Author's Note-

Okay, I'm alive. I swear. I'm not dead. AND, more importantly, here's a new chapter. Its just lucky that today is a weird schedule and I don't go to school until 11 that I was able to put this up at all.

-A-

Author Thanks -

I'd like to send huge thanks out to everyone who reviewed. I'm really sorry but I don't have individual thanks this chapter but thank you all, and I'm blessed to have so many reviewer...who hopefully won't mutiny against me for taking so long with the chapters lately. So, big hugs to everyone, I couldn't do it without you.

-A-

Last Time-

I smiled. "Well, I'd best not keep him waiting. Alert the captain to that, please, Mr. Gibbs," I said before hurrying down to my friend.

-A-

Beyond the Horizon

Chapter 4 - Conscious Thought and Sleeping Ideas

Colin was indeed conscious and ready to see me. When I reached the sick room, I saw him propped up on his bed, a petulant expression on his face.

"What took ye so long, Christy?" he joked, slightly hoarser than usual.

I scrunched my nose. "Didn't know I had a reception waiting for me. Had I known that you were going to re-surface to the world of the living, I would have stayed in bed."

Colin let out a laugh that nearly covered up a cough. Nearly, key word.

"Colin, you really shouldn't be talking right now," I chided as I walked over to sit by my friend. "Save your strength. Never know when you'll need it."

"Tha's comin' from the very same lass who had ta be almost locked in a cabin after gettin' a conk on 'er 'ead," Colin quipped, merriment dancing in his pale blue eyes.

I grinned but did not give up my position, even though I knew that Colin was completely right about me when I was injured. "Colin Lewis, you need to rest otherwise there'll be another burial at sea. Even if you make a recovery from whatever it is you managed to catch, you'll have me to deal with and that's a promise."

Colin nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, missy."

I nodded my approval, doing my best to look the 'stern parent' role even though I knew that I was failing miserably. "You had best. Rhia likes you far too much for me to bear having to tell her that you can't come back to see her."

"How is the little sprite? Keepin' ye busy?"

"Terribly so. I'm hardly able to get things done that don't involve her when she's awake. But, honestly, Colin, you need rest."

"In a moment, lass, in a moment. She's four now, aye?"

I nodded again. "Yes, it makes me glad that I'm still young. To think if I had had her a few years later, it makes me laugh to see the older mothers who have to have nannies and such to look after their children. I'd much rather raise my own and be exhausted then hire someone to do it for me."

"Why don' ye hire someone to clean your home for ye then, lass. Cap'n left ye with more than enough money. Then ye could focus on Rhia."

I knew without seeing that a dark look passed over my face. I kept lying to myself by telling myself that having a person to help with the work or even with Rhia was too expensive but I flatly refused to have someone under my control. I couldn't risk letting myself become like Inai or Bano ... I couldn't become like them and force someone to do my work for me. I shuddered visibly remembering what had happened all those years ago, the memories crawling up from the locked box that I usually stored them in so that I could go about my daily life. "I can't, Colin. I just can't," I whispered.

Colin nodded, no doubt knowing full well what I was thinking. "I'm sorry I suggested it, lass. Ye still 'ave nightmares?"

"Occasionally. Only if something triggers it but when that happens, then they are worse..." It was true of course. I did have nightmares, though I seldom told anyone about them, not even Jack on most occasions. There were times when he knew because I would kick and flail and scream in my sleep and basically wake everyone up. Rhia, once she had become able to walk, would toddle to my bed and shake me awake, usually crying herself because she had thought someone was hurting me. Whenever she asked about what I dreamt about, I never told her. I hadn't told anyone, save for Jack and Colin, what had happened and I preferred to keep it that way. I was happier that way.

Colin grasped my hand gently and I shook myself out of the depths of my memory. "All right, lass?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I said in basically my usual voice. "But, you won't be if you don't get back to sleep."

Colin laughed, shook his head slightly and closed his eyes obediently.

"Wait!" I hurriedly said before he drifted off. His eyes jerked back open. "Where's Chaton?" I asked, for I had sent my pet with him on his first visit. There wasn't much to be done for a lemur in Port Royale and I worried that she would get lost or any manner of things, so the simple solution was to send her with Colin.

"Me cabin. Can I sleep now?"

