One More Breath
Chapter 2
Authors Note 1: And here's the explanation that I promised you, can't promise a lot but I hope you all like it… I'm still not sure the direction this is going to take, but I'll try not to be so cryptic again. Lol.

"Raise aft sail! Raise anchor! Bring her around, mates. Hurry up you scabrous dogs or be hanging from the mast by morn!" Jack stood by the wheel faithfully watching as they got away from the agents of East India. That was the second time he'd had an encounter with them, the first had left him with a rather memorable reminder. A branded 'P' for pirate on his left arm, at least they hadn't deemed it necessary to show the world the mark on his forehead as other pirates sometimes had.

'The Pearl' had the speed and flexibility to get away from East India without a hitch, Jack just didn't notice the one arrogant son of a dog that had the cowardice to pull a gun on a retreating ship. The bullet ripped through his shoulder and then another one underneath the cavity of his heart. Any higher and he would have been a dead man.

Jack slipped from his position watching in mute shock as blood coursed down his white shirt. That was the first in a very long time someone had had the gall to shoot at him! The surprise was quickly overlaid by mind-numbing pain, every bit of air he took in his lungs was expelled by the utter agony that ripped through his body. One of the bullets passed cleanly through, but the other one lodged in his chest hadn't.

"Get to the Captain!" Gibbs called. Jack shook his head, the men needed to man their posts not worry about a captain who was only shot two times. He'd had worse injuries than this, it'd be a hell of a time digging the bullet out but he wouldn't worry about that until then.

Annamaria had seen it all happen, her eyes met his as he battled against human nature. He didn't want help, of course the daft man didn't want help! She pulled the rope that controlled a sail viciously not having the patience to juggle that and the ten other ropes she was in charge of. The blood didn't stop it's flow, there seemed to be an endless amount and she bit her lip thinking of the shirt's former white color. She had a job to do first and that's what she needed to do. She just hoped the ship wouldn't set sail and follow them.

He refused to fall to the deck, he was the captain of the ship and he wasn't about to leave her whether he died or not. Blinking the sweat out of his eyes he concentrated purely on the ship using the wind and current of the ocean to divide his concentration. The pain melted away as the ocean lulled him away from his body's weakness.

East India didn't give chase and soon 'the Pearl' was sailing smoothly once again. Only then did he allow his death-like grip on the wheel to slacken and he to fall to his knee on the deck. He didn't notice the small puddle of blood that he knelt in on the deck, nor did he see the blood that welled up around the bullet in his chest. It took all the strength he had just to keep things in focus as they were.

Annamaria was the first to reach his side and press strips of cloth to his wounds. He saw the bottom of her shirt and knew where the cloth had come from. The pressure had him muffling several oaths and he finally closed his eyes against the dizziness that swirled around and through his mind. She was speaking but he couldn't make out the words, trembling had started throughout his legs and he knew that he would need to get up or loose feeling in them.

Annamaria and Gibbs understood that and supported him on both sides careful not to move him around so much. While the cloth was supposed to staunch the bleeding by the time they got him to his cabin it was all soaked through again. Jack was paler than she'd ever seen him before, his eyes were closed and his jaw clenched from letting out any signs of pain.

"I told him, I warned him not to set sail so soon after seeing a cat. 's bad luck to sail after watching a cat clean his paws so close to the ship. It wasn't a black cat so who's to argue, but it was still one of those cursed felines." Gibbs muttered. Annamaria refrained from snapping at him, now was not the time to be worrying about chances of luck! She didn't believe in it one way or the other, she made her own luck and all else be damned. A cat or a red sun didn't matter in the least so long as they had a crew who knew their way of things and a competent Captain. Which they had.

She didn't want him to have to move his arms for her to pull the shirt over his head so she pulled the pieces of his shirt apart with a pulling on the seams. Such a lot of blood loss for so small a wound, life was funny that way. She ripped another few strips of cloth dipped into the rum kept on the side table and tied them tightly enough so circulation to the wounds would be cut off. It might or might not work, anything that could be done would be and she wouldn't hear a word otherwise.

"I'm…fine, Ana." He muttered trying to catch his breath.

