Author's Notes -

Extra, extra, read all about it! CCGIT made a deadline and we're gonna shout it. Enjoy the chapter, folks!

-A-

Author Thanks

Chapter 16 -

Moulin-Rouge-Pirate Glad you liked the chapter. Enjoy!

Dimonah Tralon - Thanks! Enjoy!

Anaknusan - Thanks! Glad you didn't get trampled. See, I was a good staff member and found 2 whole stories for the C2. Yay for me. Enjoy!

TriGemini - Thanks! Of course she'd be scared ... I would be too. Uber scared. Sigh ... Jack's sweet. Enjoy.

The lady of the shadows - Thanks! Romance is great, I agree. Enjoy!

RMB - Thanks! I'm glad you liked the chappie. Enjoy!

lady lorethei - Thanks! Hope you enjoy the chappie! The trip was great, thanks.

jisAtsU siLENcE - Thanks! Yep, Jack got to see her ... thankfully. Enjoy!

CaptainTish- Thanks! I hope you understand all the time changes after these chapters ... if not, don't hesitate to ask. Enjoy!

Chapter 17

Moulin-Rouge-PIrate - Thanks! Enjoy!

TriGemini - Thanks! I can't tell you what happened, that would ruin my reputation as a cliffhanger-giver. -) Enjoy!

jisAtsU siLENcE - Thanks! I hope it all makse sense ... if you've still got questions, just ask.

Trinity144 - Thanks! Enjoy!

Lil Bit - Thanks, poppet. No worries about the last chappie ... I understand (tear). Enjoy!

CaptainTish - Thanks! Don't worry about it ... glad you don't have malaria. Enjoy!

Cayenne Pepper Powder - Thanks! No worries, I understand being evil ... it hates me sometimes too. Enjoy!

-A-

Last Time -

"The girl ... its the girl," Esperanza said, her eyes locked on Jack's.

Jack's breath hitched painfully.

Beyond the Horizon

Chapter 18 - Uncertainty

As though he was in a separate universe, he saw Esperanza and Diego talking, heard their voices as though from far away as the phrase reverberated in his head. 'The girl ... its the girl.' Was Christy? Had she? He couldn't even bear to finish the sentence, let alone think on it. She couldn't. She was strong. She'd pull through. She'd beat this. He knew she would ... didn't he? Jack was so uncertain ... so much in the dark when it came to medical matters and right now, he was kicking himself for it. Why had he brought her back? Why hadn't he left her with their daughter where she was safe and happy? Why hadn't he bothered to learn something about medicinals before now? Why was he asking himself so many questions? He didn't have answers to any of the questions and being a captain, meaning traditionally knowledgeable, now made him feel all the more inadequate. He shook his head violently to clear it and focused on what was being said.

"I think that she needs to see him, Diego. She's been calling out for him," Esperanza said, gesturing to Jack.

"Are you sure that the young woman is calling to him ... not trying to run from him? It happens, you know," Diego countered.

Jack, though he longed to speak up, knew that it was by far not the opportune moment and held his tongue.

"Yes," Esperanza said deftly.

"Truly, Esperanza? How do you know?" Diego replied.

Esperanza looked over at Jack and he guessed what she was about to say before she said it. "Because she loves him."

"Her captor?"

"He is not her captor, Diego. They love each other."

Diego scoffed. "Woman, you are too gullible."

She shook her head. "Do you think she would have told me so if it wasn't true? You know that it happens, husband. Its not uncommon. Or have you forgotten how your parents met?"

There was a stiff silence for a long moment where Jack's heart beat loudly against his ribs. 'So the good captain was a pirate get, eh?' he thought, smirking to himself. 'Maybe this too will help my case.'

Diego walked close to Jack and looked him straight in the eyes. "Is this nonsense my wife is saying true?"

"Aye," Jack said simply.

"You mean the woman no harm?"

"If I did, would I have tried to keep her from being brought along?" he said evenly. "And her name is Christina, mate."

Diego didn't break his stare but the corners of his eyes crinkled in humour. "Very well, Captain Sparrow. I'll let you see her. However, I must insist that I am in the room. I may have some faith in your honesty but I am not a stupid man and will not risk the safety of the woman ... Christina or the safty of my wife."

