It's been so long, I wouldn't blame anyone for abandoning this story, but I've been in need of some Sadie/Jack (blame playing Pirates Online) and a break from the WWII novel.
This chapter is for SparrowsVixon, who sent me a PM and inadvertently kicked my butt in gear.
Seasons may change,
Winter to spring,
But I'll love you,
Until the end of time…
Moulin Rouge – Come What May
- - -
Sadie awakes in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, thrashing her legs and battling invisible hands with teeth, hands and nails. A soft, demanding voice calls her name repeatedly, but the woman continues to cry out despondently in her hoarse voice, ignorant to the person trying to make her focus. When the hands release her, Sadie collapses into the mattress in a fit of sobs, wringing her fingers around locks of limp, yellow hair. Now fully comprehensive, the woman feels the weight of her loss pressing down against her heart so heavily that she finds it difficult to breathe. Sadie recognizes the presence of the Turners standing at her bedside, but can't bring herself to look at them lest they see her in her state of complete misery.
"William," she whispers, peeking out from the crook of her arm. The young man gives his wife a brief look before kneeling beside Sadie's bed, hesitant to touch her after having her scratch him in her sleep. He waits patiently for her to say something, rocking back and forth on the balls of his bare feet. A minute passes by, then two, before the woman begins to sit up from her fetal position on the bed. William uprights himself and meets her eye-level, waiting for her to speak.
"William," she whispers again, "take me to Singapore."
Elizabeth and her husband steal a shocked glance at one another, and William chances laying a hand on Sadie's arm. Rather than flinching, she looks up into his eyes with the grim look of determination.
"What's in Singapore?" he asks carefully, not taking his eyes off of hers. Sadie blinks and gets to her feet, stepping past William to stand by the window. She stays silent for a moment before turning her gaze over her shoulder to look at the man standing behind her.
"I'm not entirely sure," she says evenly, "but it's where Jack told me to go, and I intend to listen to him."
"Sadie, are you sure you don't need more sleep?" comes Elizabeth's plea by the door. "It might be best, you've been through so much-"
"No!" Cries the woman, flushing from the ferment of the moment. "I won't sleep until I have my family back. Chart a course for Singapore, Mr. Turner," Sadie orders, turning on the young couple with a new fire burning in the blue recesses of her eyes. "If you need me, I'll be in my cabin." Without another word, Sadie walks out of the room with all certainty in her step, leaving her two bewildered friends staring after her.
- - -
Peter rolls his eyes and sends the fidgeting man a seething glare from the other end of the boat for the third time that evening while his hand rests on the pole of an oar, itching to lift it and send it cracking against the pirate captain's skull. Sparrow snorts in his sleep and rolls around in the end of the boat, rocking it back and forth and causing some water to come rolling in over the sides. Peter curses and rows harder, checking over his shoulder time and again to spot their distance from shore.
"Just a little farther, Sparrow, and you'll be out of my hair once and for all." This seemed enough to wake the captain from his stupor, at least to let out a chuckle and shake his head back and forth.
"You know you're deeply, madly, hopelessly in love with me, Mouse. No use denying it now, eh?" Jack looks across at the younger man from his splayed position, his eyes dark and shining from his sinister humor. "S'just you and me, in a little boat, all on our onesies…"
"Hold your tongue, Sparrow!" Peter shouts, just as the dinghy lands with a jolt on a beach. Peter, caught unawares, flies out from the vessel feet over head to land ungraciously in the sand. Jack sits up and climbs gracefully out of the boat, stepping over the lad and stretching his hands over his head.
"Nice little spit you've chosen, Mouse," he says offhandedly, picking at the grime beneath his fingernails as he waits for Peter to compose himself. After dusting the sand from his trousers, the young man steps forward with a grimace and grabs Sparrow by the arm, growling at him to follow. Jack does so without protest, only with an ignorant smile and a skip in his step. It had been a rough dream, out there on the water, but it gave him a chance to speak to Sadie, however the disembodied discussion actually worked. There were no visions of her face, just the sweet airy quality of her voice and the feather soft whispers of her touch against his face. As he and Peter walked, Jack wondered if she had felt him in her sleep, as well. Just that little dream had put the pirate in a far greater mood than he would have expected of himself, being captured and all.
"Come to Singapore, love." His words echo in his head as Peter shoves him into a dank cave to hide for the rest of the night. Jack says nothing to the boy, merely lays out on the sand and tips his hat over his eyes, recalling the dream.
"Where are you, Jack?"
