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Secrets of the Caribbean
Written By: Riley Barton
[Chapter Twenty-Three]
"Jack, lie down… no, stay still…Jack, you're going to-!"
"Ow, damn!"
"…Hurt yourself."
Scarlett held back a chuckle as she passed by the open doorway. It had been a week and a half since the incident, and Jack had grown very restless. Never to be one to stay in bed for hours at a time, being forced to stay put 24/7 was not appealing to him. At the moment, Elizabeth was in Jack's room helping him to change the bandages; she sounded as if she needed help. Scarlett shrugged and walked on. Oh well.
"Hey, Scarlett, get in here!"
Scarlett paused, sighed, rolled her eyes, and turned and headed back to the door. She leaned against the doorframe and raised her eyebrows pointedly. "You called?" She was trying not to look at Jack, sitting on the edge of the bed without a shirt on.
Elizabeth wiped the back of her hand along her forehead and cast her friend a desperate look. "A little help," she said in exasperation. "You know how to deal with him better than I do!"
Scarlett snorted. "And that fact is supposed to help… how?"
Elizabeth glared at her. "Scarlett."
The older woman threw her hands into the air and stepped fully into the room. "Fine, fine, calm down. Don't get your knickers all twisted," she grumbled.
Jack snickered, but abruptly stopped at the look Elizabeth gave him. He raised his eyebrows innocently.
Elizabeth shook her head and motioned for Scarlett to hurry up. "I want you to hold him still while I apply this ointment," she said.
Scarlett stopped short, fixing Elizabeth with a glare. "You want me to what?" she asked through clenched teeth. She could see Jack grinning from the corner of her eye.
"You heard me," Elizabeth retorted, her patience wearing thin.
"My being here will not accomplish anything." Scarlett folded her arms across her chest.
Jack's grin widened. "I swear on me ship that I will not so much as wince if Scarlett is the one doin' the bandaging."
Whereas Scarlett glared at the roguish pirate in open anger, a relived look passed over Elizabeth's face. "There ya have it, Scarlett," Elizabeth said in a quick rush, starting to bustle about. She quickly handed the female pirate the bandages, ointments, and cloths before Scarlett could utter a single word. "If you need anything I'll be outside with Will and Carver," she called over her shoulder cheerily. Scarlett turned around to shout at her when Elizabeth gave her a quick wink before shutting the door.
Scarlett gaped, blinking furiously. "Prissy wench," she grumbled, turning around and dumping everything in her arms onto the bed beside Jack. "There," she said to him, placing her hands on her hips. "You can bandage yourself, because I am leaving. I am by no means your nurse."
"Nah, ye mean more to me than that," he replied coyly.
"Arrogant-"
Jack smiled. "Sticks and stones, love."
Scarlett scrunched up her lips and glared at him through narrowed eyes. "Bastard," she finished.
"If ye think that way then why are ye still here, lass?"
She blinked. Sometimes he really got on her nerves. "I was just leaving." She headed for the door and was surprised when Jack didn't make an attempt to stop her. She turned into the hallway and slowed as she neared the stairs. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Don't go back, she commanded herself. He thinks he knows you well enough to not call you back because he thinks you'll return by your own free will. Do not turn around and go back.
Stiffly she went down the stairs, slowing with each step. Her heart was pounding and her lips were pursed. Don't fall for that old trick! Her mind screamed at her. You know he'll only taunt you if you go back now! She took another step. Don't!
Growling in frustration, she turned and stormed back up the stairs, angrily slamming her feet harder onto the marble floor than needed. She came into the room and felt her anger grow at the satisfied smirk on Jack's face; he was sitting in the exact same position. "I hate you," she growled. She kicked the door shut with her foot and walked over to the bed. She picked up a bottle of ointment and turned it this way and that in her hand. "Here," she said and passed the bottle to him, "you can put that on yourself."
"Come on, love, you can't be that bothered with me," Jack said. "I'm just a simple pirate who doesn't know any better."
Scarlett turned her eyes on him. "That's the entire point, Jack," she whispered. "I hate you for becoming a bloody pirate."
With his good arm he grabbed her right arm and turned it so the softer skin was facing up. His eyes went to hers. "But so are you, Scarlett," he replied. "The proof is in that mark hidden beneath yer shirtsleeves."
Scarlett jerked her arm away, gripping the area where her pirate brand was. "I'm not a pirate any more," she retorted. "I gave that life up when you left me to the sharks." Her eyes didn't hold anger any longer; it was something Jack couldn't put his finger on. Had he looked closely, he would have recognized it as regret and longing rolled together into a confusing emotion. She turned her face away and picked up a long, rolled up bandage; she quickly unraveled it.
"So, what's going on b'tween Rafe and ye?"
"Nothing," she replied briskly.
"Don't give me that. I saw ye run t' him when he firs' arrived." Jack raised an eyebrow. "Do ye love him?"
Scarlett restrained herself from slapping him. "Do you want help or not?"
"Yes, but my question still stands."
She slowly let out a heavy sigh, stretching the bandage taut. "No, I don't love, and I don't believe I ever did. Satisfied?"
"Not quite."
