Copyright. Characters, not mine. See the Mouse. Story, mine, but I make no money. He does, but not on this.
Typing convention/ is used for thoughts.
Summary: How do you cheer up a depressed Sparrow?
Beta: The great BetaGoddess Pendragginink. She's fantastic! And way too modest for her own good!
A/N: Apparently some fangirls went to Greg Ellis and asked him Groves' first name. I don't know if it was in reference for fanfics or if he even reads them, but hopefully he doesn't take offense if he does. Anyway, it's officially Theodore Groves, so any fics that I had previously done have had the name changed.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the sequel to "The Makings of a Pirate". If you don't read the first story, you're missing EVERYTHING, so if you haven't read it, please go do so and come back or you won't understand anything.
NOTE: I live for reviews. No reviews, the muses go out gambling (we DO live in Las Vegas, after all) and I can't get any writing done. Can't figure out if anyone likes it if they don't review. So REVIEW! PLEEEEEEZE?
May the wind always be at your back And the sun always upon your face And the winds of destiny to carry you aloft to dance with the stars.
Old Irish Blessing as quoted by George Jung ("Blow")
Chapter 6 - Bloody Commodores!
The two-day trip back to Port Royal was clear sailing with no incidents. As they sailed around the point, however, all eyes turned to the HMS Relentless, the newest man-o-war in the British Navy, not fifty feet away, waiting for them with the commodore on the main deck.
Robert swore and gave the order to raise the white flag even as he heard Gillette's tenor voice yelling at them to stand to and be boarded.
Robert heard Raymond mumbling to himself. "Bloody commodores always wanting to board my Lady!"
Robert looked around at the comment and laughed "Lord Raymond, I daresay, I agree with you, but please remember, she's MY Lady now."
The Earl smiled. "That she is, Robert, and you have taken care of her admirably. But the feelings have never died, and I still love her and always will." He looked over at Gillette and waved enthusiastically, traipsing lightly down the stairs to the quarterdeck, trying to keep the pain from his back out of his facial expression and movements. "Oh Commodore! There's no need to threaten my rescuers!" He watched as the ships were lashed together and a plank drawn between them. He motioned for Groves to go to the other ship while he stayed where he was. They'd discussed it and decided that would be the best way to keep the navy from sinking the Black Pearl. Robert tied off the wheel and strode down the stairs and directly into his cabin.
As Gillette arrived on the deck of the Pearl, Lord Raymond greeted him by holding out his hand, palm down. The Commodore took it, turning it and shaking it firmly. "I'm so glad to see you safe, milord. Have these brigands mistreated you in any way?"
"No, no. Not at all. Captain James has been quite hospitable in fact. You realize that they rescued Captain Groves and me from some nasty pirates who wanted to cut off my finger? Odds bodkins, man. Those monsters on the Dragon had the nerve to FLOG me!"
Gillette was aghast. "Surely they would never do that to you! How many lashes did they have the nerve to give you?"
"Thirty-nine. They gave me the full Moses Law just because I assured their captain that I would see him hang."
"Lord Raymond, you must come with me to the Relentless to have the doctor see to your injuries!"
"Unnecessary, Commodore. The doctor here on the Black Pearl fixed me up quite well, and when we get back to port, I shall have my personal physician see to it. I'm fine. Now, unless I was informed incorrectly, Captain James has invited both of us to his cabin for lunch." He motioned Gillette toward the captain's cabin. "Shall we?"
"Dine with pirates? Are you mad?"
"I daresay the food on this ship is singularly delicious. I tried to bribe their cook away to be my personal chef, but he is quite loyal to Captain James."
Gillette grinned at a memory. "Ah, they must still have the same cook. Skinny, with a glass eye?"
"Yes, that's him."
Gillette's speed into the cabin increased. "He IS a good chef. Let's see what he's cooked up this time."
Lord Raymond tittered. "I thought you didn't want to dine with pirates."
As he reached the door and knocked, Gillette looked at Raymond and smiled. "Most pirates don't eat this well."
The door was opened by Pintel, who ushered them to their seats. Gillette noticed that he even fluffed and set a pillow behind Lord Raymond's back. /Very civil for pirates. I must meet this Captain James and compliment him. Though he is a pirate.../
Pintel gestured to the food. "De captain has been detained by some important ship's business, and has told me to have you start widout him. If dere is anything I can get you gen'lemen, please let me know." He bowed and started serving, starting with Lord Raymond.
The cuisine was wonderful. Hot, fresh bread with garlic butter, a pasta with a white sauce that almost made Gillette inhale the food like a commoner, meatballs that defied description, served in their own, spicy sauce, and wine that Gillette reasoned must have come from a French lord's private stock. There was fresh and marinated fruit and light, filled pastries for dessert. Gillette hadn't eaten this well since he'd been held captive on this very ship six months before. "Magnificent cuisine, sir. Please give my compliments to the chef."
Pintel smiled. "I will sir. Thank you."
Lord Raymond finished the bite he was eating. "Indeed. Please remind Mr. Ragetti that I still have the openings for both of you at the Mansion, and if circumstances don't allow for it now, you are both welcome to come any time."
Pintel grinned. "I'll remind him, Governor, but I know he'll say he's happy here." Pintel suddenly stood back from the table and saluted.
