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Deliverance	By : Bluemidget57 Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 7843 -:- 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
- 1-Deliverance
- 2-Elizabeth
- 3-will
- 4-Sand
- 5-Pearl
- 6-Journey
- 7-Cave
- 8-Ritual
- 9-Calypso
- 10-Return
- 11-Awake
- 12-Asleep
- 13-Reunion
- 14-Avoidance
- 15-Cabin
- 16-Jones
- 17-Tattoo
- 18-Irrevocable
- 10
- 11
- 12
Awake

Gibbs was quite pleased to find that Jack�s rest had eased a great deal by the end of his watch. The Kraken�s bite had stopped weeping soon after Gibbs removed the dressing and let the air soothe it. Jack�s breathing also evened out, becoming less choppy and more recuperative, and by the time Pintel came into the cabin, Gibbs was feeling quite positive about the Captain�s progress. He had checked on Miss Elizabeth a few times and found her to be sleeping heavily and apparently dreamlessly.
He could not see any signs that her slumber was unnatural or in any way induced by the residue of those spells she had invoked to bring Jack back from wherever he had been. She appeared to be simply recharging from the extreme physical and mental efforts her body had expended, by means of a deep and oblivious sleep.
When Pintel entered the cabin, rubbing his eyes and belching over his hasty meal of fishcakes and biscuit, he was carrying a fishing net which needed mending. Gibbs felt more comfortable leaving the Captain to the ministrations of his formerly mutinous crew member than he would have been several hours ago.
Pintel�s watch also passed without movement from either of the recuperating occupants of Jack�s cabin, and he handed over to Cotton, whose parrot reported cheerfully when Ragetti came to stand watch at the end of his turn, �Sleep like the dead! Sleep like the dead.�
Ragetti had not the patience of the other men who had taken a shift in the Captain�s cabin. Pintel had left behind the fishing net to be worked on, but after only an hour or so of mending, Ragetti grew bored of this task and began roaming aimlessly around the room, picking up ornaments and trinkets and replacing them, then pulling books out of Jack�s bookcase and flicking through them hopefully, as if expecting the letters to miraculously leap out and make sense to him.
A sudden moan just as he picked up a large and expensive-looking leather bound volume caused him to jump guiltily into the air, the heavy book flying out of his hands to smack him hard in the face and dislodging his artificial eye. The book fell to the ground with a resounding thud, and Ragetti�s eye rolled away from him towards the bed. His remaining good eye darted between the couch and the bed and the path of his prosthetic, as he tried to decide which of the patients had made the noise without losing track of his appendage.
Another grunt, more recognizable as a word and Ragetti had his answer. Definitely the Captain. �Bugger,� Jack groaned expressively. �Who let a herd of elephants in here to trample all over me?� Ragetti rushed excitedly over to the bed, forgetting momentarily the destination of his artificial eye.
�How�re ye feeling, Captain?� He questioned eagerly, hovering over the still recumbent Jack, checking closely for any signs of imminent rising.
�Who - Gibbs?� Jack asked weakly. �Will?� And Ragetti leaned closer, pleased to be the one who could tell the others that Captain Jack had awoken on his watch.
Jack finally prised his sticky eyelids open - he felt dreadful; even his eyelashes ached - and upon finding himself confronted by Ragetti�s grubby countenance, stringy hair and empty eye socket less than six inches away from his own face, let out a startled yell which was immediately echoed by Ragetti�s own. Jack jerked in shock and their foreheads made contact with a sickening crack that sent Ragetti staggering backwards momentarily and had Jack, in his far more delicate state collapsing back onto the pillows with bells ringing between his ears.
�Bloody�..Ow!� Ragetti complained, shaking his head to clear it, then grinning broadly as Jack turned gingerly towards the sound of his voice and cautiously cracked open one eye to look at him. �We�re all here,� he declared expansively. �Gibbs, Will - all the others. I gotta get them -�
�Elizabeth -?� Jack questioned faintly, but Ragetti was already halfway out of the cabin, still crowing delightedly to himself, missing eye forgotten. �Gotto go tell them yer awake - woke up for Ragetti, you did!� The pirate was chanting as he charged out on deck and Jack heard him yelling at the top of his voice, �he�s awake. Cap�n done woke up.�
Jack groaned and closed his eyes again, bringing his hands up to massage his aching temples. Through the haze of returning consciousness and the additional pain of Ragetti�s headbut, he was fairly certain he remembered catching a glimpse of Elizabeth in that strange cavern-like place, amongst all the other weird characters who had populated his death; but it could quite easily have been a product of his fevered delirium, wishful thinking, merely a figment of his imagination - as indeed, could his whole memory of the recent events. Jack was perfectly happy to admit he had suspended rational thought and moved into a realm of bizarre fantasy.
