CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Collies to Wobble

The battle had sent them into a state of blind panic and determination. It was many hours later, when they were clear of the navy once more, having left nothing but a wreck sinking to the bottom of the ocean, that the Black Pearl came to rest upon a small, uninhabited island. She was still afloat but progress had been very slow due to the water that had seeped into the ship. They had the materials to repair it but it would take at least a few days.

Katie had searched every inch of the ship, but there was no sign of Angelica. Tia Dalma made no comment; though she was sure it had something to do with her. As the sun set, the crew lay down their tools and began to lounge or explore around the island. Katie finally found herself alone with Jack for what felt like the first time in an eternity, although it had really only been one day. He was sat at the edge of a rock pool some distance from where most of the crew were setting up camp. He'd taken his boots off and was sat with his arms curled around his knees, staring at nothing in particular. Katie sat beside him on the sandy patch of grass.

"I wanna know how she escaped." Jack mumbled.

"I know," Katie said, laying a hand on his arm, "So do I."

"So she just said she found 'erself on the ship? That she did it?" He jerked his head in the direction of the crew to indicate Tia Dalma.

"Yes. I don't know what to think." Katie sighed, her expression glum. Jack looked around at her and his face softened.

"Are you alright, love?" Katie blinked and looked back at him.

"I'm fine." She said.

"Are you sure?" She nodded, but Jack put his arms around her anyway, shifting so that she was leaning against his body, their legs splayed out before them. She closed her eyes as he ran his fingers comfortingly through her red locks. "Jack?" She asked after a while.

"Mm?" Her fingers were lightly drawing patterns on his thigh and he was content for a moment.

"What did you dream about… before?" Katie recalled the tear that had escaped him. It would be impossible to picture Captain Jack Sparrow crying if she had not seen it for herself.

"You… you were leaving me." He replied, almost in a whisper. She opened her eyes again and looked at him. He met her eyes. "You looked so happy… and I was miserable."

"Jack…" Katie reached up to trace the path the tear had followed. "I won't ever leave you… I wouldn't want to. I love you. You know that." Jack leant down so that his forehead rested against hers, his brown eyes staring into her green ones.

"I 'avent said this before, love. I'm no good at… that. But… I love you too, you know that?" He repeated the last part as a question. Katie swiftly placed a soft, gentle kiss on his lips. "Yer me wife, can't imagine me life without you now." He added afterwards. "Which reminds me." He pulled her ring from his pocket and took her left hand, sliding it back onto her ring finger. She smiled down at it, not just a symbol of her and Jack's fake marriage and true love, but now also an important object containing a part of the power of Calypso. Jack bent to kiss the ring.

"How soon will we be off this island?" She asked quietly.

"I hope soon." His eyes darkened with his answer as he looked her over again, "I can 'ardly ravish ye in full view of the crew." Katie blushed, though allowed Jack to kiss her hungrily. His hands kneaded her thighs for a moment, causing a familiar swooping sensation, though the intimacy stopped there for now.

The next couple of days were hard working ones. The entire crew wanted to be off the island. Food was not easy to come by there and what they had with them was being rationed. Once the Black Pearl was mended though, they set off immediately. They were sailing back to Shipwreck Island. Katie was looking forward to seeing Teague again, though Jack was not as keen. He had spent more time with his father in recent months than he'd spent in his entire life, and though the child in him was satisfied, the pirate in him wanted to run away from that. He had accepted closeness with Katie and thrived on it. He was happier in that respect than he'd been in years. But family was different, family issues never disappeared completely.

Katie was thinking the same thing more and more. She would have to tell Jack her story soon. He had said he loved her, and once he'd said it once he said it every day after that. But the moment didn't present itself as they were so happy to be on their way.

Since the navy ships that had been tailing the pirates of the Brethren Court had been obliterated, they had not been able to give word back to the authorities, so their journey back was blissfully uneventful in comparison to the day they'd bound Calypso. Katie could now enjoy the beautiful, deep blue Mediterranean Sea, though the sounds of cannonballs ripping through wood kept echoing in her ears.

