Eden Isle

By: L'Morgan

Only Disney owns or can make money on anything to do with Pirates of the Caribbean. I-just-borrowing-to-play-with-for-personal-entertainment-and-giving-back. Can I be any clearer? NO profit being made here by or for me!

Action/Adventure Rated: Mature Teen for violence, innuendo and some language. Mild W/E pairing, J/A pairings.

CHAPTER THREE - MISJUDGMENTS

Dr. Cook tapped his fingers impatiently on the tabletop in his cabin aboard the infamous Pirate ship 'The Black Pearl'. Nearby sat young William Turner and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the Governor of Jamaica. The two of them were playing a card game of some sort with a pile of taffy at stake between them. They had been there for hours now, many hours it seemed, and tension in the room was heavy.

It had all begun that morning when the notorious pirate captain had spied what looked like the expected French merchant ship off the starboard bow. After a very short conference with his first mate, AnaMaria and the grizzled quartermaster, Mr. Gibbs, they had been escorted to the good Doctors' cabin and then locked inside.

First they had heard the muffled shouts and jeers from the pirate crew, which had been suddenly silenced by the roaring thunder of cannon fire – fire directed at the Pearl! Then had come the sickening lurch and sounds of splintering wood, the roar and stench of powder as the Black Pearl had answered in kind…. then had been the shouted commands too muffled to understand, followed by what sounded like the clash of steel on steel, the thunder of blunderbuss and pistols, and the shouts, yells, and screams of men, not all in English but universally understood none the less.

It was certainly not the same sort of thing that had happened the few other times they had been locked up while the crew carried out this or that raid, and thus it had been much more difficult to just sit there and wait, not knowing what had happened or why. Some of the roars and shrieks had been terrifying!

Then had come silence – un-nerving silence – deadly silence even, and still no one had come to release them. They had tried calling, they had tried shouting, they had tried banging – all to no avail – and that had been what seemed like hours ago now.

Finally there came the sound of footsteps approaching – then a key in the lock. It was Mr. Gibbs who appeared before them, his features pale and rather shocked looking, his shirt smeared with blood and black powder, his hair in equal condition. His eyes quickly found the doctor.

"Hey Doc, could you come please? Jack's been asking' fer ye." he said in an almost hushed tone. All 3 quickly leapt up and not a soul objected to their sudden appearance on deck. They all froze for a moment with stunned looks. One of the sails hung by only three corners, another was shot through… part of the deck railing had been blown away and splinters showered everywhere. The smell of freshly spilled blood assaulted them and the same red substance was splattered, smeared and spilled on every imaginable surface.

They followed the quartermaster up the steps to the fantail deck where they saw the red bandana-ed pirate on his knees beside a prone figure. The Captain's white shirt was heavily smeared with blood and he had a strip of cloth tied around one bloodied pants leg. But, it was the stunned look to his features that struck the three first.

"Jack?" the doctor asked as he headed for the man.

Suddenly, he caught sight of the prone man on the deck beside the pirate and did a strong double take, then looked again. Beside the infamous pirate captain lay the equally known Commodore Norrington, the front of the man's white uniform shirt decorated with a large red blossom of blood. Blood trickled from his mouth as well as the military man gave a very weak cough and then groaned heavily. Doctor Cook hurried to his side, knelt beside the man and quickly felt at his pulse and frowned.

"It – it wasn't a French merchant ship after all," the pirate mumbled in a rather dazed tone, taking up the military man's hand in his own. The Commodore seemed to try to focus his eyes on the pirate, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he went suddenly limp and still, his chest rising and falling shallowly.

"Oh my god Jack – what have you done?" Will Turner whispered in a shocked tone behind them. The pirate looked up to give the younger man a stunned look, his eyes haunted and features pale. The doctor bent over the injured Commodore and then scowled hugely at the pirate beside him.

"You'd better pray this man lives Jack. If he dies I swear I will help them hunt you down. Commodore Norrington risked his career, his reputation and more when he let you escape – and this is how you repay him? Where are the rest of his men Jack? Did you let your crew just cold-bloodedly murder them for even daring to confront you? How could you do something like this? " he accused harshly and then he signaled for Will to help him lift the man. They quickly headed for the doctor's sick bay area below deck.

The pirate captain struggled to his feet and wavered very unsteadily for a moment. It was long enough for Elizabeth to storm up to him, eyes full of tears and fury. Without a word she hauled off and slapped the pirate across the face as hard as she possibly could. The pirate spun with the force of her blow and fell into his quartermaster who caught him and carefully stood him back on his feet where the one seemed to still reel.

