Yes sir, Captain (Completed with trailer) [ReaderxPirate]

Chapter 22

You heard a door slam and were jolted awake.

But the Captain's right here, who is...

"Captain!" Knoll yelled, mere feet away.

The Captain jumped out of the cot like a cat who'd received an electric shock. "Knoll!" he exclaimed, stunned. "T-the Captain's Quarters is off-limits to crew!" He scrambled to his feet and dove for his Captain's Cloak.

"You mean, off-limits without exclusive permission?" Knoll corrected.

"There is punishment for entering my quarters," the Captain sneered. "It is considered an attempt of robbery. I'll meet you on deck in a few minutes for your lashes."

"And there is a greater punishment for sleeping with a crewmate," Knoll corrected.

"I have...never had a rule of those sorts."

"It has never been an issue. But your policy is to never share such close sleeping quarters in the first place, and when she got on board, you said she was not to be touched."

"And she hasn't been."

"It doesn't look like it," Knoll noted. Behind him through the wide open door, crewmates began to gather. "Would you like to explain to us?"

"No," the Captain retorted. "Have you fully repaired and cleaned up the ship yet?"

"No."

"Then it looks like you have work to do," the Captain ordered. "Now go get it done."

"You know, we'd appreciate Anika's help. Because, I mean, she was too busy with you yesterday to help, so if she's not too busy with you now, maybe–"

"Go get the work done. Now."

"And why should we listen to you?"

"Because I had that whole situation under control. I knew he wouldn't kill you all, he was bluffing. He'd have wanted to save you as his own recruits."

"But you weren't bluffing, were you?" Knoll countered.

"A place in rank for you. Go get the ship repaired."

"We don't take orders from a young Jim lad," Jagger chimed in from behind in his deep voice, looking intimidating as he crossed his muscled arms and glared at us with two beady eyes and that scar on his nose in between them.

"The ship needs to be repaired," the Captain repeated. "I will deal with you later, but if we sink before we reach shore because you've all moped around like dead fish, we'll all be meat for the sharks.

The crew exchanged glances.

"Well, it has to get done sometime," Knoll said. "Alright, crew, let's go repair this ship."

And they obeyed him.

After they left, leaving the door wide open, there was a pause as the Captain went and closed it again.

"Sorry..." you said, not sure what to say.

"No no, it's not your fault, they're the ones stirring up trouble," the Captain insisted. He was still glaring at the door, but you could tell he blamed himself.

"So I'll...head on out and help them with the ship." You stood up and slowly wandered to the door.

He nodded vaguely. "I'll join you all in a bit."

With one more longing backward glance, you headed out the door and followed the crew to wherever the ship needed reparations.

And though you caught each other looking, you never spoke a word to each other under the judgmental eyes of the crew.

That night you two retreated to the Captain's Quarters, which the Captain notably locked that time before getting into the cot with you. There wasn't much to say...only a few words were exchanged as you pressed against him as you fell asleep.

.

~ ~ ~

.

The next two days were hard, and not just because of the constant fear of being attacked.

You made constant, valid attempts to mend your relationship with the crew. Some of them forgave and trusted you; starting with Wyck, who said you reminded him of his mother.

By that second day, perhaps half the crew had made their peace with you. Meanwhile, none of them made any move to forgive the Captain. Of course, he tried to repair his relationship with them like you did, but not a single crew member accepted his attempts.

The tension was tearing into you, because you were the crew's only connection to the Captain. You were used like the crew's virtual shield in confrontations, and you were the messenger of the Captain's orders, to which the crew would say that the Captain should say it himself; and then when he would, they'd either begrudgingly obey or just ignore him altogether.

You never did get another chance to say 'I love you' at the right place or time, so days passed where you and the Captain didn't say it at all.

But with battle on edge, and your only hope in an injured boy whose crew no longer acknowledged as their captain, sometimes you just wanted to jump into the water and steal the liferaft, float to some random island, and try to live there instead, maybe with the Captain there too. In a mud hut, eating coconuts.

But you knew that wasn't really an option.

And it was you whose nightmares woke you up at midnight this time.