The sudden clattering of booted feet and the rumble of excited voices heralded the approach of whomever Ragetti had gone to fetch, and Jack was almost afraid to open his eyes again and confront the evidence of his delirium. Not until all who were coming were completely inside the cabin and had fallen into a nervous silence, broken by Gibbs� now unmistakable query, �Jack?� did he open his eyes to see who had in fact journeyed to find him.
And there they all were - nearly all; Marty, shuffled to the front to get a good view, Gibbs, Pintel, and behind them - Ragetti, beaming. Cotton and his bird; Will - looking rather like he had swallowed a lemon, but no Elizabeth - Jack had hardly begun to process that thought when his eyes alighted on the last person, standing in back of the small huddle of onlookers, but still taller than most of them. A face Jack had never thought to see again; standing just behind Will�s right shoulder, was the man he had last seen over the barrel of his own smoking pistol.
Jack surged into a sitting position, adrenaline racing through his body and disregarding the damage he had sustained. �What is that man doing on my ship?� He roared, scrambling off the bed and looking for all the world as if he intended to attack Barbossa where he stood.
Stunned into momentary inaction by their Captain�s unexpected outburst, none of the crew made the slightest move to intervene until Jack had taken two steps towards them, and suddenly swayed alarmingly, snapping Gibbs and Will out of their shock as they bounded forwards to support him on either side.
Irritated at his own weakness, Jack tried to shrug them off but only succeeded in keeping himself in a stationary upright position. �Well?� He growled, when nobody ventured an explanation. �Which one of you is going to tell me why you�re all here with him, and he isn�t dead - again? Or at the very least locked in the brig?�
Explanations all poured forth at once then, everyone except Barbossa himself eagerly telling a version of the story, guilty words running into one another, so that Jack could make no sense of any of it. �Enough!� He exclaimed, feeling his headache worsen. �William, you tell me what this mutinous smug git is doing on my ship?�
Will sighed. �Let�s go to the galley and get you some food. You look like you need the strength. I�ll tell you everything when we get there,� he said, offering an arm for Jack to lean on. Will was worried that if they stayed here arguing and shouting they would wake Elizabeth from her well-deserved rest. She had not stirred so far, but Will didn�t imagine the shouting was over - far from it, certainly not when Jack heard the rest of their story, and found out that Barbossa had nominally been in charge of the whole venture.
And as for Barbossa himself, he was deliberately provoking Jack - he had to be - standing there smirking and positively daring the wounded man to confront him.
But one thing at least Will was grateful for; with all his attention being focused on Barbossa, Jack had neither searched for nor mentioned Elizabeth at all since he revived. Will hoped that the presence of his formerly dead rival would be sufficient distraction for Jack to overlook just how he had come to go down with the Pearl in the first place, or to press for a too detailed account of how he and his lost ship came to be risen from the ocean floor again.
Gibbs and Will aided Jack from the cabin and down to the galley. The Captain was obviously unhappy about his own weakness and even more for the fact that Barbossa was witnessing it, but he was sensible enough to accept that in spite of the time he had spent in the desert, he had been without nourishment for ��
�How long?� He asked Gibbs, and the older man did not pretend ignorance of what he meant.
�Quite a while, Jack,� he replied sadly. �Enough to worry that we might not make it in time. More�n two months passed since the Pearl went down.�
Jack thought about the passage of time as he sank gratefully onto a bench in the galley, and smiled his thanks to Cotton, who had apparently kept some soup simmering against the hope of his waking soon. The others crowded around him like a gaggle of concerned uncles, and watched as he polished off the meal.
