Fic: Fate Intervenes 12/16 [PotC fandom, Sparrabeth, NC-17]
Title: Fate Intervenes 12/16
by GylzGirl
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Sparrabeth. Spoilers for DMC.
Summary: Elizabeth is in trouble and it seems Jack, and something he asked her a long time ago, are her only hope.
Other headers attached to chapter one.
Author's Notes: Firstly, I bless my beta Karen for her suggestions and speed. Sorry about the long delay. Since the last posting I was sick for a couple of weeks and had very bad news on the job front. In addition to that, Halloween be a very important thing round these parts and that took up a few days in itself. I was a pirate wench, go figure 'eh? I know I don't need to excuse myself. I just want you all to know that it means a whole hell of a lot to me when you guys give me feedback and ask me to please hurry up. I don't delay you on purpose. I really do try to get the next bit to you as fast as I can manage. Thanks for sticking with me even on the weeks when I can't do that. :)
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CHAPTER TWELVE: An All-Consuming Fire
Elizabeth slept until well-past noon. She stood and dressed before making her way to the beach. She strolled out to the waterline, grinning at Jack who was, once again, standing waist-deep in the ocean with a spear in hand.
“Perhaps I should come out into the water with you so that you can teach me to fish as well?”
Jack turned to her and smiled, clearly thinking pleasant thoughts. “Experience says that you and I in the water together may lead to many things, but a meal is not one of them. Besides, you’ve got the touch when it comes to getting the fire started. Ye take to that task and let me worry on the food.”
“You just want me helpless and dependant on you,” Elizabeth teased.
Jack turned his attention back to the water, probing it with his spear. “You depend on me for the fish and I’ll depend on you for the fire, how’s that? If ye like, I’ll teach you how tomorrow.”
“Yes, I’d like.” Elizabeth grinned. “And if you like, I’ll teach you how to build a fire.”
A lazy smile crossed Jack’s face. “Oh, I’d like very much, Love. Very much indeed.” She turned back to shore to go start the fire. "Lizzie," Jack said without looking up from the water. She stopped and faced him again. He turned his back to her. "If I want ye helpless, one day when we've got our Pearl back, I'll tie you to the bedposts and use me tongue until ye beg me to stop."
Elizabeth had the sudden urge to run into the water then. Whether it was to temp Jack from his task or just to cool the heat his words had sent rushing between her legs, she wasn't sure. Instead, she took a shaky breath and walked back onto the beach to get the fire started for their meal.
Some time later, Elizabeth sensed Jack behind her. She turned, admiring not
only the sight of the sea-soaked man, but the three fat fish on the end of
his spear. With not a little pride in his swagger, Jack moved off to prepare
his catch.
When he had finished, Jack looked back towards the fire but could find no sign of Elizabeth. He’d thought she may have gone back to their campsite but a coconut striking the ground caused him to look up. There was his Elizabeth, legs wrapped around the uppermost reaches of the trunk of a palm, dropping coconuts to the ground.
Jack’s eyes grew wide and he immediately went to the base of the tree. “Liz, what do ye think you’re doing?”
“Getting water. What’s it look like I’m doing?”
“Something very stupid.”
“Look out.” Jack stepped out of the way as she dropped another coconut down.
“You should leave that to me, Love. It can be dangerous.”
“I’ve climbed trees before, Jack. And I’ve watched you do this.”
“All the same, Lizzie, it's best you leave that to me. After all I’m…”
“If you’re about to say you're a man and I’m a woman, I won’t miss you with the next one.”
“I was going to say experienced.”
“How am I to become experienced if I never get a chance to try it myself?”
“It would be different if the crew were here. If we had Gibbs or Cotton around to tend any injuries, but we haven’t.”
Elizabeth peered down on him, smiling. “Aw, Jack, you’re just worried for me. That’s very sweet.”
