Unseasoned Ties

You are disturbed awake by the sound of footsteps falling heavily above you on deck. You half expected to wake up in your own bed, all of the past events being a dream. ‘It must be a member of the crew checking up on things,’ you think to yourself.

You try to scratch your nose, only to realize that your arm is immobile. You then notice heavy weight on your chest and open your eyes to see what it is. At sometime in the night, you must have rolled over onto your back, only to have Jack roll over onto you. You can’t move your left arm because it’s wedged between your side and Jack. Jack’s head is pillowed on your chest, his left leg is twined with your legs, and his arm is tightly wrapped around your waist. You smile at the thought that your roles have been reversed. You seem to be the one who is now comforting the other. You have the instinct to try and role him off of you, but soon realize that he is way too heavy and you have no leverage.

‘Screw it, I’ll pitch a fit in the morning,’ you decide. You sigh and breathe in his scent. He smells like salt and ocean breeze. ‘No matter how hard they try to bottle this scent, it seriously fails in comparison,’ you think. Darting your eyes around the room, you assume that it must still be rather early in the morning since there’s no sign of light filtering into the room. Hearing more stomping above, you frown up at the ceiling.

Yawning softly, you close your eyes and slowly sink back down into unconsciousness.

----

Feeling a sharp pain shoot through the side of your head, you groan. Suddenly you can’t remember being this uncomfortable and the last time you checked, you were rather warm.

You open your eyes in small slits and then moan from the sudden pain that it brings. You quickly reshut your eyes and roll over onto your back. You slowly sit up and bring up your hand to rub your eyes. Slowly opening them, you’re bewildered at what you see, “What the fuck?”

Furrowing your eyebrows, you look around. You’re no longer in Jack’s bed, in fact you’re not even in Jack’s room any longer. Looking down you see that you are laying in a puddle of water which explains why you’re so cold. Your legs are wet and part of your shirt is soaked. You start to stand up and feel suddenly dizzy from the movement.

Putting your hand to your head, you wince from the pain. Gently you poke around your forehead and find that your right temple is especially tender. You look at your fingers and find a little bit of blood there. ‘What the hell?’ you ask yourself. You wait till the dizzy feeling passes and then rise completely to your feet. From what you can tell, you’re now in a cell. ‘More like a freakin cage,’ you think to yourself, ‘It looks like where Jack keeps prisoners.’

The brightest light source is coming from a small window behind you. You don’t bother to look out of it because you know if you do, all you’ll see is water. There’s another similar cubicle across from the cell you’re in, but it appears to be empty. The entire room is fairly small in size and is shrouded in shadow. You wrinkle your nose at the strong stench filling the room. You find it almost hard to breathe, the air is so thick and stale. “It smells like rotting frogs,” you mutter with disgust.

“I swear to God that I am going to murder Jack for this,” you say, assuming that it was Jack that shoved you in here. You distractedly shake the bottom of your shirt, trying to get it to dry a little bit. “Jack!! You bastard!!” you furiously scream as loud as you can. You quickly get a pounding headache and make a mental note that maybe yelling isn’t such a good idea.

You stand in silence waiting for a sign of someone coming to get you out of the cell. After a couple minutes, you assume that you’re going to be there for some time. Looking around your immediate surroundings, you find a torn piece of material that looks like it used to be part of a potato sack. You go into the far corner where there isn’t much water on the ground and lay the brown portion of cloth down. You slowly lower yourself down and lean on the wall behind you. You tuck your knees real close to your chest and pull the shirt down over your legs as best you can. It manages to cover you almost completely. Resting your head on your knees, you shut your eyes as tightly as you can.

The sound of the water splashing against the side of the ship is prominent and it manages to relax you somewhat. After the pounding in your head recedes, you ponder your current predicament.

Gently touching your bloodied temple, you think, ‘I had to have been hit or something, why else would I not remember how I got here? So then it couldn’t have been Jack. Jack’s a bastard, but he’s not cruel.’

Muffled voices sink down through the floor boards above you, but you can’t make out the words. Taking your chances with the possibility of angering your brain again, you scream out as loud as you can. ‘Maybe if I’m annoying enough, someone will come down here,’ you decide.

