A little Kaylee, a little Pirates
This has been sitting on my hard drive for months, waiting for me to be happy with the ending. It's from my ideas for Kaylee visits POTC as the world was presented in the first movie. It makes no sense if you take into account the later ones. Of course, if you don't know Kaylee's back story it may not make sense anyway. I don't know. But I sure had fun writing it, so I guess I'll share and see if anyone else enjoys it too.
Note, this story is R for suggestive language. It's actually the raciest piece I've ever written, so be warned if you don't like implications of such things.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney does. I don't own the Jedi or the Force, Lucas does. I don't own Hogwarts or Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. I don't own the Underground, Labyrinth, or Jareth, Henson does. Oh, and Cat O'Nine Tails belongs to honorat, but I love to steal her. If there's anything else you recognize, I probably don't own that either, but Kaylee and her adventures are mine. And boy does she get around.
There was just something about the way he moved. Kaylee knew she could watch him all day, and in fact had done so for much of the last several. For the moment she was splicing rope, trusting her fingers to work while her eyes tracked the captain as he alternated between walking the deck and taking the wheel from Mr. Cotton.
He had one of the strongest Force senses she’d seen outside of the Jedi Realm. Oh, not enough for training, and with his morals she’d never dare even if he did, but enough for a sense of his world that seemed otherworldly to others.
She felt he must have some fae blood. His sense of the sea and the wind was uncanny. Maybe somewhere in his ancestry there was a selkie child that never made it to the sea, or perhaps some air oriented sprite. Or both. And even then Jack was probably a genetic throwback to boot.
As he moved about the deck, he always maintained the perfect balance of a well trained fighter, even if he did wobble about as much as a master of drunken monkey style kung fu. It was a perfect harmony when he was upon the ocean, though rather amusing to watch when he continued to follow the sea’s swells on shore.
He was just a collection of contradictions. How did a kind hearted man become a blood thirsty pirate, if less blood thirsty than most? How could a human have an affinity for the sea that most sea bred fae would envy?
He was a mystery, and she was fascinated.
***
Would that she could have said her first trip to Tortuga impressed her. Unfortunately, she had seen worse. Nar Shadda for example. Though, the island did have a more licentious and relaxed air. The lack of stabbings was pleasant, and the whores playing games with their johns on the streets was unique in her experience.
The first guy to accost her ended up crumpled on the street with no interest in women, leastwise not until the bruises faded in a week or two. The second, just inside the bar door, got a very large knife to the throat and a warning of just what she would cut off if he tried that again. After that production, most of them lost interest, or at worst required a crushed instep to drive them off.
She would have liked to just hide in Jack’s shadow for the evening, trusting him to take all the attention. Unfortunately, he not only took most of the attention, the flock of whores that gathered to attend him had quickly forced her to another table.
She stared into her mug of rum, trying to make sense of her own mind. She’d been doing just fine to date, but now, in the swirling smoke and stench of unwashed bodies, something was throwing her off. It wasn’t until a burst of laughter drew her to raise her eyes and she saw Jack thoroughly snogging some wench that she realized her problem was jealousy. She was sent here to protect him, but at the moment she’d much rather just bed him.
Human rum was pathetic stuff compared to what came out of the Fae realms, but the three mugs she already had under her belt left her floating just enough to consider something rather … naughty.
It took another mug of rum - or was it two? - before Kaylee finally clambered to her feet. Crushing insteps and shoving drunks aside, she approached Captain Jack Sparrow.
She chose the shortest route, which meant shoving a collection of whores aside and stepping up onto the table to arrive directly in front of him. His confused eyes took in her boots, then her trousers, then her loose shirt, paused for a moment along the curve of her throat, and finally reached her face.
As his eyes reached hers she said, “I’ve had a realization, Captain.”
“Aye?” he asked, his head taking on that fae little cant.
She reached down and, with a minimal use of the Force to offset her bad leverage, shoved the whore from his lap. “I don’t like watching you with them,” she said, and sat on the edge of the table, her legs against his sides. She reached out and cupped his cheeks, her thumbs trailing along those stunning cheekbones that she’d been admiring for weeks, before she pulled him forward into a bruising kiss.
She expected him to pull away, if not immediately then soon. But he didn’t resist. He actually leaned into the kiss, his hands slipping up to clasp her thighs. His thumbs began to circle against her inner thighs, and she identified the odd little noise she heard as her own moan of pleasure.
She was no innocent, several times over thanks to the Lady’s time and body manipulations, but as she pulled back Kaylee felt her face go red. What was she doing? And before half the Pearl’s crew and a good chunk of several others? Something about Jack’s calculating eyes and licentious grin made her feel very shy.
“Methinks we need to have a talk about proper relationships between a captain and his crew,” he purred, running his fingers along her cheek.
He stood, shoving the bench he was on back, thereby throwing out of position a half dozen whores who had been capering for his attention all evening. To placate them and the bar owner, he threw a small pouch of coin on the table before sweeping Kaylee into his arms.
“Back to the ship,” he said. Somehow, even with her in his arms, he gave the room a small bow and said, “Ladies,” before walking out the door with Kaylee in his arms, her eyes wide at what she’d started, and her body throbbing with pleasure at his touch.
He carried her most of the way to the ship, to both her embarrassment and her pleasure. There had been a number of drunken cat calls from the inhabitants of the street, but Jack had ignored them, so Kaylee did as well. He did let her down to make her own way up to the deck and she continued across it to the great cabin of her own volition.
“I’ve never been one to keep a pet aboard ship,” Jack commented as he closed the door behind them, though she noted he didn’t lock it, yet.
“I’ve never been one to be someone’s pet,” she countered, walking back up to him and cupping his cheek in her hand. She was a bit nervous, but disinclined to back out now. “I prefer compatriot and playmate.”
“Is that all?” he asked, cupping a hand around her hip. “You sounded a bit … jealous back there.” Ah, there was that little questioning grin that made her heart flutter.
Did she just think that?
“I don’t think I’d mind you keeping pets out there if I knew there’d be something for me here,” she countered, hoping she was being honest with herself. She knew, intimately, that his ship held all his heart and there was no room for a woman.
“Unless you think the crew would object,” she added, taking a step back, trailing her fingers down from his cheek to his shoulder, down his outstretched arm to his hand.
Before she could escape his reach, his hand wrapped around hers and he pulled her up against him. “You’ve already proved you can handle the crew,” he whispered, staring into her eyes. “But can you handle their captain?”
The lock clicked shut behind them.
***
Kaylee would never have taken Jack for a closet romantic. Oh, she knew more about him that anyone, but even she couldn’t sort through everything in just a few weeks. So she’d missed the romantic streak.
He kissed her hard. He kissed her soft. He slowly sweet talked her out of her clothes. He even made the romantic gesture of asking her to drop her illusion, saying he wanted to see the face of the beautiful creature he was ravishing tonight. If this is how he usually treated his whores, no wonder they fought for another chance.
She wondered a bit as to how he knew about her illusion. However, she was slightly drunk on rum and very drunk on his touch, so she focused on switching to the illusion she used for the High King’s court functions. It showed the true shades of the skin around her eyes and her hair, but no more.
“But something is still hiding you here,” he said, caressing her neck, “and here,” her shoulder, “and here,” her upper arm, “and here,” the hollow of her collar bone, “and definitely here,” the curve of her breast. How did he know that? His tongue flickered over the skin his fingers had just passed over and her mind shut down as he whispered against her skin, “I want to see you.”
She damn near dropped every illusion then and there, but a smattering of sense resisted. “You are not my father, my brother, my uncle, or my husband,” she said between gasps, and she wasn’t sure which affronted him more.
“No, I’m your captain.” Oh, the feel of that wicked grin against her skin.
***
Later, she was lying on her stomach as he played with her wings. She’d never thought of them as an erogenous zone, but was finding the slow movement of his fingers along and through the monomolecular membrane absolutely entrancing. He’d asked her before about their function and how they slipped through most things given enough time, but this was his first time observing them up close.
“You’re a brave lass, floatin’ about the sky on these delicate things,” he commented. He then brushed his lips and mustache against the membrane, and she filed the sensation away as one to explore again later as she gasped.
“They’re stronger than they look,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.
He ran his eyes over her slight build, then at the bruise she’d left on his arm earlier. “Yes you are.”
***
Jack lay on his side, half asleep, and Kaylee was gently traced the silvery forest of scars that covered his back. His scars told as many tales as his tongue, and she wondered if he would ever be willing to share them with her.
“The bottom layers are from a few bad captains over the years,” he murmured softly, almost below the rage of hearing. “The last were from a real little shit in the East India Trading Company.”
“The same one who gave you this,” she said, running her fingers over the ‘P’ burned into his forearm as the story sifted to the surface of her mind. In some ways, it wasn’t fair to him that it was already all there within her mind, just waiting to be found.
“Aye,” he said, rolling over to face her. “This looks almost as painful,” he added, tracing the ropy scar that curved around the left side of her ribs.
“An unpleasant curse during an even less pleasant battle with an egomaniac wanna be dark lord.” She shuddered slightly as his touch ticked over the more sensitive scar tissue. “That was my first mission.” And how appalled she had been to return home and find herself six years younger but with every new ding still present in her hide.
“How old?” he asked, his eyes boring into her own.
“Fifteen when I first arrived, twenty-one at the battle. That would be between ten or eleven and about thirteen for a full blood human.” That little difference in effective age had long been a point of contention between her grandmother and her parents.
