Title: Loaded
Author: WickedRum
Disclaimer: I have no right to use these characters, Disney does.
Summary: As usual, Gibbs is left to make sense of Jack's antics.
Set: post AWE.
Genre: romance, hurt/comfort.
Rating: probably NC, for violence and a fetish.
Pairing: Sparrabeth, eventually, Jack/Gibbs friendship otherwise.
Joshamee Gibbs stumbled into the Harnessed Peg Inn in Tortuga barely managing to duck out the way of Barbossa. If he was lucky, the old bugger did not see him. It was one thing for him to be held up by the ex captain of the Pearl, but he had to think about Jack being around too. And most importantly Barbossa should not find out the Pearl was around for the taking! With it being in the early hours of the morning the majority of the crewman guests had left to have a chance at attending to their duties on their ships, the time not so far away. He himself was on his way back to the Pearl, but he would never leave town without his captain, who he had left in that very place. Gibbs was away with Martha, and older wench he favored, cause there was no work in getting her. She was thankful for the few gold coins he occasionally gave her, was forgiving and broad-minded and there was no chance she would surprise him with an offspring.
Close to daybreak, he didn't really expect to find Jack there, it was usually the other way round, it was the captain himself who came looking for him, waking him up with a big bucket of water, but since he wasn't completely intoxicated this time just by chance, he thought he would show good faith and make it back to the ship all by himself. And right enough, Jack wasn't there, but when he turned to go, he found one of his arms stuck. He looked to see what caused the hold up and wished he didn't as he found himself being slapped by a tall woman. Giselle of course. Again.
"T'was fe Jack, aye?" Gibbs opened his eyes wide, rubbing his face, "I'll be sure to offer 'im yer gift!" He turned again, but was stopped again. He ducked this time, almost falling with the effort. Nevertheless, his arm was pulled again and he was taken along to the back and thrown through a door.
"Is Jack you're looking for? He's in there. Had to take him out the way for making too much mess, you know what I mean!"
Gibbs frowned and stumbled back at the sight, Jack was in fact lying there on the floor. His head tilted to the side, he seemed more asleep than awake although his eyelids were fluttering and was mumbling something.
Gibbs smiled at it, it would be him more sober this time, not Jack! It usually wasn't much difference about how much they really drank, but Jack could normally hold it better, he had to admit that. Maybe because he was younger. Gibbs considered the mighty possibility of hauling Jack out the tavern and then returning the kind bucket of water as the well known purposes of the smell, but then had to discard the idea. Jack would certainly give back the favor later with a lot of bonus on top, just for good measure, besides, the captain probably wasn't all that drunk, even if he looked it right now.
But at least he could grab him gruffly, pulling him into a sitting position, "Jack, take heed, we have to be gone, I have this feeling Barbossa's just about to participate at the intake in here and you're not in the mood as I read!" Since Jack still didn't make one move apart from drawing a few deeper breaths Gibbs made sure he lifted Jack's hat from the floor next to him and had it under one of his armpits, then pulled Jack over to the wall and sat him against it. Now where was Giselle and where's that water?
It only took a minute and the innkeeper has provided them with such a bucket, always at ready with such aids to be rid of overindulging clients.
Jack jumped and growled, "ye vain dewberry." He rubbed the water out his face, then looked up at him before his spoke, the certain amount of pain that Gibbs saw flashing up for a moment in there making his first mate frown with confusion.
"Mr. Gibbs," Jack said solemnly, slurring, "wake me not if we've still got a ship, but if Barbossa's got it then why do ye wake me up?"
"He'll get it before long alright, it's no very hard to see, just pokes the eyes out in the harbor! Up ye get!" He tried to pull his captain up.
"Geroff," Jack mumbled, trying to free his arm away from his first mate."You need to take him, we're closing," Giselle told Gibbs.
"Well, how about a little help?" Gibbs grunted, then rolled his eyes, watching Giselle shrug and walk out, "suit yerself then." He rubbed his forehead with his sleeve and shook his head, watching the heap that was supposed to be his captain in front of him. He sighed, then went down on his knees next to him, placing a hand on his upper leg, "Jack, are ye all right?" He leaned close, talking with a certain softness and concern in his voice for the first time.
Jack rubbed a hand over his midsection, "what is love, Mr. Gibbs?" He mumbled.
"Why, Jack, ye tend to get philosophic about the strangest things at the strangest times. Come get up will ye?"
"Can't."
"Ye can lie there if ye like, but I have no intentions of watching that difficult pillager sailin away with me ship," Gibbs said, willing to get a reaction as he wasn't for staying there next to him till the morning.
"It's yer ship now is it?" Jack did react to the mention of his precious Pearl, but it wasn't exactly the way Gibbs hoped for, "well, excuse me Joshamee for getting all dramatic, but I've had a little too much to drink."
"Aye, that ye did. But fe the love of that ship, will ye get up!"
"Not so fast, Mr. Gibbs, we've got a lot to figure out in this world of ours."
"Like that head of yers," Gibbs mumbled.
"And love is one of those," Jack continued. "Like when yer lips are all dry. We have to play the cards we're dealt, right?"
Gibbs opened his eyes slowly wide with the drunken man's surprise. Could Jack not get a whore tonight?
The younger pirate seemed a bit more awake by now, he grumbled and tried to sit up straighter, "how do ye know when it's love?"
"Brooding about kisses?" Gibbs shrugged. He really sat down by now, giving in. There was no moving till Jack was finished with this whatever talk. "But if I wanted to get philosophical I'd likely say something like, you just know when it's love and that's that."
Jack nodded, knowingly, then at length, tried to stand up. With as much help as Gibbs could manage in his own inebriated state, he got him to his feet.
Jack held on to the wall with one hand, to Gibbs with the other, trying to reorientate before turning to his confounded old friend with a small smile, "we'll just have to kill the wish then."
tbc