7. Jack and Elizabeth

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Jacqueline followed Elizabeth down below deck. Her heart was increasing with each step she took until she finally was able to gaze upon Jack sitting at a wooden table surrounded by a few other crew members—Gibbs, Pintel, Ragetti and Barbossa.

"Ah, so you've actually managed to drag him away from the wheel," Barbossa stated with a slight laugh.

"It took a bit of persuasion, but I did it," Elizabeth laughed as she takes a seat next to Jack. Jacqueline just stands at the table and decides to take her seat next to Pintel—in between Barbossa and Pintel.

"Come sit by me, lad!" Jack smacks the seat to his other side.

"Oh, uh…aye, captain," Jacqueline responded nervously as she moved next to Jack and sat down. She could feel the warmth of his thigh pressed up next to hers and her heart beat faster as the warmth radiated from him into her.

"Well Jack, ye took over me ship and now me best crew member," Barbossa snorted as he bit into an apple.

"Jack here is merely following orders, like a respectable sailor should," Jack replied, and then took a swig of rum.

"Aye, that be true," Barbossa retorted, also taking a gulp of rum and then feeding a piece of bread to Jack the monkey.

"Technically there are three Jacks," Jacqueline said finally, as she gestured to the monkey at Barbossa's side.

"Indeed there are," Elizabeth replied with a smile as she took a bite of her tiny cut-up plate of food.

Jacqueline just sat there, not eating anything. All of her appetite had depleted with the mere sight of Jack sitting next to Elizabeth. Pintel glanced over at Jacqueline, shooting her knowing look of her true identity.

"So tell me Jack," Pintel started to say.

"Tell you what?" Jack and Jacqueline both asked in unison. Jacqueline immediately laughed at the unison interjection and Jack laughed with her—both looking at each other through their peripherals.

"I meant Jacqueline," Pintel replied quickly, then his face turned bright red as he slapped his hands over his mouth.

"Jacqueline?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at Jacqueline to his left.

Her face was bright red.

"Pintel—don't insult my favorite new sailor by nicknaming him with a woman's name!" Jack scolded, trying to lessen the embarrassment for Jacqueline. Her nerves finally calmed, as Jack did not suspect her to be actually called Jacqueline.

"Well, Pintel," she replied bitterly at first, "what do you wish to ask me?"

"Oh, I uh…was just curious about where ye came from," he said, slamming his head down on the table.

"I'm from England, where else?" she replied with a chuckle, grabbing a piece of bread and taking a bite of it.

"Yes, I am a bit curious of master Beckwith's origin," Gibbs chimed in, leaning onto the table and gazing hard at her.

Jacqueline averted her gaze away from Gibbs nervously and leaned back in her chair.

"Well, I've two sisters, both older than myself," she began.

"Eligible, by any means?" Jack asked quickly.

"No—both married," she just as quickly responded, then paused.

"What else?" Ragetti asked.

"Um, well I've two parents. My father was in trade and my mother died shortly after giving birth to me—I never got to know her," she replied, still thinking as her brother.

"Named for your father, no doubt?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Aye—my father was Jonathan Beckwith the II and I am Jonathan Beckwith III. He also died a few years back," she explained, all the thoughts of her family rushing back into her mind as she began tearing at old wounds. "I guess that's about it,"

"And what of your sisters?" Gibbs asked, dubiously raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Meg is the eldest and is married with two children and my other sister is married and soon to become a mother herself," Jacqueline lied.

"What's her name?" Gibbs persisted.

"Actually, it's Jacqueline," she replied, chills going up her spine at the sound of her voice speaking her own name before the crew.

"I bet Jacqueline is the beautiful one," Pintel said, staring hard at Jacqueline, who, seeing his strong gaze, averted her eyes. Elizabeth too, was gazing intently at the young lad sitting on the other side of Jack.

"They are both beautiful. I always fancied Jacqueline the most though, as she and I are only a few years apart in age," she said, recalling her relations with her brother growing up. The two of them would always gang up on Meg. Meg was the girly one, never wanting to play with John and Jacqueline outside. She was always too busy up in her room trying on dresses and dreaming of the day she would marry a handsome aristocrat. Meanwhile, Jacqueline and John would be outside playing games and running around.

After Meg's dead from smallpox, Jacqueline and John grew even closer, leaning on each other for everything.

"Jack, are ye alright, lad?" Gibbs asked suddenly, noticing the tears building up in Jacqueline's eyes.

"Aye, sir. If you'll excuse me," she said suddenly standing up and leaving the table.

Jacqueline ran up the stairs to the main deck and headed over to the main mast. She grabbed on to the ropes, ready to climb up to the crow's nest when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Talk to me, Jacqueline," Elizabeth's voice rang in her ears. Jacqueline turned quickly, facing Elizabeth. Unable to speak, Jacqueline burst into tears.

"Come," Elizabeth pulled Jacqueline to the ropes and together they climbed up to the crow's nest.

Once safely above the rest of the ship, the two women sat across from each other in utter silence as Jacqueline's tears dried on her cheeks.

"Jack?" Elizabeth asked finally, standing behind Jacqueline. At the sound of Elizabeth's voice, Jacqueline wiped away her tears and turned around so she could face Elizabeth.

