Thank you so much for the positive responses so far everyone keep them up they motivate me! Seriously, they do! ^_^ And I apologize for using "Beard" as Angelica's last name by accident. I for whatever reason couldn't remember her last name was Teach! Lol Thank you to those who pointed it out I feel silly now ^_^
Chapter 7
BlackBeard's POV
Blackbeard stayed at the pub for a few days, drinking all hours of the day. He was trying to come up with ways to kill Jack Sparrow. One night another man came into the pub angry and spittin' out words about someone he obviously didn't like.
"What in hell's name are you pissed about?" Blackbeard spat in the man's direction. Blackbeard didn't care when he rambled and complained about someone, but when others were complaining, it just made Blackbeard's hangover worse.
"Damn Sparrow, he stole all me' shillings at the docks," The man spat out. The bartender looked at him with his eyebrows raised and took away the man's beer. No shillings= no beer.
"Yeah well, hell with you," Blackbeard slurred.
"Aye, I say if I had the opportunity, I'd kill that bastard," This comment sparked Blackbeard's interest.
"Is that so?" Blackbeard questioned.
"I say, if the opportunity was given, there would be a line of men chasin' to kill Sparrow," The man responded.
"I think I have an idea to present that sort of opportunity…"
ALAYNA'S POV
When Alayna's eyes opened to the sunlight in her face, she remained lying down. For once, there was no need to spring out of bed because she was in danger, or she was someplace she didn't belong. She was perfectly safe, and in a comfortable bed. Garrett was already up and gone though, which Alayna didn't entirely mind. She liked the feeling that she was the only one in the luxurious room. It was like a dream, but like every dream, you had to wake up sometime.
Alayna slowly sat up rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawning. She stretched wide and threw the plushy covers away from her body. It was the best sleep Alayna had in such a long time. Even when she was at the Turner's before, this was still the best sleep so far.
"Alayna?" Alayna looked up from her feet to see Jack standing in the doorway.
"Good morning," She simply said.
"How did you uh, sleep?" Jack asked, coughing a bit.
"Fine, just fine… you?" Alayna asked sort of awkwardly. She looked around the room as she asked.
"Fine…" Jack replied. The two looked at each other, unsure of what to say to the other.
"I'm sorry for talking to you harshly the other day, I just… I don't know…" Alayna confessed.
"It's alright, but do me a favor, you know where the blacksmith's shop is?" Jack asked. Alayna looked up for a moment thinking.
"Yes I think so,"
"Why don't you swing by there in a few hours when you're up and ready or… what not," Jack said looking down at the floor and sort of shuffling his feet.
"Sure," Alayna responded. Jack nodded and left the doorway. Alayna lied back down for a few minutes just resting. She breathed heavily and closed her eyes, feeling peaceful and rested. When she finally got up about 10 minutes later she was feeling good. She changed out of the clothes she slept in and actually borrowed one of Garrett's white shirts. It was of course pretty large on her but she made it fit by tucking it into her pants and rolling up the sleeves to her elbows.
Alayna was brushing her hair in the full body mirror when she heard three knocks on the doorway. Garrett was standing there, smiling slightly but looking teary eyed at the same time.
"Garrett? Are you alright?" Alayna asked concerned.
"I'm alright I guess, just spoke with Mary," Garrett confessed, choking a bit on his own words. Alayna stood and opened her arms and gave Garrett a sympathetic pouty face. Garrett walked right over into Alayna's embrace. He began to cry, and Alayna knew it took a lot for Garrett to cry. She soothingly rubbed his back and hugged him tightly.
"Everything will be alright, Garrett," She whispered. She felt his head nod against her shoulder. They stood for a few minutes and Garrett released his grip and stepped away, wiping the tears from his cheek.
"I just didn't think it would be that hard since I don't care about her in that way,"
"I know," Alayna said in a calm tune. Garrett stopped crying pretty quickly, he looked at Alayna with red eyes.
"I'm sorry, this is embarrassing to me,"
"What are friends for?" Alayna responded smiling.
"Thank you," Garrett whispered. The two stood for a few minutes looking each other in the eyes. Alayna looked away first and coughed. Garrett shuffled around a moment.
"Hey, there's a sort of get together tonight at the fort, music, dancing… that sort of thing, you want to go?" Garrett asked sticking his hands in his pockets.
"That sounds like fun, sure. Want to go to the Blacksmith's shop with me? Jack asked me to meet him there," Alayna responded, sort of unenthusiastic about going to the Blacksmith's.
"Yeah, you ready to go now?" Garrett asked looking towards the door.
"Uhh yeah I think so!" Alayna said smiling and nodding.