"Yes, thank you very much, you may sleep." I sat with him for quite a while and didn't leave his side until he had fallen deep asleep. I mopped his brow, trying to break the remnants of fever that still held him in its clutches.

-A-

After a while of sitting with Colin, I left the sick room briefly to check on my lemur. Sure enough she was still in Colin's room and there was a plate of food that had been pushed under the door for her but she was elated to see another person. I had a feeling that she had been in there since Colin had fallen sick, so I allowed her to come out and have free reign of the halls below deck while I tended the patients.

-A-

It was late afternoon before there were any significant changes in my 'patients.' Those who were still unconscious - all except Colin - moaned and muttered deliriously. And Colin wasn't much help to my cause because he slept the majourity of the time, waking to ask for water or bread before drifting back into sleep's hold. I didn't know what was to be done about them, I was reaching my wit's end and it hadn't occurred to me to ask Colin about the illness and what he had treated the sick with before falling ill himself.

The only thing that I managed to do was to become increasingly more frustrated as the day wore on. So much so that I felt ready to rage and storm at anyone who crossed my path. I sent Tad away because I nearly sent the boy into nervous collapse when I yelled at him for spilling water. The boy's decreased mental state did nothing for my mood so I told him to rest, for both our sakes. I only wished that I could rest.

Of the men that was sick, one of the worst off, was a tall black man who's name I didn't know, he began shaking violently around dinner time. He thrashed so much that I feared what he might do to himself, not to mention the other four in the room. I basically had to sit on top of him to try to control his movements. Sweat poured off of both of us, though neither gained much ground. He was, even unconscious, far stronger than me and managed to hit me.

Despite the fact that it was inadvertent, it still stung and caused me to cry out slightly at it. It was at that exact moment that Jack walked in, to see me fingering the new sore spot on my face.

"Are you all right, love?" he asked as he crossed the room quickly to kneel beside me and stretched out his hand to pull down my own and examine my face.

"I'm fine. It was an accident. Although, you could do me and enormous favour and restrain him. I can't keep him from hurting himself."

"Or you?" Jack's eyes were fixed on the red splotch blossoming on my cheek.

I brought my own hand up to his face and looked deeply into his eyes. "I'm fine. Honestly. I've been hit harder than that by Rhia throwing a tantrum. It just stings a bit. I don't need help with it at the moment. But he needs help. And I don't know what to do with them. Please? Help me help him."

Jack nodded. "What do you need, love?"

"I have absolutely no idea. I don't think I know enough to stop that," I pointed down at the convulsing man between us. "Do you?"

He shook his head 'no.'

I sighed, frustrated not with Jack but with the fact that I couldn't do anything. I didn't know nearly enough about medicine to be any good in this situation. "Bloody hell, Jack. If nothing can be done for them then why did you bring me back in the first place? I'm not free any more. I have a daughter that I'm supposed to be carring for. We have a daughter. And I thought that she would have meant something more to you than a distraction from getting me into bed. But clearly I was wrong. So, why, Jack? I don't know anything as to what to do and I do not want to see some else die. What was the point?" I asked in a hoarse whisper. But I was feeling far too much rage at the moment to bring myself to listen to his explaination that I pushed myself up and left at top speed.

I was halfway down the corridor when I felt a hand at my elbow. I pulled roughly from the grip and attempted to head back towards our cabin. Although, it didn't work. Again, I was waylaid. Jack's hands had landed firmly yet gently on my shoulders and there was no moving it. Try as I may, I was unequal to removing them with my own strength.

"Christy, listen to me for a moment," a soothing murmur said as strong arms pulled me into an equally strong chest.

But, still, I wanted nothing of it. Shaking my head, I tried once more to pull free and Jack, not thinking I would try to break free again, had loosened his grip, giving me a chance to escape into the bright sunlight of the deck.

I actually had made it to the door of the captain's cabin before he caugt me.

"Love..."

Whirling around, I faced my addresser. "Don't 'love' me, Sparrow. I asked you a simple question and you couldn't find yourself equal to the task of answering it. So, why should I stay? Give me a good reason why to listen." I waited for approximately one second before turning on my heel to leave.

An arm caught me by the arm and hauled me back so that he could give me the answer without the entire crew knowing about our fight. "The reason is because ..."

But, still seething with pent up frustration, I twisted free and slapped him soundly before running into the cabin and slamming the door in his face.