He pouted. “You could have picked a shorter tree to start with as well. Not to mention it’s not exactly a job conducive to scrambling about in skirts.” A thought struck Jack and he tilted his head up. A wicked grin appeared on his face. “Not that the view isn’t lovely from here, darlin'.”
“All right, all right, I’m coming down now.” Elizabeth started to slowly slide backwards down the trunk when she realized the truth of Jack’s words. She’d been able to keep her skirt between her body and the tree on the climb up, but performing the same task in reverse was proving somewhat impossible. Her lack of undergarments made her cringe at the idea of attempting a straight slide down. Elizabeth’s hands began to sweat. She started to fear that at any moment she might lose her grip. She licked suddenly dry lips, ready to call for Jack even though the idea of admitting defeat…
Elizabeth was startled to feel hair underneath her bare feet. A sure hand gripped her ankle as she steadied herself again.
“You good?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” she said, quietly.
“Right, climb down over me and then get a good hold 'round me shoulders. I’ll take you the rest of the way.”
“Jack…”
“I know that you could get yourself out of this. I also know that you are bloody-minded enough to have tried even when ye knew you needed help. Just count it as my being unwilling to risk the part of your anatomy that would have borne the brunt of your stubbornness and we’ll say no more about it, eh?”
Carefully, Elizabeth did as he’d told her, sliding down over his back, securing her legs around his hips and her arms around his shoulders. Jack turned his head to her. She kissed his cheek and held tightly to him as he eased them both back to earth.
Jack’s feet touched down first, Elizabeth’s legs still wrapped around his waist. He covered her hands with his own.
“That’s it. Tomorrow, we’ll recce the interior of the island. See if there isn’t another source of freshwater." Elizabeth was silent. “Eh, you all right?”
She slid to her feet and disentangled herself from him. “Just a little embarrassed.”
Jack grasped her wrist and reeled her back to him. “Don’t be. Last time I went up that tree, all I got for me trouble was coconuts.” He slid his arms around her waist. “I like this much more better.”
He kissed her slowly. By the time it ended, they were both smiling. “We’d better get back,” Elizabeth said. “I hope the fire hasn’t gone out.”
“I hope the bloody fish haven’t buggered off.”
Elizabeth laughed as they walked back to the fire together. Jack cooked the fish, teaching Elizabeth as he did so. The work went quickly and in no time it seemed they were sitting down to eat their meal next to the fire.
"Jack?"
"Hmm," he said with his mouth around fingers coated in fruit mush.
"I know you'd miss being at sea if this were forever. I think I would too, really. But is it wrong of me to be very happy right now? Now that the world literally only consists of you and I…I and you…us?" Elizabeth grinned at him and took a bite of her fish.
"Not at all, Love." Jack smiled. "We'll be rescued. Count on that. But we'll have this again someday as well."
"What?"
"I suppose it's safe to let you in on the secret. I suppose, as me wife, you're due the information. Ye know how the Isla de Muerta sank with all its shiny treasure into the briny depths?"
"Yes?"
"A lie."
"A lie?"
He nodded. "It did indeed sink, but not before we'd picked it clean of all, non-accursed, manner of loot. We divided the spoils and sailed on to Libertalia."
"Where's that?"
"It's off the coast of Madagascar; an island nation of pirates and former pirates. Me and the crew found a place called…well, it don't much matter what it were called as it's now called Sparrow's Cove." He wiped his hands on his breeches and threw the leaf and shell that had been his supper dishes into the roaring fire. Elizabeth smiled over at him and did likewise.
"Anamaria and a few of the others elected to stay behind and start building homes and the like. The rest of us sailed on to Tortuga to pick up a new crew and spread the tale of the lamentable lost treasure of the Isla de Muerta. Didn't want others sniffing around our good fortune, savvy?"
"You think you'll settle there one day?"
"I wasn't sure then, but now?" Jack shrugged and slipped an arm around Elizabeth's shoulders. "Death at sea loses some romance once you've already done it." He squeezed her gently, kissing her neck. "One day, when I'm older… might not be so bad."