“And this?” His fingers traced the burn scar that splashed over the curve of her shoulder.
“Staff blast over a blaster burn. It got infected the second time and didn’t heal as well as I wanted.”
“It’s beautiful,” he said, kissing along the edge of the burn.
When she’d first arrived aboard the Pearl, she’d wondered if she should switch to the illusion that covered her scars. After a few days she’d become well aware that everyone in the crew had their scars, and decided she’d not stand out in any way. Now she was very glad she hadn’t hidden them. Sharing them like this was a give and take greater than she’d ever known.
***
If she had still been at Hogwarts, that night would have become infamous in Ravenclaw tower (though because she brought it up or because everyone heard the screaming, she didn’t know). Hell, it probably would have become infamous in every dorm after one of those rare interhouse gossip sessions. Jack was what every girl in the school had dreamed of and never gotten. Let’s be honest, teenage males are not the best, most experienced lovers. (Hey, just because she hadn’t been old enough to join in the gossip didn’t mean she hadn’t listened for six years.)
Then again, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be willing to share this. Which meant she really needed to review her silencing spells. Fortunately, tonight most of the crew were ashore doing their own drinking and wenching. The watch had likely gotten an earful though. She hadn’t even known she could hit that volume without being in terror for her life.
Lady Bright, she had learned more in one night than from a dozen previous lovers in several realms.
And that was before she tried something that she’d seen in an obscure little text in the SGC (it was amazing what Daniel kept around as “references” sometimes), and Jack positively screamed.
“And here I thought I was going to be the teacher, love.” He kissed her hard then purred in her ear, “Do that again.”
***
She woke from a light doze at the sensation of something tugging at her hair. Opening her eyes, she found Jack separating out one of the colored strands and braiding it. From the feel of things, he’d already finished several others.
“Have you ever considered orange?” he asked, tying off the braid of vivid green.
“Doesn’t suit my skin,” she said with a sleepy laugh. “The colors always develop in shades that complement, and orange may suit Jareth, but not me.”
“Blues and greens do go well with black hair and golden skin.”
She nodded. “There’s some purple too, on my arms and … across my breast.” She trailed her fingers across where the swirl of color would be if not for her illusions.
“How did you identify the pattern of my colors so well earlier?” she asked, remembering her distracted curiosity from before.
He shrugged. “I just know there is something there. Can’t see it, not like I can spot you sometimes when you’re pretending to be invisible…”
“I am invisible,” she replied snarkily. This had become an old argument in the short time since their meeting.
“So you say. But I can tell where there should be something more.”
“Maybe you’re something of a seer,” she proposed.
“God forbid,” he said fervently, and changed the subject. “You should wear your colors openly more often. Or at least as much as you are willing to show.”
“It’s tradition,” she explained. “Only family is allowed to see the strength and breadth of one’s power.”
“So it’s all got meaning?”
She nodded, then asked, “And how would I explain to the crew why I’m so colorful?”
“Well, they might not notice anything odd with the prevalence of tattoos and the like around here. Or you could tell them the truth.”
“That I’m an inter-dimensional traveler in the service of an obsessive and controlling goddess?” she asked with a disbelieving laugh.
“Nah, that you’re one of the fair folk,” he corrected in a light tone
She snorted. “Somehow I doubt that would go over any better.” A subject change was in order. “You know, you might look good with orange streaks, through red would be better.”
“Nice thought, but not likely to happen.” He had a point. They didn’t exactly have easy access to the hair dyes she’d seen in some realms. Especially not for hair as dark as his. However …
“Oh, I don’t know.” It took a moment to rediscover her legs, then another to figure out where her wand holder had been flung last night. Once she found it, a whispered spell streaked several of his braids in flame colors. She had spent a little time studying prank and beauty spells in her spare time. Jareth was rather fond of that one.
She conjured a crystal mirror as she walked back to him and held it out.
He eyed the new look and eagerly asked, “Can you make them flicker?”
It took another bottle of rum and a lot of experimentation, but he was quite pleased with the final effect.
***
The next time Kaylee woke, the sun was in the sky and someone was knocking. She was delightfully comfortable, sprawled across Jack, her head on his shoulder and his arms around her, and had no desire to move.
Jack growled something indecipherable and a voice from beyond the door called out, “It’s Gibbs, Captain.”
“Bloody hell, what time does he think it is?” Jack snarled into her hair.
”Don’t want to get up?” she asked into his chest.
“Not in the slightest,” he agreed.
“Care what the crew learns?”
“You should have thought of that before you kissed me in front of half of them. Between not coming back and what the watch heard I’m sure they all know exactly what we’ve been up to.”
“Got it covered then, Captain.” A small wave of her hand pulled the sheet up over them. Another twitch of her wrist unlocked the door and pulled it open. A naughty grin crossed her face as the ship’s first mate poked his head around the door and took in the damage.
“Sorry to bother you, Captain. A tradesman just arrived with those supplies you ordered and I need to pay …” Mr. Gibbs started out strong, but his voice trickled away as he took in the great cabin. Clothes, and a few other varied items, were scattered all over the furniture and floor. And of course Jack and Kaylee were sprawled in the bed, barely covered by a sheet.
“Is your hair on fire, Captain?” Gibbs voice actually squeaked.
Kaylee raised her head, then cursed softly as she saw the flame like braids spread over the pillow. She’d forgotten about those.
Jack let out a grunt when she dropped her head back onto his chest. “No, Mr. Gibbs. Just an experiment. Fetch the lockbox and bugger off.”
He did as ordered, slipping the lockbox efficiently out of its secret compartment. It was getting back out of the room that he tripped up again.
“Kaylee?” he asked, finally identifying his captain’s companion. “Your eyes. Who hit you?”
Kaylee groaned. She’d forgotten to switch back to a fully covering illusion. “Nobody, Mr Gibbs,” she said a bit sarcastically. “That’s completely natural coloring for a fae.”
Kaylee closed her eyes, wanting to forget the look of horror on Gibbs’ face. Now maybe Jack would understand why she preferred to hide her face. She saw that look regularly on her grandmother’s face. Could she just obliviate him? Where had she tossed her wand?
“Captain, a woman’s bad luck enough, but havin’ one of the fair folk aboard …” Gibbs began.
“It’d be worse luck to throw her off … or go say’n she’s bad luck to her face,” Jack countered, his tone that serious one that people usually found it best to agree with.
“Aye, perhaps,” Gibbs conceded.
“Oh, go pay the tradesman … and get yourself a ration of rum to calm your brain before it over heats,” Jack suggested. “And before you bring the lockbox back, see Cookie for a tray for us.”
“With some tea,” Kaylee added. The jig was up. The least he could do was get her a decent drink while they still had some.
“It may stew before we get to it,” Jack cautioned.
“So leave it out of the water. I’ll heat it later,” she assured him.
“With what?” Kaylee answered by raising a hand and snapping her fingers, conjuring a crystal which quickly turned into a fire ball that burned out before it hit the bed. “Right, pot of cold water, tea on the side.”
“Aye, Captain.” A quick look at Gibbs’ face showed she’d made more than one point with that fireball.
“You’re quite the naughty creature when you want to be, love.” Jack commented once the door was firmly shut behind Gibbs.
“You bring out the worst in me, I fear,” Kaylee replied, a grin on her lips.
“Is that such a bad thing?”
“Depends on how long I’m sticking around.” She sighed. “Soon as Gibbs opens his mouth the crew is going to be ready to lynch me for bewitching their captain. Don’t know how I’m gonna do my job then.”
“Nonsense. They are going to be jealous as hell that I’ve got such a nice piece in my bed and ain’t sharing,” he said, grabbing her ass. “But they are also going to be glad they’ve got a fine sword to fight beside them and a fine sailor to aid in the rigging. Show them a few tricks that would be useful in a fight and they’ll get over it right enough.”
“I doubt it will be so easy,” she said, rolling away from him. “Tricks will just scare them.”
“Didn’t scare me,” he said, rolling atop her, his flame-like braids falling about her face.
“But you’re mad, Captain Sparrow,” she pointed out.
“And they’re me crew,” he countered.
She thought he might have a point, but forgot about it when he kissed her.
***
They were in the midst of certain activities when Mr. Gibbs returned. Hearing the knock, they disengaged themselves and Kaylee snuggled up to Jack’s side, her knee over his legs to hide that he was interested in something other than his first mate.
The sheet in place, Jack called, “Come in.”
Gibbs entered carrying the lockbox, followed by Marty with the tray. Kaylee groaned softly and buried her face in Jack’s shoulder, cursing herself for not replacing the illusion. The story really would be everywhere now.
Jack gripped her chin gently and urged it from his shoulder. “You should’ve considered any shy tendencies before you climbed that table in The Bride.”
“I was drunk,” she asserted, a comment that got a snort of laughter from all three men. “Oh put it down and bugger off, you lot,” she growled. She rolled up on her elbow so she could glare down at Jack, not bothering to make sure that the sheet stayed properly covering. “It was one thing admitting I wanted to take you to bed,” she said with a glare. “It’s another to go showing the whole crew I’m not human. It’ll be across the island by nightfall. I must have been drunk as a skunk to agree to that.”
As she ranted the others slunk back out of the cabin, though probably not without a few appreciative glances. Once they were gone, Jack grabbed her somewhere sensitive and said, “Perhaps not drunk, per se, but definitely a little blissed out.”
