Remorse of a Pirate
Jack remembers the one day he knows he can never forget. One-shot.
Jack's mouth formed into a slight smile of affection, then drew his hand back and snuck it into his pocket. "Don't like the weather Tess?" He asked coyly as he strolled to the sea, the sun at his back now.
"Like it fine." Was the icy reply from the petite girl with an indifferent expression on her face. "Very pleasant." She added with a brief mock-up smile and a crisp dialect to her tone which only aristocrats had.
Jack could sense the awkwardness from every fiber of her being, almost like it was an aura although he quite knew that Tessa Albatross was anything but awkward.
Maybe it was just with him, he hoped silently.
"What's up with you?" He asked abruptly and received a wary glance from Tessa. But soon, she quickly focused her eyes on the horizon again. "Nothing," She said, obviously forcing herself to be polite but distant. Again, something Tessa was not. "Just admiring the view." She added with a false giggle and Jack had to restrain himself from groaning at her immaturity.
"Something I do Tess?" He asked suspiciously and she jutted her jaw to left, a clear sign that the answer to his question was a 'yes'.
Jack frowned, "Tess?"
"Not at all, now please move I can't see the sunset." She said shifting her weight to the other foot and Jack now laughed, outright to her face and she looked insulted. Heavily.
"It's broad daylight Tess!" Jack continued with a snigger, "Ain't sunset for another four hours."
"Like you know anything!" She snapped, turning away from him. "Don't even have a proper education…!" She muttered angrily and now it was Jack's turn to be insulted.
Before she could move a step further, his hand shot out and grabbed her arm. She faced him with an expression close to disgust and had Jack known any less about Tessa, he would've let go and shrunk into the ground. Her expressions were terrifying.
She was clearly demanding for him to go on, to say what he had to and that's what he did. "I know what you taught me and I believe that's enough."
Tessa's steely gaze was reduced to anger mixed with sympathy; this changed as she took a quick glance behind him and then said, "Jack, let go. The tide's coming in."
Jack tilted his head, full aware of the tide coming in but completely reluctant to let go. He smiled smugly, "No."
She opened her mouth to argue, took another glance behind him and then jerked her arm once, "Jack, this isn't funny, let go."
"If it isn't funny why am I near a hysterical fit?"
"Cos you're an idiot!" She reasoned, scowling at him and jerking her arm more aggressively, "Jack!"
The tide rolled in up to his thighs and her waist, drenching them both waist down in the salty water of the sea. Jack began laughing gleefully all over again and expected the same from Tessa as she had done many times before but he hadn't realized how upset she was until she did what she did.
"Oh, you idiot!" She shrieked, shoving him into the wet squishy sand with all her strength. Jack fell on his back, completely taken aback by this notion. The tips of his hair and various strands covered with mud and his hands wholly caked with it.
And if he thought the abuse would stop there, Tessa had bent down and scooped up a dirt clog and thrown it at his chest where it hit with a loud splat.
Jack blinked, confused, pitiful and agitated at the same time but mostly confused and pitiful. He glanced at her and one look told him she was ashamed of what she'd done. She wouldn't meet his gaze as she had averted hers when he turned to her.
Tessa awkwardly rubbed her hands by her sides in an attempt to get the mud off and Jack ducked his head, not wanting to be looked at.
"Jack." She stated loudly and uneasily and Jack's head shot up, "Yeah Tessa?"
Tessa's cheek turned slightly pink as her eyebrow rose up, her eyes squinted in the gleam of the sun and her eyebrows furrowed; she seemed like she was deciding something.
Jack blinked again and Tessa turned her head to him and smiled a brief apologetic and sympathetic smile. Jack couldn't find it in him to do the same.
"Nice weather huh Jack?" She asked bluntly with none of the empathy in her smile.
"It's fine." He said quietly.
"I hear you're sailing to London this afternoon." The crisp accent was more pronounced than ever.
Jack nodded, still silent, "Well, yeah…Beckett wants the shipment to come in quick…by Sunday I suppose…"
Tessa's eyebrow was still up in the air, and now her face was more sarcastic than ever as she crossed her arms and said in a deathly voice, "I hear you're sailing to London and not coming back."
Again, Jack nodded, quite unaware of the huge hint she had thrown at him, "Yeah, Beckett thinks…"
"Screw Beckett." She replied with a roll of her eyes and Jack was surprised at her choice of words and grinned; he'd gotten the hint.
"Not proper words-"
"I don't give if it's proper or not," She snapped, only this time he was gratified by her defensive attitude, "You belong here, with us. Not in bloody London."
"I'll get to go to Bath there." He humored her and she sighed impatiently.
"So you'd really rather go to Bath than sulk around here with me?" She continued with a demanding shrill in her voice.
"At the current moment, given the choices…" He trailed off and she rolled her eyes again. He decided a different strategy, "C'mon on now Tess. He wants me to go to London so I can be educated properly."
She shook her head arrogantly and said scornfully, "You're the son of a pirate, how much more educated can you get?"
"I'm sorry." She added quickly and he didn't bother to mention that he had already forgiven her. Before he could begin his argument she had begun hers, "C'mon Jack! You can stay here with us and do what you've always loved to do!"
"You can sail!" She added with an enthusiastic and pleading smile, "You can sail and learn everything about boats-"
"Ships-" He added but she hushed him quickly.
"-Ships and then one day you can have your own-" She'd run out of breath by now and was now wide eyed but still grinning, "My father can-he can ensure you keep working on the b-ship! You'll be Captain someday, I can feel it Jack!"
"And how am I gonna make money?" He asked dully.
"You'll-EIC!" She exploded, "Work for the EIC, Beckett will give you a job if you're good enough and you are."
"Can you ensure that?" He asked skeptically.
"He's-yes." She said, her lack of breath becoming a problem, "Yes, he will. He's my uncle, I'm his only niece, I might not like him but he loves me and he knows how important you are to me. Besides you're an excellent sailor, you know his business, he'll keep you!"
Jack was quiet now; for a long time, especially when he met Tessa, more than anything he had hoped to receive the education necessary for a gentleman.
"If I do this for you," He said, choosing his words carefully, "Will you marry me when we're old enough?"
Tessa immediately turned scarlet and managed a funny laugh, "How about we cross that bridge when we get there?"
Jack grinned and she helped him up, "I love you Tessa."
She smiled at him and replied, "Yeah, I think I love you too Jack."
Jack Sparrow sighed and snapped his compass shut, steering the helm of his ship, the ship she had promised him and then given to him with arms wide open; the promise she had kept of marrying him when they were older but the guarantee that he would be faithful did not stick. The wife and son he had abandoned for a pirate's life and now, after visiting Elizabeth and her newborn, he wasn't so sure what he wanted; to remain here in the seas or return to her in her arms.