Shadows Over the Sea
by Illoria
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Chapter Five
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Captain Jack Sparrow opened his eyes. The light was just barely creeping into his cabin.
The sun had peeked over the horizon a little bit more by the time the Captain made his way out on deck. He was the first one up, and, he realized, probably the only one aboard the ship. The crew would've found something to do even in a small, fairly pirate-friendly town, and they wouldn't be finished with 'something' by dawn.
It was all the better anyway. Jack liked being alone when the sun rose, as he had been on many occasions, being the first to wake up when he hadn't had too much rum the night before. He stood at the stern and watched as the sun crept over the horizon, coming out over the sea and turning the ocean to liquid gold. Jack was obviously fixated by gold, but by nature he was even more taken with the ocean. A golden sea? Well, that was just a pirate"s dream come true.
He imagined that he had a while before his crew would be getting back. Looking out over the sea, fading gold as the sun rose higher, he started to drift again…
**********
William, Jack, and their comrades had been very wary of Port Royal after they'd heard of the royal navy's stationing there. They'd taken narrow side-streets instead of the busy main roads, and made their way to a small inn on the outskirts of the town. William set six gold coins down on the counter and said, "One for each room. An extra for confidentiality." The innkeeper nodded, and the pirates went upstairs. They all gathered in William"s room.
"We stay here," William said, "until we can find a way to get to Tortuga."
"How's that?" Thomas asked. "I doubt that any ship docked here will be on its way to Tortuga."
William paused, then said, "Which is why we have to wait. We should've waited on the island for a ship goin' to Tortuga. But…" He didn't need to say anymore; the crew agreed even without words.
"Well what do we do in th' meantime?" Davies asked.
"I don't s'pose we'll be goin' out that much," Harris said contemptuously.
"We can go out," William said. "As long as you stick to the side streets and skirt the navy if you see 'em."
**
One by one the pirates left the inn. Jack went, where else – to the docks. The town, as its name gave away, was a magnificent port. Jack walked up and down surveying the ships docked there. They varied from small-medium (those of merchant sailors) to large (the royal navy's ships, which Jack made sure not to get too close to should anyone be on board). He passed the Lady Rose, half-expecting to see Reggie at the bow. He shook the thought out of his head as he walked on.
The docks themselves were very busy. Some fishermen sat off the far ends with their lines cast in the water. Traders and merchants milled about the docks. Men removed cargo from their ships to bring into town.
Jack's visit was cut short, however, when he spotted a member of the royal navy among the crowds at the docks. Quickly Jack turned on his heels and darted back into town. He decided to inspect the side streets, because much to his disappointment the docks didn't appear to be a safe place for him.
He found many shops selling various things, but he didn't dare go inside any. A few taverns, but they didn't deserve the title of pub – Jack saw through their wide windows nothing but a few men chatting too soberly to be in a rightful tavern.
By evening Jack was back at the inn. So were Davies, Thomas, Harris, and Val. But not William.
"Where's Bootstrap?" Davies asked.
"At the docks, I'll bet," Harris answered.
Jack shook his head. "I was there. So was someone from the navy. William wouldn't stay."
The others mumbled their agreement.
"Well, he'll be back anyway," Harris said to the silence that had filled the room.
"You don't reckon…"
"No," Val sharply cut Thomas off. "Bootstrap's clever. He wouldn't let himself get…"
"'Course not," Jack put in.
Another silence.
"Well this is strange," Val said.
The others grumbled a bit and nodded.
"Should we go out?" Davies ventured.
"How do the pubs look?" Thomas asked.
"Not much like pubs," Jack answered.
"Well if this isn't the most 'perfect' town I"ve ever seen," said Harris in a high, mocking tone. "Let me tell you, we better be gettin' to Tortuga soon."
**
By the next morning, William still hadn't returned. Jack was alone in his room, looking out the window. To his relief, he could see the ocean from this one.
He was thinking about the series of events that had landed them temporarily stranded in Port Royal. None of the pirates could've stayed back at that town, knowing that their ship was underwater off the coast. They just couldn't; Jack couldn't really explain it, just that they'd had to get off that island and fast. But they hadn't ended up in the best of places. They hadn't even been informed of their trip to Port Royal until the last minute, not an hour before the Lady Rose had set sail.
