Aftermath
By: L'Morgan
Disclaimer: I guess I really do need to remind you all that anything and everything related to Pirates of the Caribbean, their characters and settings are all the property of Disney - Disney - Disney - nobody - but -Disney ---- I-just-borrowing-to-play-with-and-giving-back. Only Disney can make money on anything to do with Pirates of the Caribbean. NOT ME!
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Summary: Port Royal lies in ruins.. The lost Sparrow and Ana have been returned - but can anything ever be as it was before - for any of them?
Chapter 19: Odd Fellows
Commodore Norrington stood at the doorway of the sickroom and frowned mildly at finding the pirate clad in baggy pants and sleep shirt staggering severely as he came from the bathroom area. He collided with the door jamb with a solid thump, causing the Commodore to wince even as the pirate swore vividly.
Jack turned, eyes closed and rested his forehead against the door frame, trying to will the dizziness away. This was ridiculous that he be in a cold sweat and nearly reeling just from a trip by himself to the bathroom.
Norrington frowned deeply at the pale, sweaty features and went and took the man's elbow.
'What are you doing up? Let's get you back where you belong," he said quietly but firmly as he quickly moved the pirate to the side of the bed nearby. Instead of getting in and lying down though, Jack sat with his knees raised before him, his arms across them and his forehead resting on his arms, trying to take slow breaths as he gave the dizziness time to clear and got his breath back.
A cool wet cloth suddenly found its way to the back of his neck, then around the front, around his collarbone and up to his face now as he lifted his head. Oh now that was helping drive back the dizziness - a lot even. He heard rustling noises and found himself pushed back against pillows that had been propped up behind him. He let his legs slide out before him with a soft sigh.
"Doctor Cook said you'd had a minor relapse after the exertions of getting here the other day. I really didn't expect to find you here like this though. I'm astounded everyone has gone off and left you on your own! What on earth are they thinking of? I don't need to be a medical man to tell that you've still got the fever on you," said a voice nearby as the cool cloth, now refreshed, returned to gently mop over his face.
Jack had a strong suspicion of whose voice that was - and if he were right, he really hoped this was all merely a nightmare. Now that the threat to the town was gone - wasn't it back to 'hostilities as usual?' It would be with most military types he'd come to know in the past. Many didn't even grant you that.
He stayed very, very still, willing his breathing to slow and his body to relax as much as possible. Just after he'd managed to let himself become completely limp and heavy, there came a cool hand to his forehead and a muttered oath in a voice that was now much closer.
"Damn you, you bloody pirate - you'd better be all right or I swear I shall thrash you within an inch of your life. You have to be all right - do you hear me Sparrow? That's an order! All the confusion you've caused me... It used to be so simple - soldiers good, pirates bad. And then you come along! I owe you my life - we owe you the town - you nearly go and get yourself blown to pieces defending Port Royal... For god's sake man, what kind of a pirate are you?" the Commodore asked the last in truly mystified tone. It was obvious he believed the pirate had faded out and was currently holding this little discussion with himself.
At least he thought so until the pirate cracked his eyes open and blinked at him a little fuzzily. The Commodore's eyes widened and he blushed mildly. Jack continued to frown at him, and then finally realized what was wrong. Norrington had come dressed as a civilian.
"Wha' happened Commodore? Yer wig an' yer uniform?" he asked in a very heavy tone. Norrington gave him a half smile and looked uneasy for a second, then smiled more.
"Would you rather I put them on for you?" he asked back, and now the pirate gave a very soft chuckle as he shook his head some.
"No, that's quite alright son - I've had enough nightmares of you in yer uniform to last me fer a bit. What're you doing here? Whatever it is y' think I've been up to - I didn' do it this time. Blasted doctor won't let me take two steps outside that bloody door." He said with a gesture over at it and Norrington looked from the door to the pale man before him. He doubted very much Sparrow could even get to the door, much less two steps beyond it.
"Well I didn't come here to drag you off to the prison, or to hang you. So we can dispense with that please. I sincerely doubt I could ever hang you now anyway." He said, the last part very softly, to himself, then froze and gave the pirate a stricken look as he realized he'd said that out loud. By the grin now on the man's face, obviously Jack had heard him as well.
Norrington decided not to make matters worse by commenting more, and instead concentrated on wetting and wringing out the cloth in the basin of water that sat nearby on the bed stand. Jack watched him, regretting being too tired to make more of the man's revelation.
"I should probably see if I can offer you some juice at least." The Commodore said after a long moment as he folded the cloth. The pirate grimaced and leaned away from him mildly.
"Please - I'm sick - I don't deserve to be tortured with juice. I didn' do anything to earn that kinda punishment!" he objected wryly and Norrington very nearly smiled fully, restraining himself only just at the last minute.
"Broth?" he asked politely - not at all surprised when the pirate arched an eyebrow at him with an 'I-dare-you-to-try' look to his features. Now the Commodore did chuckle softy.
"Then tell me what they would do if you were on your ship? Surely you've been ill at times - injured I would wager on. What happens then?" he asked and the pirate pushed himself up to sitting, taking the wet cloth in his own hands and holding it to one side of his neck. The coolness of it seemed to be soothing to the man, Norrington noticed.
"Well - Gibbs usually has it in his mind to try to poison me with the same assorted vile substances as well - juice, broth - uggg.- but at least he bribes me first with a bottle o' rum, savvy?" He drawled, raising his head with an extremely hopeful look.
Norrington bit on his cheek to keep from laughing too fully. This man was a pirate after all - well - no - this was the man he'd read about in those files he had burned. Merchant, Privateer, Pirate Patriot? He cocked his head, staring fixedly now at the man before him.
"Over there mate - in the wardrobe - second shelf - wayyyy in the back." The pirate told him with a nod at the cabinet across the room. Norrington came out of his reverie with a start.
"How would you know that?" he asked suspiciously and the one smiled.
"Saw the good doctor put it there earlier. He said when I could get to it, it was mine. Probably watered down knowing that man. And people say I'm the daft one." He observed and Norrington couldn't help but be amused.
"But you have to get to it?" he asked and the one shrugged.
"Well actually that was my intention this afternoon to begin with. The poor lass they stuck sitting' here with me - I gave her a message to carry to Mr. Gibbs down at the docks. She has a 'friend' down there she moons over constantly. She should be back about 10 minutes before the sunset - just before the rest of 'em. Now if you wanna watch me crawl on my hands and knees over to that cabinet, be my guest. But I would be most obliging to you if you'd just hand me the bloody thing. I'm sure it' so watered down not even a bilge rat could get drunk if he fell into it headfirst. However, the Good Doctor didn' say I couldn't enlist the aid of such prestigious person's as yerself Commodore." The pirate purred silkily and the Commodore smiled as he rose.
He retrieved the bottle and came back, twisting it open as he stood several feet away from the pirate with a very intent look as he half smiled at the man, taking his time with the bottle.
'Your very good at that Captain Sparrow - I must admit, if I wasn't waiting to see at what point you'd start 'portraying your image' - I wouldn't' have realized when it happened. Seamless transition from sick man to negotiations." He said and the pirate did a double take at him and looked rather annoyed.
"Can I just have the bottle then? Please?" he asked, much more simply now and the Commodore smiled as he surrendered it. He watched as the pirate took a large quick swig, then suddenly nearly choked, barely managed to swallow and looked shocked as he gasped at the bottle that he held out, away from him now.
"What?" Norrington asked quickly and the one coughed.
"Oh now I know that man is trying to kill me - it's not watered down at all! Here - go get me a glass with some water in it! Great Neptune's Trident - blast that bloody man to the bottom of the sea! What's the big idea leavin' a sick man like meself with a whole bottle of fine quality rum!" he demanded, still half coughing and choking a bit and sputtering indignantly. Now Norrington desperately wanted to laugh fully and long, going to get the water and instead coming back with half a glass of juice, grinning smugly as he offered it to the pirate. Jack arched an eyebrow at him sharply with an unhappy look.
