Chapter Six
"So you won't be gettin' a new sword then?" Gibbs asked as Jack finished telling him the story of his finding Will Turner, discovering that the blacksmith had a child, his strange hostility towards him, and how Will now refused to make a sword for him, merely because Jack had spoken to the child. Of course, since this had happened over three days ago, Gibbs had actually heard that story three times already and knew it from beginning to end. Jack on the other hand didn't realize this since he was piss drunk.
"Aye," Jack groaned as he took a sip of his rum. "It don' seem like I will. Least not a sword by Will Turner."
"Well, look at it dis way, Cap'n," Gibbs slurred helpfully, repeating the words that he had said so many times before. "Least now ye know where the lad is."
"Lot o' good dat'll do me," Jack grumbled. "'E don't ever wanna see me again."
Indeed after Will had said that he would not fill Jack's order and told the pirate to leave and never come back, Jack had, for once, decided to honor the boy's wishes and not come by to see him again. Of course, Will had never said that Jack had to leave port and never come back. So he had decided to wait around for a few days more, so that he could figure out exactly what Will was so damn mad about. It was insane! Three days later and Jack was still as much in the dark about what had caused the rift between him and the young blacksmith as he had been the moment he had walked off his ship five years ago.
"Well if ye ask me," Gibbs began jokingly, hoping to lift the pirate captain's mood a bit, "the boy's actin' as if the kid is yers."
Jack frowned at the older man's comment. He stopped mid way in he lifting his mug of rum to his lips.
Nathan is four... Will left five years ago.
He remembered the way Will had flinched when Jack had said that Nathan must have gotten his smarts from his mother, the disheartened look on the child's face as he confessed to Jack that he did not have a mother, Nathan telling him how his father hated pirates, Will demanding that he stay away from his son and the frightened look on the other man's face the moment Nathan had acknowledge him in the smithy.
Jack stood up quickly from his sitting position, knocking over his chair in the process. All eyes in the tavern turned to him, gaping at the pirate in confusion and silent fear.
"C-Cap'n?" Gibbs began, looking up at the other man questioningly.
"That's it," Jack muttered to himself. "I know what I did."
Without warning, Jack all but ran out of the bar, leaving Gibbs to sputter and stare after him and the rest of the occupants of the tavern to shrug off his behavior and continue their meal with lingering confusion.
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When Jack came to the Hobbs home that night, piss drunk and reeking of rum, he was too blinded by his inebriated state and his urge to see Will Turner right away to bother to notice that he had frightened the living daylights out of the heavy set man and his equally round wife when he practically demanded that he see the blacksmith in question. The two had let him in, after much hesitation and debate amongst themselves, and Jack had all but ran upstairs, not bothering to ask which room was Will's.
Fortunately for him, Will and some of the other tenants had peaked out of their rooms to see what all the commotion was about.
"I told you not to come back here," Will frowned when he saw Jack coming up the stairs.
"We need ta talk," Jack said, ignoring Will's stern look and harsh tone.
"There's nothing for us-"
"I know about Nathan."
Will froze in horror at his words. The blacksmith looked as if he had been struck. Will hesitantly glanced from side to side at the other tenants beside him, before slowly nodding at Jack and motioning for him to follow him inside. Jack followed the boy inside, making sure to close the door behind him.
Jack watched silently as Will walked over towards the bed, sitting down tensely at the edge of the mattress as if he were ready to jump off at any moment. Jack's mind was reeling. He was still a bit drunk, but he had sobered up enough on the way over that he would remember what was being said on the next day. He was a father. Nathan was his son.
No. Not just my son. He's Will's son, too.
But how was that even possible? How could two men have a baby? Why the hell hadn't Will told him from the beginning?
This is it. This has to be the reason the whelp was so goddamn mad at me.
His thoughts quieted as Will took in a few shaky breaths, gaining Jack's attention. The pirate watched and listened carefully to each one of the younger man's movements as he waited for him to reveal more information on what had transpired between them five years ago.
"I have to be honest Jack," Will began quietly, "I was starting to think you would never have guessed. I thought for a moment that you had left for good without finding out the truth and I was... relieved."
