Chapter Fourteen-Governor Swann
*This story just seems to get longer and longer...keep up, everyone, I'll finish it eventually!
"Miss Catherine!"
"Mr. Gibbs!" Catherine shouted as she and Jack climbed aboard the Black Pearl. "It's
wonderful to see you!" She ran up to the scruffy old sailor and gave him a huge hug, which caught
Gibbs completely off guard. He wasn't used to being assaulted by young ladies that didn't work on the
street corner in Tortuga.
" Happy ter see you too, miss!"
"Gibbs, you don't have to call me 'miss'. You may as well start calling me just Catherine, or
Cate, since you'll be seeing a lot more of me soon," Catherine replied with a smile. Gibbs, as well as
the other crew members who had gathered to say hello looked at her with puzzlement. Catherine just
smiled up at Jack, who was standing behind her, laughing at the confusion which was coming over the
crew. "Care to do the honors, Jack?" He responded with a wave of his hand.
"Certainly, m'dear. All hands on deck!" Jack shouted to the crew, all of whom were quickly
assembled on deck. Their captain was beaming and swaying back and forth even more than he usually
did. "Everybody here? Good. Gents...and Anna Maria...." Jack said with an apologetic wave to the
tough (and easily angered) woman, "I'd like ye all ter meet Catherine....the future Mrs. Captain Jack
Sparrow!"
Silence. The crew gaped at them, mouths hanging open, unable to fathom the idea that anyone
would actually want to marry Jack Sparrow. Catherine looked back and forth from Jack to his crew,
hardly able to contain the laughter which threatened to take over her body at the sight. Jack stuck his
head forward, waiting for his crew to react. Finally, the silence was broken as Gibbs let out a cheer
and rushed up to congratulate the couple (and warn Catherine what she was getting herself into), an
action that most of the pirates repeated.
"Hope yer ready ter put up with him full time, lass," said Gibbs merrily as he clapped Jack on
the back. As Anna Maria was congratulating Catherine, Gibbs leaned over and whispered to Jack,
who was grinning idiotically, "Well done, mate. I knew ye'd find a keeper one o' these days."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour or so later Jack and Catherine were in a rowboat back to shore. Upon
reaching the docks, Catherine stepped out of the boat, pushing Jack back in as he made to climb out
behind her. The pirate looked up at her with an openly confused look on his face. Catherine just
shook her head.
"Sorry, Jack, but you've got to stay on the Pearl for a little while. I don't want to give
Norrington the chance to hang you for walking down the street." Jack crossed his arms, trying to
appear pouty. "Savvy?" Catherine added as an afterthought, making Jack laugh.
"All right, you win, love," he conceded. "I'll send someone to wait at the docks if ye need me."
He looked up at her with a sly grin on his face and turned up the corners of his moustache as he
wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "That is, if ye want me..."
"Haha! Not just yet, Captain Sparrow," Catherine said in between laughs as Jack sat in the
rowboat trying to look provocative. "Don't get ahead of yourself, darling. There's still a wedding
that's got to take place, remember?" Jack let out an exaggerated sigh.
"All right, all right....see ye soon, love," he said as Catherine reached down to kiss him. "I'll
just be out there on my ship....full of men....and Anna Maria......and a parrot." He rowed off back to
the Pearl huffing and puffing, leaving Catherine standing on the pier, laughing and waving. After he
disappeared from sight, she turned and began walking back towards the governor's mansion.
When Catherine was in sight of home, she met Will coming back from the market with things
for Elizabeth and the baby. When asked if she was coming to the house, she just shook her head.
"No, thank you Will. I'm going to talk to father." Will stopped dead in his tracks.
"You're doing what?"
"Going to talk to father." Will's eyes got very wide.
"You're going to talk to him about...."
"Yes."
"That could be...."
"I know."
"Are you sure..."
"Positive." Will just stood there staring at his sister-in-law in marvel at her daring. Governor
Swann was deeply upset when Elizabeth chose to marry a blacksmith. One could only guess what he
would do if he found out Catherine was going to marry a pirate.
"Does Elizabeth know about this?"
"No, but you are free to inform her. I don't know what good it would do, since she's not
exactly capable of running down the street to stop me at the moment." Catherine began walking
determinedly towards the mansion. Will dashed in front of her.
"At least wait a few minutes so we can go with you. Moral support, you know." Catherine
crossed her arms and stood in thought for a minute.
