A/N: Another chapter! And it hasn't even been a week! Yea!
As always, no DMC spoilers since I'm not using it in my storyline at all. I am a Jack/Ana shipper, but everyone's gotta trust me as we navigate some rough waters. I do love Ana and Jack together, but I have also been writing long enough to know that conflict must arise to keep the story interesting…especially when you are writing about people like these two. I can't just write about them falling in love and sailing off into the horizon together or everyone would get very bored very quickly. I have a plan, you've just got to trust me…and Captain Sparrow…I'll let you determine which of us is easier to find your loyalty with.
Captainme – I already had most of this written when I read your review so it made me chuckle a little to myself. Things are always too complicated for Jack, aren't they?
JackNanamaria – I think we all have some girl pictured in the back of our minds from Jack's past. One who caused him to become what he is today and make him feel the way he does about love. Madelyn is my solution to that love gone awry. She came to my mind without me having to dig at all for her and I have loved telling their story.
Johnnycakesdepp – Thanks very much mate!
Kungfuchick – This should hold you over for a bit.
An-angel-in-hell – Jack does seem to miss the obvious at times, doesn't he? Or does he just not want to admit what's right in front of him?
Eddie – Yea! You reviewed again! Is it a curiosity for Elizabeth or his looking to deny what he knows he must feel for Anamaria? How will those feelings fuel him in future chapters! Only I know…and I'm not telling…yet…Mwah-ha-ha!
Fredsonetrueluv – Ahhh yes, Jack and the whore…or should we say whores? I'm sure there have been many. Well, this should pacify you for a little while.
NinaSky – It's always good to have a new reader on board! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far and thanks for reviewing!
Drink up me hearties! Yo Ho!
Chapter Thirty Three
Jack sat straight up in bed, the face in his dream haunting him even now that he was awake. He startled Elizabeth who had still been hovering over him. She reacted just quickly enough to prevent them from bumping heads.
"Elizabeth," he mumbled under his breath, trying to bring the situation into perspective.
"Jack, I'm right here," she offered, concerned because he looked so upset.
"Elizabeth," he whispered again.
"Jack, were you dreaming? It's alright. I'm right here."
Jack looked over at her as if seeing her sitting there for the first time. "What?"
"I think you were having a bad dream," she suggested.
Jack rubbed his eyes and a sudden rap came at the door.
"Captain Sparrow?" he heard Anamaria's voice call.
Jack looked around him, still trying to bring the situation into focus while Anamaria's presence worked to clear his mind. He knew what she saw inside was not going to make her happy and he hurried to the door, opening it just a crack.
"Good morning Anamaria," he said, his voice low in his throat as he poked his head out.
"Nuri told me you were on board The Sea Wench early this morning looking for me? Is there a problem?" she asked.
"No, not at all," Jack said, going to shut the door.
"Jack," Anamaria said, putting her hand out to touch the wood.
"Yes?" the captain said, looking up to meet her eyes again.
Anamaria thought Jack was acting rather odd and tried to peer past him into the room. "Are you ok?" she asked.
"Everything's fine. I'm just a bit tired, that's all."
Anamaria took a step forward, "I need to talk to you about a few things. Do you have a minute?"
Jack scratched his moustache, staring down at the floor for a brief second. "Sure," he said, making no move to step back and allow her entrance to his room.
"We're going to need to use your maps," she said, gesturing towards the room.
Jack paused a beat before offering, "I had a very rough night Ana. Can we talk about this later?"
"Actually, it's something rather important to me. I'd like to talk about it now."
Refusing to put up with his odd behavior any longer, Anamaria pushed past him. She came to a halt ten steps in upon seeing Elizabeth in the pirate captain's bed. Jack turned to face her, raising a single eyebrow as he watched her survey the situation. Elizabeth remained silent.
"It's not what it looks like, I can assure you," he started.
The anger that had clouded her brow upon her first discovery now turned to realization.
"This is why you came to see me last night?" she asked hotly, pointing towards Elizabeth.
"Anamaria…" Jack started.
"How dare you set foot on my ship looking for me to fill your bed? And you even asked Nuri where I was? I thought surely you had some sort of problem going on, but I should have known better."
