Disclaimer: Disney owns POTC, I own my OCs.

A Sparrow's Shadow on the Sea

Frazzled Nerves

Ruby suggested that a slow stroll around the deck would be helpful in alleviating some of the pressure of the labour pains, and perhaps help speed things along. Jack accompanied me, his arm around me protectively. We stood at the bow, watching the sunset, which tonight had chosen to display itself in more subtle tones. The sky was clear in all directions and there was a gentle breeze softly fluttering the sails of the Pearl. As the light of day faded, a sprinkling of stars appeared in the east, slowly spreading their muted brilliance across the dark velvety blue of the night sky. There was never a more beautiful or peaceful night.

As we slowly headed back toward the cabin, I saw Jack's worn handprint on the main mast. "Jack, wait," I said, as I stepped closer to the mast. He smiled at me as he placed his hand on the mast, and I placed my hand on his. "Next time we do this, there'll be three of us," I mentioned as I smiled at him. He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it, gazing at me with his onyx eyes.

I felt another contraction, but after the hypnosis they only made me wince. It had been two hours since the first painful contraction. They were coming more frequently now, one every seven minutes or so. It made the birth seem very imminent, but Ruby still insisted the baby wouldn't come until after midnight.

"Not so bad after Ruby's…hocus pocus… are they, luv?" Jack asked, holding up his hands and wiggling his fingers as he said "hocus pocus."

"Feels like…someone's wringing out a cloth inside me," I tried to describe, "But there really is no pain." I still marveled at that.

"Thank god!" he said, his relief palpable, "I don't know what I would've done if I'd had to listen to you shrieking for hours…it would've killed me, Eve."

I looked at him, smiling tenderly. "So, you're glad we chose Ruby for this, and not…Scarlett?" I asked, resisting with all my might the urge to preface her name with "that slut."

"Aye, Ruby was the better choice, luv," he conceded, "Even if she's a big thorn in my side."

"Jack! Eve!" Ruby's voice called out, "Quit ya dawdlin' an' come to di cabin! Eat ya suppa 'fore it get cold!" She was standing in front of the doors to the cabin, hands on her hips. "Ya goin' ta need ya strength, star," she reminded me.

Jack and I went to the cabin, and ate the light supper Ruby had prepared. I noticed as I glanced around, that she had begun to assemble her midwifery supplies in the cabin. And the bed had been draped in several layers of very dingy-looking canvas material. I looked at Jack, and saw he'd been watching me.

"Oilcloth, luv," he answered my questioning expression, "It's waterproof, ostensibly to protect the bed linens from…" He trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"From blood," I offered grimly, looking at him. "Giving birth creates a rather bloody mess, literally," I explained.

Jack just blinked at me.

"And the baby's going to look rather ugly, at first, Jack," I continued blithely, "But that'll pass. The bones of the skull are pliant, so it can be compressed as it comes out. It makes the head look kind of misshapen, at birth…" I was enthusiastically rambling, recollecting information learned in my biology classes, when I glanced at Jack. He still stared at me. "Oh, and the baby will be covered in a…membrane…that has to be cleaned off…"

"STOP!" Jack shouted explosively, waving his arms in frantic sweeps.

I stared at him in surprise. "I just thought you might want to know, so it won't be a…shock," I justified.

He stared at me like a spooked horse, his eyes huge with panic. "Know?!" he shouted, his voice cracking, "I don't want to know! I don't want to know any of it!" He shook his head feebly. "It's…it's…horrible!" And he continued to just stare at me after his outburst.

"So, you're squeamish," I said flatly, as I stared back at him. "All your talk about 'decks awash with blood and entrails' was just talk?"

"No! It wasn't just talk!" he retorted, "But neither did any of it emerge from between your legs!"

"So, that's it?" I said knowingly, "You can't do it! You can't watch the birth of your own child and…" I glared at him. "I had no idea you're such a…a…weenie!"

"What?!" he exclaimed in complete disbelief, standing abruptly from his chair.

