Chapter 14 - Road to Recovery

Jack felt a pull on his hand as Louise stopped behind him. He looked back at her and opened his mouth to speak and that's when he saw Cray, pistol pointed at her head.

"Miss Roberts we were so enjoying 'aving you aboard".

His eyes remained locked with hers as he spoke again, "I wouldn't touch that pistol if I were ye Sparrow or I might accidentally shoot mine".

"Go on then, shoot me" she broke in, he eyed her surprised by the blatancy of her request, "or do you need me alive? It seems to me if you didn't I'd already be dead". She smiled enjoying the panic flooding over him as she had proved he wouldn't kill her but he quickly recovered and chose a different tack.

"Aye I need you Miss Roberts" he moved the gun to point it at Jack, "that's why you'll be going back below deck now". Louise looked desperately at Jack, she couldn't risk his life, not for anything, he was too important and not just to her but to the crew and the pearl.

He placed his hand at the barrel of Crays gun, "Now listen 'ere mate..."

"Fine Cray, I'll go below just let Jack and the crew go", she cut in again, Jack couldn't believe he had a gun in his face and yet nobody was listening to him.

Cray smiled cockily and nodded while observing Jack, extremely pleased that he had found her weakness, "Aye".

"Sorry Jack", she sighed as she pulled her hand from his and turned away from him, but in doing so she grabbed Cray's sword from it's sheath and held it to his throat. Cray's face was a picture of shock, Jack was also surprised at her attack, he had not seen that coming. Louise herself was in disbelief it had worked and that she had been quick enough, but she was so close to getting off the fall and she wasn't about to let that go now. 
"Well Cray", she said warningly, "do you want to pull that trigger and see how fast I can slit your throat?", Lousie knew she would rather not kill again, but her face didn't show her apprehension, in fact her face could have made the toughest man worry.

"Looks like we have a change in fortunes Miss Roberts", he didn't take his eyes off her, defeat and detest clearly visible in the prolonged stare.

"Give it to me", she tilted her head towards his pistol which he reluctantly placed in her open hand. She threw the sword across the deck while keeping the pistol aimed at him. Most of those around them were now watching the scene unfold as Louise backed away from Cray, weapon still aimed at him, she had no idea how to fire it so as she bumped into Jack she allowed him to take the pistol from her. As Louise stood next to Jack she let the past days exhaustion wash over her. Looking up at him with a expression that said a thousand things all at once, her mind seemed to slow down as she felt more and more tired, she watched as he looked back at Cray, Jack was shouting something but her senses had been hindered. She watched him fire the pistol and his face came back to her. Louise smiled but realised something was wrong from the look on his face, he was panicked. She looked down at herself and then saw her leg, she was surprised to see blood pouring from it. Sound and feeling suddenly came flooding back and a burning pain in her leg caused her to stumble backwards, only to be caught by Jack. She looked around her and saw Ana rush over shouting about getting back to the pearl, Louise noticed Crays crew were rushing around as-well but she couldn't figure out why. The more she tried to concentrate the worse the pain became and she could only just handle it as it was. Well that and the comforting feeling of being in Jacks arms and hearing his voice. It was so soothing and despite the pain in her leg it made her feel sleepy, she only wanted to close her eyes for a second. And as she tried to sleep there was his voice again, soft and relaxing.

"I know it's hard luv but stay awake. Just concentrate on me voice", she opened her eyes and saw Jack looking back at her his face full of worry. Alarm bells went off in her head, what was he so worried about, and why was she being carried back to the pearl? That's when she realised, properly and fully, she had been shot. As her brain started to put the pieces back together the pain in her leg increased ten fold and she screamed out in pain.

"What can I do Jack?", Ana asked Jack after hearing Louise's cry's.

Jack looked at Louise's form in his arms, her eyes were filled with tears and there was blood everywhere, "we need to stop the bleeding" he paused knowing what needed to be done but not wanting to admit it, "she needs to be... cauterized".

"Aye captain", Ana nodded before running off, she too knew it had to done but it wouldn't be pretty. She stopped briefly to look back at the Gold Fall which was now sailing away, Jack had shot Cray as soon as he had pulled out a second pistol and fired, his crew had panicked. On deck of the pearl everyone was on duty, getting the ship away and back on course as fast as possible.

