Disclaimer:  Pirates are, by nature, not given to being owned, and even if they were available for ownership, I'd have to sell them to pay for college next year . . .unless we could find a way to use them in other ways to get money . . .

AN:  I'll respond to reviews again, and I'll try to do a better job.  I didn't mean to anger or offend anyone, I'm still new to this 'net thing and have discovered banter doesn't work well if not in vocal range of the other participant.  If it seems offensive to you, try emphasizing it in a different way, because however I'm thinking it, it is not meant to hurt.  RL seems to have stopped bashing me on the head for a while . . .drowning in homework, but they think my grandma might now be eligible for a liver transplant, which would buy years, rather than months.  Hope springs eternal.

To Love and Protect

Part 9

Of Reunions and Migraines

"Jack.  Cap'n, time to go."  Ana-Maria knelt beside Jack, who was leaning against the wall of Brian's cabin, his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest, either sleeping or simply resting, she couldn't tell.

"Mmmm."  The pirate captain slowly opened first one eye and then the other, blinking a few times.  "San . . ."

Ana-Maria silently cursed the woman for whatever it was that she had done, friendly or unfriendly, that still enabled her to haunt the pirate.  "Jack, it's time to go to Will's."

The pirate shook his head slowly and then climbed to his feet.  "Right, love.  Sounds good."

"Come on, Unc . . .Mr. Jacob, Ms. Ana.  Godpapa said that I was supposed to take you home quick and quiet as I can."

Ana-Maria nodded at the boy, practically dancing in the doorway with impatience, as she settled one hand on the pirate captain's elbow . . .just a precaution, she reassured herself.  Jack was perfectly capable of following the child without her help, that dazed, pained look in his eyes be damned.

The pirate captain had finally acquiesced to Brian's increasingly heated insistence that he remove all the ornaments from his hair, and it now hung free around his face, the dark locks accenting the white of the bandage.  A small pouch at his belt held the ornaments and all but two of his rings.  Dressed in a faded and oft-mended white shirt and brown trousers, his sword and pistol strapped firmly to his side, he did, indeed, look "semi-respectable", though Ana-Maria knew by his stance that he wasn't comfortable with the fact.  Jack had spent far too much time playing the slightly mad captain of the Pearl for him to be entirely comfortable in any other role.

The dark-haired young man led them swiftly through the knots of sailors and soldiers who were helping to dock the Intrepid in the deepening twilight, his intent face telling all who might have spoken up that he was on a mission for the Captain that was not to be interrupted.  The pirates who followed him merely attempted to look as inconspicuous and harmless as possible as the boy trotted down the gangplank and through a group of redcoats, one of whom called out his name.  The young man merely shook his head and hurried on, babbling something over his shoulder that might have made sense if he was talking slower and there was less activity on the dock . . .or, just as likely, might not have.

Before the confused soldier could decide how to respond, the boy and his charges had disappeared into the crowds.

Ana-Maria kept a tight grip of Jack's arm, ensuring that he stayed at her side, worried about the distanced look that had taken up residence in his eyes.  She also took comfort and strength from the contact for herself, his presence reminding her that they had already survived against impossible odds.  After all, a situation couldn't do much but improve from being stranded and dying in a small boat, right?

The female pirate kept her attention evenly divided between the pirate captain at her side and the boy in front of them, who was walking rather erratically.  "Jack, are you all right?"

Both the pirate and the boy stared at her.  The pirate captain shook his head slightly, some of the distance seeming to drop out of his gaze, and grinned at her.  "Which of us would you be referring to, love?"

She pointed at to the young man, a grin twitching at her own mouth.  "Him.  I know how you're doing."

"Really, now?  You can read my mind?  That's not always a very safe thing to do, love."

The boy gestured impatiently for them to continue to follow him.  "I'm fine, Aunt Ana-Maria.  Just feels funny being on level ground again, that's all.  The world seems to be tilting a little bit when I walk, like it did when we first came here."

The female pirate nodded and allowed the boy to continue on.  When finally they slipped off the main road and out of the crowds, none of them noticed the figure that had been following them slip away, his pace quickening until the man was running as though a demon were at his back, threatening to devour his tainted soul.

