Disclaimer: I don't have permission to write this.
AN (10/3) Yes, yes, I know I haven't updated for five months. There's a reason for that, but I don't want to go into it. Just be comforted in the fact that I'm still going to update this one in the future. And I've decided to rewrite this chapter and the one after it. Too much dialogue, not enough action…so, yeah. Tell me what ya think, especially if you don't want me to disappear again.
Homeward Bound: Chapter Three
"Why d' you have to tell them?" Jack asked himself softly as he worked on cleaning the second to last dish. He was quite proficient at cleaning plates and kitchen utensils, oddly enough, even though he was quite the perfectionist and actually heated water to clean with. "I mean, its no' like they won' figure it out, eventually."
Jack sighed and was silent for a moment, scraping the chicken into a rubbish bin. "I have to," he answered himself with a finality to his voice that indicated his resolve was now quite firm. "It'd be unfair o' me not to tell."
Jack finished the rest of the dishes in silence and put them where they belonged. He'd help Martha out tomorrow by cleaning up this kitchen. And then, maybe, he could visit with Will in the blacksmith. Unless, of course, they tossed him out after hearing his story. Amusing how life can be related to someone in a story, isn't it? Stories are practically the only way a human can relate anything to anyone else because of how different opinions are and how different personalities are. Jack wished that his stories weren't so interesting to other people. He didn't want other people to get a glimpse of his life. If they knew what made him tick, they'd know how to kill him. Jack only barely trusted the Turners enough to tell them anything. And now he was going to tell them everything. Well, practically everything.
Once he was done with that self-assigned task (and after he heard Will and Martha talking softly in the front room, indicating that Rebekah was asleep), Jack left the kitchen and swaggered his curious way to the front room. Both Martha and Will looked at him oddly for a second before motioning him towards a chair.
Jack shook his head. "I'd rather stand, for the mos' part," he said as an explanation to get that stupid confused look off Will's face. Honestly, that boy would bother him to death one of these days. "If tha's all right wiv you, of course."
"Fine. It's fine," Will replied after Martha elbowed him in the stomach. He smiled slightly. "You don't have to tell us."
"I do," Jack corrected softly. "I do." He paused for a moment, walking to stand in front of both of them. "I suppose I should tell you when this all started."
"When what all started?" Will asked, wanting to get to the point. Predictably. Jack didn't blame him for his curiosity.
"Don't interrupt," Martha hissed, hitting him in the stomach with her elbow again. "Just talk, Jack. Need to get it out sometime." She smiled reassuringly at Jack before setting her head on Will's shoulder.
"As I was sayin'," Jack continued, frowning slightly for a moment before regaining his calm and calculated facade. "I should tell you when all of this started. Mus've been... three years ago now. After our little adventure wiv Barbossa. That's when it started."
"I love Tortuga," the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow said as he successfully anchored the Black Pearl near the bawdy and lawless town most law officials liked to forget existed. "Finest place on the earth," he added to no one in particular, since his crew was all wrapped up in their own thoughts. Though he'd only been captain of the Pearl for a short while, Jack had made his crew very rich. All of the pirates who'd been under Barbossa were now pushing up daisies, so to speak, and the Navy didn't bother searching the cave on the Isla de Muerta for any of the other pirates. They'd had too many casualties and limped home as result. This meant that Jack, having a head start on Commodore James Norrington, was able to ransack the place and leave practically nothing. Many of the crew were already thinking of retirement. They had an equal share, same as Jack, and were now very rich men. Jack didn't blame them, of course. They were to do what was right by them. Now that he had a larger ship he needed more crewmembers anyway. That's why they were coming here, though AnaMaria and Gibbs truly thought he was coming just because he wanted a woman desperately. That wasn't true. He would enjoy the company of a woman tonight, but only because he had nothing better to do.
"Aye, so ye've said, Captain," Joshamee Gibbs said teasingly. "Numerous times. Practically since ye announced we'd be heading here."
"Ah…well, it is the finest place on earth. No man can ever feel alone here, unless he prefers to be alone." Jack grinned complacently, seeming almost ready to jump overboard to get to shore as quickly and uniquely as possible.
"Ye've said tha' as well," Gibbs pointed out. He hastily added, "Of course, I know you're right." The wizened quartermaster didn't want another haranguing as to how spectacular the festering city was. He'd lived there a few years. Sure, to incoming captains and crews, it was the place…but for those unfortunate souls stuck on that godforsaken rock, it was just torture. Most of the lovely ladies on the island wished for something to happen to help them not be dead inside anymore…
"Aye, well… Drinks are on me, nonetheless, a' the Bride," Jack said with a confident smirk. It wasn't often that he bought his entire crew a drink. Not only was it expensive, but it generally just lead to more problems than it solved. When a group of friendly men get drunk together, there's always some fight over a small detail… But it was a celebration, since he now had the Pearl again. There would never be another celebration like this one. Jack planned on keeping the Pearl until his dying day. Retiring didn't seem a viable option for the infamous captain. Especially not now. Not when everything was going so perfectly. He'd bested the bad pirate and had escaped the stuffy commodore out for his blood while living through something that would make quite a story, especially since he now had Gibbs on his side again… What could go wrong?
