FicWad

Ragetti and Pintel led me through the lower deck, up the stairs, and then to the same room where I had eaten breakfast with the captain before. I frowned nervously when we reached the door. I didn't feel so good about this meeting. First of all, I looked like crap. Secondly, I had no idea what Barbossa wanted. And thirdly, I really did not want to talk about Jack. Unfortunately, if Barbossa did want to talk about Jack, I would have absolutely no choice about it. Barbossa was the master here. I was just a small and helpless girl on his ship who shouldn't even be there really. I mean, since when did young respectable women travel on pirate ships?

Ragetti and Pintel released my arms when we reached the door to Barbossa's chambers. I turned and frowned at them. They were both eying the door nervously. Their expressions were making me nervous. Was Barbossa in a horrible mood or something? I didn't think I wanted to find out. Crossing my arms, I glared at Pintel and Ragetti and said, "Aren't you two coming in?"

"Us? No!" Pintel said, quickly taking a step backwards. His foot hit a rope and he tumbled over backwards and landed on his back. Ragetti stumbled backwards as well and said, "No, of course not. The captain only wanted to see you. We're suppose to be...um...scrubbing the deck!" Ragetti went over to where Pintel had fallen over and grabbed his hand. He hauled Pintel to his feet and started tugging him away. I watched the two with amusement for a minute before turning to the door.

I took a deep breath and put my hand on the door knob. I frowned when I realized I still hadn't turned the handle. Why did I have such a bad feeling about this meeting with the captain? I was probably just being paranoid, right? The whole thing with Jack had really made me extremely paranoid. Telling myself that this was no big deal, I opened the door and quickly stepped inside before I could freak out.

As soon as I was inside the room, I was greeted with a big wad of fur in my face. I cried out with surprise and stumbled backwards. A minute later, I felt the ball of fur move to my shoulder. Looking over, I saw Jack the monkey perched there. He chattered happily at me. Rolling my eyes, I took another step inside and looked at the table. Barbossa was standing by the window, peering out at the sea. When he saw me, he turned around and started towards the table.

"You wanted to see me, captain?" I asked rather stiffly. I hadn't quite forgiven Barbossa yet for not telling me what I was doing here and why I had to come here in such a hurry. Barbossa nodded, pulled out a chair for me, and motioned for me to come over to the table, "Aye, I wanted ta see ya. Here, come sit down. Yer the lady."

I picked my way across the floor and sat daintily on the chair Barbossa had pulled out for me. A weird tingling sensation went through me when I moved by him to the chair. I made myself ignore the feeling and focus on the food in front of me instead. Surprisingly enough, there was lots of food there. I had no idea how Barbossa had gotten so much food. There were rolls, lamb, cranberries, apples, and drumsticks. It all looked freshly prepared. That was surprisingly as we were stuck on the ship.

Barbossa sat down across from me and uncorked a bottle of wine. He filled the glass in front of me and filled his own. When I simply stared at him, Barbossa said, "You must be hungry. Go on, dig in. There's no need to be a lady in front of me. We're pirates here, Miss Cook." Barbossa grabbed an apple for himself and took a big bite out of it.

I looked at the food and selected a roll. I took a few bites out of it and then set it down. I wasn't very hungry and to be honest, I was trying to lose a few pounds. I had always thought of myself as fat. Mother said that if I ever wanted a gentleman to love me someday, I would have to be able to maintain a very slender figure. After all, what kinds of guys liked fat girls? No guys.

"Is that all yer eating?" Barbossa asked me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged and nodded. He frowned and stood up. He walked around the table and stood next to me with a hand on his hip, "Why? You've eaten two bites. You've got ta still be hungry." I frowned as I looked up at Barbossa. Was that concern for me in his eyes? That wasn't possible...was it?

Trying to just focus on his question, I replied, "Oh...well...do you want the truth?" I figured I could tell him about my fears of being fat. It wasn't like that was all that personal of a thing. I mean, it wasn't like I was asking him for weight loss ideas or anything. Barbossa frowned and sat down on the chair right next to me and nodded, "Ya, I don't want yer lies."

"Mother always said I was too fat to attract a husband. She said that was why I hadn't had any luck in engagement until I met Sir Allen. So I thought I'd try and lose a few pounds. Then maybe I'll be able to attract some men when we finally reach the next town or wherever it is that you're going to drop me off," I explained, looking down at myself. I felt even fatter when I said that. Yeah, I definitely had to lose a few pounds. I looked really ugly as it was and being fat on top of that was certainly not attractive.

"She said ya were too fat?" Barbossa asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow. I nodded miserably, thinking of all the times she had called me fat. Barbossa's eyes traveled over my body and I felt like I was under inspection as he looked at me. Barbossa scrutinized me carefully for a moment and then said, "Yer probably just under a hundred pounds, aren't ye?"

I didn't like talking about my weight, but I had been the one to bring it up. I nodded and blushed. Just under a hundred pounds sounded fat to my ears. Why couldn't I be seventy pounds or perhaps sixty? I was still contemplating all this when Barbossa said, "That's not fat. That's skinny. If ya were any skinnier, you'd probably scare men away. Gentlemen like curves." Barbossa reached towards me and ran a hand down my side. He left the skin on my side tingling and left my mind confused. Was that an innocent touch? Or was it something more? Or maybe, I was just being extremely paranoid as always.

