Unseasoned Ties

“Oh my god Jack, what the hell happened?!” you demand. Reaching out to the bloody cut, you lightly graze the patch of skin underneath it, only to have your hand swatted away by Jack.

“Don’ worry bout it luv, we’ll deal with it later. Right now we gotta get outta ‘ere,” Jack tells you while grabbing the hand he just swatted and leading you out of the door. The full moon manages to light up the entire ship and you notice a man sprawled out on the ground a few feet to your left.

“Is he alive?” you question Jack.

“Fared better than me,” Jack answers, sounding slightly offended that you would worry about a man who tried to gut him.

“Where’s everyone else?” you quietly ask. Looking around, you see that the ship’s deck is completely deserted except for the obvious.

“Sleepin’ luv,” Jack scoffs, “Cap’n Brigs carelessly only leaves one man ta keep watch.”

“Oh,” you mutter under your breath. You find yourself yet again being dragged along behind Jack as he leads you over to the side of the ship. There’s a small row boat hanging by ropes off the side of the ship, high above the water. You look over the side and wonder how in the world the two of you will get in and get it down. A chilly breeze slams into your side and you wrap your arms around yourself shivering. Your shirt is still wet and the cruel breeze makes it feel as if it just may be freezing to your skin.

Jack wraps his hand around your elbow and a chill goes down your spine at the contrast between the freezing air and his warm hand. “Get in luv, an’ I’ll lower ye down,” Jack tells you while directing you to the correct spot to climb in at.

“How are you going to get in?” you question.

“Climb down the rope,” he answers while helping you to step inside the small boat. It swings slightly and you have to grip onto Jack’s arm for support.

“It’s okay luv, jus’ hold on ta the sides and you’ll be fine,” Jack assures you. You slowly sit down at one end and clutch onto the sides tightly. You bite your bottom lip as Jack begins to use the ropes to lower the boat down into the water. If the boat wasn’t swaying back and forth you would be marveling at Jack’s strength. But since the boat was swinging all about, you were more interested in the not falling out issue at hand.

You’re surprised that it only takes Jack a few minutes to lower the boat into the icy water. Looking up, you see Jack disappear out of your sight. ‘Where did he go?’ you wonder while getting worried that someone woke up and found him. Wrapping your arms around yourself you let a couple minutes pass by, and when you’re about to call up to him, he reappears. You sigh in relief at the sight of him. You watch in amazement as Jack swings his body over the side of the ship. You notice that he has something tied around his waist that wasn’t there before. Gripping onto the rope, he climbs down swiftly and drops into the boat.

You can’t help but smile widely knowing that everything is going to be okay. You’re not worried about finding land or the Pearl, you know that it’s going to turn out just fine. ‘I wonder if Jack has this affect on everyone.’

Jack’s still standing in the spot he landed in, working on untying the material from around his waist. You furrow your eyebrows in worry when you see the bloody cut on his stomach again, ‘That needs to be cleaned.’ Looking up at Jack you take a moment to take in the sight while he’s distracted. The moon light is hitting Jack full on, causing his tan body to almost glow. Your eyes travel from his stomach up to his broad shoulders. There’s a slight sheen of sweat covering his upper body which ends up defining his muscles even further. Even with the minuscule amount of strength it takes to untie the knot in the material, you can see the muscles in his arms contracting underneath the skin. At his triumphant sound you immediately stop staring at him, not wanting to be caught.

‘Not that it really matters,’ you think, ‘he’s already caught me, what’s one more time? Besides, it’s not like he doesn’t stare.’ As Jack unwraps the material, you see that it’s a large blanket and assume that’s why he disappeared before.

“Here ye go luv,” Jack says while stepping forward to drape the blanket around your shoulders. You smile while he makes sure to tuck it around you, covering every inch. Satisfied with his work, he leans back and pulls a bottle out from the back of his pants. You burst out with laughter at the sight of the small bottle.

“Leave it to you Jack. You never cease to amaze me,” you humorously giggle.

Jack looks at you defensively while sitting down opposite from you, “What? It was an accident, happened ta be by the blanket. How could I not partake?”

Realizing that he only brought one blanket you skeptically ask, “Aren’t you going to be cold Jack?”

“Tha’s what the rum’s for luv, keep me insides warm.”

“Actually it doesn’t, it pretty much just tricks your body into believing that it does. You could get hypothermia Jack,” you matter-of-factly inform him, glad that those silly prerequisite college courses are actually turning out to be worthwhile.

Jack frowns at you, then at the bottle of rum, then back to you. “I’ll take me chances luv, but if I get cold I’ll just cuddle up to you. Then I’ll have the rum, an’ you’re body keepin’ me warm.”

