The Fine Line

A/N: Thanks to DP for her help! YAY I managed to write something with a second chapter....WOOO HOOO havent done that in a while. Even happier moment is that there could be another chapter, perhaps 2, if my damn muse comes back!

CHAPTER 2

Jack awoke the next day, a naked Lizzie in his arms. Had he not the vivid memory of the previous nights activities still in his head he would have thought he was dreaming. Then he realized he’d finally managed to get her, had basically lied to her to convince her he was fine with the whole killing him thing. Now he felt…. funny, very unlike himself. He always lied to get what he wanted. But something about him lying to Lizzie felt really off within him, he assumed this bizarre feeling was guilt…or maybe lack of rum?

He thought back to what she had said before he fell asleep. Being afraid. He’d be back in hell if he didn’t admit he was afraid she’d kill him again. He thought he’d fuck her and leave her. Lead her to believe there was more to it than there really was; payback for her treachery at the mast. They’d be square. But now he just stared at her sleeping form and thought about how much it must have taken her to suck up her own pride and face him. Then he found himself wondering where she would go if he did in fact give her the boot. He was afraid of what would become of her, what would become of him if he didn’t handle the whole situation carefully. He felt a pain in his chest and instinctively tightened his grip around her.

He remembered all those times he’d dreamt of doing what he had just done. Thought about how much he would enjoy spending the rest of his days with her, doing those very same things, a smile unwillingly crept across his face. He reminded himself that, those thoughts were long before the treacherous witch shackled him. He looked at her again, so
trusting lying there in his arms, unsuspecting and completely vulnerable. Somehow now his original plan was deteriorating in his head, he couldn’t do anything to violate her trust. But damn it, he hated her!

Didn’t he?

He told himself he did. Everyday he sat in his own personal hell. He wanted to get even, make her live out her own hell. He knew that if she gave herself to him she would hate herself for it later. Perfect plan, he’d get a good tumble out of the deal and even the score in the process, perfect. That is until she went and implied she love him. He wasn’t expecting that, and he certainly wasn’t expecting to actually care what she thought of him. It pulled at strings in his heart he had long forgotten existed for her, some he didn’t even know he had. All right, maybe he hadn’t forgotten that he didn’t really hate her; he had just talked such a good game that he had managed to convince himself he did.

His thoughts were interrupted when she turned to face him.

“Morning, Jack.” her words sleep ridden and eerily happy sounding for the
first time in as long as he could recall.

He locked eyes with her briefly before responding, “morning luv.”

She moved to press a kiss to his lips and he instinctively returned it before his mind reminded him to pull away; he still wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing.

She looked at him somewhat confused as he removed himself from the bed.

“Need to go tend me ship,” was his only response as she looked at him completely puzzled by his sudden urgent need to partake in his duties. He dressed himself and hurried from the cabin avoiding any further conversation so he could clear his head and decide. Could he really just forgive and forget? He still couldn’t explain it, but something deep within him told him to run, being the coward he tended to be he followed his gut.

Minutes later he found himself chasing Gibbs from the wheel and taking over control of his beloved Pearl. Focused on the horizon he thought some more, he needed some rum if he was going to think this much, he was getting a headache. Why couldn’t he just follow through with the plan he’d established for himself? He’d never had a problem lying to women before, just ask Giselle and Scarlet, they’d heard more than their fair share. But now he has Lizzie in his cabin, the one he’d wanted to get there all along, and he was starting to remember how he’d gotten her there in the first place.

He told he felt something in that kiss at the mast. Well that was completely true. He’d felt a lot of something’s, then he’d felt a lot of sharp teeth, which somehow made the other something’s disappear.

He’d told her he needed an apology; well he’d gotten that and then some. Could he accept it? He could, but should he? After all she had betrayed him. Used his trust for her against him, which put her in the same category as Barbossa. But then again she’d seemed sincere in her apologies and she did organize a trek to the end of the world to rescue him. Again though, she was a pirate…. you’d have to be daft to trust a pirate. She trusted him.

He saw her exit the cabin and immediately handed the wheel over to Cotton. Very carefully he managed to sneak his way below deck without her noticing. He’d accused her of hiding from him, and now he couldn’t help hiding from her. Damned if he knew how to proceed with anything as it related to her these days. He needed some rum.

As he strolled around the bowels of his ship, inspecting whatever it was he could claim to be inspecting and hoping against all hope to find a bottle of his favorite liquid, he couldn’t help but think to himself about how well they complemented each other. She was the only person that ever had an answer for him - an equally quick-witted response for his confusing babbles and charm. Damn her! She was just like him.
It will never work between us.
Damn that thought to hell…certainly would…. that was what made this difficult. That and the fact that he had and hadn’t stuck to his game plan last night, making it very difficult for him to figure out what he really wanted. He picked up a rum bottle that
suddenly rolled into view hoping to down some of his confusion in the amber liquid but when he found the bottle empty he threw it at the nearby wall. He watched it shatter and couldn’t fail to realize how his life could do the same if he made the wrong move with Lizzie. In his frustration he flipped open the compass he had managed to avoid looking
at since his return and watched the dial spin mindlessly. Slowly the needle settled on the staircase just across the room from him. He lifted his eyes just in time to see her descend them. With no exit other than those stairs, he knew in this moment he would need his answer.

Xxx

She’d woken to him looking over her, and almost at a panic running out of the cabin to tend to his ship. Something wasn’t right. While she dressed she couldn’t help but fight off the thoughts of doubt she was having. She kept telling herself he wouldn’t just get her in bed and leave her. He was better than that; deep down she believed he was anyway. She couldn’t say she didn’t deserve it; she had fed him to the Kraken. Before she would make herself insane again she figured it best to go and talk to him. She’d learned from her lack of conversation with Will that ignoring the situation would never make it better.

