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A/N: I'm planning for this to be quite a short fic, only 2 or 3 chapters. More of a focus on emotion than plot. Hope you enjoy.
1.
"You're being stubborn," said Elizabeth haughtily, crossing her arms. She straddled the chair next to Jack's bed in the cabin of the Black Pearl, watching his motionless form. "After all this, you're just going to take a nap?"
She sighed heavily, laying her tired forehead down on arms folded on the back of the chair. After all this indeed. "We've gone through a lot to get you back, Jack," she said, moving to sit at his bedside. The captain lay so still, only the faintest breath pulled in and out of his chest indicated every now and then that he wasn't exactly dead. But then again, he didn't seem exactly alive either.
Elizabeth felt at a loss for what to do. It seemed that as long as they could find Jack at World's End, get he and the Pearl back, that all the rest would fall into place. Jack would wake up, and all would be well, or at least even. She'd pursued this goal with such a vicious voracity, fueled by such a burning need to return the Captain back to the land of the living. It seemed maybe all her efforts were for naught. Perhaps this was Jack's revenge on her, to not allow a chance at forgiveness for chaining him to the Pearl.
With the tip of one long finger, she gently traced the lines of his face, and wondered if he could feel it at all, wherever he really was. She spoke softly, as though they were having an intimate conversation, even though it felt more like talking to herself. "I told you I wasn't sorry, when I chained you to the mast of the Pearl. Was I a good liar? Did you believe me? Do you hate me for it now?" His face remained slack, peaceful, unanswering. "I think I hate me for it now."
The silence hung heavy in the room. But although it felt as though she were talking to herself, she hoped she really wasn't. She hoped she was helping Jack in some way to come back, giving him a line from the real world to grip, to follow.
"You called me a pirate. I didn't believe you then, but I do now. You wouldn't believe the things I've done, to get you here. If I had any innocence left before this adventure began, any part of the girl I once was, I threw it to the wind. Shattered it into a thousand pieces. Can you imagine, Jack? A governor's daughter, killing a man in cold blood? Killing several? Dead men tell no tales; I did what I knew to be necessary. Can you imagine me seducing a Chinese pirate captain, to steal the charts to World's End in his cabin as he lay sleeping? Now we have a secret, Jack. No one else on this ship knows how I got those charts."
Elizabeth had hoped for some sort of reaction from this, even if it were just a twitch. "Have you nothing to say?" she asked, taking his hand in hers. She felt the cold skin, the calloused fingers and palms, the numerous rings. Many times, she'd thought about how nice it would be, to feel those clever hands on her skin, should they only have the chance once again. "Are you not furious, to know your enemy laid hands on the woman you love, in the most intimate ways? Sao Feng told me of your rivalry. That you two would certainly try to kill each other, if ever faced with the chance again."
Squeezing his hand, she hoped for some sign of life growing in him. She got nothing. "That's another secret we share, Jack. I know you love me." She watched his face, hoping for something. But it remained unmoved by anything she said. Tears began to well in her lovely brown eyes. "I know, because I found your journal. And for the rotten pirate I am, I read it, without shame. Shall I refresh your memory of what you wrote, not days before I killed you?"
Hastily wiping the tears away, she slid off the bed, snatched the leather bound captain's log from the table, and sat down next to Jack again. She turned to the page she'd read countless times over, it wasn't as much of a journal entry as letter, or a list of things he felt for her but couldn't say.
"Lizzie Love, for the rotten pirate I am, let me tell you I'd like nothing more than to kick young Will off this ship, maroon him on an island, and sail away with his fiancee to anywhere we may please. What would you say, I wonder, should I put forth a proper proposal 'fore your pretty little self? You'd laugh at me, I know, maybe even lay a good slap across my cheek. You'd call me a filthy lying pirate, and probably worse. You'd probably laugh at the thought of a scoundrel such as me, hoping to lay me grubby hands on a treasure such as yourself. How could I convince you then, that my dear Lizzie, I would always be nothing but good to you? We're peas in a pod, love, you and I. You're a pirate through and through, and I'll show you what it's like to really be free. You want it, same as you want me. Just wait 'till we're finished with this Davy Jones business, and next it will be your heart I chase across the ocean. Maybe I said my one and only love is the sea, but Lizzie love, you are the sea. You're beautiful and dangerous, wild, unfathomable, and I pity the men who think they can tame you. Luckily, I'm not one of them."
Shutting the journal, Elizabeth ran her fingers over the worn leather cover. Dates indicated he'd kept this journal for years, right up until the Kraken took him to Davy Jones' Locker. There were other entries about her as well: his musings about their first meeting, the way he'd saved her from drowning on the sea floor of the harbor, the wicked thoughts that entered his head when he ripped open her corsette on the dock. Really, it was the first, and not the last time he'd given her a taste of freedom from society's constraints.
Elizabeth thought back on the day she'd forsaken him, chaining him to the mast of the Pearl. She'd thought his earlier marriage proposal had been just a whim, maybe induced by too much rum. Now she wondered if the pirate hadn't thought it out a bit more, even waited for the opportune moment to make his move. He'd known, even anticipated, exactly what she desired in her heart of hearts: freedom, to do as she pleased. She understood the truth of his words now, and scarier yet, understood at least a bit more clearly her own feelings for Captain Sparrow. She knew now that freedom was a dish she wished to taste with him, well and often. She knew her relationship with Will was doomed from the start.
Not that Will talked to her much anymore anyway. She knew he'd witnessed the kiss; even though she'd done it to save all their skins, he wasn't so easily convinced. He insisted he could tell something changed in her, that even if she had coldly condemned Jack to death to save them all, she'd kissed Jack out of her own desire to do so. At the time, she'd been deeply hurt. Now, she knew Will's theory to be utterly accurate, perhaps more so than even he could imagine.
"I can't imagine a world without Captain Jack Sparrow," said Elizabeth quietly, stroking his cheek. "Wake up, Jack. We need you. I need you." She leaned down to lightly kiss his unresponsive lips, willing him to return back to the land of the living. But sheer will didn't seem to be enough, for he still lay motionless, only those shallow breaths disturbing the illusion of death every now and then. Frustrated and feeling powerless against outside forces she had no control of, she rested her head against his chest, and cried.
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