Barbossa had retreated to the helm, but Will couldn�t decide if that fact wasn�t more inflammatory than not. Although the healing process had begun whilst he slept, Jack was still obviously weak and under the weather. It must be doubly galling for him to find Barbossa not only back on the ship he once stole from Jack, but apparently in charge of it as well.
Therefore, Will was somewhat surprised that the mutineer�s presence was not the first subject that Jack raised when he had cleared his plate, and Gibbs stopped hovering over him like a mother hen making sure it�s chick was fed. Casting his eyes around the circle of men surrounding him, Jack asked with studied casualness, �Is Tia Dalma here with you? She had something to do with this, I know she did. Have I just exchanged a debt to Jones for a debt to her?�
Will blinked in surprise. Failing a demand to know about Barbossa�s resurrection and presence on board, he had assumed that Elizabeth and her actions would be the next item preying on Jack�s mind. Tia Dalma had not even registered on the list of questions Jack might have for them.
�Ah,� Jack said thoughtfully. �I thought as much,� and Will realised that none of the other crew had answered his question either, each of them waiting for someone else to commit himself.
�No, Jack, she�s not sailing with us, but she did provide the direction and the means to accomplish your rescue,� Will said finally when no one else spoke up.
Jack silently digested this, keeping his eyes downcast and shielding his thoughts from the crew. And once again, his next words were divergent from the expected. �Must confess, I�m surprised to see you here, Will. Would have thought you�d be off saving your father if anyone, were a rescue mission being undertaken at all, rather than chasing around the high seas after me own self yet again.�
�That�s next on my list,� Will replied wryly, unable to suppress a smile at Jack�s uncanny ability to cut straight to the heart of the matter. Apparently some things were consistent, despite death and digestion. �Tia Dalma prevailed upon us that yours was the greater urgency for the moment.�
�And I thank you for that,� Jack sighed. �I am obviously every kind of grateful to be back amongst the living again. Which brings us nicely round to our other recently departed bunk mate. He who was dispatched by me own pistol and shot. I suppose Tia Dalma had a hand in that, too? Seems like bein� dead isn�t anywhere near the handicap it used to be in the old days, now doesn�t it?�
He scanned the various expressions of guilt and discomfort on the faces of his crew and added glumly, �Should�ve guessed, I suppose. Damned bloody monkey was far too happy to give up taunting me.� He fixed Gibbs with a searching glance. �How did you get my ship back?� He asked - undoubtedly only the first of many awkward questions which would follow. �Last I remember, she was on her way back to the locker, and I�m quite sure Davy Jones wasn�t in the mood to help you this time?�
Will relaxed further; Jack�s choice to ask next after the Pearl further eased his concerns about the pirate�s intentions towards Elizabeth. Will concluded for the moment - erroneously, had he but known - that Jack�s apparent lack of interest in the last person to have interacted with him before his demise, meant that he held no animosity for her act of restraint, nor any expectations from the embrace which preceded it.
However, he couldn�t have been further from the truth; his assumptions being based on Jack�s following a logical, linear thought process similar to his own. Elizabeth would have quickly set him straight on that idea, had she been present. Or conscious.
Jack�s query about Tia Dalma had effectively eliminated the priestess as the woman he remembered seeing all too briefly in the cavern. He had thought it was Elizabeth who appeared on the riverbank before he passed out, but at the time the shock of seeing her - when he had been led to believe by whomever was wearing his father�s skin that Tia Dalma was behind the rescue attempt, had led him to doubt the evidence of his own eyes. It was certainly entirely possible that he had conjured his Lizzie�s image out of a feverish hallucination coupled with the undeniable hope that she regretted her actions so much that she had to come for him.
Delirium notwithstanding, if Tia Dalma was not on this ship, then Elizabeth must be, and therefore she wasn�t going anywhere soon.
Jack would deal with the other stuff first, and get around to his wicked Lizzie when he was more himself again. It was quite one thing to admit that one had�particular feelings of an alarmingly amorous and possessive - not to forget lustful and erotic - nature, for a certain other person, when one was apparently dead and therefore strategically unable to act upon said feelings; but to throw oneself right back to the lioness� less than tender mercies immediately on resurrecting - well, given the circumstances that seemed a little precipitate.
