Disclaimer: (Looks around) Shh! I'm hunting for Jack Sparrow! This means he's not mine…yet.
AN: Gerry gets his butt kicked in this chapter, sort of like Lord Beckett did in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, so everyone can be happy for Jack and Rose. Please be kind and leave a review, since this story is coming to an end extremely soon…as in, the epilogue will be up right after this chapter. Thanks, and enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 30: The Black Pearl:
Blinding light pierced through my eyelids, shocking me back to consciousness. I was lying on something warm, but firm, and it was breathing. There was also a familiar set of strong arms wrapped around my body, which I found comforting. Fluttering my eyes open, the first thing that greeted me was a broad, tanned, male chest which had served as my pillow. Looking upwards, I saw Jack, still blissfully asleep with a small smile on his lips. I grinned as he gave a small snort-like snore and pulled me closer. All of this would explain why I had slept better last night then I had in weeks.
Sighing, I closed my eyes once more and lay my head back down on Jack's chest. This was truly the best way to wake up, and it was something I hadn't experienced in ages. Now I felt safe, happy, and at the moment, rather sleepy, considering all that had happened last night.
'Some of which was rather eventful,' I thought with a small, but very naughty, giggle.
"Hmm, and what has my beloved wife in such a fine mood?" asked a drowsy, gravely voice from above my head. I smiled as I felt Jack stretch out beneath me. "Of course, I could venture a very good guess as to its cause…"
"Jack!" I blushed and snuggled closer as his arms wrapped themselves even tighter around me.
"Sorry, luv, but can you blame me for thinking such a thing? Particularly after a reunion such as ours was last night…"
I could hear him smiling at my discomfort, but just as I opened my mouth to reply, someone knocked at the door. "Who is it?" I called, my voice still a bit rough from sleep.
"Jack, Rose, we're leaving the harbor!" Elizabeth called through the door. "We should be clear soon, and Jack might want to get up here, or else the last part of the plan won't work!"
That certainly brought me to full wakefulness. I immediately sat up in the bed, clutching the sheet to my chest while turning to face Jack. "What part of the plan?" I asked my husband, who was now getting up to look for his clothes.
"It's nothing, darling," Jack replied as he pulled a sheet around his hips and went to the dresser to get his usual pirate garb. As he began to dress, I turned my eyes away, blushing. "Don't worry about it."
Still facing the wall, I couldn't help rolling my eyes at his words. "Jack, you should know perfectly well that every time you say that, I'll have to worry about. After all, one of us has to worry, and I know it isn't going to be you who'll be doing it!"
The sounds of rustling cloth and creaking leather quickly followed by a frustrated curse only made me chuckle. "Not funny, darling," he muttered while I kept my eyes diverted. "Alright, you can turn around now, though I don't know why you bother. You've seen me in less."
Refusing to dignify that with an answer, I began to realize something. "Jack, I don't have any clothes!" I gasped as I began to panic. He snickered, and I gave an irritated huff. "Oh, you know what I meant! I mean that I don't have any real clothes here on the Flame besides my costume!"
Turning around, I saw a fully-dressed Jack standing there with a stack of clothes in his hands. "Surely you didn't think that I hadn't considered everything I'd need for when I got you back, now, did you, Mrs. Sparrow?" he asked, a broad smirk on his lips as he laid the clothes next to me on the bed.
Laughing, I reached out and began to dress. I smiled when I noticed that the shirt was as blue as the Caribbean on a clear day. A set of brown breeches, boots, white cotton socks, and a black leather belt completed the ensemble. Once I was dressed, Jack grabbed my hand and led me out onto the deck, hauling me past several of the Flame's crewmembers. Some nodded while others tilted their hats to me, which I found rather flattering; Elizabeth must be very well-respected and liked by her men to have them so agreeable towards women. Of course, both she and William had to be sure that their crew didn't mind serving a female co-captain anymore than the Pearl's crew did.
A pang shot through my heart at the thought of the Black Pearl. I sorely missed that ship, as well as its crew; I missed seeing Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Cotton with Dusty on his shoulder, and the midget named Marty running around the deck, trying to do chores he couldn't possibly reach. I missed the galley and preparing meals for the crew. What I wouldn't give to be back there…
"Alright, luv," Jack said as we stepped up onto the top deck. "Tell me, what do you see?"
Looking around, I did as he asked. "Well, William is at the helm with Elizabeth…the men are doing their work, as they should be…the sails are at full canvas…"
Jack immediately began waving his arms around. "No, no, darling, I meant look around the port and tell me what you see! Do you notice a certain ship missing from the harbor?"
Carefully giving the docks a look, I tried to see what he was hinting at. "I'm sorry, Jack, but I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied, feeling puzzled.