"If the Commodore dies, I swear to god, I will see you hang Jack – I swear to god I will, if it's the last thing I ever do! How could you? How could you do something like this? And you let your crew murder all the others? You truly are a completely despicable, disgusting, lying pirate…. How could you Jack? He let you go - he let you go - and this is what you do?" she asked as the tears flowed down her cheeks, then suddenly she turned and bolted after the others.

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It was two hours later that the pirate captain appeared in the sick bay area, his quartermaster and first mate flanking him on either side, the pirate looking pale and anxious. Neither Elizabeth nor Will could even stand to glance at them. Moments later the good doctor came out, a grim frown to his features.

"Well, he's alive – for the moment. It's too early for me to say if he'll make it. A shot like that to the chest - well, normally that kind of wound has a very high mortality rate – as I'm sure you're well aware. I'm afraid all we can do now is wait." he said, scowling at the pirate intensely. AnaMaria scowled back at the doctor, then suddenly stepped in front of the pirate captain and drew him over to a far corner and turned him to face her, making him groan and wince at her touch.

"Now you listen to me Jack Sparrow! Don't you dare let this fool idiot make you feel like this is your fault! Not even one of these fools has bothered to even ask a crew member what happened or who shot that man!" she growled at him hotly.

The pirate looked up at her, seeming extremely pale, his features now sweaty as he blinked at her dully. She scowled at him even more, shaking her finger just inches from his nose.

"Jack, listen, Mr. Gibbs and I, we've been trying to tell you that these people are not really your friends. We know you don't want to believe it Captain – especially this one being Bootstraps' son and all – but he's just not his Pa, Jack – he'll never even come close to being the good and honorable man his father was. Look at the lot of 'em! They don't have the brains of a jellyfish between the three of them! Who are they assumin' shot that man, Captain? Have they even asked what happened? No – they're blamin' you – no matter what you've done in the past around them. Soon as there's even the slightest hint of trouble – they're the very first to accuse you of it. And something like this? After Port Royal's earthquake? You know who doesn't understand a man's honor around here Captain? Its' those brainless landlubbers is who! Those three wouldn't know the meaning of honor if it jumped up and bit 'em on the ass! You don't need their kind of treachery, Jack. You just don't need that."

The pirate captain seemed to swallow dryly as he gave the three of them a deeply hurt and shocked look, obviously pale and now swaying precariously and looking quite upset.

Finally he nodded, dropping his head as he turned to Mr. Gibbs with a very soft murmur, then suddenly half staggered dizzily. Both Anna and Gibbs caught him, both looking concerned as they exchanged looks.

"Jack – you said you had to know how the Commodore was, before you'd let us…. Well, you heard the Doc now, right? Come on lad…" Gibbs said gently and the one gave a very shallow sigh as he nodded, his head dipping lower as he murmured even more softly.

He took three steps, then stopped, swaying heavily with his hand to his head and a very pained look, and then suddenly his knees gave way. Quickly Gibbs caught him, as the pirate seemed to go completely limp in his arms, his head dropping forward as he gave a soft moan. Gibbs looked rather upset and worried as he gently pulled the man more away from the other three and then very gently laid him on the floor. Anna quickly knelt beside him, the pirate's head resting in her lap. The doctor came over without them realizing he had drawn that near.

"Good Holy Chr-!" the doctor exclaimed as he suddenly knelt beside the pirate captain. Elizabeth and Will both came over, the young woman gasping as she realized that the captain's right sleeve had been swathed in white bandages already – bandages that were now completely soaked with blood, as was his leg below the tie on his thigh, and as was his red bandana.

Quickly the doctor felt at the man's neck for his pulse and didn't seem at all pleased.

"Sword here at his arm… whets under the tie on his leg?" he asked quickly and Gibbs frowned at him warily.

"He took a mini ball to the thigh. Din' hit bone though, thank god – but its still in there." he said unhappily and the doctor looked more dismayed.

"Did anyone see this head injury happen? Was he unconscious at all?" he asked and Anna nodded with a dark look at him.

"Yeah, we had a hell of a time gettin' him to wake up after it was all over. Some fool hit him over the head with a belaying pin. He went down like lightin' hit 'em." she said and the doctor winced, frowning deeply as he examined the pirate's eyes, gently lifting first one eyelid and then the other.

"Okay, let's get him into my sickbay area." he told Gibbs, and froze as there came the sudden sound of a pistol being drawn and cocked. He looked up to see the dark skinned woman glaring at him hatefully, her pistol not even a foot from his very nose.

"If anything happens to Jack – I promise I will maroon the three of you fools on the smallest speck of land I can find in the entire Caribbean – and I will very happily sail away. Now - maybe you better tell us jus' what do you think you're gonna do to him?" she demanded dangerously and the man frowned at her, no fear on his features at all.

