Night Swimming
folder
Pirates of the Caribbean (All) › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
3
Views:
3,020
Reviews:
5
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Pirates of the Caribbean (All) › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
3
Views:
3,020
Reviews:
5
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Night Swimming
Title: Night Swimming
Author: watashi (mkdchenes@yahoo.com)
Rating: R
A/N: Here I go again borrowing song titles for my stories; this one is a song by REM. As usual, Anna is mine, everything else isn’t.
XX
Anna knew the Pearl was in again when she saw Cotton’s parrot perched in the tavern’s rafters. They had been out a long time, this time; nearly eight months. The crew had come up to the tavern, laden with all sorts of miscellaneous valuable trinkets they wanted to trade for dinner and drink. Jack had come with them, leaving Anna to wonder who was minding the Pearl, but she was too busy to bother asking. Besides, the Pearl’s reputation would keep anyone but her crew off her decks, and if anyone was fool enough to try to steal her, they’d find out that her reputation was well-earned. She was Jack’s ship, and she wouldn’t suffer another captain.
Anna made out like a bandit that night when she started singing. In eight months she had learned fifteen or sixteen new songs, and the pirates wanted to hear all of them, on top of hearing all their favorites. Anna sang until she could feel the rasp in her throat that meant she was going to spend the next day sounding like a frog. At that point she had collected almost enough valuables to fill the bowl she passed around when she sang. Inwardly rubbing her hands at the prospect of replacing the tavern’s collection of mismatched and chipped crockery and dented tankards, she declared the entertainment over for the night and ushered the pirates out the door two hours later, when the rum ran out.
The quiet of the empty tavern was almost deafening. Anna set the place to rights, locked the night’s take in her former bedroom in the back of the tavern, and left for home. She missed the fact that she was being followed, until she got to her own door and Jack slipped up behind her and snaked an arm around her waist.
“Miss me, luv?”
“Damn it, Jack, don’t sneak up on me like that! Especially not at two o’clock in the morning! It’s been a bloody long night.”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not. But I suppose I forgive you anyway. At least come in here so I can keep an eye on you.” Anna got the door open and made her way across the room, collapsing into her armchair and pulling her boots off without bothering to provide any light. She knew, even in the dark, where all her furniture was. Jack, on the other hand, didn’t, and bumped into two or three things on the way across the room. Anna grinned, listening to the muffled thuds and not-so-muffled curses. It was petty and she knew it, but she enjoyed having the upper hand for once. Just before Jack found the armchair, she got up from it and went into the bedroom, unlacing her bodice. There was slightly more light in the bedroom, and Jack saw her in the doorway and found his way through it.
“This is your idea of keeping an eye on me, is it?”
“Well, at least I can hear where you are.” Anna stretched and then collapsed in a heap on the bed. “Ye gods, I’m tired, Jack. Your crew must be desperate for new music.”
“They’re desperate for anything new, luv. Eight months of the same routine does that.”
“That’s funny. They come back to the same places, the same women, they want the same songs after the new ones. If that’s not a routine, I don’t know what it is.”
“That’s comfort, luv. They depend on it. If you ever close, they’ll be completely lost. Until they find a new place to go when they get here.”
“Oh, I’ll be around for a while yet. If for no other reason than to watch you fall over my furniture.”
“I wouldn’t have fallen over the furniture if you’d left it where I had it put.” For some reason, that sent Anna off into hysterics. There was something about Jack honestly expecting to be able to find his way around a room he hadn’t actually set foot in laid out the way it was, in the dark, eight months after the furniture had showed up in the first place… Anna laughed herself weak, and Jack sat there looking wounded.
“It wasn’t that funny, was it?”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Right. I’m going to have to do something about that. Come on, luv.” Jack grabbed her by the wrist and they were halfway out the front door before Anna quite knew what was happening.
“Wait, Jack, where…”
“I’m going to try not to drown you.”
