Chapter Forty-Five

Love, Honor, and Trust

I own nothing except Melissa, Kate, and any other OCs that I mention.

Kate parked her car in Melissa's driveway the next morning after dropping Will off at work. She got out of the car, her black heels click-clacking on the equally black driveway. She knocked on the door and put her hands in the back pocket of her dark wash jeans and waited for Jack to answer the door.

Right as she was positive that he was ignoring her and was about to turn around, he answered the door. It was weird to see him after what happened on Saturday night between the two of them. Her gaze wanted to wander off to one of the bushes nearby, but their eyes remained locked.

"Jack," Kate said seductively, caressing his arm. "We haven't talked in a while."

He grinned. "No, love, we 'aven't. Care t' come inside?"

"I suppose I should, now shouldn't I?"

She stepped into the foyer, her eyes still on Jack.

"Now, darlin'," Jack said, putting a hand on her neck. "The couch isn't all that comfortable..."

"It's alright..."

Their lips got closer until Kate decided now would the perfect time to slap him.

"You jackass!" she yelled.

Jack put a hand on his cheek. "Not so sure I deserved that..."

"Oh, yes, you did! You kissed me and took my shirt off! You almost seduced me!"

"You kissed me, too. And it was a good kiss if I may say so."

Kate narrowed her eyes. "You took my shirt off and tried to seduce me," she said through gritted teeth.

"Yes I did. Because you and I both wanted something that was worth trading, aye? Ye wanted freedom, I wanted you. I was willin' t' trade Melissa fer ye, and ye were willin' t' trade dear William for Captain Jack. And judging by your singleness, ye did decide t' trade."

"I was not willing to trade, nor did I."

"Ah, so he forgave you." Jack sat down.

"No. He thinks we can work it out, though."

"So dear William is not pleased with you."

"No, Jack, he's ecstatic that I cheated on him with you." She sat on the opposite end of the couch as him and took off her shoes. "He said our only hope is couple's counseling, so I'm going to it with him."

He gave Kate a puzzled look.

"Never mind. I didn't expect you to get it." She crossed her legs. "Did Melissa forgive you yet?"

"She's angry and refuses t' talk t' me."

"No surprise."

"What about William? Is he talking to you?"

"All we do is argue now. We argue at couples counseling, we argue in the car...that's basically the only time we talk."

"Ya know...if things don't work out between ye and William and things don't work out between me and Melissa...we could do a trade-off."

"I thought you wanted her to forgive you."

"Think 'bout it, though," Jack said. "The Whelp and Melissa'd make a good match. They're both sensitive...both faithful...wouldn't have to worry 'bout pressurin' th' other one, if ya know what I mean."

"Don't even try it, Jack," she said. "I'm not interested in you anymore."

And that was the truth. Jack did nothing for her anymore, which she was glad for.

"We're not so different you and I...I and you...us. You want your freedom, I can give it to you. We'll leave behind ol' Minnesota 'n' travel the wo'ld. Go to the Caribbean, lay on a beach and drink some rum...have a campfire together. And me bein' a captain of a ship, I could perform a wedding right 'ere, right now. Jack Sparrow, do you take this woman to be yer lawfully wedded wife? Oh, yes, self, I do. See? It works just fine!"

"No, thank you. I have my freedom, though. I was just too blind to see that it was right in front of me."

Kate had realized that Will was her freedom. Together they could do anything. He loved her for her and didn't want to change a thing about her. She could say whatever she wanted with him and feel whatever she wanted...wasn't that what she wanted?

Kate shifted her body towards him and put her feet on the middle cushion. "Things would never have worked out between us, Jack."

His brown eyes revealed a slight sense of loss. "You keep telling yerself that, darlin'."

Kate told herself that he was playing mind games with her. She repeated in her head that Will and her were meant to be – and she believed it.

"I still want to be friends, though," she said, "if it's alright with you."

"It'd be my pleasure, love."

