CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Divine Meals
The table in Teague's quarters was groaning under the weight of all the Christmas food, from the huge golden goose to the sweetmeats, vegetables and cakes surrounding it. Katie hadn't had much of an appetite since her stabbing but her stomach growled hungrily at the sight and smell of the food; this would be the best meal she'd eaten since she and Jack had stayed at the inn in France. In addition to Teague and Elizabeth, they were joined by Barbossa and Gibbs. The former was resolutely munching an apple as Jack and Katie took their seats.
"Good to see yer lookin' well." Barbossa commented to Katie. He seemed to have taken a liking to the girl- most people took a liking to Katie, Jack had noticed. As his supposed wife, it made relations with the other pirates much easier.
"Thank you." She smiled at the grizzled old man.
"Well, tuck in." Teague advised the group, and Elizabeth and Jack laughed as Katie seized a leg of the goose and pulled it off without further ado.
"I've turned 'er pirate through and through." Jack grinned, helping himself to food too.
"It's just as well- we need a good pirate to face Angelica." Teague said.
"Might not come to that, once Calypso is bound." Jack shrugged complacently.
"You know there will be a confrontation, Jack. There always is." Elizabeth reasoned. Katie nodded in agreement; this matter wouldn't rest- not least because she didn't wish it to. Before, she had hated Angelica for what she'd put Jack through and the threat she had posed to all of them. But now, she had been personal harmed by Angelica and she wanted pay-back.
"We 'ave hurricane season to survive before we can move an inch off this island." Gibbs reminded them all, "The sea is choppy at this time o' year and it's far too cold."
"How's the research into binding Calypso been goin'?" Jack asked through a mouthful of potatoes. Katie rolled her eyes at his uncouthness.
"The first Brethren Court were either too scared or too illiterate to leave records of how they did it the first time." Teague explained.
"But they must have had some- some literature or something to tell them how to do it." Katie piped up, wincing as she tried to reach too fast for her glass of wine.
"There's a library here full of lore on the seas and ancient magic… but it's not in any order and most of it's in bad condition." Elizabeth informed her. Katie bit her lip; pirates of course wouldn't see the need to keep any books in good condition. Elizabeth, coming from an upper class background, of course felt her pain.
"I could help with the research…" Katie offered.
"Absolutely not." Jack interjected firmly, "You need to heal."
"And sitting around reading is going to interfere with that how?" Katie asked, her voice getting slightly shrill. Jack opened his mouth and Teague growled in an undertone, "Pick yer battles, Jackie…" Jack glanced at his father and then Gibbs, who shook his head. Barbossa looked extremely amused by procedings.
"I can bring some of the books up to your room and we can read together." Elizabeth said, in an attempt to appease both parties. She was also struggling not to smile at the bickering married couple.
"Fine by me." Jack grunted, and Katie kicked him on the shin under the table. He glared at her for a second but then ended up looking away with mirth glinting in his dark eyes. Teague watched the whole exchange quite smugly; his plan seemed to be coming along nicely, even if neither Jack nor Katie realised it yet. After a lot of food and wine, the party broke up. Gibbs announced he needed to sleep the food off and Barbossa had no interest in the merriment. Elizabeth departed and Jack followed, but Teague called Katie back:
"Oi," He called, and she turned back to him as she reached the door, her footsteps faltering and gentle to avoid pain if possible. "Yer doing alright, Katie." He said it like a statement, not a question, his eyes fixed on hers. Teague was constant, unshakeable, and Katie as usual found him reassuring. She nodded to him in response after a pause, and Jack poked his head back round the door.
"Where've you gotten to?" He demanded.
"I'm coming." She replied, letting him take her by the waist in order to aid her down the staircase outside. Katie was too busy concentrating on this to see Jack look back at his father, or to see the knowing look Teague gave him.
Elizabeth came up to Katie and Jack's room the following afternoon with a large stack of assorted books and papers for them to begin to go through.
"This is everything I could carry in one go. These are the minutes of the first Brethren Court, and a few books about Heathen God's." Elizabeth explained, setting the pile down on the large oak desk in the corner. Katie was sat up in bed with her hands folded in her lap, examining her 'wedding' ring. She was already very attached to it. Jack was sat beside her on top of the covers, back against the headboard, fiddling with his compass. He looked over at the pile.
"Can I see the minutes?" He reached out a hand.
"I didn't realise you were planning to help." Elizabeth commented, amused.
"I can't sail, and a man has to do somethin' with 'is time." Jack shrugged, and thus the reading and researching began. The Brethren Court's minutes were scrawled soppily across various scraps of parchment, badly spelt, alluding to the goddess and the election of the first Pirate King. It took a long time to decipher them, not to mention the books containing myths and legends. Very few mentions were made specifically of Calypso anywhere, and the process was long and laborious.
