A/N: This chapter deviates from the canon, but only in one way: Elizabeth and Will haven't had a child. Will Jnr was shown in the epilogue of AWE, but I have to mess with the timeline just a little to make this story work, so if William Turner III happens, it'll be later. Sorry!
CHAPTER SIX: Teague's Troubles
Teague was at the helm, steering the ship across some particularly large and pushy waves, when the hole in the sea appeared. Keeping his scarred and gnarled hands on the wheel, he squinted with cat-like eyes towards the gap in the ocean. The waves were now like a wall either side of an empty sea bed, and unlike anything he'd seen before. And worst, the gap was right before the Troubadour, which was being born towards it by the tide. Swinging the wheel all the way round, the boom swung with it. Crew members ducked to avoid it, then turned to find the reason why. And within a second, without needing orders, they were all hastily rushing to the sails. At the last moment, just before they were about to tilt totally forwards and fall hundreds of feet to the bottom of the sea, the ship was turned to starboard, and then against the wind, away from the terrifying gaping hole.
Jack came sprinting to his father's side. A sudden, deafening silence seemed to fill the air, cutting off the sound of the sea and leaving only their voices. The crew were peering at each other nervous, afraid.
"You know what this means, Jackie?" Teague asked his son seriously in his low growl. Jack nodded slowly. Katie was a few paces behind the men, gazing upwards at the darkening sky.
"We're too late, aren't we?" She whispered, though everyone heard her through the crisp, clear silence. The clouds seemed to be clearing now, rushing backwards out of sight to be replaced by the same blue sky as before. The sea went crashing back into the gap that had formed so suddenly, and the Troubadour shifted as the large but serene waves picked it back up again. The sound returned too, just as suddenly as it had disappeared.
"We're not too late," Teague told her grimly, "But that was a warning from Calypso. She knows she's being sought." Katie bit her lip, her eyes straying to Jack, who still had his back to her. It seemed that he had been avoiding her for the past couple of weeks, ever since that night he had held her. For the first time on this voyage, Katie was scared. She had listened to the others' stories of the heathen Goddess of the Sea, the power of her fury and of her love, the story of how she had been set free, yet she hadn't understood the magnitude of it until then, the way the totally normal, peaceful day had changed as if at the flip of a lever. Katie was about to say something but was interrupted by a crew member by the name of Sandy, who was on crow's nest duty.
"SHIP! LARBOARD! ON THE HORIZON! IT'S NOT FLYIN' ANY COLOURS, CAP'N!" Sandy bellowed from above. Teague immediately pulled out his telescope, and Jack and Katie squinted over the right hand side of the ship. Indeed, a set of ragged sales had appeared on the horizon and was sailing straight towards them- out of shock they had not yet turned the ship back onto its original course.
"They be signalling to stop, stand guard, weapons at the ready! You can never be too careful!" Teague ordered. Jack loosened the sword in his scabbard. He'd thought it was strange that thus far they'd hardly encountered any other ships in these parts, barring a few merchant vessels which they had pillaged with no difficulty. As it drew closer, Jack recognised the ship.
"That's the Empress!" Teague gave the command to throw down the anchors and the ship came to a stop as the Empress came up beside them. A chubby Oriental man stood at the edge of the ship, hanging from the rigging.
"Our Captain seeks audience with the Captain Teague!" He called clearly. Katie glanced once again at Jack.
"Come aboard!" Teague granted. A slighter figure emerged from behind the other Empress crew members, seizing one of the ropes and swinging across. It was only when the figure landed a few feet away that Katie realised the figure was a woman. And not just any woman, but…
"Captain Swann, it's a pleasure." Teague greeted, tipping his hat to the woman. She was probably a couple of years older than Katie, with a tanned face framed by brown hair bleached blonde by the sun. She wore Chinese-style battle dress and carried a Jian and a cutlass, as well as a single pistol in her belt. Her features were aristocratic, though she gave off the unmistakeable air of someone who was tough and capable of taking care of themselves. This was the famous Elizabeth.
"It's Captain Turner, actually." Elizabeth said. "Oh, you're here, Jack. A lot of people have been wondering where you've gotten to." There was a definite trace of sarcasm in her voice. Jack raised a finger in the air.
