There was utter silence. The sky was dark and quiet, peaceful. The woman standing nearly alone on the shore almost wished it would be like that forever. She stroked the other occupant of the beach' hair softly, humming. After a few moments, she quietened and the night was quiet once more, the water eerily still. In the dark of the night, it seemed that moment would last forever. The otherworldly quiet was broken by a soft but harsh gasp; and the woman froze before jerking her head in the direction of the sound. It was almost midnight; there shouldn't be any one on this beach - not even them. Normally she would consider it far too late to have her son out but by now he was fast asleep in her arms and on today of all days she couldn't be inside a house. She held her son tighter to her chest, tensing slightly, her hand going towards the sword on her belt.
Barely visible in the dark moonlight, a head appeared on the surface of the glistening water, gasping for air. As the figure swam closer, the woman on the beach could see it was another woman - one with olive skin and dark eyes and who looked (understandably) exhausted.
And heavily pregnant.
What was a heavily pregnant woman doing swimming in the ocean? Had she been thrown overboard? When Elizabeth found out who had done such a thing, she would not be happy.
Unfortunately, she couldn't swim out to help the woman as she was still holding her baby son. However, as soon as the woman was shallow enough, Elizabeth waded out to meet her. She put her arm around the unknown woman's waist, deciding the questions could wait until later - perhaps when they'd both had some sleep.
"What's your name?" Elizabeth asked the other woman.
She put a hand protectively over her stomach and took deep heaving breaths. "Angelica."
Then, without as sound, she went limp, not falling to the ground only for the fact that Elizabeth had been holding her upright.
Elizabeth carefully dragged her fully back to shore and placing her on the beach, mostly hidden in the shadows. She then ran back to her home and put her son in the cot, running straight back out again (locking her front door behind her). By the time she reached the beach, the woman was on longer unconscious but she was still lying where Elizabeth had put her, again taking deep breaths. Once Elizabeth came into her line of sight, Angelica placed another protective hand on her stomach and shifted on the ground to a move defensive position. Elizabeth put her hands up where Angelica could see them and Angelica relaxed minutely at the lack of weapons.
"Who are you?" She asked with a Spanish lilt.
"My name is Elizabeth. Can I help you?"
Angelica seemed to give this simple query an awful lot of thought, never mind for an exhausted pregnant woman. Elizabeth wondered how many times she'd been hurt to be so wary of someone offering her assistance. In answer to her question she received a slight nod.
Elizabeth walked forwards carefully, keeping in the view of the panicked woman, before placing an arm around her back and helping her to her feet, noting how tense Angelica was. She helped the other woman across the beach and back down the road to her house. When they arrived, she put the woman in her bed, attending to her first, despite the screaming of her son. Angelica was out like alight despite the noise.
The fair skinned woman walked to her son's crib and picked him up, rocking him gently. As she did so she began to think. Had she been too hasty bringing a strange woman into her home? The woman obviously needed help but what if she was a pirate? – Not that it would make any difference to her. Elizabeth could hold her own against pirates.
But Elizabeth wouldn't know anything until Angelica woke back up. Tonight, Elizabeth would sleep with one eye open.
oOo
The next morning, Elizabeth woke up as the sun was rising, still tired due to her lack of sleep the night before. The other woman – Angelica – was stretched out on her bed, fast asleep, dead to the world; despite the cries of the baby in the house.
"I'm coming, I'm coming baby," She cooed softly as she picked up her tiny son. She fed him and changed him before laying him back in his cot and sitting on the rocking chair beside him. Humming, she rocked the crib and closed her eyes, trying desperately not to fall asleep. It was another hour before Angelica awoke with a harsh gasp, tensing automatically.
"Good morning," Elizabeth spoke cordially.
"Morning."
"How are you feeling?"
Angelica cocked her head in thought. "Better."
"I suppose anything is better than being in the sea like that."
Angelica gave a slow dark smirk.
"Might I ask how you came to be in that position?"
All Elizabeth received was silence.
"Would you mind if I fetch for a physician?"
Angelica said, "Don't."
"To check the baby," Elizabeth insisted.
"The baby is fine. And the less people that know I'm here the better."
Elizabeth went against her instincts, conceding to the woman's statement. It might be better if no one knew she was here. "As long as you're sure. Now, Angelica wasn't it? How far along are you?"
"About 38 weeks."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. A woman 38 weeks pregnant shouldn't be swimming in the ocean, never mind for as long as the other woman appeared to have been.
"It's incredibly dangerous for you to have been in the sea. Are you sure I cannot fetch you the doctor?" Her understanding of silence and the need to disappear was sound, but not to threatening the health of an unborn child.
"I am well." Angelica spoke with a Spanish cadence. "I am strong and so is the child."
