Chapter 5
The crew managed to get Jack and Will back aboard Will's ship and carried the young captain gently into his cabin. Gibbs ordered needle and thread to be brought so that Will's wound could be stitched and got Jack to hold a leather strap for Will to bite on.
Anamaria stitched Will up who bit down hard on the strap but made little sound as she worked though Jack guessed he would need plenty of rum when she was done and he was right. Will grabbed a bottle and downed a good deal of the fiery liquid as soon as he could. Anamaria left and Will studied Jack.
"Why did you do it Jack?"
"Do what?" Jack said managing to look innocent.
"Why did you swing over when I was injured? The crew would have dealt with it fine."
"Aye I know." Jack said quietly his innocent look vanishing to be replaced by a pained one. "I just couldn't stand the thought of ye dying mate."
"It was only my shoulder Jack, hardly life-threatening."
Jack said nothing but stared at a knot in the wood floor of the cabin that had suddenly become fascinating to him.
"Jack?" Will pressed the older pirate.
"Okay if ye want the truth, me compass keeps pointing to ye."
"It does?" Will said the enormity of what he had just said not fully sinking into the younger man's mind immediately.
"Aye it does and me compass never lies mate."
Will realised that Jack was looking at him intently and there was no smirk dancing round his lips as there usually was.
"So the one thing you want most in the world…"
"Is you mate." Jack said softly and came to sit beside Will on the bed.
"I been lyin' to meself ever since it first did it just before we set sail to find the Pearl." He said and Will knew he was telling the truth.
"And the heading we've been following?"
"Ah, I lied Will, I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"I didn't want ye ta know and ta be honest – for once – I didn't know meself what ta make of it."
"I'll be honest with you now Jack." Will said a feeling of warmth and hope bubbling up inside of him. "When I opened the compass it pointed to you and that was after we returned to Tortuga."
"It did?"
"Aye it did and that's why I gave it to you. I had no idea it was pointing to me."
"It seems you are the thing I want most in the world young Turner."
"Captain Turner." Will corrected him grinning.
"Ye don't mind?" Jack said an enormous sense of relief washing over him.
"No I realised how much I wanted you a few days ago but couldn't bring myself to tell you so I avoided you as much as possible."
"Ah I did wonder about that. Ta tell ye the truth my arm round ye in the mornings wasn't entirely an accident."
Will smiled and held out his good arm.
"My turn then Captain Jack." He said and jack lay down and rested his head on Will's chest.
"Well with ye arm and me leg we make a fine pair of captains!" he said and Will laughed out loud.
"Aye captain we do that!"
"Well now that we 'ave confessed, maybe this blasted compass will get us to the Pearl." Jack said and opened it.
For the first time in a week, the compass didn't point straight to Will, instead it pointed in a completely new direction.
"Captain William, I believe we have our heading." Jack said happily and made to hobble to the door to shout it to someone.
"Hold it Jack before you do that there's something I want to do." Will said grabbing Jack's torn shirt and drawing him towards him.
Electric shocks ran through them both as their lips met for the first time and it felt so good to them.
They finally parted when their lungs began to protest panting and feeling more than a little flushed.
"We'll have to postpone too much activity until these 'ere wounds heal." Jack said when they could breathe properly again. Will chuckled and nodded.
"Never mind." He said winking. "There's plenty of other stuff we can do."
Jack grinned and reluctantly left the bed grabbing his crutches and making his way to the door.
"Gibbs!" He yelled and the pirate appeared. "Have ye all finished Have ye all finished plunderin' that navy scum ship?"
"Aye cap'n some gunpowder and supplies but not much else ta be had."
"Sink it." Jack said "We have a new heading Gibbs, tell Anamaria to head that way." He pointed to show Gibbs the way they needed to go.
"Aye cap'n. Is cap'n Turner okay?"
"He'll be fine." Jack said and went back into the cabin to see his young soon-to-be-lover.
Gibbs gave Anamaria the heading and after blowing up the navy ship spectacularly, they sailed off in that direction.
Will and Jack drank rum well into the night finally falling asleep in each other's arms happy and content that they had both managed to tell each other how they really felt.
Fortunately Will's arm was not too badly damaged and a few days later he was flexing it and discovering that he would probably be able to use it if he was careful. He was glad as he was going to need to fight when they finally caught up with the Pearl.
Jack's leg seemed to be healing well too and he was hobbling about on his crutches more even taking the helm on occasions until his leg got too painful and he handed it over to Will or Anamaria.
The more time he spent with Will the more impressed he was with his skills as captain of a ship. Yes Will definitely deserved his title. He treated the crew well much as Jack himself did. He might be the most feared pirate in the Caribbean but he cared about his crew and always made sure they had their fair share of everything after taking what he wanted for himself of course.
Jack was looking forwards to sailing alongside Will when they recovered his ship. They would be a formidable team he knew and become even more feared among sailors. He told Will as much and they toasted the future together.
They still had not got to know each other in that most intimate way that lovers share but Will had told Jack he wanted his leg to heal fully before they did.
"Don't worry Jack I'm not going anywhere." Will had grinned when he saw Jack's look of obvious disappointment.
"I know but I want ye now." Jack had said and Will agreed but didn't want to risk damage or pain to Jack so he shook his head.
"I promise the time of your life when the 'opportune moment' arises." He said and winked at Jack who laughed.
"Okay I'll try and contain meself till then William."
Truth was, Will was having problems containing his own desire to leap on Jack but knew he should wait.
"Not long Jack I promise but don't go trying to make it heal faster than it should." He warned and the older pirate nodded meekly.
"Aye aye cap'n."
"There's a good pirate." Will teased.
"Watch it whelp." Jack warned good-naturedly but his grin gave him away.
"Or you'll do what?"
"This…" Jack said and pulled Will in for a steamy kiss.
A shout from outside stopped them.
"Ship ahoy!"
Will left Jack and ran up to the helm. He opened his spyglass and saw to his great relief that the ship in question was the Black Pearl.
"Finally." He murmured. "Ready the guns, prepare for battle!" He shouted to the crew and ran down to his cabin to tell Jack the good news.
Finally the pirate would have his precious ship back and Will was glad.
TBC…