Pearl
Chapie 6
Disclaimer: Not mine
Author's note: Hey, look at all the pretty reviews. Thanks. And I haven't even gotten anything
blasting me and saying they despise Pearl. This is great!
They took to the streets yet again, leaving the suddenly crowded bar. A gun went off to their right. A screaming pack of dirty men ran by hooting. If any of it bothered the pirates and prostitutes that traveled with them they didn't show it. Pearl whistled, twirling in circles around the group, setting the beads now decorating her hair clicking and throwing her skirt about, revealing far more ankle than was proper and earning appreciative whistles from passers by. She grinned at them, blowing kisses if the spirit moved her. As she whirled by Jack offered her a hand, holding it over her head as he twirled her before she returned to her giggling dance.
Elizabeth watched her with a mixture of censure and, Will was startled to find, just a touch of jealousy.
They heard the tavern far before they saw it. Cheers and calls mixed with the high straining of fiddle strings wafted down the street. This street was quieter than the others, people walking purposefully in the same direction as the small group. Pearl stopped dancing although she continued to grin, her cheeks slightly flushed. Jack put an arm around her and pulled her shoulder to meet his. They walked down the street like that, the very picture of the cozy father and daughter. Will couldn't help but smile at the couple, and caught Diamond doing the same. Finally they came to the tavern. Light blared from the large glass windows out into the dirty street. Noise wafted out of the open door as people moved in and out.
Releasing his daughter Jack offered Diamond his arm. "May I, luv?"
"You certainly may, Mr. Sparrow," she answered, slipping her arm through his.
Jack held up one finger to her. "Captain Sparrow."
"My apologias. Captain Sparrow," she corrected herself.
Chuckling Pearl skipped over to Elizabeth and Will. "You two ready for the greatest night of your lives?"
"You're too late, Pearl. That was two nights ago," Will answered.
Pearl stared at him in apparent confusion as Elizabeth grinned up at him. Sudden realization dawned on her and she shook her head. "Married people. Honestly!" she cried. "Come on, Ruby. At least you make sense."
Elizabeth chuckled as Pearl followed her parents into the tavern, dragging her glum-looking sister with her. Leaning closer to Will she rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you."
They entered the tavern, the wave of noise washing over them. There was a bar against the wall to their left, three empty tables dispersed around. Three men with fiddles played on the wall to their right across a wave of dancing people. Those that stood formed a barrier between the dancing and the tables. Pearl pulled them in. "Don't block the door," she leaned close to yell. "Do you want to drink or dance?"
Diamond and Jack were already twirling onto the floor, getting lost in the sea of people. Ruby had apparency found someone she knew and was leaning close to chat, a flirtations smile, the first smile anyone had seen on her this evening, decorating her face. Will reminded himself that the boy was probably a perspective customer and pushed the thought quickly from his mind.
"I don't think I can drink any more," Elizabeth shouted to the girl.
"Dancing it is then," Pearl said, leading them toward a break in the crowd that would
allow them access to the floor.
"I don't know the steps, though," Elizabeth objected.
Pearl stopped to laugh. "Elli, dear, there aren't any. You make it up as you go."
"Don't call me Elli," Elizabeth ordered, eyeing the floor with misgiving.
"All right Lizzie," Pearl answered without missing a beat. "Come on. I'll swing you around the floor a few times. You'll get the hang of it. Will, you just stay-"
She was cut off as an arm snaked around her waist. Pearl turned to look up at a rather beefy pirate (with a skull and cross bones tattoo on his arm) as he grinned to reveal yellowed teeth .
"What do you say to a dance, lassie?" he asked, pulling her to him.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline," Pearl answered, carefully removing his arm and stepping back.
"Come now. Surely the Whelp can't have call to both of ya," he argued.
"Ah. No, he doesn't. Just her. But I'm giving dance lessons just now." To demonstrate she grabbed Elizabeth's hand and twirled her. "Later?"
"Count on it, missy."
"Actually, it's Pearl," she countered. The pirate looked at her carefully as if searching for something as she called, "Stay Will," and drug his wife onto the floor.
The pirate continued to look appraisingly at Will as he watched Pearl whisper something to Elizabeth. She responded by shaking her head emphatically, which made Pearl laugh. "So, um, Pearl?"
Will looked up at the looming man. "Yes. That's her name."
"That wouldn't be Pearl Sparrow, would it?"