No amount of further conversation could persuade Angelica to change her mind.
oOo
She stays for a day, two days, three. Eventually Angelica was well enough to get out of bed again but Elizabeth suspected the other woman had been wandering around when she wasn't in the house. Sometimes Elizabeth wondered why Angelica hasn't left yet.
Angelica wondered too. She supposed she felt safe here – with a woman who had told no one of her presence and had no reason to trust a strange woman she'd found in the sea. There was an undeniable connection between the two women, one Angelica couldn't explain, but sometimes when she saw Elizabeth out of the corner of her eye it was like she was looking in a mirror.
The fair skinned woman had the manners and grace of one far above her current station and Angelica couldn't help but wonder where she'd learnt them. It was something about the way she moved, the way she talked.
"Where are you from?" She asked one day, when her curiosity became too much.
"Singapore. What about you?"
"I'm from all over. But my mother was from Spain."
Elizabeth had easily deduced that – and both of them knew it. It was why Angelica had no problem in confirming it.
"Where is she now?"
"She passed many years ago." Under the pretence of changing the conversation, she enquired, "What of your parents?"
"My mother passed when I was very young. My father only a few years ago. He was a Governor in Singapore."
Angelica nodded, unsurprised. It explained the manners - and even the accent she sometimes heard, hidden under the brogue of a countrywoman. No normal countrywoman was as well educated as Elizabeth - and Angelica knew that well.
"What's a Governor's daughter doing in a place like this?"
"Oh, you know the story. Ran away with pirates." Elizabeth smirked at the Spanish woman.
Angelica choked. Of all of the responses she could've anticipated, that wasn't one of them. "What's your full name?"
"Elizabeth Swann-Turner."
There was another choking noise at the name. "I'd heard ... rumours." Angelica looked bug-eyed, which would have been much to her consternation should she have ever found out. "Which of them are true?"
"Which ones have you heard?" Elizabeth smirked recognising a fellow female pirate when she saw one. By now Elizabeth realised that being a pirate did not make you a bad person. Simply an immoral one.
"That you're married to the new Captain of the Flying Dutchman."
"Well, that is more than just a rumour."
Angelica choked again. It wasn't often that someone could surprise her this much - but something told her she shouldn't be surprised that Elizabeth had managed it. "You're married to the Captain of the Flying Dutchman?"
The fairer skinned woman inclined her head.
Angelica struggled for a moment to get herself back under control. "Interesting."
"That's not quite the word I would use."
No it wasn't the one Angelica would usually use either. The one she would've used would have been consideringly less polite and probably should remain unspoken in front of present company - she was still as Governor's daughter, former or otherwise.
Elizabeth threw the Spanish woman one last look before smiling slightly and heading out of the room humming.
oOo
Over the next few days the two girls became closer - Elizabeth shared tales from her childhood, growing up in a privileged house in England and coming over to Jamaica in a ship that wasn't a pirate one, and her subsequent life in Port Royal. Angelica shared stories of her life in a Spanish Convent and her girlhood as a poor Spanish orphan abandoned as a child.
Both shared stories about their families - Elizabeth on her wonderful father, Angelica on her awful one, Elizabeth's immortal husband and the many adventures they had been on, avoiding any names. Angelica had even touched on the Fountain of Youth and how she had come to be stranded in the middle of the ocean heavily pregnant (some pirates wouldn't listen to a woman, particularly not a pregnant one).
Both women made short trips into the main village, Angelica meeting the locals , who were, whilst not welcoming, were not wary of strangers and their oddities. Angelica's strange accent and even odder attitude would not immediately make both her and her host outcasts, unlike in other nearby towns.
Throughout this time Angelica continued to swell, like a balloon filled with water and she drew closer and closer to her due date. Elizabeth teased her about her weight, good-naturedly and Angelica not-so good-naturedly fired some retorts back that Elizabeth blamed on both her fiery Spanish blood and her raging hormones.
Angelica had immediately calmed down and sulked, proving Elizabeth's point.
By the time Angelica was roughly (by her count) thirty eight weeks pregnant, she realised that she didn't actually want to leave - not that she would now be easily able to. Her and Elizabeth were very similar in an odd multitude of ways - their fiery tempers, their love for piracy and the unconstrained lives they led, even their dark and sarcastic sense of humour that horrified most other young women and scandalised polite society. It was odd to find someone so similar to herself - particularly another woman, in a time where most young ladies were either wall-flowers or wenches. Angelica quite enjoyed the novel experience.
"How was town?" Angelica asked Elizabeth as she walked in with a basket on her arm, looking unusually matronly.
"Pleasant. They had fresh potatoes today."
"And young Mister Jones?"
