1Hello! I know it's been a long time, but here it is. I was suffering from an awful case of writers block. But thankfully I think I'm out of my funk. So comment back and tell me if you liked it or not! Alonefreehearted: I'm glad you're swooning! It makes me smile. Haha keep reading! LadyNightWind: Thank you for the review! Please keep reviewing, it means a lot to me to get some feedback! Gerrylover: I'm glad you like it! I hope you like this chapter too, thanks! And Emiliosloofah: my darling! Johnny and I had a blast in Deadwood, and I love what you've done with the town! It looks wonderful, I hope Emilio loves it like us! Well, I think Johnny wants to visit Sussex, England this time. I have a friend that lives there, she just moved there a couple years ago. Let's hope it's not raining! Thank you for the review, you know I love it! Keep it up, and I'm sorry for the delay! Hugs and kisses to you both from us both.
Here you are- -
Their heads were filled with adventure once again, of the rush of the open water and the smell of the sweetest salt, as they trucked back to the palace. James and the baby walked ahead, pulling leaves off the trees and laughing with each other. Uncle Jim, Isabelle and Jack would teach the boy, he was Uncle Jim. Jack and Isabelle walked behind, taking their time, there was no rush to get back to the city anytime soon, so they talked and held hands and bumped shoulders like they did when they first fell in love with each other. And as they laughed, James stopped in front of them, freezing like the Earth he was standing on had sucked all the energy out of him right there. Isabelle walked up to him.
"James?" she asked sweetly, looking down to his leg where his dark eyes were fixed. "Oh, God," she whispered and took William out of his arms. "Jack!" she called and Jack sauntered up to them with a sway and a wink.
"You called," he said and looked from face to face. "What," he said innocently.
"Big.. Snake," she uttered, and pointed her slender finger down at James' leg. It had taken residence curling itself up his leg and resting it's massive tail on his foot.
"Oh bugger," he said quickly and took a step back instinctively.
"Jack! Don't just look at it, you're the one who knows about all the animals that could possibly be on the planet!" she seethed, and held William on her hip away from James and Jack.
"Alright, alright," he said waving his hands at her. He cocked his head at the brute and took a deep breath remembering something his father once taught him. "Red next to yellow.." he started and blinked, looking the snake over. "Is a deadly fellow." The stripes were not red and yellow and if they were in some parts, they weren't next to each other. "Well, splendid," he said sarcastically under his breath. He took another look and smiled. "Red next to black.." he said as he raised himself up from his knees and looked at Isabelle, winking. "Is a friend of Jack," he said and grabbed a stick, taunting the snake's tail until it slowly unwound enough for Jack to grab it's tail with the utmost care and slowly lure it away from James' leg.
The crew watched in awe as Jack handled the creature like it was part of his family, talking to it and cooing it away from James. "I know he looks tasty," he would say and then pull on the snake a little bit so it would slither down the leg like a giant loop. "But he's not, he's quite disgusting," Jack hissed and the snake would come down a little more. "Come, come now pet," he said softly and traced his hand up the snakes long body until he reached the head, where he then pressed his thumb down hard and his index finger underneath so it couldn't hurt anyone. "Ah ha!" he yelled in victory. "I'm the Captain, savvy?" he asked the snake and made it face him, he, now unshaken by the snake, spoke in it's face and smiled like the pirate he was. "And no one gets to scare Jimmy but me, agreed?" he said and laughed when the snake stuck it's pink tongue out at him. "I'll take that as a yes," he said and smiled, walking a little way out into the jungle and letting the snake down, jumping back when it took off in the opposite direction he was standing in.
Everyone cheered him when he walked back into the clearing where James still stood dumbfounded. "Ay, Jack! Bloody brilliant!" someone shouted and Jack took a suave bow, just like he used to when he teased Isabelle.
"That's how it's done, mates," he said and took up his place next to Isabelle, scooping up William from her arms and kissing his cheeks.
Back at the palace everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Jack quickly side stepped a man carrying a bundle of sheets and watched him run down the hallway. "God dammit, Jack! Elizabeth's going into labor!" she shouted and ran down the hallway to the Turner's room and found Elizabeth on the bed, sweating and swearing at Will, claiming this was all his fault and she would never forgive him. "Elizabeth," Isabelle said gently and walked up next to her.
"And you! Where in the bloody hell have you been!" she screeched.
"Oh.. Hell," Isabelle said under her breath. "You look great," she said and smiled when Elizabeth's eyes shot daggers at her. "Well what are you going to name it if it's a boy?" she asked holding Elizabeth's hand in hers. That was a mistake, she lost feeling in 20 seconds.
"Aiden," she said through her teeth. Isabelle nodded and smiled.
