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Ship in a Bottle	By : EvilE Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 4205 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
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- 11
Chapter 10: The Captain's Table

I can't breathe, Elizabeth thought, as she took Will's arm, ascending the steps to the deck. She was wearing a gown again, her beige silk, and she told herself it was the stays, and not the nausea she'd felt since the morning, when she'd met her otherworldly twin, that was affecting her respiration. Will looked especially handsome, she noted, having buttoned a vest and jacket over his simple shirt and gray breeches. He smiled at her, unaware of the tumult that threatened to cause her to cast up her accounts. And they were headed to a dinner, she reminded herself with a feeling of dread... she attempted to draw a deep breath, and failed. She held Will's arm tighter as they crossed the main deck, headed for Jack's cabin.

She'd fallen into a total stupor in her cabin after the long, anxious night, and she'd been bothered by a stomachache that alternated with bouts of extraordinary sorrow that emptied her of tears. What on earth ailed her? She thought of Will, of Jack, of the other one... Mary, Will had said her name was. She tried to banish the image of her hands on Will's face, of Jack's fingers brushing her collarbone... she told herself it was madness, that she was completely off her hooks, after all... she could hardly feel jealous of... herself. Could she?

The doors opened, and Will parted the curtain so they could enter. There were candles lit on the table, which had been set for five. Jack reclined at its head, and Mary sat to his right, laughing uproariously at something, Gibbs to her right. Jack looked up and saw them.

“Welcome, friends, welcome,” he said with a grin, kicking out the chair to his left with his boot. “Bring your arses to anchor.”

“Erm... thank you,” Will said. “After you, darling?”

Of the two seats left, one was next to Jack, on his left, directly across from Mary; the other was at the end, across from Gibbs. Elizabeth's throat knotted at the thought of sitting right next to Jack, giving him the pleasure of having herself and Mary at both elbows, like some great maharajah; but her other option was to let Will take that seat, and have Mary mooning at him across the table for the entire meal... that, she was sure she could not stomach. She moved gracefully, holding her head erect, and assumed the seat next to Jack, which Will held out for her. After she was seated, he took his own place.

“Much improved,” Jack commented to her, casting his eyes in a straight line from the top of her head to her lap. “Feeling better, now that you've had some rest?”

“Yes, thank you,” Elizabeth responded automatically, before she caught the teasing glint in Jack's eye. Did he know she'd stood the night waiting for him, while he was busy finding this... wife?

Jack turned his gaze to Gibbs. “Almost forgot to ask, what's the word from the crow's nest?”

“All clear, as of only a few minutes past. No sign of the Dauntless. If they've followed, they're a good few hours behind.”

“Excellent.” Jack leaned forward and picked up the bottle of wine. “Shall we have a toast, then?” He uncorked it deftly and brought it in front of him, then extended his arm toward Elizabeth. “Ladies first.” He paused in the act of tilting the bottle toward Elizabeth's cup, then, so smoothly she was sure no one else noticed, said, “Whoops! Darling, forgive me,” and swung his arm around to Mary's goblet, tipping the bottle and swiftly filling hers first.

Elizabeth bit her tongue. This was going to be the longest dinner on record.

She looked across to Mary, then, and had the eerie sensation of looking in a mirror. She really was the same likeness, down to every visible detail. Elizabeth saw that she wore a dress as well, the clothes she'd arrived in probably still being wet. And as she looked at the crimson silk gown, she realized she'd seen it before. In fact, she'd worn it before. It had been in a trunk of ladies' clothing found on board when Jack commandeered the ship. And she'd put it on the day that her own clothes were sopping wet, over six months ago. The day she and Jack had...

“Lovely dress,” Elizabeth said, with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

“Do you like it? Jack picked it out for me, since I'd nothing else,” Mary said, with a similarly limited smile.

“Suits her nicely, doesn't it?” Jack trailed a finger up Mary's forearm. He lowered his voice as Will took the wine and poured for Elizabeth, himself and Gibbs, who drew Mary's attention with another compliment. “'Course it suits her, after all, it suited you. Evokes some lovely memories for me, how about you, Lizzy?”

