Author Notes-

Okay, before the angry mobs attack, allow me to first appologise then explain. I'm sorry that this chapter took me soooo long to get out. I started school about 10 days ago and if the first 2 weeks are any indication of the amount (or lack there of) of free time that I'll have, my posting will be slightly more sporadic. This week, I have about 4 tests over the course of 2 days, a store party, a volleyball game, working 2 nights and something else that will doubtlessly spring up when I can't afford it to. So, I'm very sorry for the immense delay and hopefully you enjoy the chapter!

-A-

Author Thanks-

Amidala - Thanks, mate! Enjoy!

lady lorethei - Thanks for the review (and warning) I'm not the most patient person either so I understand where you're coming from. Enjoy!

Lashandra - I'm glad you enjoyed WIAN. Hopefully, you'll like this as much! Thanks for your review and enjoy!

punkdpirate - Thanks mate! Enjoy!

RoyalPain/NoblePlace - Thanks for the review! I'm really glad that you loved WIaN so much. Hopefully you'll love this one as much too. As far as Chaton goes, trust me, she comes in, but at a convient time and place, just not quite yet. I'm glad you love Rhia so much as well, she's really fun to write...I can't help but smile sometimes when I write her lines. Enjoy!

cheeralldatime - Thanks! Enjoy!

GinnyPotter4eva - Thanks! Hope that my email explained the Rhia thing. Enjoy!

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TriGemini - Thanks! You'll see about the other reason, it all comes clearer in a bit, I swear. Enjoy!

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Last Time-

After getting Rhia settled into bed, she started asking questions beyond measures about where he had ever visited. Jack quickly placated her curiosity after telling her a rather edited version what had transpired between Will and Elizabeth with the Aztec gold. She fell asleep while he was talking and we left the room quietly.

-A-

Beyond the Horizon

Chapter 2 - Farewell and Hello

Half an hour later, I had a bag of belongings - trousers and shirts from my first sojourn on the Pearl, work skirts and less fancy dresses, a mirror, comb courtesy of my first trip, and a bandana - strapped to my back and a small sack of clothes for Rhia. Will and Elizabeth could always come back to the house should she need something.

"Ready to go, love?" Jack asked as I emerged from my bedroom.

I nodded and we walked silently back to Rhia's room and I pulled the covers away from her as Jack lifted her into his arms. She shifted slightly in her sleep, clearly unhappy about being moved from her bed. I watched with a joy that I couldn't trace as Jack ran a hand over her dark head soothingly and she stilled, subconsciously snuggling closer to the warmth of his arms.

I leaned in closer and stood on my tip toes to kiss Jack lightly on the lips before leading him over to the door. We walked silently down the lawn, bathed in moonlight as the stars glimmered overhead. My heart - my heart felt as though it got heavier with every step that I took.

I looked over at Jack carrying Rhiannon in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. They looked so much alike that my heart gave another throb. If someone were to put the two of them in a room filled with one hundred other people and lined them up, that person could easily have identified father and daughter. Rhia's hair was the same dark colour as Jack's locks and fell, in loose ringlets, down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. The only thing that I knew was different between them was the eyes, Jack's were deep brown, nearly black and Rhia's were hazel, like mine.

Quickly we reached Will and Elizabeth's home and found Will waiting at the door for us. We didn't even have to knock before the door opened to let us in. Our urgency was easily detected in our stride and the uncharacteristic firmness in my face but Will smiled over reassuringly at me. 'Jack must have told him of my hesitation,' I thought as I smiled faintly back.

Will led us up the stairs and to the room that had been my own when I stayed with them. Jack lay Rhia back down on the bed and I sat down beside her while he moved off to talk to Will. Rhia stirred and I ran my hand over her hair and along her chin murmuring, "Shhh ... go back to sleep, Rhia." She stilled as though she had heard me and I sat for a long time at her side, until I had no doubt in my mind that she slept on. "Be good, Rhiannon. I'll see you before long, I promise."

Jack came back over to the bed and helped me to walk away, his hand at the small of my back. Elizabeth, I noticed, had been standing in the doorway, watching us, a slightly distant, sad look in her eyes. I pulled away from Jack gently and the two of us embraced in a friendly hug. Before we broke apart, I said quietly, "Take care of her for me, please." Elizabeth nodded and our group of four stepped from the room and Jack gave Will and Elizabeth more details of our plans as I watched Rhia sleep from the still open doorway.

Jack put his hands on my shoulders, clearly saying that he and the Turner's had finished their discussion and said gruffly in my ear, "Let's go love."

I followed him silently, my head downcast and feet leaden. We went down the trail that led to the beach and the Pearl. I saw her floating in the harbour and the beauty of her took my breath away. I dawdled slightly, not wanting too much to leave, feeling a faint trace of foreboding hovering over me that I couldn't trace.

Jack replaced the hand at the small of my back and started to lead me to the rowboat that was waiting. "Love, time is short." Quickly, we made the trip to the Pearl and while on deck, I saw far more unfamiliar faces than familiar ones. My bag was tossed to an anonymous man and I was led down to the cabin that had been transformed into a sick bay. Jack opened the door for me and the distinct odour of death and decay wafted into my nose.

"Oh my ..." I whispered.

Those who were ill were lying on beds or sprawled on the floor. I hurried over to Colin, lying on the bed muttering to himself. I felt his forehead as I sat down on the edge of the bed, finding that the heat was extreme and in spite of his lack of action, sweat beaded his brow. The colour of his skin, usually tanned from the fierce Caribbean sun, was a deathly sheen of white and his eyes were open and fixed at the ceiling.

"How long has he been like this?" I asked sharply.

"A week."

"Jack, I need water and some cloth down here quickly. If his fever doesn't break..."

