Disclaimer: Disney owns POTC, OCs are mine.

A Sparrow's Shadow on the Sea

Emerging from Unconsciousness

Bugger, bugger, bugger!

It was all Jack could think as he felt Eve slump against him, then collapse in his arms.

Stupid! Stupid, bloody fire! First it threatened to take the Pearl from me, then…Get her out, mate, out of the smoke. Come on, just a little further. Black smoke turned to white. Fire must almost be out. The Pearl's safe! Oh, good, here's the hatch. Fresh air!

"Gibbs!" Jack shouted, barely keeping the panic from his voice. He looked up to see his first mate on deck, peering down at them, his face wrinkled with worry. "Help," was all Jack could say.

"For the love of all that's holy, Jack! Is she..?" Gibbs couldn't finish the question when he saw the worry in Jack's eyes.

"Passed out," Jack said, as they lifted Eve onto the deck, "The smoke and the heat…it was too much for her."

Jack knelt by her as she lay limp and unconscious on the deck, gently pressing his fingers to her neck, checking her pulse, again. By instinct, it was the first thing he'd done as he felt her go limp. He was consumed with worry as he watched her. She looked so pale in spite of the layer of powdery soot that covered her skin and clothes like a deathly shadow.

Please wake up, luv, please, he thought. Come back, please! I can't lose you now!

Get a grip, mate! Everyone's watching. Do something! Yes, look like you know what you're doing!

"Cold water, Gibbs, now!" Jack ordered.

Good, mate, good. Nice and authoritative!

"Come on, Eve…Wake up, luv," Jack urged, as he brushed away a lock of hair that had blown across her face.

Gibbs appeared, placing a bucket of water next to Jack, whose eyes darted around, searching…

Bugger! Forgot to ask for a cloth! My sash! I'll just use that! Yes, that'll be fine!

Jack dipped his sash into the cool liquid, gently dabbing it on Eve's face and neck.

She feels so hot, she's still overheated, he thought. More water!

Jack submerged a long length of his sash into the bucket, using it to wet down Eve's face, neck, and hair.

"Come on, luv! Eve! Wake up!" he said loudly, trying to rouse her.

Damn, stubborn woman, he thought. Why didn't you stay in the bloody cabin?! Why didn't you stay where you would be safe?! Listen to you, mate! If she were the type of woman who stayed safe, you never would've fallen for her!

Eve moaned softly.

"Eve! Wake up! Come on, luv, bloody wake up!" Jack called to her, nearly shouting.

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I had felt dizzy and then there was darkness. But, I had found Jack and that was all that mattered. I drifted in that darkness, feeling oddly weightless. And, very far away.

I thought I heard Jack's voice, calling me, but it was so faint and distant. And I felt so, so tired. I didn't even have the strength to speak.

Yes, it was Jack! He was louder now, and more insistent. I tried so hard to form the words, to tell him. I just needed a moment, to rest. I used all the strength I had, to try to tell him, but I could only hear myself murmur softly.

Please Jack, just give me minute. I'm so tired. I need to rest…just for a little while.

And suddenly, I felt wet and cold.

Damn it, Jack, that's not fair, I thought. Can't you just leave me be? I need to rest…just a minute longer.

I slowly blinked my eyes open. They stung so much, as if they were dry and shriveled like raisins, or as if someone had poured sand into them. I only peeked for a second. And I saw Jack. He looked so scared and helpless.

"Eve! Come on, luv, it's time to wake up," he told me.

"Ja…" I said, as I peeked again. He didn't look so scared this time.

"Let mi have a look at her, Jack," Ruby said in the distance.

I was being picked up and carried. I heard Jack and Ruby talking. As usual, they sounded as if they were quarreling.

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I woke up feeling like I was choking, and I was wracked with violent coughing. I'd coughed up a large amount of phlegm into my mouth.

"Spit, luv," Jack said, as he held a bucket in front of me. He looked at me with his beautiful dark eyes, pleading and sympathetic.

I looked at him questioningly, my mouth full of the most vile substance.

"You inhaled a lot of smoke, luv. You have to get it out," he told me, "So, spit."

I winced, then obediently spat into the bucket. The phlegm I'd coughed up was black.

"Ugh! Disgusting," I whispered, "Jack, I feel like I've swallowed broken glass." My throat felt very dry and sore.

"I'll get you some water, Eve," he said, as he started to get off the bed.

I reached out to touch his arm. "No, Jack…rum," I whispered hoarsely.

He went to the table and poured some rum into a cup, while I coughed again and spat into the bucket.

I propped myself up on an elbow, taking a couple of swallows of the rum from the cup he handed me. It burned like hell, but then felt soothing and warm.

"Is Ruby alright?" I asked.

He scowled at the mention of her. "She's fine," he said coldly.

"The Pearl? She can be fixed? She's not too badly damaged?" I questioned him.

"She can be fixed. Most of the damage was confined to the walls of Ruby's cabin," he explained, "It seems Ruby was burning some of her incense, and it got out of control. After I'd had a few choice words with her, I made her throw the rest of her bloody incense overboard!"

I pushed myself up to sit on the bed. And I coughed up more black phlegm, once again having to spit the ghastly ooze into the bucket.

"You should rest, Eve," Jack said with a worried look in his eyes, "You passed out, you know."

"I know. There was no air and it was too hot," I said, remembering. "It's happened to me before, in a club…er, tavern. I got overheated and passed out."

Jack watched me with a concerned expression.

"I knew it was going to happen, Jack," I continued hoarsely, "I remembered that feeling and I could feel it coming. I was hoping we'd make it out before I actually fainted." I coughed and had to spit more blackness into the bucket. "Ugh! That's nasty!"

