The sun greeted me along with a bed not occupied except for my own sprawling being. Shaking the sleep from my eyes I blinked and tried to recall the recent events.

But the recurring figure from those events was nowhere to be found. Sitting straight up and pulling the bedclothes around me, I felt my face grow hot at the circumstances in which I was at the moment. Brushing my tangled hair from my eyes I covered my face with my hands and screamed quite conspicuously into them, the flesh not blocking the sound.

In a moment Jack flew in the room eyes blazing, "What's going on? Who's there?"

Glancing up and scrambling to cover I stammered, "You…you shouldn't be in here!"

His shoulders relaxed and he put on the characteristic grin, "Love, this is my room," and started to move towards my in a way that last night would have made my swoon only made my fly backwards away from him.

"You shouldn't at least come near me, I'm not properly clothed," I couldn't look at him in the face and keep the polite yet urgent tone as he stopped in his tracks.

The captain's boots replied, "And this is now a problem is it?"

I nodded and mumbled an indistinct, "Yes, yes it is."

His tone dropped the confident swagger and a sea worn hand tipped my chin to meet those dark eyes, "Love, I've played your games and I won't play them anymore. I've treated you well, I've protected you and you've now distrusted me more than any woman I've ever met. That I do not deserve."

I was not able now to draw away from his magnetic peat bog eyes and answered quietly, "The Isla de Muerta is located due north of our location and straight on for three knots, there is a compass that if you possess it, it will point the way and it is on an island one knot out under a rock in the shape of a ship."

Captain Jack stared at me in wonder, "How do you know that, love?"

I shook my head in amazement and replied, "I don't know, it just came out."

He let out a great laugh and his eyes shone as he kissed me with dizzying intensity before running out the door calling behind him, "I'll be back; I must share this with Barbossa!"

I was then left to my own devices to think about what had happened, not to mention what was going to happen. Could I trust him? He had given me no reason not to, but for some reason the very belly of this ship seemed to be reeking of mistrust that chilled my bones at every word spoken to me of trust. What then was I to believe?

Wrapping a sheet around me I snuck out on the deck in the early sunlight where there were no sailors. Thanking the Lord for that I leaned up against the railing and felt the wind rush around me in freedom. In a moment of abandon I dropped the sheet and let the air wrap every inch of me as I felt as though I could have flown with no concern for human modesty.

"Love…you look right lovely in the morning light."

Shrieking I turned around and there was Jack, but instead of a roguish grin there was a tender and almost adoring look on his face as he beheld my unclothed and indecent body.

"You…I….I'm so sorry…" I gathered the sheet up around me.

"Perky are we?"

Blushing profusely I tried to pull at the bedclothes stuck on a splinter in the deck. I could hear him walking slowly up to me and gently pulled my hands away from the sheet and let it fall. Looking up his eyes held the same look as the night before and I melted against him as his hands touched my bare back.

"I think a dress might suit you a bit better love."

"I…think so as well."

"Then let's get you one."

My eyes and his never left each other, my lips burning for his (along with other parts) but never meeting. It was torture as he handed me a dark red dress with a scooped neck and loose long sleeves. As I dressed my mind came back to me.

"We shouldn't sleep in the same room."

His eyes darkened in confusion, "Do you not trust me?"

I hastily went over to him, looking pleadingly up into his eyes, "I do trust you. I do. I think. But it isn't proper for me to be in bed with a man to whom I am not wed. Not when it's not pretend anymore, I refuse."

He smiled and touched my lips with his thumb, "Laurel, I never wanted it to be pretend."

I took a step back to calm myself, "But I did, and I have to have it be."

Those eyes showed hurt but he stopped for a moment and stepped back, "Laurel I should not usually say no you understand love? But it truly is not safe otherwise. I'll control myself and lay nary a finger on ye if that's what you be wanting."

I looked at him and the inner struggle raged, "It is. It truly is."

He nodded and turned away, "I must be speaking with my first mate now, go down and have some breakfast it will do you good."

Once he left I sat down and thought and wept and thought some more. If I was running from an upbringing that was too controlling then why was I pushing away a chance to be rid of it?

Jack Sparrow filled me with feelings I could have never had for any boy on Lark Haven, much less my almost husband-to-be Victor. But he would never marry me and I could never marry him.

You can't marry him, you can't have him. I thought, trying to make myself come to terms with it.

My tears were the only ones who fully comprehended as they threw themselves from my eyes to the floor in absolute despair.