THIS SKIPS SEVERAL MORE MONTHS IN THE STORY. PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!!! Jack and Lizzie have been married ten months at this point. This chapter also builds into a whole other story which I may or may not write someday. LONG CHAPTER!
Elizabeth stared at the dock in Port Nanton worriedly. They had not been able to contact Brent and Katrina since they left after their last visit. She could only hope that Katrina had carried her child thus far. Katrina would be due in about a week, provided she had not miscarried or given birth early. Elizabeth and Jack had agreed to arrive in Port Nanton in time for Katrina's confinement. Elizabeth might get to take care of Willy for a couple of days, something she was looking forward to immensely. She missed her son, but had almost begun to think of him as a nephew. That only lasted until she saw him however, then she always remembered that she had given birth to him, and could not think of him as anything but a son.
Jack and Elizabeth walked up the beach towards the Torrance home. They must have looked strange to anyone who watched them, a couple swaggering up the beach like a couple of drunkards. Elizabeth gained her land-legs most of the way, but still walked with a sway. They approached the house hesitantly. Elizabeth called out. "Hello the house! Anybody there?" Willy, now a year and five months old, toddled out and peered up curiously at the visitors. He was adorable. Elizabeth held out her arms to him and he hesitantly walked into them. She lifted him and looked up just as Katrina came to the door.
Elizabeth was delighted; Katrina was large with child. The baby was almost certainly past any danger, barring birth compactions. Katrina and Elizabeth hugged tightly, until Willy squawked and the unborn child kicked. Katrina then hugged Jack briefly, and the happy little group entered the house. "Brent is out fishing for the day." Katrina explained her husband's absence. She sat down slowly and rather uncomfortably. Elizabeth remembered the awkwardness of such movements all too well. Surprisingly, seeing Katrina so pregnant was making Elizabeth want to go through it again. Until she thought of the uncomfortable burden and labor pain. That just about drove the longing away, but she also knew it would be worth it. She wanted to have children with Jack.
They caught up for a while, and Elizabeth noted how tired Katrina looked. Willy, she had noticed, was a very active child, and was no doubt stressing Katrina more than she should be stressed. She offered to look after her son so Katrina could get a nap. The pregnant woman agreed wearily and trudged away to her bed, trailing apologies about not being an overly good hostess. Elizabeth and Jack took Willy down to the seashore, where it was obvious that he was fascinated by the sea. "'E's got pirate in 'im, jus' like his father." Jack commented quietly. Elizabeth nodded hesitantly. "I suppose he does. But I'm not going to impose it on him by taking him out to sea. When he's older, he can make that choice on his own, without the pressure of who we are weighing on him." Jack nodded thoughtfully, but he knew that a destiny ran in the Turner bloodline; a pirate destiny. Elizabeth knew it too. William Turner the Third was as bound to the sea as his father and grandfather had been.
The next eight days passed quickly and happily. At about ten on the eighth night, there came a hurried pounding on Jack and Elizabeth's door. Jack swore against Elizabeth's mouth and rolled off her, buttoning up his shirt as he stamped toward the door, apparently preparing to give the intruder a piece of his mind. Elizabeth scrambled out of bed, straightened her clothes, and came to stand behind Jack. "Be nice, it could be about Katrina." Sure enough, when Jack opened the door, there stood Brent, looking panicky. "Katrina's having pains." he said breathlessly. "Elizabeth, could you stay with her while I fetch the doc?" Elizabeth nodded kindly and Brent scurried off down the hall. Jack pressed Elizabeth against the doorframe for one more passionate kiss, which she eagerly returned, before following her to Katrina and Brent's room.
