A/N: Well well well...a day late but trust me...so well worth it! And so many reviewed! Now you want to keep this story going right? Especially after what will happen in this chapter? Review review review!
peace, love and lipgloss,
Mlle.Fox
ps...what the heck?...Where's my little line that I can put in the page break?...Oh webmasters!
Mignonette watched with wonder as she looked over the pirate town from the deck of the Black Pearl. Even in the late afternoon, joyous music of pan pipes and an accordion wafted over the air along with the smell of rum. Loud, raucous laughter was heard on the wind along with the occasional gunshot which made Mignonette jump. As she settled her nerves, Jack stood by the lowered gangplank and said to Gibbs,
"Now Gibbs, I don't want a repeat of last time Savvy? Just get the supplies FIRST then you can go into town, Savvy?"
"Aye Cap'n. What are you going to do?" asked Gibbs.
"What I said I'd do. Miss Minnie and I are going ashore." Jack said looking towards the woman. Feeling his eyes and hearing her name, Mignonette looked at him and said,
"What was that Captain Sparrow?"
"Well you want to send that letter off to your sister don't you? Come on. Step lively!" Jack said going down the gangplank. Mignonette came up to the end of the gangplank and look down the narrow piece of wood unsure, when Gibbs offered his hand and smiled kindly,
"Allow me Milady!"
Mignonette took his rough, grubby hand and smiled at him,
"Thank you Mr. Gibbs."
Helping her step up, Gibbs replied,
"Any day I can help a pretty lass is a good day for me!"
Hearing Mignonette's soft laugh, Jack felt his stomach do a flip flop. For some reason he knew not, a flare of jealously sprung up on him and he stomped back up the gangplank. He offered Mignonette his hand,
"Come on Luv. It's a bit tricky to get up and down one of these things."
Trying not to think of how well her hand fit in his, nor how his stomping on the gangplank had nearly caused her to fall over before, Mignonette nodded and quietly let him help her down to the wooden dock below. There was but one step down from the top of the gangplank and when Jack hopped down, he took Mignonette by the waist and lifted her up a bit to set her feet on solid footing once more.
"There you go..." he said trailing off when he caught himself looking into those sweet eyes of hers.
"Thank you Captain." Mignonette said softly and fighting off the blush that was creeping up on her. Jack cleared his throat and let go of her waist saying,
"Well let's scurry. Can't keep Ol' Bernie waiting."
"Bernie? Who is this Bernie?" Mignonette asked as she walked beside him, ever so often edging closer the more and more they walked by drunk, fighting pirates or seducing dirty Tortugan wenches.
"Sort of a inventor if you will...weapons manufacturer for the right price. Has any number of hobbies including training pigeons to send off messages. If anyone can get that letter off to your sister, Bernie can...Well not really Bernie personally, one of his birds...in reality." Jack finished explaining with a furrowed brow. Mignonette couldn't help but giggle at the imagery he had created, and Jack couldn't help but feel a swell of pride over the fact he had made her laugh. Soon they came to a run down old shack on the outer skirts of town. Jack pulled on a rope cord and Mignonette jumped as a loud bell clang somewhere from within the house. Jack just remained stoic and calm, completely use to such things.
"Coming! Coming!" called the old cracked voice of a man. The door opened to reveal a short, bent over and wrinkled old man with sparse white hair and bird poop on his blue coat. His bifocal spectacles made his eyes look large and his cheerful expression dropped to a dry one as he said seeing Jack,
"Oh it's you."
Jack smiled with a smug expression,
"Bernie mate it's great to see you too! How you've been? How's the family?"
"How many times do I have to tell you it's Bernard you git?" the old man said.
"At least once more Bernie...As always." Jack quipped as Mignonette rolled her eyes. Then Bernard noticed her and smiled,
"Well...who's this pretty young thing? Doesn't look like a streetwalker..."
Responding to Mignonette's look of offense, Jack pushed her forward and said,
"That's cause she's a maid by profession. Bernard Crane, may I present Miss Minnie...Minnie...come to think of it Luv, I don't recall your last name..."
"Uh...Chestivaldi...It's very nice to meet you Mr. Crane." Mignonette replied lifting her hand for Bernard. The old man smiled with missing teeth,
"Well...I have to give you credit Jack...This lovely young lady is certainly classier than all the others you've had tagging along on your arm."
Looking up suspiciously at Jack's panicking face, Mignonette said,
"Others?"
Jack grinned as he pushed his way into the door,
"Simply business Luv...simply business..."
Bernard rolled his eyes and closed the door after showing Mignonette in.
"Well suffice it to say, you'd best keep doing business with girls like this." Bernard commented.
"Not that kind of business Bernie! Miss Minnie simply needs you to send a few letters off to her sister in Genovia and to her master in Port Royal, Savvy?" Jack explained.
"Genovia! My my, what a long way from home! How are you holding up my dear?" Bernard asked. Mignonette smiled and patted his hand,
"I'm doing just fine Mr. Crane. Thank you for asking."
