OK, bit of a long-ish chapter here, for you all! This was originally chapter 9, but I changed it :) Enjoy!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Chapter 10 – A Different Kind of Illness

Jack and the crew had made plans to leave within the week. There was no doubt whatsoever that Jack was eager to get back on the sea, sailing as free as a bird. Then again, maybe his name was Sparrow for a reason.

Elizabeth had settled into the cabin Jack had promised her quite well, and had even unpacked her things all in the first night, after her and Jack's little incident. She hoped very much that she was there to stay. She laid the letter down on her bedside cabinet, and put her pirate's clothes and her many nightdresses in the chest of drawers that was in the room, no doubt stolen from a lavish house such as her own.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan, until two nights before Jack had planned on leaving, Elizabeth was taken seriously ill, confined to the bed in her cabin, struck down by the terrible illness. The nurse who resided in Tortuga didn't know what it was, but still advised the Captain and his crew not to set sail, or even leave the docks before Elizabeth was well again.

Needless to say, this did not please Captain Jack.

--

Elizabeth sat up weakly in her bed as Jack walked in through her cabin door.

"Jack?" she asked groggily, having only just awoken from sleep minutes before. Jack paced the room slowly, breathing heavily, avoiding her inquiring eyes as his feet hit the floor softly again and again.

"Jack?" Elizabeth pressed again, watching as he stopped walking, and his head turned to look at her. He looked at her only a moment, and then sat down on the side of the bed, taking her hand tightly in his. His eyes were filled with worry.

"Yer awfully pale," he said quietly, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face. "Do ye feel OK?"

Elizabeth nodded.

Jack breathed a small sigh of relief. "Good."

Elizabeth watched as he turned away; he seemed to be finding his knee very interesting at this moment in time.

"Jack?" she said softly. He turned back to her, the worry still very evident in his eyes, and now his face too. "Why did you really come here tonight?"

"I'm very worried about ye," he replied earnestly. "The nurse told us she didn't know what was wrong. Lizzie, in this day and age, that can't mean anythin' good."

He whispered the last sentence to her, very gently. Elizabeth's eyes grew tired and sad, something he'd never seen happen to her before.

She didn't sound convinced with herself at all as she tried to assure him, "I'll be fine."

Jack squeezed her hand tighter as she lowered herself onto the big, fluffy pillows the nurse had provided them. She closed her eyes and turned her head onto the side. Jack sat and watched her for what seemed like hours, listening to her shallow breathing as she slept. He couldn't help but worry about her.

Truth be told, Jack Sparrow didn't know what he would do if he lost Elizabeth Swann.

--

Jack emerged from Elizabeth's cabin after watching her sleep peacefully for about twenty minutes. Gibbs approached him, looking concerned.

"How is she?" Gibbs asked quietly.

Jack hesitated. "She says she feels OK, but she looks bloody awful. And considerin' she's one of the loveliest creatures on God's earth, that's bloody well sayin' somethin'."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. Recalling a certain conversation not long ago, he asked hesitantly, "So ye still hold a soft spot for 'er then, Cap'n?"

"Aye," Jack answered absent-mindedly. His eyes widened at what he'd just admitted. "Ye dare tell anyone about this conversation, and that is when yer life ends. Got it?"

"Aye, Cap'n," Gibbs smirked, walking off before Jack decided he'd kill him now.

Do I have a soft spot fer Lizzie? Jack thought to himself as he went upto the helm. He stood and looked out over the edge of the back of the ship, deep in thought.

--

Elizabeth groaned as she stirred herself awake. It seemed very dark in the cabin, with the only light coming from a candle on her bedside cabinet. The shadows cast by said candle made the letter beside it look awfully eerie.

According to her calculations, Elizabeth would have started her course around about now, and that meant she'd have to change the bed sheets, and also her nightgown. She sighed and put it off for another minute or so before regretfully climbing out of the warm bed. She stood beside the bed and pulled the covers back, but to her great surprise she found the bed sheets were completely clean, and free of any blood at all.