"Now that's entirely unnecessary," he said behind the shut door before bellowing at the crew to get back to work otherwise there would 'be hell to pay to the lazy arse who can't find the time work.' After the crew had settled down and all sniggers had been silenced, Jack strode into the cabin.

I turned to watch him toss off his hat and jacket onto the desk before he came to stand a safe difference away from me.

"Now, I be willing to excuse the ... blatant act of disrespect in front of me crew for a kiss from yer beautiful self."

Beautiful my arse! I had caught a glimpse of my reflection and I looked like an enraged monster. My hair had come undone and was flying every which way, my eyes blazed with anger and my skin was a red blotchy colour and my fists had clenched ready to attack. "Liar," I hissed venomously.

"Pirate."

My mouth quirked in the faintest trace of a smile and Jack knew that he had won. Now the only trick was for him to convince me of the fact, without either of us conceding to the truth.

"Caused quite a distraction with the crew, love. Gibbs wanted to throw you overboard from the look on his face."

I snorted in an unladylike way. "Mr. Gibbs doesn't follow up on half the threats he makes, spoken or otherwise. And he's wanted to throw me overboard since the day you brought me on the Pearl merely because I am a woman. So, you'll excuse me for being somewhat less than terrified."

"You really shouldn't do that, love. 'S not attractive if ye follow me drift."

I growled low under my breath. "Sparrow, sometimes you have the least amount of tact of all things living on the face of this earth."

"And others?"

'He's mocking me again!' I thought, fighting ot keep from raging at him. "Jack," I said as sweetly as I could manage. "Please, tell me why you brought me here if I can't do anything to help these men."

Jack sighed but smiled all the same. "Christy, I knew ye were their best hope and also, I wanted to see ye again, love, without having to worry about Rhia hearing something."

Aha! And the truth comes out. In those simple words, the ice melted and left me, once again, gushing with love towards him. "You could have said so in the first place," I chided as I sauntered over to him, swaying my hips seductively.

Jack smiled like a cat that had just caught a canary and strode towards me, meeting me halfway. "You little wench."

"That's Captain Jack Sparrow's little wench to you sir."

Jack growled low in his throat and fiercely grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me up. His lips claimed mine, pillaging my mouth with a fiery intensity as he made our way to the bed. And that night, we forgot the troubles around us and instead we remembered our love for each other and why we had our daughter.

-A-

The following morning, I woke with a shocking revelation. A mosquito was biting my arm when I emerged from the folds of sleep and then it hit me - 'What if the illness was mosquito borne?' I thought very carefully about the men who were sick. I couldn't be sure, but I thought that they all had a fair amount of bites. I had heard, in passing, tat the soldiers referred to the Honduran coastline as the Mosquito Coast and that they dreaded going there because of the malaria threat. But ... I didn't know for sure where the Pearl had been nor did I know anything about malaria. First things first, though, I needed to know where the Pearl had been of late.

Only problem for that brilliant idea was that Jack was still asleep.

'But, I could save solve that easily enough,' I thought as I grinned evilly to myself. So, I reached over and pinched Jack's nose tightly. His eyes jolted open. I dropped my hand and immediately laid back down to feign sleep.

He sat up and glared down at me, knowing that I was indeed awake. But, it was a just part of our little game. He leaned over and tugged my hair in response as I continued to pretend to be asleep. So, for my lack of response, he pinched my cheek.

I gave a fake snort and threw an arm out and hit him square in the chest. Usually, he would 'accidentally' push me towards the edge of the bed and keep me dangling with him holding onto solely my arm or a foot until I begged him to take me back up.

But this morning was different.

This morning, he seized onto my arm and pulled me so that I was lying on the top of his chest.

"Hey! No fair," I whined, despite the smile on my face.

Jack grinned and rolled us over so that I was on my back and he lay on top of me, bracing his weight on his elbows. "How's that, love?"

"You cheated."

"Pirate," came the typical reply.

I pushed Jack gently off of me and sat up on the bed, lazily rubbing my eyes. "I need to ask you something, Jack. It's important.

"Aye?"

"Where exactly did the Pearl sail to recently? And, moreover, was there a problem with mosquitoes while you were there? I know that they are always a problem but ... was anything unusual?"

Jack pondered this for a moment before supplying, "First to Old Providence, then to Portobello and up the coast for some ... business agreements."