"Oh all right." It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have Will and Elizabeth there to help back
up her decision. "I'm going to go on up to the mansion, but I promise not to say anything until you get
there. Fair enough?" Will nodded.
"Fair enough."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Catherine and Governor Swann sat in the parlor of the governor's mansion drinking tea in
silence.
"Catherine?"
"Yes father?" The governor put down his cup and looked at his eldest daughter.
"Is there something you need to tell me or are you just maintaining this awkward silence for
fun?" Catherine almost dropped her cup.
"Actually, there is, but I promised Will and Elizabeth that I wouldn't tell you until they got here."
Governor Swann turned his head, confused.
"Why is that?" Catherine grew more tense as the seconds pressed on. She became more and
more glad that Elizabeth and Will would be here when she finally did tell him.
"They wanted to be here for moral support, so to speak." The governor became even more
confused and slightly vexed by this answer.
"Is this something so great that you need moral support?"
"Yes."
"Catherine...." Just at that moment a servant opened the parlor door and Will, Elizabeth, and
baby Jack entered the room. They immediately sat down, Will and the baby in a chair next to his
father-in-law and Elizabeth next to her sister on the sofa. Their faces were tense. Governor Swann
grew more and more uneasy. "Catherine, what's going on?" Catherine cleared her throat and began.
"Father, I didn't exactly tell you everything that happened last year."
"What do you mean? I thought we had been through all this?" Catherine looked down at her
lap, more timid than she had ever been.
"We have, it's just that every time we've talked about it I've left out a very important detail."
Her father leaned forward, waiting for an explanation of what that detail was.
"And that is..." Elizabeth squeezed her sister's hand. Catherine raised her head and looked her
father straight in the eye.
"The thing is this: while we were away, I...I fell in love." Governor Swann stared at her,
racking his brain trying to think of who this mystery man could be that had won the heart of his wild
daughter.
"And who exactly did you fall in love with? One of our soldiers, perhaps?" He was trying to
think of the most favorable of answers to this question, but was discouraged by the look on Catherine's
face. "Do I even know this man?"
"Yes. Vaguely, but you do know him." The governor looked from Elizabeth to Will and back
again, trying to get some kind of hint from them. "You've said that you've known something has been
bothering me, and this is it. I've been separated from him for a year, and now he's come back,
and...we want to get married." Governor Swann blinked hard and shook his head, trying to absorb this
information.
"You want to get married?" Catherine nodded. "Well, spit it out, child, who is he?"
"Jack Sparrow." The governor's jaw dropped. He just sat there wide eyed and staring at his
daughter. Had he heard her right? Did she say Jack Sparrow? Jack Sparrow the pirate? After what
seemed like an eternity, he broke the silence which had taken over the sunny room.
"I'm sorry, did you say Jack Sparrow? The pirate?"
"Yes."
"You want to marry a pirate!" The governor began to react the way they had all dreaded. He
rose quickly and began pacing the room, ranting as he went. "Jack Sparrow!! Good God, Catherine,
the man's a bloody pirate! He's infamous! He a scoundrel! I thought it was bad when Elizabeth
married a blacksmith, but I should have known you'd have to find some way to top that....a pirate! I'd
have thought that my wishes meant slightly more to you than that!" Catherine's face grew red with
anger. Will made as if to try and talk to the governor, but Elizabeth shook her head. She knew what
was coming, and she knew that it had to happen.
"How DARE you say that to me!" Governor Swann stopped pacing and stared at his
daughter, who had sprung to her feet and was now shouting angrily at him over the cries of baby Jack.
"For all but this last year of my life you have tried to force me to go against all of my own wishes so that
yours could be fulfilled. You have always made me do things I hated; stupid etiquette lessons, dinner
parties, balls, and you made me put up with countless suitors who were no more suitable matches for
me than a barmaid would be for you! Don't you talk to me about respect for your wishes when you
have never respected mine!" The governor was dumbstruck. Catherine had never spoken like this to
him in her entire life. She had defied him countless times, but for her to be this openly adverse was a
new experience. After catching her breath, Catherine continued. "I love Jack and he loves me. I am
going to marry him whether you like it or not, but I was hoping you would understand how important
this is to me. I wanted my father to give me away at my wedding, but if you can't bring yourself to do
that, fine!" With that Catherine stormed off, slamming the door behind her. Elizabeth ran after her only
to find the door to her bedroom locked. She returned to the parlor to find her father staring at the door
in shock and her husband sitting there, quite distressed, trying to calm their screaming son. She calmly
took baby Jack from Will, hushed his screams, and handed him to a maid who was unfortunate enough
to be changing the candlesticks during the incident.