But, Jack supposed, Port Royal was bad, but it wasn't as bad at they'd thought. Last night, the group had managed to find an area on the outskirts of the other side of town that wasn't nearly as stuffy as the rest of the place seemed. There were real pubs there, at least, much to the delight of the pirates. Jack had stayed at the inn while the rest of the crew had gone out; he sort of just wanted to be alone. He'd been feeling that way since the Voyager had sunken; that wanting to be alone. Those times, he thought of the past. Something that he didn't like thinking about.
He turned from the window very quickly as he heard a knock on the door. "William," a voice said from outside. Jack yanked open the door and William stepped in.
Jack noticed immediately that William looked different, somehow. "What's going on?" he asked.
William chuckled slightly. Jack looked at him incredulously.
"Alrigh', alrigh'," William said. He closed the door behind him. "Ya see – yesterday. I was out at the docks 'round noon. Then I saw her-"
"Her?"
"A woman. She fell off the dock," William said. "Must've slipped. Anyway, I went over and pulled her back up. Then I noticed, she was… beautiful."
Jack was looking at William even more oddly than he had been before. "William. You-"
"Anyway," William continued, caught up in his story. "Soon as she had her footing on the docks, she started scoldin' me, like. Said she knew how to swim and all, she could've saved herself." He smirked. "I apologized, 'course. Anyway. Her name's Caroline Roberts. We went into town together an' got a drink. Talked the whole day."
Jack raised his eyebrows skeptically. "You mean to tell me," he said, "that you spent the whole day with-"
"Caroline," William said. "She's real… I don"t know. Somethin' special about her. She's not one of the rich ladies from around here. She's not even from here – she came here with her brother, a sailor. She's not stayin' long, either. But she's…" William took a long time trying to find the words, but even then he couldn't. "I can't describe Caroline. But anyway, I'm meeting her again today."
Jack could not believe what he was hearing. "Does she… Does Caroline know who you are?"
William chuckled lightly. "Knows my name. Could figure out the rest, I s'pose, though I didn't tell her."
"William, you told us not to anything stupid here!" Jack said. "And you're…"
"Jack, listen," William said. "I know what you're thinkin' and I know you're wrong. I'll tell you more later, but right now I've got to meet her." And William turned and left.
**
It went on like this for the next week. William would be gone all day and into the night, coming back to the inn a couple of hours after the sun had set. Davies, Harris, Val, and Thomas went out to pubs on the outskirts of town around sunset; sometimes Jack went with them.
The brief times when William wasn't meeting Caroline, he'd be telling Jack all about her. So far, he knew that Caroline Roberts had long brown hair and bright green eyes, she'd wanted to be a schoolteacher, she wasn't married and never had been, and various other little details, snippets of conversations that William had had with Caroline…
Jack was suspicious of the whole thing. As soon as William came to his room on the seventh day of being in Port Royal (already way too long), Jack told him.
"Listen, William," he said. "You barely know Caroline-"
"Which is why I"ve been gettin' to know her," William interrupted.
"But-"
"Jack, I think I'm in love."
"What?!" Jack stared at William. What was he talking about? Had William taken a blow to the head or something, or had he had too many drinks, or…? "William, what are you talking about?"
"I know it sounds…" William said. "Stupid. But it's true. I don't know, just… Caroline. When I'm around her… it"s just like everything else stops, and all there is, is her. When I'm not around her I miss her like crazy and-"
"You just met her a week ago!" Jack said.
"I know," William said. "But it doesn"t matter. I look into her eyes, and just… I love her, Jack."
Jack took a deep breath to calm himself, and said, "William. If I must remind you, because you seem to have forgotten lately: you're a pirate!"
William sighed. "'Course I am," he said, his tone unchanged. "Caroline knows that."
A huge warning signal was going off in Jack's head. "She knows – what?!"
"She figured it out," William said. "Not like it's hard… But anyway, she doesn't mind. Actually, she loves sailing herself."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Does she also love, say, reporting you to the navy and having you sacked?"