The two of us sat silent for a moment. Our eyes locked and I could see Barbossa letting down the veil that normally controlled his expressions. As I thought I had glimpsed before, all I could see now was sadness in his eyes. Sadness...and something else. The "something else" I couldn't quite identify. For some reason, I found myself reaching my hand forward. What the hell was I doing? Did I want to touch him? No, of course not. I mean, he was some rough pirate more than three times my age.

I made my hand stop reaching for him when I had closed the distance about halfway between us. Surprisingly enough, my hand brushed against warm skin. Looking down, I saw that Barbossa had stretched his hand towards me as well and we had somehow met in the middle. I frowned and looked down at our hands. Barbossa's hand was much bigger and rougher compared to mine, but mine fit perfectly inside his. The next moment or two was awkward as we both looked down.

Suddenly, Barbossa placed my hand inside of his and brought it up towards his face. For a moment, I thought he would kiss me. Surprisingly enough, I had no problem with that. Just when I thought he would kiss me, Barbossa released my hand sharply and murmured, "Ya have hands of a lady. Maybe my plan fer ya isn't goin' to work so well after all..."

I was so disappointed that he hadn't kissed me that it took me a few minutes to realize what he had just said. When I did, my eyes widened and I asked immediately, "Plan? What's your plan for me?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear what his plan was for me. You never knew what the plan would be when it came to Barbossa.

"Ya, I had a plan," Barbossa nodded, looking at me carefully out of the corner of his eye. While he looked at me, I felt like I was a piece of art on display at a museum. I blushed and looked down at the floor. Barbossa went on, "I thought that maybe ye'd want ta come along and find the fountain of youth with us. It's not like ya have any place in particular yer traveling ta. What do ya think?"

Barbossa wanted me to travel with him to find the fountain? That was rather surprising. I had thought that he would want to try and get rid of me as soon as possible. Apparently not. His demeanor from earlier and certainly changed. I looked down at the floor and tried to think about his offer. Did I want to continue to travel on the Black Pearl? Captain B was right; it wasn't like I had much to live for in town. It would take a hell of a lot of work to try to find a source of income and a husband. Maybe staying on the Black Pearl was best.

"So?" Barbossa asked when I didn't reply for a few minutes. His eyes were wide and it looked like he really cared about my answer. Frowning, I thought for one more minute before I made my decision. It was going to be a decision that ended up causing both of us a lot of pain, but how was I to know that? Simply put, I couldn't know the future.

"I'll come," I said with a resolute nod. "You're right; it would be hard for me to find a husband in town anyways." Jack the monkey chirped excitedly at my decision and raced over to my other shoulder. Barbossa frowned and muttered under his breath, "Bloody husbands." I frowned and raised my eyebrow at him. He ignored me.

Another awkward silence fell between us. The only sound was Jack's chirping. Finally, Barbossa said, "It's getting late. Ya may go back ta yer cabin if ya want ta try and get some sleep. I'm gonna sit on the deck fer a while." Barbossa stood and crossed the room with a few strides. He paused and then turned back towards me with a smile, "Yer welcome ta join me if ya like."

I watched Barbossa leave and then realized that I wanted to follow him. Jack had already scurried off my shoulder to follow Barbossa. I decided to go and follow him. Being left alone in a strange ship wasn't exactly a situation I wanted to put myself into. I stood up, brushed myself off, and crossed the room. I popped open the door with a creak and stepped out onto the deck.

The deck was deserted this time of night. The sky was pitch black and was lit up by stars twinkling in the heavens. It was really quite beautiful. Squinting, I stepped across the deck until I found Captain Barbossa sitting on a barrel and watching the stars with Jack sitting on his shoulder. I stopped next to him and said, "Um, you said I could join you..."

"So I did," Barbossa nodded. Abruptly, he reached up, grabbed my arm, and pulled me down on the barrel besides him. He pointed to a twinkling star in the horizons and said, "That's Polaris. It's a lucky star. Ya can wish on it if ya want. I dunno if I believe in wishes comin' true, but it can't hurt." I looked up and saw the lucky star. I would wish on it. I closed my eyes and made a wish...it was a wish that would come true. Unfortunately, I would go through lots more pain before I would get my wish.

When I was finished wishing, Barbossa looked at me with a raised eyebrow and asked, "What did ya wish fer?" I frowned at him and shook my finger at him in a playful gesture, "I can't tell you! If I do, it won't come true. I'm surprised at you, Captain B! You should really know that! You're not trying to spoil my wish, are you?"

"Spoil it?" Barbossa repeated, "Of course not." Then he raised an eyebrow and gave me an amused little smile, "Where did Captain B come from anyways?" Oops, I hadn't realized I had said that allowed. I hoped he wasn't mad. I quickly apologized, "Oh, sorry. It's just that you're Captain B in my mind. But I'll go back to calling you Captain Barbossa."

"No really, Captain B is fine. Ya can call me whatever ya want," Barbossa replied. He smiled down at me and snaked an arm around my waist. Sparks went flying up my back and that was when I realized that I liked it whenever he touched me. I liked the captain. Great. Just what I needed was to fall in love with him. All I could do was wait and see what would happen with me and the captain.