It was an afternoon a few weeks later that they spotted Shipwreck Island. They navigated the rocks and reefs as carefully as ever, most pirates discussing making way off the island now the voyage was over. Katie was preoccupied with the feeling that filled her as she stepped off the Pearl; she felt like she was coming home. If Jack could have known that, he would never fear her leaving to return to London and her old life. Truth be told, she hardly remembered that life at all, but this place was vibrant in her mind.

The dock was a lot emptier without the Brethren Court being in progress. Of course, this was how it was most of the time, and it left the view open to the Troubadour, at which Katie smiled.

She began making her way towards the fortress when she suddenly found Teague right in front of her, grinning. Without even thinking, she flung her arms around the old pirate. He was taken by surprised but patted her on the back, laughing.

"I'm glad yer alright, girl." He said sincerely, his eyes going over her head to Jack who was following her. "What 'appened?" They launched into the entire sequence of events, the weird flashbacks, the upsetting dreams, the storm, the sea of flames and the return of Tia Dalma. They briefly described sinking the navy fleet, and Katie explained how Angelica had appeared suddenly and vanished just as mysteriously. Teague's expression was unreadable by the end.

"Somethin' fishy goin' on there." He commented. "Bet the voodoo girl 'as somethin' to do with it." He'd always referred to Tia Dalma as the 'voodoo girl'.

"I thought so." Katie agreed.

"Aye… we can't do anythin' about it 'til she's gone though. She gives me the collywobbles." Teague added, surprising Jack.

"I didn't know you still 'ad collies to wobble."

"She's a useful woman, Jackie, but dangerous. The people who straddle that line are the ones you need eyes on." Teague stumped away towards the fortress now, leaving Jack and Katie to watch.

"Full of useless advice is Dad." Jack said. Katie laughed.

"Yes, well I think we would be better off listening to him." She glanced in Tia Dalma's direction before once again taking the lead back to the fortress.

It was decided it was best not to make the same mistake the first Brethren Court had made by writing down how to bind Calypso. It was generally agreed that if she was ever freed again it would be the last time as piracy couldn't really reign forever and she was far too dangerous to meddle with. This gave them a chance to relax and recuperate after the extremely unsettling experience. It was not the violence or fear that haunted the pirates, but the odd dreams and memories. Even Jack was quieter than usual a lot of the time; he was thinking about his mother.

"What's the next move?" Katie asked Jack that night as they got ready for bed. Jack was just removing his weapons when she posed the question and he looked over at her.

"What, love?" He said distractedly.

"Well we did what we set out to do. We've bound Calypso." Jack thought about this. It had not occurred to him, really, that the adventure was over. It certainly didn't feel that way, and Katie certainly didn't either.

"We haven't sorted our other problem." He commented with a shrug.

"Angelica?"

"Aye." Katie pondered this. Even if they found Angelica they couldn't really do anything to her. However, as long as she was out there she would cause as many problems for them as she could regardless of her original plan of using Calypso having failed. She had made that much clear to Katie in the brig of the Black Pearl. Katie sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Jack removed his shirt.

"I suppose we could lock her up." Katie said bluntly after a few moments' thought. Jack looked surprised by this. He'd forgotten how practical she could be about such things in recent times.

"It doesn't seem like it's possible to keep 'er in one place," Jack reminded her, "Not if she keeps doin' this vanishing act."

"Hm… but what else is there? I suppose we can just hope we don't come across her…"

"I don't see that working out too well. It never usually does." Jack got under the covers of the bed and watched Katie's stiff shoulders. "Look, first thing's first, we'll rest a few days then head to Tortuga. Then we'll decide from there." Katie sighed and got into bed beside him. "You getting' tired of the pirate life, eh?"

"Never," Katie smiled, "But I don't think I've been living the average pirate's life."