"Compliments of Mr. Gibbs?" Norrington remarked as he held it out, and the pirate took it, giving him a very shrewd look first, but finally he accepted it. The Commodore looked very pleased with himself as he re- situated himself on the side of the bed facing the ill man. He picked up the bottle to pour some of the dark fluid into the juice glass that the pirate held, knowing fully well that Jack was studying him with great intensity - him - not the glass, not the bottle. It was him that Sparrow was analyzing so intently.
The military man could not help but wonder what it was the pirate would see.....
~ * * ~
The island of Hispaniola is not located all that far from Jamaica with the infamous Port Royal. In fact, by sturdy ship it isn't more than 3 or 4 days, depending on the wind. Thus it was a few days after Jack was served his rum treated juice by the very man whose main interest in life had once been to hang him - that another man was striding down the docks of Santo Domingo, his features as dark and stormy as a hurricane at full gale. A bent and harried thinner man scurried after him, looking tense and unhappy.
The large balding man in the rumpled suit stood up behind a large desk as the two entered.
"You have him? Sparrow?" he asked quickly in fluent French. Reynolds scowled, rapidly relaying the events and outcome of his visit, equally at ease in the foreign language.
The man scowled and sat down , staring at a pad of paper. Finally he shook his head.
"No - that is far too easy - that man has been declared dead more times than you care to know - if you did not see a body, then we shall consider Captain Sparrow as still alive. I want you to return, only this time do not let anyone see you return. Wait for one week and if he has not shown up then, we will meet back here." He said and the one scowled at him.
"That is a waste of time. The man is dead and gone. You should be glad to be rid of him!" he said and the balding man arched an eyebrow at him.
"You, Mr. Reynolds, are the hired bounty hunter. You have already been paid half of your fee. If you are wrong and this menace shows up yet again in a month or so - it will be King Louis himself you will be explaining your reasons for not taking the time to be sure he was dead and gone. Trust me, - the French guillotine may be quicker than the English noose - but you would be as dead and gone as you insist this pirate is. Do you really want to take that chance? Or are you perhaps now a bit more agreeable to a return visit to lovely Jamaica?" he asked in a threatening growl.
Reynolds, said nothing - just nodded and spun on his heel and stormed out, as equally dark in mood as when he had entered. Oh well - if they wanted to pay him to sail around chasing a ghost now - so be it. Pretty easy income that would be.. And certainly safer than trying to catch and bring in the pirate on his own!
~ * * ~
Commodore Norrington was not surprised when he was summoned to the Governor's residence just after dinner - the man had a regular habit of getting ideas after his evening meal. There was much to be planned for the rebuilding of Port Royal - or the founding of a new town - and either one would require some sort of military security. Tonight at least had been brief before they were finished.
He confidently passed down the hallways, gradually becoming aware of voices in the dining room just to the side. He paused at finding the infamous pirate clad in a sleep shirt and minus his kohl, sitting at the table and expertly shuffling a deck of cards. The man definitely looked better than he had 3 days ago when the Commodore had last see him. He found himself truly relieved and could not help but smile mildly, even if not entirely sure he should be smiling at such a realization. If Sparrow got well he would eventually be back out on the waters doing God only knows what next!
Around the table sat the young Mr. Turner with Elizabeth beside and a bit behind him, Doctor Cook and Mr. Gibbs at the pirate's other side. In front of each sat a glass, and before each a rather tall stack of what looked like actual gold coin and smaller stacks of shillings and other assorted coinage. Mr. Gibbs worked open a new bottle of rum and set it beside the pirate.
"Ah James - working late?" the doctor asked and the Commodore paused and shrugged.
"Not very at least?" he said and the doctor smiled as he gestured him over to the table.
"Pull up a chair Norrington, take off yer' fancy coat and have a drink man - it' well past moon-rise!" Jack said cheerfully and the military man looked extremely surprised at the invitation. He gave the doctor a doubtful and uncertain look. The doctor smiled as he reached over and drug up another chair beside him and the others moved over a bit.
Gibbs got him a glass and produced a stack of gold and other coins that he put in front of him.
"What are we doing?" he asked and Gibbs smiled.
"Pirate's poker - and the young Mr. Turner is the guest of honor." He said and Norrington smiled as he sat forward and stacked the coins, then considered the top gold one and seemed amused as he returned it to the stack.
"What is pirate's poker? And why is William the guest of honor?" Elizabeth asked of the older sailor beside her and the man smiled and nodded at Jack.
"Well no self respecting pirate can be giving to charity outright - nor accepting it, so tradition says that when someone is deserving of such, you play a game of cards. We all cheat, the guest of honor wins. Jack figures we've been a bit of a strain on your resources here. Besides - there's nothing else to do is there?" he said and she smiled mildly.
"Jack - you don't need to do that. And everyone plays with your money to start with?" She said and he smiled as if amused as he shuffled the cards a bit more.
"They're humoring the sick pirate darling," he drawled, as he started dealing the cards and she watched with interest.
"I don't see you cheating." She observed and Gibbs nearly choked, as even Jack grinned with a quick glance at her.
"No, I don't think it's supposed to be obvious." Norrington observed with a suppressed grin of his own as the bottle went around the table and ended up back at Jack's side where he filled his glass to nearly the brim. The doctor cleared his throat loudly, with a teasing look.
"Oh hush, ye' pest." The captain said as he took a large swallow and coughed mildly. The doctor chuckled as he sipped at his own, and then took a bigger drink.
"Likes his rum I see. Our good doctor has the makings of a pirate, that man does Jack." Gibbs said in an aside and the one nodded with an easy grin.
"I do not!" the doctor protested and the pirate captain nodded and looked up with a teasing expression.
'Oh yes ye' do sir - ye' just don't know it yet is all! Or wasn't it you that told that little bilge rat to put the laudanum in my mug that fine day? Or who taught that blasted parrot to say what he does to me?" he challenged and the doctor gave him an utterly innocent look over his cards.
"What does the parrot say to you?" Norrington asked of the pirate with a curious look and Jack made a face of dismay as he sat forward, absently picking up a gold coin to weave it in and out of the fingers of one hand, without seeming to realize he did it.
"Damned feathered fiend follows me around and if I so much as yawn it starts squawking 'The sandman cometh! The sandman cometh!'" he quoted, imitating the bird rather accurately, making Will choke on his drink as the others laughed outright, including the doctor. The pirate captain shook his head with a very reproving smile at the man.
"Well you just won't quit Captain - not until you're ready to fall over practically! Least ways now poor Mr. Gibbs here has an idea a bit ahead of time." The doctor said and the pirate grinned, a little gold showing in his smile for a quick moment.
"That feathered fiend hates me!" he pouted and the others all smiled widely and long.
"I'm surprised you tolerate it then." Norrington said and the pirate gave him a surprised look.
"Who me? No I like it actually! It's got pretty colors. He's getting good at takin' messages back and forth for us too! Just wish it was a bit friendlier sometimes. Parrots and pirates are supposed to go together last I heard. Never heard of a parrot bein' so fond of trying' to bite a pirate though!" he said a bit indignantly and they laughed more.
"Jack - can I ask you something?" Elizabeth questioned, and he looked up at her from his cards, the coin still moving absently through his fingers.
"You can always ask missy - I can't guarantee I'll be answerin' though. Depends on the question." He told her very candidly and she seemed a bit off step at the honest reply, then smiled a little shyly, then sat forward and considered him for a moment.
"You're not like a lot of the pirates that I've heard about - or even read about." She started and he sat back with an arched eyebrow and a skeptical look, the coin moving a little faster now but just as deftly and she frowned at him. He paid more attention to the exchange of cards and coin going on in the center of the table for a few minutes.
"No, Jack. Don't getting all 'piratey' on me. Listen -" she objected and he just as quickly relaxed more into his chair, smiling at Mr. Gibbs.
"Is that a new phrase type a' Captain? 'gettin' all piratey' on folks?" Gibbs asked him as he leaned towards Jack and the other nodded.
