He's a Pirate

by Megan Sleevewillow

AU after the Curse of the Black Pearl. Will and Elizabeth married and had a daughter named Ali, but pirates stormed Port Royale and took both Liz and Ali from Will. It doesn't look like he'll ever see them again, but then a certain captain shows up...

12. Reunited

Chapter Twelve
Reunited

Jack started to laugh loudly, holding his sides. "Oh, ye got me good Chris, very funny!" He guffawed a few more times. "Yer face was dead serious! Good one, love."

"I am dead serious, Jack." Chris responded, her face in no way mirroring the hilarity Jack was experiencing. Norrington looked similarly un-amused.

"Stop it, Chris! There's only so much I can take!" Jack laughed, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "Now, truly, how do you know each other?" He sighed and removed his arms from his sides, looking at his quartermaster expectantly. "I'll listen now."

"She speaks the truth, Sparrow." Norrington said hesitantly. "She is my little sister."

Jack did a double take. He put both hands in the air, forefingers erect. "Now, exactly how?" Jack asked. "Her last name isn't Norrington! Chris, did ye get married and not tell me?!"

"No! We share the same mother. She married my father after the great Admiral Laurence Norrington passed away in a Naval battle." Chris said glibly. Norrington looked down at the water he stood in. "Do ye understand, Sparrow, or do we have to go over where babies come from again?"

While this exchange was taking place, Will's focus remained on the sleeping form of his daughter. While she had stirred at the noise, she had not awoken. He crossed to the treasure island and climbed up it, sliding a few times because of loose treasure. As he neared the top, he noticed that Ali did not sleep alone, but had cuddled up to a woman. As Will looked at her face, his breath caught in his throat. No! It can't be… John Malcolm said she was dead!

"I think I'm going to have a stroke." He heard Jack say. "One of the bloodiest gits I know is big brother to my first mate? Oi..."

"Watch it, Sparrow." Norrington warned.

Will was sure the woman was Elizabeth, but several thoughts clouded his head. Why did John Malcolm say she was dead? How did she get here, how did she find Ali and Chris… Or how did Ali and Chris find her? What had happened to her? As Jack continued musing about Norrington being Chris' brother, Will walked to the sleeping form of his wife and child and kneeled down. The sound of the impact of his knees on the treasure woke her. Her copper eyes opened, rigid with fear at first, but then when they focused on Will's face, the fear immediately left them. "Elizabeth..." Will breathed, making the name sound like the loveliest name in the world. At this, Jack paused, and all turned to observe what was taking place on the mound of treasure. "Is it really you, Elizabeth?" Will whispered, "Or is it your angel that has fallen to Earth?"

Elizabeth's eyes began to tear up as she sat up to come eye to eye with Will. It was her dear William, her sweet blacksmith. "Oh my sweet William, it is me!" She said in barely a whisper. "Will... I've been so afraid I'd never see you again..." Will cupped her face with his hands and drew her lips to his in a kiss that was comparable to a man dying of thirst taking a sip of water. Will had wished to hold her for over a year, or touch her, and now, as his arms wrapped around her, their lips parted, and he buried his face in her hair, he felt this overwhelming sense of relief take over. He had his Elizabeth back. He had her back.

Jack observed the whole scene in silence. "How did you find her?" Jack whispered to Chris.

"She was on the ship." Chris whispered back. "Poor thing. She's been having to eat rats and anything else she could find on there for more than a month."

Norrington's expression was one of longing. He loved Elizabeth and had for years, but seeing her in her husband's arms left him feeling hollow. He would never hold her like that, ever, and she would never return his affection. He cleared his throat slightly and looked at Murtogg and Mullroy. "Sweep the perimeter." He murmured. The sailors looked at each other before wading into the water, scanning the edges of the cave with their rifles, which were now useless from falling into the water and wetting the powder.

