Captain of the Bloody Rose

Joseph opened his eyes as she spoke, fighting off the shivers. "Stop talking about death." he said and grinned, though it was a weak attempt at a smile. "You're morbid...." he swallowed in an attempt to wet his throught. He was only awake on and off the last few days, though he was making an effort to stay awake it seemed.

The man was a fighter through and through.

He hummed something, one note at a time and choppy. This time, out of all the times before he hummed the tune, she could recognize it. It wasn't a melody at all. It was, as silly as the man was.

'Yo ho, yo ho- a pirates like for me.'

She gasped when she saw his eyes open. He’d never opened them for her, not since that first night and she was so damned happy that he was finally awake, awake and talking that she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. It was a beautiful smile, one that hadn’t adorned her face in such a long time, one that actually reached her eyes.

Quickly she grabbed the pitcher of water and poured a glass, ignoring the pain in her side to prop him up so he could drink. She didn’t really give him much of a choice, but she was exceedingly gentle with him. A sharp contrast to the first time when she’d picked him up off the floor.

She didn’t let herself think about how much he had heard of what she’d been saying. A lot of it was rather embarrassing.

“Of all the stupidest things to hum right now.” She said, her voice stern but definitely without the edge it once had.

He drank small sips at at time, his eyebrows scrunched together.Each time he swallowed it hurt all the way down. But he drank none the less, feeling parched and tired both at the same time.

When she removed the empty cup from his lips he eased himself back down, closing his eyes for a moment.

"How long'uv I been out?" he asked, his voice still soft. He was cold, though didn't complain. Being cold when you were injured wasn't a good sign. He was trying to convince himself mentally he was warm. sitting on a beach, in the sun, warm...

She most likely caught him shiver though. Despite himself his jaw shook slightly.

Quickly she pulled out the blanket they had removed from him when his fever was at its peak. For her, the fact he was actually feeling the true temperature was a good sign. She carefully laid the wool blanket over him, tucking it in on the sides so that the heat would stay against his body.

“Don’t hide what you’re feeling from me. I need to know.” She said softly, gingerly sitting herself back down in her chair.

“You’ve been in and out for about five days now. This is the first time you’ve actually spoken as far as I know, at least spoken clearly.” She still remembered that first night, the pain in his voice as he spoke.

Joseph closed his eyes, basking for a moment in the new found warmth of the blanket. "I'm tired." he said, followed by a weak sigh.

He opened one eye to look at her. "... Waz't the right sword?" he asked, the sand man trying to rope him back down into the world of dreams.He wanted to stay up though. To talk with Jean. He had seen that smile on her face.... He wanted to see it again.

To be honest Jane hadn’t even looked at the damn thing since he’d thrust it into her arms that night she was running for her life. She had known the minute she felt the cool silk of the hilt in her hand that it was the right sword. Currently it was in her private quarters, resting on her bed which she hadn’t used in days.

“Yes. It was the right sword.” She said slowly, holding back the emotion that remembering that night brought her. Hell, even remembering why the sword was important to her was painful enough.

“Thank you.” She said, smoothing out the blanket absentmindedly. “For retrieving the sword…and…”

He had fallen asleep before she could finish her thank you. his mouth hung open ever so slightly, his breath moving hid hair tha had fallen in front of his face

His breathing was strong and rhythmic. In- out.... in-out....

Laying there he didnt look like some vicious pirate who would kill as soon as look at you. He had told her he was in his thirties, though he looked younger as he slept. Something of an innocent expression had swept over his face, replacing the pain she had seen all week long.

[imgoing to bed myself now :p night]

Jane couldn’t help herself. She smiled again. Relived that he was alive and finally seeming like he would be okay. She lightly brushed his hair out of his face. Later on she would blame it on lack of sleep, making her do crazy things. Things that she would never have done if she’d been in her right mind.

But in her sleep deprived, relieved as all hell, state, she leaned down and brushed her lips against his forehead before she stood and left the room to return to her own. Finally she lay down in her own bed since the drugging incident, and fell asleep as she hit the pillows.

Collins sighed as he watched the Captain leave the small room, the look on face content for once. With that he knew Joseph would live but to what cost now he was not sure. Something was different in their cold fearless Captain that was for sure.

Joseph slept through the majority of the night, and most of the next day. When he did finally wake up, none was in the cabin with him.

He grimaced and sat up slowly, looking down at his stomach and the nice amount of stitches he had received. His stomach growled in protest to not being fed and he sighed, looking around. He grabbed a shirt that was laying over the back of the chair by his cot and pulled it down over his head, making his way to the door.