Elizabeth tried to push her mind away, but she knew a flush was creeping into her cheeks, and Jack's face slid into a smile of satisfaction. But in a moment he had lifted his cup and cleared his throat. “A toast.”

Everyone else lifted their cup, and Elizabeth followed suit, noting how Mary's fingers wrapped delicately around the stem of the metal goblet, just like her own.

“To our new world, courtesy of one Tia Dalma. May it bring us the Pearl in great speed, and be mercifully free of that water in our shoes goes by the name of Commodore Norrington.”

“Hear, hear,” chorused the guests, and everyone sipped the rich, dark wine. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief as she swallowed the wine, but her comfort didn't last long. Before they had set down their cups, Gibbs had cleared his throat.

“A fine toast, since this new world we've sailed into certainly has fair weather, so far, to be sure, but I believe a toast is in order to our guest, wouldn't ye say, Jack?”

“Certainly,” Jack said, with a slight adjustment back and forth of his head and jaw. “To our honored guest... my wife, the absolutely lovely Captain Mary Sparrow.”

Mary seemed initially unnerved at what Jack said, but then beamed. This time, no one responded aloud, and instead took generous sips of their wine. All except for Elizabeth, who found it suddenly impossible to swallow, and ended up releasing the wine she'd sipped back into her cup with a hiccup.

Jack noticed. Of course, Jack would notice.

“Elizabeth, are you quite all right? You look as though you're ready to flay the fox.”

“I'm fine.” She set her cup down resolutely.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Turner, I should have said. I'm just not accustomed to polite company.” He shrugged. “Well - and you are looking even whiter than usual - if you feel faint, the bed's right over there.” He gestured to the left with his eyes, but then brought his gaze back to Elizabeth's, narrowing his eyes, and the message was clear: Remember?

Elizabeth blushed to the roots of her hair. “I'll not be fainting onto your bed anytime soon, Captain Sparrow,” she managed to force out from between her front teeth.

“Now your color's looking better,” Jack said, propping his elbows on the table, “so let's hope not, eh? Might be a mite crowded in there, with three, wouldn't it, love?”

She felt Will bristle beside her, but Gibbs and Mary burst into laughter, and she pretended a smile as she unfolded her napkin and placed it delicately in her lap.

Perhaps this wouldn't be such a long dinner after all. Perhaps she'd stab Jack through the heart with the butter knife before the meat was even served.

“So, missy, if ye don't mind my askin',” Gibbs said to Mary, “now that ye're here, what do ye plan to do? Are ye meanin' to go back?”

“I'm not sure,” answered Mary, with a thoughtful look at Jack. “It hasn't been decided.”

“You are, of course, most welcome to stay,” Jack said, lifting her hand to press a kiss to the back of it. Elizabeth clenched her teeth.

“Did you say, Captain?” Will inquired, picking up a knife to begin carving the entire pig that curled on a platter in the middle of the table.

“Er...Yes,” Mary answered with a smile. She seemed to search her mind for the best explanation before speaking. Too long, it seemed to Elizabeth. “It wasn't easy, but I convinced a friend to allow me to captain one of his fleet of merchant ships. He knew I had the experience, I just needed the chance to prove myself. Of course, now...” Her eyes lifted to Jack's face. “...I find myself without a ship.”

“Is that so?” Elizabeth said. She, for one, wasn't inclined to believe a word of Mary's explanation. But she listened for a response.

Jack answered for her. “Yes, the Pearl - sorry, darling I know that's not her name - sank in a rather unfortunate act of weather. We barely escaped with our lives.”

“How tragic,” Elizabeth said dryly.

“Quite,” Will echoed sincerely. “So if you want to go back, you'll need a ship.”

“Hush yer tongue, Will Turner,” Gibbs warned sotto voce, already seeing the direction he was taking.

“Which is rather convenient,” continued Will, unaware. “Since once we get back the Pearl, we'll have two ships.”