His stomach flip flopping and his jealously flaring up again, Jack stepped between them and said,
"Bernie! The birds?"
"Oh weigh anchor Sparrow! It's been a long time since I had such pleasurable company. Would you like to see some of my inventions my dear?" Bernard asked Mignonette.
"That sounds fascinating!"
Jack sighed and watched as Bernard pulled Mignonette around his shop pointing out various gadgets,
"There's my electric peanut smasher...music recorder...and I'm particularly proud of this one..." He stopped before a blank canvas on an easel and picked up a match. He stuck it and lit it, and then look it to the canvas. It blazed to life and burned away a chemical on the painting revealing the still life of fruit on a table. Grinning from ear to ear with pride, Bernard told a slack jawed Mignonette,
"Invisible paint!"
Jack cut in,
"Yes yes yes...very interesting Bernie...now if you please...the birds?"
"Fine...fine!" Bernard sighed leading them back through a back door. The back yard was full of wooden and iron cages filled with pigeons cooing and molting. Bernard reached inside a crate labeled 'Genovia' and took out a small pigeon.
"Here you are my girl...go on you can take him...he's loves to be held be beautiful women! Just tie your letter securing to his leg at your discretion." Bernard said handing her the bird. Mignonette laughed as the bird flapped his wings and she stepped a few feet away, leaving Jack and Bernard a moment alone. Bernard looked to Mignonette, then he looked to Jack, seeing the pirate's eyes filled with longing towards the young woman.
"I use to look at my late wife like that." Bernard said with a knowing grin. Jack wiped off the look on his face and cleared his throat saying,
"You really shouldn't mumble mate...Bad habit."
"Jack Sparrow you listen to me for once and you listen good. Do everything you can to keep that girl in your life. If you don't you'll be an even greater fool than I already think you are!" Bernard told Jack as the pirate captain's expression grew contemplative. By this time, Mignonette had released the first bird and now kissed the second on it's head and then released it into the air watching it fly off into the horizon line. Jack stepped forward and touched her arm,
"Come lass...we must be getting you back to the Pearl."
Mignonette nodded and turned to Bernard saying,
"Thank you Mr. Crane for your kindness."
"You're perfectly welcome my dear! And you keep an eye on Captain Sparrow you hear? Daft git probably will get drunk as a skunk should you let him! Who knows what he'd say or do then hmm?" Bernard said. That gave Mignonette a wonderful idea. An idea to solve her problems.
She began her plan simply after they left Bernard's house. She wove her arm through his and said,
"Captain Sparrow...can't you show me around Tortuga first?"
Trying not to audibly gulp at the pleasant tingling going up and down his arm, Jack asked,
"Whatever for Luv?"
"Well...I've never been anywhere besides Genovia really...and...I've come to realize this may be my only chance to see a bit of the world. So...can we put off returning to the ship for a little bit?" Mignonette asked meekly.
"Well..." Jack started, trying to figure out how to say no. She stopped and pouted a little with big wide eyes,
"Please Captain?"
Jack was trapped. Trapped by thick eyelashes and blue eyes. He sighed and gulped,
"I suppose one drink at the Faithful Bride wouldn't hurt..."
So he took her to the large pub in the center of town. They sat in a corner and Jack ordered two pints for them both. Mignonette was watching the fighting, gambling and wenching with fascination. Did her people back in Genovia act like this? She had to know.
"Have you ever been to Genovia Captain?" she asked Jack as the drinks came. Taking up his rum, Jack nodded,
"Certainly."
"Did you find the people there...act like this?" Mignonette asked.
"Wouldn't you know?" Jack asked with a raised brow. Mignonette blanched,
"Uh...well being a ladies maid, I've led a sheltered life."
Jack let that answer slide and nodded before taking a huge gulp,
"I can see that. But in answer to your question Milady, yes the common masses do act like this on occasion."
"Not to sound snobbish, but why would they act like this? Surely these vices aren't healthy." Mignonette asked.
"True...but they're distracting. See Luv, the reason these pirates...myself included...and those Genovian citizens indulge in wine, women and song is to help them forget the prosecution of the rich and powerful. Take Genovia for example..." Jack began to explain.
"Genovia?" asked Mignonette in disbelief.
"Aye...see when I was there...everyone was carrying on about the nobles putting their own taxes and laws on the land without the king knowing about it. Almost every Genovian never tasted a pear because they can't afford it. Every noble in Genovia is as crooked as a country road, apparently. At least, that's what I heard when I last visited." Jack continued.
"Is that so?" Mignonette said in thought tapping the side of her pint.
"Aye...Course things could have changed since then." Jack said before taking another drink. Mignonette muttered under her breath,
"Or they're about to..."
"Aren't you having any?" Jack asked pointing to her rum.
"Oh yes..." she said putting the dirty cup up to her lips then making a face, "Ugg! That's disgusting!"
Jack frowned,
"One's person's disgusting is another's sweet necter, Milady."
"I'm sorry...here...why don't you have it?" Mignonette said pushing it towards him. Jack shrugged,
"Well...I'd hate to waste good rum!"
