Disclaimer: I tried to lure Jack into my house with rum, but Disney got in my way, so he's not mine.
AN: A little more time in India before they head home, but then they've got to go. Here is Rose's first outfit of the story: www (dot) hinab (dot) com (slash) fmheavy (slash) fh7 (dot) htm. Enjoy, and please review! Thanks!
Chapter 13: Married Life:
As he watched his wife pull a comb through her hair, Jack couldn't help but sigh. Their honeymoon was, as of this morning, officially over. Even though they had been together for over a week, Jack still felt that he and Rose should have another few days to themselves. However, duties called, and things needed to be done before they left for the Caribbean.
'Not to mention that Rose might want to do a few errands before we go,' Jack thought as Rose began draping the veil over her head.
The outfit that Rose had chosen to wear today made her look particularly delicate and soft. The main component of the outfit was a tight, shimmering, metallic-looking sari of a golden-orange color. Over the top of it was a crème-colored shirt that appeared to be made out of gauze. The over-shirt's neckline was V-shaped, and had thick embroidery and glittering milky-white crystals sewn onto it. Technically, there was no veil to go with this particular outfit, but Rose wanted to blend in with the Indian surroundings, and so had chosen one that was the same creamy color as the over-shirt.
"Darling, I swear on all of my plunder that you look good enough to eat," Jack declared as his wife turned to look at him.
To his delight, Rose giggled as twirled around to show off for him. "Well, I'm glad you think so," she replied. "It's not one of my favorites, but I do enjoy this bit of fabric." Her fingers gently toyed with the crème-colored material.
"Trust me, luv, you should keep that bit," he said as his eyes drifted over her. "Keep it for a more private use, as it were…"
"Jack!" Rose cried as she began to blush.
Smirking, Jack swayed up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You know, you really should believe me when I say that you should keep that lovely bit of nothing," he said as he bent forward.
Still blushing, Rose tilted her head up to grant his unspoken desire for a kiss. As their lips met, Jack pulled her tighter against him, his work-roughened fingers gently gliding over her back, the calluses on his hands catching the silky materials of her outfit. He could easily feel the warmth of her skin through the clothing, and it took all of his restraint to not undo the buttons and ravish her right there.
As though sensing his need, Rose pulled back from their kiss and looked up at him. "We really should be going," she murmured. "We have so much to do and only a little time to do it."
Biting back a sigh, Jack released her long enough to grab his effects and put them on. Feeling better now that he was armed, Jack held out his arm with a bow. "Milady?"
Smiling, Rose accepted and allowed him to escort her downstairs to breakfast.
To my surprise, the entirety of the Pearl's crew, along with Nidhi, Padma, Jan, and the Turners, were all having breakfast together. Of course, as soon as Jack and I entered the dinning room, a huge cheer went up from those that were seated there. I blushed and tried to hide behind my veil, but Jack merely batted my hands away and led me towards the table. Luckily, there were two chairs free right next to one another, so we both sat down and waited for the servants to place our plates before us.
The meal was a rather interesting affair. Most of the men wanted to know exactly what went on behind closed doors, and I was very thankful that Jack didn't say anything. He merely shook his head and said what happened only concerned the two of us, though I could see him giving the crew a broad smile. Rolling my eyes, I tried to focus on my food while thinking of places to go or things to see before we left for the Caribbean.
"Ready to go, luv?" asked Jack, his voice startling me from my thoughts.
I jolted in my chair. "Oh!" Looking down, I saw that I had eaten all of my food without even realizing it! "Oh, yes, just a moment."
I quickly drank down a cup of water to keep from dehydrating. As I was drinking, Jack had slipped his arm around my waist, and when I was finished, he practically lifted me out of my chair in an effort to get me outside. I heard Padma call to me, but all I could do was wave back towards her direction. When we had reached the front door, I managed to struggle free from Jack's grasp.
"Jack, what are you doing?" I asked, puzzled at his behavior. "What's wrong?" I watched as he glanced around, checking the hallway for a few moments before focusing on me.
"Sorry, luv, but the crew was starting to ask questions that I didn't want to answer," he replied, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close. "I didn't want to embarrass either one of us, so I got the two of us out of there as quick as I could."
Giggling slightly, I put my arms around his neck and gently kissed the tip of his nose. "You are so thoughtful," I whispered. "How did I manage to wed a man who is both a good man and a pirate?"
He merely smiled and gave me a quick kiss on the mouth. "And here I was, thinking that I must have done something good to deserve a woman such as you," he replied.