Jack, in the process of serving himself, dropped a piece of pork on the table. “Ah - well - “

Mary turned her eyes to Jack. “Get back the Pearl? What's he talking about?”

“Oh, you haven't told her?” Elizabeth chimed in, taking her fork and stabbing the piece Jack dropped, violently, and then pushing it onto his plate. She turned her eyes to Mary. “Jack wants to get back the Pearl. That's why we're all here - he's ready to do practically anything to recover his precious ship. So we're going to steal it from yet another world. This one. And he probably would have stolen it from you, frankly, if it hadn't sunk before he'd had the chance.”

The look in Jack's eyes was murderous as he glared at Elizabeth over his plate of pork. “Thank you for clearing that up so expeditiously, Mrs. Turner.”

“Don't mention it.”

Mary's mouth dropped open in surprise, and she regarded Jack with a new light in her eyes. Elizabeth read it, having seen it in the mirror. Anger. But she hid it well. “So it's true? You're trying to steal the Pearl from a different world?”

“In a word, yes. But not from you, love. I promise.”

Elizabeth scoffed aloud as she lifted her cup, feeling more able to keep down a few sips of wine. “Pirate,” it sounded like she coughed into her cup. Jack appeared to behead her with his eyes before he turned to Mary and spoke.

“At any rate, if we do get back the Pearl - provided Norrington doesn't catch up with us after all, in which case we'll all find ourselves in deadly suspense-“ he drew an imaginary noose about his neck, held it up and stuck his tongue out as though choking “-we will have two ships, but we need both of them, as there's a certain lady to whom I've already promised a ship. I owe her.”

“Who's that?” said Elizabeth and Mary at once, and then fixed wide-eyed gazes upon each other.

Jack couldn't resist a smile. “Anamaria, of course. Every once in a while I do keep my word, just to keep everyone guessing.”

“So there's another Pearl, here, in this world, and you're all going to... commandeer it? As though you're a... bunch of pirates?” Mary sounded alternately horrified and fascinated.

“Missy...” Gibbs said, folding his fingers together. “...we are a bunch of pirates.”

Mary laid her right hand on her chest, as though she struggled to breathe, and Jack quickly laid his hand over the other one, saying, “It's not as bad as it sounds. We're actually going to take the Pearl from someone who's even more morally lacking than we are.”

“Is that so?” Mary was still a bit surprised. “And who's that?”

“She's me,” Elizabeth said then, loudly, causing Mary to look directly at her. “Me. You. Us.”

Jack stifled a groan. “Tactfully put, as usual, Lizzy.”

“You mean... there's another one?” Mary glanced from Elizabeth to Jack, and back again. “Another of us?”

“Oh, yes,” Elizabeth continued. “But she's nothing like us. She really is a pirate. An truly evil one. Even Jack is afraid of her.”

“I am not,” he pouted, grabbing for his glass of wine.

“I'm not, either,” Will agreed, taking a bite of meat. “She's only a woman. How bad can she be?”

At this both Mary's and Elizabeth's eyes narrowed on Will, viciously, and he almost choked. Jack looked him over carefully, as though filing away that piece of information for later use.

Mary, still bewildered, looked back at Jack, and then at everyone else, from whom she sensed she was getting more reliable information. “Well, what's he going to do with her? What are... we... going to do with her?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Elizabeth popped a bite of pork into her mouth. “We're going to kill her.”

“Not... necessarily,” Jack protested at Mary's shocked look. “Only as a last resort.”

“You can't be serious,” Mary said, looking awkwardly at her plate. Elizabeth was pleased to see she hadn't touched a bite of her food. “You couldn't really kill me, I mean, someone who looks just like me... could you?”

Elizabeth and Jack exchanged an uneasy glance. Of course he could... he nearly did, Elizabeth thought, but chewed her pork and reminded herself Will didn't need to know every detail of her interaction with Jack. She was silent. Everyone else was silent, too. And Mary took that as an answer, and drew a deep breath, blowing it out quietly. She made a show of sliding her chair back, and slowly rose.