Teague agreed that they would have to do something about Angelica and the following afternoon was to be found sitting in his quarters at his table across from Jack. Both were toting their usual bottles of rum. Teague looked relaxed and Jack looked glum. The former examined his son, seeing through to the small boy he remembered peering up through locks of brown hair, sniffling over some ailment.

"Are you gonna tell me what's on yer mind, boy?" Teague growled, swigging his rum. Jack glanced up at his father.

"It's nothing."

"I don't believe that. Out with it, Jackie." He spoke as if to that little boy, and Jack sighed in surrender.

"Dad," He began slowly, unsure how to broach the topic, "I wanna know… about Mum." Teague's hand went to the shrunken head he kept on his belt. Some might call it macabre and disturbing, but he was carrying with him a part of the woman he had loved and at that, the part he loved her for: her head; her mind. The two men had never discussed Feronia properly, but Jack recalled Katie hugging Teague and the only hug he himself had ever received from his father. Feronia was the connection he had with Teague.

"What about her?" Teague's voice was quiet.

"Just… I feel like I barely knew 'er." Jack swigged his rum, regretting bringing this up already. Teague leaned forward.

"What's brought this on?"

"Last time we were 'ere, I showed Katie the stone. I told 'er about… about when she died. You know, Katie 'ad that cough an' was being so stubborn about being taken care of? Well… it's been on me mind." Jack said gruffly, "I don't even know how you met her." Teague, who'd always known this day would eventually come, sat back again in his seat.

"She was a native to the New World- that's where she got 'er looks, see, but she'd run away for some reason or another." Jack's eyebrows shot up, "She'd learnt English out at sea when she was escaping, an' met with a load of privateers, who captured me. I was on me way to the gallows when she came down to the brig. She didn't like the privateers, they patronised 'er because she was what they called an Indian, an' they coveted her. So, we hatched a plan. When we got to port, she helped me escape and we ran away. Managed to get to Tortuga, an' started a life out together. I loved 'er, Jackie, an' she loved me. It weren't long before you came along, right in the middle of a typhoon. We settled here to raise you, as you know, but she'd been runnin' since she was just a girl so she wasn't used to staying in one place. That's why she was gone a lot. I missed 'er, but I wanted 'er to be happy…."

Teague suddenly looked up to find Jack watching him with rapt attention. He'd never heard his father speak this way before.

"She was a brilliant woman, Jack. She liked to be busy, she liked a laugh. When she died… it felt like the world was ending. That's when I saw you, my boy. I'd always ignored you, too tied up with her… but I tried to take care of ye after that." Jack nodded, remembering. Although he had never gone as far as to be affectionate to Jack, he remembered that his father had scared his bullies away and made sure he was washed and fed on a more regular basis from then on.

"She ran away for a mysterious reason an' met a pirate an' started off a new life." Jack summarised the story, wonder in his voice. "Sounds like…"

"Katie." Teague was grinning now, the solemn atmosphere broken, "First thing I really said to 'er was that she reminded me of yer mother." Jack marvelled that Katie had never mentioned this to him.

"I was an idiot not to love 'er right away, wasn't I?" Jack asked, a small playing at his lips too now.

"That you were." Teague agreed, and they laughed.

"You two had a baby…" Jack said quietly. Teague looked at him quizzically. "Nothin'. Thanks, Dad." But as Jack left the room and began making his way back to his own, he felt as if a huge weight was being lifted off his shoulders. Now he finally understood, and knew, that his father had actually loved his mother and had cared about him growing up even if he didn't show it in an orthodox way.

A/N: Phew! This has been one of my favourite chapters to write, so I hope that comes across. The past few chapters, the enthusiasm I've been showing has been quite forced and I think that showed in the quality, unfortunately. But I'm feeling a lot better about things now and especially this story. Sorry for the delay, too. Please drop me a line giving me your feedback, it'd be highly welcome!