Ali rolled over in her treasure bed and yawned sleepily. She rubbed one of her eyes before sitting up, her hair in a tangle, and suddenly noticed everyone who had arrived. "Daddy!" She shouted in glee when she saw him, and sandwiched her way in between her parents, hugging her father. "See mummy? See Auntie Chris? I told you daddy would find us!"

"'Auntie Chris,' hmm?" Jack asked, smiling.

"Yes, 'Uncle Jack.'" Chris replied with similar smile. The monkey had risen with all the talking and now pulled himself from the treasure and leaped cleanly from the island to Chris' shoulder. Jack eyed the monkey and glowered.

"Um... Sir?" Mullroy asked cautiously. "The perimeter is… it's clear."

Norrington nodded and plucked his hat from the water. "Good job. Let's head on up. Dawn is approaching, and Malcolm's going to get one Hell of a surprise."

They crossed to the vine and Chris volunteered to climb up first, and in so doing, show the others how to climb if they didn't know how. "Piece of hardtack!" Chris assured as she emerged above ground and was greeted by Malcolm and a pistol aimed at her head. The monkey screeched and jumped off of her shoulder, bounding into the bushes.

"Hello, my darling." Malcolm said, smiling. "Don't make a sound, dear, or I'll kill you and all your friends one by one." Several other men were with him, grinning stupidly. Chris scowled and pulled herself up out of the hole. The Spaniard grabbed her by the arm and led her to the side, his pistol on her the entire time.

Jack popped up next, Ali on his shoulders. He came along quietly, but Ali had a different idea. "Da—!" Before she could move onto the second syllable, the white haired man silenced her with a slap and roughly grabbed her from Jack.

"What was that, Jack?" Will called up from the cave. Malcolm aimed his pistol at Jack and cocked it.

Jack stared at it defiantly. "Nothing. Ali fell and – MALCOLMISUPHERE!" Malcolm fired his pistol, but Jack had jumped to the side, bent low, and tackled the man beside Malcolm. Chris took this to her advantage and groin kicked the Spaniard before grabbing his pistol and shooting another of Malcolm's men. She then leaped to the white haired man and bludgeoned him with the pistol's butt. He fell into unconsciousness and Chris snatched Ali from his arms.

Norrington, Mullroy, and Murtogg crawled from the hole; their swords bared, and began slashing away at Malcolm's men, making short work of them. Malcolm pulled out another pistol and aimed as Will came from the hole, but Jack drew his sword and slapped it out of his hands. Malcolm smiled shyly at this and took off into the bushes as fast as he could.

Chris grabbed a sword from one of the dying men, set Ali down, and took off running after him. "Chris!" Jack yelled, following her into the bushes. Norrington pulled his sword from one of Malcolm's sailors and followed Jack.

Once Elizabeth was out of the hole, Will commanded Mullroy and Murtogg to watch after her and Ali. "I'll be right back, I promise!" With that, he bounded after the three pirates and commodore.

Malcolm wasn't making good time. He kept stumbling, his boots getting hooked on tree roots, and his loose clothes catching on bushes. Chris, on the other hand, was running as if she was in a wide, open space. She had no shoes to slow her down, and her clothes were lightweight and already ripped in places. Jack was making similar time, as was Will, but Norrington was slowing down. At one point, Will just pushed past Norrington and continued as the commodore struggled with the underbrush. The path Malcolm was taking led right to the tree line overlooking the bay his ship was anchored in. As he approached the beach, he looked behind him, seeing Chris gaining on him. He grunted and pulled out his sword, hacking at the foliage.

Chris jumped over a rock sticking out of the path and ran as fast as she could, leaping onto Malcolm with all the momentum she could muster. He yelled out as they tumbled onto the beach, his sword lost in the bushes, her acquired sword stuck in the sand. They stopped tumbling and Chris climbed on top of him, punching him for all she was worth. "You slimy, worthless, no good git –!"