"She wouldn't do that," William said, complete certainty in his voice. "Doesn't like the navy much herself, actually."
Jack did not know what else to say. He looked at William again, and looked into his eyes. He saw a glimmer in the chocolate-brown that hadn"t been there before.
"So you… love her," Jack said.
"So I do," William said with a small grin.
A pause. "What're you going to do?" Jack asked finally.
"I think she feels the same way," William said.
"So what? What are you planning on doing, anyway? Taking Caroline with you to Tortuga? What?"
William didn"t speak for a long time. He looked out the window. Then eventually, back at Jack. "I don't know."
********
Four more days. Then, William came back to the inn just a little later than usual. Instead of waiting until morning, he knocked on Jack's door at night. He opened it warily.
William was grinning. He told Jack to come to the docks with him. So, in the middle of the night the two roamed down the streets of Port Royal and arrived at the docks. They checked to make sure they were alone, then sat on the side of one of the docks, dangling their feet into the water.
And he told the story. William had met Caroline with flowers, which she had accepted. They'd spent the day together as usual, and at night, William had told her the three fateful words. And Caroline had echoed them.
Jack still couldn't believe it. William Turner had fallen in love with a woman named Caroline in a week. William had always been brash, but his boldness had shown in the form of suggestions to go after elusive treasures and the like. But now he'd been bold when it came to a woman he'd met in Port Royal, and they'd ended up…
It was just… odd. William was Jack's best friend, not to mention the closest thing to a father he'd ever had, and – although Jack wouldn't admit it – kind of like a hero. And this, this wasn't like him. It was too… too soft. How could it be that William Turner had been the one to plunder some of the hardest-to-get treasure, only to end up falling in love with a woman within a week spent in Port Royal, Jamaica?
Jack had seen where it all was headed ever since William had told him he'd fallen in love with Caroline. But he couldn't admit it.
He didn"t have to. William admitted it for him.
"Jack," he said, looking at Jack earnestly. Not like just a boy, but like an equal. That was how William had always looked at Jack; if Jack's memory served him right, even when Jack was no older than six.
"I'm staying with Caroline."
The words bounced around inside his brain, trying to register themselves. "No," Jack said. "No, you can't. How can you just… just give everything up?!"
"Jack, I'm not betraying you," William said. He sighed. "I'm not betraying her." He knew that William meant 'her" as the sea, not Caroline. "Caroline's not staying in Port Royal, and neither am I. We'll go somewhere else. But not Tortuga."
Jack clenched his teeth in anger. "How can you do this?!" he demanded again.
William looked at Jack, and that look said it all. That he loved Caroline, and he couldn't leave her. How could Jack ask him to leave her? In that look, Jack could almost see everything that William saw in Caroline. And in Jack's stare, he hoped that William could see everything that he didn't want to say. William had sort of been his pillar for his whole life. Although Jack knew he could very well live without William, he didn't want to lose him.
But he wasn't about to admit to that.
"Won't be goodbye, Jack," William said. "There is no doubt in the world that we'll be seein' each other again. You go to Tortuga with the others, and there you find yourself another ship. Well, you know what to do. Always were independent, after all."
Jack closed his eyes for a moment. "William," he started, opening his eyes. "Why did you do it?"
"What?" William asked.
Jack shook his head. "Why did you take me in when I was six? You had no reason to. I wasn"t anything to you. Why did you do it?"
William smiled. "I couldn't just leave you there," he said nonchalantly. Jack raised his eyebrows, knowing there was more. "Well, that's why I let you stay on the ship the first night. But after that – I saw something in you. Myself."
Jack cocked his head to the side. "You know, you really are too good a man to be a pirate."
William clicked his tongue and smirked. "Is there such a thing? Or can't a man have both?"
Jack looked up at him. Neither spoke for a long time. The water lapped at their feet below, and the moon shone bright above.
"How do you suppose we'll be getting out of here?" Jack said finally.
William threw a glance over at the row of ships. "Take your pick," he said simply.
