Disclaimer: Jack Sparrow is still on loan to Disney for Pirates part II, so
he's not mine!
AN: This is a special announcement. No, it's not bad. Well, not *really* bad. I'd like to tell everyone that this chapter may be the last one I update for a while. I might post one more chapter, but I'm not sure yet. Anyway, the reason I won't be updating is that mid-terms are coming up and, as a college student, I need to study, so I won't be able to update for at while. I hope you can all forgive me until mid-terms are over. Thanks!
Chapter 7: Illness, News, and Sightings:
Lara woke the next morning feeling like she was going to be sick. She immediately launched out of her bed and ran for the front of the cave. She'd barely made it there before she threw up all of last night's soup. She sat there retching for several moments before she finally felt human again. Cupping her hands, she splashed her face with cold sea water, then wiped her face on her sleeves. As she stood up and turned around, she walked straight into Thomas' chest. Closing her eyes, Lara tried to decide if she could make her way around the man. Unfortunately, Thomas had different ideas. She felt him caress her face.
"You do not look well, beloved," he said, concern showing in his voice. He promptly swept her up in his arms and walked to the back of the cave, where he set Lara down on her blanket. "How long have you been ill, darling?" he asked.
Lara really didn't want to answer him, but felt she had no choice. "I've been feeling sick for the past several days, Thomas," she replied, keeping her eyes closed. She then felt something cool pressed on her forehead. She cracked her eyes open and saw it was a piece of wet cloth. She then looked over at Thomas, who seemed to be upset.
"That pirate has no concern for women!" Thomas said angrily. "He should have sent for a doctor at once when he found out you were ill!"
Lara sighed. "Thomas, I started getting ill when we were at sea, and there aren't exactly doctors floating around in the middle of the ocean!" She winced as another wave of dizziness overwhelmed her.
Thomas shook his head. "Well, I'm taking you into town to see a doctor, or at least a healing woman!" he said. Before she could blink, Lara found herself seated in a rowboat. After getting the oars from the cave, Thomas got in across from her and started rowing.
It took several moments before she realized that they were headed towards civilization. Which town they were going to didn't matter, as long as it was a town! Maybe she could leave get a message to Jack!
That was as far as her thoughts went before she found herself getting sick from the boat rocking and had to vomit over the side of the boat.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After what seemed like an eternity, though it was only an hour, Lara found herself on land. It took her several moments to regain her bearings and to take in her surroundings. After a brief look around, she blinked in shock.
They were in Tortuga! They hadn't even left the island! However, after a better look around, the hope that had built up in her heart died.
They were on the wrong side of town. The side that had the main harbor for large ships like the Pearl was on the right side of the island, while the smaller port was on the left side. Since they had a small boat, they'd had to go to the left side of the town. That meant no Jack and no crew to help her escape from Thomas. She was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when she felt an iron grip on her arm and felt herself being pulled forward. She frowned at the treatment she was receiving.
"Thomas, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Taking you to an herbal woman," he replied, not looking at her. After several minutes of searching, Thomas apparently found what he was looking for and dragged her through a rather small and shabby doorway. Once inside, Lara got a good look around.
The doorway led to what was actually a corner store to a much larger building. It was very cramped inside, and nearly every bit of free space was filled with dried herbs, flowers, and jars of preserved mushrooms and roots. Behind the counter was an elderly, friendly-looking woman who smiled at them as they walked up. She nodded at them.
"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice motherly and kind. Lara felt herself relax at the sound of the woman's voice.
"Yes, my fiancé has been having stomach trouble for several days," Thomas replied. Lara felt her insides twist at being called Thomas's fiancé, but didn't want to have him throw a fit in the middle of the shop.
The old woman nodded. "Well, if it's been over three days that she's been ill, I'd better take a look at her." She motioned towards a door behind her that Lara had missed. As Thomas led Lara towards the door, the old woman stopped him. "Just the two of us, please," she said. "Why don't you go and explore the town for an hour or two?" Thomas frowned, but nodded and left Lara alone with the old woman. The woman took Lara gently by the hand and led her through the door and into another room.
This room was the opposite of the front store. It was bare of everything except an examination table, two chairs, a small stand with a pitcher and a basin, and a window with shabby curtains around it. Lara looked worriedly at the window before the old woman laughed at her.
"Don't worry, dearie, I won't ask you to undress," she said, chuckling. "You looked like you needed to get away from your fiancé." She motioned to the table. "Why don't you take a seat on the table? My name is Emma."