The two of us stood there, holding one another for several blissful moments until we heard a group coming in our direction. Faster than I thought possible, Jack grabbed my hand and pulled me out the front doors, dragging me through the garden and the front gate. We ran down the pathway into town, finally stopping about halfway to the bustling port.
While I was catching my breath, I was surprised when Jack reached over and began to urgently tug at my veil and pull it over my head.
"Jack, what are you doing?" Rose squeaked as he began to fiddle with her veil.
"No worries, darling," he assured her as he began to cover her face with the thin material. "I just want to be sure of something before we get into town, that's all."
"Be sure of what?" she asked as he draped one part of the silk over her shoulder. "Jack, honestly…"
"I have to make sure you're covered up in public, Rose, it's part of the custom, remember?"
Giving the veil one last adjustment, Jack stood back and admired his work. After seeing so many women wrap themselves that way, he was quite familiar with how it should look, especially since Rose was a married woman now. As her husband, he had to keep her safe in the marketplace; after all, it was his duty, and it was one he was glad to perform.
"Alright, luv, time to go," he said, offering her an arm. She accepted it, and Jack eagerly led her down into the bustling port market.
He watched as she sighed over one pretty thing or another, timidly picking up pieces of jewelry and examining it in the sunlight. Little glimmers of reflected light danced across her veil and Jack found himself hypnotized by it. To him, it looked as though one of the great Hindu goddesses had come and stood beside him in the form of the mortal woman he had married. Rose's sparkling brown eyes caught his, and he could immediately tell that she was giving him one of her loveliest smiles.
"Penny for your thoughts, Captain," she teased, putting down the bracelet she had been admiring.
Jack couldn't hide the grin that emerged on his face even if he tried. "Just savoring the fact that I married the most beautiful woman in the Caribbean and India, that's all," he casually remarked. He grinned even wider at the sight of Rose ducking her head in a blush. "Now, how about we head over to the spice markets? We probably need a few things for the galley."
She nodded, once again taking his arm and letting him escort her around the stalls.
If there was one thing I loved about the markets in India, it was the fact that they had so many different kinds of spices. I loved to smell, taste, and look at them, admiring the numerous colors and textures that they all came in. Since I still had the task of cooking for the Pearl's crew, it was up to me to try and choose certain flavors that the men would like or would be willing to try in a dish. It took me well over two hours to choose the right mixtures or individual spices, and by the time I was done, we had chosen far too many to carry back to Jan's house. Jack ended up paying a little extra to have a few workmen do the task for us so that we could enjoy the rest of the market together.
"Well, now that we've got that out of the way, what does my bonny lass desire for herself?" Jack whispered into my ear as one of his arms wrapped itself around my waist.
"Hmm…," I replied, pretending to think on the matter.
"Perhaps the lovely lady enjoys gemstones from China?" a voice interjected.
Jack and I turned around to spot a young man at a jewelry stall. Unlike the others, this one had green stones in various shades that I had never seen before. There were also carvings made of red or black woods, all polished to perfection and looking very expensive. Since Father had traded with Chinese merchants, I could easily see that all of their goods did, in fact, come from the Far East. Eager to see things I never had before, I approached the stall and began eyeing everything on the table.
"The finest jade to be had this side of China," the shopkeeper boasted, holding out a stone carved into the perfect shape of a round disk. It was a milky white with a stripe of green wrapping around it.
Jack leaned forward, inspecting the stone. "I don't suppose you have anything a bit greener than that?" he asked, eyeing the merchant and his wares.
For a moment, I thought that the stall keeper looked uncomfortable, but he hid it quickly. "Yes, I do have a few greener stones," he slowly replied.
Reaching down underneath the table, he pulled out a long, thin wooden box and opened it. Inside was a beautiful bracelet of gold inlaid with jade pieces the size of my small fingernail. Each jade piece was as green as any emerald I had seen, and every individual gem was carved in an elegant Chinese design. On a closer look, I noticed that the gold was a different shade than it should be.
"Asian gold for Asian stones," Jack murmured to me. "Asian gold is a different color than European, and the jade is considered a great and valuable stone."
The merchant looked impressed with Jack's knowledge about Chinese materials. "You must be a very widely traveled man to know so much about the Chinese culture."
My husband merely shrugged nonchalantly. "I've been there a few times," Jack replied. "The food there is different, but quite tasty, though I never could understand how they can eat with sticks instead of a knife and fork."
The merchant chuckled and offered the bracelet to me. "It is a unique piece for a unique woman."
