Author Notes -

Here we go again! This is the sequel to "What's In a Name?" and I hope that you'll all enjoy it. There will be many surprises and many interesting things for you and I only hope that it comes up to scratch. Hopefully, if you are reading this, you have read WIAN otherwise you'll be quite lost. Well, enough blather for now. Enjoy!

-A-

Disclaimer -

I only own Christy, Rhia, Colin and members of the crew not appearing in POTC. I only wish for the rights to Jack but there are certain things that can not be had apparently.

-A-

Beyond the Horizon

Chapter One - French Lessons and Surprises

Many sunny days and star-filled nights had passed during the six months since Jack's last visit and I was keeping myself occupied with matters of the home and more importantly, our daughter. Being that a tutor was exceptionally expensive to hire from either London or even Port Royale, I took up the task of educating Rhiannon myself. So, in early April, three months after Jack's departure, I had moved from merely simple lessons like grammar, math, and reading, onto basic French. I had been told when I was at school that children could learn languages easily ... or at least it was the teacher's justification for teaching us French before we understood English grammar.

I guessed that she would pick up on the language quickly, she was an exceptionally bright child and my assumption had turned out to be true. I had sung lullabies to Rhiannon in French, which she had picked up on and now walked around singing herself. Also, the fact that whenever I was annoyed or angry with something, either a comment to myself or my child or a frustrating person in town, I would rant in French ... I didn't want her to pick up on certain choice words, either ... and thus I exposed her to the language.

After three months of lessons, she had picked up on the language she was becoming fairly competent and my most recent lessons progressed to involve the conjugation of common verbs like 'like and do.'

So it was on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth of June, I sat on the cliff overlooking the sea teaching Rhia my second language.

"I like?" I quizzed.

"J'aime," came the correct response.

"You, informal, like?"

"Tu aimes."

"He or she likes?"

"Il ou elle aime."

"We like?"

"Nous aimons."

"You, formal, like?"

"Umm...vous aimont?"

I shook my head 'no.'

"Vous...vous aimez?"

"Right. Now, they like."

"Ils ou elles aimont."

"Good. Now one final thing, then you can go play. How do you say 'I like to play with friends.'"

Rhia pondered this for a moment. I smiled to see the concentration that was evident on her face. "J'aime jouer avec amies."

"Right. Now go play you little siren. You've done a good job today. We'll leave it tomorrow."

Rhia got up and skipped away, singing merrily to herself.

I laughed quietly and got up to walk towards the house. I went inside the kitchen, intent on finishing some of the cleaning that I had been neglecting to do of late but I started to see a surprising sight in the room.

Sitting leisurely at the table boots kicked up and chair reclined was Jack, looking as if he belonged there and this was a long-standing engagement. My eyes widened with shock and my hand flew up to my mouth to stop myself from uttering a scream.

"What...What are you doing here?"

"Well, ain't that a welcome, love," Jack drawled calmly.

I lowered my hand slowly and sat down at the table, staring intently at Jack. "Jack...why are you back so soon? You left all of six months ago."

Jack's mischievous smile faltered. "I need your help, love...or rather, the Black Pearl needs your help."

"What's wrong?" I asked, I could hear the tension in Jack's voice and looking carefully at him, I could see that he looked differently than he had last time. His face looked slightly worn, his eyes tired and he looked exceptionally stressed, more so than I had ever seen him before.

"There's a rather odd illness circulating through the Caribbean. Some of the crew's gotten it. I've lost three of them so far and more are far too close to death's doorway than I'd like."

I knew where this was heading before I even opened my mouth to ask but I did so anyway, to humour him more than anything. "What do you want me to do?"

Jack met my eyes and held my gaze for a long time. "Christy .... Colin's one of the sick."

My heart lurched painfully in my chest. Colin still held a dear spot in my heart and had made extra efforts to visit me over the last four and a half years. "What are the symptoms? How long have they been ill? Is it something easily spread? Do you have them in a separate area?"

"Most ... about a week. It was all I could do to get the Pearl here. The crew's morale is low and I have several new members that are starting to believe that the Pearl's still cursed and that they are all going to die."

"What do you want me to do? I don't know anything much about illnesses."

"Come back ... ye have more medical talent than me or any of the crew ... other than Colin ... but that's how he got sick in the first place."

Sighing in frustration, I wiped my face with the back of my hand and leaned forward on the table. "I can't do that, Jack. What you're asking me to do is impossible. What are we supposed to do about our daughter? I can't just up and leave! If I do as you ask, I'd expose her to the illness and if she got sick ... if she died ... I can't bare to loose her. If I did ... I don't know what I'd do."

I stared off out the window to see where Rhia was playing in the yard. She was throwing flower petals up in the air, singing a nonsense song. I watched with a partially disconnected feeling as she played merrily, unaware of the partial battle that was occuring between her parents. I did not want to look at Jack. I couldn't bring myself to look over at him and see the possible anger in his face. I could tell that Jack was becoming annoyed with me without even looking at him, his feelings practically emanated throughout the room. But I didn't know what else I could do. I didn't see many options. And as much as I wanted to help him ... I didn't know if I could afford to or not.

"I'm not asking ye to risk our daughter, Christy. I'm asking to help me and yer friend. I don't think that's too much to ask, love."

