Disclaimer: Miss Blake's adventures are all her own. And you'll never take her alive, Disney! NEVER! What? What was that? Oh, you hit below the belt. Not another 'your mom' joke. You'll pay for this!!!
A/N: I LIVE!
"Well sir," he began, "It's quite a sight, really. Don't know where it came from…the weather I mean. You may just have to take a look and see for yourself."
Jack raised his eyebrows and stood up abruptly, gently leaning over, placing Belle into his arms, and bringing her to her feet.
A crack of thunder shook straight through the Pearl's walls, rumbling inside of them all.
"What the hell is going on up there?" Jack muttered, grabbing her by the hand and following Gibbs above deck.
Belle, her curiosity at its peak, was practically on the heels of Jack's boots as she raced behind him. Suddenly, she felt herself crash into his back as he stopped in the middle of his path. Grabbing onto the back of his coat for support so she wouldn't fall down the steps and break her neck, she cried, "Goodness, Jack, what do you see?"
He slowly stepped out into the darkness in awe, staring straight up into the black, purplish clouds. The wind picked up and danced around them, flinging their hair every which way and tugging at their clothes.
"What should we do, Captain?" Gibbs questioned with a wince.
Jack let out a hysterical bark of laughter, catching them both off guard and causing them to jump. With one hand holding his tricorne hat to his unruly mane, he twirled around like a sea nymph, proclaiming gleefully, "I have never seen a thing like it! Christ, look at it! It's like all Hell's broken loose!"
A bright flash of lightning illuminated everyone's faces in an eerie manner. Jack looked psychotic.
"Jack," Belle said slowly, "I don't think now's a good time to be impressed with Mother Nature…this can get dangerous." A large water droplet smacked her in the nose to finish off her sentence.
He winked at her and shook his finger. "Don't be nervous, luv. The ol' Pearl can withstand anything She faces. She can face a whole army of sharks! A brigade of tsunamis! A…"
"Jack!" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Alright, alright," he murmured, leaning in close and slurping the water droplet off her nose before adding, "I'm going to take care of it. Don't ye worry your pretty head about it."
She rubbed at her nose furiously with her forearm.
"Take down the sails!" Jack bellowed. Everyone began bustling about in a hurry to salvage what they could until the hellish storm began.
"Gibbs…how far's the nearest piece of land?" Jack asked, taking out his compass and fumbling with it.
"About an hour away, Jack. Ridgeway Cove." Gibbs pursed his lips together in thought before saying, "Ye think we'll last that long?"
"O' course we will! Think positive, mate!" Jack turned to Belle and said in a low voice, "I want you down below."
"I don't think so, Sparrow."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You're going to follow me orders, young missy, and enjoy doing so, savvy?"
She placed her hands on her hips. "Why can't I help, Captain?"
Jack massaged his temple and let out a grunt of frustration. "Do you enjoy bein' so damn difficult all the time?"
"Of course."
His coat flapping in the wind, Jack turned on his heel and shouted, "Harry! Leftfoot! I'm going to be needin' some assistance!"
Belle backed away from him hesitantly.
Harry and Leftfoot stepped up to Jack and he whispered something hurriedly into their ears. They rolled their eyes before resting them on a stubborn Belle.
"What?!" she questioned in exasperation.
Suddenly, she found herself being held under the armpits and being dragged by the two strong men back downstairs.
"Jack!" she shouted, struggling against them, "You bastard!"
Sparrow took the helm and winked in her direction. The last thing he saw of her was two legs kicking out and thrashing in the doorway.
Jack hadn't expected to feel the wrath of Nature's fury to this extent. The sails were down and it was pitch black. Clutching the compass as the torrents of water splashed over him and dripped from his hat, he fought not to shiver. The water was unnaturally cold.
The Pearl groaned in pain as it fought with the waves, wrestling for control. "Hold in there, luv," he whispered, patting the helm lovingly as he held on for dear life, "Hold on."
Meanwhile, as the crew was holding on for dear life, Belle was lying against the door, frustrated beyond belief. The ship rocked and spun; she felt dizzy and disoriented. She got up from where she lay but was thrown back against the wall with horrible force, as if someone had shoved her in amidst their stormy ferocity.
Jack. If she was having trouble inside the galley, she couldn't imagine what Jack was dealing with above deck.
All of a sudden, she heard a humongous snap that reverberated throughout the whole ship. A bunch of shouting rose above the whistling wind and her heart leapt into her throat. Belle let out an angry cry as she struggled with the locked door, ramming it with her shoulder over and over.
Belle heard the lock click and she jumped away just as the door was kicked open. Gibbs and Mr. Cotton burst in carrying a limp Jack into the dark room.
She stared at them with wild eyes, following them with jerky, shocked movements as they laid him out onto the table. "Jesus…what the hell happened?!"
"A part of the main mast broke, swung down and smashed into him," Gibbs explained through gritted teeth, "He flew through the air and landed on his back…he was unconscious when we reached him."
The kohl was steadily dripping down Jack's face and he was absolutely soaked and pale.
"Where is he hurt?" she whispered frantically.
"His shoulder's dislocated and there's a possible concussion…" Mr. Gibbs replied seriously.
"What can I do to help?"
"Dead men tell no tales!" the parrot squawked cheerfully.
She shot Mr. Cotton's parrot a deathly glare.
"Help us get the coat off so we can take care of his arm."