He sighed and reaching out with his hands, once again covered with his numerous rings. Gently, he turned my head in one direction. "Now, what do you see?"
It took me a moment, staring intently at an empty place at the docks. Obviously a ship had stood there, but which one? Then, taking a closer look at the area around the dock, I realized what Jack was talking about. The Storm Chaser, Gerard Hastings' flag ship, was gone! I turned and looked at my husband, who was smiling rather arrogantly as he watched me figure it out.
"What…how…" I stuttered, looking between him and the empty dock.
"Oh, you know, a well-placed bribe here, a special favor there, you know, that sort of thing," Jack said, shrugging as though it were nothing.
"So what happened to…?" I was so shocked and puzzled I couldn't complete a single sentence. Fortunately, Jack was able to deduce what I was trying to say.
"You won't believe it, luv," he said, shaking his head as though in pity. "It appears that poor Gerry's got a ship full of rats that are probably plague-infested. The harbormaster ordered the ship to take itself a safe distance out of the port so that the populace would be safe from illness."
I started to laugh, so hard that Jack had to catch me to prevent me from falling over.
As the sun peeked over the horizon, Gerard was again going over what had happened the night before at the ball. It was obviously a disaster. The ball which had been intended to announce his engagement to Rose had been ruined by unknown criminals, causing all of the guests to leave in panic, anger, and fear. Presently, the Nelsons were in their house, trying to figure out why this had happened and where their daughter had disappeared to, though Gerry certainly had some ideas.
It was Sparrow. It had to be Sparrow; he was the only man foolish enough to cross Gerard Hastings and succeed with all of his limbs intact, as well as his life. But how the drunken fool do it? Like many others of its kind, this port detested pirates, so much so that the soldiers had been trained to recognize pirates by their speech and dress. So how did Jack Sparrow pull this off without anyone the wiser to his appearance here in town, or to his actions?
Growling, Gerard paced the floor of his cabin aboard his ship. Up above him at the helm, and on the main deck, the men were scrambling around so that they could put the Storm Chaser out to sea. Just this morning, after Gerry had spent a night of searching for Rose, the fool of a harbormaster had asked permission to come aboard. Gerry had been sorely tempted to refuse, but when his first mate had said that it was important, he had relented. Now he wished he hadn't.
To make his foul mood from the previous night even worse, the harbormaster had come to claim that witnesses had seen rats, some of them possibly carrying plague, coming off of the Chaser. In light of this, the Storm Chaser must head out of the harbor and into open water. After all, it was only fair for the ship to leave, as this was a precaution for the good of the public.
"Just want to be sure that you don't have any plague-carrying rats onboard," the old man had said while adjusting his large, owl-eye glasses. "We really can't be too careful about this sort of thing, after all. A few men managed to catch a few of those rats, and so we will wait and see if anyone turns up sick. If not, you'll be allowed back into port with no trouble whatsoever."
Until then, Gerry was forced to take the Chaser out of port to hover a mile offshore, waiting for word of whether or not it was alright for him to return. It was maddening, especially since he would have to go with the ship; he didn't trust his men to function without him for very long, and, truthfully, he wouldn't put it past them to run off with the Chaser while he wasn't looking. If he was there, the crew would fear and obey him; if he wasn't, they'd take the ship and leave him stranded in this port.
Of course, he could always send a message home, or hire a ship to take him back to Scotland, but he didn't dare do that without a bride on his arm. He desperately needed an heir for his lands and fortune; otherwise, everything would pass on to that idiot cousin of his, what's-his-name. His cousin was so common-looking that Gerry couldn't even remember what the young man was called.
His cousin, the oldest male child born to one of his mother's numerous brothers and sisters, was a scholar, a man who would probably spend the entire Hastings fortune on books and helping those 'starving artists' that his mother's family adored so much. Gerard shuddered at the idea of his family's money funding artists who probably couldn't even act, draw, or write competent sentences. No, he must have a wife, or else all that his family had worked so hard to achieve would be lost.
"Captain, we're leaving the port!" yelled a crewman through the door. "Should we halt a mile off and weigh anchor?"
"Yes, you fool!" Gerard yelled back. "And don't bother me again unless it's an emergency!"
"Yes, sir," the man replied, hurried footsteps telling of the man's retreat.
"Idiots," Gerry muttered to himself. "Sometimes I don't know why I bother keeping them around, besides the obvious!"
Cursing his ill luck, Gerard once again returned his thoughts towards his miserable situation.
I sighed in bliss as we sailed out of the port. No one besides the Turners and their crew knew that I was aboard the Horizon's Flame, so we were able to slip out of the port with no one the wiser. My hair was tucked up underneath a bandana, so if someone did see me, they thought me a man instead of a woman. Of course, with Jack hovering over me the way he was, people might be suspicious, but by the time they told someone about it, it would be too late.
