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When the Rum Runs Out	By : Ladykohl Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 8483 -:- 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-Part I
- 2-Part II
- 3-Part III
- 4-Part IV
- 5-Part V
- 3
- 4
- 5
Title: When the Rum Runs Out

Author: Kohl Lined Eyes

Rating: NC-17

Chapter Rating: R

Warnings: M/F, angst, dark themes

Disclaimer: Indeed.

Summary: Post AWE, Captain Jack Sparrow returns to Port Royal, and not even rum can numb the pain. Nothing can help him forget...
Author�s Note: Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and/or reading this story! I appreciate it very much! I apologize for the length of time it has taken me to post this part, but I�ve been too busy to go through and edit it. I have started writing my individual thanks, but did not have time to finish them. I will post them with Part V!

I hope everyone enjoys this latest chapter!
***

When The Rum Runs Out
Part IV
The world goes whispering to its own, "This anguish pierces to the bone;" And tender friends go sighing round, "What love can ever cure this wound?" My days go on, my days go on.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
It seemed as though he had been searching for a short eternity... but he had finally found it. Walking up to the smithy door and lifting his hand to knock, Jack wondered if it made a difference at all. Hesitating, he curled his fingers back against his palm, and drew his hand away from the door. He wasn�t even sure if Will was going to be in there. And what if he was? What was he going to say? What could he say? Perhaps this was a good time to turn back and forget about the whole thing.
No, that would be impossible.
Taking a deep breath, Jack lifted his hand back to the door and prepared to knock again. Though, to his surprise, the door swung open suddenly.
Will Turner stood before him - glaring.
�Oh.� Jack said, glancing around with just his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was full with the sad sound of resignation. �Hello, Will.�
�Hello, Jack.� Will responded... and the last thing Jack saw was Will�s fist flying toward his face.
THREE MONTHS BEFORE
�Are Spanish women very different from English women, Jack?� Elizabeth asked with a small laugh from her position on her back as Jack leaned over her on his elbow - his matted hair falling over his bare back and shoulder.
A pause.
�They speak Spanish better.� He said. �Any more questions?�
Elizabeth thought.
�The kohl around your eyes... why do you wear it?� She asked after a moment. Jack ran his finger under his eye.
�I have kohl around my eyes?� He asked, sounding genuinely confused as he examined the black residue on his fingertip.

