"Not All Treasure is Silver and Gold"
Chapter 5
It was a long trip back to Port Royal. Made even more so because Dani was sick every morning of the last week they were on the water. She hadn't ever been seasick, so she must be pregnant. And as much as Jack tried to comfort her, he was excited because this was a good sign as far as he was concerned.
This particular day, Dani had been sick, then had gone back to bed. She awoke with a new energy. She started cleaning; something she wasn't known to do, at all.
She started with Jack's things that were strewn across the table. By the time they had spotted Port Royal from the crow's nest, Dani had re-organized everything and Jack couldn't find anything he wanted.
"What did you do?" He asked, very angrily.
"I cleaned. It was something that had to be done."
"That's rubbish. You used to like the mess that accumulated," he said back to her while searching through the now-full drawers.
"What are you looking for?" she asked, pushing him out of the way.
"Never mind, we haven't the time. Port Royal is about ten minutes away."
"No, what were you looking for?" Dani asked him again.
"It isn't important. We need to get ready to make port," he said as he was exiting the room.
Dani hated it when he acted this way. Something was wrong and Jack wouldn't talk to her.
But his attitude changed the moment they got on land. They went straight to a doctor's office when they had gotten off the ship. The doctor panicked when the two pirates walked through the door. It could have possibly been that Jack pushed the door open so hard that it slammed into the wall behind it and rattled the rest of the building.
"We need to have her examined," Jack said rather bluntly.
"Wh-what appears to be wrong with her, sir?" the doctor cowered. He was a little, tea sandwich of a man, probably only five feet tall. Jack and Dani both towered over the poor man who looked positively pale at the sight of them.
"I think I'm pregnant. I just would like some confirmation," Dani answered him sweetly.
"Okay, Mrs.?" The man said, just as nicely back.
"Sparrow," Jack answered proudly while the man cowered some more.
After lots of poking and prodding and questions, the doctor gave his diagnosis:
"You are, in fact, pregnant."
Jack was overjoyed. The return trip to Port Royal wasn't the waste of time that he thought it was going to be. He wanted to run to see Will and Elizabeth, but thought that it would be better if he calmly took Dani's arm and escorted her there.
But as Jack was thinking about ten minutes from now, Dani was thinking about ten years from now. Damn her female mind.
Dani's joy had now become panic and worry. And Jack was so completely oblivious, he didn't notice.
He finally turned to her at the door and she quickly plastered a smile on her face. Now was not the time to think about this.
A very haggard-looking Will answered the door. His face was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes, but his eyes were bright as he saw his friends.
"Oh, I am glad to see you!" He said as he shook Jack's hand and kissed Dani on the cheek.
"No offense, mate, but you look like Hell," Jack said to Will as they walked into the home.
"I know, Jack, but we had a surprise when Liz went into labor," he said.
"What kind of surprise? Was it kittens?" Jack laughed.
They continued up the stairs and turned left into a nursery type room where Elizabeth was cooing over two babies.
"You had twins!" Dani shouted as she rushed to Elizabeth's side. "That's wonderful!"
Jack slapped Will on the back in a very manly, way-to-go fashion. "Congratulations, young William," he said.
"Thank you, Jack," he smiled.
If it was possible to look worse than William, Elizabeth looked it. She and Will hadn't slept in three days, but it could have potentially been more.
Elizabeth had insisted that she take care of the babies, one boy and one girl, not the maids. She felt it was important to be there as a parent and not pass it off to someone else.
But when Dani offered to watch them while Elizabeth and Will took a nap, she jumped at the chance.
"They've already been fed, but Jack needs to be burped."
"I most certainly do not," Jack said, spinning around to look Elizabeth in the face.
"Not you, the baby," she pointed to the baby in Dani's arms.
"You named the baby Jack?" Dani laughed. "Now isn't that the ultimate compliment?"
"Well, we decided that if you hadn't tried to kill me so long ago, Will and I wouldn't be together. And our little girl's name is Marie. After your middle name, Dani," Elizabeth smiled.
"How did you know my middle name?" Dani asked, not really caring.
"When Jack used to get mad at you on the ship, he'd shout your full name," Elizabeth answered.
"I should have known," Dani answered, smiling at the baby who was falling asleep in her arms. "I'm flattered," she said.
"You really don't mind that we go lie down?" Will asked through a yawn.
"Absolutely not, go ahead, Will, Elizabeth. Sleep as long as you need and want," Dani answered.
The young couple smiled and walked out of the nursery.
"They're beautiful, you know," Dani said to Jack as she carried baby Jack around.
"I know and soon we'll have one of our own," Jack answered back. "But why didn't you say anything about our forthcoming bundle of joy?"
"I think today is about Will and Elizabeth, not Jack and Dani, for once, savvy?"
Jack didn't like taking orders, and he didn't like keeping such good news to himself. He was already struggling with it on the ship, especially with Dani's morning sickness, but if that's what she wanted, there'd be no stopping her.
"So, what do we do now? Play games? Perhaps get them walking? Is it bad that they haven't said a word?"
"Who hasn't said a word?"
"The children? Shouldn't they be talking?"
"Jack, they are far too young to speak or walk or play. These are mere infants. All they do is sleep, eat, and dirty their diapers," Dani answered.
Jack was silent. He didn't remember not talking or walking.
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure," she laughed. "Jack did you honestly think the second the child is born it was a miniature person, in the sense that it could act like an adult?"
"Well, I suppose I never thought about it," Jack said, cocking his head at the other child in the basinet who had started to cry…no, wail.
"Pick her up, Jack," she instructed him.
He stuck his hand towards the child, but Dani stopped him.
"Never mind, go wash your hands," she told him and pointed to the door. He looked at her and rolled his eyes.
"Yes, ma'am," he said before exiting the room.
Dani set down baby Jack and picked up Marie. It was no use trying to calm her. Nothing worked. She was just going to be as fussy as her mother.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: I would just like to thank the reviewers who gave me the idea for twins: Smithy and Captain Uschi. I'm sorry if people don't like the names, but I was stuck. Anyway, thanks a million for the reviews I have and some more would be great. Please let me know if I am actually doing a good job or not.
thomthom