Days passed, a new year chimed in, and Jack, Katie and Elizabeth spent day and night reading and note-taking. Both women were quite impressed by Jack's ability to concentrate on such an academic task, though admittedly he did so with the aid of a lot of rum. Katie's stab-wound was healing well now and a measure of strength returning to her. It only really hurt when somebody pressed it. Eventually, as predicted by Gibbs, storm season hit Shipwreck Island. Noticing the forebodingly dark skies outside in the middle of the day, Elizabeth rushed off to find her crew to secure the Empress against the violent winds. Jack leapt up to do the same with The Black Pearl. Katie stood up too, reaching for her boots, and Jack looked at her like she was insane.
"Where do ye think yer going?" He demanded.
"To help you with the ship!" Katie replied.
"Oh no yer not!"
"Jack, you're going to need every spare set of hands for this. It's looking ugly out there and there isn't much time." She already had her boots on and was pulling on a thick woollen coat Jack had 'acquired' from somewhere for her for when her strength was back and they would be sailing again. Jack looked from Katie to the window and back again. "What did you say I was to do if you had any more fits of gallantry?" Katie quoted. Jack couldn't help but half-grin at this.
"Alright, fine, but if yer collapse or catch yer death it's on yer own 'ead!" He announced. Katie rolled her eyes, but then hesitated and picked up a silver dagger from the desk. It was the very dagger she'd been stabbed with, though it'd been cleaned and returned to her by Elizabeth. Figuring it was as good as hers now; Katie slipped it into her boot and also shoved her pistol into her belt before following Jack out the door and through the fortress.
When the wind hit her in the face, whipping her hair about, Katie realised this was the first time she'd been outside in quite a long time. As they got nearer to the dock, the salty smell of the sea filled their nostrils and both Jack and Katie breathed it in appreciatively. Gibbs and several other crew members were already climbing aboard The Black Pearl ahead of them, as around them other pirate ships were also being hurriedly manned.
"Captain! Orders!" Gibbs yelled as Jack and Katie came aboard.
"We sail 'round the mountain, lee side of the wind, she'll be safest there from the storm! Batten down the hatches!" Jack yelled to be heard over the sound of the wind. Katie hurried to tie down one of the ropes attached to the sails and secure the rigging as Jack took the helm. In no time at all they were moving, though it was slow progress against the ever-changing wind. The sea tossed huge waves against the side of the ship, some of them splashing over onto the deck, one of them right over Katie, though for once she was invigorated rather than annoyed by this. Task done, she hurried to the helm, which Jack was struggling to hold, though his grin was wide and happy. She added her weight against it and the two of them held it steady. They managed to pass through the treacherous rocks which had sunk many a ship before and, once clear, the wind was mainly behind them, propelling them around the edge of the island, though the waves were against them.
"You can let go now, love." Jack said, audible now that the wind was blasting Katie in the ears as strongly. Katie let the helm go and saw that he was indeed holding it easily now, but she staggered sideways as the ship rocked on the sea and Jack caught her one-armed. She gasped as his hand connected momentarily with her stab-wound. He moved his arm further down, around her waist, and peered down at her: "Sorry."
"It's fine." She said, through gritted teeth. It didn't hurt anywhere near as much as it once would have, which was good enough for Katie all things considered. She cast a glance towards the island to orientate herself as to where exactly they were, and found herself gazing at almost the exact place she'd been when Angelica had attacked and she'd shot Moss. Jack followed her gaze and unexpectedly pulled her into his chest.
"I still stand by what I said," He told her, "Ye did the right thing that night. Don't let it eat you up, focus on what we're doin' now, alright?" Katie nodded, her face buried in between his shoulder and neck. "We're past there, now." She looked round and they had indeed rounded the corner where the small mountain- really a large hill- stood, a different patch of the shore visible. A flash of lightning illuminated everything, followed closely by a deafening crash of thunder; though no rain had yet fallen, the storm was upon then. Luckily, within moments, they had beached the ship on the sand.
"Just in time!" Gibbs called, as there was another fork of lightning and the sea roiled angrily. It was hard work walking up the beach towards the trees beyond it with the wind so strong they were all close to falling over. Katie was walking almost doubled over and even as they reached the trees, the wind uprooted one of them. It was a small one, true enough, but it was all the omen they needed.
"We're not gonna make it back to the Cove in this!" Jack yelled, though the wind drowned most of his voice again. Katie frowned as she heard it, though not what he said, but thinking along the same lines. The heavens opened on cue and aggressive, cold rain battered them. Gibbs and the other crewmen ran for the trees, though wisely to bury themselves in the underbrush for cover and not under the lightning-magnetising trees themselves. Katie hesitated and Jack grabbed her, pulling her in a certain direction. She stumbled and staggered after him, eyes almost shut against the rain, and it felt that the short walk took hours before she realised Jack had led her to a sort of cave at the foot of the mountain. The sound of the wind was largely cut off upon entry. Before she could question anything, Jack had ventured back outside and then in again, arms full of ferns and fallen branches that had been shielded by the trees and so were dry.
