A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews! They really make my day. And a VERY special thank you to Sylvia D...you know why :)
Onto Chapter 15...
Chapter 15: Pure chance
The port was within sight and Nathan was pleased to see his quiet and enigmatic wife looking happier than he had seen her in a good long while. He had no idea why, but that had ceased to matter so much. She was such a mystery to him. He tried to make her happy but she did not respond to his affection the way he expected her, or even wanted her to. At first he had presumed he was doing something wrong but that feeling had faded with time. He was essentially a patient man, but he was also one who believed in a wife's proper role. Sylvia's strange ways confused him. She did look beautiful though, standing right where the wind was blowing. She was wearing the rich pink and cream dress, with the matching hat tied under her chin with pink lace, which he had picked out the last time they were in England. Her eyes were closed and she was leaning back slightly, her hands gripping the rail, as close to contentment as she ever got. Nathan thought he could watch her forever but without warning she suddenly turned and saw him watching her. She shot her husband a dutiful smile which he returned warmly. He was hoping she would come over to him but she stayed right where she was, her eyes returning to the fast approaching land.
To Sylvia the town before her meant she could escape for a little while, she could breathe again in a world which so often constricted painfully all around her. Three years ago she would have noticed the gulls flying overhead and the sparkling splendour of the sea but none of that registered with her now. She was no longer pleased by the constellations at night or the shape of clouds in the day. Everything that had once given her such simple pleasure could no longer compete with the intense sadness that kept Sylvia's heart as heavy as a stone. Even when Nathan was fun to be with, which was rare enough, Sylvia found herself comparing him to Jack and he never measured up. Sylvia tried not to place them side by side but there are some things that your mind does without instruction no matter how much it hurts. Sylvia took a deep breath of the salty sea air and concentrated once again on the buildings that were rushing towards her. Nathan had been right about one thing, this was the closest Sylvia got to happiness. It wasn't that she had high expectations of the town they were stopping in. It looked just as boring as everywhere else to eyes that had forgotten to see the good in the world, but boredom was something Sylvia could deal with.
The crew all brought the Pride of the Sea into port where she was moored and tied to the dock to prevent her from moving. It all took too long for Sylvia who was eager to get into the town and explore. Being at sea had never bothered her, but being confined with Nathan and his crew was not something Sylvia enjoyed. The town's crowds meant she could easily lose herself and experience freedom, even if it was just for an hour or two. Of course, she could no longer do the kind of exploring that she longed to do. Ladies did not climb about on rocks or get sand in their shoes by walking on the beach; those were the pursuits of children. Exploring the town had to suffice. She was out of the ship and walking away before it had even come to a complete standstill. Nathan watched her striding away alone with a mounting feeling of sadness; would he ever be able to make her happy?
Sylvia lost herself in the milling crowd. She walked with no purpose, taking comfort from the bustle and noise surrounding her. It helped her forget what was going on inside her head and inside her heart. She stood out from the local people like a sore thumb. Her brightly coloured clothes only served to highlight how drab and dull everyone else looked. The dress earned her many an interested glance but Sylvia paid no attention to anyone. She wandered around the market stalls looking intently at everything but buying nothing. For hours she pottered about, and it was only when the shops began to close that she started to wander slowly back to her ship with a heavy heart. She did not want to return to being a wife again. She did not want to return to Nathan full stop, he was enough to bore her to tears, but the sun was beginning to set now. If she did not return soon Nathan would start to worry.
Sylvia's footsteps were painfully slow and reluctant as she walked through the town's small streets. Her shoes made loud clicks on the cobbled stone pavement, so loud that the other set of footsteps behind her remained unheard for several minutes. It was only when Sylvia stopped for a moment to check which way she was headed that she heard them. She was filled suddenly with a thrill of unease. Her senses heightened and she resumed her walking. Someone was definitely behind her, whether they were actually following her or not she was unable to determine. She quickened her pace, as did the other footsteps. Surely that was the sign. If it had just been someone walking they would have had no need to speed up just because she did. Forcing herself to keep calm and not to run, Sylvia tried to think clearly. She was not too far from the dock but she could not risk running too soon or whoever was following her might catch her before she was within sight of the Pride. Her thoughts were interrupted by the irritating click click clicking of her shoes. They were making far too much noise for a start. With one quick movement Sylvia shed both of them, and without looking back she proceeded forwards, her footsteps instantly muted.
