love, I didn' mean to." I looked around. This wasn't the Tempest I had fallen asleep on: it was a much bigger ship, but in the darkness it was hard to estimate a size. More surprising, was that the ship was no longer docked in the harbour. Nor was I standing up.
Jack was carrying me.
He had one arm tucked behind my knees and the other behind my back. It seemed as though he picked me up as easily as a ragdoll. He helped me gently to my feet as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
"Where are we Jack?" I asked him with a slight edge of fear in my voice, no matter how much I tried to suppress it.
"Ah, we be on me Pearl. The Black Pearl, that is. Captain Jack Sparrow at your service, milady." He grinned in that slightly crooked way he had back in my cell when he caught me smiling.
I couldn't believe it. I had escaped. Jack's plan had actually worked. What ironically surprised me more was that I didn't wake up when Jack got it into his head to carry me. I was perfectly capable of walking myself! I tried to feed this annoyance, but I couldn't. There was something nice about being treated like a woman again- treated as the weaker sex (even though it's not really true- somehow I don't think that a man could survive one day in a corset), and being carried when I was able to walk, just for the sake of letting me sleep.
Not to mention that Jack had saved me from a miserable life of involuntary prostitution. Prostitution…
Scarlet.
"Jack?" I said timidly.
"Yes, love?" He said in a voice that sounded as concerned as an older brother. It warmed my heart that this man I hardly knew would be as compassionate as he was towards me.
"Well, I have a message to pass on to you." Now it was Jack's turn to look confused. I broke down and told him the whole thing. "Well, after I ran from the… the brothel, I went to the docks to look for the Tempest. I couldn't find it, and then this prostitute came up to me. So I muttered and said 'eunuch,' like you told me to. Then she looked at me funny and pulled me into an alleyway. She said her name was Scarlet and she asked if I had heard of you. I nodded and she helped me find my way to the Tempest. She said to mention her to you, and that she misses you," I spilled. I sounded like an idiot.
Jack looked taken aback at first. As soon as I mentioned Scarlet though, he understood. "Lass, ye met Scarlet?... an' she's a prostitute again…" His eyes expressed an irrepressible sadness.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Jack," I whispered. I went to put my hand gently on his shoulder, but just as I went to move, he put his head in his hands as he slumped down against a wall. I knelt down next to him, and gingerly put my hand on his shoulder. His voice shook as he asked, "…an' Giselle…?"
I couldn't bear to see the man who saved me to be like this. He looked at me, into my eyes, and said, "Is she workin' a corner too?" I swallowed hard. This was very difficult to do. "I'm not sure, but I saw Scarlet with a blonde woman," I said carefully, trying to do the least amount of damage as possible.
Jack moaned softly, burying his face in his hands once again. "Why? Why wo' they go back to tha', after I risked me bloody life fer theirs?" I couldn't help it. I reached around and put my arm around his shoulder, and pulled him into a soft hug. We sat like that for a moment, and then we heard footsteps coming down the steps.
"Cap'n? Ye there?" a gruff voice said from the staircase. Jack stood up and was back to his strong un-phased self in a flash. I realized that for all his sorrow, he was strong enough to hide it, as well as never shed a tear.
"Aye? Gibbs, tha' you?" Jack said in a light tone.
"Yessir. Crew just wanted teh know if th' lass was alrigh'." Jack gave a sardonic smile. "Which one would that be, Gibbs? Looks here like little Scarlet and Giselle have gone back to their miserable roots."
"…Giselle?" Gibbs asked quietly. "I knew it. It's bad luck teh trust a woman. Never again, Cap'n. Never." He trailed off.
"Well, don' get ahead of yerslef there Gibbs. This here's Miss Ana Maria, our honoured guest, ye see? We just left the top floor of th' Faithful Bride. She'll be sailin' with us for a while," Jack said in his half-drunk slur. After a moment he added, "And because she's our honoured guest, I'm sure ye'll tell the rest of the crew teh respect 'er, won' ye Gibbs?" He gave a crazed grin that almost looked threatening.
"Yes, Cap'n. Right away." He turned and went back up the stairs. I stared at Jack. The transformation from sensitivity and grief turned easily into a commanding, crazed, drunk, … pirate. I got over the transformation enough to ask, "What does Mr. Gibbs have against women?"
