Ring and Goddess post AWE fic 1-5
Apr. 7th, 2008 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soleilpirateTitle: Ring and Goddess
Author: Soleil Compeau
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Pairing: Jack/Other
Spoilers: Set after AWE, a sequel to Life After Loss. It's helpful to have read the first one to better understand Sarah's character and the subsequent events of this story.
Rating: NC17 to be on the safe side, since I describe what happens in the marital bed. And the deck and captain's quarters of the Pearl, and the orange grove...oh sorry!
Disclaimer: These stunt doubles have just reenacted what takes place after the final cut. No profit or wages are being made. I do this out of deep love for the characters.
Summary: Jack and Sarah have settled down into a life of frequent voyages, tending a home, and raising children. But their idyllic life is threatened by an evil man bent on destroying them. Can they call on supernatural forces to save their family and help their friends?
Chapter One - Nest Egg
It was both the longest nd most pleasurable shore leave of Jack Sparrow's life.
Sarah pleasantly surprised him with the energy and industriousness with which she threw herself into building a home. The morning after their wedding, she roused first and shook Jack awake. He was not very compliant with rising, at least not from the bed that is. It took Sarah two horizontal interludes before she was able to get her husband to sit up and pay attention to her face and the words coming out of her mouth.
They went ashore and strolled arm in arm over the plot of land. She planned out where the house and garden would go, then they set off to engage the builders and order building materials. Sarah spent the money made from the spoils of piracy, but it was Jack who actually made the arrangements, since he was a man.
Every day she checked on the progress of the building, often dragging Jack along so that if she had instructions or changes to make, he could convey them. In time, the builders came to respect her opinion just as much, seeing that he did not usually speak to them unless she had first whispered in his ear.
Sarah feared that the lazy pace would bore her new husband, but he seemed utterly content. She knew that he would not be detained forever though, and so reveled in the time spend with him. Often they strolled around the sleepy town, just talking. He sometimes went with her to the markets and shops and voluntarily gave his opinion to pick out furniture, drapes, china, and linens. Occasionally Sarah spoke of confronting her uncle with her marriage and claiming the inheritance that was due her as a married woman. But there was no real urgency in it, not yet anyway.
At night they stayed aboard the Pearl, having the whole ship to themselves. Jack had arranged for crew to check in at frequent times and maintain her at anchor, but their vigils were never at night. So they were able to do whatever they wished, which meant mischief. Sarah reminded Jack of what it was to truly play. Tag and hide and seek were favorite games of hers, with the winner getting a most agreeable prize.
It was one night, under the glow of a nearly full moon, that Jack crept along the deck, hearing the giggles and rustling of his wife hiding under a longboat and eagerly waiting to be "found."
"There's no getting away from Captain Jack!" he loudly drawled. "He always gets what he wants, and plunders his prize!" Then suddenly he stooped and tipped over the boat, to see his wife peering merrily back out at him. "Ha!"
She jumped past him, slightly bulging stomach hampering her not in the slightest and darting away from him. Jack whirled, snatched at her flowing hair, and missed by a hairsbreadth. He raced after her, chuckling at her childlike glee. Sarah went to the mast where he would have caught her but for her running around it in circles. Suddenly she stopped and questioningly picked up a manacle that was attached to the mast.
"Oooh Jack! What be these for, eh? A bit of bondage, perhaps?"
"Ah." Jack looked askance at his wife, who was trying hard to sound piraty. His lips twitched at her cuteness. "Those be for discipline Sarah love. Sometimes a wayward sailor needs to be flogged to remind him of his duty."
She looked horrified. ""What? Jack? You chain a man and beat him?"
"Tis necessary sometimes darling. Oh, I have rarely needed to do that though. Mostly, me crew is happy to serve under me, I'm good to them. And pirate ships oft have it better than merchant ships, tell ye truly. Still, sometimes voyges are long and taxing and a captain must keep order."
The impish grin returned to her. "What do you say to letting me use these chains, hmm? I could..." she licked her lips and lowered her lashes, "make you MY prize!" She grabbed for his hand.
"Never! No!" he stumbled backwards before the dreaded irons could close around his wrist. "I won't!"
He turned his back to her so she wouldn't see the trembling of his body. Once again he felt the sweet traitorous kiss, felt the deck tilt beneath his feet and the cold panic that threatened to take his sanity along with his life.
"Jack!" Sarah hurried to him, a look of deep concern on her face. "I'm sorry darling! I should have realized...ah me. I'm a foolish girl."
He regained control of himself. She continued, "You've escaped hanging more than once, and been locked up more even than that. Of course you wouldn't enjoy being chained, not even for gratification."
Jack finally felt able to turn and face her, and he slid his arms around her. She cuddled close to his chest as usual. "Why did you suggest it in the first place?" he asked.
"Ohhh, I had a rather hot image of you in my mind, can't seem to rid myself it. You, with sweat at your temples, your lovely mouth open just so, mmm, tongue peeking out to lick your lips a bit, and utterly unable to move. Me, of course, I'd be the one making you sweat."
Her erotic description warmed him more than a little. "I promise to hold still darling. I won't move..one..single..inch."
"Not the same Jack." Oh, but she swallowed hard, and her voice was heavy with want. She glanced at the deck rails, and an idea began to percolate. Jack's next actions tossed it from her mind. He knelt before her, and looked up beguilingly. "Oh Sarah, are you certain? I'll do anything you want...to please my pretty bride. Anything at all."
The thought of Jack Sparrow offering to play her willing slave was intriguing. After all, she'd been his 'prize.' Sarah cocked her head at him, and smiled rather wickedly. Taking the bottle of rum out of his hand, she tipped it back against her lips and thought for a moment. Jack wasn't the type to be submissive, but it would certainly be fun to play at it for one night. Oh yes, she could think of a few things that Jack's obedience could be useful for. "Agreed, pet. Now take off those clothes. Slowly."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As their house began to rise out of the foundation, Sarah's belly continued to swell. Jack began to get thoughtful, and stroke his chin sometimes when he gazed at her. He was plotting for the birth of his child.
One morning, Sarah left Jack at the site of the house and whispered to him that she had an errand to run. He didn't need to come shopping with her this time. He wandered around the first floor, which was nearly complete. The stairs were also finished, and skeletal rooms existed up there. Jack amused himself by mentally arranging furniture until he felt her arms slide around his waist from behind. He turned and gave her a huge hug, feeling the hard press of her stomach against his. It was comforting.
"Come on Jack, I want to show you what I bought!" She pulled his arm until he was outside the walls, and there a little golden horse was tethered. "There! Isn't she a beauty? She's a Morgan, very sturdy, good work animal, and she's quite gentle."
Sarah was beaming. Jack tilted his head at the beast and squinted a bit. "Oh." He knew ships, not horseflesh. "Is that good?"
Sarah chuckled. "I haven't owned a horse since my parents were alive. Must be three years now. I bought her because I want to go see Elizabeth."
Alarm bells went off in Jack's head. "You plan on riding it? Sarah, not sure that's wise, in your condition."
She glanced at him. "Hmm. Near as I figure it, it's only half a day's ride to her. And I'm not near big enough for it to be a danger. She'll be having her baby soon, and I want to be there for her."
He said nothing, but his brow knit and he chewed his lower lip. He looked all over the garden plot, the frame of the house, even the animal, not knowing how to express his worry. She must have sensed it, for she gave off stroking the horse's nose and went to him. "You can ride with me Jack. I assure you it's perfectly easy and safe. I'll be fine. Riding won't hurt me or the baby at all, not this early in the pregnancy. It won't be until I get really big that I must take it easy."
"How do you know that? I thought ladies always had to take it easy all the way through." Jack was a bit lost. This was definitely uncharted territory for him. He was not used to thinking in these terms.
"My mother was a midwife Jack. I understand a bit more about the whole process than most women." She smiled reassuringly.
"All right then. I'll stay and oversee the building for two days. Ye'd best be back by then, Sarah, or I'll come for you meself." He crossed his arms and looked seriously at her. "And no, I am certainly not riding that thing!"
Chapter Two - Bundle of Joy
"Jack?" He came awake instantly, senses alert. There seemed to be no danger.
"What it is Sarah?"
Long pause. "I'm hungry"
His eyebrow rose in disbelief. "You're hungry? In the darkest watches of the night?"
"Please Jack. I want peanuts!"
He groaned. He opened his eyes fully, and there was Sarah's face over his. Her hair touched his cheek as she smiled hopefully. "Please?"
He sighed, and rolled out of bed. "Very well. I'll check the hold."
Fortunately, there was a barrel with several boxes of peanuts. It was buried in a corner of the hold, apparently a holdover of Barbossa's brief stint as captain before Jack rescued Sarah and got her back under his command. Hector must have kept them for his horrible little monkey. He took one box back to their quarters and opened it for her. She sat up with a bit of difficulty, considering her bulk was getting quite massive, and happily began cracking them.
"Don't get shells in the bed, love," Jack grumbled as he slid back into his side of the bed. He couldn't help smiling at the sound of her enthusiastic chewing as he drifted back to sleep.
There was only the roof to be put on the house. Much of the furniture was in place. A barn for Penny, the Morgan horse, was in the opposite corner of the plot of land. And Sarah had grown to quite round proportions. Jack wanted to move to the house before the birth. She almost couldn't make it up and down the sides of the ship anymore.
She still walked as much as she could manage in the bright light of day, but in the afternoons she made baby clothes. Jack took himself off for exploration, with no fear of being caught a pirate. This land was far too uncivilized yet, large parts of it unsettled, particularly in the Keys. Occasionally he ran into a crewmember and they would visit and revel together, raising hell until past sunset, when Jack would return home. No matter how late it was, he always found Sarah awake and waiting for him, a smile of love on her face.
Though the sea and pirating called to him like a siren and he knew it would not be much longer before he answered, another siren held him willingly captive, and he was happier than he'd been in many many years.
"Sarah, I'm going on a little trip round the Keys," he said to her one evening that he actually came home early. He'd brought Gibbs back with him, to stay with her for awhile, and a happy reunion the older man had with the young Mrs. Sparrow.
"Why?" she would have jumped up but for the lump from her chin to her knees. "Why are you leaving Jack?" She was close to tears. "I don't want you to go!"