"Why exactly did you go into the cargo hold?" he asked me.

I stared at Jack as if he were a simpleton. The answer was so obvious. "I had to find you, I needed to know you were safe," I told him plainly.

"You were so compelled to make certain I was safe, that you put yourself and the baby in peril?" he asked in disbelief, "Not to mention holding Gibbs at bay, with his very own pistol pointed at him!" A spark of amusement glinted in Jack's eyes, betraying the stern tone of his lecture.

A smile tugged at my lips. "You should've seen the look on his face, Jack. I thought the poor man was going to wet himself, he was so taken aback!" I started to laugh, but ended up coughing instead.

Jack put his arm around me. "I think you're going to need to apologize to him for that, luv," he said, chuckling, "Apparently, you're quite adept at frightening some men half out of their wits, darlin'!"

"Well, that'll certainly come in handy," I remarked, "Jack, please move, I want to get out of bed." I nudged at him as he sat at the edge of the bed.

"No," he said, pushing me back against the pillows and leaning over me, "I want you to stay in bed. And I'm willing to do whatever I need to, to keep you there!" He looked at me with his eyes wide for emphasis, his face just inches from mine.

"Oh, you are, are you?" I challenged him defiantly.

"Aye, and you, my dear, will be cooperate and obediently follow my orders!" he teased in a threatening growl.

"In you dreams, Captain Sparrow!" I declared indignantly, "Now, move so I can get up."

"Sorry, but I think not, luv," he insisted.

"Jack, my throat hurts and I want to get some tea," I whined, "Please stop being stubborn. I don't need bed rest, I'm fine!"

"I'll get you your tea, but you're staying put," he said, pointing his long finger at me.

As soon as he left the cabin, I got out of bed and began to dress, pausing a couple of times to cough and spit.

"Arrogant man! If he thinks I'm going to stay in bed and obediently obey him, he's got a big surprise coming!" I muttered to myself, "I'm not even hurt! All I did was faint. Women here faint all the time! And it's no bloody big deal!" I struggled with much irritation to get my boots on.

As I stood, and walked toward the table, I said in my best southern belle voice, "Oh, my goodness! I have a hangnail! Oh, whatever shall I do?" I dramatically placed the back of my hand to my forehead. "Oh, I think I'll just swoon from the trauma of it all!" I continued sarcastically. "Puh-leese!"

I sat in Jack's chair by the table, propping up my boots on the table's edge, my legs crossed at the ankles. Just the way Jack likes to sit. I smiled smugly and waited for him to return with the tea. "Humph! Stay in bed, indeed!" I said to myself.

The doors finally opened and Jack entered, looking rather displeased about seeing me out of bed, and lounging in his chair. He set the tea down on the table with a deep sigh and much rolling of his eyes.

"Why do you always insist on being so bloody headstrong and defiant, Eve?" he asked me wearily.

"I thought you admired my independence, Jack," I reminded him as I reached for the tea, "Besides, I'm fine and so is the baby. In fact, she seems to be having as much trouble as I have lately in getting comfortable. Nothing but tossing and turning!"

"Well, if she's a typical female, I'm not surprised," he remarked, "They're never happy, never satisfied! Sometimes I wish I would've found myself a nice, docile girl; one who's not any trouble!" He had an exaggeratedly wistful look on his face.

"Oh, you do not!" I told him, laughing softly, "A girl like that would bore you to tears, Jack! You'd be sneaking off with some high spirited, hellcat of a wench before she even knew what happened!"

He smirked at me with a devilish gleam in his eyes. "You know me too well, luv," he admitted, without a trace of guilt or regret in his voice.

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It was several days before I stopped coughing up soot from the fire. Ruby had given me a tonic that would supposedly hasten the process of expelling the black phlegm from my body. Mostly, it tasted even more vile than what I'd been coughing up.

The repairs to the Pearl's cargo hold were progressing rapidly. Ruby's makeshift cabin had originally been constructed as a shell of a room within the cargo hold. The fire was thus mostly contained by the cabin, and fortunately did not cause any major damage to the ship's hull.

In the meantime, Ruby had been installed in the crew's quarters, in a small area that was curtained off for privacy. It was Jack's intention that she be less-than-comfortable, since her carelessness had nearly destroyed the Pearl, not to mention endangering everyone. In spite of it being an accident, I could sense that Jack blamed her, and it made their interactions even more adversarial than usual.

And I apologized quite contritely to Gibbs, for holding him at gun point. "Ye've no need to apologize, lass," he told me, "I've seen love turn many a men into courageous fools, but it was the first time I've seen it happen to a woman." He was very understanding, and even joked about how well I'd learned to be a very fearsome pirate lass.

I continued to practice the hypnosis training with Ruby, and was becoming more skilled at being able to block out any annoying distractions. Having mastered the basics in the relative quiet of the cabin, Ruby suggested we try our next practice on deck, amidst all the crew's activities. The more I was able to focus and relax, the easier it would be for me to achieve a deep enough trance while in labour. I was eagerly looking forward to this new challenge. I wanted to be very prepared. Even though the due date was still a month away, Ruby had said it was possible for the baby to decide to come at anytime.

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A/N: Yay, crisis averted! Everyone's fine, the ship didn't blow up, all's well that ends well. Then again…Jack has pretty much reached the end of his patience with Ruby! Next chapter, a slight oversight causes him to loose it completely! The battle is about to begin! Haha! My sincerest thanks to all who read and reviewed! I love you guys!