"Not now?"
He smiled. "Not ready yet. Can ye imagine the trouble I'd get into were I not a pirate?"
Elizabeth laughed. "Jack?"
"Yes, Love?"
"Kiss me?"
"Yes, Love." Jack leaned in to oblige his wife. The next hour or so was passed in a pleasant, leisurely blur of lips and tongues and gentle caresses next to their slowly dying fire. They paid no attention to their surroundings until the daylight began to dim and the wind around them blew colder.
Elizabeth gasped when she finally tore her attention from tasting Jack. "Jack, the sky."
He looked up and saw that dark clouds had rolled in and swamped out the remaing hours of sunlight. "It's allright, Love. That rain is miles off. We won't be getting wet from it any time soon." He saw a little shiver run through her. Jack touched her face. "However, it's likely to be bloody cold. We'll risk a fire tonight. We'll have to." Elizabeth shook her head no. "Lizzie, I'll not have you freezing to death or being carried off by some illness that a little warmth could have prevented."
"It's not that cold, Jack." She stood, kicking sand on the embers of the fire. She extended her hands down to him and tugged him to his feet. "Besides, I believe my husband has ways of keeping me warm."
"You're already cold, Love. I don't think that, and I'm kicking meself as I say this, but I don't think now is the time for ye to be taking off what clothes you've got."
She smiled. "Experience says that it doesn't take either of us being very bare at all for things to get decidedly… warmer." She turned and walked into the woods.
Jack grinned and kicked sand at a couple of remaining glowing orange spots in the fire and then followed her back to their bed. When he got there, Elizabeth was kneeling in the leaves, hands beckoning him to her.
He dropped to his knees before her. Jack's hands automatically slipped into her hair and he kissed her fiercely. Elizabeth slid her fingers down until they met the front of his breeches. She deftly unfastened him then reached inside and gently pulled his straining cock into the open air. Jack reached down and grabbed fistfuls of her skirt. He hiked it up around her waist and sat back on his heels as he pulled her towards him. He guided himself inside of her, her wet heat engulfing his hardness. Jack hissed as he sheathed himself to the hilt. He let her skirt drop to cover her bare legs against the wind-chill. His hands moved to Elizabeth's hips and they began to rock in unison.
There was nothing hurried about this coupling. Every movement was slow and deliberate; a careful calculation of pleasure in the giving and the taking. Elizabeth's soft sighs in Jack's ear were urging him to move faster on some primal instinctual level. It took great effort not to obey but he loved this feeling of being inside of her, of her silky, hot, most intimate self gliding back and forth across him. He wanted them to enjoy it together for as long as he could make it last.
They had both begun to sweat. Jack moved his kisses from her face and lips to her neck, lapping at the salty skin there. He sucked at her pulse-point, eliciting a long moan and leaving a small mark of love. It was dwarfed by the much larger bruise caused by Gabriel Chase's rough handling of her, but it made him feel as though he had, in part, erased Chase's unwelcome echo on her flesh with one of his affection.
Elizabeth's hips quickened the pace that Jack had been so reluctant to increase. She whimpered and shivered as she rode him faster. The last of his resolve melted away with every new thrust his bride instigated. Sighing, Jack clasped a tight hold on her thighs and laid her back against the leaf-covered ground. This buried him even deeper within her. The scream of pleasure that tore from Elizabeth's mouth sent a quake through Jack's whole body. They were quite beyond taking their time now. They pushed each other along towards the edge at an increasingly more frantic rate until Jack threw his head back and stilled, moaning as he found release within her. Elizabeth arched her back, gasping and trembling in their shared orgasm.
When they both had recovered from their climax, Jack pulled out and tucked himself back into his breeches. He smoothed Elizabeth's dress down over her legs, making sure she was well-covered. Then he gathered her against his chest and kissed her forehead as he followed her into slumber.