***
It was mid afternoon before they made a serious attempt to leave the cabin. They’d made one abortive attempt before, but the bath Kaylee had conjured just led to other activities.
This time, Cat O’Nine Tails was scratching at the door demanding entrance. Jack opened the door a crack and she offered him his usual tribute of a dead rat, which he accepted with a minimum of graciousness and immediately threw overboard. At least she didn’t leave them next to his bed while he was sleeping anymore. Gibbs had a grand tale about them having that particular argument.
Kaylee was sitting on the bed, modifying her vest with magic. If she was going to confront the crew with the truth as Jack was suggesting, she was going to do it with a low back on her vest and no shirt so she could get her wings free fast if someone tried something up in the rigging.
Cat hopped onto the bed and settled in her lap, purring up a storm and completely ignoring the magic going on over her head.
“Now that should comfort you,” Jack said.
“What?”
“The crew isn’t going to toss someone the ship’s cat likes.”
Kaylee laughed and scratched Cat between the ears.
***
Kaylee had her illusions on court mode and her hair braided back when she left the cabin with Cat O’Nine Tails in the crook of her arm and the captain right behind her. Everything would have been fine, including her nerves, except most of the crew was waiting on deck.
“I do hope this isn’t a mutiny,” Jack said lightly, though there was a core of steel underneath.
“’Course not, Captain,” said Gibbs in the front row. “Crew just wanted to know exactly what it is that signed articles off Port Royal.”
“It is a she, and do you usually require new crew to list their crimes,” Kaylee said haughtily.
“Nah,” said Marty, his tone light. “But references are always appreciated.”
Ignoring the muttering and agreements from the crowd of crewmembers, Kaylee dug out her titles. With all the haughtiness she used at a High Court function she said, “I am Sesquelearus Estus’t’estus, High Priestess of the Lady Bright, Princess of Goblins and Lady of the Labyrinth, witch, fae, Jedi Master, Ambassador to a few dozen realms, and occasional mercenary.” She finished in a more friendly tone. “However, I prefer to be called Kaylee.”
“It’s an impressive list, no?” Jack added lightly. “Personally, I prefer guardian angel. She snuck me out of Port Royal under the Admiralty’s very nose.” She thought it kind of him to remind the crew of their surprise arrival her first day aboard ship.
Kaylee shrugged. “I’ve worked with angels a time or two.” It was true, if a slightly misleading way to say it.
“Havin’ an angel aboard ought be lucky,” Gibbs said thoughtfully.
“Wind in their sails,” added Cotton’s parrot, and Cat was purring quite loudly.
That seemed to settle things for the most part. It was an odd crew that would accept the words of a superstitious old man and two animals as to someone’s worth, but she wasn’t going to complain for the moment. Oh, there would surely be scuffles later, but Kaylee knew she could handle them.
***
Kaylee had ship watch that night with Mr. Cotton. Jack left after the confrontation, with most of the crew at his back to drink and whore the night away. Though Jack claimed to be looking for a few more supplies as well. He did promise to let her know what way the gossip was blowing when he got back. She was quite curious what story the crew would be spreading around.
She settled against the main mast, tucking her lit wand in her braid, and planned to pass the night with a few reference books. She needed to review her silencing spells if that look Jack gave her as he left meant what she thought it did.
Unfortunately, there were a number of unpleasant interruptions. She quickly switched her studies to wards and solved the problem so she could return to her original topic.
Shortly after dawn, she was drawn to the side of the ship by a yelp of pain and a familiar voice yelling her name.
“Yes, Captain?” she asked, leaning over the railing.
“My ship just zapped me,” he snarled at her, shaking out his hand.
“Sorry. Someone had a big mouth last night and I was having trouble with visitors trying to check out the mysterious woman on the Pearl. I didn’t think you wanted them aboard, and figured you’d prefer the wards to the risk of scorch marks in the rail if I got sloppy with the fire balls.” Jack’s head whipped around and took in the definite pattern of scorch marks on the dock, and confirmed that there were none on the Pearl herself.
“Keep that handy, but turn it off so the crew can come back,” he ordered. Oh good, he did see the use of such an effect.
“Already done,” she assured him, and offered a hand over the rail.
The poor Captain’s hand was looking a little red after its impact with her wards, so Kaylee followed him across the deck into his cabin
“Something was obviously skittering about town, gossip wise, given the crowed last night,” she commented as she enlarged her travel trunk on the table.
“And I’m sure the fire balls only fanned the flames,” he commented as he shed his effects. “Only clear sense I got was there is something special about the new girl on the Pearl, who may or may not be the same one who bewitched me in the Faithful Bride the other night. There were a number of other secondary rumors, but nothing consistent.”
Kaylee snorted, rummaging for the burn paste she knew she had somewhere.
“What all do you have in there?” Jack asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Not really sure anymore,” she admitted. “I just keep adding things I think I might need.”
“And what were you looking for?” he asked, sorting through some of the clothes she’d thrown on the table. “Oh, I bet you’d look lovely in this.”
She grabbed the burn paste that finally surfaced and turned to see what caught his attention. It was a rather skimpy leather halter top. “Got that off the Tok’ra. Half of them dress like priests, the rest like whores. I’m sure I have something skimpier somewhere.”
She grabbed his hand and smoothed the paste over the burn, which quickly led to him trying to smooth his hands over other things.
“Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep?” Kaylee asked as Jack’s wandering hands inhibiting her attempts to repack her trunk.
“You gonna join me?” he asked, nibbling on her neck.
“I would have thought you’d be whored out after last night,” she commented lightly, relieved to find the thought less horrifying than it had back at the bar. The physical presence prodding her in the rear offered a counter argument against his exhaustion.
“You said you were fine with the whoring as long as there was a turn for you back here. I’m tryin’ to hold up my end of the bargain.” His fingers were fumbling at the laces of her vest.
“Jack Sparrow, you are drunk and tired,” she said, turning around within the circle of his arms.
“Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow.” His whimper was almost cute.
“Captain on deck and Captain in play, aye, but if you demand to be my captain in bed, then I’ll walk out that door and never return,” she promised solemnly, taking a half step back out of reach. They each had their own authority, and she knew better than to let power plays into the bedroom. There was a good reason for frat regs.
He gave her a more serious look than she’d ever seen on his face before saying, “Agreed,” and proffering his hand to seal it.
“Agreed,” she said, and shook on it.
He then took the opportunity to sling her over his shoulder and haul her off to bed.
***
It was only a few minutes, with a minimum of screaming and yelping, before a knock resonated through the cabin. Highly aroused and half dressed, Jack snarled in response.
“Sorry to intrude, Captain,” said Mr. Gibbs cracking open the door but decidedly looking anywhere but inside. “But the crew is already complaining about the noise.” Kaylee laughed. “And they’re threat’nin’ to drag you out and toss you overboard to cool down if’n you can’t keep it down.”
Jack was looking decidedly red in the face, but Kaylee just nipped his ear and whispered, “Trust me.”
“Understood, Mr. Gibbs,” she said before Forcing the door shut with a wave of her hand, and then securely locking it.
Jack went straight back for her breasts, but she pushed him back and gave him a look of warning. “Need to concentrate to get this right, then I’m all yours,” she assured him.
“Promise?” he asked with a glint in his eye as he leaned back against the bed.
A moment’s focus called up the right spell from her reading, the one that covered four walls, roof, and floor. That was important on a ship where the crew could be standing over your head or under your feet. Also, there was a twist that would ensure they could still hear in, as the captain couldn’t be completely cut off from his crew. A minute of focused casting with her wand set the wards. She hoped.
“There, we can hear outside, but nothing inside can be heard outside,” she said, tucking her wand back in its holster and tucking both under the edge of the bed.
“Perfect,” he purred, and jumped her.
***
Some hours later, after a bit of exercise and a lot of sleep, Jack and Kaylee were sitting at the table in his cabin, nibbling on the remnants of a tray from Cookie and contemplating their options for the rest of the day.
“What we need, love, is a swim. The weather is too nice to sit about or fight with town,” Jack said, grabbing Kaylee by the arm and hauling her to the door.
“No, what you need is a regular bath,” she teased, unconcerned about their mutual lack of clothing. Human body consciousness had amused the hell out of her in many realms.
“Don’t understand your obsession with baths,” he said crossing the deck. “Little dirt never hurt anyone.”
“Tell that to the next member of the crew to loose a limb to infection,” she got out before he picked her up and tossed her over the side. She controlled her fall with the Force and turned it into a perfect dive. Jack followed quickly, missing her emerging head by inches as he entered the water.
“Madman,” she said with a laugh and splashed him as he came up.
“Of course, I’m Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy?”
They splashed and chased through the water, and given Jack’s speed and stamina in the water, Kaylee was all the more certain that he had some selkie in him. Eventually, however, their fun was interrupted by Mr. Gibbs.
“Ahoy, Captain,” he called down from the rail.
“Aye, Joshamee? Thinking of joining us?” Jack called back jovially.
“I think not, Jack. No, there’s a man here who claims he has more supplies and you owe him some gold.”
“Excellent,” Jack said, and swam over to one of several ropes trailing from the side of the ship. He looked back at Kaylee and said, “Race you up.”
“You don’t want to do that, Captain,” she assured him.