"Aye - I do believe it is Mr. Gibbs!" he said cheerfully and she stopped and scowled at him. He noticed and quickly hushed, sat up straighter, raised his chin, now giving her his full attention.
"My apologies Missy - you were saying?" he asked very politely and she looked flustered as she tilted her head to consider him with a frown.
"Jack - please?" she said simply and he seemed amused. It was Mr. Gibbs who leaned over towards his captain again.
"Captain - I do believe yer' still 'being all piratey' - and the lass is finding ye a bit much. Doesn't seem the slappin' type, but ye' never know." He warned and the pirate quickly relaxed more naturally, the coin resuming its motion through his fingers.
"Sorry lass - just playin' with ye'" he said much more naturally and she smiled at him now.
"Thank you - you know I really do like you better when you just act - like yourself. But here's the thing - you just are not like other pirates. You don't act like one - you don't talk like one - you certainly don't walk like one. But there's more. A lot more. Why did you decide to go pirate? Or am I not supposed to ask someone like you - something like that?" she finally spit out and a quick flicker of surprise crossed his face, even as the coin dropped loudly to the table from his fingers. He startled at the sound and quickly reclaimed it and tilted his head as he considered her for a long moment with a serious look, as if weighing and measuring her intently.
"It's - been a very long time since anyone has asked me something like that missy," he finally said in a thoughtful tone and she smiled shyly. He leaned forward and gave her an intent look.
"Lass, I want you to think back for a moment here. Barbossa and his crew of blood thirsty cutthroats are the same crew that mutinied against me - but - they are also the same crew that I went out and hired to work under me. They didn't work for me because I was a man who gave quarter, backed off, spared lives or any of the rest of it. There was a time when I can assure you - I was as nasty and mean and cruel as any pirate you've ever heard of. It's not a time I'm proud of today, but I won't try to deny it either. I'm not sure you really want to hear about the darkest days of my life now, do you? Tis' rarely pleasant meeting the monsters that lurk inside a man, much less having them fill your head and hold sway over all you do for awhile. The worst things you can imagine a man doing - well - lets' just say that as a rule, pirates don't follow orders - they follow example. I was their Captain, I hired them - they also followed my example." he said a bit softly, but in earnest.
She frowned mildly at him. "I've never heard those stories about Jack Sparrow." She said and he smiled as he leaned back in his chair.
"Then why don't we just leave it that way lass. I've been the pirate from your storybooks for a good dozen years now. Surely you'd rather keep that picture?" he asked easily and she considered him for a long moment and then sighed.
"You don't have to tell me everything Jack - but believe it or not, I consider you a friend. If you had a friend who'd been through something like that - even if it was a dozen years ago - wouldn't you wish they trusted you enough to tell you even a little bit of what had happened to them? It must have been pretty awful if it was enough to make someone like you just walk away from - well - where ever it is you came from. You certainly aren't from around here." She said and the coin moving rapidly and automatically through the fingers of one hand even as he sipped at his glass.
She looked at Mr. Gibbs, only to find him studying his Captain with equal intensity, as well as were Will, the doctor, and especially Commodore Norrington. Jack seemed to stare at the table for a long, long moment, and just as she was about to give up, the pirate sat up and gave her a small smile and leaned forward, pointing at her with one finger.
"Alright lass - for the beautiful girl who once decided to stand between myself and the gallows - for her bravery then. You want to hear the story do you?" He said simply as he drew his glass near and considered the coin and sighed at it then leaned to the side to dig in his pocket and pulled out another, slightly different one. He presented it to her and she took it and turned it over and frowned mildly.
"It has the emblem of King Charles on it?" she said and he nodded and took up his glass to drain it completely in one huge gulp and she looked alarmed as he sat it down before Gibbs with a solid clink.
"Once upon a time - in a land called England, there lived a man who owned a shipping business. Been in his family for generations even. Big contracted family grant of some kind of carrying things for the Crown for decades. And he married and eventually had 3 sons and 3 daughters. Not in that order, but eventually. All of the boy's initials were the same - as were all of the girls - family tradition and all of that rot." He said with a dismissing wave as his other hand returned to the weaving of the coin and she smiled mildly as she watched the change of cards, coins and then considered him again.
"Well of course the eldest son was meant to inherit the family business and reputation and all of that. That would be my older brother. The second son was meant more for the handling of whatever the mother deemed proper - that would be myself. Only, you see, Jeffrey - my older brother had a head about as thick as brick and as pliable as stone. Even with the best tutors money could by that boy could barely read or write by the time he was 15. Huge fellow - and a bully to beat. He was 9 years older than I, so there wasn't exactly anything I could do if he chose to bounce me off the wall or whatever struck his fancy at the time." He said and she frowned and he shrugged casually.
"To make a long story tellable - when my youngest brother was born - well - how does a man with dark hair and dark eyes - married to woman with dark hair and dark eyes - end up with a blonde and blue eyed youngest son?" he asked with a sly smile, and she blushed mildly and he shrugged again.
"Believe me love, if you knew the man you wouldn't blame her. Anyway - he told her she could keep one of her - devil spawned sons, - but not both. And being a mother and all she said she would keep the wee one. So I was sent off to school in Europe - France even would you believe?" he said and she smiled at him.
"Savvy!" she told him and he grinned and chuckled naturally.
"Aye! I imagine that's where that be coming from. Anyway, by the time I was getting to the ripe old age of 20, I had gone back and forth across the channel quite a number of times. My mother's continued punishment was to have to say good bye to me the 1st day of February every year after winter break. Well - this year, my older brother had made a bad business mistake - a very, very bad one. One that he hoped to hide from my father. Knowing I would be on the ship coming home in November - he managed to hire some 'hope to be' pirates to supposedly kidnap me. He figured my father would pay the ransom, he'd split it with his friends, and my father would be none the wiser about the accounting mistake." He said and her eyes grew large.
"Your own brother arranged for you to be kidnapped?" she breathed and he sighed and shrugged.
"He never was the best apple on the tree love. Had a few chinks missing in the mortar if you get what I mean. I suppose it made sense to him - I would be returned, he would get the money - end of problem with my father. Only problem was that before they could get this ransom note together - REAL pirates attacked the ship. Spanish ones even." He said and the doctor frowned deeply.
"Ut-oh" Will breathed and the pirate smiled at him.
"Oh you can say that again lad. They just took everyone prisoner that was left after they nearly blew the ship to pieces. By the time it had gotten to be the next November, there was only one other fellow and myself still left alive out of the group of us that had been taken that day. We were the 'slave labor'. To this day I have very little love of the Spanish, but you can probably imagine why. They were not exactly nice or concerned with our welfare. They'd just go capture another ship if too many of us died in a particular week." He said and Will swallowed dryly and shuddered mildly and the pirate paused and sighed deeply at Gibbs who poured a little more in his glass and nudged it towards him. Jack took it, but just stared at it instead of drank it - yet.
"Well - after a year and 2 months 3 weeks and 4 days, a Dutch liner managed to capture the Spanish sloop. Unfortunately, the Spanish told them we were crew, rather than be caught with white slaves, and neither the other guy or myself or the newer prisoners spoke a word of Dutch. So - the Dutch did what they normally do - they branded those of us who didn't carry such a distinction yet, and those that already had a brand and had been caught yet again - those they hung. From the yardarm actually. Didn't even wait to get back to the port. The branding they did back at the port." He said as he pushed up his sleeve some and ran a hand over the scarred letter P on his forearm.
"You weren't even guilty of piracy - not really." She said and he sighed and shrugged.
"No, I was more guilty of seeing the crazy Spanish captain didn't run us onto the shoals. I swear that man could not read a map to chart his way out of a mitten! I can't say that I refused to do anything when the map is there and the rocks are there and the idiot is trying his best to slam the side of the ship into them. Hadn't been a pirate but a few months before they ran into me. God only knows how that man ever managed. He was a lot fonder of the whip and starving people to death than he was actually in doing anything to take care of his ship or his crew." He said and she bit on her lip with a sympathetic look. Jack shrugged.
