By Kitty =^.^=
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean
Genre: Romance/Action Adventure/Angst/Humour
A/N: Ah, another day, another set of dumbfounded readers. Excellent! Ok, 'nuff-uh-at!! o_O* 'Tis new chapter!! Review of last time: Jack has woken up from his dream about him and Lela and gets up to clear his head. We can all see that he's very drunk. He looks out the window and sees they're in Tortuga. Then gasp he turns around to see Scarlet in his bed!!
THE APRIL FOOL: What's up with that?! rim shot
I dunno... she retells what happened the previous night and ends up falling out the window. (Heh heh heeeeehhhh...) Then Jack basically tears up his room, angry for getting so shit-faced drunk. As he calms down, he starts to remember what happened. But I ended the chapter before we could read the FLASHBACK. What happened??
You don't know do you??!! So you must read to find out, mwa HA!
I'm sorry this isn't as great a chapter as some of the others. I'm having a bit of a--
ERIC: DUN DUN DUUUNNNN!!!
WRITER'S BLOCK and--
ERIC: DUNDUN DUUUNNN!!
EVIL GLARE from =^.^=
ERIC: ...dun dun...
Thank you. As I was saying, it's not as good as some of the others, but I've been kinda letting it drag out so I might as well just post this and get on to the important stuff.
Also, I am SOOO sorry everyone! It's taken me for-bloody-evuh to get Chapter 5 posted. I just spent a week in Disney World and I'm gettin' stressed about school stuff so please forgive me??!! puppy dog eyes with tears PLEASE?! The kitty feels sooo bad! She loves you all sooo much!! normal--crazy--face
Now onto the story!! skips off merrily to the computer La la, lalalaaa...
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~*FLASHBACK*~
Jack stood at the head of the ship, his Pearl, steering a course he had no intention of making. He simply stood there, as though there was nothing in life that was really worth staying and living for. "Stop that," he said aloud to himself. "You know where thinking like that leads..."
"Ye know, talkin' to yerself is said to be the first sign of insanity, Jack."
Jack whirled around, taking the wheel with him. The ship lurched to the left before Jack turned back and straightened it out.
Mr. Gibbs clung to the side of the ship, almost completely horizontal, leaning with his arms and his legs straight to the side. In one swift push, he heaved himself up and wobbled a bit before coming to a steady upright position.
Jack was very aware that Gibbs had heard what he had said, and that he should just admit it before his first mate caught him in the same clever trap he always did... say this very quickly like it's all one word but-was-Jack-about-to-admit-that-?-oooooooooof-COURSE-NOT!!
"I wasn't talkin' to meself, Gibbs," Jack said nonchalantly. Gibbs' mouth curved down in a scowl.
"And denial is the second," he retorted, smiling slightly at the small pleasure of knowing that he had been right.
Jack shrugged and didn't turn around. "Maybe I am insane," he said, completely overemphasising inattention. Just please don't ask what's wrong! S'all I ask!!
"Jack, what's wrong?"
Damn.
"You're acting rather, uh, troubled," Gibbs continued. Jack stared out at the sea stretched before him. He should just tell Gibbs and get it over with. He would find out anyway if he just kept talking...
"I'm not troubled." Stupid. "There's nothing wrong, I'm just...tired..." Double-stupid. Gibbs just shook his head and walked over to Jack, standing in front of him and the wheel so Jack would have to look at him.
"Jack, just so's ya know," he said shaking his head, and thwap! on Jack's head, "you're a terrible liar."
As Jack rubbed the bump on his head, cringing at the twinge of pain, he looked down, knowing full well where this was all going.
"Jack, what're thinkin' about? Ye can't steer the god-damned ship and take charge of the crew if ya be off in dreamland." Gibbs popped Jack under the chin, and looked at him as though he was an angry father glaring at his disobedient son who wasn't telling the truth. "Tell me." It wasn't a question. If Jack didn't answer soon, he knew Gibbs would probably throw him overboard. He may have been just the first mate, but Jack knew that his old friend wouldn't hesitate to treat him like his own kid. Which was what Jack was afraid of. Sighing heavily, Jack resolved to tell Gibbs the truth. Well, the truth as in...