“But I do,” he insisted, a twinkle in his eye as he took off up the side of the Pearl, hand over hand. Kaylee waited until he was near the top, then quickly unfolded her wings and let the membrane float above the water. She quickly shot up above the level of the deck, and with a few tilts of her wings landed herself by the rail. When Jack reached the top, he found her there, offering a hand.
“I told you you didn’t want to do that,” she commented as his feet hit the deck.
“Impressive. I suppose I owe you a forfeit,” he commented, picking a wet strand of hair from her face.
“Might I suggest you save it for later and put some clothes on for now,” Gibbs cut in. “Lest the tradesman think you’re not but a savage and leave without making his delivery.”
“Too right, Joshamee,” Jack said, slapping his first mate on the shoulder. “Be right out.”
***
Kaylee was quite surprised when Duncan approached her. Not to say that the crew had been avoiding her, but they certainly weren’t seeking her out.
“Can you … I mean, would you mind terribly …” Duncan stuttered on a bit more before Kaylee cut him off.
“Spit it out, Duncan. I’m not going to bite your head off,” she said as kindly as she could.
“Cover my watch shift tonight … please?” the young man begged. “I have this friend … we rarely catch up and this is his last night before his ship leaves in the morning.”
Kaylee wondered if this man was more than just a friend, and also why he didn’t try for a spot on the Pearl, but she kept her questions to herself.
“Of course,” she assured him. “Go enjoy your evening. I’ve got things covered here.”
That was how she ended up aboard the ship with no company but Cat O’Nine Tails and Joshamee Gibbs, who was already two bottles to the wind. And he was staring at her.
She didn’t mind that he wasn’t paying attention to the watch. After the last crewman left, she’d set up a ward that would tell her if anyone got close to the Pearl. She did mind his eyes boring holes in her skull hour after hour.
“Mr. Gibbs, if you have a problem with me then say so and let us get it out in the open,” she said when she finally confronting him.
“Not a problem,” he muttered, his eyes moving to the half empty bottle in his hand.
“A question then,” she offered, determined to do what it took to get the man to stop with the staring.
“Aye, perhaps,” he said thoughtfully, his eyes returning to her face. They weren’t just looking. They were searching.
“Oh, Merlin. What is it?” she asked, reverting to the patterns she had picked up when she first learned the English tongue. She collapsed back against the rail of the ship and fixed her eyes on the rigging. “I fear if you continue with that look I shall go mad.”
He stared a bit, took a sip from his bottle of rum, and stared a bit more. Then he spoke. “Not really a question for you. Just try’n to understand.” She turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
“Ye see, I’ve know Jack Sparrow a number of years, both before and after he got the Pearl back. And I thought the day we fished him outta Port Royal’s harbor he was the happiest I’d ever see him. His eyes just glowed as he took her wheel.”
The man paused again to drink his rum and take an introspective moment. Kaylee used the silence to call up Jack’s memory of that day. He truly was happy, kinda heart whole.
“He calmed after that, settled into being captain of the Pearl. Until you come along. Since then, I keep seeing that look, and I wonder what it is he sees that makes him so happy.”
“You think the captain is happier than usual?” she asked quizzically. She certainly hadn’t sensed anything all that different. Well, other than the usual transition from horny male to male getting laid regularly. Very regularly.
A small shiver ran up her spine at the thought. Bloody hormones.
“Wasn’t sure … but when I saw his eyes after that swim you took, there it was. Like he’d found something he hadn’t know he was looking for.” She’d gotten the impression from Jack that Joshamee was a constant drunk, not an introspective one. What had gotten into the man?
“He’s not in love with me, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she assured him. She knew what a man in love felt like. Jack was in love, but only with the Black Pearl.
“Nay, nay. I know better,” he agreed. “But there’s something different all the same. Not love. Maybe a kindred spirit.” The drunk old sailor made a thoughtful noise and nodded his head before wandering off to some other part of the ship. Kaylee could only watch after him in confusion.
***
Kaylee spent a great deal of time over the next few days considering Joshamee’s words. Much as she enjoyed bedding him, her first priority here must be Jack and how she was supposed to help him. Thus, this change, noticed by a man who could call the enigmatic captain friend, must be considered.
This didn’t stop her from spending many an hour having incredible sex and going off to explore the town. It just filled in the gaps.
But all that thinking didn’t bring any answers. Just more questions. What could a man like Jack Sparrow see in her as kindred? Oh, they both had fae blood, were both fighters, and both loved the sea, but it wasn’t that simple.
While Jack might not have met anyone with a surplus of fae blood, his whole crew was made of sea loving fighters. He didn’t tend to accept other kinds of sailors, or at least they didn’t last long on the Pearl. And she really didn’t think the fae thing was enough of a trigger.
She spent her sleeping hours haunted by a single dream, a memory really. Back on that little spit of land where Jack and Elizabeth Swan had been marooned, he’d given her a speech, one which kept repeating though Kaylee’s mind.
“Wherever we want to go, we'll go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is ... what the Black Pearl really is ... is freedom.”
But what did it mean?
***
Finally there came the day where they set sail once more. Kaylee did her part raising the sails, but once they were pointed away from Tortuga, she was off watch for trimming the sails. At loose ends, she settled herself leaning on the bow rail, watching the sea go by.
And there, suddenly, with the wind in her hair, the sun on her face, and the sea rushing past, it made sense. She’d known this sensation before, and that was what made her different.
Jack saw the Pearl as his freedom not because life aboard a ship was simple and easy. It wasn’t. You needed men to crew and charts to sail by, food and water and money to buy more. But it did give you choice. He was captain, the man who chose the crew and how to get the food and water and money. He chose this ship, or she chose him. Kaylee wasn’t entirely convinced there wasn’t something more to the bond between man and ship than made conventional sense. But his freedom was in the choice, which is why he spent so much energy regaining her.
She’d once faced such a freeing choice. Jareth had offered her an out from the life her lineage demanded. She could have stayed in the Underground and he would have protected her, even from The Lady. She chose to continue her work, both from responsibility and love of the work. But she’d had a choice, unlike ever so many of her ancestresses.
Jareth had given her another choice, though she didn’t realize it then. He’d given her the chance to outlive her duty, to choose another life someday. Sure, she had to give up the first century or two to walking the path and leading her people, but being fully fae she could expect to live at least six or seven centuries, even with her odd aging rate as a youth.
So many people never really made such a choice, not consciously. They might choose to pirate over starving or dying, but it wasn’t the same as picking it out of a sea of options. Her options were a bit different, and she’d chosen responsibility first, but the choice was there. Was that what Jack saw?
She stiffened as she felt someone approach, the relaxed as she identified the unique mental flavor of Jack.
“I thought you’d be at the wheel a while longer,” she said, not bothering to turn about.
“Mr. Cotton can handle her for a bit,” Jack said as he slipped his arm about her waist. “We’ve caught a fair wind. Should take us to the Spanish shipping lanes in good time.”
“I’m surprised you can stand to leave her direction to another,” she admitted, leaning back into his touch.
“Oh, there has to be a certain amount of trust aboard ship, or we’d all go mad,” he said, burying his nose in her hair.
“Some would say you’ve run mad already,” she teased. What was it about this man that so easily sent a shiver down her spine?
“Perhaps,” was all he said before beginning to nibble on her neck
“Really, Jack,” she said, shrugging him away. “If you keep that up the crew is going to think I’ve bewitched you.”
“Or they’ll think I’m a fine figure of a pirate,” he countered, his arms tightening about her, trapping her against him. “Take what you can, love. Give nothing back.”
“Is that what this is all about” she asked, her tone sharper than she’d intended. “Stake what claim you can, when you can, as long as you can, and damn the rest?”
“Why not, love?” he said, and she could feel the brightness of his grin radiating against her skin. “If you were expecting something else then you came to the wrong place.”
“I know,” she said softly, distressed by how wistful she sounded.
“You have your way to go, and I have mine. No reason we shouldn’t celebrate where we meet between,” he said in a lecherous tone before nipping sharply at her ear.
Wistful or not, she had to laugh at his words. In other times and places, she might say that Jack had his mind firmly planted in the gutter, but the meaning didn’t quite translate here. She had to admit, however, the same could be said of her mind of late.
“And what will your precious Pearl say if I wish to take you and give nothing back whenever and wherever we may meet?” she asked, her tone seductive as she ground herself into him.
“An excellent question,” he replied with a soft groan. “Perhaps we should ask her.”
With that, he loosed his arms from around her and grasped her by the wrist before charging off towards the poop deck.
Once there, he claimed the wheel from Cotton and tucked her between himself and the wheel, an appealing position for a multitude of reasons. “Put your hands here, by mine.” She did her best to focus on the spokes under her hands and not the body at her back.
There was tension in the wheel from the rush of water over the rudder, and she closed her eyes, absorbing the play of the water against the hull and the wind in the sails. The Pearl was her own little world, influenced by everything around her, yet controlled primarily right here under Kaylee’s hands.
“This is Kaylee, love,” Jack whispered as he caressed one of the wheel’s spokes. “She’s gonna be around a bit.”
She felt a bit more tug larboard, a twist in the wind. The Pearl was questioning him … no, them. Jack’s hands held steady and Kaylee felt how he played the tension of the water against the push of the wind, something she had only watched without comprehension before.
The Pearl curveted and played for a time, then settled back, surging ahead with the wind singing even stronger in her rigging. Kaylee couldn’t resist the grin that spread across her face. This was magnificent.