"Singapore…come to Singapore…"
Within moments, Jack is asleep again, leaving Peter to his own devices. In the dark of the cave, the young man reaches into his vest pocket and retrieves the citrine pearl from within, lighting a few square feet of cave wall with a dull, yellow light. The little thing that had started so much trouble was sitting docile in his grasp, waiting for its next victim, looking nothing more than a pretty piece of jewelry waiting to be hung around a long, pale neckline. Peter wants to crush it, see what might happen, but he can't seem to bring himself to do it. Instead he lets it roll into the palm of his hand and wraps his fingers around it tightly, pressing his fist up against his drawn lips. What did Drake Dansen have in store for Sparrow? What about for himself? Peter shudders at the thought of what Drake's capacity for violence might be. Not wanting to feel the slight burn of the pearl in his hand, the young man slips the little bobble into his vest pocket and leans against the wall of the cave, letting loose a long strained sigh before closing his tired eyes and allowing sleep to claim him.
On the other side of the cave, Sparrow opens his own eyes and glares across at the whelp looking oh so peaceful in the darkness. The pirate leans up and folds his arms, resting them against a bent knee with the other leg stretched out in front of him. There is nothing but silence where they rest, but the cave is still filled with the tangible fury of the pirate captain held captive by a man, a boy, intent on ruining his life. Jack huffs, a bull-like snort, and turns his eyes away towards to the opening of the cave. Would it be worth it to make a run for it? Get in the dinghy brought up on shore and row for his life back to Sadie? Jack's heart beats against his chest hard at the thought of her name. The captain releases a painful groan of dismay and longing, bashing his head against the cave wall in an attempt to rid himself of the thought of her, if only temporarily. But it is of no use. Unbidden images of Sadie, his Sadie, wrap around his mind and turn his body to flames, and it takes all of Jack's control not to call out her name just to hear it roll off his tongue. He sees her as if she is standing right there before him in that dank cave, the sun shining in her perfect, endless yellow hair, her blue eyes turned on him and asking, begging, for him to take her in and love her and never let her go. There is the demand for his all in her eyes, the demand for flesh and love and tears and everything he had hidden away in his heart before meeting her. Jack's eyes begin to sting, and still his body lay aflame in the warmth of her very image. Sadie, he whispers in his mind. The ache, the need, becomes almost painful for the poor captain. The closer she comes to him, the harder his heart beats against the inside of his chest; the more vivid her appearance, the more his eyes sting; the imagined touch of her fingers against the bullet hole scars on his chest sends him falling, falling, into a madness that leaves him gasping and sweating and clutching cave sand in his hands as though they were the sheets they slept in together.
Jack opens his eyes blearily, as if seeing the world for the very first time. Everything is hazy and blurred, and he realizes he is crying. Frantically, the captain wipes the tears away with the sleeve of his shirt and stares at the ground between his legs, trying to catch his breath. Rather than look, he hears Peter snoring away on the opposite side of the cave, content to have everything playing in his hand. Jack sneers at the ground and looks up, noticing for the first time the sun peeking over the horizon. How did the time go by so fast? There was no time to linger on it. Brushing the last few tears from his eyes, Jack readjusts himself and curls into a ball, pretending to be asleep as Peter wakes from his own dreams.
"Well Sparrow," he says in a groggy tone, "sleep well all by yourself?"
Jack smiles as he tips up his hat, and looking over at Peter, gives him a cocky leer that takes the boy aback for a moment.
"Slept real well, mate," he says, standing and stretching himself out to reveal Sadie's effect on him, even in the realm of sleep, to the boy, "had a little night visit by a lady of mine." Peter's blush and angry glare has Jack guffawing as he saunters out the cave, still wearing a satisfied grin on his determined face.
- - -
Sadie shoots up from bed with a cry, nearly launching herself off the bed in her suddenness. She gasps for breath as she wipes sweat away from her brow and a few stray tears from her cheeks before noticing her state of disarray. Her nightshift is askew around her knees and the bed sheets crumpled against the footboard, and most of her hair is plastered against her back from sweat. Taking in gulps of cool air, Sadie tries to determine why she had woken up in such a state. The air in the cabin wasn't nearly hot enough to cause her to break out in a sweat, and she had gone to sleep relatively calm. It isn't until she remembers Jack's special visit in her dream that Sadie realizes just what her state is. A furious blush rises to her already flushed cheeks and she clamps her legs together, burying her face in her shaking hands.
"Jesus," she moans, a pained laugh escaping from her. Jack's absence in her current state is rather unfortunate, she thinks, knowing that the man always took advantage of it when she was. He'd run his fingers over the glistening sweat on her belly or his lips across the plane of her shoulders, inhaling her scent through his nose and just cherishing her everything. Sadie suddenly feels drenched in cold and the tears prickle the back of her eyes at the thought of her Jack, out there alone, trying to look for their precious daughter. A new wave of grief falls over Sadie at the thought of little Harper Rose, kidnapped like her father, alone with no good person to sing her bedtime stories or tuck her into bed. Sadie holds back and sob and shakes her head, pulling her hands away form her face and planting them firmly on the bed. With determination, Sadie gets up from the mess of sheets and pillows and makes her way over to her old clothes chest, the one filled with clothes that she had never worn. Before throwing it open she takes a glance out the window, pleased to see Singapore looming on the distant horizon. Sadie begins to dig through her unworn clothes with fervor, set on finding something suitable for her current escapade. She finds a pair of faded blue-grey slacks and a white sash, which she throws on the bed before digging further. From the bottom of the trunk she pulls out a wrinkled blouse of a bright blue color, bordering on white, and that too she tosses on the bed over her shoulder. Lastly, Sadie retrieves a vest matching the color of her slacks and throws that over her shoulder, slamming the lid of the trunk shut and turning on her bare heel towards the bed. Face set in determination, Sadie peels her nightshift from her cooled body and begins to dress, eyes focused on the sight of Singapore on the horizon outside of the little window.