She nodded quickly and Gibbs hefted Jack up by the shoulders, sitting him up. Jack's head lolled to the side, unmoving. But as soon as they struggled to get his arms out of the sleeves, Jack groaned and mumbled a few obscenities that even the raunchiest pirate would cringe at.
"Son of a bitch!" Jack croaked in fury, "My arm, God, stop messin' with it!" He began to shudder silently and Belle brought her hands up to his face.
"Jack," she whispered, "You'll be all right, I promise." The shuddering subsided a little as Jack stared at her through glazed eyes.
"You seem to calm him," Gibbs mentioned, "I'll go get the supplies while ye watch him." He stared down into her white face and added, "I've patched him up with worse many a time before, lass. You needn't worry." And then he was gone. Some crew members gathered around, helping Jack shrug off his coat.
Belle stroked the side of his face, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt for not being there when it happened. Damn Jack's foolishness. He was the one who locked her up in the first place!
Jack felt fuzzy. His limbs were numb except for the burning sensation in his right shoulder. It felt like someone was sticking a hot poker right into the joint and twisting it ever so slowly into his flesh. He felt something cool against his face and realized through the fogginess it was someone's hand. Someone was holding him up from behind and someone was in front of him, caressing his face gently.
"Silly lout," Belle grumbled, kissing the side of his wet cheek, stroking away his dripping hair, "Locking me up like some wild animal…"
Jack blacked out for a second and came to again, swimming in a dizzy fit.
"Stay with me, Jack, come on," she coaxed, "It's all right..."
Mr. Gibbs ran through the crowd, waving a bottle of alcohol in his hand.
"That's the supplies?" Belle snorted.
He held up a rag in the other hand and commented, "He's going to need something to dull the pain a bit, lass. And the rag is for him to bite down on. The location of his shoulder looks mighty nasty."
And for the first time, Belle noticed it. Through the white shirt sticking to his skin, she saw a bone jutting out at an odd angle from underneath his paled flesh.
Belle grabbed the bottle of what she guessed was whiskey and uncorked it, bringing it to his lips.
"Drink up," she ordered. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and she smacked him gently on the cheek. "Stay with me!"
She brought the bottle to his lips and poured it down his throat. He coughed and sputtered, but in a jiffy, half the bottle was consumed.
"That's Jack for ye," Gibbs muttered.
"Who's at the helm?" Belle wondered aloud, taking the rag and placing it between Jack's teeth.
"Anamaria. She knows what she's doing, so stop worryin'," Gibbs replied with a quick glance towards her, "All right, I'm going to count to three, and you're going to have to help hold him in place…"
Belle nodded, swallowing hard as she watched Gibbs take a hold of his shoulder. Jack moaned and his head rolled to the side.
"Brace yourself," Gibbs warned. Belle bit her lip so hard she tasted coppery blood.
"One…two…THREE!" Abruptly, Gibbs took Jack's shoulder and wrenched it into the socket. The room echoed with two sounds at once: the sound of Jack's horrible, deafening, stomach-flopping shout or the sickening CRACK as the limb popped back into place.
Belle broke out into a cold sweat and the room was silent. Jack was unconscious again.
Gibbs wiped the sweat off of his forehead and sighed.
"Can you gentlemen help carry him to his cabin? I'll take care of the rest," she assured them. They glanced at each other hesitantly before lifting Sparrow and trudging up the stairs with him in their arms.
Belle had long since undressed him, dried him off, and tucked him in the covers when Anamaria came bursting through the door, sopping wet.
"How's Jack?" she asked grimly.
"Resting." Belle grimaced and replied, "That was an awful display downstairs…"
"Dislocatin' limbs isn't a cup o' tea, I'll tell ye that," Anamaria smirked, "I just hope he doesn't suffer any more brain damage than he already has."
Belle sucked in a breath. "Could it really be that bad?"
"Hard to say," she responded, tapping a finger to her chin, "He went down pretty hard."
"Weren't you at the helm?" Belle asked curiously.
"The storm isn't dyin' and it doesn't look like it plans to for a while. I dropped anchor. We're on the eastern edge of Ridgeway Cove."
"I think we should stay on the Pearl," Belle informed her, "Jack would have wanted us to stay with her. And it would be dangerous to try and move him now. Too risky."
"I don't disagree with ye, dearie. I don't think it would be a very wise thing to do, even if Jack was in tip top shape."
"Why?"
"I spotted another ship across the way when there was lightning…there's people on that tiny island and I have no idea in hell who they could be."
"We'll just wait it out, that's all," Belle said tiredly, "That's all we can do for now."
"Damn straight," Ana said with a nod of her head, "Well, we'll be outside if ye need anything."
She whispered her thanks and watched her yank the door open and struggle to close it through all of the howling wind. The flames of the candles flickered and died, leaving her to shadows and blackness once again. Belle cursed inwardly and struggled to find the desk to see if there was anything to light them back up with, but the click of a pistol stopped her in her tracks.
The barrel of the pistol was pressing against her back. She raised her hands up in the air and slowly turned.
Lightning flashed, illuminating a shaky Jack standing there in naught but a baggy white shirt, pistol cocked, looking crazed.
"Jack!" she whispered, "What do you think you're doing?"
Lightning flashed again, showing the whites of his teeth as he clenched them. "First of all, I want my effects back. Second of all, what am I doing here, and thirdly…who the hell are you?"
AH! DRAMA!
