Chapter 3
Author: PiratessDesire
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
A/N: Alright, I have a bit to say about this chapter. It's pretty much going to be more Sparrabeth and a bit of drama in between. I tried to stay as true to the characters as possible. I just made them a bit more open with their feelings to limit the mind-voice paragraphs. I've also made Elizabeth a little more powerful, outgoing and pirate-y to match up with Jack better. But she is less closed off and snippy with Jack than in the movies. Hope you enjoy! (P.S. I would love some more reviews to see what you guys think about this story. Thx!)
Summary: Elizabeth is out to find Jack but doesn't know what she'll do when she does. Jack is in trouble, but will a certain person's arrival add more trouble or help him out of it...
~•~
The Keeper pulled into the ever-bustling port of Tortuga, where Elizabeth planned to make an escape. She grabbed the burlap sack that held her belongings along with her recently recovered gown. As the crew poured out into the streets, Elizabeth escaped and pushed her way to the place she had heard Will say Jack had taken him to once. It was a fairly large and rowdy tavern called The Faithful Bride.
"Ironic," she thought, "I doubt there is a single bride here who remains faithful." She entered the tavern and was welcomed by a bottle flying toward her head. Luckily, she dodged it but it was indeed a close call. Suddenly very cautious of her surroundings, Elizabeth proceeded towards the bar.
"Two rums," she ordered the bar man, placing a couple shillings in the counter. As she waited for her drinks, she spotted an old drunkard that she recognized immediately. Her drinks arrived and she quickly thanked the bar man before rushing towards the drunkard.
"Mister Gibbs!" Elizabeth shouted as she stopped next to the man. He turned around slightly dazed and confused.
But he quickly regained focus and exclaimed, "Mother's love! Why it be Miss Elizabeth!" He stood up and swayed a bit. He laughed heartily as he called some of the other crew members to come and reunite with the young lady. Elizabeth greeted a few of them that she recognized like Pintel, Ragetti, Marty, and even Anamaria.
"Gibbs, it's not that I do not enjoy reacquainting myself with you all, but... Where's Jack?" she finally asked. Gibbs's smile faded and he thought deeply for a few seconds.
"By God, I haven't seen him all night! I don't even think he left the ship," he said stunned by his own realization.
"So he's aboard the Pearl then?" Elizabeth asked, and hearing the desperation in her voice, blushed.
"Aye," Gibbs answered before taking another swig of rum from his bottle. Elizabeth hastily thanked him and made a beeline for the Black Pearl.
Once she reached the ship, she ran into to Cotton and his parrot, who were guarding the boat and immediately welcomed her onboard. Elizabeth ran her fingers over the rail of the familiar black ship. She climbed to the second floor of the ship, which separated the top deck from the deck that housed the crew and supplies. This deck housed the Captain's cabin. She smiled and carefully turned the knob.
The door quietly creaked open and Elizabeth poked her head inside. She observed the messy cabin, covered in maps and empty bottles of rum. She kept gazing around and slowly entered the silent room. The wooden door shut with a quiet click and persuaded Elizabeth to venture deeper into the cabin. A bed adorned the right wall of the space. It was a fairly large bed with red-violet satin sheets covering it and crimson pillows near the head board.
In the middle of all the sheets and pillows was Jack, sound asleep. Elizabeth stared at the sleeping man for a few minutes, somewhat disappointed that he wasn't awake for her arrival. But a grin crept its way around her face. He looked so handsome when he was sleeping. But he wasn't peaceful. His face was twisted in an expression that conveyed fear and stress.
Elizabeth looked at the two bottles of rum in her hand. She ambled to his desk and placed the bottles down along with her sack. She craved for the taste of the sweet yet burning beverage, but she desired that Jack would drink the other bottle in her company. She sighed and walked away from the desk and back to the bed.
Elizabeth leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Good night Jack." She breathed for a moment then moved above his head. Her hand caressed the right side of his face and a sigh escaped her lips. She lowered her head a bit more, hesitant of her next move. But her lips met his forehead in a small yet sweet kiss. As she stood straight once more she noticed the stress and fear wash away from his face, replaced by a lazy smile of bliss.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the sleeping pirate and giggled. She went back over to the desk and settled on his chair.