"Relieved?" Jack repeated indignantly. "Relieved dat ye could continue lyin' ta me? Dat ye could keep me son from me?"
"And since when was he your son Jack?" Will asked harshly as he turned to glare at the other man.
"From the moment he was conceived."
"That's where you're wrong Jack. Just because you had a part in creating him, doesn't mean you're his father! You weren't around! You weren't there for him!"
"Dat's because ye never gave me a bloody chance ta be!" Jack shot back hotly. How could Will accuse him of being a bad father when he didn't even know that his child had existed until a few hours ago? "Ye never even told me dat ye were... Ye were..." Dear lord what was the word? Will couldn't have been pregnant could he? He was a man! Men didn't get pregnant!
"Expecting?" Will finished for him.
Jack sighed in exasperation. He wasn't grasping what was going on, and he honestly couldn't say if it were because of the rum he drank or because of how shocking it was to find out that he had suddenly become a father. "Why don't ye jus' start from the beginnin', lad," Jack sighed, sitting down next to Will. "Then we can go back ta figurin' out whose at fault."
Will nodded slowly at the pirate's suggestion. "Do you remember the cannibals Jack? The ones that made you their chief and tried to eat you?"
"The Pelegostos?" Jack said with a laugh. "Of course I do. How can I forget?"
"Well, as you may also remember, when they had captured me, they made me your... virgin sacrifice of sorts."
Jack had to bit his cheek to keep the smile from spreading across his lips. He remembered that. It had been the one and only highlight of the whole affair. He remembered going into his hut and seeing a naked Will Turner sitting on his bed waiting for him, blushing from head to toe and wrapping a blanket around his waist to keep his modesty covered. He had explained as gently (and seductively) as possible that Will was to be his virgin sacrifice for the night and that his only job was to please him, and if he failed in his duty, he would be killed and eaten. There had been a full ten minutes in which Will and Jack had argued back and forth about other options, trying to figure another way out of the scenario, only to have Will finally submit and allow Jack to take him.
Oh, how he had enjoyed that night! He had used ever last excuse in the book to talk Will into letting him go a record three times to "make absolutely certain that our audience is convinced that their chief was pleased." (There had been guards set up outside of the hut to make sure that they indeed committed the act.) He would have gone for a fourth time, but he decided to let the lad be and get some much needed rest. The next morning, Will was taken away from him and sent off with the rest of the crew. Jack had done his best to act as "godly" as possible about the scenario, but he couldn't help but slip in a threat that if they so much as harmed one hair on the boy's pretty head he'd make the sky come crashing down on them.
"What you don't know about that night," Will continued, pulling Jack out of his memories, "is that before you came into the hut, the P-Pelegostos had been giving me these strange drinks. They tasted bitter and made me gag, but the Pelegostos wouldn't let me so much as spit one drop out. I didn't understand it at all then, but I realize now that... that it must have been something to help me... conceive. You were wrong Jack. I wasn't your virgin sacrifice, I was your mate."
Jack nodded slowly at the other man's words. It made sense, especially Tia Dalma's words to Will. She had said that the boy had a "touch of destiny" about him. She must have been referring to the baby that he was carrying. The pirate suddenly felt a rock form in the pit of his stomach. He had been right when bargaining to Jones, Will was worth more than one soul! Dear lord, he had given a pregnant man over to the devil himself!
"So, ye were pregnant dat whole time," Jack said, his voice coming out surprisingly small.
"Yes," Will answered, his voice equally as hushed. "But I didn't know it. I didn't find out until it was too late."
Jack turned and looked at the other man in stunned silence. "Too late?" he repeated. "Too late how?"
Will said nothing. He merely sat there, clenching his fists in the bed sheets and doing his best to hold back all he emotions waring inside of him. "You wouldn't understand," he whispered, bowing his head in shame.
"Will," Jack began gently, scooting closer to the young man only to have him scoot away, "ye might as well tell me. There ain't no use in hidin' things now."
"There was nothing left for me Jack," he whispered brokenly. "My fiancée had left me, my father had passed on, and I... I was alone. Completely and utterly alone. I had no one... nothing. I was... scared."
Jack felt his heart break in half at the other man's words. He couldn't begin to imagine what Will had gone through, miserable and alone and... pregnant. Will himself probably didn't have a clue about what had been going on around him.