"Is there anything else to drink?" Mignonette asked.
"Whiskey...sherry...bourbon...port...wine...whatever has been pilfered lately." Jack said finishing both his own and her drink.
"Well...I'd hate to leave here without getting anything...can we try something else?" Mignonette asked innocently. A little inebriated now, Jack grinned,
"Surely...Barkeep! Round of everything you've got!"
Mignonette simply smiled to herself as the night wore on. What Jack didn't know as Mignonette tried and pushed every drink away (and as it poured down his throat) that Mignonette was an old master at fine spirits. Her father had taught her how to decipher wine, and her governess had shown her how a lady holds her liquor. Royalty had to know how to drink with fellow lawmakers in order to make business. And this is how she knew exactly what to drink, refuse and give to Jack so that he could get drunk but not die from it. By the time Jack and Mignonette finally left the Faithful Bride, he was pretty snookered. By this time, he had told Mignonette countless tales of his adventures on the open seas. He tripped a bit on the deserted and darkened dirt road leading back to the docks and said with a drunken laugh,
"And that's...that's when they made me their chief!"
Mignonette laughed as she pulled on his arm to keep him from going into the bushes,
"That's too incredible! Almost as unbelievable as the one you told me about that pirate who was a living storm every time he grew angry!"
"I swear Luv...it's the God's truth! I swear...I swear by the fact you are...so...breathtakingly beauti-fibble...uh...bounty-ful...feautibul...no that's not it..." Jack slurred. Mignonette brushed aside his mixed up compliment,
"Yes well...Captain? May I ask you a favor Captain? Seeing as to how you're in such a fine mood?"
"You have gorgeous eyes you know that?" Jack said stumbling closer and looking down in them.
"Captain...I would like to request that you return me to Genovia at once! On your word as a captain and a gentleman!" Mignonette said as she tried not to get so hot and bothered by his intense stare. He stepped closer.
"I'd do anything for you Minnie...I'd even move the stars should you wish..." he whispered into the night. Mignonette caught her breath. No man had ever said such a thing to her. And while she was trying to convince herself that he was only intoxicated and not in his right mind, it was still the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. She gulped and said with strain,
"So...Do I have your word? Do we have an agreement?"
"We have an accord..."Jack said stepping closer and grabbing her upper arms, "In fact...let's seal it with a kiss aye?"
"Wha..." Mignonette started before his lips crashed down on hers. In instinct, she shut her eyes and moaned. It was the most pleasurable thing she had ever tasted. Firm and soft were his sun chapped lips, not too wet, not too dry. He breath in deeply though his mouth and clutched her hair a bit She could taste the liquor on his lips and it was divine. Then Jack broke the kiss, smiled and said,
"Goodnight Luv..." And with that he rolled his eyes back and passed out in a lump on the ground. Still in shock, Mignonette touched her swollen lips a moment then looked down to the handsome pirate laid out on the ground with a smile on his face. She sighed and then gathered up his hat and placed it on her own head. Stepping over his legs, she picked up his feet and began to drag him behind her towards the Black Pearl muttering,
"This had better be worth it!"
&&&
The next morning, Jack groaned in pain as the sun hit his eyes. He tried to sit up and only succeeded in rolling out of his bunk to the floor of his cabin below. Eventually, once the spinning stopped, he picked himself up and rubbed his temple. He stumbled across the room and caught a glimpse of his bloodshot brown eyes. He choked back a wave of nausea to open his cabin door, only to shout out in pain as the brightness of the mid morning sun greeted him.
"Mornin' Cap'n!" Gibbs called in a loud voice. The crew was working and Mignonette cast an expectant and waiting glance out of the corner of her eye towards the captain. Jack winced and shushed Gibbs saying,
"Less is more mate, Savvy?"
Gibbs chuckled,
"Rough night?"
"You have no idea..." Jack said as Mignonette approached him with a cool rag,
"Here...for you're head."
Taking the cold cloth to his throbbing head, Jack groaned gratefully,
"Thank you..."
"So...Captain...Do you remember our talk last night?" Mignonette asked expectantly.
"Some of it...why?"
"Well...last night you promised me something..."Mignonette hinted.
"Let me just stop you right there Luv...Ship's articles, twenty seventh rule, line thirty, paragraph two... 'If an accord is made with the Captain while he is intoxicated...said accord is null and void..." Jack told her. Mignonette's face dropped,
"What?"
"Can't have the Cap'n give away his command or anything like it while he's sloshed can he?" Gibbs added before walking away.
"But...but..." Mignonette stuttered out.
"Trust me Luv...half the time I don't even remember what I said or did Savvy?" Jack said before turning back to his cabin. Mignonette sighed and hung her head in defeat,
"Savvy..."
Jack turned to her,
"Oh and Luv?"
"Yes Captain?" Mignonette said raising her head. Jack gave her a knowing smile,
"First of all...a captain I may be...but I'm no gentleman...secondly...nice try..."
Mignonette gasped in outrage as he smiled smugly, winced and then retreated back into his cabin to fight his hangover.