"Not All Treasure is Silver and Gold"

Chapter 7

Three days later, Jack and Dani were still not speaking to one another. Dani wouldn't look at him or even stay in a room long enough to eat with Jack.

Jack was wracking his brain to find a way to make this better, but couldn't figure anything out. He had really screwed up this time.

Elizabeth, as usual, was having trouble understanding the situation. No one told her what was going on and she spent the days completely confused. She had no idea why Jack and Dani were not speaking and the other three weren't offering any explanations.

Will had found it quite amusing at the beginning, thinking that Dani would be over it soon. But when the fourth day started and Dani refused to come out of her room, Will knew it was a serious problem.

He decided he was going to have to push them back together. He walked past Jack, who was drowning his sorrows in a bottle of rum, and climbed the stairs to talk to Dani.

He decided to first try the handle to see if an argument was needed. It turned easily.

"Danielle, I'm coming in!" he called.

"Go away!" Will heard her shout.

"I'm coming in anyway," he answered her back. And he did. He opened the door and strolled in.

"What do you want, William?" she asked while hiding her face from him.

He shut the door behind him. "You and Jack cannot continue on like this."

"Why the hell not?" she asked back.

"Because," he turned to see her puffy, tear-stained cheeks, "he loves you and you love him."

"Did he tell you that he wants me to stay here? He wants to leave me behind while he goes off to God knows where. To take care of his child and be his wife, but not be with him. I can't do that."

"Have you told him that?"

"Yes."

"But remember: Jack doesn't respond to being yelled at. He's sitting downstairs, contemplating climbing into his rum bottle and not coming out."

"Really?"

"Yes, really?"

"Damn."

She turned to look at herself in the mirror. She looked like she'd been run over by a team of horses.

"I'll be down to talk to him shortly."

"I'd send him up, but I don't think he could climb the stairs in the state he's in."

"Thank you, Will," she said as she started to wipe off her face with the water from the basin the room.

"I'll leave you now," Will said as he smiled at her and exited the room.

Will walked back down the hallway and descended the stairs. Jack was still sitting in the drawing room with his rum bottle staring out the window.

"Jack, your wife is coming downstairs to talk to you momentarily."

"What?" He said back, suddenly surprised. Jack stood and swayed.

"I spoke to Danielle. You need to work things out."

Jack hurriedly handed Will the half-full (or half-empty) rum bottle. "Here, give this to your son."

"Thanks, Jack," he said, knowing full well that babies couldn't have alcohol but not saying that to Jack. But he made a mental note to discuss it with him later; he didn't need a couple of drunken babies the next time Jack was baby-sitting.

Jack chose to panic. He hadn't actually seen Dani in two days. Jack was so ashamed that he'd told Dani he was leaving her behind. Jack didn't want to leave her, but the open sea was not safe for a pregnant woman.

Footsteps clicking on the stairway caught his attention and he focused on her the best he could. She was beautiful. He hadn't noticed it before, but Dani had started to put on weight and it very much flattered her.

Will excused himself from the room and shut the door after Dani had entered. They both started to speak at the same time.

"No, no," Dani finally said, "Go ahead."

"Dani, I thought that you would want to stay here. The things you might possibly need, like medical care, would be readily available. Someone could take care of you like I want you to be taken care of."

"Jack, I don't want to stay here. I can't stay here. I need to be with you. I can't take living on land. There is no adventure here. I can't be left here and be expected to wait for you anymore. That part of my life is over. I lost you once before, I'll be damned if I watch you get smaller and smaller again."

"But…what if you or the baby needs help and I…I can't do it?" This part worried him the most. He knew nothing about babies or women having them.

"Everything happens for a reason, Jack. Always."

"Dani, if you're sure that you want to sail for weeks at a time, while being pregnant, then I am not going to say no anymore. I just want you to be safe and comfortable."

"I understand, Jack and I love you for thinking of my welfare. But I think that it would be in my best interest to stay with you. And I think that it would be in your best interest, savvy?" Dani said as she batted her eyelashes at him.

"Savvy," Jack nodded as he moved in for a kiss.

He moved his hands around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Jack, we should continue this upstairs. Not in their sitting room," Dani smiled at him.

"Love, I don't want to wait that long," he said matter-of-factly.

"No, Jack," she giggled as he tried to get his hand up her skirt.

She broke away from him and started running out of the sitting room. They laughed madly as they ran up the stairs. Jack chased her right past the open door to the nursery where Elizabeth and Will sat watching the babies. Will smiled and turned back to Marie, whom he was holding.

"Do you know what that was all about?" Elizabeth asked who was trying to change baby Jack.

"Not at all," Will said as they heard the door slam and some more loud laughter coming from the other couple's room.

That was the last they heard from the couple for the rest of the night. Jack and Dani didn't even come out for dinner. Will gave up knocking after the third time when he realized that they must have been "making up."

The next morning, they all sat and ate breakfast together. But Dani and Jack were more composed and serious as they sat and ate their scones.

"What's going on now?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, one, we are pregnant. Two, we are leaving tomorrow," Dani answered her.

Elizabeth's face was a mixture of happiness and anger.

"You cannot be serious. Your wife is pregnant and are making her go live on a ship with a bunch of smelly, rowdy pirates?" she spat at Jack.

"Elizabeth, calm down," Dani told her. "Believe me, Jack and I have had a discussion about his already. He isn't making me go, in fact, he was going to make me stay. I want to go," she finished.

"Don't be so stupid. You're endangering the life of this child, too, Danielle," Elizabeth said.

"Don't call me stupid," Dani said, anger coursing through her veins now.

"You are stupid if you think you can raise a child on a ship," Elizabeth said as she stood; the babies were crying up in their nursery.

"Elizabeth, I wasn't going to say anything, but you need to stop this," Will started.

"I can't talk about this anymore, Will. Our children need attending to," Elizabeth said rather nastily back to Will.

"Elizabeth, wait," Will called as he took off after her.

"I saw that going better in my head," Jack said to Dani who was the only other person at the table now.

"Well, I suppose we should go get our things and be on our way."

"I suppose you're right," Jack stood and then took Dani's arm to escort her up the stairs. "We'll be leaving at dawn tomorrow then."

A/N: Please review. Thanks a million. And sorry that there was another arguement. I just needed a reason for Jack and Dani to leave tomorrow.