Disclaimer: We all know who belongs to Disney! But Janie and some new characters in this story are mine, and like Jack, I don't share!
Author's note: This story is a new addition to "Calypso's Hand", "Thicker Than Water", "The Ties That Bind", "The Other Side of the Island" and "The Candle in the Window"! Jack and William are cousins, and in Pirate Cat's Universe, William is released from his captaincy and only serves the Dutchman when needed by her new captain. I have a long series going, don't I? It might be helpful to read my other stories, as this one will rely on those a lot... There will be some fun references to some of my numerous one shots, here, too. I also had many, many great suggestions from you, my readers, for this story, so I hope to add most of them!
Everyone enjoy the ride, as we join our pirate crew for Janie O'Madden's big adventure at sea with her oldest friend, Jack, and his crew! Fair winds, mates! Pirate Cat
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Winter had passed... the rain and snow of the past weeks had brought forth a green and a fresh fragrance of newness in the forest like Janie O'Madden had never seen, and she had lived in County Galway all of her life. The trees had virgin leaves emerging from the tips of their branches, in a myriad of emerald colours that painted the glen around the Ó Madáin Inn like as if it had been swept over by an artist's brush, with Connemara as the canvas. The birds were singing as if their hearts would burst, flitting hither and yon above the heads of those who were preparing the mighty Black Pearl to sail, helping her to shake off her own winter doldrums.
The pirate crew of the fastest and most famous ship in the world had been rounded up from all over the British Isles... many had stayed in Ireland for the winter, taking full advantage of the hospitality that the country proffered for outlaws of the Crown... .the Irish people had no great love for the English sovereignty, and the feelings were generally likewise. The English were considered to be rather pompous by those who called Eire their home, and the English, most times, considered the Irish to be wild, lawless hooligans. Neither was correct, and neither was entirely wrong, but it was more trouble that it was worth for the English authorities to attempt to weed out those who thumbed their noses at rules... the Irish sympathized with the outlaws, pirates, brigands and anyone who stood up for themselves against that which was unjust...
Janie O'Madden knew all to well about injustice... she had lived under it all of her life, and had survived... she was now living a good life, with loved ones around her, and the love of her life back at her side, if only for visits twice a year from his home at sea... she had made a promise to him during the winter holidays that she would sail with him and the most famous and feared pirate crew in history, and the time was nigh...
She had no idea that she could be so nervous, excited and scared all at once! But she took one look down at the dock from the doorway of her inn to know that she had nothing to fear, and every reason to be excited... her oldest friend - her childhood sweetheart and the love of her life - and his crew would take care of her... one wink from a sparkling, chocolate brown eye looking back up at her from the dock made her heart skip several beats, and filled her with so much happiness that she felt like the birds in the trees over their heads... she was about to take wing, and for the first time in her life, sail the seas with her Jackie, on the Black Pearl... he would always be "Jackie" to her, but he was known to the rest of the world - to the amusement and respect of many, and to the great chagrin of the crown and anyone who would cross the path of a buccaneer - as the most famous half gypsy pirate who ever lived... a rum soaked, eccentric scamp of strong Irish heritage and attitude, named Captain Jack Sparrow...
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"Oh, I am so excited that I don't know what to pack! Whist, Izzy, help me decide!" Janie went through her trunks and her wardrobe, pulling this and that out and laying across the bed in her room, as Elizabeth Swann Turner, the quartermaster second mate, assisted her friend in packing her bags. Janie's plain, freckled face was past it's customary rosiness; it was downright flushed with anticipation.
One long braid of auburn hair swung to and fro down her back, as she blew loose curls out of her eyes with frustration... "Oh, I can't forget this ... what about this... saints above... do I have room for this...oh, my hairbrush and my bandanna... let's not neglect Jack's new socks, here...," she muttered, her head buried deep within the cabinet, her voice becoming muffled. "Don't forget, Izzy, that we have to row out to the Pearl and see what the galley needs, if I am to be the cook for the voyage! We'll make a list and go to the village market this afternoon for supplies!"