"Lovely name," she said casually and watched as the doctors grabbed hold of the baby's head. "And a girl:"
"Elliot," she said dangerously and screamed as she gave one last push.
"Thank God," Isabelle said as Elizabeth's grip on her hand weakened. She rounded the bed quickly and watched as the doctors wrapped the baby girl in a girl in a blanket and handed her over. "It's a girl," she said softly and looked into Elizabeth's baby's face as she walked over to Elizabeth still lying in the bed, the breath torn out of her and sweating.
"Really?" She said through tears.
"Really, really," Isabelle said laughing as she handed Elizabeth the baby.
"Hello there, Elliot," she said softly. "I'm Mom," she said and then looked up at Isabelle after she said it, her eyes filled with tears and hope and excitement. "She's beautiful," she said and kissed Elliot on the nose. "Mom sounds so funny," she said and held the baby close to her chest.
"She's early, a couple weeks," Isabelle said and patted Elizabeth on the back as she hopped up and opened the door to Jack and Will. Will came tumbling in and sat down next to Elizabeth and smiled up at Jack.
"I have a daughter," he said in his soft, British accent, his eyes smiling along with his mouth.
"Congratulations, whelp, Lizzy," he said happily and kissed Elizabeth on the forehead and squeezing Will's arm. "We'll give you two your," he paused and swung his hands back and forth in the air, "Space," he said and smiled at the little girl looking up at him with honey eyes just like her mother's. "Welcome, little Liz, you're just as pretty as your mom," he said sweetly before walking out of the room with Isabelle.
Jack and Isabelle made sure Gibbs was alright watching William and they made their way toward a beach hand in hand, smiling and laughing with each other. They walked through the forests, listening to the stones and leaves crunching under their feet and the trickling of water as they passed a spring. When they broke out of the forest and their feet sunk into the white sands, they slowed their walking and leaned into each other. Jack held her close to him like she was going to disappear and as they walked, they got closer to an old dock and the last part of the city that they could see ended where the beach ended just a few more yards up. Jack, being the nautical man, wanted desperately to explore the beach and they raced each other over to the broken and jumbled remains of a very old pier. The wood had rotted and bits were falling off and getting washed away into the ocean. They suspected no one remembered it was there anymore.
As they got closer, they saw little footprints leading to the other side of the pier and Jack furrowed his brow. "Now, who would want to play around an old piece of wood," he said and smiled as he rounded the corner, thinking he would see one of the familiar faces of the kids he often played with and kept entertained while their parents were in a meeting. But what he saw instead was a little blonde haired girl standing on the beach with her feet sunk in the sand up to her ankles. She wasn't more than 4 and her little hands came up to her face like she could hide behind them if she needed to. Her long blonde hair whipped her face and got stuck to the corners of her mouth as she smiled at Jack, the innocent smile of a little girl. "Well, what are you doing out here all by yourself , love?" Jack asked kneeling in the wet sand next to her, not minding the crystal blue waves that lapped against his knees. Isabelle rounded the corner and smiled at the little girl.
"Hello, gorgeous," she said softly, her Spanish accent making the word sound funny and the corners of the little girls lips curled and she looked at Isabelle with adoring eyes. "What are you doing out here," she asked and walked next to Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"My daddy, he was supposed to come back," she said looking down at Jack's hands that were crossed over his knees.
"Well sweetie, how long has he been gone?" Isabelle asked her. The little girl sighed and looked up at Isabelle with her sweet dark eyes and her small rosy lips.
"A long time." Jack furrowed his brow and smiled so it didn't seem like he knew what was going on.
"And was your papa a sailor?" he asked her gently, smiling at her, catching her attention with his gold teeth. Her eyes lit up and she smiled.
"Yea!" she said excitedly. "Are you a sailor too?" she asked and patted Jack on the hand.
"Yes," Jack said and smiled at her once again. She was so smart and so innocent that Jack didn't have the heart to tell her he was a pirate, besides, she was a little girl, she wouldn't know the difference. She took her eyes off Jack's hands and looked over the wide water like she could make her father's ship appear.
"My sister says that mommy gave up a long time ago," she said and kept right on searching the endless horizon. "I don't know where she went either. I don't know," she said sweetly, lifting her arms up with her palms facing the heavens and smiled, her pearly teeth showing for the first time. Isabelle felt her eyes stinging with tears and she smiled beside herself.
"Oh, well maybe she's at home," Isabelle said and kneeled next to Jack. The little girl's eyes moved back to Jack's hands and her pearly teeth disappeared.
