Chapter 4: More Surprises

Alice woke up holding her husband's hand through the cell bars. He was still sound asleep and softly snoring. She slowly sat up and gently unwound her fingers from his, trying not to wake him up. She then felt nausea unsettling her stomach. 'This should be fun,' she thought to herself as she ran over to a barrel on the other side of her cell and started to vomit. Alice was starting to get used to waking up before Jim because of this sickness that she was going through. Jim thought she must have the flu, but she knew it was something else.

As she was wiping her face with her apron, a little pink blob came to say hello. "Morph?" she whispered. "Where did you come from?"

Morph then chirped and communicated that he jumped into Jim's pocket before he left and fell asleep without saying 'hi.'

Alice pat Morph's head. "Well I'm sure Jim will be just as happy to see you when he wakes up." Morph chirped again and snuggled up by Alice's neck as she walked back over to Jim, who looked like he could be asleep for a few more hours. She lied down next to the bars separating her from her husband and as soon as she shut her eyes again, she fell asleep.

Jim finally woke up with his shoulder in agonizing pain. Alice was able to relocate it the night before, but it was still very painful. He could finally see out of his left eye and looked through the bars to see Alice curled up next to them, her hair was messy as usual. He smiled as he reached through and moved some of the curls away from her face. He studied her face for a while, realizing that to him, there was nothing imperfect about it. He stroked her cheek softly and her eyes fluttered open slowly.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he teased.

"Ha ha very funny," she replied rolling her eyes.

"Well it's true," he said as he chuckled at her annoyance.

Alice stuck her tongue out at him like a child and then laughed with him. Then, nausea struck her stomach again and she ran over to the barrel and threw up. Jim sat up and watched, horrified, and wondered why she was so sick.

"So I take it the flu hasn't gone away yet?" he concluded as she returned and sat in front of him. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve and rested her head against the cold, metal bars.

Before she could answer, voices came from the stairs leading up to the deck. "Why do we have to get him?" one of the voices asked the other. As they got closer, Jim recognized them as the same aliens that he had sailed with on his journey to Treasure Planet.

"Because those were the captain's orders," the bigger alien answered. The two pirates unlocked the door of Jim's cell and took both his arms to drag him away.

"Where are you taking me?" Jim asked angrily.

"The captain wants a word with you, Hawkins," the smaller alien answered with an evil grin. Jim looked over to Alice who was petrified at the scene. 'I'll be fine,' he mouthed to her to calm her down, but that didn't stop her from feeling like her heart was being ripped out as he ascended up the stairs with the aliens.

Jim was drug up to the captain's quarters where Barbossa was patiently waiting. Jim looked around the cabin. The captain sat with his legs propped on top of a huge wooden desk which was covered with various maps and other devices. There were shelves decorated with books and trinkets from different planets that covered the entire back wall. There was a closed door on the left side of the room that Jim could tell was locked. When the wooden door closed behind Jim, the captain sat up. "Ah, well, Mr. Hawkins, I hope your stay here has been comfortable so far?"

Jim snickered at the captain. "Hardly," he replied.

Barbossa chuckled evilly. "Well that's unfortunate. Did you become reacquainted with our other prisoner last night?"

"As a matter of fact, I did, and I appreciate the fact that you didn't harm her," he said.

"Well I'm glad you're satisfied. Maybe that will make this easier then," Barbossa suggested.

"What do you mean?" Jim asked.

Barbossa smiled and stood up so that he could walk around the room as he explained his plan. He picked up a round object covered in a small brown cloth from one of the shelves and played with it in his hands. "You were recommended out of everyone in the universe to open this here map, since no one on this ship is smart enough to uncover it."

"Where is the map supposed to lead you?"

Barbossa grinned evilly as he walked toward Jim with the map. He held the map up to Jim's face as he answered, "The Fountain of Youth."

Jim laughed. "You can't be serious."

Barbossa stood up confused.

