The Sea's Queen stays in Tortuga for three uneventful days – uneventful as things can get in Tortuga, anyways – and Emily finds a small book shop just a little ways away from the inn Anamaria told her about. She can read, though not very well perhaps; her father had tried to teach her and she hadn't been interested. She buys a few books from the shop on a whim and keeps to herself in her room at the Good Goddess. She cannot read very fast, but finds she very much enjoys it.

She wishes Alex would come to find her – he knows where she is staying – but he doesn't.

Her Captain comes to the inn, on the other hand, and Emily is somehow not at all surprised to watch the other woman slip into a room with another female in tow.

Nothing surprises her when it comes to Anamaria anymore.

Emily is stowing her new books in her little corner of the cabin she shares with Adrienne and little Charlie when she catches sight of the white clothing box again.

She thinks very seriously about throwing the promiscuous ensemble over board, but she knows it must've cost Alex a shiny penny. He'll be hurt terribly if she doesn't at least keep it, even if she never wears it.

She stuffs it as far back into her little corner of the room as she can instead.

"Come in!" Emily calls when she hears a soft knock on the cabin door.

She isn't quite sure what to do when the cabin boy, Timmy, walks into her cabin – very sheepishly, of course – with Charlie in tow. The younger of the two has tears streaming down his face and is nursing an arm that is apparently hurt.

"H-he fell, ye see, from the riggin, and 'e says it 'urts, but, well…" Timmy stutters. Emily slides out of her hammock, where she had been reading again, and makes her way over to the two.

"It's your arm, right? Let me have a look?" She asks Charlie in a gentle voice and he nods as he holds his arm out towards her. She inspects it carefully. The skins color is already going all wrong, turning a sickening purplish color. She frowns. "Can you move it much?"

He seems to try, and he does move it, enough that Emily is satisfied he has not broken it.

"Mais ça fait mal!" He cries. Emily can only assume he said it hurts. She grimaces as more tears stream down his face and he throws his arms around her shoulders, looking for comfort.

"I-it's alright, I promise. It'll hurt for a bit, but you'll be alright. Come now! It could be much worse!" She strokes his hair and looks to Timmy. "Where's his sister?"

"She's with Alex. She didn't pay 'im no mind, so I figured it was either you or the Captain, and then I figured… ye were less likely to punish me for disturbin ye…"

"It's dark, what were you two doing climbing the rigging anyways?"

Timmy just shrugs. Emily sighs and, having nothing further to say, shoos him out of the cabin.

"Alright, come on Charlie, calm down." She pries him away from her neck and leads him over to his bed. "Get some sleep and, uhm, I'm sure it won't be as bad in the morning." She tries to tuck him into bed, but he continues to cry and begins to go on in French again, and she finds that she now has yet another reason to hate Adrienne. As cute as Charlie can be, Emily does not like that Adrienne seems to almost assume Emily will take care of him.

Now she can see why her father didn't keep her out at sea very long when she was little. A ship is obviously not place for a nine year old.

They are only two nights back out to sea when a storm hits unexpectedly, a very brutal storm that has them losing some of the supplies they have only just bought – and a few crew members as well – to the raging waters below them.

Emily sends up a little plea to her goddess that those lost will be brave enough to say no when her mother asks them if they fear death. She still doubts that her goddess is really watching, much less listening to her, but she figures it can't hurt anyways.

She is nearly lost to the sea herself a few times, but somehow manages to hold on and pull herself back up, and by the end of the night she is rethinking her previous conclusion. Perhaps the goddess really is watching over her.

"Emily!" The Captain calls to her later that night. The storm has finally blown over entirely and they are now sailing on calm waters; the rest of the crew has finished what repairs they can and is now heading off for some much needed rest as they sail back for Tortuga. "My cabin."

"Aye Captain." Emily murmurs as she follows the older woman.

Anamaria is silent for a long moment, and Emily feels a strange sense of dread.

"Captain?"

"You were friends with Jimmy, aye?"

"J-Jimmy? Well yes, but… were?"

There is another moment of silence.

"He's gone overboard." The Captain says finally, and there is a look of true sadness in her eyes that Emily has not seen before.

"Oh." Emily replies, because she can think of little else to say. She's not entirely sure why the Captain would pull her aside just to tell her this; she would have found out eventually.

