CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Youth

They were to be found sailing across the Caribbean a few days later on the Pearl. The weather was getting a little warmer now and weak glimmers of sun danced off the surface of the sea. They were heading for Tortuga, though what exactly they were trying to do, nobody was sure.

"Your father's getting out and about quite a lot for a man of his age." Katie commented to Jack. Teague had unexpectedly offered to join them on their aimless journey, saying that he missed the sea. Jack watched his father, as steady and unmovable as always up at the helm, for a moment before he answered.

"I think 'e's living 'is second youth." Katie smiled. Jack's demeanour around his father had altered recently. He had hurried to tell her what he'd discovered about his mother and she had listened patiently and joyfully to his recounting his parent's love story. Jack had never really had anybody to share his happiness with before and he was more grateful to have Katie than ever. She was pleased to see him warming to Teague. Thinking about the same thing, Jack asked her: "Tell me about your mother." He had learnt that she was more open about her mother than her father, though he could only guess why. He'd decided long ago that he wasn't going to ask Katie the question she had promised to answer again; he knew she would tell him in her own time. But he was still curious to find out what he could about other aspects of her.

"I think I've told you everything." Katie replied lightly.

"Well, what did she look like?" Katie turned and affectionately drew Jack's hand into hers.

"A lot like me, except for the hair. She was dark-haired. I inherited the red from my grandmother back in Ireland."

"Oh so she must've been beautiful too, eh?" Jack grinned.

"Maybe," Katie smiled, "She was a great story-teller. She used to tell me about princes in faraway lands and underwater countries full of ghosts that seemed so real they gave me nightmares…" Jack flashed back suddenly to The Money Pit, and the strange water that had chased him and Elizabeth before vanishing without a trace. He had not forgotten the hopeless, terrified feeling that had filled them both. He blinked to find Katie looking up at him in concern. "What happened?" She asked him.

"Where did Tia Dalma go?" He questioned suddenly. He should have asked her when he had the chance!

"She just disappeared… I suppose she went home?" She added tentatively, not sure whether bound goddesses had homes. Jack nodded thoughtfully.

"I think we might have a destination, love."

In Tortuga, Jack met up with John, the owner of The Faithful Bride, and made their usual arrangement to have his ship fully stocked. Though Teague had agreed to come with them, he declined to join them on land as he felt he had 'outgrown the frivolities of Tortuga'. And so the other assorted crew members who had joined them made their way about the island, especially to the inns. Katie and Jack sat in a corner of the Faithful Bride, people-watching. Jack watched her green eyes travel over everything with a much more contented expression than had been on her face the first time he'd brought her here.

"What're you thinking about, love?" Jack queried her.

"Just… don't you miss this? The freedom?" She didn't ask him in an accusatory way. Only curiosity showed in her voice.

"I had all the freedom in the world to drown me sorrows but not to share me joy." He echoed his earlier thoughts contemplatively, swigging his rum.

"You do talk in riddles sometimes." Katie chuckled. He chuckled back.

"I haven't lost much, Katie." He indicated her and she smiled, about to speak again, when she felt a sharp blow to her shoulder out of nowhere. In a moment, she had leapt out of her seat and spun to face her attacker, one hand going to the sword she was still no expert at using, though the young man facing her could not know that. He himself was only armed with a bottle of rum and he did not look as if he'd thought to use it as a weapon. Before Katie could move another inch, however, Jack had stepped between them, sword at the man's throat, and was glaring menacingly.

"Nobody touches my wife." Jack growled. Katie felt a strange thrill ripple through her at the words.

"She is Katie O'Connor?" The man asked, though his voice wavered a little. Jack frowned, squinting through the dim lighting of the pub at the dark curls and round face.

"You look familiar, have I threatened you before?" Jack questioned.

"Are you Katie O'Connor?" The young man growled again, aiming the question this time at Katie.

"Who's askin'?" Jack pressed the sword into the skin of his throat a little bit, causing a single bead of blood to appear.

"I'm Henry Percival Morris, and I believe you two knew my brother?" The young man gasped out, his nerves beginning to betray him. Katie frowned.

"I don't know any Morris." She said in disdain, her upper-class roots showing through on a rare occasion in the way that she appeared to look down at him from a high pedestal even though she was several inches shorter than him.

"No, but as a child I had a speech impediment which meant I could not pronounce the letter 'r'. The result, the word 'moss', became my brother's nickname." The dark eyes glinted malevolently as the truth dawned on Katie and Jack at last. He grinned. "Yes, I thought you knew my brother. You killed him, after all." He spat at Katie.

"What do you want?" Katie demanded, her voice higher than usual.

