Nobody But You
"When the night comes closing in,
you're still the light that shine within.
I have laughed and cried 'till my tears ran dry.
I have lived and died a thousand times.
I have won and lost at whatever cost.
But through it all it's true,
I have always loved you…"
***
For several moments an
uncomfortable silence filled the room, occasionally interrupted by the sound of
Sophia's sniffles. When the tension had
finally become so thick one could cut it with a knife, Jack moved forward and sat
next to her on the bed, but still said nothing.
Eventually, he worked up his courage, took the small box from her,
placed it on the bed, and took both of her hands into his own. Clearing his throat he hesitated for a second
longer before beginning.
"I", he stammered as he
started. "I know my explanations may
never be enough for what ye've been through, but if ye'd just listen, maybe, it would help, a little."
Sophia did not respond, still
trying to regain some semblance of composure, and Jack took this as a sign to
continue. "So then", he continued, still
uneasy. "Where to begin, where to
begin", he said hushed, more to himself than her. "I suppose the beginning is as good a place
as any.
The last time I saw you was really the start of a lot of changes on the Pearl and in my life. Not long after we pulled out o' Tortuga the Cap'n took
very ill and died. By whatever stroke of
crazy luck, I somehow ended up in the position.
Apparently I.."
Noticing the look of
irritation that momentarily graced Sophia's face, Jack decided all the details
were not necessary. "Well, it's really
not important how. Anyway, I was
captain, ye understand? In charge of me
own ship. Kinda hard to pass up if ye know
what I mean?"
A stupid
comment which cost him an eye-roll and a huff of pure annoyance. "No, I don't know what ye mean", she answered
coldly.
"Alright look", he began again, his voice
growing somber as he made the decision to tell her the whole truth, despite the
light it might cast upon him.
"The truth… the truth is that
I fucked up, big time. I always meant to
come back, always. And I thought I could
being in charge an all. But I just got so caught up in meself. I was a
captain, a captain of me own ship, and I just couldn't give that up."
"Oh I see", Sophia cut him
off, her tears now dry only to be replaced by the usual anger. "Ye could give me up but not a pile of
floating wood. Real
romantic Jack."
"I know, it's terrible,
I know that. But like I said, I did mean
to come back. I just figured I'd take a
while to enjoy it a bit. Just a short
while mind you. But ye know how these
things go. Just a few more days turns
into just a few more weeks, then months.
I kept telling meself it was time to give it
up but I just couldn't bring meself to do it. And I figured I would eventually, I mean we
had our whole lives to be together, which gave me time to get it all our o' me system before I settled down.
Anyway, somewhere along the
way I came across the opportunity of a lifetime. To go after the treasure of
Isla de Muerta. And again, I couldn't pass it up. I figured that would be it, the last great
adventure of Captain Jack Sparrow. I'd
get the treasure, and we'd be set for life.
Only problem was, I made the mistake of givin'
up the bearings to me first mate. And
well, I'm sure you know the rest", he trailed.
"Ye told Barbossa,
the crew mutinied, and ye were marooned on an island", she finished for him.
"Yes exactly. And I swear to you Sophia, the first thing I
did when I got off that island was come here looking for you."
Ripping her hands from his
grip, Sophia snorted in disgust. "How very noble of ye Jack.
To come lookin for me after ye'd lost everythin and had nothin betta to do. Glad I was so high up on yer
list of priorities."
"I know that's how it seems
but it wasn't like that. I swear to you
I was going to come home after I'ad checked out Isla de Muerta, but circumstances
changed. Ye weren't a last resort
alright."
She gave him a look that
showed she was clearly unconvinced but did not argue further when he continued.
"Anyway, after I got off the
island I came back here, back to our home.
But ye were gone. I looked
everywhere for ye but it was as if the town had been completely turned upside
down. I knew the Spanish had taken over
but I figured mostly everything would be the same but it wasn't. You were gone, the landlord had no idea where
ye'd gone, me parents were gone and the brothel was
being run by someone else. I didn't know
where to go. I asked everyone we'd known
if they knew anything about ye and no one did.
I even hopped a few ships round some o' the islands to look for ye. After almost a
year of searchin I just gave up."
He paused a moment for her
reaction but her face remained blank.
"Ye must believe Soph", he started again softly, retaking her hands. "I never meant to hurt ye,
I always planned to come back. I
searched everywhere but ye were nowhere to be found. Eventually I just figured either ye were
dead, or didn't want to be found. I
tried, I really, really tried. I never
forgot about you, I swear."
"Neva forgot about me? Not even while ye were earning reputation as
the Caribbean's biggest womanizer."
"What would you have had of
me? You were gone. The only woman I'ad
ever loved was gone, and all I had left was a void where you used to be. I needed something to fill the space, to make
me forget. God Sophia, if you only knew
what it was like. Having to live
everyday knowing I fucked up. Knowing I
lost the only good thing in my life because I was too selfish to care. There hasn't been a day that's gone by since
then that I haven't thought about you.
