If You Only Knew

Chapter Five, Remedy

Artemis stayed in bed for the next day, Captain Sparrow checking on her often. Some would see it as annoying, but she saw it as a handsome man was concerned for her, that saved her from a death by a capsizing lifeboat in a cold, heartless sea. Throughout that day, she found herself intrigued and interested in the Captain.

"Captain Sparrow?" she had asked the first time Artemis saw him that morning, when he brought her another cool cloth for her forehead. She may have awakened, but her fever hadn't broken yet.

"Please, love, call me Jack."

"Jack?" Artemis asked. "What are you going to do with me once I'm healed?"

"Well, love, I can't just abandon you somewhere, and I don't know where you're from. Then there's the possibility that if I do let you off, you'll tell somebody that you were on the Black Pearl with Captain Jack Sparrow and you'll be hanged for piracy, love, which would be bad. So, you'll stay here, on the Pearl."

"What will I do, Jack? I don't know how to work on a ship."

"Working on a ship isn't woman's work, anyway, love. Do you cook?" he asked, hoping to God that she knew just a little, even if the crew had the live on toast.

"A bit," Artemis answered, playing with her short hair.

"Good, good. Cotton can't cook for much of anything."

"As I've figured out," she said, shying away from the poor excuse for oatmeal that Cotton had prepared.

A week later, the Black Pearl was docked in Port Louis, picking up rum while the men ran amuck, going from tavern to tavern, whore to whore.

Artemis sat on the deck with a bottle of rum, finding that she liked the taste.

"What're ya thinkin' about, love?" came a voice form behind Artemis. Turning around she saw Jack swagger up to her, rum in hand.

Artemis shook her head before she said, "I don't remember what happened. I don't remember anything from before I woke up."

Artemis sniffled and willed herself not to cry as Jack asked, "Do you think you'll ever remember?"

She sat for a moment before she said, "No."