Lara frowned. "He's not my fiancé," she murmured.
Emma raised an eyebrow as she looked at Lara's left hand, eyeing the engagement and wedding rings. "Then what is he, dear?" She began going over Lara's body with a critical eye. "Is there something I should know about that young man?"
Lara glared at her as she hid her hands. "He's just a pain in the ass, that's all. Now would you just get on with it?" she snapped.
"Ah, feeling a bit touchy, are we?" Emma smirked. "Well, tell me what's going on with you."
"I've been having trouble keeping food down for the past week or so," Lara replied. "I feel sort of bloated, and dizzy."
"Hmm," Emma said, eyeing Lara's body again. "What about your monthly bleeding?"
Lara blinked. "Well, my cycle has always been off. I can skip three months before it happens again. Why do you ask?" she said, tilting her head to the side.
Emma just nodded. "That's what I thought," she commented, not hearing Lara's question. "That explains why you never expected it to happen. Now dear, I have to know if that man really is your fiancé or not, because he's going to want to know what's happening with you."
Lara shifted uncomfortably. "I am married, just not to him," she said, gesturing towards the door. Emma waited for more and Lara sighed. "Well, let's just say that he isn't right in the head, and that he hates the idea that I'm married to someone else."
Emma frowned slightly. "Exactly how long have you been with this 'fiancé' of yours?"
"About a day or two," Lara replied, beginning to get frustrated with all of the questions.
Emma nodded again. "Well, then, you might want to keep this information to yourself, because he's not going to like hearing that you're having your husband's baby."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Several seconds of silence followed the unexpected news.
When she recovered, Lara's jaw dropped. "What?! That's impossible!" she cried.
Emma quirked an eyebrow. "Why? It's perfectly obvious. You have all of the symptoms. You should be happy about this, but given the circumstances, I'd understand if you're not."
Lara tried to absorb the information and think it out. Her monthly cycle had not happened for over three months, nearly four; but then, it had always been off. Sometimes she'd miss two or three months in a row, but it usually wasn't that alarming. Now that she thought about it, though, it made sense, her sickness overlapping with her missing monthly cycles. It was still shocking, though. She and Jack had been trying so hard to have a ship full of Sparrows, and now she was getting the joyous news at the worst possible time. Her eyes filled with tears; Jack should be here with her hearing the news, not just this herbal woman with Thomas very likely hovering outside the building. Lara sighed and rubbed her forehead.
Emma patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, dear, I'm sure your husband will find you sooner or later," she said soothingly. "Why don't you tell me who it is, and I'll send a message to him for you?"
Lara perked up at the idea, but then shook her head. "That's not a good idea," she said sadly. "If I get rescued after this meeting with you, Thomas will come after you for giving me away. I couldn't live with myself if harm came to you because of me."
Emma smiled at her. "You have a good heart, lass," she said. "I just wish that there was some way I could help." She tilted her head. "Could you at least tell me his name, or what he does for a living?"
Lara gave a small chuckle. "Let's just say he's in the 'trading' business," she replied.
Emma laughed. "Ah, a pirate is it?" she said. "I could tell by the way you said it." She patted Lara's shoulder again. "Well, if any pirate comes around town looking for his lovely wife, I'll know who to talk to!" She gestured to the door. "We should leave before your 'fiancé' comes in and starts to tear apart my shop!"
Lara reluctantly got to her feet and the two headed towards the door. They had barely left the back room before Thomas raced into the shop, concern written all over his face.
"Is she alright? What's wrong with her?" he asked.
Emma gave the man a smile. "The young lady is fine, sir," she replied soothingly. "She's just got a bit of stomach trouble, nothing to be concerned about." She reached behind the counter and began putting some herbs together in a small pouch. "She needs to have a few pinches of this mixed in with soup, three times a day for three days. After three days, she should be fine." She looked over at Lara. "Don't worry, dear, your 'stomach' should be fine, the herbs won't hurt it." From the way she said 'stomach,' Lara knew she was talking about the baby. Lara smiled at her. "Thanks so much for your help, Emma," she said. Emma handed her the medicine bag. The old woman winked at her as she and Thomas left the shop and went out into the street.
"Well, beloved, it looks like we need to buy some soup ingredients," he said, leading her towards the right-hand side Tortuga. "I'm afraid I used up all of the soup mixture last night, so we'll have to get more."
Lara perked up at the thought of going into town. "We're going into town?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement. If they headed into town, Jack might still be there!