Jack loosed one hand from the wheel, holding steady with the other but letting her take more of the sea’s pull. “I think you’ll get along just fine,” Jack said, setting his free hand on her waist.
Note, this story is R for suggestive language. It's actually the raciest piece I've ever written, so be warned if you don't like implications of such things.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney does. I don't own the Jedi or the Force, Lucas does. I don't own Hogwarts or Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. I don't own the Underground, Labyrinth, or Jareth, Henson does. Oh, and Cat O'Nine Tails belongs to honorat, but I love to steal her. If there's anything else you recognize, I probably don't own that either, but Kaylee and her adventures are mine. And boy does she get around.
There was just something about the way he moved. Kaylee knew she could watch him all day, and in fact had done so for much of the last several. For the moment she was splicing rope, trusting her fingers to work while her eyes tracked the captain as he alternated between walking the deck and taking the wheel from Mr. Cotton.
He had one of the strongest Force senses she’d seen outside of the Jedi Realm. Oh, not enough for training, and with his morals she’d never dare even if he did, but enough for a sense of his world that seemed otherworldly to others.
She felt he must have some fae blood. His sense of the sea and the wind was uncanny. Maybe somewhere in his ancestry there was a selkie child that never made it to the sea, or perhaps some air oriented sprite. Or both. And even then Jack was probably a genetic throwback to boot.
As he moved about the deck, he always maintained the perfect balance of a well trained fighter, even if he did wobble about as much as a master of drunken monkey style kung fu. It was a perfect harmony when he was upon the ocean, though rather amusing to watch when he continued to follow the sea’s swells on shore.
He was just a collection of contradictions. How did a kind hearted man become a blood thirsty pirate, if less blood thirsty than most? How could a human have an affinity for the sea that most sea bred fae would envy?
He was a mystery, and she was fascinated.
***
Would that she could have said her first trip to Tortuga impressed her. Unfortunately, she had seen worse. Nar Shadda for example. Though, the island did have a more licentious and relaxed air. The lack of stabbings was pleasant, and the whores playing games with their johns on the streets was unique in her experience.
The first guy to accost her ended up crumpled on the street with no interest in women, leastwise not until the bruises faded in a week or two. The second, just inside the bar door, got a very large knife to the throat and a warning of just what she would cut off if he tried that again. After that production, most of them lost interest, or at worst required a crushed instep to drive them off.
She would have liked to just hide in Jack’s shadow for the evening, trusting him to take all the attention. Unfortunately, he not only took most of the attention, the flock of whores that gathered to attend him had quickly forced her to another table.
She stared into her mug of rum, trying to make sense of her own mind. She’d been doing just fine to date, but now, in the swirling smoke and stench of unwashed bodies, something was throwing her off. It wasn’t until a burst of laughter drew her to raise her eyes and she saw Jack thoroughly snogging some wench that she realized her problem was jealousy. She was sent here to protect him, but at the moment she’d much rather just bed him.
Human rum was pathetic stuff compared to what came out of the Fae realms, but the three mugs she already had under her belt left her floating just enough to consider something rather … naughty.
It took another mug of rum - or was it two? - before Kaylee finally clambered to her feet. Crushing insteps and shoving drunks aside, she approached Captain Jack Sparrow.
She chose the shortest route, which meant shoving a collection of whores aside and stepping up onto the table to arrive directly in front of him. His confused eyes took in her boots, then her trousers, then her loose shirt, paused for a moment along the curve of her throat, and finally reached her face.
As his eyes reached hers she said, “I’ve had a realization, Captain.”
“Aye?” he asked, his head taking on that fae little cant.
She reached down and, with a minimal use of the Force to offset her bad leverage, shoved the whore from his lap. “I don’t like watching you with them,” she said, and sat on the edge of the table, her legs against his sides. She reached out and cupped his cheeks, her thumbs trailing along those stunning cheekbones that she’d been admiring for weeks, before she pulled him forward into a bruising kiss.
She expected him to pull away, if not immediately then soon. But he didn’t resist. He actually leaned into the kiss, his hands slipping up to clasp her thighs. His thumbs began to circle against her inner thighs, and she identified the odd little noise she heard as her own moan of pleasure.
She was no innocent, several times over thanks to the Lady’s time and body manipulations, but as she pulled back Kaylee felt her face go red. What was she doing? And before half the Pearl’s crew and a good chunk of several others? Something about Jack’s calculating eyes and licentious grin made her feel very shy.
“Methinks we need to have a talk about proper relationships between a captain and his crew,” he purred, running his fingers along her cheek.
He stood, shoving the bench he was on back, thereby throwing out of position a half dozen whores who had been capering for his attention all evening. To placate them and the bar owner, he threw a small pouch of coin on the table before sweeping Kaylee into his arms.
“Back to the ship,” he said. Somehow, even with her in his arms, he gave the room a small bow and said, “Ladies,” before walking out the door with Kaylee in his arms, her eyes wide at what she’d started, and her body throbbing with pleasure at his touch.
He carried her most of the way to the ship, to both her embarrassment and her pleasure. There had been a number of drunken cat calls from the inhabitants of the street, but Jack had ignored them, so Kaylee did as well. He did let her down to make her own way up to the deck and she continued across it to the great cabin of her own volition.
“I’ve never been one to keep a pet aboard ship,” Jack commented as he closed the door behind them, though she noted he didn’t lock it, yet.
“I’ve never been one to be someone’s pet,” she countered, walking back up to him and cupping his cheek in her hand. She was a bit nervous, but disinclined to back out now. “I prefer compatriot and playmate.”
“Is that all?” he asked, cupping a hand around her hip. “You sounded a bit … jealous back there.” Ah, there was that little questioning grin that made her heart flutter.
Did she just think that?
“I don’t think I’d mind you keeping pets out there if I knew there’d be something for me here,” she countered, hoping she was being honest with herself. She knew, intimately, that his ship held all his heart and there was no room for a woman.
“Unless you think the crew would object,” she added, taking a step back, trailing her fingers down from his cheek to his shoulder, down his outstretched arm to his hand.
Before she could escape his reach, his hand wrapped around hers and he pulled her up against him. “You’ve already proved you can handle the crew,” he whispered, staring into her eyes. “But can you handle their captain?”
The lock clicked shut behind them.
***
Kaylee would never have taken Jack for a closet romantic. Oh, she knew more about him that anyone, but even she couldn’t sort through everything in just a few weeks. So she’d missed the romantic streak.
He kissed her hard. He kissed her soft. He slowly sweet talked her out of her clothes. He even made the romantic gesture of asking her to drop her illusion, saying he wanted to see the face of the beautiful creature he was ravishing tonight. If this is how he usually treated his whores, no wonder they fought for another chance.
She wondered a bit as to how he knew about her illusion. However, she was slightly drunk on rum and very drunk on his touch, so she focused on switching to the illusion she used for the High King’s court functions. It showed the true shades of the skin around her eyes and her hair, but no more.
“But something is still hiding you here,” he said, caressing her neck, “and here,” her shoulder, “and here,” her upper arm, “and here,” the hollow of her collar bone, “and definitely here,” the curve of her breast. How did he know that? His tongue flickered over the skin his fingers had just passed over and her mind shut down as he whispered against her skin, “I want to see you.”
She damn near dropped every illusion then and there, but a smattering of sense resisted. “You are not my father, my brother, my uncle, or my husband,” she said between gasps, and she wasn’t sure which affronted him more.
“No, I’m your captain.” Oh, the feel of that wicked grin against her skin.
***
Later, she was lying on her stomach as he played with her wings. She’d never thought of them as an erogenous zone, but was finding the slow movement of his fingers along and through the monomolecular membrane absolutely entrancing. He’d asked her before about their function and how they slipped through most things given enough time, but this was his first time observing them up close.
“You’re a brave lass, floatin’ about the sky on these delicate things,” he commented. He then brushed his lips and mustache against the membrane, and she filed the sensation away as one to explore again later as she gasped.
“They’re stronger than they look,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.
He ran his eyes over her slight build, then at the bruise she’d left on his arm earlier. “Yes you are.”
***
Jack lay on his side, half asleep, and Kaylee was gently traced the silvery forest of scars that covered his back. His scars told as many tales as his tongue, and she wondered if he would ever be willing to share them with her.
“The bottom layers are from a few bad captains over the years,” he murmured softly, almost below the rage of hearing. “The last were from a real little shit in the East India Trading Company.”
“The same one who gave you this,” she said, running her fingers over the ‘P’ burned into his forearm as the story sifted to the surface of her mind. In some ways, it wasn’t fair to him that it was already all there within her mind, just waiting to be found.
“Aye,” he said, rolling over to face her. “This looks almost as painful,” he added, tracing the ropy scar that curved around the left side of her ribs.
“An unpleasant curse during an even less pleasant battle with an egomaniac wanna be dark lord.” She shuddered slightly as his touch ticked over the more sensitive scar tissue. “That was my first mission.” And how appalled she had been to return home and find herself six years younger but with every new ding still present in her hide.
“How old?” he asked, his eyes boring into her own.
“Fifteen when I first arrived, twenty-one at the battle. That would be between ten or eleven and about thirteen for a full blood human.” That little difference in effective age had long been a point of contention between her grandmother and her parents.
“And this?” His fingers traced the burn scar that splashed over the curve of her shoulder.
“Staff blast over a blaster burn. It got infected the second time and didn’t heal as well as I wanted.”
