It was nighttime, and Elizabeth leaned against the starboard rail of the Black Pearl. She had put little Nate to bed about an hour ago and was glad for the silence. She stood there, looking at the dark ocean, which seemed more mysterious now than in the daytime. She contemplated the things she had done and decisions she had made in the past few years. Her life had been boring up till that day she decided to wear what she thought was a pirate medallion. That was the day that Commodore Norrington proposed to her, the day when she was rescued from drowning by Jack, and was kidnapped by Barbossa and his crew. That day changed her forever.
After that day, every aspect of her life dealt with pirates. First, pirates were holding her captive. Then pirates saved her. Then the love of her life ended up becoming a pirate, like his father. Then pirates kept her from getting married. Then pirates caused her to be separated from and later reunited with Will. Then a pirate caused a rift between her and Will, after which they made up; yet another pirate married Elizabeth and Will and so made their bond stronger. Then a certain pirate saved Will's life, but in doing so, condemned him to eternity at sea. Now, Elizabeth was off on an adventure—with that same pirate! She chuckled softly to herself.
"Pirates it is, then," she whispered to the night, "I certainly won't get bored."
She stood up straight and walked to the cabin she and Jack had been sharing. After knocking and hearing the answer "enter", she went inside.
Jack laughed quietly, not wanting to disturb Nathaniel who was sleeping in a crib in the corner. "How many times do I have to tell you? You don't have to knock," he whispered.
"I don't know… I just don't feel right coming in without knocking first. I don't want to intrude or anything."
"We've been sharing this room since you stepped onto the ship. How much longer will it take for you to realize that you don't need to worry about intruding on me? Don't you know me well enough yet?"
"Sorry. I won't knock anymore. What kind of a pirate gets annoyed by knocking?" Her eyes twinkled with merriment at her own joke, while her gut simmered with the intimacy of the statement.
"The dignified ones." He puffed up his chest and looked around sternly.
Elizabeth giggled, then nodded her head at papers on Jack's desk. "Looking at the map?"
"Yes. I was hoping the Fountain of Youth was on an island in the Caribbean so that I could continue to get away with being a Spanish merchant, but it seems that we aren't so lucky."
"Where is it, then?"
"…Florida. Spanish Florida. Savvy?"
"Ah… I see. What will we do?"
"I'm not sure. We've got a few weeks to figure that out before we reach the southern tip of Florida. It isn't densely populated down there, but we do run the risk of being apprehended by some Spaniard."
"That doesn't sound too dangerous considering the other sort of things we have dealt with in the past. It cannot be nearly as bad as, oh say, swashbuckling with Davy Jones?"
"You have a point there... I guess we'll just wing it. It's late. You should go sleep."
"Well what about you?"
"I'm fine. You, on the other hand, need rest." He nodded towards Nathaniel's crib. "That scallywag there who is pretending to be a sweet, innocent baby, wears you out with all of his adventures. Sleep while you can. He'll be awake before you can say 'treasure'."
Elizabeth nodded. She could feel the bags under her eyes and her eyelids felt like gold galleons. She climbed into the bed and fell asleep in a few seconds. Jack watched her slumbering form and imagined for just a second that she was his wife and that Nathaniel was his child. No matter how much he wished for that, he knew it would never come true, and he knew he could never do that to Will. He watched her sleep for a few minutes more before blowing out the candle on his desk and bunking down for the night. He lay on his uncomfortable bed of blankets, thinking for a few minutes about what-ifs before falling into a troubled sleep.
***
The white sandy shores of Florida appeared slowly, first as a black inkblot of land on the horizon then slowly growing into view as if the land was leisurely eating away at the ocean. When the Pearl drew closer, Elizabeth thought it looked almost like the islands in the Caribbean but for the swampier areas that lay a bit inland. There were no Spanish settlements to be seen nor were there any ships in sight. It seemed like good old Captain Jack still had a bit of luck left in him.
"But how long will that last?" she wondered aloud.
"Will what last?" Jack asked. He walked up beside her where she stood at her favorite spot on the starboard rail. He chuckled inwardly when she jumped at the sound of his voice. "A bit jumpy today? Nervous?"
"Excited, actually. I was wondering if our luck would last. It seems that there are no people here, Spanish or otherwise."
"Well, since we know appearances won't matter today, you should really change into something more… comfortable. It could get a little dirty."