"I'm telling you this because I'll need another first mate eventually, you see." The Captain speaks slowly, and Emily gets the impression that she is still thinking over what she's saying even as she says it.

"Well, yes, but…" She trails off as it slowly dawns on her what the Captain might be suggesting. "What do you mean? A-are you considering me, Captain?"

"Yes." Anamaria replies, her tone now matter of fact.

"F-forgive me Captain, but I am hardly… there are other men on the ship who are much more…"

"I know that, but I am not offering this to them. I am offering it to you."

"The crew will never listen to anything I say."

"You will have to earn their respect, then, they will listen if you give them reason to. Do you think it was easy for me to gather a crew in the first place?"

"I am not my parents, you know, I'm not…"

"You chose to come out here, did you not?" The Captain's tone turns a bit harsh. "If you want to be a pirate, girl, then I would suggest you start acting like one. I am asking you to be my first mate. You'll get the cabin next to mine here. It's small, but you won't have to stay with Adrienne and the boy anymore, I know you're not too fond of her. And you'll get a larger cut of the profit we make. You'll no longer have to do such duties as swabbing the decks. You could give that job to Adrienne for all I care." Anamaria pauses for the briefest of moments before going on again. "And if, by some chance, anything happens to me, this ship will be yours."

Emily listens quietly, and she can't deny that what her Captain is offering her is not a bad deal. But she gets the feeling there is more to it all, a bigger picture that she's not seeing.

The more she thinks about it, though, the more she realizes that she'd have to be an utter fool to say no.

"Well?" Anamaria asks, rather impatiently.

"The answers yes, Captain, of course. How could I say no?"

The Sea's Queen limps back in to Tortuga, a little the worse for wear but repairable, and Emily ultimately winds up back at the Good Goddess with her books.

She still hasn't seen much of Alex, and it's beginning to annoy her. It's almost as if he is avoiding her on purpose.

It's always strange, hearing stories about her parents, told in the form of legends that are probably only half true. It frustrates her sometimes, because she knows the truth behind them, has been told the real stories a million times by the very people they are about.

She finds, however, that it is even stranger to open a book, a proper, leather bound book, and find that the stories are being retold inside it. The real stories, that is, with probably only a few wrong details. Much, much stranger, because who else would know so well about all of it?

Who knew that would write a book about it?

She flips through the pages, looking for any sign of an author, and finally finds…

"L. Norrington." She mumbles to herself. Where has she heard that name before? The answer escapes her in her excitement over the book and its contents.

Alex. She has to show Alex.

She's heading towards the Faithful Bride, because she knows there's an inn not far from it, and that's where Alex would probably stay. She makes her way in, slips the inn keeper a few coins so he'll point her to where the 'tall, skinny lad with dark hair is staying', walks the few steps down the hallway to stand in front of his door, and knocks.

And waits.

And knocks again.

And waits some more, but this time she hears movement from within.

And when the door finally opens she wishes she'd just stayed in her cabin and kept reading.

"What is it…" Alex trails off when he sees her.

He's standing in the door way with pants on – and nothing else. She is frozen for a moment as her eyes slide over his strong, tanned arms, bare chest, and the paler skin of his stomach with the hint of muscle rippling beneath it.

He is frozen as well, looking shocked, as though he hadn't expected to see her when he opened the door. Which, he probably hadn't.

She looks back up to him after a moment, a blush creeping its way up her neck and heating her cheeks.

"A-Alex. Hi. Erm, I just wanted to… what was it I wanted?" Her brows furrow as her mind goes blank.

The shocked look on his face fades to amusement as she stutters her way through her thoughts.

"Oh, right!" She goes on, holding up the book still clutched in her hands. "I was just going to show you..."

"Alex, is that Emily?"

Oh, Goddess, no. Emily's cheeks grow even redder as she is caught between embarrassment and anger.

That was Adrienne's voice she just heard.

"O-oh. I-I…" She is speechless.

Alex's eyes widen a bit.

"Emily, I…"

"No. It's alright. Y-you're busy. I'm sorry, I shouldn't've… I'll leave you two alone then, you obviously have much better things to be doing than looking at a silly little book."

She turns and begins to head back down the hallway.

"Emily wait!" Alex calls.

She ignores him.

Storming out of the inn and back onto the wild streets of Tortuga, her first thought is to go back to the Good Goddess and curl up in the room she's taken and never, ever come out again.