"Well, let's see, Janie..." Elizabeth put her son, Little Will, down upon his blanket on the large rag rug that covered the entire floor of Janie's small, cozy bedchamber... Little Will was now 5 months old, and able to entertain himself quite nicely with the few toys that he had, all of them made by hand by the pirate crew that was his odd family. It was not unusual that sailors would carve in their spare time, to keep hardworking hands limber. Little Will presently was happily playing with his favourite toy... a string of large round beads carved by Mr. Ragetti... they might have been wooden eyes in another time, but Mr. Ragetti now had a glass eye from a Singapore shop that even the captain had helped him to choose. Little Will also had a small wooden dinghy made by the captain's own artistic hands for his littlest crew member, as well as several other playthings that the baby's small hands waved about, and tossed with great enthusiasm. He was a very good natured, pink cheeked lad, the very image of his father, with his big brown eyes and soft curls... Jack and Janie were his godparents, and they adored him as if he were their own, although Jack was remiss to show it at all times... when he spoke to Little Will, it was always as if he were merely a tiny adult, much to the amusement of the infant's parents.
Elizabeth began to help Janie to lay garments out..."I would bring along a dress or a skirt for visiting ports of call, if that man of yours should decide to take you to dinner instead of making you cook dinner, all of the time... if he does, Will and I will go along to keep Jack from getting you both into trouble...you will need several shirts, and breeches... wearing a skirt will never do at sea... the wind will provide quite a show, not only for Jack, if it catches a skirt!" Elizabeth giggled.
Janie pulled her head out of the wardrobe and looked at her young companion with some amusement, replying, "Well, we can't have the crew looking at me shapely legs and me lacy knickers... if I'm wearing any at the time!" Janie's bright blues eyes sparkled.
Elizabeth whooped with laughter at this thought - she had much to be happy about, and to laugh about these days. She was married to the most handsome man in the world, in her opinion, and William Turner the Second had proved his salt in more ways than most men would do in five lifetimes... William was the first mate of the Black Pearl, answering only to her slender, wild, dark captain... he had survived and been released from the captaincy of the ship which was the reaper of souls lost at sea, the Flying Dutchman, after months of endless, backbreaking, soul crushing toil. William had worked day and night to correct the neglect of Davy Jones, and the ship was cursed no longer, but was blessed with a duty that was of the deepest honour. William won the respect of the sea goddess Calypso... she had granted the request of Jack Sparrow to release his friend to the world of his living friends, and to the waiting arms of William's loving and loyal wife.
In an additional act of benevolence (Jack had always maintained that Tia Dalma, the human incarnation of the goddess, had always liked William and himself... William thought better of things and never really pressed for any reasons why), Calypso had seen fit to appoint James Norrington as the new captain of the Flying Dutchman. William was to serve the remainder of his ten years of being bound to the ghost ship by making himself available to assist James as needed in order to maintain the high standard that William, himself, had set. James had found new purpose in the afterlife... a purpose to which he was very well suited, and a purpose that he filled with great passion.
Calypso had revealed that Jack and William were related, unknown to anyone, through a shared grandmother that had married twice and died young after producing a family from each husband... they were half first cousins, a fact that shocked them and delighted them. It would not have been welcome news prior to the events that had torn them all apart... but in being drawn together, stronger friends and allies than ever before, it tended to to explain a great deal about Jack and William, both. So different, yet so alike...
Elizabeth knew that they had many blessings to be thankful for... Jack had redeemed himself as a good man, in the Turners' eyes, and had turned out to be the best friend that could proudly sail into any port on the yardarm of a sinking ship. As a pirate, Jack Sparrow was not to be trusted by many, but he could be completely trusted by a few, as William and Elizabeth had learned. Jack Sparrow as a man of many character flaws, but then, he was a man of many very good, decent and what might be construed as nice qualities that were simply hidden under a somewhat scruffy and extremely odd exterior.