"Alright well let's go!" Garrett said. He held out his arm pointing towards the door and signaling Alayna to exit first. Alayna laughed and exited, turning to curtsy before descending down the stairs.
"Oh my goodness, I thought I was the only one left in the house!" Elizabeth gasped in the doorway when her and Alayna almost crashed into each other.
"Everyone leave mother?" Garrett asked.
"Well Angelica, Jack and William went to the Blacksmith's and all the maids are outside or out in town. I was just going to sit down to do some knitting," Elizabeth said fidgeting with the knitting material in her hands.
"Alright, well do you want to come with us to the Blacksmith's, that's where we are going as well!" Alayna said excitedly. Elizabeth looked sad though.
"No, I think I'll just stay here," Elizabeth said looking down. Alayna realized how worn down she looked. How sad and tired she looked.
"You must come to the gathering tonight," Alayna said with hope, trying to sound excited.
"I may," Elizabeth responded. "Excuse me," Elizabeth said scooting by the two. Alayna looked confused and Garrett just shook his head and nodded towards the door. After Garrett shut the door behind him, Alayna turned and gave him the "What's going on?" look.
"They've been fighting… my parents," Alayna was shocked at this statement.
"They always seemed… so happy," Alayna said looking around confused.
"Yeah well… not as of late," Garrett replied beginning to walk towards town.
"I mean… why are they fighting?"
"They fight about anything and everything. I don't know what started it but my father says it just happens to couples,"
"No that's not true, if you love someone… why fight?"
"I don't know,"
"Maybe they forgot why they love each other," Alayna tried to reason. For some reason this was really bothering her. Maybe it was because she didn't exactly have the ideal parents, but to Alayna, Garrett's parents were what she pictured as perfect. As if Will and Elizabeth was hope that true love exists.
"Maybe,"
"Well you don't seem to have much of an opinion on this. I mean these are your parents we're talking about," Alayna retorted bitterly.
"I guess I just don't know much about this topic, especially after what happened between Mary and I," Garrett replied.
"I know but… put it in your perspective, if you truly loved a woman, why would you fight with her and push her away?"
"I guess if I didn't love her anymore,"
"So you're saying your parents don't love each other?" Alayna asked following Garrett close behind.
"Alayna, please, I don't want to talk about this anymore," Garrett sort of snapped. He turned to see the hurt and confusion in Alayna's face. Alayna shook her head and walked past him, hitting Garrett in the shoulder on purpose as she walked by.
"At least you have parents," Alayna said coldly as she walked by.
"Alayna wait, please, I didn't mean to get angry at you," Garrett pleaded. Alayna didn't slow down though, instead she began to run away. Garrett decided to give her space. He angrily kicked rock into the woods and ran a hand through his hair.
"Damn it," He cursed. He took a final glance at Alayna running out of sight towards town. Garrett turned back to his house and began to walk.
Alayna ran the rest of the way to the Blacksmith's shop. She didn't cry, she was only angry. She opened the heavy door and slammed it shut behind her quickly. Will, Jack and Angelica simultaneously looked at Alayna. She took a heavy breath and walked down the steps towards them. They were standing around the donkey.
"Hello darling," Jack said smiling.
"So what did you want me here for?" Alayna asked shrugging her shoulders.
"Well to practice sword fighting of course," Jack responded like it was the most obvious reason in the world.
"Well of course," Alayna said sarcastically. Jack squinted his eyes at Alayna then opened them wide, almost studying her.
"The more I talk to her, the more I know she's my daughter," Jack said to Angelica who shook her head with her eyes open wide.
"Duh," Angelica said.
"Love, the point is that word is getting around that you're mine, I just want you to be able to defend yourself," Jack said, legitimately concerned. Alayna took this seriously and nodded.
"Alright, well… what do I do?" Alayna asked looking at the swords. Will took one off the wall and handed it to her.
"Well let's see how far your instincts take you first," Jack said unsheathing his sword from his belt.
"What?" Alayna asked frightened. She yelped when Jack came at her with his sword. She lifted hers up quickly, feeling how heavy the sword was.
"What are you doing!" She yelled as if he was crazy. She was really beginning to think he was. He smiled and came at her again. She deflected his sword yet again. Then she tried to swing at him which he deflected effortlessly. He came at her again stepping towards her and thrashing at her from above. She deflected his sword stepping back slightly. He began to side step and jabbed at her which she didn't deflect. The blade came merely inches to her stomach.
"I'm not going to hurt you, love, so channel that inner anger and try to hit me," Alayna began to sweat. She breathed heavily and shook her head.
"Get ANGRY!" Jack yelled, thrashing at Alayna again. Alayna didn't know what to do.