After about twenty minutes of yelling and shouting anything you can think of, you hear a door slam open to your right. It slams shut and loud footsteps thunder towards you. You stay seated and wait for whoever it is to enter the room.

‘Ooh you’re a looker,’ you think to yourself as the man walks up to your cell. Obviously a pirate, he’s extremely dirty and looks near death. His tall and lanky form is mottled with discolored skin. His clothes have holes everywhere and you marvel at how he keeps them all together without the aid of safety pins. He looks like he hasn’t eaten a real meal in weeks. You get the sudden image of Jack Skellington from “Nightmare Before Christmas” and giggle at the picture. With how scraggly and soiled he is, you’re surprised at how clean shaven his face is.

“Wha’ the ‘ell ye laughin’ at?” the pirate demands in a raspy voice while glaring openly at you. ‘Well he’s obviously not as pleasant as Jack Skellington,’ you decide.

“Well…I don’t know. It couldn’t possibly be that I’ve been knocked out and dragged in a cell full of water,” you sneer at him from your position on the floor.

“Where the hell am I? Who the hell are you? Why the fuck am I in a god damn cage? And where in the fucking hell is Jack?” you fire off at the man, demanding answers.

“Ye’re gonna have ta wait till the Cap’n tells ye all that. An shut you’re mouth, we’re sick of all tha shoutin’,” he spits at you and then giggles to himself like an amused child.

“Yes I’ll be sure to keep it down. My apologies,” you sweetly say with a bright smile. You quickly drop the smile and scowl at him, “Oh just piss off you pathetic lapdog.”

The dirty man actually looks insulted and then turns to leave. As he’s storming off you yell after him, “Tell your brainless Captain that I want to speak with him right now! Jack’s gonna be pissed you guys took me! You don’t wanna see him when he’s angry! He’s like a tiger…an angry tiger…that was backed into a corner! It’s brutal!”

‘He’s probably drinking right now,’ you add in your head.

After a few minutes of staring at an empty space, you rest your head back on your knees and sigh in defeat. Suddenly you hear a noise across from you. It sounds like a very soft moan, you squint your eyes trying to locate the source.

“Leopard. At this moment, I’m a caged leopard luv,” you hear the distinct slur of Jack’s voice softly groan from across the room. You jump up on your feet and lean against the bars.

“Jack?! What the hell?” you ask quickly. You are able to pinpoint his exact location when he starts to slowly stand up. He’s in the cell across from you, and must have been stuffed in the darkest corner. ‘No wonder why I didn’t see him, I must have completely overlooked him,’ you think.

“Why all the yellin’ luv?” Jack inquires while rubbing his head and leaning against the bars in his cell much like you are. ‘I bet if we both reached out, we could touch fingers,’ you quickly ponder.

“Why all the yelling? Jack I am stuck in a cage. I don’t know where I am. I am bleeding from the head. And why the hell didn’t you say anything before? You just let me yell and sit here all alone,” you accuse while speaking slowly as if you’re speaking to a child.

Somewhere in the back of your mind, the fact that Jack is still very much shirtless registers and creates a very warm feeling to spread throughout your stomach. ‘I am confined in a cage, now is not the time to think fuzzy Jack thoughts,’ you reprimand yourself.

You stare at Jack waiting for an answer and realize that he’s not looking at your face. You follow his eyes down and see that your shirt is still very much wet and is clinging to your thighs. You snap your fingers a couple of times to get his attention, “Focus Jack.”

He snaps his attention back to your face and smiles lopsidedly, “My apologies luv, jus’ admirin’ me shirt. It’s rather lovely.”

“Sure you were,” you reply.

“Anyways luv, ye woke me up with yer yellin’ and tha’s not a nice way ta wake up. I can think of much more pleasant ways. An’ I didn’ say anythin’ cause I wanted ta see how ye’d handle the situation. Also I jus’ wanted ta watch ye tear into the poor sod,” Jack explains slowly while trailing his finger up and down the bars in front of him.

Jack glances around and frowns, “This is jus’ terrible. Shotty housing.”

You’re slightly upset that Jack is joking around about this, “Jack I would appreciate it if you’re a tad serious. This isn’t exactly a good time and we have no way of getting out.”