"She couldn't sleep. She wanted to rest in here. We were just talking. We have already been through this," he said, his voice growing angry.
"I suppose for you, not having someone to sleep with is considered a problem," she laughed, trying to mock the situation, but she was angry and hurt and her voice couldn't hide that.
"I don't have to explain myself to you. You disappeared three nights ago with another captain. Where am I to assume you ran off to?" Jack tossed out.
"How dare you accuse me of trying to find someone else to sail with," she shouted.
It wasn't at all how Jack had meant the comment, but he failed to correct her.
"You're the one who left me behind that time Jack, not the other way around. I've never once thought of leaving any port without you." She rolled her eyes at him, "Wow, you really don't trust anybody, do you? I guess that's what happens when you're so untrustworthy yourself."
Jack didn't respond.
"It's good to see you found someone to get out of the rain with last night," she said, nudging his wet clothes on the floor with the toe of her boot.
"Anamaria," Elizabeth started. "Jack didn't…"
"And you even get her to lie for you," Anamaria interrupted. "Now that's fairly impressive Jack."
"Oh come off it, Anamaria," Jack said hotly. "You and I both know what goes on when we come to port together and go our separate ways."
"I get my supplies together and prepare for the next time we're going to set sail. Clearly, you spend your time in other ways," she argued.
"Don't feign innocent in this situation Anamaria. I've seen you leave a tavern to spend an evening with another sailor," he pointed out.
"I have every right to enjoy my time in Tortuga just as much as you do," she threw out, realizing that if it were true there was a certain double standard taking place here. She hated that she had let him get under her skin the way he had. Hated even more that she had allowed him to see that he had gotten to her.
"As do I," Jack said, raising his eyebrows.
"So you do admit…" she began, twisting his words.
"But that is not what happened here," Jack continued, gesturing with his hands.
Anamaria sighed. Clearly they were not going to resolve this argument right now. Especially not with Elizabeth sitting there, listening so intently to their every word. She wasn't even really sure what the point of their arguing was. She knew that she had feelings towards Jack that she not only wasn't sure whether she was ready to acknowledge, but also knew weren't returned or at the very least would never be admitted. She had known that going into her affair with Jack. It was what had attracted her. They shared a passion, a drive, a lifestyle, and an inability to really let anyone into their world for fear of getting hurt in the end.
"Get dressed," she suggested. "I'll be back. We need to discuss our plans for when we sail out."
She shot Elizabeth a sideways glance and let herself out of Jack's cabin.
"Jack, I'm so sorry," Elizabeth started.
"It's fine," Jack said, pulling a shirt over his head. "You have nothing to be sorry for."
She crawled out of his bed as he continued to get dressed.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I'm going to go back to her old cabin. I don't want to cause you anymore problems," Elizabeth said softly.
Jack stepped into her path, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. He reached out and lifted her chin with his finger. "You haven't caused a problem, alright?"
Her eyes met his, but she didn't respond.
"You have to understand where Anamaria is coming from. She's used to being the only woman around. She's not used to having to compete for my attention," he said.
"I'm not trying to compete for your attention Jack," Elizabeth said. "I'm not even interested in you that," she trailed off as the kiss came to her mind. If she wasn't interested in him, then what had that been about? Curiosity? Indulgence?
Jack hadn't said anything, but he seemed to be looking at her as if he knew what she was thinking.
"I'll be in Anamaria's cabin," she said softly, slipping out the door, as he made no effort to stop her this time.
Once she had gone, Jack poked his head out the door into the hallway. Anamaria was leaning against the wall waiting for him.
"I thought you might still be out here," he said.
"Well, I wasn't going to go back out in the rain," she said, pushing past him. "It's getting worse out there, you know?"
"I noticed," Jack said, lighting several more candles around the cabin in addition to the ones that remained lit from the previous night.
"You should be in town, not out here on this boat. This storm might get bad."
"The Pearl is perfectly safe," he said, sitting down at his desk.
"What are you doing Jack?" she asked, her tone disapproving as she crossed the room to join him.
"I'm looking over the maps," he answered simply.
