"Jack…" Elizabeth ambled over to where Jack was sitting on the beach. She sank down beside him, and he handed her the half-empty bottle of red wine. She gladly accepted and sipped from it, and she told him, "I've been thinking about what you said. That no good could come of what happened. I think you're right. I think we need to actually try to get off of this island."
"Oh, you do, do you?" Jack snatched the bottle of wine back from her. "And how do you propose that we try to get off of this island, young Miss Swann?"
She hesitated, and then said meekly, "Build a raft?"
"A raft," repeated Jack, narrowing his eyes at her. Elizabeth jabbed her finger back at all the crates Jack had dragged ashore, along with the barrels and the supplies, and she pointed out,
"We have food and water. We've got barrels for buoyancy. We've got crates to make the structure of the raft. Hammocks of rope to lash it all together."
Suddenly a look of realisation crossed Jack's face, and he nodded a little.
"We'll probably die," he said plainly. "We will almost certainly die out there beyond the breakers, once the waves get big. But one thing's for certain. If we stay on this island, we'll never get rescued, and that's bad."
"Is it, though?" Now Elizabeth was waffling again, and she gulped as she reached to hold his face. "Is it so very bad if we never get rescued."
He smirked at her and shook his head slowly. "Can't stay forever, love."
"No?" Elizabeth tried to breathe, but all she could do was remember the way it had felt to have him inside of her. She blinked a few times and whispered, "I would like to stay forever."
"Norrington's waiting for you," Jack said firmly. "Will's out there somewhere. Waiting for you."
"Will." Elizabeth had almost entirely forgotten about him and how desperately he needed saving. Was Will still alive, she wondered distantly? She eyed the crates behind Jack and asked him, "So, do we build a raft and take our chances of drowning, Captain Sparrow? Would you like to be the captain of our humble little raft?"
He laughed a little and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Only if you'll be my first mate, Lizzie."
She grinned. "Of course. And when we inevitably drown, we'll go down with our ship."
"Here's to heroic ends for those who were never heroes." Jack held up his bottle of wine and pretended to toast. "Here's to ships built of crates and hammocks, crewed by marooners and certain to wind up in Davy Jones' Locker."
Elizabeth took the bottle of wine from him and held it aloft.
"Here's to invisible islands that send pirates scavenging the ocean for the Royal Navy itself," she said. Then her voice grew serious, and she said, "Here's to rainy nights in palm-frond shelters."
"I'll drink to that," said Jack, taking back the wine and swigging. Elizabeth drank deeply after him, and he confirmed,
"Yes, Elizabeth. We're going to build a raft."
It took them five hours to build the raft, and by the time they'd finished, the sun was down and they were working by the light of the fire. They would push off from the island in the morning, Jack said. He tried in vain to convince Elizabeth to go naked and let him use her underdress as a makeshift sail, but Elizabeth refused. He would be using far too much guesswork to construct a sail, she told him, and she'd be left with no clothes if they were lucky enough to encounter a ship. Jack offered her his clothes and said he'd go naked, but Elizabeth said they were going to die no matter what, and that they didn't need a sail. She was probably right, Jack said. The currents would take them where they would.
By the time the raft was finished, it was rather an impressive craft. They'd emptied the fresh water into poured-out rum and wine bottles (Jack hated to see the liquor go to waste, but it made the most sense) so that they could use the empty barrels as a catamaran-like flotation system. The barrels were lashed beneath a large square constructed of panels of crates, which they tied together using a dismantled hammock. They did put a rudder on the raft to try and steer it as best they could, which they made using five layers of palm bark. Jack attached rope from the hammock to the rudder to make a rudimentary steering system. They lashed food and water to the 'deck' of the raft with ever more rope, and then at last Jack said,
"Well, if we are ever going to escape this place, this is how we'll do it."
Elizabeth stared at him in the glow of the firelight and took a few steps toward him. She cupped his jaws in her hands and kissed him hard, and when he started to kiss her back, his hands went to her waist.
