Disclaimer: If any of you seriously believe that I own them, or that Disney will give me any money for them, I pity you . . .Anyone who tries to sue me for the imaginary money that I don't have, I pity you more . . .
AN: Seriously, folks, I need to sleep, and a tiny bit of help would be tremendously appreciated. How bloody long does it take to get from Port Royal to Tortuga?! I've seen the movie three times, can't afford a fourth, and the only thing my friend had to say when I asked her was that the moon was full throughout the entire show (she loves astronomy), which could mean it took three day, three months, three years, or that the tech crew didn't both to change it for reasons of their own! If no one knows, can you at least give me an estimate? Ships are hard enough to look up . . .All I want is a relative time reference . . .
AN2: This is completely unrelated to the story and may be skipped. I just feel like writing it. I just took my brothers to the fair, and one is now just barely big enough to go onto the midway and out of kiddy land now (the other has been for two years). I introduced them to adrenaline-rush rides and have now, I think, created two monsters. The one I liked most wasn't one of those, though—it was called Cliff Hanger, and it was sweet in that you lay down to ride and if you had your head far enough forward you couldn't see the restraints and your hands were free and it was really like flying. It was the sweetest feeling I've ever had. How does this relate to PotC? It doesn't. My other author's note was written after I'd fried my brain at band camp (quite literally—it's horribly hot). This was written after six hours of relaxation and freedom (relatively), after having won a bear named Will, a bright, multi-colored, flower-like toy that has an expression that earned it the name Jack, and a beautiful black cat figurine that is named Ana, running into several of my friends unexpectedly, and having constantly had to stop myself from imagining how my favorite people from PotC would react to the rides, games, music and food. Life is good. Now on to finishing chapter so I can post it . . .
Trust Me Still
Part 2
Jack stared at the small child sitting across from him in silence, his hands twitching slightly as he tried to determine what to do with them. Ana-Maria had taken Elizabeth into the bedroom to bind her arm, calm her down, and get her changed into less bloody clothes. That left Jack with the child.
The boy stared right back, kicking his legs against the table leg, his brown eyes wide.
Jack couldn't stand the silence anymore.
"Your mom will be fine." The child continued to stare and kick at the table. "You're not hurt, are you, lad?"
The boy shook his head and the silence resumed.
"Uncle Jacky." Jack groaned and closed his eyes for a moment. It had been almost cute when they first learned to talk—almost, not quite, but he could tolerate it as long as Will kept the rum in stock. On board a pirate ship, though, in front of a crew whose respect he needed . . .no, that definitely wouldn't do.
He leaned forward slightly and stared harder at the child, who stared right back, not backing off an inch, one foot still kicking the table.
"If I'm going to take you and your mum on my ship, I think it would be better if you called me Captain Jack Sparrow . . ."
The boy shook his head.
"Captain Sparrow . . ."
Again the negative response.
"Captain Jack . . ."
The lad just stared at the pirate.
"Fine, then how about just 'captain' or just 'Jack'?"
"No!"
The pirate jumped back as the young boy leaned forward to shout the word into his face.
"No what?" Jack had no idea what the boy was talking about.
"No, you're not Jack."
"What?"
"I'm Jack. Daddy calls me Jack. You can't have my name!"
The boy stood up, fury evident in his face. The pirate just stared at him, utterly bewildered.
"It was my name first, you know."
"Uh-uh. My name!"
"Look here, son, your father named you after me, which means it had to be my name first—ow! Hey!" Jack reached out to grab the boy, who had kicked him in the shins with as much force as he could muster.
"My name! My name! My dad! He said they were bad pirates, and you're a pirate, and you could be bad too!"
"Look here, I saved your dad's life, savvy? And he saved mine. We're friends! I've known you since the day you were born!" Jack stood up as well.
The boy continued to stare at the pirate, a mix of misery and fear and anger evident on his face.
"You still can't have my name. It's mine. My name. What my daddy calls me."
Jack opened his mouth to speak but couldn't think of anything to say.
"Jack, what are you doing?" Both the pirate and the child turned towards the voice as Elizabeth stepped out of the bedroom, Ana-Maria behind her.
"I leave you with my son for a few minutes and you manage to almost get in a brawl with him? Don't you think it's a bit unfair, a pirate against a five-year-old?"
Jack smiled thinly at the women. "Welcome back to the Caribbean, love."
"Mommy, he's trying to steal my name!" The little boy ran over to Elizabeth and grabbed her leg, staring at Jack still, his brown eyes full of childish fury.
