۞

... as the door opened to the Turners' cabin, the light from the swaying lantern flooded the small room with a golden glow. The ship was still tossing upon the storm swept seas, but all that Jack Sparrow and William Turner could see was a vision of loveliness. Even in her exhausted, perspiring state, Elizabeth Swann Turner was absolutely radiant.

She was lying in the bunk, her eyes closed and her damp golden hair plastered all around her face. As she opened her eyes, she smiled, and her face lit with a luminescence that would have rivaled the Flash of Green that had warmed it when Jack had returned to the Pearl with the Dead Man's Chest... the Flash of Green that told her that her beloved's living heart had been restored by the hands of Jack, Bill, and the consent and hand of Calypso, herself... the Flash of Green that was the return of her husband's soul and his mortal life... and to her.

Elizabeth's face was now lit with life of another kind. She tiredly held out her hand to the two men that she loved the most... and tried not to laugh at the captain's appearance.

Jack looked, for all of the world, like a drenched, forlorn scarecrow. His hat was gone, his shirt, vest and breeches plastered to his scrawny, thin frame. Salt was beginning to bloom all over him, and would no doubt be highly annoying as it dried. His bandana was drooping over one eye, and those eyes were devoid of all kohl, which had washed away hours ago, replacing his fierce, intense look with a softer, much younger one. His dreadlocks were unraveled, and the longest of his hair that had been wound around so tightly now hung almost to his hips. He was quite unsteady upon his feet, and he and William paused in the doorway as the storm still raged outside. William came forward, took her hand tenderly, and sat carefully upon the edge of the bunk. He kissed her lovingly and smoothed back her hair, and she looked up at him with shining hazel eyes. They both looked at the soaked and worn pirate captain that was rooted in one spot of the floor, staring...

Elizabeth and William looked up at him, and Elizabeth partially uncovered a tiny bundle cradled in her arm... "... Captain Jack Sparrow, now that you have saved all of us and the ship one more time, come meet your cousin..." she whispered.

Jack finally was able put one foot, uncertainly, in front of the other. He felt as though he was made of India rubber, after having held the Black Pearl upright in the water for hours, and as the floor kept rocking under him, his feet made a sloshing noise with each step that he took... his boots were full of water. Dripping, he slowly approached, and looked down at the tiny being that was wrapped in towels.

He was tiny and pink. His face was perfect and chubby, and his head was full of soft, wet brown curls. His mouth formed a perfect pink bow, and his skin was like porcelian. Jack had never seen anything like this in his life... the captain was captivated. Jack's eyes widened and his mustache twitched nervously as the baby let out a tiny sound, much like the mew of a kitten. He backed away, his hands flying up in front of him... "He doesn't like me..."

"He just made a baby sound, Jack," William smiled. "He likes you... come on... he won't hurt you..." William got up and put an arm around Jack's shoulder and made him come back forward. Jack's boots sloshed. The captain muttered, "I'll drip on 'im... he won't like me..."

Elizabeth finally rolled her eyes a little and said, "Come on, Jack... sit down and talk to us. Little Will likes you... come take a look at him. I can't believe that you could face down Davy Jones and be nervous to meet our baby..." she extended her hand to Jack, this time... much to his own shock, he took it, and finally sat down in a chair next to the bunk, staring at the wee one. Elizabeth held him closer for Jack to see, and the captain looked down his nose... which had a drop of rain on the end.

"Look, Jack," William sat back down next to Elizabeth and pulled the towel away from Little Will's face, "He looks just like me." William beamed proudly, "...but he has Elizabeth's ears and nose..." Jack frowned and looked closely at the child, then looked at each of his companions studiously, turning his head to one side and studying them out of the corner of his eyes...

A slow grin spread across his wet face, and he said, "Aye! Look at that! Look at wha' th' two o' ye have done! He's right handsome... for a baby..." The captain turned his head from side to side a bit, beads jingling from his wet, dripping mane of unraveled hair, taking in the yawning face of the newborn.