Malcolm took the punches, for he saw that her sword was stuck awfully close to where he lay. He closed his eyes to the pain, grabbed the handle of the sword, pulled it from the sand, and shoved it up and into Chris' back. She froze, her fists hanging in the air. She gasped and her jaw trembled as Malcolm shoved her off of him, pulling the sword out as he did. She landed on her back and cried out as sand made its way into the wound. She writhed on the ground in pain.

"Bitch." Malcolm spat. "You should have been my wife." Chris looked up at him and her movements lessened and she became still. "Now, this sword," Malcolm held it up, observing the reddened blade. "This is a sword worth keeping." He sheathed it and turned to observe his ship.

The sun had just risen behind it when several loud booms destroyed the silence. The Pearl and the Dauntless had flanked the ship in the dark, and now that they were plainly seen, they fired upon Malcolm's ship, catching the pirates aboard totally off guard. Men were flooding the decks, trying to defend their ship, but there was nothing to do. Already the ship was taking on water, and within minutes she would never float again.

Malcolm watched in awe as his ship sank into the water and the dying screams of his men echoed into the air. "This isn't happening..." He mumbled, "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!" He heard someone cock a gun behind him; he turned, and came face to face with Jack holding a pilfered pistol mere feet away from his face. Jack smiled.

"It is." Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger and a bullet hit Malcolm right in the forehead. Malcolm reeled back from the shot, and gravity did the rest, bearing his body to the ground. He was dead as soon as he hit the sand. "Waste of gunpowder." Jack then saw Chris lying very still. He dropped the pistol and fell to his knees beside her, taking her into his arms. "No… Chris? Love?" She groaned and wriggled in his grasp. Jack breathed out. "You all right?"

"All right? I've been stabbed in the back, you bloody git." Chris said through clenched teeth, a moan of pain following her sentence. "Notice the blood?"

"Oh, that's what that red sticky stuff is." Jack said with a grin. Normally he might be worried that a person with that manner of injury would die on him. But this was Chris. She was a cantankerous wench if he ever saw one, and he knew she wouldn't just die from a simple stab to the back. "We'll get you back to the Pearl, have ye patched up in no time." He placed one arm across her shoulders (she inhaled in pain), and the other under her knees. He slowly, albeit wobbly, stood with his quartermaster in his arms just as Will skidded into the clearing.

Will took the scene in: wounded Chris, dead Malcolm, and Malcolm's ship smoking in the background. "What happened?!"

"Let's just say we don't have to worry about any gits named Malcolm anymore." Jack said, turning to the beach.

"Is Chris alright?" Will asked.

"I am conscious, you know." Chris groaned.

"I have my answer." Will stated. "I'll go and get Elizabeth and Ali and meet you on the beach."

"Sounds like a plan." Jack said. "They should come get us in no time."

As Will retraced his steps, Norrington finally trudged out of the foliage, passing Will on the way. His brow furrowed in concern as he saw Jack carrying his sister, blood dripping from her back. "What happened?" He asked, breathless.

"Just a little major stab wound, nothing to be concerned about." Jack muttered, continuing towards the beach. "Oh, and as you see, ye won't be able to arrest Edward Malcolm. It was better than he deserved anyway." Jack kicked Malcolm's booted feet as he passed the corpse.

Norrington came to walk abreast with Jack. "We have a surgeon, one of the best in the Caribbean, aboard the Dauntless." He said to Jack. "She'll be well taken care of by him."

"Sounds good, commodore, but only so long as he takes care of her aboard the Black Pearl." Jack replied.

"But you don't even have a medical bay –" Norrington objected.

"So? We use the galley."

"Are you sure that's entirely –?"

"Shut up, please just shut up." Chris whimpered from Jack's arms. The men fell silent.

"I hear wonderful things about His Majesty's medical bays." Jack said after a moment.

"You won't be disappointed." Norrington assured.

