In the morning, Elsa woke early. Turning, she found the bed empty! Well, not entirely empty; on the pillow next to hers lay a single red rose. Also, there was a small scrap of parchment underneath it. Scrawled in neat pen were the words:
Elsa,
Forgive me for leaving you. You know I never would if I could help
it. I'd rather spend every moment with you, holding you in my arms,
never letting you go. I love you with all my heart. But my ship's in.
Yours Always,
Dominic
"I
love you," she mumbled quietly. Then she got up from the warm
bed reluctantly. "I suppose I'll have to be telling Miss
Turner about this..." As she looked around the room, she saw a
shirt draped hastily over the chair.
"That's not mine...? Oh. Right," she smiled, remembering
last night. "He left his shirt. I guess I should keep it for
him."
She slipped it on-over her
shirt-and finished dressing, then headed up to the Swann mansion.
"Will?" she asked, sneaking
into Danielle's bedroom by way of the tall tree she had climbed once
before. "Will!"
"No
Spaniards, bad Spaniards," mumbled Danielle in her sleep.
"Oh, Will!" Elsa said, exasperated. "Again with bloody
Varga? Come off it mate." She threw the covers off Danielle and
sat at the edge of the bed. "Gotta tell you what happened!"
"What, who, huh?!" Danielle
mumbled, somewhat confused and unhappy. "Jack?" she
croaked.
"No, it's Satan, come to
take you down into my Plutonian universe-here's your sign!" she
exclaimed with a southern accent.
"Hehe...Bill Engvall," Danielle yawned dumbly.
"Will!" Elsa said, slapping her friend on the arm.
"What?"
Elsa got quiet all of a
sudden.
"What?!"
"I...uh...last night, I..."
"Oh, sure, that helps. What happened?" Danielle asked. "Hey
where's Dom? Wasn't he here...somewhere? And why weren't you here
last night? I was totally worried sick over you! Where were-who's
shirt is that?" Her eyes widened suddenly. "Shit." she
finished simply, staring at Elsa.
Elsa nodded her head and blushed furiously. "Shut up," she
muttered, wringing her hands nervously and looking down at the
mattress, but then looking away quickly.
"Whoa...you?" Danielle said, surprised.
"Yeah...me."
"Whoa."
"Yeah."
"So where is he? Did you leave him? Oh my God, Jack, you left
him?" Danielle asked.
"No...he
left me."
"Wh-?"
"No, not like that. Geez, I hate you. No! He had to catch his
ship. He left a note...and a rose," she smiled and took out the
piece of parchment.
As Danielle read it,
Elsa pulled at the sleeves of Dom's slightly longer shirt.
"Whoa," she stated absently. "I mean wow." She
laughed slightly.
"Jack!"
Danielle laughed. "Like I need to know! I can't believe
you!"
"Grr..."
"So...was it how I said it was?" Danielle asked, blushing a
little herself.
"Oh my God! No! I'm
not answering that!"
"But-!"
"It's all your fault."
"What
is? How?"
"I don't know,
dammit! It just is!" she shouted stubbornly.
"And he looks like Pippin," Danielle stated after a
while.
"Will!" Elsa screamed
and buried her head in her hands in embarrassment. "So not
funny!"
"I love watching you
squirm."
"I hate you!"
Elsa shrieked, turning even redder than before.
Danielle just laughed.
It was
three months until the Pearl was docked in Port Royal again, and
Danielle wasted no time in speeding down to the docks to find her
friend.
Danielle ran up on deck and
found Jack admiring the sails, Blackbeard at his feet. She walked up
behind him.
"Jack?" she asked.
"Have you seen Elsa?"
"No,
haven't seen her all day, young Turner," he responded.
"Shoot," Will shrugged. "Where is that psycho?"
she said quietly.
"Are you
suggesting my Sparrow is crazy, Turner?" Jack said, raising his
voice and turning around.
"No sir
I, I," she stuttered.
She looked at
the back of Jack's bandana shamefully. Wait a minute-Danielle could
never see the back of Jack's bandana without looking up.
"Elsa?"
"I can't believe
you aren't able to recognize your own friend, Turner," Elsa
exclaimed, turning around and smiling.
"Sorry Jack! Holy crap, you just look and sound so much like
him! And-" Then she stopped. "Oh, my God," she
whispered.
"Shut up," Elsa
said, raising her hand and bowing her head.
Elsa knew Danielle was about to comment on the kohl she was wearing
around her eyes.
"You're wearing
kohl!" Danielle screamed.
Elsa
sighed and turned away from her. "Yes, I am. Extraordinary
observation, Watson! Daft idiot," she whispered to
Blackbeard.
He barked.
"Why?! Why are you wearin'..." Danielle asked, moving in
front of her and staring hard at her eyes. "You look just like
him," she whispered, amazed.
"Jack
said it would protect my eyes and blah, blah, blah!" Elsa
answered exasperated.
