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Chapter Thirteen: Back to Normal?

Kate had never been so happy to see a pirate ship in her life. There the Black Pearl sat, constricting most of the horizon from her sight, a beautiful and magnificent sight. Nate was rowing a small boat out towards the ship with Gibbs and herself.

"How did you two manage to escape?" She asked the two curiously.

Gibbs shrugged. "It really wasn't hard at all. Once Adger had shouted for his men to capture you, everyone naturally headed towards you and the cap'n. Seemed ta have forgotten 'bout us."

"Oh," Kate mumbled.

"We didn't want ta leave you two, but we knew that if we didn't slip away, the crew wouldn't know what had happened and we all would'a been meetin' with Davy Jones. There was no way we could've held them off." Nate added.

The boat reached the ship and a ladder was thrown down. "Ladies first." Nate grinned at Kate. Kate stepped forward and climbed up the ladder with Nate following close behind. Gibbs gave Kate a wave before he took the oars and began to paddle back to the shore to wait for Jack's return.

Kate let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding once she set foot on the ship. A couple of the crewmates nearby noticed her and greeted her, welcoming her back aboard the ship.

Thinking back on the events of the past day, Kate felt exhausted. "I think some hot chocolate sounds good." She commented with a smile. Nate grinned and nodded.

"I know someone else that would like that idea, too." He replied. They both headed to the galley and when they entered, the two surprisingly found Bigs yelling obscenities at Brandon.

"What do you mean you don't know how to peel an onion! There's nothing to it!" Bigs grabbed an onion and shoved it in Brandon's face. "You peel it!" He took the first layer and peeled it off, tossing it onto the counter and then tossing the onion back to Brandon.

"Sheesh! Someone get me Kate back!" He threw his hands in the air, his back still turned to them and not noticing the newcomers. Brandon awkwardly tried to catch the onion, and looking up, he noticed Kate and Nate. He smiled and abandoned the onion on the counter. "Kate!" He shouted gleefully.

"Yeah, Kate. Poor girl taken with the Navy." Bigs had his back turned and Kate suppressed a giggle as she silently hugged Brandon. She held a finger to her lips and stepped behind the counter besides Bigs.

"You said you wanted the onion diced, right?" She asked innocently.

"Yeah, and add it into the—!" He stopped short once he recognized the voice he had just answered to. He turned abruptly and poked her in the stomach with his thumb. "Where the bleedin' hell did ye come from?" He exclaimed.

"Well I was born in Port Veridian…" She trailed off, jokingly.

Nate stepped forward. "Just got her back. Fought off some ferocious guards to do it." He winked at Kate.

"Mind if I make some hot chocolate?" She asked the cook.

"Nah, go ahead." He waved his hand, still trying to shake off the surprise of Kate being back aboard the ship.

Brandon and Nate sat at one of the small tables and watched as Kate gathered the ingredients and began to make the warm sweet drink. She was pouring the hot chocolate into three different cups when footsteps rang across the floorboards.

"Is there a cup spiked with some rum for me?" Jack asked hopefully as he entered the galley and realized what Kate was making.

Kate merely rolled her eyes and pulled out another cup, sans the rum, and filled it. She brought the cups to the table and set them down in the middle for the pirates to take.

"Aye, guess this'll do." He smirked, taking a cup and blowing on it.

They all gathered around the table and drank the warming drink. Every time Kate drank hot chocolate, she would think of home. Though lately, the lines were becoming fuzzy when she thought of where home was. Normally it was her and her mother and father sitting around a table drinking from large mugs, but now other faces began to appear in that picture. Pirate faces.

Kate examined the pirate captain that sat across the table from her as he joked with Brandon and Nate. She hadn't realized that she had been in her own little world while the others conversed. "Bolton? Oh the pisser. Thinks he knows what he's doing, paradin' around waving his silly sword." Jack scoffed.

"I heard he's better than Thomas though. He was even worse as commodore." Brandon replied.

"Maybe so from the outside, but he's a conniving—"

"—speaking of Bolton." Kate interrupted. "We should put something on those bruises and cuts." She said. Jack's cutes and bruises were faintly better than the day before, but his eyes was still partly swollen and he had a new gash from Bolton that morning. She stood from the table to go gather some medicines from the store room.

"Is that who you got those from?" Nate pointed at Jack's face. He nodded in return.

"I didn't think he'd be that brutal of a guy. Seems like a softie ta me." Brandon said, surprised.