A few days passed and in that time, all surviving members of Malcolm's crew were rounded up and placed in the brig of the Dauntless. The sailors aboard were ready to sail for Port Royale and prepare the seventy-two pirates for execution by hanging. Also aboard were Will and Elizabeth Turner and their daughter Ali. They were looking forward to returning to Port Royale, once more together as a family, and moving on with their lives. "The past is the past, Will," Elizabeth had said after the first morning after they had shared a bed with one another in a year. "Let's start fresh and look towards the future." It was a very optimistic outlook considering her previous circumstances.

Jack and the Pearl would return to Tortuga with the tale of the death of Edward Malcolm. True, the Malcolms had controlled quite a bit, but if Jack knew anything about pirates (and he was fairly certain he did), things would continue as usual, only with several men in charge instead of a single man and his son. This had also turned into a prosperous voyage for the pirates of the Black Pearl once Jack sent them back to the cave and had them haul up all the treasure to fill the holds of the ship. The exception was a single gold chest, left onboard the Tempest for the souls of those that could still inhabit the pirate ship.

As for Chris, once the jolly boats came, she was taken aboard the Dauntless and treated by the surgeon. The blade had not punctured any organs, and after being sewn up and having the wound bathed in alcohol, the doctor pronounced that Chris would be right as rain as soon as she healed. Upon her return to the Pearl, Chris found that the monkey she had discovered aboard the Tempest had somehow found his way on board and into her cabin. "I guess that means we're mates now, you and me." She said to the small ape. He shrieked in agreement.

And so, just a little over a week from when William Turner left Port Royale without a family and with little hope, he said goodbye to his friend Captain Jack Sparrow with his wife holding his left hand and his daughter the right. "Well, Turner," Jack called across the gap between the two ships, Will on the Dauntless, Jack on the Black Pearl, "It was nice to see you again."

Will thought about saying something about Jack's idea of 'nice,' but he let it slide. "Same with you, Jack." He nodded, "And... Thank you for helping me find Ali. I'd thank Chris for finding Elizabeth, but I take she's not up to being out about yet?"

"No, poor girl. She's lying on her stomach in my cabin. Still bleeding a bit, but it's given her an excuse to guzzle rum." Jack grinned.

"Give her my thanks." Will said as Ali began to tug on his sleeve. He looked down at her. "Yes darling?"

Ali turned to look at Jack and pulled a piece of paper from behind her back. "Commodore Norrington gave me some paper and a quill! I drew this for you and Auntie Chris!" She handed the paper to her father, who looked at it, and chuckled. He rolled it up and attached it to a hanging line before swinging it across the gap between the ships.

Jack caught it on the second swing, pulled the paper from its spot, and unrolled it. As he looked upon it, he laughed. It was a rough drawing of Jack, Chris, and the monkey on a ship that was firing cannon at a many tentacled sea monster."Thanks, love." He called. "I'll hang it in my cabin!" Ali positively beamed at him.

"If you're ever in Port Royale, Jack…" Elizabeth called, "Come see us. You'll always have friends there."

"Elizabeth, not with Will watching, good lord!" Jack exclaimed, rolling his eyes heavenward. She smiled at him, and he returned the expression.

Norrington was at the helm of the Dauntless and announced, "Mr. and Mrs. Turner, we are ready to make way." Will nodded and picked up Ali with right arm, his left hand still holding onto his wife.

"Goodbye, Captain Jack Sparrow." He bade.

"Bye Uncle Jack!" Ali called.

"Goodbye, Jack." Elizabeth said.

Jack grinned. "Goodbye Will and Liz. Bye Ali!" He waved at the little girl as she, her mother, and her father headed for the stairway leading into the forecastle. Norrington said something to Gillette, who then took the wheel, and Norrington then descended the stairs to where the Turners had previously been standing.

"Sparrow," He began.

"Norrington." Jack replied. They stared at each other for a moment, Jack half-wondering if they were going to get into a firefight.