"Hold him, will you?" Elizabeth then turned to Governor Swann, motioning for Will to follow
her actions. "Father?" The governor was shaken out of his state of shock and bent his face down to
his younger daughter and her husband.
"Elizabeth. She can't...she wouldn't...would she?" Elizabeth sighed and pulled her father over
to the couch.
"Now father, did you ever believe that Catherine would be the type to marry any of the kinds of
men you would wish her to?" She continued before giving him a chance to answer. "She's too wild
and passionate to settle down with anyone, but she is the perfect woman to sail the seas as the wife of a
pirate." The governor brought his hand to his forehead.
"But..."
"There is no 'but', father. Catherine loves Jack with all of her heart and soul, and he loves her
just as much as she loves him. I know you could see how she's been this last year. Can you not see
the change now that he's back in her life? If you tried to separate them again, she would only run
away. If you tried and succeeded, it would kill her." Governor Swann put his head in his hands. "Can
you not see that this must be?"
"Will?"
"Yes, Governor?"
"Do you think this as well?" The mild mannered blacksmith sighed and clasped his hands
behind his back.
"Who else could Catherine be happy with but a pirate? This would be the life she's always
dreamed of." The governor looked up, becoming more resigned.
"Would he hurt her?" Will shook his head vehemently.
"Jack would die before he did anything to hurt Catherine." Elizabeth took her father's hand
gently.
"You've said yourself how much more respect you've gained for Jack since you've learned
what he did; you said he must be a good and noble man. Don't let this change your opinion. Let him
be the man who was good and noble enough to earn Catherine's love. No one else could deserve it
more." The governor shook his head and stood up, regaining his composure. He nodded to his
daughter and son-in-law and left the room, walking upstairs and knocking on Catherine's door.
"Catherine?"
"What do you want?"
"Open the door, please." She pulled the door back and stood defiantly staring up at her father
as angry tears ran down her cheeks.
"Yes?" Governor Swann gave a small smile to his daughter and held out his arms.
"You can't be angry with me. After all, we've got a wedding to arrange." Catherine's mouth
gaped open. She stared at her father in disbelief for a moment before throwing herself into his
embrace.
"Oh thank you, father."
*This story just seems to get longer and longer...keep up, everyone, I'll finish it eventually!
"Miss Catherine!"
"Mr. Gibbs!" Catherine shouted as she and Jack climbed aboard the Black Pearl. "It's
wonderful to see you!" She ran up to the scruffy old sailor and gave him a huge hug, which caught
Gibbs completely off guard. He wasn't used to being assaulted by young ladies that didn't work on the
street corner in Tortuga.
" Happy ter see you too, miss!"
"Gibbs, you don't have to call me 'miss'. You may as well start calling me just Catherine, or
Cate, since you'll be seeing a lot more of me soon," Catherine replied with a smile. Gibbs, as well as
the other crew members who had gathered to say hello looked at her with puzzlement. Catherine just
smiled up at Jack, who was standing behind her, laughing at the confusion which was coming over the
crew. "Care to do the honors, Jack?" He responded with a wave of his hand.
"Certainly, m'dear. All hands on deck!" Jack shouted to the crew, all of whom were quickly
assembled on deck. Their captain was beaming and swaying back and forth even more than he usually
did. "Everybody here? Good. Gents...and Anna Maria...." Jack said with an apologetic wave to the
tough (and easily angered) woman, "I'd like ye all ter meet Catherine....the future Mrs. Captain Jack
Sparrow!"
Silence. The crew gaped at them, mouths hanging open, unable to fathom the idea that anyone
would actually want to marry Jack Sparrow. Catherine looked back and forth from Jack to his crew,
hardly able to contain the laughter which threatened to take over her body at the sight. Jack stuck his
head forward, waiting for his crew to react. Finally, the silence was broken as Gibbs let out a cheer
and rushed up to congratulate the couple (and warn Catherine what she was getting herself into), an
action that most of the pirates repeated.
"Hope yer ready ter put up with him full time, lass," said Gibbs merrily as he clapped Jack on
the back. As Anna Maria was congratulating Catherine, Gibbs leaned over and whispered to Jack,
who was grinning idiotically, "Well done, mate. I knew ye'd find a keeper one o' these days."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour or so later Jack and Catherine were in a rowboat back to shore. Upon
reaching the docks, Catherine stepped out of the boat, pushing Jack back in as he made to climb out
behind her. The pirate looked up at her with an openly confused look on his face. Catherine just
shook her head.
