Be As You Are


Well she was precious like a flower
She grew wild, wild but innocent.
A perfect prayer in a desperate hour
She was everything beautiful and different.

Stupid boy, you can't fence that in
Stupid boy, it's like holding back the wind.

-Stupid Boy by Keith Urban-


The combination of the beating sun from the North, the wafting scent of women's homely activities, and the rushing sound of bare feet and screaming children outside was what woke Jack the next morning. Usually, at least when he did sleep for any short amount of time on the Pearl, he was awoken by a storm or call for land or any other necessary worry. But not here at the Cove; not in this place.

He flipped onto his back still fully clothed from what he could remember was a less than thrilling night in bed with Eva, but no less what he wanted for that. A smile trailed his lips even though she wasn't there, for it seemed just the very thought of her warmed parts of him that he usually only allowed to warm from rum or fierce, paid company. He chuckled under his breath as he rolled from the bed, thinking about the look he had put on her face the night before, and the way her nails had scratched those stones as she begged for him. He knew that thought would stay with him most of the day.

He pulled on his boots, found his hat and coat and made his way out of the room and down the hall towards the parlor and kitchen. He greeted scattered women doing household tasks, but didn't find Elizabeth or Eva among them. Instead he heard the shouts of their names from outside, and wandered toward the private dock from the front.

Elizabeth was sitting with a few of the young girls, stringing together all sorts of beads to make necklaces. She turned when she noticed Jack, and smiled.

"Good morning."

"Mornin' Liz." He replied, coming to stand beside their small huddle of dresses and beading.

"Did you sleep well?"

There was a hint of knowing curiosity in her voice, and when he looked down to see her grinning in that way only Elizabeth had of grinning, the way that affirmed she knew all, he shook his head with a smirk.

"Sleep is sleep when ye don't get any on th' sea."

She went on helping the girls tie strings about their necks and replied, "Very well then."

"Where's th' little barefoot, devil sailor at?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at his attempt to mask his interest in Eva, but accepted it as Jack's way of dealing with his demons and slowly raised her hand to point off in the direction of a small patchy place at the end of the property's slope. It was the only grassy area upon the fortress, one his mother had insisted on when Teague had brought her to live here.

He turned and watched as Eva spun around in another of her short gypsy day dresses, covered in beads and bangles from head to each bare toe, as she fought a handful of young boys with a wooden sword to match theirs.

He shook his head, not knowing how else to react to such a sight. Little Jack clung to her side as they fought to protect themselves against a couple of rowdy, older boys. They shouted and laughed, making perfect stances, lunging back and forth between the grass and dirt. He hadn't known she could handle a sword so well, even a wooden one at that. And although he would spend forever from that moment denying she was more brilliant with one than any man he'd ever met, Jack knew it was true.

"She's taken to teaching the boys when Teague is too tired for it."

Jack nodded.

"My son is better than his father at times, I fear." She laughed and he did the same, not wanting to admit it as a perfectly righteous statement.

He wanted to walk over and interrupt the lesson, or at the very least initiate a routine from an honest pirate captain, but couldn't find the spirit enough to break the one he saw in her as she danced around with the young boys. So instead he took a seat down on a few loose planks next to Elizabeth, and kept a close eye on the activity as they talked.

"I saw Will a month ago, I guess 'twould be."

Her ears perked as she glanced over at Jack, pausing with a few glass beads in her palm.

"He was ferrying over a few of me men, after we ran through a storm off th' Honshu coast."

"Japan?"

"Aye, lost three good sailors with that one."

"I'm sorry."

He brushed it off as nothing but life, and went on.

"E' asked me all bout' ye and th' boy, and wanted to make sure I turned im' into a good pirate." Elizabeth laughed with a tear in her eye as she watched Jack shuffle inside of his coat pocket. "Almost forgot this too," a thick bundle of letters slid out in his hand as he passed them over to her gently, "Will wrote these for you and little Jack, said e' wanted to write more if I could carry them t' ye when I pass through here."

Her hands moved off the soft parchment, her name and little Jack's etched in fading ink, all of them bound with fraying twine from what must have been months or years at sea. She cried as she felt Jack's arm drape over her shoulder and pull her into a calm embrace. He'd been there for her like this numerous times through the years, and it had been far too long this time. Eva had taken to soothing her when Teague couldn't and while Jack was gone, but something about his touch reminded her of Will so often, that it helped better than any other.

"I'll bring ye whate'er he gives me, Lizzie. I promise."

She smiled and leaned back, still wrapped under his strong arm.

"I know you will, thank you."

He kissed the top of her head like that of a brother, or best friend and Eva stopped to take a breath from a distance with the boys, looking over just in time to see it. She smiled, knowing how precious a thing their relationship was, and how much they'd been through together. She was glad Jack was back to comfort Elizabeth for a while; she'd hoped he'd come back for such things.

