A/N: Here I am again, I hope everyone who reads enjoys this chapter! Don't forget to review afterwards, because they really brighten my day and inspire me to keep updating!
Chapter Seven
A week and a half later Will and Elizabeth were nearing their big day. Nearly everyone in Port Royal seemed to be dealing with a case of nervous and excited anticipation. On this bright morning the Governor of the town and a certain Commodore of the royal navy could be found walking on the fort and discussing the upcoming wedding. "How are you holding up Governor?" Norrington asked as they walked.
"As well as can be expected for the father of the bride I suppose," Governor Swann said. "I am after all, about to give my daughter away, but at least I have the comfort of knowing she will be well cared for."
"Of course, of course," Norrington murmured.
"Oh, how stupid of me!" the Governor cried out suddenly. "You wanted to marry her as well, and here I am blathering on about her marrying someone else!"
'Yes, this is just how I hoped this conversation would go,' Norrington thought to himself sarcastically. "Yes, well, I too am glad she found someone who will make her truly happy and who will care for her," he said, trying to mask his bitterness at where the conversation was going, and also trying to conceal the grief he still felt at having missed out on the possibility of marrying her. "Sparrow is due in about four days isn't he?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes, four days exactly," the Governor confirmed, "He'll attend the wedding rehearsal the day after he gets here, and the next day is the wedding. That is, if he even bothers to show up, a part of me thinks that he won't. You can only trust a pirate as far as you can throw them after all," he added.
"Oh, I think he'll be here," Norrington said quietly, glancing out at the sea.
"Really?" the Governor asked mildly, "Well I suppose you would have more faith in him then some. For my daughter and her fiancé's sake I hope you are right."
For Bill Turner, the last week and a half on the Pearl had been spent recuperating from his fever. You couldn't really say he had completely recovered, and he wasn't really sure he ever would, not all of his strength had returned, and his hacking cough came with more regularity now. For the most part he tried to stay relaxed and rested, but despite that he spent most of his time feeling very tired. Jack reminded him to eat every now and then, but he was never hungry and rarely ate unless the reminder came. At night he broke into sweats but it didn't seem to be fever related, rather it was just another merit of his failing health. As Jack had jokingly said, it was like taking a bath while he slept. Bill had grinned and joked around with Jack when he'd said that, but both knew it wasn't that pleasant and simple.
Jack had announced how things would go down to his crew the previous day. Since he was the only one with a pardon from the Governor the crew would be taking up a temporary residence in Tortuga while he and Bill took the Pearl and headed to Port Royal the next day.
Luckily Bill did not have a reputation as a pirate as it had been many years since he had been out in the open, so he and Jack hoped he could just wear some nice clothes, wash up, and fit in with the crowd without too many questions being asked.
Bootstrap had been in Tortuga once since the night of his fever but most of the time he stayed on the Pearl talking with Jack, who tended to stay with him, keeping him company. His excuse was that the main reason for going into Tortuga was the rum, and he did have plenty of that on the ship.
"Why don't you explain your reasons for not going to Scarlet?" Bill had replied cheekily. She had spotted Jack and Bill in town the last time and had marched over and smacked Jack across his face. Bill had found it hilariously funny, while Jack had maintained that he wasn't sure that he deserved it.
Now the two of them were both sitting in the galley and drinking as usual. They were relatively quiet, each lost in their own thoughts and comfortable with the other's silence. "What's she like Jack?" Bill asked all of a sudden.
"I'm gonna need more than that mate, what's who like?" Jack asked confusedly.
"The woman my son is going to marry," Bill explained. "What is she like?"
"'Liz'beth?" Jack slurred. "Well she's a fiery one, that's for sure," he said with a grin. "Once Barbossa had marooned her and I on an island," Jack started when Bill interrupted him.
"He marooned ye again?" he asked.
"Aye," Jack said sourly, "But in the end I got me ship back."
"Obviously," Bill commented, "So go on with your story," he said, trying to stifle a cough.
"Well she and I spent the night drinking and singing pirate songs but when I woke up in the morning she was burning all the rum!" Jack said, a little more loudly then was necessary as he got caught up in the memory of it all.
"She burned the rum? What the bloody hell for?" Bill asked in shock.
"Said it was for a signal fire," Jack grunted, shaking his head. "I suppose it worked, the Commodore came shortly afterward" he admitted darkly, "Seems a terrible waste though. Anyway once we were on the navy's ship she managed to convince the Commodore to go after Will to save him from Barbossa and his crew of miscreatins."
Bill's stomach lurched uncomfortably when he heard his son's name. "Commodore Norrington is the one that I heard ye helped right?" he asked, trying to get his mind off his son.
