Chapter 14: Follow
Jack scanned the horizon from the deck of the Mary's Voyage looking out at the waters for that familiar Jolly Roger flag blowing in the wind. He had been on the merchant's ship for three days now awaiting the Black Pearl. He had chosen a ship that he would have attacked himself and was assuming that his crew would do the same and find him. Sure they could be far from his position, but surely they would have stayed within range of Port Royal or just headed to Tortuga for a vacation with him away.
Jack groaned.
Tortuga.
Please not Tortuga, not now. Yes he said he'd send word but...surely...why hadn't he realized that before hopping a ship? He knew he should have commandeered one...but then again how exactly would he have sailed it? There weren't any ships the size of the Jolly Mon in Port Royal and he doubted if he could raise it from where it sank in the bay.
He laughed slightly at the old memory. His first arrival in the port town as Mr. Smith, perusing The Dauntless, having those two guards tell him about the speed of the Interceptor (which had nothing on the Pearl mind), and finally...meeting Elizabeth.
He may have been a pirate, but he still couldn't have let her drown even though he, undoubtedly, brought the attention of every guard in the place upon him. He didn't want to think about what they thought when they first saw them on the docks.
Yes she was missing her clothes but he had to get that damn thing off of her before they were both drowned. He couldn't understand the logic of putting women in those heavy outfits. What happened to Elizabeth was reason enough to stop. What if a ship went down with those so-called upperclassman on it? All the women would sink to the bottom of Davey Jones that's what. There was no sense in it.
But then again, he had been left with a dripping wet Elizabeth, not for the last time either, she looked rather good in soaked slips come to think. And then she had tried to get him out of a hanging, ordered by her father (who, oddly enough, was now encouraging him to commandeer his daughter), only to have him use her to escape a minute later.
He could still remember the heat from her back when she was pressed against him, the feel of her hands as she replaced his weapons and hat, and that fiery glare that always made him grin. Hot tempered and mean enough to burn all his rum, didn't slap him as much a Anamaria did, though she had tried once; but after being slapped five times by three different women, he was prepared for it.
Then she'd been distracted by Will, and him by a monkey.
There were lots of little moments between them. Whether they were pirate and headstrong woman or governor and governess of their own little island.
The shouts and yells of the crew was what finally broke him out of his reverie. Looking out at the calm blue waters, his sight was met by a familiar shape with black sails.
So they hadn't been in Tortuga after all.
Jack grinned.
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"This is stupid..."
"It's actually very lovely Miss."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the maid who had mistaken her mutter for being about her wedding dress. Already she'd been poked, pricked, and prodded by the seamstress and her maids. Why in the seven hells did she ever agree to this? Ah yes, right. She wasn't really listening at the time. Leave it to a man to think a woman could be fitted for a dress as the boat's hull crashed against the waves of the ocean. Elizabeth could swear she had pinholes in her legs. She felt like a pincushion.
What she had meant by her earlier mutter, was that her whole situation was stupid. Given it was her fault as was getting kidnapped by Barbossa; she only wished that escape this time around would be as easy. Elizabeth would have almost preferred to have been kidnapped once again by pirates. At least then she wouldn't have to marry Thomas.
But she said she would. And since she had enough of her dreary depression and sadness, she was now annoyed and getting angry. For the first time in months she felt like she had before Will left. It had been too early for her father to thrust all those suitors on her when she was preoccupied.
Things were beginning to right themselves when Jack had showed up and now she was fine. If only she could jump off this blasted ship. She'd taken a rowboat into Isla de Muerta without any Naval Officers noticing (Pearls of the Royal Navy they were...) so why couldn't she do the same thing? Row off to some desert island and wait. It was better than what she had actually resigned herself to.
"Idiot..."
"Pardon me Miss?"
"Nothing."
She just had to jump in feet first didn't she? After this she would definitely be thinking out her plans more thoroughly.
They were as half baked as Jack's.
>>>
"I thought you'd never find me!"
"So this be yer plan on summonin' us Jack?"
"Well I could hardly commandeer a ship all by meself now could I?"
The terrified crew and bartered passengers aboard the Mary's Voyage watched in curious horror as one of the men they picked up in Port Royal made small chat with one of the pirates holding them captive. After a few days at sea, the flag of the Black Pearl had rose on the horizon and the ill-fated ship couldn't outrun her.