Will wondered what to say. Jack had enemies, to be certain. And it would follow that Pearl would as well. But they could handle themselves. "The one and only," he finally answered. He nearly chocked when he saw Pearl raise her hands over her head and waggle her hips in a wanton way. Eyes big as dish saucers Elizabeth shook her head again. In the process of dancing by Jack leaned in to say something which made Elizabeth laugh as Pearl swatted at him. Her parents disappeared into the crowd again and her attention returned to Elizabeth.
"The daughter of Jack Sparrow?"
Will glanced up at the big man again. "Captain Jack Sparrow, yes."
"Well I'll be. She's grown."
"You know her?"
"She's my cousin," he answered with a nod. Will nearly chocked. "You all right?"
"Yes," Will gasped out. "Doesn't it bother you, what you were just suggesting with your cousin?"
The burly man shrugged. "It happens. Turned out to be a mighty pretty thing. She's not her sister, though," he added with a glance toward Ruby.
Will nodded agreement. In a technical sense, Pearl was the pretty one. Her features were more refined and properly arranged. But Ruby had her own charms. While Pearl had inherited her father's semi-tall lankiness, accented by the hard labor on a ship that added muscle, Ruby had her mother's curves. Pearl would never posses the bosom or bum Ruby flaunted.
Turning back to his wife Will chuckled as Pearl reached out to place her hands on Elizabeth's hips. Elizabeth, still shaking her head, shoved the offending hands away and backed up, directly into a couple dancing behind her. She turned, no doubt to apologize, but the man released his partner to began to yell. Will and the man next to him moved toward them at once.
Elizabeth stumbled back as the man's partner tugged at his arm. Pearl stepped in between them, obviously telling him to back down. Instead he pulled back and hit her. Elizabeth screamed and stumbled back further, right into Jack's arms. Jack handed her back to Diamond, who pulled her out of the fray. Just as Jack reached Pearl she reared back and hit the man that had just hit her.
Will and the pirate arrived just as he hit the floor, unconscious. The woman he had been dancing with was next to him, cooing in concern as blood ran in a scarlet river from his nose. Holding a handkerchief to her right brow Pearl kicked the man hard in the side. "When he wakes tell him he's lucky I'm in a forgiving mood and let him live." With that she turned to Elizabeth. "You all right, Lizzie?"
"Me? You're the one that got hit!" Reaching up she pulled the bit of cloth from her brow. "You're bleeding!"
"Come on, Lizzie, calm down. This is Tortuga. I wouldn't know I was home unless I got in a brawl," Pearl said.
"Come, dear," Diamond ordered, taking her elbow. "Let's sit you done and get you a drink."
"But I want to dance," Pearl objected.
"No one wants a partner that's going to bleed all over them. That eye's going to swell too. Come on," Jack ordered. With a sigh she followed her father to the table where he sat her down to dab at the split in her eyebrow. "It isn't bad. Won't even leave a scar."
"I'm not some powdered Lady, Jack. I don't care about scars," she sighed.
"Maybe you should," Jack commented.
"I would care," the pirate, who came over bearing a tankard to offer the girl, remarked.
"Should I know you?" Jack asked.
He nodded. "You're my uncle."
"Steven?"
"Markus," he answered with a shake of his head. "Steven's my brother."
"Sophie had another?" Jack asked.
"Two, actually. She has a girl too. You should really stop in and see her from time to
time."
Jack shook his head. "She was fairly angry when I went into piracy."
"She wasn't very happy with me either. Doesn't mean she wouldn't like to see you," he answered.
"Wait. You have a sister Jack?" Elizabeth asked.
"Aye. My twin, if you believe that. Why is it so surprising that I have kin abouts?"
Elizabeth shrugged. "You just didn't strike me as a family type person. Of course, now there's Pearl."
"I may be a scoundrel, 'Lizabeth, but I'm still an inconsistent scoundrel. If I behaved the way you're expecting there'd be no fun to it."
"Well said," Markus remarked.
"Can I dance yet?" Pearl asked, hopping in her chair with impatience. Her eye was slowly swelling shut and turning a very ugly blue.
"All right. You win. You have my permission to dance," Jack sighed.
"Yay!" she crowed. "I get Will!"
"Hey. You don't just 'get' my husband," Elizabeth objected.
"Relax, Lizzie. I want him purely for teaching purposes."
"Yeah right," Jack snorted under his breath.
