Chapter Five

Wounded

Jack pushed open his cabin door holding it open slightly for Claire who was mumbling under her breath behind them. The ship began to pull away from The Crown.  Claire took  a deep breath in as she watched her long awaited dream disappear. Her stomach knotted up. She told herself that this was for the best and she was saving her crew by doing this, which any good captain would do. Jack made a small throat noise as he stood in the doorway of his cabin. She sighed again following in after him. She walked over to his desk and began clearing things out of the way. Jack was about to fuss at her but his arm was beginning to bother him. He sat in the chair next to it. He was feeling a little light headed. He glanced down at the puddle beginning to form under his hand. A knock at the door drew his attention.

“Come in.” He shouted as the door opened.

Two of his men came in; one holding a bowl of water the other holding clean rags. They stood there looking around. Claire tapped the desk, rolling her eyes a little at them. Was every man on this ship helpless? She thought. She nodded to them as they set them down and quickly retreated. 

“Benji.” Jack yelled to the taller man’s back.

“Aye Captain? “ Benji answered, turning around.

“If I die, kill that fool Greg.” Jack said no emotion in his voice.

“Will do captain, he is still stuck to the ship. Where you left him.” Benji chuckled as he walked out.

“Leave him there a little longer then help him.” Jack yelled at him again.

Benji nodded, still chuckling as he shut the door. Claire raised an eyebrow to Jack at the exchange but decided she could care less. She went over to desk dunking a clean rag into the water. She turned to look at Jack. She paused as if really seeing him. He was becoming paler by the minute as the blood dripped down his shoulder and off his hand dropped on the floor. Claire’s frown deepened and she needed to move quickly. She grabbed her bag and began pulling things out of it. Extra clothing fell all over the desk as she searched for it. She smiled seeing it.

“Thank god.” She muttered.

She pulled out a rolled up  soft cloth bag. She unrolled it quickly. Surgical tools sprawled across the desk. Jack shifted in his chair as he saw it unroll.

“What exactly do you have there?” He said his voice was weakier but he sounded nervous.

She ignored his statement and grabbed a pair of scissors. She walked towards him. Jack backed up further into the chair.

“Gorgeous, you're going to have to at least explain to me what you think you're doing.” He said putting up his hand to her.

She sighed like he was the most annoyingest thing in the world.

“Look if you would like to live, i suggest you let me fix you. The scissors are just to cut your sleeve off so I can see what exactly is going on. If you can't tell already you're losing a decent amount of blood.” Claire said, moving the scissors around as she talked.

“Fine.” Jack said giving in to her, he was getting way too tired to keep fighting her.

Claire approached him in the chair, she carefully cut away the upper part of the sleeve from the shirt where it connected at the torso. She easily slid it down over the wound and down his hand to the floor. She grabbed a hold of the rag she had sitting in the clean water and ran it out. She pressed it into the wound on her shoulder. He winced slightly but didn't make a sound. She applied pressure for a minute and then removed it. Her eyes quickly studied the wound. She watched the blood pool and filled up the wound. She spotted it, the little blood vessel causing the bleed. She placed the rag back over the wound. She grabbed Jack’s other hand and placed it on top of it.

“Apply pressure.” She said as she went back to the desk. 

She studied her tools, she grabbed a pair of hemostats, needle holders, and thumb forceps. She grabbed some suture as she turned back to Jack tools in hand. 

“Explain.” He said, closing his eyes softly.

“While the sword has cut through your flesh it's mostly surface bleeders. Which you're lucky. However there is one blood vessel which is causing this mess. I need to tie it off to stop the bleeding. Then you could really use most of the wound sewn up.” She said to him waiting

“Ok do what you need to.” He said eyes were still closed.

She looked at him and her best angel would be if she straddled his leg. She pushed the thoughts of him being so close to her at that point and sucked it up. She positioned herself next to the wound and she straddled his leg. The moment her legs straddled his thigh, Jack’s eyes shot open. His hazel eyes locked on to her bright blue ones. He swallowed hard as he tried to push the thoughts starting to arise from his mind. Claire’s cheeks turned a shade of red as she cleared her throat.

“This position will give me the best angle to do this.” Claire said her voice cracked a tiny bit as she explained.

He nodded, taking a breath in to calm himself slightly as he shut his eyes again. Claire felt better now that he wasn't staring at her.

“This is probably going to hurt….alot.” Claire said in a small voice.

He didn't say anything, just nodded. She took a deep breath in as she prepared her tools. She strung the suture through the needle holders and had the hemostats ready to clamp the bleeder. 

She tapped Jack’s hand and he slowly brought it down holding the rag. Claire studied the wound again and quickly spotted the bleeder. 

“Ok be still.''Claire said quietly as she grabbed the hemostats and clamped the bleeder. 

To her surprise Jack didn't move. She quickly looped the suture underneath the bleeder and began tying it off. She removed the clamp and was happily surprised as the wound stopped filling with blood. She leaned over and grabbed another clean rag and dabbed at the wound. She smiled to herself. 

“Ok i am going to start suturing this closing. It's definitely going to hurt.” Claire said to him, she looked at his expressionless face and waited.

He just nodded and remained still. She grabbed the thumb forceps and pinched the left side of the wound holding it up she fed the suture needle through the skin. She waited for some type of response from Jack but he remained lifeless. If it was for the raising and falling of his chest she may have thought he died. She used the thumb forceps and pinch the opposite side of the skin and fed the needle through that side. Pulling the suture as she began to pmak hair knot the two sides came together. She continued doing this down the remaining opening of the wound until everything was neatly sealed. Just before completely closing. She took a small package of powder and sprinkled it into the opening. She then closed up the last bit of opening. She took another clear rag and wiped down the surface of the wound. She smiled at how neatly everything looked. She looked at Jack who was still eyes shut, not moving.