Norrington struggled with his words for a moment. "Perhaps... My sister should come back to Port Royale, just until she heals. She's been through –"

Jack cut him off by raising his hand. "Norrington, I would gladly allow you to take her. I'd be happy to know that she was being cared for in the best ways possible." Norrington's face brightened. "But she's very determined to get back to Tortuga and make sure that word has not gotten around that she's not a cold-blooded murderer. My hands are tied, mate."

Norrington looked down. "I guess that is the path she has chosen... Just as she chose not to marry Lord Malcolm and instead chose to become a pirate."

"It looks like that would have been the end result either way, mate." Jack said. "Fate's not something one can avoid." Norrington nodded, sadly. "Bye, Norrington."

Norrington looked at the Black Pearl one last time before he returned to the bridge, issuing orders rapidly. Within minutes, the Dauntless' sails were full and its bow was pointing in the direction of Port Royale. After the Dauntless had shrunk from sight, Jack barked a few orders, and the Black Pearl headed in the opposite direction. Jack had taken his place at the helm when a hand was lightly laid on his shoulder. He turned to see Chris standing beside him, postured slightly funny from her wound.

"You should be resting." He said, turning to scan the horizon.

"Sod off. I'm not that fragile." Chris said as the monkey dropped from the top, hit the deck, and then ran up Jack's pant leg and onto his shoulder.

"I don't really like monkeys..." He said, looking sideways at the little creature.

"Good. I'll keep him just to annoy you, then." Chris teased.

Jack grinned. "He needs a name. And God help you if you name him Jack."

Chris laughed and stroked the monkey's back, wincing as her wound moved from the action. "I thought I'd name him Loki. He's the Norse God of Chaos. It seems fitting since he's destroyed your cabin."

Jack groaned. "Go back and lay down before I catch up to the Dauntless and force you aboard with your slimy git of a brother."

Chris laughed. "Alright, alright." She went to the top of the stairs leading down to the deck and paused as the newly christened Loki leaped from Jack's shoulder and scampered up her front to take his place upon hers.

"Chris, one thing." Jack called.

Chris turned to her captain. "Aye?"

Jack smiled softly. "I'm grateful that you're going to be alright."

Chris mirrored his smile. "And I'm the same way towards you." They both smiled before Chris continued to the captain's cabin and the Black Pearl sailed off into the horizon.

oOo

When I think about my life
I wonder if I will survive
To live to see 25
Or will I just fall?
Like all my friends
They just keep dying
People round me
Always crying
In this place that I like to
Call my home

But not everybody knows
That everybody goes
To a better place
And not everybody knows
That everybody could be living their last days
But the hard times will come
and we'll keep movin' on
We're moving on
Keep movin' on

Life!
Hope!
Truth!
Trust!
Faith!
Pride!
Love!
Lust!

On without the things we've lost
The things we gained
We'll take with us

And all I've got
Are these two hands
To make myself
A better man, I
Wonder if I'll ever see the end of this
With all this rain
It just keeps falling
On my head
And now I'm calling
Out to someone else
To help me make it through

But not everybody knows
That everybody goes
To a better place
And not everybody knows
That everybody could be living their last days
But the hard times will come
and we'll keep movin' on
We're moving on
Keep movin' on

Life!
Hope!
Truth!
Trust!
Faith!
Pride!
Love!
Lust!
Pain!
Hate!
Lies!
Guilt!
Laugh!
Cry!
Live!
Die!

Some friends become enemies
Some friends become your family
Make the best with what your given
This ain't dying!
This is living!

Said we're movin' on
And we got nothing to prove to anyone
Cuz we'll get through
We're movin' on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and

Keep movin' on!

Life!
Hope!
Truth!
Trust!
Faith!
Pride!
Love!
Lust!
Pain!
Hate!
Lies!
Guilt!
Laugh!
Cry!
Live!
Die!

Some friends become enemies
Some friends become your family
Make the best with what your given
This ain't dying
This is living!!!