Of course, he really would like to know where she was, and why she had not made up part of his welcoming committee, but if she was off somewhere suffering from an excess of guilt and shame at her behaviour, Jack was certainly human enough to enjoy the prospect of letting her squirm a bit longer, wondering if his forgiveness would be forthcoming.
Gibbs was looking uncomfortably at Will, and Jack�s attention was drawn back from his musings on pirate lasses - and damned if she wasn�t already consuming his every thought, despite his internal resolutions - to the question he had asked specifically to cause the most discomfort amongst his crew and therefore give him the time to reflect on his intentions for the absent Miss Swann.
Will obviously wasn�t going to touch this one with a ten foot pole, and after much mumbling under his breath, Gibbs stammered into a convoluted tale about resurrection, apples, Tia Dalma and yellow fog which would have totally confused a lesser mind than that of Captain Jack Sparrow.
A satisfied smirk spread across Jack�s features as he extracted the pertinent nuggets of information from Gibbs� rambling tale. Apparently, Barbossa had been responsible for raising the Pearl by virtue of the fact that he was the one who had stolen it from Jack. If he followed Gibbs� line of reasoning, then it was clearly dearest Elizabeth as his final betrayer, who had borne the task of retrieving his earthly body from the dead .
Oh, yes - his pirate lass was definitely hiding somewhere on this ship, and he would let her stew for a while; but more immediately, he had a formerly mutinous first mate to deal with.
Jack made no comment to Will or Gibbs at the conclusion of the sorry tale, even though they were both waiting like disobedient children who expected their favourite toy to be taken away from them. Instead, he opened his shirt collar and probed at the Kraken�s bite on his shoulder. It seemed to be healing remarkably quickly now that the process had started. Too quickly, actually, and Jack wondered if he was the only one who was aware of this fact.
As his fingers skimmed over his tattoo on the way to trace the injury, he felt again that strange prickling of heat which trickled quickly towards the wound - and if he had been the superstitious kind, he might even have imagined that this strange effect had some bearing on the uncanny speed with which he now seemed to be improving.
�I�m feeling much better,� he announced brightly. �I want to see me ship; have a word with Hector Barbossa.� He stood up and this finally galvanized Will and Gibbs into action. They both leapt to their feet in front of him, protesting at his intentions, but Jack was feeling appreciably improved - even in the short time since he had woken to find Ragetti�s eyeless socket hovering over him, and he would not be nannied by a bunch of fussy old women masquerading as pirates.
The gash on his leg which had contributed to his limp on the way down to the galley didn�t seem to be affecting him at all anymore, and he strode back out into the early morning sunshine feeling quite like his old self, with Will, Gibbs, Cotton and Marty trailing worriedly behind him. Pintel and Ragetti had been ordered back on watch by Barbossa after the minor reunion huddle in Jack�s cabin, the older pirate obviously being fully aware that any attempt to direct Jack�s crew would be met with failure; and, all excitement aside, the Pearl did need some sailors to take her home.
Jack paused as he emerged onto the deck, fixing his gaze on Barbossa - once again at the helm of the Black Pearl. But if that time spent in the sandy place had given Jack anything, it was a new perspective on patience. So Barbossa was in charge for now. There was plenty of time for that to change. Jack took a deep breath allowing the familiar salty tang of the ocean, overlaid with the tar and varnish bouquet of his ship to permeate his lungs. He turned away from Barbossa and moved over to the rail until he was in the exact position where the Kraken had risen up and taken him. His own wonder at the immaculate restoration of the Pearl echoed that of all those who had boarded her before him.
He drifted along the deck, trailing his fingers along the rail, and paused by the step up to the helm, remembering his conversation with Elizabeth there, and how close they had come to intimacy in that moment, before finally turning to face the spot where the potential of that conversation had ultimately been realised mere hours later. The broken glass and spilled potions had been swept away by the crew whilst Jack slept, but no amount of scrubbing had been able to eliminate the painted circle which Elizabeth had inscribed, nor the scorch mark that resulted from the column of light her spell created. Jack recognised immediately that this was the place from where he had been summoned back to the living, and appreciated the mysticism inherent in the choice.
He picked up the chains which were still hanging from the hook and turned them over in his hands, unaware of Gibbs and Cotton watching him, mystified as to why he should pay such particular attention to so mundane an item.
