Captain of His Heart

Chapter Seven

      In the morning, a line of people arranged themselves on the dock in single formation. She studied them as Gibbs hollered,

      "Feast your eyes captain! All of them, faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt." She zoned out at Gibbs' small rant, up until Jack advanced towards one of the men, an older fellow with a parrot perched on his shoulder.

      "You sailor."

      "Cotton, sir." Gibbs interjected.

      "Mr. Cotton. Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders to stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" She snorted, receiving a glare from Jack, and her body tensed. When Cotton did not respond, Jack pressed further,

      "Mr. Cotton! Answer, sir." Gibbs raised a hand.

      "He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out." Cotton opened his mouth, and Jacqueline grimaced in disgust as she caught a view of him. "His parrot's been trained to talk for him. Not sure how." She crossed her arms as Jack directed his speech towards the bright blue and yellow parrot.

      "Mr. Cotton's...parrot. Same question." The bird squawked.

      "Ready the sails. Ready the sails." She furrowed her brows.

      "Mostly we figure that means yes." Gibbs added, and she cracked a smile.

      "Of course it does!" Jack exclaimed, grinning towards Jacqueline who returned the gesture, and then he faced Will. "Satisfied?"

      "You've proved they're mad." Pessimist. She almost blurted it aloud but held her tongue as she didn't quite disagree with the boy.

      "And what's the benefit for us?" A high pitched voice heightened her curiosity, as there was almost no chance in the owner of the voice being male. She followed Jack and Will down the row of sailors and found one with a hat covering her face. Sparrow lifted the hat to reveal an unfamiliar face to Jacqueline. 

      "Anamaria." Almost instantly the woman slapped Jack in the face.

      "I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" Will chirped, in which he brought up the two previous girls who had slapped him.

      "No, that one I deserved." How many girls, Jack? She resisted asking, as it wasn't her place. It hadn't been for nearly ten years.

      "You stole my boat." Anamaria snapped. Oh.

      "Actually," Jack didn't get the chance to finish as Anamaria once again connected her hand with his face. 

      "Borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back."

      "But you didn't!" The woman yelled.

      "You'll get another one." Anamaria raised a finger and pointed it at Jack. 

      "I will." Jacqueline wondered if she should intervene when Will stepped in. "A better one." Jack grinned and repeated Will's words. "A better one!" Will continued to speak, as he said,

      "That one." She furrowed her brows as Jack asked which one, only to realize that Will spoke of the Interceptor.

      "That one?" Both her and Jack seethed. The two shared a look of defeat before Jack nodded. "Aye, that one." Anamaria gazed at the ship, her face expressing a deciding look, before she exclaimed,

      "Aye!" The crew repeated the word and began to board the ship.

       "No, no. Frightful bad luck to have a woman on the ship. 'Specially two of 'em." Everleigh rolled her eyes at the superstitious man. Jack glanced at her before he supplied a liable response.

      "It would be far worse not to have them." She dipped her head as Jack lazily threw his arm around her shoulders, the two returning to the ship. 

~~~~~

      Gibbs and Will sat by each other, speaking in a low voice. When Will threw a glance at Jack and her, she spoke up.

      "Think they're talking about us."

      "Go find out." She sauntered towards the two men.

      "How did Jack get off the island?" Ah, so they were talking about Jack. She lingered by them, listening in on the conversation.

       "I'll tell ye. He waded out in the shallows..." Although she'd heard versions of the story, Jacqueline focused on the words Gibbs spewed out, as she was still curious.

      "What did he use as rope?" Jacqueline leaned in further, curious about the answer. She herself had not heard that detail. A shadow cast above her and she peered behind her to find Jack.

      "Human hair. From my back." She threw him a look, and then directed herself back to Gibbs and Will, who seemed to trust Jack's statement. Unbelievable. She followed the captain as he left the group.

      "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What did you say?" She made to watch his hand as Jack replied,

      "I said human hair. You heard me." She narrowed her eyes as his hand remained still.

      "You lost your tell." Jack blinked at her.

      "My what?" 

      "Your tell. When you lied you used to dig your thumb into your palm. You aren't doing that anymore." Jack grinned sheepishly at her.

      "Who said I'm lying?" She rolled her eyes.

      "Well, good for you. That tell used to say a lot." Jack frowned, and she winked at him before walking off.