Title: Send Her My Love Title: Send Her My Love
Pairings: JS/OC, WT/ES
Overview: The Infamous Captain Jack Sparrow has had interesting acquaintances and activities in the past. This story is of a chain of many events that have gone awry, and come back to haunt him.
Disclaimer: I want it, but it's not mine!
A/N: An all time low – no reviews. I have been informed not to believe that because there are no reviews there is no reading. However, no reviews means that I'm not going to post as frequently, as I do not have as much motivation to write. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have started on this so soon had my muse not kicked me in the ass.
I don't want to sound like a nagging author, so I'll cease with these types of comments for a while, however, do know that I appreciate the reviews.
Oh, and as another little note, since I listen to music during writing these, it might help with explaining the mood if you hear them too. For this chapter, I listened to "Love Song" by Sara Barellies, for the beginning, but for most of this chapter I listened to a song off of the Anime show Claymore, the song is Shoukei and is by Masanori Takumi. (Good luck finding that one!)
For the other chapters, One and Two were inspired by the orignal song, Send Her My Love by Journey. Three, Four and Five were all inspired by That's All by Genisis. Those two are easily found on Youtube if you're interested.
Chapter Six: After the Fact
Where we learn more of Payton's past on the Pearl, Anamaria gets frustrated, Jack gets frustrated, and questions are answered.
Anamaria had thrown up her arms in disgust after a measly forty-eight hours. It had been mid morning when she stalked up onto the deck, and purposely walked over to Jack.
"I can't take it! You deal with that bloody girl, she's driving me insane!"
Jack raised an eyebrow sceptically. "What has she done?"
"Nothing! That's the problem!"
Jack gave Anamaria an odd look. "So ye be wantin' me to talk ta the girl?"
"Yes. I can't even get a name out of her!"
"Ah. That does seem ta be a bit of a problem." He paused, assessing at the annoyed look on Anamaria's face. "So, where be the girl right now?"
Anamaria growled. "Curled up in a ball in the corner of my room."
"What for? What did ye do ta her?"
"I got annoyed, told her to stop being so skittish." Anamaria looked a bit… embarrassed over that detail.
"Ah, I see. D'ye think she'd come out on her onesies?"
Anamaria resolutely shook her head no.
"Unfortunate. Very well, I'll see ta the girl, savvy? Ye get back ta work."
Jack wandered over to Anamaria's cabin, opening the door slowly. There was no noise from inside the room. He peered in, and saw that the girl was indeed hiding in the corner. She had looked up when the door had opened, but hadn't moved.
"Hey there luv. What are you doing?"
A quiet mutter came from her, and Jack raised an eyebrow. He could see why Anamaria had been having some difficulty with her. Jack walked in, and sat down on the bed directly across from her.
"Sorry luv, couldn't catch that."
"I said, I'm not doing anything sir."
Jack raised an eyebrow. She had a very soft accent, despite what most of the English had. In addition, she was going on with some 'sir' nonsense.
"Would ye like ta go upstairs?"
She shook her head violently no.
"Why not luv?"
Instead of answering, she curled up further into the corner, pressing herself further against the wall.
"Come now, we're not gonna hurt ye."
Her eyes were what freaked him out the most. It almost made him back off. Her eyes were so expressive, so full of fear, worry, and pain that he just wanted to leave her be. Emotional women were not his forte.
Jack sighed, not likely that he could give this up now. He held a hand out for her to take. "Come with me luv."
She looked at him, her expression a mix of curiousity and fear. He nodded to her, and she slowly, cautiously took the offered hand. With a slight smile, he pulled her onto her feet, and led to the door. She balked at the idea of leaving the room.
This is going to take a lot of patience, otherwise she'll never talk ta me.
"C'mon luv, ye must be hungry, aye?"
She tucked a bit of her hair behind one of her ears, and nodded.
"Well, we'll just have ta get ye summat ta eat, savvy?"
She paused, looking at him as if to detect any trickery. Within a moment, she nodded affirmative. With a smile, Jack led her out of the room, and called back to her, "We'll be headed up ta my cabin, savvy?"
"D-do I have any choice sir?"
He blinked, it was the first time she had spoken since he had come into the cabin. "Ye always have a choice me luv, but at this point the choice be that ye either sleep in my cabin… or on the deck."
"Oh." He couldn't see her face, she was standing behind him, but her voice was very soft, possibly confused. He couldn't tell.
"I'd rather ye havin' a warm place ta sleep, I don't know about ye luv."
"Er, thank you sir?"
Jack waved his hand dismissively as they climbed the stairs to get to the deck. "Don't you fret luv. Ol' Jack will take care of you."
The crew watched from the corners of their eyes as the pair made their way to Jack's cabin, a few members mutter to each other in query of the events. A moment later, Jack came out, gave the crew a stern look, then disappeared below deck to find some food.
He had left her on his bed, she was sitting staring at her hands which were folded neatly in her lap. She wouldn't talk. When she did talk, it was barely about anything, any of his queries about her history were either ignored, or she'd look at him as if she didn't comprehend. She'd nearly always looked exclusively at the floor below her feet.
She was scared, for a reason that Jack couldn't place.
This will never do!
He didn't even know her name, Anamaria was right in saying that the girl was a handful. He couldn't engage her in conversation. It was frustrating to say the least.
And the fact that she insisted on calling him sir all the time didn't help much either. Made him feel all stuffy and old. It would have to change, and soon.