Elizabeth laughed.
�What about this?� She pointed at a strip of stained lacy material that she had noticed tied around Jack�s wrist many times before, but had never really thought to ask about. As she lay naked in the bed of the most notorious pirate in the Spanish Maine, she realized that all the odd and mismatched trinkets woven in to and around his person more than likely had very interesting stories attached to them. She found herself wanting to hear all of them...
Jack looked down at the material, and smiled slightly - though he didn�t quite look happy.
�This...� He started, then rolled on to his back - examining the piece of cloth as the memory seemed to pass through his mind�s eye. �Is a piece of cloth cut from a decidedly larger piece of cloth worn by one of the most catastrophically beautiful women I have ever had the misfortune of laying me eyes on.�
Elizabeth creased her forehead, and turned her head so that she was looking at Jack who was already looking at her.
�Why do you wear it?�
�As a reminder.� He said after a moment - clearly hesitant to speak more about it.
�Go on.� Elizabeth prodded.
�Somehow I get the feeling that I�m going to spend the rest of our time together incapacitated in the relating of my past to you in detail.� He smiled widely at that. �Which would be unfortunate, really, when I can think of much more fun things that could lead to the incapacitating of me.� He said as he ran his hand up Elizabeth�s bare arm suggestively. She rolled her eyes, though the way she tensed just a little at his touch did not escape Jack�s notice...
All it took was that small gesture to bring Jack out of the little fantasy he had created for himself and inform him once again that this was not permanent.
Lizzie - his Lizzie... was not his Lizzie.
Jack took his hand away from Elizabeth�s skin.
�Tell me about her.� She said. Jack took a deep breath, and held a hand out above him as though reaching for something... And perhaps he was. Just like he always was.
�She was - like many beautiful women, she was...� He paused, searching for the right words, bringing his hand back down. �She was a wench, really. Wicked in every sense of the word. I might have even gone as far as to say she was evil but given that I have experienced evil a bit more evil than her evil since knowing her, I�ll settle on calling her mean.�
�... And?�
�This was back during the honest sailor epoch, love.� Jack said in an almost warning tone. As though he was really telling her that the woman he spoke of no longer mattered to him, and he didn�t want Elizabeth getting offended that he had ever cared for someone else. She tilted her a head a bit until it dawned on her.
�The Wicked Wench...� She started. �It was named for her?�
�It was named for her.�
�You loved her.� Elizabeth stated - not asked. Jack looked back to the material tied around his wrist but said nothing. �And she gave you that as a token?�
Jack laughed and looked back at Elizabeth.
�No.� He said. �I took it from her while she slept. I�d pursued her for an amount of time that will remain mum for the sake of my dignity... and when I finally had her, I knew it would likely be a solitary occurrence. I couldn�t leave without having a tangible something to remind me that I hadn�t made the whole thing up. I do that quite often.�
Elizabeth sat up.
�You mean to tell me... you took the woman you loved to your bed and just left her there while she was sleeping?�
�Uh, no. The woman who loved me took me to her bed, and I left her there while she was sleeping. It was more convenient that way.�
�But you could have stayed with her. If you loved each other, why cause that kind of pa--�
�I was a sailor, and she was all but royalty.� Jack interrupted, keeping his eyes on the bit of cloth - just the smallest amount of discernible bitterness in his tone. Had Elizabeth not been so concentrated on his words, she might not have been able to hear it. �As far as classes go, that translates in to different species.�
Elizabeth understood this well. It was not easy falling in love with and marrying a blacksmith. Not because she was unhappy with him or his position in society because that couldn�t possibly have mattered less to her... Rather, it was hard having to explain time and time again to her friends and even to her father that Will was a good man that she loved more than anything and that it was all that mattered to her. His love was all that mattered to her.