Jack sighed inwardly. Sarah's mood swings were random and intense. He dearly hoped she'd return to her more laid back self after the birth. Gibbs seemed to think she would, he claimed childbearing sometimes did crazy things to womanfolk.
"I have something in mind, and I want to keep the Sparrow coffers full. Don't worry, I'll be back in plenty of time for the birth, count on that. I'll be hiring a physician and midwife Sarah."
She raised an eyebrow. "Elizabeth will be here too Jack," she reminded him.
"I know love, but it would rest my mind a lot easier knowing I'd done my part for my progeny," he answered gently. "Trust me on this, please?"
She did trust him, implicitly. "All right Jack. Don't take too long though." Her hand went to her stomach. "This one kicks harder every day. I suspect he'll be arriving anytime."
Indeed, Sarah was correct about that. Jack was gone for a week, and he blew back into the house smelling of wind and blood. Not his own, he was unharmed but in a serious frame of mind. He seemed to bring a crowd with him, for Elizabeth arrived in the morning in a carriage, her infant son swaddled carefully and carried lovingly inside.
The physician and midwife came that night, and it was late in the dark watches of the night that Sarah shook him awake, face cramping with pain and the bedclothes soaked with her sweat.
Jack rubbed her lower back with hard strokes, feeling the muscles knot beneath his hands. Her body was slicked with sweat, and she kept taking deep breaths that ended in whimpers of pain. He felt her tensing for another contraction and took his hands away. He'd learned quickly that Sarah didn't want to be touched during her pains. He made soothing noises in his throat and just let her thrash against him.
The midwife came again and laid a cold washcloth on her brow, and held a cup of cold tea to her lips. She was encouraging to Jack in his attentions to Sarah, and he quite liked her easy manner. The doctor was something else though, he had far too overbearing a manner. He was competent, that was his saving grace. He'd examined Sarah that first day and pronounced her fit and completely healthy, greatly relieving Jack's mind.
He bustled in as if Jack's thoughts had summoned him. Glancing at the midwife, he jerked his head enquiringly. She immediately nodded, reached under Sarah's nightgown, and checked something. "Nearly to ten, doctor. She's ready."
~~~~~~~~~
Jack paced back and forth outside the bedroom door, making more mess of his mane with his nervous fingers than the strongest storm had ever. Moans of pain reached his ears every few minutes as well as unclear words from the physician. That physician, whom Jack had hired, had been the one to shut that door on him. Elizabeth was inclined to let him stay, but the doctor was very clear. That man gets out of my way.
The door opened, Jack whirled and dashed towards it. Elizabeth stepped out and shut it again, but not before Jack caught a glimpse of Sarah writhing on the bed, back arched and legs spread far apart.
"Is she all right?" he asked tensely, grabbing Elizabeth by the shoulders. "Women die in childbirth, I know they do Lizzie!" he gave her a significant look, knowing that was what had happened to her own mother.
"She's fine Jack. It should be very soon now, the head is beginning to crown," she reassured him as she checked on her sleeping baby. Her eyes softened and she smiled as she beheld little William Weatherby. His rosy mouth twitched and her heart swelled.
"The head is beginning to crown? That's good! I don't know what that means," Jack mumbled, staring at the door helplessly. "Why does she sound like that?" He waved miserably towards the bedroom.
"It's just that way for women Jack." She went to him now, and carefully put an arm around his shoulders, not at all sure he would let her. He did, though his body was very tense. "I know you want to be with her, but it's really better that you stay away. It's women's work, so to speak."
"Be glad you're not in there Jack," Gibbs spoke up from his seat in a darkened corner. His flask gleamed as he tipped it to drink. "Women get a little crazy during childbear, so I hear!"
Jack sighed at that, still looking at the barred door, still chewing his lip. "So you've said." Another cry came through, very loud now, and he moved as if he would charge the door. A second cry, more like a scream this time, stopped him dead. He looked around at Elizabeth with his expressive eyes begging.
The midwife's voice could be heard now, and Jack and Elizabeth together strained their ears to hear clearly. "Push again now, another one is beginning!" The scream came again, Jack clenched his teeth and moaned in frustration, and then there was a brief silence.
Jack's eyes went wide when the silence was broken by the unmistakable cry of a newborn baby. Elizabeth was smiling and laughing and hugging him, and opening the door to reveal his new life to him. He stared in wonder at Sarah reclining on the bed like a queen and the midwife handing a tiny little bundle to her. A bundle that made noise.
"Hi Jack." Her calm voice helped him move forward, her smile swallowed him up. Jack bent over the bed to see the baby. "So tiny!" he breathed, laying a hand carefully on the round head covered with fine, slightly wet black hair. He could cup the baby's head in his palm easily.
"It's a boy Mr. Sparrow," he heard the midwife say.
"Captain," he corrected absently.
Elizabeth was on the other side of the bed, speaking to Sarah, but Jack was aware of none of it. The baby had opened his eyes and was looking at him. "Oh my God." Jack fell into those calm cerulean blue eyes without a moment's hesitation. "My son!"
He reached out with sure hands and took his child with ease, though he had hesitated to hold Elizabeth's baby. The gorgeous eyes blinked, and kept gazing at him. Jack walked to the window and drew the curtain back, letting in the dawn light. The little mouth yawned, minuscule fists waved, and Jack was enchanted by it all.
"What shall we name him?" Sarah's voice penetrated the cloud of bliss around him. "I thought maybe we should name him after our fathers."
He nodded, a golden smile answering the beaming grins of the two women. "John Teague it is, Sarah love."
A small alcove off the master bedroom had been specified during building, in anticipation of the baby. Sarah engaged the midwife's services to help her look after Teague during his first few weeks, teaching her how to care properly for him.
Jack watched in amazed fascination as she sat propped up in bed, pillows bring the infant to the right height and her dressing gown pulled down to expose her breasts. He watched his son's tiny rosebud mouth open and close randomly as mother and child tried to figure out how best to fit together. He slid off three times and Sarah was redfaced with embarrassment at failing. Jack leaned over them, took his wife's breast in one hand and his son's head in the other. "Come now Teague, this is good for you. Get on there! Open your mouth!"
He pressed his son's face towards his other hand. Sarah watched in amazement as Teague obediently opened his mouth upon his papa's command and latched on smoothly with no fuss.
Jack became increasingly restless. He visited the Pearl frequently, and sought out the crew more and more often. They began to plan for another voyage. Sarah knew he would sail soon.
Teague was perhaps seven weeks old when all hell broke loose.
Chapter Three - Double Cross
Sarah and Jack were peacefully asleep. In fact, Sarah was lying atop Jack using his chest for a pillow, her hair draped all around him. Suddenly Jack startled, spilling her onto the mattress and grabbing for his pistol. Sarah turned around on the bed in time to see the door to the bedroom fling open and none other than her uncle and ex fiance walk in.
Sarah quickly put a hand on Jack's arm, not wishing bloodshed to her family member. Jack had the pistol cocked but did not fire, merely held it steady. She greeted them with a steady voice. "Uncle, so good to see you. Been meaning to come and call."
"So it's true!" her uncle exclaimed. Sarah had pulled the bedcovers up to her chin and sat regarding these men from her past. "Sarah, your aunt and I have been sick with worry since Robert told us what happened to you. You were at the house, why didn't you come to us then?"
"How did you get in?" Jack demanded. He well remembered the day he and Sarah had returned to her island. She'd left a sign for her guardians, hoping for some kind of confrontation. Now it had arrived.
"The midwife let us in," Robert said coldly.
Sarah muttered "Be damned!"
"Sarah," her uncle began, eyes shifting nervously between her and the swarthy man with the gun and steely eyes. "I've come to talk to you about this lifestyle you've chosen." He cleared his throat. "Now, I understand that being kidnapped is a serious and traumatic event...but you can return to your family and.." Jack's eyes were narrowing dangerously and it was making it very hard for the slightly balding, nondescript man to continue. "There is honor to be regained from this...appalling situation."
Sarah expressed surprise. "I hardly think it is appalling for a woman to be lying with her husband and new baby! What's appalling here is your intrusion on our privacy!"
Robert burst out, "Husband! This pirate kidnapped you!"
Her eyes narrowed angrily. "The pirate who attempted to kidnap me was foiled by this man. This man rescued me. I chose to sail away with him. I chose to marry him."
Sarah's uncle shifted his feet and sighed impatiently. "I'm sure you'd like to believe that is what happened. However, marriage to a pirate hardly counts as lawful, now does it?"
Sarah considered the piece of paper carefully placed in a safe in the cellar of her home, that proved the legality of what she and Jack had promised. She kept silent about it, and pasted an incredulous look on her fce. A look that did it's best to convey shock and uncertainty. Then she and Jack exchanged a look. His face said clear as day to her, 'Well? What's your next move?'
She willed tears to well up in her eyes as she looked back at her uncle, and asked, "What makes you think this man is a pirate?"
Fortunately for Jack, his gun arm was not the one that bore the "P" brand so his occupation remained undisclosed as long as he kept his other arm under the sheet. Robert lashed out angrily. "He robbed me! You're sleeping in what should be my home, on my land!"
"MY land Robert!" Sarah shouted. Jack was finding it more and more difficult to keep from firing on the cocky gentleman. "I hold title, posession is nine tenths of the law!"
"YOU robbed me at gunpoint as well! He's a pirate I tell you! And should be hanged!" Robert pointed dramatically at Jack.
If the unmistakable sounds of an infant beginning to wake had not drifted into the room at that moment, Robert would have died by Jack's hand and he would have added murder to his list of crimes. The other man spoke rapidly, trying to defuse the volatile situation.
"Sarah, you've a child to think of now. I will make you a deal. Married or no, pirate or no, I will transfer your inheritance in your name, for your baby's future, if you will agree to let us try this man for his crimes."
Sarah slid her arm quietly under the covers while her uncle spoke. She touched Jack's thigh and squeezed, gently, then much harder.
"You will give me what is rightfully mine? My inheritance from my parents, no strings attached, for my child's sake?"
"Yes. If you let us take this man."
Jack stiffened. "Agreed," Sarah said.