"Since this be your hail Captain what shall we do with 'er?" asked Gibbs motioning to the ship.
The first mate of the Mary's Voyage did a double take at what the pirate had called their passenger.
"We're in a hurry Gibbs, if we need supplies get a move on if not we've got another ship to catch."
"I take it Miss Elizabeth was more difficult that usual?"
"You don't want to know."
"Righ' then. We'll make this quick Cap'n."
"Aye," Jack moved towards the edge and stepped across one of the planks connecting the two ships. Once he step foot on the Pearl he was hit by a wave of absolute calm. This was where he belonged, even after being parted from her for ten years by a huge lack of misfortune, the Pearl was still home. What he was going to do with Elizabeth, well, he was working on that.
After the crew was done on the Mary's Voyage and Jack was once again welcomed back as Captain, he headed straight for the high deck.
"I thought you were bringin' back a girl Jack?" asked Anamaria raising an eyebrow.
"She's lost her mind I'm afraid, so turn around and take us about!"
"What's she gone and done this time?"
"She's gettin' herself married that's what. And has an almost three day head start."
"Who'd ever want to get married? What happened to you there?"
"Long story, but here's the abridged version..."
>>>
Dinner that night was long and sufferable. It reminded Elizabeth of the political dinner parties her father used to throw when she was younger and living back in England.
She could hardly care less about the wedding plans, or locations, or how to get there, or how her dress was coming along, or whatever else anyone was discussing.
Why was she here again? She supposed that she really should have paid some more attention to Thomas before she had opened her big mouth against Jack's favour. Had she really spaced out that much when she had been with the man? To be completely surprised at how she could have picked him as a final choice? She would have been better off with Daniel. He was so young and in awe of her that she would have probably had the run of everything.
Sighing more loudly than intended, Elizabeth found herself with the full attention of Thomas and her father.
"Are you all right Elizabeth?"
Upon hearing that she had decided she'd had enough company for one night.
"Actually I'm not quite feeling well, I think I'll retire to my cabin for the night."
"I'll walk you."
Elizabeth managed a small, tight smile, which she hoped didn't look too pained and took Thomas's proffered hand politely.
She really, really wished that she had paid attention to Thomas more than she had. He was actually quite...annoying. And his smiles were starting to creep her out. They reminded her of the ones that the boys used to give her. The ones that said 'let's-just-humour-the-poor-thing-it's-not-like-she-knows-what-she's-talking-about' and then there was the way he held himself, chin up in the air, looking down at the deck hands, the disdainful looks at those deemed 'beneath' him, and his haughty voice made her the one humouring him whenever they spoke.
Why did she have to be coming out of her suitor daze now? And why did she have to realize that he had been talking to her since they had left the dining hall and was now waiting a response from her?
"Ah-excuse me?"
"We were on the topic of children, I had asked-"
Children?
Elizabeth almost choked. Now she really was feeling ill. The full implications of her rash actions having finally hit in the last twelve hours were now assaulting her front and centre.
Children. As a wife, she would also be expected to be a mother. And by being a mother that would mean having children, giving birth, having children. Thomas's children. Her skin prickled.
Why couldn't they be Jack's?
'Because you pushed him away', sniped a nasty little voice in her head. 'And now he's long gone. Probably to a few loose women in Tortuga.'
'Would Jack Sparrow really give up so easily on you though?' came another voice, that Elizabeth decided that she liked a lot better.
'She didn't give him a reason to come back for her now did she?'
"Please excuse me Thomas, I think it might have been the meat."
Wrenching her arm from his, Elizabeth hauled up her long dresses and made a mad dash to her quarters, fighting the urge to throw up all the way, even when the door was finally shut behind her and she collapsed onto the wooden ground beneath her, pulling in deep steadying breaths to counteract her dizziness.
Why'd she always put herself in these positions? She couldn't go through with this marriage and all it contained. She just couldn't!
How had she come this far?
Being caught in a position that was of her own making, she wished for the umpteenth time that she was back with Barbossa. At least he didn't want to marry her.
And to top it all off, this was Will's fault.
If he hadn't been so blindly in love with her only to realize too late that it was more protection and loyalty than true love, she wouldn't be in this mess. She's be married to the Commodore and...and...