"Alright, luv, time for you to head below," Jack softly whispered into my ear.
I blinked. "Why?" I asked, feeling confused at his sudden order. "We're almost out of the port; surely we'll be safe once we're out to sea?"
"It's time for part two of the plan," Jack said, his brown eyes not meeting my own. "Or is it part three? I can't keep track. Well, either way, I need to get you down below before things start getting interesting up here."
"No, Jack, I want to know what's going on," I said while turning to face him. "What are you and the Turners going to do?"
"Luv, do you trust me?" he asked, now looking me directly in the eye.
"Yes, of course I do, but what-"
"Then trust me when I say that you need to get down below, for your own protection."
The hard determination in Jack's eyes convinced me to do as he asked. Besides, he was only looking out for my wellbeing, and he would never order me down below without a good reason. If Jack said that it would be best for me to get below decks, then I would do it. However, there had better be a good explanation for it later, when things were "all clear."
Nodding, I turned towards the stairway that led down to the level our cabin was on. "Alright, Jack, but you had better tell me everything about these plans of yours later," I said before heading down the steps and to our room.
Once the door was securely shut behind me, I laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, waiting for the moment when Jack would come down and fetch me from this safe haven he'd put me in.
Another thing Jack hated, besides being without his wife or lying to her, was keeping important information and details from her. Even if it was for her own protection, he hated seeing the look on Rose's face whenever he purposely didn't tell her one of his plans. However, today was going to get messy, and most definitely violent, so it would be best for everyone if she were down below and out of harm's way.
'Damn it, I'm going soft,' Jack thought, wiping a hand down the side of his face as he walked towards the helm. 'Marriage really can change a man.'
Shaking his head, he stepped up to the helm, nodding to William and Elizabeth as they steered out of the port. No, he didn't really think that his marriage had changed him for the worst. Jack knew that he'd always been a good, caring man, though all he had previously cared about was himself and the Pearl. Rose had merely brought out the best in him, and now he had something much more important to care about, which was, of course, his wife.
'And any little ones the lass might carry for you,' whispered a tiny voice in the back of his mind.
'No, no, none of that!' Jack thought to himself, frantically putting any idea of children out of his mind.
Little Sparrow children would come later, much later if Jack had his way, but right now, there were more important things to worry about. For one thing, Gerard Hastings was hovering a mile outside the harbor, and heading this way was the Black Pearl, fully armed, with her crew ready to carry out their Captain's orders.
'She'll hate me for doing this, but I've got no choice,' Jack thought as they sailed between the immense rocks that formed the gateway to the harbor of the town. 'This is the way things have to be.'
His future with Rose hung in the balance, and if Jack wanted it to be a happy one, he would have to take care of this situation now. He could not have this hanging over the horizon everywhere they went; he owed Rose much better than that, and if he wanted their future safe from a looming threat to them, then he would have to take a course of action that his wife would surely disapprove of. As much as he hated causing Rose any sort of pain or worry, he knew that she would forgive him for this; he had no doubts about that.
Taking out his spyglass, Jack pulled it to full length and peered through it. There was Gerry's ship, right where he thought it'd be. Grinning broadly, Jack lowered the glass and headed over to the two captains of the Flame. William was busy at the wheel, but Elizabeth was able to see the satisfied look on Jack's face, and knew what had caused it.
"So the plan worked, then?" she asked, as an eyebrow quirked upwards on her lovely face.
"Of course it did," Jack replied rather arrogantly, as though she should know that one of his plans was bound to work. "After all that money I paid to bribe the harbormaster, it had better have worked!"
Will chuckled. "Well, he could have just taken the money and refused to do what you paid him to," the younger man said, trying to sound innocent. "And if he had, then where would we be?"
"Probably opening fire on that wig-wearing idiot right before we sailed out to get Hastings," Elizabeth teased, a grin plastered on her face.
"Damn right," Jack muttered. A bit louder, he said, "We're coming up on the Chaser, Captain Turner…and Captain Turner. Is your crew ready to open fire?"
"Aye, the moment the Pearl gets here," William replied.
"I think she is," Elizabeth said, pointing towards the starboard side of the ship. "I'll tell the crew to ready the guns."
Grinning, Jack watched her go, his hands resting on his belt as he waited.
"The Flame's in sight!" Gibbs yelled to the men. "Ready the guns!"
The men did as they were ordered, running around the deck like mad to get everything ready. A day ago their Captain had sent his orders, and when the men had learned that they would be firing upon the slimy bastard who had taken Rose from them, they were all too eager to get to work. Now the time of Hastings' reckoning was coming, and the crew of the Black Pearl would be the ones to deliver it to him.
