Epilogue Part One
"Yeah, we'll be there! An hour? Okay, I'll tell Will."
"Hold on, the monsters are playing tug of war with the phone cord."
Beth could hear Lissie laughing.
"Johnny! Josh! KNOCK IT OFF! The phone cord is NOT comething you play tug of war with!"
"Quick, Josh! Let's go find Mommy's tights!"
"No! BOYS! JACK! GET YOUR SONS UNDER CONTROL! Lissie, I've got to go. I'll see you in an hour, if the house is still standing."
Lissie laughed again. Okay, bye!"
It had been five years to the day since the weddings, and both couples had families. Jack and Beth had twins, Johnny and Josh. Lissie and Will had a three year old daughter, Lily, and another child was on the way.
"Beth wants us over there in an hour for dinner," Lissie told Will, who nodded.
A great scream was heard through the open window.
"Daddy, what was that?" asked Lily.
Will looked out the window.
"I think it was Uncle Jack… Johnny and Josh must be at it again."
Lily's eyes widened, and she glanced at her mother, who was on the phone with the babysitter.
"Mommy's not gonna have twins like Johnny and Josh, is she?"
He laughed. "No, I think there's just one in there."
Lily breathed a sigh of relief.
"Make sure she's in bed by eight—you can? Thanks, I know it's such short notice—see you in about an hour!"
She hung up, and looked over at Will and Lily. Then, her eyes fell on the window, and she gasped. "What's Jack doing…?"
The three of them looked out the window and laughed.
Johnny and Josh were indeed at it again. They had taken a leash and attached it to the collar of their golden retriever. They hung onto one end of it, and were on a skateboard while the dog ran up and down the street. Jack was running after hem and Beth was standing in the doorway, yelling and screaming.
Will and Lissie glanced at each other.
"Maybe I should go help them," said Will.
Lissie picked up Lily and followed Will to the door.
"Lissie!" Beth yelled. "Do you want two more children?"
"COME BACK HERE!" bellowed Jack as his sons whooshed past him for a fourth time.
"GO ROCKET GO!" yelled one of them.
"A LITTLE HELP would be appreciated, Will!"
Will ran out into the street, trying to help.
"You should rename your dog!" gasped Will, he was getting tired of this. Rocket barked happily, wagging his tail wildly.
"Or send these two to the circus!" said Jack.
"JACK SPARROW!" screamed Beth. "YOU'RE GOING WITH THEM! THEY LOOK JUST LIKE YOU—" WHOOSH! "—AND ACT JUST LIKE YOU!"
"Auntie Beth, I don't want them as my brothers!" said Lily.
"LILY!" said the twins together. They jumped off the skateboard as Jack lunged for them. HE missed and fell on the pavement.
Lily screamed and ran from the boys as they came charging past Lissie and ran into the house. Jack picked himself up off the ground and ran after them.
"Sorry about this, Lissie!" he yelled as he thundered up the stairs after them. Will slowed down when he reached where Lissie was, smiling as though he was trying his hardest not to laugh.
Rocket finally stopped running and the skateboard crashed into a nearby tree.
Lissie silently prayed that her next child would not end up as a troublemaker.
Jack and Will traipsed back down the stairs, Jack with a twin swung over each shoulder, and Will carrying a grateful looking Lily.
"You two," said Jack with an angry voice, "Are going to the ZOO! You can reek havoc there and give someone else trouble keeping you boys on the line!"
"Hey, Beth!" called Lissie, who had walked across the street once it was twin-free. "Why is there smoke coming out of your kitchen window…"
Beth whipped around and her and Lissie ran into the house.
The small fire was quickly extinguished, and nothing except the inside of the stove and the chicken was damaged.
"Well, there goes dinner," said Beth sadly.
"Chinese food?" suggested Lissie.
"Great idea," said Beth in a Chinese accent. Just then, the phone rang. Still using the accent, she said, "'Allo?"
"Uh, hi, is this Beth?"
Her eyes widened. "CAL?!" she asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, long time, huh?"