Gillette and Raymond followed his gaze. Captain James had entered the room from behind a set of curtains and was standing quietly, grinning at the two aristocrats. "Still trying to steal my chef, Governor? Shame on you. I thought only pirates and other lowlifes stole things." He'd made his voice a bit gruff to hide his identity from Gillette. He looked quite different from Norrington as well. Though he couldn't hide his aristocratic nose, his hair was long and completely braided in tiny rows down the back of his head and weighted down with trinkets, keeping it out of his face. He had a two-day growth for beard and mustache, as he'd had to shave it for the ball, much to his displeasure, as it was his main disguise from those who knew him. His clothes were fit for piracy...certainly not as a commodore of the Royal Navy, with what was obviously Jack Sparrow's tricorn hat sitting proudly on his head over his own blue scarf.
Lord Raymond looked surprised. "No, Captain. Pirates and other lowlifes as you call them don't GET AWAY with stealing. It's all a matter of social class. The higher the social class, the more likely he is to get away with it." Robert sat down at the head of the table, listening attentively, his hands moving of their own accord to fill his plate. His eyes twinkled. "Take you, for example. You are a wanted man. Why? You are on the bottom rung of the social ladder. You have no tact in your thefts. Now, the merchant class gets away with thievery every day, but they call it "market value" and "profit." Don't anyone tell me that many of the goods sold today are worth as much as people pay for them. I should know; I have many merchant holdings." He tittered into his napkin. "And then there's the Aristocracy. We hold the lower classes accountable for our actions like a royal whipping boy to a prince! We care accountable only to a crown who is so far away as to be nonexistent. And don't get me started on the thefts made by Royalty!"
Robert tipped his head. "And what about slaves?"
"Slavers!" The governor spat on the floor. Pintel hurried over to clean it up, Robert giving him a smile and nod in thanks. "Lowest form of human being in my opinion, but we have to treat them like merchants. Slaves, not even being ON the social ladder, are held accountable for whatever his or her master claims, whether true or not. If it were up to me, there would be no slavery in Jamaica."
"But there are many slaves on the island."
"Yes, and I free them as often as I can."
"Why not just free them by decree?"
"I could do that, yes. And the slaves would be free for as many minutes as it would take their owners to lynch me. No, I'm afraid I can't do it that way till I've abolished it in other ways. Believe me, I'm going as fast as I can."
The more Gillette listened, the more familiar Robert's voice sounded to him. The gruffness of the voice hadn't faltered, but there was SOMETHING about it...and his face was terribly familiar, as if..."Captain, Governor, I apologize for the interruption to such an interesting conversation, but I was wondering if Captain James had seen Miss Wiggles lately?"
Robert looked at him and opened his mouth to speak. Shut it again. "Miss Wiggles?"
A meow was heard from behind the curtain, and a very proper looking white Persian cat padded into the room, sidling up to Robert's leg. "Meow?"
Gillette giggled into his napkin at Robert's embarrassed look. "I'd always thought Sparrow didn't have it in him to kill you. But why did you turn pirate?"
Robert picked up a meatball from his plate with his fingers and gave it to a very contented Miss Wiggles, who took it gently and then ran under the curtain with her prize as if her tail were on fire. The gruffness in his voice disappeared and he smiled. "I'm afraid Commodore Sparrow made me an offer that I couldn't refuse."
Before Gillette could ask, he felt something quickly climb his leg onto his lap. He looked down and saw Satan propped up with his front paws on the table, trying to steal a meatball of his own from Gillette's plate. "I thought this was one of Sparrow's ferrets. So you kept him? Where's the other one?" He started scratching Satan behind the ears, holding him away from his plate.
"Yes, Satan did belong to Jack, but now that I'm captain of the Pearl, he and Kali are mine. As for where Kali is, I have no idea, except that she's on one of the two ships. She's snuck onto other ships before, and once I had to fight the other ship's captain to get her back, as he wanted to keep her."
Lord Raymond smiled. "Not to worry, Commodore. She's not on the Relentless. Point of fact, she crawled into my pocket an hour ago and has been sleeping there ever since. Beautiful ferret. Reminds me of two of my Christmas presents from the Ball. I do hope Loki and Ishtar are all right. After all, I did have to leave rather abruptly."
Commodore Gillette looked at Lord Raymond. "Your butler is taking good care of them, I assure you. They were quite an extravagant gift milord. Who brought them?"
"Actually, it was Captain James, here, who brought them. I believe you danced with him at one point during the evening."
Robert was looking at his food and trying not to laugh. "Indeed he did. Commodore Gillette, you do dance most divinely." He chuckled.
Gillette looked at him, mouth open in total shock. "That tall Juliet! That was you?" Robert nodded, his eyes filled with mirth. "And you didn't tell me?"
Robert laughed. I considered telling you after you kissed my hand, but something told me that I didn't wish you to have me shot, after running me through." All three of them broke into laughter.
Gillette recovered first. "Governor, did you invite pirates to the ball? There were three people in that group."
Lord Raymond smiled. "Yes, there WERE three of them, weren't there? And yes, I did invite them. You see, the other two were Miss Swann and Mr. Turner, and as they are members of this crew, I invited their captain as well. Please remember that Miss Swann was Weatherby's daughter. So of course I invited them."
Gillette gave Satan a meatball and put him on the floor, watching him run beneath the curtain with it. "James-"
"Call me Robert. I've gotten used to that name now."
Gillette swallowed. "Robert...I don't mean to be indelicate, but the question must be asked. Governor Smythe-Douglass had Sparrow hanged. Why isn't the crew - especially Turner and Miss Swann - out for his blood?"
Robert looked at Raymond. Lord Raymond looked back at Robert, a forkful of food frozen half way to his mouth.
TBC