Thomas smiled. "Yes, beloved, we're going into town," he said, latching his hand onto her arm. "I think that it's safe to go there, especially now that the Black Pearl is gone."
Lara's heart stopped. "The Pearl is gone?" she said, disbelievingly. Jack had left her here with this madman? "Are you sure?" she asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice as her eyes widened slightly in fear.
Thomas smiled. "Isn't that wonderful?" he asked, not noticing her fearful reaction. "With that dog gone, it's just the two of us now," he said, dragging her into town.
The next two hours were some of the most boring hours in Lara's life. Thomas dragged her from shop to shop, trying to find the best soup mix for her. If it had been Jack shopping for soup, Lara might have found it charming that he was so concerned with the soup's quality. However, after the third shop, Lara felt like she was going to beat Thomas senseless. She would have run off, but he kept a firm grip on her the whole time. Finally, at the sixth shop, Thomas bought some dried pasta and vegetable soup mix that he thought was good enough for her. She gave a quiet sigh of relief as they left the store and headed out into the street.
As they walked down the center street, Lara felt someone bump into her. As she turned around to give the person a piece of her mind, she found herself face-to-face with Scar, a crew member of the Pearl. The only way she recognized Scar was from his namesake: a long scar that ran from his chin to the top of his head. He gave her a brief nod and smirk before slowly walking off.
Thomas clutched her arm in a death grip. "Who was that?!" he hissed to her.
Lara gave him a small fake smile to try and reassure him. "No one, he just bumped into me, that's all."
Thomas searched her face, then appeared satisfied that she was telling the truth. "Alright," he said, loosening his grip on her arm.
The two of them continued their walk down the street. Occasionally, Lara swore that she saw several members of the Pearl's crew. They would all turn and look at her before winking or smiling at her. She felt better knowing that some of her friends were there looking out for her.
As she gave a few small hidden smiles and nods to her friends, she found herself being dragged towards the rowboat on the opposite side of town. It wasn't long before the two of them were rowing away from the shoreline and back towards the cave. Lara wasn't worried, though, because as the two of them rowed out of sight of the town, she saw Scar standing on the dock, watching them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AN: Yes, there is hope! Plus, Jack is going to be in the next chapter! Anyway, please review and tell me what you think!
AN: This is a special announcement. No, it's not bad. Well, not *really* bad. I'd like to tell everyone that this chapter may be the last one I update for a while. I might post one more chapter, but I'm not sure yet. Anyway, the reason I won't be updating is that mid-terms are coming up and, as a college student, I need to study, so I won't be able to update for at while. I hope you can all forgive me until mid-terms are over. Thanks!
Chapter 7: Illness, News, and Sightings:
Lara woke the next morning feeling like she was going to be sick. She immediately launched out of her bed and ran for the front of the cave. She'd barely made it there before she threw up all of last night's soup. She sat there retching for several moments before she finally felt human again. Cupping her hands, she splashed her face with cold sea water, then wiped her face on her sleeves. As she stood up and turned around, she walked straight into Thomas' chest. Closing her eyes, Lara tried to decide if she could make her way around the man. Unfortunately, Thomas had different ideas. She felt him caress her face.
"You do not look well, beloved," he said, concern showing in his voice. He promptly swept her up in his arms and walked to the back of the cave, where he set Lara down on her blanket. "How long have you been ill, darling?" he asked.
Lara really didn't want to answer him, but felt she had no choice. "I've been feeling sick for the past several days, Thomas," she replied, keeping her eyes closed. She then felt something cool pressed on her forehead. She cracked her eyes open and saw it was a piece of wet cloth. She then looked over at Thomas, who seemed to be upset.
"That pirate has no concern for women!" Thomas said angrily. "He should have sent for a doctor at once when he found out you were ill!"
Lara sighed. "Thomas, I started getting ill when we were at sea, and there aren't exactly doctors floating around in the middle of the ocean!" She winced as another wave of dizziness overwhelmed her.
Thomas shook his head. "Well, I'm taking you into town to see a doctor, or at least a healing woman!" he said. Before she could blink, Lara found herself seated in a rowboat. After getting the oars from the cave, Thomas got in across from her and started rowing.
It took several moments before she realized that they were headed towards civilization. Which town they were going to didn't matter, as long as it was a town! Maybe she could leave get a message to Jack!
