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: Nope, none of it is mine. –sigh-
A/N: I'm thinking that it's definitely time to start adding some of my cliffies in here. –grins evilly- I do love my cliffies!
Thanks to Sirenne Claire for the review, yes, it did help with the motivation.
Another note, this story feels really odd with me, because it's rather innocent. There's no death, no smut, nothing… worthy of a mature rating. Now, that doesn't mean that I'm going to bring down the rating of the story, oh no. It means, prepare for blood, death, and other fun things. I'm going to be working my ass off to make this one work, because I think it's one of my best stories so far. It's a lot more… planned out than a lot of the things I've worked on in the past, and the personalities and reactions of the characters I am enjoying muchly. If anyone has suggestions with where to go with this (as in, what type of death, chaos, and/or destruction you would like), please feel free to mention it.
Music used for inspirtation purposes on this chapter were songs from the anime Claymore, two of the more notable were Shoukei and Ooki na Ken.
Chapter Seven: Enough With the Scheming!
Where the women talk, the men get suspicious, and Jack gets odd looks.
It had taken a little while before Jack had decided to extract himself from his cabin. He looked around the deck, noticing the absence of both the women.
Payton did say that she was going to the galley… but where did Ana go?
Mr. Gibbs had been inspecting some lines when Jack appeared beside him. "Capt'n?"
"Mister Gibbs… where did Anamaria go?"
Gibbs looked at his captain, perplexed, but answered regardless. "She went down to see Payton Capt'n."
Jack nodded, then ventured off. Gibbs shrugged, and went back to what he was doing before his very odd captain had decided to talk to him.
It was already past lunch, and Anamaria had yet to come back up. They had been talking in the galley for hours. Anytime anyone went near, they stopped whatever they were doing, and stared at the unfortunate individual, who eventually got so frightened that he would leave.
Jack had of course tried to strike up a conversation with the two females, trying unobtrusively to find out what they had spent so much time talking about. However, his efforts had gone to waste as he was asked to kindly leave. Given the looks the two females had been giving him, he figured that it would be better if he was somewhere else at that moment in time.
He had no idea what was going on though.
Women…
He was sorely tempted to go tell Anamaria to get back to work, but he feared that he'd either be accosted (and likely beaten) by two annoyed females, or that they'd say that Anamaria was helping in the galley. Jack also figured that if he protested that, it would only get childish from then on in.
Women…
It wasn't as if they were allowed to change duties without telling him anyway. But it would seem that he didn't have much say in the matter, despite the fact that this was his ship and he was the captain.
Women!
Even though they had only been separated for two months, Anamaria and Payton had a lot to catch up on. Payton was busy preparing stew for the evening meal while Anamaria sat near her in the galley. They had lapsed into silence after their last conversation
Payton inadvertently found herself thinking on the matter of the nuisance of a pirate who captained the Black Pearl.
He had turned her life upside down from the first moment she had met him. And she wanted to thank him for it.
She never had though. Not as of yet. She was still annoyed with him. Less so than before, but not happy.
But she would have to thank him at some point. Especially since he was being decent for a change. Especially since he apologised.
Payton had told Anamaria about this, and his downright odd behaviour. The mulatto woman had given her a very odd look at this comment.
"What?" Payton kept half a thought on the stew, stirring it idly while looking over at Anamaria, who had leaned in closer to the other woman.
"Listen, Payton, he's been actin' odd since you left."
"Seriously?"
"Yep. All moody, broody, snappin' an' snarlin' at anyone who so much as said something wrong."
A confused look flashed across Payton's face. "Odd… I wonder why."
Anamaria pinned her with a look, and expression of disbelief on her face, but couldn't say anything because at that moment Jack came down the stairs to the galley.
"Alright, that's it! Enough with yer scheming, Ana get back on deck!"
"Aye Captain." Anamaria gave a parting smile at Payton before heading up to the deck, leaving the two of them alone.
"And what scheming are you talking about Captain?" Payton asked lightly.
"Ye've been down here talkin' ta Ana fer hours, not lettin' anyone else hear. Of course ye be up ta scheming or summat of the like!"
She received a glare as she had the audacity to laugh at him. "And what if we had simply been catching up?"
Jack shook his head stubbornly. "Unlikely, given the amount of time the two of ye spent down here. Ye were scheming."
"Believe what you like Jack."
He muttered something about doing that anyway, to which Payton simply smiled, adding some spices to her stew, stirring it again.
"Would you like some dinner then Captain? It's just finished cooking."
He grinned rakishly. "Aye, I was wonderin' what the delectable aroma was."
She blushed, ducking her head. He almost laughed at her actions. Almost.
"Enough with the flattery Sparrow, it gets you nowhere."
He smirked at her, his expression saying otherwise as she blushed yet again, quickly busying herself with getting a bowl to fill with stew. He sat down at the long table, watching her intently. She looked up at him again, and shook her head, her expression unreadable to him. Pouring her stew into an earthenware bowl, she set it down in front of the captain.
