Chapter 6: The Hunt is on.

The next day, a search party set out in the early hours of the morning to look for the Tree. Cleo stayed behind, too exhausted to do much of anything. Around midday, she made a trip up to the main deck; her first appearance above deck all day. She looked into the forest, wondering if the party was coming back tonight. The crew watched her closely, not knowing what to say to her after last night. The only one who approached her was Ragetti. He was friendly towards her no matter what she did.

"So, Cleo, I-uh-well, we all heard you last night."

"I'm sorry, Ragetti. It won't happen again…well, I can't say that because it's likely to. I do apologize though."

"It's alright. I was jus' wonderin' why you did it."

"What I had with the officer is no more, and it never will be again. It's time for all of us to move on."

"Oh, I'm sorry for askin' then."

"It's nothing, Ragetti. You couldn't have known."

He shrugged and put his arm around her for a moment, then went back to his duties. Cleo smiled and continued to stare off into the distance. She eventually left the ship and headed for dry land. Her walk took her far away from the town and the ship. It wasn't long until she reached a secluded area of the beach. Cleo waded into the ocean up to her knees and looked out at the horizon. She stayed on this beach until the sun started to set. It was then that she began to gather wood and start a fire. She sat down beside it and watched the sun sink below the water, not thinking about getting back to the Pearl so the crew didn't worry.

Certain members of the search party returned that night, but not anyone that might have thought to look for the woman. Cleo had a reputation for sneaking off and not telling anyone where she had gone, and staying gone for unreasonable amounts of time and coming back at ungodly hours of the night.

Back with the party, Gibbs sighed as he sat against a tree. Jack was busying himself with the bottle of rum he had brought along. He didn't interrupt his friend, knowing how much he loved his rum. His mind began to go back to the night before. The memory of it almost was enough to make him head back to the ship for her. He contented himself with watching Jack drink himself silly. Gibbs began to think he heard laughter off in the distance, and every so often Jack would ask him if he'd heard anything similar. Even though Jack was three sheets to the wind he knew when he heard something suspicious.

"Mr. Gibbs, I would be much obliged if you'd go see what that bloody noise is."

"Aye, cap'n, I'll do just that."

He picked up a torch and went in the direction of the high-pitched laughter. He was quite sure he was lost when he saw the light from a large fire ahead. The laughter had long since stopped and someone could be heard breathing heavily. Gibbs poked his head over a shrub to get a look and saw a woman lying on the ground.

"Excuse me, miss, but me and my captain heard you laughin'."

She seemed to recognize the voice and spoke as if they had been friends for a while. "Well, Joshamee, I'm sorry you and ol' Jackie over heard me entertainin' meself."

"Cleo! What are you doing out here at this time of night?"

"Staying out of trouble…badly. Was playing with a lost officer earlier. They're so fun until they threaten to shoot me for being a pirate…"

"They're not toys, you know."

"They're closer to monkeys, Joshamee. I can train monkeys."

The man laughed and shook his head, wondering how long it would take Jack to finish off the bottle and realize his first mate was gone. Cleo and Gibbs extinguished the fire and he took her back to Jack and the rest of the party. She stayed clear of the drunken captain and plopped herself down against a tree. Gibbs sat beside her and sighed.

"Why'd you do it, Cleo?"

"Why did I do what?"

"Why did you sleep with me last night? Was it because you want to get back at your officer?"

"He is not mine any longer. I would never use you to make him angry. I do truly care about you, Joshamee. I hate that you think that I would stoop so low." She replied, hanging her head sadly.

"Cleo, I didn' mean to make ye think I didn't trust yeh. I wasn't sure of meself because of your recent…er…fallin' out with that man." He said, putting his arm around her and rubbing her shoulder.

The girl rested her head against the first mate's shoulder and sighed. She looked at the totally sloshed Jack and laughed. He had gotten up and started to wander around the camp. It was comical to witness. Cleo stood up and took his arm. He struck at her with the bottle in his hand angrily.

"Now, Jack, that isn't any way to treat a lady. Stop it." She chastised.

"He wa' righ' abou' you, C-Cleo. Yer nothin' but a whore an' yer an 'orrible sailor." Jack replied.

"And you're nothing but a filthy bilge rat, Jack. Davy Jones's Locker'll have you yet, and for good this time! The world'll be a better place without your rum-soaked person wandering around." she replied, beginning to get in his face. Jack's hand moved to smack her, but it was stopped by Gibbs.

"You'll not be hitting her, Cap'n. Not whilst I'm here."

Jack plopped himself down in a huff and glared at the two. "I can' 'av any fun wit' you two aroun'."

"Yes, we make your life so unbearable." Cleo answered irritably.

"Don' be too hard on 'im. The rum's got to him again." Gibbs whispered to her.

Cleo nodded and left Jack to wallow in his "misery."

"He won't remember any of this in the morning. It makes me so angry that he'd dare to try to strike you, even if he is drunk."

"Why did you stop him? There was nothing for you to gain, so why did you stop him?"

"I don' want to see you hurt. I'd not be too happy with meself if I could prevent something from happening to you and I didn' try. I care about you, I guess you could say."

Cleo smiled. "We best get some sleep, Joshamee. Tomorrow, the hunt is on."