HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS
Chapter one: To think rationally
Disclaimer: I do not own POTC characters, or some of the locations.
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Elizabeth sighed out over her paperwork. Couldn't pirates sort their own petty little problems, why did they need to call out to their King at every single thing? She couldn't quite believe she was wasting her time over the proper ownership of a goat.
She briefly was faced with the fact at how her life had changed these last past years. Well, eight years. She had once been Elizabeth Swann, daughter of Weatherby Swann, governor of Jamaica. Now he title rang Elizabeth Turner née Swann, King of Brethren court, Captain of the Empress and her sister ships, Pirate Lord of the South China Sea and mother of the local noise hazard Patrick Turner.
She grinned at the last one, her favourite title of all her various ones. After Will had gone with the Flying Dutchman and Barbossa and Jack took her back to Shipwreck cove, Tai Huang had decided that they would keep her captain of Empress, even if it was only officially. The Empress had 3 sister ships; The Dragon, The Sea Snake and the Goddess, all of which Elizabeth was also the "official" captain of, even though Tai Huang actually sailed the ships.
Occasionally she would get chests and chests full of treasure, as a sign of respect, not only from her own ships but also from other pirates, "good will," they said. Elizabeth soon realised that they only did it because they wanted her favour because so it happened that every single time that shortly afterwards they would come knocking with a request, and usually not a little one either.
Speaking of knocking, Tai Huang came in; annoyance clear across his burned and scared face. His was in port temporarily, and wasn't happy about it, but the Empress did need to be re-stocked once in a while after all. "Captain Swann, Ma'am?" he asked in his heavily accented voice as he bowed deeply before her. "Yes Tai Huang?" she asked stoically, only looking up briefly.
"A ship has arrived in the harbour Ma'am, and…..the captain requests to see you."
Elizabeth sighed, pushing the stack of paper away from her, "Alright, I'll see to it."
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Elizabeth strolled leisurely out into the quay. Her hair was braided and pinned up, she wore no hat. Her long coat was a deep blue and made of fine exotic silks which the Empress brought her from far away lands. The embroidery on her coat was rich with patterns of flowers and dragons. She wore breeches, although they had been tailored differently to fit her. Her boots, blue like her coat, were made of supple leather. Little cords hung from the back with beads in them.
She looked around the docks, admiring briefly the affect her "kingdom" still had on her. The fort at shipwreck cove, made completely out of ship leftovers, stood high and mighty the middle of sheltered water-filled basin. The fort was sufficiently hidden from view by large towering rocks which surrounded it.
The water here was surprisingly clear, despite years and years of pirate filth. She smelled the air, and it was rich and salty. In the distance, over the nearby crude chattering of pirates, she heard waves crashing into the rocs, and she even heard the distance cries of seagulls.
It was a clear day; a momentously rare occasion in shipwreck cove considering Calypso had grown fond of terrorizing the pirates with the occasional hurricanes and cyclones. To Calypso's annoyance, the fort remained standing. Elizabeth thought it was only proof that she didn't really mean the hellish storms she sent their way.
Elizabeth's mind wandered away from Calypso's wrath to her past adventures, which now, six years later, seemed a life time ago. Wistfully she hoped for excitement around here, although she never had expected what happened next as she stumbled upon the most curious sight yet in shipwreck cove. There she lay moored, in all her glory, The Black pearl.
Gibbs spotted her and jumped of the side, and strode up to meet her. They smiled shyly at one another for a moment before he stepped forward and enveloped her in a fatherly hug. Elizabeth stood back and held him at arm's length and started analyse his face. His face seemed carved by the familiar weathering of time and the elements, although she suddenly realised he did not appear a day older then the last time she saw him.
"You look well Gibbs," she stated. "So do you," he replied, beaming at her.
"What brings you here?" she asked.
"It appears that my ship needs fixing." Came an oh-so-recognizable voice from behind him. Gibbs stepped aside to reveal the owner of the voice Elizabeth hadn't heard in such a long time.
Elizabeth's breath caught in her throat at the sight of him; unchanged and as dashing as ever. "Jack," she breathed.
She started to rush forward but then caught herself and stepped back hesitantly.
