Chapter Fifteen: Rum Breath

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING except the characters 'the blonde and the brunette'.

"Beth? Beth? OH MY GOD, BETH!!!" screamed Lissie once they had almost reached the island. Clearly she wasn't up for long swimming trips; but Lissie had been on the swim team, Jack had done this before, and either Elizabeth was trying to hide her feelings about this thing, or she actually could take it.

But, Beth was unconscious.

Jack immediately noticed this, and dragged her on top of him, swimming as fast as he could, and trying to stay afloat. Jack (and Beth) reached the island first, Lissie next, and Elizabeth about a minute later.

Jack set Beth on her back, and knelt down next to her. Then, he did only what he could do to save her life, and Lissie tried her hardest not to laugh. It was too bad Beth was unconscious throughout this entire thing.

Jack took a deep breath, and gave her CPR—mouth to mouth.

* * *

"Look, Bethy, ever since the day I met you I thought you were incredible. More incredible than any other woman I dated, mind you."

Beth laughed at this comment.

"But, well, I have to admit, I've never been more nervous in my life, and…I—"

"Jack, just spit it out, you've always been able to say anything in front of me!"

"I know, love, I know, but, well, Beth… will you marry me?"

She gaped at him. He had asked her to marry him!!!!

"YES!" she screamed, then leapt into his arms.

"I LOVE THIS WOMAN!" Jack yelled to the heavens. Then, he kissed her deeply.

In fact, she could taste the rum on his mouth…

No, she really could…

Beth opened her eyes, gasping for air, and spitting some water out right into Jack's mouth.

Wait… right into Jack's mouth?!

"What happened?" she asked Jack as he spit the water out of his mouth.

"Well, love, you fainted."

Then, it came back to her… she had been swimming for way too long, got a stomach cramp, and passed out right then and there. She sat up.

"You… you… you put your mouth against mine!" she finished lamely.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" he asked.

Beth looked around, surprised she didn't hear Lissie either laughing her head off, or gagging.

In fact, Lissie wasn't there at all… and neither was Elizabeth…

"Where are the others?"

"They're getting the rum. You really worry about your best friend a lot, don't you? Why? Especially when she's with Elizabeth?"

Beth sighed; it was time he knew.

"Lissie and I are from the future… the year 2003. And we know everything that's going to happen. This adventure was made into a movie."

"What's a movie?"

"Technology took a flying leap."

"What's technology?"

Beth sighed again. "Never mind you, it's too hard to explain."

"You said you knew everything that was going to happen right now, didn't ye?"

"Yeah…" said Beth slowly.

"That's interesting."

Beth snorted.

"So, do you know what's going to happen next?"

"Let's leave that to our own terms," she said as he kissed her.

As they were kissing, something came across Beth's mind. Jack had sent Lissie and Elizabeth to get the rum…together. Being on the same island must be bad enough… let alone the same galaxy. But oh well, Lissie could take care of herself. She had more important things to deal with right now.

* * *

"Girl, Will is mine, so back off!"

"Didn't I tell you that the other day?"

"Who cares, things change, get with the program!"

They finally got the rum, and Elizabeth was more furious with Lissie than usual when she had pushed her down into the hole where the rum was stored.

Lissie was feeling the same way herself. She was about this close to knocking the living daylights out of Elizabeth, kick her, punch her, slap her, and she was so mad that she even had the mind to grab Jack's pistol and shoot that bullet up Elizabeth's nose.

"Jack! Is Beth awake yet—" Lissie broke off mid sentence, looking at Jack and Beth, kissing like there was no tomorrow.

"Ah, well…"

"Er…"

"All right, that's it! Break it up you two!" said Elizabeth.

"Are you two still going on the CPR, or were you actually kissing?"

Jack and Beth both got red in the face.

"Uh… Jack, you want to explain this one?"

"Go right ahead, love," he said.

"Well…" Beth began.

"No need to explain," said Lissie hastily. "But… HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OFF THIS ISLAND?"

"No need to hide it anymore, Lissie. Jack knows."

"Oh," she said. "I hope you didn't take it the wrong way—"

"No, no! Love, I'm a pirate! We hardly ever take things the wrong way!"

"Will did," said Lissie.

"Ah, well, some people are just…er… different than others."

"And I would know!" said Elizabeth.

Lissie was getting really annoyed. "All right, that's it. I don't care if you've known him for eight years, been best friends with him, or even made out with him! That was then, this is now."

Beth thought Lissie was so angry that she would have started foaming at the mouth. In fact, she wouldn't have been surprised that she had been hiding her secret of being an axe murderer and killed Elizabeth right on the spot.

"Oh, go back to where you belong!" yelled Elizabeth.

"No, you stuck up, prissy, spoiled little princess! You think everything is supposed to be served to you on a platter, including Will. But NEWSFLASH! The whole world doesn't revolve around you. So get used to disappointment!" Lissie screamed.

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

And with that, the two stormed off in opposite directions, each carrying a bottle of rum.

"That went well," said Jack.

That night…

"Pirates are… the best… bloody… people… ALIVE!" yelled Jack that night. They had lit a bonfire for the heck of it… and were now dancing drunkenly around it.

"In fact… I want to sing about them… what say you?"

"YO HO, YO HO A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME!" said Beth.

"I LOVE THIS SONG!" exclaimed Jack.

And together, they all broke into a rousing chorus of that song.

"We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs drink up me 'earties, yo ho! YO HO, YO HO! A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME!"

"I LOVE THIS SONG!" exclaimed Jack again.

"REALLY BAD EGGS!" said Lissie and Jack together. Then, Jack fell over, and Lissie almost knocked Elizabeth into the fire (whether accidentally or on purpose… no one knew).

"When I get the Pearl back… I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew. And we'll sing it all the time!"

"And you will be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main!" said Elizabeth.

"Not just the Spanish Main love… the entire ocean… the entire wo'ld! Wherever we want to go, we'll go, that's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails that's what a ship needs but what a ship is…what the Black Pearl really is…is freedom."

"Jack, it must be terrible for you to be trapped on this island," said Elizabeth, snuggling up to his shoulder. Was her purpose in life to infuriate everyone… especially girls?! Beth quickly snuggled up on his other shoulder.

"Oh, yes." He put his arm around both Beth and Elizabeth's shoulders, and Lissie found herself wishing that Will was stranded on this island with them. "But the company is infinitely better than last time, I think. And the…the scenery has definitely improved."

Beth laughed drunkenly.

"Mr. Sparrow… I'm not entirely sure I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk!" said Elizabeth.

"I know exactly what you mean, love," he said as he curled up the ends of his mustache.

"To freedom!" said Elizabeth, holding up her bottle.

"To the Black Pearl!" said Jack, Beth, and Lissie together.

Lissie took one sip of rum, Elizabeth faked hers, Beth fell asleep on Jack's shoulder, and Jack kept drinking until he lost consciousness.

"Very…good rum, don't you think, Sandra?" asked Lissie drunkenly, referring to Elizabeth. (A/N: I was making fun of my friend at school the other day about his real name, and he forgot my real name, so he called me 'Sandra'. Where he got that, I don't know, but thanks for the idea!)

"Oh yes," said Elizabeth, grinning evilly.

The next thing Lissie knew, she had been knocked over the head with a bottle of rum and slumped to the ground… unconscious.