"Father dear, why don't you try to teach Elizabeth a little something?" Pearl suggested.
"I'm not certain that's a good idea," Elizabeth answered, eyeing Jack. She would never fear the pirate, that was certain, but after his advances while being marooned on an island with him she knew enough to be careful.
"You know what these two need more of?" Jack asked, jerking a thumb toward the couple.
"Rum?" Pearl asked.
"Rum," Jack agreed.
"Oh, no," Will began to disagree.
"You need to loosen up," Pearl argued. "This would help."
"Look, you can just drink it or Pearl can shove it down your throat. Either way the girl is going to insist you drink it," Jack explained as a grinning Pearl nodded eagerly.
Just then the man who had punched Pearl, now sporting a large black eye, stomped over to them. Heaving a huge sigh Pearl tuned to look insolently up at the hulking man. "Yes?" she asked in a very bored voice.
"You have a lot of nerve, girlie."
"I happen to know that, thank you very much," Pearl answered, turning back around.
"Don't turn 'way from me. I ain't finished with you yet," he slurred out, the woman still at his arm tugging at him.
"Well I would suggest you finish. Fast," Jack told him, standing up to face him as Markus did the same.
"Letting the tough guys fight for you now?" the man taunted.
Pearl stood up so fast the chair she had been sitting on skidded out, upsetting the table next to them. Striding over to the man she growled out, "NO ONE fights me battles for me. If I had just been dropped by a woman half my age and a third my weight I would choose me battles more carefully, savvy?"
"He don't mean nothing by it," the mousy woman behind him squeaked out, tugging harder at his sleeve.
"Git off, woman," he growled out, throwing her off his arm so violently he sent her sprawling into the other table and catching her across the face with a loud smack.
Elizabeth gasped, jumping up to go to the girl's aid. Will jumped out of his seat, growling deep in his throat. He'd been raised, as all proper men were, not to hit women. Pearl could be an exception, seeing as how she spent half her time swinging around a pirate ship and the other half picking fights she was more than capable of finishing. But to hit an innocent, obviously caring woman was something completely different.
Pearl didn't even hesitate before pulling back and punching him again. This time she lit on him as soon as he hit the floor, punching him violently.
"Pearl, stop!" Diamond cried, rushing forward.
"Luv, stop. You're going to kill him!" Jack called. Grabbing her around the waist he pulled her, kicking and growling, off of the man.
"Killing him is just what I had in mind!" she growled, trying to struggle away from her father.
Judging from the sounds the man on the floor was making she had managed to break his jaw and his nose bled freely again. "Markus, Will, why don't you show the man out?" Jack suggested, holding the still struggling girl back as her mother tried to calm her.
"With pleasure," Markus growled, hauling the larger man to his feet and dragging him to
the door. With a heave he threw him into the street, Will tailing them behind. Crouching next to the man Markus grabbed his shirt front, a glint of metal revealing a dagger at the drunkard's throat. "Now you listen to me good. If I EVER hear of you hitting another woman, EVER again I will personally slit your throat and squeeze every drop of blood from you myself."
The man made a strangled sound through the blood flowing over his jaw.
Apparently that was enough for Markus. He shoved him back into the dirt of the street and turned back to the tavern. Will came up and gave him a solid kick in the side. "That goes
double for me." The way the man shrunk away with wide eyes Will wondered if he had known Bootstrap Bill. He hoped so. Let him believe he'd just gotten a warning from a ghost.
As he reentered the tavern the woman rushed by him, prominent red mark standing out on her cheek, no doubt off to comfort the man responsible.
Pearl was sitting again, staring poutingly into her tankard as her father talked seriously to her. Several more tankards had appeared on the table. Markus took one and emptied it in one gulp as he sat, shoving a full one toward Will. With a shrug at Elizabeth he drank it. If ever he had needed a drink it was now.
"William. Oh, William. Willie boy. Wakey wakey." William groaned in protest to the voice trying to drag him out of his slumber. Next to him his wife grumbled as well. "Come on sleepy heads. Time to get up."
A soft drumming began in his head as he felt a weight settle on the bed to shake him. "Will-am. Up and at'um. Time to start a lovely new day!"
The pounding was intensifying as he woke. He attempted to hide from the pain by rolling away from the insistent noise. It followed him, whistling in his ear. "You can run but you can't hide. Come on. The Black Pearl sails soon and we need to be on it. Lizzie, you too. Up!"
