FicWad

Ragetti and Pintel woke up with a start. Both pulled out their pistols and looked around warily. I frowned at them and hissed, "Guys, it's just me, Bern! Let down the ladder so I can come up!" I wasn't sure if there were guards watching the dock, but I certainly wasn't in a mood to sit around and find out. The sooner I got on the ship, the better.

Pintel and Ragetti looked around suspiciously. It took them a few minutes before they finally looked in my direction where I was waving at them frantically. Apparently, I wasn't the only person who took a long time to wake up in the morning. Rubbing his eye, Ragetti pointed at me and said, "Bern! I was wondering if you were going to make it back tonight!" Ragetti turned to Pintel and ordered, "Go let down the ladder for her so she can come on. Oh look, she's got the charts!"

Pintel frowned at Ragetti and replied, "Me? Why me? You let the ladder down!" I folded my arms across my chest and waited irritably as the two argued about who was going to let down the ladder. After about five minutes of this repetitive arguing, I had had enough. I stomped on the dock to get their attention. Both looked over at me with surprise.

"So," I said in an irritable tone, "Are you two going to leave me out here all night or is someone going to let down the ladder?" Ragetti and Pintel turned to look at each other. Suddenly, the ladder was dropped from the side of the ship. I gratefully grabbed onto the rope handles and climbed up the ladder as quickly as I could. The rope was rough and bit into the soft skin of my hands, but I had no choice but to ignore it. When I finally hauled myself onto the ship, I looked around to see who had let down the rope. It was Mr. Gibbs.

"Thanks," I said to Mr. Gibbs with a smile. Then I turned to Ragetti and Pintel and said, "No thanks to you two." Ragetti and Pintel hung their heads and put sad expressions on their face. Rolling my eyes, I relented and said, "I'm not mad. Don't wear those sad face. Guess what, guys? I got Barbossa's charts! So now the crew can find the fountain of youth!"

Mr. Gibbs, Ragetti, and Pintel all let out whoops of excitement. All three pairs of eyes turned to look at the bundle in my arms. Pintel grinned, stepped forward, and held out his hands. He gave me an innocent expression and asked, "May I have them?" I frowned at Pintel. He and Ragetti hadn't done anything to make me distrust them yet, but I wasn't sure if I trusted them one hundred percent. One thing was sure; I certainly didn't trust them enough to just hand over the charts.

Frowning, I shook my head and said, "Sorry. I have to deliver them straight to the captain." Pintel's face fell and I was tempted to give him the charts just to wipe that sad expression off his face. Ragetti stepped forwards as well and said, "Well, the captain's sleeping. You're gonna have to wait to give them to him until the morning." He glanced towards the dark sky above us and added, "It is the middle of the night after all. Maybe while we're waiting, you could at least show us the charts?" He gave me a hopeful look.

I supposed their really wasn't anything wrong with just showing them the charts, but I was still getting a funny feeling about this. I turned to Mr. Gibbs since he was the only one who hadn't pressured me about the charts and asked, "Can't I go see the captain now? I'm sure he'd consider the charts a good enough reason to be woken up, don't you?"

Mr. Gibbs opened his mouth to speak, but Pintel cackled and answered before Mr. Gibbs could, "What if the captain's down there fucking a wench? I wouldn't doubt it." He turned to Ragetti with raised eyebrows and added, "Would you?" Ragetti shook his head and grinned, still looking at my charts. Those two just were not going to rest until they saw the goddamn charts!

I must say that the thought of Barbossa and some random wench from the city making love made me feel sick. Either that or I had had way too much rum. Considering that I had just spent the night with Jack Sparrow, that was a good possibility. As I stood contemplating all this, Pintel's eyebrows suddenly knotted together and he asked, "Hey, what happened to your dress?"

I looked at him puzzled and then remembered that I had forgotten to tie it up in the back. I had been in a much too big of a hurry earlier to worry about something like that. Holding my dress together in the back with my right hand, I stammered, "I...um...I was being chased and I didn't have time to tie it back up. That's why I was in a hurry to get back on the ship."

Ragetti and Pintel exchanged evil glances and then both turned to grin at me. I could tell they were definitely not going to let the subject drop. Sighing, I put a hand on my hip and tried to look stern as I said, "What?" Pintel smiled at me wickedly and took a step forward, "You told us why you couldn't tie your dress back up, but you didn't tell us how it got untied in the first place."

Oh god, I suppose I should've come up with a story for my appearance before I had gotten back on board the ship. Too late for that now. At this point, I was just going to have to come up with some lame excuse fast or tell them the truth. Obviously not wanting to tell them the truth, I went for the first option. I stammered and opened my mouth to speak, but luckily, I was saved.

Loud footsteps from below deck sounded. All four heads turned towards the stairs curiously. A moment later, a black hat with a feather appeared. Barbossa appeared on deck looking like he hadn't been sleeping. That made me a little happier and I smiled to myself. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the smile was real.

"What?" Barbossa asked, crossing his arms across his chest. I flashed out of my thoughts at his words and immediately wiped the grin off my face. Trying to look serious, I said, "I got the charts for you, Captain." I expected Barbossa to smile at me or thank me or at least do something. To my chagrin, he did none of those things. All he did was look me up and down and grab my arm almost roughly.