“It’s beautiful,” he said, kissing along the edge of the burn.
When she’d first arrived aboard the Pearl, she’d wondered if she should switch to the illusion that covered her scars. After a few days she’d become well aware that everyone in the crew had their scars, and decided she’d not stand out in any way. Now she was very glad she hadn’t hidden them. Sharing them like this was a give and take greater than she’d ever known.
***
If she had still been at Hogwarts, that night would have become infamous in Ravenclaw tower (though because she brought it up or because everyone heard the screaming, she didn’t know). Hell, it probably would have become infamous in every dorm after one of those rare interhouse gossip sessions. Jack was what every girl in the school had dreamed of and never gotten. Let’s be honest, teenage males are not the best, most experienced lovers. (Hey, just because she hadn’t been old enough to join in the gossip didn’t mean she hadn’t listened for six years.)
Then again, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be willing to share this. Which meant she really needed to review her silencing spells. Fortunately, tonight most of the crew were ashore doing their own drinking and wenching. The watch had likely gotten an earful though. She hadn’t even known she could hit that volume without being in terror for her life.
Lady Bright, she had learned more in one night than from a dozen previous lovers in several realms.
And that was before she tried something that she’d seen in an obscure little text in the SGC (it was amazing what Daniel kept around as “references” sometimes), and Jack positively screamed.
“And here I thought I was going to be the teacher, love.” He kissed her hard then purred in her ear, “Do that again.”
***
She woke from a light doze at the sensation of something tugging at her hair. Opening her eyes, she found Jack separating out one of the colored strands and braiding it. From the feel of things, he’d already finished several others.
“Have you ever considered orange?” he asked, tying off the braid of vivid green.
“Doesn’t suit my skin,” she said with a sleepy laugh. “The colors always develop in shades that complement, and orange may suit Jareth, but not me.”
“Blues and greens do go well with black hair and golden skin.”
She nodded. “There’s some purple too, on my arms and … across my breast.” She trailed her fingers across where the swirl of color would be if not for her illusions.
“How did you identify the pattern of my colors so well earlier?” she asked, remembering her distracted curiosity from before.
He shrugged. “I just know there is something there. Can’t see it, not like I can spot you sometimes when you’re pretending to be invisible…”
“I am invisible,” she replied snarkily. This had become an old argument in the short time since their meeting.
“So you say. But I can tell where there should be something more.”
“Maybe you’re something of a seer,” she proposed.
“God forbid,” he said fervently, and changed the subject. “You should wear your colors openly more often. Or at least as much as you are willing to show.”
“It’s tradition,” she explained. “Only family is allowed to see the strength and breadth of one’s power.”
“So it’s all got meaning?”
She nodded, then asked, “And how would I explain to the crew why I’m so colorful?”
“Well, they might not notice anything odd with the prevalence of tattoos and the like around here. Or you could tell them the truth.”
“That I’m an inter-dimensional traveler in the service of an obsessive and controlling goddess?” she asked with a disbelieving laugh.
“Nah, that you’re one of the fair folk,” he corrected in a light tone
She snorted. “Somehow I doubt that would go over any better.” A subject change was in order. “You know, you might look good with orange streaks, through red would be better.”
“Nice thought, but not likely to happen.” He had a point. They didn’t exactly have easy access to the hair dyes she’d seen in some realms. Especially not for hair as dark as his. However …
“Oh, I don’t know.” It took a moment to rediscover her legs, then another to figure out where her wand holder had been flung last night. Once she found it, a whispered spell streaked several of his braids in flame colors. She had spent a little time studying prank and beauty spells in her spare time. Jareth was rather fond of that one.
She conjured a crystal mirror as she walked back to him and held it out.
He eyed the new look and eagerly asked, “Can you make them flicker?”
It took another bottle of rum and a lot of experimentation, but he was quite pleased with the final effect.
***
The next time Kaylee woke, the sun was in the sky and someone was knocking. She was delightfully comfortable, sprawled across Jack, her head on his shoulder and his arms around her, and had no desire to move.
Jack growled something indecipherable and a voice from beyond the door called out, “It’s Gibbs, Captain.”
“Bloody hell, what time does he think it is?” Jack snarled into her hair.
”Don’t want to get up?” she asked into his chest.
“Not in the slightest,” he agreed.
“Care what the crew learns?”
“You should have thought of that before you kissed me in front of half of them. Between not coming back and what the watch heard I’m sure they all know exactly what we’ve been up to.”
“Got it covered then, Captain.” A small wave of her hand pulled the sheet up over them. Another twitch of her wrist unlocked the door and pulled it open. A naughty grin crossed her face as the ship’s first mate poked his head around the door and took in the damage.
“Sorry to bother you, Captain. A tradesman just arrived with those supplies you ordered and I need to pay …” Mr. Gibbs started out strong, but his voice trickled away as he took in the great cabin. Clothes, and a few other varied items, were scattered all over the furniture and floor. And of course Jack and Kaylee were sprawled in the bed, barely covered by a sheet.
“Is your hair on fire, Captain?” Gibbs voice actually squeaked.
Kaylee raised her head, then cursed softly as she saw the flame like braids spread over the pillow. She’d forgotten about those.
Jack let out a grunt when she dropped her head back onto his chest. “No, Mr. Gibbs. Just an experiment. Fetch the lockbox and bugger off.”
He did as ordered, slipping the lockbox efficiently out of its secret compartment. It was getting back out of the room that he tripped up again.
“Kaylee?” he asked, finally identifying his captain’s companion. “Your eyes. Who hit you?”
Kaylee groaned. She’d forgotten to switch back to a fully covering illusion. “Nobody, Mr Gibbs,” she said a bit sarcastically. “That’s completely natural coloring for a fae.”
Kaylee closed her eyes, wanting to forget the look of horror on Gibbs’ face. Now maybe Jack would understand why she preferred to hide her face. She saw that look regularly on her grandmother’s face. Could she just obliviate him? Where had she tossed her wand?
“Captain, a woman’s bad luck enough, but havin’ one of the fair folk aboard …” Gibbs began.
“It’d be worse luck to throw her off … or go say’n she’s bad luck to her face,” Jack countered, his tone that serious one that people usually found it best to agree with.
“Aye, perhaps,” Gibbs conceded.
“Oh, go pay the tradesman … and get yourself a ration of rum to calm your brain before it over heats,” Jack suggested. “And before you bring the lockbox back, see Cookie for a tray for us.”
“With some tea,” Kaylee added. The jig was up. The least he could do was get her a decent drink while they still had some.
“It may stew before we get to it,” Jack cautioned.
“So leave it out of the water. I’ll heat it later,” she assured him.
“With what?” Kaylee answered by raising a hand and snapping her fingers, conjuring a crystal which quickly turned into a fire ball that burned out before it hit the bed. “Right, pot of cold water, tea on the side.”
“Aye, Captain.” A quick look at Gibbs’ face showed she’d made more than one point with that fireball.
“You’re quite the naughty creature when you want to be, love.” Jack commented once the door was firmly shut behind Gibbs.
“You bring out the worst in me, I fear,” Kaylee replied, a grin on her lips.
“Is that such a bad thing?”
“Depends on how long I’m sticking around.” She sighed. “Soon as Gibbs opens his mouth the crew is going to be ready to lynch me for bewitching their captain. Don’t know how I’m gonna do my job then.”
“Nonsense. They are going to be jealous as hell that I’ve got such a nice piece in my bed and ain’t sharing,” he said, grabbing her ass. “But they are also going to be glad they’ve got a fine sword to fight beside them and a fine sailor to aid in the rigging. Show them a few tricks that would be useful in a fight and they’ll get over it right enough.”
“I doubt it will be so easy,” she said, rolling away from him. “Tricks will just scare them.”
“Didn’t scare me,” he said, rolling atop her, his flame-like braids falling about her face.
“But you’re mad, Captain Sparrow,” she pointed out.
“And they’re me crew,” he countered.
She thought he might have a point, but forgot about it when he kissed her.
***
They were in the midst of certain activities when Mr. Gibbs returned. Hearing the knock, they disengaged themselves and Kaylee snuggled up to Jack’s side, her knee over his legs to hide that he was interested in something other than his first mate.
The sheet in place, Jack called, “Come in.”
Gibbs entered carrying the lockbox, followed by Marty with the tray. Kaylee groaned softly and buried her face in Jack’s shoulder, cursing herself for not replacing the illusion. The story really would be everywhere now.
Jack gripped her chin gently and urged it from his shoulder. “You should’ve considered any shy tendencies before you climbed that table in The Bride.”
“I was drunk,” she asserted, a comment that got a snort of laughter from all three men. “Oh put it down and bugger off, you lot,” she growled. She rolled up on her elbow so she could glare down at Jack, not bothering to make sure that the sheet stayed properly covering. “It was one thing admitting I wanted to take you to bed,” she said with a glare. “It’s another to go showing the whole crew I’m not human. It’ll be across the island by nightfall. I must have been drunk as a skunk to agree to that.”
As she ranted the others slunk back out of the cabin, though probably not without a few appreciative glances. Once they were gone, Jack grabbed her somewhere sensitive and said, “Perhaps not drunk, per se, but definitely a little blissed out.”
***
It was mid afternoon before they made a serious attempt to leave the cabin. They’d made one abortive attempt before, but the bath Kaylee had conjured just led to other activities.