Elizabeth's brow furrowed in confusion as her mind set to working out dates. But everything seemed to be right. She shrugged off the matter and climbed back into the bed gratefully.

Give it a few days, Elizabeth thought carelessly. If it hasn't started by then, that's the time to panic.

--

And so, Elizabeth waited. She waited another week, and still nothing.

Elizabeth started feeling increasingly light-headed. The room spun and she was dizzy almost all the time. Her legs had grown so weak that she couldn't even climb out of bed. She tossed and turned in her sleep, having awful nightmares about Will, and herself, and sometimes even Jack.

This only caused her more worry. For some reason, the nightmares about Jack affected her the most. She would toss and turn, pleading with herself to wake up, and when she did, her body would be covered in cold sweat and her breathing heavy. She would sit and she would cry, alone, into the night, with the image of Jack dead, a sword protruding from his chest, refusing to leave her head.

So it came as great comfort when Jack decided to visit her one evening. Elizabeth was lying down, deathly white, her eyes blank, and her hair limp and unkempt. Jack's eyes widened at the sight of her. He hurried to her side, and, as he had done a week ago, he took her hand in his, clasping it gently, but was shocked to find her hands unbelievably cold. If it wasn't for the gentle rise and fall of her chest, that Jack made a good job of checking (Pirate.) before looking away, he'd have thought she was dead.

Elizabeth couldn't even summon up the strength to sit up. She smiled weakly at Jack as he looked down on her with uncontained worry.

"Elizabeth, love, ye can't be feelin' OK," Jack said softly. "I'll go and get Gibbs to get the nurse."

Elizabeth couldn't protest. Her body refused to allow it. So, she lay there in silence as Jack left the room for a minute. She reached out for him when he came back. He put the back of his hand to her forehead.

"Lizzie, yer freezin'," Jack exclaimed quietly. She nodded in agreement. Neither had anything more to say after that, so they waited patiently, Jack's eyes fixed on their holding hands, Elizabeth's thumb gently stroking the back of his hand, until the nurse arrived.

There was a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in," Jack called out, standing up. He stayed beside the bed, and her hand tightened on his; she didn't want him to leave.

"Jack," Elizabeth whispered so softly that he barely heard it. He looked down at her. Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm so scared."

Jack squatted down on the floor so he was face to face with her. "Don't be, darlin', everythin' is gonna be fine."

Elizabeth nodded sadly as a single tear fell. Jack wiped it away with his thumb and kissed her gently on the forehead. "I'll be waitin' outside."

Elizabeth watched regretfully as Jack left the room to make way for the nurse, and he couldn't help but notice her eyelashes flutter at the speed of light as he walked past. He scowled at her and she flushed deep red and cleared her throat as she walked over to Elizabeth.

--

Jack refused to do anything other than wait patiently outside Elizabeth's door, pacing back and forth, wracked with worry. He shrugged off Gibbs' insistence that if he did something else, it'd take his mind off it.

The nurse soon emerged from Elizabeth's room, and Jack's worry only increased at her grim expression. She looked up at him, didn't flutter her eyelashes this time, and took a deep breath.

"She wants to see you," was all she said before making her way off the ship.

Jack wasted no time in going into the cabin. Elizabeth's face was stained with many tears and her feeble sobs nearly broke Jack's heart. She looked up at him with teary eyes and he moved closer. He knelt down beside her and she looked him straight in the eyes.

"Lizzie, love, what's wrong?" Jack asked gently, caressing her wet cheek. "What did the nurse say?"

He wasn't sure he even wanted to know. Elizabeth took a deep, shuddering breath as she whispered, "I'm dying, Jack."

:'( Poor Lizzie, and poor Jack! Don't worry, this story is far from over; I'm aiming at around a fifty-chapter story, possibly more, here!

Review please!

ThePirate'sBride (new name :P) out.