CHAPTER FIVE: Hunt the Whelp

Katie was drunk. She'd been tipsy before, but not drunk. She shifted closer to Jack on a whim, feeling that her body was sluggish in reacting to her brain's commands. Jack laughed at her again and put a steadying hand on her back once more, as he had done earlier in The Faithful Bride. She could feel his hand through the dress she wore, and it was warm.

"You really oughtn't have said that, earlier, you know." She told him, slurring her words slightly.

"Said what, love?" He asked her, the laughter still in his voice a little.

"Mentioned the time we kissed."

"I told you I was sorry." He reminded her, sounding a little more serious now.

"Yes but I didn't even tell you off." Jack prised the forgotten rum from Katie's hand and took a swig.

"Fair enough, tell me off, lass." He said kindly.

"Nah." She said informally, and he couldn't help but chuckle once more. The wind blew a tendril of her auburn locks against his cheek and his mind wondered once more to the territory he tried to forbid from it lately- one where he would run his hand through that hair. Or the thick, dark hair of a Spanish convent girl, whose luscious lips would wander across his skin… "You can't forget about her, can you?"

"Hm?" He asked, still deep in reverie.

"Angelica. You think about her all the time." Katie replied. She always had a knack of knowing what he was thinking about, somehow, and he found it unnerving as it always presented itself at the most inappropriate time.

"It's hard not to think about someone when they've got the Goddess of the Sea hanging over yer 'ead as a threat, love." Jack told her.

"It's not those kinds of thoughts." Jack was becoming uncomfortable now, as uneasy as Katie had been when on the subject of her family. He sought a subject change, but one couldn't come quickly enough to mind. "You love her, Jack."

"I don't." He stated, his mouth dry.

"You do. I can see it. Anyone can see it." Katie insisted.

"You've 'ad a lot to drink-" Jack began.

"You should forget about her." Katie sighed, laying her head on his shoulder. Although she was fairly tactile, she didn't usually do this kind of thing and he was taken aback by it so much so that his confession was out of his mouth before he could stop it:

"I'm not in love with 'er," He said, "But we have a lot of history… I can't put that away like it didn't happen."

"So you love her, but you aren't in love with her." Katie concluded quietly, her eyes beginning to drop. "You should forget her, anyway. She's trouble… and you could do better…"

Katie had fallen asleep.

She woke up to find the sunlight piercing through her eyelids. As she turned onto her side, her head gave a huge twinge of pain that made her gasp out loud, sitting up quickly, which in turn caused her to throw up. A pair of hands pulled her hair out of her face gently, a swarthy, strong pair of hands which felt calloused and rough as they brushed her skin. When she was finished vomiting, she looked around to find Jack was the one holding her hair back. Instantly she was horrified.

"I'm so sorry!" She gasped.

"It's alright, love." Jack smiled. "How are you feelin'?"

"Terrible." Katie admitted, groaning. "And thirsty."

"We'll get you some water, love." He helped her to her feet and she followed him, frowning, as he made his way back up the beach towards the town. Although she had definitely been inebriated the previous night, she remembered everything they'd said, or at least the general gist of it. She also remembered trying to tell Jack he deserved better than to love someone as cold hearted as Angelica, but she didn't think it'd come out right, somehow. Jack glanced back and noticed her frowning. "Are you alright there?" He was being very kind to her, whether because of his confession or because she was hungover, she wasn't quite sure.

"I hope nobody saw me… the way I was." Katie sighed. "That'd be embarrassing."

"As far as the townsfolk know, we went for a romantic stroll on the beach and fell asleep in each other's arms." Jack assured her, laughing at the idea of himself being romantic. That would shock Angelica when the news reached her more than the marriage.

"God." Katie cursed to nobody in particular. They reached a well and Jack filled the empty rum bottle with clean water. Katie drank gratefully, feeling it quench the desert in her mouth. She also used some of the water to rinse out the taste of the vomit. She was still quite unsettled that she'd been sick. She was never sick, even when ill- hadn't been since childhood, and certainly not from too much alcohol.