Jack gave William a suspicious look. "'Take your pick'?" he repeated. "Of the royal navy's flagships?" The idea was actually pretty funny. Jack pictured himself and the pirates sauntering over to the royal navy's pride ship, yelling up to the red-coated Captain that they wanted passage to Tortuga. He pictured the royal navy shouting down to them, 'Tortuga? No problem!' It was hilarious, but just crazy.
"I don't mean get a ride with them," William said, rolling his eyes. He lowered his voice. "I mean get a ride... without them."
"What?!" Jack exclaimed for the umpteenth time that night.
"How else are you all going to get to Tortuga?" William said. "'Sides. It'd be nice to see 'em get theirs." William nodded toward a sign on the docks. 'Pirates Beware.'
"So," Jack said, William's plan getting to him. William had a way of doing that, telling you something crazy but getting you to believe that you could do it. "What's the plan?"
William's eyes sparkled. "Morning," he said, getting up from the docks. "I"ll tell all of ya' in the morning."
**
Morning came, and all of the pirates gathered in William"s room like they had the first night in Port Royal. William told them everything, and a toned-down version of William and Jack"s conversation the night before played out, not as emotion-worn seeing as the crew and William didn"t have 'quite' the same history that William and Jack had. Then, William told them about his plan to 'get a ride' on one of the ships in the docks.
"She's called the HMS Brigadier. Not one of their favorite ships, but a good one anyway – not nearly as heavily guarded as the others. Here"s the plan."
Then, William laid out a very well-thought-out plan. By the end of his speech, the crew was smirking, eyes sparkling slightly at the prospect.
"You think it'll work?" Val said.
William chuckled. "Of course it'll work," he said, as if anyone thinking otherwise was positively mad. "It's foolproof."
There was a very long silence, during which no one else protested to William's plan.
"Who's gonna be in charge?" Davies finally asked.
"Jack, of course," William said.
Jack's eyes widened. "Me?" he asked stupidly. "You're leaving me in charge?"
"'Course," William said. "Me and you, Jack, are the ones who know the most about a ship. Since I'm not comin', that leaves you."
Jack stared, wide-eyed. William was leaving him in charge of not only commandeering one of the royal navy's flagships, but bringing her into Tortuga.
"S'pose it's true," Harris said.
"So," William said. "All of you swear to follow Jack Sparrow's orders while aboard. Savvy?"
"Aye," Davies, Thomas, Harris, and Val said together.
"It's done then," William said. "Evening, at the docks."
**
Evening came, and with it the pirate crew went to the docks. William and the crew said their goodbyes, and then William turned to Jack. Neither spoke for a little while, but eventually, Jack extended his hand to William. "'Till next time," he said.
William took Jack's hand and shook it. "'Till then."
William stepped back and made to walk away. Then, he spun around on his heels and threw Jack a small package. He caught it, and looked up at William.
"By the way," William said, taking two more steps backward. "Happy fifteenth." Then he was gone.
********
And so it was that on Jack Sparrow's fifteenth birthday he commandeered his first ship. Jack smiled at the memory of the first (hugely) illegal activity he'd been in charge of.
William's plan had been foolproof just like he'd said it would. The ship had drifted away from the docks, and by the time the royal navy started firing shots at the pirates who had commandeered it they were far enough away to have no risk of being hit by one of the bullets. And when the navy had raised the anchor of another one of their flagships, the HMS Cavalier, to follow the stolen ship, and gotten up close enough to board, Jack and the other pirates switched over to the Cavalier and glided out of the harbor before the navy had even realized what they'd done.
William's plan had in fact been so foolproof that twenty-one years later, Jack and William's son commandeered the HMS Interceptor using the same plan that Jack and the others had used for the Cavalier.
Bootstrap would've been proud.
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A/N: Wow, I'm writing this really fast, aren't I? For about the past week I've been staying up almost till midnight each night writing Shadows. :) Again and again and again thank you to the reviewers because if you weren't reviewing then I wouldn't be writing so much..! :)
Don't worry, this story is not finished! ;) I intend to go right up to Jack becoming Captain of the Black Pearl. Chapter 6 will come soon!!