When he opened it he winced, shielding his eyes form the harsh sunlight for a moment until they adjusted.

Collins had been in the study talking to Jane before he made his way back to keep an eye on Joseph. He still wasn’t well enough to be left alone for too long, just in case he took a nose dive again. Though Collins doubted very much that something like that would happen.

As he made his way back to the room he grumbled under his breath. He would be more than glad when this endless vigil was over.

Turning the corner he saw the last thing he wanted to see at that moment. Damn that stupid pirate, he thought to himself rushing over.

“What are you doing?! Trying to get yourself killed?” Quickly he put his arm around the younger man to help prop him up, waiting impatiently for him to answer.

"I wanted to see where we were." he said, mostly leaning against the door frame as opposed to Collins. "Where's Skip?" he asked, Lowering his hand from his face.

"Lookie who's back 'mong the livin'!" one man called from the ropes above them. A few other men had stoped to watch him. He'd made them all look bad... or good, depending, thanks to that midnight display of his.

“Skip is working in the rigging fixing the sails. We’ve been in port the last few days. Captain didn’t want to leave until you were up and about.” Collins said quietly, so that the other men wouldn’t hear. They were already starting to come forward.

“Good to see you alive Mate.” A man named John said, patting him on back. He hadn’t been around that night when everything had gone down. Instead he’d been ass drunk with a pretty redhead from the pub. However, he was definitely curious as to what had happened that night, along with the rest of them. The only ones who looked at him as if they wished he hadn’t lived were the men who were supposed to be guarding the ship and by extension their Captain. She’d almost lost her life that night and they knew it.

Add that to the fact they all knew how much Jane had been watching over this particular man, well he had definitely made some enemies while he was lying on his death bed.

"Did you need to speak to him?" Collins asked, referring to Skip.

Joseph nodded. "Yeah." he said, looking away from john who he had given a puzzled look to. He only hardly recalled speaking to jean the day before, and for the life of him couldn't recall how long he was asleep for.

He looked out over the stern of the ship to the port and frowned. "We're in Port Sterling?" sounded surprised. He must have been out nearly 7 days, at minimum.

"That's right." one man responded gruffly. "Been here a few days now."

Joseph blinked before looking back to the Port, taking half a step back into the cabin before john blocked the way. "Somethin' wrong? You took a nasty blow to the gizzard."

"I don't much fancy this port." he said dully.

John nodded. There was always one port somewhere that a man didn’t like being at. Collins in the meantime slipped away, leaving the two men, and the many others who were starting to gather to speak to the man who had nearly died.

“Well I doubt we’ll be here much longer. Captain doesn’t like staying in one place usually.” He said, looking at Joseph critically. There was no hiding the reason they hadn’t left yet, and they were all very curious as to why this one man being injured meant that they were stuck here.

“Hey there ya are Joseph. Good to see you out of bed.” Skip said, coming forward rather quickly. He made a good first mate because he could sense trouble before it started, and being the burly man that he was was intimidating enough to keep the peace.

“Give the man some space you lot! Back to work!” He called ignoring the grumbles from the crewmen. “See you around.” John said, heading back to what he was doing, but not before giving Skip a sour look.

“Come on, lets get you some food. I’m sure you have plenty of questions. Just wait until we get someplace more private.” He said, walking towards the galley and getting Joseph a good bowl of stew. There were after all, some good things about being in port. They sat down at the table, the room empty as everyone else was out working.

“Eat up.” Skip said.

"Thanks..." he said, not having to be told twice as he picked up the spoon, eating the portion given to him slowly. He was no idiot. With a hole in his gut, the last thing he wanted to do was upchuck...

Once he was about half way finished he set it down, looking to Skip with a frown on his face. "Guess I went and drew a bit much attention, hm?"

The man was still clearly fatigued. he was paler than usual and looked a bit peek, not to mention the pain he was obviously fighting, just sitting there.

“I’d say so.” Skip said, moving the bowl to the side.

“I hate to ask this, but Jane wont answer me straight forward. What happened that night?” He asked, his eyes trained on Josephs.

“As you saw out on the deck, there’s been a bit of an uproar ever since then.”

"She got herself cornered by a lot of scoundrels." he said. "If I hadn't stepped in they most likely would have had their way with her."

He said it so calmly. So honestly. "It was sheer dumb luck I even noticed her behind those barrels."