Dark brown eyes.
A complete fathom below Will's bright hazel, staring down at her, saving her life. Saving her once, saving her twice. Keeping her company on that dastardly island. The honesty, his scars, dancing around a bon fire and singing into the wind.
It all came back to Jack.
Forget Will, he was safe, and loathe as she was to admit it, if she had truly gone with her heart the first time it would have led her to Jack.
"...and this is the path you take? Even if he is a blacksmith?"
"No..he's a pirate."
Elizabeth let out a mirthless laugh. She remembered those words to her father about Will. It was so clear. Will was no pirate and after all that she had been through, a pirate was still what she wanted. She must be insane but her thoughts were still running parallel to what she wanted as a girl.
The romanticism and mysticism was gone thanks to the cursed pirates of Barbossa's crew but then their was Jack, and the crew he sailed with weren't that bad. She was completely surprised when Mr. Gibbs had greeted her that day, if he could go from Royal Navy to pirate.
Hitting her head on the door behind her, Elizabeth let out a small moan.
What was happening to her? Why did Jack have to come for her, bring back old feelings that she forced away and onto Will?
Why was she finally starting to admit it?
>>>
After pouring over charts and maps to find the right route and most likely one Thomas would have taken, the Pearl was finally on its intercept course. Jack was hoping that Elizabeth wouldn't mind too terribly what he was doing, but well, she wasn't exactly thinking straight. And if her own father had given him the idea, what did that say about his own feelings on the matter?
Jack was never much of a planner. In times where something was needed, sure he could do it, but in certain situations you just had to feel your way through. He hadn't planned much on the Aztec gold and that led to his stay on Rum Island, then it had taken him ten years to get his ship back from the bastard who stole it, then there were a few minor things inbetween that letter to the Commodore, to finding Elizabeth, and now going to get her again.
But what to do with Thomas? A Governor and his daughter skipping gleefully onto a pirate ship wouldn't look entirely right, consorting with pirates was right treasonous he'd imagine. So how to get Caldwell and his crew to back off...that was another thing he was going to have to think on.
The sea provides. She always had and Jack would just have to trust. Maybe a hurricane would pick up and Thomas would be lost? The humiliation of losing an aristocrat to a pirate too much to bear and forget all about Port Royal? Or maybe...a gamble, a wager? Elizabeth probably wouldn't like the idea of being won by any means but well, he was doing this for her own good after all. He only hoped she saw it that way. She couldn't really care for Thomas...could she?
His heart sunk a bit; almost reminding him of his last words to Elizabeth before he tripped over the platform edge and fell into the bay below.
"Elizabeth...I'm sorry darling. It would just never work between us."
Because honestly, how could it? Even though he hadn't thought he really meant it at the time, a small bit of him did, regrettably. She was something else, he admired her.
"Not all treasure it silver and gold mate."
Groaning slightly, Jack walked out of his quarters and made his way out and to the deck's railing, letting the wind wrap around him as it often did. He missed its soothing presence as well as the salt spray rising up to greet him with a kiss. Land just wasn't the same.
A week without the calming balm of the waves rolling beneath his feet had been awkward to say the least. A part of him was missing. He belonged to the sea. But now found another part of himself tearing out to reach Elizabeth. She'd reached into his heart without even trying, without him even noticing. He was stuck. Between two places he didn't want to leave.
"Bit subdued ain't ye Jack?"
He turned to see Gibbs come up beside him, and might have muttered an affirmative.
"Think the las' time I seen you like this we were 'alf drunk and talking about the Pearl."
Jack smiled, "Ah yes."
"Jack?"
"Hhmmm?"
"You fell in love with her, didn' ya."
He was silent for a while, turning to look back out at the darkened water and taking a deep breath before answering Gibbs as well as his own questioning mind.
"That's just it mate. I think I 'ave."
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A/N: I've been working on this for the last week now adding bits when I could. I've been listening to my PotC soundtrack (damn good music)to get back in the JE mood and as usual it works like a charm, it brings me right back into their world and all their little scenes in the movie.
So here we go, the feelings are finally coming through, Lizzie has finally come around, and Jack's on his way;) I hope they're still in character even remotely.
Thank you so much for your reviews. They mean a lot and do contribute to keeping this story going. You guys are the best!