"I'm worried, 'cause, uh, I don't 'ave a weddin' present to give Will'n'Liz'abeth next time I go 'round to Port Royal." Thwack!! "AGH! Not so hard mate!!" Jack looked up and saw Gibbs looking at him with sternly. He wasn't going to leave Jack alone until he knew what was going on. "What?!" Jack screamed angrily. "Why do you want to know?!"
Gibbs' face softened a bit as he said, "Cap'n, we all know when somethin's botherin' ya. Ya best tell me now 'fore any of the other crew sees ya. They won't be as kind to a forlorn cap'n as Oi will be." Gibbs could see Jack thinking it over. He raised his hand in warning...
"All right, all right!!" Jack screamed bringing one hand up to his face to shield against an attack. "Just don't hit the face!" Putting both hands back on the wheel, he stared out into the ocean. Damn, he was acting like such a pansy. He hated acting like such a pansy. For God's sake, he was Captain Jack Sparrow!! Why did today have to be today, when he knew he would think about what today was. And why did Gibbs have to bring it up?! Not wanting to create any more lumps for himself than necessary, Jack gave in to Gibbs' request. "All right, fine," he muttered with soft anger. "I'll tell ye, but you're not to say one word about it, to me, the crew, any soul, livin' or dead, evah again, do we 'ave an accord?" Jack brought his right hand up from the wooden post it had gripped. Gibbs took it and clutched it hard.
"Oi swear on me life, Cap'n," Gibbs pledged seriously, "on me very life."
Returning the handshake, Jack pulled his hand back down to the wheel. He looked out at the ocean, stretching before him, and dreaded what he was going to say to Gibbs what he had told no one in 7 years.
"Do you know where I be coming from, Gibbs?" he began, "Before I e'er had the Black Pearl." Gibbs squinted his eyes, wondering what Jack was going to tell him.
"Nay, Cap'n," Gibbs answered honestly. "Oi never really wondered about it."
"Well, before comin' over to the Caribbean, I lived in a tiny stitch of land on the border of Ireland and England. The town of Sleego." Jack continued to look at sea, his face slowly becoming an unreadable mask. "I was 17 when I got the Black Pearl and I left lit'ul Sleego, and headed South for the Caribbean." A tiny smile broke through the mask momentarily but it was quickly pushed aside again. "But before I got the Pearl, before I even thought 'bout becomin' a pirate, I lived with me mother'n'father in the countryside near Sleego until I was about 16. When I turned 16 I, uh, lived in town to be an apprentice." Gibbs didn't miss the slight tone of embarrassment in Jack's voice. And just as the Captain was about to go on...
"What was ye an apprentice for?" Gibbs asked slyly. Jack gulped, disappointed that he couldn't have just skipped over that detail.
"I was protégé to a, uh, to a..." Jack looked down, as if in shame that he, the greatest pirate in the entire world, was pupil to, "a dressmaker..."
Gibbs stood silent for a moment, his eyes wide as saucers. And then...
"PWAAAAAA ha ha ha ha haaaa!!"
Well, then he laughed.
"Neh HA hahahaa hahaaa haaaa!!"
A lot.
"COR!! Tha's the, HA ha ha haahahaaaa!! Funniest--! MmmHAAA hahaha!!"
A lot, a lot.
"Thing--! Teh HAAh heheheeeehh HAHAHaaaaa!! I e'er her' in me life!! Te-tell me, Jack, did ye make cute little dresses for the wee lasses of the town? Oh, oh! And perhaps a weddin' dress!! Haaahahuhhaa!"
Gibbs laughed heavily for another minute and then began to slow down to just heavy breathing. The rugged round pirate's face was red and he wiped a tear from his eye. "Sorry, Jack," Gibbs said, slightly regretful, "It wer'n that funny. It's just that, well, ya gotta admit, that no one, not even me can see you as some sort-a tailor."