Robert snapped his fingers and two uniformed officers entered quickly. They held guns on Jack while he slowly put his clothes on under the covers and rose to have irons affixed to his wrists. Sarah did not look at him the entire time, staring instead at the alcove where Teague fussed for her.
The bedroom emptied of all but Robert. Sarah ignored him utterly and went to her son, picking him up and checking his coverings. He was wet, and she changed him quickly. Robert stood at the foot of her bed and watched her. She climbed back in bed with Teague and bared her breasts for him to nurse. Only then did she look at Robert, and hard spots of anger rode high in her cheeks.
"Do you like to see this? Another man's child suckling at the breasts you'll never touch?"
His smile chilled her. He just stared at her until she finished and put the once again sleeping infant in his cradle. "I can give your bastard a name Sarah."
"No thank you. Didn't you hear? I'm an heiress."
"Be reasonable Sarah!" Exasperated, he ran a hand through his sandy hair. "You've no doubt been used by all of them aboard his ship, and so you've created a fantasy to try and keep yourself sane!"
She stared at him in astonishment. "You think I'm delusional!"
He sighed and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Speaking soothingly, he explained, "Not delusional sweetheart. Just trying to protect your sensibilities. Let me help you. I'm willing to accept your baby and cover your shame."
Sarah shook her head. He actually thought he could convince her! His gracious act didn't fool her, she would never forget the two days spent locked in his cellar. "No!"
"You could be a gentleman's wife if you'd stop being a stupid cow!" Robert's face reddened, his eyes narrowed to little slits. She couldn't help but think he looked like a pig.
"A gentleman's wife? I'm that already!"
"You're a whore Sarah." His voice had gone deadly cold.
"I'd rather be a pirate's whore than a gentleman's trophy!" She spat defiantly at him. He grabbed her wrists and shoved her onto the bed, quickly getting on top of her and pinning her. She struggled but was unable to move him. Suddenly she went limp, and smiled tremulously at him. He chuckled.
"I knew you'd see sense eventually!" He rose up to tear her nightgown from her body, and was met by Jack's pistol, forgotten in the bed during his arrest. He froze.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of gunshots brought Joshua to his feet and running for the source as fast as he could. He burst into the bedroom and stopped short, greeted by a sight that would be ridiculous if it were not so horrible.
His master lay bleeding on the floor at the foot of the bed, clutching his legs just above his ruined knees. Sarah, eyes huge and tear filled, pointed a smoking pistol at him which wavered in the air. One hand clutched at her torn nightgown, trying to hold it together and cover her nakedness. The infant wailed in terror in his crdle.
"I don't want to kill you!" Sarah shouted. Joshua recognized hysteria and raised soothing hands to show her he intended no harm.
"Let me take care of the mess, my lady." He gestured towards Robert, who was groaning, face going pale, body sliding into shock. "You take care of your child."
Sarah nodded convulsively and aimed the pistol away from the manservant's belly. Joshua moved slowly towards Robert. She picked up the baby and held him closely to her chest. He continued to wail, little eyes squeezed shut and fists waving, hicoughing in his anger and fear. Sarah hummed under her breath and rocked back and forth, comforting hands pressed against his body.
"I'm sorry," she said in a low voice, glancing at Joshua as he tried to assess the damage.
He looked at her appraisingly. "It's no more than he deserved, my lady." He managed to get the wounded man to his feet, supporting his weight as best he could, and slowly staggered him out of her sight.
Chapter Four - First Parting
Jack sat still in the cell they placed him in, hands over his face. He'd been sitting that way for hours, unmoving and unresponsive, even when the guard called to him. They didn't know his name yet, he had refused to tell them and apparently so had Sarah. Let them figure out who and what he was all by themselves, he certainly wasn't going to help them.
He thought of his ship, and he thought of his child. He tried not to think of his wife, but no matter how hard he pushed those images away, she was still there.
The scraping of the door at the end of the hall got his attention, though he didn't move. Voices carried to him, the guard, and a woman. Jack raised his head. That voice was Sarah's, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He strained his ears.
A series of sounds followed: The guards footsteps starting towards him, the jingle of keys, Sarah's voice raised in a sudden piercing scream which he couldn't help reacting to by jumping to his feet. It was followed by a thud, then the jingle of keys again which resolved into the image of Sarah hurrying to him with them in her hand.
"Jack," she cried as soon as she reached his cell, thrusting her arms through the bars to touch him.
"What took you so long?" he asked sarcastically as he moved into her touch.
"I had arrangements to make," busily she began testing the keys on the padlock. "The crew's been awaiting your orders for sometime, I sent Gibbs to round them up and ready the Pearl."
Jack tilted his head quizzically, not sure he understood. She went on, "The guard will be out for while, I hit him hard. They'll not search until morning, when you've got to be long gone."
He glanced down the hall where he couldn't quite see the unconscious officer. "What did you do to him?"
Sarah was getting frustrated at the keys which yielded no results for her. She kept trying them as, click, click, click she explained. "I acted frightened. Said that the pirates had done terrible things to me and I wanted to make sure the biggest and baddest of them was truly locked up and unable to hurt me anymore." She grinned at her own cunning.
"But you screamed."
"Yes. His back was turned." The padlock finally opened and she muttered a small "aha!" as the door swung open. "Your crew rescued you from the jail. I screamed when I saw them coming towards me and ran away when they hit the poor guard."
She looked at him in confusion when he just stood there, looking at her with a beautiful loving smile on his face. "Jack! Hurry, come on!"
He swept her into his arms and kissed her long and lovingly. "You're a ruthless pirate, bit o'Sarah. I admire that quick little lying mind of yours!"
"I'm not a pirate Jack!" Though she couldn't help glowing with pride. "I just don't have any intention of letting anyone keep me from what makes me happy. And that happens to be you, my home, and my child."
He still grinned as he took her arm and hurried with her out of the jail. "Like I said love. Pirate."
They ran swiftly once clear of the building. It was sunset and the very air shimmered with gold and violet hues. "Where's Teague?"
"I took him to Elizabeth. Part of what took me so long. That, and I had to deal with Robert. "
Jack stopped short and grabbed her shoulder so she had to swing round to face him. "Robert? What happened with him?"
"I...I had to cripple him Jack." Her eyes were downcast. "I threatened him with your pistol, but he persisted in trying to rape me."
His voice was gentle, as was his hand caressing her neck. "What did you do?"
"I shot him in both knees, and in the instep of one foot. Shattered the bones, tore through ligaments," she choked back a sob.
"I should have shot him," he muttered contemplatively. Drawing her close to his body, he moved them into a shadowy alcove and let her cry against his chest, dropping kisses on top of her head. "You did what you had to love. You defended yourself and the baby. At least you let him live, eh?"
Sarah composed herself after only a few minutes, and quickly dried her face with quick brushes of her fingers. "Come on. We haven't time for my hysterics." As they made their way towards the water, she explained about Joshua coming in and getting his employer, and discovering that a horse in full gallop could make the journey to Elizabeth's home in less than half a day.
"I hadn't planned on leaving you quite this way," he said wistfully as they drew near the harbor. The Pearl was majestic in the rays of the setting sun. Now was the tricky bit, there were still a fair amount of people doing last minute business on the docks. With the darkening skies though, it would be a matter of minutes before they all left.
"In fact," he continued as he moved with her under a pier, standing in water up to their ankles, "I wanted a nice long proper romantic goodbye!" He cupped her face in his hands and claimed her lips.
Sarah opened her mouth in surprise and he slid his tongue inside her mouth and moved it back and forth. One hand cupped a breast while the other wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer yet. Sarah responded in seconds, her own hands reaching to grasp his bottom. Jack groaned as she squeezed his tush.
He backed her up against a piling and pressed his body close. She felt his rising heat between them as he ground into her belly. "Jack, Jack," she whispered against his teeth as he moved his lips in slow circles over hers. "I love you!"
His fingers flicked at her nipple through her gown. Too many layers existed between them. All they were doing was frustrating each other, but they couldn't seem to help it. Sarah pinched his cheeks hard, and tried to squeeze a hand between their bodies. Jack felt what she was doing and shifted back enough to let her. She had to break the kiss to look down and unlace his breeches.
"Can't," Jack muttered but did not stop her. He didn't do quickies very easily. It was possible for him occasionally, but generally he tended to need to take a bit of time with lovemaking. Yet the events of the day all culminated to this. Their peaceful early morning interrupted, a tense confrontation, betrayal, rescue, and now a goodbye that was abruptly ahead of schedule raised their adrenalin levels greatly.
"I want to give you something before you go." Sarah eased her fingers into the gap she'd managed to open in his pants and wiggled them over his shaft. Jack hissed and reached down, impatiently pulling more of the material aside to give her room. She heard the fabric rip.
He buried his face in her hair and breathed harder as she curled her fist around him and pumped fast and hard. His entire body tensed. "Oh!"
Sarah glanced around, seeing the sailors and fishermen leaving the area. They did not see them. Dusk was gathering. She carefully lifted her skirts and knelt down. Jack held onto the piling, knowing what was going to happen. His head went back as she slid her lips fully around his extended member. She pumped him fast, wanting to bring him to orgasm quickly. She worked him as deeply as she could, and with one hand pumped along his shaft while her fingers stroked his balls with the other.
Jack grimaced hard, groaning throatily with pleasure. He couldn't believe what she was doing to him, and he was about to sail from her. His thighs began to shake, and expressions of love poured from between his lips. "Ohhhhh, Sarah. God..that's soooo...ah! Ooooh, I love you. Don't stop! Oh god!"
He gripped the wet wood of the piling harder, eyes squeezing shut as she sucked harder, sucking to make him burst in her mouth. His body went rigid, and he shook as he poured himself into her mouth. Cords stood out in his neck with the effort of not screaming his release.
Jack rested his forehead on the wood as he recovered. Sarah stood up, shaking out her dampened skirts and smiling a self satisfied, pleased little smirk. She carefully tucked him back in and refastened his breeches as best she could with them ripped. When she was sure the roaring in his ears had subsided, she spoke. "I'm so glad I got to do that for you Jack. You'll think of it for many nights aboard ship."
"Oh, I surely will!" They walked to the longboat tied by itself. The other boats has already carried his men to the ship. The last one was just visible reaching the side of the Pearl.
