HONORIFICABILITUDINITATIBUS
Chapter 2: Why is the rum always gone
A.N :
Thankyou for thre reviews beautiful-mistakez, anonymous reviewer me, and Wicked R
Thankyou for putting me on alert ButWhyIsAllTheRumAlwaysGone, Madam Pudifoot and beautiful-mistakez
And thaankyou for the moral support Marjorie.
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"Barbossa!" not waiting for a reply, Elizabeth stormed in; heedless of Jack standing behind her who was making strangled protesting noises.
Jack sighed as Elizabeth barged through the door with all the elegance of an elephant, he made one weary indication at the sailor hat which was draped over the door knob and then hung is head in defeat and followed her in.
As Jack came in, the sight he was met with would have been comical under any other circumstances. Elizabeth dragged the naked girl, who was frantically trying to cover herself with the duvet, to the door. She then tossed the girl rather unceremoniously out of the door before banging it shut.
Considering the girl had taken Barbossa's duvet; Barbossa was left in a fairly compromising position. Jack partly sympathetic and in all honesty not wanting to know Barbossa more then he already did, tossed Barbossa the hat which had previously been on the doorknob.
"Cap'n Swann. What a surprise!" Barbossa managed to say mockingly from his currently delicate circumstances, "I trust yer not here to replace Daniella, so why are yeh exactly in my quarters?"
Elizabeth glared at him murderously, "You should be ashamed of yourself Hector, you could be her father."
Barbossa shrugged neutrally and got up, minding the hat which was covering his personal bits carefully, "What can I say? Pirate ye know."
"Yes, I know." Elizabeth said tightly, "Drink up me hearties joho and all that rubbish."
Barbossa exchanged an uncertain glance at Jack, who shrugged at him. Elizabeth ignored this interaction and proceeded to pick up a shirt from the floor which she then handed over to Barbossa, "I may be a pirate king," she announced, "But I'm not the pirate who kills to get what she wants….so I propose a trade."
Barbossa shrugged on his shirt and pulled on some trousers, "I'm listening." he said distractedly.
"I want the Pearl, I need her and I need her captain."
"Which one?' Barbossa countered.
"Captain Sparrow. So here is my proposition. I have a spare ship, the Cherry Blossom. I want you take her and her crew and pirate away all you like. In return, I want you to distance yourself from the Pearl as Captain."
"I don't know if ye realised missy but I'm Captain Hector Barbossa; Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea. I will not sail a ship called the Cherry Blossom, it's simply not done!" he declared hotly.
"Hector." She warned him coldly, "You are free to rename her, you know that."
Barbossa, now fully dressed, a relief to both Elizabeth and Jack, stepped forward and faced her. "Yes, but why do you want the Pearl, Captain Swann, or is it Turner now?" he looked at her levelly.
Elizabeth wanted to look away but kept on staring back into those watery eyes, "I have my reasons."
"I'm sure ye do! Does it have anything to do with Patrick Turner, or is that a possible Patrick Sparrow. Aren't ye sure?" his tone was derisive, Elizabeth stiffened slightly. "I will sail with Captain Sparrow to Isla de Muerta as soon as I deem the Pearl fit for voyage, why……I will keep to myself."
"And what is in it for you, for me to have the Cherry Blossom?"
Elizabeth smiled now, but it didn't reach her eyes, "It'll be convenient for me to have you out of the way. I don't ask anything of you further, I don't not ask for a percentage of your profit or loyalty to my fleet. Just for you to be out of my way."
"Nothing you say? Very well then," Barbossa announced in deep, rugged yet humorous voice, "I acquiesce to your request – means yes" he smiled smugly at this and Elizabeth couldn't help but grin back.
Jack however felt completely at loss. He appeared to have lost complete control over whatever was going on and he didn't like it at all.
"Wait, wait, hang on!" he interjected, "what exactly are we agreeing to?"
Elizabeth and Barbossa both looked at him as if he was an idiot; Jack's reaction was a quick shrug, "Well how am I supposed to know? You are both off gallivanting away with your plans and own means but what about me, the Captain in question?"
"Jack, this is in your best interest too." Elizabeth explained, "The Pearl is being repaired remember. Just trust me."
Jack snorted at this, "Did that once luv and look where that got me."
Elizabeth looked hurt at this, "Jack," she said softly.
Barbossa frowned, "Look you can have this open-hearted we hate each other talk somewhere else but not inside my bedroom chamber if ye don't mind, and if ye see Daniella…send her back in."
Elizabeth bowed her head to him, "Very well, thank you for your time Captain Barbossa (at this he grunted), come Captain Sparrow, we have things to discuss."
Elizabeth quickly turned on her heel and walked out of the room, leaving a rather bewildered Jack and Barbossa behind. "Well ye heard the lady, shoo." Barbossa reminded him crudely.