Her second thought is to take out her pistol, go back to the inn, and make Adrienne bite the bullet – literally. She actually turns around, reaching for her pistol at this idea, but fortunately saner heads prevail on this one and she forces herself to take a calming breath. After all, she makes herself keep in mind, Alex was old enough to be considered a man now, and if it hadn't been Adrienne he could very well have chosen any other woman around.

She winds up going back to the Good Goddess, but when she gets there she can't seem to rest. She tries to read more of what was in the book she'd been planning to show Alex, but finally winds up tucking it back into her bag.

Before she's even aware that she's made the decision she is headed back out of the Goddess, towards the Faithful Bride. She can't remember seeing the Black Pearl down at the docks, but then she hadn't been paying that much attention this time around, and maybe – if she is very, very lucky – her Uncle Jack will still be around.

She is very lucky apparently, though she doesn't feel as though she is. Her Uncle is sitting off in the corner where'd they had talked days earlier, in the company of a young woman, and it is obvious his thoughts are on the same thing Alex's apparently were on.

Huh, she thinks sarcastically, like father like son. How sweet.

She makes her way over to him anyways.

"Uncle…"

"Emily?"

"Is that a girl?" The woman sitting in his lap asks.

Emily gives her a strange look.

"Oi! What manner question is that to ask, love?" Her Uncle asks the woman.

"A logical one, ye ask me, she's dressed like a boy."

"Aye, but she 'ardly sounds like one."

"That don't mean much. She don't look very girly, you ask me."

"No one did." Jack replies, and he sounds annoyed. He pushes the woman off his lap and she turns to him, looking indignant. "Off ye go, love, I've got someone much more important to be talking to."

The woman brings a hand up to slap him. Emily, having had about enough of this woman already, boldly reaches out a hand and grasps the woman's wrist before she can. The woman looks shocked and tries to pull away but, to Emily's surprise as much as hers, Emily is too strong for it to be that simple.

"He said go away, wench." Emily tells her, and she doesn't recognize the mean tone to her own voice.

The woman tries to jerk her hand away again, and Emily lets go this time, watching as she storms off.

"Well." Her Uncle says, watching his lady friend retreat as well, and he sounds amused more than anything else, not unusual for him. "What's put ye in so foul a mood?"

She thinks of Alex, standing in the door way to the room at the inn, shirtless, Adrienne somewhere in the room behind him. Emily wasn't stupid, and she certainly wasn't a little girl anymore, she knew what they were doing in there, and goddess, did she wish she was Adrienne.

But then, she wouldn't be as willing as Adrienne. She'd be telling him to slow down, blushing like mad, acting like she was still that little girl.

All the anger drains out of her suddenly and she collapses into a chair across from her Uncle.

"I think I've lost, Uncle."

"Lost? Lost what, dearie?" He sounds worried now.

"I missed that moment you were talking about and now I think I've lost him."

"Lost who, me boy? What 'appened, Emily."

She explains it to him, all of it, about Adrienne and how all around awful she could be, about how she'd been moving in on Alex, and how Emily had let her because Alex seemed to like Adrienne. She hadn't thought they would end up, well, like they obviously had.

Her Uncle sits and listens quite intently, just watching her.

"I can't believe I was stupid enough to think he'd be any different than any other man." She finishes finally, sounding defeated, not angry, and her Uncle continues to study her quietly for a moment.

Then, suddenly he gets up, mumbling that he'll be right back, and walks off. She watches him go, a bit bewildered, until he comes back holding two mugs, presumably full of rum.

She takes the one he offers her and drinks from it on some strange impulse. It burns its way down her throat, and she doesn't mind the feeling at the same time that she curses it. It lets her know that she is not dreaming or having some sort of vision, as she has wondered a few times now if she is, and she can't quite decide whether this is a good thing or not.

"Now, listen to me, Emily." Her Uncle says, and she can tell by his tone he is serious. "I told ye that ye were all me boy talked about when he was on the Pearl with me. He fancied ye, and real feelins don't just go away, not ever." He speaks as if he knows, and she wonders suddenly whether he has ever really loved someone. He had to have at some point, she supposes.

"If he fancies me, then why would he do this? Don't be silly, Uncle."