Now that the moment had come, Jack had no words. He tenderly stroked Sarah's cheek, and she closed her eyes and turned her face more fully into his palm. She however, did have some words. "I want to tell you something. I know you're a pirate, and a man. I know you'll be gone from me for long voyages, and face danger...and temptation."
Jack looked sharply at her. "I married you knowing exactly who and what you are Jack Sparrow. I know what to expect. But I don't want to know about your..temptations. As long as you don't catch any diseases, or make any children with anyone but me, I'm satisfied."
He simply stared blinking at her. How could he respond to such a statement? He wanted to promise her that no other woman could tempt him as she did. But he knew himself too well. All he could was offer advice. "I'd try to recruit that Joshua to be your bodyguard, darling. I've a feeling he'd make a good ally. And I'd rather you not be alone."
"Elizabeth is alone Jack," she pointed out.
"Ah, but she's not my wife is she? You are."
"Agreed." His wife moved into his arms and licked the column of his throat. Sensitized as he was her sweet attentions to him, Jack shivered all over and grunted in pleased surprise. "Don't stay away from me too long." She whispered hotly in his ear. "I expect you to keep me satisfied. Understand?"
He nodded, and kissed her one more time. "Give my boy a kiss from his papa, savvy?" He stepped into the longboat. Jack rowed towards the Pearl, keeping his eyes on Sarah.
"Whenever you come back, do so at dusk. Under cover of darkness you'll be safest, Jack," she called to him. She stood on the dock and watched him go, but did not wave. She just watched him.
Chapter Five - About their business
"Did you get it?" The Captain spoke without looking at him.
"Aye sir." The little bald pirate held up a scroll.
Jack took it and smiled slowly as he unfurled and studied it. "El Dorado."
He gave the bearings for the outlying Florida Keys, then consulted with Gibbs. "Well? What have you found out?"
"The Pearl and the Dutchman only destroyed one ship of the Royal Navy, but that was the ship what carried the head and heart of the East India Trading Company." His quartermaster answered seriously. "The majority of the fleet survived, though there were a few ships lost on the journey home. No telling how many, each account I heard gives a different number."
He lowered his voice abruptly. "Most pleasing part, captain, is the stories that are going around about your part in the battle. Starting with the one about you doing away with Davy Jones on a tiny little sandbar by bopping him in the head with yer piece of eight. A right modern day David and Goliath tale, it is. "
Jack looked surprised and pleased, though he touched his forehead where a small Kraken's tooth graced his forehead in place of his Pirate Lord token. Usually it was himself that inflated the legendary exploits of Captain Jack Sparrow. It was wonderfully ego stroking to have his enemies doing it for him. "What else do they say?"
Gibbs warmed to his subject and began moving his hands expressively as was his wont. "Well....then you freed Calypso and called upon her to start a maelstrom, and ordered her to fling the Flying Dutchman into the air. Then the Pearl all by herself took on the Dauntless and ripped her apart."
Jack couldn't help breaking out into laughter at that one. That day had held many tumultuous events, and if he'd had the power to order Calypso in any way, it certainly would not have been for what she did do! He had to laugh, or his heart would once again ache for the loss and tragedy of what did happen. Gibbs wore a look of mixed pride and sorrow and raised his flask. "To the newest captain of the seven seas," he said softly.
Jack swigged at the ever present bottle of rum in his hand. "At any rate," Gibbs went on. "What's circulatin' is that the Black Pearl is an indestructible ship captained by a man who walks unscathed through death. Very useful to have such a reputation."
The captain could only agree. Later he climbed the rigging to the crow's nest. He gazed at the sky and let the breeze caress his cheeks and whip his hair behind him. He thought of Sarah, and wished she had come on the voyage with him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah promptly packed up her brand new house and set off for Elizabeth's.
As soon as she arrived, Elizabeth came out of the house with her arms outstretched. She and Sarah gathered each other into their arms, weeping as women do, with love and friendship and motherhood and the absence of their men. The warmth between them wove deeper.
For the next several weeks, the ladies took walks and compared babies, though baby William was five months older than Teague there were still many milestones to celebrate. They also shopped together, and Sarah made two special carrying slings for them to snuggle their sons while leaving their hands free.
As well, they booked passage on a fisher ship heading towards Sarah's old island. The crew aboard were rough men, not gentlemen, not pirates either. They were very courteous to the two women, tenderly so, and the awkwardly chivalrous behavior was quite touching for Sarah and Elizabeth. The two of them giggled together frequently about the possibility of encountering pirates en route, but only lightly. Too much pain lay submerged beneath such lighthearted talk.
Sarah was successful not only in hiring Joshua for herself, but her former maid as well. The manservant told her privately on the return journey that not only was he aware of what Mr. Downing had done to her personally, but he'd been whipped by the man more than once. He lived in fear of him, and in fact regarded Sarah as his savior.
She worried about Elizabeth and said as much. "Here I am with two people to help me and keep me company, and you have no one to look after you!"
Elizabeth merely smiled. "I have never feared being alone, and besides, I have you now, not so far away. And Jack...he looked in on me often before he even met you and I'm certain that tradition will not change."
"Of course not Elizabeth, I love you too much to ever leave you!"
"He told me he would take me to see Will." This was said in such a faint whisper it could barely be heard. Sarah instantly hugged her friend. "He should see his child." She broke off, struggling with sobs.
Sarah's arms tightened around her. "Shh darling. I'm here." She led Elizabeth to the cabin they shared. William was sleeping but Teague watched with solemn eyes that were turning darker now.
"I'm supposed to be strong! I was Pirate King! Now I take in laundry!" Elizabeth broke down completely. Sarah rocked the bereft woman and crooned wordlessly to her. Elizabeth laid her cheek against Sarah's shoulder and wept for a long time.
After a bit she wore herself out and fell asleep. Sarah gently washed her face as she drifted off, and spent her friend's nap looking out the little window in their room. After a bit her baby cried, and she lay next to him, cuddling him until they both fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Pearl crawled slowly up the Amazon River. The pirates spend much of the beginning of the journey either gawking with amazement in the water at the teeming varieties of fish and snake and crocodile and alligator, or swatting several varieties of biting insects. At last they thought to scoop of buckets full of riverwater and smear the mud over as much exposed skin as they could, to get relief.
Captain Jack allowed them all to go half clad because of the stifling, horrible heat, far worse than what they were used to in the Caribbean. Provisioning became interesting, since none of them could risk the sharks, piranhas, and snakes. They would maneuver the ship as close to the shore as possible, and the most dexterous and ablebodied climbed into the rigging with gaffes and grappling hooks to snag what they could from the overhanging boughs.
At the few villages they saw, they discovered that Jack was regarded with awe and near religious dread, a reception that reminded him horribly of the Pelegostos. Yet with a toss of his long locks, the natives would give him anything he desired. He picked up enough of the local language to ask directions, as it were, and so was able to avoid the all female Amazon warriors. Yet they were avoided only barely.
They had no lack of fresh fish, though it took a great deal of experimentation to learn what was good and what wasn't. Not just in taste, several of the crew died from poisonous varieties. With the map Marty had stolen and the little bit Jack picked up here and there in halting speech to the natives, they pressed on to the Delta.
"Not many men have seen this sight," breathed Gibbs when they came upon Lake Guatavita. Unfortunately, there was no City of Gold. Fortunately, there was riches and treasure plenty in that lake, and on the surrounding shores and ruins of an Indian village.
The shares Jack chose for himself, for as Captain and quartermaster he and Gibbs were entitled to two, were a small mahogany box with silver inlaid in a pattern of roses repeated all over the box. The lock itself was a rose. Inside there were no coins, but emeralds and pearls, and a smaller box, this one of cherrywood that contained diamonds and the priceless rare black pearls, only a handful but enough to make him catch his breath and imagine a necklace for Sarah, and a few gracing a new braid in his hair.
It was when he and his crew were carousing with bottles of rum and looping gold necklaces over their heads and throwing gold coins and handfuls of gold dust into the air that the close call with the Amazon female warriors occurred. The Captain found himself in the grip of a woman at least a foot taller than him, with long flowing red dreadlocks and magnificent breasts.
Only his bravado, his quicksilver tongue, and the loyalty of his crew that had learned by now to put their trust in their captain, or at least to back up his outlandishness, saved them at all. Once out of the Amazon River, they made port and repairs, resupplied and had a welcome shore leave. Then Jack ordered them back to Florida. All in all, the treasure hunt had taken them about six months, and Florida was a long ways off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why don't you stay with me for awhile Elizabeth?" asked Sarah as she changed both babies nappies. "After all, I took advantage of your hospitality for several weeks. And I'm not ready to be parted from you quite yet."
Elizabeth smiled agreement from her place in the garden. She was admiring the flowers her friend had coaxed from the ground. Sarah played with William and Teague in their prams on a bench nearby. "Sarah, have you thought about what you'll do while Jack is gone? To keep yourself busy?"
"Oh, I thought I'd dabble in a bit of horse trading, actually. Penny's ready to breed. I'm trained in dance, I could make money that way, and that has the added effect of making the proper matrons in this neighborhood look at me even more scandalously!" She looked as if she relished the thought.
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "Doesn't that bother you? It's not easy being an outcast, whether it's from a high position in society, or a low one."
"Why should it bother me? 'Spoiled by pirates, all alone raising a bastard baby, poor child, who knows whose he really is, and she behaves so improperly really.' I know what they say about me. Yet none of them have bothered to learn the truth of what happened to me, and that I chose to love Jack with all my heart!"
The women were quiet for a moment, the silence broken only by the gurgles of the little ones. Elizabeth knew that similar things were said about her, and she felt such a warm affinity to the calm and accepting ways of Sarah, who lived and let live. Though she had mocked the biddies who gossiped about such women as they were, there was no real bitterness in her heart towards them. Sarah and Elizabeth both knew, this was the way most people thought. It was just the way of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He was getting very eager. Land was spotted, the most distant island from the mainland. He would be with her within a few days. He overheard some of his crew speaking fondly of the strong drink made from fermented coconut milk that some of the natives brewed. A few spoke even more fondly of the beautiful dark skinned Conch women that were so beguiling to them.