The person behind her was getting closer and Sylvia was beginning to feel panic rise up within her. The person had not spoken; if they had wanted to merely talk to her they could have easily done so by now. The Pride was not in sight but the dock was, if she could just make it to the dock then she could risk running but not until then, she needed to get the timing just right. But her plans were abruptly changed when the footfalls behind her quickened into what was unmistakeably a run. Without thinking Sylvia did the same, her stocking covered feet otherwise unprotected as they hit the stone but she did not notice the pain. Unfortunately she could not fail to notice her inability to breathe. As she ran she tried to take the deep breaths she needed to keep going but her tight fitting corset would not allow such a thing. Her whole body froze up as it failed to receive the oxygen it needed. Sylvia clutched at her chest in agony just as a thick arm grabbed her around the waist and bundled her into the nearest alley.
Sylvia's lungs were screaming as she was pushed against the wall by a man much larger and stronger than she was. They were screaming so hard that she did not feel the danger she was in until she saw the glint of metal. There was a knife clamped between the man's teeth. She could not see the man's features in the shadowy alley but she could smell the stale alcohol on his old clothes, it was enough to make Sylvia want to retch.
"If ye make one noise, I'll cut yer ruddy throat, d'ye hear?" the man growled menacingly. Sylvia might have nodded but if she did she was not fully aware that she did so. She had no breath to scream or cry for help, and even if she had been able she might have been too terrified to make a sound anyway. She would have given anything to have her corset removed so she could take great gulps of air but it suited the man to have her in this helpless state. He held both her wrists with one massive hand and pinned them securely above her head. With the other hand he began to claw at the skirt of her dress. Sylvia might have lost a lot of her innocence over the last few years but it was only now that she realised what her captor wanted from her. She struggled the best she could but the man was far too powerful for her. Her feeble efforts went almost unnoticed. Breathless and petrified Sylvia closed her eyes. 'Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse…' she thought bitterly as the man's hands continued to rip at her clothes. Sylvia knew there was no way out, until she heard another noise. The sound of someone else stepping into the alleyway. Her attacker had obviously heard too because he dropped her dress in order to turn around and face whoever it was. His massive frame blocked Sylvia's view completely.
"Now tha's not very nice," said a soft voice and then came the sound of a gunshot. Sylvia gasped as she saw the flash of powder. For a second nothing happened but then Sylvia felt her captor release his grip on her arms as he fell forwards and landed with a sickening thud on the stone ground.
Sylvia could do nothing but stare down at the motionless body for a moment too shocked to move. Her rescuer was also looking down at the man he had killed. All of a sudden feeling flooded back into Sylvia's body. She shook with hatred as she saw blood begin to pool underneath the man's head. Strangely the sight of the blood did not disturb her; it only served to reassure her that the man was never going to bother anyone again. She had forgotten that she was not alone and itt took a slight movement from the person who had saved her to make her look up, her face suddenly full of gratitude. He looked up at the same moment and their eyes met. Sylvia's words of thanks died on her lips as her mouth fell open. Instead of the sincere appreciation she had intended to pour out Sylvia said one single word.
"Jack?" Jack's dark eyes had widened in surprise but he did not speak. His gun was still smoking as it hung limply by his side. Someone would have heard that shot, it was only a matter of seconds before the marines arrived and he had just chosen to look into the eyes of the woman he had loved and lost rather than run and save his life. Sylvia found she could not breathe again, her corset seemed to be tightening around her chest. Those few seconds seemed to stretch on for a lifetime and neither of them moved or spoke a word.