"She's never home," she said furrowing her little eyebrows. "My sister said they're in a better place now," she said and sighed. "But when I asked if we could go, she said not for a very long time." The little girl's eyes went from Jack's hands back to the sea and she pursed her lips as she searched for something that would never come. A cool breeze blew and the little girls curly blonde hair whipped around her small body and Isabelle's black hair fought and won its battle with its pins. Jack stayed kneeling even though he wished he could take the little girl in his arms and hold her tight, and make everything seem like a bad dream, and be the father she didn't have, but had, and would never see again.
"Well, we'll walk you back home," Isabelle said and held her hand out for the little girl to take. She smiled, thrilled that such a pretty woman would want to hold her hand, and took her hand like Isabelle was her mother. "Come, come now, darling, we'll take you home tonight," Isabelle said softly and held the little girl's hand tightly, trying to take some of the pain she didn't understand away. Jack rose from his knees and the little girl stretched out her arm to him, her fingers spread wide in invitation. Jack smiled at the girl and grasped her hand in his own, marveling at how tiny it felt in his hand.
The Sparrows lifted the girl up by her hands when there was a log or a drop and the swung her back and forth, listening to the sweet sound of her childish laughter, and it reminded Isabelle of her baby boy back home at the palace. But he was safe back at home. But this little girl, was she safe? What happened to her mother? How did her father die? Who was she with? As they got closer to the house, the little girl grew tired and stopped swinging in their hands and squealing with laughter. "What's the matter?" Isabelle asked sweetly.
"I'm tired," she said softly and kept walking. Jack released her hand and bent down holding his hands out to her and she took a step into his body and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up into the air, holding her close so she wouldn't fall, and she rested her tiny arms around his neck.
"Can you point to your house?" Isabelle said gently, rubbing her back. She nodded against Jack's shoulders and turned around, pointing at an old brown house with the lights on in the window. "Okay," Isabelle said and the girl rested her head against Jack's shoulder.
It took them some time to get there, and Jack felt the girl fall asleep against him and he smiled, maybe she was safer than he thought. They knocked on the door and a police man answered, taking in the well dressed couple before him and the little blonde haired girl in their arms. Unusual because they were both very dark. "May I help you?" he asked and looked them over.
"Yes," Jack said before Isabelle could say anything. "What's going on?" He asked and the police man ushered them inside. Once they were inside, Jack's expression changed. The floor was dirty, the food was molding, the air was stale and the beds were not clean enough for a little girl to fall asleep on every night. The home was falling apart from floor to ceiling and it scared him. "Why are you here?" Jack asked, sounding as polite as he could to the man in uniform. He never liked men in uniform, they were always trying to physically harm him in some way, shape, or form. The man sat down on one of the beds and held his face in his hands.
"This house, was run by a 16 year old. And the only reason we didn't arrest her and take her in to care was because of that little one and the tragedies they had suffered. But now, that one is alone." Isabelle shook her head and walked up to the man.
"What do you mean alone? What happened tonight?" she asked him, putting a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Mary, the sister, was walking home from work, I presume, and she was murdered in an alley, one of my men found her an hour ago. I thought she was alone in this house, but I suppose not," he said and rubbed his tired eyes. "Since Mary and Katherine have no family, I don't know whose going to hold the service." The man sighed. "We're burying her tonight and this little one will have to go into foster." He got up from his seat on the bed. "I was just waiting for her," he said moving toward Jack. Jack backed away and smiled, his brain was working and Isabelle stood perplexed. What did he say her name was?
"Mate, sir, I can't let you take her," he said, correcting himself after he started his pirate talking. Isabelle turned around and looked at Jack.
"What is her name again?" she asked. The man sighed.
"Katherine. Katherine Rimes." he said and she paled a little. Katherine was exactly the little girl in her dream. Long blonde hair and dark Spanish eyes, just like hers.
"We have to foster her, she can't live by herself," he said, his voice raising. Jack put a finger up to his lips and shushed the man.
"She's sleeping," he said and smiled at Isabelle. "Isabelle..." he said and Isabelle nodded, her eyes wide and her mouth open in awe. "We'll foster her, we'll take her home," he said.
"I don't.."
"Look, we're taking her home. We'll go to the service so she knows, but we're taking her home," Jack said sternly and the man finally agreed.
"Service is in an hour under the willow, next to her mother," he said and walked out the door.
"Oh, Jack," Isabelle said, tears running down her cheeks. "What would have happened if we hadn't found her?" she asked, her hand rubbing the little girls back.
"I don't know," he said, looking into the face of his new daughter. "It looks like we've got a daughter now too, and William has a sister."
WELL I hope you enjoyed that thoroughly. Let's review so Kate gets her next chapter in quicker than this one! Yeah! Alright, here's your quote!
When you look back at those times we had, I hope you smile. And know that through the good and through the bad, I was on your side when nobody else could hold us down. Don't forget to remember me.
Thanks a bunch ya'll.
Kate(Dessie) 3