Before they parted enough to turn back and watch Eva, the children had already begun their practice again and Eva had looked away to focus on winning against the small heathens. She screeched and laughed with them through another intense hour of fighting, but eventually she let them win and put on a magnificent show of dying, slowly and bitterly until she fell backwards into the mud.

The boys cheered while Elizabeth and Jack laughed at the show. He was drawn to every bit of her, all the little parts that came out in time, the things he hadn't seen when she was nearly arrested for petty theft, or when she had snuck aboard his ship. There were dozens of different corners to Eva Marley, things he had only just begun to find, and which blew the fear of fascination clear out of his mind.

Elizabeth stayed for a few moments longer, before turning back inside the house to take to cleaning clothes and sweeping the floors. Jack sat for a short time watching little Jack help Eva to her health again, but moved toward the docks when he saw the boys all rushing away into town.

He wandered down the length of the pier, noting all the work Teague and Eva had put into the old ship he'd first learned to sail on. It was remarkable to him, that it had been brought back from the dead. He was lost inside of the fine red oak boarding and the high, perfectly sewn white sails, when he heard a voice behind him and felt the point of something in his back.

"Don't get any ideas, pirate. She's all mine now."

He grinned and threw his face back at her, holding up his hands.

"I swear I won't raid er' till she's out on clear waters." Spinning around, he held his smirk as he watched Eva's eyes sparkle blue and the point of her wooden sword press into his chest softly. "All's fair on th' sea, love."

"Unless I take you first, Captain." She stepped closer, letting the sword trail down his stomach.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Could be a guarantee if you don't watch your step, Jack."

"Ye can't seduce e'ery captain in the seven seas t' get their ships, lass."

Eva's eyes faded into a mysterious glow as she inched even closer to him, her breath warm on his chin as she began to reply, "Shall I at least try my skills on y--"

"Eva, my dear!" A shout from behind them interrupted her concluding lure toward him.

Jack's gaze darted over her head to see one Mr. Bryant, standing with a hearty grin on his face at the foot of the docks. He rolled his eyes, looked back down at hers and teased with a whisper.

"I believe e's come t' sweep you off your feet, dear Miss Marley."

"Shut it." She said, still standing inches from his mouth, not wanting to turn and see Daniel.

"Don' keep th' poor brute waiting, Eva."

"Perhaps I want to keep him w--"

"Evangeline!" She was interrupted by Daniel's shout again, calling her. "I've come to offer you a walk about town. If you're not too busy with Captain Sparrow, that is."

Jack laughed, hearing the obliviousness of the younger man's statement. Eva pushed on his chest with a scowl and turned to finally see Mr. Bryant at the start of the pier. She was half leaning into Jack's chest, not wanting to leave the warmth she felt surrounding her and washing her thoughts into anything less than coherent.

She heard him growl low in her ear as he pinched her bottom. "Indulge th' man, darling. I'll be ere' all night." Eva jumped a little with a crazed smile and then took a deep breath before finding Daniel's distant eyes again.

"I'd love very much to walk with you, Daniel."

Jack beamed proudly as she swung back to see his eyes, and shoved the wooden sword against his chest for safe keeping. Her eyes were killing him, the way they changed shades of blue with every emotion that came over her.

"You'll pay for this later."

A wicked grin covered her face.

"Is that a threat?"

She shook her head and stepped backwards a ways, slowly keeping his gaze tight within hers.

"I thought we already established, Jack…" her boots stomped away carefully as she concluded with a sexy little turn that drove him mad, "…I only make guarantees."

He had to hold himself in check as he watched her hips sway against the light, silk skirt of her dress. Her legs glowed in the sunlight with every leaping step they made down the dock, and he almost lost control when she jumped down to meet Daniel and slid her arm into his. He wasn't sure what would be said between the two of them during their walk, one that seemed to have become routine. But he knew whatever Daniel Bryant, cotton God of Shipwreck could say to her on an afternoon stroll, he could say ten times better between the sheets of a bed.

Under his breath, as he made his way down the dock to check on his crew and the ship, he mumbled knowingly, "You're all mine t'night, Eva."


'Indulge th' man darling.'

She had, for the whole of the afternoon.

'I'll be ere' all night.' According to the plot she'd devised through her entire stroll with Daniel, he would be there all night, begging her forgieness.

Eva laughed as Daniel's hand on her arm suddenly grew more urgent, and he pulled her out of the way of a hoard of screaming children. "Whoa there…" he laughed as they both watched the barefoot, rambunctious kids run down the hilly path they were walking on, only feet away from the Sparrow residence again.

"Children are delightful, aren't they?"

She was too focused on her ploy against Jack to hear what he was saying, but he brought her back to reality as always.

"Eva, did you not hear me?"

"What, oh yes…delightful."

He walked her along slowly, obviously avoiding letting her return home for the evening.

"I think I should like to have a handful of boys. What of you?

She was confused by the conversation, but nodded anyway. "Little girls would be nice perhaps."