“Jack?” She asked quietly.

He didn't respond. Her eyes immediately shot to his chest. She watched it raise and fall again. Was he sleeping? She thought about studying him. She shifted slightly in his lap. She looked at him for a second. She smiled softly, he wasn't annoying while he was asleep. Jack had turned into a very handsome man. Her eyes wandered over his defined cheekbones and down his chiseled jaw. They looked down his neck and a small pink mark that was on the bottom of his neck peeking out of his shirt caught her eyes. A scar? She thought. Without thinking her hand went to the collar of his shirt pulling it out slightly so she could look.  From what she could see it looked like a long scar but she wasn't certain.

“If you wanted to look, I would have just taken my shirt off for you.” Jack said playfully as a smirk appeared on his lips.

She nearly jumped off of him. His good arm slipped around her back stopping her from falling backwards. She placed her hand on his good shoulder steading herself.

“I no.  Um I wasn’t sure if you had another wound.” Claire said, trying to recover from being caught.

He straightened up slightly, his arm still holding her in place. He glanced at his shoulder, a look of surprise came over his face. He looked at her and then back at the wound.

“That's amazing. I haven't seen anything like that. Where did you learn this? And where did that stuff come from?” Jack said genuinely. 

“A monk.” Claire smiled brightly. 

“A monk? Seriously?” Jack asked, chuckling.

“Aye a monk.” Claire said getting a little defensive.

“You're amazing.” Jack said, looking like the boy she once knew.

“Thank you.” Claire smiled, she could feel her cheeks beginning to burn.

“You're going to need to  not do much with that arm for two weeks and you really should rest right now. You didn’t lose enough blood to kill you but it was a decent amount.” Claire said making distance between him and her.

She pushed back against his arm holding her in place and he recluntently let go of her. She walked over to the desk still talking.

“ Who's your first mate?” Claire asked starting to clean her instruments.

“Jonah.” Jack said shortly after watching her.

“I’ll let him know that is going to need to give out whatever orders are needed for the remainder of the day while you rest.” Claire said.

Jack began laughing. Who did this woman think she was? He thought, continuing to laugh.

“Something funny?” Claire said, turning on her heels to face him.

“I will be just fine.” Jack said.

“No, you will rest.” Claire said, folding her arms across her chest and daring him with her eyes.

“If you rip those sutures open or fall out today. I am not resutring or helping you at all.” Claire continued before he could answer.

She began putting her stuff back away in her bag as she did so she kept waiting for Jack’s argument but it never came. She turned to him looking at him, questioning him. He smiled softly but you could tell that he was in fact really tired.

“Jack, come let's get you over to your bed. Just take a nap for a short while and I won't hound you about anything else.” Calire said going to him and picking up his good arm.

“You promise?” Jack asked with a playful smile on his face.

“Promise.” Claire whispered, helping him stand and then walk across the cabin to his bed. 

Claire helped him sit on his bed. She watched him steady himself before laying back. She looked at him, a small urge of wanting to stay with him crept up from her deepest wants. She remembers the disappointment she felt when he never returned to take her away on the many adventures he promised.

“Claire?” Jack asked her, catching the look.

“What did you want me to tell Jonah?” Claire asked, dismissing how nice her name coming out of his mouth felt.

“Tell him we need to find another source of income before we meet Rowling.” Jack said not pursuing her look.

She nodded, questions forming in her mind. She dismissed them; she didn't need to make herself anymore  invested in him or his crew's dealings. She started to the door.

“Just tell one of the men to have him come up. Don't go  about the ship.” He said his voice was more of a warning.

“So?” Claire began to ask.

“Just tell the nearest man to send Jonah up and you can get settled in the chair for now.” Jack said, his voice suggesting not to argue.

Claire rolled her eyes as she opened the door of the cabin. A man was leaning against the top rail as she looked out.

“You! Have Jonah come to your Captain’s cabin immediately.” Claire said her voice full of authority.

Jack listened to her with a smile on his lips. She was definitely a captain. He thought as he shut his eyes softly, listening for the sound of her coming back into the room. He counted her steps as she sunk down into the chair near the desk mumbling to herself. She wasn't not at all happy about being shut in here.

The tugging of sleep at him was becoming hard to ignore but he heard Jonah enter.

“Aye Captain.” Jonah asked, his voice a little worried.

“We need to find another ship or something to attack before Rowling meets us...it won't be pretty if we don't have at least a little bit more. Then I might be able to swing him on the fact we have more on the way.” Jack said not opening his eyes.

Claire listened closely to the conversation. She was about to protest about them attacking another ship but she didn't hearing that there was another person involved. Rowling...what did he have on Jack? She thought waiting to hear more.

“Aye captain, we will make our way out by another dock. Maybe we will get lucky.” Jonah said his eyebrows seem to frown, he was concerned as well.

“Good.” Jack said softly.

Jonah began to walk to the cabin door when Jack’s voice stopped him.

“Another thing Jonah.” Jack called,

“Aye captain?” Jonah asked, pausing in the doorway.

“No one is allowed to mention that there is a female on board and no one is going to touch her either. Let them know that if they think they’ve seen my worse. They haven't.” He said shifting slightly in pain.

“Aye captain, I will make sure the men know.” Jonah said walking out the door.

“Jack?” Claire went to ask one of the several questions that was now formed in her mind from that covnerstation.

Snoring was the only response she got. She grumbled as she leaned back in the chair. This was going to be wonderful. She wanted adventure now she was stuck looking at the wooden walls inside Jack’s cabin.