Scully stood at the bow of the ship, gazing out at the clear blue water. It had quickly become her favourite place to go and think, or sometimes simply to escape from Jack. The respite was short lived however, as she heard someone cough loudly behind her. Suppressing a sigh she gritted her teeth and turned round, pinning the culprit with a steely glare. Gibbs, who had been standing nearby tending to something, noticed the growing tension between the two and cleared his throat meaningfully.

"I think I'll just… go and see to the cannon." When he had sidled off to the middle of the deck, Jack swaggered up beside her, considered momentarily, and then began,

"Having weighed up the potential ramifications my next actions may cause, I have decided to give you a lesson on how best to defend yourself, should the need for it arise when we rescue your dear friend Mulder." Extending his arm, he offered Scully the hilt of a sword, his own still secured in its sheath at his waist. She eyed the weapon, a distinctly unimpressed look covering her features.

"Why would I need to use that when I have this?" Reaching round she removed her gun from its holster and held it out. "Last I checked, gun trumps sword." Taking a deep breath to prevent him from losing his temper, something Gibbs had advised strongly against when he'd presented this idea to Jack, he tried again.

"That pistol only has one shot. Not very useful in a battle." Completely nonplussed by his attitude, Scully pressed the catch on her gun, releasing the clip into her waiting hand. She held it up for Jack to inspect.

"Does that look like it only carries one round to you?" Off his look she continued while popping the clip back inside her gun, "Thought not. I'll stick with my own weapon thanks."

Seeing Jack was floundering, Gibbs thought now would be the best time to step in. He hurried over.

"What Jack means is… it's always a good idea to have a back-up."

Scully suddenly cracked a smile. Of course this had been Gibbs' idea.

Turning back to Jack, she took the sword from his grasp, testing the feel of it in her hand.

"When you put it that way, it might not be such a bad idea."

Jack's face resembled that of a puppy who has just realised that another in the litter is preferred to him.

Regaining his composure as quickly as he'd lost it, he began to speak.

"Alright, now we've cleared that up, let's start. I take it you don't know how to use one of these?" Just as Scully's eyes began to narrow, Jack caught sight of Gibbs over her shoulder, frantically waving his arms and shaking his head. He quickly changed tack. "What I mean is, you don't look like the sort of woman..." Gibbs' gesticulations became even fiercer than before. Jack shot him an exasperated look before shrugging his shoulders. "Have you ever used one of these before?" Scully, slightly bemused by the display she had just witness, shook her head. "Alright then, we'll go over the basics." Jack reached down to his waist and removed his sword, holding it out in front of him.

"Shall we move this down to the main deck?" Gibbs suggested. The trio reassembled themselves where there was more space, and Jack and Scully stood facing each other. Jack positioned himself in a fighting stance, sword pointing out in front of him. Scully copied wordlessly.

"Now what you have to remember about sword fighting is…" Jack paused, seemingly struggling to find the right words to explain. "The most important thing you have to know… Basically what you have to do is…" Jack shrugged, apparently giving up on his explanation. "Just react." With that he quickly raised his arm, bringing it down towards Scully's head. She gave a sharp yelp of surprise, raising her own sword above her head, blocking Jack's blow. The blades connected with a loud metallic clang.

Jack's eyebrows shot up in obvious shock.

"You know, your reflexes aren't bad for a mere wo…" The expression on Gibbs' face told Jack that it wouldn't be wise to continue his sentence in the current way, especially not when Scully was rather heavily armed. He swiftly changed tack, "…for a beginner." Scully smirked triumphantly, taking a step back.

"Ok, so now what?"

Jack paused a moment before replying, "Well, we keep practising." Jack swung his sword across and once again Scully blocked it with her own. He repeated the motion, back and forth in front of his body, and each time Scully successfully matched the blow. With every movement of his sword, Jack stepped forward causing Scully to step back in order to escape being cut. With each clash of blades, Jack forced Scully further and further back, until she had nowhere to go and was thus pinned between Jack's sword and the edge of the ship. With a sharp flick of his wrist, Jack knocked the sword from Scully's hand. It landed with a clatter on the deck. He lined the tip of the blade up with Scully's throat, about six inches away from her skin. He grinned broadly.

"While you may have good reflexes my dear, you still have a great deal to learn about the art of sword fighting." Jack glanced over his shoulder at Gibbs, shooting him a smile that left no doubt in Gibbs' mind of how pleased he was with himself. However, he made the fatal error of taking his eyes off of his opponent. The split second was all Scully needed.

With one sharp movement she raised her arms above her head, latching onto the rigging and hauling herself up. She pushed off from the edge of the ship with one foot, using the other to kick the sword from Jack's hand and sending it skittering across the deck. Jack turned, a shocked expression covering his face, as Scully's boot connected firmly with his chest. This move sent Jack flying backwards, landing hard on the deck with a loud thump, winding his self in the process. She pushed off from the edge once more, this time releasing her hold on the rigging, dropping gracefully beside Jack. She removed her gun from its holster and aimed it at his head, thumbing back the safety as she did. Jack stared open mouthed, his gaze flicking between the barrel of the gun and Scully's grinning face. He could hear Gibbs chuckling somewhere behind him.

"While you may have a good knowledge of sword fighting my dear," Scully began, mirroring his own words to her and barely able to keep the laughter from her voice, "you still have a great deal to learn about me." With that she released the safety on her gun and reholstered it, before turning on her heels, snatching her sword from the ground and walking back towards the bow of the ship. Jack watched her go, leaning up on his elbows. Shaking his head, he let himself drop back down so he was lying flat. He raised one hand and used it to cover his eyes.

"If I'm going to survive the rest of this voyage with her, there'd best be a lot more rum on board."

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Sorry it's taken so long to post, but Sirocco's been swamped with work and I've had exams and my first two weeks of work placement at my old primary school so it's been kinda hectic. Apologies but here's more! Enjoy and don't forget to hit that little button that makes us both sooo happy!!

Lily and Sirocco
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