He'd have to talk to her.
Jack walked back into his cabin with a plate filled with food. He carefully closed the door behind him. The girl hadn't moved at all from where he had left her. He carefully placed the food down on his desk.
"Alright luv, some food. I know ye must be hungry. When did you last eat?"
The girl paused, standing up to move over to the plate.
"I think… a few days ago? I've lost my understanding of time over the last little while sir." She moved to sit down at the desk.
Jack grabbed her arm gently. "Why so long ago?" He asked insistantly.
She looked up at him. "They felt that I didn't need too much food, that it would just be wasted on me sir."
The way she spoke that, so calmly, as if it were the honest truth, boggled Jack's mind. He let go of her arm, staring at her. "And you didn't ask for food?"
"I learned to suppress my hunger sir."
He shook his head, really wanting to go back and deal with the foppish gentry who had obviously done this to her. Instead, he said to her, "Well, don't worry about that now luv, enjoy what ye like."
"Yes sir."
"Enough with the sir nonsense girl! Call me captain, or Jack."
The girl visibly flinched away from his explosion. "Y-yes s- … Captain."
He sighed, this was not what he was going for. "I'm not trying to frighten you luv."
She looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry … Captain." She seemed to having a difficult time grasping the title change.
Jack gave her a strange look. "What for?"
She still didn't look at him, she seemed somewhat ashamed. "For not doing as you wished Captain."
This was really not what he was going for.
"Oh, for the love of… listen to me girl! Ye can't be like this one the sea, ye'll not survive! Learn ta adapt!"
She finally looked up at him, an utterly confused expression on her face. She blinked a couple of times, then said, "What do you mean?"
The first honest question. Thank God.
"As in, you're dependin' on other ta tell you what ta do. Ye can't be like that in a fight, or even in a storm. Ye'll die luv."
"Oh." She seemed so small, as if she had shrunk. A pause. And then, "Well, what do I have to do Captain?"
He sighed. Not what I'm aiming for, but a start.
"Think fer yerself luv. I'm sure ye've done it at one point in time or another, aye?"
The girl seemed terrified by the very idea of that. "But Father said – "
"Ferget whatever he said!" She was taken aback by the volume of his voice, and he quieted somewhat. "It's not helpin' ye much, is it? If it was, ye wouldn't be headed to a pirate, now would ye?"
She started fiddling with a loose thread on her dress – it had been cleaned, as had she, but there wasn't anything else she could wear, so she was left with the rather inadequate dress. "I doubt it… but it's not my place to ask about – "
Jack gently pulled her hand away from the thread, making her look at him again. "Luv, where are ye from?"
"Just outside London Captain."
"Alright, and what was yer family like, class-wise? Lot's of money, what?"
She looked at him suspiciously, after all, he was a pirate. "Well, Father did have a lot of money, but he liked to gamble a lot too. Mother… well, she loved money. My brother, Paul, he was engaged to a wealthy girl, due to be married this summer. My sister, Rose… she's just a child. But Father would insist that we would be the perfect ladies."
Jack shook his head. "Huh. Well, luv, perfection is a rather subjective thing. But that does explain an awful lot."
She tilted her head to the side, a curious expression on her face. "How so?"
"Ye were trained ta say sir, an' never talk, an' do as yer told, an' be submissive, aye?"
"Well, of course."
"An' that be yer problem luv. Ye always did lady-like things, aye?"
"Yes, sewing, dancing, things like that. Cooking too."
"Aye, but all that is near useless on the sea luv." A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. "I have an idea. How about I teach ye how to fight, and ye help the crew by cooking in the galley, savvy?"
She blinked again, rather perplexed. "Of course I'll help cooking, but are you sure I should –"
"Luv, tis up ta you. Do you want to?"
A pregnant pause. Jack silently begged the Fates to have mercy on him.
"Um, I guess…"
"Then we have an accord!" He grinned at her, and she shakily smiled back at hi in return. "Oh, an' luv… one more thing?"
"Yes Captain?"
"What's yer name luv? Unless ye be wantin' ta be called luv or girl all the time?"
She laughed slightly. "I'd be used to it by now Captain. And my name is Payton Dumer."
"Sounds French."
Payton smiled genuinely at him, seeming to ease up from earlier. "Yes, my grandfather was."
"Do ye speak the language?"
"Oui monsieur, mon père a insisté qu'un enseignant m'enseignerait il. He said it was an important part of my history."
"Ah, good ta know then. What else can ye do?"
"I'm afraid not much else, like I said, sewing cooking, I can't read, write, do maths, nothing else of any importance."
"Well, tis useful luv. Don't fret, ye'll fit in fine."
"It's not fitting in which worries me Captain. It's just… I'm headed for Jamaica, to a man I don't know, as property, not even to be married. I was lost in a bet for Christ's sake! It's embarrassing, and highly frustrating. I can't control any of it."
Finally, an emotion other than fear!
"Aye luv, life throws things like that at ye all the time. Ye have to know how ta work with it, savvy?"
"I suppose, it's just so…" She waved her hand helplessly around her.
Jack nodded. "Aye luv, I know the feelin'. Tis best ta make the most of it if ye can."
Payton winced, and nodded. "And I suppose that becoming more independent helps?"
"Aye luv, ye'd be surprised."
She smiled. "Yes, I guess I would be."
Review please!
Just so you all know, the entire chapter was a flashback. No confusion eh?