"I'm not bein silly!" Jack replies firmly. "The other night when 'e was 'ere with this lass of 'is, he gave ye the chance to say somethin, and ye didn't. I told ye, didn't I? Ye might as well 'ave given 'im permission to do whatever 'e wanted with this Adrienne!"

"Well, what do you suggest I do now, then?" She replies, starting to feel exasperated.

"Take what you can, give nothin back, ye've 'eard me say that before, aye?"

She only nods, still feeling a bit confused, and it shows on her face.

"Well! If you want Alex, go get Alex! For 'eavens sake, what's stoppin ye?"

"But I can't just… I mean, he's…and Adrienne's…" She tries several times to come up with a reason why she can't do as her Uncle says, figuring that there surely must be one, but she can think of nothing.

He waits patiently as she stares down at the mug in front of her, mulling all this over in her head. She takes it after a moment and drinks from it again on that same strange impulse, the unexplainable impulse to do something bad. Or, at least, what counted as bad for her.

Finally she looks back up to her Uncle.

"If I want Alex…"

He gestures with his hands for her to 'shoo'.

"Then go on and get 'im, with my blessin to boot. Sounds like ye'd be much better company for him to be keepin than this wench of 'is."

"Uncle. Thank you."

"If you're in a better mood when next I see ye, that'll be plenty thanks enough. Shoo!"

She grabs her rum and brings it to her lips, takes one last hearty sip, and quickly leaves. She heads quickly towards the inn Alex is staying at in the hopes that she won't lose whatever courage she's just managed to build up before she gets there.

Alex is quite sure that this just isn't fair. At all. Why couldn't Emily just make things simple? He knew she didn't like Adrienne, but he'd never once thought that the rivalry between the two could have anything to do with him. As flattering as that was, it just seemed ridiculous. If Emily had wanted… all she'd had to do was tell him!

The look on her face, standing there in the hallway… he'd rather die a horrible death than cause such a look to cross her face again. He really would. He couldn't stand the idea of hurting her.

Adrienne, on the other hand…

She'd gotten annoyed when he began dressing himself, planning to go after Emily. She'd had the nerve to tell him that Emily wasn't worth it.

So, he'd told her to go find someone else with a heart as cold as hers to complain to. And she had. Granted she'd paused to slap him first, hard, right across the face. But she had gone and now he was alone and he had no idea where Emily would be and he was worried she'd hate him now and it just wasn't fair.

All of these thoughts are still swimming around in his head when he hears someone knocking at the door again.

He gets up rather confused, wondering who else could possibly want to talk to him and hoping that things aren't about to get worse somehow. He opens the door and…

…and, to his shock, is greeted with a pair of soft, plump lips smashing into his own.

It takes him a moment to realize just who it is that is kissing him. When he does, he pushes her away gently and just stares at her, breathless and a little lost as far as what to say.

"E-Emily?" is all he can manage to get out. Huh. Brilliant.

She gives him a small smile.

"Hello Alex."

They stare at each other for a moment.

"A-Adrienne's gone, ye can come in." Alex finally says in a quiet voice. She slips into the room and he closes the door.

"About earlier…" He begins.

"It's alright. Well, I mean, it's not alright, but I'm not upset. Anymore, I mean."

"Ye're not? Because I wouldn't blame ye if ye were, honestly, I wouldn't, I just wish ye'd told me…"

"Alex." She pulls him closer by the lapels of his vest. "Shut it. I know I should've said something. I am saying something." She places another little kiss on his lips. "This would be me saying something."

He glances down towards her hands, and she doesn't seem like herself, he's not used to Emily being this bold.

She's pulled him in so they are only inches apart, and he smells… is that a hint of rum he smells on her breath?

That would explain a lot.

"Emily Turner?" He says, mock scolding her. "Have you been drinkin, love?"

She grins at him, and he can't quite place why.

She grins at him, and she knows it's a bit silly, but he called her 'love', and her heart sores at the sound of the familiar endearment rolling off his tongue now that Adrienne is nowhere in sight.

Oh, yes, he'd asked her a question. She supposes he smells it on her breath.

Perhaps she shouldn't have taken that last sip. She's beginning to feel a tad light headed.

"Maybe a little, do you have a problem with that, Alex Sparrow?"

"Well, it's hardly for me to say… I mean, it's just not like ye, that's all."

She smiles playfully.

