CHAPTER TWENTY: A TOUGH WEEK
"Well?" the governor demanded as he paced up and down the commodore's quarters on the Dauntless. "What do you propose to do now that Jack Sparrow has BOTH my daughters as well as my grandson?"
Norrington was studying an elaborate map. "Sparrow wouldn't go north, it's getting too cool, and they need to make some repairs. My guess is he will head south to someplace he is comfortable with, where he feels safe."
The two men's eyes met and they said at the same time, "Tortuga."
Norrington stood from his desk chair and opened the door to issue the orders. A young sailor stood at the doorframe, ready to knock.
"Hulroy?" Norrington demanded, wanting to know what the young man wanted.
"Ah, yes sir, Captain Hudson wishes to speak with you."
Another young man, this one maybe mid-twenties, entered the office. "Commodore, I think it is my duty to inform you and the Governor of the events we saw on board the Black Pearl."
"Well, spit it out, lad!" the governor said, impatiently.
"As the Pearl was sailing off, I saw your daughter, sir." He smiled reflectively. "Just as beautiful as I remember. However, she was covered in blood. I fear Captain Sparrow may have injured her."
"That's preposterous," the Governor shook his head. "My daughter has already assured me that Jack Sparrow would never harm a hair on my daughter's head."
The Commodore cleared his throat. "Yes, sir, but we must remember. Jack Sparrow is a pirate. His words and promises mean nothing. I believe you're allowing yourself to be convinced that he is a good man in order to calm your fears, but I think in this instance, we must face facts. It will be of greater benefit to ourselves to acknowledge what kind of an enemy we are facing. And, with my deepest regrets, Governor, Jack Sparrow is a dangerous man."
The dangerous man, however, at the time, was lying unconscious in a bed. Gibbs was just getting ready to leave when Sunni entered.
"Well?" she demanded, before cringing. "What is that smell?"
"Burnt flesh, milady," Gibbs told her, almost as if it caused him pain. "I had ta burn th' wound shut ta stop th' bleedin'."
Sunni swallowed hard. She only nodded and then moved toward Jack's sleeping form.
"He won't wake up, lass. Not tonight, anyways. We gave him a good deal of rum to dull th' pain."
Sunni only nodded, but didn't look at Gibbs as she knelt next to Jack and smoothed back his hair.
"If ye don't mind me askin'," Gibbs interrupted. "But where are we headed?"
"Isla de Guirrido," she murmured. "I just gave Ana th' bearings to get us there so we could patch some holes an' make repairs. Should be there in th' morning."
Gibbs nodded. "I'll go relieve Ana at th' helm. I'll sail us there tonight." The old man continued watching her, but Sunni only vaguely nodded, the only sign he received that told him she heard him.
He cleared his throat. "Ye haven't eaten supper yet, have ye? I'll send ye up some grub. An' a cot, since Jack seems ta be takin' up most of yer bed." He walked over to the younger girl and put a hand on her shoulder. She finally looked up at him. "I want ye ta eat everything brought ta ye, an' then go straight ta bed, savvy? Ye need ta take care of yer husband an' th' lil' one still in th' oven, understand?"
Sunni's lips curled up in the ghost of a smile. "Aye, aye, Mr. Gibbs."
He smiled and kissed the top of her head before leaving to take the helm. Just as he promised, Elizabeth arrive moments later with a bowl of thick soup and Will followed, carrying a cot and blankets.
"How is he?" Liz asked, setting the bowl down in front of her sister.
"Gibbs says he won't wake for a while." She sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "I'm exhausted. I don't really know if I want to eat at all. I keep thinking about all that blood. . ." she visibly shuddered.
"Now, now, I don't want to hear any of that," Liz scolded. "You will eat this entire bowl of soup if I have to force feed you. Then you can go to bed."
"How are th' others?" Sunni asked, picking up the spoon as Will set up her cot.
"They are all more concerned with their captain and his wife than anybody," Will said.
"The injuries are not too bad. Most of them will be working by the end of the week," Liz reported.
"It's a good thing," Sunni sighed. "We're going to need able bodies to repair th' ship."
"It's not in that bad of shape," Liz said, trying to bolster her spirits. "And with you as their captain, the work will get done in no time."
This time, Sunni actually smiled.
The next morning, Sunni awoke from a restless night's sleep. She didn't really wake up, because she never really fell asleep, but she got sick of lying in bed. She had gotten up several times to check on Jack, but he was always the same: unconscious.