"Aye," Jack said, seeming to know why Bill had asked. "I had found the good Commodore in Tortuga, if ye'll believe it."
"What was he doing there?" Bill asked in surprise, "Tortuga is hardly the place ye'd expect to find a guy like him."
"Tell me about it," Jack agreed with a grin. "I found him drinking and getting drunk to boot."
Bill chuckled with humor, "I'm having difficulty imagining a Commodore of the Queen's Royal Navy just having a drink in Tortuga, of all places."
Jack grinned again and said; "Well to make a long story short, when I saw him in the middle of a drunken bar fight I helped him and found out the law in Port Royal was after him. So I helped to clear his name and now he's a Commodore again."
"Never thought I'd live to see the day the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow befriended naval officers," Bill remarked.
"I dunno if ye could call us friends," Jack commented, "I don't think two friends can ever have professions as different as mine and the Commodore's and ever manage a friendship, but it is probably a direct result of my helping him that I have a pardon, however brief it is."
"So when you said in Tortuga that helping him had its benefits you were right," Bill remarked, though he knew his friend could not possibly have known of those benefits before the events had taken place. "Do ye think he'll cause me any problems?" he asked, referring to the Commodore.
"Don't see how he'd have reason to," Jack said thoughtfully. "He won't know who ye are and while he may suspect as long as we don't give him any proof of who, or more specifically, what ye are he won't be able to do anything about it." Bill nodded in thoughtful agreement, but unfortunately the movement seemed to trigger a fresh bout of painful coughing that racked his body. He fumbled in his pocket for his handkerchief and pressed it to his mouth. Once the coughs finally subsided and he was able to sit up straight again he removed the cloth and Jack spotted a flash of bright red on it before Bill managed to fold it over and tuck it in his pocket.
"That's happening much more often now," Jack commented, referring to the blood, as Bill massaged his throat.
"Suppose so," Bill managed to croak out hoarsely. "It's a very unpleasant feeling," he muttered; a rare concession for him as he disliked admitting when things pained him.
However, Jack knew him well and normally could tell when he was in pain anyway. "I imagine it would be," he said now as he poured more rum and passed it to his friend who gratefully drank it to try to soothe his aching throat.
"I'm tired," Bill murmured, staring into his mug. "Always so tired now."
"Ye should rest,' Jack said, although both knew it would very little difference.
"There's only one rest that can help me now," Bill said with a sigh. "I'm not ready for it," he mumbled quietly, a fear he couldn't quite suppress in his dark brown eyes. "I want to see my son and shake his hand. I want to watch him get married and start a life with the woman he loves," he added wistfully.
"And so ye will," Jack said in a calming tone.
"Yes, I will," Bill agreed firmly, some of the fear leaving his eyes. "But meanwhile," he said in a lighter tone, "we have rum!"
"Aye, and as long as we keep it away from yer son's fiancé we should be able to keep it," Jack said and they both laughed. "Cheers mate," Jack said as they clinked their mugs together and drank deeply.
The day progressed without much event until Bill again developed a slight fever in the late evening, it however, did not seem like it was likely to reach the alarming heights of his last one and so while Bill rested Jack decided to make a short trip into Tortuga before the shops closed to get some supplies for the trip to Port Royal the next day.
As he was making his way through a back alley a thug bumped into him and Jack, having pulled this trick himself, could tell instantly that the man was attempting to pickpocket him. "You don't want to be doing that mate," he said, catching the thug's arm.
"Let go of me!" the thug hissed vehemently, taking a swing at Jack's face.
"That's a really bad idea," Jack said calmly, catching his the offending arm that was swinging closer. "I can see yer having a bad day though mate, so why don't ye just get out of here," Jack said, not wanting to bother with such disturbances at the moment. He settled for just giving the thug a strong push away from him.
"Ye probably didn't have nothing good anyway," the thug sneered as he ran off.
Once Jack was back aboard his ship Annamaria spotted him and rushed over. "Thought I'd tell ye I found a place to stay and I won't be on the Pearl tonight so ye won't see me until ye come back after the wedding." Jack nodded and motioning to the stuff in his arms Annamaria said, "How much of that did ye steal and how much did ye actually pay for?"
"Steal is such a strong word," Jack said, evading her question. "I prefer 'borrow' meself."
Annamaria raised her eyebrows, "Right," she drawled sarcastically, "Just like ye 'borrowed' me boat?"
"I had every intention of bringing it back to ye!" Jack said loudly. "Are ye going to hold that one little incident against me forever?"
"Maybe," Annamaria said unconcernedly. "Ye still haven't gotten me a new one."
