4. Not Enough Rum
Where Jack's feet always felt so awkward on land, he felt instantly at home the moment he set foot on the Pearl. How many times did he set a deal to raise this ship from the briny deep, just to walk her decks and steer her helm one more time?
"Good work, men," he said happily, elated to be free and on his beloved ship. "I knew you all would come through. Extra ration of rum tonight."
The crew looked around at each other, curious as to what exactly they'd done to deserve such merit. Hadn't it been Elizabeth who'd gone ashore to break him free? It was Gibbs who finally spoke up. "Ah, Captain…it was Elizabeth who broke us out of the jail at Port Royale, and stole the Commodore's seal ring, and forged that letter, and led us here to the Island of Lost Souls."
Jack looked at Gibbs, perturbed, and glanced to Elizabeth. She stood slightly off to his side, looking pointedly annoyed with him. "Oh," he simply said, and headed for his cabin.
"Do we have a heading, Captain?" Gibbs shouted after him.
"Ah, yes… take us away….to…" as he spoke Jack felt around his effects, presumably searching for his compass, which was not to be found. "Ah…Tortuga, then. Yes, Tortuga." He then continued to his cabin, and disappeared inside.
Entirely used to the Captain's erratic behavior, the crew just shrugged, and went to work. Going to the pirate port of Tortuga didn't sound bad at all to them.
A roar emitted from the inside of the Captain's cabin surprised everyone. "Who's been living in my cabin and moving about my things?"
The crew looked to Elizabeth on that one. She'd been the one brave enough to take up residence; they all knew how finicky Jack could get about his things on his person, and in his cabin. With a shrug, she walked to the cabin, letting herself in to the dimly lit room and closing the door.
"I'm afraid the culprit you're looking for is me."
Jack looked to Elizabeth, seemingly surprised to see her standing in his room. "Oh…well then…the only crime here is that I didn't get to share the bed with you."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but had expected some form of quip like that. Jack walked about the room, inspecting, assuring that most was as he'd left it. Elizabeth hadn't rifled through his things, only added a few of her own on the table, some books and such. As he made his rounds, she noticed Jack seemed to be undressing, removing his sash, sword belt, and vest, setting them on the table. "What are you doing?" she finally asked, as his long fingers moved to the buttons of his shirt.
"It's my cabin, ain't it? Can't a man take off his shirt if he wants on his own ship? Women…" he grumbled, walking back to the window. Greatly alarmed, Elizabeth noted the angry red stain of blood on the back of his white shirt.
"My God, Jack. You're¾" She was struck dumb by the next sight before her. His shirt peeled away slowly and painfully to reveal swollen red gashes crisscrossing Jack's back, only partly healed. The mark of the lash.
"New prisoners get special treatment, love. Something new for my collection," he remarked with a grimace.
"You're back is a bloody mess, Jack. I'm going to get some hot water from the galley to clean you up."
Jack watched her go, jumping immediately to tend to his wounds. It pleased him in a way that she cared, though he knew the actual cleaning would be no pleasurable experience.
"I'm so sorry they did this to you, Jack," said Elizabeth, trying to clean the wounds as gently as she possibly could. It was a miracle the gashes had healed at all in that awful, dirty jail cell, and weren't infected beyond repair.
"Now why would you be sorry, love?" asked Jack, wincing. "Feel a trace bit guilty about the whole business, do ya?"
She paused, frowning at the back of Jack's dreadlocked head. "Are you implying it was my fault you were imprisoned?" Did she feel a little guilty, she asked herself? After all, Jack had returned to offer her a way out from a life he knew would eventually drive her mad with boredom. Although she knew she really had nothing to do with their capture, (somewhere along the line, the pirates had been careless) she still felt a twinge here and there.
"No love, I know you hadn't a hand nor hair in it. But I bet that pretty little head of yours felt somethin' awful about it anyways, though. Either that, or you rescued me because you just can't get me out of you head, seein' as irresistible as I seem to be to the female creature."