When she’d left the cabin she’d seen him hand off the wheel and virtually disappear from the deck. After looking for him on deck and checking his cabin again she figured he had gone below. So she headed down the stairs more concerned than she had been when she’d left his cabin with her mind racing. She was determined to find out what their future held, even if it was nothing at all. When she heard a bottle break come from even further below deck she continued down the stairs, unsure where they led since she had never ventured that far below in all her time aboard. She found him putting something into his pocket quite hastily as she approached.

“Jack?” she spoke almost questioning.

“Aye.”

“What are you doing down here?” She was unsure what to say to him.

“Checking some things, what do you need Lizzie?” He was trying to stay as distant as he could, although everything within him was telling him to grab her and hold on for dear life.

“I-” she paused, “I wanted to make sure you were ok.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? Hmm?”

“I don’t know. I just, I was concerned when you ran out so quickly.” She thought for a moment and then she appeared to strengthen her stance bringing her eyes to his, “I thought maybe you regret last night?”

He looked deep into her eyes and saw something he’d never noticed before, he couldn’t quite place his finger on it but it was something. Something that told him he’d be making the biggest mistake of his life if he’d push her away, and he knew he’d made some pretty big mistakes before. He stood silent, mesmerized by her, anxious about his own choice, and clearly unable to make it. He knew what the compass’ answer was but was still unsure as to what his own was. A single tear began to fall from her eyes.

“I see then,” She dropped her head and turned away walking back to the stairs she had come from walking with a sadness he’d never seen in her before. His chest hurt.

She was out of sight before his feet actually listened to his brain and he was up the stairs two at a time after her. His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt an unbearable dryness in his mouth that all the rum in the world couldn’t quench. As he reached the main deck he looked around hurriedly as if he feared she’d leap over board and attempt to
swim for shore. Why was he so bloody stupid sometimes? Suddenly his desire to break her like she had done him was no longer relevant. He’d be the daftest man alive if he let her walk away. The presence of eyes on him made him realize that his sudden burst up the stairs had alerted the entire crew to his business. He quickly shouted orders to the on
lookers and headed for her cabin.

He reached the door and could hear her sobbing from the inside. He felt his insides burst, how could he have allowed himself to be such an idiot? Then he remembered who he was. He swallowed the lump in his throat and knocked on the door. “Lizzie.”

“Go away, I have nothing to say to you.” She screamed as something came crashing into the door. Damn women and their raging hormones.

“Ah, but I have something to say to you, and as I am the captain of this ship, I always get to say what I want to who I want and since my current want is to say something to you then I am entitled as said captain to both enter this cabin and say what needs to be said.” He spoke his babble with all the poise in the world as he entered the cabin and closed the door behind him, somehow managing to stretch his infamous smirk across his face.

“Jack your endless drabble isn’t going to change what you managed to say without words below deck.” Her tears were somewhat drying out as she spoke to him; it had something to do with the ridiculous grin that seemed to be angering her more and more by the minute. He could be infuriating sometimes.

“Oi. Lizzie…. luv. You did not give me much of a chance to respond….”

“Chance to respond? Jack are you that daft? You stood there in absolute silence with not so much as a hint of a thought on your face. How else would I take a response like that! You got your good time. I was an idiot for ever thinking that maybe there was a good man hidden behind your drunken swagger.” She’d cut him off and yelled at him, damn this girl had one fiery temper.

“Lizzie.” He bit his lip and his eyes seemed to soften and lose the aura of confidence and insanity they frequently hinted at, “ye know how ye didn’t realize how ye felt about me till I was gone?”

“Your point Jack?”

“Damn woman let me finish!” He paused to control his temper, she always had a way of riling him up, “I never knew that I could spend so much time hating ye…”

“You’re not making the situation any better Jack.” She wound her hands into fists and stood anxiously in front of him.

“Let me finish!” He demanded it of her before locking his eyes on hers, “As I was saying. I never knew I could spend so much of me time hating ye, only to find out that I don’t really hate ye at all.” His eyes found the warmth she’d seen in them when she had kissed him for the first time, “Quite the opposite in fact.” He walked to her and placed a hand
on her chin and the other in his pocket. “If you don’t believe me Lizzie, check me compass. Bloody thing never was broke. I just didn’t want to admit what it had admitted long before I was willing to admit it.” She moved her eyes to the compass he held in his hand, what he’d said may have been confusing but the needle was pointing unmistakably at her. “I may try and deny it from time to time but that damn needle doesn’t point to anything but you.”

He closed the compass and turned to leave, having bared more to her than he hand planned, but when did his plans ever work out they way he expected? Within two steps he was at the door in an effort to exit, but was stopped when he felt a warm hand on his arm. “Jack…” She was sobbing, but something told him it wasn’t out of anger or sadness
anymore. He turned to face her, and raise a question, but was met by her lips on his.

His hands easily snuck around her waist pulling her to him; suddenly he wasn’t so concerned about her killing him as he was about her letting him go. The need for air broke them apart as they rest their foreheads on each other, eyes burrowing into one another’s soul.

“Do you mean it Jack?” She spoke in a hushed voice.

“Every word luv.” He pressed a kiss to her nose. “But now I really do need to go tend to me ship, much as I’d much rather tend to other things about now.” He threw a playful smirk in her direction before kissing her lips once more and slowly exiting her cabin.