Pirates Of The Caribbean: Not all treasure is gold and silver
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to The Pirates of the Caribbean however any characters I do create are my own so no stealing!
Rated: R!! (Due to scenes of a sexual nature, violence and language)
Note: to see note, see previous chapters (1 and 2)
Chapter 5:
Alexandra sat on the large bed buried beneath the large sheets and various cushions. She was feeling much better now but before her head had felt like someone had taken an oar and smacked it into her head several times. Not only did her head hurt but also had felt sick, the gentle rocking motion of the boat did not help this as they sailed out of the harbour. Elizabeth had come to check on her after lunch bringing in a bowl of soup and some bread for her to attempt to eat. Of course this was refused since the sight of food made Alexandra feel even worse.
"Bloody rum."
Alexandra glared at the cupboard door, which was now locked, kindly done so by Jack who had appeared earlier that afternoon and done so swiftly. She could recall very little of last night apart from the discovery of a rather large collection of full rum bottles and how the temptation had led her to try some. She had only ever had this feeling once before after possibly consuming too much alcohol. It had been her mother's Christmas Gala Ball and the drinks were flowing freely. Of course being only 16 at the time she had been curious and drunk far too much, regretting it the next morning. Ever since then she had limited herself to drinking as little as possible at parties and social gatherings.
Alexandra sighed at the thought of her mother, she missed her so much. She had died when Alexandra was only 18, leaving her alone in the world since her father and sister were far away in the Caribbean. Her nanny and guardian at the time had thought it best if she continued her education there in London until she turned 20, then she would be free to go wherever she pleased. Alexandra had longed for the day she turned 20 so she could come live with her father and sister in Port Royal. Now that she was here she was beginning to realise that her dreams of life in the Caribbean were not as perfect and realistic as she had first hoped.
A knock at the cabin door broke Alexandra's trail of thought, she quickly smoothed the covers out and made herself look more presentable before calling out to let the person in. The door opened and Elizabeth entered in carrying a pitcher of water.
"I thought this might help with your head pains and all."
Alexandra smiled at her sister and watched her place the pitcher by the bed. Elizabeth sat by Alexandra and reached over tucking a few strands of loose her back into place in a mothering sort of way. The two sat there in silence not quite sure what to say. Elizabeth reached over and squeezed her sisters' hand adjusting the sheets as she did so.
"I was so worried about you." Elizabeth broke the silence as she sat there staring out the window across the blue expanse of ocean. "I was scared that the pirates who took you might have hurt you or something worse than that. I thought I would never see you again."
Alexandra looked at her sister and nodded.
"Well seeing as we hadn't seen each other in…well too many years. Last time I saw you were when you were leaving England with father. I was only 10 years old. Now look at us, your married and I'm…"
"You are a beautiful young lady, that's what you are. You are only 18 Alexandra, you have a while ahead of you yet you needn't be fussing over getting married yet. Here its different, you don't have the pressures of London and status making you marry so young."
"You didn't have the joys of mother pressurising you every time you were invited to a ball. You had it easy, you got to leave London and come live in the Caribbean, while I had to stay behind in London. Do you know how much it hurt watching you leave me behind."
Alexandra sniffed and blinked back the tears that now threatened to fall. She hadn't been sure where that had come from but she knew that those feelings had been pent up inside for a long time. She gaze in and began to cry softly, feeling Elizabeth wrap her arms around her and pull her onto her lap she cried harder letting out all her emotion.
"I didn't want to leave but father said it was best. He didn't want to leave you but mother…mother wanted you to stay so badly. You were her little angel where as I had grown up such a daddy's girl." Elizabeth whispered into Alexandra's hair as she listened to her sister cry, rocking them both gently she rubbed her sisters back. "But everything is going to be different now. Now that Mother has gone you can stay here with us…that is if you want to."
Alexandra leant back rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand like a child. She sniffed and felt her sister cup her face with a hand. She smiled weakly and looked at the bed.
"I want to stay really I do Elizabeth but…well there is a gentleman waiting for me back in England and I think he may propose and I wouldn't want to waste an opportunity like that. Especially since he is a Lord's son."