"That means I'll still do crazy things with you like get my first tattoo."

"The one that signifies that you can do better?"

"I tend to look at it as symbolizing love, honor, and trust now. And you're getting one with me."

"Oh, I am now, am I?"

"Yes, you are. You'll be coming with me. I'll be needing to hold your hand. I don't know my pain tolerance with tattooing, after all."

In the friendliest way possible, Kate took Jack's hand that was resting on the top of the sofa and held it.

"I guess I'm obliged to go, aren't I?"

Kate nodded. "I'd say you are."

After a moment, she let go of his hand and put her heels back on. "I should get going."

"Leavin' so soon?"

She gave a small smile and stood up. "Yeah."

With heels, she was eye level with Jack, who stood up with her. "Jack? Promise me something?"

"Depends on what the promisee wants the promiser to promise."

"Don't break Melissa's heart." She paused. "She really cares about you."

He smiled. "I'll try."

"No, Jack. Promise me."

He looked her straight in the eye. "I promise."

Kate smiled. "Thank you." She went down the hallway to the stairs.

"Oi! You!" Jack said.

Kate turned around. "I have a name, you know."

"I know, Katie...Katherine...Kate..."

"It's Kate."

And with that, Kate left Jack, once and for all.

Jack saw a sparrow come up to the window at 11:30, hopping around on the little rocks outside of the window. Slowly, it came onto the windowsill and looked in at Jack.

He got off of the sofa and opened the window and put his elbows on the windowsill. "Oi! Sparrow! Go t' Melissa again! Annoy 'er! 'Ave 'er know it's from me!"

The bird cocked it's head to one side, as if genuinely confused.

"Well, don't just stand there! Go!" He waved his hands off to encourage it to go.

This sparrow flew away. Jack sat back down on the couch.

That was nice of Kate to visit Jack – not nice at first of course, with her acting like she was going to kiss him again (which he would be opposed to, it's just a kiss!) and then slapping him. Which, if he thought about, he sort of deserved. He did, in a way, steal Kate from Will.

But she was supposed to resist – mistake on her part!

Regardless, it sounded like Kate and Will were making amends and there was going to be no Jack and Kate, not when Melissa was crazy over Jack, and he was doing everything he could to get her back.

Sending another sparrow might help, too.

Melissa took her lunch break outside, since no one was scheduled to show up for another hour or so. She went outside and sat on the steps again, munching on a turkey sandwich, with lettuce and cheese in it.

It was hot and humid out today, a little more cool in the shade. Storm clouds were rolling in. It'd probably be raining in an hour or so.

Melissa saw a bird moving in the trees, she looked at it (since there was nothing better to look at) and saw that it flew down and landed on the rocks.

Either Melissa was going crazy or Jack had sent the same sparrow to watch her. She sighed. She was definitely losing it.

The bird went up to her and started chirping.

"What?" she asked it. "Did Jack tell you to come again and drive me crazy?"

The bird chirped again and started going for her sandwich.

She sighed and tore off a small part. "Now, go tell Jack to stop sending you. Okay?"

The bird didn't budge.

"Go on, sparrow. Tell Jack that."

The sparrow stayed. He started eating at his part of the sandwich he was given.

"You know," she said to the sparrow, "Jack's not that bad of a person. He's good, actually. He just makes some mistakes. But we all do, don't we? And we all deserve to be forgiven..." She sighed. "I'm talking to a bird about my problems. Yeah, that sounds very sane."

The bird stopped eating the sandwich and looked up at her.

"Don't rub it in."

Kate's Blog Entry

I talked to Jack. We're friends. We're cool. It was a good talk. I'm really glad we had it.

XOXO,

Kate

Melissa's Blog Entry

Jack sent that sparrow again!! Why does he keep doing that? I mean, it's kind of cute...What Jack does, I mean. Not the bird. Well, it's kind of cute, too.

Love,

Melissa Rose