Sylvia heard the sound of heavy running footsteps and she realised what was going to happen a second before it did. Her face took on more fear than it had done when she had been held by the now dead man but Jack's face remained calm, even when the marines surrounded him, their guns pointed at his chest. Sylvia could only watch as they clapped him in irons. His eyes did not leave hers until the moment he was led away. The moment the connection was broken sounds rushed into Sylvia's ears and she realised someone was talking to her.
"Now Miss, if you could please just step this way we'd like to have a statement from you as to what happened here." Sylvia turned to the man who was speaking very slowly.
"Sorry?" she asked. The man's face took on a look of sympathy.
"There, there Miss," he said gently, "It's alright, it's all over now. I understand this must have been quite an ordeal for you, and that you are shocked after seeing a dead body and all but we…"
"I've seen someone get killed before," said Sylvia without thinking. Her thoughts were all in a twirl. The man before her looked surprised for a moment but quickly recovered his composure.
"No one gets used to that sort of thing," he said wisely, "Now, I'd be most grateful if you could tell me exactly what just happened." Sylvia was not listening but she could see him waiting for her to speak.
'I just saw the love of my life,' she wanted to say, 'I saw him and you took him away from me. He saved me…again, and you took him away.'
"Miss?" Sylvia turned away. She could not force herself to think straight. The only thing her mind was letting her see was Jack; he seemed to have over ridden everything else. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her hand resting on the whale bone corset that had already caused her so much pain already. Snapshots of the past few minutes flashed in front of her eyes all out of sequence and more vivid than they had been in reality, she shook her head trying to clear them but it did not help. The man who had been trying to get some details out of her recognised the symptoms of shock when he saw them. He knew he would have to calm the lady down before attempting to question her again, best to get her out of the crime seen too.
Sylvia felt a coat being draped over her shoulders. She allowed herself to be escorted out into the main street where already a small crowd was gathering and whispering curiously. The man led her to a low wall and suggested that she sit down. Sylvia obeyed his instructions without really knowing that she was doing so. It felt very much like she was outside herself, hovering a little way away. She did not know that was the way her body was coping with the shock of what had just happened, she did not know that in a moment her feeling would return with such force that the intensity of it would make her gasp.
"Can you tell me your name Miss?" the marine was asking her politely.
"Sylvia Ryecroft," Sylvia replied automatically.
"Alright then, Miss Ryecroft, I'd just like…" Sylvia looked up sharply, her brow furrowed. Miss Ryecroft? That wasn't her name!
"Mrs Spencer," she said correcting herself, "I'm sorry, Mrs Spencer…I'm married." The marine fell silent. He watched Sylvia in a concerned way for a moment but Sylvia was ready to talk now. She swallowed and began the version of events she would tell to anyone who wanted to know. As she spoke the marine took mental notes of the relevant details. Sylvia told the truth, for the most part, but she left out the part about recognising Jack and she did not mention that she had felt more frightened for Jack now than she had ever felt for herself during the attack. She had just finished her story when a marine who had been examining the dead body in the alley way came up and whispered into his colleague's ear before walking away again. Sylvia had seen her interviewers' eyes widen.
"What is it?" she asked. The marine cleared his throat and Sylvia knew he was deciding whether he should be telling her what he had heard. Evidently he decided that the knowledge that the man in the alley was a convicted rapist and murderer was unsuitable for a woman's ears. Sylvia bit her tongue to stop her from pressing the marine for details and reminded herself that she could always ask Nathan when he received the full version of events.
Jack did not have high hopes for anyone to believe or even listen to his version of the story and so he was not disappointed when no one asked him a single question. He was thrown into a tiny prison cell and left alone with only the smell of damp for company. He sighed as he leant against the wall heavily. Was he going to have to listen to that old hung-by-the-neck-until-dead speech again? Not if Gibbs had realised he was missing, he told himself confidentially but then he remembered something with a cold jolt, he had told AnaMaria he would be gone all weekend and as today was Friday no one was even going to start looking for him until Monday at the earliest. That made another miraculous escape look a little unlikely, perhaps this time he really would hang until dead. That was not a pleasant thought and Jack found himself suppressing a shudder. But it was not like Jack to linger on thoughts of death; he had been in worse situations before and come out the other side so there was really no reason to start worrying yet. He turned his thoughts instead to the person who he had saved in the alleyway, the person he had thought about more than any other over the last three years.