Jack got that misty, far-away look of one recounting memories. "Well, 'bout five years back, me n' Gibbs rescued Scarlet and Giselle. Now, we took 'em to a different port teh start a new life, ye see? But while on board Gibbs an' Giselle had a bit of a romance. Oh, they tried teh keep me from knowin', but Gibbs has an awful loose mouth when 'e's drunk. Gibbs tried te stay with her, but 'e couldn' make enough money to support a family. So 'e was goin' out with the company while Giselle supposedly took care o' their little lass. So now, last port we was at was the one where Gibbs had left them. When we got there he looked everywhere fer them. He though' she died. So just now 'e found out tha' his Giselle is workin' a street corner. Now I suppose 'e thinks tha' womenfolk arn' te be trusted."
"I can see why," I said, appalled. "Why would any woman want to have that job?"
Jack shrugged. "I suppose ye don't need no formal education, ye get decent pay, an' it's a way te let out yer… yer sexual frustrations." I flinched slightly. I don't think I'll have any 'sexual frustrations' for a long time to come. Jack noticed me cringe, and put his arm around my shoulders gently. "Don' worry about it love. She made her own decision, no one else's. Just promise me ye won' go into tha' trade?"
"I need no encouragement, thank you." He gave me a wide grin. I smiled up at him. I realized that every time I smiled, he grinned back. If things weren't so serious, I'd think he had almost a schoolboy crush on me! I looked into his kind brown eyes again. If I didn't know better, I could have sworn that his eyes softened just a little more when mine met his. Maybe it was just a trick of the candlelight, or maybe my sleep-deprived imagination was playing a joke on me. I couldn't help it- I yawned.
"I should really start findin' you a place te sleep… Yer not sleepin' with the crew, that's for certain… I know! Come wif me, love," he said as he started down the hall. I followed, figuring that he would find me a cot in some storage room or other. We reached a door that read 'Captain' engraved into the wood. Jack pulled a key out of his belt and soon we were inside.
It was beautiful. Well, nicer than the room I had on the ship over here from England. Instead of a cot, there was a real feather mattress. The chest at the foot of the bed, the desk in the corner, and the wardrobe on the far wall were all made of a rich mahogany wood. Everything was decorated in good taste, and the far wall revealed a real bathroom: with a wash basin, soap, and big, fluffy, fresh towels. It looked like I was back in England, not on a pirate ship. Jack pulled out another key, opened the trunk, and was rummaging through things. After a moment, he pulled out another, looser, pair of breeches, and a nightshirt that went about to my knees.
At this point Jack looked a little awkward. "Well, here are some things fer you to sleep in… an' there's clothes in the dresser and chest for the mornin'. Make yerself at home." He flushed slightly under his dark tan. He pulled out a sheet and a coil of rope and went to go out, when what he was doing sunk in. I mustered all of my shattered courage.
"Wait."
He turned slowly, his eyes taking a moment to reach mine from the floor. I walked slowly over to him, and stopped mere inches away. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
I kissed him softly on the lips.
I flushed. My cheeks were on fire. I did the only thing I could think of doing. I whispered, "Thank you Jack. For everything." He nodded, still a little flushed under his tan, and softly closed the door. I let out a big sigh of relief. I changed into the nightgown Jack had left for me, and curled up under the blankets. It was only moments until I had fallen asleep.
Jack's P.O.V.:
She kissed me. Me bloody first kiss. Me, a pirate captain at twen'y-eight, been in countless whorehouses, and not as bad lookin' as Gibbs, and I get me first kiss from a lass broken inside an' out. And I can' do any bloody thing about it, either. If I kiss 'er, or show I even like the lass, she'll think o' me like all the rest that treated her poor. Come on, Jack, think! If I don't show anythin', then she'll think I'm a heartless bastard- or worse yet afraid of talkin' to her. I could sweet-talk 'er, but she'll slap me. Scarlet proved tha' sweet-talkin' won' work. I sighed, knowin' tha' no matter what I do, there'll still be more troubles in the mornin'. I went up on deck and made meself a hammock where I could watch the sun rise. 'Hopeless romantic, Jack, that's what you are, just like your father,' me mum would say. If I'm so bloody romantic, where's the romance fit in? Ah well. I'd talk te Gibbs, but 'e's probably too depressed te help me wi' my problems. I sat and listened to the waves for a while, until I started to doze off. Suddenly, I heard footsteps: heavy, mind you, not Ana's. So now I'm callin' her Ana?