Elizabeth smirked but headed back to the cabin to change. Jack let out the air he'd been holding in. He didn't think Elizabeth could tell, but it was getting harder for him to be around her. Frequently she would breast-feed Nathan in front of him, mostly because he assured her it was okay with him, but it was difficult to have her do it in front of him. What really tugged his heartstrings, though, was Nathan. Usually Nathan would respond only to his mother's voice, but last night he cooed when Jack spoke to him.
Nathan was adorable and Jack couldn't help loving the boy, but he also couldn't help being reminded of Will and how Will would never see his baby or have his baby coo at the sound of his voice. Jack knew that he, not Will, would end up being the father figure in the boy's life. But would that be a good thing? Wouldn't that just confuse Nathan when he met his father?
This all bothered Jack to no end, but what was worse was how much he loved Elizabeth. She loved Will, loved Will from the moment she laid eyes on him. But given the separation, would that be enough? Would one day be sufficient emotional release to last a decade? Could it keep her from giving in to the intense sorrow he knew she felt; the sorrow that she cried herself to sleep with on the harder nights?
He already knew the answer to those questions; it was no. He wanted to save her from this miserable destiny! So often he wished that she had loved him instead, but not only for selfish reasons (although to say his reasons were entirely unselfish would be a lie). He wanted her to be happy, and he knew she never could be totally happy as long as she pined away for Will.
He sighed the deep, mournful sigh of a man condemned to walk the earth alone. When a large hand gripped his shoulder, he whipped around, but was relieved when he saw that it was just Mr. Gibbs.
"We've come as close to shore as we can, Cap'n, and have a boat ready to take you and Mrs. Turner ashore."
"Thank you, Gibbs. I'll go fetch Elizabeth."
***
Elizabeth entered the cabin, closed the door, and leaned against it. She was breathing hard and fast and her heart was pounding. Jack seemed to have a knack for sneaking up on her, so she needed to stop thinking aloud even when she thought she was alone. What kind of horrible things would he think about her if he knew how much she wanted him?
Stepping away from the door, she made a conscious effort to relax and slow down her breathing. It was okay, because now they had arrived in Florida and once they found the Fountain of Youth she and Jack could go their separate ways and she wouldn't be tempted anymore… Or would she? Oh, she had no idea. The only thing she was sure of was that it had never been a good idea to leave with Jack.
She sighed, slowly slipping off one of the more casual gowns she had brought with her (it was annoying when she milked through the good ones) and taking out her male pirate clothes. The once-loose brown suede pants were now a bit tight, and she frowned slightly as she ran her hands over her not-so-flat stomach. She was far from fat; working occasionally as a deckhand had helped her lose plenty of the pregnancy weight, but she still wasn't back to her original size. Her breasts had become a bit bigger from the milk, but she wasn't complaining.
The door behind her opened and she froze. There was a bit of uncomfortable coughing before she heard Jack say, "The, uh, boat is ready to, uh, take us to the uh, shore." She nodded slightly and winced when the door closed. She gave him credit for not slamming it. Quickly, she slipped on her shirt and buckled on her boots and sword belt. For extra effect, she put on one of Jack's spare hats.
When she exited the cabin, Elizabeth noticed that Jack seemed flustered and wouldn't look at her. She supposed he was angry, but had no clue why he would be. Maybe he was mad that she didn't get dressed speedily enough? Whatever the case, he didn't make eye contact till they had almost reached the shore in their little dinghy.
"My apologies, Elizabeth. If I'd have known… I should have knocked." The blush that spread across his face like an inferno let her know that he hadn't been mad, just embarrassed.
"Jack, don't be silly. Weren't you the one who said I shouldn't knock? You stayed with me when I gave birth to Nathaniel and have seen me breastfeed him. Was walking in when I was changing really so terrible?" She gave him a quizzical look as his blush intensified. 'What is wrong with him,' she wondered. He was glad that they reached the shore just then because it gave him an excuse for not responding to her question. He found a rock and swiftly tied the dinghy to it.
While he did that, Elizabeth surveyed the land. Beyond the white sand dunes it looked very marshy. In fact, the place was a giant swamp, and it appeared daunting to her despite the tall leather boots she wore. The fact that the land as well as its dangers were unknown to her hadn't bothered her until now. Who knew what strange creatures they would run into? For the first time in a very long time, she was scared.
"I don't suppose you know any of the native animals, or at least the dangerous ones?" she inquired.
