Warnings for this chapter: ...No real warnings. Um...Jack and Will interaction? (Wait...that's not a warning.)
AN: Well!! I finally managed to get this one out! I haven't had any time at all! @.@ Rather annoying. Explanation for the title of this part: I couldn't find a decent enough quote, so I chose one that would play to some of my reviewers comments (more Will and Jack interaction).
Crimson Ways
Part Nine
Flobbly wobbly, here comes our jelly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Fortunately for Jack, a few members of his crew were at the tavern as well, so he had some help in returning to his quarters aboard the Black Pearl. Quite admittedly, it was rather annoying for the infamous captain to awaken, not remembering the previous night's events clearly. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, but at least he recognized his surroundings.
With a groan, he removed himself from his bed. He was fully clothed, save for his gun and sword which were neatly laid at the foot of the bed. Jack mentally thanked whatever deity had blessed him with such a wonderful crew.
Stumbling towards the door, he accidentally stepped on Zhemchug's tail, who was unceremoniously sprawled across the floor with her legs in the air. She yowled and hissed at him as she ran in front of his feet.
Jack tried to avoid stepping on her again, only to trip over himself, landing on his backside. 'Bloody 'ell! Stupid cat!!' He picked himself up and opened the door. He leaned against the doorframe, thinking about yesterday.
Now that he was sober and had time to sleep on it, random girls kissing Will didn't seem as preposterous now as it had earlier. For all he knew, they just good friends like Will was with Elizabeth. He still felt jealous that Will had just let the girl kiss him without complaint.
And something else nagged at him from the back of his mind; he knew it had something to do with the girl from the flower shop, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Did he want to kill her? No, he had come to the conclusion that Will would never forgive him for doing something like that. Besides, it wasn't his style to kill out of jealously. He vaguely recalled mentioning something to his mother about the girl, but other than that, he couldn't think of anything else. Unless, of course, Millarca decided to go on another killing spree.
He scratched his head in annoyance and grabbed his effects from the bed as he adjusted a buckle, he glanced around the room for his hat. He found it laying upside-down on the floor near the head of the bed. He made to grab it, but a little fluff ball lay curled up within it. He sighed as he picked up the hat and turned it upright over the bed, dumping out the contents.
Zhemchug lazily growled at him before going back to sleep.
Jack scratched her head in apology and left.
Will had risen quite early that morning and had been working on Christine's broach. It was nearly finished. After a few minutes of struggling with a diamond on the leaf, he finally succeeded in getting it to stay put long enough for him to clamp the prongs around it.
Looking over his work, he shook his head at how tacky it looked, but it matched the picture that Christine had drawn for him. He placed it in the wooden box. As he stared at the plain, wooden box, he wished he had a lace ribbon to tie around it--just to go overkill in the tacky department.
Will pocketed the box and headed for the door. The sooner he delivered the broach, the sooner he'd have one more thing checked off his to-do list. Just as he reached to open the door, a knock came from the back entrance. He looked from one door to the other, not sure if he really wanted to bother with the visitor. A louder, more insistent knock drove him to the back door.
'I'm coming!' he shouted in annoyance. He threw open the door to find Christine inspecting one of her heavily freckled arms. 'Ah! Morning,' Will greeted with a smile. 'You just saved me a trip.'
'Who is she?' Christine asked in an accusatory tone.
'Who is who?'
'The woman that came into my shop last night,' she explained. 'She seemed to know you, so you must know her.'
'...Millarca?' Will couldn't think of any other woman currently in Port Royal that Christine had never met, aside from Annamaria, but she wasn't the type to waltz into a flower shop. At least, he didn't think so.
'Millarca...,' she repeated. 'Is that her name? It's beautiful, just like she is.'
Will was half amused, half horrified. Amused by Christine's love struck antics (though who could blame her?); and horrified by the fact that Millarca showed herself to Christine. It confirmed his suspicions from the other day. Jack had seen Christine kiss him, and he must have said something to Millarca. What he didn't understand was why Christine was well and alive.
'What happened?' Will asked. 'I mean...what did she say to you?'