Well, perhaps I am.
Just then Gibbs came out on deck with hammock under arm. "Er, Cap'n- I didn' know ye were givin' the lass yer quarters…" He turned to go, but I stopped him.
"Gibbs? Mind if I have a word with ye?" I asked hesitantly. "'Course not, Cap'n," came the immediate reply.
"We're in a similar boat Gibbs, ye can call me Jack out here, where only the stars hold witness." He relaxed. Joshamee Gibbs and me 'ave been, well, thick as thieves for 'bout three years now. 'E always calls me 'Captain' when someone else's in earshot, but between us, we're simple friends- almost brothers.
"Ah, Jack… I miss Giselle," he said as he finished putting up his hammock next to mine. "She was a good lass, wasn' she? Be honest now, Jack, as a friend."
I closed my eyes and leaned back. "I though' so, Gibbs, but I thought the same 'bout Scarlet. I'm not so sure now," I told him truthfully. He's a good man, and took it without a hit of emotion. I stared at the stars. "A tinker-woman told me once tha' you can read yer future in the stars."
Gibbs sighed. He thrived on superstitions ever since he had te leave Giselle and his little girl at port. He squinted, looking for some indication that there was no love lost between them.
"You won' find it there, Gibbs. I've already tried. I've looked for love in the stars ever since I met that bloody tinker-woman, but it's never showed up." I looked over at him, and offered him a bottle of rum. He took a swig, and handed it back. I hated these emotional moments between us, but thrived on them at the same time. I longed for a simple way to comfort him, withou' lookin' like a eunuch. Women can just cuddle and sob their troubles away- men are forced to have an ego. So we turn te rum. I looked over at him.
"If it helps, Gibbs, I'm havin' a bit of a woman problem meself. That Ana Maria lass… she's so… so…"
"Perfect?" Gibbs finished, sympathetically. "Not quite," I thought out loud. "She's beautiful, and smart. An', an'- broken, in a way," I told him.
"'Cause she's not a virgin?" Gibbs questioned carefully. I had me reputation, but that's all it was, a bloody reputation.
A façade.
"No! no, nothin' like that- just how Giselle and Scarlet were broken the same way, ye see? We thought they were fixed, that they were like how they were before they went to the Faithful Bride. But they shattered again as soon as we put them down."
Gibbs seemed to understand. "Ye think that she's traumatized? How can she no' be? How would ye feel if ye were raped by a bunch of pirates?" I ignored that last remark. I'd always been accused of being 'feminine' as a lad. Probably because I liked to swagger rather than walk.
"That's the thing, Gibbs. I don't know if she is traumatized, at least in the way we would think."
"Well, Jack, some women just hide it better, ye know," he reasoned.
That's when it all came out.
"Gibbs, she kissed me."
Gibbs stayed quiet. I'd known 'im since I was 'bout nine. Gibbs was twenty-one when I met him. I had no one, growing up in Tortuga. Gibbs found me, and looked after me like his own brother. When I became captain of the Pearl, I made him me first mate. Ever since we met though, we never kept anythin' from each other. An' he was the only man I know that I could trust on God's green Earth. Well, blue Earth is more accurate, I suppose. 'E always understands me.
"S'at yer first then?" Gibbs asked, in a rather unforgiving tone. I grunted as I gave a curt nod. He stayed silent. Good ol' Gibbs. Never one te push an issue too far.
"Ye think ye fancy 'er then?" Gibbs said after a long pause.
"Perhaps."
"An' yer a lil' 'fraid of 'er, arn'cha?"
"Gibbs?"
"Aye, Jack?"
"Too far."
A/N: okay… dodges previously handed out rum bottles… I had to have a cheezy scene with Jack spilling his soft chewy center! Sooo… please don't kill me. And he's only this open with Gibbs… and Ana, too, I suppose… sorry for changing the P.O.V…. ah well. Sorry, P.M.S.-ing…and ye had to have a little more Jack, eh chaps? Review please!
Ta,
Sparrow's Someone
