Chapter Three
Ali
Chris looked at Will with confusion on her face. "What? ...Ali? Your daughter?" She asked. She looked at Jack and they both looked to Will.
He didn't answer her question. He threw back his chair made his way through the crowd, his eye trained on her as he crossed the tavern. The girl had walked to a table full of bearded, filthy men and one of them was the auburn bearded pirate with the scar across his eye. Will's fists clenched in anger at the very sight of the man who had taken his family from him. Ali spoke some words to the pirate and he stood from his table, said some words to the men sitting there, and then he and the girl headed for the rear exit of the Faithful Bride. Will followed them and stayed in the shadows, watching their every movement. He slipped through the door just before it closed and found himself in an ill-lit alley. He ducked behind a pyramid of barrels and watched as the pirate turned to Ali and said something to her. He could not hear what his words were exactly, but Ali responded indistinctly. The pirate raised his hand and backhanded the little girl so hard that she was knocked off of her feet.
"YOU DIRTY BASTARD!" Will exploded. He bolted from his hiding place and crossed to the pirate in the blink of an eye. Before the other could think anything, Will socked him in the face. The man reeled back, and Will turned to Ali, who was laying on the ground sobbing. He kneeled beside her and hesitated to touch her. Could this really be his lost daughter? "There now," He placed a hand upon her and she looked up at him. He inhaled sharply. She was, without a doubt, Ali. Those pleading brown eyes, that quivering chin… It was her.
The pirate had meanwhile recovered and now towered over Will. "What's in yer head boy? That's my niece there." He growled as he brandished a pistol and pointed it at Will's head.
Will stared down the pistol's barrel with no fear. "No she isn't! She's MY daughter!" He had lost her once to this man, he would be damned if he was going to let that happen again.
The pirate's eyes glittered with realization. "Ah, so it's you." He whispered. "Never thought I'd see ye again." The pirate cocked the flint of his pistol. "And now I won't." A gunshot rang through the air, but Will was surprised that his face was still intact. He looked up and saw that blood had bloomed from the pirate's chest. He staggered backward, the pistol falling from his hand. Will looked behind him to the rear exit and saw that Chris stood there, a pistol smoking in her hand. Jack poked his head out behind her and then the pair crossed to Will. Jack looked at the quivering heap of child on the ground and Chris walked to the bleeding pirate. She placed a foot upon his chest and drew her dagger, hunching down to hold it to his throat.
"Will, ye sure know how to ruin a good time." Jack grumbled. Will ignored him as Chris spoke.
"Thank God we followed you, Will." Chris said, looking to the bleeding man that lay under her foot. "This is John Malcolm, Will… He's basically the head pirate around Tortuga. He's been pillaging and raiding the Caribbean since before I could walk."
The man grinned and then coughed up blood. "I see my reputation precedes me." He wheezed.
"I'm not with them." Jack said, backing away from Will.
Will lifted up the sobbing Ali, who lay in his arms like a bag of flour. He looked John Malcolm in the face and asked, "Now that I have my daughter, where is my wife?"
The pirate smiled, then grunted and coughed. "She's dead!" He spat triumphantly. "She was like a horse with too much spirit. It isn't worth breakin' 'em, you just put them down!"
The fury in Will's eyes was terrifying. He trembled with such rage that Ali shook as though cold. "You – You –"Was all he could let out in his furor.
"Jack, you should make sure that Will and her get back to the ship safely. When Malcolm doesn't return to his table, his men will come looking for him, and we best not be here when they find his body." Chris said.
"Remember who makes the orders, Chris." Jack said before taking Will by the arm. "Make sure you get back to the ship, and gather as many as ye can before ye get there. We make sail within the hour. Come on, mate."
Will and Jack turned and exited the alley, not paying any attention to what may or may not have happened between the two people behind them. As they joined a throng of people and Jack started picking out sailors from the Black Pearl from the crowd, Ali rubbed her eyes and looked up into Will's face. Her voice quivered with fear. "Are you gonna hit me too?"
"I would never do anything like that." Will said, his voice wavering. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Don't you remember me?"
Ali shook her head. "No."
A tear ran down Will's cheek as he looked down at his daughter. "Don't you remember where you used to live with your mum and dad?"
"In a house... by water." She said. Her face was screwed up in thought, and then it seemed as though she did realize Will. She reached up and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Oh daddy, Poppa John said that you didn't want me anymore. He said that you and mummy gave me to him because you were mad at me."
Will was crying freely now. He had his daughter back, but Elizabeth... she was dead… He breathed in a long, shuddering lungful of air. "I was never mad at you, darling. He took you away from me and I tried to find you darling, I did. And now I have."
Ali looked up at him. "I missed you, daddy." She said.
"Oh, I missed you too darling." Will lifted her up to him and hugged her tightly before drawing her away so he could look in her face. "It's you and me now."
"What about mummy?" Ali asked.