Jack observed this with a coy smile, "You see," he started, pretending to be oblivious to what happened earlier, "Barbossa saw fit to take me ship and to do a runaway with it" Jack paused for a dramatic effect, "Again." He added sourly as an afterthought. Elizabeth smirked at this. Jack stuck out his tongue to her, before continuing with his story, "However, he forgot one very important thing."
"That you're Captain Jack Sparrow?" Elizabeth finished for him, with a grin.
Jack glanced at her, his smile obvious in his eyes. "No, wasn't there yet luv."
Elizabeth folded her arms across her chest and looked at him, urging him wih a nod of her head for him to go on. "However," he repeated with a wave of his hand, "He forgot that I was in the current ownership of the map which led to what he was seeking. Giving me, as always of course; the upper hand."
Elizabeth raised her eyebrow at this; he chose to ignore it, "Together this time; Barbossa and me. did we shimmy off to the Fountain of Youth. Consequently we got trapped in a bloody annoying time loop and eventually got spewed out. Obviously enough, the Pearl didn't appreciate being spewed out at all." And with an elaborate wave of his hand he finished, "Hence we are here. For a favour."
"Naturally," Elizabeth said, "Pirates only deem me important enough to visit for a favour." Although the sentence appeared innocent enough, it was heavily layered with meaning. Jack sensed this and rushed to stand in front of her. "Yes I apologize my dear Lizzie. Did I already mention that we got stuck in a time loop for six years?" Elizabeth pursed her lips, but said, "What kind of favour?"
Jack smiled and held out his arms, "Just an eensie weensie favour, I promise."
Elizabeth laughed cruelly, "Whenever did you come back and honour a promise Captain Jack Sparrow?"
Jack frowned for a moment, "We'll come back to that later. Now to my favour,"
He took a deep breath, "Wouldyoubeinanywayinterestedinfundingthe
repairofthepearl?" he said quickly, filling his eyes with what he thought was trustworthy innocence.
Elizabeth tapped her chin for a moment, and then strode past him towards the ship. She quickly took in the damage, and calculated the costs, it wouldn't be too expensive, but she wasn't going to be too easy on Jack just yet.
Jack came to join her as she stood there; apparently contemplating deeply whether or not to favour him. "So?" he started cheerily. "What'd I miss in the last six years?"
Elizabeth turned her head sharply to him, he didn't know yet. She opened her mouth to answer him but was cut of by an anxious wail, "Mummy?" this was followed by the light pattering of bare feet on the wooden pier as her son rushed towards her. He reached them and clamped himself tightly around her legs, ignoring Jack completely.
Jack however, noticed him immediately. "Tell me," he asked cautiously to Elizabeth, "How long have you had…this thing….stashed away under your skirts?" Elizabeth looked down, mentally observing the lack of skirt, she looked back at him. He also appeared to have noticed the lack of skirts and added quickly, "Figuratively speaking."
"He's five." She stated shortly, and watched him as she saw him immediately calculating the numbers inside of his head. Then, as it dawned upon him and realization filled his eyes like a tidal wave, did she understand herself the consequences of him being here.
Jack turned around suddenly, looked back at her once; his eyes darting from her to her son before rushing away back into the ship.
Elizabeth sighed and detangled herself from Patrick's protective clutch and took his hand as she led him to Gibbs. "Gibbs, this is my son Patrick Turner." Gibbs looked at him, wide eyed. "Pat, this is my good friend Joshamee Gibbs, say hello." Patrick stared equally wide eyed back at Gibbs. "My, Elizabeth!" Gibbs laughed, "You have a son!"
He patted her on the back, a little roughly, before catching both Elizabeth and Patrick by surprise as he swooped the boy up into his arms. Patrick, absolutely mortified, tried to squirm out of his grasp. Elizabeth laughed as Gibbs set him down again, ruffling his hair for good measure. "Well, he's sufficiently terrified of me now, what'd you say?"
Gibbs looked down fondly at the boy, noting his dark curls which were almost black and Elizabeth's big brown eyes.
Elizabeth's voice dragged him back to reality, "I'd like to invite you and the crew to dinner tonight. I suspect you're all hungry after a six year long time loop?"