Jack glared with spite at Gibbs as he tried to calm himself down. "Right then, if we can please just forget about that lit'ul tidbit of information," Jack continued in a solemn tone, "do you want to know why I'm like this today, or shall I just toss ye overboard? Sound good, Gibbs?"
The first mate's face was grave as stone.
"Good," Jack said firmly. Leaning slightly closer, Gibbs tilted to hear the rest of Jack's story.
"Well, all this while when I was living in Sleego, I had a friend by the name of Bretchkap," said Jack, resuming the tale, "Lela Bretchkap. Our parents was friends, they were, and we'd known each other since was babes."
Jack stopped momentarily and looked at Gibbs. "What's the funny look for?" Gibbs shook his head and mumbled that it was nothing and to keep going. Raising an eyebrow, Jack turned forward again. "We basically grew up together. We was inseparable, an' we always did ev'eyfthing togefther. We played and went tur school and," Jack chuckled warmly at the memory, "completely whooped all the other kiddies in the school'ouse in football." A/N: And for the ignorant people reading, we're talking English football, NOT American football. Think of this game as something like soccer, but not quite like it, it's the 17th century after all!
"When I moved into the actual town of Sleego for my, uh, apprenticeship, she came to visit every day and once a week she'd usually bring me a lit'ul somefthing, like cake or biscuits. Now, being two years older than 'er, I always said I was the smart one. But," Jack shook his head with a wry smile, "she was def'nly smarter 'an me. She'd help me around the shop when I'd forgotten to do somefthing so's the head tailor wouldn't be apt to wallop me with the fire irons." With every second Jack's smile grew.
"It seemed like we became closer than ever each time we met up. She was me best friend in the whole world. Well, eventually, when she and I got older, I..." The delighted smile on Jack's face was replaced by one of slight embarrassment. "Well, I started to feel for 'er, as more than a friend..."
He looked up to see how Gibbs was taking this. And Jack's forehead furrowed and he asked irritably, "WHAT are you looking at me like that for?" Gibbs began to mumble again and Jack stopped him. "Look, I know some o'these thin's may hard to believe, but you're the one who wanted me to tell."
When receiving no comment from his first mate, Jack looked down and sighed. "I know, I know. Jack Sparrow, fallin' in love with 'is best friend. Never thought you'd hear that, did ya Gibbs?" Silence. Jack shook his head and his eyes looked out into blank space.
"On Lela's 14th birthday, I gave 'er a necklace, the most beautiful thing next to 'er I'd evuh seen. I spent weeks tryin' to figure out how to get it." At and inquisitive look from Gibbs, Jack explained a little more clearly. "I had seen it in an exhibit that had come from Singapore and was travelin' to the Caribbean next. I had to get it, so I formulated a plan so as to, uh, commandeer it from the owner."
The expressionless mask that had enclosed Jack's face was fleetingly lifted and a small grin of pride broke through.
"I stowed away on the owner's ship the night before its departure and waited for an hour till 'ee was asleep so I could get the necklace from its case in 'is desk."
Jack's tan hands turned the wheel to the left.
"Unfortunately that's as far as me luck held."
And then to the right.
"I bumped into the table, the blighter woke up, his dogs chased me, the crew fired their bloody pistols at me."
The wheel was centered.
"And fortunately I was able to get away with me life. I jumped off the deck and into the water, and climbed up one of the wooden columns that held up the dock. After that I ran like the devil was after me, and ran to a field near Sleego called Jade Meadow. That's where Lela 'un me always met when we had time. She was, of course, very impatient and by the time I got there she was about ready to run me 'ead into the ground. We both knew it was all in good fun that we threatened to kill each other, naturally. And once she saw the necklace... I could've lived off the look of wonderment in her eyes forevuh..." Jack began to slip back into the memory of that night seven years ago.
"She loved black pearls..." he murmured. "That's why I wanted that necklace so badly. It was a string of perfect black pearls, with two teardrop shaped ones on either side of the charm in the center. It was..." Jack could see in his mind the amulet in Lela's hand. "T'was a black diamond cut expertly into the shape of a hunting panther with two brilliant green emeralds for its eyes." And Jack could just picture her fingers tenderly skimming the surface, as though afraid it was going to vanish.
