Author's Note -

Another chappie! Yay!

Last time -

Jack nodded to himself and said, "All right, mates. Leave them for later. But for now, Colin, please turn the ship towards Barbados. Mr. Potts, kindly see that those two get some water and bread in the least. And me, I will be retiring for the remainder of the night with Christy ... I dare say neither of us have had the greatest of sleeps lately."

-A-

Beyond the Horizon

Chapter 25 - The Bright Spot On the Horizon

It was past high noon when I woke up. Being back on the ocean made me feel so free ... no, allow me to rephrase that, being back on the Black Pearl made me feel so free. I felt as though I could leap into the air and float away off of sheer happiness.

Jack was still asleep when I awoke and I took his lack of consciousness as an opportunity to sneak a peak at the wounds on his back. There was scabbing and nothing looked unusual about them but I knew that the wounds firstly needed to be cleaned and secondly needed to be monitored VERY carefully since infection could set in so easily. I wondered vaguely how many scars Jack had now. I knew there were a lot to see but he also had some that couldn't be seen.

Not too long after I had finished looking at Jack's back (he was sleeping on his stomach to reduce the pain) he woke up. "Good morning, sunshine," I said merrily.

Jack groaned.

"It's a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining, the ocean is blue and clear and the dolphins are jumping. What more could you possibly want?" I asked, half-playfully and half-annoyingly.

"Sleep," he grumbled, slamming a pillow over his head.

I laughed and flopped back down on the bed, stretching. "Its good to be home, Jack," I said without even thinking. When what I had said actually clicked, I clapped a hand over my mouth, hoping he hadn't heard. 'Did I just call the Pearl home?' I asked myself. 'WHY?'

"What was that, Christy?" Jack asked, removing the pillow and looking over at me.

I removed the hand slowly. "Nothing," I lied unconvincingly.

He shook his head. "No. You said something. What was it?"

"Honestly, nothing. I was just muttering about how the weather might be at home ..."

Jack whacked me with the pillow. "Liar."

"Pirate."

"Pirate wench."

I paused, unsure what to say in response to that one. "Cheater."

"I don't cheat!" Jack cried sounding horrified that I would question his ethics.

"Oh yeah?" I prodded.

"Yeah. I bend the rules and laws in order to use them to suit my needs."

"It's still cheating."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You just don't like to loose."

"And you don't like to listen," I retorted.

"Psh! You just said a few moments ago, 'Its good to be home, Jack.' I heard you. Just wanted to see if you'd admit to it," he said, smirking slyly.

We lay in silence for a while, neither one of us really thinking much except about how comfortable we were and how nice it was, though we didn't admit it, to be back.

"If the wind is with us," Jack said casually. "We should make it back in a month or so."

'A month? Only a month?' My heart leapt inside as I realised that I'd be seeing my daughter again, my friends and would get to sleep on a bed that didn't move. "Only a month?" I asked, trying not to sound too over-excited.

"Yeah. How big do you reckon Rhia is by now?" he asked, the paternal instinct taking over the gruff pirate habits.

"Taller than me," I joked.

"And wider than three dozen men?"

"Four. Elizabeth's house always has superb food."

Jack laughed.

"I don't know ... but I imagine I'll have to make her some new clothes ... she probably destroyed the ones I left her with, if she didn't grow out of them, that is," I thought aloud.

"Christy?" Jack asked seriously.

My heart thudded to a shuddery stop. "Yes?"

"Will you marry me?"

My heart throbbed angrily in my chest as I got dizzy and floaty but at the same time, focused. "Wh-what?" I managed to stammer after a moment.

"Will you, Christina Delcot, marry me?" Jack asked again, his dark eyes glittering.

I nodded weakly.

"Was that a 'yes'?" he asked pointedly.

I nodded again, this time more visibly. "Yes," I murmured. We lay silently for a moment or an infinity, I don't know which, time held no more value to me before I said, half-seriously, "We'll have to keep this quiet, you know. If word gets out that Cap'n Jack Sparrow, bachelor extraordinaire got himself married, well, there may be some massively different views formed about you. And we wouldn't want people thinking you've gone soft have we?"

"Nah. Won't happen. Cap'n Jack Sparrow doesn't go soft for anybody," he said in a very overly-masculine voice.

"Didn't think so," I muttered before leaning over to kiss him.

-A-

Author's Note -

Yes, it was short. But wasn't it sweet and romantic and happy? I needed that for the night.

Will update soon! Keep on the look out.

Surprises at every turn ... tune in next time for ... CHAPTER 26!

Mange Klemmar

-CrazyCanoeingGIT