Jack glanced between the bracelet and me before nodding. "Very true," he declared. "Now, about the price…"
Before I could protest the purchase, Jack was soon arguing with the man, both of them haggling to get the best price. I watched in amusement as Jack's arms flailed back and forth as he bargained, often declaring that he was being robbed when the merchant gave him a price. Meanwhile, the merchant frequently claimed that he was the one being cheated, his hands often slapping on the top of the table as he tried to make as much money from this sale as he could.
Finally, the price was settled, though I had stopped listening to them long ago. Jack handed over a small pouch of coins and clipped the bracelet on my wrist, officially declaring it a gift to me by placing a delicate kiss where my hand met my wrist. Blushing, I held the bracelet up to the light and watched the sun gleam off of the stones.
"Jack, you really shouldn't have," I said, taking my eyes away from the glittering object I now owned. "It had to have cost a fortune!"
A casual shrug and an arm around my waist was all I received in reply. Smiling, I shook my head and let Jack have his way. I would let him buy it for me as a wedding gift, one that I intended to make up to him very soon.
After they had finished their shopping trip and returned to the house, Jack had the distinct feeling that his lovely bride was keeping something from him. The coy glances that she kept giving him made his stomach and heart flip over, and he wasn't sure if was from nervousness or not.
His uneasiness lasted throughout the afternoon and well into the evening. The only time he had any peace was at dinner, and that was due to the fact that Padma, Nidhi and Elizabeth all managed to take Rose's attention away from him. Conversation with Will and Jan had proved useful, too, and when they had all gathered for evening wine and desserts together, Jack had nearly forgotten all about his worries concerning Rose.
Then, right in the middle of their little gathering, Rose had excused herself and gone upstairs, leaving him alone in the company of their friends. After she had been gone about ten minutes, Elizabeth managed to catch his eyes with hers. Once she had done so, she had made sure to flick her eyes between him and the door, indicating that he should follow Rose to wherever she had gone.
Concerned that his wife might be ill and he had missed it, Jack had hurriedly excused himself from the room and practically raced up the marble steps in an effort to get to their bedroom. When he opened the door, he discovered a vision he would never forget.
There in the center of the room, clad in a most revealing gold silk outfit, stood Rose.
Taking a deep breath, Jack let his eyes wander over her. The top half of her garb criss-crossed over her chest and behind her back, leaving her stomach bare. Her skirt was tightly secured to her waist, but then cascaded down in a shimmering cloud of silk that glittered in the flickering light of the candles. A golden veil was over her face, and her eyelids were decorated with kohl and golden paint.
For a moment, all that the great Captain Jack Sparrow could do was stand there and stare.
I barely kept myself from laughing at the expression on Jack's face while he studied me. It had taken him longer than I expected to follow me up here, but that was more of a blessing, as it allowed me to add the final touches to my outfit and face paint. Padma and I had planned this event while we were going over ideas for wedding gifts for Jack, and when I had said I wanted something that he would never forget, Padma had some rather good advice.
"Don't get him some piece of sailing equipment or anything silly like that," she had said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "You should give him something that he will always think about and remember for the rest of his life." In the end, we had come up with the rather revealing outfit that currently had Jack drooling all over the floor.
Smiling, I walked up to him and placed my hand underneath his chin. "You're staring, Captain Sparrow," I teased as I closed his mouth. "Is my outfit that terrible to invoke such a reaction?"
"Oh, no, luv," he said, looking me over one last time. When he was finished, Jack's eyes darted up to give me a lust-filled look that I knew would soon become very familiar to me. "Now, what possessed you to dress in such a wicked way this evening?" he drawled as he placed his hands on my hips.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I gave him a naughty look from behind my veil. "Well, I thought that I would give you the long-awaited encore to the dance I gave you, all those months ago."
Jack pretended to look thoughtful for a moment, becoming so quiet I thought that my actions were a bad idea. I got the surprise of my life when Jack lifted me up and tossed me onto the bed, making me squeal as my skirt flew up and around me. I landed a moment before Jack pounced on me, a rather excited look on his face.
"I suggest you forget the dance, my dear Rose, as I believe it is time for me to partake once more in my husbandly duties," he declared in a perfect imitation of a nobleman's voice.
I barely had time to giggle before his lips descended on mine.
AN: Okay, kind of a pointless chapter. They start back to the Caribbean in the next one, I promise! I just wanted to stay with everyone in India for a little while longer. Please review! Thanks!