"Will! Come feel my belly, the baby's kicking again." Will Turner obediently put down the quill he was holding and crossed the sitting room of the Governor's mansion to put his tanned hand over his wife's pale one that was resting on her swollen belly. Elizabeth Turner beamed up at her husband, her lips curving into a pleased smile. Will felt the faintest thump against his hand and looked at her in amazement.
"That's our son," he said faintly before dropping down next to her on the loveseat. Elizabeth only shook her head, tresses of her honey colored hair sliding down her shoulders to rest against the rose colored fabric of her dress.
"Or daughter, silly man."
Will smiled fondly at her and ran his hands through his once-neat queue of dark brown hair. He had been working on a design for a new sword since mid-morning, and now that it was late afternoon, he needed a break. He couldn't get the handle to look the way he wanted. Elizabeth tugged on the small patch of facial hair he had on his chin and kissed his cheek.
"You'll get it right Will, don't fret. Oh! Father wanted us to meet with James for dinner tonight." Will groaned inwardly and forced a smile onto his lean face. One thing about marrying into the Governor's family was that he had to consort with people he found to be stuffy and boring. Elizabeth gave him a knowing smile and stood up from the sofa, putting a hand into the small of her back and making a face. She was due any day now.
"I need to get ready for dinner. It's a lot harder to get dressed with this;" she patted her stomach again and after calling a maid to her, disappeared upstairs to her chambers. Will let out a huge sigh and rolled his eyes.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for William Turner, but the only person I see here is most certainly a eunuch, and Will is not a eunuch. Although he could be, I never checked or anything…" As the familiar gruff voice ranted on, Will unbelievingly turned his gaze towards the open French doors that led out to a balcony. The figure that lounged against the railing was none other than Captain Jack Sparrow. Will blinked before shooting to his feet and hurrying over.
"Jack? What are you doing here? My God man it's been a year!" Jack bared his teeth in a smirk and slung an arm around Will's shoulders. Will wrinkled his nose slightly; Jack wasn't one to willingly indulge in baths, or clean clothing.
Will cast his eyes over the edge of the balcony and stiffened. Anna Maria, Gibbs, and two other pirates he didn't know smiled cheekily up at him from the bushes where they crouched while a young woman with bright red hair and two children in tow angrily glared at Jack's profile.
"Dear Lord what are you going to get me involved in now? Get them inside; the Commodore is coming over for dinner." Jack swaggered to the front door, swung it open and let out a piercing whistle. The gang of pirates trooped in dutifully, and Will watched, amused, as one of the children, a little boy, strutted with as much arrogance as Jack himself walked with.
He was even dressed like a miniature pirate, wearing a bandana around his blonde hair and a tiny fake eye patch. He was clearly the pet, a mascot if you will of the pirate's and he reveled in their attention.
Jack put an arm about the waist of the young woman, who scowled and would have moved away if he hadn't tightened his grip. Dragging her over to where Will stood, arms crossed, looking every bit the angry noble in his nicely cut and clean breeches and matching jacket, Jack bowed slightly. Will raised an eyebrow, and the girl snickered.
"This is Miss Annie Lindsay and her charges, Gwen and wee Ethan." Ethan chose that moment to brandish a wooden cutlass that Duffy had carved for him and growled. Will staggered back, a hand over his heart as he pretended to be scared. Ethan gave a delighted shriek of laughter and chased after Will who dove behind the sofa. A grin blossomed on Annie's face. This was a man who clearly loved children.
Jack wandered over to a bowl of fruit set up on a highly polished, carved table and took a huge bite out of an apple. When he turned around, he began to choke on the apple chunk, at the sight of a very pregnant, very angry Elizabeth. Waving his hands frantically in front of his face, he gurgled at his pirates who immediately set about pounding on his back, trying to dislodge the offending piece of fruit.
Will and Annie stood chuckling, something that Will stopped doing as Elizabeth shot him a murderous look. It wasn't that she didn't like Jack; she was actually quite fond of the man. But whenever he showed up, trouble followed and her husband inevitably got taken along for the ride.
Jack spat out the piece of apple onto the tiled floor and flushed underneath his tan as a servant stooped down and picked it up with a handkerchief, a look of disgust on her plump face as she walked away. Elizabeth looked gorgeous with her hair pinned up, wearing a dress embroidered with tiny flowers and curling ivy up the belled sleeves. Annie looked down at her own clothing, worse for the wear since she had been on a pirate ship, and felt slightly ashamed.