*nudges you toward review button* ;)
by Illoria
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Chapter Five
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Captain Jack Sparrow opened his eyes. The light was just barely creeping into his cabin.
The sun had peeked over the horizon a little bit more by the time the Captain made his way out on deck. He was the first one up, and, he realized, probably the only one aboard the ship. The crew would've found something to do even in a small, fairly pirate-friendly town, and they wouldn't be finished with 'something' by dawn.
It was all the better anyway. Jack liked being alone when the sun rose, as he had been on many occasions, being the first to wake up when he hadn't had too much rum the night before. He stood at the stern and watched as the sun crept over the horizon, coming out over the sea and turning the ocean to liquid gold. Jack was obviously fixated by gold, but by nature he was even more taken with the ocean. A golden sea? Well, that was just a pirate"s dream come true.
He imagined that he had a while before his crew would be getting back. Looking out over the sea, fading gold as the sun rose higher, he started to drift again…
**********
William, Jack, and their comrades had been very wary of Port Royal after they'd heard of the royal navy's stationing there. They'd taken narrow side-streets instead of the busy main roads, and made their way to a small inn on the outskirts of the town. William set six gold coins down on the counter and said, "One for each room. An extra for confidentiality." The innkeeper nodded, and the pirates went upstairs. They all gathered in William"s room.
"We stay here," William said, "until we can find a way to get to Tortuga."
"How's that?" Thomas asked. "I doubt that any ship docked here will be on its way to Tortuga."
William paused, then said, "Which is why we have to wait. We should've waited on the island for a ship goin' to Tortuga. But…" He didn't need to say anymore; the crew agreed even without words.
"Well what do we do in th' meantime?" Davies asked.
"I don't s'pose we'll be goin' out that much," Harris said contemptuously.
"We can go out," William said. "As long as you stick to the side streets and skirt the navy if you see 'em."
**
One by one the pirates left the inn. Jack went, where else – to the docks. The town, as its name gave away, was a magnificent port. Jack walked up and down surveying the ships docked there. They varied from small-medium (those of merchant sailors) to large (the royal navy's ships, which Jack made sure not to get too close to should anyone be on board). He passed the Lady Rose, half-expecting to see Reggie at the bow. He shook the thought out of his head as he walked on.
The docks themselves were very busy. Some fishermen sat off the far ends with their lines cast in the water. Traders and merchants milled about the docks. Men removed cargo from their ships to bring into town.
Jack's visit was cut short, however, when he spotted a member of the royal navy among the crowds at the docks. Quickly Jack turned on his heels and darted back into town. He decided to inspect the side streets, because much to his disappointment the docks didn't appear to be a safe place for him.
He found many shops selling various things, but he didn't dare go inside any. A few taverns, but they didn't deserve the title of pub – Jack saw through their wide windows nothing but a few men chatting too soberly to be in a rightful tavern.
By evening Jack was back at the inn. So were Davies, Thomas, Harris, and Val. But not William.
"Where's Bootstrap?" Davies asked.
"At the docks, I'll bet," Harris answered.
Jack shook his head. "I was there. So was someone from the navy. William wouldn't stay."
The others mumbled their agreement.
"Well, he'll be back anyway," Harris said to the silence that had filled the room.
"You don't reckon…"
"No," Val sharply cut Thomas off. "Bootstrap's clever. He wouldn't let himself get…"
"'Course not," Jack put in.
Another silence.
"Well this is strange," Val said.
The others grumbled a bit and nodded.
"Should we go out?" Davies ventured.
"How do the pubs look?" Thomas asked.
"Not much like pubs," Jack answered.
"Well if this isn't the most 'perfect' town I"ve ever seen," said Harris in a high, mocking tone. "Let me tell you, we better be gettin' to Tortuga soon."
**
By the next morning, William still hadn't returned. Jack was alone in his room, looking out the window. To his relief, he could see the ocean from this one.
He was thinking about the series of events that had landed them temporarily stranded in Port Royal. None of the pirates could've stayed back at that town, knowing that their ship was underwater off the coast. They just couldn't; Jack couldn't really explain it, just that they'd had to get off that island and fast. But they hadn't ended up in the best of places. They hadn't even been informed of their trip to Port Royal until the last minute, not an hour before the Lady Rose had set sail.