"Where's Jack?", Gibbs voice was full of worry.

Ana snapped out of her thoughts and back to her task, "seeing to Louise, Jack needs a hot poker".

"He's going to...?", Gibbs trailed off. He locked eyes with Ana who nodded grimly, Louise had lost a lot of blood very quickly. Gibbs hollered out to a few men who quickly ran off he had been cauterized before and he wondered if Louise would be able to handle it. Ana ran about the ship getting cloth and water before going to Louise's cabin. She was laying on the bed hissing as Jack was cleaning up the excess blood, he looked up at Ana who nodded confirming it was on it's way.

"Louise luv?" he watched her open her eyes and lift her head, in obvious agony.

"You've lost a lot of blood darling, and we need to get the shot out and close the wound", Louise didn't understand at first but Danny chose that moment to walk in with the red hot poker. Ana saw the fear in her eyes immediately.

"No, you can't", she attempted to move away from them all but her leg was not cooperating, "you can't do it, it's fine honestly, it's not that bad. Jack please don't" she looked at him with pleading eyes, grabbing at his coat with her hands, begging.

'If there was any other way luv" he nodded to Ana and Danny who moved over Louise to hold her down, "bite on this for the pain". He placed a piece of cloth in her mouth despite her protests, and giving her the most comforting look he could he said, "I'm sorry" before he dug out the bullet from her leg. She bit down onto the cloth but still muffled screams escaped her lips. Ana and Danny were used to the process but they had never had to see a woman go through it. Tears were streaming down Louise's face but they were only half way there, Jack picked up the poker and instinctively swished it through the air. She closed her eyes as he brought the metal close to her skin, the heat reaching her leg seconds before the metal was pressed into the open wound. Louise thrashed about while Danny and Ana attempted to keep her still but the searing pain took over and Louise mercifully passed out.

She woke up in her room which she decided smelt awful, like the lingering scent of burnt flesh. She sat up and her leg painfully reminded her of recent events, she was still in her torn dress but now she had a dark wound on her thigh. She looked around and had her leg not still been in pain she would have thought none of it had happened. Her room looked as it always had and it was then that she remembered the last time she had seen it she had killed someone. Her guilty conscience wondered what had happened to his body as she wrestled with her mind trying to remember what Cray had said his name was. So much had happened to her over the last day or two and she knew why, Cray. Cray's crew had attacked her in her room, Cray had wanted to keep her aboard with his ship, Cray had shot her. Well it wasn't all Cray's fault, none of this would have happened had she not somehow found herself on the pearl rather than in 2006, but then again that mystery was no-ones fault. She absent mind-idly ran her hand over the round scar as she thought, so lightly she was barely touching it.

"I guess you're really a a pirate now", she looked up and Ana was standing in the doorway smiling and singing a bottle of rum in her hand. Louise couldn't believe how relieved she was to see her, after being stuck on the gold fall she had a new appreciation for the pearl and everyone on it.

"You got one too then?" Louise asked with a grin, a grin she hadn't used in days.

Ana closed the door and sat on the end of her bed, "I've got me scars yes, but not one as fine as yours". Ana winked and Louise laughed as she took a large gulp of rum.

"You must be jealous then?", she looked around her room again as they spoke taking in the familiarity.

"Not really as mine have never been so bad that I needed the poker". Louise shuddered and looked like she was going to start a rant but Ana cut in, "so how are ye feeling?"

She took a deep breath and allowed herself to gather the answer, "well my leg hurts more than I ever thought possible".

"Don't forget that gash on your cheek, how did you get that anyway?", Louise avoided Ana's questioning stare, the less she talked about her time with the crew the better.

"Just a souvenir from Cray's crew, how long have I been asleep?".

Ana laughed, "about a day, I tried to wake you yesterday but you punched me in the gut".

"You probably deserved it if you were trying to wake me up", she smiled sheepishly but there was still a hint of her smug grin in her face.