"Well, for starters, I'd like to get some pressure on these wounds so he doesn't bleed to death right here in front of us all. I need to get the ball out of his leg, unless of course you think he'd really prefer gangrene, amputation and a nice wooden leg? If the blood poisoning doesn't kill him anyway." he told her and she stared at him, and then slowly nodded with a still very wary look.

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Jack was first aware of an enormous cacophony of the largest drums in the world that had somehow taken up residence inside his splitting head. As if that weren't bad enough, his leg and arm both felt as if they were on fire and he couldn't seem to even finish one thought completely before a strange fog crept upon his mind.

He tried to move but found he just could not get his muscles to obey – tried to speak and only a low and miserable moan came out…. and quickly the fog came. Someone seemed to be calling him from far away, very, very, very far away. It was so hard to focus on the voice though – much too hard. He let that go and just drifted, only to have something blissfully cool and moist come to rest against his cheek and then his forehead.

He gave a shallow sigh and was dimly aware of someone taking up his hand and squeezing it gently. He tried to respond in kind, but couldn't tell if he'd actually managed to return the gesture, or just imagined he had before the thick, dense fog returned, this time sweeping away all awareness.

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The next thing he was aware of was of heat – a smothering heat that caused beads of sweat to slide down the sides of his face. He remembered the cool damp cloth and wished for its return, as if reading his mind that very thing touched him, daubing at his forehead, then at his cheeks and down his neck and chest. He tried to thank whoever was gracious enough to grant him such relief, but all that came out was a soft mumble.

Still, someone instantly took up his hand, squeezing it tightly and calling for someone to come. The pirate floated drifting in his fog, then felt someone lifting him up and putting a glass to his lips. Blessedly cool water was tipped into his mouth and he managed a very small swallow.

He tried to open his eyes and this time was met with a wild blur of color. He was given another sip of water and then very gently put back down. He blinked heavily and slowly the blur of color hovering over him resolved itself into the face of Elizabeth Turner. The pirate gave a shallow gasp of alarm, raising one arm as if to ward off her blow, and she instantly looked embarrassed and then upset as she took up his hand again.

"Jack – I'm so, so, sorry. Please don't…" she pleaded urgently, but he still gave her a very wary, rather hurt look and tried to pull into himself. Quickly a hand came down on his good shoulder to pat him gently.

"Shhh now – it's all right Jack," he heard somebody say and looked up to find the doctor leaning over him. Now the pirates' eyes widened even more as he gasped and seemed to pale, and the doctor frowned at him as the man's eyes started to look very out of focus and then slid closed and he went limp again.

Tears slid down Elizabeth's' cheeks as she considered him and the doctor pat her shoulder.

"It's all right honey – we have to give him some time, he lost a lot of blood and he has a severe concussion – but at least he woke up for a few moments …" he said and she gave him an upset look.

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The next time the pirate awoke it was to find himself alone with sunlight shining in the windows of the cabin that rocked gently with the rhythm of the ocean. He struggled to sit up, fighting the massive wave of nausea and dizziness that immediately swept over him.

After a few minutes he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and frowned deeply at the heavy bandaging on his left thigh and on his right arm. He touched the same that was wrapped around his head as he took deep breaths, trying to keep the dizziness at bay as he felt around for another shirt and pants. Finally he found some hung on the hook beside the bed. The shirt he could do by gingerly donning it, but the pants were certain torture to manage to get on and up. Putting on his boots nearly caused him to pass out alone.

He held onto the nightstand as he finally stood up, and would have surely fallen had it not been for the nearby wall itself. He slowly staggered his way towards the door, found his grey hat and carefully put it on, fighting to clear his vision and stay conscious. Finally he reached the door, got it to open and then stood, hands braced on either side of it, knuckles white with tension and the strain of his effort.

One of the newer young crew members noticed him in passing, did a strong double take, then looked again as if he could not believe his eyes. The lad stared for a moment – then suddenly changed direction, hurrying off towards where one would go to find the good doctor in his sick bay and the pirate frowned after him. Jack made a face of dismay. No doubt it would not be long before he had company now.

For his part, Doctor Cook stared up at the young sea man with an incredulous look to his features.

"Up? What do you mean he was up? Someone should have been checking on him for me pretty soon here… he can't possibly be up! He hasn't even been conscious!" he said and the lad shook his head.

"No doc! It was Capt'n Jack himself! Had that hat of his on right over those bandages and hanging onto the doorframe like he was going to fall down any second, but it was him I swear!" he said all in a rush, and the doctor rose with a concerned look and quickly followed the young man to said location – where he frowned even more at finding the room empty. There were no occupants of any sort, unconscious or otherwise! Quickly he looked around the deck of the ship, then up at the helms' wheel on the fantail - and shook his head in disbelief.

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The reference to 'Port Royal's Earthquake' is from the POTC story 'Aftermath' that can also be found under my authors name here at FanFiction Net!