Fathoms Below: Captain Jack Sparrow

Chapter 22: You're going to want it.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do that night about the sleeping arrangements, but Jack had apparently already considered this. He had graciously given Elizabeth her own cabin below deck, allowing her to sleep away from the other crew. Luckily, she hadn't questioned it or my own sleeping arrangements and had gone straight to bed after we talked for a while, catching up on deck once we had left Port.

As I stepped into the cabin that night, Jack was already lay in bed, not asleep but just lay there, fiddling with his compass. I immediately felt awkward, like I shouldn't be there, had Elizabeth being onboard changed everything?

"Can I still sleep here?" I asked Jack timidly. His eyes were wide for a moment until he smirked, "Aye love, didn't expect yer tonight."
He was now laying down with his free arm behind his head, his ankles crossed over one another as he relaxed. I wasn't really sure how to answer this and crawled into bed without anymore talking. He placed his compass on the table beside the bed and dropped his arm to my waist and I mumbled 'night Jack' sleepily as I used his other arm as a pillow, just as I had most nights. The last thing I remembered was hearing 'night love' before falling quickly to sleep, tired from the long day in Tortuga.

I woke up the next morning, bright and early, so that I wouldn't be questioned by Elizabeth as to my sleeping arrangements.
When I woke up, Jack was holding me tightly to him, his hand placed on my waist as our chests pressed together.
Delicately, I peeled myself away from him using a few tricks I'd learnt after sleeping beside him for the past couple of months.

As I stepped out on deck, the only person I could see was Mr Gibbs, the rest of the crew clearly still resting. I looked at the sun as it rose over the sea, judging that it wasn't much past dawn.

"Mr Gibbs," I said walking towards him, grabbing an apple out of the barrel on my way. "Get some rest, I'll take over," I said placing my hand on his back. He looked at me with a tired smile, nodding his head.
"Aye lass, we be headed two knocks to starboard until Miss Swann confirms our heading," he pats my shoulder and walks off below deck to his quarters.

Taking a bite out of the apple, I stood at the helm taking hold of the wheel keeping to the heading Mr Gibbs had relayed, keeping her steady.

A few hours later and everyone except Elizabeth had surfaced. The crew, including Norrington were swabbing the deck as Mr Cotton took hold of the helm from me.

As I stood looking out at the horizon, I felt a hand on my hip, alerting me to Jack's presence.
"Morning Love," he whispered. My eyes closed for a moment in hearing the gruff voice of Jack in a morning.
"Morning Jack," I replied, trying to conceal any hint of what I was feeling, and Lord was I feeling it today.

"Snuck out me cabin this morning eh, frightened that cousin o'yours would of got the wrong impression love?" He teased. I looked at him out the corner of my eye, seeing his smirk and a wink in my direction. Two could play this game.

"I don't know about that Captain," I paused, getting closer to him now with an almost seductive tone of voice, "I think she'd understand that I have womanly needs and who better to fulfil them than the great pirate; captain Jack sparrow," I whispered in his ear. I could see instantly that he froze, his eyes widening slightly as he swallowed deeply.

"Or did you mean the impression that nothing was untoward between us and the captain was truly a good man allowing me shelter in his cabin away from the ravenous appetites of his crew?" I added, which seemed to be the straw that broke the camels back. He sucked in a breath, still staring hard into the sea as I sauntered away towards the barrel of apples, picking out another for myself.