Pirates Of The Caribbean Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in Translation (Pirates of the Caribbean) ❯ Idle Hands are the Devil's Tools ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three:
Idle hands are the Devil's tools


*

Kaitlyn stepped out of the cabin and took a look around the deck. It was her third morning on the ship and was very grateful to the Captain for allowing her to sleep in the cabin alone. She wasn't entirely sure he slept much anyway, but if he did, it was apparently down with the crew.

She had tried to keep to herself as much as possible, though found that she enjoyed talking with the Captain and crew when they weren't busy with other things. Strangely enough it was Mr. Gibbs she often found herself drawn to and this morning was no exception. She could already hear him muttering to a few other men about their up coming stop in Tortuga. Apparently, it was bad luck for her to be there as well, or at least a hindrance as they wouldn't be staying long enough for any of the crewmen to have themselves a good time.

Jack had explained that he needed to stop and pick up a few more crewmen for the trip and very eloquently told her what to expect when they got there.

She couldn't help but grin as she stepped up behind Gibbs; honestly she was sure he would simply drop dead from lack of oxygen one day soon.

“Be a bad idea to take a lass like that to Tortuga, mark my word it is only going to be leadin' us to trouble. An isle full of buccaneers ain't gonna be-” he was cut short when he felt something tap his shoulder. He turned to see the young lass standing there grinning at him.

“Mr. Gibbs, did you know that the word buccaneer actually means barbecuer? It's true; it comes from the French word boucanier. The word was once used to describe the men on Hispaniola and Tortuga who hunted wild oxen and boars and then smoked the meat in a barbecue frame or boucan.”

Gibbs just stared at her almost flabbergasted by her unrelenting pursuit of annoying him then turned abruptly and headed towards the helm.

“CAP'N!” He was going to kill her; there was no doubt about it. Either Jack got her off the ship or he would do it personally. He was bloody well sure she could swim.

The loud and unexpected voice caused Jack to nearly choke on the rum he had taken a drink of, which in turn almost made him drop the bottle as well. Thankfully after some quick handy work, both were saved, damn well they were too. He just might make a man walk the plank for making him loose his rum.

“Aye?” He choked out while trying to get a good gasp of air. It wasn't pleasant to have rum go down the wrong way.

“It's time to be getting' the lass off the ship, `for I go and do it meself!” Jack shook his head a bit blinking back tears, still doing his best to inconspicuously get a good breath of air, and then looked at Kaitlyn as she walked up silently and stood not far from them.

“Is there a problem I can assist you with?” He asked sarcastically. He'd been listening to Gibbs complain for days now and the lass only seemed to be keeping to herself, he saw no real harm in her being there.

“No, I just said good morning and he started shouting. I must say I expected better treatment from your crew. I am helping you after all.”

 

Gibbs eyes widened at her audacity and he turned to look at her. “Blasted woman's been tormenting me for days!”

“I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Mr. Gibbs,” she said trying desperately to keep a straight face. It had, quite frankly, become one of her favorite past times; the trick was simply waiting until he was alone or at least away from the Captain. It usually only took a comment or two to send him into one of his humorous rants and she'd simply walk away as though she hadn't been there in the first place. She knew eventually he'd either grow to like her or attempt to kill her. At the moment she was pretty sure he was leaning towards the latter of the two.

“The two of you can learn to get along, or I can lock you both down in the brig together till you do, savvy?” Jack said with a smirk. He knew Gibbs tended to overreact to things but he couldn't disregard the slight grin that kept threatening to break out on the lass's face.

“Now be getting the ship ready to dock,” he ordered, still trying to avoid coughing in front of them. He certainly didn't need anyone thinking Jack Sparrow couldn't handle his rum.

Kaitlyn nodded and followed Gibbs a short ways before walking past him.

“Think we'll see any wild boars in Tortuga?” She smirked a little at him and kept walking.

“Be usin' you for bait if we do, lass,” he replied and went to work. Damn woman was infuriating and seemed to be taunting him every time he turned around.

Kaitlyn quickly made her way back to the cabin; she knew it was best to simply stay out of the crew's way while they were working. She didn't know much about being on a ship and she was certain if she attempted to help, she would no doubt give Gibbs legitimate reason to say women shouldn't be on ships.

*

After giving it a bit of thought, Jack had decided it was best for Kaitlyn to stay on the Pearl while he took a few men ashore. She had agreed readily and offered no complaints, leaving him to wonder why it was Gibbs claimed she was so bothersome. Now he was making his way back up the dock with a few new crew members, all of which he'd sailed with before. He'd already heard Gibbs muttering about having two women on the ship now that Ana Maria would be joining them again.