"There you go Captain, enjoy." She smiled at how rapt he was over the stew, and she then rang the bell to let the rest of the crew know that dinner was ready for their consumption. Jovial voices approached the galley, crude words and jokes greeting Payton's ears. As the crew approached en mass, Payton gave them a look. They quieted considerably, and formed a line to receive their dinner.
She grinned at them, and set to providing stew to the hungry men, and woman.
A few hours after her meal, Payton was standing on the deck of the Pearl, hearing the festive sounds from the galley, where Jack had decided to allow the crew to have a party of sorts. She could vaguely hear the sounds of music, and strange shanties as the noises drifted up the stairs to reach her ears.
The ocean was placid, a zephyr coming in off the water. Payton sighed contentedly, not hearing a certain pirate captain come up behind her.
"Beautiful, isn't it luv?"
She jumped from the sound of his voice so close to her. She turned her head, and saw that he was standing directly behind her, staring out at the sea. It was like a pane of glass, reflecting the crystalline light of the stars which hung above it.
"Yes… it is rather beautiful." She directed her view out at the sea and the sky again, paying little mind to what Jack was doing.
Jack, as usual, was being his devious self. He had sidled up to Payton very carefully, not wishing to incur her wrath twice in one day. Cautiously, he draped an arm around her slim shoulders.
"Aye, a view like this is never seen on land."
"I've noticed that." She stated dryly. "What, with you marooning me on Tortuga and all that." She didn't, however, try to brush his arm off, and Jack took that as a good sign, though her words did have a distinct bite to them.
"Now luv, I wasn't tryin' ta be gettin' on yer bad side. I just… didn't want ta see ye hurt."
She sighed, leaning towards him. "Aye, I know that Jack. But you're a right pain."
He was slightly surprised by her gesture, but gladly accepted it. "Oh aye?" His voice bellied his curiousity, and mischievous nature.
She looked at him incredulously. "You didn't think I'd be affronted in the least by your gesture?"
"Twas on my mind, er, if affronted means what I believe it to mean."
Payton paused. "Annoyed suites it well."
"Aye, then twas on my mind. However, I wish ta keep ye safe." She gave him another look, but was careful to keep her tone light.
"By insulting my capabilities?"
Jack pondered this for a moment. "Indirectly, I suppose. But it wasn't meant ta be like that."
"Oh? And what was it meant as?" She was starting to get annoyed. He had a feeling that this conversation would backfire if he didn't say something to placate her soon.
"It was a gesture of my concern."
The look she gave him showed that she didn't believe that comment at all.
"At last I checked Captain Sparrow, you found me an annoyance to say the least, not someone to look out for, to be concerned for. Or was that why you made sure someone was watching me, because you were so sure that I'd do something and end up dead?"
That question was definitely a trap. He winced at the accusing accent her question had held.
"Nay luv, ye misinterpret. I never found ye an annoyance. Well, maybe at that start, but, ye'd hafta admit ye were slightly… gratin' on the nerves luv. All that 'sir'-ing, and titles, twas difficult to deal with you luv. I had faith in what ye knew how ta do, after all, I did teach you how ta fight. However luv, I just didn't want ye ta end up hurt."
Payton had pulled away from Jack, glaring at him. "What, so that you wouldn't have to care for me if I was more of a burden?"
From one extreme to the next… What is with this woman?!
"Luv, what is bothering ye so much?"
"What's bother me?! Listen, Captain, if you had been the one who had been thrown off a place you thought could be home, just as you were getting used to it, don't you think that you'd be a mite perturbed as well?!"
He winced again. She was definitely getting heated up.
"Listen, luv… It was more for the sake that ye were questioning my authority on me own ship. I can't have the crew thinking that I'm weak."
"So you care more about your own skin than your friends. Great thing to know for the future then." Her voice was scathingly bitter, it assaulted his ears painfully. It was worse than any hangover he ever got.
Jack shook his head. "Not all the time luv."
"Then prove me wrong Jack." Her voice was softer, pleading.
He wearily rubbed his temples with a hand. The only fragment of a thought running through his rum-soaked head was telling him an idea that was sure to get him slapped – and her more 'affronted' with him.
He decided to go with it anyway.
Jack looked down at her, staring directly into her eyes. With a callused hand, he stroked her hair behind her ear, the gentle and intimate touch causing shivers to go down her spine.
She was captivated by his eyes, captured, unable to do anything but stare at him, her body aching…
He moved his face closer to her, she could feel his breath on her face. It smelt of rum, and something else she couldn't place. Her breathing was shallow, her cheeks flushed and rosy.
He closed the distance between them slowly, his lips coming to rest on her own. An electrifying shock ran through both of their bodies for a split second, before she separated herself from him. Without looking back, she ran to his cabin, closing the door behind her, disappearing from his sight.
He held a hand to lips, shocked that he had gotten away with it without a slap.
What does this mean now?
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