Chapters 6 - 10
Author: Soleil Compeau
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Pairing: Jack/Other
Spoilers: Set after AWE, a sequel to Life After Loss. It's helpful to have read the first one to better understand Sarah's character and the subsequent events of this story.
Rating: NC17 to be on the safe side, since I describe what happens in the marital bed. And the deck and captain's quarters of the Pearl, and the orange grove...oh sorry!
Disclaimer: These stunt doubles have just reenacted what takes place after the final cut. No profit or wages are being made. I do this out of deep love for the characters.
Summary: Jack and Sarah have settled down into a life of frequent voyages, tending a home, and raising children. But their idyllic life is threatened by an evil man bent on destroying them. Can they call on supernatural forces to save their family and help their friends?
Chapter One - Nest Egg
It was both the longest nd most pleasurable shore leave of Jack Sparrow's life.
Sarah pleasantly surprised him with the energy and industriousness with which she threw herself into building a home. The morning after their wedding, she roused first and shook Jack awake. He was not very compliant with rising, at least not from the bed that is. It took Sarah two horizontal interludes before she was able to get her husband to sit up and pay attention to her face and the words coming out of her mouth.
They went ashore and strolled arm in arm over the plot of land. She planned out where the house and garden would go, then they set off to engage the builders and order building materials. Sarah spent the money made from the spoils of piracy, but it was Jack who actually made the arrangements, since he was a man.
Every day she checked on the progress of the building, often dragging Jack along so that if she had instructions or changes to make, he could convey them. In time, the builders came to respect her opinion just as much, seeing that he did not usually speak to them unless she had first whispered in his ear.
Sarah feared that the lazy pace would bore her new husband, but he seemed utterly content. She knew that he would not be detained forever though, and so reveled in the time spend with him. Often they strolled around the sleepy town, just talking. He sometimes went with her to the markets and shops and voluntarily gave his opinion to pick out furniture, drapes, china, and linens. Occasionally Sarah spoke of confronting her uncle with her marriage and claiming the inheritance that was due her as a married woman. But there was no real urgency in it, not yet anyway.
At night they stayed aboard the Pearl, having the whole ship to themselves. Jack had arranged for crew to check in at frequent times and maintain her at anchor, but their vigils were never at night. So they were able to do whatever they wished, which meant mischief. Sarah reminded Jack of what it was to truly play. Tag and hide and seek were favorite games of hers, with the winner getting a most agreeable prize.
It was one night, under the glow of a nearly full moon, that Jack crept along the deck, hearing the giggles and rustling of his wife hiding under a longboat and eagerly waiting to be "found."
"There's no getting away from Captain Jack!" he loudly drawled. "He always gets what he wants, and plunders his prize!" Then suddenly he stooped and tipped over the boat, to see his wife peering merrily back out at him. "Ha!"
She jumped past him, slightly bulging stomach hampering her not in the slightest and darting away from him. Jack whirled, snatched at her flowing hair, and missed by a hairsbreadth. He raced after her, chuckling at her childlike glee. Sarah went to the mast where he would have caught her but for her running around it in circles. Suddenly she stopped and questioningly picked up a manacle that was attached to the mast.
"Oooh Jack! What be these for, eh? A bit of bondage, perhaps?"
"Ah." Jack looked askance at his wife, who was trying hard to sound piraty. His lips twitched at her cuteness. "Those be for discipline Sarah love. Sometimes a wayward sailor needs to be flogged to remind him of his duty."
She looked horrified. ""What? Jack? You chain a man and beat him?"
"Tis necessary sometimes darling. Oh, I have rarely needed to do that though. Mostly, me crew is happy to serve under me, I'm good to them. And pirate ships oft have it better than merchant ships, tell ye truly. Still, sometimes voyges are long and taxing and a captain must keep order."
The impish grin returned to her. "What do you say to letting me use these chains, hmm? I could..." she licked her lips and lowered her lashes, "make you MY prize!" She grabbed for his hand.
"Never! No!" he stumbled backwards before the dreaded irons could close around his wrist. "I won't!"
He turned his back to her so she wouldn't see the trembling of his body. Once again he felt the sweet traitorous kiss, felt the deck tilt beneath his feet and the cold panic that threatened to take his sanity along with his life.
"Jack!" Sarah hurried to him, a look of deep concern on her face. "I'm sorry darling! I should have realized...ah me. I'm a foolish girl."
He regained control of himself. She continued, "You've escaped hanging more than once, and been locked up more even than that. Of course you wouldn't enjoy being chained, not even for gratification."
Jack finally felt able to turn and face her, and he slid his arms around her. She cuddled close to his chest as usual. "Why did you suggest it in the first place?" he asked.
"Ohhh, I had a rather hot image of you in my mind, can't seem to rid myself it. You, with sweat at your temples, your lovely mouth open just so, mmm, tongue peeking out to lick your lips a bit, and utterly unable to move. Me, of course, I'd be the one making you sweat."
Her erotic description warmed him more than a little. "I promise to hold still darling. I won't move..one..single..inch."
"Not the same Jack." Oh, but she swallowed hard, and her voice was heavy with want. She glanced at the deck rails, and an idea began to percolate. Jack's next actions tossed it from her mind. He knelt before her, and looked up beguilingly. "Oh Sarah, are you certain? I'll do anything you want...to please my pretty bride. Anything at all."
The thought of Jack Sparrow offering to play her willing slave was intriguing. After all, she'd been his 'prize.' Sarah cocked her head at him, and smiled rather wickedly. Taking the bottle of rum out of his hand, she tipped it back against her lips and thought for a moment. Jack wasn't the type to be submissive, but it would certainly be fun to play at it for one night. Oh yes, she could think of a few things that Jack's obedience could be useful for. "Agreed, pet. Now take off those clothes. Slowly."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As their house began to rise out of the foundation, Sarah's belly continued to swell. Jack began to get thoughtful, and stroke his chin sometimes when he gazed at her. He was plotting for the birth of his child.
One morning, Sarah left Jack at the site of the house and whispered to him that she had an errand to run. He didn't need to come shopping with her this time. He wandered around the first floor, which was nearly complete. The stairs were also finished, and skeletal rooms existed up there. Jack amused himself by mentally arranging furniture until he felt her arms slide around his waist from behind. He turned and gave her a huge hug, feeling the hard press of her stomach against his. It was comforting.
"Come on Jack, I want to show you what I bought!" She pulled his arm until he was outside the walls, and there a little golden horse was tethered. "There! Isn't she a beauty? She's a Morgan, very sturdy, good work animal, and she's quite gentle."
Sarah was beaming. Jack tilted his head at the beast and squinted a bit. "Oh." He knew ships, not horseflesh. "Is that good?"
Sarah chuckled. "I haven't owned a horse since my parents were alive. Must be three years now. I bought her because I want to go see Elizabeth."
Alarm bells went off in Jack's head. "You plan on riding it? Sarah, not sure that's wise, in your condition."
She glanced at him. "Hmm. Near as I figure it, it's only half a day's ride to her. And I'm not near big enough for it to be a danger. She'll be having her baby soon, and I want to be there for her."
He said nothing, but his brow knit and he chewed his lower lip. He looked all over the garden plot, the frame of the house, even the animal, not knowing how to express his worry. She must have sensed it, for she gave off stroking the horse's nose and went to him. "You can ride with me Jack. I assure you it's perfectly easy and safe. I'll be fine. Riding won't hurt me or the baby at all, not this early in the pregnancy. It won't be until I get really big that I must take it easy."
"How do you know that? I thought ladies always had to take it easy all the way through." Jack was a bit lost. This was definitely uncharted territory for him. He was not used to thinking in these terms.
"My mother was a midwife Jack. I understand a bit more about the whole process than most women." She smiled reassuringly.
"All right then. I'll stay and oversee the building for two days. Ye'd best be back by then, Sarah, or I'll come for you meself." He crossed his arms and looked seriously at her. "And no, I am certainly not riding that thing!"
Chapter Two - Bundle of Joy
"Jack?" He came awake instantly, senses alert. There seemed to be no danger.
"What it is Sarah?"
Long pause. "I'm hungry"
His eyebrow rose in disbelief. "You're hungry? In the darkest watches of the night?"
"Please Jack. I want peanuts!"
He groaned. He opened his eyes fully, and there was Sarah's face over his. Her hair touched his cheek as she smiled hopefully. "Please?"
He sighed, and rolled out of bed. "Very well. I'll check the hold."
Fortunately, there was a barrel with several boxes of peanuts. It was buried in a corner of the hold, apparently a holdover of Barbossa's brief stint as captain before Jack rescued Sarah and got her back under his command. Hector must have kept them for his horrible little monkey. He took one box back to their quarters and opened it for her. She sat up with a bit of difficulty, considering her bulk was getting quite massive, and happily began cracking them.
"Don't get shells in the bed, love," Jack grumbled as he slid back into his side of the bed. He couldn't help smiling at the sound of her enthusiastic chewing as he drifted back to sleep.
There was only the roof to be put on the house. Much of the furniture was in place. A barn for Penny, the Morgan horse, was in the opposite corner of the plot of land. And Sarah had grown to quite round proportions. Jack wanted to move to the house before the birth. She almost couldn't make it up and down the sides of the ship anymore.
She still walked as much as she could manage in the bright light of day, but in the afternoons she made baby clothes. Jack took himself off for exploration, with no fear of being caught a pirate. This land was far too uncivilized yet, large parts of it unsettled, particularly in the Keys. Occasionally he ran into a crewmember and they would visit and revel together, raising hell until past sunset, when Jack would return home. No matter how late it was, he always found Sarah awake and waiting for him, a smile of love on her face.
Though the sea and pirating called to him like a siren and he knew it would not be much longer before he answered, another siren held him willingly captive, and he was happier than he'd been in many many years.
"Sarah, I'm going on a little trip round the Keys," he said to her one evening that he actually came home early. He'd brought Gibbs back with him, to stay with her for awhile, and a happy reunion the older man had with the young Mrs. Sparrow.
"Why?" she would have jumped up but for the lump from her chin to her knees. "Why are you leaving Jack?" She was close to tears. "I don't want you to go!"