"You heard me!" I shot back, as I stood and headed for the doors. "Evidently, you're a wimpy, little weenie, Jack!" I yelled at him over my shoulder as I stormed from the cabin, as best I could.

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"I need rum," Jack mumbled, "No! No, wait!" He paused, a devious expression manifesting on his face. "Ruby. If she can hypnotize Eve into not feeling pain…she can hypnotize me into…Hmmm…" He fingered the braids of his beard as he schemed. "That just might work, if she'll do it!"

He left the cabin to find Ruby. Seeing Eve at the bow, he felt a stab of guilt. Why'd I have to be such a bloody fool? The poor girl needs me, and I had to go and act like a hysterical buffoon!

He lingered on deck. She feels awful now and it's all my fault, he thought. You'd better go apologize. Make amends to her, mate! What if she won't forgive me? Grovel at her feet, if you have to! She's having your bloody child! She shouldn't have to feel sad and alone through this.

Yes, I'll go apologize, and then go find Ruby!

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Jack won't be able to do this, I thought despondently as I watched the waves on the sea. And I won't force the issue and have him wind up too traumatized to ever touch me again. I expected too much from him. Just because men in modern times can handle it, doesn't mean Jack can. Damn it! He had managed to seduce me into believing all that "Captain Jack Sparrow" hype. I had wanted so much to believe it. I wanted to believe I could depend on him, and rely on his strength. And he had tried. But the birth would just be too much for him. It wasn't worth jeopardizing the rest of our marriage over.

"I'm an ass," a voice said grimly behind me.

"I believe I called you a weenie," I corrected angrily, not turning around.

"Well, anatomical differences aside…I'm sorry," he told me.

"I'm not," I said matter-of-factly, "I'm actually quite happy that you realized your limitations before it was too late. I'll be just fine, with Ruby to guide and encourage me. You'll get to see your child after it's been sufficiently cleaned and sanitized, so it won't offend your delicate sensibilities, Captain." I was seething and it felt good to be bitchy to him.

"Please, luv, I'm sorry," he responded sadly.

"Sorry for what?" I turned to face him, focusing my angry glare on him. "Sorry that you hurt me? Sorry that the birth of your child repulses you? Sorry that you don't have the stomach to fulfill your promise? There are so many things to be sorry for, aren't there?"

I said with a sardonic laugh. "Sorry that you've made me feel like a …leper? How 'bout sorry that you've broken my heart?" I glared at him hatefully. "So, tell me, Jack, was it just a bunch of pretty lies to pacify me, or were you actually trying to convince yourself? Because you picked a helluva time to reveal the truth!"

He looked sickened, and I was glad he did.

"Eve, I'm so sorry. I just panicked for a moment," he said lamely, "I want more than anything to be with you for the birth of our child, to help you through it"

"I don't want your help," I retorted sullenly. My anger was beginning to be replaced by sadness, and I really did not want to cry.

"I'm just afraid," he confessed, with sad, pleading eyes.

"So am I," I said simply, adding as an afterthought, "And now, I feel…betrayed, and heartbroken. I feel hurt, and Ruby's blasted hypnosis apparently only works for physical pain!" Damn, here come the tears, I thought as I turned away. "Go away, Jack," I said coldly.

I stood, sniffling, waiting for him to leave, but he just stood there. Stupid man! What more do I have to do to make you go away? Wasn't I brutally honest enough? Wasn't I cruel enough? Because I tried to be. Why won't he go? Maybe I should've slapped him, I thought. He seems to always understand that. No, words hurt more. And I had wanted to hurt him as much as he hurt me.

He grabbed my arm and jerked me around to face him. "I didn't deliberately mislead you, Eve," he said slowly, a piercing look in his eyes, "Maybe I was trying to convince myself I could do it, because I want to be there. I want to be with you when our baby is born. I want to be brave and strong, and fearless for you; and I want you to rely on me to help you. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings, luv." He reached up to caress my cheek with the back of his hand, gazing mournfully at me. "I love you, Eve, and I would do anything for you. This is just the hardest thing I've ever done."