I sighed once more. "No, Jack, but what am I supposed to do with her? She's too young to leave alone for a day even and I'm not about to risk exposing her to any illness. I don't know who would take her for that matter either. IF I could find someone, I would go without question. But that's an enormous IF. I can't just go running about the Caribbean with nary a care. I've got someone who depends on me now. I have somewhat of a life but ... most importantly, I have a child ... we have a child ... and I can't just give up on that responsibility." My voice cracked slightly, betraying my frustration, my grief at not being able to help him.

"You see, love, that's where we run aground. You're forgetting about one very important thing - Will and Elizabeth."

My mouth widened into a silent 'Oh' of understanding. I hadn't truly thought of that, even though I knew that Elizabeth and Will loved her as a daughter of their own and had always taken her if I needed to be alone or if I needed to go into town and didn't want to take her. And even though I had a slight feeling of trepidation at asking my friends to take my child for an unknown amount of time, I knew that my worries were unnecessary, they would gladly take her. As I had said, they treated Rhia as an adopted daughter and she was most likely the only child, by blood or not, that they would have for Elizabeth was barren. "Fine ... but what do we tell Rhia? 'Mummy's going on a nice leisure cruise' or something like that? She wouldn't believe for that, Jack. She's a very smart child. You'd be amazed at how much she picks up on."

Jack laughed, his previous annoyance had vanished. "Well, look at her father. That should tell you how smart she's going to be."

I laughed with him. "Yes, of course, I forgot..."

"Simply tell her that you're going to go help me with something and that she gets to stay with Will and Elizabeth while we're away."

I bit my lip hesitantly and pondered the idea for a while. Finally deciding on only one remaining option, I asked, "When do we leave?"

Jack grinned, it seemed that he had known that I would go and it had just been a matter of persuasion. "As soon as possible. I'll go talk to Will and Elizabeth about taking her if you'll get Rhia ready. We absolutely must leave by tomorrow morning. Tonight would be even better."

I nodded but didn't feel the urge to get up ... I doubted whether or not I had the nerves to any more. Jack stood, walked over to me and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "I knew I could count on you, love." He kissed me softly and left without another word edgewise.

Immediately after his departure, I started to wonder if I was in fact doing the right thing or not but I didn't try to over-analyze my actions. So, deciding that I was in fact doing the right thing, I called my daughter back inside.

Sitting down and pulling her into my lap, I played with her hair idly as I asked, "Rhia, you like Will and Elizabeth, right?"

She nodded, a finger stuffed into her mouth.

"Would you want to go and stay with them for a while? I have to go away with your father for a while and they would like to keep you while I'm gone."

She shook her head 'no,' finger still firmly in place.

"Rhia, I have to go away and I can't take you with me ... but I want you to be with someone you know."

Rhia twisted in my lap and looked inquisitively up at me. "Why, Mummy? I don't want you to go away. Take me with you."

I smoothed my daughter hair soothingly. "I can't, sweetheart. My friend from your papa's ship is really sick. You remember him. Colin? With the blond hair."

She nodded. "I like him. He gave me sweets."

I smiled at the memory of Colin's last visit. He had brought chocolate, which was exceptionally rare and expensive, even in the Caribbean. But the fact that he had come at all had brightened my mood so much. "Well, he's really, really sick. And your papa wants me to help him. And we don't want to let Colin get sicker, do we?"

Rhia shook her head but furrowed her eyebrows at what I had said about Jack. "Papa's here? Why hasn't he talked to me? Doesn't he like me?"

I smiled wryly. "Of course he likes you, sweet. He loves you. He's going to be back soon. He's just taking care of some things first."

She pulled the finger out of her mouth and put her hand on my face. "I don' wan' you to leave. I'd miss you. I wan' you to be here with me. Do you have to go?" She lay her head down on my shoulder and started to cry feebly onto me. I rocked her back and forth gently as I had done so many other times.

When I was about to answer, the door opened. My head twisted back to see Jack walking in. He saw Rhia still awake and crying and flashed a questioning look over at me, clearly he expected us to be ready to go by now.

"Aye, Rhia. I need her help. Savvy?" Jack said, a merry tone in his voice.

Rhia stopped crying immediately and jerked her head upwards. "Papa?!" In one quick movement she had jumped out of my lap and ran towards Jack.

Jack laughed and scooped her up in his arms and swung her around in the air. The sounds of both their laughter, both full grown man and little girl, both father and daughter, mingled easily and filled the room, buoying my spirits.

I made my way over to them and lifted Rhia out of Jack's arms and said chidingly, "I was trying to get her to sleep, Jack," but I smiled nonetheless.

Jack pulled a face at Rhia. "Well, mummy's not much fun, then, is she?"

She giggled and shook her head 'no.'

"Let's get this little 'un to bed, eh, love?" Jack asked, playfully ruffling Rhia's hair.

I nodded and after putting Rhia down on the ground, led her to her room, Jack on our heels.

After getting Rhia settled into bed, she started asking questions beyond measures about any place that he had ever visited. Jack quickly placated her curiosity after telling her a rather edited version what had transpired between Will and Elizabeth with the Aztec gold. She fell asleep while he was talking and we left the room quietly.

-A-

Author's Note -

Well, I hope that was enough of a taster. The next chapter will be coming sometime relatively soon. I have school starting up again on Tuesday, so, sadly my wealth of free time (cough, cough, yeah right) will be coming to an end. But, I hope that this was enough to get people back into the story. So, tell me the good, the bad, the ugly, I honestly don't care, just tell me what you think! Review!

Mange Klemmar

CrazyCanoeingGIT