'Mm... She was asking about you,' she replied, 'and me. What we were to each other. I told her we were friends, if that.'
'That's it?'
'Yeah, she left almost right after that. I would have liked her to stay longer, but Mama was yelling for me to lock up.'
Will nodded, thinking about Christine's story. Millarca decided not to kill her. That was a good sign, right?
'Well, I best be off. I want to be there in case she shows up again. If you see her, will you bring her by?' she asked hopefully.
'If I see her, yes,' Will replied. He stepped out the door, into the back street with Christine. He reached in his pocket for the key and found the box instead. 'Oh, Christine!'
'Yes?' She was only a few steps away from Will when she turned back to see what he wanted.
'Here,' he said, handing her the small box.
She took the box and opened it. 'Oh, Will, it's perfect!' She gave him a hug and then took the pouch with the leftover jewels in it out of the box. 'Here,' she said. 'This should be more than enough.'
'I'm certain it is, but--'
'No!' she sternly stated. 'I have no need for them. I don't even really want them.'
Will eyed her for a moment before submitting to Christine's intense stare, taking the pouch and sticking it in an inside pocket of his vest. 'Very well.'
'Good.' Satisfied, she turned and called over her shoulder 'The next time I see you, you'd better have your friend with you!'
'I'll keep that in mind,' he said, walking off in the opposite direction, completely forgetting about the unlocked door.
Jack tried opening the door to the smithy, but it was locked. He knocked. No answer. Impatient, he looked around and found a window. He climbed through it and landed on the ground inside. There didn't seem to be any sign of the young blacksmith there.
Jack concentrated all his attention on locating Will. 'Backdoor,' he muttered, striding to the back of the smithy. He took one more quick glance around the large room and opened the door.
He looked down the side of the street that Christine had gone. He sighed at seeing no sign of Will. He looked down the other side of the street and caught sight of Will's retreating back. He stepped out of the doorway and took a step forward.
Quite unexpectedly, he was nervous like he'd never been before. What would he say to Will? How would he take it? Jack tried to gather the courage to call out to Will.
'Will...,' he said, barely above a whisper. It was one of the few times that Jack Sparrow could be found at a loss of words. He took a deep, calming breath. 'Will!'
Will paused, but continued shortly after, shaking his head. He figured that he was just imagining things.
Jack took a few more steps forward, his confidence slowly, but surely, returning. 'Oi!' he shouted. 'Eunuch!'
Will shot a glare in Jack's direction. His features softened upon seeing that Jack was truly standing there. 'Jack!' He ran over to him and pulled him into a tight embrace.
Jack hugged him back and pulled back long enough to give Will a tender kiss. 'Sorry for not telling' ya', mate.'
'No, Jack, it's me that should be sorry. I overreacted.'
'"Overreacted?"' Jack said with a laugh. 'I think yer takin' it just fine--yer still talking to me after all!'
Will smiled back. 'I've had some time to think, and... Well, there's just so much that I want to ask you.'
'And I'll be glad to answer any questions ye might be havin', but first,' he said, taking another look up and down the street, 'how about we take this indoors to somewhere more private?'
'Alright...but why? Paranoid that someone might hear?'
'Precisely.' Jack held onto Will's hand and lead him back to the smithery.
Will closed the door behind them and locked it. He looked expectantly at Jack.
'Anywhere more private?'
'"More private?" Mr. Brown drank himself to death three months ago, and I doubt his ghost would be sober enough to remember anything we might say.'
Jack gave Will a pleading stare. He didn't want to take any chances.
'Oh, alright,' Will said in surrender. 'We can go to my room, it's upstairs.' He blushed slightly when he realized that he just invited Jack up to his room.
Jack followed as Will lead the way. Jack sat on the bed, and Will took the chair at the desk.
Jack patted the space on the bed beside him. 'C'mon, luv. I don't bite.'
'Yes, you do,' Will retorted, cautiously moving onto the bed anyway.