"Not the best way to sleep," she thought, but set out to find a comfortable position in the wooden chair. She guessed that it would be about two in the morning from the sleepiness that suddenly surrounded her, as if it had been collecting for this moment. Her eyes drooped down and she dozed of into a deep sleep, filled with dreams of what might happen in the future.
~•~
The sharp rays of first daylight struck Jack's face. As they settled into a warm drape, Jack began to flutter his eyelids open and pushed his torso off of the bed. He gazed groggily around the room and froze. There was a lad sleeping in his chair. He stepped out of bed and reached for his sword. Assuming a defensive position, he marched carefully over to the figure.
The lad had a hat positioned firmly over his head and face. Jack tried to use the tip of his sword to lift it but it wouldn't budge. If the lad was dangerous, then removing the hat would provoke him. But he had to wake the him up. He edged closer to the chair. Suddenly, Jack grabbed the boy by his shoulders and placed the lad in front of his body.
The boy's back was turned to him and the hat was still intact. He wrapped his arm firmly around the lad's waist in a restraining position and held the sword to his throat.
"You got a lot of nerve sneaking into a Captain's cabin mate," Jack whispered in a threatening tone as he tightened his grip around the abdomen. As of now, the boy hadn't uttered a sound. Without warning, his heel raised upward forcefully and nailed Jack right between the legs. The pirate lost his grip and his footing as he stumbled back onto the floor in pain.
The lad reached to the desk and seized Jack's pistol. He came close to the writhing man on the floor and bent lower into a crouch. Before he knew it, Jack was pinned to the ground and was straddled by the boy, who held the gun up to his temple. The boy ran the barrel down the side of his face in a dangerously gentle way and angled into his throat. Jack's Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped nervously at his current situation.
After getting past the initial shock, Jack noticed something strange about the man. Something didn't feel right about the way he was sitting on him. He'd been in enough awkward situations to know what it felt like to be straddled by a man, most of them being battles, others were just meeting strange men. But this lad didn't seem to possess what made a man... a man.
"Sorry to ask mate, but you're not a eunuch, are you? I don't seem to have good luck with them," he stated in a snarky tone, recalling that when he last fought Will, he'd been arrested. The lad's face was still a mystery to him but his voice was beginning to show. The lad began to... giggle? This was definitely no male. The boy abruptly stood up and strode to the desk, freeing Jack.
As he began to stumble back to his feet, Jack noticed the boy reaching into a sack and pulling out a small box. The box was familiar.
Once Jack was stable again the boy said, "Captain Sparrow, you have definitely changed from when I last saw you. I was able to best you so easily, I'd say you are losing your touch." The voice was far too familiar to Jack. It was the voice that had been haunting him day and night since it left him.
"Elizabeth," he whispered hoarsely, as if he had seen a ghost. At the mention of her name, the young girl pulled off her hat. Luscious, blonde locks flowed freely down her shoulders and back as she revealed her smirking face to the Captain. Jack walked closer to her with a vaguely shocked expression that melted into his trademark smirk.
"You know Elizabeth, these clothes don't flatter you at all. It should be a dress or nothing, and there happens to be no dress in this cabin," he teased, gesturing around the room. Elizabeth giggled at the comment.
"Well you remain unfortunate Jack. I happen to have a dress with me," she said pointing to her sack. Jack grimaced at the sack and turned back to Elizabeth. He expected her to continue the conversation, most likely with something about Will. That's when he realized that she was with him, aboard his ship, when she was supposed to be on her honeymoon with that whelp.
"Elizabeth, I hope you don't mind my asking, but... Why the bloody hell are you here instead of with your dearly beloved back home!?" Jack yelled with yet another huge gesture. Elizabeth scowled at him for the sudden outburst, and his expression softened a little. He stared at her, waiting for an answer, when he noticed her bright eyes well up with tears.
"My intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are troubled," he joked, trying to ease the tension. But she didn't seem to lighten up.