That was as far as her thoughts went before she found herself getting sick from the boat rocking and had to vomit over the side of the boat.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
After what seemed like an eternity, though it was only an hour, Lara found herself on land. It took her several moments to regain her bearings and to take in her surroundings. After a brief look around, she blinked in shock.
They were in Tortuga! They hadn't even left the island! However, after a better look around, the hope that had built up in her heart died.
They were on the wrong side of town. The side that had the main harbor for large ships like the Pearl was on the right side of the island, while the smaller port was on the left side. Since they had a small boat, they'd had to go to the left side of the town. That meant no Jack and no crew to help her escape from Thomas. She was quickly snapped out of her thoughts when she felt an iron grip on her arm and felt herself being pulled forward. She frowned at the treatment she was receiving.
"Thomas, what are you doing?" she asked.
"Taking you to an herbal woman," he replied, not looking at her. After several minutes of searching, Thomas apparently found what he was looking for and dragged her through a rather small and shabby doorway. Once inside, Lara got a good look around.
The doorway led to what was actually a corner store to a much larger building. It was very cramped inside, and nearly every bit of free space was filled with dried herbs, flowers, and jars of preserved mushrooms and roots. Behind the counter was an elderly, friendly-looking woman who smiled at them as they walked up. She nodded at them.
"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice motherly and kind. Lara felt herself relax at the sound of the woman's voice.
"Yes, my fiancé has been having stomach trouble for several days," Thomas replied. Lara felt her insides twist at being called Thomas's fiancé, but didn't want to have him throw a fit in the middle of the shop.
The old woman nodded. "Well, if it's been over three days that she's been ill, I'd better take a look at her." She motioned towards a door behind her that Lara had missed. As Thomas led Lara towards the door, the old woman stopped him. "Just the two of us, please," she said. "Why don't you go and explore the town for an hour or two?" Thomas frowned, but nodded and left Lara alone with the old woman. The woman took Lara gently by the hand and led her through the door and into another room.
This room was the opposite of the front store. It was bare of everything except an examination table, two chairs, a small stand with a pitcher and a basin, and a window with shabby curtains around it. Lara looked worriedly at the window before the old woman laughed at her.
"Don't worry, dearie, I won't ask you to undress," she said, chuckling. "You looked like you needed to get away from your fiancé." She motioned to the table. "Why don't you take a seat on the table? My name is Emma."
Lara frowned. "He's not my fiancé," she murmured.
Emma raised an eyebrow as she looked at Lara's left hand, eyeing the engagement and wedding rings. "Then what is he, dear?" She began going over Lara's body with a critical eye. "Is there something I should know about that young man?"
Lara glared at her as she hid her hands. "He's just a pain in the ass, that's all. Now would you just get on with it?" she snapped.
"Ah, feeling a bit touchy, are we?" Emma smirked. "Well, tell me what's going on with you."
"I've been having trouble keeping food down for the past week or so," Lara replied. "I feel sort of bloated, and dizzy."
"Hmm," Emma said, eyeing Lara's body again. "What about your monthly bleeding?"
Lara blinked. "Well, my cycle has always been off. I can skip three months before it happens again. Why do you ask?" she said, tilting her head to the side.
Emma just nodded. "That's what I thought," she commented, not hearing Lara's question. "That explains why you never expected it to happen. Now dear, I have to know if that man really is your fiancé or not, because he's going to want to know what's happening with you."
Lara shifted uncomfortably. "I am married, just not to him," she said, gesturing towards the door. Emma waited for more and Lara sighed. "Well, let's just say that he isn't right in the head, and that he hates the idea that I'm married to someone else."
Emma frowned slightly. "Exactly how long have you been with this 'fiancé' of yours?"
"About a day or two," Lara replied, beginning to get frustrated with all of the questions.
Emma nodded again. "Well, then, you might want to keep this information to yourself, because he's not going to like hearing that you're having your husband's baby."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Several seconds of silence followed the unexpected news.
When she recovered, Lara's jaw dropped. "What?! That's impossible!" she cried.
Emma quirked an eyebrow. "Why? It's perfectly obvious. You have all of the symptoms. You should be happy about this, but given the circumstances, I'd understand if you're not."
Lara tried to absorb the information and think it out. Her monthly cycle had not happened for over three months, nearly four; but then, it had always been off. Sometimes she'd miss two or three months in a row, but it usually wasn't that alarming. Now that she thought about it, though, it made sense, her sickness overlapping with her missing monthly cycles. It was still shocking, though. She and Jack had been trying so hard to have a ship full of Sparrows, and now she was getting the joyous news at the worst possible time. Her eyes filled with tears; Jack should be here with her hearing the news, not just this herbal woman with Thomas very likely hovering outside the building. Lara sighed and rubbed her forehead.