"Captain Sparrow!" A man called, approaching them at the edge of the busy well. He looked quite well-to-do for someone from Tortuga, and this made Katie tense. She was at least enough of pirate now to feel threatened by anyone who might be an authority figure. "Aha!" The man cried, seeing Katie, "This is your lovely wife, is it? I hardly believed the gossip- forgive me," He added, bowing to her, "I don't mean to cast aspersions upon your husband." She nodded, not sure if she could trust herself to speak.

"Yeah, this is Katie." Jack stated, placing an arm around her waist and squeezing playfully. "How do I find you, John?" He turned to Katie now, "John owns The Faithful Bride and quite few other local businesses." He explained, and her reluctance towards the man cleared.

"I'm well, I'm well." John replied, "Our usual deal then?"

"Yeah, have it loaded on the Troubadour." John looked surprised.

"The- the Troubadour? Isn't that Teague's ship?" He gulped at the name. Katie found this amusing because she had gotten to know Teague quite well and couldn't imagine being afraid of him as this man clearly was- but then, she remembered some of the old stories she had heard of deeds Teague had done and realised for the second time that morning that her position had changed enough that she was now thinking like a fellow pirate, not a civilian, and so her worries were very different.

"Aye, that's the one!" Jack grinned cheerfully, and steered Katie away with some vague excuse about breakfast. She gave Jack a strange look when they got out of earshot. "Not many people know Teague is my father- and we prefer it that way."

The 'usual deal' turned out to be that the ship would be loaded up with rum and food in exchange for the pirates frequenting John's inns- and advertising them by word of mouth. By the time they were ready to set sail at sundown, there was such an abundance of food and drink that the huge table in the cabin was practically groaning. The crew tucked into chicken, sweetmeats, fruit and pies with reckless abandon and a lack of manners. Katie was used to this by now and made sure she had a full stomach and made a quick exit. If you weren't quick to eat, you simply didn't.

She went down to the kitchen where Moss was tidying up. When he heard her enter, he grinned.

"I heard you had fun last night." He said. She scowled at him.

"I don't think I would call that fun."

"No, but you'll do it again. We all do it again, every time." Moss smiled. Katie rolled her eyes and perched on one of the barrels standing around the edge of the kitchen. "You'll be back in Tortuga before long, once Jack has the Pearl back. He'll go there to recruit a crew."

"I know. He's already planning it." She sighed. "But it depends on when we find the Flying Dutchman- or if we find it." She had come to learn that that ship was no ordinary vessel- it could travel underwater, appear wherever the Captain wished it, and many other supernatural things besides. Katie had never been superstitious before she went to sea, but now she was learning that anything was possible. The stories she had always disregarded as ghost stories designed to scare children were all true, and so now she accepted everything without question.

"You could settle on an island somewhere- you don't have to be a pirate." Moss said, interpreting her facial expression. It had occurred to Katie, too, that she didn't have to go on this quest to track down Will Turner, recall the Brethren Court and prevent Angelica from summoning Calypso. But something she had no name for was forcing her to stay on this mission until the very end- she wanted this Angelica beaten, at any cost. The prize she wanted- the Pirate Lordship of the Caribbean Sea, plus the power of the sea itself in her hands- it was too high a price to pay for the rest of them.

"I said I'd go, and so I will go." Katie said, her voice sounding distant. Moss peered at her. She was, he had learnt, around the same age as him. It hadn't taken as much time to figure that she was attractive, and he felt he was slowly falling for her. But whenever he got remotely close, she seemed to shut down. She was that way with everyone. He didn't have the secret key to women's hearts or the ability to seduce anybody, and so he just went on in budding but silent hope that somehow she loved him, too.

"I'm sure Captain Teague would keep you around, if you wanted." Moss added, buoyantly.