"I've been looking for your dear husband. Again." He told her, "You should keep 'im on a shorter leash, love."
"I have a bone to pick with you, too, now it comes to it." Elizabeth declared. "But first I must ask- is your wife keeping you on a short leash, Jack?" Katie gave a little start of surprise as everyone turned to look at her. She glanced at Jack out of the corner of her eye and she saw him nod: so they were to include Elizabeth in the lie.
"I don't need to be kept on a short lease- I 'ave eyes for nobody else." Jack declared, "Katie, meet Elizabeth." Katie approached Elizabeth smoothly, giving no sign of her previous uncertainty. She met Elizabeth's light brown eyes and saw the kindness in them as they shook hands.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs Sparrow." Elizabeth said. Katie had to supress a snort, but she returned Elizabeth's smile. For some reason, the two women immediately recognised each other as friends.
"Just call me Katie." Katie replied firmly. The idea of being referred to as 'Mrs Sparrow' was just too much.
"Well, perhaps we should get down to business." Elizabeth looked at Teague, who nodded in agreement. The pair began to head towards the Captain's quarters, and Jack subtly tried to melt into the background. However, Teague turned round at the last moment.
"You're coming too, boy." He growled. Jack scurried after his father, to the general amusement of the rest of the crew. Once the three of them were inside and the door was shut, Elizabeth rounded on Jack.
"Why is it as soon as I heard that the Brethren Court were to be summoned that it'd have something to do with you?" She demanded.
"Search me, love." Jack held out his arms in mock innocence, and Elizabeth punched him in the shoulder. Jack frowned, rubbing the place she'd hit as she turned away. Teague chuckled at the scene, sitting on his throne-like chair. "You didn't 'ave to come. I thought you was livin' on land."
"I'm Pirate Lord of the South China sea. I had no choice." Elizabeth informed him through gritted teeth. "Luckily most of Sao Feng's old crew remained loyal to me- and you might be interested to know I've also come across Cotton and Marty, too."
"A question I have for you, Mrs Turner, is where is your dear husband?" Teague asked, breaking up the argument before it could go any further.
"I've been wondering that myself. Although if Calypso is leaving messages around and Will's heard I'm at sea, I'm sure he will be wherever I am sooner or later." Elizabeth answered. "It's another five years before he can set foot on land, you see." As Elizabeth and Teague began to talk strategy, Jack watched her, remembering the first time they'd met- he'd saved her from drowning, kidnapped her and then agreed to rescue her all in the space of a day. Back then she'd been very uptight and proper, always doing what her father wished and agreeing to marry a Commodore. The years had altered her to a tough woman, though she'd always been stubborn and free-thinking. He had even at one point begun to admire her, any red blooded male would… but then came that day she had tied him to his own ship and left him for the kraken, and by and by the Locker. He had never entirely forgiven her for that. The whole experience had changed him, had damaged him more than he'd like to admit. He had accepted that she had been doing it for the right reasons, and known she was sorry despite what she'd told him because she had ultimately come to rescue him from that purgatory… but it was a hard thing to forget, all the same.
It was agreed that the ships would remain anchored for the night in this stretch of sea, to see if Will would track them down. The waves had calmed down considerably over the afternoon, and Elizabeth remained aboard for a few hours, looking around the legendary Troubadour.
Katie found herself sat on the steps leading from the deck leading up to the helm, watching with amusement as Sandy and another crew member practised sword fighting, clumsily ducking and diving all over the place and making much more of a theatrical show of it than was strictly necessary for her entertainment. She barely noticed Elizabeth had sat down beside her before she spoke:
"So how did you and Jack meet?" She asked Katie warmly.
"We met in London," Katie answered automatically, still watching the practise, "We met and I…" She paused, realising she needed to be convincing. "I loved him immediately. He was just so… exciting. And I… I ran away with him. That night."
"An elopement," Elizabeth smiled, "How romantic."
"Yes, it was." Katie agreed vaguely.
"How are you finding a pirates life?"