This time, Cat O’Nine Tails was scratching at the door demanding entrance. Jack opened the door a crack and she offered him his usual tribute of a dead rat, which he accepted with a minimum of graciousness and immediately threw overboard. At least she didn’t leave them next to his bed while he was sleeping anymore. Gibbs had a grand tale about them having that particular argument.
Kaylee was sitting on the bed, modifying her vest with magic. If she was going to confront the crew with the truth as Jack was suggesting, she was going to do it with a low back on her vest and no shirt so she could get her wings free fast if someone tried something up in the rigging.
Cat hopped onto the bed and settled in her lap, purring up a storm and completely ignoring the magic going on over her head.
“Now that should comfort you,” Jack said.
“What?”
“The crew isn’t going to toss someone the ship’s cat likes.”
Kaylee laughed and scratched Cat between the ears.
***
Kaylee had her illusions on court mode and her hair braided back when she left the cabin with Cat O’Nine Tails in the crook of her arm and the captain right behind her. Everything would have been fine, including her nerves, except most of the crew was waiting on deck.
“I do hope this isn’t a mutiny,” Jack said lightly, though there was a core of steel underneath.
“’Course not, Captain,” said Gibbs in the front row. “Crew just wanted to know exactly what it is that signed articles off Port Royal.”
“It is a she, and do you usually require new crew to list their crimes,” Kaylee said haughtily.
“Nah,” said Marty, his tone light. “But references are always appreciated.”
Ignoring the muttering and agreements from the crowd of crewmembers, Kaylee dug out her titles. With all the haughtiness she used at a High Court function she said, “I am Sesquelearus Estus’t’estus, High Priestess of the Lady Bright, Princess of Goblins and Lady of the Labyrinth, witch, fae, Jedi Master, Ambassador to a few dozen realms, and occasional mercenary.” She finished in a more friendly tone. “However, I prefer to be called Kaylee.”
“It’s an impressive list, no?” Jack added lightly. “Personally, I prefer guardian angel. She snuck me out of Port Royal under the Admiralty’s very nose.” She thought it kind of him to remind the crew of their surprise arrival her first day aboard ship.
Kaylee shrugged. “I’ve worked with angels a time or two.” It was true, if a slightly misleading way to say it.
“Havin’ an angel aboard ought be lucky,” Gibbs said thoughtfully.
“Wind in their sails,” added Cotton’s parrot, and Cat was purring quite loudly.
That seemed to settle things for the most part. It was an odd crew that would accept the words of a superstitious old man and two animals as to someone’s worth, but she wasn’t going to complain for the moment. Oh, there would surely be scuffles later, but Kaylee knew she could handle them.
***
Kaylee had ship watch that night with Mr. Cotton. Jack left after the confrontation, with most of the crew at his back to drink and whore the night away. Though Jack claimed to be looking for a few more supplies as well. He did promise to let her know what way the gossip was blowing when he got back. She was quite curious what story the crew would be spreading around.
She settled against the main mast, tucking her lit wand in her braid, and planned to pass the night with a few reference books. She needed to review her silencing spells if that look Jack gave her as he left meant what she thought it did.
Unfortunately, there were a number of unpleasant interruptions. She quickly switched her studies to wards and solved the problem so she could return to her original topic.
Shortly after dawn, she was drawn to the side of the ship by a yelp of pain and a familiar voice yelling her name.
“Yes, Captain?” she asked, leaning over the railing.
“My ship just zapped me,” he snarled at her, shaking out his hand.
“Sorry. Someone had a big mouth last night and I was having trouble with visitors trying to check out the mysterious woman on the Pearl. I didn’t think you wanted them aboard, and figured you’d prefer the wards to the risk of scorch marks in the rail if I got sloppy with the fire balls.” Jack’s head whipped around and took in the definite pattern of scorch marks on the dock, and confirmed that there were none on the Pearl herself.
“Keep that handy, but turn it off so the crew can come back,” he ordered. Oh good, he did see the use of such an effect.
“Already done,” she assured him, and offered a hand over the rail.
The poor Captain’s hand was looking a little red after its impact with her wards, so Kaylee followed him across the deck into his cabin
“Something was obviously skittering about town, gossip wise, given the crowed last night,” she commented as she enlarged her travel trunk on the table.
“And I’m sure the fire balls only fanned the flames,” he commented as he shed his effects. “Only clear sense I got was there is something special about the new girl on the Pearl, who may or may not be the same one who bewitched me in the Faithful Bride the other night. There were a number of other secondary rumors, but nothing consistent.”
Kaylee snorted, rummaging for the burn paste she knew she had somewhere.
“What all do you have in there?” Jack asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Not really sure anymore,” she admitted. “I just keep adding things I think I might need.”
“And what were you looking for?” he asked, sorting through some of the clothes she’d thrown on the table. “Oh, I bet you’d look lovely in this.”
She grabbed the burn paste that finally surfaced and turned to see what caught his attention. It was a rather skimpy leather halter top. “Got that off the Tok’ra. Half of them dress like priests, the rest like whores. I’m sure I have something skimpier somewhere.”
She grabbed his hand and smoothed the paste over the burn, which quickly led to him trying to smooth his hands over other things.
“Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep?” Kaylee asked as Jack’s wandering hands inhibiting her attempts to repack her trunk.
“You gonna join me?” he asked, nibbling on her neck.
“I would have thought you’d be whored out after last night,” she commented lightly, relieved to find the thought less horrifying than it had back at the bar. The physical presence prodding her in the rear offered a counter argument against his exhaustion.
“You said you were fine with the whoring as long as there was a turn for you back here. I’m tryin’ to hold up my end of the bargain.” His fingers were fumbling at the laces of her vest.
“Jack Sparrow, you are drunk and tired,” she said, turning around within the circle of his arms.
“Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow.” His whimper was almost cute.
“Captain on deck and Captain in play, aye, but if you demand to be my captain in bed, then I’ll walk out that door and never return,” she promised solemnly, taking a half step back out of reach. They each had their own authority, and she knew better than to let power plays into the bedroom. There was a good reason for frat regs.
He gave her a more serious look than she’d ever seen on his face before saying, “Agreed,” and proffering his hand to seal it.
“Agreed,” she said, and shook on it.
He then took the opportunity to sling her over his shoulder and haul her off to bed.
***
It was only a few minutes, with a minimum of screaming and yelping, before a knock resonated through the cabin. Highly aroused and half dressed, Jack snarled in response.
“Sorry to intrude, Captain,” said Mr. Gibbs cracking open the door but decidedly looking anywhere but inside. “But the crew is already complaining about the noise.” Kaylee laughed. “And they’re threat’nin’ to drag you out and toss you overboard to cool down if’n you can’t keep it down.”
Jack was looking decidedly red in the face, but Kaylee just nipped his ear and whispered, “Trust me.”
“Understood, Mr. Gibbs,” she said before Forcing the door shut with a wave of her hand, and then securely locking it.
Jack went straight back for her breasts, but she pushed him back and gave him a look of warning. “Need to concentrate to get this right, then I’m all yours,” she assured him.
“Promise?” he asked with a glint in his eye as he leaned back against the bed.
A moment’s focus called up the right spell from her reading, the one that covered four walls, roof, and floor. That was important on a ship where the crew could be standing over your head or under your feet. Also, there was a twist that would ensure they could still hear in, as the captain couldn’t be completely cut off from his crew. A minute of focused casting with her wand set the wards. She hoped.
“There, we can hear outside, but nothing inside can be heard outside,” she said, tucking her wand back in its holster and tucking both under the edge of the bed.
“Perfect,” he purred, and jumped her.
***
Some hours later, after a bit of exercise and a lot of sleep, Jack and Kaylee were sitting at the table in his cabin, nibbling on the remnants of a tray from Cookie and contemplating their options for the rest of the day.
“What we need, love, is a swim. The weather is too nice to sit about or fight with town,” Jack said, grabbing Kaylee by the arm and hauling her to the door.
“No, what you need is a regular bath,” she teased, unconcerned about their mutual lack of clothing. Human body consciousness had amused the hell out of her in many realms.
“Don’t understand your obsession with baths,” he said crossing the deck. “Little dirt never hurt anyone.”
“Tell that to the next member of the crew to loose a limb to infection,” she got out before he picked her up and tossed her over the side. She controlled her fall with the Force and turned it into a perfect dive. Jack followed quickly, missing her emerging head by inches as he entered the water.
“Madman,” she said with a laugh and splashed him as he came up.
“Of course, I’m Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy?”
They splashed and chased through the water, and given Jack’s speed and stamina in the water, Kaylee was all the more certain that he had some selkie in him. Eventually, however, their fun was interrupted by Mr. Gibbs.
“Ahoy, Captain,” he called down from the rail.
“Aye, Joshamee? Thinking of joining us?” Jack called back jovially.
“I think not, Jack. No, there’s a man here who claims he has more supplies and you owe him some gold.”
“Excellent,” Jack said, and swam over to one of several ropes trailing from the side of the ship. He looked back at Kaylee and said, “Race you up.”
“You don’t want to do that, Captain,” she assured him.
“But I do,” he insisted, a twinkle in his eye as he took off up the side of the Pearl, hand over hand. Kaylee waited until he was near the top, then quickly unfolded her wings and let the membrane float above the water. She quickly shot up above the level of the deck, and with a few tilts of her wings landed herself by the rail. When Jack reached the top, he found her there, offering a hand.