You inwardly groan at his sexual innuendo, but respond with, “Better than you dying on me.”

Jack takes a drink from the bottle and then sets it aside. He puts on, what you can only describe as, his ‘serious face’ and begins to row away from the large ship. You glance behind you at the ship getting farther away and take a moment to think about how easy it really was to get out of there. ‘What a pathetic pirate ship,’ you think. You doubt it would be so easy to escape from Jack’s ship.

Turning your attention back to the front, you watch Jack. You know enough to know that you can’t help him when there’s only one set of oars. You get as comfortable as you can get, already feeling so much warmer from the blanket that Jack tucked around you. You take turns between watching the water and watching Jack, more of the time is spent on watching Jack. You can’t help yourself. Any breathing female wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes off of Jack.

‘Captain Jack Sparrow is indisputable living proof that Michelangelo’s ‘David’ is definitely not the perfect male form,’ you think to yourself while watching the muscles along his shoulders and chest contract from the rowing.

----

After around twenty minutes of silence, you decide that you just can’t take the noiseless atmosphere any longer. The only sound, other than that of the paddles hitting the water, is the sound of Jack’s labored breathing. You find that you can only take so much until your thoughts start to turn X-Rated.

“How long have you been a pirate Jack?” you question. Your voice seems to cry out through the silence and it seems unnaturally loud to your ears. Jack doesn’t seem to notice your voice any louder than usual, so you chalk it up to the fact that you’re just used to the quiet.

Jack looks up at you and asks, “Are ye meanin’ just pirate? Or are ye addin’ Cap’n to that?”

“All of it. How old were you when you decided that this life was for you?”

Jack slows down his rowing and seems to contemplate his answer for a moment. “Best way ta explain it luv, would be ta say tha’ there was never an age. This is me life, it always ‘as been an’ always will be,” Jack explains to you.

After thinking about his answer for a minute you ask, “Do you ever get the urge to just stay on land for awhile?”

“It’s a nice place ta visit luv, but I wouldn’ wanna live there,” Jack replies without thought.

“You are most confusing Jack,” you exhale. Jack’s only response is a wink and a smirk.

You don’t really know what else to say so you just go back to studying your surroundings. Jack’s answers seemed to dodge around your real questions and you wonder if he meant to do that. Looking all around you, all that can be seen is an endless expanse of water. The moon light causes the water’s surface to twinkle brightly. You pull your hand out from under the blanket and bend slightly to the right, dipping your hand into the cool water. ‘Let’s hope this night doesn’t get worse and I fall in,’ you humorously think. Pulling your hand away from the water, you bring it back under the blanket and look back out into the sea. ‘Whatever I thought I saw through that window earlier is gone now,’ you think sadly to yourself. You were hoping that it was the Pearl, coming to get you and Jack.

Looking back to Jack, you see that he has quit rowing and is studying you rather intently. Feeling shy suddenly, you briefly look down, then bring your gaze back up to Jack’s. A small quizzical smile spreads across the pirate’s handsome face and you wonder what he could possibly be thinking. ‘I never know what he’s thinking, well unless he’s staring at my chest, predictable pirates,’ you think.

“Do me a favor luv,” Jack’s questionable accent breaks through the silence. ‘What is that accent anyway?’ you quickly wonder, ‘It’s like a non-accent. An accent that’s not.’

“What’s the favor?” you ask, immediately suspicious. Jack leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. You notice the way his stomach ripples slightly when he leans forward, and think again about his cut needing to be cleaned.

“I want ye ta tell me what you see when ye look out there,” Jack tells you, nodding out to the gleaming sea.

You scan your surroundings and look back to Jack when he says, “Ye do tha’ a lot.”

You raise and furrow your eyebrows in confusion, “Do what? Think? Look around?”

“No, ye worry your bottom lip,” Jack softly says.

You realize that you actually were biting at your bottom lip again, you hadn’t even realized you were doing it. “Yeah I tend to do that, I don’t even know when I am most of the time,” you tell him.

“It intrigues me,” Jack responds hoarsely.

You don’t quite know how to respond to his comment, so you try to change the subject with answering his previous question. “To answer your first question, I guess I see...nothing. It’s endless...,” you tell Jack without looking at him. When he doesn’t respond to your answer, you start to think that you may have just sounded like an idiot. ‘Good thing I didn’t add that I saw beauty,’ you gratefully think.

You look up to see Jack slowly nodding his head in what seems like agreement. He glances around then makes a clicking noise with his tongue. Sighing loudly he turns his attention back to you once again.

“Soooo.....luv. It is time then fer ye ta start worshipin’ me?”