"Sorry, Jack, but you've got to stay on the Pearl for a little while. I don't want to give
Norrington the chance to hang you for walking down the street." Jack crossed his arms, trying to
appear pouty. "Savvy?" Catherine added as an afterthought, making Jack laugh.
"All right, you win, love," he conceded. "I'll send someone to wait at the docks if ye need me."
He looked up at her with a sly grin on his face and turned up the corners of his moustache as he
wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "That is, if ye want me..."
"Haha! Not just yet, Captain Sparrow," Catherine said in between laughs as Jack sat in the
rowboat trying to look provocative. "Don't get ahead of yourself, darling. There's still a wedding
that's got to take place, remember?" Jack let out an exaggerated sigh.
"All right, all right....see ye soon, love," he said as Catherine reached down to kiss him. "I'll
just be out there on my ship....full of men....and Anna Maria......and a parrot." He rowed off back to
the Pearl huffing and puffing, leaving Catherine standing on the pier, laughing and waving. After he
disappeared from sight, she turned and began walking back towards the governor's mansion.
When Catherine was in sight of home, she met Will coming back from the market with things
for Elizabeth and the baby. When asked if she was coming to the house, she just shook her head.
"No, thank you Will. I'm going to talk to father." Will stopped dead in his tracks.
"You're doing what?"
"Going to talk to father." Will's eyes got very wide.
"You're going to talk to him about...."
"Yes."
"That could be...."
"I know."
"Are you sure..."
"Positive." Will just stood there staring at his sister-in-law in marvel at her daring. Governor
Swann was deeply upset when Elizabeth chose to marry a blacksmith. One could only guess what he
would do if he found out Catherine was going to marry a pirate.
"Does Elizabeth know about this?"
"No, but you are free to inform her. I don't know what good it would do, since she's not
exactly capable of running down the street to stop me at the moment." Catherine began walking
determinedly towards the mansion. Will dashed in front of her.
"At least wait a few minutes so we can go with you. Moral support, you know." Catherine
crossed her arms and stood in thought for a minute.
"Oh all right." It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have Will and Elizabeth there to help back
up her decision. "I'm going to go on up to the mansion, but I promise not to say anything until you get
there. Fair enough?" Will nodded.
"Fair enough."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Catherine and Governor Swann sat in the parlor of the governor's mansion drinking tea in
silence.
"Catherine?"
"Yes father?" The governor put down his cup and looked at his eldest daughter.
"Is there something you need to tell me or are you just maintaining this awkward silence for
fun?" Catherine almost dropped her cup.
"Actually, there is, but I promised Will and Elizabeth that I wouldn't tell you until they got here."
Governor Swann turned his head, confused.
"Why is that?" Catherine grew more tense as the seconds pressed on. She became more and
more glad that Elizabeth and Will would be here when she finally did tell him.
"They wanted to be here for moral support, so to speak." The governor became even more
confused and slightly vexed by this answer.
"Is this something so great that you need moral support?"
"Yes."
"Catherine...." Just at that moment a servant opened the parlor door and Will, Elizabeth, and
baby Jack entered the room. They immediately sat down, Will and the baby in a chair next to his
father-in-law and Elizabeth next to her sister on the sofa. Their faces were tense. Governor Swann
grew more and more uneasy. "Catherine, what's going on?" Catherine cleared her throat and began.
"Father, I didn't exactly tell you everything that happened last year."
"What do you mean? I thought we had been through all this?" Catherine looked down at her
lap, more timid than she had ever been.
"We have, it's just that every time we've talked about it I've left out a very important detail."
Her father leaned forward, waiting for an explanation of what that detail was.
"And that is..." Elizabeth squeezed her sister's hand. Catherine raised her head and looked her
father straight in the eye.
"The thing is this: while we were away, I...I fell in love." Governor Swann stared at her,
racking his brain trying to think of who this mystery man could be that had won the heart of his wild
daughter.
"And who exactly did you fall in love with? One of our soldiers, perhaps?" He was trying to
think of the most favorable of answers to this question, but was discouraged by the look on Catherine's
face. "Do I even know this man?"
"Yes. Vaguely, but you do know him." The governor looked from Elizabeth to Will and back
again, trying to get some kind of hint from them. "You've said that you've known something has been
bothering me, and this is it. I've been separated from him for a year, and now he's come back,
and...we want to get married." Governor Swann blinked hard and shook his head, trying to absorb this
information.
