Note: More caregiving-related nudity. Poor Jack! Will's going to kill him.


Jack came back out of the bedroom with the duffle to see Marty trying to spoon some broth into Elizabeth's mouth with little success, and Gibbs walking the floor with the baby, talking and cooing to it. Gibbs had found the silver rattle full of sand and shook it at the Jacob. The baby ignored it, fixing his eyes on Jack who was wrapping Elizabeth up in the blanket Marty had found.

"Marty, never mind the broth. You carry the baby and the duffle, eh? Don't know as you're tall enough to keep Mrs Turner off the ground. Gibbs, you grab the other end of the blanket," Jack directed. On a count of three, he and Gibbs lifted Elizabeth off the divan in a sort of hammock, while Marty shouldered the duffle and cradled the baby.

The trip down to the beach took a long time, but they finally made it. Once there, Jack and Gibbs laid Elizabeth down carefully in the sand. Marty handed Gibbs the baby while he stripped down to just his breeches, and then he took the baby again and brought him right into the water with him. Gibbs stood there stolidly while Jack unwrapped the blanket from around Elizabeth.

"Er, Captain? How do we manage… uh… here?" Gibbs wanted to know.

Jack stopped, eyes darting around in a panic. There was nothing for it—he was going to have to bathe her himself. There was no other option, unless he wanted to bring her aboard the ship covered with her own vomit and excrement, and open sores from lying in it for days. No, a seawater bath would help her more than anything else right now, but oh, Will was going to kill him when he found out! That is, if there was anything even left of him when Elizabeth herself found out. He groaned.

Gibbs looked apprehensive. He looked like how Jack felt. Sighing, Jack sat down and took off his boots, his coat, his hat, sword, belts, and pistol until he was down to breeches and shirt. An exclamation from Marty made him pause.

"You all right with that baby, Marty? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, sir. It's just—he's a slippery little blighter. Like an eel. I keep thinking I've lost him in the surf."

Jack looked up at Gibbs. "Go help him with the baby, eh? Wouldn't do to drown the little nipper. I'll tend to Mrs Turner." He grimaced. "Bad enough she'll know that I had to see her in her skin—she won't be wanting anyone else seeing her. At least this way she'll only kill me and not both of us."

"Aye, Captain," Gibbs said with relief, with a solid undertone of thank you! "And with her being married to the captain of the Flying Dutchman and all…" he shuddered, "Let's just say I wouldn't want to be on Will Turner's bad side these days." He went to help Marty with the baby.

Jack bared his teeth. "Yeah, thanks for that reminder." He lifted Elizabeth and carried her into the water. Once in there, he ripped off her disgusting nightgown and threw it back on shore. He started at the top with her hair and worked his way down, He used the end of his sash as a facecloth, cleaning carefully around her eyes, ears, and nose. He scoured her skin with beach sand wherever it felt rough or like it had something unmentionable caked onto it.

He managed to wash the rest of her torso with a dogged determination to be businesslike about it, but when he had to wash her rear and private parts he felt himself blushing. It was anything but sexual. If it had been, he wouldn't have blushed, but this—this cleansing of her body to help save her life—this was mortifying.

"Will's going to kill me," he muttered. "Will's going to kill me, Will's going to kill me, Will's going to kill me." Then he realized exactly where he was washing, and groaned. "Never mind Will—Elizabeth is going to kill me! Again!"

Gibbs heard him and laughed. "Thank God the kraken is dead, eh, Jack?" he called over from a respectful distance.

Jack just gave a pessimistic groan and continued with what he was doing. Finally he finished her legs and was able to hold her up with one hand and scrub with the other. Ankles, toes, and there, he was done.

The other two men, long since finished with the baby, were standing side by side with their backs to him. When they heard his stream of expletives and repetitions of his imminent demise grind to a halt, they looked at each other and nodded. "Captain? When you're finished, we have something for Mrs Turner to wear."

"All right, Gibbs. Just a moment." Jack slipped his arms under Elizabeth's still unconscious body and brought her in. He wrapped her up in the clean blanket he'd laid out before. Then he found he needed Gibbs' help trying to slip on the nightgown over her head.

Gibbs held her up with his eyes clenched shut, to be nightgowned and rewrapped in the blanket.

With two passengers that both needed holding, Jack stationed Marty in the stern with both of them. "You hold the baby, and hold Mrs Turner up so she don't fall in," he ordered. "You let her fall, you touch her in the wrong spot, you even look at her wrong, and I'll kill you," he warned the smaller man, getting in and picking up the oars while Gibbs pushed them off. "Then you'll get picked up by the Dutchman, and her husband will kill you."

Marty gulped and put a very respectful arm around Elizabeth to keep her from falling.

When they got to the ship, Jack had them lower a hammock for Elizabeth, while he went up the ladder and helped bring her aboard. Gibbs handed Marty up the baby.

Jack picked Elizabeth up in his arms again. "Gibbs!" he yelled.

"Right here, Captain," the first mate replied, just reaching the top of the ladder.

Jack whirled with Elizabeth in his arms, and she moaned. "Come with me. Bring the child."

In his cabin, he placed Elizabeth carefully on his bed. He opened up a dresser drawer and emptied it out, placing a folded blanket into it. Gibbs leaned over and put the baby in it. Jacob lay in the drawer, kicking his feet and making contented little grunting noises.

Jack and Gibbs exchanged a smile. "At least someone's feeling better," Gibbs said.

"I'm hoping Mrs Turner will, in another day or so. Have Cotton come in and check on her tonight. Oh, and I'll need a hammock strung over there," he pointed to a space between the rafters. "If she's sicker than Cotton can handle, we'll get a doctor tomorrow along with Marty's goat. Gibbs," he put his hand on the mate's shoulder. "I know you're a busy man, but I'm going to have to ask you to help take care of these two. You're one of the only men I would trust not to lose his head over a pretty girl and do something stupid."

"Aye, be glad to, Captain," Gibbs assured him. With a raised eyebrow, he asked, "What about you?"

Jack gave a cynical laugh. "Ha. I'd be the last man I'd trust not to do something stupid. Monumentally stupid, even."

"Like forgetting that the pretty girl is married to the captain of the Flying Dutchman?"

Jack gave him a look. "'S not likely I'd forget that!" He cast his friend a sharp look. "I don't have to tell you not to allow any speculation on the part of the crew, eh? First man who even thinks she's something less than respectable just because she's in my cabin will get towed half a day, I swear. And if he dies from the towing, then he'll have to face the man she's respectably married and faithful to, and explain it to him. Make sure everyone knows."

"Aye, Captain. No speculation. Cotton, doctor, hammock over there, and no monumental stupidity."

"Aye, Mr. Gibbs." Gibbs left, and Jack looked over at Elizabeth, still motionless on his bed. "Especially no monumental stupidity," he muttered.


Please review! I'm starting to wonder if anyone is even reading this. Thanks to those few people who have already reviewed. This story is close to 30 chapters long, and is nearly finished, but I do have an original novel I could be working on if there isn't enough interest here. Cheers!-CL