Scarlett tossed the bandage onto the bed. "What is it you want from me?" she burst out. "What have I done that is so terrible you have to torment me like this?" She shook her head. "I haven't done a single thing that would cause you to hate me. I have more of a right to be angry than you!"
"How about failing to tell me I had a son, eh?' Jack replied. "That's a damn good reason."
"You don't have a son," Scarlett spat. "You are no father to him. You gave up that right before he was born."
"Is everything all right?" Aubrianna's voice asked from the doorway. Jack and Scarlett looked to her, and Scarlett's anger fell. Aubri looked so strained. "I heard shouting, but I should have known who it would be."
Scarlett winced. Was she that predictable? "Sorry, Aubri," she apologized.
Aubri forced a smile and walked into the room. "It's all right, dear," she said and patted Scarlett on the shoulder. "You go on downstairs with your friends and Carver. I can take over from here."
Scarlett didn't look at Jack. "Thanks." She quickly left the room, feeling Jack's eyes boring into her back.
Aubri watched her son and shook her head. "You've got to let her go, Jack," she said quietly after Scarlett had left the room. She picked up the long bandage and took the ointment from Jack's hand.
"Let 'er go?" Jack asked dubiously. "She's her own person. I ain't got anythin' on her."
Aubri shook her head and slowly lowered her aching body onto the bed beside him. "You don't see it, then," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. She took a deep, steadying breath. "You may not know it but you've had a tight hold on her since the two of you were children. You were her best friend and she looked up to you. You were her support when things got troublesome. You protected her the best you could. For most of her life you have been at her side protecting and loving her." At that Jack winced and opened his mouth in protest; his mother cut him off. "Don't defy it, son. You've loved her like a sister, maybe even more, as Carver's birth protests. What I do know, however, is that while you may be able to forget her so quickly, she cannot forget you. Her whole life revolved around you, Jack, and only you. You were her support, you were her protector, you gave her freedom, and you even gave her the joy of her life." Jack raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. Aubri smiled sadly. "Her son, Carver. Ever since she returned here those many years ago I have never seen her so happy than when she is with her son. She's being able to give him the life she dreamt of having." She licked her cracked, painted lips, and started again. "So don't you see? Unknowingly you've still got a tight grip on her, and until you let go she can never really move on with her life. She's still stuck in the past because you won't let her go."
"She came after me, remember?" Jack retorted, angry that the woman he had unluckily been borne to was talking to him about how to run his life. This was why he had run away all those many years ago: to get away from her watchful eye.
"She did, because, as I have said, she's stuck in the past. Her anger at you for turning your back to her still burns strong after eleven years. Until you let her go, that fire will never die."
One week later…
Ansgar roughly bumped his mug of beer against the identical one held in the hands of Rafael Kirkwood. He grinned manically and exclaimed, "To newfound friends!" Rafe returned the grin and echoed those three words: to newfound friends. Both men took a long drink from their mugs and slammed them onto the bar.
Rafe rocked a little in his seat, the grin on his face growing wider. "Thanks ag'in fer th' rum, mate," Rafe slurred, stumbling off his chair and to his feet.
Ansgar's hand flew out and grabbed a hold of the younger man's arm. "Where are ye off to in such a 'urry, lad? We've barely started talkin'!"
Rafe stared at the pirate with glazed eyes, the grin not leaving his face. He soon shrugged and lugged his body back onto his seat. "Alrigh'. What yeh wanna talk 'bout?"
Ansgar feigned a thoughtful look, absently rubbing his chin. "How 'bout that lass ye was talkin' 'bout a week or so ago? What was 'er name?"
An angry look came over Rafe's leering face. "Her name was Scarlett," he said, gently swaying on the spot in a drunken manner, revealing the many mugs of beer he had consumed throughout the night. "Pretty country bumpkin, she was. Blonde hair an' all."
Ansgar felt his heart jump. His intuition had been right. Jack Sparrow was inches from his grasp! "Ye said she 'ad a son, aye? 'Oo was th' father, do ye know?"
Rafe slammed his hand on the bar and shouted for another beer, refusing to answer until he had swallowed half of the beer the bartender passed to him. "Yeah, I know the father. He was a friend of mine some years ago, the damn pirate."
Pirate? Ansgar couldn't keep the grin from spreading across his face. "Pirate, aye? This pirate got a name?"
Too drunk to notice his 'friend's' inquisitiveness (or maybe too drunk to care), Rafe sneered and replied, "His name was Jack Anderton, though now he prefers it if people call him Jack Sparrow." He spat the name out in a venomous fashion.
"Captain Jack Sparrow," Ansgar muttered wryly without thinking.
"Yeah, Captain Jack Sparrow it was."
Ansgar wanted to laugh aloud with mirth. "Do ye happen to know where he lives, mate? I've been lookin' fer a pirate and I think this captain may be of some help."
Rafe wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded. "Follow me," Rafe said, getting to his feet. "I'll take you there."
A/N: Uh-oh. Evil music wafts through the air Ansgar knows where Jack is, and Jack is still on the mend after two weeks. Review and let me know what you think of recent developments! Go ahead! Click that little purple button!