"Sorry about my rude behavior leaving the table and all," Jacqueline said, glancing up at the crow's nest.

"Jack, it's okay—you miss your family. It's quite obvious and very much understood," she explained, placing a hand on Jacqueline's shoulder. Elizabeth smiled at Jacqueline, hoping she could pass off some happier feelings to the saddened young man standing in front of her. Jacqueline let her mouth form a smile for Elizabeth's kindess.

"You're too kind," Jacqueline replied, "it's just been quite a while since I've seen my family," Jacqueline said, which was the truth.

"I understand your burden," Elizabeth responded, "I haven't seen my husband in about a year. He's captain of the Flying Dutchman—only aloud one day on land and ten years at sea,"

"Ten years at sea for just one day on land?!" Jacqueline exclaimed in horror.

"Yes—it's difficult," Elizabeth responded, moving out towards the railing of the ship, Jacqueline let her hand drop from the ropes leading up to the crow's nest and followed Elizabeth to the railing.

The two women gazed out to sea. "I don't think I could ever leave the one I love for that long—it's an incredibly steep price for being the captain of a ship!" Jacqueline replied, still in shock.

"That it is…" Elizabeth trailed off, allowing her gaze to remain out at sea.

There is a bit of silence between the two women, until Elizabeth breaks her stare and turns to face Jacqueline.

The sun was long gone and the sky was turning black above and surrounding the ship, blurring the line between sky and horizon.

Seeing Elizabeth's eyes on her, Jacqueline turned nervously towards Elizabeth, "I should probably get to my station at the wheel," Jacqueline said quickly and went to leave.

"Don't go yet," Elizabeth said, grabbing onto Jacqueline's wrist. Jacqueline spun around with Elizabeth's grasp. Elizabeth didn't take her eyes from Jacqueline for one moment as she moved closer to Jacqueline.

Jacqueline took a small step back from Elizabeth, afraid of her strong gaze. Had she discovered her true identity in the darkness? Is she trying to make sure of her discovery? Jacqueline averted her eyes from Elizabeth nervously as Elizabeth moved even closer. Jacqueline's heart was beating fast with angst of not knowing what was racing through Elizabeth's mind.

"Do I make you nervous, Jack?" Elizabeth whispered low to Jacqueline.

"Well, I won't lie to you—you do, a bit," Jacqueline replied anxiously wanting to get back to the wheel.

"You needn't feel nervous, Jack," Elizabeth said as she leaned in…

"You really don't want to do th…!" Jacqueline exclaimed as Elizabeth leaned in to kiss her. Elizabeth's lips met Jacqueline's and immediately, Jacqueline pushed Elizabeth away from her.

"Jack you don't have to be rude if you don't want to kiss me!" Elizabeth exclaimed, turning red with embarrassment.

"No—it's not like that, well, it is like that, but not because I don't find you attractive, well I don't, not as a man, well as a woman would but not in that way…" Jacqueline tried to explain but just simply ripped the hat off her head and took down her hair.

"Oh God, Jack—you're a woman!" Elizabeth exclaimed. Jacqueline grabbed Elizabeth and put her hand over her mouth and dragged her to a darker area on the deck of the ship.

"Shh, yes, I'm Jacqueline," Jacqueline said quietly, removing her hand from Elizabeth's mouth. Elizabeth just stared in awe at the young woman before her—a quite beautiful young woman.

"You know, now that I think of it, something about you seemed different to me," Elizabeth replied, "Oh I feel like such a fool!"

"Don't worry about it—I'm sorry I didn't stop you sooner…or tell you sooner," Jacqueline replied.

"It's quite alright—I'm just a bit shocked, that's all—I mean not to say you look like a man, because you're quite beautiful as a woman—but you were awfully believable at being a man!" Elizabeth exclaimed in astonishment. "I know a lot about pretending to be a man myself, actually, but why are you doing this?"

"My brother John Beckwith died saving me from a thief about a year ago. After his death, I was left alone—my mother had died giving birth to John, my sister Meg had died of smallpox only a few years before John, and same with our father, so as you can imagine, John and I grew close being the only ones left and then he died all because of me. The day of his funeral, I found some papers that were sent to him from the Royal Navy, which was something he had talked so much of while he was alive—a dream he had, so I decided I would live out his dreams for him—you know, sort of avenge his death by living out his name," Jacqueline explained to Elizabeth. By the time she finished explaining Elizabeth was near tears.

"That's incredible. I would have done the same thing," Elizabeth said finally.

"I'm glad you think so—but you have no idea how difficult it is deceiving people and trying to suppress who you really are," Jacqueline responded, looking down at the ground.

"Well, now you've told me—it wasn't that bad, was it?" Elizabeth asked, a smile forming on her face.

"No it wasn't. And Pintel knows—but no one else. I'd like to keep it that way, if you please," Jacqueline said.

"You want to continue living out this alias?" Elizabeth asked, raising a curious brow.

"Yes—it's something I must do," Jacqueline replied, suppressing all of her rising feelings inside for Jack. "It can be something you, Pintel and I can have a little bit of fun about,"

Elizabeth smiled and nodded her head, "Yes, I'll keep your secret safe," she said.

"Thank you," Jacqueline replied, tying her hair back again and placing her hat atop her head.