                           *                          *                          *

The pirate captain couldn't suppress a smile as they emerged from the catacomb of back streets that the young man had led them through and stood staring at Will's house.  He had missed the blacksmith, though he wouldn't have admitted it, and even given the circumstances, he would enjoy the reunion.

The grin widened as his eyes alighted on their young guide.  Given some of the circumstances, it was going to be very interesting indeed.  Now, if only he could do something about the bloody pain and fuzziness in his head . . .

He dispelled the thought quickly, not wanting to mar the coming minutes.

A quick hand stopped young Jack from simply running into the house.  "Let me knock, lad."

The pirate knocked loudly and then leaned as close to the door as he could without risking a fall when it opened.  A moment later the door swung open, and Will's face appeared in the gloom.

"Hello, lad.  It's been a while."  For a few seconds, the blacksmith simply stared at the pirate, their faces just inches apart, and Jack could see the other man's eyes widening as his expression shifted through shock, disbelief, anger, relief, and humor.  The boy used those seconds to slip under Jack's arm and through the door.

Before Jack was entirely certain what had happened, Will had managed to drag both him and Ana-Maria through the door, which he swiftly shut and bolted, and then had grabbed the pirate in a tight embrace that nearly lifted the slightly smaller man off the floor.  The pirate captain couldn't help a small hiss as Will's rough hands landed on the healing gash across his back, the pressure threatening to tear it open again, and he instinctively leaned closer to the other man, hoping to ease the pain.

Will released him from the embrace as soon as his ear caught the small sound of pain.  "Jack, what's wrong?"

The pirate grinned, the expression marred by the grief that was still in his eyes despite his best efforts.  "Nothing, Will.  I just tried to run away from a lover in her time of need . . .females can get so touchy about things like that, y'know?"

Will returned the smile, the motion obviously forced.  "I heard about the Pearl, Jack.  I'm sorry."

The grin on the pirate's face faded to a small smile.  "Me, too.  She'll be avenged, though.  Aye, she'll be avenged."

Will nodded slightly, his eyes troubled, before turning to the female pirate and pulling her into a less exuberant embrace, careful to check for injuries this time.  "It's good to see you, too, Ana-Maria."

"Aye, Will, always good to see ye."

Elizabeth moved forward, both Jack and Ana following her, and the pirate captain greeted her with a smile, all the while watching the two children.  He wanted to see Ana's reaction when her brother told her what he had learned . . .and Will's reaction would no doubt also be rather . . .amusing.

"Jack, where's Brian?"

The smile dropped off the pirate's face and his left hand twitched upward, hovering over the hair that partially covered the bandage wrapped around his head as he swayed slightly.  The young captain's name should not have caused the response from him that it had . . .fear, uncertainty, worry, anger, hatred, though the last wasn't directed towards the captain . . .Oh, God, why couldn't his head just stop pounding so he could think straight?

Jack responded before Elizabeth could ask him if he was all right.  "At the docks still, I think, or maybe at the fort.  He was going to check in and then drop by to say that he's still alive and well, despite the fact that you harnessed him with the dem—"  Jack paused at the look on the young man's face before continuing with more of a grin, his equilibrium returning again.  "Monster there for a long period of time in a relatively enclosed space."  The young man frowned at Jack, crossing his arms and pouting slightly, and the pirate almost expected him to stick his tongue out like he had five years ago, but he was apparently too mature now to allow himself the pleasure.

"I should go find him, Elizabeth.  He won't be safe with Hallson."  The two pirates stared between Will and Elizabeth, sensing that something was wrong but not understanding what it was.

Jack was the one who spoke.  "Why wouldn't a captain be safe with his commodore?  Will?"  The pirate captain swayed again as anger, disgust, hatred, loathing, worry, loyalty, and a fierce protective instinct exploded into his already-sensitive head.

God, what was wrong with him?

"Some of the men here are planning a mutiny against Hallson.  They want Brian to be commodore.  I don't know exactly how many are on each side, but if it comes to violence, I don't trust Hallson to play fairly, and if he realizes what they're thinking of . . ."

