Summary – during a visit, Jack gets a little too drunk…

Dreams Soaked in Rum

William Turner the Second had never thought that he would come home to another drunk sitting in his forge. He had just come from a dinner party at the Governor's mansion that had been held in honor for himself and Elizabeth. He had said goodnight to his future bride and made his way home.

However, it looked as if a sparrow had made its perch on a broken chair. He was snoring lightly, a rum bottle held in his hand that was lowered to the ground. His coat and hat had been abandoned besides him as well.

William walked up to him; he didn't know exactly how to wake up the drunken pirate, afraid of some sort of bodily harm done to him if he had tried. To be truthful, he did not want to have to explain any scratches or cuts he got from Jack's cutlass.

"Ye don't have ta worry 'bout waking me, son," Jack yawned.

"Jack, what are you doing here?" Will asked.

"What? I can't come an' visit me godson?" Jack raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, what if someone saw you?"

"No one saw me because I was being sneaky," Jack waved a hand in the air.

"You've tried that one before and it didn't work," Will reminded the pirate captain.

"Oh well, some people are too troubled, they notice everything. Makes my job harder, that's for sure," Jack said sitting up a bit more. William sighed and procured another chair. Jack passed the rum bottle to Will who took it graciously.

"Still," Will said, "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see how things were going," Jack replied.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, needed to give ye a wedding gift and all that rubbish," Jack said, he nodded towards a small chest. Will gave him a look.

"I don't know what to say,"

"Then don't," Jack grumbled.

"Thank you,"

Jack blanched and decided to change the subject.

"Have I ever told ye about Lillian?"

"No, are you drunker then usual?" Will asked.

"Probably, when I can't remember how many bottles I've had…yeah, I'm probably more drunk than usual," Jack sighed. He finished the bottle and threw it behind him where it promptly broke. William got up and went to the back room of the smithy. It took him a bit, but he found a couple more bottles. He proffered one to Jack who took it with a smile.

"Ah, rum is the best, ain't it?" he sighed after a long drought.

"Yes," William agreed though he didn't drink any rum.

"Well, I might as well yell ye about Lillian, I know I was acting like such a child back on the Pearl,"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"No, now shut it! Any road, as I was sayin' Lillian was rather sick. Ain't sure with what though, always hacked up a storm she did. But she was beautiful and she was nice and she liked for me to recite any poem I could remember. I wasn't a pirate then, I was only sixteen and had went home for a time because father had to drag me back. I didn't like it there, but that ain't part o' the story, savvy?"

William nodded.

"Any road, there she was one day, hacking up blood and crying. It looked painful and I couldn't help but go over and pat her back a little so that the pain would go away. Knew it didn't but she smiled at me anyway and invited me to dinner at her home. She was good cook, she loved to make things taste good, no matter what. After a little while, she told me that she was sick and that she knew that she would never live long enough to have a good life. Two months later, she collapsed. She was going to die, but somehow she pulled threw…"

"Jack…"

"I'm tellin' a story here, just listen…" Jack drank some more rum before he went on.

"She made me a couple o' shirts, and then she started talking about how wonderful it would have been to be married, but she was afraid that no one would marry her because she was sick and she wasn't sure how long she live. I told her that I would marry her, if that would make her happy. We didn't need to do anything if she didn't want. But I was willing to. She said yes and three days later we married in a lovely little church in the hills of Madagascar. The next day, she died,"

Jack looked like he was about to cry; he sniffled a bit and took out a piece of dirty sail cloth. He blew his nose and then returned to drinking.

"I'm sorry, Jack,"

"That's Captain Jack, whelp,"

"Right,"

"Anyway, I just wanted to tell ye that you two are gonna live long lives and have loads of children. Of which I'll kidnap and we'll all have wonderful adventures," Jack said.

"Because you didn't have any of your own?" William just had to know.

"I would have had a son, and I would have called him Gabriel," Jack replied. Then he suddenly keeled over snoring. William shook his head, doubted much that Jack would remember this conversation and vowed to keep it to himself.

When men drank; and they told such secrets, it should be honored and not told to anyone.

However, Gabriel was a nice name for a boy. William had to agree.

END