Will sighed. "Don't worry about that now, darling."
Jack returned, an inebriated Gibbs on his arm and some slightly sauced pirates with him. "Come on; let's get back to the Pearl."
By the time Will, Jack, Ali, and the rest of the crew arrived at the Black Pearl, Chris was already there and making sail with the aid of Marty and Anamaria. Jack said, "Good work, ladies and Marty! Heave to and make sail, mates!" Jack commanded, propping Gibbs against the door of the captain's cabin. Gibbs' eyes focused on the small girl in Will's arms.
"Bloody Hell! It's a kid, Jack! A miniature female! More bad luck." Gibbs said.
"Gibbs, beggin' yer pardon, but –" Jack took the rum bottle that Gibbs held in his hands and smashed it over his head. Ali jumped as Gibbs sank to the deck. Chris arched an eyebrow at Jack and he said, "What? We don't need him scarin' the little lass, do we? And he's no use drunk." Chris blinked at him and Jack rolled his eyes. "Clean up the glass and get him to his hammock, I'll take care of things up here." His quartermaster nodded and knelt down to heave Gibbs to his feet and then drag him below.
Jack looked at Will and Ali, who was peeking hesitantly from her father's arms. Jack winked at Will and swept his hat from his head in a bow. "Hello, Miss Turner. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, I am Captain Jack Sparrow and I am at your service." Ali's cheeks turned red and she buried her face in her father's shoulder. "A shy one you have there, Will." Jack grinned, plopped his hat back on his head, and climbed the stairs to the wheel.
Chris emerged from below, a brush and dust pan in her hand. As she brushed the shards of glass into the pan and threw them over the side, she turned to Will and said, "You and Ali can sleep in my cabin tonight. I'll sleep with the crew." She swept the rest of the shards into the pan and chucked them overboard before stowing the brush and pan beneath the stairs leading to the wheel. "Captain, do you need me at the moment?" She called to the dreadlocked man at the helm.
"Get them settled, love, and worry about your duties later." Jack replied just as the Black Pearl began tendering away from the pier. The gangplank was drawn up and stowed, and the sails filled with wind.
"Follow me, Will." She led the father and daughter down the stairs into the forecastle and to a small cabin. As she lit a lantern that hung in the middle of the room, Will was able to survey that there was a writing desk with a small mirror hanging above it just out of the door's reach, a bed, a screen for dressing, and an open chest sat at the foot of the bed with dresses and trousers hanging out of it. Chris picked up the stray articles of clothing and shoved them into the chest before snapping it closed. "Apologies, I never have guests." She said. She turned to Will and Ali and said, "The sheets are fairly clean and if ye need anything to eat, the galley is only one deck above." Chris stood as though awaiting orders as Will pulled the sheets of the bed back and lay Ali there, kneeling to be at the same eye level as she.
"Are you tired, darling?" Will asked. She yawned in agreement. "Go ahead and sleep, sweetheart. You're safe here." He tucked Ali in, something that he relished doing for the first time in a year. Within minutes, Ali's breathing deepened and she was asleep. Will couldn't contain himself anymore. That morning he had woken in Port Royale, nothing but a destitute future with little hope ahead of him, and tonight he had tucked his daughter into bed. Once again, his eyes shed tears. He had his daughter, but he would never again see his wife alive.
"Mate, hey mate…" Chris crossed to Will and placed a hand upon his shoulder, kneeling to look in his face. "What's wrong? Ye've got Ali back, she's safe now."
"But my wife…" He whispered. Chris set her lips in a thin line and nodded grimly.
"I know I don't know her, mate, but wouldn't she want you and Ali to go on with your lives?" Chris asked softly.
"I suppose so." Will admitted.
Chris patted Will on the back. "Get some rest, mate. Ye'll need it." She stood and went to the door. "If ye need anything… I think Jack and I have a long night ahead of us." With that, she exited, closing the door behind her. She returned to the main deck just in time to hear a faint popping noise and then a splash. She looked aft and saw a plume of smoke from a ship still in Tortuga's harbor. The Black Pearl had been fired upon!
Chris ran up the stairs to the helm just as Jack yelled, "They're trying to blow holes in my ship!"
"It's one of Malcolm's ships, isn't it?" Chris asked.
"That or the king's Navy." Jack grumbled. "Get in the top, make sure the sails take every scrap of wind they can." Chris grabbed a line to climb into the top, but Jack stopped her. "Did you leave Malcolm alive, Chris?" Jack asked.
"I'm not a cold-blooded murderer, Jack." Chris said coldly. "He bled to death before I left him. And someone probably saw me leave the alley." She gazed off to the ship following them. Jack nodded at her and she continued up the line and into the top.
"We're devils and blackguards and really bad eggs…" Jack sang under his breath as he turned the wheel. He looked behind at the ship, which was leaving the harbor in pursuit. "Drink up me hearties, yo ho."