Elizabeth reached out for Jack's hand, and said, with emotion creeping into her tired voice, " I think it is more of what the three of us have done..." and with that, she nodded to William, who gently pulled one of the baby's tiny pink hands out from under the towel... "He may look like Will, and he may have my ears and nose..." Elizabeth gently pulled Jack's hand to touch the baby's wee one, "But look whose hands he has..."

Jack stared, and his mouth dropped open. The little hand that was ever so slightly touching his was fine and slender, with long, artful fingers, delicate hands... the babe had hands like his own. The captain was utterly speechless as the tiny fingers curled around his. William said, gently, "... the Teague hands... passed down to my son, from our shared grandmother, Evangeline Teague Turner, just as they had been passed down to you on your side of the family... Little Will is all three of us, cousin...Elizabeth, me... and you..."

Elizabeth and William smiled in radiant pride, as the pirate captain's blistered fingers caressed the newborn's tiny pink ones...his hands... such a wonder this child was... the culmination of all of the terrible horrors that they had all experienced at World's End, and all of the trials that they had gone through since...

...from William, as the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, helping his friend, Jack to regain his ship... from William and Elizabeth being seperated from each other for months, until William earned his way back into his beloved's arms, with Jack's help... from finding out from a benevolent Calypso that they were each other's family, and what they all learned from each other as Jack became deathly ill and was nursed back to health by the Turners... they had all been through it, and now... this tiny being was their reward... a new life... combining all three of them...born on a pirate ship during a terrible storm, just as Jack Sparrow had been... born upon a ship that had also seen the worst, and now the most wondrous...

Jack finally found words forming, and he delicately formed a tiny, tiny handshake with Little Will Turner. As he admired the beautiful child before him, he grinned a golden grin and said, softly, "...Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, mate... Do you have th' courage an' fortitude to...oh, wot th' hell am I sayin'? O' course, ye do, our littlest pirate..."

۞

Joshamee Gibbs had taken his leave when William had gone to get Jack. He had reassured Miss Elizabeth that things went just fine, and that he would check in upon them when he had disposed of the bloody towels, and had washed the basin borrowed from Jack's cabin. The rain was still pelting down, but the wind was calming some, and the footing was improving. He nodded to the other crew members who were finally coming above deck to put everything back into place. It was always a wonder to them what a sailor Jack Sparrow was... he was able to hang on to the Pearl during one of the fiercest gales that any of them had seen, and for hours... but then, he had all of their lives in his hands, and he took this responsibility as captain very much to heart.

Joshamee sighed heavily and made his way to the bowsprit... a place where he sometimes went to think. He had been there only this morning, just after he had made the offer of his knowledge of midwifery to the Turners, not imagining that it would be needed so quickly. As the heavy seas churned and whipped about before him at the prow of the ship, Joshamee's thoughts were finally peaceful and his mind was finally easing.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly and thought back... to Elizabeth's screams of pain... he thought of Ann's screams of pain... to the struggle of hard labor, and the work and pain that it took to bear a child... he saw his beautiful Ann's face and the terror that she was stricken with, knowing that her own baby was coming too quickly... he thought of Elizabeth drawing from her deep well of fiery, phenomenal strength, and drawing more from her pirate, her William, as he held her hands and leaned himself into her back to help her... and he saw Ann's strength ebbing away... he heard the tiny baby Will's strong, loud cries... the cries that he never heard from his own son... for the first time since the death of his own loved ones, Joshamee Gibbs had helped to bring a new life into the world... the son of two that he cared about as if they were his own children, like he cared about his captain...

And finally, Joshamee Gibbs felt redemption... he knew, now, that he could not have saved Ann and baby Joshamee... but he had drowned himself in rum after he lost them. That had been a waste, he thought, except for one thing... it was because of their deaths that he met Captain Jack Sparrow... and his lot was tossed in with William and Elizabeth Turner.

"...Annie..." he whispered, as he looked out upon the stormy and wild sea, "... I lost you an' our little son... but perhaps I gained somethin', too..." He smiled a little... and he let the rain pelt him, feeling whole... feeling a bit like a newer man... after he checked in upon Miss Elizabeth in a while, he planned to pop the cork on a large bottle of rum... and drink to his loved ones... all of them.

To be continued...