"Shouldn't we follow the current?" Elizabeth asked, breaking the silence. "This isn't it, I'm sure. The stories described it much differently."
"Patience, love, patience," Jack said as he turned around and headed in the direction of the river's current.
Elizabeth tried not to roll her eyes as she saw Jack swagger toward the direction she had suggested.
"Why do you always walk that way?" she asked, following close behind.
"In what way do you mean?" Jack questioned, furrowing his brow as the compass moved again. Jack figured he could find it from here, so he put the compass back in his pocket.
"You know exactly what I mean," Elizabeth remarked rudely in a way that should not have matched her tone. She had been sounding incredibly angry and doubtful of Jack lately, and the stress of carrying a child strained their friendship. Elizabeth trusted Jack with her life and the baby's, but in her defense of wanting to handle this without Jack, she found herself speaking to him rudely far too often. "It's like you're drunk at all times of the day."
"I was born drunk, darling," Jack stated confidently as he began to walk normally. "If I remember correctly, you yerself will sometimes do the same thing."
"What?" Elizabeth snapped back. "I do not."
"Oh?" Jack said, smiling. "Remember when you and me… me and you… we, walked off the plank of the Black Pearl? Went to a certain island? Got a little drunk on some ol' rum? Remember that, love?" If I remember correctly, you were acting quite funny yourself." Jack smirked at her as he recalled the incident. Although Jack didn't like it when they argued, it was at least something to do. Ever since Elizabeth became pregnant, she always seemed to be looking for an argument with him. Jack couldn't help but give into her.
"As you and I both know, we were as drunk as you can get, and I haven't acted in that way since," Elizabeth replied defensively, her proper tone escaping.
"Yes, you have, my naïve little pirate," Jack joked. "When we were fightin' over Davy Jones's heart, and your Will told you to guard it, you were swaggerin' around like there was no tomorrow!"
"I – I – " Elizabeth stammered. Jack had just touched many sensitive topics in only two sentences. The first one was pirate. Despite her not caring to admit it, it was true. Ever since Jack had first called her a pirate, she had started acting differently. When they were in Singapore and she was asked to remove her weapons, the body language quirks of Jack came out in Elizabeth. He was influencing her quite a bit, and she knew it. Elizabeth was proud to be considered a pirate, and Jack knew that.
There was also the heart stabbed by Will and replaced by his own heart. Elizabeth wondered if her heartbreak over him would ever end, but she feared that as long as she had the baby around to remind her of his absence, she would never be able to forget the pain of the distance between them.
Elizabeth's thoughts caught up with her. Her strong-willed nature seemed to be continuously haunted by the fears she had of her future and fate, and her wish to break down and cry had been continuously pushed back by the thought of Jack pointing it out and realizing how weak she really felt.
Jack turned around when she didn't finish her sentence with a rare look of concern on his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I take it back. I take it back what I said. Please don't cry. You'll soil that nice dress I stole from the fat wench." He winked, trying to have her forgive him for speaking of things she would rather not think about.
Elizabeth slowly smiled. She knew how hard Jack had been trying to make things work under the circumstances. She wasn't sure why he was trying so hard, but it was much better than him being insensitive after all that had happened in the past few years.
"Now that's the Elizabeth we know an' love," Jack said, poking the tip of her nose playfully. "Watch your step now. It's a bit steep, but I think we'll manage."
It was quite steep, and Elizabeth had difficulty with it, but with Jack and Gibbs' help, she was able to get down safely.
"Ye know, she migh' be more trouble than sh's worth," Gibbs muttered to Jack when they got down.
Jack couldn't hear Gibbs remark to him though, because there, right in front of them, was the beautiful Fountain of Youth. A waterfall gushed down from the hill that they had just come from, and below it was glowing water that seemed to be bluer than the Caribbean Sea. The lagoon was large and lush, and there were bright, tropical flowers surrounding it. No decay could be seen.
Jack took a jar he had attached to his belt and walked towards the water. This jar, actually, was the same one that used to hold his dirt, and for a short period of time, Davy Jones's heart. Jack bent down and filled it up with the sparkling water. The rest of the crew followed his example, each taking their jars or empty rum bottles.
"To the eternal crew!" Gibbs shouted joyfully. Yells of victory were heard from each of them, all drinking it.
Elizabeth hesitated. Did she really want this? Knowing that Will would probably live for almost as long, she felt she did, but what held her back was the idea of living forever with an eternal heartache. She and Will would never be happy, and there was no way to change the circumstances. Their relationship felt like it would never be the same.
Jack saw Elizabeth standing in front of him. He approached her quietly and spoke softly into her ear, saying "You know, Will is going to live forever too. You may as well drink it. If I've been taught correctly about the legend of this fountain, your child will be eternal as well." His voice was deep, soothing, and believable. Elizabeth couldn't deny how much she trusted the words he said to her.
With one final mortal breathe, Elizabeth took the jar offered to her and drank it. Even though the water was beautiful, it tasted bitter. The experience was worse than her first taste of rum.
"That's terrible!" she exclaimed with a spit as she tried to remove the aftertaste from her tongue.
"Aye," he agreed as Elizabeth closed the jar and handed it back to Jack. "Whoever said that life was beautiful seemed to have forgotten to mention what it tasted like."