Jack followed her suit. "Well what exactly are you planning to do in Isla de Muerta?" Jack rounded on her as soon as he caught up with her, "Make your son immortal with Aztec gold? Trust me luv, that's not going to work."
Elizabeth couldn't help but let out a short, sharp bark of laughter at this, "No Jack, aren't you always one with the grand schemes? I'm not going to make my son immortal thank you very much. I have a far better plan, I'm going to make you immortal……if only temporarily. You see; if Patrick's blood doesn't lift the curse on you he'll be Will's son. If the curse does lift however with the use of Pat's blood….then he's……your son." She trailed away softly, not quite used yet to this potential situation.
"What are we going to do if he is." He dared ask.
Elizabeth looked up, biting her lips as she was being faced again with everything that was currently going wrong. Yelling at Barbossa had made her forget, and she loved it, but now she had to think of Pat and what to do again. "I don't know yet. We'll figure that put if and when we need to."
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"Well I say this evening most definitely requires a very large quantity of rum." Jack amended into the silence, "Yet it appears that the rum is always gone." He added sourly while looking critically at the rum rack of the Black Pearl.
"The ship needs to be restocked." Gibbs said from behind him, rather unhelpfully in Jack's opinion.
"Well that's the understatement of the year." He said grimly.
"I'll take care of it in the morning," Gibbs said quickly, but he nervously stepped back as the taller man turned around suddenly, swaying lightly, "Well then I'll just have to go somewhere else for rum." He declared rather petulantly, "Goodnight!"
Jack made his way quickly to the fort, side stepping drunken sailors which lay sprawled out randomly over the quay.
He found his way to the mess hall by sheer luck. The stench radiating from it was an indescribable mass of putrid odours wafting their way into every creek of the fort, all he had to do was follow it. The sight Jack was met with a sight which was nearly as unappetizing as the smell. The hall, made completely of wrecked ships, was covered in dark green and damp moss and there were several long tables aligned in the middle of the hall, all which were overcrowded with loud and crude pirates, some of which were brawling violently.
Now pirates are not known for their sense of hygiene; Captain Jack being one of them, but some of these men here were really just fungi covered cadavers and Jack cringed at the sight of them being anywhere near food which would have otherwise been mildly delectable.
Jack found his way to mildly clean piece of table, keeping is distance from a particularly brutal and loud brawl while putting up a pouting yet amicable appearance to keep people away.
He took a long sip from his drink, not rum, and contemplated for a moment the day.
Things could have gone worse, although they certainly could have gone better as well.
Jack was so caught up in thought that he did not notice someone coming up behind him.
"Port, Jackie?" a deep voice said, filled with good humour.
A quick widening of eyes and a sharp turn of the head brought the Keeper of the Code and the Pirate lord face to face. Jack eyed his father, looking briefly at the tankard in his hand, "Beer?" he returned in mock disgust.
Captain Teague shrugged, "Rum's gone." With that statement made, he came to sit next to his son. The pair, although very similar in appearance sat for a moment awkward silence. Teague broke the silence rather unceremoniously by picking up his tankard and slurping it loudly. Once he put it down he splayed his hands out onto the table, a sign from pirate to pirate that they mean well.
Jack raised his eyebrow slightly looking from his father's callused and weathered hands up to his father's face. "You've seen the boy then?"
Jack nodded, "What do you know?"
"It's not about what I know Jackie," Teague said carefully, "It's about what I recognize."
Jack waited for him to continue, nervous for some reason. "I saw the lad for the first time a few years back. Looked just like you when you were that age."
Jack felt his heart constrict at this, and gulped his port away hastily.
Teague observed his son, "He looks like your mother in a way. It's his face. He has your nose and mouth, her nose and mouth actually. His eyes, well those are beyond doubt Captain Swann's but the shape of the boys face is like your mothers. For a moment I thought I was so woebegone drunk that I was hallucinating my own son." Teague laughed. Jack didn't. Teague then leaned forward, "Is it possible?"
"It could be," he admitted, just like Elizabeth had done earlier that evening. He felt his word plummet, he swayed lightly in his feet, "Port's got the better of me. I think I'm going to call it night." Jack got up quickly and stumbled away, his father made no move to follow him. Instead he leaned back again and watched him go.
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Jack found his way back to the Pearl. Most of the crew had taken leave and were doing God knows what. Gibbs had remained and was sitting at the bow smoking a pipe. He saw his Captain stumble up the plank and rushed to assist him. Jack shrugged him off, "I may have a son, Gibbs." He mumbled. Gibbs nodded, "Aye Jack," although he was not really listening since he was busy trying to drag Jack over to the hang mats which he had fastened onto the deck. Finally he got Jack, and callously pushed him into one, "There you go Jack, sleep it off."
Jack lifted a hand and garbled something incoherently, then slumped down. Not much later loud snores followed.