Elizabeth wearily pushed the door shut behind her and dropped the briefcase on the floor. She pulled off her coat and attempted to hang it on the rack, but with everything on there it slid into a pile on the floor along with a few other articles of clothing. What she needed now was a nice long nap on the couch before dinner. A tired smile appeared on her lips at the thought of the nap. She kicked off her shoes and headed down the hallway, turning the corner into the living room. The sight made her pause.
Norrington, Jack, Bill, Will, and Gibbs had taken up all the seats in the living room. Norrington, Jack, Bill, and Will were all sitting together on the couch, cramped but not looking too uncomfortable as they stared entranced at the TV. Gibbs was reclined in Cotton's old chair, staring at the TV as well. Elizabeth leaned farther into the living room, wondering what was so interesting.
As she leaned forward, she saw Whelp lying beneath the coffee table, staring at the screen of the TV as well. Her gaze moved over to the TV and she rolled her eyes. Of course it would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the one TV show that seemed to completely distract the men of the household from doing anything productive. What was worse was it seemed as if they had gotten Norrington hooked as well. Elizabeth didn't think she would ever see the day when the former commodore would be sitting on a couch with Will and two pirates, drinking beer and watching Buffy. Then again, it was quite possible the men of the house were having a bad effect on him.
Norrington sat on the end, beer bottle in one hand and a bowl of popcorn sitting on his lap, not even looking down to the bowl as he transferred the popcorn to his mouth. Will sat beside him, slouched down in the chair with his hands resting on his stomach, a sucker in his mouth. Jack was the next in line, oddly enough wearing a Santa hat and taking a drink of beer. Bill was on the end, hand stuck in a bag of pretzels. Gibbs was staring intently at the TV, not moving. As for Whelp, he just seemed to be doing the canine version of pouting because no one would play with him.
Elizabeth took pity on the dog and whistled. The sound never even disturbed the guys, not even when Whelp nearly overturned the coffee table scrambling to Elizabeth. She knelt down and scratched him behind the ears, the dogs tail waving wildly as she found the sweet spot and scratched it. Standing up, she led him into the kitchen and was surprised to see Ana and Heather sitting at the table. There was a notebook in front of Heather and Ana was taking, waving her hand as she spoke. They both glanced up as Elizabeth entered with the dog at her heels. Whelp trotted over to Heather and laid his head on her lap, looking for a scratch.
"Elizabeth, Ana was just collecting information for her book. She was asking about Jack." A wry smile appeared on her lips. "You didn't miss much if there's anything you'd like to add in."
"Always love to hear another side of the story." Heather said as she rubbed Whelp's head. He let out a doggy sigh of contentment and sat down, closing his eyes.
"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something." Elizabeth said with a smile as she sat down. "For one, he's quite the gentlemen for being a pirate."
Ana nearly spit out her mouthful of soda. "Gentlemen? He stole my boat and then got the one he promised me blown up!" She shook her head. "He stole from a lady!"
"With every intention of giving it back." Elizabeth said and raised an eyebrow as Ana glared at her. "Alright, not so much a gentlemen as a gentlemen rogue. When we spent the night on the island, he was nice enough to flirt with me before trying to put the move on me." Her cheeks turned slightly red.
Ana raised an eyebrow. "He is quite a good flirter." There was a murmur of consent around the table before Ana snapped to. "But he still stole my boat..."
"So Jack had to be a good captain if you all stayed on his ship, right?" Heather said, tapping her pen on the paper. "He still seems like a captain."
"Oh, he was. With him as our captain, the Pearl and her crew was the most feared ship in the Caribbean. Do you know he almost always found a way to win over another ship without killing anyone on the other crew or getting his crew killed?" Ana explained. "He sacked Nassau port without firing a shot just by playing the Navy against each other and giving himself the time to get his men in the city and out again with the stolen goods."
"Definitely not the typical pirate you hear of." Heather said as she scribbled down some notes. "He must've been quite loved by his crew."
"Bah!" The comment came from the Barbossa doll. "Hardly! The man is incompetent, hardly pirate enough to be called one. He relies on luck and luck onl..."
"Shut up." Elizabeth and Anamaria calmly chimed in.
"You bloody lasses and your infatuation with the captain. What is it you see in him?" He snarled, stiffly sitting up and staring, or would've been if he had movable eyes.
"Charm."
"Intelligence."
"Hot."
"Woof."
"For the record, that was the dog, not me."
Looks were exchanged and the women exchanged a secret smile. Barbossa moved his arms up and down in a form of protest.
"You're all blind, I tell you! Blind! He's only a..."
"Barbossa, go watch Buffy..."
"Buffy's on?" The doll dropped off the counter and picked himself up, hurrying off as fast as he could on his plastic legs. Elizabeth looked back at Ana and Heather.
"What is it with that show in this household?" She asked, frowning. "You say the name and they all flock to the TV."
Ana shrugged. "Speaking of liking things, that was one thing that always bothered me about Jack. He was...close...to his ship." Anamaria mused. "There was this one time he fell asleep on the dock and I could've sworn he was stroking the deck and telling her how beautiful she was."
"That's not disturbing, that's Jack." Elizabeth answered in amusement. "He treated that ship as if it were his wife."
"Had to give him that. He was a fair captain, always gave us our fair share of the plunder taken. He even agreed to take these two for an adventure once. That was when we became immortal." Ana smirked. "That's one event I won't complain about."
"Neither would I." Elizabeth chimed in. "You know, it's hard to describe Jack really."
"Jack is an enigma. A really cocky enigma." Ana muttered.
"But a handsome enigma." Heather supplied.
"And a humorous enigma." Elizabeth added in. They all paused as Anamaria perked up and glanced towards the doorway of the kitchen. Elizabeth and Heather glanced over to see Bill standing in the doorway, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"You're forming a Jack fan club..." He said slowly, his mind seeming not to comprehend. "Women fall over him." He frowned and was quiet for a moment. "I want a fan club!"
"Oh dear..." Norrington's voice came from the other room as Jack burst out laughing.
"What's this about a fan club?"
"Nothing!" Ana shouted. "Bill's just had too much to drink. We're cutting him off!"
"All hail Captain Jack Sparrow!" Jack shouted from the living room. Ana got up from the table, picking up her empty soda can and stomping into the living room. A moment later there was the sound of the can colliding with something. "Ow!"
"Happy? I hailed you alright!" Ana growled and stomped back into the kitchen.
"See, the best friends never get any recognition!"
"Best friends? Try law enforcement!" Norrington chimed in, for once interested in the roommate brawl.
"Exactly. You and I should write in a protest or something." Bill said. Norrington nodded slowly.
"Perhaps we should." He said thoughtfully.
"Ha!" Jack snickered as Will looked completely lost on the conversation.
"Would you all just go back to watching Buffy?" Ana and Elizabeth protested.
Gibbs sighed as he opened the fridge door, searching through.
"Sorry to tell you lasses this, but not even Buffy can save us now."
