Author's Note: Please read and review!

Jack: Hey, Aoife, what the bloody hell is that out the window?

Aoife: That, Jack, is snow. Finally about time. We usually have massive amounts by now.

Jack: It's so pretty.

Aoife: And bloody cold. (Has Idea) Tomorrow, when I get home from work, we can go sledding down the front hill!

Jack: Fun!...What's sledding?

Aoife: Oh, boy. Just read the story already.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Eight --- Tortuga?

I sat with Edana in the shade of the sails on a coil of rope. She told me in whispered tones what happened before she and Will had come to rescue me. Oh yeah, and Jack too. In return, I was forced to whisper the dreadful details of what had occured in the cell. When I finished, she could only laugh.

"It's not that funny," I protested, finding no humor in my story.

"I don't believe it!" she laughed, trying to catch her breath.

"Well, please do, because it happened."

"What are we whispering about?" Will asked, joining us. He sat on a crate near us and started to sharpen his sword.

"Nothing," I replied, cutting off what Edana was about to say.

"Alright," he said and continued to sharpen the sword.

"Ye know," Jack called from the helm. "Fer a man whose made it 'is business ta avoid boats, ye sure pick up things quickly."

"I worked my passage from England as a cabin boy. After my mother died, I came out here, searching for my father." He waited for Jack to say something. When he didn't, he added fustrated, "I'm not a simpleton, Jack. At the jail, it was only after you learned my name did you agree to help. Since that's what I wanted, I didn't press the matter." He took a breath and then accused, "You knew my father."

Jack, who had been staring blankly at the sparkling water, turned towards us. He considered his reply and then spoke, "I knew 'im. Probably one of the few who knew 'im as William Turner. Most everyone just called 'im Bill, or Bootstrap Bill."

"Bootstrap?" Will questioned curiously.

"Good man, good pirate. I swear, ye look just like 'im."

Will shot up off the crate and pointed his sword at Jack. "That's a lie. He was a merchant sailor, a respectable man," he retorted.

"Put it away, son. It's not worth ye gettin' beat again," Jack sighed.

"You didn't beat me! You ignored the rules of engagement in a fair fight," he protested. Jack, fustrated also, spun the helm quickly around, causing the sail boom to whip around and catch Will off-guard. Edana gasped as he went dangling dangerously over the water.

Jack picked up Will's dropped sword and spoke. "Now, as long as ye're just 'angin' there, pay attention. There are two things that ye need ta know, what a man can do and what a man can't do. For instance, ye can accept that yer father was a pirate and still a good man, or ye can't. And I can let ye drown." Will tightened his grasp on the mast and looked squirmish. I felt Edana shift besides me, uncomfortably, too. "But I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by meself, savvy?" Will nodded and Jack swung the helm back around. Will fell to the deck with a thud and Jack pointed the sword at his chest. "Can ye sail under the command of a pirate, or can ye not?"

As Will took the hilt of the sword, he leaned up asking, "Tortuga?"

"Aye, Tortuga," Jack grinned.

"Tortuga, Tortuga," I sang out. "I wanna go to Tortuga!" Jack glanced over my way and smirked. I noticed and quickly stopped my little song, sticking my tongue out at him. He raised an eyebrow, that stupid smirk still on his face. I turned away and asked Edana, "How long you think it's gonna take us to reach Tortuga?"

"I dunno, ask Jack."

"How about you ask Jack?" I hinted.

"He's the one that hits on you. Now, if you needed me to ask Will a question, I'd do so immediately," she replied.

"So are you saying that Will has hit on you?"

"No, but I hope that he'll get over Elizabeth."

"Good luck."

"Hey, a girl can wish." She left to go down to the galley and find some food. I quietly approached Jack from behind. He heard me but didn't turn around.

"Ye're friend gone?" he asked.

Nervously, I nodded my head, suddenly wishing that Eddie hadn't left me. He looked around the deck but Will had disappeared below deck too. He turned back to the water and stared out straight ahead. "Is there something ye want lass?"

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"What?" he asked, turning back to me.

"Lass, love. You know I have a name, so why don't you use it?"

"Because...because, it's just easier for me to remember than each and every woman's name that I meet. Just callin' ye all the same is so much easier," he replied.

"Too many to count?" I snorted.

"Aye," he replied, looking slightly uncomfortable.

I wisely changed the subject before my stupid mouth got me into trouble. "So, do you mind if I climb up into the crow's nest?"

"I don't see why not, but 'ow well can ye can ye climb, lass? I mean, Keelin?" he corrected.

"Better and faster than you," I betted.

His eyes glimmered. "Ye're on then!" I began to climb the narrow rope ladder as he latched a rope to the helm to keep us from going off course. He looked up and yelled, "Hey! No one said go!"

"The way that you spoke made it sound like we were racing this second!" I called back, looking down as he watched me.

"Ye cheated, ye bloody girl!" he called, beginning to shimmy up the mast.

"Almost pirate!" I replied, lengthing my stride up. He soon caught up to me and then passed by. When I reached the top, he was already comfortably seated.

"Now for me reward," Jack implied, impishly.

"There was no reward set, my dear captain," I replied, climbing into the nest. I found that I could deal with his sometimes overbearing personality as long as he didn't try to push me too far. I found that I didn't mind his sex comments thrown in there every now and again. I found that even though in the movie, Johnny Depp potrays him as a somewhat absentminded pirate, I found that he really wasn't but very fascinating.

"Then, as the winner, I declare the prize a kiss from the loser," he announced softly as I sat across from him.

"I..uh...I don't like that prize very much, Captain," I replied. "It doesn't seem fair to the loser."

"If ye're goin' ta make me call ye Keelin, then ye 'ave ta call me Jack. No Captain, no Jack Sparrow, just Jack," he said, shifting closer to where I sat, my arms drawn up around my knees. "Besides, the prize is plenty fair for both parties." He leaned over me and stared at me. I shifted uncomfortably and turned my face away.

"Jack, I don't think that this is such a good idea."

His hand reached up and grasped my chin delicately, forcing me to stare into those dark abyss of eyes once again. I couldn't move nor could I break contact with our eyes. I felt like I was drowning but I didn't mind. He came nearer and pressed his rough lips gently upon my own, moving one hand to my back and bringing the other to the back of my neck for support. I shivered all of a sudden and I wasn't sure if it was from the kiss or just a dreadful feeling. He pulled away slowly, breaking off the delicate kiss and asked, "Cold?"

"I just..." I stopped, not knowing what it was that I felt. "Yeah," I settled for. "I'm a little cold."

He glanced out over the wood of the nest and peered out at the sky. "We're in fer a little bit of rain tonight."

"How do you know that?"

"Pirate. It's my job to know these things." I nodded and he suggested, "Let's go back down and get some food, eh?"

"And rum," I added, dryly, reading his mind.

"And rum!" he repeated, a twinkle in his eyes.

AUTHOR"S NOTE