"Yeah… look—"
"Listen, do you think you'd like to come to dinner with me on Saturday night, babe?"
She grinned. "Hold on. JACK!" she bellowed, making sure Cal could hear her.
"Yes, love?"
"My EX BOYFRIEND is on the phone, HONEY."
"Mommy, am I in trouble?" asked Johnny.
Beth grinned, knowing fully well that Cal had heard. "No, sweetie, you're not."
There was total silence on the other end. Lissie held in a laugh.
"Lemme talk to 'im," said Jack.
Beth handed him the phone.
"Mrs. Sparrow is happily married and would rather throw herself off a cliff than see you again. If I ever catch you near her or my family, I'll—boys, cover your ears—"
"All right! All right!" said Cal in a somewhat higher pitched voice. Jack gently put the phone back on the receiver.
Everyone let out a shout of laughter.
"Thank you, Jack!" said Beth, kissing him quickly.
"EW!" said Johnny and Josh together.
"Anytime, love."
"One small problem though," broke in Lissie. "Dinner got burned, is everyone okay with Chinese?"
"No food fights, boys!" said Jack.
"AAAW!"
"Yeah, Chinese is good with me!"
"Sure."
"If it's better than Beth's cooking! OUCH!"
A half hour later, Lily's babysitter was watching her, the food was on everyone's plates, and the boys were in bed… or so everyone thought.
"Pst, Josh!" whispered Johnny. "Let's go downstairs and put in a movie!"
"Yeah!" was the response from his twin.
They snuck downstairs as quietly as mice, and to the basement. They turned on a couple of lights and began looking through all the dvd's.
Josh's eyes fell on one. He gasped, recognizing the skull and crossbones. "Pirates!" he said excitedly; he loved hearing stories of Blackbeard and others.
Johnny came running over, for he too loved pirates. They then saw the cover.
Their father's face stared back at them emotionlessly, and their uncle's glared back.
They looked at each other, eyes wide.
~*~
"Well, five years has just flown by!" said Will.
"Oh joy, here's another one of Governor Turner's speeches!" said Jack.
Will glared.
"Hi, Will, how's it goin'?"
"Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, all four of us had to go through a lot during the past five years—"
"Three hundred and five for us, Will!" broke in Jack.
"I was getting to that. I'll never forget the day I met the most incredible woman, and everything we had to go through—"
"Well, who could forget what we all had to go through?!"
"Jack, if you say one more—"
"Hey, everyone, let's play the Interrupt-Will-so-that-he'll-get-really-mad game!" said Jack loudly.
"SSSH!" said Beth. "Don't wake the boys—"
Jack fell instantly silent.
"What happened to your speech, Gov?"
"I just forgot it," said Will sarcastically. "You can take over, since you love to talk so much, Jack," said Will, sitting down.
"Well, ah… er…"
"Great speech so far," said Lissie.
Will smirked. "Now you know what it feels like!"
Jack glared. "Yes, um… it was so much fun—through some parts of our adventures—like annoying Will and the rest of me crew, right, Will?" he laughed slightly at the hard look on Will's face. "Anyway, life's been changed since we've all got families now… for us… drastically changed, but… life's still good. For all of us." Jack sat down, and everyone clapped.
"I'd like to say a few words too," said Beth, standing up.
"For years, when I wake up every morning the first thing I notice is the man snoring next to me. I think, wow, we've been through so much, to think we were almost separated three times—and we're still together! It's just so… amazing that there's love that strong."
Jack sniffed and pretended to blow his nose in his napkin.
"Real runny, Mr. Sentimental. Jack? Oh my—"
Jack actually WAS crying!
"That… was so… beautiful…"
"I've never seen him like this!" said Will as everyone else agreed.
"Well, I have a bit to say too," said Lissie as she remained seated. "Will, Jack, Beth… THIS IS IT!"
"What do you mean?" asked Beth.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN?!"
"OH MY GOD!" said everyone together at the same time as they all jumped up.
~*~
ONE MORE BIT TO COME!!! REVIEW and tell me what ya think, matey!