The crew soon rushed down the gangplank of the Black Pearl, closely followed by Jack, AnaMaria, and Gibbs. He hoped that both of his senior officers would stay aboard after the celebration…but that was something to think of after he got three sheets to the wind, sobered, got drunk again, and sobered once more.
The Faithful Bride was packed when they reached the drinking establishment. It was just another busy day on the bustling and drunken island, though, so Jack thought nothing of it when his crew was shunted off towards a relatively quiet corner to drink themselves silly. He fully planned on having enough to drink he couldn't feel anything anymore.
As he sat and made crude jokes with his crew, drinking his rum from time to time, he suddenly realized that…well, being drunk wasn't as fun as it used to be. Before Barbossa. Before he'd taken that cursed coin from that stone chest. The man knew what it was like to feel as though nothing satisfied man's carnal desires. The rum wasn't helping the dry patch in the back of his throat that had been there since Barbossa stabbed him through the chest. He had a scar from that, even though it never did bleed. It was disturbing, to say the least, to think of what it didn't feel like to have that through his vital organs…
Feeling a bit subdued, suddenly, the pirate captain excused himself from his crew, who were now on their fourth round of drinks. They all seemed very pleased with themselves and Jack didn't feel as though he related to any of them any longer. It was silly to feel such a way, and he knew it. But it had only been two weeks previously he'd nearly died. He'd gambled everything, and for several moments, he'd apparently lost.
So wrapped up in his thoughts, the slightly inebriated captain didn't notice a woman about to enter the door he was just about to leave. They ran into each other, jolting Jack back to his thoughts in a jiffy. "Excuse me," Jack said automatically.
"Yeh really should watch where yeh're goin'," a distinctly feminine voice said huffily as a pair of milky white hands brushed the folds of a stunning blue dress. It matched the woman's eyes, Jack noted, and made her seem even more beautiful than she was. It was hard to imagine a more comely female, though, because this particular redhead had a perfectly proportioned face and a curvy body that would suit someone of her obvious profession. "Women don' particularly like a man who runs in'o them in doorways."
Jack smirked lightly and bowed. "I'm terribly sorry, love. I din' mean to not look where I was going, bu' I was so distracted by your beauty I couldn't help but lose meself in my own thoughts, fair maiden."
"You try tha' on all the gels?" the woman asked, an amused quirk to her eyebrow. "Because yeh shouldn't. The smile's good, though." She took a step forward, nearly running into Jack again. "I've got customers t' tend to…mister…"
"Captain Sparrow," Jack claimed proudly. "And I don' think you do. I mean, love, wha's the point of raking the tavern for a customer if there's one right before you who 'as a 'good smile'? I should be ashamed if ye din' think I don' want to spend the night wiv a woman such as yourself."
"Yeh've spent too much time around women like me," the woman said gently, looking down at the ground for a moment before glancing up. "But…if yeh really want me, how can I refuse?"
"Precisely," Jack replied with a smirk that had set many women's hearts aflame. "Besides, all ye'll find in there is drunken riffraff, no' a charming captain with his own ship who happens t' be a little drunk…" He chuckled lightly and put his arm around her waist.
"Whatcha doin', Jack?" the redhead asked as she brushed her long locks of hair while sitting next to him on a small bed in a room above the Faithful Bride, where she worked as a barmaid and occasional strumpet. With each stroke of her brush, her hair seemed to glow until it was cascading down her head onto her soft shoulders like a waterfall of fire. Jack generally enjoyed watching her brush her hair because it was almost like watching a master painter put on the final pieces of a perfect creation.
"Lookin' at an old map," Jack replied distractedly. "This one, Nessa, is rumored t' come from William Kidd. I got it off an ole friend of mine who knew a man who knew a man who was the son of a man who was the cousin of one of Kidd's crewmen who was a cook, if memory serves. Anyway, it's t' the largest booty anyone has ever seen in the Caribbean. Bigger than Barbossa's store. An' I just got it figured out." There was a gleam of triumph to his dark eyes, similar to the one Nessa had seen momentarily after their first night together.
"Oh," Nessa replied, the corners of her lips pulling into a slight pout. He always seemed so distracted lately. Sighing, she set the brush down on the bed and leaned up against Jack. Having never been in a relationship, she wasn't entirely sure what was supposed to happen. Men generally didn't care for her opinions on anything. They only wanted to get her legs apart, satisfy that carnal lust, and get back to their "important" little lives.