Elizabeth stared at her husband.  "You think he'd risk killing Brian, Will?  If I were him, I'd be afraid that doing that would earn me a knife in the back or a slit throat."

Will shifted uncertainly.  "I don't know.  He's not the brightest man in the world, and he's already managed to alienate enough of the common soldiers that the officers are willing to play a hands-off game . . ."

Elizabeth idly grabbed at her son's hand to stop him from pulling on her sleeve, missing it but disrupting the tugging all the same.  "Maybe you should wait a bit . . .see if Brian comes . . .We don't want to cause any more problems, and if they haven't approached him yet, running up to him on the docks or in the fort and telling him will be like adding fire to a barrel of gunpowder."

"And if they have approached him?  What then?"

Jack looked up again, refocusing his mind on the conversation, attempting to ignore the pounding in his head and the itching, burning sensation that had settled around the stitches Ana-Maria had put in.  "One more voice in a group of mutineers, either for or against, won't do any good, Will.  Don't you go learning that the hard way like your father did."

"Jack, what do you want?"  The pirate turned to Elizabeth, who had finally grabbed her son's hand and was holding it still.

"Is Godpapa going to be all right, mama?"

"Of course he is, Jack.  Is that all you wanted to ask?"

He nodded his head.  "I also wanted to tell you what Uncle Jack told me—"

Elizabeth bent down so she was eye-to-eye with her son.  "Papa and I and Uncle Jack and Aunt Ana-Maria need to talk right now, Jack.  Why don't you take your sister and go tell her in your room?"

The boy nodded eagerly, grabbing his sister by the arm and almost literally dragging her across the room as she attempted to linger and hear what the adults were saying.  The adults watched until they had disappeared into Jack's room.

"Do you really think that Brian is safe?"

"'E's with 'is men, Will . . .they love th' lad . . .won't let anythin' 'appen t' him . . ."  The pirate captain was swaying badly in place, and he knew that his breathing was harsh and rapid and his speech becoming more slurred despite his best efforts to cover how he was feeling.  His head hadn't hurt this much in . . .well . . .he couldn't remember exactly how long ago it had been . . .or exactly what it had been that caused the pain then . . .but it had definitely been a long time.  The pirate captain was going to be exceedingly grateful to whoever made the first move towards the chairs and a seated position, though he refused to do so himself.  He wasn't actually entirely certain he would make it to the chairs, given that the world seemed to be rocking and tilting slightly every time he moved any part of his body.

"Jack?  Are you all right?"  Ana-Maria placed a hand on his arm, and he leaned his body against hers, hoping that the contact would help steady his vision and disguise the sway that was, for once, not purposeful.

Before the pirate could answer her, another wave of emotion added itself to the throbbing pain in his head, fear, frustration, dismay, confusion and self-reproach cutting through his control.

"Jack!"  Ana-Maria managed to keep him from collapsing completely as his knees suddenly gave way and his eyes rolled partway up into his head.  "Oh, Jesus, you bloody fool, you god-cursed stupid stubborn man, why can't you just tell me when you're hurting . . ."

Jack was barely aware of her diatribe, or of her hands on one side of him and Will's on the other, directing his unresisting body into one of the chairs that he had been eyeing earlier.  His head hurt so bloody much, it was almost impossible to concentrate, and when he did try to concentrate, those bloody emotions that he was fairly certain shouldn't be there pushed him away from his grounds.

"Jack?  Jack, what's wrong?  Where's it hurt?  Jack?"  It was almost impossible for Jack to make sense of the words, as his mind attempted to shove the familiar phrases into several different languages before giving up on translating them.  Panic was beginning to override everything else, making it difficult to breath . . .

Panic?  Why was he panicking?  He was safe in Will's house, as safe as he could be until he found himself a new ship . . .

The light slap snapped his head back, and the pirate captain gasped in pain.  "Jack Sparrow, don't ye dare stop breathing on me now!  We've come too damn far for ye t' stop fightin' now!"

