Author's Note: Thanks to everybody that's been reading and reviewing! You can thank a day with no work or classes for the quick update. Thanks especially to Phoenix Moon 13 for your faithful R&R! Yes, your guess was correct on th last chapter.

As always, Norry belongs to the mouse, Kaylee is mine.

Kaylee pawed through her drawers, looking for a dress and having a very heated conversation with herself. "Kaylee Caoimhe MacEwan, you have a big mouth, you know that? You should have known he'd know the Wench, being in his line of work. Do you want to run him off?" She pulled on the first dress she came to, and once she took a look at herself, she groaned. It was her best dress, a green one that emphasized her figure and made her green eyes shine like a cat's. "This is ridiculous! I'm just helping him out, nothing more." Nonetheless, she left the dress on and started braiding her hair. "Anyway, he's a naval officer, or was. What would he want with a barmaid?" She gave herself a quick once-over and went back downstairs. James was waiting for her in the kitchen, dressed in his uniform. He looked at her, taking in how lovely she looked in the emerald green dress, forcing himself not to compare it with the sight of her in her nightdress from earlier that morning. He offered her his arm, and as she took it, he smiles and said, "May I say, Kaylee, that you look absolutely lovely in green. It brings out your eyes."

Kaylee smiled and looked away, trying to hide the blush she knew was spreading all the way to her ears. "Thank you, James. I thought we might go to the tailor's first, since I need some cloth for a new apron, and you certainly can't work in that." She motioned at his uniform.

"Very well, shall we be off, then?"

Later that evening, James was taking his turn manning the bar, now wearing a much simpler suit of clothes, eerily similar to what that blackguard blacksmith had worn all the time, something he tried to keep out of his mind. The less he thought about Turner, Elizabeth, and the whole mess that ensued thanks to them and that wretched Jack Sparrow, the better. Instead, he watched Kaylee as she made her rounds about the room, serving drinks and gathering empty glasses, making conversation with regular customers and having a smile for all of them. She caught him looking, and her smile warmed. He quickly looked away, but couldn't help but smile himself. He could picture himself, for the first time, not drinking himself to death, not returning to the Navy, but staying here and helping Kaylee run the golden Parakeet, and maybe… well, maybe something more. He had to admit he was infatuated with the girl. She obviously must have some sort of feeling for him, the way he kept seeing her looking at him; the same way he watched her.

A grinning Kaylee wandered back to the bar for another round of drinks. "So, James, what's it like being on the other end of that bottle?"

James smirked as he filled the empty glasses. "Well, I can certainly see straighter, but the view is as beautiful as ever." he said as he looked straight into her eyes.

Kaylee blushed, but held his gaze and gave him a wink. "Not bad for your first attempt at a come-on; try again later and maybe you'll fare better." With that, she picked up her tray and went back to her customers, leaving James to stare after her again.

At the end of the evening, Kaylee and James were both cleaning up: James wiping down the bar and tables, Kaylee washing dishes in the back. James finished up out front and went to the kitchen to check on Kaylee. He found her putting away glasses on a top shelf, balanced precariously on a stool and apparently oblivious to his presence. He waited until she set down the last glass before he spoke up. "You could get hurt doing that." Kaylee started, losing her balance and falling off the stool into James' waiting arms.

She stared at him dumbfounded for a moment, then cuffed his shoulder and scowled, all the while turning bright red. "You could have gotten me killed!"

He chuckled softly. "The way I see it, I just saved you. Don't I get any thanks for that?"

"I'll thank you to put me down!"

James gave a longsuffering sigh, and then pretended to drop her. Kaylee squealed and clutched at his neck. "For someone who wants down, you certainly are holding on tight." He could hardly contain laughter at her flustered expression, but he let her go, setting her on her feet. She quickly grabbed for the glasses she's left on the counter and went to step up on the stool again, when James stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Trapping her between himself and the counter, he took the glasses from her hands one by one and set them on the shelf, his hand never leaving her arm and his eyes never leaving her face.

When he had put away the last, he reached to smooth back a few stray wisps of auburn hair that had fallen loose in her tumble. "You told me to try again later. Am I faring any better, Kaylee?" he asked softly, his face very close to hers. Kaylee simply nodded, watching him breathlessly. "I would very much like to kiss you now." Her eyes slid shut and she raised her face to his. He took that as a yes.

aww! Finally, a kiss! I hate to tell you, but things are about to go downhill. Hopefully I'll have another chapter sometime this weekend.