"Honestly? That's truly where you went?"

He nodded. "Aye, love. And for yer second question, there were a lot of mosquito problems, but there always are in that area of the world. What are you thinking?"

I shook my head. "I can't at the moment. I need to talk to Colin now." I had an idea. It wasn't much but it was definitely something. And I wanted to pursue it before something else happened. I hopped out of bed, ignoring the put out look on Jack's fce and pulled on my trousers. I slipped on a shirt and gave Jack a quick peck on the cheek and was out the door, tucking in the shirt as I went before Jack even knew what had happened.

I sped down to the sick room as fast as my legs could carry me and roused Colin none too kindly.

"I need you to tell me everything you know about the illness. How it starts, the symptoms, the treatments. Everything." I said this all without so much as a 'good morning' or 'how are you feeling.'

Colin slowly pushed himself up, blinking slightly at the bright sunlight streaming in through the small window. "What, lass?"

"Symptoms, to start with, please, Colin."

"It all started out with a headache. Some of the men complained about muscle aches or being cold. I didn't know truly what to do, I thought it was just a minor illness. Then, it got worse. Quickly worse. It soon turned into them vomiting, high fevers and yellowing skin. Then the they would start shaking but they weren't awake. And, well, you know what comes next," said Colin wearily.

I struggled to mentally grasp the whole of this information. But, even now that I knew what a basic progression of symptoms were, I didn't know what caused it. "What did you treat it with?"

"I didnae fer a long time. I just did what I usually do, Christy, try and break the fever. Then ... tried to find summat that would work with them. Just different mixes."

"But what worked?"

"I could nae find something and use it. By the time I got me idea of what to try, I found meself sick."

"Is it malaria?"

Colin gazed at me for a moment and I could see the answer in his eyes.

It was.

"Damn," I muttered.

"I think, lass, tha' the Pearl's 'ad a bad influence on ye," joked Colin.

I grinned slightly. Well, it could be called a grin. It was more the faintest turn of my lips but in these times, anything counts. "Ha ha ha ha." I shook my head fiercely to clear it, I needed to stay on task. "Seriously, Colin, what did you think of to treat it?"

"There be a new treatment fer it. Crush cinchona bark and make it into a strong tea. It isn't the mos' popular, can 'ave bad effects if ye give too much ta a pregnant woman, but it works for its purpose."

"Cinchona bark ... where do I find some?"

"Mountains."

My heart sank sank down to my toes. "How the bloody hell am I supposed to get the bark if it grows in the bloody mountains?"

Colin smiled faintly at me. "Or in me stores."

My heart rose back to its normal position. This I could handle. "Where?"

"Go ta the cabinet underneath where Jack keeps the crew's rum. There are a bunch of cloth sacks. Open them until ye find the one with the pink flowers in the sack and the root looks like cinnamon fer colour. If ye touch it ta yer tongue, it should be bitter," supplied Colin most helpfully.

"Cloth sacks under rum, pink flowers, cinnamon colour, bitter. Got it. I better go, then," I said as I pushed myself up and headed for the door.

"Christy!" called Colin. I turned. "Make it into fine powder, first."

I nodded my understanding before speeding away, feeling lighter than I had since Jack told me of the illness. I knew what it was and I knew a possible treatment. I could maybe help. Or maybe not. But at least now there was a chance. Another good thing was that I know knew that I did not need to worry as much about catching the illness. I knew well enough that it was spread through mosquitoes and not by breathing. This meant that Jack could tell the crew and hopefully, avoid deserters. The whole outlook was brighter and I couldn't wait to talk to Jack later. We had a chance.

-A-

Medical Notes-

Malaria does progress the way I described. I found the info on a medical web-site just so that I was historically accurate. Flu like symptoms vary from person to person which is why Colin was coughing.

Cinchona bark started to be used in the early 1500's as a cure for malaria. Only negative side-effect was that it could cause miscarriages in pregnant women or possible birth defects.

-A-

Author's Note-

Whoever said that the senior year in high school is the easiest needs to be talked to. I'm sorry that I haven't been updating for ages its just that I have an enormous amount of stuff going on right now.

BUT

I go on fall break in about a week and a half and will have 2 weeks in which I can write to my hearts content.

So, I must say adieu for now.

Mange Klemmar,

CrazyCanoeingGIT