“What?”
“I’m teaching you to swim.”
“What? Jack, it’s either really bloody late or really bloody early, and whichever it is, it was a really bloody long night.”
“On the other hand, luv, the tide is really bloody low, and that’s good if you’re going to learn to swim. Besides, you’re going to do it without anything on, and if you really want to wait until the sun’s up, you’ll be making a spectacle of yourself. Your choice, though.”
By the time Anna had processed that, she and Jack were down underneath the pier the Pearl was tied up to. The tide was about as low as it ever got, and the Pearl had about three feet of water under her keel. The moon was almost but not quite full, and moonlight was coming through the cracks between the planks above them, and the space between the Pearl and the pier. Jack was standing in water up to his waist, having stashed his clothes on top of one of the timbers bracing the pier.
“All right, luv. The first thing is, get rid of all those clothes. You can’t float in them.”
“Jack, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“You said you wanted to learn to swim, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Trust me. I promise I won’t let you drown. Now get rid of that skirt and come here.” Jack locked eyes with her, and Anna found herself stripped off and up to her hips in the water before she knew what she was doing. The water wasn’t quite warm, but wasn’t unpleasant either.
“Right. Now the first thing is to get your head wet. And don’t breathe while you’ve got your face underwater.” Jack sank down until he was sitting on the bottom, and then came back up again. “Like that. Breathe in, and sit down on the bottom, and then stand up again.”
“Jack, I don’t think…”
“Don’t think. Breathe in.” Anna did that, and Jack took her by the shoulders and pushed down. Anna sank under the water and panicked as she felt it close over her. Being underwater felt strange, and being without air felt scary, and Jack was wrong, she was going to drown, and…Jack’s hands hauled her upright again, and there was air.
“I told you I wouldn’t let you drown, didn’t I?”
“Bloody hell!” she gasped.
“Well, yes, but you didn’t drown. Do it again, and breathe out while you’re down there. Only out, though.”
“Jack, I can’t…”
“Of course you can. Breathe in.” Jack pushed her under again, and this time she was expecting the way the water felt closing over her head. It was still strange, and still scary, but this time she tried to think about it. She felt lighter underwater, and that was interesting. She forgot about breathing until her instinct took over and she breathed out, and Jack pulled her up again.
“Better?” She had to think about that, but finally nodded. “Right, do it again, then.” Back underwater. Heart beating, breathing out, done this before. She got to the end of her breath, and Jack was still holding her under. He said he wouldn’t drown me, what do I do now, oh bloody hell…she panicked again and fought against Jack’s hands on her shoulders and breathed in before her head broke the surface. Water got into places in her head that she normally only used when she was singing, and she coughed and choked and hung onto Jack, gasping.
“That’s why you can’t breathe in when you’re underwater. It hurts. I won’t do that to you again on purpose, luv, but I wanted you to know what it’s like. That’s as bad as it gets, though. It’s no worse than that.”
“You…bloody pirate! You swore you wouldn’t drown me!”
“I didn’t drown you. You survived. You’re scared, but you’re alive. Let’s find out if you float, shall we?”
***
By the end of the night, Anna knew how not to breathe out all at once under water, and knew she could float, and knew the basic premise of dog-paddling. The tide was getting noticeably higher by the time Jack decided that was enough lessons for one night. If he was tired, Anna was exhausted. Putting one foot in front of the other was about all she could do until she was home, and then she was asleep almost before she was done falling on the bed.
The next morning, which was more like early afternoon, Anna was sore in the arms and sore in the throat, and wondering whether she could really stand the idea of going back down to the pier that night. Her throat was telling her there was no way she was going to be singing, and she was inclined to believe it. Jack had gone before she woke up, but she knew he’d be back. She had to go to the tavern, if only to make sure it didn’t wind up with all the furniture broken. Besides, there were the new bowls and tankards to be seen to, and…she sighed, got up, got dressed, and wandered out to buy crockery.