As he started pulling me towards the stairs, I looked up at him in confusion and said, "Where are we going?" Without pausing, Barbossa said stiffly, "Ye'll see." Not really having a choice about his, I let Barbossa drag me down the stairs. Before I disappeared from view, I shot a look back at the threesome still standing on dock. Mr. Gibbs looked puzzled, Pintel had his head cocked in confusion, and Ragetti merely shrugged cluelessly at me.

Barbossa led me down the stairs, across the lower deck where other members of the crew were snoring loudly. Finally, we reached the cabin. Barbossa shoved me inside, followed me in, and then locked the door behind him. By this time, I was getting a pretty bad feeling about this. I didn't see what in the world I had done wrong, but something told me that I had done something wrong.

Unsure what to do, I stumbled back nervously, tripped, and fell backwards on the bed. I quickly arranged myself into a sitting position and waited for Barbossa to speak. Finally, he did. He stepped forward so he was standing rather close to me and said in a rather stiff voice, "So tell me, what exactly have ya been doing?"

I didn't quite understand that question. I got the charts for him. What else would I be doing? Trying to phrase this in a nice manner, I held out the charts for probably the third time and said, "Getting the charts for you. Here. They're yours." I tried to give the charts over to Barbossa, but he wouldn't take them. I frowned to myself. What was the problem? Were these the wrong charts or something?

"Yes, I already know that one," Barbossa rolled his eyes and came to stsand directly in front of me. "Anything else?" Barbossa was really starting to creep me out at this point. I had no idea what his issue was, but there was obviously something going on here. Maybe I had woken him up and he was still half asleep or something? I really had no idea.

I answered the question as honestly las I could and shook my head, "No...all I did was get the charts." As soon as those words were out of my lips, Barbossa leaned down and shook my shoulders. Our faces were merely inches apart and his turqoise blue eyes were only centimeters away from mine. I could feel his warm breath on my face as he said, "Don't you dare lie to me, girl! It's apparant you've been doin' more than just gettin' those charts fer me. Yer a mess."

A mess? I immediately took offense to that remark. Why in the world would I be a mess? There was nothing wrong with me...was there? I looked down at myself and quickly realized what Barbossa was talking about. The bottom of my skirt was stained with mud. I guess the Tortugan streets had been more muddly than I had thought they were. The rest of my dress was also rather crumpled and I still hadn't had time to tie it back up. My face was warm and my makeup was probably smeared all over. Oh, and to improve my look even further, I realized that my hair was probably a rat's nest from having sex and from running like hell out of the town.

When I hung my head and didn't say anything, Barbossa saiad in a deadly low voice, "So, let's try this again. What else were ya doin' in town?" I froze and didn't know what to say. Really not wanting to lie to Barbossa, I decided to give him a half-truth instead. I said nervously, "I thought I was being chased so I had to run out of town fast."

"Yes, I already knew that," Barbossa said with a nod. He stood back up and started pacing back and forth in front of me. He crossed his arms and stated, "But that still doesn't explain why yer dress is wrinkled, untied, and why there's blood on yer skirt." Blood? The word caught me off guard. Looking down, I saw that he was right. Blood had soaked through my panties and slip and onto my dress. Shit. I had thought the bleeding had stopped. Didn't Jack say that it was suppose to stop soon? Maybe it had just been dried blood that had soaked through. Who knew?

I stayed silent through Barbossa's statements. I wasn't sure what to say. Barbossa shot a look at me out of the corner of his eye as if he wanted me to say something. I still had no idea what to say though, so I stayed silently and waited for him to speak first. Obviously in a bad mood, Barbossa tossed his head and said, "That is my dress, ya know. And ya got blood on it. So before ya ruin it anymore, I'll be havin' it back." Barbossa held out his hand and tossed me my much-too-big blue shirt and black pants.

I caught them and waited for him to turn around. When he didn't move, I squeaked nervously, "Aren't you gonna turn?" Barbossa looked confused for a moment and then turned his back to me. Glad to get out of the untied dress and bloody clothes, I stripped down quickly, redressed in the clothes that didn't even fit right, and then said to Barbossa, "Okay, I'm done."

Barbossa rotated around and held out his hand. I gave him the dress and waited to see what he would do next. He caught the dress and looked at the bloody part carefully. Raising an eyebrow at me, he asked suspiciously, "So tell me, Bernadette Cook, how exactly did this blood end up all over yer skirt? Did ya slip and fall maybe?"

I figured it was rather obvious that I had not slipped and fallen, but I would do anything to get out of this situation. So instead of telling the truth like I really should have at this point, I nodded slightly and murmured, "Um...yeah. I slipped and fell when I running." Barbossa was immediately by my side again. He sat down on the bed next to me and grabbed my chin in his palm. Turning my face so I was forced to look at him, Barbossa hissed, "Liar! Ya should know better than ta lie ta me at this point. Do I really need ta lift up yer skirt ta prove that ya aren't hurt? Because as much as ya think ya can fool me, I know better little missy."

I gulped. Barbossa was starting to scare be a bit at this point. As before, I still didn't answer. It was too hard to talk about losing my virginity. It was something personal that shouldn't be shared with others. Unfortunately, Barbossa wasn't reading into my fingers. His grip tightened onto my chin so I couldn't look away from him. Locking eyes with me, he said, "Ya slept with Sparrow...didn't ya?"