"Well, well, Captain. What scrape have you gotten yourself into now?" Marton, the ships surgeon doctor came into the room and put his bag and tray of equipment next to him. Annamaria would usually have done that for him however with the severity of the wound she and Gibbs had decided that Marton should be called.

"India thought… it'd be funny to… shoot the fleeing pirates." He winked despite the pain in his eyes, "Fair game, eh?"

"At least his humor's still in tact." Marton untied the cloth over his chest and looked at it a moment. He didn't want to say anything, this could prove harder to dig the piece of lead out than expected. It was lodged in right under his sternum and if he were to try and extract it, he didn't know the damage it might do to the heart.

"Blast and damn!" Jack swore, "What are you doing, man! Trying t'kill me?"

"I'm sorry, Captain" Marton wiped his brow, he secretly wished Jack would pass out already, he hated the amount of pain he was causing him and many less stalwart men had succumbed to unconsciousness by now.

"What? What aren't you telling us?" Annamaria demanded, by now she would have had the bullet out and stitched up.

"I… I can't get the bullet out." He said at last.

"Can't get…" Ana stared at him in horror. What did he mean he couldn't get it out! That was sheer madness, if the bullet didn't come out he could get poisoning of the blood. She had seen it happen before, the area around the wound swelled and then the lead would… no, that couldn't happen. She wouldn't let it, there was no way.

"You have t' be wrong." Gibbs denied.

"Wait a few hours, try again when you've rested." Annamaria pleaded, "You can't leave him like that. Try again later."

"I will. I'll do all I can, you have my promise on that." Marton gave them the reassurance they needed, but he also knew that there was only the slightest chance that Jack would get well. He hated it, of course, Jack wasn't only his captain but also his friend. He and Gibbs went outside to talk and Annamaria stayed with Jack.

"Do you have any-" Jack smiled when he saw her go directly to the rum bottle, she knew him all too well.

"Of course, who'm I to forsake tradition?" she uncorked the bottle and handed it to him. Every time he had an injury and she patched it up for him they'd share a bottle of rum afterward to dull the memory.

"So looks like India scored a bigger hit than they expected, eh?" he laughed weakly and muffled the cough that threatened to choke him.

"Aye, they might think so, but you'll get better." Annamaria lay next to him and rested his head on her shoulder.

* * *

Marton tried again as soon as the sun was high in the sky and the early colors of dawn faded from the sky. Jack stayed awake the whole time his eyes glassed over not showing any emotion. Ana hated that more than when she could see his pain, this way for some reason made her think him dead. He lay so still and motionless she ran her hands up her arms to regenerate the warmth into her skin.

"There's nothing more I can do." Marton announced at last. "I'm just a simple ship's doctor, set port and hire a real doctor. I'm probably too clumsy and impatient to grasp the thing.''

"You're a friend." Ana replied quietly. "And we thank you for trying."

Marton nodded and left the room, he wouldn't give up hope yet. His specialty was sword-cuts, gunshot wounds, cauterizing, and binding or setting broken bones. For as serious a situation that Jack was in, he'd done the best he could and hoped the next doctor that came along could do better.

"Does it… hurt?" Ana asked, Jack looked horrible laying there on the white sheets. He had a deep tan due to working in the sun without a shirt on and to see him so injured pulled at something deep inside her heart.

"Only when I move." Jack grinned sleepily and took a deep breath.

"Do you want anything? Food? Drink?" she asked anxious to do something, anything to make him more comfortable.

"Open a window, luv?"

She did as he requested and immediately the ocean's breeze filled the room, the gulls cawed in the distance and the waves sloshed alongside the ship. It was a sound they both recognized all too well, and there she stay with him throughout the day watching the shadows play across the hardwood floor. Jack slept, he woke to talk to her, then drifted off back to sleep again. And throughout that time Annamaria watched him and swore it wouldn't be the end.

Authors Note 2: And that's the end of the second chapter. Or rather the pre-first chapter… I love it when movies do that. They have flashback like times that are always fun to watch, yet always make the characters grow and give the reader insight to the future or past or even more about the characters. Interesting? I dunno, I might have had one drink too many of Papaya flavored rum. Not as bad as it sounds. haha