“What are ye talkin’ about luv? O’ course we’ll get out. I know exactly where we are and I can assure ye that taking leave won’ be very challenging,” Jack tells you. “This is Captain Jack Sparrow luv,” he adds while pointing to his chest, “Don’ forget that.”

“How could I possibly? You remind everyone every twenty minutes,” you shoot back dryly while running your hand across the bars.

Jack grins back at you and says, “Well I hardly think that it’s every twenty minutes luv, ye could be stretchin it a bit.”

“Whatever Jack, it doesn’t matter. Cause we’re in cages, I’m freezing cold, and I would really like to get out. So if you could share this secret as to where we are, I would greatly appreciate it,” you say letting your anger come across in the tenseness of your voice.
Jack silently looks at you for a couple seconds and then tells you all you want to know.

“We’re on Cap’in Brig’s ship, if ye can call ‘im that. Sorry excuse he is, ‘owever he’s very focused. Anyway, he’s quite the hapless one. His crew as well. It should be rather basic ta get out a here luv. Ye jus’ have ta be patient and wait for the opportune moment.”

“Okay...but why did he takes us to begin with? Did he take The Pearl too? What about your crew?” you question.

“He’s not after The Pearl. Couldn’ handle ‘er. An’ I’m not worried ‘bout me crew, they’re a tough lot. And as fer you, ye’re prolly an unexpected perk. Assumed since ye were in me bed, ye must be important ta me. Bopped us both on the head,” Jack explained as he sank down to the ground and sits cross-legged facing you.

“Why would I be special cause I was in your bed? You’re not exactly virginal Jack. It’s pretty well known that you’re not lacking in the lady department,” you point out cautiously, not really wanting to discuss his habit with the women, but too curious to pass up the question. Suddenly self-conscious about the fact that he’s sitting on the ground and whether or not he can see more of your legs, you sit down in the same way he is.

“Well me lil nyph, I don’ make a habit of bringing the lovely lasses back onto the Pearl, it’s a small guideline. Brig’s must’a figured tha’ ye’d have ta be somethin’ pretty unique ta make it back ta me bed,” Jack seriously tells you while staring intently through the bars.

You suddenly feel exposed and maybe even a little special. ‘So was I the first girl to ever sleep in his bed with him?’ you wonder. Remembering that there’s one more thing that you’re curious about, you turn your attention back to him.

“What does this guy have against you then Jack?”

Jack grins mischievously and replies with, “He may be a bit angry with yours truly, who’s ta say?”

“What did you do Jack?” you demand.

“Why does this have ta be my fault luv? Why think the worst of ol’ Jack? Is it possible that I’m jus’ a harmless victim in all this?” Jack questions, feigning hurt feelings.

Wearing a knowing smile, you reply with silence and decide just to stare at him. You raise your eyebrows and lean forward, resting your elbows on your knees and your head in your hands.

Jack shrugs his lean shoulders and quietly adds, “I may have ‘ad gained some carnal knowledge ‘bout his daughter.”

“May have?” you sigh and roll your shoulders back to stretch them.

“It’s hard ta keep em all straight luv,” Jack cheekily replies.

“How charming,” you say with sarcasm.

“It was the rum pet,” Jack insists, “Won’ happen again. I promise.”

“Somehow that just doesn’t make me feel better. I’m in here because you mount everything with a pulse,” you accuse.

You glare at Jack, angry with him for getting you in the middle of his problem. ‘Just because he can’t keep the mouse in it’s house, I’m stuck in this god damn fucking cage,’ you furiously think.

“I’ll get ye outta here luv, I give me word,” Jack quietly promises you. He lays back on the ground and folds his hands underneath his head. Something in his voice sounded a lot like remorse and you can’t help but feel that you hurt him. You frown at your actions and start feeling guilty over blaming him for this. ‘It’s really not his fault,’ you think, ‘I’m the one that convinced him to take me with him in the first place.’

Perturbed that you can’t see Jack’s face, you pivot slightly so you can lean your side against the bars. You keep your eyes trained on Jack’s still body and watch his chest slowly rise and fall with each breath he takes. You find it to be almost hypnotic.

You have no idea how much time has passed when you are snapped alert by the sound of boots stomping into the room. You glance at Jack and see that he remains still.

