Sea of Love (POTC 2)

Chapter 2: Stirrings

Narrator's POV

Jack was pacing anxiously around his candle-lit cabin while Gibbs walked in holding a bottle of rum.

Jack froze and swung his head to Gibbs and said, "that rum is not for company," before snatching it out of his hands.

Gibbs stammered a bit as Jack popped the cork of the bottle open and brought it to his lips. The alcohol went down easy at the first sip, and even easier in the second. He looked down at the label and said, "love me some of the hair of the dog that bit me."

Gibbs said, "I knocked earlier, were you too sick or were you ignoring me? You know, I'm going to go with too sick."

"Wrong."

"What?" Gibbs asked quickly.

"I was ignoring you," Jack said casually and took another sip. The rum warmed up his throat before exploding in his stomach, just the way he enjoys it. He walked around his cluttered desk and slumped in his well-worn chair.

Gibbs paused, "oh... right then. What's got you vexed, Jack?"

"Vexed? Who's vexed? Nothing had me vexed. Vexed? Not me," Jack shook his head. "I'm perfectly un-vexed. I'm quite merry, but not vexed."

Suddenly the door opened and Gibbs turned around to see Annette poking her head in. Her dark golden hair fell in front of her face in loose waves, but she used her hand to push it back. He could smell her heavenly perfume enter the room with her, and his nose twitched at the sweet blend of orange blossom, cedar wood, and vanilla. Jack raised his eyebrows at her and asked, "what's happened?"

Annette's bright eyes put two of heaven's fairest stars to shame. She quickly noticed Gibbs was in the room with Jack, and she decided to come back when he was gone. She wanted to speak with Jack in private about a manner that she assumed that he wouldn't want others to know about because it would be embarrassing for him. She excused herself by saying, "oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were here. I'll come back later."

"Bye, Annie," Jack said to her as she closed the door. He didn't understand why his heart beat harder when she was in the room, but he loved the way her perfume lingered. He cared about her, and he had never cared for a member of his crew like that before. He got along with her nicely, and their shared experiences and similar histories sparked a mutual interest. They've been on the same ship together for almost a year, and the Jack's feeling hasn't gone away. In fact, it's grown. He's tried not to enjoy her presence, but he can't help it.

Jack sighed and Gibbs turned back to him. Gibbs could read Jack like a book and knew that there was tension between the two pirates. To try to get Jack to admit his feelings, he said, "she's a pretty one, Jack."

"That she is," he agreed, looking down at his desk. A memory of her manning the wheel of the Pearl washed over his brain, and he relaxed into his seat. Then, he looked up at Gibbs and asked, "you've had a wife, yes?"

"Aye?" Gibbs asked, recalling his three previous wives.

"How did you know... you know?" He asked, gesturing with his hands.

"What?" He asked, cluelessly.

"That you wanted to be bound to your woman for all of eternity?"

"Well... I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach... I saw her eyes in the stars above, and her face in every flower," Gibbs said poetically, "I felt explosions when I was around her."

"Was this the same for wife four and five?"

"Let's get our facts straight. I only had three wives."

"Fine," Jack said, "how did you know?"

"I just... knew. Why?"

"No reason," Jack was jumpy.

It finally clicked for Gibbs. His eyes widened and he asked, "are you speaking of Annette?"

Jack, for once in his life, had trouble coming up with an answer. He is usually very capable of coming up with a lie right on the spot, but this time he was coming up empty.

Gibbs noticed. He stated, "you hesitated."

"No, I did not," Jack replied firmly.

"Do you talk of Annette?" Gibbs asked again.

"Annie? Nay. She is stubborn... outlandish, and unorthodox."

Gibbs cocked his eyebrow and tried not to laugh as he asked, "you find her outlandish and unorthodox?"

Jack sighed. "She is truly a very kindhearted lass, she just doesn't like to show it. It has... captivated me."

Gibbs let his eyebrow come up in curiosity. "What are you saying, Captain?"

"Annie... I seem to have, briefly, mind you... stirrings."

"Stirrings?" Gibbs asked.

"Stirrings."

"What, like...feelings, you mean?"

"No, no, no, no, not quite all the way to feelings. More like..." Jack gave Gibbs a look, "all right, feelings, damn you."

"How do you know?" Gibbs asked.

"It's that old black magic..." Jack shuddered and his deep voice fell to a whisper, "it has me in a spell. Between you and me, I have strong reason to believe that she's a witch."

"What are you going to do?"

"It'll pass," Jack said and waved it off.

"You oughta tell her soon," Gibbs said, knowing that this was not going to pass.

"Tell her what?" Jack asked and took another gulp of the rum.

"About your stirrings," Gibbs said, "you may be one pirate too late. Kiss her in the moonlight, see if that brings up any more stirrings. That's what I did with me lass number two."

"When I think about that... I feel... strange."

"What do you mean, Cap'n?" Gibbs asked, "you don't mean you feel nervous, Cap'n?"

"You saw her wrestle that alligator when we were sailing near the New World," Jack recalled with a shudder as the vivid memory played in his head.

"Tough, she is," Gibbs nodded. "That woman is wild. A she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar. The beauty is there, but the beast is in the heart."

"I know it's foolish to be ill at ease," Jack chuckled and took another swig from his bottle. The alcohol was beginning to take effect, but that didn't stop Jack from drinking.

"Oh, it's not foolish. You should be."

"What?"

"I'm just pulling your leg, Cap'n," Gibbs chuckled.

"Besides, me only love is the sea, mate," Jack said.

"Then you should forget to think of her if you refuse to communicate your stirrings," Gibbs said.

Jack sighed, "teach me how to forget to think."

Jack knew that was impossible. He could not simply stop thinking about a woman he has been through so much with, and who lives with him on a ship. He could never forget her.

"She's a catch Jack, don't let her go."

"This was a mistake," Jack shooed Gibbs out of the room, "out you go."

Gibbs reluctantly followed his orders as he left the cabin and closed the door behind him. Jack took one last drink from his bottle before he set it down on his desk and brought his attention back to his map.

AN: if you could live in any century for one week, what would it be and why?
This is hard but if it had to be century rather than decade I would choose the 1700's. I think I could live without proper indoor plumbing for a week 😂 I just think it would be super interesting to see how much has changed in 300 years