"It didn't really click until I started to gain weight," Will continued. "I remember thinking 'how can I be so big when I eat next to nothing?' But there was no way to get an answer. I couldn't see a doctor. I didn't even have a job at the time! I was desperate, so I decided to take a job as an extra hand on a merchant vessel. Some time during that voyage, I realized that something was... moving inside of me. Two and two came together and I realized that I was pregnant. I left and took habor in the next port we landed in, here, and I tried... I tried to look for a place to stay... No one would take me in.
"I remember giving birth. It was the middle of a hurricane. I had no where to go, so I had begged a doctor to look at me. He would have turned me away if it hadn't been for the blood seeping from between my legs."
Jack turned bright green at his words. So tortured, so alone, so tragic. He studied the face of the man next to him carefully and noticed in the dim candle light that the boy's eyes were red with unshed tears. His face was contorting in pain as he stowed away all the emotions building inside of him. The stubborn fool! Did he really think that Jack would judge him weak if he were to shed a few tears? Did he actually believe that the pirate was so cold and unfeeling that he would mock him when he poured out his anguished soul to him.
At that moment, Jack suddenly realized that he was in love with Will. He loved the beautiful, stubborn young man sitting next to him. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with him and their child, begging for his forgiveness and healing all of his hurts.
No. No no. That's the rum talkin'. Ye're drunk Sparrow, ye're drunk! Ye ain't in love! Not with Will Turner.
"Why didn' ye come ta me?" Jack asked quietly. "Why didn' ye jus' ask me fer help?"
Will laughed bitterly at the other man's words. "Weren't you listening Jack? I didn't know until I was much further along! Besides, even if I had come to you, what would make you believe me? What would make you help me?"
"Ye were carryin' me flesh an' blood."
"That wouldn't have mattered. After all, when has Jack Sparrow ever done anything out of charity? Why would you help me when there was no gain for you? There is nothing to gain from having a child Jack. Not for a pirate."
Jack frowned at the younger man's words, his feelings of love and devotion quickly set aside in light of the accusations. "What makes ye think ye know what I want?"
Will frowned, turning his chocolate brown eyes to the other man. "Name one time you've ever done anything nice for me without there being something in it for you!" Will challenged. "You wouldn't have helped me. You didn't even like me."
"Dat's not true!"
"Yes it is. Why else would you steal Elizabeth from me? Why else would you so casually barter with my life? If you ever felt anything for me at all, it was because I was Bootstrap Bill's son."
Jack was about to argue further, he was about to rant and rave that he had done those things because he had had a plan, not out of dislike or contempt, but he was cut off when he saw that Will's tears were flowing freely now. Twin streaks of tears ran down the boy's golden cheeks as if the blacksmith didn't even know they were there. It suddenly dawned on him what was really going on. "Ye were in love with me weren't ye lad?"
Will's only reply was to turn away and sob. The tears that had been flowing unchecked down his cheeks were now all but flooding his face as he sobbed openly. "I was... stupid!" he sobbed. "I loved Elizabeth, but a part of me... a part of me wanted you! I cared for you, wanted you, loved you! I even gave myself to you! All you ever did was cause me pain... and to make things worse, you stole Elizabeth from me! I gave my heart to both of you and you threw it away as if it were nothing! I felt... worthless."
In a mad impulse, Jack reached out and wrapped his arms around Will's protesting form, pulling the boy towards himself in a crushing embrace. What a fool he had been! Will had been in love with him and he had broken his heart! The lad didn't deserve that! He was a good boy. A beautiful boy, both in body and soul! Why hadn't he seen it before? Why hadn't he been nicer to him? He could have had it all; the Pearl, Will, and Nathan. Just the four of them, a happy loving family. Instead all he had done was cause Will pain.
"I'm sorry," Jack said honestly. "I'm sorry! I was wrong! I didn' mean ta break yer heart lad! I didn' know."
"It doesn't matter anymore," Will sniffed, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. "Nothing matters. I won't be hurt again, because I won't love again. The only one I'll give my heart to is my son, because he will never break it and I'll ask you once more to leave, so that he will never suffer the pain of knowing you."