Chapter Seventeen
Late Night Tears
Will held Elizabeth in his arms as she cried some more. She was strong for a while until night time fell. Now the Pirate King's tears flowed freely from her eyes. Tonight it was sinking in that her children were gone. She wouldn't be able to tuck them in and tell them goodnight. Or laugh when they came jumping on the bed to wake their parents up early in the morning. Her children were simply gone. However, on occassion Jack would come down to make sure everything was ok. "AnaMaria and I will take control of the ship from now on," Jack said as he came back down to Will and Elizabeth's cabin for the sixth time in only an hour. Will nodded, giving Jack a thankful and apologetic smile. Jack nodded and turned to leave but stopped in his tracks. He turned back around and asked, "Can I have a word with ye, Will?" Will nodded and moved carefully out from underneath Elizabeth, who still cried. Will kissed Elizabeth's temple before walking out of the room with Jack.
"What is it, Jack?" Will asked as he quickly glanced in to see Elizabeth trying to control her sobs. Will turned his attention back to Jack as Jack asked, "How is the lass?" Will sighed as he ran a hand through his unruly brown hair. What was he to say to a question like that? Jack saw her. Elizabeth Turner was a complete wreck. Will knew that she wasn't stable enough to captain or even fight for her children. Finally, Will replied, "A total mess. If we wage war on Beckett and let her fight, she'll kill anyone who gets in her way, Jack. If you or I or anyone aboard this ship stops her or attempts to, we've just signed our death warrants." Jack chuckled but stopped to see Will's look. "Oh," Jack said. "Ye are serious then?" Will nodded with a look that would make anyone think he thought of Jack as stupid.
Jack placed his filthy hands upon his friends shoulders and looked Will in the eye. "We'll get Bella and Willy back, Will," Jack reassured him. "All of us will make sure of that. All of the Pirate Lords will take down this Beckett too. I've already sent carrying pigeons to tell the other Pirate Lords to meet us at Shipwreck Cove in a week." Will nodded and pulled away from Jack's grip. Jack returned a nod as he watched Will return to the weeping and half awake Elizabeth. Jack walked back to the main deck, leaving the Turners alone.
Will watched as Jack left as he lied back down by Elizabeth and pulled her into his arms. They didn't use to always get along but now Will was thankful for having Jack as a friend. Without Jack or AnaMaria on board, he knew that he would've lost it. They kept him strong for his wifes sake. Will took a trembling hand and ran it through Elizabeth's tangled hair. He was doing his absolute best to soothe his wife. "Shh," Will whispered soothingly. "We'll find them. Please try to calm down, Elizabeth." At Will's words, Elizabeth tried to control her sobbing as much as possible. With a gentle touch, Will lifted Elizabeth's face to look into her eyes. She looked so sad that Will's heart felt like it was going to break into two. Gently, Will wiped away Elizabeth's tears and for a second he thought he saw a slight smile. Will leaned down and pressed his lips gently against Elizabeth's.
Lord Thomas Beckett stood in the cabin where the two Turner children were being kept. He stared at them, evily. Unfortunately for him, the twins returned the same look. Through gritted teeth, fiery William Turner the Third shouted, "Yer makin' a big mistake! When my mum finds out where we're at, yer dead!" Beckett snickered as he looked upon the twins. Bella glared at Beckett then towards her brother. Neither of the men knew when to shut up and Bella found that quite funny. Bella let out a slight snicker, catching the attention of the tall lord. "What are you laughing at?" Beckett asked. Bella rolled her eyes and replied, "Actually, you both are quite funny. Like my brother, you don't know how to shut the bloody hell up." Beckett approached Bella and when he was close enough, he hit her with the back of his hand across the cheek. Bella winced and despite the blood that was beginning to trickle down her face, the slap didn't seem to faze her like Lord Thomas Beckett hoped it would.
It was nearing midnight in the Caribbean and Captain Jack Sparrow looked as if he'd fall asleep at any minute. AnaMaria approached Jack. Her hair was tangled and she looked as if she had been crying. There seems to be a lot of that going on, Jack thought to himself. "Jack?" AnaMaria asked. Jack gave a slight yet warm smile to his lover. As AnaMaria came close to him, Jack pulled her into a hug, using his left arm to steer the Empress. "How ye holdin' up?" Jack asked as he pulled away, looking into AnaMaria's eyes. A slight smile appeared on AnaMaria's lips to reassure Jack that she was alright. AnaMaria replied, "I can't help but think that if we hadn't brought Lizzie with us... she'd be with Bella and Willy right now. Or worse. Sh-she could be..."
"Shh," Jack said, placing two fingers upon AnaMaria's crimson lips. He kissed her softly and wiped a few tears away. "Everything will be just fine an' dainty, love," Jack told the shaken female pirate. "Like I keep sayin', we'll find th' children an' when we do, we'll take down another Beckett." Looking back out to the sea, with a smirk on his lips, he said, "It'll be better this time. We don't have fishmen after us." AnaMaria smiled. She loved how Jack always acted in certain situations. He always could crack a joke, making everyone forget about the current problems that were going on.
"Jack?" AnaMaria asked once more. Jack turned his attention back to AnaMaria, smiling and asked. "Aye, love?"
"When this is all over, let's get married."
A/N: Stay tuned for Jack's reaction! I also wrote this chapter so I can show what a smart $$ Bella can be. Who does she remind you of, hm? Anyway... please review and I'm sorry this chapter isn't that long but it needed to be written to show how Beckett was treating the children and how Elizabeth and everyone was acting.