Chapter 2
23 years since they sailed away together… and had a son.
It took the pirate a little less than a second from the moment he felt warm skin against his to open his kohl-lined eyes. The smell of the sea was clinging onto every fiber of the room, including their bodies that were pressed close together on the bed. He breathed so that his chest rose to brush her bare back, and in turn, heard her inhale and press lightly against him. His hands found her hair that was spread elegantly across the feather-packed pillow under their heads. His fingers threaded through it momentarily, as if using that one bit of reality of touching her to help him stir and finally awaken.
Soon, his hands were moving down her shoulders, her arms, and his nails were lightly brushing her stomach until the woman's body reacted with gooseflesh riddling her idle limbs. The captain listened as she gave a mumble, a moan, and she finally turned groggily to face him on the feather mattress. Her eyes of a chestnut hue finally flickered open quite sleepily, and they exchanged their good mornings.
"Jack." She murmured.
"Elizabeth." He murmured in return.
Pirates, they were. Filthy and blunt, getting entirely straight to the point, and most importantly, free as birds without a care in the world. So, it wasn't long before their mouths were pressed tight together, and Jack's hands were upon his woman, pulling her close until every space between him and her was filled. They were kissing, passionately, despite the grogginess of their recent wake. Moments passed, and Jack's fingers embedded in her hair, pulling her close until he could hear her heart hammer whilst their lips and tongues mingled.
It was then that a subtle knock came from the door. Yes, such a moment of contentment had to be ruined.
"Jordan?" Elizabeth removed her mouth from Jack's to call over her shoulder. The pirate simply lay there with a slightly annoyed stare, his hands still gripping the woman tightly around the hips to bring her closer. Such an expression on his face immediately disappeared when unscarred hands twisted the knob of his door and a child bounded inside.
His head was a mess of dark and light browns, cascading down to his shoulders underneath Jack Sparrow's infamous hat. His face was bright with a childish sort of joy, features resembling so much of his parents, making him quite an attractive boy at that. He had a slightly muscled frame, unusually fit for such a young kid, which revealed his hard work upon the Black Pearl. He was twelve years old and, undoubtedly, he was their son.
Elizabeth gave an excited sort of squeal as Jordan tumbled onto her lap on the bed, and Jack was unable to fight a sleepy grin. As the boy's mother smiled genuinely, her fingers running along his sides to tickle him, his father raised a hand to ruffle the hat upon his head.
"Who said you could wear me hat?" Jack said firmly, though there was teasing and an uncharacteristically fatherly love behind his words.
"No one did, Cap'n! The monkey had it!" Jordan told excitedly, as if he was beginning a long tale that would take up half the morning. Usually of which it did, but Elizabeth interrupted before then.
"You rescued that hat from the monkey?" She questioned, her hands patting at her son's thighs playfully as he sat upon her lap, breathless from being tickled.
"Chased it down, I did." He replied quickly, entirely proud whilst his mother seemed a bit amazed that he was able to run down such a fast little creature. Jack had to chase after the thing many a time to retrieve his stuff. Most of which he never got back.
The Captain slowly curled a strong, lazy arm over Jordan's shoulder, pulling the child to lean against his side for a moment. "Well then, son, one day this hat will be yours." He promised, patting the thing atop the kid's head before releasing him so that his mother could take him into her arms again in a brief tickle fight.
Jack tumbled out of the bed, pushing away the sheets that clung to him and struggling lazily to fix his trousers around his waist that he'd slept in. His torso was completely free to sight, bearing countless scars and ink tattoos etched into his body, but Elizabeth had already seen each one, had kissed and touched every single one on his strong, tan body. After which, the scars seemed to heal miraculously, if only a bit, and his tattoos seemed all the more darker and prouder.
"Who's sailin' the ship?" Jack asked, suddenly aware of their sleeping in.
"Mister Gibbs!" Jordan shouted through spills of laughter as he struggled with small hands to nudge away Elizabeth's tickling fingers.
Moments later, Jack was shrugging into his cotton shirt, its white linen smelling of sea salt and other somewhat cleanly things. Elizabeth wouldn't let him go days without washing his clothing any longer- a thing this pirate, or any pirate for that matter, didn't seem to care about.
"Mum, are we almost to Tortuga?" The child questioned a bit breathlessly as he hopped from the bed and fixed his father's tricorn hat upon his head from where it had fallen to cover his eyes.
"Patience is a virtue." Elizabeth said softly, in such an innocent tone as she slipped from the bed and rummaged within a drawer to retrieve a casual dress for herself. Her words made Jack laugh when he saw the irony.
They were pirates. They had no virtues.
Jack tied up his waistcoat and fastened on his leather baldric, the rest of his effects quickly following after it. With a single hand, he fixed his headscarf into place as he sent his dark eyes back to his small family. This was what his life had become in the last several years.