The sound of retreating footsteps tod me that my instructions had been heeded. While he was gone, I moved along to the other three. All were intensely fevered so I removed blankets from them. My mother had taught me basics of health care long ago as part of her desperate attempt to make me ready to be married, and I had managed to pick up a useful skill or two from Port Royale's midwife who had taken a liking to me after I sought out her help when Rhia had a cold.

When Jack returned with the water and rags, I wet them with the cooling water and placed them on their foreheads. "Can you aske someone to send a weak broth down for them," I said indicating to the men. "And some bread for me, please?" Jack gave the instructions to a small boy, a cabin boy, I assumed, and left.

"Yes'm," he murmured while blushing before scurrying away. I didn't blame him for wanting to get away from the room ... I did too.

He returned soon and I attempted to feed the men before even thinking about eating myself. The broth dribbled down the side of their mouths and sighing in frustration, I pulled their heads into my lap and forced their mouths open to pour the broth down their throats.

The task was difficult, to put it lightly. They thrashed, moaned and coughed deeply in their fevered state. But eventually I managed it. I placed cloths that had been soaked in the cool water on all of their foreheads and wiped the sweat from their faces.

It was terribly late when I decided to retire. The cabin boy had long since fallen asleep in the doorway. I shook him slightly to wake him and sent him back to the cabin after thanking him for his help. With him gone, I made my own way back to Jack's cabin. When I reached the deck, I saw that the stars were hidden behind a thick layer of clouds. The moon was obscured and there was a slight chill to the air. Immediately after entering Jack's cabin, I went to the basin that had been filled with water and splashed water on my arms and face.

A pair of strong arms encircled my waist and Jack kissed the top of my head lightly. I leaned into his embrace and relaxed in his arms. "How are the patients, love?"

Feeling weary in more ways than one, I answered tiredly, "Not good ... not good at all ... they're all very sick ... I'm not sure if I'll be able to help them ... I don't know what all I can do. I don't understand what's gotten them ill."

Jack kissed along my neck and started unlacing the back of my dress. "Come to bed, love. Ye need sleep yerself, can't afford ta get too worn down."

"I know..." I whispered but my mind was not on the here and now, it was back in Port Royale with Rhia.

"Love?"

I shook my head as if to clear the fog that filled my mind. "I'm fine."

"She's all right, love. Will and Liz will love having her and she'll going to be fine," Jack said, correctly interpreting my silence. "You'll see her before long. It's only going to be a week, two at the most, love. Although after Will and Liz spoil her, I'm not too sure that ye'll be wanting her back!"

If Jack had been trying to lighten the mood, he had succeeded. My worries disappeared as I laughed merrily at his words. "Will and Liz would. They've always loved Rhia. Treated her like a daughter. They can't have children, you know. They have always been willing to take her for the afternoon or how ever long I need. Its wonderful. I'm afraid that they'll not want to give her back, though. They love her as much as I love her, I think. But most people do. I'm so proud of her, Jack. You would be too. She's a smart little girl. She's already picking up on French."

"Aye, yer teachin' her, of course she's picking up quickly.

I shook my head slowly. "Not entirely. Before I started teaching her, she figured out some ... choice words that I had been using to describe some members of the Navy." I laughed slightly and pulled gently out of Jack's arms and changed into one of his oversized shirts to sleep in. We lay down in the bed together, facing one another as we talked. "One day, one of Norrington's lieutenants had questioned me on Rhia's parentage, with Norrington as a witness. She's the spitting image of you, you know. Well, after the leiutenant left, I had a bit of a row with him and stormed home. I was storming around the kitchen, slamming everything around, ranting and raving in French and the next thing I knew, Rhia was pulling at my skirt and she asked me what a bastard was." Jack laughed. "So I asked her where she had heard that, thinking that maybe one of the children from town had called her that. It had happened once or twice when she was an infant, people had made comments about me being a whore with a bastard baby. But she shocked me by saying, "You called Commondorf Norrenton that, Mama. Did you forget already?"

Jack laughed heartily. "Commondorf?!"

I nodded and choked out an answer as well as I could without hysterical laughter. "She ... forgot ... how to pronounce it ... I think ... but she never liked him much in the first place."

We laughed for a long time. "Child after me own heart. Does she cause trouble for you often?"

I shook my head. "She's a good girl. Ticklish though, don't know where she got that from..."

"Hmmm ... Let's see," Jack said before he pounced.

He dug skilled fingers into my ribs. I laughed and struggled and attempted to get him off of me. Tears started to stream from my eyes as Jack continued his attack of all my tickle-zones. My arms and legs flailed and I fought in vain to kick my leg around Jack's head. But I failed. My hands fought to get at Jack's shoulders but Jack pushed my hands above my head and held them by the wrists with one hand as he continued to straddle my middle with his legs. I writhed and squealed girlishly. He leaned down over me and kissed me passionately, releasing his hold on my wrists so they could come up around his neck and pull him closer to me. What started out as chat about our daughter had become a tickle and soon became much, much more.

Half an hour later, we lay in bed together, naked and panting slightly, a sheet drawn up to hide our nudity should any of the crew come bursting in without knocking. For quite a long time we talked about everything that had been going on. I gave him broader detail about what had happened since his last visit and he told me wonderful, likely modified, stories about the Pearl's activities.

It was terribly late before we fell asleep and far too early when the sun had risen and Gibbs was knocking at the door. I sat up lazily, drawing the sheet up with me as Jack answered the door, unabashed of his nudity. Gibbs had seen the both of us in worse states and I was far too tired to actually care what he thought of it.

"Cap'n...there was a death in the night," Gibbs said breathlessly without preamble.

-A-

Author's Note -

OOH, look at that. The first cliffie! Who died?! Mwhahahahahahahaha! Look for the next chapter around Friday...hopefully.

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