********************************************************************************************
A/N: I have another chapter of this, but I won't post it unless people are interested, so let me know.
Author: watashi (mkdchenes@yahoo.com)
Rating: R
A/N: Here I go again borrowing song titles for my stories; this one is a song by REM. As usual, Anna is mine, everything else isn’t.
XX
Anna knew the Pearl was in again when she saw Cotton’s parrot perched in the tavern’s rafters. They had been out a long time, this time; nearly eight months. The crew had come up to the tavern, laden with all sorts of miscellaneous valuable trinkets they wanted to trade for dinner and drink. Jack had come with them, leaving Anna to wonder who was minding the Pearl, but she was too busy to bother asking. Besides, the Pearl’s reputation would keep anyone but her crew off her decks, and if anyone was fool enough to try to steal her, they’d find out that her reputation was well-earned. She was Jack’s ship, and she wouldn’t suffer another captain.
Anna made out like a bandit that night when she started singing. In eight months she had learned fifteen or sixteen new songs, and the pirates wanted to hear all of them, on top of hearing all their favorites. Anna sang until she could feel the rasp in her throat that meant she was going to spend the next day sounding like a frog. At that point she had collected almost enough valuables to fill the bowl she passed around when she sang. Inwardly rubbing her hands at the prospect of replacing the tavern’s collection of mismatched and chipped crockery and dented tankards, she declared the entertainment over for the night and ushered the pirates out the door two hours later, when the rum ran out.
The quiet of the empty tavern was almost deafening. Anna set the place to rights, locked the night’s take in her former bedroom in the back of the tavern, and left for home. She missed the fact that she was being followed, until she got to her own door and Jack slipped up behind her and snaked an arm around her waist.
“Miss me, luv?”
“Damn it, Jack, don’t sneak up on me like that! Especially not at two o’clock in the morning! It’s been a bloody long night.”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not. But I suppose I forgive you anyway. At least come in here so I can keep an eye on you.” Anna got the door open and made her way across the room, collapsing into her armchair and pulling her boots off without bothering to provide any light. She knew, even in the dark, where all her furniture was. Jack, on the other hand, didn’t, and bumped into two or three things on the way across the room. Anna grinned, listening to the muffled thuds and not-so-muffled curses. It was petty and she knew it, but she enjoyed having the upper hand for once. Just before Jack found the armchair, she got up from it and went into the bedroom, unlacing her bodice. There was slightly more light in the bedroom, and Jack saw her in the doorway and found his way through it.
“This is your idea of keeping an eye on me, is it?”
“Well, at least I can hear where you are.” Anna stretched and then collapsed in a heap on the bed. “Ye gods, I’m tired, Jack. Your crew must be desperate for new music.”
“They’re desperate for anything new, luv. Eight months of the same routine does that.”
“That’s funny. They come back to the same places, the same women, they want the same songs after the new ones. If that’s not a routine, I don’t know what it is.”
“That’s comfort, luv. They depend on it. If you ever close, they’ll be completely lost. Until they find a new place to go when they get here.”
“Oh, I’ll be around for a while yet. If for no other reason than to watch you fall over my furniture.”
“I wouldn’t have fallen over the furniture if you’d left it where I had it put.” For some reason, that sent Anna off into hysterics. There was something about Jack honestly expecting to be able to find his way around a room he hadn’t actually set foot in laid out the way it was, in the dark, eight months after the furniture had showed up in the first place… Anna laughed herself weak, and Jack sat there looking wounded.
“It wasn’t that funny, was it?”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Right. I’m going to have to do something about that. Come on, luv.” Jack grabbed her by the wrist and they were halfway out the front door before Anna quite knew what was happening.
“Wait, Jack, where…”
“I’m going to try not to drown you.”
“What?”
“I’m teaching you to swim.”
“What? Jack, it’s either really bloody late or really bloody early, and whichever it is, it was a really bloody long night.”