"Think about me, I didn't know about you for 17 years, I wasn't around to see you take your first steps. Even better, think about your mother, who decided not to tell you who your father was," Jack attempted to instigate her. That was only the start though. Alayna took an angry swing at Jack; powerful. It felt good. It felt almost… natural. She began to think of her latest anger; Garrett. She thought about how hard she had to work just to eat food. Then she thought about Blackbeard. How he hit her, told her she was worthless.
The swings became easier to make. Alayna felt like she was in a trance. She had every intent of thrashing to kill. Even if it wasn't necessarily Jack she wanted to kill, she didn't care at that point. Alayna barely realized that they were basically dancing around the Blacksmith's shop in a full fledge fight. It made Alayna even angrier that Jack could deflect ever swing she took with such little effort. Finally Alayna dropped her sword. She was so exhausted she was shaking. She dropped to the floor next to her sword and gasped for breath. Jack sheathed his sword and offered his hand to Alayna.
"No… I can't, I'm too tired," Alayna gasped. She looked over at Angelica and Will who both looked impressed. The two began to talk and Alayna looked back up at Jack towering over her. Jack crossed his legs and sat down in front of her. Alayna breathed heavily.
"That was impressive for your first time, do you feel better?" Jack asked.
"How did you know…?"
"How did I know what, love?" Jack asked quietly.
"That I could sword fight,"
"Lass, you're mine and Angelica's daughter, that had full potential to be a deadly threat. That's also how my father taught me to sword fight. For years I thought about my built up anger. Sword fighting is a great stress reliever. Whenever you need to release some just tell me. Will said you could have that sword by the way," Jack responded pointing to the sword on the ground.
"Alright, and I'm not as angry anymore at you," Alayna confessed smiling. Jack laughed and stood back up. This time when he offered his hand, Alayna took it gladly. Alayna looked at Angelica. She was smiling and talking to Will. Will looked happy on the outside, but Alayna saw through him. He could be just as upset as Elizabeth.
Help them Alayna's mind told her.
"Here, drink some water," Jack handed her a cup. Alayna smelt it first, making sure it wasn't rum.
"Thanks F- … Jack…" Alayna stumbled.
"I thought that boy was coming too,"
"We got in a bit of an argument, I was also thinking about that while we fought,"
"Ah, well, if he's smart… he'll come around,"
"I sort of started it I think,"
"So you two aren't sleeping… together… are you?" Jack asked awkwardly.
"Uh… no, we aren't, I mean not in the way you're implying. He's my best friend,"
"Good… that's good," Jack said nodding.
"Are you and Angelica coming to the fort tonight?"
"We may, but I'm not exactly welcome here you know,"
"Right, well it would be nice to see you and Angelica getting along,"
"This is the most we've gotten along in the 17 years you've been alive," Jack said exasperated.
"Alright,"
"Alayna, I wish we could have given you a normal life,"
"Save it, Jack, don't worry about it," Alayna reassured him. She wanted to talk about it, but right now wasn't the time. Jack nodded and looked at Angelica and Will. Will caught Jack's eye and shook his head.
"Well I really should be getting back to work now, thanks for the entertainment though Jack and Alayna," Will said smiling.
"Thank you for the sword, Will," Alayna said seriously, nodding at Will.
"No problem," Will replied, even giving Alayna a slight smile.
Jack, Alayna and Angelica walked back to the mansion in silence. There wasn't too much to say, it was weird enough for Alayna to be walking with both her parents. Alayna opened the door to the mansion and walked in slowly. Elizabeth looked up from her knitting, which she hadn't actually worked on, or so it appeared that way.
"Elizabeth, can I ask you a favor?" Alayna asked quietly walking into the sitting room where she was. She turned to see Jack and Angelica walk upstairs, bickering about something silly.
"Of course darling," Elizabeth replied, putting on her brave, motherly smile.
"Will you please go to the gathering tonight?" Alayna pleaded.
"If it will make you happy," Elizabeth responded.
"I also um… need to maybe if you have one for me… I need a dress to wear," Elizabeth smiled warmly and nodded.
"Of course. In that case I'll have to go to help you through wearing a corset, because one moment you're talking to a man and the next you're falling off the top of the fort," Elizabeth said, sort of falling into a distant memory it seemed. Alayna gave her an odd look. "Don't worry about it," Elizabeth said chuckling.
"Is Garrett still around?" Alayna asked cautiously. She wondered if Garrett had told her about their fight. Well, it wasn't as much a fight as it was just an argument.
"He's upstairs I believe," Elizabeth responded thinking. She nodded in reassurance, "Yes, he's upstairs," Alayna smiled and thanked Elizabeth. Then made her way upstairs…