"Revenge, of course." He answered. Jack withdrew his sword, sheathing it at that moment. Morris straightened up from the position he had been in, leaning slightly backwards to try to escape the blade, only to find himself in the grip of two crew members, Gibbs and Sully, who'd been nearby when the scene broke out. Jack met his First Mate's eyes, and the latter nodded. No word was spoken as Morris was bodily removed from the Faithful Bride. Katie stared after them.

"How did he find me?" She asked quietly, as the usual commotion in the pub resumed.

"I'll give you three guesses." Jack murmured, his hand settling around her wrist.

"Angelica." Katie thought she might vomit if she had to say that woman's name one more time.

"Did Moss never mention a brother to you?" Jack enquired. Katie thought back what felt like a long way to those early days on the Troubadour, when she and Moss would chatter. Something stirred there in the memories that had dimmed in light of events following them.

"He said they were in the navy together… but of course Moss never told me he was working for Angelica, so he would never have mentioned that his brother was too." She turned suddenly and unseeingly to Jack, "They aren't going to kill him, are they?"

"No, love. He'll be shut up in the brig." Jack reassured her, slightly to his regret. He hoped the boy had gained a few more cuts and bruises on the journey from here to the ship, if nothing else. "Did he hurt you?" He added, looking at the shoulder he had struck. Katie shook her head.

"No." Her eyes seemed to come back into focus then and she seized the wine that she had been drinking and downed it in one. "Let's enjoy the night we have on the island, shall we?" Jack toasted her and drank too, though he was worried. They took their usual walk down to the beach a few hours later. It was the darkest part of the night but Tortuga never slept. They had to go some way along the bay before the sounds of drunken voices faded out completely and they were left with the rushing of the sea. Jack recalled Katie's first trip there and thought she was almost as inebriated as that night now. He managed to settle her on the sand and sat beside her.

"Katie Sparrow, I've told you before about feeling guilty that boy had to die." Jack told her sternly after watching her stare out to sea for a moment.

"Still shouldn't've done it. Should've… should've been her."

"That would have been a wasted shot, love." Jack reminded her. "And he betrayed you all the same. You weren't aiming to kill." Katie nodded, clinging as always to his words on this subject; she hadn't meant to kill Moss, she'd hardly known which way was up in the moment. "Death ain't so bad, love. At least, not the way he went. It would've been like falling asleep." Jack recalled his own experience with death, the maddening period he had spent in Davy Jones' locker, tortured by his own company. It's about living with yourself forever.

"You're right." She whispered, looking at him with difficulty.

"An' 'is brother's gonna learn 'is lesson locked in the brig where he belongs. He won't get to taunt ye, love, don't you worry about that." Jack added protectively.

"Jack," Katie asked suddenly, changing the subject, "Marry me properly."

"What?"

"You know. Officially." Jack peered at her and saw through the alcohol to the girl inside.

"I thought you didn't mind things as they are, unorthodox." He persisted anyway.

"I don't, but… well, it'd be funny, if it was true after all. And it'd be proper… what if you give me a baby?" The last part was mumbled, almost out of fear. This was something that had worried Katie for quite some time, secretly, ever since she and Jack's relationship had become physical. He always withdrew, but even her rudimentary knowledge told her that really it was only a matter of time. Jack remembered again his father telling him how quickly he'd come along for his mother.

"What if you did get a baby?" Jack asked her quietly. Katie lay back on the sand then, looking up at the array of stars twinkling in the sky. Jack sighed and lay back beside her.

"I suppose it wouldn't be such a bad thing." Katie answered finally, and she sounded a lot more sober than she had done moments before.

"I suppose not." Jack agreed, his voice surprising him for coming out of his mouth so readily. "But it's a hard life to bring up a pirate baby…"

"He'd come with us. Or she, whichever. I wouldn't leave them, but I couldn't leave you either and you'd never stay behind. You're like your mother." She repeated his previous words back to him then, and Jack turned his head to look at her. Katie looked peaceful once more, as if no troublesome stranger had threatened her just hours before. He smiled, but then reality seeped in:

"Fancy us talkin' about babies! We 'ave more pressing matters to deal with love. We need to sort out this bloody wench." Katie laughed at this, the laugh seeming to go on endlessly into the heavens above them. Jack took her hand gently and pulled her to her feet, deciding that now was the time to head back to the Black Pearl.

"I will marry you properly, love, when all this is over. I promise."

The sun burned bright the next morning, bringing on the familiar stinging sensation in all the hungover pirates as they laboured slowly on their tasks. Teague had absolutely no mercy and spent the day in a good mood, making loud noises to irritate the pirates and generally making his presence known.