You roll your eyes and grin at him, “It’ll have to be a spur of the moment kinda worship Jack. Where would the fun be in doing it when you wanted me to do it?”

“Ye’re pickin’ up some bad habits from yer pirate man luv,” Jack cheekily responds.

“Jack are you done with the rowing? Cause I don’t think we’re getting anywhere and I really don’t think you should be in the cold like that for much longer,” you honestly tell him.

A frown slightly appears on Jack’s face while he looks behind him, but disappears as quickly as it came. “I suppose ye’re right, we can sleep til mornin.”

“Okay good,” you say making no room for arguments, “But first you’re going to let me clean the cut on your stomach.” You unwrap the blanket from around your body and ignore the frigid air hitting your newly exposed skin. Scooting forward, you carefully sit on your knees. You grab the bottle of rum at Jack’s feet, only to be met by a loud protest from Jack.

“Not the rum luv!”

“I’m only going to use a little, calm down. It’s going to be okay,” you patiently tell Jack.

“No, use the salt water. Works just as well,” Jack stubbornly insists while trying to grab the bottle from your hand. You lean back and push his body back away from you, “Jack you’re going to tip the boat.”

Jack sits back with a huff while wearing a very sullen expression. You would like to be annoyed with his behavior, but you can’t seem to keep the feeling going. ‘He’s just too damn precious,’ you think with a smile.

“Are you going to co-operate Jack?” you ask him. He looks you up and down, then the sour expression vanishes from his face only to be replaced by a rather content look. He nods his head a few times and leans back in the boat, causing his stomach to tighten and flatten. He’s practically laying down, with his arms hooked over the sides, and his legs stretched out to either side of you. You already know that this is going to be a rather interesting task.

‘Of course he has to make this difficult for me,’ you think frustratingly. Never noticing before how small this boat really is, you find that now it is hard not to notice. You try to find a position to sit in where you can easily reach the wound without having to straddle his hips. You end up sitting sideways on his left thigh, with your legs laying across his right leg. ‘Better than straddling him I guess,’ you decide, while making sure that your shirt is pulled down.

Looking at Jack’s expression, you get the urge to pinch him. He’s wearing a very self-satisfied grin while looking very comfortable and falsely unaware of your struggles. You give in to your urge and pinch him on his unwounded side. He jerks in response and glares at you. In turn, you just stick your tongue out at him.

“Tha’ was uncalled for luv, ye’ll pay fer that,” Jack growls.

“You deserved it,” you inform him while grabbing the bottle of rum from where you set it down. Realizing that you’ll need something to wipe the cut with, you decide that the corner of the blanket will suffice, ‘I can deal with a little blood.’ You drag the blanket across your lap and uncork the bottle. Looking at Jack’s face, you see that he’s enjoying this a rather large amount.

You pour a little bit of the rum onto the cloth and start to softly blot at the wound. Jack quietly hisses at the first contact and while feeling bad for his pain, you still can’t help thinking that he probably makes noises like that when he’s not in pain. ‘No don’t think that shit,’ you berate yourself, ‘you’re sitting on him, do not think about him feeling pleasure. Pain, only pain.’

You concentrate on cleaning his cut and pour a little bit more of the burning alcohol onto the cloth. Hearing Jack whimper quietly at the sight of his rum being used for something other than his consumption amuses you endlessly. As carefully as you can, you finally get the blood wiped off so you can see that the cut isn’t as bad as you had originally thought.

“It bled a lot, but thankfully it’s not too deep,” you happily tell Jack. Looking down on him, you try your hardest not to linger too long on his bare upper body.

Jack sighs in pleasure and a small smile quirks up the right side of his mouth. He takes the bottle from your hand before you can replace the cork. Taking a couple drinks, you’re stunned when he offers you some.

“No thanks, I’m not much for alcohol. Doesn’t get along well with my liver,” you say. Jack is clearly pleased with your refusal because it means more for him. You’re touched though that he actually offered. Placing the cork in its place, Jack sets it down to his side.

You decide to slide off of Jack’s thigh and move back to your end of the boat. Taking you by surprise, Jack quickly sits up before you can move and grabs your right arm.

“Hold still luv,” Jack orders. You keep still and try to remember to breath. You’re finding it hard to remember anything while sitting in his lap pressed up against him. Jack stretches your arm out in front of him and pulls the sleeve of your shirt up past your elbow. Seeing the soaked material tied there, you realize that you had completely forgotten about it. ‘Jack didn’t,’ you think with joy.

Jack carefully unties the cloth and unwraps your elbow. Twisting your arm about and bending it every direction it could possibly bend, Jack inspects it with narrowed eyes. His expression relaxes when he’s satisfied with the examination. Your breath catches as he brings your arm up and lightly brushes his lips against your elbow. Looking at you, he grins and gives your skin one last soft kiss before setting your arm back down into your lap.