Out on deck, the sun was only beginning to blaze over the horizon, and the Pearl was docked on an old, dilapidated semblance of a dock extending from the sands of a rocky beach. This was Isla de Guirrido. She could tell by the sun that Gibbs had navigated them to stop on the north side of the island, which is what she wanted because all merchant and navy ship used the routes to the south. No one should see them.
"Ms. Sunni, what are ye doin' awake at this hour?"
Sunni spun from the railing to face Mr. Gibbs. She shrugged. "Wasn't tired," she explained, looking back out to sea. "Shouldn't you be in bed? You were the one awake all night steering th' ship."
Gibbs shrugged. "Wanted ta check on Jack. His wound doesn't seem infected, but I'm afraid he might be catching a fever."
"I noticed he was warm this morning," Sunni mumbled.
"If he catches fever, he'll be delirious fer a few days. Might be a while afore we have our captain back."
Sunni sighed. "Well, that makes me Captain, aye?"
Gibbs shook his head. "Only if ye want it. Otherwise, ye have th' right ta turn it over ta th' first mate. That'd be me."
Sunni nodded, thinking for a while. After a moment of silence, she said. "As Captain, don't rouse th' men until ten, they need a little rest. At ten sharp, though, they'd better be on deck, ready for instructions. We will make repairs today and tomorrow will be maintenance. The ship's hull hasn't been scrubbed for a while, has it, Mr. Gibbs?"
It took Gibbs a moment to recover from the shock of Sunni taking over. "Uh, no, Ms. Sunni, the hull ain't been cleaned for a good long time."
Sunni nodded.
The week went by slowly for Sunni, but the crew kept busy under her instructions. She took to the title of captain surely and wisely, keeping the men occupied with tasks to take their minds off of their ailing captain. She issued orders like a pro and held up spirits. Every now and then, however, when she couldn't be found, Elizabeth always knew where to look for her. She was always in their cabin, at Jack's bedside, looking over him.
Jack's condition worsened into fever, but Gibbs was expecting that. He knew that with his severity of wound, there would be no escaping that. Elizabeth and Sunni took turns feeding Jack by wetting his lips with a broth, or when he was near conscious enough, he would take whole spoonfuls.
Will set about chores on a ship as if he had been there his whole life, and Elizabeth and Johnny adapted quite easily. Johnny had his father's taste for the ocean and was perfectly happy on board the Pearl.
"Excuse me, Mr. Gibbs?" Elizabeth interrupted the old man late in the afternoon. It was their third day tied at Isla de Guirrido. "Do you know where Sunni ran off to?"
"Th' last I saw of young Mrs. Sparrow, she was watchin' over th' scallywags washin' th' hull ta make sure they weren't fussin' around. But since then, I ain't seen her."
Liz sighed and headed straight for Jack and Sunni's cabin. Inside, however, Sunni was not present, only Perch, who was keeping watch over Jack for the moment. She spun out of the room and set off in search of her sister.
The older of the Swann sisters finally found the younger of the two in the kitchen, pealing potatoes, a job for a menial cook. Sunni had her back to the door and therefore didn't see Elizabeth. It she had seen her sister, she might have stopped talking to the potato before her.
"It's been three days already," she muttered. "He should be awake by now. I can't do this, Jack. I can't keep doing this. You're th' captain, not me. I need to talk to you, Jack. I don't know how we survived months apart before, because these three days are killing me-" her voice broke in a sob, but she quickly took a deep breath to calm herself. "Lord, I don't know if you still listen to my prayers after my mutiny against Father, but please. Please bring Jack back to me."
Elizabeth swallowed hard and was about to go console her sister when Will stampeded down the stairs. "Is Sunni in there?" he demanded.
"She needs a moment to herself," Liz said.
"Well, the men she sent out on the island just came back with loads of fresh fruit. They need to know where-"
Liz cut him off. "I'll take care of it."
On her way up to the deck of the ship, she stopped at Jack's door. Pressing her forehead against it, she muttered her own prayer, and then uttered a silent threat to Jack if he didn't wake soon.
That night, Sunni entered the mess hall by herself. The crew were already at benches, chowing down at that night's grub. Perch, Gibbs, Ana, Will and Liz noticed she looked dead on her feet.
"We got ta do somethin'," Ana hissed as Sunni entered the kitchen.
The oldest man at the table, and seemingly the wisest, Perch, stood from his bench and nodded. "I'll do somethin'."