"Well, love," Jack replied, "I have heard stories from Barbossa about large, fast-swimming creatures that have nasty mouths full of sharp teeth. Frankly, having faced the Kraken myself, I'm not too worried about some six foot long land-dweller." When he walked up beside her and noticed her pale face, he figured he hadn't done much to quell her fears.
"Only thing left to do now, I guess," Elizabeth said. Jack was about to ask what when she took out the map, Jack's special compass, and started walking in the direction of where the Fountain of Youth was supposed to be. He shrugged and followed her without a word.
***
Barbossa scowled as he put away his spyglass. He had been surveying Florida's southern coast and did not like what he saw.
"The Black Pearl is here, which means Jack is here, which means we might not get to the Fountain of Youth first." The crew of the Scavenger groaned and murmured discontentedly. "But—all his crew appears to be aboard the Pearl, which means we might be able to… overpower him, if you get my meaning." They did get his meaning, and all had grins on their faces while lovingly touching their weapons. Barbossa laughed and his crewmen joined in while the made the boats ready to go ashore.
***
"Are you sure we're going in the right direction, Jack? We've been walking for hours and I don't see anything."
Jack stopped walking and turned around, waiting for her to catch up. They had been walking all day and Elizabeth, though she had led enthusiastically in the beginning, was now falling far behind. When she caught up, they both sat down and drank water from their flasks.
"It's going to be dark soon. I think we should start a fire and rest here tonight," Jack said. As he walked around picking up firewood, he asked, "Don't you still have my special compass? You can check to see if we are going in the right direction."
"All right." She took the compass out of her pocket and caressed it slightly while focusing on her infinite need and desire to find the Fountain of Youth. When she flipped it open, however, the needle was spinning in may directions, sometimes stopping casually in two directions before continuing in its mad spin. Elizabeth sighed and looked up at Jack. "I don't think—"
She was stopped mid-sentence by the absence of whirring from the compass. Carefully and slowly she looked down, almost as if looking down too fast would send the needle spinning again. It was pointing… at Jack. 'Oh,' she thought, 'that must be the direction of the Fountain of Youth.' But when Jack moved to another spot in his impossible quest of finding dry wood for the fire, the needle followed him.
"Having trouble over there?" Jack called.
"Uh, n-no, uh I'm alright, it's just uh… the compass isn't working."
"Not working, huh? Sounds to me, love, like you don't know what you want." The teasing tone of his voice aggravated Elizabeth to no end.
"Don't know what I want? I don't know what I want?! Listen here, Mister Captain Jack Sparrow! I know what I want, what I've always wanted. I want to spend the rest of my life with Will, but thanks to you he is going to spend eternity on that hell-hole of a ship or until some raving lunatic stabs his heart. So now, because of you, I am stuck on some wild goose chase for an unnatural way to prolong my life just so I can spend more decades waiting to have a few day with the love of my life. Yes, well maybe I do want more than one thing and that's why the compass isn't working. I want to stab you in the heart, Jack Sparrow, so you can understand the tiniest bit of the pain I'm going through."
Elizabeth stared defiantly at Jack, daring him with her eyes to make some sort of come-back. But when all he would do was stare back with those dark eyes that were full of compassion, sorrow, and remorse, she threw herself upon the ground and burst into tears. He wanted to go to her, to comfort her, but he knew he was the enemy and that she wanted nothing to do with him right now.
Instead, he started a fire with the small amount of dry wood and twigs that he had collected. He sat by the fire, tending it, waiting for Elizabeth to say something—anything!—to him. Night fell, and some time later her sobs quieted until they were no more. Soon after, Jack realized she had fallen asleep. His eyelids grew heavy and he gave in to night's greatest temptress as well.
***
In the morning, neither Jack nor Elizabeth brought up the events of the day before. They continued heading inland following the compass and the map. To Elizabeth's relief, both were pointing in the same direction. The walk was long and uneventful but the further they went, the more forested and thickly vegetated it became. The going was getting tough but both welcomed it because it distracted their thoughts that had, until this point, been focused on the other person.
The continuous forest was broken by a clearing that was roughly the size of the deck of the Pearl with a few low bushes squatting here and there, each large enough to hide a petite person. Jack barely had enough time to register this before he heard crashing sounds and shouts in the thicket in front of them.