"With her. What are you doing with Elizabeth?" she tried again.
"I'm telling you the truth Ana. Nothing happened."
"It's not even that," she started, hoping that by saying the words she could convince herself they were true. "You promised Will you would take care of her. Do you have even the slightest idea how you might go about doing that?"
"When the weather gets better I'm going to sail up to the new colonies, find her a place there. She can start fresh like that."
"Jack," Anamaria said, "Captain Aquino is talking of sailing to Madagascar and then the Indian Ocean," she paused, "later this week."
Jack looked up at her, shocked. "Is he insane? This is not the time of year to go sailing off anywhere. This weather is not going to let up."
"I thought you just said The Pearl was safe?" she remarked, a slight tone of mockery to her voice.
"It is," he shot back. "We've put into port. No one should be out on the open ocean in these conditions. It's too unpredictable. You know that."
"We could set out once this storm is past. There's usually some time between them," she suggested.
"Who even said that I wanted to go?" Jack asked.
"Come on Jack. It's a new adventure," she sat down beside him. "They're going to put an end to piracy here eventually, you know? The Navy is already out for our heads. They're too focused on us even now. It's only going to get harder and harder."
The captain shook his head. "Impossible," he replied.
Anamaria kept talking, "What if we went somewhere else for a while? Took ourselves off their maps? Let them pursue someone else for a while."
Jack looked at her with doubtful eyes.
"There are supposed to be riches untold there," she added, hoping to peak his interest. "And whatever happened to becoming known the entire world over? The freedom that The Pearl offers you? Are you going to sit here trapped in the Caribbean forever or are you going to explore the world?"
Jack sighed. She had struck a chord within him. He knew that he had grown complacent, the same routines day in and day out and he did want more.
"Very well," he agreed, "but I don't want to put us in danger. We wait until the season has past. We make sure Elizabeth has somewhere safe to live and then we sail for the Indian Ocean. If Captain Aquino wants to leave next week then I'm sure we'll meet up with them someday in the future."
"But we're going to be sailing into unfamiliar territory," Anamaria worried. "Wouldn't it be better if we were sailing in a fleet?"
"First, its not completely unfamiliar territory. Many years may have past, but I have been on that side of the world before," Jack admitted.
The remark caught Anamaria slightly off guard. He had never mentioned sailing the Indian Ocean to her before. It had been a dream of hers for a long time now and the fact that the captain had already been there somehow dulled that excitement for her.
"Second, we are already sailing as a fleet. We would be a hard team for any single ship to decide to pursue.
"Finally," Jack said, leaning forward and squinting his eyes, "I'm sure we're going to run into a fair share of ships along the way. I don't want to split the treasure three ways, savvy?"
Anamaria nodded.
"It's just you and me, mate," Jack smiled broadly, the gold glinting in the candlelight. "We still have a month, maybe more, depending on how bad the storms are this year."
"We should go ahead and draw up a course so we're ready when the time comes," Anamaria commented.
The two leaned over the map, drawing and tracing lines through the water with their fingers until Jack decided that they really did need rum for this chore and moved to the cabinet to bring back two bottles. Anamaria gladly accepted one and the pair continued on with their project.
Elizabeth sat alone in the dark in the small cabin that had once belonged to the woman who had gotten so mad at her presence only minutes earlier. She felt horrible for making things so difficult for Jack. Whether either of them would admit it or not, there was something there between he and Anamaria. She could see it in the way they looked at each other.
She would never understand men like Jack. It was one reason she had been so happy to find someone like Will. He had loved her and only her, deeply and sincerely. He had never looked at another woman, never wanted to be with another woman, and had never given her any doubts as to his good intentions for the two of them. She felt stupid for asking Jack if Will had bedded a whore when he had come to Tortuga. She had known the answer in her gut. Will was nothing like Jack.
Why had she kissed him? It was a question that no matter how hard she concentrated on, she failed to answer. It had seemed right at the time. He had kissed her and she had kissed back. She had marveled how different he tasted from Will, how different he smelled, how his lips crashed against hers when Will's kisses had been so soft, so gentle, so reserved.