Elizabeth scowled at the darker haired woman. 'Young Mister Jones' did not believe that either Elizabeth had a husband nor in taking no for an answer, a practice that severely annoyed Elizabeth when Jones invited her for a stroll every time they happened across each other.
"Was fortunately not there."
Angelica smirked. "Shame."
"For him perhaps. For me it is nothing but good fortune."
"Next time can you hit him? I would love to see that man smacked by a woman - particularly you. You know how condescending he is towards women - it is a wonder he is perusing you at all."
"Perhaps one day I will endeavour to find out why you have learnt so much about my neighbours, but at the moment I find myself agreeing with you. I will soon lose my patience with that man, and when I do he will end up a few teeth less."
"Please warn me in advance. I'd hate to miss it."
"You can have front row tickets."
Angelica laughed and then winced, doubling up.
"Angelica! Are you alright?"
The Spanish woman winced again. "I think the baby's on its way."
Elizabeth's hands fluttered for a minute before she decisively said, "Go and get on the bed. I'll sent next door's son to fetch the doctor."
Angelica did as she was told.
By the time Elizabeth made it upstairs, Angelica was lying on the bed, wincing in pain every so often. "I swear it's supposed to take longer than this."
Elizabeth reassured her. "It's completely fine. The pregnancy has been normal and so will the birth."
"Where is the doctor?" Angelica panted.
"On his way. He'll be here soon. I promise."
The pair of them sat in the room for another twenty minutes, Angelica crying out in pain and panting for air, Elizabeth holding her hand reassuringly and telling her that they would both be fine. She thanked the gods that her own son didn't wake in all the commotion. Without warning, there was a knock on the door and Elizabeth squeezed her friend's hand gently before racing down the stairs to answer it.
"Good afternoon ma'am."
"Good afternoon doctor."
"Where is the patient?"
He was answered by another cry from upstairs, even as Elizabeth gestured to them and started to make her way up. The pair of them reached the bedroom to find Angelica hunched up in pain, wincing.
"How long as she been like this?" The doctor asked, rushing to inspect her.
"Perhaps half an hour."
"Half an hour?" The doctor sounded incredulous. "This baby does want to be here, don't they?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No ma'am, your pregnancy is going fine, if a bit fast."
"Is that a bad thing?" Angelica, calm as she normally was, was close to a breakdown.
"Not at all. At this rate it will all be over very quickly. Possibly even within the hour."
Elizabeth, from where she was standing at the side of the bed, said to Angelica, "How fortunate for you. My William took almost a day."
The doctor looked compassionate. "Yes, it does vary."
Angelica winced again.
"Is there anything I can do?" Elizabeth inquired.
"Can you fetch some clean water and some towels?"
Elizabeth did not answer, instead rushing off to find the required items. When she returned, Angelica was wincing with an alarming frequency, something she would not mention aloud for fear of frightening the Spanish woman.
"This is quite possibly the quickest pregnancy I've ever seen. But everything appears to be in order - in fact everything is going well."
Elizabeth sighed in relief.
"Damn him, damn him to hell."
The doctor seemed quite shocked by the coarse language Angelica was using, even though he didn't comment. Unusual though it may be, pregnancy was a common cause for even the most societal of young ladies to swear. "You're almost there."
"I'm going to kill Jack bloody Sparrow!"
"What?" Elizabeth gasps, almost falling off the bed and letting go of Angelica's hand - not that the other woman can tell what with how she's gripping onto it.
"Damn Jack Sparrow to hell!"
Elizabeth doesn't get the chance to express her shock or ask any questions, or indeed swear herself (which would shock the doctor imminently more, she thinks), because at that next moment a loud cry fills the air and Angelica slumps back tiredly. She looks tired but well, and that is more than most mothers can say. The doctor smiles slightly, checks the babe over and then hand her to her mother, giving Angelica a quick check to see if she is in any immediate danger. She isn't and he has three more patients to check up on so he departs, promising to drop by the next day.
As he leaves, Angelica falls asleep and Elizabeth takes the baby shaking her head in disbelief.
oOo
"So it's been decided. Amara?"
"It seems fitting. After all no one said pirates can't have a sense of irony."
"What about her last name?"
"Well, she's got the option of either Sparrow or Teach. Either way she's doomed."
"Go with Sparrow. Amara Sparrow. It has a good ring to it." Elizabeth pauses. "I can't believe you didn't tell me Jack was her father."
"I can't believe half the things he does, even now."
They both giggle slightly, Elizabeth still somewhat shocked by the revelations of the day before, waking Amara, who begins to cry.
"Did we wake you up Princesa?" Angelica coos in a way that is instinctual to the Spanish woman, if new. Amara blinks and gives them a slight smirk in a way that is most unnatural for a day old baby.
"She's just like her father."
Please read and review - this has taken ages (it's been in writing since August) xx I hope you all like it :)