"Elizabeth! Darling! You look…" Jack struggled to come up with something that would appease her nasty temper and flailed his arms around his head.
"Rotund." A collective gasp went up at that, and Annie had to turn her face away from the sight of the pirate's getting ready to burst into laughter. Jack winced and closed his eyes, waiting for the stinging slap of her hand meeting his face. When it didn't come, he carefully opened one of his eyes and squinted at her. Elizabeth was giggling furiously into her hands, shaking her head.
"Oh Jack, you do say the most horrible things. I should be angry with you, but you make it so hard to stay mad at you." Jack gave her a devilish grin, his golden teeth flashing and bowed elegantly.
"Of course not love, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."
"What remains to be explained is why you are here, and what are we going to do with you all while the Commodore is here."
Will's pointed comment made Elizabeth go into a flurry of activity, first gaping in shock as she realized that the one man who despised pirate's the most in the whole Caribbean was going to be there in half an hour and she had not one, not two, but five pirates in her father's house. Gathering them all together, she sent Will off to fix his queue which he did so, mumbling under his breath the whole time, and trooped the rest of them upstairs and into a spare bedroom.
"I'll have Lucy bring you something to eat, but you MUST stay here while Norrington is in the house." Duffy picked up a finely crocheted lace doilie and made a face before flinging himself into a rocking chair and patting his knee while smirking at Anna Maria. She shot him a glower and flounced over to the other side of the room and positioned herself at the large window.
Jack sprawled on the large bed that sat in the center of the room, tipping his hat over his face, crossing his legs and proceeding to fall asleep. Annie laid Gwen down beside him and made Ethan clamber up onto the bed for a nap as well, the little boy protesting mightily the whole time until Jack covered his mouth with a dirty hand.
"Shush boy, you need to take naps if you're going to grow to be a dangerous pirate. We all take our naps, every chance we can get isn't that right mates?" A drowsy chorus of 'aye's' came from Duffy, Gibbs, and Samuel the latter two who were sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. Ethan seemed to accept Jack's words of advice and promptly closed his eyes.
Annie found another rocking chair and sat down, after picking Gwen back up and cradling her close. Humming a lullaby, she found herself growing drowsy as well. When she awoke, it was to an elderly maid wheeling a trolley with a large bowl of stew and some bowls and a crusty loaf of bread that smelled wonderful into the room. Stretching, she shifted Gwen to her other shoulder and blinked drowsily before standing up so suddenly that Gwen yowled in protest and Jack started up from the bed in shock.
"What's the matter?" he slurred absently before following her gaze with his own eyes to the empty spot beside him on the bed. Ethan wasn't there anymore. Jack hissed something and the rest of the pirates set about looking under the bed and in the closet, but it was no use. Annie locked eyes with Jack as they helplessly realized together what had happened.
Ethan had snuck out of the room while they all slept. Hearing a sudden thin boyish shriek, and a man's haughty voice follow; Jack slapped a hand to his forehead and took a deep breath. He had obviously just met Commodore James Norrington as well.
SHOUT OUTS!
Jaina Kenobi – Hey welcome back! :D I'm trying to update on a more regular basis so here's hoping you won't have to wait too long in between updates.
Reese Sparrow – I believe that's a good idea, Jack should teach Ethan how to fence, it might come in handy when the kid gets older. I think I wouldn't mind having Jack rub my neck either ;D
JustDuck – Hey long time no see to you too! Of course Gibbs is a softie, you can so tell he'd be a pushover.
JamieBell – Yeah I read a lot of classical books like 'Oliver Twist' and that sort. Older books, so sometimes my vocabulary and the way I describe things is overly dramatic Heheh. I have plans for this story don't you worry. And Annie's a tough cookie.
Dell-Doo –
Jack: Haha! She called you rude, Misery. What're you gonna do about that?! Two bottles of rum you say? Hmm…
NadaZimri – Just you wait, there are more twists and turns to come. I'm the master at doing that with my stories although to me it would be rather annoying to have someone constantly pulling plot ideas out of their arse like I do…
By the way, I didn't get your profile for my Newsies story you'll have to resend it m'dear.