�Did she love you?� She asked - nearly sounding affronted. When would the world accept love for love�s sake? When would positions, and money, and classes stop having such power and importance over everything a person did? Why couldn�t a person just be free?
Jack might have smiled if he heard her think that.
�Unpropitiously.� Was Jack�s response and his eyes seemed to look passed her at those words. �The last time I saw her was as she slept, when I took this.� He gestured with his wrist. �I set sail on the heels of the next dawn and... I�ve already been coerced in to the relating of that particular bit of my past.�
�You never saw her again?�
�I was branded a pirate. Love from a woman like that is anything but unconditional - she was able to lower herself just enough to love a sailor in secrecy... but a pirate? She never would have let me come near her again...�
�Is that why you renamed your ship?�
�That... and also the Black Pearl has less of an unpleasant connotation to it...� Elizabeth let out a small laugh.
�... Did you expect you�d be returning to the woman as you left her?�
Jack was silent for a long while... Long enough that Elizabeth did not even expect him to answer her. The silence in the room grew palpable and quite uncomfortable... until finally the pirate answered her question.
�I often wonder that meself.� Was all he said, not quite managing to break the hold the silence had on the cabin.
Elizabeth stared up at the wooden ceiling for a few moments as she digested the sad story she had been told.
�Did you ever tell her you loved her?� She asked quietly. Again Jack was silent before answering, though this time it was a considerably shorter interval.
�There�s not a living person in the world who�s ever heard those words from my mouth.� He responded, then added, �Well, not in that order, at least... or, perhaps, if there was something to gain from it being said.�
After a few moments, Elizabeth sat up and then stood - taking the thin blanket with her as she kneeled at the bottom of the bed. Jack sat up with a crease in his forehead, resting his forearm on his raised knee as he watched her. She searched the floor for a few moments before her hands seemed to find what they were looking for. Jack�s belt.
�If you�re thinking about stealing something from me, it might be considered a wise investment of your time to wait until I have fallen asleep.� He said as his brows knit together in an expression of confusion. Elizabeth took the dagger from Jack�s belt, and then went to work searching for something else. �Or not.�
A moment later, the sound of tearing fabric met Jack�s ears - and a moment after that, Elizabeth was climbing back in to bed with him. Her eyes were serious as they sought his gaze in the dim light of the cabin.
�We both know that I can�t ever allow this to happen again.� She spoke almost too quietly for Jack to hear. Jack merely stared in to her eyes silently - his confirmation that, yes... he knew. Elizabeth took a deep breath, and took Jack�s wrist in her hands. Jack watched her, astonished, as she untied the cloth around his wrist, discarded it to the side... and replaced it with a bit of newer fabric.
Fabric from her own dress.
Jack met Elizabeth�s eyes again and his were full of emotion that they both knew he would never put to words - quite obviously moved by what she had just done.
�But,� She continued. �That doesn�t mean that this didn�t happen. I can think of no reason why you should wear the memory of a woman who would not love you as you are now, if you can wear the memory of a woman who will truly care for you no matter what. A tangible something of me.�
Jack�s hand hooked around the back of Elizabeth�s head and tangled his fingers in her hair as he pulled her to him for a kiss fueled by passion and gratitude. She�d never know how thankful to her he was for that gesture. She�d never know that the worn out cloth now tied to his wrist had instantly become Jack Sparrow�s most prized possession - right before the Pearl itself.
She pulled away.
�Tell me you love me, Jack.� She whispered almost harshly against his lips - an intensity in her eyes that he�d never seen present there before. At that moment, he almost did. He almost gave in. He almost revealed everything that lay buried in the depths of his heart; that he didn�t know how long he had loved her, only that it had been a very long time before he had ever admitted it to even himself. He almost told her that the way he felt about her terrified him because he knew emotions like that had the power to tear even the strongest man apart. He almost told her that knowing he had to give her up was nearly more than he could take...
For that moment he wanted to tell her all of it.
�It�s not going to happen, love.� He whispered back at her. She leaned her forehead against his and closed her eyes.
�Then tell me you don�t.� She said - her voice cracking with emotion. Jack reached up and caressed her cheek in his hand hating himself for any pain he was causing her. He knew she felt guilty for sleeping with a man who was not her husband whom he was more than positive she still loved, and he wished he could alleviate some of that guilt by letting her know that at least she had slept with a man who loved her. A man who loved her deeply as ever a man loved a woman. He just couldn�t do that. In the end it was better for them both if he never admitted what she so desperately wanted him to... and if telling her he didn�t would satisfy her need for resolution, then it was what he had to do.