"We might be in 'ere some time." He explained, indicating his load. Katie watched as Jack busied himself in starting a fire. Once the flames were flickering, more of the cave was illuminated; it was not very big, but sturdy. "Yer first trip out's already been eventful." Jack grinned. Katie smiled.
"I seem to attract trouble, don't I?"
"Nothing we can't 'andle." He settled beside her against the cave wall. She was still wet from the waves and then the rain, and she shivered a little. "Ye'll warm up soon." He nodded to the fire.
"Yes…" Katie was content. It was nice to have something to look at other than pages and volumes of myths and legends of the sea. The pair were silent for quite some time. Katie was lost in her own thoughts, watching the flames, and Jack got up every now and then to check the sky outside. It looked like night time, though it was really afternoon. Katie fiddled with the ring he had given her. It had not left her finger since she'd put it on.
"Are we gonna sit here all day and not say a word?" Jack asked her finally. Katie looked around at him.
"You weren't saying anything either." She pointed out.
"Aye, that be true." He conceded. Katie raised her eyebrows expectantly at him. "Well, we've spent so much time together lately it seems we've exhausted all topics of conversation, love. Sounds just like marriage to me!" He added, grinning.
"You don't have a very positive view of marriage, do you?"
"Au contraire, I think marriage is a wonderful thing. And I love weddings, me." Jack contradicted her. Katie smirked, amused. "But we didn't have a wedding, did we?" His eyes went to her fingers, still fiddling with the ring. Katie looked down at it to, before meeting his eyes once more. "We're married in so many senses of the word now, love."
"Not really." She mumbled.
"We might not 'ave walked down any aisles or consummated our love, but we're married in the small ways, are we not? You're the last thing I see before I go to sleep, first thing I see when I wake up…" He was flirting with her now, Katie realised, seeing the twinkle in his dark eyes.
"You shouldn't toy with me in this manner, Captain Sparrow. It's improper."
"Aye, that it is." The twinkle faded and was replaced by something searching as he gazed at her, as if he was trying to identify something specific in her face. All she could think of was her own words echoing around her head: 'I'm falling in love with you'.
"Jack," She began tentatively, "I know you can't stop… you can't switch off your feelings for her…"
"Katie, if those feelings weren't dead before, they are now." Jack told her, a hard look in his face then. But Katie knew him better now than anybody else on earth, including Jack himself. The past few weeks, when he had nursed her back to health and helped her with everything, she had seen more completely who Jack was deep down.
"You haven't had closure," Katie told him, her voice full of nerves, though she ploughed on: "Even if those feelings are… gone, that can't be helped yet. But Jack, I need to know something, and I need your honest answer now." Jack's hand curled around hers in her lap, warm and comforting to Katie, in a gesture she took to be an agreement. "Could you… love me, do you think? In spite of her and what she is to you?" Jack did not answer, a question in his eyes. "Because I don't think I can carry on this way forever, with the way we are, and how close we are getting, if there isn't even a possibility of that." This last part was said in a rush, as if it hurt her less to say it quickly. Jack was quiet for a long time, but he did not let go of her hand. Instead, he turned it over so the palm was facing upwards. He brought it to his lips and as they brushed it, a cold gust of wind blew directly into the cave and extinguished the fire in one go.
"Bugger!" Jack cursed.
"Jack!" Katie complained. Surprisingly he chuckled and she felt his fingers begin a path up her arm. He was remembering what Teague had said about accepting his heart didn't have to belong to Angelica. His fingers reached her neck, pushing her damp hair away so that he could lay his fingers against the place where her pulse could be felt; at the contact, he felt it beginning to race.
"I think the day could be in the offing, love." He murmured to her, moving so that his face was close to hers. "But you need to know I'll want all of you. I have yer heart, ye've offered me yer body, but I need yer soul too. I need to know the truth about why yer here and I need to know why, in the name o' God, ye've picked me." They both laughed at this past part, breathy laughs that caressed each other's faces.
"And?" She whispered.
"An' I'll have yer heart for breakfast, yer soul fer tea… and yer body, of course, will be the dessert." As he said it, he applied his lips to her neck. Not expecting it, Katie gasped as he pulled her skin between his teeth, sucking. After a moment, during which she exhaled a breath, he withdrew. Katie raised her hand to the place, cringing as it stung; it was definitely going to bruise.
"Fine." Katie agreed. She knew this may be putting a timer on when she would finally speak the truth about why she'd run away. She wasn't looking forward to that day, either, but knowing that Jack felt something for her, even if he wouldn't put a name to it yet, filled her with elation.
They waited through the rest of the storm quietly again, and it went on through the rest of the day and into the night. Katie curled into Jack's body for warmth and eventually they both fell asleep. Both felt content, that night; whatever devastation was being wreaked outside the cave, inside and with each other there was serenity for the moment and that made a very welcome change.
A/N: I don't think there's much I can really say about this chapter, it's extremely self-explanatory. I just hope it made some people happy, although trust me when I say this story is far from over, as are their troubles!