Louise offered her the bottle but she shook her head, "it'll help with the pain". Louise liked the sound of that. Ana got up and made for the door looking back only to say, "I guess I best go tell Jack you're ok".

This left Louise wondering whether Jack had been worrying about her, sure she had been shot, lost a lot of blood and then slept for about a day but had he been particularly concerned about her? She smiled to herself and then realised she was still sitting in a partially shredded dress, sighing she knew she had to change. Although she hadn't worn it everyday or even around the pearl it had still been nice to have a dress but now that dream was over. She swung her good leg off of the bed then wondered if this was a good idea, moving her injured leg over the side of the bed she got her answer. However she was determined to get changed so she settled for standing on one leg, rather lopsidedly and balancing her weight on the wall. Hopping slowly she made her way to the dresser where she swayed dangerously while using her arms to get her clothes. Eventually after throwing them to the bed then making her way back, she sat there looking at the clothes with disdain, it had been a workout enough getting them now she had to change into them. Getting the dress off was fine and putting her shirt on went smoothly, but each time she pulled the trouser leg further up she stopped and cursed the inventor of trousers then continued, considering this it seems fairly acceptable for it to take 10 minutes to pull the trousers over her wound. She sat back after hauling her legs back onto the bed and sighed, it really was boring not being able to leave the room, she considered going through her bag, and for a moment she remembered her iPod but the fact that the bag sat across the room shot down that plan of action. She stared at her leg as if willing it to heal itself faster so she could have her mobility back, this staring went on till eventually she drifted off to sleep.

Jack stood on deck with Cray pointing a gun at him, for some reason it was like a western, every so often Cray would shout "Dance" and fire the pistol at Jack's feet who would then proceed to dance the funky chicken. Louise watched this from the crows nest, she wanted to get down and help Jack but there was nothing to climb down, nothing but the mast and the crows nest itself. She looked around desperately for a way down but seeing none she did the only thing she could, she jumped. At first it felt like flying, the wind rushed past her face, whistling in her ears, then the realisation she had just jumped from a great height set in and she landed with a crunch on deck. However when she looked down at the leg that had broken her fall she saw it had been replaced by a wooden leg. She jumped up on it triumphantly and proclaimed, "Cray you cannot hurt me and my wooden leg now, ha ha!". But where Cray and Jack had been there was only Cray's crew who quickly surrounded her, she screamed for someone to help but she was all alone and they were getting closer and closer to her...

"Wake up luv", she opened her eyes and saw Jack, and the images from the dream lingered in her mind as she tired to gather her bearings.

"Jack?"

"Tis alright luv, it was just a bad dream", he sat on the edge of the bed wary of her injury.

Louise sat for a moment shaking off the dream but she just had to ask, "can you dance Jack?"

He grinned saucily, "Thanks for the invitation luv but I don't think you'll be dancing for a while". She smiled at his joke but he noticed the mood behind it, "wanna talk about it?".

"It's nothing", he scanned her face for the truth but she was good at bluffing, "honestly Jack I'll be ok, it was just a really real dream", he said nothing, he had heard her screams for help, she had called out his name. It sent a chill down his spine how desperate she had sounded.

"Well you're awake now and ol' Jack has brought ye some dinner", he handed her a bowl of what she assumed was meant to be stew. 
"My leg better heal quickly" she muttered as she ate a spoonful of the food. He raised a questioning eyebrow to which she replied, "because I don't know how long I'll last on this cooking".

--Authors Notes--

Wow. A lot happened in this chapter. it seemed a bit rushed and I was debating with chopping it up a bit but I've got so much more to write for this story. I was also debating the dream sequence but I think it's a nice start to seeing how everything has effected Louise. As always thanks to my readers and reviewers. I know I sound like a broken record and I say it every chapter but honestly it's the few reviews I get on each chapter that keep me going, even if it's only one or two. (Hint hint R&R please). Anyway that's enough shameless begging for reviews for now, hope you enjoyed it, even if it was a bit brutal.

Also did anyone else suffer problems with the document manager recently? This chapter has been sitting on my computer for two days now because I couldn't upload it. No, I'm not bitter. Grrrrrr.