"Well in all fairness to me I did try to give ye the Interceptor, it really can't be considered my fault that it was blown up," Jack pointed out.
Annamaria shook her head resignedly, giving it up for now, "Try not to do anything to break yer pardon and get arrested," she said over her shoulder as she started walking off the ship.
"Well, only if I'm lucky!" Jack called after her with a grin. Annamaria shook her head but didn't reply and didn't stop walking and in a moment she had disappeared into the darkness of Tortuga.
When Jack entered his cabin he found Bootstrap sitting on his cot and leaning against the wall coughing violently. He had his cloth pressed to his mouth and once he was finished and had tucked it away Jack asked, "Any blood this time?"
"Little bit," Bill answered. "How was Tortuga?"
"Well it was Tortuga," Jack said. "Someone tried to pickpocket me and everything."
"Bet they didn't succeed," Bill commented correctly with a slight grin.
"Course not," Jack agreed. "He tried to bump into me and get in me pockets. It was very clumsily done."
"It is a classic though," Bill said, "Only problem is, old veterans like us can spot it from a mile away."
"Ye can say that again," Jack agreed. At this point Bill's hacking cough returned again and when it eased up there was a faint suggestion of blood creased on his lips, which he wiped off with a shaking hand. He groaned a little, his hand on his throat and Jack said, "That reminds me mate, Annamaria told me that warm water with salt added can help with sore throats. She'd thought ye might want to try it. Reckon it'll help ye any?"
"Aye, couldn't hurt to try it," Bill said hoarsely.
"I'll get ye some then mate," Jack said, already on his way toward the kitchens. When he got back and passed it to Bill he said, "Annamaria says yer supposed to gargle it but not swallow." At this point he also passed along a little bowl to his friend for him to spit it back out in.
Bill nodded and titled his head back to pour some of the salt water in. Jack grimaced in disgust, it couldn't taste good but he supposed the alternative of doing nothing to ease the pain would be worse. As Bill gargled Jack sat at his desk and pulled out his maps. He had already charted out where he was going after Will's wedding. There was an island where it was said the legendary Davey Jones himself had hidden his treasure and Jack intended on finding it if it was indeed there. The loophole of course, was that there was said to be all kinds of curses and enchantments protecting the gold and the island where it rested.
"What are ye looking at?" Bill, who was finished gargling asked, his voice still a little hoarse.
"Dutchman's Island," Jack told him. "Yer throat feel any better?" he asked.
"Aye, a little," Bill said. "Ye wouldn't be thinking of going after the treasure o' Dutchman's Island, would ye?" he asked keenly, remembering the myths surrounding the place.
"Why not?" Jack asked, a glint of adventure in his eyes.
Bill grinned, "Well for one, how about the people who are said to have died trying to get to it, but then, that's never stopped ye before."
"Never stopped ye either mate," Jack reminded him with a wry grin.
"Aye," Bill said softly. "Touché."
Later that night as Bill slept, or doing what passed as sleeping for him nowadays as he fitfully tossed and turned, Jack still studied his maps by the light of a candle. He supposed he should get to sleep as he intended on setting sail by first light, but he wasn't tired. Or at least, he didn't think he could sleep. He sighed and glanced over at Bill, who was coughing even in his sleep, sweat glistening on his brow. Jack fidgeted restlessly in his seat, the cabin was starting to seem too stuffy for him, so he extinguished his candle and made his way to the door in the dark.
The cool air felt wonderfully relaxing and he headed quietly to the helm, with the thought that soon he would be sailing again. He supposed that was why he was so restless; his whole being was looking forward to standing on this very spot and feeling the Pearl move under him as she sailed into the horizon. Jack stood at the helm a little longer, the sight of the gently lapping water and the refreshing breeze working together to relax him even further. Eventually he headed back toward his cabin; finally ready to sleep for a couple hours before he could sail.
"Hoist the sails!" Jack shouted his order to Bill, who had said he was well enough to help Jack get the Black Pearl on her way.
"Aye Captain!" Bill said, falling easily back into his old routine, though it had been many years. 'Once a pirate, always a pirate,' he thought to himself, a faint grin appearing on his lips as he hastened to follow Jack's order.
Once the ship was underway Jack again stood at the helm, this time revealing in the feel of the powerful ship moving under him, and the horizon in the distance and never getting any closer. As his hands caressed the wheel of the ship, he lovingly led her through the waters and on her way, his hair whipping behind his shoulders and his eyes in the distance. "Port Royal, here we come," he murmured softly.
A/N: Don't forget to REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, and I'll love you forever! LOL! I want to know what you think, and the more reviews the sooner I'll update!