Jack nodded. "I can respect that." After he said this, the three stood for a moment, looking around at each other, unsure of what to do next. Finally, Jack spoke up. "I hate to rush, mate, but how about you let me go see her before something happens," he suggested carefully - he didn't want to anger the man who was so unpredictable in his hospitality.

Diego nodded and led Jack out into the hall and down to the Captain's cabin with Esperanza following behind. When they got into the cabin, Diego stepped aside so Jack could go to Christy's side. He immediately sat down at her side on the bed and took in the seriousness of her condition. Her skin had become even paler than before and sweat dampened her brow. Breathing seemed difficult for her ... her breaths were coming in short gasps and Jack could see her eyes darting from side to side underneath her eyelids. Jack laid a gentle hand on her forehead and was shocked at how hot it was ... Jack knew about fevers ... he knew how bad they were but this one ... one would think there was a fire underneath her skin.

Jack turned to Esperanza. "Her fever is too high. She needs to be cooled off," he said as a quick explanation before he removed the covers from the bed.

Almost immediately, Christy's teeth started chattering loudly. Jack ran a hand over her forehead and said soothingly, "Its okay, love. You're not really cold. Its just in your head. But we've got to get you cooled off..." Jack knew that she couldn't hear him or at least he didn't think that she could but it made things easier for him if he talked to her. He ran his hand along her cheek, thinking of how much he would miss her should she died. It hurt to even think of that.

About an hour after Jack had taken all the blankets off of Christy's fevered frame, it felt as though her temperature was going down somewhat. Esperanza came closer to check and agreed with him. Maybe that had been the worst of it.

Diego excused himself after deciding that he could trust the pirate captain in this circumstance. Sometime later, Esperanza curled up in a chair to doze, after telling Jack if he needed anything to wake her.

Now that he was basically alone with Christy, he lay down beside her on the bed, keeping her tight in his arms. She was still shivering as her body started to cool itself from the fever. But Jack could tell that her fever was starting to fade. With any luck, for good.

Jack, in spite of his will to stay awake, fell into a light sleep after a long time of stroking Christy's face and saying sweet nothings to his unconscious lover's ear. However, that sweet sleep was not long at all. It seemed that all too soon after he had drifted asleep, he woke from quick movements beneath the arm he had wrapped around Christy. He pushed himself up to look at her and saw, to his grief, that she was thrashing fiercely against something that wasn't there. Feeling her forehead, he was dismayed to find that the fever seemed back. She cried out in her sleep, waking Esperanza.

"What happened?" Esperanza asked, her voice roughened with sleep.

"I don't know. I woke up to find her like this," Jack said quietly. Jack pulled Christy into his lap as he had done on a few other occasions and put his head next to hers. Rocking slowly back and forth as though she were a baby, he talked quietly to her. "Christy, pull through this. I can't manage without you, love. There are too many people who love you for you to leave us. We all care too much about you. Don't leave me, darlin'. Please, just hold on a bit longer. You can make it," he said, his heart wrenching painfully in his chest.

Esperanza brought over a wet cloth to wipe Christy's head with and Jack dabbed the cool water over her head. "Please, love. Please."

Out of respect, Esperanza retreated to the chair, probably thinking that Jack needed to say his good-byes.

"N'echoue pas mon cour, mon amour. N'echoue pas. Don't fail me, Christy. I love you so much that I would do all I can to help you and yet, now, I can't. I love you, darling. More than I've ever loved anyone in my life. Please, darling, you are so wonderful ... I love you so much, please don't leave me. All I want to do with you is spend the rest of my life with you and Rhia. All I ask is to have the chance to show you what lies beyond the horizon. N'echoue pas. Just give me a chance to show you what lies beyond the horizon. Don't leave me," he murmured into her ear, his heart tearing a little bit more at every ragged breath that she drew. Jack lost track of the time that he held her but it didn't matter ... he cherished every moment as though it were their last together. Nothing outside of their bodies mattered at all and Jack didn't even notice when Diego returned to the room. In his head, flashes of all the good times he had spent with Christy played over and over again. Her smile rose in his vision. Her laugh rung in his ears. The look on her face when she was giving birth to their daughter, looking more beautiful than she had ever looked. Jack did the only thing he knew to do ... he sent up an honest prayer to someone that she would make it through this. And, trivial as it may have seen, Jack was NOT a praying man but desperate times called for desperate measures and anything that could help her was good. If it would have helped her pull through, Jack would have jumped into the sea and swum to the bottom and back just to help. There was no limit as to what he'd do. He ran his hand along her cheek and face, memorizing every aspect of her features, storing it in his mind for future.