"Honey, he's been Jack Sparrow—I'm sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow—for as long as I've known him, and that's a very long time—longer than I've known you."
"I don't care. Daddy calls me Jack . . .he's Uncle Jacky."
"I need to have a serious talk with your husband once we're done rescuing him, love." Jack crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back against the table, and glowered at the boy, who stuck his tongue out at the pirate.
"I'm sorry, Jack. Will thought it was rather cute when they were younger, and our Jack is around here a bit more often than you are."
"Shoot me for making a living."
"They'd rather hang you, Captain, and I think that I'll take the boy for a bit while Elizabeth tells you what she knows of what happened." Ana-Maria gestured to the child, who followed her reluctantly into the bedroom at Elizabeth's urging.
"Jack . . .it really is good to see you again." Elizabeth moved forward and hugged the pirate, who returned the gesture awkwardly.
"Elizabeth, what happened?" Jack pushed a stray lock of her hair back behind her ear.
"They attacked early this morning. Will had already gone to the shop. I heard the cannon fire, and I brought the children inside. I changed out of my dress so that I could fight if it came to that, but I didn't think it would. What fool attacks during the day, when they can be seen clearly? It should have been simple for Norrington to fend them off."
"But he didn't."
"Fate seems to have frowned on Port Royal. The Commodore was killed in the first barrage . . .he never even knew what hit him."
Jack squeezed her hand tightly. "I'm sorry. He was a good commander, a good man—he must have made a wonderful godfather for Ana."
"He did. I didn't know at the time that he had been killed, of course, so I wasn't completely repaired when the raider appeared."
"Why hadn't you locked the doors?"
Elizabeth closed her eyes tightly as more tears threatened to roll down her face. "I was waiting for Will to come home."
"The raider attacked you. You fought back." Jack stated the obvious points.
"I fought to protect myself and my children. I did my best, Jack. I never stood a chance, though."
"Why?"
"He wasn't human, Jack. Go look at his body. Not a scratch on him."
Jack turned towards where the body had been rolled against the wall, then turned back to Elizabeth. "No, not a scratch. He's just missing his head."
"I cut him, Jack, I swear I did, but he didn't seem to feel it, and the injuries just disappeared."
Jack looked sharply at Elizabeth's face.
"He cut me, though, and I lost the sword. That's when Will finally got home. He was the better fighter, and I know he scored hits, but they all seemed to disappear just as they had during my battle. So when Will got the opportunity, he cut the raider's head off."
"That seems to have worked."
"For a short time. More raiders had arrived within a minute of their companion's fall. Just long enough for Will to tell me Norrington was dead and the garrison in chaos while the port burned and to beg me to take the children and find a place to hide. Just long enough for him to tell little Jack that the men were bad pirates and that's why we needed to go hide—it was the best he could think of to say at the time." Elizabeth paused.
"Did you?"
"I never had the chance. Two more raiders turned up at the door. They seemed . . .shocked that Will had killed one of their own. The first one acted like he was going to try to kill us. The second stopped him and said that they needed to take Will alive. He pulled a gun and said that he'd kill Ana if Will moved a muscle. Even Will can't kill two men with one sword throw. Will agreed to go if they left us alone. Raider two agreed." Elizabeth's voice had taken on a flat tone, completely expressionless. "He herded us into the bedroom. I have another blade in there—I thought I might get a chance to take him. I tried, Jack, I tried to protect them, but he took Ana anyway, to keep Will in check, and he beat me when I tried to stop him, then winked at me as he walked out the door. I couldn't do anything. He took my husband and my child and humiliated me in front of my son and I couldn't . . .do . . .anything!" Elizabeth's voice shook with suppressed rage.
"Easy, love. You did all you could, Elizabeth. You kept Jack safe. That's what matters at the moment. They're only a half-day ahead of the Pearl. If they wanted Will alive then we have time. Maybe Bootstrap got himself wrapped up in another curse that I don't know about."
"Jack, they could be anywhere! If the Pearl didn't see them when you were coming in, then they're too far away to find without help!"
"So we'll get help. And don't forget . . .I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, and I don't take people messing with my friends . . .my family . . .very kindly."
"How are you going to fight them, Jack?"
"Well, it's an improvement over Barbosa. At least these fellows will keel over kindly if you chop off their heads. Now run along and convince your son to pack his bags. Ana-Maria and I will be waiting to escort you to the Pearl." Elizabeth nodded and moved to comply.
"And Elizabeth." She turned to face the pirate.
"Don't worry. I'll find him. I owe him my life and quite possibly my sanity. Just time to even up the score a bit."