Will had been the first boy she had ever kissed. They were twelve and had been down at the docks all day watching the boats come in. He had turned and kissed her on the mouth and it had happened so quickly that she had barely had time to react, much less kiss him back. He had immediately turned bright red, apologized, and fled. Looking back, it had been that day that their friendship had really changed. As children they had had grown up together, played together often, but the older they had become, the more their social classes had started to separate them. Will had always felt below her, never deserving of her attention, no matter how diligently she had pursued him. She had courted other boys, even kissed other boys, but it was never more than a peck, not until she had met Captain Jack Sparrow.
She supposed she did have a few things to thank him for. She had watched Will transform from a teenage boy into a man almost over night and he had never appealed to her more. Plus, something he had picked up from being around Jack had given him the courage to come out and show her how he really felt. Despite what it had done to her social status, she had found love. She had felt a slight twinge of guilt about James. She hadn't set out to hurt him, but he had to have felt that something was missing when they had touched hands, when they had kissed. There had been no spark, no catch in her breath, no pounding of her heart, as there had been with Will.
He had been everything she had ever dreamed of and then, all too soon, he had been gone. She missed him so much right now as she lay on the tiny bed, hugging Thomas' teddy bear to her chest and trying to stifle the tears. She missed having someone to hold her, someone to make her feel secure. Was that what she was doing with Jack? Was she using him? Using him to make her feel better?
And if she was, was that such a bad thing? It wasn't like Jack was going to get hurt. It wasn't as if he was going to fall madly in love with her. The simple thought of it brought a smile to her face. She had needed someone to lean on and he had been there for her. The kiss had simply been a thank you of sorts. It meant nothing, nothing to her and certainly nothing to Jack.
Elizabeth's head was starting to hurt and she wasn't sure if it was a hangover or if it was from all the thinking she had been doing. She closed her eyes and tried to drift back into sleep as she listened to the storm setting in around them.
"What makes you so damn irresistible, Jack?" Anamaria asked, sitting back from the map for a moment. She reached for a bottle of rum as she studied him.
Jack gave a small knowing smile.
"Thirty minutes ago I was ready to rip your head off and now here we are side by side, pouring over maps together and planning our next adventure."
"It's endearing, isn't it?" the pirate asked.
"I was thinking more along the lines of annoying," she said, half jokingly, but more sincerely.
There was a silence between them for a minute, each studying the other in the candlelight.
"I want a compromise, Jack," she started, picking up his quill pen.
He leaned forward to listen to her proposition.
"I understand why you don't want to sail out with Captain Aquino on account of splitting up the treasure three ways and all, but I don't want to wait another two months to set out. I need to go now."
"Why the urgency?" Jack asked, twisting the beads braided into his beard between his fingers.
Anamaria shrugged, "I don't know. I can't explain it. I can just feel it calling me. It's something I need to do."
"Convince me," the captain said, just above a whisper.
"Convince you?" she laughed out loud.
"Convince me," he said, his voice slightly lower as his eyes darkened. He stood and moved towards the bed.
She wanted to laugh at him again, to say no to him, and she almost did. She was so close, but in the end, she couldn't. Her mother had once told her that love and hate were closely related. Both emotions were fueled by passion. For the first time she thought she might understand what her mother had been trying to tell her.
Anamaria pushed him to the bed, enjoying the sense of power she had over him at the moment. She quickly removed his pants, surprising him by taking him in her warm mouth and swirling her tongue around him. It had been a long time since his last proper bath and he tasted salty, of the sea and of his sweat mingled together. It turned her on to watch him wiggle and squirm beneath her and in less than five minutes, through his moans, he announced one simple word.
"Convinced."
Anamaria didn't stop however, and Jack found himself anxious for once to return the favor. With common whores it was different, but Anamaria had done this to him once already and he wanted to thank her properly. He asked her to turn around and he lapped at her anxiously as she sucked on him. Their orgasms came not far apart and the two used the storm to go at each other without being heard much as they had only nights before.
There would be marks later on and Elizabeth would probably have a slew of questions for him, but it didn't matter right now. Nothing mattered except that he was convinced.