"Elizabeth, get behind that bush and don't come out until I tell you to!" Jack whispered urgently. She didn't even take the time to nod before she nimbly went to the bush and knelt close enough to the ground to sufficiently hide herself. He stepped forward so anyone who spoke to him face to face wouldn't be able to spot her. A group of surly face, disheveled, and unclean seamen stepped from the trees in from of him and formed an unorganized arc with the focal spot empty.
"Jack. You weren't thinking you could get away, now, were ye?" Jack watched as a familiar face emerged, a face that shared the identity of the familiar voiced that posed this question.
"Barbossa! So good to see you, mate. No hard feelings about me taking the map and then the Pearl, right? I mean, a friendship like ours, one between a captain (me) and his first mate (you) can never be spoiled by material goods, eh?" He followed this good-natured banter with a wink. Behind the bushes, Elizabeth was wondering if Jack still had his sanity.
Barbossa laughed a dark, haunting laugh that sent chills racing down Jack's spine and froze Elizabeth's heart. 'How,' she wondered, 'could the man who married Will and I just a year ago be so twisted?'
"There be no use trying to sweet talk me, Jack. I know what it is ye came here for, but until a moment ago I didn't realize you brought Turner's sweetheart into it. Tell me, why is she hiding behind that little bush?" Elizabeth stopped breathing for a second and felt as though her heart would stop as well. She would never guess that Jack was going through the same sensation.
"No need to bring her into this. It's between you and me."
"Protecting her, huh? Never would have expected it from you, Jack. But no, we wouldn't dare touch her for fear that an angry and grieving husband would blow us to bits the moment we set sail. We only came to get revenge before finding the Fountain of Youth and claiming it for ourselves."
"Terrific. It should be easy enough for you to accept my challenge, then."
A flash of light caught Barbossa's blue eyes, making them seem as though they were twinkling with interest and curiosity. "Challenge?"
"Yes, challenge. I was going to mention it earlier, but I'm afraid you interrupted me before I could do so." Jack finished his statement with a quick grin and a blank stare. After waiting a minute, Barbossa shook his head and bellowed, "Well what is the damned thing?"
Jack's eyes widened in mock surprise. "Just a simple duel, no need to get overexcited."
Barbossa chuckled. "I should have known. Name your terms."
"If you win, I'll let you peaceably go to the Fountain of Youth and not seek it for myself. I'll also return the Pearl to you, and you can do with it what you wish. However, if I happen to beat you, you and your men will leave without doing any further harm to myself, will leave the Fountain of Youth to my explorations, and will never bother me about the ownership of the Pearl again. Savvy?"
Elizabeth didn't think Barbossa would accept. Jack had offered no more than Barbossa would get from killing him and would make him risk more than he could afford to. It would probably end in a mutiny aboard his ship if he lost and survived.
***
Will watched the smoke rise from the candle he just blew out. It reminded him of how quickly life, and with it dreams, hopes, and love, could be taken away from a person, no matter how careful they were. Many ordinary daily occurrences now held morbid thoughts such as these. "It comes with the job, I guess," he said to himself, and what was meant to be a chuckle, but turned out to be a half-sob, slipped out. "Oh, Elizabeth," he murmured, "I miss you so much." He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and thought it was his father but saw Calypso instead when he turned around. She was in the form of a Jamaican woman, the same form she took while she was bound in human form, but he knew it wasn't her true form.
"I understand that it is hard, William Turner, but ye must not despair. Do not take the path of Davy Jones. Continue to do the job you are now assigned with. 'Tis your destiny."
"Being away from her… it's worse than dying. It's more painful than being burned alive."
"An' you know that from experience, huh?" Will looked up, surprised. "You'll be seeing her in nine more years. Today is your anniversary, a day of joy, not grief. Be strong."
Just as he began to be fooled into thinking she was human, she disappeared like the sea goddess she was. He sighed heavily, wishing time would move faster towards the day when he would see Elizabeth, but slow down when he was with her so it would last forever.
"Why is the rum always gone?" he asked aloud, talking to nobody.
***
"I accept your challenge, Jack Sparrow." Jack looked up in surprise, too shocked to even correct Barbossa with Captain. He had just been mulling over what plan B, C, and D would be when Barbossa refused, but against all odds, Barbossa had accepted. Elizabeth, still lying behind the bush, had almost fallen asleep in the many minutes Barbossa had spent deliberating before reaching this stunning conclusion. "The weapon," Barbossa continued, "shall be the sword." His crew laughed for what appeared to be no reason. 'Do they really have that much faith in their captain?" Elizabeth wondered.
