Embracing Katrina

(Sequel to With Katrina… Three-quel to Including Katrina)

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean (characters, plot, dialogue, etc.). Any other tid-bits of creativity, however, are mine… in which I hope you will enjoy. Please be sure to read and review!

Author's Note: To the reviewer okgo… I can't tell you how glad I am to have received your constructive criticism! Honestly! The funny thing is that those pet names have always bothered me… I mean when I added the "me" and "my"… my goal was to distinguish the difference between Jack's calling of anyone and everyone love and his real love (Katrina)… but I think it got all out of wack… almost seemed to come out too sappy, mushy, and strong at times even when the tone of what was going on in that story wasn't anything of the sort. I'm so glad that someone has spoken up about this… so now I know that it's not just me… and can go back and edit everything from Chapter 34 and back. I really, really, really appreciate how nice and positive you were in addressing this issue to me. Thank you so much again!

Chapter 35

Sailing

"Trim that sail!" Jack saw Barbossa yell to the crew as he left his cabin, the late evening sky bringing forth twinkling stars. "Slack windward brace and sheet! Haul that pennant line!"

Jack, allowing his pride get the better of him, ran out to the middle of the main deck and began shouting, "Trim that sail! Slack windward brace and sheet! Haul that pennant line!"

Barbossa turned around to find Jack just feet away, "What are ye doing?"

"The captain gives orders on a ship," Jack said matter-of-factly, the thought of Katrina momentarily escaping his mind as he fought to win his title.

"The captain is giving orders," Barbossa informed sternly.

"My ship," Jack remarked, "That makes me captain."

"They be my charts!" Barbossa argued as he stepped up to Jack so that they were face-to-face.

"Stow it, the both of you, and that's an order! Understand?"

Jack and Barbossa turned to find Pintel having been the one to shout at them. From the looks both men gave him, Pintel gave an apologetic look and backed off.

"Heading, captain?" Gibbs called out as he approached Barbossa and Jack. Both men turned in response to the call.

"Two degrees starboard-" Jack began, but was quickly cut off by Barbossa.

"I'm captain of the starboard side!" Barbossa opposed, "Two degrees starboard. The captain will now take the helm."

Barbossa then charged up towards the helm, Jack just behind him.

"Aye, sirs," Gibbs saluted, not sure of how else to respond to both men.

As Jack just barely beat Barbossa to the wheel, he heard Katrina call his name.

"Jack, where are you?" Katrina called from the cabin.

Jack hesitated, unsure whether to answer. Barbossa, however, smiled in amusement at Jack, knowing the wheel would have to be turned over to him.

"Jack?" Katrina called out again, this time with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"I'm a bit busy at the helm, darlin'," Jack called back to Katrina.

As if in reply, Jack heard their cabin door being slammed shut.

"Brave move, Jack," Barbossa snickered, "Ye just upset your pregnant wife."

Jack cringed at the thought, before muttering under his breath as he reluctantly left the wheel to Barbossa, "My ship… I'm captain…"

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"Everything alright, love?" Jack asked upon entering their cabin.

Katrina didn't reply as she finished putting on her dress.

"I'm sorry 'bout the food, darlin'," Jack apologized, "Didn't mean t' get distracted there… let me go get-"

"Don't bother!" Katrina huffed as she overlooked herself in the mirror, "I know where the galley is. I can find food for myself."

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but Katrina merely past him and walked out the door.

"Wait, darlin', please," Jack came to her side as they walked down to the galley, "I'm terribly sorry… it's just that Barbossa thinks that this is his ship and that he's captain. I had to straighten that out."

Pintel, who was walking by them in the opposite direction, chuckled at hearing what Jack said. Jack looked over his shoulder angrily before turning back to Katrina.

"Please, darlin'…"

"Tell you what, Jack," Katrina said, coming to a sudden stop in the doorway of the galley, "Since you want to help so much… you go in there and find me, and this baby of ours, something to eat."

Jack gave a hesitant nod before entering the galley to begin rummaging through the cabinetry.

"No use," Ragetti approached the doorway with a pole and line in hand, "There ain't nothin' to eat in 'ere… that's why I be fishin'."

As Jack watched with a curious look as Ragetti walked away, another voice suddenly began to speak.

"Dere maybe not'ing in here for you," Tia Dalma seemed to appear out of thin air next to Katrina, "But did you look at de bowl dat sit upon your desk, Jack Sparrow?"

"No," Jack answered with a bewildered look.

Tia Dalma smiled, "I would look dere first. Fresh fruits are always good for a healt'y baby."

With that said, Tia Dalma walked away.

"Odd thing, that woman," Jack whispered when he reached his wife's side at the doorway.

"I agree," Katrina nodded, "But let's do as she says, Jack… I'm so hungry."

Jack gave a slow nod. He then took his wife's hand in his and led her back to their cabin.