Jack sighed inwardly. Sarah's mood swings were random and intense. He dearly hoped she'd return to her more laid back self after the birth. Gibbs seemed to think she would, he claimed childbearing sometimes did crazy things to womanfolk.
"I have something in mind, and I want to keep the Sparrow coffers full. Don't worry, I'll be back in plenty of time for the birth, count on that. I'll be hiring a physician and midwife Sarah."
She raised an eyebrow. "Elizabeth will be here too Jack," she reminded him.
"I know love, but it would rest my mind a lot easier knowing I'd done my part for my progeny," he answered gently. "Trust me on this, please?"
She did trust him, implicitly. "All right Jack. Don't take too long though." Her hand went to her stomach. "This one kicks harder every day. I suspect he'll be arriving anytime."
Indeed, Sarah was correct about that. Jack was gone for a week, and he blew back into the house smelling of wind and blood. Not his own, he was unharmed but in a serious frame of mind. He seemed to bring a crowd with him, for Elizabeth arrived in the morning in a carriage, her infant son swaddled carefully and carried lovingly inside.
The physician and midwife came that night, and it was late in the dark watches of the night that Sarah shook him awake, face cramping with pain and the bedclothes soaked with her sweat.
Jack rubbed her lower back with hard strokes, feeling the muscles knot beneath his hands. Her body was slicked with sweat, and she kept taking deep breaths that ended in whimpers of pain. He felt her tensing for another contraction and took his hands away. He'd learned quickly that Sarah didn't want to be touched during her pains. He made soothing noises in his throat and just let her thrash against him.
The midwife came again and laid a cold washcloth on her brow, and held a cup of cold tea to her lips. She was encouraging to Jack in his attentions to Sarah, and he quite liked her easy manner. The doctor was something else though, he had far too overbearing a manner. He was competent, that was his saving grace. He'd examined Sarah that first day and pronounced her fit and completely healthy, greatly relieving Jack's mind.
He bustled in as if Jack's thoughts had summoned him. Glancing at the midwife, he jerked his head enquiringly. She immediately nodded, reached under Sarah's nightgown, and checked something. "Nearly to ten, doctor. She's ready."
~~~~~~~~~
Jack paced back and forth outside the bedroom door, making more mess of his mane with his nervous fingers than the strongest storm had ever. Moans of pain reached his ears every few minutes as well as unclear words from the physician. That physician, whom Jack had hired, had been the one to shut that door on him. Elizabeth was inclined to let him stay, but the doctor was very clear. That man gets out of my way.
The door opened, Jack whirled and dashed towards it. Elizabeth stepped out and shut it again, but not before Jack caught a glimpse of Sarah writhing on the bed, back arched and legs spread far apart.
"Is she all right?" he asked tensely, grabbing Elizabeth by the shoulders. "Women die in childbirth, I know they do Lizzie!" he gave her a significant look, knowing that was what had happened to her own mother.
"She's fine Jack. It should be very soon now, the head is beginning to crown," she reassured him as she checked on her sleeping baby. Her eyes softened and she smiled as she beheld little William Weatherby. His rosy mouth twitched and her heart swelled.
"The head is beginning to crown? That's good! I don't know what that means," Jack mumbled, staring at the door helplessly. "Why does she sound like that?" He waved miserably towards the bedroom.
"It's just that way for women Jack." She went to him now, and carefully put an arm around his shoulders, not at all sure he would let her. He did, though his body was very tense. "I know you want to be with her, but it's really better that you stay away. It's women's work, so to speak."
"Be glad you're not in there Jack," Gibbs spoke up from his seat in a darkened corner. His flask gleamed as he tipped it to drink. "Women get a little crazy during childbear, so I hear!"
Jack sighed at that, still looking at the barred door, still chewing his lip. "So you've said." Another cry came through, very loud now, and he moved as if he would charge the door. A second cry, more like a scream this time, stopped him dead. He looked around at Elizabeth with his expressive eyes begging.
The midwife's voice could be heard now, and Jack and Elizabeth together strained their ears to hear clearly. "Push again now, another one is beginning!" The scream came again, Jack clenched his teeth and moaned in frustration, and then there was a brief silence.
Jack's eyes went wide when the silence was broken by the unmistakable cry of a newborn baby. Elizabeth was smiling and laughing and hugging him, and opening the door to reveal his new life to him. He stared in wonder at Sarah reclining on the bed like a queen and the midwife handing a tiny little bundle to her. A bundle that made noise.
"Hi Jack." Her calm voice helped him move forward, her smile swallowed him up. Jack bent over the bed to see the baby. "So tiny!" he breathed, laying a hand carefully on the round head covered with fine, slightly wet black hair. He could cup the baby's head in his palm easily.
"It's a boy Mr. Sparrow," he heard the midwife say.
"Captain," he corrected absently.
Elizabeth was on the other side of the bed, speaking to Sarah, but Jack was aware of none of it. The baby had opened his eyes and was looking at him. "Oh my God." Jack fell into those calm cerulean blue eyes without a moment's hesitation. "My son!"
He reached out with sure hands and took his child with ease, though he had hesitated to hold Elizabeth's baby. The gorgeous eyes blinked, and kept gazing at him. Jack walked to the window and drew the curtain back, letting in the dawn light. The little mouth yawned, minuscule fists waved, and Jack was enchanted by it all.
"What shall we name him?" Sarah's voice penetrated the cloud of bliss around him. "I thought maybe we should name him after our fathers."
He nodded, a golden smile answering the beaming grins of the two women. "John Teague it is, Sarah love."
A small alcove off the master bedroom had been specified during building, in anticipation of the baby. Sarah engaged the midwife's services to help her look after Teague during his first few weeks, teaching her how to care properly for him.
Jack watched in amazed fascination as she sat propped up in bed, pillows bring the infant to the right height and her dressing gown pulled down to expose her breasts. He watched his son's tiny rosebud mouth open and close randomly as mother and child tried to figure out how best to fit together. He slid off three times and Sarah was redfaced with embarrassment at failing. Jack leaned over them, took his wife's breast in one hand and his son's head in the other. "Come now Teague, this is good for you. Get on there! Open your mouth!"
He pressed his son's face towards his other hand. Sarah watched in amazement as Teague obediently opened his mouth upon his papa's command and latched on smoothly with no fuss.
Jack became increasingly restless. He visited the Pearl frequently, and sought out the crew more and more often. They began to plan for another voyage. Sarah knew he would sail soon.
Teague was perhaps seven weeks old when all hell broke loose.
Chapter Three - Double Cross
Sarah and Jack were peacefully asleep. In fact, Sarah was lying atop Jack using his chest for a pillow, her hair draped all around him. Suddenly Jack startled, spilling her onto the mattress and grabbing for his pistol. Sarah turned around on the bed in time to see the door to the bedroom fling open and none other than her uncle and ex fiance walk in.
Sarah quickly put a hand on Jack's arm, not wishing bloodshed to her family member. Jack had the pistol cocked but did not fire, merely held it steady. She greeted them with a steady voice. "Uncle, so good to see you. Been meaning to come and call."
"So it's true!" her uncle exclaimed. Sarah had pulled the bedcovers up to her chin and sat regarding these men from her past. "Sarah, your aunt and I have been sick with worry since Robert told us what happened to you. You were at the house, why didn't you come to us then?"
"How did you get in?" Jack demanded. He well remembered the day he and Sarah had returned to her island. She'd left a sign for her guardians, hoping for some kind of confrontation. Now it had arrived.
"The midwife let us in," Robert said coldly.
Sarah muttered "Be damned!"
"Sarah," her uncle began, eyes shifting nervously between her and the swarthy man with the gun and steely eyes. "I've come to talk to you about this lifestyle you've chosen." He cleared his throat. "Now, I understand that being kidnapped is a serious and traumatic event...but you can return to your family and.." Jack's eyes were narrowing dangerously and it was making it very hard for the slightly balding, nondescript man to continue. "There is honor to be regained from this...appalling situation."
Sarah expressed surprise. "I hardly think it is appalling for a woman to be lying with her husband and new baby! What's appalling here is your intrusion on our privacy!"
Robert burst out, "Husband! This pirate kidnapped you!"
Her eyes narrowed angrily. "The pirate who attempted to kidnap me was foiled by this man. This man rescued me. I chose to sail away with him. I chose to marry him."
Sarah's uncle shifted his feet and sighed impatiently. "I'm sure you'd like to believe that is what happened. However, marriage to a pirate hardly counts as lawful, now does it?"
Sarah considered the piece of paper carefully placed in a safe in the cellar of her home, that proved the legality of what she and Jack had promised. She kept silent about it, and pasted an incredulous look on her fce. A look that did it's best to convey shock and uncertainty. Then she and Jack exchanged a look. His face said clear as day to her, 'Well? What's your next move?'
She willed tears to well up in her eyes as she looked back at her uncle, and asked, "What makes you think this man is a pirate?"
Fortunately for Jack, his gun arm was not the one that bore the "P" brand so his occupation remained undisclosed as long as he kept his other arm under the sheet. Robert lashed out angrily. "He robbed me! You're sleeping in what should be my home, on my land!"
"MY land Robert!" Sarah shouted. Jack was finding it more and more difficult to keep from firing on the cocky gentleman. "I hold title, posession is nine tenths of the law!"
"YOU robbed me at gunpoint as well! He's a pirate I tell you! And should be hanged!" Robert pointed dramatically at Jack.
If the unmistakable sounds of an infant beginning to wake had not drifted into the room at that moment, Robert would have died by Jack's hand and he would have added murder to his list of crimes. The other man spoke rapidly, trying to defuse the volatile situation.
"Sarah, you've a child to think of now. I will make you a deal. Married or no, pirate or no, I will transfer your inheritance in your name, for your baby's future, if you will agree to let us try this man for his crimes."
Sarah slid her arm quietly under the covers while her uncle spoke. She touched Jack's thigh and squeezed, gently, then much harder.
"You will give me what is rightfully mine? My inheritance from my parents, no strings attached, for my child's sake?"
"Yes. If you let us take this man."
Jack stiffened. "Agreed," Sarah said.