Inside the kitchen doors, Sunni was resting on a stool with a bowl of uneaten gruel in front of her. She was asleep with her head resting in her hands. She sprung awake when Perch entered.
"Somethin' wrong?" she asked, covering a yawn.
"Yes," the old man answered, coming closer to her. "You look like th' livin' dead, darlin'. Ye need some rest. Ye need someone ta take care of you, instead of you carin' fer everyone else."
Sunni smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Perch, Jack's in no condition to help, rather than be helped, an' th' crew is without a captain, so they are in no condition to help, rather than be helped, so th' way I see, I got no choice other than to take care of everyone."
The man with the sparse, gray hair smiled warmly. He was still a large man, despite his age. Mother Time had not slowed him down or lessened his muscles. "Ye forget, Mrs. Sparrow, I am without a wife. I'll take care of ye." Without much warning, he scooped her up in his arms. "An' th' first thing I'm goin' ta do is put ye straight ta bed."
Sunni laughed, a sound that Perch had not heard in a few days. "I can walk, kind sir."
"An' I can carry ye just as well."
The crew looked up when the kitchen door swung open and Perch walked out carrying Sunni who had a smile on her face. A various assortment of jeers and hollers came from the crew as they teased him for stealing the captain's wife. Elizabeth felt herself sigh with relief to see Sunni smiling again, her bare feet in the air.
Perch strode to her cabin, where Jack was knocked out cold, unlike his restlessness this afternoon. Perch placed Sunni on her feet and then set about the room looking for something.
"You know, you remind me of a grandfather figure," Sunni smiled.
"Your grandfather?" Perch asked, rummaging through a drawer.
"I didn't know my grandfather," Sunni shrugged.
"Well," Perch said. He pulled out a soft, sheet and a quilt saved for winter and spread them on her cot. "Now, ye do. I'll play th' part. There, that should work better than those grubby wool things ye got on there now."
Sunni climbed into the cot, on top of the soft, cotton sheet and below the warm quilt. Immediately, her eyelids drooped. "I'm more tired than I thought," she said in a yawn. "Thank you so much, Perch."
The old man smiled and tucked her. "Just feels good ta be needed by a woman."
Sunni laughed.
Before he walked away, the old man placed a weathered hand on the mound growing on Sunni's stomach below the quilt. "Yer showin' pretty good, there, Mrs. Sparrow."
"I think soon I won't know what my feet look like. I feel like I ballooned overnight."
Perch chuckled and then blew out the lantern, leaving her in the darkness of the cabin. A deep sleep soon overtook her.
Will was checking on Jack's wound before he went to bed. It was almost midnight. As the young man re-bandaged Jack's shoulder, the captain became restless again. His head turned from side to side before, finally, his eyes inched open. His face was inches away from Will's.
"Whelp!" Jack cried out, startled.
"Shh!" Will insisted. "Jack!" he then whispered. "You're finally awake!"
The pirate captain moaned and rubbed his forehead. "How long I been out?"
"A little more than three days, Jack."
"What in bloody 'ell happened?"
"You were shot."
"I know that, eunuch," Jack hissed, but then let his head fall back on the pillow. His shoulder was throbbing with pain, and so was his head. "Where are we?"
"Isla de Guirrido. Sunni gave the bearings and we've been holed up here ever since, making repairs."
"Sunni gave th' bearings? My Sunni?"
"And the orders to fix the ship. She's exhausted, Jack. Keep your voice down."
"Where is she?"
Will pointed to the cot at the end of the bed. He noticed Jack's face softened considerably upon seeing his wife, curled in a ball, asleep like a kitten.
"She's been a real leader, but I think it's taking its toll," Will sighed. "She's missed you something terrible."
Jack nodded, not taking his eyes off his wife. "Do me a favor, William? What time is it?"
"Nearly midnight. I'm headed to bed in a few minutes."
"Before you do, could you rustle me up some grub, I'm starving. I don't think I can sleep another wink."
"Sure."
Will left and a few moments later, Elizabeth reappeared with a bowl of potato soup and a couple of hard biscuits.
"Jack!" she exclaimed quietly. She set the tray down on his nightstand and then leaned over to give her brother-in-law a gentle hug.
"So I gotta get shot afore you're civil to me?" Jack asked, jokingly and returned the hug with one good arm.
"Oh, God, Jack," Elizabeth sighed, surprising him by wiping a tear from her cheek. "We've all been so worried. Caitlyn is- oh, you'd be so proud of her, she's been amazing, but missing you terribly. How are you feeling?"