Up at the helm, Mr. Cotton was turning the ship to follow the direction that Jack had ordered, the Flame doing the same. Mr. Gibbs was at Cotton's right hand, a broad grin on his face. Like his Captain and crewmates, he had waited a long time for this, and Gibbs was prepared to celebrate today's events with a long drink from his flask. Several barrels of rum were waiting to be opened once Jack's plan had been completed, and the crew was eager for the party to begin once this particular bit of "fun" was over.
"Easy there, Cotton," Gibbs said. "Don't get too close, or else we'll have shrapnel flying at us."
"Shiver me timbers!" squawked the parrot on the mute's shoulder. "Wind in the sails!"
"Aye," Gibbs replied. "Now, let's get to work!"
"Captain, we're being approached by two ships!" yelled a man through the door. "They're flying Sparrow's colors!"
"Sparrow's colors?" Gerard blurted as he ran for the door.
Stepping outside, he saw his men racing around the deck in a mad frenzy. Some were abandoning ship, carrying their most prized possessions with them. Several were waiting for orders, and others were already preparing to defend the Chaser to the last. Gerry opened his mouth to give his orders when a shout interrupted him.
"Sir, it's the Black Pearl! She and the other ship are nearly upon us!" cried a voice from the Crow's Nest, causing any hesitant parties to head for the nearest departing row boats.
Gerard never had the chance to reply. Anything he might have said was drowned out by the blast of firing cannons and the splintering of wood.
The Storm Chaser never had a chance. Those aboard the Pearl and the Horizon's Flame watched in joy and satisfaction as the ship began ripping apart from the holes being made in its hull. Several row boats were heading away from the burning ship, but neither of the attacking ships stopped them, as no one could spot Gerard Hastings on any of them. Instead, they let those of the Chaser's crew with common sense escape with their lives, it being the only act of mercy they showed that day.
Aboard the Flame, Jack watch with a broad smile on his face as the Chaser went down in a flaming, smoking ruin. His future with Rose was safe. Behind him, Jack heard a step and turned around, surprised to find his wife coming up behind him. She had a shocked look on her face, almost as if she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Jack…" Her voice trailed off as she stood there, staring at what had once been the ship of their enemy.
"It had to be done, luv," he said, one arm wrapping around her waist. "I couldn't risk him coming back for you or any of our young ones. I couldn't risk that monster coming back to ruin our happiness."
Rose nodded and let him pull her into an embrace. "I know. It's just that…"
"You had hoped no one would get hurt," he whispered for her ears only.
She sighed and snuggled closer, burying her face in his chest as her hands gripped his shirt. "But that's a pirate's life, isn't it?" she said. "I know that, and I accept it, but…it's hard, sometimes."
"Aye, I know," Jack softly whispered. "Now, let's head down below, aye? You need to eat, since we both missed breakfast this morning."
"You're right. Maybe some food will help," Rose replied, though she didn't sound too sure of herself as she let him take her down to the galley.
I wasn't really hungry at that moment. In fact, I felt rather sick to my stomach. No, it wasn't due to the fact that Jack had just blown Gerard Hastings and his ship out of the water. That I could live with, especially after all of the pain and suffering the man had put me through. No, my stomach was turning for some reason that I couldn't comprehend, and the thought of eating breakfast made me feel ill. However, Jack was adamant about me eating, and I didn't want to alarm him by saying I didn't feel well. It was probably a small stomach ailment, and I would just have to live with it.
Breakfast was porridge, which I refused, and toast with jam, which I ate a surprisingly great deal of. As I savored the sweetness of the fruit spread, I was surprised that I wanted to eat nothing else. In fact, I almost emptied the jar, and would have done so, had Jack not stopped me. I ended up putting the near-empty jar back on the shelf where it had come from before following Jack up on the deck. To my amazement, the Pearl had pulled up beside the Flame, waiting for me and Jack to come aboard.
"Time to go, luv," Jack cheerfully said, one hand reaching for mine. "The Pearl awaits."
"Oh, let me go, too!" cried a familiar voice behind me.
Turning around, my jaw dropped in surprise. "Molly!" I cried, leaping forward to hug my friend and former maid. "Oh, Molly, how did you get here?"
"The Turners brought me," she cheerfully replied. "I thought that you'd be running from the ball, so I packed all my things and hid them outside! The Turners saw me, and pulled me along with them when they fled." Molly gave me a nervous glance. "You won't mind my coming along, will you?"
"Of course not," Jack said, coming up beside me. I saw him wave at the Pearl, and a moment later Barton was there. "Bart, be a good man and help Miss Molly here to the Pearl. She'll be joining our crew for a while.
Bart nodded and offered Molly his arm, which she accepted. The big pirate looked funny leading a tiny blonde girl, but I quite forgot about it when Jack put his arm around me.
"Come on, luv," he whispered to me. "Let's go home."
AN: Only an epilogue left! Please review! Thanks!