Slowly, Christy's breathing eased to normal rates. She stilled in his arms, no longer thrashing against him and it looked as if her skin was starting (slowly) to colour up.

'Maybe ...' he thought.

Jack glanced over at Esperanza who came over again to feel Christy's forehead. She nodded slightly and Jack took that to be a good sign. He knew she was far from better but maybe the fever would break.

Diego watched from a far corner as a bit of relief filled the man's anguished face. What he had doubted before had been proved to be true and he knew that this Captain Jack Sparrow cared greatly for the woman in his arms.

Jack kissed Christy's forehead gently, his lips feeling the warmth of her fever. When he leaned up, he said quietly, "I've got you right her in my arms, love. Please, come back to me.

Christy stirred in his arms as though she were fighting to wake up.

"I'm not letting go, Christy. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here and you should be here too. Please, come back to me. I've got you right here, love. Please just come back," he whispered, hoping maybe through the folds of the unconsciousness she would hear him and come back ... and survive.

If Jack wasn't an attentive man, he wouldn't have noticed the flutter of eyelids or the slight movement in his arms but Jack did notice.

"Jack?" she asked quietly, her eyes still shut.

Jack's heart moved from somewhere in his belly back up to his chest. He ran a hand over her cheek gently, to let her know she was there. "I'm right here, Christina. Right here."

Slowly, very slowly, she opened her eyes. "Jack ... what happened? The room. I thought ... but ... where are we?"

Jack smiled slightly. Ever the inquisitive one, she was. "We're in the captain's cabin, love. How I got here is a long story. I'll explain later. But you need to rest."

Christy gazed around, looking very confused ... 'the fever must have disoriented her,' Jack thought. Then she said, very quietly, "But ... you're not here. You were ... you were there and so was He. But now where did He go?"

"Who?" Jack asked, confused about who she was talking about for no one else had spoken. Jack knew about fever dreams. He knew they showed the person who was sick all sorts of things but Jack couldn't help wonder who she was talking about.

"The other voice."

Jack threw a nervous glance over at Esperanza and Diego. "No one else has said anything. It's just me, you, the captain and the captain's wife. No one else was talking, love."

"I thought that you were..." she whispered, clutching his arm as if it were her only hope, staring into his eyes, looking scared.

"Esperanza can explain that for you, love. I'm not sure of what happened entirely. All I know is that you've been falling in and out of consciousness and fever for two days now and finally Esperanza came to get me because you were calling out for me in your sleep," he said calmly ... the majour details could wait. They weren't important now.

. "But ... why?"

Jack ran his thumbs gently over her cheekbones and along the sides of her face. "We weren't sure if..." he said, his voice faltering and trailing off.

"Am I dying?"

Jack pulled her tighter to him and before he spoke, looked over at Esperanza. He wasn't sure what to say exactly ... he didn't know himself but Christy didn't need to be told that he wasn't sure and that wouldn't exactly help anything. So, in as much of a reassuring tone as he could muster, he said, "You're going to be fine, love."

Tears started to fall down Christy's cheeks as she said quietly, "Jack, I'm scared."

Jack, scared too, didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything. Instead, he rocked her slowly back and forth, keeping her tight against his body, trying to comfort both their fears. The more he rocked, the more he felt her relaxing against him before finally she fell asleep. Gently, he laid her back down on the bed and felt her forehead for what seemed the millionth time that night. But this time, unlike the others, he felt much cooler skin against his palm.