Will however, had no such illusions. He was now quite convinced that Jack�s complete tour of the ship was a blind, covering up for this one moment of confrontation. He glanced nervously past Jack to the still closed doors of the Great Cabin. He wished that he had taken the opportunity to move Elizabeth somewhere less accessible whilst Jack was below decks, eating - but had been too caught up in the other men�s excitement to have been thinking logically. Now, getting Elizabeth out without Jack noticing would be a lot harder. It was highly probable that he would need to return to his cabin and recuperate some more if he kept on exerting himself at the current level, and how could Will hope to hide a sleeping woman or shield her from any of Jack�s justifiable reactions if that happened.
It was a massive stroke of luck that Jack hadn�t spotted her sleeping on his couch when he first woke, but the presence of Barbossa had been an unlooked for blessing, and more than enough to direct the reviving Captain�s attention away from anything else.
The rattle of chains as Jack let go of them drew Will out of his reverie. He glanced at Jack�s face trying to gauge his thoughts, and was somewhat alarmed by the oddly satisfied smirk peeping through the older man�s beard. If he had been tricked and then chained to a sinking ship under attack by a sea monster, by someone he trusted and regarded as somewhat of a friend, he was quite sure that his feelings on returning to the scene of the crime would be far more in keeping with Jack�s reaction to Barbossa earlier. In fact, Will found that he had been positively relishing a repeat of that response, and Jack�s illogical smugness was quite disturbing.
Still smiling eerily, Jack turned away from the mast and his gaze finally came to rest on the man steering his ship. �Let�s go and have a chat with Hector,� he said to no one in particular.
Gibbs exchanged a worried look with Will, and scurried after the Captain, obviously hoping to avert any incipient fighting, but Will decided that this was his one opportunity to move Elizabeth from the cabin while Jack would be too preoccupied to notice, and he slipped back behind the steps as Gibbs ascended after Jack.
Elizabeth lay exactly as she had been left, slumped on her right side, one arm dangling off the edge of the couch, her breathing deep and even still. Will bent and scooped her up; he staggered awkwardly towards the door - even such a slender person could weigh a lot when totally unresponsive. He had left the door slightly ajar, and waited to hear how the meeting was going above him; after all, anyone standing at the wheel had a clear view down to the main deck, and he had to be sure Jack and Barbossa were thoroughly engrossed in out-posturing each other before he traversed across that exposed strip of deck.
�Seems to me like there�s a perfectly good ship following behind us all ready and waiting for you, Barbossa,� Jack was saying as Will poked his head out of the door. �Wouldn�t do for you to be getting too attached to that wheel again. Not when there�s no chance the Pearl or anything on it will ever belong to you again.�

Good, thought Will. If Barbossa still had the wheel, then it was he who was facing forwards. He figured that Jack was probably right in Barbossa�s face, tormenting him and bouncing around like an adrenaline-charged kelpie; doing his level best to irritate the man.

Will moved across the deck and down the stairs as quickly as possible, and no one hailed him from above so he breathed a sigh of relief as he laid Elizabeth gently in Gibbs� hammock which hung in an alcove off the main area and afforded her a modicum of privacy and slightly more room than any of the regular crew hammocks.
It was darker down here, and the air was not as fresh as in Jack�s cabin; the smell of brine and sweaty bodies had seeped into the woodwork, but Will was prepared to sacrifice some comfort in the interests of keeping Jack and Elizabeth as far apart as possible, for as long as possible. It wouldn�t work forever, obviously; the voyage here had taken weeks, although their route had been meandering and seemingly without destination - but even if they sailed directly back West, it was unlikely that they could make any known port in less than a fortnight.
Since Jack�s revival earlier, Will had bounced back and forth between thinking that he had no interest in Elizabeth, and worrying that he had too much, and by now Will wasn�t even sure which outcome concerned him the most; that Jack wouldn�t forgive Elizabeth - or that he would.
**********
Most disappointing for those of you expecting a big reunion this chapter. Sorry (sniggers)�.But there is a point to it..
Thanks again to those of you who have taken the time to review; it makes my day to read your comments. Tell me what you think of this one - even if it only to yell at me for being so mean to Jack & Lizzie.
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Deliverance