There hasn't been a single woman I've been with that didn't have yer face.
I'm sorry alright. I don't know how many times I can say it but
I am."
Again silence fell over them
both as Jack finished his plea for forgiveness.
"So now what", Sophia asked
suddenly after a few moments.
Jack took a moment to consider
this. He knew what he needed to do, he
just wasn't sure he could do it. He
swallowed hard. "Now, I make it up to ye. I give the life
ye always wanted", he answered slowly.
"And what's that. A story book ending where we get married and
settle down together in some quaint little town where we raise our four
children? It doesn't work like that
Jack, and what town would have us if we did?
I've changed, this is my life now, and I don't think I could back. Could you?
Could you honestly give up the Pearl for a quiet, mundane life
of civility?"
"I would do it for you", answered firmly.
"No. You might try, but ye'd
be miserable, and I'd be miserable. It
would neva work."
"Fine. Maybe we can't live the life we once
wanted. But I love you Sophia. I don't think I ever stopped loving you. And having you back in my life these past
months has only made me realize how much I love you. Stay with me on the Pearl. I
know ye like it there despite yer attempts to make me
believe otherwise. Stay with me and we
can be happy, together", he finished, looking her straight in the eyes.
She held his gaze for only a
second before looking down and answering.
"That might work Jack, if I still loved you", she said solemnly.
It took a minute for him to
register what she had said. "You mean to
tell me that don't then?"
No answer.
"You mean to tell me that you
don't still love me? Not
at all? That you feel nothing for
me", he pressed on growing hurt, his gaze boring into her.
Fighting back the tears that
were beginning to water her eyes, she looked at him unable to answer. At her silence, Jack's hurt turned to
anger. Staring at her in disgust, he
harshly retracted his hands from hers' and stood up. With one last look of almost outrage, he
turned abruptly and stormed out of the room, down the stairs, and out of the
house. Still sitting on the bed, the
tears began to flow freely now. Raising
her hand to wipe her face, Sophia became aware that she still had the gold
chain from earlier in her hand. Staring at
it for a moment, something clicked in her head, and she jumped from her seat
and tore out of the room.
Running down the broken stairs
at full speed, she tripped and tumbled down the rest of them. When she landed with a sickening thud at the
bottom, she wasted no time in getting up and taking off again. When she got outside, she strained to look up
and down the crowded streets to see which Jack direction Jack had gone in. Finally spotting his tri-cornered hat in the
crowd, Sophia again tore off in his direction at full speed. Her heart pounded in her ears, as her feet
hit the dirt road hard. She dodged
people left and right, occasionally slamming into someone, but never
stopping. When she was finally within
close range to him and was getting tired, she noticed Jack did not walk alone,
but was instead accompanied by another woman, obviously a prostitute. Seeing this, a burst of motivation rushed
through her and she pressed on with all her might
Finally catching up to the
pair of them, she cut in front of Jack, causing him to come to a sudden stop
and almost trip, bringing the woman down with him.
"Yes alright. Yes, yes, yes", Sophia cried through tears
and in between breaths as she grabbed his free arm. "A hundred, thousands times yes Jack. YES! I
do love you!"
Stopping to finally catch her
breath and overcome with sobs, she fell silent, still gripping his hand and
halfway falling over. Despite all her
efforts, Jack said nothing, but looked at her as though he did not know what to
think. He didn't even attempt to help
her up off the ground. After a minute of
no sound save for Sophia's breathing, next to him the woman began to laugh
hysterically, in a high, cracked voice.
"Oh luv",
she began, still chuckling to herself.
Bending over, she placed a hand under Sophia's chin and lifted her head
so to look in her eyes. "From one woman
to another let me give ye some advice. Don't get attached to the customers, it'll
just leave ye broken hearted. Everyone
thinks their in love with Captain Jack Sparrow, but this one's heart belongs to
no woman. Just be glad ye got the
opportunity to do business with him, and move on to the next", she finished
patting her on the head.
For her part, Sophia stared at
her in horror. Mouth gaping, she tried
to piece something intelligible together to give for an answer but found
herself speechless. Thankfully, the
whore's words brought Jack out of his reverie and pulling her up, he released the other woman and turned to her.
"Actually Angelica, me heart
does belong to someone", he told her, then turned back to Sophia, took her by
the hand, and led her down the street and back to the Black Pearl.
~The End~
***
Author's Note:
Well that's the end. Hope you all
enjoyed it and I'd love to hear what you think.
I'm not so sure what I think of this ending, Jack seems a little out of character
but what can ya do?
I think I'll be taking a little break for awhile, but for those of you
who care, have no fear, I do have an idea for my next venture. Though I must admit, I'm getting a little
pirated-out, so we'll see how it goes.
Thanks for all your wondering reviews and support. I very much appreciate it.
~Angie