"I dunno what you're so cheerful for," Jack muttered to his father as they stood by the helm, "We're goin' to see Tia Dalma again."

"A man's allowed to smile, ain't he, Jackie?" Teague grinned. Jack gave his father a dark look before sauntering away towards the kitchen, where Katie was slaving over a stew.

"I bet ye never cooked a day in yer life before ye were a pirate." Jack said, making her jump; she hadn't heard him enter.

"No, I hadn't… but I don't mind it." Katie answered honestly. Especially not on the days like this one, when she was under the weather and this was the only place she could find peace and quiet. Jack walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She let go of the ladle she was wielding to lean back into his embrace.

"Everything's gonna be alright, love. You know that don't you?" Jack asked.

"Yes… I suppose so." Katie replied. "Have you seen him today?"

"Not yet. He's locked in the brig. Can't say I trust meself to…" Jack trailed off, thinking of the way guilt and horror had danced across Katie's face when she realised she was face to face with Moss' brother. Katie turned and allowed Jack to kiss her.

"He didn't hurt me, Jack." She reminded him. Jack looked into her eyes for a moment and nodded, knowing what had to be done. Katie took his hand and the pair of them made their way to the brig. Teague, still in a good mood, joined them half-way across the deck.

"Are ye sure yer ready for this?" He asked Katie. Katie sighed. The truth was, she didn't think she'd ever stop feeling horrible for having killed Moss. She knew it was a fact she'd have to learn to live with, but coming face to face with someone who had lost him as a loved one was a challenge she hadn't thought she'd have to deal with and had delivered a few home truths to her about the life she was living: piracy went hand in hand with other crimes, some worse than others. One of those was murder. It was too late to go back now, and she would never leave Jack, but it was the reality all the same.

"You don't 'ave to come down there, love." Jack muttered to her.

"I do." Katie insisted. Jack glanced at his father, who nodded, before the three of them continued down to the brig. Once there, they found Henry Morris sat against the wall of the ship, away from the bars of the cell. It was the same cell his accomplice of some sort, Angelica, had been locked in not so long ago and had inexplicably escaped, presumably by the hand of Tia Dalma. He looked towards the trio as they approached and it suddenly struck Katie how young he looked.

"Are you going to kill me too?" Henry said bitterly, having eyes only for Katie. "Just wanted to humiliate me a little first?"

"As inviting as the prospect of killing you is," Teague interrupted, "I don't remember givin' you permission to talk."

"I don't need permission from you." Henry spat. Katie's mouth dropped open: she'd never heard anybody speak to Teague with such disrespect. It was just so obvious that he was not the sort of man you wanted to get on the wrong side of.

"Then you must have no idea who yer dealin' with, laddie." Teague casually lifted his gun and aimed it between the bars of the cell. "Now, you keep a civil tongue an' we might not kill you." Henry looked as if he would like to argue but his eyes were on the gun and so he kept quiet.

"That's more like it." Jack interjected, his hands balled into fists.

"How long have you been working with Angelica?" Katie asked, sharply and clearly, not a single ounce of her guilt and anxiety showing in her voice. Teague looked round approvingly, though his hand holding the gun remained very steady.

"A while." Henry answered cryptically.

"And why?"

"I'm not telling you that." He spat at Katie in disgust. Though it pained her, she did not flinch.

"I would advise that you do." She told him. His eyes travelled from her to Jack and then to Teague. When they turned to her, he was gritting his teeth visibly, a sure indication that he was not about to give up that easily, although his nerves betrayed him a little. Katie bravely stepped up to Teague: "I'll talk to him alone." She said quietly. Teague considered this for a second but Jack immediately interrupted:

"No." The single syllable was authoritative and final, but Katie turned to face him.

"Jack, we need answers. I can't promise I'll get them, and if it fails I'll come and get you. But we have to try and he can't hurt me from in there." Jack looked as if he despised what he was hearing even as his eyes travelled over her head to his father. The latter gave a short nod. Jack sighed, resigning.

"I'll be at the top of the steps." He informed her, also making sure Henry caught his words. Katie nodded and watched as Jack made his way out. As Teague passed her though, she caught him by the arm.

"Take this." She said, handing him the pistol the old pirate had once handed to her. Henry watched it switch hands. Teague understood without question and accepted the weapon and left. When the door closed behind him, Katie turned once again to face Henry Morris, and this time they were alone.

A/N: Hello everybody! I know I'm a little late but merry Christmas to all those celebrating! Thank you so much for reading this. A lot happened in this chapter and I would love to know what you think, so please drop me a review!