Katrina was relatively at ease at this point, and Elizabeth encouraged her to walk, remembering how Anamaria had coached her in giving birth to Willy. Jack sat down in a chair near the door and watched Elizabeth, feeling more than a little put out about being interrupted by Brent. Katrina looked at him strangely, and then looked at Elizabeth. She grinned as she paced back across the room. Jack looked at his cousin suspiciously. "What are you smilin' at, wench?" Katrina laughed lightly. "What did Brent interrupt?" Jack grinned. 'Nothin', why'd ya ask?" "Well, for one thing, your buttons are mis-done. The top one is in the third buttonhole." Jack looked down and found this to be true. He laughed. He was going to shoot back a smart retort of some type, but Katrina was in the grip of a pain, groaning quietly. Jack paled. Even after being with Elizabeth during childbirth, it still scared Jack to see a woman in pain, and know how many women died in birthing.
Brent returned with the doctor, and the long wait began. Hours passed. Jack fell asleep in the armchair, and Elizabeth eventually sat on his lap and dozed off. When Katrina screamed, Jack automatically jumped up, causing Elizabeth to fall. She instinctively grabbed Jack to keep her balance, but since he was half asleep, he stumbled and fell on top of her. They scrambled up at the sound of a baby's cry. The pirate couple found themselves facing a very amused audience. The doctor, holding a newborn in a little flannel blanket, tried to look stern as he spoke. "Would you two please keep your marital activities confined to your own bedroom?" Brent chuckled quietly, lying next to his exhausted but smiling wife. They all looked curiously at the doctor, who was, at the moment, the only one who knew the child's gender, as Jack and Elizabeth falling over had attracted everyone's attention. He spoke cheerfully. "It's a girl. Congratulations. I think now that you've carried one child to term, you should be able to do so again." Katrina looked infinitely happy as she took her child.
They named the baby Carina Gale. She was beautiful, as newborns go. They introduced her to Willy the next morning. He stared at the baby in fascination. "This is your sister, Willy." Brent informed the toddler happily. Jack and Elizabeth were standing back a bit listening. Suddenly, Jack stared out blankly toward the window. He looked puzzled and a little scared. Elizabeth touched his arm gently. "Jack? Jack, are you alright?" He shook his head as if to clear it and looked into her eyes. "Jack, what is it?" he smiled, but still looked strange. "I'll tell you later."
Later on, in their room, Elizabeth asked Jack again. He looked hesitant, almost as if he thought she might not believe what he was going to tell her. Finally, he spoke. It was one of those strange times when he spoke like any normal person, with good grammar and no strange pirate expressions. "I should have told you before. It started when I was in the Locker. I saw you and the others sailing. Two weeks later, there you were." "You mean you saw the future?" "Yes, but only in bits and pieces, and there was no way to know if I was just seeing you sailing, or if you were sailing to save me. I assumed it was a power granted only in the Locker. Then…Lizzie, I think this will make you mad." "Go on, I won't slap you." "You might. Lizzie, one day, about two months before I found Yearston in Port Royal, I had another one of those 'future flashes'. I saw a gravestone, with Will's name on it. And I saw you coming back to me." She looked stunned. "You knew Will was going to die?" "No, I didn't know. I couldn't be sure these visions were always accurate. It had only happened once. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it hasn't happened in so long…" "It happened again today, didn't it? When Brent showed Willy Carina?" He nodded. "What did you see?" "I saw a beautiful girl…I think it's what Carina will look like when she's older, sitting on some steps crying. Then a young man came around a corner and grabbed her hands. He pulled her to her feet, picked her up, and swung her around. He was saying something, but I can never hear anything in these visions. She looked happy…no, more than happy. She looked like all her dreams had just come true." "Was the young man Willy?" "Yes, I think so. He looked just like Will." "So what could be important about this vision? They will be like brother and sister. It's natural that he'll comfort her when she's sad." Jack nodded. "I don't know why I would see something so unimportant. Time will tell I suppose." He glanced at the bed, then at his wife. "So, darlin', what say we finish up what was so rudely interrupted last night?" She laughed, and jumped willingly into his arms.
I considered making this a tragedy and having Katrina die in childbirth, but have the baby live. I decided I like it much better happy. Jack's visions are unimportant in this particular story, but I'm thinking of doing a second generation story, and that lays the groundwork for it.