A/N: See? I was better! Shorter Delay! XD Sorry, once again, life TOO hectic! Ya, So, here y'all go! Enjoy! And remember, REVIEW!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL! :P
***Special thanks to Kizume for betaing!
Me: Happy? I finally let you outta the closet.
Jack: Ecstatic.
Me: Oh shush, you! You get outta there a LOT!!! This is just the first time I've ever let you anywhere NEAR my writing. And besides that, you should feel lucky I'm letting you do anything at all! This is all your fault!
Jack: What's my fault, luv? *sips rum*
Me: -_- The fact that Leah and I both have the flu.
Jack: I didn't give it to you, darling. As you can see, I'm unaffected.
Me: For which I hate you.
Leah: I second that.
Jack: I feel so loved…
Leah and Me: *steal rum, finish off the bottle, and smile and nod*
Me: Oh but…
Leah: You should.
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"Jack, this is the note," said Elizabeth, taking a folded up piece of paper from her husband and handing it to the pirate. Leah moved out of the man's hold as her sister handed over the kidnapper's note.
"Thank you," he said in the only way a man like Jack Sparrow could say those two words, and then began to scan through it, reading and rereading the words carefully. Meanwhile, Leah simply stood there, having trouble absorbing the tale she had just heard. It couldn't possibly be true. It couldn't… but it was.
Eric… a note… Swanson… something Jack stole (though that really wasn't any sort of surprise)… And that deadline, three days? It was impossible, especially since it would take her and Jack at least a day to make it Tortuga, and supposing that Jack really did know where these Eric and Swanson people wanted to meet him, there was still absolutely no way to make it in time. There was no island with such a close proximity to Port Royale.
But what was this aspect of Jack's past that he had never told her? It was obviously something of some significance, especially if it was worth the trouble of abducting their children. No, not only abducting their children, but finding out exactly where their children would be located, when, and finding out their background. But… it was her fault that they were at Port Royale in the first place. It was her fault that they were at the governor's mansion, and if her reputation had not spread so far and wide, then perhaps it would not have been known where to find the two toddlers. Perhaps…
She needed to see that note. She needed to analyze it and reanalyze it. And, though it didn't seem at all likely for her to know so, she needed to know that John and Claire were all right.
Wait just a moment. Children, all right… Oh, how could she have been so idiotic?
"Liz, Tom, is he all right? Was he hurt?" she asked, kicking herself for not having inquired into this before.
"He's fine," Will assured her, clasping Elizabeth's hands in his own as the both of them faced Jack and Leah. "I ran into Kate outside the mansion with Tom, safe and sound. She told me what happened, but by the time I got back, it was too late."
"Tom is upstairs asleep," his wife finished for him, giving her lover's hand a soft squeeze. He was just as bad as she was at taking the blame.
"Well thank God for that," Leah sighed. "Thank God that nothing happened to Tom as well. But… there was nothing you could have done, you two. You know that, don't you, and [she couldn't believe she was saying this…] you two as well, Father, Commodore. You did all you could have, I'm sure." And then, under her breath, "Unlike me. It's all my bloody fault…"
"Leah, no it's not," Jack firmly said from behind her, having finished committing the entire "ransom note" to memory and consequently in the process of folding said paper back up.
"No, let me see that," she said to him, reaching for the note, not commenting on his words. With a nonchalant gesture, he handed it to her, though his act didn't fool Leah in the least. He was as worried as she was… and she was upset with him, angry… no, make that enraged, over the fact that he had not told her about this little facet of his past earlier. She would be questioning him quite a lot on their voyage back to Tortuga, but as for now… for now her wrath would have to wait.
"We did all we could, Leah," her father said.
"I know," she smiled, and then looked down at the paper, Elizabeth's neat script running across it in quick, firm strokes.
"If only I had gotten back to the house sooner," Will lamented, but having just started to read the note, Leah's eyes snapped up, fixing on the blacksmith.
"There was nothing you could have done. You saved quite a few people out on the streets. You did all you could, Will. Do not feel guilt over this. That goes for you too, Elizabeth."
"But if I had just-"
"Ugh, would you stop it? It wasn't your fault, there was nothing you could have done, and that is that!" Leah finally exclaimed, fire in both her voice and eyes. This was getting steadily… irritating, and she was not in the mood. Almost immediately she felt guilty for snapping at her sister… but there really wasn't much that could be done about it. And besides that, she really needed to finish reading the note and interrogating all involved, Jack especially.
"She's right, Will," Elizabeth said at last, and that was, for all points and purposes, that.
Finally, without much more interruption from all parties, she was done. Slowly, she lowered her hand, the note clasped tightly within it, and turned to Jack, carefully phrasing her question so as to not appear… too… well, frankly, so as to not appear as if she was going to rip his head off, eat a good part of the flesh, and feed the remains to the sharks. As for his body, well, let's just say that no one of even relatively sane mind would want to know what she so longed to do with that.