Robert snapped his fingers and two uniformed officers entered quickly. They held guns on Jack while he slowly put his clothes on under the covers and rose to have irons affixed to his wrists. Sarah did not look at him the entire time, staring instead at the alcove where Teague fussed for her.
The bedroom emptied of all but Robert. Sarah ignored him utterly and went to her son, picking him up and checking his coverings. He was wet, and she changed him quickly. Robert stood at the foot of her bed and watched her. She climbed back in bed with Teague and bared her breasts for him to nurse. Only then did she look at Robert, and hard spots of anger rode high in her cheeks.
"Do you like to see this? Another man's child suckling at the breasts you'll never touch?"
His smile chilled her. He just stared at her until she finished and put the once again sleeping infant in his cradle. "I can give your bastard a name Sarah."
"No thank you. Didn't you hear? I'm an heiress."
"Be reasonable Sarah!" Exasperated, he ran a hand through his sandy hair. "You've no doubt been used by all of them aboard his ship, and so you've created a fantasy to try and keep yourself sane!"
She stared at him in astonishment. "You think I'm delusional!"
He sighed and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Speaking soothingly, he explained, "Not delusional sweetheart. Just trying to protect your sensibilities. Let me help you. I'm willing to accept your baby and cover your shame."
Sarah shook her head. He actually thought he could convince her! His gracious act didn't fool her, she would never forget the two days spent locked in his cellar. "No!"
"You could be a gentleman's wife if you'd stop being a stupid cow!" Robert's face reddened, his eyes narrowed to little slits. She couldn't help but think he looked like a pig.
"A gentleman's wife? I'm that already!"
"You're a whore Sarah." His voice had gone deadly cold.
"I'd rather be a pirate's whore than a gentleman's trophy!" She spat defiantly at him. He grabbed her wrists and shoved her onto the bed, quickly getting on top of her and pinning her. She struggled but was unable to move him. Suddenly she went limp, and smiled tremulously at him. He chuckled.
"I knew you'd see sense eventually!" He rose up to tear her nightgown from her body, and was met by Jack's pistol, forgotten in the bed during his arrest. He froze.
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The sound of gunshots brought Joshua to his feet and running for the source as fast as he could. He burst into the bedroom and stopped short, greeted by a sight that would be ridiculous if it were not so horrible.
His master lay bleeding on the floor at the foot of the bed, clutching his legs just above his ruined knees. Sarah, eyes huge and tear filled, pointed a smoking pistol at him which wavered in the air. One hand clutched at her torn nightgown, trying to hold it together and cover her nakedness. The infant wailed in terror in his crdle.
"I don't want to kill you!" Sarah shouted. Joshua recognized hysteria and raised soothing hands to show her he intended no harm.
"Let me take care of the mess, my lady." He gestured towards Robert, who was groaning, face going pale, body sliding into shock. "You take care of your child."
Sarah nodded convulsively and aimed the pistol away from the manservant's belly. Joshua moved slowly towards Robert. She picked up the baby and held him closely to her chest. He continued to wail, little eyes squeezed shut and fists waving, hicoughing in his anger and fear. Sarah hummed under her breath and rocked back and forth, comforting hands pressed against his body.
"I'm sorry," she said in a low voice, glancing at Joshua as he tried to assess the damage.
He looked at her appraisingly. "It's no more than he deserved, my lady." He managed to get the wounded man to his feet, supporting his weight as best he could, and slowly staggered him out of her sight.
Chapter Four - First Parting
Jack sat still in the cell they placed him in, hands over his face. He'd been sitting that way for hours, unmoving and unresponsive, even when the guard called to him. They didn't know his name yet, he had refused to tell them and apparently so had Sarah. Let them figure out who and what he was all by themselves, he certainly wasn't going to help them.
He thought of his ship, and he thought of his child. He tried not to think of his wife, but no matter how hard he pushed those images away, she was still there.
The scraping of the door at the end of the hall got his attention, though he didn't move. Voices carried to him, the guard, and a woman. Jack raised his head. That voice was Sarah's, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He strained his ears.
A series of sounds followed: The guards footsteps starting towards him, the jingle of keys, Sarah's voice raised in a sudden piercing scream which he couldn't help reacting to by jumping to his feet. It was followed by a thud, then the jingle of keys again which resolved into the image of Sarah hurrying to him with them in her hand.
"Jack," she cried as soon as she reached his cell, thrusting her arms through the bars to touch him.
"What took you so long?" he asked sarcastically as he moved into her touch.
"I had arrangements to make," busily she began testing the keys on the padlock. "The crew's been awaiting your orders for sometime, I sent Gibbs to round them up and ready the Pearl."
Jack tilted his head quizzically, not sure he understood. She went on, "The guard will be out for while, I hit him hard. They'll not search until morning, when you've got to be long gone."
He glanced down the hall where he couldn't quite see the unconscious officer. "What did you do to him?"
Sarah was getting frustrated at the keys which yielded no results for her. She kept trying them as, click, click, click she explained. "I acted frightened. Said that the pirates had done terrible things to me and I wanted to make sure the biggest and baddest of them was truly locked up and unable to hurt me anymore." She grinned at her own cunning.
"But you screamed."
"Yes. His back was turned." The padlock finally opened and she muttered a small "aha!" as the door swung open. "Your crew rescued you from the jail. I screamed when I saw them coming towards me and ran away when they hit the poor guard."
She looked at him in confusion when he just stood there, looking at her with a beautiful loving smile on his face. "Jack! Hurry, come on!"
He swept her into his arms and kissed her long and lovingly. "You're a ruthless pirate, bit o'Sarah. I admire that quick little lying mind of yours!"
"I'm not a pirate Jack!" Though she couldn't help glowing with pride. "I just don't have any intention of letting anyone keep me from what makes me happy. And that happens to be you, my home, and my child."
He still grinned as he took her arm and hurried with her out of the jail. "Like I said love. Pirate."
They ran swiftly once clear of the building. It was sunset and the very air shimmered with gold and violet hues. "Where's Teague?"
"I took him to Elizabeth. Part of what took me so long. That, and I had to deal with Robert. "
Jack stopped short and grabbed her shoulder so she had to swing round to face him. "Robert? What happened with him?"
"I...I had to cripple him Jack." Her eyes were downcast. "I threatened him with your pistol, but he persisted in trying to rape me."
His voice was gentle, as was his hand caressing her neck. "What did you do?"
"I shot him in both knees, and in the instep of one foot. Shattered the bones, tore through ligaments," she choked back a sob.
"I should have shot him," he muttered contemplatively. Drawing her close to his body, he moved them into a shadowy alcove and let her cry against his chest, dropping kisses on top of her head. "You did what you had to love. You defended yourself and the baby. At least you let him live, eh?"
Sarah composed herself after only a few minutes, and quickly dried her face with quick brushes of her fingers. "Come on. We haven't time for my hysterics." As they made their way towards the water, she explained about Joshua coming in and getting his employer, and discovering that a horse in full gallop could make the journey to Elizabeth's home in less than half a day.
"I hadn't planned on leaving you quite this way," he said wistfully as they drew near the harbor. The Pearl was majestic in the rays of the setting sun. Now was the tricky bit, there were still a fair amount of people doing last minute business on the docks. With the darkening skies though, it would be a matter of minutes before they all left.
"In fact," he continued as he moved with her under a pier, standing in water up to their ankles, "I wanted a nice long proper romantic goodbye!" He cupped her face in his hands and claimed her lips.
Sarah opened her mouth in surprise and he slid his tongue inside her mouth and moved it back and forth. One hand cupped a breast while the other wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer yet. Sarah responded in seconds, her own hands reaching to grasp his bottom. Jack groaned as she squeezed his tush.
He backed her up against a piling and pressed his body close. She felt his rising heat between them as he ground into her belly. "Jack, Jack," she whispered against his teeth as he moved his lips in slow circles over hers. "I love you!"
His fingers flicked at her nipple through her gown. Too many layers existed between them. All they were doing was frustrating each other, but they couldn't seem to help it. Sarah pinched his cheeks hard, and tried to squeeze a hand between their bodies. Jack felt what she was doing and shifted back enough to let her. She had to break the kiss to look down and unlace his breeches.
"Can't," Jack muttered but did not stop her. He didn't do quickies very easily. It was possible for him occasionally, but generally he tended to need to take a bit of time with lovemaking. Yet the events of the day all culminated to this. Their peaceful early morning interrupted, a tense confrontation, betrayal, rescue, and now a goodbye that was abruptly ahead of schedule raised their adrenalin levels greatly.
"I want to give you something before you go." Sarah eased her fingers into the gap she'd managed to open in his pants and wiggled them over his shaft. Jack hissed and reached down, impatiently pulling more of the material aside to give her room. She heard the fabric rip.
He buried his face in her hair and breathed harder as she curled her fist around him and pumped fast and hard. His entire body tensed. "Oh!"
Sarah glanced around, seeing the sailors and fishermen leaving the area. They did not see them. Dusk was gathering. She carefully lifted her skirts and knelt down. Jack held onto the piling, knowing what was going to happen. His head went back as she slid her lips fully around his extended member. She pumped him fast, wanting to bring him to orgasm quickly. She worked him as deeply as she could, and with one hand pumped along his shaft while her fingers stroked his balls with the other.
Jack grimaced hard, groaning throatily with pleasure. He couldn't believe what she was doing to him, and he was about to sail from her. His thighs began to shake, and expressions of love poured from between his lips. "Ohhhhh, Sarah. God..that's soooo...ah! Ooooh, I love you. Don't stop! Oh god!"
He gripped the wet wood of the piling harder, eyes squeezing shut as she sucked harder, sucking to make him burst in her mouth. His body went rigid, and he shook as he poured himself into her mouth. Cords stood out in his neck with the effort of not screaming his release.
Jack rested his forehead on the wood as he recovered. Sarah stood up, shaking out her dampened skirts and smiling a self satisfied, pleased little smirk. She carefully tucked him back in and refastened his breeches as best she could with them ripped. When she was sure the roaring in his ears had subsided, she spoke. "I'm so glad I got to do that for you Jack. You'll think of it for many nights aboard ship."
"Oh, I surely will!" They walked to the longboat tied by itself. The other boats has already carried his men to the ship. The last one was just visible reaching the side of the Pearl.
