Chapter 21: Daylight

The moment Elizabeth was strong enough in mindset to open her eyes, the glaring, forever taunting sun was waiting for her. This though was more comfortably accepted than most other mornings, for while the sun reminded her that she could no longer hide her doings in the darkness, it also warmed her in ways that another had left to be forgotten. Jack was not there and judging by the noise emitting from behind the doors of the cabin, he was occupied with more important duties than her. And for this, she was most pleased. It was this part of her Captain, the part that remained honest and responsible to his ship, to the seas, that made her fall for him so.

She lay naked in a tangle of sheets, staring out of the distant glass at a blurred horizon, calculating the steps it would take to wake fully, dress in whatever she could find, and go about her own expectations on the deck. She was after all, still part of the crew first and foremost, whether she slept with its leader or not. Reaching for a discarded shirt at the edge of the bed, she sat up to see another material covering the back of a close wooden chair, something not so similar at all. As she slipped from the bed, the wrinkled sheet twisted about her tiny form, she walked over to see that it was in fact the worst of all possibilities. A dress, not long, and certainly not handsome, but more feminine than her other options. Jack had been behind its placement; she was sure of it.

"So thoughtful Jack…" she laughed, walking back towards the bed for the aged tunic and a pair of pants she found draped on a nearby table. He would just have to deal with her fondness of gentleman's clothes over open waters.

After she was dressed, she grabbed a stemmed handful of grapes from a bowl in the center of his charting table, and then proceeded for the large French doorway, wherein sat a pair of smaller, broken in boots. She smiled and tugged them on lastly before pushing her way outside in the full scan of brightness, of Florida heat. It was windy, but not quite enough. Instead, the weather was teasing, a few clouds high overhead with mostly the chance of sun throughout the day. She was greeted by a few passing crewman, one with a mop, another with misplaced lines, all of them consistent with smiles as she returned with the same, popping grapes in her mouth one at a time. Once in the middle of the deck, a foot or so from the infamous mast, she spun on her heels to look directly into the sun's rays, catching the formation of men at the wheel, arguing over something important most assuredly. Barbossa waved charts in Jack's face, while his silent replies angered the older pirate further, with Gibbs too, standing near Cotton in disagreement over a plan being concocted. It intrigued her for all of a minute, before she saw Jack's face and glance turn down towards her with a glowing interest, and then, as quickly as she had caught his eyes, she circled back to her previous path across the deck.

Ignore him until it becomes absolutely necessary to speak…she told herself again and again, greeting more of the crew with nervous nodding, and heading off towards the bow of the ship aimlessly, eating grapes and taking inventory of needed work. Sand down the splintered wood on the rails…re-patch the high sail…repair that damned leak above my cabin…she paused after a quick step brought her to the leveled upper deck of the bow, in complete solemnity. The shoreline stretching out ahead of her was a wondrous thing to behold, its white beach traced by the greenery she remembered from the day before. In the back of her mind, sat the thoughts of the sketched stones she had found, the cave, and all that it could hold inside had she not been so timid to investigate alone. Perhaps, she wondered, it was something she had subconsciously imagined sharing with Jack, and going in alone would hinder such an experience. Perhaps only…

Nibbling on another sweetened grape, the juice of such coating her thirsty lips in the sun, Elizabeth realized the restlessness in her feet, in her spirit. She had no honest intention of staying on board during the day, especially not when the shore, the land's treasures were calling her. Moving to lean against the railing, she peered down to see a still half lowered dinghy, unoccupied and without supervision. Her fascination overtook her completely, the schemes filling her head without ever giving her the insight as to anyone approaching.

His sauntering was silent in the breeze, his sway in tune with the movement of her hips as they brushed against the railing. The dress had not peaked her interest, as he so had bet on. Although, Jack could not admit to be any bit disappointed by it, for the soft cotton of her pants, his pants, fit her in all of the appropriate, inquisitive places from behind and he was certain from the front as well. Smiling wickedly, he kept his hands at his sides, forcing away the temptation to grab at whatever he wished, and instead came in closer to where she stood, unknowledgeable of his presence, and gently leaned his chest into her half tilted back over the railing. She jumped at his touch, but only enough to excite him more in the matter of his interest. His hands came around her form to settle on either side of where her body pressed into the wooden barrier. His nose found itself engulfed by the scent of wild jasmine and salt water from her yellow curls. His finger wound about the loose strands where they settled on her fragile shoulder, unconcerned over any nearby audience.

"Have you nothing better to accomplish this morning than scaring me?"

"I ave' plenty to accomplish." He whispered back in her ear as her body trembled with a strange, newly confident delight. "All involving ye."

"Oh, I see." Elizabeth turned away from the water to face him, his arms falling down and back to his side, and yet he kept her pinned from moving beyond his eyes. They spoke mountains to her, although the comprehension was lost by his scent, burning and raw, by his smile as torrid as it was. The position filtered through her mind in fearful familiarity, but she ignored this for the temptation of his body heat covering her in the already sweltering sun.

"May I?" He asked, gesturing down to the grapes still in her hand. A brief nod gave him the right, as he snagged one quickly and tossed it into his mouth, smiling through the process of chewing even. His eyes frightened her, the flames subsiding in them so indifferent from the night before, or even the day prior. It was desperation, an anxious need to do, and find, and possibly even embark. It was the fire that men spoke of in taverns across the seven parting seas, a burning glow that was said to have wavered every so often through Jack Sparrow, when he was at the zenith of defiance, of capability. It was his lust for eternity, for the discovery of the fountain.

Finally, at the insistence of her own curiosity, she asked him, "Have you planned to go ashore?"

His brow twisted down with a crooked grin as he saw the hopefulness in her eyes, and replied simply. "Shortly, yes."

"Are you going to extend an offer for me to join you?" Without responding, she leaned back against the rail with her hips extended in his direction, all too alluring. "Or shall I go alone…and be the first to the fountain of my own accord?"

"Immense confidence befits you, Lizzie."

She laughed softly and stood tall to the height of his neck again. "Do not take the warning so lightly. I have rather excellent routing skills. For if you recall…" her hand moved through the open space between them to tug at one of his beaded dingles humorously. "…it is I who located the cave first."

"And so 'twas. Of which the information was found t' be shared between rap'trous dealings of two rogues."

"Meaning you and I, supposedly of course?"

"Us, indeed."

"Have we become one entity since the previous night?"

"Well not in current circumstances, love." He chuckled handsomely and tilted his head into the touch of her hand on his chin, as he neared her with the heat of his mouth. "But there be a decent amount o' time for such…if ye will so indulge it?"

Shaking her head at him as his lips came within an inch of her own, she pushed him back away with a smile, and turned onto the toes of her boots, walking back in the direction she had originally come from. She flipped her head back with a quick notation of hilarity, "That is no way to speak to a lady, Captain Sparrow." His mouth hung open with the distress of being disappointed as he watched the grapes sway in her grasp, her body meander through working crewman, all in haste for the waiting rowboat being loaded.

Re-gaining his own reality, he leapt at the chance to follow her off, his eyes burning with the view as he reached out for the last word in their entertaining debate, "I see only th' swagger of a rather enticing pirate before me…"

And so he always had.