Elizabeth nodded realising that her sister was more grown up than she had first thought. She had hoped that she was going to stay in Port Royal and live with her father. But clearly Alexandra had other plans. She smiled and hugged her sister for once not wanting to let her go. She wished they could go back to the days when they had played dress up. How they had dreamt of being princesses and pirates. Elizabeth gently laughed at the thought. Alexandra looked at her sister puzzled to why she was laughing.
"Remember how when we were younger we used to play with the dressing up clothes, we used to pretend we were princesses and pirates. That was all before I had to leave though."
Alexandra smiled at the thought and sighed shaking her head and playing with the edge of the bed sheet.
"Except pirates aren't as…wonderful as I thought them to be. Nanny used to tell me stories of the Black Pearl. And when I got older she would read your letters and make up more stories for me even though most other children would have laughed at the idea. I can still remember sitting in my room by the window reading your letter about how you had met a certain Captain Jack Sparrow and had been aboard the Black pearl. The adventures you had just amazed me, but now that I have had one of my own. I don't think I want another one in such a hurry."
"Not even if you had the chance to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and go aboard his ship? Could that change your mind, seeing as you did have a bit of a thing for Captain Jack Sparrow?"
Alexandra laughed and pushed her sister playfully.
"Maybe it would change my mind a little…if he was a civilised, polite, clean smelling pirate. Some manners wouldn't go a miss either."
Elizabeth nodded and stood, watching her sister as she giggled at the thought of a complete reversal of a pirate.
"Will you be joining us up on deck later on Alexandra?"
"Perhaps, if I feel up to it I might. Thank you."
~*~
The sun was now disappearing beneath the horizon and the pale face of the moon could be seen lingering behind a few clouds. There was nothing around them for miles now just the open expanse of sea for miles and the gentle sound of waves and water lapping against the side of the ship. The sea was fairly calm and the Black Pearl cut through the dark swirling waters towards Port Royal. Below deck it was however another matter, the crews eating room was lit with lanterns and candles and the table was now covered with cards, plates, dice, pennies of gold and silver, knives, swords and much more. The crew were shouting and chatting away cheerfully amongst themselves having now eaten. Jack was at the head of the table a rum bottle in one hand and cards in the other he laughed and joked away flashing his toothy grin when the cards were played in his favour. Will and Elizabeth sat slightly apart from the others deep in conversation as if trapped in their own little bubble away from the rest of the world.
Alexandra stood in the doorway watching everyone as they carried on hardly noticing her entrance, she saw Will and Elizabeth and felt guilty for wanting to disturb them so she did not feel out of place. She began to walk slowly behind the chairs, looking over at the table admiring the array of items that lay scattered before the various crewmembers.
She leant against the wall and listened to the conversations her gaze passing of each member of the crew who all seemed to be blissfully unaware of her. Alexandra couldn't honestly care any less for pirates, especially foul smelling, rude, despicable, manner less ones like Captain Loros and his crew. However the crew of the Black pearl seemed somewhat different from regular pirates. As if they were a little more civilised at one point…well apart from a few obvious ones like Jack. Elizabeth had told her about Mr Gibbs and how he had been a sailor, one of those who had been on her ship when as a child she made her voyage to the Caribbean. Alexandra looked at Anamaria, a very beautiful woman who wore men's clothing and thought nothing more of it. In a way Alexandra envied Anamaria, she had the Black Pearl to escape on and leave the rest of the world behind. Anamaria had the one thing that Alexandra could only ever dream of…freedom.
Then her gaze fell upon Jack for some reason, perhaps it was because of his voice that rose above the others slurred by the consumption of vast amounts of rum or the way that when he smiled, his gold teeth caught the lantern light casing them to glitter. The kohl around his eyes accented the alluring deep hazel brown colour of his eyes, which at that particular moment were very alluring to Alexandra. It was unfortunate that just at the moment when she seemed unable to tear her eyes away from his face that Jack looked up and their eyes met. She could feel her face lush at the realisation that she had been caught staring at him. How typically infuriatingly unfair! Alexandra lowered her gaze as quickly as possible and waited for him to make some lewd comment and embarrass her in front of everyone possible. But the moment passed and Alexandra heard no comment, everything just continued as it had done before. She decided that it was then that she should leave before she could become anymore red, if at all possible. Alexandra quickly moved back towards the door and up on deck taking in a deep breath of the salty sea air. She walked along the rail looking around the ship taking in how unearthly everything looked in the moons milky white light.