"So now I have a pretty new brand, I'm 21 years old, and the Dutch decided to keep me in their prison in the East Indies while they sent a messenger to inform my father that I had been convicted of piracy and if he wished to come collect me he was more than welcome to have me - for a rather large sum of money I might add. Thus my fondness for Dutch ships to this day." He said and she considered him and nodded.
"He came?" she asked and he sighed at her and nodded.
"Took one look at me, paid the fine - hauled me down to the docks and promptly paid some Chinese junket to haul me away so he could forget I had ever existed. All the 'no son of mine is a pirate' speech - I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled he was with my new found profession." He said dryly and took a large sip from his glass and she frowned more at him as he pushed it at Gibbs again.
"To shorten this magnificent form of torture m'lady - let's skip details now. I ended up in Singapore - met William Turner Senior and spent some time playing in the south seas with these odd plants they call 'bread fruit,' We were actually trying to be honest straightforward upstanding businessmen even. Makes me laugh even now when I think of it. William thought he'd get rich sending breadfruit all over the world and would be able to send for his family. Talked about his boy constantly." He said with a smile at the blacksmith.
"Not much to do out there to be honest. He had some cannons on this little boat of his and I had learned about all the tricks to cannon in the Dutch prison - I just hadn't ever gotten to actually fire one. Well - dear William let me. See, I was furious with my father - and well, I have to admit that one night when Turner was sleeping and a freighter came along and I had the wheel and it turned out to be one of my father's ships - ummm - I just couldn't help myself." He said, the last with a rather smug look and she gave him a sympathetic smile anyway.
"How did Will's father react?" she asked and he smiled and chuckled soundly.
"Oh the man just about killed me with his bare hands! I can still hear him screaming at me!" he said and the others all smiled broadly.
"He wasn't a pirate already then?" Will asked and Jack sighed.
"Well - no - but I was sure itching to just sink everything on the water that was my fathers'. Every time he'd come up with some way to postpone it, bribe me not to, distract me - get me too drunk to be firing anything at anyone - some conniver, your father was lad - quite a man. Bound and determined to save me from myself if it killed him. I could never figure out why, for the life of me." He said with a wave of his hand and then gave a smile and a half shrug.
"After awhile, we decided breadfruits were never meant to be sent anyplace and wandered up and down the coast of America and South America. Then around Cape Horn. Every time I go around one of those places I end up with another gold tooth it seems like! We were attacked by corsairs off the coast of France - and well - I'm those William didn't try to tell me to leave alone. So that ended up with us sinking several of them even before the British ship that was coming to our rescue could get to us. Me and my cannons again. I ended up standing in front of the British admiralty in London who said they had an offer for me." He said and stopped abruptly to take a large swallow from the glass and look at Gibbs who nodded at him.
"You don't need to go into any details Jack. Nobody needs to know that." Gibbs told him and the one nodded and then he stared at the table with a rather sour look.
"They told me there was this really nasty pirate terrorizing the American colonies over this side. Raiding, killing, looting, burning stuff down - really a bad seed. All they wanted me to do was accept a privateers marque - sail this really nice big ship they were gonna give me - over here - and blast the evil doer out of the waters. In return they would give me the ship to do it with - the money, the artillery, the guns, the crew. I would be given a full pardon for anything and everything I'd ever done anywhere in the entire world. I could even have a career in the British Royal Navy. They wanted me to teach them how to use their guns better - would you believe?" he looked up to ask and she smiled and then frowned at him.
"Why didn't you take an offer like that? It would have changed your whole life Jack." She said and he leaned forward on his elbows to cock his head at her and regard her intently, but kindly.
"Oh, but I did take them up on it love. You bet I did. Came over here and in less than two weeks I'd found that dastardly pirate and with three balls put him on the bottom of the sea. No quarter given, no survivors, no chance to surrender - just like the instructions said. They had told me the man was too dangerous to get that close to - and they didn't want me damaging their nice new pretty ship." He said and she frowned at him even more.
"If you did it then - what happened?" she asked and now he took a huge, enormous breath and sighed at her.
"The body of the pirate captain that we fished out of the water that night - at least the body parts we could find - " he said and stopped and seemed to wince mildly and then sighed at her.
"It was my brother love; Jeffrey was who they'd had me blow out of the water. They used me as an assassin against my own brother while at the same time giving me a set of instructions so that I'd never know it was him before I killed him." He said and was still. She gasped and stared at him with a deeply horrified look as the room became utterly silent.
"I turned pirate right then and there on the spot love, with my brother's bloody body in my arms. And believe me, for awhile there - I still followed their rules, I gave no quarter to any soul, I showed no mercy to any man, I never let anyone get to close, and I blew them all out of the water faster than a man can spit. Only it was THEM that were my targets then. Anything British on the waters that I could find. Anything I even suspected might be remotely connected to that bastard King Charles. That coin in your hands love - that real, honest to god blood money, savvy? Can't find bloodier money anywhere else if you ask me. Half paid to me upon leaving England as a privateer - the other half to be given when I returned. Only I never did return. I kept the half and I kept the ship and I can promise you there was NO pirate nastier than myself in those days." He said and she swallowed dryly as she dropped the coin on the table abruptly.
"You - you kept it?" she asked and he nodded as he claimed it and ran it through the fingers of one hand.
"Aye I kept it. To remind me of the price of giving in to madness. The only reason I'm still not the bloodthirsty murdering pirate you tell me I'm not - is because of the lad's good father here. I owe that man more than my life. I owe him what little sanity I can lay claim to. Generally its' not a problem. I've mellowed with age it seems - and it's been awhile now since the last fool tried to offer me a privateer's marque. I'm afraid that one used to get me - rather upset lets' just say." He said with a wave of dismissal and Gibbs arched an eyebrow at him.
"Rather upset ye' say Jack? Yeah, ye' could be puttin' it that way I suppose." He said thoughtfully and the pirate sat back to smile at him.
"I didn't kill the man." He said and the older sailor smiled.
"No - but I think you scared him out of ten years of his lifespan lad. And that time wasn't all that long ago." He said warningly and the pirate seemed vastly amused as he shrugged nonchalantly. Norrington stirred with a mild frown.
"Jack - I've seen the file the Crown distributes on your activities, current and in the past. None of that is in there." He said and the one shook his head.
"Better not be by now." The pirate muttered as he changed cards and coin again.
"Not be?" Will asked and the one smiled and shook his head.
"Eventually I established a 'gentlemen's accord' with the good King Charles. Seems the man got tired of me interfering in my father's business. Yule, 1679 actually. Nothing before then is supposed to ever show up. Far as I know, over the years all of them have been discreetly 're-organized'. You know - please remove pages 2 and 3 and replace with the new updated versions as enclosed.'" He said and they others looked curious.
"That's it?" Will asked and the pirate gave him a mild smile as Gibbs grinned a bit more.
"No lad, that's not all. But its' all we need to be goin' into please. Have you ever played poker before?" he asked and Will blushed mildly.
"Ummm - not really very much?" he said and the pirate grinned.
"Oh good!" he reacted with and the others all looked at him quickly and the pirate shrugged.
"I was wondering why he was being so difficult to lose to! If he doesn't know really what he should be wantin' to keep, then I understand." He said and Gibbs smiled at him.
"Well we can't have you bored Captain Jack. Here boy, bring them cards over here and lets make this a bit more of a challenge, all right by you?" the older sailor asked and the younger smiled and nodded.
"If its' all right with you Jack?" he asked and the pirate grinned, a sparkle coming to his eye.
"Aye lad - fine by me indeed. Now lets get on with this before the good doctor there starts imitating the feathered fiend right here in yer house! I don't put it past the man at all!" he said and the others all smiled at the prediction even as the pirate subtly stifled a mild yawn."
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Yes folks, the story Aftermath will soon be at its end! Still a ways to go - so don't quit just yet!