Taking a deep breath, Jack told, perhaps, the first lie in his life in which he regretted as soon as it left his lips.
�I don�t love you.� He said firmly. It surprised even himself... which it shouldn�t have, really, since he had been lying to everyone he had come across for the better part of his life.
Elizabeth�s eyes opened upon his face - searching it helplessly for assurance. Whether it was assurance that he was telling the truth or that he was lying, Jack was not sure. He only held on to her face and gazed upon the most beautiful woman in the world as her eyes began to tear and she began to bite her bottom lip.
�Jack.� She whispered as she shook her head slightly - leaning her face in to his touch. A tear slipped from her eyes and she immediately pushed it away with her hand - separating herself from Jack�s forehead. She placed her hand over his that still held her cheek staring in to his emotion stricken face, caressing it for a moment before pulling it away from her.
She quickly removed herself, wrapped in Jack�s blanket, from the bed. Grabbing her torn dress from the floor... she hurried out of the room and away from Captain Jack Sparrow.
He watched her go - sadness piercing his every nerve ending. It did not escape him the parallels he had drawn between Elizabeth and his wicked wench... nor did it escape him that he seemed to have the tendency to fall in love with women whom he could never really have. Jack sighed heavily, and laid back in his bed... a slight shiver running through him.
He turned his face toward the door Elizabeth had just fled through and pouted just a little.
�... She took my blanket.�
ONE MONTH LATER
It was late noon, and Jack stood at the helm of his ship - looking down in to his compass for guidance... though it�s guidance was not exactly the kind he needed. It was times like these that the pirate wished he really believed that someone was watching over him rather than just watching. To him, God always seemed more like a being that was only there to punish him if he did something wrong... but not to help him make the right decisions or do the right things along the way. It didn�t quite seem right to him... but he probably didn�t quite seem right to God, so he supposed it was a fragile balance.
�I�m suspectin� a longer voyage to Port Royal than we first anticipated.� Mr. Gibbs said to Jack as he came to stand next to him. Jack looked down in to his compass then snapped it shut and looked at his first mate.
�Ye of little faith.� Jack said with a forced smile, then looked down. �Who happens to be right in this instance.� He looked back up, forcing the same smile back on his face.
�Jack...� Gibbs said, leaning in a bit closer to his captain.
�Yes?� He asked quickly - the smile gone.
�The men... they�re getting a bit... unsettled by the fact that we haven�t been doing much in the way of, well, anything since the lass came aboard.�
�Is that so?�
�Aye, cap�n.�
�Well... you can tell the men that soon as we find ourselves in the position which will lend itself to our being rid of previously stated lass, we will incidentally find ourselves in a position which will lend itself to doing something in the way of something rather than nothing, savvy?�
Gibbs looked out over the deck and sighed.
�We ought never to have brought the girl on board.� He said, not realizing that Elizabeth could hear him - neither of man knowing she was even around.
�Yes, and perhaps if you say it one more time we can actually make it as though it never happened, ey?�
�All I�m sayin�--�
�I know what you�re saying...� Jack interrupted, waving his hand slightly as if to wave away Gibbs� words. �But the reality of the situation is that nothing can be done about the situation until we reach Port Royal - so the men must learn to implement the virtue of patience.�
�Is that where your compass is pointing, Jack? To Port Royal?� Gibbs asked with a meaningful stare.
�Unless a pretty girl is around, in which case it invariably points north.� He responded. Gibbs laughed a little then walked away shaking his head. Jack opened up his compass again and stared in to it for a few moments, before sighing and closing it again.
�Is it pointing toward Port Royal?� Elizabeth asked as she came in to Jack�s view and stopped at the top of the stairs. Jack couldn�t help but look her over for a moment and admire the sight before him. He had given her a shirt that she had pulled back and tied tightly over her torn bodice, though he had opted out of giving her a pair of breeches as well. Her skirts were well worn and ripped in places, but they were clean and still, somehow, elegant. Underneath them she wore a pair of old boots that were only just visible through the rips and tears. Her skin, remarkably, had remained quite pale for the most part since she had done an exquisite job of keeping her face covered - at first by her bonnet, and now by a faded tricorne hat she had found below deck. She looked like a real lady pirate now - not just a woman dressed as a man. God, give her a coat and she would have looked like a captain.
She was so beautiful... torturously beautiful, really. Dressed like that - she looked like a woman who could really have been his. This was the side of her that would always remain on the Pearl and ingrained in his memory for the rest of his life. She had left his mark on him same as if she had carved her name in his wrist instead of just tying a piece of her dress around it.
Jack looked away from her and out toward the horizon.