But, Jack supposed, Port Royal was bad, but it wasn't as bad at they'd thought. Last night, the group had managed to find an area on the outskirts of the other side of town that wasn't nearly as stuffy as the rest of the place seemed. There were real pubs there, at least, much to the delight of the pirates. Jack had stayed at the inn while the rest of the crew had gone out; he sort of just wanted to be alone. He'd been feeling that way since the Voyager had sunken; that wanting to be alone. Those times, he thought of the past. Something that he didn't like thinking about.
He turned from the window very quickly as he heard a knock on the door. "William," a voice said from outside. Jack yanked open the door and William stepped in.
Jack noticed immediately that William looked different, somehow. "What's going on?" he asked.
William chuckled slightly. Jack looked at him incredulously.
"Alrigh', alrigh'," William said. He closed the door behind him. "Ya see – yesterday. I was out at the docks 'round noon. Then I saw her-"
"Her?"
"A woman. She fell off the dock," William said. "Must've slipped. Anyway, I went over and pulled her back up. Then I noticed, she was… beautiful."
Jack was looking at William even more oddly than he had been before. "William. You-"
"Anyway," William continued, caught up in his story. "Soon as she had her footing on the docks, she started scoldin' me, like. Said she knew how to swim and all, she could've saved herself." He smirked. "I apologized, 'course. Anyway. Her name's Caroline Roberts. We went into town together an' got a drink. Talked the whole day."
Jack raised his eyebrows skeptically. "You mean to tell me," he said, "that you spent the whole day with-"
"Caroline," William said. "She's real… I don"t know. Somethin' special about her. She's not one of the rich ladies from around here. She's not even from here – she came here with her brother, a sailor. She's not stayin' long, either. But she's…" William took a long time trying to find the words, but even then he couldn't. "I can't describe Caroline. But anyway, I'm meeting her again today."
Jack could not believe what he was hearing. "Does she… Does Caroline know who you are?"
William chuckled lightly. "Knows my name. Could figure out the rest, I s'pose, though I didn't tell her."
"William, you told us not to anything stupid here!" Jack said. "And you're…"
"Jack, listen," William said. "I know what you're thinkin' and I know you're wrong. I'll tell you more later, but right now I've got to meet her." And William turned and left.
**
It went on like this for the next week. William would be gone all day and into the night, coming back to the inn a couple of hours after the sun had set. Davies, Harris, Val, and Thomas went out to pubs on the outskirts of town around sunset; sometimes Jack went with them.
The brief times when William wasn't meeting Caroline, he'd be telling Jack all about her. So far, he knew that Caroline Roberts had long brown hair and bright green eyes, she'd wanted to be a schoolteacher, she wasn't married and never had been, and various other little details, snippets of conversations that William had had with Caroline…
Jack was suspicious of the whole thing. As soon as William came to his room on the seventh day of being in Port Royal (already way too long), Jack told him.
"Listen, William," he said. "You barely know Caroline-"
"Which is why I"ve been gettin' to know her," William interrupted.
"But-"
"Jack, I think I'm in love."
"What?!" Jack stared at William. What was he talking about? Had William taken a blow to the head or something, or had he had too many drinks, or…? "William, what are you talking about?"
"I know it sounds…" William said. "Stupid. But it's true. I don't know, just… Caroline. When I'm around her… it"s just like everything else stops, and all there is, is her. When I'm not around her I miss her like crazy and-"
"You just met her a week ago!" Jack said.
"I know," William said. "But it doesn"t matter. I look into her eyes, and just… I love her, Jack."
Jack took a deep breath to calm himself, and said, "William. If I must remind you, because you seem to have forgotten lately: you're a pirate!"
William sighed. "'Course I am," he said, his tone unchanged. "Caroline knows that."
A huge warning signal was going off in Jack's head. "She knows – what?!"
"She figured it out," William said. "Not like it's hard… But anyway, she doesn't mind. Actually, she loves sailing herself."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Does she also love, say, reporting you to the navy and having you sacked?"