He rubbed his head. "Can't say as I recall to much from the fight though... Or anything after."

“Not surprising. You took a knife to the gut after all. Any idea who the guys were?” Skip asked, already knowing that Joseph probably wouldn’t know. Sighing he leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed. This wasn’t good. Especially with Jane being so shut up about it and with her behavior the last few days.

“Do you know how injured she even was?” Skip asked, realizing that in Josephs bad state he probably would have no idea.

“You’re right they probably would have done something awful to her if you hadn’t showed, which I’m might grateful for by the way. Damn ingrates that were watchign the ship were supposed to protect her if she decided to leave, but no they were too busy drinking themselves into a stupor.” Skip seemed pretty angry then, thinking about those men. He’d given em what for after he’d found out what happened. Been might pissed about the whole thing. They’d lost their pay for that stunt. They were lucky they hadn’t been chucked off the ship.

“Honestly mate. She’s been thanking her lucky stars since she got back to the ship. They weren’t gonna just rape her. They wanted her dead.”

"I think I managed to kill all but one... The last ran off like I was some sort of demon." he chuckled, wincing. That hurt.

Skip had to laugh too. He could imagine himself what that poor fellow must have thought seeing this guy coming at them.

“Well at least you’re alive and she’ll be fine. We can put this whole nasty ordeal behind us.”

Skip said, getting the distinct feeling that this most definitely wasn’t over. He’d never seen his Captain with that look on her face as she watched a fellow crew mate on his death bed. Sure, she’d always been concerned, had done the night watch on occasion. But never every damn night. Then of course was when he was first brought in.

He could still feel the strength of her punch when she saw him the next day after he drugged her. Luckily for him she could see his reasoning, though she hadn’t explained why she had been so distraught. He’d put it off on the fact she’d nearly been raped and killed, which would frighten any woman out of her wits. Then again, Jane had never been just any woman and this wasn’t exactly the first time someone had tried to kill her.

‘Though it is the first time she had to be saved by someone else.’ he mused.

"I'm not really that scary when I get in a fight, am I?" he raised an eyebrow, knowing Skip had seen him in a skirmish once before.

He had to admit, he himself was glad that whole ordeal was done and over. But he had put to memory the face of the man who got away. Once he found him, well... He cant get away all the time.

"How's the captain holding up anyhow?" he asked. "When I found her I didn't get a real good look at her."

Skip laughed and shook his head.

“To me you aint that scary. But I’ve seen the Captain mad and nothing scares me after that. To those ruffians, you probably looked a demon out of hell.” He laughed again at his little joke. He sobered up at the thought of the Captain.

“She looks a hell of a lot better than she did that night I can tell ya. Face all bloodied up and bruised. Collins thinks there’s something wrong with her ribs but she wont let anyone get close enough to check of course. Woman is bloody stubborn.”

As much as he was trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing, genuine concern did flit across his features.

“Her face is still a bit bruised and banged up, but at least its not as bad as it was. Thought she might have lost an eye for a bit when she wouldn’t anyone near her face to even clean her up.”

"She wont let Collins check her ribs?" he frowned. "You're right, she is a stuborn woman." he sighed and got up, slowly and carefully. "I need to speak with her." he said. "I had some information to give her... do you think she'd kill me if I were to just knock?"

“Kill ya?” Skip said, giving Joseph a funny look before breaking out into a smile.

“I doubt she’d ever want to kill ya.” He said, laughing at the confused expression on Joseph’s face.

“But be me guest. I think she’s in her study. Been in there for few hours now studying some charts and shipping plans. Planning our next attack I think.”

He waved him off, still chuckling under his breath as Joseph walked out.

Jane was indeed trying to focus, her charts and stolen shipping plans laid out all over her desk where the gold had previously been. When she had been injured Skip had taken over with the men’s pay, leaving a detailed account for Jane to peruse later if she so wished. As was her usual she hid away her own portion and used whatever was left over to buy supplies for the ship and to make repairs.

Standing over the table, she tried to determine what would be the next target. Something simple and easy to accomplish. She was in no mood to attack a big merchant vessel at the moment and risk more injuries. The longer she stood however, the more painful it got, and breathing still wasn't particularly easy.

Joseph knocked on the study door. He pushed it open when he heard her call out and blinked, watching her. "Evening, Captain." he greeted, his hand still over the stitches in his stomach.

He kept his two toned eyes on her, not at all glancing to the charts. He had no reason to act touch. He let his worry for her show.