Breath?  Yes, breathing was good . . .It was something he should remember to do . . .It was hard to remember anything at the moment, though, between the pain and the panic . . .

"Not mine . . ."  The pirate wasn't even entirely certain if he had spoken the words or just thought them.

"He doesn't seem to have a fever . . .I don't understand . . ."

Elizabeth spoke up, pulling Will back from his place at the pirate captain's side.  "Will, it's you.  You need to calm down . . .it's working in reverse, Will, and he's not handling it . . ."

Guilt added itself to the panic, and Jack gave up on fighting, allowing the pain to brush away all thought of where he was, when he was, even who he was.  It just wasn't worth it.  Ana-Maria kept him upright in the chair, but he no longer felt her hands on his body or heard her pleas.  It just hurt so bloody much . . .

"Will, calm down!"

"Right!  Just calm down!  You try just calming down!"  Will still closed his eyes tightly, breathing in deeply and evenly, attempting to focus his mind as he did when working, focusing all of his being on reaching that point of calm, cool thought . . .

As the emotions filtered out, one by one, he felt the pain starting to creep in, a steady, throbbing pulse, and he quickly opened his eyes again, hoping to break the contact.

"That's it, Jack . . .nice, deep breaths . . ."

The pirate captain buried his head in Ana-Maria's shoulder, his entire body curling instinctively inward, thinking to protect him from more harm, not realizing that he was as safe now as he could ever be.  "Sorry, love . . .hurts . . .bad . . .really, really bad . . ."

"It's all right, Jack.  Everything's fine."  The female pirate turned wary eyes back to the Turners.  "What did you mean by that?"

"It's a long story."

"You don't seem to know any short ones."  Ana-Maria continued to hold Jack close, more frightened than she wanted to admit by what had happened.

Before Will could answer her, a child's cry was heard and all the adults turned towards young Jack's room.

"Then they what?!"  The girl's voice carried both horror and amazement.

All eyes turned back to the pirate captain as he laughed softly, covering his ears in case the girl shrieked again.  He really didn't feel like passing out.

"Jack?  What did you do?"  Both pirates glanced away at the slow, cautious way in which Will spoke.

"I just answered a few of the boy's questions, that's all."  Jack attempted to grin, only managing a slight grimace.  This would be so much more entertaining if he didn't feel like rolling over and dying . . .

"What kinds of questions, Jack?"  Will's voice was still dangerously calm.

"Brian and him walked in on me and Ana-Maria when we were just about to have some fun.  Guess what kind of questions?"

"Jack!  You had no bloody right to . . .!"  Will stopped when the pirate cringed back, his hands over his ears.  Allowing his guard to drop slightly, Will could again sense the pounding, vicious pain that was tearing through the other man's head.  "Go get some rest, Jack.  I'll yell at you when there's no chance you can escape by passing out."

"Good plan, Will.  I like that plan.  Intelligent, 't is."  The pirate closed his eyes, hoping that the darkness would hurt less than the light, but it wasn't a significant change, and his stomach was now adding its own complaints to the more overwhelming agony in his head.

Ana-Maria hauled him gently to his feet, steadying him against her.  "Where do you want us?"

Elizabeth answered as Will continued to look between the pirates and his son's room.  "You can have Ana's room.  She can either sleep in Jack's room or with Will and I."

Jack sank gratefully onto the bed, not bothering to take the time to even remove his boots, turning his head away from the light and placing his arm over his ear to dull the sounds.  He hardly noticed when Ana-Maria left, shutting the door softly behind her, further helping to block the light and the sounds as he tried to dim the agony in his head to something that would allow him to fall into sleep until it passed.

AN2:  This chapter might be rewritten, but as I hadn't posted in a while, I thought you all might appreciate it.

Responses to Reviews:

Endril McMerlyn:  I thank you for the kind words.  The evolution of the story is as much due to my nutter muses who won't work quite properly as it is due to my skill, but I still thank you kindly.

Ginny-Star:  I didn't mean to offend.  Very sorry.  Very kind lady for writing a nice review even when not thrilled with the author.

