Chapter Three: Plans to be made with the Turners' Return
"We shall begin with me goin' to see my captain."
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Ana Maria pulled the cloak closer to her face as she followed Commodore Norrington down the steps to the cell area. She couldn't place half the smells that bombarded her all at once, and didn't want to know what the other half was. She was not one for fainting, and never had as far as she could remember, but she would almost have wanted to at this point. She gagged.
"Miss?" Norrington asked quietly.
She waved him off. "'m fine, but what is tha'?"
He frowned deeply. "Please don't ask."
Ana glared at him, but said nothing as they rounded the corner to Jack's cell. He had his back to the wall, his legs stretched out as comfortably as they could be in his position. The left half of his face was swollen and bruised, and the right side seemed to be forming the bruises from a recent beating. Under all the colour of the bruising, his skin had gone pale. He held his left arm gingerly near to him and seemed to grimace ever so slightly in his light sleep. She knelt next to the bars, the long cloak fanning out about her on the filthy grown. "Jack?"
Two honey brown eyes opened and he tilted his head to see her. "Ana, luv, 'allo there."
She forced a smile. "They've done a number on ye, Jack Sparrow."
"Tha's 'Cap'n', luv."
"'Course it is, Cap'n."
He smiled at her, though she could see it was strained. "How'd ye get down 'ere unnoticed?"
Ana nodded back to where Norrington had stood undetected. "We're workin' on somethin' to get ye out of 'ere, Jack."
"Miss Ana Maria," Norrington called quietly. "We should leave now. The guards will be down here in just a few moments. Surely Will and Elizabeth have returned by now and Lord Bruckworth is filling them in."
Ana nodded as she reached through the bars and took Jack's hand briefly. Then they were gone.
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The rain was pouring down around them as Ana Maria and Norrington entered the Turner home. Ana peeled the cloak from her shoulders and hung it by a tri-corner hat that Jack had given young Bill some time before. She frowned as she looked at it, but then turned to see Elizabeth at the door way. She forced a smile. "'allo."
Elizabeth Swann Turner sighed deeply as she entered the room, her usual grace around her. "Ana, how was he?"
"Not good. 'ey've been beatin' 'im to a pulp. Bloody navy…"
"He should have signed the Letter of Marquee," Richard was saying as he entered, along with Will. "It would have made all this so much simpler, but no… He's his father's son."
Will smiled a bit. "I can understand him not wanting to," he answered quietly. "He's tried so hard for his freedom. Worked hard for it."
"Yes, but that freedom is likely to be stolen because we didn't go about it legally," Norrington sighed. "If only I'd managed-"
"If only doesn't work any longer," Will stated simply. "We need to get him out of that cell. It's not hard to get the cells open, I helped build a good portion of them. Commodore, if you can… arrange… something, perhaps? Discrete, of course, as not to link yourself with it."
"I'm sure we can come up with something."
"Good, then we'll get the Pearl ready to take him away. The admiral won't stay here forever. Jack will be gone until he leaves. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?"
"Simple doesn't always work," Ana grumbled under her breath. "You haven't seen him, Will. He's not in any shape to make a run for it, or he would have."
"Well then, let's fix that. In an hour or two I'll make my way down there and see what can be done. Ana, we'll get him out. We have to."
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A/N: My applogize for the long wait and the breivity of the chapter. ::feels really bad:: things have gotten really crazy around here and, I have to admit, I've had a lack of insperation for PotC lately. It's terrible, really.... So the chapters may come somewhat far between, but on nights like these I will sit myself down to write on it :) Thanks for your patience
Dawnie-7: Yeah, I know it isn't nice, but hey, I'm a Jack-torture fan, I admit it ;) Poor guy....
Kunfuchick:Ahh! Thanks so much! I'm glad you're liking this one and I hope even with my lack of insperation I can keep it up to standards ::sigh:: Hopefully... Anyway, thanks!
Flute Damioh: ::still giggling about "son of a biscuit eater":: Ah, everyone needs an evil admiral now and again in a good pirate story! They're fun to use!
Lynx Ryder: Your secrets safe with me as long as you don't tell him I like to beat on him too... oh wait, he's probably figured that out by now lol... Ah well... Yup, gotta love Ana Maria. ::cheers for Ana::
JackFan2: Yes, good old Jack, he can even irritate people by passing out. That alone takes talent! I almost feel sorry for him, held up in those nasty cells, feeling as if the world has left him there to rot... Or hang, in this case. But ah well :p It makes for an interesting plot, apparently :)
JessieRose: Thank you very much. The plotline actually came from the lovely JackFan2. She through it out to me some time ago and told me to run with it, and run with it I did. And thanks for the comment on the joke! Haha! My mom told me that and I got the biggest kick out of it. Glad someone else thought it was funny :)
Big thanks to JackFan2 who threw the plotbunny at me and sent me chasing after it. (fast little critter, it's been getting away lately, but I'm catching up!) A late Merry Christmas (no it it's politically correct to say that, but ah well, I'm not one to be overly politically correct lol) and Happy New Years to all of you! Have a safe time and have fun!
TS