Jack smiled at her and put his free arm around her shoulder, though he soon went back to pouring over the slightly moldy piece of map that had certainly seen better days. It wasn't that Kidd put a great riddle in the treasure map. Water had worn away a lot of the ink and the whole thing looked about ready to fall apart. Men have a curious habit of trying anything and everything to figure out puzzles involving money, however.
Nessa sighed contentedly, relaxing in his arms until she suddenly started coughing. It was a miserable cough, but it was clearly only due to the fact that she was battling a cold. Jack let go of her and looked at her sympathetically until she was able to get her lungs to stop hacking up whatever mucus or imaginary thing was blocking her breathing. She smiled miserably at him once she finished, a look in her eyes clearly of shame and regret. Who was she to break his concentration like that?
"I hope ye get better soon," Jack said softly, setting the map down and gently stroking her cool cheek. "I mean-" Jack froze in the middle of a sentence, leaving Nessa rather confused. The pirate captain was staring towards the opened window with a look of supreme surprise on his face. He and Nessa had been softly talking to one another in the candlelight for the past few hours as he'd gone over his new map. The sun was much further down than he thought it would be. But that wasn't what surprised him. There was a face in the window. It was a particularly ugly face, for the man who owned it had a nasty scowl designed to intimidate on his face in addition to a nose that resembled a pig's snout and ears that would look large on a chimpanzee. The horrible smirk he wore was just horrendous. Jack could almost smell the rotten eggs that this man's breath would resemble intimately from here, even though the man was only missing a few teeth.
"'Ello," the man said with a slight nod of his head as a gangly hand reached into the room and he pulled himself in. "I was wonderin' if ye'd be neighborly an' lend me a treasure map. I'm from down the hall an' I think ye'll wan' to be a good Samaritan so vat I don' hurt the pretty li'le bird you've been wooing, sir." He pulled out a pistol, a fiendish look to his dull brown eyes as he aimed it at Nessa's head.
She choked back a scream a little too late and sounded a bit like she'd just hiccupped as Jack stood up, a frown on his face. "Right. And I'm supposed t' just hand over a map as simple as tha', eh? I mean…mate, tha' was rather lame. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, ye'll have to come up wiv summat less pathetic to intimidate me." He glared at the gun, taking a step towards the deranged man.
"Oi, watch it," the man said, taking a step back. His rather slow mind hadn't considered what he might have to do if Jack resisted. He was just proud of himself for such a witty opening and triumphant entry. The men downstairs had said that Jack would give it up without a fuss…
"No, no, I think you'd best watch it," Jack said venomously, stepping closer. He meant it, too. If this fellow didn't watch what he was doing, he might fall out the window. "Put the gun down, son. You'll only get beat by me. Possibly killed. Besides, if ye shoot, ye might very well end up killing someone you don' want to kill. At the very least, the owner o' this fine establishment will 'ead up here to see wot the problem is. You know, they don' often like it when their best guests or employees get injured…"
"Shut yer gob!" the man said desperately, taking another few steps backwards. "I'm no' afraid of ye, Captain! I want that map. It should be mine! Kidd was me uncle's brother's friend!"
"It isn't a question of if it should or should not be yours," Jack said simply. "It is rightfully mine, mate. I bought it fair an' square." He took another step forward, a look of surprise in his eyes as the man finally did reach the window and actually cocked the pistol.
"I'll shoot you!" he shouted angrily. "You can't have that map! They'll kill me if I don't get it from you!" There was a wisp of fear in his dull eyes as he leaned even closer to the window. His finger was trembling on the trigger, aching to pull it and get his tormentor to leave him alone.
"Well…if tha' be the case…" Jack sighed softly and grabbed his sword from a chair. He did something he'd always wanted to do, since that day in the blacksmith where Will had ruined his plans for the first time. He tossed the blade at the man near the window. It went in a lot further than Jack thought it would and the surprise and momentum pushed the man back through the window and to the ground as his finger reflexively pulled the trigger. Fortunately, the bullet lodged itself into the roof, but the sound reverberated in the small room.
Frowning as Nessa screamed, Jack walked over to the window and leaned out the side, cringing slightly as he saw the annoying and bad pirate lying prostrate on the ground with his leg at a funny angle in a pool of his own crimson blood. Several figures were running towards the scene, glancing up at Jack and saying something loudly that sounded rather bad. Apparently they all knew about Kidd's map. And they all apparently wanted to see the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow dead, since that would be the easiest way to steal Kidd's map.
Glancing towards Nessa, Jack frowned. "Er…love…I think I'd better get goin'. I'll visit you, I promise, when I next can." He hurried over to the shaking woman and kissed her quickly before she started coughing again. "Get better soon, Nessa," he added hastily before grabbing a blunt object, his hat, the map, and his effects. He had several pairs of clothes aboard the Pearl, so there was no use in grabbing his pants or shirt. Nearly in his skivvies, the captain descended down the ladder to beat off those ruffians intent on getting his map. This was to be the Pearl's next great adventure.