Jack wasted no time taking off his coat and hat and pulling out his sword. 'Banter,' he thought, 'can come later. I don't want to risk him coming at me while I'm unarmed.' However, Barbossa didn't seem to be pulling and dirty tricks. He took his time removing his coat and hat, folding his coat and gently setting it on the ground, the hand on top of it. He drew his sword in a slow, grand movement, smiling while he did it as though the moment gave him great pleasure.
"I've been waiting many years for this moment, Jack."
"What man doesn't wait on death?" Jack quipped and struck while Barbossa was caught off guard by his remark. Unfortunately, Barbossa reacted quickly and was able to block the strike.
"Trying to trick me? I'll not be so easily dispatched. I've heard hell is a rather unpleasant place, so I prefer to say away for as long as I can." He swung his sword lightly a few times to look for holes in Jack's defense but to his displeasure there were none.
"And here I was, thinking you are easily fooled. I guess I should take more care in the future."
Jack let his guard down for a second and Barbossa caught it. "If you have a future!" Barbossa growled as he swung his sword into Jack's side. Jack's eyes traveled down until he saw Barbossa's sword a few inches deep into his own flesh and watched as Barbossa pulled it out slowly, drawing out the pain. Jack fell to his knees, dumbfounded and unable to hold himself up. Barbossa looked down at him, smug, sure of victory. For the last time, Jack raised his eyes to Barbossa's face.
"I never did look up to you," Jack said, smiling. With a sudden upward thrust of his sword, he killed Barbossa for the second and last time.
Elizabeth hadn't dared to watch the duel, afraid that it might break her. It seemed like not knowing was plenty bad, though, and she could barely keep herself from running out form behind the bush. When Jack called for her to come out she didn't have to worry about restraint anymore.
Emerging from the bushes, she saw Jack on his knees and swaying and Barbossa laying on the ground, dead. Jack's sword, having entered upward through Barbossa's gut and exiting from his upper back, was a gruesome sight of blood stained metal. Once the pool of blood next to Jack was apparent to her, Elizabeth rushed over to him.
"Jack! Oh god, Jack, are you okay?" Her hands fluttered around his face and sometimes to his wound, as though she was going to bandage it, but she was too confused and upset to do anything.
"I'm sure I'm alright, love. Just get yourself out of here before those scallywags that Barbossa called a crew decides to go after you." Talking hurt, and he winced as he talked, a hand reflexively going to his injured side.
"No. I won't leave." Jack looked into her eyes with such gratitude that her tentative statement truly became her decision. Then his eyes closed and his body went limp. She caught him before he hit the ground and frantically searched for a pulse. She sighed with relief when she found it even though it was weak. "No, I'll never leave you," she said, and a hot tear slipped from her eye. A noise behind her caught her attention and she saw that indeed Barbossa's crew was coming towards them. She stood and drew Jack's sword out of Barbossa's corpse, wielding it against them.
"Do you want to fight me? Do you seek to kill the wife of the captain of the Flying Dutchman? Because you'd have to in order to touch a hair on his head," she yelled, pointing blindly back at Jack. She knew she couldn't take her eyes off of them or they'd strike. In a second, their expressions of revenge changed to fear and they fled.
"That's right! Run like the cowards you are!" Elizabeth turned back to Jack and was struck by the same fear as the men.
In front of her stood a woman of ethereal beauty. The woman shone like the moon, for her long flowing gown, her childishly round face, and waist-length hair were all the most stunning shades of silver. The adorable but frightening pout changed to the friendliest of smiles when the woman focused on Elizabeth.
"Do not fear me, lady," the vision sang. The voice was the most enchanting and beautiful voice Elizabeth had ever heard, and it made her feel like a child again. "I am here," it continued, "to save your friend." Without further ado, it placed its hands on both sides of Jack's face and closed its wide, silvery eyes in concentration. Elizabeth watched in astonishment as the wound in Jack's side slowly faded away, replaced with healthy, young looking flesh.
"He shall be as he was before," the creature said as it opened its eyes and stepped back. Now it bore resemblance to an old woman of ninety-eight. "You have a question; you may ask it before I leave."
"Are… are you the Fountain of Youth?" Elizabeth asked.
The creature nodded its head regally, turned, and disappeared.