"Oh…" She knew Moss was right, but she was on this journey because of Jack. Besides she was now an integral part of the ploy, because Angelica had to believe Jack was in love with Katie. The latter drifted from the kitchen then, up onto the silent deck of the ship, without another word. The moon was huge and bright in the sky and as the rest of the crew were still eating the deck was serene, as was the sea. Jack had acted with nothing but consideration towards her since they'd first met, barring the odd daring comment and of course the time they'd kissed. Tortuga had been a weird experience during the day, with Jack touting her about as his wife, kissing her on the cheek in public and playfully poking fun at her.

She hadn't quite been able to relax into the act, however, because she always felt so self-aware around him, especially if he got too close. It felt like every hair on the back of her neck stood up and every nerve-end tingled when he was near. She had been unable to rip her mind away from the memory of his lips on hers since he'd mentioned it, and excited swooping sensations in her lower stomach gave her the feeling that she wanted him to kiss her again… to do more than kiss her…

Katie shook her head. This was wanton lust. She didn't believe in heaven and hell, but she did believe it was incredibly stupid to lust after any man, and Jack Sparrow in particular was a bad choice. He was her best friend in the world now, and in any case he didn't want her that way. He'd told her. Her knuckles turned white, she was gripping the side of the ship so tight at that thought.

"What's wrong, love?" Jack was behind her. Of course he was. She lowered her head, shaking her hair over her face to cover it.

"Nothing's wrong," Katie lied boldly, "I was just thinking."

"I'm sorry if you found me too forward, earlier." Jack said frankly, again demonstrating his ability to always be able to tell what she was thinking about. Katie of course didn't realise she often took him by surprise in the same way. He stood beside her, leaning against the ship, facing her as she stared out to sea. "I don't mean any disrespect."

"I know you don't." Katie replied dimly.

"Katie… you tell me what's wrong." Jack was commanding her now, the ring of authority in his voice. She'd heard it before, but never directed at her.

"I don't know." She sighed, "Really." Jack did something even more unexpected than bossing her around then- he hugged her. In a moment she was surrounded by Jack, the smell of sea salt, sweat and something she couldn't identify enveloping her. She breathed it in, her head spinning. His arms were strong and firm, pressing her into him, and something brushed her hair. She wondered if it had been his lips.

"You'll be alright, Katie. You're brave, and beautiful, and you know what you want. And by God, you'll get what you want, whatever it is. I see it in you, lass." The truth was, she hadn't known what she wanted until that moment, but as she tilted her head back to look him in the face, his arms still wrapped around her, suddenly she found she did know.

Jack gazed down at her. Her lips were parted slightly and her hair had fallen back from her face as she looked up at him and he had the strangest sensation that he was falling from a great height.

"You called me beautiful again." She said.

"Well, you are." He shrugged carelessly. He was just stating a fact, that was all. Katie suddenly seemed to snap out of whatever peculiar mood she was in then and she disentangled herself from his arms.

"Isn't the Flying Dutchman most likely to be somewhere that a lot of people die at sea?" She asked, abruptly matter-of-fact. Jack looked a little punch-drunk.

"What? Oh, aye… seems logical." He agreed, catching up to her line of thought. "We 'ad a good bearing for 'er a few days ago, but of course she keeps moving…" He gave her a weird look and then shrugged, walking a few paces away from Katie. "We're bound to meet 'er eventually, Kate. If Bootstrap's reading the signs… 'e'll tell the Whelp where to meet us." It was not the first time he had referred to Will Turner as 'the Whelp', but Katie was determined not to ask; a lot of the time, with Jack, you would only become more confused by the answer. "Keep a weather eye on the horizon, savvy?"

A/N: I know I've been uploading a lot, but it's all good! I know this chapter ended kind of abruptly, and sorry about that but it was getting long and rambling. Things are about to get dramatic, so look out for that! Please leave me a review and let me know if you're enjoying it so far!