Disclaimer: I guess I really do need to remind you all that anything and everything related to Pirates of the Caribbean, their characters and settings are all the property of Disney - Disney - Disney - nobody - but -Disney ---- I-just-borrowing-to-play-with-and-giving-back. Only Disney can make money on anything to do with Pirates of the Caribbean. NOT ME!
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Summary: Port Royal lies in ruins.. The lost Sparrow and Ana have been returned - but can anything ever be as it was before - for any of them?
Chapter 19: Odd Fellows
Commodore Norrington stood at the doorway of the sickroom and frowned mildly at finding the pirate clad in baggy pants and sleep shirt staggering severely as he came from the bathroom area. He collided with the door jamb with a solid thump, causing the Commodore to wince even as the pirate swore vividly.
Jack turned, eyes closed and rested his forehead against the door frame, trying to will the dizziness away. This was ridiculous that he be in a cold sweat and nearly reeling just from a trip by himself to the bathroom.
Norrington frowned deeply at the pale, sweaty features and went and took the man's elbow.
'What are you doing up? Let's get you back where you belong," he said quietly but firmly as he quickly moved the pirate to the side of the bed nearby. Instead of getting in and lying down though, Jack sat with his knees raised before him, his arms across them and his forehead resting on his arms, trying to take slow breaths as he gave the dizziness time to clear and got his breath back.
A cool wet cloth suddenly found its way to the back of his neck, then around the front, around his collarbone and up to his face now as he lifted his head. Oh now that was helping drive back the dizziness - a lot even. He heard rustling noises and found himself pushed back against pillows that had been propped up behind him. He let his legs slide out before him with a soft sigh.
"Doctor Cook said you'd had a minor relapse after the exertions of getting here the other day. I really didn't expect to find you here like this though. I'm astounded everyone has gone off and left you on your own! What on earth are they thinking of? I don't need to be a medical man to tell that you've still got the fever on you," said a voice nearby as the cool cloth, now refreshed, returned to gently mop over his face.
Jack had a strong suspicion of whose voice that was - and if he were right, he really hoped this was all merely a nightmare. Now that the threat to the town was gone - wasn't it back to 'hostilities as usual?' It would be with most military types he'd come to know in the past. Many didn't even grant you that.
He stayed very, very still, willing his breathing to slow and his body to relax as much as possible. Just after he'd managed to let himself become completely limp and heavy, there came a cool hand to his forehead and a muttered oath in a voice that was now much closer.
"Damn you, you bloody pirate - you'd better be all right or I swear I shall thrash you within an inch of your life. You have to be all right - do you hear me Sparrow? That's an order! All the confusion you've caused me... It used to be so simple - soldiers good, pirates bad. And then you come along! I owe you my life - we owe you the town - you nearly go and get yourself blown to pieces defending Port Royal... For god's sake man, what kind of a pirate are you?" the Commodore asked the last in truly mystified tone. It was obvious he believed the pirate had faded out and was currently holding this little discussion with himself.
At least he thought so until the pirate cracked his eyes open and blinked at him a little fuzzily. The Commodore's eyes widened and he blushed mildly. Jack continued to frown at him, and then finally realized what was wrong. Norrington had come dressed as a civilian.
"Wha' happened Commodore? Yer wig an' yer uniform?" he asked in a very heavy tone. Norrington gave him a half smile and looked uneasy for a second, then smiled more.
"Would you rather I put them on for you?" he asked back, and now the pirate gave a very soft chuckle as he shook his head some.
"No, that's quite alright son - I've had enough nightmares of you in yer uniform to last me fer a bit. What're you doing here? Whatever it is y' think I've been up to - I didn' do it this time. Blasted doctor won't let me take two steps outside that bloody door." He said with a gesture over at it and Norrington looked from the door to the pale man before him. He doubted very much Sparrow could even get to the door, much less two steps beyond it.
"Well I didn't come here to drag you off to the prison, or to hang you. So we can dispense with that please. I sincerely doubt I could ever hang you now anyway." He said, the last part very softly, to himself, then froze and gave the pirate a stricken look as he realized he'd said that out loud. By the grin now on the man's face, obviously Jack had heard him as well.
Norrington decided not to make matters worse by commenting more, and instead concentrated on wetting and wringing out the cloth in the basin of water that sat nearby on the bed stand. Jack watched him, regretting being too tired to make more of the man's revelation.
"I should probably see if I can offer you some juice at least." The Commodore said after a long moment as he folded the cloth. The pirate grimaced and leaned away from him mildly.
"Please - I'm sick - I don't deserve to be tortured with juice. I didn' do anything to earn that kinda punishment!" he objected wryly and Norrington very nearly smiled fully, restraining himself only just at the last minute.
"Broth?" he asked politely - not at all surprised when the pirate arched an eyebrow at him with an 'I-dare-you-to-try' look to his features. Now the Commodore did chuckle softy.
"Then tell me what they would do if you were on your ship? Surely you've been ill at times - injured I would wager on. What happens then?" he asked and the pirate pushed himself up to sitting, taking the wet cloth in his own hands and holding it to one side of his neck. The coolness of it seemed to be soothing to the man, Norrington noticed.
"Well - Gibbs usually has it in his mind to try to poison me with the same assorted vile substances as well - juice, broth - uggg.- but at least he bribes me first with a bottle o' rum, savvy?" He drawled, raising his head with an extremely hopeful look.
Norrington bit on his cheek to keep from laughing too fully. This man was a pirate after all - well - no - this was the man he'd read about in those files he had burned. Merchant, Privateer, Pirate Patriot? He cocked his head, staring fixedly now at the man before him.
"Over there mate - in the wardrobe - second shelf - wayyyy in the back." The pirate told him with a nod at the cabinet across the room. Norrington came out of his reverie with a start.
"How would you know that?" he asked suspiciously and the one smiled.
"Saw the good doctor put it there earlier. He said when I could get to it, it was mine. Probably watered down knowing that man. And people say I'm the daft one." He observed and Norrington couldn't help but be amused.
"But you have to get to it?" he asked and the one shrugged.
"Well actually that was my intention this afternoon to begin with. The poor lass they stuck sitting' here with me - I gave her a message to carry to Mr. Gibbs down at the docks. She has a 'friend' down there she moons over constantly. She should be back about 10 minutes before the sunset - just before the rest of 'em. Now if you wanna watch me crawl on my hands and knees over to that cabinet, be my guest. But I would be most obliging to you if you'd just hand me the bloody thing. I'm sure it' so watered down not even a bilge rat could get drunk if he fell into it headfirst. However, the Good Doctor didn' say I couldn't enlist the aid of such prestigious person's as yerself Commodore." The pirate purred silkily and the Commodore smiled as he rose.
He retrieved the bottle and came back, twisting it open as he stood several feet away from the pirate with a very intent look as he half smiled at the man, taking his time with the bottle.
'Your very good at that Captain Sparrow - I must admit, if I wasn't waiting to see at what point you'd start 'portraying your image' - I wouldn't' have realized when it happened. Seamless transition from sick man to negotiations." He said and the pirate did a double take at him and looked rather annoyed.
"Can I just have the bottle then? Please?" he asked, much more simply now and the Commodore smiled as he surrendered it. He watched as the pirate took a large quick swig, then suddenly nearly choked, barely managed to swallow and looked shocked as he gasped at the bottle that he held out, away from him now.
"What?" Norrington asked quickly and the one coughed.
"Oh now I know that man is trying to kill me - it's not watered down at all! Here - go get me a glass with some water in it! Great Neptune's Trident - blast that bloody man to the bottom of the sea! What's the big idea leavin' a sick man like meself with a whole bottle of fine quality rum!" he demanded, still half coughing and choking a bit and sputtering indignantly. Now Norrington desperately wanted to laugh fully and long, going to get the water and instead coming back with half a glass of juice, grinning smugly as he offered it to the pirate. Jack arched an eyebrow at him sharply with an unhappy look.