Now that the moment had come, Jack had no words. He tenderly stroked Sarah's cheek, and she closed her eyes and turned her face more fully into his palm. She however, did have some words. "I want to tell you something. I know you're a pirate, and a man. I know you'll be gone from me for long voyages, and face danger...and temptation."
Jack looked sharply at her. "I married you knowing exactly who and what you are Jack Sparrow. I know what to expect. But I don't want to know about your..temptations. As long as you don't catch any diseases, or make any children with anyone but me, I'm satisfied."
He simply stared blinking at her. How could he respond to such a statement? He wanted to promise her that no other woman could tempt him as she did. But he knew himself too well. All he could was offer advice. "I'd try to recruit that Joshua to be your bodyguard, darling. I've a feeling he'd make a good ally. And I'd rather you not be alone."
"Elizabeth is alone Jack," she pointed out.
"Ah, but she's not my wife is she? You are."
"Agreed." His wife moved into his arms and licked the column of his throat. Sensitized as he was her sweet attentions to him, Jack shivered all over and grunted in pleased surprise. "Don't stay away from me too long." She whispered hotly in his ear. "I expect you to keep me satisfied. Understand?"
He nodded, and kissed her one more time. "Give my boy a kiss from his papa, savvy?" He stepped into the longboat. Jack rowed towards the Pearl, keeping his eyes on Sarah.
"Whenever you come back, do so at dusk. Under cover of darkness you'll be safest, Jack," she called to him. She stood on the dock and watched him go, but did not wave. She just watched him.
Chapter Five - About their business
"Did you get it?" The Captain spoke without looking at him.
"Aye sir." The little bald pirate held up a scroll.
Jack took it and smiled slowly as he unfurled and studied it. "El Dorado."
He gave the bearings for the outlying Florida Keys, then consulted with Gibbs. "Well? What have you found out?"
"The Pearl and the Dutchman only destroyed one ship of the Royal Navy, but that was the ship what carried the head and heart of the East India Trading Company." His quartermaster answered seriously. "The majority of the fleet survived, though there were a few ships lost on the journey home. No telling how many, each account I heard gives a different number."
He lowered his voice abruptly. "Most pleasing part, captain, is the stories that are going around about your part in the battle. Starting with the one about you doing away with Davy Jones on a tiny little sandbar by bopping him in the head with yer piece of eight. A right modern day David and Goliath tale, it is. "
Jack looked surprised and pleased, though he touched his forehead where a small Kraken's tooth graced his forehead in place of his Pirate Lord token. Usually it was himself that inflated the legendary exploits of Captain Jack Sparrow. It was wonderfully ego stroking to have his enemies doing it for him. "What else do they say?"
Gibbs warmed to his subject and began moving his hands expressively as was his wont. "Well....then you freed Calypso and called upon her to start a maelstrom, and ordered her to fling the Flying Dutchman into the air. Then the Pearl all by herself took on the Dauntless and ripped her apart."
Jack couldn't help breaking out into laughter at that one. That day had held many tumultuous events, and if he'd had the power to order Calypso in any way, it certainly would not have been for what she did do! He had to laugh, or his heart would once again ache for the loss and tragedy of what did happen. Gibbs wore a look of mixed pride and sorrow and raised his flask. "To the newest captain of the seven seas," he said softly.
Jack swigged at the ever present bottle of rum in his hand. "At any rate," Gibbs went on. "What's circulatin' is that the Black Pearl is an indestructible ship captained by a man who walks unscathed through death. Very useful to have such a reputation."
The captain could only agree. Later he climbed the rigging to the crow's nest. He gazed at the sky and let the breeze caress his cheeks and whip his hair behind him. He thought of Sarah, and wished she had come on the voyage with him.
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Sarah promptly packed up her brand new house and set off for Elizabeth's.
As soon as she arrived, Elizabeth came out of the house with her arms outstretched. She and Sarah gathered each other into their arms, weeping as women do, with love and friendship and motherhood and the absence of their men. The warmth between them wove deeper.
For the next several weeks, the ladies took walks and compared babies, though baby William was five months older than Teague there were still many milestones to celebrate. They also shopped together, and Sarah made two special carrying slings for them to snuggle their sons while leaving their hands free.
As well, they booked passage on a fisher ship heading towards Sarah's old island. The crew aboard were rough men, not gentlemen, not pirates either. They were very courteous to the two women, tenderly so, and the awkwardly chivalrous behavior was quite touching for Sarah and Elizabeth. The two of them giggled together frequently about the possibility of encountering pirates en route, but only lightly. Too much pain lay submerged beneath such lighthearted talk.
Sarah was successful not only in hiring Joshua for herself, but her former maid as well. The manservant told her privately on the return journey that not only was he aware of what Mr. Downing had done to her personally, but he'd been whipped by the man more than once. He lived in fear of him, and in fact regarded Sarah as his savior.
She worried about Elizabeth and said as much. "Here I am with two people to help me and keep me company, and you have no one to look after you!"
Elizabeth merely smiled. "I have never feared being alone, and besides, I have you now, not so far away. And Jack...he looked in on me often before he even met you and I'm certain that tradition will not change."
"Of course not Elizabeth, I love you too much to ever leave you!"
"He told me he would take me to see Will." This was said in such a faint whisper it could barely be heard. Sarah instantly hugged her friend. "He should see his child." She broke off, struggling with sobs.
Sarah's arms tightened around her. "Shh darling. I'm here." She led Elizabeth to the cabin they shared. William was sleeping but Teague watched with solemn eyes that were turning darker now.
"I'm supposed to be strong! I was Pirate King! Now I take in laundry!" Elizabeth broke down completely. Sarah rocked the bereft woman and crooned wordlessly to her. Elizabeth laid her cheek against Sarah's shoulder and wept for a long time.
After a bit she wore herself out and fell asleep. Sarah gently washed her face as she drifted off, and spent her friend's nap looking out the little window in their room. After a bit her baby cried, and she lay next to him, cuddling him until they both fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Pearl crawled slowly up the Amazon River. The pirates spend much of the beginning of the journey either gawking with amazement in the water at the teeming varieties of fish and snake and crocodile and alligator, or swatting several varieties of biting insects. At last they thought to scoop of buckets full of riverwater and smear the mud over as much exposed skin as they could, to get relief.
Captain Jack allowed them all to go half clad because of the stifling, horrible heat, far worse than what they were used to in the Caribbean. Provisioning became interesting, since none of them could risk the sharks, piranhas, and snakes. They would maneuver the ship as close to the shore as possible, and the most dexterous and ablebodied climbed into the rigging with gaffes and grappling hooks to snag what they could from the overhanging boughs.
At the few villages they saw, they discovered that Jack was regarded with awe and near religious dread, a reception that reminded him horribly of the Pelegostos. Yet with a toss of his long locks, the natives would give him anything he desired. He picked up enough of the local language to ask directions, as it were, and so was able to avoid the all female Amazon warriors. Yet they were avoided only barely.
They had no lack of fresh fish, though it took a great deal of experimentation to learn what was good and what wasn't. Not just in taste, several of the crew died from poisonous varieties. With the map Marty had stolen and the little bit Jack picked up here and there in halting speech to the natives, they pressed on to the Delta.
"Not many men have seen this sight," breathed Gibbs when they came upon Lake Guatavita. Unfortunately, there was no City of Gold. Fortunately, there was riches and treasure plenty in that lake, and on the surrounding shores and ruins of an Indian village.
The shares Jack chose for himself, for as Captain and quartermaster he and Gibbs were entitled to two, were a small mahogany box with silver inlaid in a pattern of roses repeated all over the box. The lock itself was a rose. Inside there were no coins, but emeralds and pearls, and a smaller box, this one of cherrywood that contained diamonds and the priceless rare black pearls, only a handful but enough to make him catch his breath and imagine a necklace for Sarah, and a few gracing a new braid in his hair.
It was when he and his crew were carousing with bottles of rum and looping gold necklaces over their heads and throwing gold coins and handfuls of gold dust into the air that the close call with the Amazon female warriors occurred. The Captain found himself in the grip of a woman at least a foot taller than him, with long flowing red dreadlocks and magnificent breasts.
Only his bravado, his quicksilver tongue, and the loyalty of his crew that had learned by now to put their trust in their captain, or at least to back up his outlandishness, saved them at all. Once out of the Amazon River, they made port and repairs, resupplied and had a welcome shore leave. Then Jack ordered them back to Florida. All in all, the treasure hunt had taken them about six months, and Florida was a long ways off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why don't you stay with me for awhile Elizabeth?" asked Sarah as she changed both babies nappies. "After all, I took advantage of your hospitality for several weeks. And I'm not ready to be parted from you quite yet."
Elizabeth smiled agreement from her place in the garden. She was admiring the flowers her friend had coaxed from the ground. Sarah played with William and Teague in their prams on a bench nearby. "Sarah, have you thought about what you'll do while Jack is gone? To keep yourself busy?"
"Oh, I thought I'd dabble in a bit of horse trading, actually. Penny's ready to breed. I'm trained in dance, I could make money that way, and that has the added effect of making the proper matrons in this neighborhood look at me even more scandalously!" She looked as if she relished the thought.
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "Doesn't that bother you? It's not easy being an outcast, whether it's from a high position in society, or a low one."
"Why should it bother me? 'Spoiled by pirates, all alone raising a bastard baby, poor child, who knows whose he really is, and she behaves so improperly really.' I know what they say about me. Yet none of them have bothered to learn the truth of what happened to me, and that I chose to love Jack with all my heart!"
The women were quiet for a moment, the silence broken only by the gurgles of the little ones. Elizabeth knew that similar things were said about her, and she felt such a warm affinity to the calm and accepting ways of Sarah, who lived and let live. Though she had mocked the biddies who gossiped about such women as they were, there was no real bitterness in her heart towards them. Sarah and Elizabeth both knew, this was the way most people thought. It was just the way of it.
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He was getting very eager. Land was spotted, the most distant island from the mainland. He would be with her within a few days. He overheard some of his crew speaking fondly of the strong drink made from fermented coconut milk that some of the natives brewed. A few spoke even more fondly of the beautiful dark skinned Conch women that were so beguiling to them.
Chapters 6 - 10