�There are some leaks below need patchin� up, pet.� He started rather a bit coldly, ignoring her question. They had not really spoken much since the night Jack had almost keelhauled Reed (whom was now thankfully locked up in the brig - uncomfortable perhaps, but alive). They had gone too far that night; had done something that they could never undo... and they both knew it. Their interaction had become rather limited as Jack, purposefully or not, had been keeping his distance. �Do be a dear and see to the task, ey?�
Elizabeth said nothing at first.
�Jack...� She started quietly, the hurt evident in her voice as she took a small step closer to him. He kept his eyes cast forward. �Why wont you talk to me?�
�Is giving orders not still considered talking?� He asked as though he were bored. Elizabeth looked down as she bit her lower lip.
�Why are... You�ve been acting so strange since--�
�You stole my blanket?� Jack interrupted, swaying in her direction momentarily before looking away from her again. Elizabeth looked back up at him. �I suppose I haven�t really been sleeping the same since then.� Which was the unfortunate truth, wasn�t it?
Elizabeth closed to the distance between the two of them and placed a hand on Jack�s that covered a spoke on the wheel.
�Jack--� She was cut off by Jack�s sudden movement as he pulled his hand away from her touch as though she had burned him. She glared at him, shocked. �What is the matter with you?� She demanded angrily. Jack looked around the deck at the crewmen who scattered about trying to look as though they were busy instead of paying attention to the exchange between him and Elizabeth. He looked away from them to Elizabeth�s eyes - his narrowing with anger of his own.
�It would be a very bad idea to continue on in that manner of speaking toward me.� He said in a low and dangerous tone - gesturing just slightly with his fingers at his side toward the crew.
�I don�t care about the bloody crew!� Elizabeth exclaimed. �And I don�t care if me yelling at you undermines whatever authority you have on this ship! I want to know--�
�Mr. Mann!� Jack yelled suddenly, causing Elizabeth to start slightly, as he turned toward one of the scattering crewmen. The man, looking to be a bit younger than Jack, stopped and turned to his captain.
�Y... yes, sir?� He asked, his blue eyes glancing nervously between his captain and the woman standing to his left.
�I would be very much obliged if you could utilize your surname as a verb in the handling of my helm, savvy?�
The man looked confused for a few moments before nodding resolutely. Apparently Jack wanted him to �mann� the helm.
�Er... Of course, Captain.� Mr. Mann responded.
Jack grabbed Elizabeth suddenly by the upper arm in a tight grip that he knew must have hurt, but he was well beyond caring. He dragged her down the stairs and then threw in to his cabin - her struggling doing nothing to deter him.
�It�s not actually considered acceptable behavior to speak to a ship�s captain that way on the captain�s ship, before twice said captain�s crew...� He said as he slammed the door shut behind him. Elizabeth rubbed her arm.
�Why have you been treating me this way?� She asked - obviously trying to keep herself from crying. �What have I done?�
Jack nearly laughed. What had she done? What had she done?! She�d destroyed him, that�s what she�d done. If she�d just tell him that she didn�t want to return to Port Royal - that she didn�t want to return to Will. If she could just give everything up to be with him the way he would give everything up to be with her...
If she could just love him.
But she couldn�t love him, could she? She could kiss him, she could tease him, she could sleep with him... but she could never love him. Deep down... he knew he was beneath her.
�You want to know the truth of all this, dear Lizzie?� Jack asked as he swayed slowly toward her - feeling pain so deep that he wanted her to feel it as well. He wanted her to hurt the way he hurt, and that was the only coherent thought in his head. �The truth is my compass is working like new now and it is pointed indisputably toward Port Royal... I got what I wanted from you and am incidentally no longer in need of your company.�
A resounding crack filled the air - Jack�s head flying to one side as a hand shaped mark reddened on his face.
�How... dare you?� Elizabeth asked in an unsteady voice, shaking her head slowly as she stepped back from the man who stood before her - his dark eyes looking up at her though his head was down. He looked frightening that way... not at all the way she had come to know him.
�Care to join our friend Mr. Reed in the brig then, Mrs. Turner?� He nearly growled at her. �Not one man on this ship would get away with laying a hand on me - why should you be afforded a difference in that regard?� This was not eccentric, flamboyant, intelligently amusing Jack Sparrow. This was what lay beyond all that - forever lingering just below the surface. Everyone believed that Jack was mad... but the truth was, the traits that defined his demeanor both physical and otherwise were conscious decisions he had made. Jack was the way he was because he wanted to be that way... which meant he didn�t have to be. When he wanted to be frighteningly devoid of the bumbling charm he had so meticulously crafted about himself, he could be. No fluid gestures. No sashaying about. No double talking. Just a stripped down Captain Jack. This was the man legends had been told about. This was the pirate who every man, woman, and child in the Caribbean feared.
Elizabeth stared at him - shock and pain visible in her eyes.