"Jack, darling," she began ever-so-slowly, turning to face him, "what did he mean by you and me and the Pearl, not to mention what you stole from them, for our children…?"
"What he means, darling," Jack said, his right hand upraised with accompanying Jackish gestures, "is that he wants not only what I supposedly liberated from him, but he wants the two of us dead, and he wants the Pearl."
"And if he receives all of that?"
"Then, most likely, Claire and John'll be dead either way."
"Damn it…"
"Perhaps you could enlighten us on what exactly it was you stole," the Commodore said, still a good distance away from them. Though Leah's father was closer to her, Jack, Elizabeth, and Will than James Norrington was, he was still a good few feet away himself.
"Aye, I could…"
"Well, Jack?" Leah pressed.
"Well, you see, it's really of no consequence. But time is, on the other hand, and Leah luv, we really must be going."
"I'm aware of that," she snapped, assuming that she could question him on exactly what he stole was the moment they were out of earshot of… well, more or less everyone else in the room, "but, we can't leave just yet." Next, she turned to face Norrington. "Did you send any ships after them earlier? Maybe they caught them or… oh, please don' tell me…"
Governor Swann spoke up now. "No ships have left Port Royale since the attack."
"Why…?" she asked.
"That's what I've wanted to know," Will said, turning his head to look at the Commodore.
"Technically, your children have not been kidnapped," he said, "And so, technically, I am unable to send out any sort of rescue party."
"What?" Leah demanded. John and Claire had technically not been kidnapped? Technically, they sure as hell had. The situation wasn't exactly imaginary. But, of course, her father stepped in once again.
"Leah, the Commodore cannot send ships of the Royal Navy after the children of pirates. Especially since no one is supposed to know they're yours."
"Though they do, anyway," Elizabeth pointed out.
"I'm aware, Elizabeth."
"Then why haven't you gone after them? Or done anything? You have a bloody Fort here. And it's not as if Port Royale is oblivious of my piracy or relatives, and neither is anyone else, as a matter of fact." That last part, she spat venomously, bitterly. How else would Claire and John's present captors have known where to find them?
"Probably because he can't risk his reputation, eh? Am I right, mate?" Jack volunteered. Leah barely spared her "spouse" a glance before looking back towards Norrington, glowering.
"Quite," was his brusque reply.
"So… because of politics… these pirates have been allowed a completely free reign?" Leah summarized, looking from one person to the next.
"I attempted to convince the both of them otherwise, but obviously, it didn't work," Elizabeth explained. She was… more than a little angry herself, and her guilt over the situation did not help matters any either.
"Leah, there was truly nothing we could do," her father said.
"Besides," the Commodore continued, "with a ship like the Pearl, you two are far better suited to chase after a pirate ship such as this, and who knows what would have happened to Claire and John had we given chase?"
"You're cowards, the both of you," Leah told her father and the Commodore, turning away in disgust.
"Leah-" But as always, this daughter ignored her sole surviving parent.
"Elizabeth, Will, thank you for all you've done," Leah said, offering a small smile to them and them only. Her sister came up first and the two embraced yet again.
"You'll get them back, Leah, I know you will."
She wanted to say, "I hope so," but instead stayed quiet.
"And Jack," she continued, turning to face him as she took a step back, "whatever you stole, I hope it was worth it."
"Well, luv, maybe it was," he retorted. He was Captain Jack Sparrow, he was legendary… but even he did not have an unlimited store of patience.
Before Elizabeth could say anything back-Leah was just… going to stay silent, now-Will spoke up.
"Any assistance I can offer you two, you have it," he said, and it was obvious he meant it. A great number of loose strands falling out from the tie that kept his hair back, his clothing actually the fine clothing of a gentleman (though looser and less intricate than usual), a firm resolve in his manner and tone… it was easy to see why Elizabeth loved the man.
"Just keep making the swords, mate. I may need one one day soon. Savvy?" Jack grinned in response.
Leah merely rolled her eyes at this and gave her thanks once again… but now, now they really had to leave. So with their last goodbyes, the two pirates made their best attempt. Jack was the first one to approach the exit, but two guards stepped directly in front of them. Making a sort of grimace, one hand resting on his pistol, Jack stood and eyed the two of them, Leah coming up beside him.
"Let them through," the Commodore ordered. Begrudgingly, the guards moved aside, and with not one look back, made their way out. Governor Swann would be very happy to find his candlesticks untouched long after their departure.
"Jack, what did you steal?" Leah herself questioned sharply as the pair of them made their way through the, sad to say it, dirty and raucous common streets of Port Royale. Though not anywhere was outlandish and clearly pirate as Tortuga and countless others, this port was still far from clean as a whistle. When she had first lived there, Leah had not seen how the "common folk" lived, but now… now she saw full well.
"Nothing of any real import, darling," he answered, and kept walking.
"What is that supposed to mean? It's obviously something important, else Eric and Swanson wouldn't've taken our children over it, Jack. Does that even bother you at all?"