"Ravenous." Gibbs answered, he then leaned in to her and whispered, "The Cap'n too?" Elizabeth nodded, "Yes him too."
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The crew members of the Black Pearl had left, leaving Elizabeth with the most gruesome of messes to clean up. Honestly, didn't they have any table manners at all? She had finished with the worst of it when a soft knock came. "Yes?" she called out distantly.
"Evening Lizzie." Came a dark voice. Elizabeth spun round, "Jack, you came."
Jack Sparrow looked around the room, "I see yer shacked up pretty well here, pirate King." There was a slight mock hidden in his voice, as he walked around the room once again for good measure, his step had the usually drunken swagger to it.
"I'm afraid dinner is over, Captain Sparrow," Elizabeth pointed out coldly as Jack traced his finger leisurely down the length of the dinner table.
"You and I both know that I didn't just come for dinner, Lizzie." He whispered.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him, "I had a sneaking suspicion that that would be the case."
"I'm not going to dawdle around it and I'm just gonna come out straight and ask you." He announced, "Is he mine?" he then asked, dread heavy in his voice.
Elizabeth turned towards her bookshelf and took out a random book which she then started to analyze intently.
"Lizzie." Jack reminded her. "Hmmmm." She replied, dodging the question.
Jack grabbed her arm and twirled her round to face him, "What does hmmmm mean? It's a non commitical noise Elizabeth! It could mean either yes or no, so which is it? Yes or no?"
Elizabeth stared at him levelly, "Does it matter?" she breathed.
Jack fell silent for a moment, contemplation written all over his face. He held up his finger like he usually did when considering how best to bring news he wished rather to keep to himself. "All that matters for now….is whether or not I could be his father." He said carefully.
Elizabeth jutted out her chin in defiance, but Jack glared mercilessly back at her. Finally she heaved her arms in submission, "You could be." She admitted weakly.
Jack sighed and let himself sink into a nearby chair, "I'm sorry Elizabeth, for what I'm about to tell wont be easy."
Elizabeth came to sit down next to him, her face an interesting mix of worry and caution.
Jack glanced at her, and she stared back. None of them made a move to break the silence that followed; their steady observation of one another continued for another moment or two, up to the point that Jack finally managed to string his words together and formed a proper sentence, "As you may know, I'm a famed womanizer….however……not everything always goes according to plan. I was fairly young when I had taken a fancy for a witch doctor, not unlike how Tia Dalma once was…….However, the point of this story is that my interests went astray and that I peeved her off. As revenge for my infidelity she cursed not me, but my first born son."
This declaration was followed again by a lengthy silence as Elizabeth tried to digest this new information. Once Jack judged her ready he continued, "If Patrick is my son, not young William's son as we all would like to believ…..then that would make Patrick my first born son. And if the curse be true, he will die when he reaches manhood."
Elizabeth gasped, jumping up from her chair. She gazed at him, both terrified and furious, "Six years gone Jack, six years I spent alone with none about and you come back and announce that my son will die in less then ten years?"
Jack got up as well, and although he should have been prepared for this - a woman with that particular facial expression usually did what Elizabeth just did - the surprise stung like the slap he received from her.
"You bastard." Elizabeth spat at him, with that announcement out in the open she started walloping him furiously over the shoulders. Jack first tried to dodge then but soon found a more effective way for his own protection. He threw him arms around her, locking her own arms to her body and pulled her close to his own, from that position he whispered menacingly, "It was never my intention Elizabeth and I will do anything, anything in my power to save him if he is my son and cursed."
Elizabeth stopped resisting him and allowed herself to slump against him, crying, she said, "If he is cursed Jack, how you can save him?"
Jack patted her awkwardly, it wasn't the situation he was particularly familiar with, "Now let's think rationally Elizabeth."
At this, Elizabeth stiffened. She pushed him away forcefully, "Don't you dare tell me to think rationally Jack." She said in a low voice.
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Okay first chapter, I have some good things planned of this story and first chapters are always difficult so please just put up with me. If there is anything you don't understand just ask me, and if not it will be explained throughout the story.
I'm sorry if Jack wasn't really Jack this chapter, trust me its no fun to write him all serious, but he will get better :D
Review please