When he leaned up, he glanced over at Diego and Esperanza, standing in a corner, Diego's arms around his wife. "She'll need tea made from cinchona bark. Do you know what that is?"

There was a long pause but Esperanza nodded after a while. "Si."

"Grind the bark into a fine powder and make it into a tea. It is very bitter and she'll hate it but she knows that it is the only cure. Make her drink it often," Jack instructed.

Esperanza nodded.

"Captain Sparrow, I think that it is time for you to return to your ... quarters. My wife needs rest and us being in here will not help that," Diego said kindly, gesturing to the door.

Jack raised an eyebrow at how hospitable the captain was. He wasn't being treated like a prisoner so much as a fellow captain ... interesting. Jack nodded and followed Diego into the hall and back to his 'cabin.'

"Would you like a drink?" Diego asked.

At this, Jack about keeled over. "Mate did my ears deceive me or did ye just offer a drink?" he asked, completely blown away.

"Yes, captain, I did. Problem?"

Jack's hand flitted in their usual manner as he said, "Not at all. Just checkin'. Thought for a second I had fallen into a rum-deprived stupor and was hearing things."

Diego laughed and went to a cabinet to withdraw two bottles of fine Caribbean rum.

Again, Jack raised an eyebrow, this time about why the captain would keep rum in the guest/really-good-prisoner's cabin.

"My wife does not want rum in her cabin, she says it makes everything stink too much," Diego explained, his eyes crinkling with mirth.

Jack laughed. "When Christy first came 'board me ship, she hid all me rum ... I about died ... course she brought it back right after but for a minute, I thought she had thrown it off the ship."

"Women and rum don't mix."

Jack raised his bottle. "I'll drink to that, mate," he said before taking a long drink from the bottle. Instantly he felt warm and was immeasurably glad Diego was such a kindly 'host.' He had been needing rum ever since Christy had fallen unconscious and even more when she started thrashing as though she were dying. And this was just the ticket. Nothing better than to drown his emotions in the bottle after just seeing what he had seen. Jack smiled to himself. "Drink up me hearties, yo ho," he muttered before taking another drink.

Diego left sometime after both of them had emptied their rum (which was surprisingly quickly.) Jack fell asleep and finally managed to rest ... he was still worried about Christy but with any luck, she would be through the worst.

Judging from the sky, he woke a good couple hours later and he felt completely awake and ready for whatever fate threw at him next.

Shortly after waking, the door to the cabin opened and Esperanza entered. Jack's heart skipped a beat and he sat up straighter, bracing himself for bad news.

Esperanza smiled over at him and said, "She's awake and asking for you. Diego said you can see her ... he really has a soft spot for love."

Jack nodded, his heart resuming its normal rhythm and stood up. He followed Esperanza out of the cabin but this time, she didn't come into the cabin with him. He looked at her questioningly.

"I'll let you two talk. I'll be back in a bit," she said before walking away.

Jack smiled slightly and walked into the cabin. Christy was awake and sitting up. "Look who's alive," he said, standing in the doorway.

She smiled weakly at him.

He walked over to sit by her on the bed. "Gave me quite a scare, love."

"Captain Jack Sparrow scared? Oh my ... don't let that get out," she said, her voice raspy.

"I know ... I'll have to closet away anyone who knows," Jack said jokingly.

"Oh, I guess that the captain is very lucky then ... because I'm think I remember him in the room. He IS a lucky man, isn't he, Jack?" Christy said, smiling broadly.

Jack was so glad that she had her humour back that he could have kissed her. In fact, that's just what he did. And when he pulled back, he said, "Glad to have you back, darling."

Author's Notes -

See, happy times. :Smiles broadly at captive audience: That's all for now, folks. Please make sure you tune in this time next week for the latest installment of Beyond the Horizon a story by CrazyCanoeingGIT. Have a great week, stay safe, stay healthy and don't forget to tip your waitress (cuz I'm leaving for work in half an hour) or even better, your writer (and that I am all the time). Tips are recommended to be given in the form of a review so that this writer doesn't get into trouble for making profit off of her work.

Mange Klemmar

CrazyCanoeingGIT