"Compliments of Mr. Gibbs?" Norrington remarked as he held it out, and the pirate took it, giving him a very shrewd look first, but finally he accepted it. The Commodore looked very pleased with himself as he re- situated himself on the side of the bed facing the ill man. He picked up the bottle to pour some of the dark fluid into the juice glass that the pirate held, knowing fully well that Jack was studying him with great intensity - him - not the glass, not the bottle. It was him that Sparrow was analyzing so intently.
The military man could not help but wonder what it was the pirate would see.....
~ * * ~
The island of Hispaniola is not located all that far from Jamaica with the infamous Port Royal. In fact, by sturdy ship it isn't more than 3 or 4 days, depending on the wind. Thus it was a few days after Jack was served his rum treated juice by the very man whose main interest in life had once been to hang him - that another man was striding down the docks of Santo Domingo, his features as dark and stormy as a hurricane at full gale. A bent and harried thinner man scurried after him, looking tense and unhappy.
The large balding man in the rumpled suit stood up behind a large desk as the two entered.
"You have him? Sparrow?" he asked quickly in fluent French. Reynolds scowled, rapidly relaying the events and outcome of his visit, equally at ease in the foreign language.
The man scowled and sat down , staring at a pad of paper. Finally he shook his head.
"No - that is far too easy - that man has been declared dead more times than you care to know - if you did not see a body, then we shall consider Captain Sparrow as still alive. I want you to return, only this time do not let anyone see you return. Wait for one week and if he has not shown up then, we will meet back here." He said and the one scowled at him.
"That is a waste of time. The man is dead and gone. You should be glad to be rid of him!" he said and the balding man arched an eyebrow at him.
"You, Mr. Reynolds, are the hired bounty hunter. You have already been paid half of your fee. If you are wrong and this menace shows up yet again in a month or so - it will be King Louis himself you will be explaining your reasons for not taking the time to be sure he was dead and gone. Trust me, - the French guillotine may be quicker than the English noose - but you would be as dead and gone as you insist this pirate is. Do you really want to take that chance? Or are you perhaps now a bit more agreeable to a return visit to lovely Jamaica?" he asked in a threatening growl.
Reynolds, said nothing - just nodded and spun on his heel and stormed out, as equally dark in mood as when he had entered. Oh well - if they wanted to pay him to sail around chasing a ghost now - so be it. Pretty easy income that would be.. And certainly safer than trying to catch and bring in the pirate on his own!
~ * * ~
Commodore Norrington was not surprised when he was summoned to the Governor's residence just after dinner - the man had a regular habit of getting ideas after his evening meal. There was much to be planned for the rebuilding of Port Royal - or the founding of a new town - and either one would require some sort of military security. Tonight at least had been brief before they were finished.
He confidently passed down the hallways, gradually becoming aware of voices in the dining room just to the side. He paused at finding the infamous pirate clad in a sleep shirt and minus his kohl, sitting at the table and expertly shuffling a deck of cards. The man definitely looked better than he had 3 days ago when the Commodore had last see him. He found himself truly relieved and could not help but smile mildly, even if not entirely sure he should be smiling at such a realization. If Sparrow got well he would eventually be back out on the waters doing God only knows what next!
Around the table sat the young Mr. Turner with Elizabeth beside and a bit behind him, Doctor Cook and Mr. Gibbs at the pirate's other side. In front of each sat a glass, and before each a rather tall stack of what looked like actual gold coin and smaller stacks of shillings and other assorted coinage. Mr. Gibbs worked open a new bottle of rum and set it beside the pirate.
"Ah James - working late?" the doctor asked and the Commodore paused and shrugged.
"Not very at least?" he said and the doctor smiled as he gestured him over to the table.
"Pull up a chair Norrington, take off yer' fancy coat and have a drink man - it' well past moon-rise!" Jack said cheerfully and the military man looked extremely surprised at the invitation. He gave the doctor a doubtful and uncertain look. The doctor smiled as he reached over and drug up another chair beside him and the others moved over a bit.
Gibbs got him a glass and produced a stack of gold and other coins that he put in front of him.
"What are we doing?" he asked and Gibbs smiled.
"Pirate's poker - and the young Mr. Turner is the guest of honor." He said and Norrington smiled as he sat forward and stacked the coins, then considered the top gold one and seemed amused as he returned it to the stack.
"What is pirate's poker? And why is William the guest of honor?" Elizabeth asked of the older sailor beside her and the man smiled and nodded at Jack.
"Well no self respecting pirate can be giving to charity outright - nor accepting it, so tradition says that when someone is deserving of such, you play a game of cards. We all cheat, the guest of honor wins. Jack figures we've been a bit of a strain on your resources here. Besides - there's nothing else to do is there?" he said and she smiled mildly.
"Jack - you don't need to do that. And everyone plays with your money to start with?" She said and he smiled as if amused as he shuffled the cards a bit more.
"They're humoring the sick pirate darling," he drawled, as he started dealing the cards and she watched with interest.
"I don't see you cheating." She observed and Gibbs nearly choked, as even Jack grinned with a quick glance at her.
"No, I don't think it's supposed to be obvious." Norrington observed with a suppressed grin of his own as the bottle went around the table and ended up back at Jack's side where he filled his glass to nearly the brim. The doctor cleared his throat loudly, with a teasing look.
"Oh hush, ye' pest." The captain said as he took a large swallow and coughed mildly. The doctor chuckled as he sipped at his own, and then took a bigger drink.
"Likes his rum I see. Our good doctor has the makings of a pirate, that man does Jack." Gibbs said in an aside and the one nodded with an easy grin.
"I do not!" the doctor protested and the pirate captain nodded and looked up with a teasing expression.
'Oh yes ye' do sir - ye' just don't know it yet is all! Or wasn't it you that told that little bilge rat to put the laudanum in my mug that fine day? Or who taught that blasted parrot to say what he does to me?" he challenged and the doctor gave him an utterly innocent look over his cards.
"What does the parrot say to you?" Norrington asked of the pirate with a curious look and Jack made a face of dismay as he sat forward, absently picking up a gold coin to weave it in and out of the fingers of one hand, without seeming to realize he did it.
"Damned feathered fiend follows me around and if I so much as yawn it starts squawking 'The sandman cometh! The sandman cometh!'" he quoted, imitating the bird rather accurately, making Will choke on his drink as the others laughed outright, including the doctor. The pirate captain shook his head with a very reproving smile at the man.
"Well you just won't quit Captain - not until you're ready to fall over practically! Least ways now poor Mr. Gibbs here has an idea a bit ahead of time." The doctor said and the pirate grinned, a little gold showing in his smile for a quick moment.
"That feathered fiend hates me!" he pouted and the others all smiled widely and long.
"I'm surprised you tolerate it then." Norrington said and the pirate gave him a surprised look.
"Who me? No I like it actually! It's got pretty colors. He's getting good at takin' messages back and forth for us too! Just wish it was a bit friendlier sometimes. Parrots and pirates are supposed to go together last I heard. Never heard of a parrot bein' so fond of trying' to bite a pirate though!" he said a bit indignantly and they laughed more.
"Jack - can I ask you something?" Elizabeth questioned, and he looked up at her from his cards, the coin still moving absently through his fingers.
"You can always ask missy - I can't guarantee I'll be answerin' though. Depends on the question." He told her very candidly and she seemed a bit off step at the honest reply, then smiled a little shyly, then sat forward and considered him for a moment.
"You're not like a lot of the pirates that I've heard about - or even read about." She started and he sat back with an arched eyebrow and a skeptical look, the coin moving a little faster now but just as deftly and she frowned at him. He paid more attention to the exchange of cards and coin going on in the center of the table for a few minutes.
"No, Jack. Don't getting all 'piratey' on me. Listen -" she objected and he just as quickly relaxed more into his chair, smiling at Mr. Gibbs.
"Is that a new phrase type a' Captain? 'gettin' all piratey' on folks?" Gibbs asked him as he leaned towards Jack and the other nodded.