"You want to get married?" Catherine nodded. "Well, spit it out, child, who is he?"
"Jack Sparrow." The governor's jaw dropped. He just sat there wide eyed and staring at his
daughter. Had he heard her right? Did she say Jack Sparrow? Jack Sparrow the pirate? After what
seemed like an eternity, he broke the silence which had taken over the sunny room.
"I'm sorry, did you say Jack Sparrow? The pirate?"
"Yes."
"You want to marry a pirate!" The governor began to react the way they had all dreaded. He
rose quickly and began pacing the room, ranting as he went. "Jack Sparrow!! Good God, Catherine,
the man's a bloody pirate! He's infamous! He a scoundrel! I thought it was bad when Elizabeth
married a blacksmith, but I should have known you'd have to find some way to top that....a pirate! I'd
have thought that my wishes meant slightly more to you than that!" Catherine's face grew red with
anger. Will made as if to try and talk to the governor, but Elizabeth shook her head. She knew what
was coming, and she knew that it had to happen.
"How DARE you say that to me!" Governor Swann stopped pacing and stared at his
daughter, who had sprung to her feet and was now shouting angrily at him over the cries of baby Jack.
"For all but this last year of my life you have tried to force me to go against all of my own wishes so that
yours could be fulfilled. You have always made me do things I hated; stupid etiquette lessons, dinner
parties, balls, and you made me put up with countless suitors who were no more suitable matches for
me than a barmaid would be for you! Don't you talk to me about respect for your wishes when you
have never respected mine!" The governor was dumbstruck. Catherine had never spoken like this to
him in her entire life. She had defied him countless times, but for her to be this openly adverse was a
new experience. After catching her breath, Catherine continued. "I love Jack and he loves me. I am
going to marry him whether you like it or not, but I was hoping you would understand how important
this is to me. I wanted my father to give me away at my wedding, but if you can't bring yourself to do
that, fine!" With that Catherine stormed off, slamming the door behind her. Elizabeth ran after her only
to find the door to her bedroom locked. She returned to the parlor to find her father staring at the door
in shock and her husband sitting there, quite distressed, trying to calm their screaming son. She calmly
took baby Jack from Will, hushed his screams, and handed him to a maid who was unfortunate enough
to be changing the candlesticks during the incident.
"Hold him, will you?" Elizabeth then turned to Governor Swann, motioning for Will to follow
her actions. "Father?" The governor was shaken out of his state of shock and bent his face down to
his younger daughter and her husband.
"Elizabeth. She can't...she wouldn't...would she?" Elizabeth sighed and pulled her father over
to the couch.
"Now father, did you ever believe that Catherine would be the type to marry any of the kinds of
men you would wish her to?" She continued before giving him a chance to answer. "She's too wild
and passionate to settle down with anyone, but she is the perfect woman to sail the seas as the wife of a
pirate." The governor brought his hand to his forehead.
"But..."
"There is no 'but', father. Catherine loves Jack with all of her heart and soul, and he loves her
just as much as she loves him. I know you could see how she's been this last year. Can you not see
the change now that he's back in her life? If you tried to separate them again, she would only run
away. If you tried and succeeded, it would kill her." Governor Swann put his head in his hands. "Can
you not see that this must be?"
"Will?"
"Yes, Governor?"
"Do you think this as well?" The mild mannered blacksmith sighed and clasped his hands
behind his back.
"Who else could Catherine be happy with but a pirate? This would be the life she's always
dreamed of." The governor looked up, becoming more resigned.
"Would he hurt her?" Will shook his head vehemently.
"Jack would die before he did anything to hurt Catherine." Elizabeth took her father's hand
gently.
"You've said yourself how much more respect you've gained for Jack since you've learned
what he did; you said he must be a good and noble man. Don't let this change your opinion. Let him
be the man who was good and noble enough to earn Catherine's love. No one else could deserve it
more." The governor shook his head and stood up, regaining his composure. He nodded to his
daughter and son-in-law and left the room, walking upstairs and knocking on Catherine's door.
"Catherine?"
"What do you want?"
"Open the door, please." She pulled the door back and stood defiantly staring up at her father
as angry tears ran down her cheeks.
"Yes?" Governor Swann gave a small smile to his daughter and held out his arms.
"You can't be angry with me. After all, we've got a wedding to arrange." Catherine's mouth
gaped open. She stared at her father in disbelief for a moment before throwing herself into his
embrace.
"Oh thank you, father."