"I kept dazin' off lookin' at 'er, and eventually she caught me. Well, of course I didn't want her to catch on, so I tugged on her hair to distract her. And it sort of worked, it's just that she pushed me onto the ground."
Jack looked over to Gibbs to see what his reaction was. Gibbs looked like he was a little boy thoroughly engrossed in a wonderful adventure story told by a wise old sage, and, seeing that Jack had stopped, he prodded, "Well? What happened? C'mon, Jack, don't let's leave me 'angin' in suspense!" Jack's eyes widened a little, but he was smiling. Well, at least he isn't making fun, thought Jack, as he cleared his throat to continue.
"We wrestled around for a bit, each tryin' to beat the other up. We got tired eventually and lay down on the grass. It almost seemed like she was going to fall asleep, and like an idiot I just lay there admiring 'er."
Jack scowled inwardly at himself, but his lips were still fixed into a straight line.
"I brushed grass out of her hair, and she woke up a little. Before I even knew what she was doing, she smiled and crawled over into my arms."
A sudden breeze blew back Jack's dreadlocks and the red scarf on his hat.
"We were all alone that night, and I wanted more than anything to kiss her. At the same time, I didn't want to know her reaction." One of the metal trinkets tied into Jack's hair made a small cling, and Jack smiled, revealing two gold teeth.
"And that's when I decided to become a pirate."
Gibbs, however amazed and absorbed in Jack's story he may have been, became confused. Jack had been in love with some young lass, they had been alone together and he wanted to kiss her. And then he decided to become a pirate... Had he missed something? The two events seemed totally unconnected. "Ye lost me, Jack, somewhere along the way," Gibbs said rather abashedly. Jack turned around, keeping his backside on the wheel to keep it straight, crossed his right boot over his left, and looked down at one hand with a contemplative look. As he began to straighten the two silver skull rings on his right hand, he also began to explain his revelation of a life of piracy.
"I s'pose I didn't really, actually decide it right then. I just said to Lela that we was going to become pirates."
Jack ignored Gibbs' muttered comment that it was bad luck to bring a woman on board a ship.
"It was all part of me plan to, uh, inadvertently find out how she felt about me."
Jack raised his right hand and twisted the gunmetal silver ring so that the jade stone faced him, his face (A/N: his BEAUTIFUL face!!) reflecting on its surface.
"It didn't exactly work like I planned," he continued sulkily. "She said that she was to be captain, and I the first mate. I just retorted that she meant Captain Jack Sparrow--,"
"Well at least I know now why you're always goin' on about bein' called Captain," Gibbs said quietly and smiled.
"--and that she could just be the servin' wench," Jack finished. Gibbs eyes grew large and his small grin turned to a frown of worry.
"Servin' wench? Oh, Jack, I hate tuh think what she did to ya after that."
Jack smiled, slightly chagrined. "Well, when I walked down to the beach, she did push me into the water." After letting Gibbs chuckle softly, and giving him a rather stern look, Jack came to the near-end of his story. "After that I was aggravated beyond comprehension, and I was sayin' to meself, 'Bloody 'ell! I'm damned fed up!' I walked right up to 'er (she was laughing! the lit'ul vixen!) and asked her if we'd evuh be more'n mates. She wouldn't...or couldn't, I don't know which...give me a complete answer, and so," Jack murmured softly and distantly, "I kissed 'er."
Shaking himself out of his fantasy, he looked up to see Gibbs staring at him with disbelief and bewilderment in his eyes. "I know," Jack said turning back to the wheel, "I know. Bloody Jack, bloody nance, bloody hell! It dunn'n make sense, it dunn'n sound b'lievable, but s'true, mate..."
"Jack," Gibbs interrupted, "now, it sounds tuh me that you pretty well loved this lass o'yours, and don't get me wrong, i's not like I know anything about that, but," Gibbs faltered for a moment. "But, why are ye here on the Black Pearl, and not back in Ireland with the garl? Er, why isn't she here on the Black Pearl with ya?" Jack turned his head back to Gibbs and raised an eyebrow.