"Aye - I do believe it is Mr. Gibbs!" he said cheerfully and she stopped and scowled at him. He noticed and quickly hushed, sat up straighter, raised his chin, now giving her his full attention.
"My apologies Missy - you were saying?" he asked very politely and she looked flustered as she tilted her head to consider him with a frown.
"Jack - please?" she said simply and he seemed amused. It was Mr. Gibbs who leaned over towards his captain again.
"Captain - I do believe yer' still 'being all piratey' - and the lass is finding ye a bit much. Doesn't seem the slappin' type, but ye' never know." He warned and the pirate quickly relaxed more naturally, the coin resuming its motion through his fingers.
"Sorry lass - just playin' with ye'" he said much more naturally and she smiled at him now.
"Thank you - you know I really do like you better when you just act - like yourself. But here's the thing - you just are not like other pirates. You don't act like one - you don't talk like one - you certainly don't walk like one. But there's more. A lot more. Why did you decide to go pirate? Or am I not supposed to ask someone like you - something like that?" she finally spit out and a quick flicker of surprise crossed his face, even as the coin dropped loudly to the table from his fingers. He startled at the sound and quickly reclaimed it and tilted his head as he considered her for a long moment with a serious look, as if weighing and measuring her intently.
"It's - been a very long time since anyone has asked me something like that missy," he finally said in a thoughtful tone and she smiled shyly. He leaned forward and gave her an intent look.
"Lass, I want you to think back for a moment here. Barbossa and his crew of blood thirsty cutthroats are the same crew that mutinied against me - but - they are also the same crew that I went out and hired to work under me. They didn't work for me because I was a man who gave quarter, backed off, spared lives or any of the rest of it. There was a time when I can assure you - I was as nasty and mean and cruel as any pirate you've ever heard of. It's not a time I'm proud of today, but I won't try to deny it either. I'm not sure you really want to hear about the darkest days of my life now, do you? Tis' rarely pleasant meeting the monsters that lurk inside a man, much less having them fill your head and hold sway over all you do for awhile. The worst things you can imagine a man doing - well - lets' just say that as a rule, pirates don't follow orders - they follow example. I was their Captain, I hired them - they also followed my example." he said a bit softly, but in earnest.
She frowned mildly at him. "I've never heard those stories about Jack Sparrow." She said and he smiled as he leaned back in his chair.
"Then why don't we just leave it that way lass. I've been the pirate from your storybooks for a good dozen years now. Surely you'd rather keep that picture?" he asked easily and she considered him for a long moment and then sighed.
"You don't have to tell me everything Jack - but believe it or not, I consider you a friend. If you had a friend who'd been through something like that - even if it was a dozen years ago - wouldn't you wish they trusted you enough to tell you even a little bit of what had happened to them? It must have been pretty awful if it was enough to make someone like you just walk away from - well - where ever it is you came from. You certainly aren't from around here." She said and the coin moving rapidly and automatically through the fingers of one hand even as he sipped at his glass.
She looked at Mr. Gibbs, only to find him studying his Captain with equal intensity, as well as were Will, the doctor, and especially Commodore Norrington. Jack seemed to stare at the table for a long, long moment, and just as she was about to give up, the pirate sat up and gave her a small smile and leaned forward, pointing at her with one finger.
"Alright lass - for the beautiful girl who once decided to stand between myself and the gallows - for her bravery then. You want to hear the story do you?" He said simply as he drew his glass near and considered the coin and sighed at it then leaned to the side to dig in his pocket and pulled out another, slightly different one. He presented it to her and she took it and turned it over and frowned mildly.
"It has the emblem of King Charles on it?" she said and he nodded and took up his glass to drain it completely in one huge gulp and she looked alarmed as he sat it down before Gibbs with a solid clink.
"Once upon a time - in a land called England, there lived a man who owned a shipping business. Been in his family for generations even. Big contracted family grant of some kind of carrying things for the Crown for decades. And he married and eventually had 3 sons and 3 daughters. Not in that order, but eventually. All of the boy's initials were the same - as were all of the girls - family tradition and all of that rot." He said with a dismissing wave as his other hand returned to the weaving of the coin and she smiled mildly as she watched the change of cards, coins and then considered him again.
"Well of course the eldest son was meant to inherit the family business and reputation and all of that. That would be my older brother. The second son was meant more for the handling of whatever the mother deemed proper - that would be myself. Only, you see, Jeffrey - my older brother had a head about as thick as brick and as pliable as stone. Even with the best tutors money could by that boy could barely read or write by the time he was 15. Huge fellow - and a bully to beat. He was 9 years older than I, so there wasn't exactly anything I could do if he chose to bounce me off the wall or whatever struck his fancy at the time." He said and she frowned and he shrugged casually.
"To make a long story tellable - when my youngest brother was born - well - how does a man with dark hair and dark eyes - married to woman with dark hair and dark eyes - end up with a blonde and blue eyed youngest son?" he asked with a sly smile, and she blushed mildly and he shrugged again.
"Believe me love, if you knew the man you wouldn't blame her. Anyway - he told her she could keep one of her - devil spawned sons, - but not both. And being a mother and all she said she would keep the wee one. So I was sent off to school in Europe - France even would you believe?" he said and she smiled at him.
"Savvy!" she told him and he grinned and chuckled naturally.
"Aye! I imagine that's where that be coming from. Anyway, by the time I was getting to the ripe old age of 20, I had gone back and forth across the channel quite a number of times. My mother's continued punishment was to have to say good bye to me the 1st day of February every year after winter break. Well - this year, my older brother had made a bad business mistake - a very, very bad one. One that he hoped to hide from my father. Knowing I would be on the ship coming home in November - he managed to hire some 'hope to be' pirates to supposedly kidnap me. He figured my father would pay the ransom, he'd split it with his friends, and my father would be none the wiser about the accounting mistake." He said and her eyes grew large.
"Your own brother arranged for you to be kidnapped?" she breathed and he sighed and shrugged.
"He never was the best apple on the tree love. Had a few chinks missing in the mortar if you get what I mean. I suppose it made sense to him - I would be returned, he would get the money - end of problem with my father. Only problem was that before they could get this ransom note together - REAL pirates attacked the ship. Spanish ones even." He said and the doctor frowned deeply.
"Ut-oh" Will breathed and the pirate smiled at him.
"Oh you can say that again lad. They just took everyone prisoner that was left after they nearly blew the ship to pieces. By the time it had gotten to be the next November, there was only one other fellow and myself still left alive out of the group of us that had been taken that day. We were the 'slave labor'. To this day I have very little love of the Spanish, but you can probably imagine why. They were not exactly nice or concerned with our welfare. They'd just go capture another ship if too many of us died in a particular week." He said and Will swallowed dryly and shuddered mildly and the pirate paused and sighed deeply at Gibbs who poured a little more in his glass and nudged it towards him. Jack took it, but just stared at it instead of drank it - yet.
"Well - after a year and 2 months 3 weeks and 4 days, a Dutch liner managed to capture the Spanish sloop. Unfortunately, the Spanish told them we were crew, rather than be caught with white slaves, and neither the other guy or myself or the newer prisoners spoke a word of Dutch. So - the Dutch did what they normally do - they branded those of us who didn't carry such a distinction yet, and those that already had a brand and had been caught yet again - those they hung. From the yardarm actually. Didn't even wait to get back to the port. The branding they did back at the port." He said as he pushed up his sleeve some and ran a hand over the scarred letter P on his forearm.
"You weren't even guilty of piracy - not really." She said and he sighed and shrugged.
"No, I was more guilty of seeing the crazy Spanish captain didn't run us onto the shoals. I swear that man could not read a map to chart his way out of a mitten! I can't say that I refused to do anything when the map is there and the rocks are there and the idiot is trying his best to slam the side of the ship into them. Hadn't been a pirate but a few months before they ran into me. God only knows how that man ever managed. He was a lot fonder of the whip and starving people to death than he was actually in doing anything to take care of his ship or his crew." He said and she bit on her lip with a sympathetic look. Jack shrugged.