"She wouldn't do that," William said, complete certainty in his voice. "Doesn't like the navy much herself, actually."
Jack did not know what else to say. He looked at William again, and looked into his eyes. He saw a glimmer in the chocolate-brown that hadn"t been there before.
"So you… love her," Jack said.
"So I do," William said with a small grin.
A pause. "What're you going to do?" Jack asked finally.
"I think she feels the same way," William said.
"So what? What are you planning on doing, anyway? Taking Caroline with you to Tortuga? What?"
William didn"t speak for a long time. He looked out the window. Then eventually, back at Jack. "I don't know."
********
Four more days. Then, William came back to the inn just a little later than usual. Instead of waiting until morning, he knocked on Jack's door at night. He opened it warily.
William was grinning. He told Jack to come to the docks with him. So, in the middle of the night the two roamed down the streets of Port Royal and arrived at the docks. They checked to make sure they were alone, then sat on the side of one of the docks, dangling their feet into the water.
And he told the story. William had met Caroline with flowers, which she had accepted. They'd spent the day together as usual, and at night, William had told her the three fateful words. And Caroline had echoed them.
Jack still couldn't believe it. William Turner had fallen in love with a woman named Caroline in a week. William had always been brash, but his boldness had shown in the form of suggestions to go after elusive treasures and the like. But now he'd been bold when it came to a woman he'd met in Port Royal, and they'd ended up…
It was just… odd. William was Jack's best friend, not to mention the closest thing to a father he'd ever had, and – although Jack wouldn't admit it – kind of like a hero. And this, this wasn't like him. It was too… too soft. How could it be that William Turner had been the one to plunder some of the hardest-to-get treasure, only to end up falling in love with a woman within a week spent in Port Royal, Jamaica?
Jack had seen where it all was headed ever since William had told him he'd fallen in love with Caroline. But he couldn't admit it.
He didn"t have to. William admitted it for him.
"Jack," he said, looking at Jack earnestly. Not like just a boy, but like an equal. That was how William had always looked at Jack; if Jack's memory served him right, even when Jack was no older than six.
"I'm staying with Caroline."
The words bounced around inside his brain, trying to register themselves. "No," Jack said. "No, you can't. How can you just… just give everything up?!"
"Jack, I'm not betraying you," William said. He sighed. "I'm not betraying her." He knew that William meant 'her" as the sea, not Caroline. "Caroline's not staying in Port Royal, and neither am I. We'll go somewhere else. But not Tortuga."
Jack clenched his teeth in anger. "How can you do this?!" he demanded again.
William looked at Jack, and that look said it all. That he loved Caroline, and he couldn't leave her. How could Jack ask him to leave her? In that look, Jack could almost see everything that William saw in Caroline. And in Jack's stare, he hoped that William could see everything that he didn't want to say. William had sort of been his pillar for his whole life. Although Jack knew he could very well live without William, he didn't want to lose him.
But he wasn't about to admit to that.
"Won't be goodbye, Jack," William said. "There is no doubt in the world that we'll be seein' each other again. You go to Tortuga with the others, and there you find yourself another ship. Well, you know what to do. Always were independent, after all."
Jack closed his eyes for a moment. "William," he started, opening his eyes. "Why did you do it?"
"What?" William asked.
Jack shook his head. "Why did you take me in when I was six? You had no reason to. I wasn"t anything to you. Why did you do it?"
William smiled. "I couldn't just leave you there," he said nonchalantly. Jack raised his eyebrows, knowing there was more. "Well, that's why I let you stay on the ship the first night. But after that – I saw something in you. Myself."
Jack cocked his head to the side. "You know, you really are too good a man to be a pirate."
William clicked his tongue and smirked. "Is there such a thing? Or can't a man have both?"
Jack looked up at him. Neither spoke for a long time. The water lapped at their feet below, and the moon shone bright above.
"How do you suppose we'll be getting out of here?" Jack said finally.
William threw a glance over at the row of ships. "Take your pick," he said simply.
