Yay! I finally finished this! I've been working on it off and on while I've had the time for the past few days or so, and finally had some time over the weekend to get the majority of it done. You have no idea how relieved I am to have it posted.

Disclaimer: I don't own Jack Sparrow or the Black Pearl...D: Gaerwn is mine tho. :3

It took more than two hours for Waverly to fall asleep after Gaerwn left, her heart beating against her ribcage so hard it hurt. She clutched her chest in pain as she laid on her side without being able to keep her eyes shut for more than two minutes. The pain was unbearable, although she knew that something like an amazing kiss was not supposed to feel like someone was wrenching her heart out. Tears threatened to appear after a while. Of course, Waverly Avery would never cry because of a man; the agitation and confusion she was feeling was just too much. Never once in her life had she had to think over her feelings about a young man. In fact, she had no idea what exactly she was feeling. Hadn’t she nearly hated that young man till the night before?

It was that stupid kiss. That rough meeting of mouths in a crazy frenzy of passion, regret, and hesitation turned all of her hatred to something much more different, if not completely opposite. Momentarily, Waverly thought of the word ‘love’ in her desperation for respite. The stubborn girl just shook her head and smothered the thought with a mental hand quickly.

Half past two o’clock, Waverly was finally able to sleep despite the troubling thoughts flooding her brain. Her dreams were occupied with more kisses from the same pirate who had been sitting there on her bed just hours before, heat and love forming a bond between the two as they melted into each other arms. Gaerwn held onto her very tightly as if one more inch could make them mold into one person. Hands traveled over flesh and fabric was shed. Words were whispered and moans broke the heavy air around them. It wasn’t until the deepest sign of love was about to be committed that Waverly woke up.

There was a gasp and then the feeling of being shaken. The redhead blinked till her vision was clear enough to depict the figure of her favorite maid, Claris, standing above her.

“Miss, you’re sweating. Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare?” the girl asked worriedly. She quickly brushed dark brown hair from her eyes.

Waverly shook her head and laughed in an uneasy state. “I’m fine. It must have just been the heat and the humidity that got me sweating,” she lied, sitting up. Claris pursed her lips with a furrowed eyebrow, but did not disagree. It had been a rather hot night with the rain continuing till morning. “Just give me a moment or two to wash up and I’ll be downstairs for breakfast in a little bit, alright?”

Claris nodded and then left quietly, allowing her mistress to get ready by herself. She no longer was required to stay to help the daughter of the admiral; it was thought that Waverly didn’t need a maid to help her because she refused to wear a fully corset that needed back ties. That was enough of a scandal in itself. If someone were to find out that Waverly had such a passionate dream about a pirate, it’d be even more of a scandal.

Gaerwn made it back to the Pearl before dawn, his head and heart filled with a lightness he did not know existed. He knew that just by the kiss he had shared with the admiral’s daughter that he was in love. Shockingly, he wasn’t at all confused about these feelings, unlike the young woman he had these feelings for. He was perfectly confident that he’d see her again the next evening and hold her in his arms like he had in her dark room. It was an amazing thing to think back on.

His lightness was ruined, though, the moment he stepped on the great Black Pearl.

“Son, where the hell have you been?” Jack Sparrow leaned against the wooden mast of the ship, arms crossed over his chest and one dark brow raised. He eyed his son in suspicion. In the seventeen years since he left Will and Elizabeth to their lives as Davy Jones’ replacement and wife, Jack had barely aged at all, still as vibrant and eccentric as before. “You were gone last night and most of tonight. Don’t tell me you were trying to plunder another aristocrat, aye? Or were you bringing pride to your father with capturing the virtue of a pretty lady?”

The pirate’s son rolled his eyes and couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Something of the sorts, I suppose,” he answered. Jack smirked smugly, clapping the dark haired young man on the shoulder.

“Well, get off to sleep, then, I suppose. If you’ve been following your father’s path in this world, I guess I can give you the day off tomorrow, although I will be expecting you to bring me back some of those charming things I suppose you’ve been borrowing from an aristocrat. Come back empty handed tonight and I’ll figure you’ve fallen in love with a silly young woman,” Jack said with a sigh. Gaerwn nodded and gave a quick smile before departing to the quarters he shared with the other few crew members on the Pearl. Without waking anyone, he slipped into his hammock in the dark far corner of the quarters. With dreams of Waverly in his arms, much like if not exactly the same as the ones she had been having, he fell asleep with a smile on his full lips.

