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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
- 7
- 8
- 9
Chapter 8: The Dawn of Truth

Jack and Mary Sparrow bobbed gently in the water in the pale dawn light. Eventually Mary unwrapped her arms from around Jack's neck and began to gently tread water on her own, glancing about them.

“All right, Jack, now that we're safe, I have to ask. Where are we?”

“In the middle of the bloody Caribbean,” Jack mumbled, his tone gravelly.

She looked at him for a moment, continuing to tread with her arms and legs. “In the middle of... your... Caribbean?”

“Right. I was expecting a ship here. Funny, 's not where I left it.”

She sighed as she swam. “Well, since you did save my life, I'll try to forgive you for compromising me without my permission.”

Jack smiled in spite of their dire circumstances. “Compromising you? Let's review, shall we? I was the one who suggested we have a chat first. But you just couldn't wait. Only so much arguing a man can do with a beautiful naked woman.”

A hint of a smile curved her lips. “Fine. Even, then. I still don't owe you anything.”

“Darling, you negotiate like a pirate.” A thought occurred to him. “Aren't you a pirate?”

“Me? A pirate?” She nearly shrieked with laughter at the absurdity of it. “Hardly.”

“Then what's that ship - ex-ship - of yours for, anyway?”

She sighed again, deeply, no doubt remembering the ship and its destruction. “Transporting cargo. We're merchants.”

“We? You mean to tell me your husband's not a pirate, either?”

“Of course not.” She looked at Jack, then, comprehension dawning in her eyes. “So that's why you were so dirty. And had all those weapons. You're a pirate!”

He grinned, and his gold teeth twinkled in the sunlight. “You got it, love.” At her increasingly stricken expression, he paddled closed and reached out to haul her against him, still kicking with his legs. “What's the matter? Don't fancy having taken a tumble with a real pirate?”

She shoved away from him, and when he laughed, she cupped her hand across the water and splashed him, sending an arc of water droplets through the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth Turner, peering through the spyglass she'd insisted Gibbs give to her when she finally noticed they were sailing away, saw a small splash in the water, far in the distance, toward the still-dim horizon of the west. She never would have seen it, except the rays of the rising sun from behind them caught the water in the air, making the droplets twinkle.

It could have been anything: a fish, a bird, a dolphin. A shark, for that matter. But she lowered the spyglass for a moment to wipe at the tear tracks staining her cheeks, and blinked her eyes to make sure they were clear. She raised the telescope again, and peered through it.
There was something in the water. And it wasn't a fish or other creature, because she saw hair. Dark hair.

“Gibbs!” she screamed, turning away from the rail, and dashing down the deck, waving her arms. “Go back! Go back! It's Jack, I saw him!”

When she bounded down the steps, a number of eyes turned to look at her in utter disbelief. Gibbs, and Will, who were both engaged in plotting an escape from the Dauntless. Ragetti and Pintel, who were adjusting the line of a sail. Francois, the large Haitian, who was scrubbing the deck. She felt herself flush as she realized they thought she'd gone mad.

“Here, see for yourself. He's floating in the water. We have to turn back.” She chucked the spyglass at Gibbs, who snatched it out of the air and caught it, inches from his nose.

“All right, missy, we'll see.” He exchanged worried glances with Will. They climbed rapidly to the poop deck, which was the highest aft deck and afforded the farthest view, and Gibbs peered out across the sea, squinting into the telescope. Elizabeth hung behind his shoulder, frustrated at her inability to pick out the figure with naked eye.

Then, after a moment, Gibbs lowered the glass. “Aye,” he said. “There's a soul out there. Swimmin', too, if I don't miss me guess.”

“There, you see?” Elizabeth turned into Will's chest, and his arm came around her. “So we have to go back.”

Will looked at Gibbs over her head. “What about the Dauntless? She's not far behind.”

Gibbs sighed and shook his head. “She'll catch us.”

“So... so what?” Elizabeth stood between the two men, her eyes pleading first with one, then the other. “Well we can't just leave him there!”

“Well, we'll have to think of something,” Will commented soberly. “Once we stop for Jack, our head start will be gone. We'll need a new plan.”

Gibbs nodded once, firmly. “Aye. But I'm willin' to postpone that decision till the Captain's back on board. Agreed?”

Will looked down at Elizabeth, whose eyes were searching his, desperately. “Agreed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, ye sure took yer sweet time, didn't ye, Cap'n?” Gibbs said, gripping Jack's arm and, together with two other crewmen, hauling him over the lip of the deck. Jack gained his feet, wobbly after so much swimming, and smiled at him. The other crewmen turned back to the ropes they'd thrown over the side.

“Sorry, mate, unexpected delays.” He was draped in a dry, warm cloth by another crewman, and lifted his head to glanced at the small group gathered to witness his return.