Elizabeth tossed down the rag, it landed with a wet slap on the tabletop. "You're insufferable!" she exclaimed. "You haven't even properly thanked me for saving you from that awful place, a feat of which was entirely dreamed up by MY pretty head. I stole the keys in Port Royale to break out the crew, I stole Norrington's seal ring, I distracted the port guards, I wrote the damn letter and knocked out the guard to break you out from that cell¾"
Jack rose from his chair to stand in front of Elizabeth. He was careful not to touch her, but leaned over her on the table, taking her utterly by surprise. The pain burned on his back, but for the moment he ignored it. "And just how would you like me to express my gratitude, love?" he whispered in her ear. Elizabeth froze, fighting not to enjoy his half-bare body so very near hers, or to think of how close his lips hovered to her ear and neck. That infuriating mouth had confused her emotions for far too long, driving a wedge between she and Will, until she no longer knew what she wanted in life.
"The simple words will do," she answered, breathing in his exotic scent.
"Well then, I thank you kindly," he breathed against her skin. Not able to resist being so close and not tasting her, he planted a gentle kiss at the base of her ear.
Hiding the slight tremble she felt deep in her bones from Jack's touch, she placed three fingers lightly on the flat plane of his chest, pressing against the hard muscle until he sat down in his chair again. He stared up at her, that infuriating smirk in place.
"And what of the Eunuch? Aren't you still his bonny lass? Married by now, I would expect."
Jack tried to shift nonchalantly in the chair, but hissed in pain as his back touched the wood, and quickly sat up again. Elizabeth smiled bitterly, and went back to cleaning the pirate's bloody wounds.
"Actually, no. Turns out I decided to free the crew a week before our wedding to be. I doubt he would have me now."
"And just what made you decide to do that? Wreck your wedding for a bunch of pirates? What kind of proper lass are you?" Jack already knew the answer. Elizabeth possessed a far stronger soul than Will could ever hope to keep tied down.
"When I devised a plan to free you, Will wanted nothing of it. He even forbade me from coming, so I left that night alone, freed Gibbs and the rest of the crew, and took the Pearl back. You know the rest."
Jack laughed happily. I always knew you had a good pirate in you, love. What did I tell you about curiosity?"
"So now I'm a good pirate?" she teased. "My edges no longer need roughing?"
"Mmm," said Jack through pursed lips. "I did promise to rough your edges a bit, now didn't I, love?" he mused, fingering the hem of Elizabeth's shirt. Before he could cause much more mischief with her body's hormones, she slapped his hand away.
"Captain Sparrow, I don't think I can allow the kind of 'roughing' you seem to be referring to."
The Captain smiled, but it more closely resembled a baring of teeth. "Play hard to get all you want, but here's a looksie at our situation through mine eyes. You left your dotting fiance to rescue the infamous pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, makin' yer own self a wanted woman for Her Majesty's gallows. Said pirate who likes you enough to have even once proposed marriage hisself, and now he sees you abandoning your old stuffy life to sail the high seas on his ship…how would that look to you?"
"Utterly insane," Elizabeth muttered under her breath. "I will point out that your previous proposal of marriage was rather soaked in rum. And I haven't decided to sail with you indefinitely. You seem to be incapable of holding on to a ship for a long term amount of time. I have no doubt the same goes for women."
Jack waved one long finger at Elizabeth. "Live for the moment, love, always my motto. Just because the proposal was rum-soaked doesn't mean it wasn't genuine. The best things of my life have always happened to me under the influence of rum. And besides, I'm privy to information you're far too stubborn or scared to admit."
Elizabeth crossed her arms. "And what would that be?"
Jack quirked his head, smile entirely smug. "That in your most secret heart of hearts, down deeper in your soul than the heart of the sea herself, you want me."
He expected the lass to throw another delicious fit, but much to his surprise, she stared at him cooly. "So, Captain, am I to understand you're proposing to me?"
Not the reaction he wanted.
Much pleased, Elizabeth watched Jack shift uneasily in his chair. He obviously hadn't had enough rum yet tonight. "Why bother?" he asked quickly. "You'll only say no." Jack decided to change the subject to something a bit safer, but less fun. "And just how was it you found your way to said secretive island? I do seem to be missing a bit of my prized effects…"
"You mean this?" she asked, pulling the compass from inside her vest.
"That be the one," said Jack, reaching for it. But Elizabeth was too quick for the injured Captain, and squirreled it away in her vest once again.
'Ah, ah," she scolded.
"Come on now, love. Give me back my compass."
"What was it you seemed to take such delight in before? Ah yes. Persuade me."
"It's mine," he grumbled, feeling a familiarity about the situation, but not liking the end he stood on this time.
"Just roughing those pirate edges…" she mused, going back to cleaning his wounds.
Pirate indeed, Jack thought, wincing as she cleaned another lash mark.