Sadie arrives on deck not long after William and Elizabeth come up from mess, looking about the ship in search of Gibbs. William is the first to notice Sadie's new attire, which he points out to his wife with a smile. The other woman grins and starts towards her sister, but William holds her back when he notices Sadie and Gibbs conversing close to each other, away from any others. Elizabeth watches them for a moment before turning around to look at her husband, a confused look on her face.
"What's going on, Will?"
The blacksmith shrugs his shoulders and holds his wife close to him. He watches as Gibbs face darkens when Sadie says something to him. A moment later, Cotton is called to man the helm as Sadie and Gibbs walk down the stairs and into Jack's cabin, shutting the door with a finalizing click behind them. William furrows his brow and releases Elizabeth to go over to the absent captain's cabin. He raises his hand to knock when the door opens suddenly, revealing Gibbs with a grim look on his face. The older man looks at William and sighs.
"This is the worst I seen 'er," he mutters as he shuts the door behind him and rests against it, facing William. "She don't let me see it, but I do anyway – she's hurtin', bad. Says Singapore's where we'll find Jack, but I ain't so sure, 'specially when she's like this. Ain't never a good idea to trust a woman when she be sportin' some fever."
"Fever?"
Gibbs nods and glances over his shoulder at the window before turning back to William.
"Aye. Not bad, she just ain't feelin' so great with all this Jack business…"
"Understandable. Are we still sailing for Singapore?"
The first mate nods again and takes a swig from his flask. "Aye. May as well do as she's askin' or run the risk of Jack flayin' us all when he gets back."
William steps away as Gibbs walks out into the light, bowing his head as he walks back up the stairs to stand next to Cotton. William turns back towards the door and takes a deep breath before putting his hand on the knob and turning it. The latch shifts and the door opens, revealing the dark interior of Jack's cabin. Turner steps inside, scanning the room for Sadie, until he finds her, perched on the edge of Jack's sea chest by the black round table, fingering what looks like a large silver ring between her fingers.
"Sadie?" he mutters into the musky air. The woman doesn't look up at him, but sighs.
"Hello, Will. I'm sure Gibbs has told you I'm a total nutter and that we're on a fool's errand, going to Singapore."
William smiles and kneels next to Jack's woman, trying to get her to look into his eyes.
"Sadie, there is no fool's errand when the life of your family is at stake. We all trust you, even Gibbs, despite his disposition that may say otherwise." This little comment causes the woman to smile, which gives William some hope for the situation. The smile is gone as quickly as it came, unfortunately, and Sadie bows her head deeper.
"I miss him, Will. And Harper…oh, my god," she chokes, clenching the ring and pressing her hands up to her face to hide her tears. "Everything is gone, Will! I don't know if Jack's in Singapore, I don't even know if Harper is still alive, but I can't stop and give up!" William waits as she releases all of her pent up miseries, resting a complacent and supportive hand on her knee. "I can barely remember what it's like to hold her in my arms, or to have Jack with me. I should have cherished them more, Will; I should have been a better woman for Jack and Harper to rely on…"
William sighs and gathers the trembling woman in his arms, pressing a hand against the back of her head and shushing her quiet sobs. Sadie grasps his shoulders with all of her might and doesn't let go until her crying ceases, when she leans up and wipes her face with her sleeve and lets out a shaky sigh. Sadie looks down at William and gives him a watery smile, attempting to brush away her tears from his coat.
"I'm sorry," she says, meeting his gaze, "for everything. For taking you away from your home and your son just so you might help me save Jack and Harper…I'm selfish, really," she says, shaking her head. William chuckles and stands, bringing Sadie up with him.
"Don't think about it," he replies, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. As he leads her away from the chest and towards the exit, the door of the cabin swings open violently, revealing a distraught Elizabeth and the sound of Gibbs' frantic voice coming from above.
"There's a ship, Will," Elizabeth says hurriedly, making for the woman at his side, "and I think they've come for Sadie."
- - -
Well folks, I hope that was moderately enjoyable and somewhat of a make-up for all the time I've been absent from this story. I've missed these two, seriously. Forgive me? I tried to give a little romance to this chapter, too, to make up for it. I love you all, and I hope some of you are still in the mood to read.
Love,
Rachel