�I trusted you.� She whispered - the first of many tears rolling down her pale cheek.
�Which was your mistake. Not mine.� Was his cold response as he raised his head... though his heart was shattering.
�But you love me. I know you love me.�
�You keep saying that. Why do you keep saying that?�
Because it's true, his mind interjected. And it was. Truer than anything else had ever been for him. He loved her - and not admitting it to her, not saying the words... well that didn't make it any less true. He wished he could stamp out the emotions that tore at him - made it difficult for him to breathe - by pretending they didn't exist... but, in the end, he knew they did. He knew he loved her and that made it real regardless of whether or not he would ever let her know.
And he hated her for it.
�You... I let you... we...� She looked down, unable to say the words - shame setting her cheeks aflame.
�Nothing I haven�t done before or wont do again, Lizzie... How many of those other women do you think I�ve loved?� He asked with a slight dark smile. He did not stop to think that the things he was saying were very hurtful and that he was pushing Elizabeth further away than putting an ocean between them ever could. The hurt he felt was overwhelming and for the first time in a very long time - Jack could not control himself.
Elizabeth looked up at him - her eyes wide. She was crying now, and it didn�t appear that she was even bothering to try and stop herself.
�I�m the only person in the world who cares about you...� She said through her tears. �Why are you saying these things to me?�
And if it was possible, Jack�s heart sank even deeper. What was he doing? Why was he making her cry? He wanted to go to her and hold her... he wanted to tell her he loved her and beg her to stay with him, but something inside of him would never allow that.
�Because you, love, are going to have to realize sooner or, well, now that it�s all well and good to play pirate dress up for a few months but that it doesn�t change who you are... and who you are, in the end, is just a little girl playing dress up. No substitute for the real thing which I, in fact, am. I can�t change that any more than you can change that. And seeing as how you can�t change that at all, one can then infer than neither can I.�
Elizabeth clenched her jaw, tears still slipping down her face.
�And you, Jack, will have to realize sooner or later that you can�t always use the excuse of being a pirate as way out of owning up to your mistakes.�
�Of course I can.� He said with a crease in his forehead. �I�m a pirate.�
�You�re a bastard.� Her words were hard and her jaw was set. She�d never forgive him for this, and he knew it.
�Sticks and stones, love.� He said almost quietly - calling back to when they had first met. There was silence between the two of them after those words. They stared in to each other�s eyes - the memory of that day obviously at the forefront of both their minds. Finally Elizabeth broke the stare and pushed passed Jack.
�Why didn�t you just let me die there?� She asked angrily as she opened the door - not even sparing a glance back before she left Jack alone in his cabin.
�Well that would have been a very Elizabeth thing to do, wouldn�t it have been?� He called out after her - not even really caring if she heard him...
Not really caring about anything.
***
Jack awoke to a pistol shot.
He shot up in his bed suddenly and cocked his head to one side to listen to the commotion that had stirred up outside on deck.
�Go get the captain!� He heard a muffled voice yell.
�Cap�n!� Gibbs said as he opened Jack�s door - Jack already standing behind it.
�Who was on the smoky end of that pistol?� Jack asked as he followed Gibbs in to the cold night air and on to the deck.
�Reed, Jack.�
�Read what?�
�Argh, no. Mr. Reed, Jack!� He said as he pointed toward a crumpled form laying near the mizzen mast. Jack furrowed his forehead and approached it slowly. Once closer he was able to see that it was, in fact, Mr. Reed - shaking terribly and holding his bleeding stomach. �He escaped the brig and attacked the helmsman.� Gibbs said from Jack�s side. �No one�s figured why yet...�
�How did you get out?� Jack asked suspiciously as he looked upon the dying Mr. Reed - the very beginning of panic swimming around in his consciousness.
�She let me out, sir.� Reed responded with a moan.
�... She?� Jack asked, raising his head and then scanning the deck. Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen. �Elizabeth.� He said suddenly as he looked to Mr. Gibbs. �Find her. Now!�
�She�s in the brig!� Mr. Mann called out, popping his head up from below deck. Jack�s eyes flew to him. �She�s hurt bad, captain! Stabbed in the chest!�
If it had not been for Jack�s sudden and overwhelming need to get to Elizabeth as fast as he could - the fear Mann�s words had created in him might well have killed him. Before anyone knew what was happening, Jack was below deck - hurrying for the brig faster than anyone had ever seen him move.
Please, God... Jack thought desperately. Just this once, stop watching and help me...
***

Oh no!
So there we are... I hope people stick with me to the last chapter (which will probably be the next chapter I post). If you decide to review, please let me know what you think of my Jack. I�m always worried I�m not staying true to the character. He�s very difficult to write, but that�s what makes him so interesting. Thanks for your support!
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When the Rum Runs Out