He saw Will first, whose eyes were bright even though he seemed to be fighting a smile. Then Gibbs again, who offered him his flask of rum, which he took a swig from and handed back. Pintel, who gaped at him in a partially toothless grin, and Ragetti, who was adjusting his glass eye in his head in order to see better. Everything was quiet and still for a moment, and Jack felt an almost pleasurable swelling in his lungs. Home sweet ship.

Then a figure moved out from between Will and Gibbs.

Elizabeth.

His eyes fell on her hair, usually shining, looking dull and unkempt, pieces of it plastered to her forehead. She had dark circles under her eyes, which were veined with red, and vertical tracks were left from the flow of tears through the thin layer of dust on her face. Her lips appeared swollen, as though she'd been biting them, and her clothing was mussed and hung limply from her frame. But her eyes were fixed on his face, their expression somewhere between disbelief and exultant joy, and he took a few steps toward her. He lifted his palm to her cheek, curling his fingers against her skin.

“You look bloody awful,” he whispered. “Worse than me, and I've almost perished.”

Her lips twisted and he knew she was suppressing a smile. Emotion only got the better of her for a brief moment, and she stepped back a few inches. “Almost perished? Can't finish anything properly, can you, Captain?” The teasing note had returned to her voice, and Jack was glad to hear it.

“Sorry to disappoint,” he murmured with a wry smile, before turning back to Gibbs.

“So what about these delays you spoke of, Cap'n?” Gibbs inquired.

“Well...” and Jack turned to see Mary being helped aboard several feet behind them. Her wet hair hung in front of her face for the moment.

“An' who's this?” Gibbs added, his brows furrowed in confusion.

Then she lifted her head, and put her sopping hair behind her shoulder with one hand. Ten pairs of eyes fell upon her, and mouths dropped open across the deck. Everything seemed to grind to a halt as Mary took one step, then another, towards Jack.

Gibbs was the first to find words. “Great Mother o' God... there's two of 'em!”

“H-hello,” Will stammered, unable to move an inch. He looked back and forth from Elizabeth, whose mouth was agape in wonder, back to Mary, who was taking in the entire scene on the deck. Then Mary's eyes fell on him.

And she took a small step backward, reaching for the rail for support. “Will?” she croaked.

“Ah... yes... do I know you?” he responded, his glance still bouncing from Elizabeth to... well, Elizabeth. They were completely identical, except that one of them was soaked from the ocean, with a leather satchel hanging from her shoulders, and he really thought that if they weren't dressed, he wouldn't be able to tell them apart at all. Not dressed... two Elizabeths, not dressed... and as though the gears of his mind had hit a cog, there they stuck.

Jack attempted to intervene, throwing a guiding arm around Mary's shoulders, but she shrugged him off and strode over to Will, lifting her hands to cup his face. “I can't believe it! You're alive. My own dear Will...” she murmured, and Will could only stare into her face as her soft hands stroked his cheeks.

“Ah - careful, love, while he is alive, he is also taken. Off the market, as it were. Married, you know?” Jack followed behind and grabbed her hands away from Will's face, pulling Mary a few feet away.

Mary stared for a moment longer at Will, and then Jack's words sank in. “Married?!” she protested. “To whom?”

“To me.” And all eyes turned on Elizabeth, whose teasing tone and evident relief in rescuing Jack were completely gone, and fire seemed to flash in her eyes as she moved to stand between Mary and Will. And a little closer to Jack. “Who on earth are you?” she demanded.

Mary didn't respond, and instead looked up at Jack, the faintest hint of a smile playing about her lips. “So I gather this is Elizabeth?”

“How does she know who I am?” Elizabeth's eyes flew to Jack's face, and her voice was rapidly approaching a shriek. “Who is she?”

Jack curled his arm possessively around Mary from behind, his elbow at her shoulders, and his forearm resting at the base of her neck. He met Elizabeth's eyes boldly, and smiled.

“Who's she?” He curled his fingers to brush Mary's skin, gratified to see Elizabeth's eyes widen in frustration and perhaps even fury. “She's my wife.”

All was silent for a moment as this new information settled over everyone. Jack began to move, laying his hands on Mary's shoulders, thinking it best to extract them both from this ugly scenario.

“Your wife?!” Will nearly coughed, indignation spurring him to protest. “Your wife? You can't... you can't marry her!”

“Little late for that, mate,” Jack said, steering Mary out of the crowd and toward his cabin. “Series of unexpected events, chain of fate, so forth and so on.” He paused to regard Will with brows lifted in determination, before ascending the steps to the quarter deck. “Will, she followed me home. And I'm bloody well going to keep her. Not so bad to have two of her, is it? Imagine the possibilities.”

Then he pushed Mary toward his cabin and inside, and they were gone.
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- 9
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Ship in a Bottle