Jack winced. "Sore, I suppose." There would be no way he would admit he was hurting terribly. "Ye didn't happen ta bring a bottle of rum with ye, ay?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm sorry, Jack, I didn't think of it."
"No worries, luv, there's some in my desk drawer. Be careful not ta wake Sunni, though."
"I'm glad she's finally sleeping. It's been a long couple of days for her."
Jack nodded. "How did we get away from the Dauntless?"
"Sunni yelled at Norrington," Liz chuckled. "Once he saw that we were on board, he stopped shooting. Father jumped off."
Jack nodded and finally, Liz left him alone. While he was eating what seemed like his first meal in months, he studied his wife, asleep before him. It was a while since he had seen her. He didn't know how they used to go weeks and months at a time without seeing each other.
The crew allowed Sunni to sleep late into the morning, and Will and Elizabeth followed Jack's instructions not to say anything about him being awake. He didn't want anyone interrupting his wife's sleep.
Finally, she began to rustle in her sleep. After a moment, she turned and stretched with a yawn. She resembled a kitten stretching. When her eyes inched opened, they faced Jack, sitting up in bed, smiling at her. He wasn't wearing his shirt, just the bandage over his wound.
"Mornin', luv," he gave her a cockeyed smiled.
"Morning, Jack," Sunni yawned. She froze, mid stretch. "Jack," she gasped, shooting up from her cot and into their bed, throwing up her arms around him.
"Easy on th' goods, luv," he teased her. That's when he noticed she was sobbing. "Hey," he said, soothingly. He wrapped his good arm around her and occasionally stroked her hair. "I'm fine, sweetheart, just fine."
Sunni pulled her face from his chest and looked at him. She ran a finger over his features. "I was so worried about you!"
Jack wiped her tears away with his thumb, "I know, luv, I know. But I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. No little bullet's gonna stop me."
Suddenly, her face turned serious. "If you ever get shot again, Jack Sparrow, I will hang you up by your toes and beat you until I'm blue in the face."
Jack laughed, but understood her anger. "Okay, darlin'. Okay." He hugged her tightly."Hey, what are these?" Jack asked, pulling some fabric from the nightstand to take her mind off him being shot. "I found these last night."
Sunni smiled again and took the jumper he was holding up. "I made this yesterday, what do you think?"
"It's adorable," Jack smiled. "Ye see, I wouldn't make ye raise this one on yer own." He gently patted her stomach, but his hand froze. His eyes zipped down to the mound there, much bigger than he remembered. "Yer showin'," he whispered.
Sunni smiled, "Perch noticed, too."
"Get up an' walk around," he requested.
Sunni knit her eyebrows at his strange demand, but complied. Suddenly, Jack's rich laughter filled the room.
"Ye waddle jest like all th' other pregnant women I've seen," he cried. "I love it, it's so cute."
Sunni threw a look over her shoulder and laid down back in the bed. "Ye shouldn't make fun of yer pregnant wife."
"Oh," Jack wrapped an arm around her, "I've missed ye next ta me in bed."
Again, Sunni began crying. Jack pulled her close and let her get it all out of her system.
Gibbs bounded into upon hearing her crying. "Ms. Sunni, what's th- Jack!"
"It's just mood swings, mate," Jack replied. "Perfectly normal for a lady with child."
Against Sunni's wishes, Jack dressed and insisted on walking the deck to ensure his crew that their captain was in good health. Unable to change his mind, Sunni helped tie the sash around his waist, and then pulled on his shirt and buttoned it up. She hoisted his jacket onto his shoulders and then tied his bandana around his forehead. Jack put his own hat on. "Tonight," he told her, taking her chin and forcing her gaze to his, "You are all mine, my little waddling wife."
"Waddling turns you on, huh?" Sunni grinned.
Jack laughed and patted her on the rump before turning for the door.
Outside on deck, the men were already at their chores, having finished breakfast. When the captain's cabin door opened, a few cast their eyes to it. But when Jack emerged with Sunni under his arm for support, the entire crew seemed to freeze. Soon, they stood up straight and began whooping, clapping, and cheering. The rest of the crew came up from below to see what the raucous was. Soon, the entire crew was in on the celebration.
After a long trek to the helm, Jack finally got to lay his calloused hand upon his greatly missed, spoked wheel of his Pearl.
"Next ta yer soft skin, doll," Jack whispered to Sunni, "this is th' greatest thing I've ever laid my hands on."