Elizabeth murmured something unintelligible. "Where am I?" William asked, still trying to avoid the pounding headache that was creeping up on him. Along with it came murky memories. A tavern, a full tankard being constantly shoved into his hand, lively music, dancing. Lord, had he really been doing that? And Elizabeth, she had been nearly as bad.
"In my bed. But we need to be on the ship. Come on, up. Or I'll go get a bucket. I know where to get my hands on some really cold water."
"How long were we asleep?" William asked, cracking bloodshot eyes to scan the room. Pearl's room. He vaguely remembered her settling them into her bed before leaving again. And then the girl herself was looming over him, transformed back into full pirate regalia.
"Three hours, which I would like to point out is three hours longer than I've been asleep," she told him around a yawn.
"I need another ten," Will informed her, rolling back over to cuddle with Elizabeth.
"Oh no you don't. Jack's going to tan MY hide if you aren't ready to go. Come on. Just back onto the ship. I'd wager you can talk him into letting you bed down once you're on board."
"Can't you just carry me?" Will asked.
"Yes, I probably could. But who would carry Elizabeth?"
Will sighed as he opened his eyes to glance down at his still slumbering wife. "I don't think I'm remembering last night correctly."
Pearl laughed at that. "Oh, but you are. You had a good time, both of you. Now up or I'll roll you out onto the floor."
"I'm up," William objected. "Unfortunately the man sawing into my head is too."
"Sorry. I'll make some tea that will help that when we get on board the Black Pearl." She glanced down at Elizabeth. "Do you want me to go get some cold water? We can wake her up."
"No, I'll just carry her. What's the good of having a blacksmith for a husband if he doesn't carry you around from time to time?"
"Well, that's what I'd think but I'm not Lizzie."
Will chuckled as he scooped his wife up and followed Pearl down the stairs, through the tavern, and into the nearly empty streets. "Thank you for letting us sleep in your bed, by the way."
She shrugged. "I wasn't using it. If I had really wanted to get some sleep I just would have crawled in with the two of you."
"Now that would have been interesting," Will remarked, too distracted by his pounding headache to be properly shocked by the idea.
"Especially if Jack came to wake us."
"I don't even want to think about that," Will chuckled, watching her spin as they walked through the streets. "Please don't do that. You make me dizzy just watching you."
"Don't be such a wet blanket. I'm happy. I get to go back on my ship."
"Don't let Jack hear you call it your ship," Will warned.
"He wouldn't mind. It is named after me, after all. And he's promised me captainship when he kicks off."
"Now that's a dangerous move. You have any plans to assassinate him?"
"Not yet. He did just get my ship back after all. I may as well let him enjoy it for a while."
Will chuckled, which he immediately regretted as pain flared in his head. "Pearl Sparrow, scourge of the high seas."
"And don't you forget it. You had better be nice to me."
"I am nice to you," he objected.
"And you had better stay that way," she answered, skipping up the dock toward the ship. "Ho the Pearl," she called in greeting.
"Ho the nasty wench," Jack called back.
"You shouldn't talk about Lizzie like that," Pearl scolded mockingly as she pecked her father on the cheek.
"I wasn't," he returned.
"Will's gonna hit you if you call him that again," she remarked, skipping off before Jack could correct her.
Jack sighed as he watched her go, shaking his head. "How did I ever get in this mess?"
"I'm pretty sure Diamond could explain it if you needed her to," Will answered.
Jack blinked over at him. "Will, that was positively sarcastic. I'm so proud of you!"
"Well, I'm not exactly myself," Will answered. "I'm going to go put Elizabeth to bed. You need me to help pull out of port?"
"Nah. Go ahead and sleep it off. We have a few more crew as should arrive and we'll pull out. Should reach Lover's Cove around sundown. Rest up. Wouldn't want Elizabeth to be let down after the first round," Jack said with a wink.
"If there weren't a man with an anvil pounding in my head right now I'd get you for that."
"Then I'll thank my daughter for pouring those drinks down your throat. Go to bed, Will."
"Night Jack."
Author's Note: Tee hee. That was a fun chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it too. As a special treat to
everyone who reviews I've got Jack locked in a closet (sorry Will fans, I tried to get Pearl to grab him but Elizabeth threatened to kill her). Everyone who reviews gets five minutes with him.
Mwa ha ha. No maiming though. He's too pretty.
Next up: Norrington Finally shows up (it's about time I got around to that, don't you think?)