"Perhaps I've decided that being me is no fun. Perhaps it's time for a change."

"Change?"

She grins in response.

"You know, about what you said earlier... I think it's about time for you to say something back." And she brings her lips to his again.

She only half knows what she's doing, but Alex soon proves that he's done more than enough kissing to take over form there, more than he's done with Adrienne just tonight most probably, but she doesn't linger on that thought. She parts her lips when he does his, licking hers with his tongue, and he isn't shy about deepening their kiss as they back up towards the bed at one end of the room. She isn't shy about letting him. Not shy at all, in fact she lets her hands trail down to begin unbuttoning his vest.

He pulls away, the kiss leaving them both gasping for breath, and he stops her hands just as she manages to undo a measly two buttons.

"Emily, wait, stop, please."

"What, why?"

"W-why? Because… I mean, I just..in here..with Adrienne..and I can smell the rum on yer breath, this isn't ye! Emily, stop!" He pulls her hands away a bit more forcefully as she starts to un-tuck his shirt.

She begins to feel frustrated.

"I thought this is what you'd want!"

"What? No! I mean, not with ye, ye're…"

"I'm what?"

"Not Adrienne." He replies feebly. "Ye're nothing like Adrienne."

She tries to back away a few steps then, but runs into the bed, and somehow winds up sitting down on it.

"Not as good as her, you mean?"

"No!" He says, coming forward to kneel in front of her. "That's not what I meant either, ye're better than her." He gazes up into her eyes and seems to beg her to understand what he is trying to say.

"Then why did you…"

"She all but asked me out loud... Ye've told me how dumb boys are, what's the point in me makin an excuse?"

She slaps him then, hard. He rubs his cheek, casts his eyes downward.

"That's the second time tonight I've been slapped by a pretty girl. Guess I deserve it."

"Course you do." She replies, pauses, sighs. "But I forgive you."

He slowly looks back up to her, his eyes sparkling.

"Ye do?"

"Why would I have come back here if I was just going to stay mad at you?"

He relaxes visibly at this and moves to sit next to her on the bed, wrapping his arms around her. She leans in to rest against him, and it feels so natural to be this close to him that she's wondering why she'd never noticed before.

A few moments of silence pass before he speaks up again, gently pulling away to look at her.

"I'm sorry, I just remembered, ye had something ye wanted to tell me. Something about that book ye had."

"Oh! Of course! It's back in my room at the Goddess, I'll go…" She stands and the light headed feeling comes back again, nothing she can't handle she is sure, but Alex notices her pause.

"I think, perhaps, that's not the best idea, maybe ye should just stay here." He pulls her gently back to sit beside him.

"All night."

"Aye."

"With you."

"Aye."

"And just one bed."

"Emily, ye were all set to get it in with me just a few moments ago, and now all I'm suggestin ye to do is sleep!"

She shrugs and blushes, and he shakes his head.

"Why must ye be so confusin?" He stands and slips off her boots for her, then helps her slid off her coat. Then he takes her belt, sword, and pistol and sets them aside, where his are sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.

She can't deny that she is beginning to just feel tired now, so she slips into the bed, and she forgets sometimes how nice an actual bed feels compared to her little hammock.

She remembers, off handedly, that she'll have a bed of her own now. In the cabin next to her Captain's. As first mate. She hadn't told Alex that yet. She'll have to do that. Tomorrow. When she's had some sleep.

She's just tired. She refuses to acknowledge that the mild fuzziness surrounding her thoughts is because of what little rum she'd had.

Alex slips in next to her after a moment and leans in to place a kiss on her lips, nothing like the ones they'd shared earlier; this one is gentle and sweet.

"Good night, Emily." He murmurs before turning to blow out the candle on the small table next to the bed.

He tries to give her some space, situating himself as far away from her as he can on the rather small bed, lying on his back. She moves closer to him and snuggles up to him, taking his arm and hugging it to her as she lays her head near his shoulder.

"Good night, Alex." She replies before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Ok, super, super long chapter, but I got a lot done in this one, so that's ok. A little bit of fluff between Emily and Alex, hope you liked that.

Reviews are always much appreciated – less and less people seem to be reading this crazy story, and I'm beginning to worry if it's maybe not as good as it was at the beginning. I'm hoping to pick up the pace now, though, so stay with me. :)