A/N: Thanx to those who reviewed, you rock! Sorry that it took so long to update, I'll strive to update more frequently from now on! ^_^

Chapter 11

Carmen's POV

It was hard, burying my father. He was a great man, even if I had only met him once. It really was a blur to me. We said a couple words about him, and then we buried him. No one said much, Jack hugged me, Gibbs tried to console me, and some members of my crew tried to talk to me.

Barbossa walked up to me, we hadn't talked in a week, and that upset me. We were best friends, but the age difference was huge, and I just didn't love him. I tried and I tried to force myself to love him in order to end the strain in our relationship, but I just couldn't.

"Hello Hector," I said shyly.

He stared at the ground, "'Ello, Miss Sparrow. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about yer father an' thanks fer lettin' me have yer ship. You belong aboard yer father's ship."

He turned to walk away, "Hector!" I shouted.

He turned around, a new hope in his eyes, "Yes, Miss Sparrow?"

"I hope, well, you know, our earlier discussion doesn't affect our friendship. you're...you're me best friend, and I hope we can keep that relationship up."

He nodded, as if thinking hard, "Yes, Miss Sparrow, I would like that very much. And...I'm sorry that I put ye on the spot like that."

I smiled, and I hugged him.

--

Our plan was to sail to the very same island that Jack was stranded twice on, and have a goodbye party with the other two ships: Hector's ship and Jack's ship. It was a three day trip from Tortuga, and luckily, we had plenty of rum all three of the ships!

On the night of my father's funeral, I was sitting out on the deck of my father's ship:the ship I had inherited. I wasn't doing anything important, just staring at the moon. Then Rags came out. Same old Rags, always looking out for me...

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Ragetti's POV

Carmen seemed confused somehow. I don't know how I knew, but I just did. Imagine my surprise when I found her on the deck alone.

She was leaning against the railing, the wind blowing her beautiful dark hair back. She seemed to be deep in thought, so I turned to leave, but she spoke.

"It's all right Rags," she said, "You can stay. You happen to be the person I want to talk to,"

That shocked me, "Well, what did ya wanna talk about?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, I just like your company."

"Oh...okay. I like yers too," I said, a little distracted, as she had turned to face me and one could look down her shirt.

Carmen frowned, "What?"

I looked at her face, "Er...yer company! That's what I meant! I wasn't talkin' about yer chest! Of course not! Why would ye even ask?"

"I...I didn't ask, Rags," she said, laughing nervously, and pulling her shirt up, "But thank you for tellin' me...even if you did look down my shirt for a second."

I blushed, embarrassed, "I'm sorry."

She laughed, "That's all right. Most men wouldn't have told me and kept on lookin' inside of my shirt. Your one of the more decent types of men."

I brightened, "Really?"

Carmen smiled, "Yes, and any women would absolutely love to be with you!"

"Why? I'm not charming like Jack and Barbossa or mysterious like yer father!"

She reached up to smooth back my hair, "No, you're not, but you're your own kind of charming."

"Meaning?"

"You're cute, and nice. Helpful...and funny...cute...a great listener...and Rags, you are so much more than meets the eye," she said, still smoothing out my hair.

The odd thing was...she seemed to be looking at me a different way. The way I've wanted her to look at me for a long time.

This was my chance, I was going to tell Carmen how I truly felt about her, "Carmen? There's something I have to tell ye."

Her eyes started to well up with tears, "I'm sorry Rags, I'm just rambling on about nothing! It's just...my father is dead, and I never really got to know him, and now he's gone. I'm just in shock."

She started to sob, and I held her close to me, "Sh,sh, Carmen," I said, "Life happens. Things will work out in the end."

"That's just it!" she sobbed, "Nothing will work out! Barbossa, my best friend in the world, is in love with me!"

For a second, my entire world came crashing down upon me, "Oh, he loves you? Do you love him back? Really and truly?"

She shook her head, "No, I don't. I tried, I really did! It's just that...well, he's not the one for me! I need...I need...someone like..."

"Like who?" I asked, my heart racing.

"Like you," she whispered, her hands moving down from my hair to my cheek.

"Carmen...," I started, but she had gotten up so fast that I didn't have time to finish my sentence.

"I'm sorry, Rags, but I have to get to bed, I have a lot of sailing to do," Carmen said, running to her cabin.

Once again, I just couldn't tell her the truth. The most aggravating thing was that I was so close to kissing her! I was hopeless.

I'll probably die alone.

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Carmen's POV

I don't know why I ran away from Ragetti. Maybe it was the fear that I had actually fallen in love with somebody. It could have been the thought of what Jack would do to us if he found out. All I knew was that I was in love with Ragetti.

And I was scared.

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A/N:I hope you liked this chapter, and I feel really bad about not updating in a while. SORRY!!!!!! I promise once again to try my best to update every week! ^_^