Disclaimer: Mine they're not.
Mini-Drabble-7 from an AU post-CotBP novel - A PIRATES LIFE NO MORE.
PLEASANT COMPANY
Jack uses trickery, timing and charm to gain a needed respite.
He awoke to pain, a sore throat and the usual sense of confusion. It took him a moment to recall as the ship rocked his bed gently. Wallberg's threat. Captain Groves cabin. A bucket?
And why did his mouth taste like sour bile?
Oh, no...
Was there no end to his shame as Joshua Blackstone?
Worse, Jack had to reach out to another for help -- an enemy and co-conspirator. A man he had to trust with his life. A man who may have to betray his fellow officers to save him. He hadn't really questioned why Groves was risking so much to help a convicted pirate. He, apparently, had been at Port Royal when Jack had commandeered the Interceptor and later when he'd fallen from the cliff at Fort Charles. Groves seemingly knew who and what Jack was and oddly didn't condemn him.
The captured Kugaran smugglers were a different sort of problem.
For the moment, hopefully, Blackstone was considered too infirmed for a short boat trip to the Dauntless to meet said smugglers
Jack Sparrow wasn't feeling too well either.
"Oh, Mr. Blackstone?"
Jack cringed inwardly. Lady Izzie back to admire his doltish other self, no doubt.
This woman could not be trusted despite what Groves believed. She would not distract Jack -- even if he looked like Blackstone. Yes, without almost a decade worth of disguise, he knew that he must resemble the idealistic young man whom Beckett had branded pirate and William Turner often had reminded him of. But by the time he had escaped from the EITC's prison, that youth had perished.
Jack felt an almost forgotten ache inside before he could supress it. It had nothing to do with the pain in his shoulder or the rancid rawness of his throat. He'd seen grieving Angelia standing by his gravestone behind the churchyard and been unable to offer her comfort.
There had been no Jack Teague to bury.
"Mr. Blackstone?"
Jack cracked an eye open tentatively. The woman was hovering inches from his face. He fought an instinctual Jack-urge to grab her and pull her down on top of himself. Not only was it something the properly boorish Blackstone would never think to do, but Jack suspected that this woman may have ruthlessly caused her husband's death to run off with a smuggler. "Sorry, Lady Isabelle," he whispered in his cultured Blackstone voice. "Bad dream, I fear. It's kind of you to inquire of me, though." But you're disturbing me rest, Jack complained.
"How could I not," she returned with a less concern in her voice, pulling back enough for Jack to see that she was the only one in the cabin with him. "Timothy informed me this morning of your unfortunate... incident. I do sincerely apologize for insisting that you join us, Joshua. I had thought that a good meal and pleasant company would have done you wonders."
What pleasant company was that? Jack thought. Joshua, however, adopted a forgiving smile. "You could not have known what would happen, please do not distress yourself over my welfare, Lady Isabelle." Now, Izzie, would you kindly leave? Jack urged.
"Dear man, it seems that I was greatly mistaken and I cannot blame myself enough for causing you such...ah, physical discomfort."
"You're quite forgiven, I assure you," Joshua insisted, stilling Jack's hands from wrapping themselves around her neck. The pirate felt less than charitable. Ha! Forgive you? I puked my bloody guts out in a bucket, you silly wench!
"That is so very kind of you, Joshua. I just wanted to be certain that you were all right before I joined Timothy on the Dauntless."
Do I look all right to you? Jack jeered. "Might I inquire how soon they will be leaving us?"
"I believe Timothy said tomorrow with the first tide. They wanted to head to someplace called Lockinghorn or something for supplies."
"Loadhorn," Jack answered before he could stop himself.
"You know it then?"
"Ay-, uh, yes, I've heard of it," he returned more carefully. "Settled by Spanish missionaries years ago after the English colony was wiped out." Spent five days hiding out in the mission from French mercenaries. I wonder if Friar Diagarzo be there still?
"Yes, I understand it has prospered into a small fishing village and trading port." She watched Jack rub the sling supporting his left arm as he glanced longingly at the water pitcher on the table beside his bed. "Is there... anything I can do for you before I leave, Joshua?"
Works every time, Jack thought slyly. "Could I... trouble you for a glass of water, please, Lady Isabelle? I'm really quite thirsty."
"Oh, of course. How rude of me not to offer you one. I didn't think to!"
Okay, Joshua, make this look good, Jack advised him. You may not get another chance, mate.
Lady Isabelle was oblivious to the two personalities vying for control of the reclining body behind her. She missed the bizarre struggle of facial expressions. When she finished pouring water into the glass to carry to the man in the bed, Joshua smiled up at her with beauteous innocence. He reached out for the glass with trembling fingers and missed it, but only by enough not to make it obvious. Offering the woman a slight apologetic smile, he tried again. The glass shook so violently in his grasp that he spilled half of it on his stomach. The pitying look he waited for appeared instantly. "Oh, Joshua, Captain Groves was quite right. You need to stay in bed and regain your strength. You are in no fit condition to join us on the Dauntless this evening. I shall most certainly convey your apologies to the gracious commodore."
Jack merely nodded, not trusting Joshua to say the appropriate platitude. He gestured again at the glass and she placed it against his lips to allow him to take several sips.
"Captain Groves," Jack whispered hoarsely, pressing his palm flat against his chest to keep his rebellious fingers still. "Please...?" To his chagrin, as convincing as his invalid performance was for Lieutenant Wallberg's lady, he found that he did lack the energy to do more than lie there. He would still have to rely on Groves to keep him off the Dauntless and out of Norrington's sight for one more day.
Until he could think of something else, of course.
Done.
AN: Lady Isabelle flirted with Jack enough at the dinner to cause jealous Wallberg to threaten him. Wallberg, in turn, suspects that Jack knows something about the two captured smugglers held on the Dauntless and, of course, he does!
So ends the PONDERINGS drabbles from A PIRATE'S LIFE NO MORE. Thank you to all who enjoyed and reviewed them. If you want more drabbles, please let me know.