Jack gave William a suspicious look. "'Take your pick'?" he repeated. "Of the royal navy's flagships?" The idea was actually pretty funny. Jack pictured himself and the pirates sauntering over to the royal navy's pride ship, yelling up to the red-coated Captain that they wanted passage to Tortuga. He pictured the royal navy shouting down to them, 'Tortuga? No problem!' It was hilarious, but just crazy.
"I don't mean get a ride with them," William said, rolling his eyes. He lowered his voice. "I mean get a ride... without them."
"What?!" Jack exclaimed for the umpteenth time that night.
"How else are you all going to get to Tortuga?" William said. "'Sides. It'd be nice to see 'em get theirs." William nodded toward a sign on the docks. 'Pirates Beware.'
"So," Jack said, William's plan getting to him. William had a way of doing that, telling you something crazy but getting you to believe that you could do it. "What's the plan?"
William's eyes sparkled. "Morning," he said, getting up from the docks. "I"ll tell all of ya' in the morning."
**
Morning came, and all of the pirates gathered in William"s room like they had the first night in Port Royal. William told them everything, and a toned-down version of William and Jack"s conversation the night before played out, not as emotion-worn seeing as the crew and William didn"t have 'quite' the same history that William and Jack had. Then, William told them about his plan to 'get a ride' on one of the ships in the docks.
"She's called the HMS Brigadier. Not one of their favorite ships, but a good one anyway – not nearly as heavily guarded as the others. Here"s the plan."
Then, William laid out a very well-thought-out plan. By the end of his speech, the crew was smirking, eyes sparkling slightly at the prospect.
"You think it'll work?" Val said.
William chuckled. "Of course it'll work," he said, as if anyone thinking otherwise was positively mad. "It's foolproof."
There was a very long silence, during which no one else protested to William's plan.
"Who's gonna be in charge?" Davies finally asked.
"Jack, of course," William said.
Jack's eyes widened. "Me?" he asked stupidly. "You're leaving me in charge?"
"'Course," William said. "Me and you, Jack, are the ones who know the most about a ship. Since I'm not comin', that leaves you."
Jack stared, wide-eyed. William was leaving him in charge of not only commandeering one of the royal navy's flagships, but bringing her into Tortuga.
"S'pose it's true," Harris said.
"So," William said. "All of you swear to follow Jack Sparrow's orders while aboard. Savvy?"
"Aye," Davies, Thomas, Harris, and Val said together.
"It's done then," William said. "Evening, at the docks."
**
Evening came, and with it the pirate crew went to the docks. William and the crew said their goodbyes, and then William turned to Jack. Neither spoke for a little while, but eventually, Jack extended his hand to William. "'Till next time," he said.
William took Jack's hand and shook it. "'Till then."
William stepped back and made to walk away. Then, he spun around on his heels and threw Jack a small package. He caught it, and looked up at William.
"By the way," William said, taking two more steps backward. "Happy fifteenth." Then he was gone.
********
And so it was that on Jack Sparrow's fifteenth birthday he commandeered his first ship. Jack smiled at the memory of the first (hugely) illegal activity he'd been in charge of.
William's plan had been foolproof just like he'd said it would. The ship had drifted away from the docks, and by the time the royal navy started firing shots at the pirates who had commandeered it they were far enough away to have no risk of being hit by one of the bullets. And when the navy had raised the anchor of another one of their flagships, the HMS Cavalier, to follow the stolen ship, and gotten up close enough to board, Jack and the other pirates switched over to the Cavalier and glided out of the harbor before the navy had even realized what they'd done.
William's plan had in fact been so foolproof that twenty-one years later, Jack and William's son commandeered the HMS Interceptor using the same plan that Jack and the others had used for the Cavalier.
Bootstrap would've been proud.
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A/N: Wow, I'm writing this really fast, aren't I? For about the past week I've been staying up almost till midnight each night writing Shadows. :) Again and again and again thank you to the reviewers because if you weren't reviewing then I wouldn't be writing so much..! :)
Don't worry, this story is not finished! ;) I intend to go right up to Jack becoming Captain of the Black Pearl. Chapter 6 will come soon!!
*nudges you toward review button* ;)