I watched him warily as I listened. I tilted my head to the side as I caught a glimpse of a tiny sparkle in his eyes.

"And…I want very much…not to be a…weenie," he said very solemnly.

A small laugh escaped my lips at the absurdity of it all. The big, bad pirate doesn't want to be a "weenie!"

The corners of his lips twitched, ever so slightly, yearning to be able to smirk, while his eyes glinted more confidently with mischief.

Try as I might, I couldn't help starting to giggle.

Jack's smirk unveiled itself, and my giggles were joined by his deep chuckling. He reached out to embrace me, and I surprised him by kissing him.

"I love you, Jack," I told him in the midst of our laughing.

"And I love you, Eve. But do me one favour, darlin'," he requested, "Do not teach that word to our child."

I laughed wickedly, taunting him, "Weenie, weenie, weenie!"

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After getting Eve settled in the cabin, Jack went in search of Ruby. She wasn't on deck, nor in the galley. He headed toward her newly constructed quarters in the hold.

The door was closed, but he could hear movement inside. "Ruby!" he called, "I need to have a word with you. Open the door!" He listened to her scuttling about as he waited. And waited. "Come on, Ruby, I know you're in there! It's important," he urged.

The door flew open. "Mi busy, Jack! What ya want?" she asked curtly, blocking his view into the room with her body.

"I need a favour, Ruby," Jack told her, "It's for Eve…and it's a…delicate matter…so, can I come in?" He couldn't believe he was asking Ruby for her permission to enter a part of his ship.

She scrutinized him suspiciously, then said abruptly, "If she need mi, den mi go to her."

"No!" Jack yelled, "I mean…she's fine, but I need to speak with you, someplace…private."

"What ya schemin', Jack? Ya try ta squirm ya way out of bein' wit ya wo-man for di birt'?"

"No! Of course not," he protested, "In fact, I want very much to be there for it!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of something toppling to the floor in Ruby's cabin.

"What was that?" Jack asked, trying to peer around Ruby to see into the room.

Ruby stared at Jack.

"Well, that should do it! Should be right as rain now!" a man's voice said in Ruby's cabin.

Jack looked at Ruby with a suspicious frown, then upon noticing movement, his gaze glanced past her to see Gibbs.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked his first mate, trying not to seem aghast.

"Cap'n! Uh…one of Miss Ruby's cabinets, Cap'n, was squeakin'," Gibbs explained nervously, "She asked me to come take a gander at it, to see if I could fix it."

Jack looked at Gibbs, then Ruby, then the cabinet; eying each of them dubiously.

"Right, well, off to tend me duties, then," Gibbs muttered, as he rushed past them to leave.

"What is it ya want, Jack?" Ruby asked again, as Jack pushed his way into the room.

"Close the door," he told her.

She complied and turned to him. "Well? Spit it out," she demanded.

"Ruby, I want you to do that hypnotizing…on me. I don't want to…" He glanced at the supposedly squeaky cabinet. "I don't want to risk coming unhinged, as it were, during the birth, and upsetting Eve in the process."

She watched him appraisingly, considering what he said.

"Damn it, Ruby, this scares the hell out of me," Jack confessed, hanging his head. "And I want Eve to be able to rely on me, and I don't know if I can do it. Please, Ruby, hypnotize me and make my fears go away." He hadn't even thought to employ his "charming smile" to sway her, he was so desperate.

"Mi help ya, Jack, no worries," she told him earnestly, "Ya girl goin' ta need ya ta be strong, ta help her when she wanna give up."

"I can do that," he replied, "if I'm not consumed with fear."

"Ya make a wise decision ta come ta mi for help, Jack," she said smiling, "Mi proud of ya. Ya no di selfish man mi t'ought ya were. Come now, let's chase ya fear away!"

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A/N: I typed this very quickly late at night, so please try to ignore any typos. Little plot twist I thought might be interesting. Let the hysteria begin in the next chapter! My thanks to all who read and reviewed! I love you guys! I gotta get some sleep now!