“Jack,” you quietly hiss trying to wake him up. You watch as the same pirate from before walks into the room. You stifle a laugh as he stumbles and almost falls to the ground. You stand up and set an angry look on your face, ‘He can’t see me as weak.’

The dirty pirate avoids looking into your eyes and turns towards Jack’s cell with a mocking grin, “I see ye’ve found Cap’an Sparrow.” He laughs and kicks the bars that make up Jack’s cell a few times.

“Oi!” Jack startles awake and quickly sits up to glare at whoever is the cause for the noise. “Now tha’s a bit rude there mate,” he says as he slowly stands up, keeping an eye on the man. Jack adds, “If ye had some rum with ya, I wouldn’ be so quick ta judge.”

“Well look at tha’, Jack Sparrow. Caged like a’ animal,” the pirate sneers while fingering the pistol at his waist.

“Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow!” Jack frustratingly clarifies underneath his breath.

“How convenient for you, him being locked up like this,” you tell the man behind his back.

He swings around toward you and jabs his index finger in your face, “Ye shut yer mouth!”

You wrinkle your nose in disgust at the finger jabbed in your face. There’s dirt caked underneath his fingernails, which look like they are bitten to the bone.

You glance over the man’s shoulder at Jack and almost smile at how happy he appears. His dark eyes are gleaming with pride and his arms are crossed across his chest. He grins at you and nods his head slightly.

Jack clears his throat which draws the pirate’s attention back to him and asks, “Is Brig’s gonna get down ‘ere or do I have ta shoot the messenger?”

“The Cap’an will be ‘ere ta deal wit’ ye soon enough. He’s...preoccupied. O’course, if ye’re sweet lil pigion ‘ere would like ta get it over with, I’m sure the Cap’an could deal wit her now. She looks ta be a soft one, and he always shares,” he sneers in Jack’s face. The amusement in Jack’s face vanishes and is replaced with a look of coldness.

“Ye’re gonna bleed fer that,” Jack quietly threatens. You’ve never seen him look so threatening and you get the feeling that you’re missing something. The brutal gleam in his eyes almost frightens you, and you’re not surprised when the disgusting pirate takes a step back.

You watch Jack as a slow grin spreads across his face. He’s smiling, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, and it makes you think of a serial killer.

“Now then...’bout that rum?”

“Ye’re not gonna get any rum,” the pirate almost cautiously tells Jack.

Jack tightly smirks and crosses his arms across his bare chest, “Tha’s alright, I can get me own rum.

You glance at Jack and meet his eyes over the pirate’s shoulder, your eyebrows raise in question as to what he is talking about. Jack takes a step closer to the bars so that he is pressed flush against it, he nods in the direction of the man in front of you and says, “Do me a favor luv an’ give a lil push.”

‘What the hell does that mean?’ you wonder, slightly confused. The dirty pirate takes a step towards Jack, swings around to glare at you, and suspiciously asks, “What are ye doin’ pigeon?”

You open your mouth to speak, but before you can get a word out, Jack quickly thrusts his arms out of his cell and latches onto the pirate. Jack pulls the man close to the bars with one hand and swings his other arm around the man’s veined neck.

You watch with wide eyes as Jack pulls the man in tighter against the bars. The pirate starts struggling and gasping for breath as he feebly hits the arm wrapped around his neck. Jack reaches, with his free hand, for the pistol tucked into the sputtering pirate’s waistband.

As Jack pulls the pistol free of it’s confinement, he softly whispers words into the ear of his captive. You strain to hear what he’s saying, but you can’t hear a thing over the sounds of struggle. You feel like you should do something, but Jack seems to have it under control. The pirate is hitting Jack anywhere he can reach, but it doesn’t seem to phase Jack at all.

Jack quickly swings the firearm up and, with a dull thump, hits the man’s temple. His arm releases the man’s neck and you watch the man’s limp body fall to the floor.
Looking up at Jack, you take in his appearance. He’s breathing heavily, causing his chest to rise and fall rapidly. You look up at him and notice the sweat beading on his collarbone.

Not knowing how to react to Jack’s actions, you ask softly, “What did you say to him?”

“I always keep me promises,” Jack answers and looks down at the body. You follow Jack’s eyes down and notice the bloody gash in the fallen pirate’s temple.

“I guess you do,” you slightly smile. “Although you could have informed me ahead of time about what you were planning on doing.”