Each day was spent sailing on the sea, his first love, with a woman who was as unpredictable and passionate as the sea itself and whom he also loved. And not to mention the tyke they had created and raised together. Each night was spent with his woman curled against him, his lips kissing every inch of her with the desire that still hadn't toned down even after all these years, and every morning was spent waking to her soft breathing against his flesh.
Jordan dashed across the open deck as soon as Jack had pushed apart the doors to his cabin. Elizabeth had managed to shimmy into a loose dress, a hand placing on the pirate's shoulder as she passed him, and he gave her a rather naughty stare.
"What is it, Jack? You look as though you have something planned." Elizabeth murmured, her lips dripping faintly with seduction as she moved close to her lover.
"Need I say it in earshot of an innocent child?" Jack replied devilishly, kohl-lined eyes giving a subtle glance to Jordan, who had taken it upon himself to climb up the masts of the Pearl and attempt to take over Cotton's place in the crow's nest. Elizabeth gave a chuckle at the sight of her son trying his best to scale the wooden beams, but hardly to prevail.
She would have commented about how Jordan wouldn't be able to hear his dirty words too particularly well if he were whispering them into her ears, but she decided against saying anything for the moment. Jack's arm folded over her shoulders, his boots moving forward to bring them to the wheel of the ship. The Captain dismissed Gibbs with a casual nod between crewmates that had known each other a very long time.
"And of course you still insist that we bring our son to Tortuga, I suppose?" Elizabeth mused, raising a finely angled brow at Jack. Her hands placed upon his chest as she moved from underneath his arm, her back pressing onto the elegantly carved wood of the ships' wheel.
"Indeed I do, love. Soon he'll learn how to become positively the most fearsome pirate in all the Spanish Main." Jack replied, his lips spilling a quote from her, and it took her less than a second to remember it.
"Not just the Spanish Main. The entire ocean. The entire world." She murmured her chin tilting upward to brush their lips against each other. Jack's unshaven features graced with a grin that revealed golden capped teeth and he pressed forward to lean his body against Elizabeth's until she softly added: "Just like his father."
It was then that their eyes caught each other and seemed to mesh together. Elizabeth's eyes so brown and so bright, holding the passion, the unpredictability of the sea that he loved, whilst Jack's own irises were of a much darker hue, black kohl smeared beneath his lower lashes. They could see the whole world there, in each other's eyes, and soon they were kissing all over again.
Elizabeth's tongue traced Jack's lower lip, and his jaw slowly unhinged so he could take the pink muscle into his mouth. Elizabeth's hands pushed into her lover's matted hair, the dark dreadlocks weaved with beads and plenty other things. They kissed heedless of whoever saw, continuing to drink and drown in each other's intoxicating taste.
The sound of Jordan's young booted feet hitting the deck once again tore the couple from their embrace. Elizabeth could feel her mouth tingle, and Jack continued to lick his lips discreetly while turning to face his son and quite randomly pretend to pick something off the tip of his nose. The young pirate swatted playfully at Jack's large, rough palmed hand, but the father only continued to tease and pick at him and nudge him until he scurried away.
With the soft roll of her eyes, Elizabeth ran her fingers over the Captain's arm as she passed by him to follow Jordan. The mother and son laughed, leaning against the railing of the Pearl to gaze out over the horizon. Elizabeth managed to lift the young boy up to sit upon the edge, his arm rising to point to an island they were coming up on.
"Land ahoy!" He shouted playfully, and Elizabeth couldn't help but giggle at the child's enthusiasm, her arms folding around his slim body to hold him secure and safe from the water below. It was all smiles and cheers until Elizabeth's glittering brown eyes flicked across the blue ocean and caught sight of…
"Jack… Jack, there's a ship!" She called back to the Captain, her hands tightening over her son as he leaned forward to get a better look at the vessel that was sailing boldly towards the Black Pearl.
Jack swaggered a bit, a bottle of rum in hand. It was rather amazing how the drinks just seemed to be phasing into his hands at his every will. "Whut?" He snapped back, dark brows furrowing as he smoothed his thumb over the course hair of his mustache.
"It doesn't look like a pirate ship. It looks like…" Elizabeth trailed off a bit as Jack moved to her side and snatched a small pirate telescope from his baldric whilst pushing his bottle of rum into Jordan's arms. Having a father like Jack Sparrow, it was no doubt that the kid had been given rum quite often as an infant to calm him. He was bound to be used to the drink being around at this point.
The Captain's eyes narrowed through the contraption, aiming it at the vessel that advanced towards them at a rather fast speed. The wind was on their side. It took him a little less than a minute to recognize the tell tale symbol on the sails that billowed in the breeze.
It was the East India Trading Company.