Honestly, sometimes he wondered if the man was a eunuch, there were definite advantages to having women on board, though, after his last couple of encounters with Ana Maria she was more likely to castrate him than let him have any sort of fun and the other lass wasn't exactly one to be bedding with pirates. Regardless, they were nicer to look at than the crew any day.

He was prepared to start giving out orders when he stepped onto the deck but stopped when he saw both Dallin and Kaitlyn standing near the mast looking up at the crow's nest.

“One of you plan on being my look out?”

“Captain Sparrow? You're back already?”

 

Instantly Jack's grin faded. The lass had yet to refer to him as Captain willingly; it had almost become a game between them. He was instantly suspicious of the slightly nervous tone in her voice.

“Aye, it doesn't take long to fine a crew that wants to sail with Captain Jack Sparrow, love,” he said then glanced up at the crow's nest. He didn't see anything up there so he looked back at them.

“Think maybe you've had too much sun, darling,” he said while trying to figure out why the hell the both looked guilty of something.

“Perhaps, though I think I'll stay out here and enjoy the fresh air for awhile longer,” she said with a smile and then looked back at Dallin who looked a little more nervous than normal.

Jack nodded a bit then looked back up at the crow's nest before turning and heading towards the helm. Didn't have time to be playing games at the moment; he wanted to be setting sail. He didn't get more than six feet before he felt something hit his back thud on the deck behind him. He spun back around only to find both Kaitlyn and Dallin trying desperately not to laugh. He looked down at the deck to find a half eaten plantain lying there.

“I don't think Pepe realized those should be cooked before eating them,” Kaitlyn whispered to Dallin who choked back a laugh at the look they were getting from Jack.

“Is there something you're wanting to tell me about, lass?” He asked before seeing something small and furry peek over the side of the crow's nest. The bloody woman brought a monkey on his ship!

“No, Captain, everything's just fine. Don't you have to be sailing the ship or something?” Jack nodded then pulled his pistol out.

“Aye, love, but I need to check the ship over for stowaways first,” he said with a grin and looked back up at the crow's nest, “can't be having any unexpected visitors, now can we?”

“What?! You can't just go shooting things, Mr. Sparrow! That's barbaric!”

“There something on me ship you don't want me shooting, love?”

 

He smirked at the indignant looks she gave him, and then looked back up again. How in the hell she managed to get a monkey up into the crow's nest was beyond him, but he wasn't leaving port until he found out.

“As a matter of fact there is,” she said curtly. “There's a monkey in the crow's nest.” She stood her ground, not taking her eyes off the pistol. Jack waved his hands up towards the crows nest, causing her to duck down slightly; she had grown used to him being animated...just, never with a firearm in his hand.

“Would one of you care to explain to me, just why there is a monkey in my crow's nest?”

“Well, he didn't seem to care much for your cabin,” she informed him.

Jack's eyes widened, “You had a monkey in my cabin?”

“Only for a couple of minutes, apparently monkeys don't like being locked up. I didn't realize something so small could cause so much damage; honestly, had I realized that I wouldn't have—”

“Damage?” He nearly growled. She decided it was probably time to stop talking before she got herself stranded in Tortuga. “Where did you find a monkey?” Jack questioned almost afraid to hear the answer.

“It wasn't my fault, Captain, I tried to keep her on the ship,” Dallin chimed in before he got into too much trouble.

Jack just stood there silently for a moment then spun around and headed towards the cabin. `See just what kinda damage this bloody thing did.' Kaitlyn rushed after him quickly, knowing there was probably know way this could possibly end well.

“This is entirely your fault you know,” she nearly ran into Jack as he turned abruptly to her.

“My fault? Mind explaining to me how this is my fault, young missy?”

“If you would have taken me with you, I wouldn't have gone out on my own,” she said while grinning. She couldn't help finding him humorous when he was flustered. “Besides, it's just a monkey, Mr. Sparrow. Once when I was child, I was told by a man working at the docks that you could catch a bear by using honey. I went straight home and poured honey all over the terrace. Of course, I didn't catch a bear. I only managed to get myself into trouble, though I did catch a lot of bugs, which unfortunately only led to me getting into even more trouble,” she gave a thoughtful look, “I didn't know at the time that there were no bears in the Caribbean.”

Jack just stared at her for a moment then grinned. “Tell me you didn't pour honey in my cabin, love.”

 

She glared at him slightly. “Shouldn't you be up steering the ship?”

“Aye, best be catching that monkey before the crew does, lass,” he said and headed up to the helm. Maybe Gibbs knew wasn't entirely wrong about women being on ships after all.