“On the other hand, luv, the tide is really bloody low, and that’s good if you’re going to learn to swim. Besides, you’re going to do it without anything on, and if you really want to wait until the sun’s up, you’ll be making a spectacle of yourself. Your choice, though.”
By the time Anna had processed that, she and Jack were down underneath the pier the Pearl was tied up to. The tide was about as low as it ever got, and the Pearl had about three feet of water under her keel. The moon was almost but not quite full, and moonlight was coming through the cracks between the planks above them, and the space between the Pearl and the pier. Jack was standing in water up to his waist, having stashed his clothes on top of one of the timbers bracing the pier.
“All right, luv. The first thing is, get rid of all those clothes. You can’t float in them.”
“Jack, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“You said you wanted to learn to swim, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Trust me. I promise I won’t let you drown. Now get rid of that skirt and come here.” Jack locked eyes with her, and Anna found herself stripped off and up to her hips in the water before she knew what she was doing. The water wasn’t quite warm, but wasn’t unpleasant either.
“Right. Now the first thing is to get your head wet. And don’t breathe while you’ve got your face underwater.” Jack sank down until he was sitting on the bottom, and then came back up again. “Like that. Breathe in, and sit down on the bottom, and then stand up again.”
“Jack, I don’t think…”
“Don’t think. Breathe in.” Anna did that, and Jack took her by the shoulders and pushed down. Anna sank under the water and panicked as she felt it close over her. Being underwater felt strange, and being without air felt scary, and Jack was wrong, she was going to drown, and…Jack’s hands hauled her upright again, and there was air.
“I told you I wouldn’t let you drown, didn’t I?”
“Bloody hell!” she gasped.
“Well, yes, but you didn’t drown. Do it again, and breathe out while you’re down there. Only out, though.”
“Jack, I can’t…”
“Of course you can. Breathe in.” Jack pushed her under again, and this time she was expecting the way the water felt closing over her head. It was still strange, and still scary, but this time she tried to think about it. She felt lighter underwater, and that was interesting. She forgot about breathing until her instinct took over and she breathed out, and Jack pulled her up again.
“Better?” She had to think about that, but finally nodded. “Right, do it again, then.” Back underwater. Heart beating, breathing out, done this before. She got to the end of her breath, and Jack was still holding her under. He said he wouldn’t drown me, what do I do now, oh bloody hell…she panicked again and fought against Jack’s hands on her shoulders and breathed in before her head broke the surface. Water got into places in her head that she normally only used when she was singing, and she coughed and choked and hung onto Jack, gasping.
“That’s why you can’t breathe in when you’re underwater. It hurts. I won’t do that to you again on purpose, luv, but I wanted you to know what it’s like. That’s as bad as it gets, though. It’s no worse than that.”
“You…bloody pirate! You swore you wouldn’t drown me!”
“I didn’t drown you. You survived. You’re scared, but you’re alive. Let’s find out if you float, shall we?”
***
By the end of the night, Anna knew how not to breathe out all at once under water, and knew she could float, and knew the basic premise of dog-paddling. The tide was getting noticeably higher by the time Jack decided that was enough lessons for one night. If he was tired, Anna was exhausted. Putting one foot in front of the other was about all she could do until she was home, and then she was asleep almost before she was done falling on the bed.
The next morning, which was more like early afternoon, Anna was sore in the arms and sore in the throat, and wondering whether she could really stand the idea of going back down to the pier that night. Her throat was telling her there was no way she was going to be singing, and she was inclined to believe it. Jack had gone before she woke up, but she knew he’d be back. She had to go to the tavern, if only to make sure it didn’t wind up with all the furniture broken. Besides, there were the new bowls and tankards to be seen to, and…she sighed, got up, got dressed, and wandered out to buy crockery.
********************************************************************************************
A/N: I have another chapter of this, but I won't post it unless people are interested, so let me know.