"So now I have a pretty new brand, I'm 21 years old, and the Dutch decided to keep me in their prison in the East Indies while they sent a messenger to inform my father that I had been convicted of piracy and if he wished to come collect me he was more than welcome to have me - for a rather large sum of money I might add. Thus my fondness for Dutch ships to this day." He said and she considered him and nodded.
"He came?" she asked and he sighed at her and nodded.
"Took one look at me, paid the fine - hauled me down to the docks and promptly paid some Chinese junket to haul me away so he could forget I had ever existed. All the 'no son of mine is a pirate' speech - I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled he was with my new found profession." He said dryly and took a large sip from his glass and she frowned more at him as he pushed it at Gibbs again.
"To shorten this magnificent form of torture m'lady - let's skip details now. I ended up in Singapore - met William Turner Senior and spent some time playing in the south seas with these odd plants they call 'bread fruit,' We were actually trying to be honest straightforward upstanding businessmen even. Makes me laugh even now when I think of it. William thought he'd get rich sending breadfruit all over the world and would be able to send for his family. Talked about his boy constantly." He said with a smile at the blacksmith.
"Not much to do out there to be honest. He had some cannons on this little boat of his and I had learned about all the tricks to cannon in the Dutch prison - I just hadn't ever gotten to actually fire one. Well - dear William let me. See, I was furious with my father - and well, I have to admit that one night when Turner was sleeping and a freighter came along and I had the wheel and it turned out to be one of my father's ships - ummm - I just couldn't help myself." He said, the last with a rather smug look and she gave him a sympathetic smile anyway.
"How did Will's father react?" she asked and he smiled and chuckled soundly.
"Oh the man just about killed me with his bare hands! I can still hear him screaming at me!" he said and the others all smiled broadly.
"He wasn't a pirate already then?" Will asked and Jack sighed.
"Well - no - but I was sure itching to just sink everything on the water that was my fathers'. Every time he'd come up with some way to postpone it, bribe me not to, distract me - get me too drunk to be firing anything at anyone - some conniver, your father was lad - quite a man. Bound and determined to save me from myself if it killed him. I could never figure out why, for the life of me." He said with a wave of his hand and then gave a smile and a half shrug.
"After awhile, we decided breadfruits were never meant to be sent anyplace and wandered up and down the coast of America and South America. Then around Cape Horn. Every time I go around one of those places I end up with another gold tooth it seems like! We were attacked by corsairs off the coast of France - and well - I'm those William didn't try to tell me to leave alone. So that ended up with us sinking several of them even before the British ship that was coming to our rescue could get to us. Me and my cannons again. I ended up standing in front of the British admiralty in London who said they had an offer for me." He said and stopped abruptly to take a large swallow from the glass and look at Gibbs who nodded at him.
"You don't need to go into any details Jack. Nobody needs to know that." Gibbs told him and the one nodded and then he stared at the table with a rather sour look.
"They told me there was this really nasty pirate terrorizing the American colonies over this side. Raiding, killing, looting, burning stuff down - really a bad seed. All they wanted me to do was accept a privateers marque - sail this really nice big ship they were gonna give me - over here - and blast the evil doer out of the waters. In return they would give me the ship to do it with - the money, the artillery, the guns, the crew. I would be given a full pardon for anything and everything I'd ever done anywhere in the entire world. I could even have a career in the British Royal Navy. They wanted me to teach them how to use their guns better - would you believe?" he looked up to ask and she smiled and then frowned at him.
"Why didn't you take an offer like that? It would have changed your whole life Jack." She said and he leaned forward on his elbows to cock his head at her and regard her intently, but kindly.
"Oh, but I did take them up on it love. You bet I did. Came over here and in less than two weeks I'd found that dastardly pirate and with three balls put him on the bottom of the sea. No quarter given, no survivors, no chance to surrender - just like the instructions said. They had told me the man was too dangerous to get that close to - and they didn't want me damaging their nice new pretty ship." He said and she frowned at him even more.
"If you did it then - what happened?" she asked and now he took a huge, enormous breath and sighed at her.
"The body of the pirate captain that we fished out of the water that night - at least the body parts we could find - " he said and stopped and seemed to wince mildly and then sighed at her.
"It was my brother love; Jeffrey was who they'd had me blow out of the water. They used me as an assassin against my own brother while at the same time giving me a set of instructions so that I'd never know it was him before I killed him." He said and was still. She gasped and stared at him with a deeply horrified look as the room became utterly silent.
"I turned pirate right then and there on the spot love, with my brother's bloody body in my arms. And believe me, for awhile there - I still followed their rules, I gave no quarter to any soul, I showed no mercy to any man, I never let anyone get to close, and I blew them all out of the water faster than a man can spit. Only it was THEM that were my targets then. Anything British on the waters that I could find. Anything I even suspected might be remotely connected to that bastard King Charles. That coin in your hands love - that real, honest to god blood money, savvy? Can't find bloodier money anywhere else if you ask me. Half paid to me upon leaving England as a privateer - the other half to be given when I returned. Only I never did return. I kept the half and I kept the ship and I can promise you there was NO pirate nastier than myself in those days." He said and she swallowed dryly as she dropped the coin on the table abruptly.
"You - you kept it?" she asked and he nodded as he claimed it and ran it through the fingers of one hand.
"Aye I kept it. To remind me of the price of giving in to madness. The only reason I'm still not the bloodthirsty murdering pirate you tell me I'm not - is because of the lad's good father here. I owe that man more than my life. I owe him what little sanity I can lay claim to. Generally its' not a problem. I've mellowed with age it seems - and it's been awhile now since the last fool tried to offer me a privateer's marque. I'm afraid that one used to get me - rather upset lets' just say." He said with a wave of dismissal and Gibbs arched an eyebrow at him.
"Rather upset ye' say Jack? Yeah, ye' could be puttin' it that way I suppose." He said thoughtfully and the pirate sat back to smile at him.
"I didn't kill the man." He said and the older sailor smiled.
"No - but I think you scared him out of ten years of his lifespan lad. And that time wasn't all that long ago." He said warningly and the pirate seemed vastly amused as he shrugged nonchalantly. Norrington stirred with a mild frown.
"Jack - I've seen the file the Crown distributes on your activities, current and in the past. None of that is in there." He said and the one shook his head.
"Better not be by now." The pirate muttered as he changed cards and coin again.
"Not be?" Will asked and the one smiled and shook his head.
"Eventually I established a 'gentlemen's accord' with the good King Charles. Seems the man got tired of me interfering in my father's business. Yule, 1679 actually. Nothing before then is supposed to ever show up. Far as I know, over the years all of them have been discreetly 're-organized'. You know - please remove pages 2 and 3 and replace with the new updated versions as enclosed.'" He said and they others looked curious.
"That's it?" Will asked and the pirate gave him a mild smile as Gibbs grinned a bit more.
"No lad, that's not all. But its' all we need to be goin' into please. Have you ever played poker before?" he asked and Will blushed mildly.
"Ummm - not really very much?" he said and the pirate grinned.
"Oh good!" he reacted with and the others all looked at him quickly and the pirate shrugged.
"I was wondering why he was being so difficult to lose to! If he doesn't know really what he should be wantin' to keep, then I understand." He said and Gibbs smiled at him.
"Well we can't have you bored Captain Jack. Here boy, bring them cards over here and lets make this a bit more of a challenge, all right by you?" the older sailor asked and the younger smiled and nodded.
"If its' all right with you Jack?" he asked and the pirate grinned, a sparkle coming to his eye.
"Aye lad - fine by me indeed. Now lets get on with this before the good doctor there starts imitating the feathered fiend right here in yer house! I don't put it past the man at all!" he said and the others all smiled at the prediction even as the pirate subtly stifled a mild yawn."
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Yes folks, the story Aftermath will soon be at its end! Still a ways to go - so don't quit just yet!