"Oh! Look, Jack!" Katrina cried out in delight as they entered their room, "Tia Dalma was right!"

"What?" Jack asked in surprise as he immediately came alongside his desk to observe the bowl full of fruit for himself, "How did…? I mean we were just here and… But I swore I had eaten all…"

After a few more staggering words, Jack shut his mouth, completely dumbfounded at how on earth the once empty bowl had been filled to near overflowing with fresh fruit.

"Save those questions for Tia Dalma," Katrina told Jack as she took a seat in his desk chair, "I'm too hungry to help you answer them right now."

Without another word, Katrina took up an apple and began eating away. Though as grateful as she was to finally find food to settle her stomach, the peace didn't last long, for an abrupt yelp came from outside.

"Stay 'ere, love," Jack ordered to Katrina before bursting out of the cabin.

"Oi!" Jack called out, "What 'appened?"

"It's the water, captain," Pintel replied nervously from his left.

"What about the water?" Jack's brows knitted together as he approached the railing where Pintel and Ragetti had been fishing.

With no need of an answer from the pirates, Jack saw for himself what spooked them. The water seemed to be full of silvery-white phantoms, floating with the movement of the waves.

"What is this?" Jack heard Will ask aloud several feet away from him looking over the same side of the ship next to Elizabeth.

"Don't know," Jack shrugged.

"Jack?" came Katrina's voice from the open doors of their cabin.

Jack rushed over to the doorway where she stood and then escorted her back to where he had been standing.

"Downright macabre," Pintel stated.

"I wonder what would 'appen if ye dropped a cannonball on one of 'em," Ragetti considered out loud to his friend.

The two looked at each other sharing the same thought. Then grinning mischievously, Pintel ran over and grabbed a cannonball to test out Ragetti's hypothesis. However, as he turned around to make way back to the edge of the ship, Tia Dalma blocked him.

"Be disrespectful, it would," Pintel said as he played off what he was about to do, dropping the cannonball to the deck.

Tia Dalma didn't react to Pintel, but simply turned away to take a stand at the railing with everyone else.

"Now what's this we're coming across?" Will asked as numerous small, wooden boats began to appear in their line of vision; each one containing one person and a lantern.

As those aboard the Pearl continue to watch the wooden boats float by, Elizabeth caught sight of one that carried her father.

"Father!" Elizabeth cried out at once, "Father! Father!"

"Elizabeth is that you?" Governor Swann asked in a very tranquil voice as he looked up at the Pearl.

"Yes, father!" Elizabeth replied with a shout before throwing a long line of rope in efforts to save him, "Take the line! Father! Take the line and we'll help you onto the ship!"

"It didn't work," Swann stated simply, not paying any attention to the line that had been thrown his way, "I tried to understand and stop Beckett, but it didn't work. I just don't understand."

Elizabeth hurried further along the Pearl's side as the boat traveled past the great ship in order to stay in contact with her father.

"Father! Please!" Elizabeth nearly screamed at the top of her lungs, "Come this way! You can return with us! Father!"

"I should have known better," Swann went on, "You were such a wonderful daughter, Elizabeth, so much like your mother. Shall I greet her for you when I see her?"

"Father! Wait, no!" Elizabeth cried out hysterically finally contemplating where her father was going, Will now holding her as she made a desperate attempt to go down to him, "Please! Father! Father!"

With the moving current, Governor Swann, like many of the other small boats, was gone. Elizabeth, feeling hopeless, turned to the only one she could ever lean on for anything – Will – and cried her heart out into his chest.

Tia Dalma shook her head sadly, "Dey should be in de care of Davy Jones. Dat was de duty he was charged wit' by de goddess Calypso… to ferry dose who died at sea to de ot'er side. And every ten years, he could come ashore to be wit' she who loved him truly. But he has become a monster."

"He wasn't always all tentacley?" Ragetti asked the gypsy, having taken what she had said as meaning only physical appearance.

"No, he was a man once," Tia Dalma said as she watched the last of the vast group of little boats pass by, "Poor, unfortunate souls… now dey must find deir own way."

----------

"Jack?" Katrina asked as they entered their cabin, "You don't think that my father…?"

Jack looked at Katrina, shook his head, and then gathered her in his arms, "No, love, I think your father is safe."

"But Jack," Katrina began quietly, a sob in her throat and tears gleaming in her eyes, "how can you be so sure? What if Beckett-"

"Shh," Jack said softly as he brought his forehead to hers, "Your father is a smart man and will continue to be so as long as he remains loyal to the English crown as he finishes up his term in helpin' with the negotiations with Spain."

Katrina gave a small nod, understanding Jack's logic.

"There's nothin' to fret, love," Jack whispered as he embraced Katrina, her head against his chest, "Least not any more now that we're together… savvy?"

"Mmmhmm," Katrina replied through tears, unable to help the flood emotion.

"Shh," Jack continued to whisper, "Everything's alright, love… I'm 'ere with you."