The Sparrows |{Jack Sparrow x OC}|

Chapter 10

I shudder, trying to shake all remnants of Barbossa's touch off me. The sun is now high in the sky and the water is a vibrant jewel-toned blue. Years as a blackmailer has made me especially sensitive to sensing hidden truth. What had he meant by my freedom being up to the captain? Jack had never questioned my ability to leave the Pearl freely, and he certainly wasn't expecting me to crew his ship. In some way, I sense that Barbossa is angling for Jack's power, and I know that I must warn him when the time is right.

I snap the map shut and hurry out of the room. When I reach the deck I am hit with a heat so fierce I wonder how the men are doing such hard labor with ease. Sweat begins to form on my forehead and upper lip. I wipe my head and fan myself, climbing the stairs to the helm.

"There she is." Jack nods at me. He is bent over the table examining his map. "I thought you'd gotten lost for a moment."

I edge closer, unrolling my map. He sidesteps, allowing me to slide the map next to its counterpart, the crooked edges joining as pieces of a puzzle.

"How bout that." Jack sighs, satisfied. We look to each other, hope and excitement in our eyes. My breath catches, I can't shake the feeling of the conversation I had with Barbossa. I glance over at the first mate, who is eyeing us curiously at the helm. "Now that we've gotten that handled." I roll the combined pieces of the map together and hand them to Jack. "Show me what you do. Do your duties, today I'm your shadow, Captain Sparrow." I give him a playful look.

He grins and takes the map, his fingers brushing mine, sending a tingling sensation up my arm. "My shadow, eh? Well first I navigate a course, and I've already done that. Now I make sure these lads are doing their part keeping us afloat."

"Well then, I'm your apprentice today. Show me."

Jack guides me down the steps and onto the deck. I watch as men with sweat dripping off their faces pull and hoist and move innumerable things that I know nothing about. Jack glances about, analyzing these things that I know nothing of, occasionally helping his crew with tasks they seem to struggle with. The whole time he is explaining a ship's parts to me. I retain words like starboard, rudder, mast, and keel, but I couldn't point them out to you if I had to walk the plank. I laugh. 'Ha! There's one I know.' I think to myself.

"What's got ya giggling, Love?" Jack asks.

"Oh," I can't help myself from hooting again. "Jack, I'm the child of pirates, and I can't tell you a thing you just explained to me. And the poop deck makes me laugh. I mean why on earth would you call it that?" I double over.

Jack puts a hand to my back and steadies me. "You're right about that. Your dad had to explain the poop deck to me after I misconstrued its meaning, savvy?"

I lean against the railing, trying to contain my amusement.

"As for as your lineage, Floria." Jack pushes a strand of hair behind my ear that the wind had shaken loose. "You've got a pirate's spirit; I can see that clearly. You may not know the bow from the stern, but you've created your own path. You're cunning and quick on your feet. And when opportunity arose itself, you took it. No matter the risks."

I look to the seas below and blush. I feel that pit in my stomach again and my face hardens.

Jack sees it. "What's the trouble, Darlin'?"

I look to him, squinting in the sunlight. "What happens when we've gotten the gold? I mean, will you drop me off somewhere? What happens then?" I ask, concern in my voice.

"Floria, I'll get you to the gold of Cortez. After that day, you tell me where you wish to be, and I'll take you there. You're free, you have my word."

I return my gaze to the waters below and nod, debating whether I should tell Jack of my worries about his first mate. Before I could open my mouth to speak, my stomach lets out a growl.

Jack chuckles. "Oh, how could I have forgotten. Such the host I am I've neglected to feed you." Jack links his arm through mine and leads me across the deck down into the hallway. Only instead of making a left at my cabin, he leads me to the right inside his quarters. 

I gasp as this is the most extravagant room in the ship that I had seen. Candles lit everywhere. Silk white curtains cover windowsills, a grand table in the center that had a fully prepared meal ready to serve. A modest bed similar to mine was hidden in the corner of the room, quite out of place in this mini palace.

"Help yourself, Love." Jack holds out a chair for me and I eagerly sit, taking in the meal before me. And so, we eat and talk, reminiscing about our childhood days, about the memories of my parents. He is able to conjure them more easily than I could, as I learn that he's 5 years my senior. He was my father's apprentice of sorts, learning how to navigate a ship, trading tactics and the like. My father had set him up with a small vessel of his own to begin his life of trading and piracy. 

He informs me that once he had learned of their murder, he came in search of me, as I had been left alive. He followed reports that I had been dropped at Port Royal, quite literally on the governor's doorstep. A dirty, tattered pirate girl with coal for hair and the sea after a storm for eyes, they had said of me. Appalled that the daughter of Jean-Baptiste Baudin was serving a British governor, Jack sailed his modest vessel to Port Royal and waited, as he said, for the opportune moment. Until one day, he saw me, on the beach with an older woman, dancing with the waves, singing and laughing. Living, as he said, like I had been able to find love and belonging. He decided to let me try to build a new home under the protection of the dancing woman undisturbed by the dangers of pirate life.

We talk until the sun is hanging low in the sky, a lazy orange blur beckoning one to rest. 

I tell him about my life after my parents' death, he told me how he became captain of the Black Pearl. I let out a yawn and stretch my back. "One day closer to Tortuga then."

Jack had been lounging in an armchair, finishing a bottle of rum we had shared throughout the day. "Ah, Floria. You'll love it, eh? I'll introduce ye to all the fine pirate folk this side of the East Indies."

I chuckle, easing my way to stand. I stroll over to his armchair, his warm brown eyes following me with intensity. I hold my hands out which he takes, and I help him stand. The musky scent of him and the sweet rum hanging off his breath mix to ignite a fire in my stomach. The deep orange sunset highlights the gold in his skin, the warmth of his brown hair and beard. I let go of his hands and steady myself.

Jack caresses my face, his hardened fingers holding the curve of my cheek with the gentlest touch. "I never stopped keeping you in my sight. Every so often, when I made port on Port Royal, I watched for you. I saw you grow into the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

My heart swells with his words. I lower my gaze and trace his torso with my fingertip, brushing the edges of his collarbone, his cheeks, and lips. Though this man is all but a stranger to me, this pull to him is stronger than my will to be cautious. He shudders beneath my touch, and holds the small of my back with his free hand, he pulls me toward him. "I remembered you. In the earliest years of my capture. I'd lay in bed in the governor's house and your words, your stories about adventures we'd have, soothed me to sleep. Memories of you and this life." I glance around us. "They got me through each day."

Jack angles the tip of my chin upward and kisses me. Not a full-blooded passionate kiss, but a soft one. This kiss is one of remembrance and of experimenting with new hopeful longing. His scent drives me near mad, and I hold the back of his neck with both hands. We both feel a yearning for more, but the time is not yet right.

I pull away and place a small peck on his cheek, causing his breath to catch. "It's good to be back, Jackie."

"Welcome home Floria."