JackFan2:  That's fine, just a bit over-possessive of my name.  Thank you for the kind comments.

Rat:  I was once told I have a semi-eidetic memory that somehow ties in with my emotions: stronger emotion, better memory, occasionally photographic.  Unfortunately, this doesn't help much with calc, as I just can't get anything but bored about it.  Glad you like the twist.

Nabala:  I'm glad that you like my writing.  Just tell me which parts of Jack you think strayed and I'll see what my handy-dandy reasoning machine can dig up on why I did what I did.  I am sorry you failed math, and may you never see calculus, as it is very evil.  Um . . .have you read all three in the series, because that could make a difference . . .

Pip3:  Continuity rocks . . .except in calculus.  I'm not obsessed with calc, uh uh, no way.  I'm glad someone noted the continuity bow in chapter 1.

ScannerCatScan:  I'm glad you get it.  I'm not sure what I would have done if someone wrote in and said they didn't understand what Jack and Ana-Maria were going to do.  I can't tell you if they'll have kids or not because I honestly don't know yet.  I also don't know if there'll be more long fics . . .the ending of this fic might . . .um . . .cause problems.  I've written a few little pieces I could post, though.

Saerry Snape:  *pokes review*  What's a Sandman?  Honestly, I'd like to know.  Thanks for the kind words, and RL seems to be backing off a bit.

Kayden Eidyak:  *Blushes*  If you wish to simply write "Good chappie", I can handle that.  I don't want to cause problems.  As for Jack getting his stuff back on . . .the story is so completely in the hands of a catatonic muse at the moment that it isn't funny.

Merrie:  I can't wait to find out what happens next, either, as the muses keep changing it.  ; - !  Glad that you're enjoying yourself.

BrokenSkye:  I don't want to be the next Center fatality!  Please?  If I die, I'll have someone post notification of the fact, then you'll all know to pass off the story to someone else.  Thanks for the votes of confidence.

Zinnith:  *Blinks*  There were mutant hampsters in TT?  How did I miss this? ; - )  I'm working on explaining the link thing, but my muse is having minor . . .hmm . . .major problems at the moment.  I'll try to explain it satisfactorily.

Cal:  Ah, the lovely link thing.  This was not in my original plans for this story . . .the muse has simply taken over.  Oh well.  Glad you like the chappie and my idea.

Starzangel:  Of course I have a good explanation for it . . .*pokes muse* . . .You created it, you bloody thing, you better have a good explanation for it!  Seriously, I think I can work the link out, but it's taking some time, which is part of why updates are so infrequent.  Glad you like it still, though.

Mental And Knowing It:  I love that line, too.  I'm updating as quickly as possible, really I am, but the bloody muse . . .I can't do a thing with him, and yet I can't work without him . . .*sigh* . . .

Hollow-Ambitions:  Medical care back then was not fun, no way at all was it fun.  What exactly is the definition of angst?  I know enough to realize that I like to read it and usually write it, but I still haven't found a definition that makes sense to me . . .

Greenleaf-In-Bloom:  He does have a concussion . . .I guess nine might work, though . . .As for more, please be happy?

Phoenix-Flight:  I can't wait to see it, either.  I'm working on it currently.

Nikara:  I love Brian, too.  Oh, yeah, there is going to be some big trouble soon.

Snow-Angel222:  I knew it was a compliment.  I was trying to be amusing when barely coherent . . .not a good plan.  Thanks for reviewing.  Hope you enjoy the update!

Rinkufan:  Thank you.  I am feeling better, actually . . .basically human, which is quite amazing.  Sorry your 'net died for a bit . . .I would cry if mine did.  Glad you like the chappie.  Little JT is so sweet and innocent . . .for the moment.

Soappuppy:  Glad you're reading and enjoying.  I'm grateful that you like them so much, and I'm trying to write as quickly and as well as possible, but those stubborn bloody muses . . .

Vega Cataline:  I'm glad that you like Brian, and my Jack.  I thank you for the review.

Szhismine:  Glad that your interest is back and that I get to be part of that!  More is coming as quickly as possible, I promise.