She stayed there for a while in the cool night air listening to the sea and the voices that rose and fell from below. A couple of the crew were sat up at the helm speaking in lowered tones and occasionally laughing. She closed her eyes and smiled. This is what freedom must feel like. Two soft slim hands rested on Alexandra's shoulder, she turned to look at her sister surprised to see her without Will, the two stood by each other enjoying the peacefulness. It was clear now how alike the sisters looked, Alexandra was shorter than her sister by an inch and had her mothers unusual grey/green eyes however both were similar in shape and hair colour. Elizabeth kissed her sisters temple gently looking at her sister trying to see if she could tell what the matter was.
Normally her sister would have been the one making the noise and the trouble down below with the rest of the crew. Her mother had written that Alexandra was always the socialite and the centre of attention. Elizabeth had seen that within the first few days of her arriving in the Caribbean but now…she seemed so calm and quiet. She only hoped that when they arrived back at Port Royal she would regain her cheerful attitude and out look on life.
"Alexandra…you know I asked you if you would ever want to meet Captain Jack Sparrow?" Alexandra looked at her sister who was now gazing at the moon and nodded. "Well I haven't been fully honest with you…look come inside and I will tell you everything."
Alexandra looked slightly worried but Elizabeth quickly dampened her fears explaining that it wasn't anything to do with her but she just felt she had to tell her. They went into Jack's cabin where Will and Jack were sat at the table both drinking rum. Alexandra looked at the two men and then at Elizabeth.
"Please don't tell me you are really pirates and that you are about to throw me over board. No wait…you are going to tell me that the three of you are having an illicit love affair and you want me to become a part of it to!"
Elizabeth stared at her sister shocked that she could suggest such a thing. Jack grinned and was about to speak when Will clapped a hand over Jacks mouth stopping him before any damage could be done. Will received a very foul and somewhat hurt look from Jack who sighing, raised his hands trying to gesture that he would be quiet and behave…for now. Will removed his hand from Jack's mouth as Elizabeth shook her head and sat on the bed.
"That's not what we are trying to tell you. Do you know the name of this ship?"
"No. I don't but I am assuming it is going to have some relevance to this whole situation."
"Exactly well…I wasn't fully honest to you when you asked me did I know the people on this ship. I know I said yes but I didn't tell you exactly the whole truth. You see Jack here is umm…"
"A woman in disguise?"
Elizabeth laughed at the comment made by her sister who was clearly trying to lighten the mood. Jack huffed and waved his arms in the air reaching for a bottle and muttering under his breathe about women in general. Will tied his hardest not to laugh but failed miserably. All three of them got rather dirty but humoured looks from Jack.
"No love, I am not a woman in disguise. If you want me to prove that I am sure I can oblige." Alexandra blushed and muttered an apology to Jack who was trying to pull a very stubborn cork from the rum bottle. "I am actually Jack…as in Jack Sparrow…as in Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl."
Alexandra looked at Jack not quite believing the fact that that man who stood before her was the Captain Jack Sparrow that she had developed a crush for. He looked nothing like her imagination had portrayed him to be. She walked towards him and circled Jack slowly taking in every minor detail.
"You mean to tell me that you…" She prodded him lightly in the chest with a finger, the gesture bringing back memories to Jack of the night before when Alexandra had been drunk. "A highly infuriating, impolite man is actually the one and only Captain Jack Sparrow of the legendary Black Pearl… you must be joking or have you all consumed rather vast quantities of rum and lost it completely?!?"
"If you don't believe me take a look at this, savvy?" Jack held out his right arm and pulled back the white sleeve of his shirt to reveal two markings, one a 'P' and one a tattoo of a bird and a sunset. "These are the markings only found on one pirate, the Captain Jack Sparrow."
"But you can't be! I mean you…I…"
Jack leant closer and whispered into Alexandra's ear.
"A rather handsome pirate indeededly?" Alexandra flushed bright red and stepped back from Jack, vivid memories of the night before when she had consumed an entire bottle of rum and then stumbled out onto deck came flooding back to her all at once. Jack smiled a toothy grin at her and bowed in a very over exaggerated and sarcastic way. "Captain Jack Sparrow at your service Miss Swann."
~*~
Thats all for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed keep reviewing!