“All better,” he whispers. You’re not sure if you’re imagining it, but his voice seems to have taken on a huskiness. You can feel his fingers lightly dancing across the inside of your wrist, but you can’t seem to drag your eyes away from Jack’s.

“Thanks...I forgot about it,” you meekly utter, trying to get a hold of yourself.

Jack shifts his body to the right as far as the small boat will allow, causing your butt to slide off his thigh and onto the hard surface beneath.

Jack, with his hands, directs you to turn your body so you find yourself lying on your right side next to him. You wait while he rolls the bottle of rum to the other end of the boat and drags the warm blanket up and over your bare legs. Once Jack is satisfied with making sure that you both are sufficiently covered, he lays back down next to you on his back. He stretches his left arm out and without thinking, you cuddle up to his side using his arm as a pillow. Wrapping his left arm around your shoulders, he uses his other arm to make sure that you both are covered.

Finally relaxing, Jack sighs heavily and stares up at the night sky. You move your head up to rest more fully on his shoulder and breath in deeply. ‘I could stay like this forever,’ you think.

You stare out into the night and think back on everything that has happened. You realize that you haven’t thought about your other life in quite awhile, and understand that you don’t really miss it. ‘How could I miss it? There wasn’t really anything there for me. Sure some friends, family I guess, but most of the time I was unhappy. I haven’t felt a shred of that feeling since I’ve been here, the reason being the man I’m using as a pillow,’ you speculate. You don’t know how you got where you are, but you decide that it just doesn’t matter. ‘I don’t want to go back, and maybe because of that I won’t,’ you decide.

Putting those thoughts aside, you shift your attention back to the man next to you. Jack is gazing blankly at the stars, his only movement being his hand lightly sweeping across your arm. Knowing that Jack isn’t paying any attention to you at all right now, you allow yourself to just look. With the close proximity, you can see every bit of what makes Jack so irresistible. His eyes are the deepest shade of brown you have ever seen, and they seem to get darker and lighter with his moods. The black smudged underneath just serves to draw a person in deeper. You follow his jaw line with your eyes, and love how there is a gap between the hair there. You shift your attention back to his eyes, and when seeing that he hasn’t noticed your activities, you glance down at his mouth.

Suddenly a thought strikes you as odd, ‘Why hasn’t he tried to kiss me?’ You know he must have thought about it at least once, you’re not blind to the way he looks at you at times. And you’re sure he knows that while you put on a tough front, there would be no resistance.

“So why the hell hasn’t he kissed me?”

Your eyes widen in shock the moment you realize that you just said that out loud. You keep as still as possible, keeping a small shred of hope that maybe he didn’t hear. ‘How could he have not heard? I practically yelled it,’ you think.

You hesitantly glance at Jack, and become confused at the fact that he doesn’t seem to have any reaction at all to your outburst. He’s still staring out at the sky, with the very same blank expression. You wait in silence for him to say something, or for one of his smirks to appear, but it never comes.

After a few minutes your body starts to relax again and you let out a tiny grateful sigh.

“Tear ye up inside don’ it luv? Gettin’ frustrated...impatient. Me poor lil’ nymph.”

You’re instantly angry with yourself for letting your guard down and relaxing. ‘There was no way he was going to let that go, and now there’s no point in trying to deny that I was talking about him,’ you think. You lift your head up to fix him with one of your best withering glares.

“Oh shut up Jack, it’s not like you haven’t thought about it.”

Jack continues to stare up at the sky, only now he has a large gratified smile on his face that has reached his eyes, making him seem open and playful.

His lack of response frustrates you, making you feel uncertain. “Why do you call me that?” you quickly ask.

His smile gets larger and he asks, “Call ye what luv?”

“Nymph, Jack. Why do you call me a nymph? No, why do you call me your nymph?” you slowly clarify for him, becoming very interested in his answer.

His smile never faltering, Jack responds without any thought. “The Greek believe them ta reside in forests, large bodies of water. Always beautiful... goddesses. You’re me own lil’ nymph luv. It’s jus’ how I think of ye.”

“...Oh,” you murmur, ‘How am I supposed to respond to that?’ You didn’t expect his answer to be anything close to that. You once again think back to the fact that you were the first to ever sleep in his bed, and you can’t help but feel special all over again. ‘He seems to have a knack with making me feel that way,’ you say to yourself.

Jack chuckles with your murmur of a response and turns his head to look in your eyes.

“An’ for the record luv, ye’re right. It’s not like I haven’ thought ‘bout it.”