"I beg your pardon, captain, but The Fountain of Youth doesn't exist. And even if it did, legend says that it only reveals itself to those who are worthy of it. And I apologize but correct me if I'm wrong, your crew doesn't seem like they received an invitation."

Barbossa glared at the boy. "I don't need an invitation, Hawkins, I just need a heading. So you're going to open this map and tell me where to go or else our other prisoner won't be walking for a while."

Jim's heart dropped to his stomach as he pictured Alice being tortured and taken advantage of. There was no way in hell that he was going to let anyone get near enough to touch her. He stared back at Barbossa and took the map from him. Jim opened the cloth and revealed the golden map that was very similar to the map that led him to Treasure Planet. He opened it in less than fifteen seconds and showed the captain where to go.

"That's more like it, Hawkins," Barbossa said. "I'm afraid you are going to remain on this ship until we arrive, since you can lead us in the right direction."

"What about my wife? You don't need her anymore. Can't you let her go home?" Jim asked.

Barbossa turned to look him in the eye. "I am disinclined to acquiesce your request, Mr. Hawkins."

"What?" Jim asked confused at the captain's choice of words.

The Barbossa stepped closer, "Means no. She is a great deal of leverage to get you to give me what I want so she stays."

Jim was furious. "You can't-"

"I can do whatever I want to do, boy! I don't care what it takes, you will open this map for me and if I have to kill someone to get you to do it, I will do it!" Barbossa shouted. He stood up and brushed off his hat. "Now if you please, Mr. Hawkins, my crew needs to know where we are going. You will be returning to the brig with your wife. Enjoy your last few days with her, they might be the last you'll ever have."

Alice paced around her small cell as she waited for Jim to return. She thought of different scenarios of what could be happening in the captains quarters. Earlier, she could've sworn she had heard a gun shot. 'Calm down,' she told herself. 'You're just imagining things. He's probably fine.'

Alice didn't even realize that she almost stepped on a little pink blob. "Morph! Oh I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" she panicked. Morph communicated that he was okay and rested lazily on her shoulder. "Okay, good," she said as she pat his little head. She sighed and sat down and rested her head against the cool metal of the cell bars. Her deep breathing seemed to calm her down and she felt somewhat better after a few minutes of this.

"Would you cut it out?" she heard Jim say to one of the aliens who was poking him with a gun as they walked down the stairs. Alice watched anxiously as they pushed her husband around, begging for it to stop. To her surprise, they passed his cell and opened the door to hers then threw Jim inside. Alice hurried over to Jim to make sure he was alright.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

Jim waited until the ugly aliens left to answer. "No, I'm not okay," he said as he sat up and rubbed his shoulder. "The captain is a total a-"

"Hey, watch your sailor mouth," she interrupted.

Jim chuckled slightly at her order. "Well, it's true! He won't let either of us leave and he threatened to hurt you multiple times if I didn't give him what he wanted."

"What did he want?"

"He wanted a heading. You'll never believe where we're going," he told her.

Alice suddenly felt very nervous. "Where?" she asked.

"These pirates are after The Fountain of Youth. Do you know what planet that's on?" Alice shook her head. "We're going back to Never land."

Alice's face turned pale. "What!?" she gasped. "We promised to never go back there. We could be gone for much longer than a few days. You know how that planet works!"

"I know, I know-"

"How long do you think it will take?" Alice asked worried.

"Alice, calm down. I don't think it will take that long. Probably a year at the most," he replied.

"Jim," she said, her face completely frightened. "I can't stay on this ship that long."

Jim started to worry at the sight of her being so scared. "Why not?"

Alice took a deep breath and sat down in front of her husband. She took both of his hands in hers and looked him in the eyes. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"What?" Jim asked.

"You know how I've been really sick lately?"

"Yeah. It's the flu, it will go away," he said, more to himself than her.

"No, Jim. It's not the flu," she said.

"What are you saying-"

"I'm pregnant, Jim," she revealed.

It was Jim's turn to throw up in the barrel. When he finished, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and noticed the knot that was still in his stomach. Alice stood up cautiously. "Are you okay?"