"Jack," she said urgently against his mouth, "We're either going to die or we're both going to lose our freedom forever. Whatever happens, beginning tomorrow, this is all over. This bliss I've found here with you on this island is all over starting tomorrow morning. So, please, Jack… show me one more time."
He knew what she meant. The two of them slowly started stripping off clothes, one piece at a time. Elizabeth was hungry when she saw Jack naked, and she could sense the want radiating off of him. This time, when he took her body, he was just as insistent as she'd been talking to him. He plundered her from behind, pounding into her body rather roughly until Elizabeth finished with a desperate moan. He flipped her over onto her back and put her ankles on his shoulders, and she was shocked by how deeply he could penetrate her that way. He thudded into her body for a long while, his face contorting and bending with need, until at last he yanked himself out of her and mumbled something about her being very beautiful as he came on the sand.
Elizabeth lay there on the warm beach, naked as the day she'd been born, feeling the heat from the fire and wanting nothing more in all the world than to spend forever alone with Jack Sparrow. But he was right. Something was wrong. There was something nefarious in the way that ship had passed so closely by them, close enough for Jack to swim out and shout to the men aboard her, and yet ignore them whilst throwing them supplies. That was beyond strange. And it was a sign that they had to at least try… no matter how much it tore at Elizabeth's heart to do so… to escape the island once and for all.
"Hold on, Lizzie!" Jack called to Elizabeth as they made their way beyond the reef. The waves were really picking up now, and Elizabeth gripped onto the slats in the crate as their tied-down food and water supplies creaked against the ropes. She stared back over her shoulder as Jack steered the rudder of the raft to aim them out to open water.
Suddenly there was a soft thud in the air, and Elizabeth demanded of Jack in a shout,
"What was that?"
"I believe that was our little curse," Jack called back, his dark eyes serious. "We've cleared it now, it would seem."
Elizabeth stared back behind Jack and saw the island, but she couldn't see any of the evidence that they'd been there. The beach where their fire had been set up looked bare. She couldn't see her shelter. The island looked undisturbed and uninhabited. So how had the crew of that merchant vessel known to throw…
"They'd been marooned there themselves," Elizabeth said to herself in realisation. "They couldn't see or hear us, but they figured someone was there. Maybe it was even them that started the curse."
"What?" Jack cried, and Elizabeth just shook her head, starting to feel a bit seasick.
"Nothing."
For hours and hours they made their way along a current away from the island, which rather terrified Elizabeth. If they wrecked, they'd have crates as flotsam upon which to cling. Soon enough they were so far out that they couldn't see land. They were just floating along the swells, which was a nauseating sensation. Elizabeth retched over the side of the raft at one point, and Jack insisted,
"Eat some of that salted meat. It'll help with the nausea."
"I just ate this morning. I want to save it." Elizabeth wiped her lips and resolved not to become a problem. She asked Jack determinedly, "How can I help?"
"You can help by resting now so we can take turns at this rudder," Jack told her, and Elizabeth nodded. She curled up on the crates, shutting her eyes and trying her best to relax under the circumstances. Somehow, rather miraculously, about a half hour after she shut her eyes, under the heat of the sun and with the rocking of the waves, sleep came.
They did wind up taking turns at the rudder… for five days. They also wound up taking turns relieving themselves right in front of each other, discreetly turning away as the other one used the ocean as a privy. They also shared the food and fresh water, but by the sixth day, the water was running low, and Elizabeth worried aloud to Jack,
"We aren't going to drown. We're going to die of thirst."
"We're going to do neither," he replied, pointing his finger beyond her. Elizabeth whirled, and she saw what he was seeing. A ship on the horizon… and not just any ship.
The Dauntless, unmistakable in shape and glory.
"Elizabeth!" cried James Norrington as the longboat was heaved up onto the Dauntless. "God in Heaven have mercy on us all. We thought you were… well, we did not think you had made it, Miss Swann."