"I may have provoked him a bit. Though he started it…" Jack said.

The others were silent, waiting for him to continue. Jack drained the hot chocolate and set the mug back on the table. "He said I raped Kate." He finally said bluntly. "I said some things I pro'lly shouldn't have about his wife." He muttered darkly.

The two across from him did not feel the need to reply; what Jack had said was justification enough. It was just as well as Kate was heading back to the table with her arms full of medicines and herbs. "I'm not quite familiar with all of these, nor is Bigs. They aren't the same ones I used on the Navy ship." She said brightly, not seeming to notice the silence of the other pirates.

She glanced up at Jack. "I think you need sleep too. Can't have gotten much on the ship the way you were." She reasoned. "Come on, I'll just take these up to your cabin so I can show you how to apply them. Goodness knows those won't heal by themselves and now that I'm back aboard, I have my own duties to attend to."

Jack didn't protest; Kate and Jack both said their goodnights to Brandon and Nate and headed to Jack's cabin.

Once inside the captain's cabin, Kate released a sigh. Jack was taking his boots off and looked up at her quizzically.

"What's the matter now?" He asked warily.

Kate gave a small smile and shook her head. "Oh, nothing's wrong. It's just good to be back." She cleared a small space on Jack's bedside table and set the medicines down. He watched her as she examined the labels of each of the bottles.

"Do they hurt very bad?" She asked.

"No," Jack replied. "Not after whatever you put on them the first time. Just a little sore."

Kate's lips pursed. "Well, we don't have that apparently." She murmured. "But, this should do the trick." She held up a vial contained with something green. Kate pulled the cork off and the herbal smell instantly hit Jack's nostrils.

Kate dabbed some of the goopy substance into her hand and leaned towards Jack, her hands gently rubbing it over his healing cuts. Jack closed his eyes. "This hurt?" Kate's hand stopped until he shook his head that it didn't, and she continued.

"It looks much better than it did." She commented again, just to break the heavy silence. She took a cloth and wiped her hands on it.

She pulled a chair over to the bedside table to examine the other bottles.

"It feels better." Jack brought a hand to his face to feel it. Kate nearly dropped the bottle she was looking at when she saw Jack's bloody shirt sleeve and the gash that lay below.

"Oh! I completely forgot!" Kate took Jack's arm into her hands, pulling the shirt sleeve back to examine it. The blood was crusted and dried over it, so she couldn't tell how serious it was. "We need to clean it; wouldn't want an infection." She murmured.

She fetched a bucket of water and, with a cloth, began to clean the wound. "Tell me if it hurts." She said quietly, but Jack never said a word, just merely watched her as the blood began to wash away.

"What did you do to piss Bolton off for this one?" Kate wiped the wound with the cloth one last time, pulling out a bandage.

Jack smirked. "I punched him."

Kate looked up at him in disbelief. "You never learn!"

"He never learns!" He retorted. "Always talking about women like they're dogs! And you! He always—" Jack stopped short, already knowing that he had said more than he had wanted to. He looked down, away from Kate's gaze.

She was silent as she wrapped the cut. Her hands were soft, and she tied a knot to keep the bandage in place delicately, not wanting to irritate it or cause any more pain. "Well, I can assume he didn't have anything nice to say. So I guess, thank you." She said.

Jack raised his eyes to hers. "You're welcome."

Before Kate could stop herself, before she had time to even think, Kate closed the gap between the two of them and pressed her lips against his. Jack's were warm and surprisingly soft, tasting of salt, of the sea. Jack froze, unresponsive next to her and she quickly pulled away. Her hand was poised over her lips and her face held an expression of bewilderment.

"I, I don…" She quickly stood, sending the chair flying backwards and clattering on the wooden floor boards. "I'll go." She said quickly, not bothering to pick up the chair and fleeing from the room, leaving the cabin door rocking on its hinges.

"Kate!" Jack stood, taking a step after her, but she was already gone.

Kate flew across the deck and to the stairs, just trying to put as much distance between herself and the captain. She didn't know what had caused her to do that. She didn't even know she had had feelings for the pirate. The next thing she knew, she was huddled under the covers in her compartment.

What had she just done? Would he kick her off the ship? Or worse, tell the whole crew? Kate couldn't even imagine the teasing and laughter she would have to endure. Kate simply shut her eyes, trying to push it out of her mind, willing herself to fall asleep so she wouldn't have to think about it any longer.

Uh oh... what happens now? I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. As always reviews make my day. :)

-Becca