"So is this,
like, a full time thing from now on?"
"No! You can't make me do this every day!"
"But you look like Jack!" She gasped suddenly. "What
would Lena and Liz say?" She paused. "I really miss them.
Don't you?"
"Yes, I
do..."
Danielle gasped again. "What
would Dom say?!"
"Oh my God
no! No way!"
"You should wear
it! It's fantastic!"
"Surely."
She rolled her eyes. "Anyway! What're you up to, Will my boy?"
Elsa asked, addressing the loose rigging.
"Do you have to call me that?" Danielle whined, running
after her.
"Mm-hmm!" She began
climbing up one of the rope ladders.
"Where are you goin'?" Danielle asked, looking up at her.
"Check the riggin' and sails! Come
on!" Elsa yelled down.
"But I'm
in a dress!"
"My God, you
are!" she said continuing up. "Come on then!"
"Fine," Danielle grumbled, grabbing the rope and unsteadily
hoisting her feet off the deck. As she climbed up farther, the ship
listed in the water and, because of the weight of her dress, she
slipped.
"Jack!" she
shrieked.
Elsa took hold of a line and
slid down to Danielle, who was clutching at the ropes fitfully.
"Will! It's all right, I've got you," she laughed, holding
Danielle's arm. "This is why you will never wear a dress on my
ship again." Thinking she sounded a whole deal like Jack, she
finally managed to say, "Follow me."
Elsa kept close to Danielle as they climbed, and if Danielle got
scared as the ship tossed or turned slightly, she would take hold of
Elsa's boot.
When Elsa reached the top
of the ladder, she stepped off to one of the mainsail timbers and
steadied herself with another line.
"See
Will? Not difficult at all," she smiled at her uneasy friend.
"Oh, no problem!" Danielle
lied. "Jack, I swear I'm gonna fall."
"Well, if you fall, you'll land in the ocean. I sure hope you
can swim...fast," she winked. "There are sharks down there,
you know."
"Very funny-!"
Before she could finish, Danielle accidently slipped again; This time
off the yard arm and, just like Elsa said, she splashed into the
ocean.
"Will!" Elsa sighed,
before diving off the ship and landing near Danielle, who, because of
the sudden impact of water, had passed out and slowly sinking under
the water.
Elsa wrapped an arm around her
unconscious friend and tried pulling her to the water's surface. But
the dress Danielle was wearing proved too heavy for the pirate, so
she found herself having to rip it off, letting it fall to the
ocean's floor.
"Bloody stupid
blacksmith!" Elsa gasped as she finally reached the surface.
"Can't even fall into the water right; has to pass out on me.
Lord," she sighed, then yelled up to the ship, "Jack! Help!
Line if you would!"
Soon, a spare
length of rope had been thrown over the side of the ship and down to
them. Elsa wrapped an arm around her friend's waist and was hauled
aboard.
"Come on, Will," Elsa
mumbled, thinking of what to do. "Ah!" She thought of the
movie and, after quickly pulling a knife from her boot, cut the
corset of Danielle's dress off and tossed it to the side.
Danielle suddenly woke up, coughing and spluttering.
"Never would have thought of that," Jack laughed.
"Wait-"
"Clearly, you've
never been to Singapore," Elsa said, her accent a little
stronger than normal.
"Actually-"
he tried to correct.
"I know, I
know; you have been to Singapore," she said, waving her hands in
front of her. "Now help me get this blasted fool up!"
"I can walk, I can walk, you pirate!" Danielle managed to
choke out. She was still breathing heavily. She tried taking a step.
"OK, OK, may need a little help."
"I'm sure you would-help in the head maybe," Elsa thought,
walking downstairs. "Why are you-" she glanced at her wet
friend. "Alright why were you wearin' a dress anyway?" she
asked. "Date with Ol' Jim?"
They were now in front of Elsa's cabin door.
"No!" Danielle yelled, defensively. "He's in Spain,
with his fiance," she choked, a little more emotional than she
would have liked.
"Actually, I'm
not anymore," came a voice from behind the door. "I'm
here." Jimmy walked out of the cabin, a broad smile on his face.
"Danielle!"
The two hugged as
Elsa leaned up against a wall, smiling herself.
"Why are you here, Jimmy?" Danielle asked, letting her
suspicion get the best of her.
"Thanks
to this bloody pirate! She and Jack shanghaied me from Spain, as they
just happened to be there!" he laughed. The he suddenly look at
Danielle. "Why are you all wet?"
"I...dove off the ship," she lied. "Jack here fell
off. I had to save her."
"I
could slap her, or I could go along with it," Elsa thought. "Oh,
yes. I feel like a complete fool, falling off the mizzen timbers like
that. What a fool I was..." Elsa continued, trying to hold in
her laughing fit as she ascended the stairs, leaving the lovebirds
alone.