"I thought it'was bad luck to 'ave a woman aboard, mate?" he asked as lightheartedly as he could manage after bloody well spilling his 'weasly black guts' out to his first mate.
Gibbs shook his head. "Don't change the subject, boy." Even though Jack disliked being called 'boy,' he began to answer Gibbs' question... and end this conversation.
"We courted for about a year," he said picking up the pace of his words, "and all the while we kept talking about becoming pirates more and more seriously. Finally when I was 17, I got the Pearl." Jack hung his head. "I was so excited to tell Lela. I finally had the ship we'd always wanted, and I ran all round town lookin' for 'er. I searched until dark and then..." Jack's kohl-lined eyes narrowed. "I found 'er." Gibbs glanced worriedly over his shoulder to see if any of the crew was listening, and then turned back to the captain. "Me first mate--a'fore you, Gibbs--came to me in me cabin and nervously told me he'd found Lela."
Gibbs frowned slightly as Jack's hands gripped the ship's wheel harder making his sooty tanned knuckled white. "I followed him to a rather shady part of town, and into an alley. And there...there..."
Gibbs could hear only the quiet creaking of the ship for a moment, and then there was Jack's low, threatening, and uneven erratic statement.
"Lela was...walkin' around to a few men...that was there..." Jack let out a shivering angry sigh. "For...for a while, I just stood there. I couldn't believe that it was true, but I knew it was, however much I hated it. I had turned to my side and leaned my head against the wall. I couldn't see what was happenin' but I could 'ear it. I heard hoarse drunken laughs, empty seductive words, the groaning wooden fence, the...the clink of money on the ground, every few minutes..."
Gibbs' eyes filled with discernment and his features softened. When he was about to reassure Jack that it might not have been what it looked like, Jack whispered in a hurt, death-threat tone two words:
"Bloody harlot..."
Taken aback by the anger and near-hatred in Jack's voice, Gibbs backed away two steps. "Cap'n," he said cautiously, "is that why ye left Ireland?"
"Yes," Jack answered simply.
"Beggin' yer pardon, Cap'n, but it might not-tuh been what it looked like." Jack raised his eyes, and, even though his first mate couldn't see them, they were livid with anger and pain. But Gibbs continued. "Also ye must remember Jack, I'm a more trustworthy man'n--"
"WHAT WOULD YOU BLOODY KNOW ABOUT IT?!" screamed Jack, completely letting go of the wheel and whirling around to Gibbs and putting his hand on the handle of his sword.
Gibbs began to back away, fearing Jack more than his sword.
"I left for a damned good reason, and there isn't any point on dwelling over somefthing that happened so long ago! Ye said yerself, you don't know about love, so don't go givin' me advice that won't do me any FUCKING good!!!"
As if reacting to Jack's echoing words, the sky's darkening became more apparent and black clouds started to roll in. The gulls squawked noisily, as the dangerously low sound of thunder filled the heavens.
Jack as about to yell some more at Gibbs, but the man in the crow's nest atop the mast of the Black Pearl called out before Jack could get out one word.
"Tortuga ho!"
And those words began to echo all around Jack, making him turn back to the wheel.
Gibbs went off with the rest of the men to move the sails and secure the riggings, remembering his oath to Jack that he would keep silent as the grave.
"Tortuga," Jack muttered under his breath, "that means one good thing at least." A cruel smile played on his lips as he steered the ship towards the Tortuga docks. "Lots and lots of rum."
TBC!!!
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A/N: BLOODY HELL, that was a looooong chapter! Almost 4,000 words! I s'pose it might as well be, I took so god-damned long to post the flippin' thing. Sorry about that again... Ok, so now we know that Jack was dreaming about his old girlfriend way back when. And, aw!, he misses her! But of course being the stubborn thickey he is, he says that he left for a good reason and there was no point in dwelling on it. whispering Stupid, stupid, stupid... next time we'll see what happens at the tavern with Scarlet. What will happen?!?! ............... I dunno. You'll just have to find out next time!! Well... actually, I do know, I just don't wanna tell ya. ^_^