A Pirate's Love

Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Madeline stiffened. She slowly approached him. "I wasn't eavesdropping Captain. I was waiting for you to finish your conversation." She said politely.

Jack looked at Gibbs, "She's got this nasty little habit of taking only part of a conversation she hears and then using it against ye." He told him.

Gibbs shook his head, "What shall I do now Captain?" he asked.

"Go make sure the prisoners are still pulling their weight." Jack replied.

"Aye," Gibbs said and went below deck.

Jack looked at Maddy, "Any idea on what we should do when we find Jacquette, other then kill him, I mean we should get JJ back first." he quipped.

Madeline looked out over the darkened water as they moved swiftly through it. "Burn his ship." she said and looked at Jack. "After we get JJ back."

"And how do we get JJ back," Jack asked.

"Do ye have a plan?" she asked looking at him.

"I asked ye first," Jack smirked.

"Pirate." She retorted back with a smirk of her own.

"Tell me now Maddy." Jack growled. He had no patience for her silly games.

"Ye won't like it." she said not looking at him.

"Well as ye've pointed out not much of anything ye do lately pleases me so tell me," Jack said.

"A trade." She said looking at him. "It's me he wants. Not JJ."

"Not only is that a bad idea Maddy, it won't work," Jack said flatly.

"And how do ye know that it won't work Jack?" She asked him. "What other choice do I have Jack? Then if Jacquette has me, then you can have our son." She said as she leaned against the rail.

"And JJ will just love me so much for allowing his mother to take his place as Jacquette's pet." Jack said sarcastically. "No, and that's it... no more discussion about it. We go to Singapore pick up Pang, which by the way don't even think of going with me to get him, and then we offer him something he'll like even better then ye love, no offense," he quipped.

Madeline scowled at Jack. "And what pray tell do ye plan on offering him Jack?" she asked.

"I figure he's a pirate so I know one thing that no pirate can resist, well other then me seeing as I am the one who possess it," Jack quipped.

Madeline arched an eyebrow at him. "Jack. What are ye talking about?"

Jack grinned at her, "The biggest cache of pirate loot in the Caribbean," he told her.

"How big?" She asked him. "Ye don't know how greedy he is Jack."

"Eight hundred and eighty two pieces of gold should bout do him, don't ye think?" Jack asked.

Madeline's eyes widened. "Where did ye find something like that Jack?" she asked, wondering if she should believe him or not.

"Ever hear about the gold of Cortez love," Jack asked.

"That's just a legend." She said quickly. "It doesn't exist." She looked at him. "Does it?"

"Not only does it exists but the curse on it is quite real as well, I know, I experienced it first hand." Jack told her.

Madeline moved closer to him. "Curse? I don't understand Jack."

"Any person who so much as takes one piece of gold from the stone chest will be cursed... they die only they don't." Jack told her staring off as he remembered the feeling of being undead. He looked at his hands and remembered how the bones beneath his skin looked in the moonlight.

Madeline reached out and took his hand. "Ye aren't cursed are ye Jack?"

Jack laughed wickedly, "No love if I were trust me ye'd know it especially on a night like tonight when the moon is full." He told her.

Madeline glanced up at the moon. She quickly looked back at Jack. "How can someone be dead, but not?"

"Ye loose all sense of feeling, no warmth in the touch of another human being, yer hungry but cannot fill yer belly, and yer dying of thrist and no amount of drink can quinch it and if I were cursed love, all ye'd see of me would be my skeleton and bits of rotting flesh." Jack told her. "If ye ask me that love is a fate much worse then death."

Madeline looked at him and slowly reached out her hand towards him and touched his stomach. She looked up at him and saw that he was watching her. "Jack, how do you have this treasure?" she whispered.

"Because I alone know the coordinates to the Isle de Muerta, well Norrington also knows but he too has seen first hand what the curse can do and wants no part of it." Jack told her.

Madeline removed her hand from Jack's stomach. She didn't want to anger him again. "How was it broken?"

"Yer asking one too many questions love, don't even think about it, ye don't want it." Jack assured her.

Madeline moved slightly away from him. "I'm sorry Captain." She moved towards the wheel. "Would ye like me to take over for a while?"

"No," Jack said firmly. He looked at her, "Ye must offer to the heathen gods a blood offering." He said showing her his palm that still bore an unnatural scare from where he slit his own hand open.

Madeline took his hand in hers and traced her finger over his scar. She bent down and kissed it. "I had always wondered how ye had gotten it."

"And Gibbs and Cotton were there and so ye see why they might hesitate to help me again if I were to loose the Pearl again. Elizabeth never told ye about it? She and Will were there as well." He retorted.

Madeline looked at him. Her hand still held his. "No, she didn't. Ye never did either." She said quietly.

Jack frowned, "Some nightmares are too real and tend to come back if ye relive them too much," he said pulling his hand free.

"Then I'm glad ye never told me." She said quietly and turned away from him. Her gaze settled on the reflection of the moon on the water.

"What are ye thinking Maddy?" Jack asked suspiciously.