“Pardon me, Mr. Gibbs, but in answer to your question, I don't think I'll be staying, after all.” Her voice broke and she sounded near tears.

“No, no, love, don't go,” Jack pleaded, and reached out his hand to close around her forearm. In doing so his sleeve inched upward, and the P brand - an unfortunate result of his brush with the East India Trading Company - emerged. Mary looked down and saw it. Recognized it for what it was. She seemed to shudder.

“I believe I need some air.”

“Please,” Jack said. “Please. I'm sorry we've upset you. Won't you finish dinner, and then you can go anywhere you want. We haven't told them about our great escape, remember? You and me, and the ocean? A pirate saves a lady's life, once or twice or three times. Won't you help me tell it?” His voice had lowered to a silky plea, and Mary regarded him with tear-filled eyes, before a small smile turned up the edges of her lips.

Elizabeth's mouth twisted sardonically. Clearly Mary didn't know jack about, well, Jack. Elizabeth let her be fooled, and she resumed her seat.

“Well,” began Mary, picking up her fork. “There was a storm. A terrible storm.” And the two of them recounted the tale alternately, while the others drank wine and ate and listening intently, until they got to the part where Mary returned to her cabin, and Jack interrupted.

“You know, I can't believe I've forgotten to ask, but what on earth was it that you couldn't leave without?”

“I'll show you,” Mary said, lifting the napkin off her lap and disappearing across the cabin for a moment while everyone ate and waited, silently. She returned with something in her arms, and Jack's eyes widened in recognition. It was the ship in a bottle.

She held it out for everyone to examine, and Gibbs ooohed and ahhhed over the craftsmanship. Will seemed mightily impressed, as well, and Elizabeth had to stare pointedly at her spoon to keep her eyes from rolling.

“Where did it come from?” Will asked. “I mean, who made it?”

Mary's voice softened as she looked at Will. “Well... you did.”

“I did?” Will sounded incredulous. “I mean, I ... did. Marvelous.” He took his last bite of pork.

“Before you died.”

This time Will actually did choke, and Elizabeth had to pat him firmly on the back before he could reach out his arm to lift his cup to his lips. In a moment he found his voice. “You mean, I'm... dead?”

“Yes,” confirmed Jack. “Don't feel bad, mate, you'll get used to it. In her world, I've dropped off the perch, too. Only a few days ago, as a matter of fact, but I'm already over it.”

At this, Mary fixed her eyes on him, and Elizabeth watched her expression go from amusement, to something blank, to a rather exaggerated mask of grief, in her opinion. “Jack,” Mary said. “I'll ask you to remember that's my husband you're speaking about.” She wiped away a tear.

“Oh! I am truly sorry, love. Hard for me to grasp the idea. Do forgive me.”

Will was still clearing his throat. “But I am dead, then? There's no other Will lurking around?”

“Well, not in that world,” Jack answered, pulling at his beard braids thoughtfully. “But who knows about this one, eh? Maybe it'll be better. No offense, Mary, but that's a cruel world you've got over there. Really mean. Will's dead, I'm dead, Pearl's sunk. And the rum's always gone - philosophically speaking - meaning, there isn't any. Ever. 'Cause you've never even heard of it.”

Will then looked forlornly at Elizabeth, and she reached over to squeeze his hand. She could feel Mary's eyes on them, and also Jack's dark eyes boring into the side of her head. So Mary really was pining after Will, then. It made Elizabeth feel slightly queasy. And she sensed it made Jack just as ill, as she could sense him tensing on the other side of her. Now wasn't that an interesting bit of knowledge? she thought to herself. I'm not the only one who's jealous. Jack's jealous too.

A crewman then entered, carrying a tray of fruit, which he set on the table before exiting again. “Ah... dessert.” Jack smiled, and lifted a green apple off the tray. He held it out to Elizabeth, his brows waggling devilishly.

“Apple?”
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Ship in a Bottle