"And sons no doubt too, with the way you take to the boys here?"

Again, a nod answered him.

"I see you making an ideal mother one day. One day soon perhaps."

She understood the reference in his voice and found herself suddenly shivering against the late afternoon breeze. Looking up into Daniel's eyes as they approached the door to the house, she feared what he was coming at with the talk.

"Evangeline, you have such potential for a city like London."

"Do I?"

"Yes, undoubtedly. The societal life of England is something you would charm at best. You would find such thrill in entertaining yourself amid the company there, I would not lie."

"I like the company here too."

"Indeed, but it is only one town, one place in the whole of the world."

"I would like to see the world."

He snuffed at this, knowing what she meant. "On a pirate ship, no doubt."

"Is that truly such a bad thing, Daniel?"

"Bad only at the risk which comes with it. I meant what I said last night at dinner. It would break my heart to lose you to such an environment, when you could be so beautifully suited to a nice home and children of your own. I could give you the world without the risk of being at sea, Eva."

"But it's not the same."

There was fight in her voice, an argumentative side he'd seen from her before, but one he learned well how to douse too.

"Would it make so much a difference to you, if I said I dream nightly of making you my wife?"

Her eyes widened in fear. "You do?"

"I do, my sweet. Nothing more would suit me in this life."

"N-nothing?" She stuttered as he stood holding her shaking hands.

"Not one, single thing."

Daniel brushed a few curls out of her eyes and leaned down to gently kiss her on the lips. It was the first time their mouths had met this way before, and although Eva granted him the right to it, she was frigid and nervous under his moving lips. She didn't know how to take them or what to do with them like she did with Jack's. They merely kissed her, while she remained idle to only accept them. Mr. Bryant though did not seem to mind either way.

He moved away with a romantic grin, "I love you, Evangeline. More than you can know."

She did not reply, and instead only squeezed his hand anxiously and turned about with a smile toward the doorway. Her back leaned against it as Daniel nodded and tipped his hat before walking back down the path toward the markets again. Eva watched him for a moment, unable to speak or think or breathe, and then eventually turned the knob and forced her way inside of the back door to the kitchen.

When she fell against the it's safety, half hidden by a curtain from the separated cellar, she grunted and through her head back hard against the wood.

"This is all his fault. Insufferable man!"

The curtain drew back unexpectedly and Elizabeth stood with a calm smile on her face.

"They're all insufferable. Which one?"

Eva sighed with a short laugh and then walked toward Elizabeth, falling into her sisterly arms.

"The one who decided I should walk with Mr. Bryant, only to be enticed into marriage."

Lizzie brushed her hair with a faint and knowing grin as she walked Eva toward the large wooden table and sat her down. She pulled a bottle of rum from the cabinet with two small glasses and took a seat beside her, pouring out the alcohol for both their minds.

"He knew exactly what the outcome of that turn about the town would be. I know he did."

She downed the glass quickly and poured another for herself, wincing as it went down her throat in a burn.

"Jack loves to test the very limits of every situation. I cannot argue that with you."

"Well he's tested mine well today. He's tested them right into my bearing of Bryant sons and being bundled off to London before the year's end."

"Is that what Daniel intends?"

She nodded and held her third glass close to her lips, holding back from drinking.

"If I will so have him."

"And will you, Eva?"

"Should I, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth wasn't sure what to tell her friend, her near sister. Marriage was a tricky thing, something that even she hadn't been so prepared for when it happened finally. But she had wanted to marry Will, always, and that was the difference. She knew Eva wasn't so interested in Mr. Bryant as she was other things, and other men in particular.

"You can only do what you want, you have the choice."

Eva grabbed Elizabeth's hand as if begging for an easy answer.

"What if I don't know what I want?"

"You know you love the sea, and you want to sail."

"Yes."

"And you know Mr. Bryant would never allow that, especially if you were his wife."

Her lip curled up angrily at the statement. "No. He would not."

"Would you put your freedom in jeopardy to be a merchant's wife? I don't think you would."

She shook her head and Elizabeth softly took Eva's chin in her hand, lifting it up.

"For you are far wiser than that."

She nodded against Lizzie's palm.

"And when Mr. Bryant spins a ring from his coat pocket and kneels before you…"

Eva grinned wickedly from the corner of her mouth and whispered back.

"I'll bop him in the head with my wooden sword and run away."

Elizabeth laughed hard and moved her palm to instead gently pat Eva's cheek.

"I knew Jack brought you to me for a reason."

The mention of his name brought her scheme boiling right back to the surface of her mind, completely covering the subject of marriage or Daniel. And with a menace of a grin she changed the topic sneakily.

"Speaking of Chief to the insufferable…where is he?"

"Teague said he was working on stocking the Pearl this afternoon."

"Good." Eva stood up and pulled Elizabeth along to the pantry, "I need your help with something before he returns."

"What?"

Eva rubbed her hands together with a sly glare, "Merely, sweet revenge."