“An’ miss yer confusion? Where’s the fun in tha’ luv?” Jack replies while kneeling down. Tucking the pistol in his hand into the back of his pants, he begins rifling through the unconscious man’s clothing and comes back up with a ring of keys.
You can’t help but smile at the thought of finally getting out of your cell and slightly bounce on the balls of your feet in anticipation.

Jack tries a few keys in the lock of his door and finally finds the right one, swinging his door open and stepping out. He takes in your excited state and chuckles to himself with amusement.

“Jaaaack come on,” you groan impatiently.

“Alright luv, calm down,” Jack tells you. He slowly starts trying each key, finally finding the correct one, he swings your door open.

You have no idea how, but you soon find your arms flung around Jack’s neck, hugging him tightly. Judging by the grunt that escapes from his throat, you guess that you probably surprised him. However, he quickly gets over his initial shock and wraps his arms around you while letting the ring of keys in his hand drop to the ground.

‘This feels so natural and right,’ you think to yourself, while Jack’s hands are slowly rubbing up and down your back trailing your spine.

Burying his face in the nape of your neck, Jack gently says, “Told you I’d get ya out o’ here.”

You softly laugh into his shoulder, “Well we’re not completely out yet, so I’ll save the praise and worship for later.”

“Ooh...sounds promisin’ luv,” Jack laughs.

Remembering how you treated him earlier, you suddenly feel guilty at how you accused him so harshly and you pull back slightly, so you can look Jack in the face. You swallow your pride and softly mutter, “About before...I’m sorry for what I said....about this all being your fault. Well...your actions are kinda at fault I guess, but I didn’t need to point it out and yell at you about it. So...I guess I’m sorry for acting like an insensitive prick.”

Jack smiles and answers, “I don’ know ‘bout prick luv, but already forgotten. Now let’s get out o’here so you can get on wit’ the worshipin’. I love bein’ fed grapes.”

Jack pulls away from your hug, but takes your hand in his and leads you toward the way out.

‘He makes it far too easy to apologize to him,’ you gratefully think to yourself. You find it a little difficult to concentrate on the escape, rather than concentrating on Jack’s hand holding yours.

Remembering about a question you wanted to ask him, you softly ask, “About what you said earlier, was I really the first person to ever sleep in your bed?”

Jack stops walking and turns to face you with a small grin, “An’ how euphoric does that lil fact make ye luv?”

“Oh shut up Jack,” you playfully toss back at him. “I was just curious.”

“Sure ye were luv,” Jack taunts you while pulling you along with him towards the door. “Yes, ye were the first an’ only,” Jack adds. You can’t help but smile openly at his last uttered statement.

Once at the door, Jack slowly opens it a crack and peeks out for a second. He turns around, places his hands on your shoulders, and pushes you back a few steps.

“Luv, ye’re gonna ‘ave ta stay here and wait fer me ta come get you,” Jack leans down to look you in the eyes.

“Why can’t I go with you? I don’t want to stay in here alone Jack,” you plead with him. You’ve had enough of being in that room and really don’t want to stay another minute. It smells. Bad.

Jack sighs and pushes a strand of hair that had fallen in your face behind your ear, “Luv, I gotta make sure it’s safe fer you ta go out there. Don’ argue with me ‘bout ye bein able ta fend fer yourself. Ye’ll jus’ distract me. I’ll be back ta get you. Now stay.”

You frown as you watch Jack slowly open the door once again and step through, closing it softly behind him. You glance around the small dank room and notice for the first time how dark it is.

‘How long have we been in here?’ you wonder. You’re no longer sure what day it is, let alone what time it is. You walk over to the small window in the cell you were locked in and look out. You realize that any light that had come through the window and into the small room must have been from the full moon looming above the ship.

‘So is this the same night I fell asleep with Jack? Or is this the night after?’ you question, while confusing yourself soundly. Squinting your eyes, you think you can see something in the far off distance. ‘Maybe it’s land, or the Pearl,’ you hopefully wonder.

Hearing the door creak open, you scramble out of the cell and hurry to the waiting pirate. The first thing you notice when you lay your eyes on Jack is a long bloody gash across the right side of his flat stomach.

------------

AN- Read and review. Next update should be soon.