The faintest sign of hurt flashed behind Jack's eyes. He raised a hand to Will's neck and moved the cloth covering the base to the side. He ran a finger over the small puncture he had made. He noticed that Will was remaining deathly still and quickly removed his hand. 'Sorry,' he apologized, guiltily looking to the floor.
'For what?' Will asked. ' For just now? For biting me? Or for not telling me?'
'For...for not... Well, that is...' Jack placed his head in his hands. He regretted doing a lot of things during his life, but he never really had to apologize until now. A simple 'sorry' wasn't going to cut it, and he knew that. 'What I mean is... I'm sorry about everything. Mostly for not saying anthin' sooner. I know I shoulda told ye, but I... I wanted to trust you.' Jack lifted his head and looked into Will's eyes. 'Believe me, lad, I wanted to tell you, but I've never been able to trust anyone. Not even with small things; Barbossa proved that.'
'You just said that you wanted to trust me. Does that mean you don't?' Will changed his position so that he was fully facing Jack, one leg propped up on the bed.
'It's not like I have much of a choice now, is it?' Jack replied, forcing a smile.
'If you're being forced to trust me, then how do I know I can trust you? What proof do you have that I'm not going to end up as a midnight snack for you?'
Jack thought for a moment. He didn't have any proof whatsoever. How could he prove that it was safe for Will to be around him? 'Well, a midnight snack never did hurt anyone,' he said, voicing his thoughts. 'Er--wait! That's not what I meant!'
'Jack!' Will glared at the other man. 'I'm not about to be some vampire's dinner.'
'Oh, then yer in luck!' Jack smiled whole heartedly. 'I'm not a vampire.'
Will was taken aback. 'You're not? Then what are you?'
'A dhampir,' he replied matter-of-factly.
'A what?'
'A dhampir, a half-breed.'
'Then you're still a vampire!'
Jack pouted. 'It's not like I chose to be like this.'
'You mean...you don't choose whether or not you become a vampire?' asked Will.
'It depends. Humans have a choice, dhampirs sort of have a choice, and natural born vampires sort of have a choice as well.' At Will's confused look, he continued. 'Bein' a vampire is like having a disease--a really strange one. Ye can pass it on to others, but it lies dormant in them until something' else triggers it.'
'And if something doesn't trigger it?'
'Then you grow old and die like every other boring human.'
'Am I...infected?' Will had subconsciously brought his hand to the puncture wound on his neck.
'Pssh... If every person I ever bit were infected, then Tortuga would be littered with potential vampires. No, transition of the "disease," as we're calling it, is done with a different kind of bite,' he explained.
'What do you mean?'
'Well, if I were to just suck your blood, then I'd...just be drinking your blood. But, if I were to inject you with a sort of venom, then you'd be infected. Like a snake, if you will.' It seemed so strange to Jack to be explaining something that he instinctively knew to someone that was completely ignorant on the subject, but to be explaining it to Will...it also felt right. It felt nice for him to be able to finally talk about him and his kind with Will.
Will stared at the bed cover as he thought about what Jack had just told him. So Jack was only half vampire; that could have explained why he had no problems with the sunlight or being out at sea. Then again, Will had first met Millarca during the day. She couldn't have been a dhampir as well. 'What about sunlight?' he asked. 'Or running water? Holy symbols? Don't those affect real vampires?'
Jack looked at Will as if he were being completely absurd. 'Rubbish. Every last bit of it,' he replied. 'The same rules apply to all kinds vampires, I'm no exception.'
'"Rules?" What rules?'
'Get yer head lopped off, ye die. Get staked, ye die. Get disemboweled, ye die,' he said, counting off on his fingers. 'But I suppose those apply to humans as well. Yet another wonderful thing we have in common!' Jack edged towards Will and was quite pleased that Will did nothing to show if he was uncomfortable.
'Somehow I doubt that ways of dying counts as having something in common,' Will said dryly. He was glad to see that Jack was acting like his normal (if it could be called that), perky self.
Jack smiled and closed the distance between them with a kiss.
AN II: Coulda gone on longer, but I like having the parts end on even pages in the journally thing I'm writin' in. *nods* Teaser for next part: I vant to zuk yor blud. Bleh...bleh....