"All hands on deck, mates! We've a ship to plunder!" Jack shouted as he shoved his telescope back into place, a smug look upon his face whilst his mind swelled with nothing but destruction and an upcoming fight. Under any other circumstances he would have run from this fight, but not today. Certainly not when there was his family to fight for.
Elizabeth's features twisted with worry, if only a tad. She shifted to take Jordan into her arms, and then slowly lower him to the deck floor at the realization that he was twelve years old and not so entirely small anymore. Her brown eyes flickered over as her chest swelled with paranoia and her stomach churned with a bad feeling. She quickly hurried to pull her son, yanking and bickering about wanting to fight, back into Jack's cabin.
It was an honest matter of moments before the ship on the horizon grew larger and more threatening as it sailed towards them. They did not start off with booming cannons and firing guns, but instead ropes were tied and men in white wigs and British navy outfits swung from one ship to the other. In no time, men quite familiar to Jack and Elizabeth, no doubted to live within Port Royal, came aboard the Black Pearl while Jack's crew stood around him with stern looks.
It was the Admiral who approached the Captain first, fixing the red coat he was clad in, and smoothing down the powdered wig that seemed almost like it was actually rooted into his skull. He was a fit looking man, very serious and firm looking. He seemed too confident, almost like he had a secret vengeance to settle.
"Jack Sparrow, you are arrested for piracy, smuggling, forgery, sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering-" Admiral began, his pale fingers gripping a scroll of paper that he pulled from his sleeve.
"Dontcha get tired o' sayin' that, mate?" Jack suddenly interrupted, his own expression holding confidence that matched and perhaps outdid that of the Admiral.
"I should only have to say it once before your crimes are put to just, Sparrow." The navy man snapped back, his thin brows furrowing as his brown eyes narrowed at the pirate before him. Any movement he made could send his army lashing out at Jack. Then again, the same went for Jack and his crew.
"Captain Sparrow." He corrected absentmindedly.
"There are 10001 Guineas upon your head, and I expect that to be divided evenly among me and my soldiers." The Admiral continued after a long pause, placing the scroll back into his sleeve. It was a very discreet motion that he moved his hand towards the hilt of his finely blacksmithed sword, but Jack Sparrow spotted it anyway.
"See, mate, that's where your plan goes horribly wrong." He stated firmly, and without even a warning, the pirate crew drew their swords.
There was an immediate clash of metal against metal, of blades piercing clothing and flesh. Men fell and a battle raged between that of Jack's crew and the British navy that had come to behead them all. There were grins on each of the pirate's faces, shouts and whoops as men dangled from ropes and lashed with swords at the red-coated men who knew only of professional and fair fights.
Elizabeth had emerged from Jack's cabin, battle clothing replacing her casual dress and a sword clutched within her hand. She was no fool when it came to fighting, and the years of being a pirate alongside her lover had taught her a thing or two about battle aboard pirate ships. It wasn't long at all before she too had engaged in the bundle of sword fighting.
Chaos was created and a sense of adrenaline was pounding through each vein in Jack's body. He could feel the vibrations from his cutlass as he bashed it against the blade of a navy man's, and his muscles tightened as he pushed onward through man after man. He was entirely consumed in the fight, the sound of his opponents falling, that he hadn't realized the creaking open of his cabin door.
The child only wanted to join into the fighting fun. He had stood aside and watched his brave and daring parents plunder ship after ship, but only when knowing their opponent was no match. He had seen the smiles upon their faces that glowed with triumph, and his ears tickled with the sound of swords clashing. It was his hunger to be a part of the battle on deck that sent him out of the cabin he had been confined to by his mother, a cutlass in hand that was twice the size of him.
Jack and Elizabeth passed a few times during the fight, sliding in a few kisses and touches with each other, perhaps to show off the fact that this was no difficult task for them. And it wasn't, not yet. Not until they heard a shout of warning and then a small utterance of pain and shock.
His muscles tensed up, his eyes flickering a bit wide as he turned his head. Elizabeth's wrists had already slackened and her cutlass fell with a clatter to the deck. All eyes fixed on the white wigged man who hovered over a much smaller figure. For a moment it seemed that every sword ceased to clash together, and all their hearts began to slow until they stopped completely and all the horrified couple could hear was the sound of a silver blade being pulled from a body.
The Admiral stepped aside, blinking a moment like he hadn't realized what he had just done, though deep down, it was very much intended.
Elizabeth was the first to move, taking a clumsy step forward as her young son began to whimper and hold to an aching place on his torso. It wasn't until Elizabeth had clutched to Jordan, touching him and holding him, that a circle of blood formed itself around his hand. Time slipped out from underneath them and it seemed as though it had been but a few moments earlier that they were holding Jordan on the bed, tickling him and laughing.
Jack felt everything begin to unravel.