Elizabeth nodded her gratitude to the sailor who wrapped a red jacket around her out of decency. She'd almost forgotten that she'd been wearing nothing but an entirely indecent underdress for so long. She put her arms through the jacket and wrapped it tightly round her, and she said to James,
"Captain Sparrow saved my life. In more ways than one. He kept me alive on that island. He built me a shelter. He helped me use coconuts for food and water. He speared fish to feed us. Using supplies that drifted ashore, he constructed the raft on which you found us, and he sailed it safely for six days. He is my saviour, my hero, and I beg you treat him civilly."
She glared at the men who had Jack's arms clasped in their hands, at the sailor who was aiming a rifle at him, and then she stared at James.
"I beg you. He is the only reason I am alive, Commodore."
James Norrington nodded to the men holding Jack. They slowly released him, and the man with the rifle lowered it. James approached Jack and slowly extended a hand.
"I suppose I owe you my thanks once again," he said. "It seems you are constantly in rescue of Miss Swann."
Jack touched James' hand and moved his fingers against his a little. He flashed a sad little smile and said in an uncharacteristically serious voice,
"You take very good care of her, boy, you hear me?"
James frowned a bit and flicked his eyes between Jack and Elizabeth. Realisation seemed to settle over him, and he tipped his chin up as he said,
"As soon as we're back in Port Royal, Elizabeth, we can begin planning our wedding. I look forward to that."
"What about Will?" asked Elizabeth. "Will Turner? He's still… a captive."
"I can not go about chasing down pirates to rescue blacksmiths," said James Norrington gravely. "My mission was to find you alive, Elizabeth, and that I have done with admittedly shocking success."
He turned to walk away, and Elizabeth watched as Jack was taken hold of again.
"Wait!" she cried out, and James turned round slowly. He raised his eyebrows expectantly. Elizabeth plucked up her courage, stared at Jack, and then said to James,
"If you want there to be any wedding, I insist upon a full pardon for Captain Sparrow."
James was silent for a long moment. He finally scratched at his wig a little and slowly approached Elizabeth. He lowered his voice and said,
"I can not do that. He is a known pirate. I can not simply -"
"Then I am afraid I shall have to rescind my acceptance of your proposal to marriage, Commodore," Elizabeth raised her eyes straight up to James', and he cleared his throat slightly.
"I shall see what I can do when we arrive back in Port Royal," he said through clenched teeth. "For now, he stays in the brig."
"No." Elizabeth shook her head and left it at that. James tipped his head and wet his lip with his tongue in confusion.
"Elizabeth, what did that man do to you on that island?"
"He saved me," she said, "time and time again. So now I will return the favour. I will gladly be your wife, Commodore. But he goes free, starting now."
James' cheeks went red as he looked round; Elizabeth was embarrassing him on the deck of his own ship. He finally barked,
"Give… Captain… Sparrow a hammock and leave him in peace. This is my command."
Jack wrenched his arms out of the hold of the two men who had been latched onto him, and he smirked as he sauntered away. He glanced over his shoulder at Elizabeth, nodded gratefully to her, and winked. The deck began to clear as sailors went back to their duties, leaving James and Elizabeth standing alone. He stared down at her and asked gently,
"Did he touch you?"
"Would you forsake me if he had?" Elizabeth replied. James just shut his eyes, looking peaky all of a sudden. His throat bobbed, and he murmured,
"I should very much like to have you for my wife, Elizabeth. I will pardon him in Port Royal. And then I do sincerely hope that the two of you will never see one another again."
"Right." Elizabeth just nodded. James shifted on his feet, and he finally asked,
"How did you manage not to starve on that island?"
She smirked a little and shrugged. "Barracuda," she said, and she brushed past James in search of water.
Author's Note: So, they're on their way back to civilization. Surely James won't get his way about them never seeing each other again, right? After all, these two still have a Will to rescue. ;) I do so appreciate your readership, but the previous chapter had essentially no feedback despite many people reading. I would be really grateful if you could take a quick second and let me know what you think of the story so far. Thank you!