Jim ran a shaky hand through his choppy bangs as he flopped down on the floor and leaned his back against the barrel. "Yeah," he said uneasy. "I just wasn't expecting that. How long have you known about this?"

Alice walked over to sit next to him. "I found out the morning after we got back from the honeymoon," she replied staring at her hands.

Jim thought to himself for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked.

"I didn't know how you would react and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't a false alarm. When I confirmed it, I planned on telling you last night, but I never got the chance," she said.

Jim took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I'm going to be a father," he whispered to himself.

Alice didn't say anything. She knew he wanted time to think about them having a baby. There wasn't any way to change it, but she knew that he needed to get used to the idea of being a parent. She took his hand in hers and sat in silence, hoping that he wasn't too upset.

Jim wouldn't look at her. So many things were going on in his mind. He was only twenty years old and he was going to be a father. He thought about Alice and how she was only nineteen. They were too young to be parents. 'Well it's too late to avoid that now,' he thought to himself. Jim then remembered the way that Alice played with the Doppler's children. He also thought about the stories of her and her siblings going on adventures before they were separated. He knew she was capable of raising a child, but was he? He thought about his father and the pain that he and his mother went through for so many years. He wouldn't abandon Alice, even if being a parent would be hard. He was not going to leave his family.

"Alice," he said, destroying the silence that Alice was getting anxious from.

"Yes?" she replied timidly.

Jim took a deep breath as he tried to find the right words to say.

"You're not happy are you?" she said, looking down.

"I am happy Alice," he reassured. He pulled her chin up with his hand so that he could look into her deep, blue eyes. "Look, it just scares me that we are going to be parents at such a young age. But I'm not going to leave you to raise our child by yourself. I'm not going to turn into my father and abandon our family. That is the worst thing I could possibly do and I would never forgive myself. You and this little surprise," he said pointing to her tummy, "are the most important things in my life and I'm not going to let my selfishness ruin that."

Alice didn't say anything due to her mouth being stuck in a permanent smile across her face. Random tears streamed down her face and Jim quickly wiped them away.

"Alice, what's wrong?" he asked, since she wasn't responding.

Alice started laughing. "I love you!" she finally said as she grabbed his face and kissed him. He returned the kiss after he regained his balance and held her close to him.

"I love you too, Alice," he managed to say in between kisses.

"I know," she replied. Suddenly, the pink shape shifter started chirping to get their attention.

"Morph?" Jim asked, not expecting to see the little guy. "What are you doing here?" It was then that Jim remembered where they were and their current situation. Alice couldn't stay here. She needed to go home, even if he wouldn't be going with her yet. Morph had answered him, but he was too busy thinking of how she could escape. They were locked in a cell, with no way out except for the keys that those hideous aliens kept in the folds of their bellies. Even if they could get out, it would be chaos on deck with the entire crew noticing their appearance. Then there was Barbossa. Jim knew that if they even attempted anything and got caught, Alice would pay the price. They had to be super careful.

"We need to figure out a way for you to get out of here," he said still in deep thought.

"I know, but that's kind of hard to do when we're locked up," she replied bluntly.

Just then, the same aliens came down the steps with a new prisoner. "The captain don't like stowaways Jack," the fat one said to the prisoner. They opened the cell door across from the couple's cell and threw the man in it.

"I was just observing the captain's way of using my ship," Jack replied. From what Jim could see, the man had long black dread locks with different trinkets hanging all around them and a goatee. He wore a red bandana and aside from his gold ones, the majority of his teeth were rotting away. He had layers of clothes on and Jim could see the man's hidden pistol in his shirt.

"Well the captain don't like observe- uh- ing- uh- ers?"

"Don't hurt yourself," Jack said. The alien gave him a threatening look and then followed his accomplice out of the brig.

Neither Jim or Alice said anything. They were too busy watching the mysterious man look around his cell with a smile on his face. Why was he so happy? Jack noticed them staring and cleared his throat.

"The name's Sparrow. Captain Jack Sparrow."