"I'm getting used to it," Katie replied, relieved to be back on safe ground again conversationally. She turned and looked at Elizabeth. "It's better than what I left behind in a lot of ways, and everyone here is kind to me. Besides, I've learnt an awful lot that I never would have done, back home."
"And Jack takes care of you?" Elizabeth's tone had changed a little. It took Katie a moment to recognise the tone was one of concern.
"Very good care. He does everything for me, I… I couldn't have survived without him, otherwise. I never would have known how to live this life." None of this was a lie- and Katie was not a good liar, anyway. Elizabeth seemed to appreciate the sincerity because she placed a hand on Katie's arm.
"I'm glad. Jack is a good man… he doesn't always show it, but he is." The pair of them glanced over at him. He was drinking rum, predictably, with another crew member, not an apparent care in the world showed on his face. "I'm glad to find you're real- not just a zany rumour, as I suspected. Please don't take this the wrong way, but when I heard someone had tamed the eternal bachelor, it sounded an awful lot like a ploy to try and convince Angelica he was unavailable." Katie laughed at this, because it was of course the truth.
"He does have a terrible reputation." She managed to say.
"Well, it's just good to have female company. And any woman who can pin him down- that's a woman I can admire." There was a strange tone to Elizabeth's voice when she said it, and Katie felt a pang of irritation. Was there no woman whom had no romantic attraction to Jack?
"Did you and he ever…?" Katie asked. Elizabeth's eyebrows jumped upwards. "You can tell me, I'm just curious. I'm not a stranger to his old womanising ways."
"We kissed, once. But there was no… feeling there." Elizabeth swallowed. "Believe me." Katie didn't understand, not having heard the full version of the story of Jack and the kraken, but the annoyance vanished. She wondered vaguely why it had ever bothered her- it wasn't as if Jack was her real husband. "I ought to get back to my ship. It's been nice meeting you, Katie. I hope we'll be friends." Katie smiled as Elizabeth squeezed her hand before departing.
The afternoon faded into evening and there was a party atmosphere aboard the two vessels. Pirates swung between the two, drank rum, and fought and hugged like siblings. Jack noticed that Katie spent most of the evening talking to Moss. Although he was avoiding her as much as possible, and continued to do so that evening, he did find himself watching their pair out of the corner of his eye. This didn't go unnoticed by Teague. He had realised a lot about his son on this voyage: and the first and most obvious thing was how much Jack had changed. He still had his eccentric mannerisms and loved his rum, but even the toughest nut was bound to crack a little when they'd spent the best part of the last twenty years running away from curses, fighting the navy and being repeatedly captured by and then escaping the authorities. Besides, there was one thing that Jack had never admitted to even himself: Angelica had broken his heart. He didn't recognise heartbreak for what it was, because he had spent his entire life refusing to make emotional bonds with people. But the Locker had shaken his confidence and Angelica had stamped all over his heart, and Jack was still recovering.
Captain Teague moved his fingers up and down the fret-board of his guitar, playing a song he knew so well his hands knew the right notes without him needing to listen. Katie had not revealed anything to him about her past, nor her reason for wanting to leave it all behind.
Katie tended to follow through with anything they said without question, and was eager to get stuck into any task she was set, so he felt no need to query her. She had grown quite close to Teague, looking to him almost as a father figure of sorts herself, but she didn't confide in him. He had not forgotten his early observation of her; she did indeed remind him of his wife, Jack's mother, and she reminded him more of her every day. Teague was beginning to hope Jack would, like father like son, fall for Katie. She would be the ideal woman, and the only kind of woman Jack would be able to settle for. They may be pretending marriage now, but someday, if Teague had his wish, it would be a true marriage. He supposed he might be growing old and sentimental in his old age, but perhaps it was just common sense. After all, Jack couldn't be shrivelled up over Angelica forever, and he was sure the only reason Jack had been willing to fake marriage to Katie in the first place was because he was not quite ready to get back into the saddle and seek dalliances with other women. When that day came, Katie would be right there, and perhaps Jack would seek her.
Teague was definitely becoming sentimental. He decided so as he set his guitar to one side and heaved himself to his feet. The crew needed to get to sleep if they were to haul anchor in the morning.