To add to the great happiness of William rejoining the mortal world, the Turners had been welcomed aboard the Black Pearl by her captain and crew after the events At World's End... it was no great secret that their best friend's already precarious mind was damaged by the custom made purgatory that the evil Davy Jones had designed specifically to punish Jack Sparrow... the Locker had done its job by hammering irrepairable cracks into the captain's skewered psyche... Jack was given to moments, and sometimes days, of mental flickering and would dangerously lose himself to the shadows, and because of all that he had done for them, the Turners swore to look after him... most times his oddness was quite endearing, but at times it was very frightening, and it was feared that he would do harm to himself...it was because of his difficulties coping with the nightmares and hallucinations that would overtake him that William and Elizabeth found a brand new best friend in Janie O'Madden and would adopt Ireland as their second home...
Janie and Jack had known each other since Janie was five and Jack was three, and they had survived dreadful circumstances in both of their lives, to be joined forever like two vines growing together among the moss, on the stone walls of the Ó Madáin Inn. Jack could not remember a time in his life that Janie was not in it, except for a short period of time in which a terrible quarrel and misunderstanding between Jack and Janie had thrown him and the Turners into the turmoil of the circumstances that would take his life, and restore it again... Addled as his brain might be, Jack Sparrow had emerged into life, once again, as a changed man, and, as he had once observed, death had a way of rearranging one's priorities. Jack vowed to live life to the fullest... with his friends, William, Elizabeth and Little Will Turner, at his side, and his love and "almost wife", Janie, in his arms...
Janie finally sat down on the edge of her bed, as Elizabeth took over packing her bag for her. "You will need to wear breeches, most of the time, and boots. A hat is a must in the sun, especially for you, Janie." Looking up at her companion, Elizabeth smiled, as Janie rolled her eyes. "Jack loves me freckles, this much is true. I will have a lot more of them to love by the time we get back to Connemara, no doubt about that, darlin'."
"You'll have redder hair, as well!" Elizabeth replied, as she looked around Janie's chamber... spotting what she was looking for, Elizabeth winked, and Little Will gurgled happily, as if he could understand what thoughts were going through his mother's and godmother's heads. Janie giggled girlishly, as Elizabeth picked up the bottle of rosewater that Janie used to fragrance bed sheets.
Imitating Janie's lilting Irish brogue, Elizabeth said, "... sprinkling rosewater on the sheets makes for fine lovemaking!" And she mischievously tucked it into Janie's sea bag, as Janie's eyes sparkled as blue as the waters in the waiting Atlantic, far out at the mouth of the cove and past Kilkearan Bay... the adventure of Janie's lifetime was not far off, and the mighty Black Pearl was being prepared to make sail and hoist her anchors after a long winter's rest... as they looked out of the open front door of the inn, Janie and Elizabeth could not help but admire the beautiful dark ship... and they could not help but admire, even more, the captain and his tall first mate, as they climbed the rigging with the rest of the Pearl's crew, making ready to sail in the warmer waters that waited to Ireland's south...
Waving to them from the mainmast, William grinned, his warm brown eyes dancing as he could see the two women talking with their heads together, their eyes never leaving the scene before them... "You'd better be ready, Janie! We will leave first thing in the morning! The weather is fair and the sea beckons! We're going to make a true pirate out of you!"
Swinging around on some rigging and onto the yardarm in such a loose limbed and awkward fashion that made Janie jump a little, the object of her own affection was caught by the arm by his muscular first mate. William grinned as the captain was slapped in his own face by the lengthy string of glass beads dangling from his long, braided black hair...Jack laughed out loud at Janie's reaction to his antics, and yelled out in his husky voice, "Better get used to it, lass! Yer gonna see a side of your gypsy boy tha' ye've never seen before, savvy?"
Cupping her hands around her mouth, Janie shouted, "That's what I'm afraid of!" Giving a sidelong glance to Elizabeth, she put her hands on her hips and repeated, with a nod and a chuckle, "... that's what I am afraid of..."
Elizabeth merely smiled, and said, "... oh, I can't wait!"
To be continued...