“I told you you didn’t want to do that,” she commented as his feet hit the deck.
“Impressive. I suppose I owe you a forfeit,” he commented, picking a wet strand of hair from her face.
“Might I suggest you save it for later and put some clothes on for now,” Gibbs cut in. “Lest the tradesman think you’re not but a savage and leave without making his delivery.”
“Too right, Joshamee,” Jack said, slapping his first mate on the shoulder. “Be right out.”
***
Kaylee was quite surprised when Duncan approached her. Not to say that the crew had been avoiding her, but they certainly weren’t seeking her out.
“Can you … I mean, would you mind terribly …” Duncan stuttered on a bit more before Kaylee cut him off.
“Spit it out, Duncan. I’m not going to bite your head off,” she said as kindly as she could.
“Cover my watch shift tonight … please?” the young man begged. “I have this friend … we rarely catch up and this is his last night before his ship leaves in the morning.”
Kaylee wondered if this man was more than just a friend, and also why he didn’t try for a spot on the Pearl, but she kept her questions to herself.
“Of course,” she assured him. “Go enjoy your evening. I’ve got things covered here.”
That was how she ended up aboard the ship with no company but Cat O’Nine Tails and Joshamee Gibbs, who was already two bottles to the wind. And he was staring at her.
She didn’t mind that he wasn’t paying attention to the watch. After the last crewman left, she’d set up a ward that would tell her if anyone got close to the Pearl. She did mind his eyes boring holes in her skull hour after hour.
“Mr. Gibbs, if you have a problem with me then say so and let us get it out in the open,” she said when she finally confronting him.
“Not a problem,” he muttered, his eyes moving to the half empty bottle in his hand.
“A question then,” she offered, determined to do what it took to get the man to stop with the staring.
“Aye, perhaps,” he said thoughtfully, his eyes returning to her face. They weren’t just looking. They were searching.
“Oh, Merlin. What is it?” she asked, reverting to the patterns she had picked up when she first learned the English tongue. She collapsed back against the rail of the ship and fixed her eyes on the rigging. “I fear if you continue with that look I shall go mad.”
He stared a bit, took a sip from his bottle of rum, and stared a bit more. Then he spoke. “Not really a question for you. Just try’n to understand.” She turned to him and raised an eyebrow.
“Ye see, I’ve know Jack Sparrow a number of years, both before and after he got the Pearl back. And I thought the day we fished him outta Port Royal’s harbor he was the happiest I’d ever see him. His eyes just glowed as he took her wheel.”
The man paused again to drink his rum and take an introspective moment. Kaylee used the silence to call up Jack’s memory of that day. He truly was happy, kinda heart whole.
“He calmed after that, settled into being captain of the Pearl. Until you come along. Since then, I keep seeing that look, and I wonder what it is he sees that makes him so happy.”
“You think the captain is happier than usual?” she asked quizzically. She certainly hadn’t sensed anything all that different. Well, other than the usual transition from horny male to male getting laid regularly. Very regularly.
A small shiver ran up her spine at the thought. Bloody hormones.
“Wasn’t sure … but when I saw his eyes after that swim you took, there it was. Like he’d found something he hadn’t know he was looking for.” She’d gotten the impression from Jack that Joshamee was a constant drunk, not an introspective one. What had gotten into the man?
“He’s not in love with me, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she assured him. She knew what a man in love felt like. Jack was in love, but only with the Black Pearl.
“Nay, nay. I know better,” he agreed. “But there’s something different all the same. Not love. Maybe a kindred spirit.” The drunk old sailor made a thoughtful noise and nodded his head before wandering off to some other part of the ship. Kaylee could only watch after him in confusion.
***
Kaylee spent a great deal of time over the next few days considering Joshamee’s words. Much as she enjoyed bedding him, her first priority here must be Jack and how she was supposed to help him. Thus, this change, noticed by a man who could call the enigmatic captain friend, must be considered.
This didn’t stop her from spending many an hour having incredible sex and going off to explore the town. It just filled in the gaps.
But all that thinking didn’t bring any answers. Just more questions. What could a man like Jack Sparrow see in her as kindred? Oh, they both had fae blood, were both fighters, and both loved the sea, but it wasn’t that simple.
While Jack might not have met anyone with a surplus of fae blood, his whole crew was made of sea loving fighters. He didn’t tend to accept other kinds of sailors, or at least they didn’t last long on the Pearl. And she really didn’t think the fae thing was enough of a trigger.
She spent her sleeping hours haunted by a single dream, a memory really. Back on that little spit of land where Jack and Elizabeth Swan had been marooned, he’d given her a speech, one which kept repeating though Kaylee’s mind.
“Wherever we want to go, we'll go. That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is ... what the Black Pearl really is ... is freedom.”
But what did it mean?
***
Finally there came the day where they set sail once more. Kaylee did her part raising the sails, but once they were pointed away from Tortuga, she was off watch for trimming the sails. At loose ends, she settled herself leaning on the bow rail, watching the sea go by.
And there, suddenly, with the wind in her hair, the sun on her face, and the sea rushing past, it made sense. She’d known this sensation before, and that was what made her different.
Jack saw the Pearl as his freedom not because life aboard a ship was simple and easy. It wasn’t. You needed men to crew and charts to sail by, food and water and money to buy more. But it did give you choice. He was captain, the man who chose the crew and how to get the food and water and money. He chose this ship, or she chose him. Kaylee wasn’t entirely convinced there wasn’t something more to the bond between man and ship than made conventional sense. But his freedom was in the choice, which is why he spent so much energy regaining her.
She’d once faced such a freeing choice. Jareth had offered her an out from the life her lineage demanded. She could have stayed in the Underground and he would have protected her, even from The Lady. She chose to continue her work, both from responsibility and love of the work. But she’d had a choice, unlike ever so many of her ancestresses.
Jareth had given her another choice, though she didn’t realize it then. He’d given her the chance to outlive her duty, to choose another life someday. Sure, she had to give up the first century or two to walking the path and leading her people, but being fully fae she could expect to live at least six or seven centuries, even with her odd aging rate as a youth.
So many people never really made such a choice, not consciously. They might choose to pirate over starving or dying, but it wasn’t the same as picking it out of a sea of options. Her options were a bit different, and she’d chosen responsibility first, but the choice was there. Was that what Jack saw?
She stiffened as she felt someone approach, the relaxed as she identified the unique mental flavor of Jack.
“I thought you’d be at the wheel a while longer,” she said, not bothering to turn about.
“Mr. Cotton can handle her for a bit,” Jack said as he slipped his arm about her waist. “We’ve caught a fair wind. Should take us to the Spanish shipping lanes in good time.”
“I’m surprised you can stand to leave her direction to another,” she admitted, leaning back into his touch.
“Oh, there has to be a certain amount of trust aboard ship, or we’d all go mad,” he said, burying his nose in her hair.
“Some would say you’ve run mad already,” she teased. What was it about this man that so easily sent a shiver down her spine?
“Perhaps,” was all he said before beginning to nibble on her neck
“Really, Jack,” she said, shrugging him away. “If you keep that up the crew is going to think I’ve bewitched you.”
“Or they’ll think I’m a fine figure of a pirate,” he countered, his arms tightening about her, trapping her against him. “Take what you can, love. Give nothing back.”
“Is that what this is all about” she asked, her tone sharper than she’d intended. “Stake what claim you can, when you can, as long as you can, and damn the rest?”
“Why not, love?” he said, and she could feel the brightness of his grin radiating against her skin. “If you were expecting something else then you came to the wrong place.”
“I know,” she said softly, distressed by how wistful she sounded.
“You have your way to go, and I have mine. No reason we shouldn’t celebrate where we meet between,” he said in a lecherous tone before nipping sharply at her ear.
Wistful or not, she had to laugh at his words. In other times and places, she might say that Jack had his mind firmly planted in the gutter, but the meaning didn’t quite translate here. She had to admit, however, the same could be said of her mind of late.
“And what will your precious Pearl say if I wish to take you and give nothing back whenever and wherever we may meet?” she asked, her tone seductive as she ground herself into him.
“An excellent question,” he replied with a soft groan. “Perhaps we should ask her.”
With that, he loosed his arms from around her and grasped her by the wrist before charging off towards the poop deck.
Once there, he claimed the wheel from Cotton and tucked her between himself and the wheel, an appealing position for a multitude of reasons. “Put your hands here, by mine.” She did her best to focus on the spokes under her hands and not the body at her back.
There was tension in the wheel from the rush of water over the rudder, and she closed her eyes, absorbing the play of the water against the hull and the wind in the sails. The Pearl was her own little world, influenced by everything around her, yet controlled primarily right here under Kaylee’s hands.
“This is Kaylee, love,” Jack whispered as he caressed one of the wheel’s spokes. “She’s gonna be around a bit.”
She felt a bit more tug larboard, a twist in the wind. The Pearl was questioning him … no, them. Jack’s hands held steady and Kaylee felt how he played the tension of the water against the push of the wind, something she had only watched without comprehension before.
The Pearl curveted and played for a time, then settled back, surging ahead with the wind singing even stronger in her rigging. Kaylee couldn’t resist the grin that spread across her face. This was magnificent.
Jack loosed one hand from the wheel, holding steady with the other but letting her take more of the sea’s pull. “I think you’ll get along just fine,” Jack said, setting his free hand on her waist.