"Elizabeth..." Jack whispered in a consoling yet questioning tone. He moved closer to her and placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. The last time he had done that, she had pushed him away very quickly, which made it an action he didn't perform often. But this time, she seemed to welcome the act with open arms.
"Jack..." Elizabeth leaned into him and threw her arms around his neck. She wept into his shoulder and squeezed herself as close as she could to him, as if bracing onto life itself. Jack remained stiff after being caught off-guard by her action, but eased his hands up and down her back as if soothing a child.
"Jack, nothing is right anymore. I don't know what I want and I have given up everything I had. You are the only person I know who can help me. Please help me!" She pleaded between sobs. Jack pushed her off of him gently and sat her on the foot of his bed. After settling down next to her, he took her hand in his and lightly massaged it.
"Elizabeth... What happened?" That was all he could say. His usual ease with words seemed to have vanished and he couldn't muster anything better than a measly question.
Elizabeth sighed and told him of everything that had happened on her wedding day. He listened intently to the story and was somewhat disappointed that she hadn't mentioned anything to do with him as a reason for leaving Will. But then, Elizabeth mentioned his wedding present and letter.
"Your gift is what took me away from my wedding. You wrote that we as humans can get what we desire mixed up with what we assume we desire. And that you learned that recently. What did you mean?" She asked, assuming power over his hand now. Jack sat frozen, utterly speechless. This was a rare phenomenon and he hated when it happened.
Jack had become a captain at the young age of 15 and had become accustomed to hiding behind his words for power, a trait he hadn't quite grown away from yet. In fact, his defenses only became stronger after his mutiny at 17. Situations that left him without words, left him feeling vulnerable, a feeling he hated above all else.
After some stuttering and stammering, Jack finally found some words that masked him just enough as to not portray him as an emotional whelp. "After I left you and William back at Port Royal, I began doing some honest pirating again. But I kept thinking back to the times you and I spent together on moons past..." He gazed up nervously to see if she was getting uncomfortable by his words. He was really putting himself out there and it felt almost painful to do so after so many years of concealment. His act was faltering and he couldn't hide anymore.
He continued, "...and every time I thought of you I realized that I missed you. I actually wanted to be around you more. That was about the point that I developed a distaste for Will. It felt as if he was stealing you away from me. I didn't want to lose someone who was such a close friend."
His last words made Elizabeth's heart sink. Just when she thought he was going to turn into something more, he burnt out the hope. But she stopped worrying when she realized that the person talking to her was Jack Sparrow. He'd probably never in his life called anyone a friend, let alone a close one. Her hand entwined with his and she tightened her grasp. He really did care about her.
"You will never lose me," she stated confidently. Jack sat up straight and regained some of his pride. Also tightening his grasp, he smiled a her. A genuine smile. Not a smirk, or a humorous tease. It was a genuine smile that conveyed that he was happy with her and her answer.
He stood up slowly and picked up the box that contained his compass and letter. He pulled his ornate effect out of the box and opened it. The red needle spun around but didn't stop. Once again he wasn't sure what he wanted. He hadn't known for the past month and nothing had changed...yet.
"Keep this with you until you find what you want," Jack said softly as he placed the compass in Elizabeth's hand along with the letter. He ambled in front of his mirror and felt slightly embarrassed at the realization that he was still shirtless, and hastily pulled his clothes on.
Just before he walked out the door, he turned around and asked, "Elizabeth, will you be occupying my cabin for the duration of your stay?" Elizabeth then realized that she had been too emotionally distraught to notice that she had invaded his privacy.
"No, it's fine Jack. I can sleep on the lower deck with the crew," she offered.
Jack chuckled at her ignorance and said, "You will be much safer up here. You can take my bed Elizabeth. I will have an extra mattress brought up for me to sleep on the other side of the cabin. If you need more privacy, just say the word and I will vacate immediately."
Elizabeth was astonished by the hospitality Jack was providing her with. Though she was reluctant to accept the offer, she just nodded, not wanting him to give up anymore. Jack grinned at her one last time before leaving the cabin. At least for now she had a place to stay with someone who obviously cared for her. But what was going to happen next?
~•~
To be continued...