Emma patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, dear, I'm sure your husband will find you sooner or later," she said soothingly. "Why don't you tell me who it is, and I'll send a message to him for you?"
Lara perked up at the idea, but then shook her head. "That's not a good idea," she said sadly. "If I get rescued after this meeting with you, Thomas will come after you for giving me away. I couldn't live with myself if harm came to you because of me."
Emma smiled at her. "You have a good heart, lass," she said. "I just wish that there was some way I could help." She tilted her head. "Could you at least tell me his name, or what he does for a living?"
Lara gave a small chuckle. "Let's just say he's in the 'trading' business," she replied.
Emma laughed. "Ah, a pirate is it?" she said. "I could tell by the way you said it." She patted Lara's shoulder again. "Well, if any pirate comes around town looking for his lovely wife, I'll know who to talk to!" She gestured to the door. "We should leave before your 'fiancé' comes in and starts to tear apart my shop!"
Lara reluctantly got to her feet and the two headed towards the door. They had barely left the back room before Thomas raced into the shop, concern written all over his face.
"Is she alright? What's wrong with her?" he asked.
Emma gave the man a smile. "The young lady is fine, sir," she replied soothingly. "She's just got a bit of stomach trouble, nothing to be concerned about." She reached behind the counter and began putting some herbs together in a small pouch. "She needs to have a few pinches of this mixed in with soup, three times a day for three days. After three days, she should be fine." She looked over at Lara. "Don't worry, dear, your 'stomach' should be fine, the herbs won't hurt it." From the way she said 'stomach,' Lara knew she was talking about the baby. Lara smiled at her. "Thanks so much for your help, Emma," she said. Emma handed her the medicine bag. The old woman winked at her as she and Thomas left the shop and went out into the street.
"Well, beloved, it looks like we need to buy some soup ingredients," he said, leading her towards the right-hand side Tortuga. "I'm afraid I used up all of the soup mixture last night, so we'll have to get more."
Lara perked up at the thought of going into town. "We're going into town?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement. If they headed into town, Jack might still be there!
Thomas smiled. "Yes, beloved, we're going into town," he said, latching his hand onto her arm. "I think that it's safe to go there, especially now that the Black Pearl is gone."
Lara's heart stopped. "The Pearl is gone?" she said, disbelievingly. Jack had left her here with this madman? "Are you sure?" she asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice as her eyes widened slightly in fear.
Thomas smiled. "Isn't that wonderful?" he asked, not noticing her fearful reaction. "With that dog gone, it's just the two of us now," he said, dragging her into town.
The next two hours were some of the most boring hours in Lara's life. Thomas dragged her from shop to shop, trying to find the best soup mix for her. If it had been Jack shopping for soup, Lara might have found it charming that he was so concerned with the soup's quality. However, after the third shop, Lara felt like she was going to beat Thomas senseless. She would have run off, but he kept a firm grip on her the whole time. Finally, at the sixth shop, Thomas bought some dried pasta and vegetable soup mix that he thought was good enough for her. She gave a quiet sigh of relief as they left the store and headed out into the street.
As they walked down the center street, Lara felt someone bump into her. As she turned around to give the person a piece of her mind, she found herself face-to-face with Scar, a crew member of the Pearl. The only way she recognized Scar was from his namesake: a long scar that ran from his chin to the top of his head. He gave her a brief nod and smirk before slowly walking off.
Thomas clutched her arm in a death grip. "Who was that?!" he hissed to her.
Lara gave him a small fake smile to try and reassure him. "No one, he just bumped into me, that's all."
Thomas searched her face, then appeared satisfied that she was telling the truth. "Alright," he said, loosening his grip on her arm.
The two of them continued their walk down the street. Occasionally, Lara swore that she saw several members of the Pearl's crew. They would all turn and look at her before winking or smiling at her. She felt better knowing that some of her friends were there looking out for her.
As she gave a few small hidden smiles and nods to her friends, she found herself being dragged towards the rowboat on the opposite side of town. It wasn't long before the two of them were rowing away from the shoreline and back towards the cave. Lara wasn't worried, though, because as the two of them rowed out of sight of the town, she saw Scar standing on the dock, watching them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AN: Yes, there is hope! Plus, Jack is going to be in the next chapter! Anyway, please review and tell me what you think!