Author's Notes: Hello all my fellow pirates! Can I hear a whoop whoop? Thanks for the fantabulous reviews, people! You rock! (Hands every reviewer a pet rock) Now you all can name your rocks and then read the next chapter, savvy? When we left off, Belle was tending to Captain Jack Sparrow, who was passed out from drinking WAY too much rum. (tsk tsk Captain Sparrow!) Let's see if he will allow her to come aboard the Black Pearl. Read on, mateys!
Welcome to the Caribbean, luvs!
PineAppleLint
She felt the bed shift under someone's weight and her eyes snapped open. How did she get on this bed? Why, last night, she had fallen asleep in a chair! Sure enough Belle glanced over and the wooden chair was sitting there next to the cozy bed, barren. Something tightened around her waist and her eyes widened. What was going on...
Belle looked over her shoulder to find a very comfortable Jack Sparrow clutching her waist possessively and his chest rising and falling with each content breath he made. His warm breath tickled her ear and she jumped out of the bed.
"What in God's name is going on?" Belle cried.
Jack Sparrow grinned wickedly, his eyes still closed as he stretched and replied, "Ye looked mighty uncomfortable sittin' there all by yer lonesome."
"You insufferable DRUNKEN MADMAN!" she shouted, her face as red as a bowl of cherries.
"Aye," he nodded, "That I am."
She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. If she wanted to become a crewmember on the Black Pearl, she had to ask politely. Beating Captain Jack Sparrow to a bloody pulp wasn't going to help her win a place on this beautiful ship.
"Mister Sparrow," she began with a sigh.
"CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow, if you please," he corrected.
"Fine, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow," she said sarcastically, "I was wondering if I could become a member of the crew on the Black Pearl."
"You? A member?" he asked with raised eyebrows, "I'm afraid not, luv."
"And why the hell not?" she questioned angrily.
"You are a fancy upstanding lady, Miss Gilily…or should I say Miss Blake? There is no need for a snobby woman on my ship."
"Do I seem snobby to you, Mister Sparrow?"
"CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow!" he corrected once more, now clearly annoyed, "Yes. Ye look like the kind o' girl that has been waited on hand and foot. I'm not allowin' you to come aboard for free, ye know."
"What do you want me to do, Captain?" she asked warily, "I'll do whatever it takes. Please...I want to make something of myself. I..." she stopped, looking uncomfortable to continue.
"What is it, luv? Go on."
"I want to find my father's ship," Belle stated, letting out a breath she didn't even know she had pent up in her lungs, "After all, now that he's dead, it is rightfully mine, right?"
"Yes," he said, his fingers perched on his chin, "That's very interesting..."
"What is, Captain Sparrow?"
"Your father's ship, The Rising Sun, has been taken over by rogue pirates."
"Are pirates anything but rogues?" Belle commented with raised eyebrows.
Jack grinned and questioned, "And why would you think, lass, that I would go out o' me way for you to find yer father's ship? Why do ye think I would even help you at all?"
Belle leaned in close to him and said seriously, "I've read about you, Captain Jack Sparrow. You love adventure. Anything dangerous and crude. So I advise you, if you don't help me, you will be missing out on an adventure of a lifetime."
"What's in it for me besides adventure, luv?" he asked suspiciously.
"I shall share the rights of my ship with you," Belle declared at once.
Jack got out of bed and walked up to her so they were standing practically chest to chest. "And, Belle, what happens when we get yer ship, and I decide that I want to take it all for meself? I can sail a ship all by me onesies, after all."
"Would you really do that, Jack?" she asked, hands on her hips.
"I don't know. Do ye trust a pirate such as meself?"
"Swear on your pirate honor that you will not deceive me, Jack."
"That's the thing, luv," he laughed, "Pirates have no honor. We just 'ave our dignity and that's about it."
"I don't believe you," she said with narrowed eyes.
"All right, hellcat," he said with a grin, "I swear on pain of death that I shall not take your ship and captain it all by me onesies, savvy?"
"Savvy," Belle agreed and she held out his hand.
He stared at her hand and his eyes met hers.
"Let us shake on it," she said seriously.
He hesitantly placed his hand in hers and their grips were firm. She shook it a couple of times and let it go. When his skin had touched hers, she felt a tingling sensation.
"Oh hell," she cursed and stared at him.
"What is it, Belle?"
"Nothing, Jack. I just hope that this wild goose chase will work and that we won't die in the process."
"Sounds like my kind o' plan," Jack said and winked.
"There's one problem though."
"And what problem would that be, luv?"
"There's a whole ocean out there. Do we even know where to start?"
They started at each other for a moment or two before Jack finally broke the silence.
"Damn."
Don't worry mates! The next chapter will be longer, I promise. Please review or I shall make you walk the plank, savvy? And I'll throw yer pet rocks to the depths of Davy Jones' Locker!