The funny thing was he had not even known it was her until she had looked up from the dead body that had been her assailant. He had followed the ugly great brute after recognising him as the man who had been harassing AnaMaria earlier in the day. He had been lucky to escape her unharmed but Jack had been determined not to let his luck last the night. Jack was not sure if he would have actually killed the man had he not noticed him grab a woman and pull her into the alleyway. That sealed his fate in Jack's mind. No one had the right to touch a woman like that. After shooting the bastard he had not intended to stick around and wait for the marines to arrive but he had looked up into the face of the man's victim, more to check if she was alright than anything else. When he had seen Sylvia's shadowy face looking back at him, full of shocked recognition, his insides had just frozen solid. Jack closed his eyes. There had been so much he had wanted to say to her that nothing had come out, a fine reunion that had been. He supposed he had been too aware of the little time he had to do much but that did not stop him regretting all those things he had not done. If he was about to get hung in the morning he should have at least kissed her. Jack sighed again and sat down in the corner of his cell and pulled his hat down over his eyes. There was nothing to do now but wait for what was coming to him but Jack could not help feeling glad that not only had Sylvia been saved but he had been the one to do it.
Nathan Spencer had been contacted and he was now hurrying behind the marines who were leading him to his wife. He saw her, wrapped in a man's coat, her face as pale as death.
"Oh my darling!" he cried not noticing Sylvia's wince, "This is all my fault! I should never have let you go out alone!" Nathan was about to enclose Sylvia in a comforting embrace when she stood up abruptly.
"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped, her tone supremely irritated rather than the scared one Nathan had been expecting. Just because he could not predict Sylvia's moods did not mean he had not stopped trying.
"But darling," said Nathan keeping his voice low. He was all too aware of the watching crowd.
"If I had accompanied you…"
"Then I should have been most unhappy," said Sylvia, "You know how much I like time to myself, this was just an accident. Besides, I am not hurt."
"But you very nearly were!" pointed out Nathan. His own wife almost assaulted! It didn't bear thinking about! How would he have ever lived it down? Sylvia, on the other hand, had almost forgotten that she was ever in any danger at all. It was as if it had all happened so that she could see Jack again. It was funny, all this time she had wanted nothing more than to see him again, to have just one more moment but when it had actually happened it had been so utterly unexpected that she had not reacted at all. And now he had been arrested for doing no more than saving her life.
"Nathan," she said and her hand went to rest on her husband's chest, "The man who saved me, will he be rewarded for what he did?" She wanted to look Nathan in the eye but she was afraid of revealing too much of the meaning behind her words.
"I expect so my dear," said Nathan distractedly, "But don't you worry yourself about that now, let me get you home." Sylvia allowed Nathan to lead her through the crowd and away from the scene but she could feel her body resisting him ever so slightly. Every step was now taking her away from Jack and no matter what she did that thought was always on her mind. She did not even remember that she was not wearing any shoes.
Jack woke from his light doze the moment someone entered the prison but he did not move. He found it sometimes paid for people to think you were sleeping when you were not. When he heard a key turning in the lock he thought that this was probably not one of those times. Someone grabbed him and pulled him to his feet thus dislodging his hat which fell to the floor.
"Compliments of the Royal Navy."
Jack fell to his knees the moment theother man's kneewas driven into his stomach, andhe knew the fun was just beginning.
A/N: I know, I know, it's a cliffhanger...I can already hear the angry shouts! ;)
Hope everyone is ok and enjoying whatever winter or summer (musn't forget the other hemisphere!) weather you are getting. Endless drizzle seems to be the pattern here...not so bad when you're indoors :D.
Trying to keep on top of all my work but the next chapter should be out by Tuesday :)