And now, this time, Jack Sparrow truly did halt in his stride, Leah right along with him. "Of course it bothers me. But what good will telling you what I did almost fifteen years ago make matters any different? Tell me that, eh? Otherwise, drop it."
"Then I take it this means nothing to you as well, because obviously, you don't care!" she practically yelled, having extreme trouble keeping her voice down, and held up her right hand, her palm facing her. And it was obvious what she was referring to, dreadfully obvious. Right on her ring finger… was a ring, originally Jack's, a silver one with a black inlaid stone. He had had it with him for years before he had met her, and ever since that fateful day, that day that took place almost three years ago, it had been her wedding ring. He could have gotten her something "worth more", certainly, but worth more in whose eyes? He was a pirate. He stole treasure for a living, as did she now. It wouldn't have been nearly as precious to her as the one he ended up giving her. And now… now this symbol of love seemed to have the worth of a great load of dirt.
"At the moment…" he began, almost sighing, "at the moment, no. It does, but at the moment… at the moment, Claire and John are in danger, Leah, and we have got to go and don't have time to stand around arguing, savvy? There's no time to explain now, and no dire need to. And so, we're off." With one last meaningful glance her way, Jack began walking again, this time his cocky swagger almost unnoticeable with the speed at which he was moving.
Frozen in a strange mix of rage, despair, and shock, she pursed her lips in an attempt to keep calm, and did a mannerism she had picked up from her "loving" husband, but one indicative of only severe stress in her. Placing her hands into a steeple below her chin for a moment, Leah moved her head down to rest on the fingertips, and then she did her own little addition to the movement, rolling her fingertips down to create two fists pushing up against each other, chin still resting on the tops of the fists. She stayed like this for a moment, taking a deep calming breath as she clenched her hands hard, so hard as to turn the knuckles white, but then took another deep breath, jerkily bringing straightened hands to her sides with a forced smile. And then, doing her best to keep calm, Leah made her steady way after Jack.
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Keira: *Salutes* Yes ma'am!
Leah: Hehe, I love the evil ones, don't you? They're FUN. And yes, I promise, the "adventure" part shall start very very soon.
Vagrant: Hey, now I didn't say it'd be a happy ending for CERTAIN, did I? ;-) :P And sorry for the angstyness… but that's how it comeths to me, eh? And as for me villain… ye don't know the half of it yet, mate. ;-)
TriGem: OH YEAH, is someone ticked at Jack. He's made some enemies, Jack has. Though I'm afraid I can't quite answer thy "big question" at this time (you'll fine out, just read on ;-)), I can assure you… Leah is MAD at Jack now, just to say the very least. If 'twas not apparent in this chappie, just wait till the next one. I swear, these two need couple's therapy. ;-) Eh, maybe not. :P
Riley: Hehe, yupperz, ye were me very first reviewer! All hail! *bows down* *clears throat and straightens up* Um, yes, so… glad I've made it very apparent that Eric is a heartless… person. Now all that's left is for y'all to meet Swanson. ;-) And as for Leah exploding… well, she won't EXPLODE, but she's pretty tweaked. Just read on… ye'll see exactly why. :P
Sara: YEEEK! NO STICK BEATINGS!!! Lol But seriously, I'm glad ye like, mate! And that once I showed the ficcy to ye you read of your own free will! Usually I have to prod people with pitchforks. Lol Here's hoping ye likethed this chappie too!
Sarra: ROFL!!!! That's it, I need your autograph! WE MUST SAVE THE PIGEONS!!!! :P And I LIKE textbook reviews, thank you very much, so keep 'em up before I beat YOU with your doggy's toy, which should prove to be quite unpleasant, eh? Hey, idea…. Let's both beat Eric and Swanson with it! Wooot!!! And hehe, that'd be the most amusing article… I should write it… *shifty eyes* Nah, LEAH won't pounce on Jack kicking and screaming or point a gun at him just yet (still debating whether she's done this before, but really, who could blame her? ;-))
Jack: I could.
Me and Leah: HUSH!!!
*clears throat* Um yes…. As I was saying… keep reviewing! And saving the PIGEONS AND MURPLE ELEPHANTS!!! *hands over tissue* Oui, tu es tres magnifique, savvy? :-D
Kirie: Hehe, that's be FUN!!! Seriously… And hehe, I LOVE that word, "minx". Ye have THE best terminology, didja know that, mate?
aquastar: Hehe, yup, I got it autographed, just for you mate, so yay! :P And I'm glad you likethed both! XD *does a little jig* And there WILL be romance, you romance junkie! Just lotsa other stuffs too. ;-) Maybe this will help ya, maybe not, but either way, I hope you like! I promise you, there WILL be romance, though, esp. in the flashbacks.
venus: Oooh, seriously? THANKS!!! I'm glad you liked! And uber nice timing, I might add, me just about to put up this one when ye review. ;-) I hope ya like the rest as well!