It was around noon when Waverly was finally given a break from playing the piano till her fingers grew stiff to actually eat something for lunch. As usual, she would hide up in her room for a full hour with the family’s cook’s lunch of the day on her table while she watched the harbor from their spot on the overlooking cliff. She nibbled on the bread placed on the side of the plate, scanning the horizon intently for some sign of the infamous Black Pearl. It took her some time to realize that such a conspicuous vessel would not be sailing around in the open, even on a rainy, dark day.

Had it not been for the redhead’s ecstasy in locating the Black Pearl, maybe she wouldn’t have realized that her feelings for the pirate aboard the ship were something completely opposite of hate. In fact, it seemed like blossoming love. Waverly’s face flushed at the thought and the memory of such a vivid, passionate dream from the night before. She’d never been in love before, or felt anything remotely like it.

What a troublesome, painful feeling. It left poor Waverly with a headache when she thought about it too much and she couldn’t seem to get hungry no matter how hard she looked at her food. All she could think about was Gaerwn and when she would see him again. If she had her way, he’d be there right next to her with his arms encircled around her waist and his lips at the white skin at the base of her neck. A shiver ran down her spine, thinking of such a thing. When would night come to make these frail dreams strong realities?

That long awaited night finally came, and when it did, Waverly had herself as beautiful as possible. She had spent at least thirty minutes brushing out her curls carefully till each ringlet was smooth and silky to the touch and spent at least ten or fifteen minutes scrubbing her face till it was raw red. Of course, she made sure to this all before Gaerwn could even think of showing up. If it was midnight and she was still looking at herself in the mirror to judge whether the nightgown she was wearing was flattering enough for her figure or not, it would be an embarrassing encounter to be sure. And, try as she might have, she fell asleep on her side without the blankets on her bed being moved before eleven o’clock. At five past midnight, her long awaited guest had arrived.

Immediately at the moment the sound found her ears, Waverly’s eyes burst open and she nearly fell out of bed trying to get to the window. Gaerwn smiled at her from his perch on the window sill, looking cleaner and more handsome than he had any of the other two times Waverly had seen him. It seemed that he, too, had tried to prepare himself for their meeting that night.

“Oh, God, I missed you!” Gaerwn threw his arms around the redhead without waiting for her to close the window or the curtains. Unexpectedly, Waverly did the same and buried her face into his shoulder. Tears threatened and her face flushed.

“You have no idea how much it hurt for you to be gone like that,” she whispered, the thought of letting go of the young man in her arms long gone from her mind.

There was a gentle shaking coming from the pirate’s chest. Gaerwn was laughing.

“What? It hurt you?” He kissed her forehead. “I thought you didn’t like me, Miss Avery.”

Waverly tore herself away from him at that point with a stubborn frown plastered onto her pale pink lips. “And what if I changed my mind? Will you tease me for that too, or are you going to return these foolish, painful feelings?”

“Hmm…that’s a tough decision, Miss Avery. I rather fancy both, but the latter sounds a lot more interesting for the both of us, don’t you think?”

“I think you should pick the second. Maybe we’ll become the star-crossed lovers of Georgetown, aye? We’ll just have to make sure not kill ourselves in the end.”

“Promised.”

Soft caresses and sweet whispered filled the admiral’s daughter’s room for the nest few minutes, the dark-haired and dark-skinned pirate entangling his fingers gently in the pale girl’s red curls which she had tried so hard to make perfectly untangled. Waverly kneaded her fingers into Gaerwn’s clothed back as they stood in the middle of the room, neither one too trusting of themselves to be able to control these passionate feelings of love if they were to sit down. Numerous times Waverly’s mind wandered to the dream she had had the night before and how her cheeks flared scarlet each time. Eventually, she had to break away otherwise she would have forced him onto the bed one moment later.

Unfortunately, before they broke away, a curious servant awakened by the urge to find something to snack on passed by the door and heard the two voices moaning and whispering quietly. The servant was bold enough to open the door just a crack to see the pale face of the admiral’s daughter and that of a handsome stranger pressed together in the darkness of the supposedly secure room.

Thanks to all for reading thus far! I'll start the fourth chapter as soon as I possibly can! (I promise!) And I know that this whole realization of love happened a little fast, but I had to make it quick so some excitement of the plot could unfold! I'm sorry. ;;

Reviews are loved, just by the way.