******
Jack awoke to the sound of Elizabeth screaming. His eyes snapped open and he sat in one swift movement. Before he could even focus, something hard connected with his jaw and he was on his back again. Quickly, he took in the surroundings. Several men were pulling a struggling Elizabeth away from him and receiving bloody noses, blackened eyes and missing teeth for their troubles. Jack smiled proudly and started to get up as his eyes sought out what it was that had hit him. He looked directly up into Gabriel Chase’s smiling face. His own grin rapidly faded.
“Bugger,” Jack said.
Chase took two fistfuls of Jack’s shirtfront and hoisted him to his knees. He bent down, nearly nose to nose with Jack. "I didn't choose her by accident, Jack. Ever since our little encounter, I've been quite interested in the fantastic tales of the immortal Captain Jack Sparrow. It didn't take long for the stories of the beautiful governor's daughter whom Jack Sparrow loved but lost to a poor stupid blacksmith to reach my eager ears. Her money is a nice bonus of course, as is her visage, but my exclusive pleasure is in taking what you want most and destroying it. Just as you did to me." Chase once again hit him in the face. "And while you're thinking of all that Elizabeth is experiencing because of what you did, I hope you'll consider how far a small fire can spread out of control. And how many lives it can consume in its path."
Jack's eyes widened in surprise. Chase dropped his hold on Jack and began throwing kicks and punches. Jack managed to block a few of them, but not enough to be able to get his feet under him and properly defend himself. He soon tasted blood in his mouth.
Chase stopped a moment. "I'll tell her you're dead. And while you're stuck here, I want you think of everything I've done to her and everything I'll be doing to her." Chase punched Jack twice, then grabbed him once more by his shirtfront until he was inches from Jack's face. "I want you to remember how she felt writhing beneath you in pleasure, and think of how she'll feel when she's under me. And I want you to remember that all of this is happening to her because of you."
Chase coiled his fist back and then hit Jack again. Elizabeth screaming his name was the last sound Jack heard as darkness claimed him.
Elizabeth saw Jack fall limp beneath Chase's blow. She screamed again in frustration and kicked out at her captors. Two more of them fell to the sand as wildly thrown kicks landed fortuitously on a knee and a groin. They dropped their holds as they fell, but the ones who held her arms were not to be budged, and two more took the fallen crew's place to try to tame her kicking.
Chase’s first mate, Azevedo ran up to him. "Orders, Sir?"
"Get her aboard the Pearl. Then you will take command of the Talon."
"And him?" Azevedo gestured at the unconscious Jack.
"Leave him to stew over her fate," he said quietly. "The Talon will remain behind, but out of sight of the island. In two days, return and finish the bastard off. And that will be the end of it."
"Forgive me asking, Sir, but may we take drastic measures to subdue her? The men are already hurting. That wench of yours has a kick like a donkey."
Chase smiled. "Do what you must, only try not to mark her. It will look bad for the wedding."
Azevedo nodded to the crew holding Elizabeth and one of the men struck her on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking her out.
******
Elizabeth woke up in bed in the cabin she shared with Jack aboard the Pearl and smiled. "Jack?" The door to the cabin opened and in strode Gabriel Chase. Her smile quickly faded. She sat hurriedly and winced as a pain in the back of her head brought her back to reality. It might be a nightmare but it had been no bad dream. Chase had found them, had separated them. She was at his mercy and God only knew what he had done with Jack.
"Oh good, you're awake. We'll have you home in a few hours."
She narrowed her eyes. "I am in my home. And you are not welcome in it. Bastard."
"Darling, that is no way to talk to your fiancé."
"For the thousandth time, I’m married." She pulled her hand out from under the covers and wiggled her finger at him, only to realize her ring was missing.
"Alas, my dear, you are in fact a widow."
Elizabeth smirked and climbed out of the bed. "You're a monster and a liar. Why would I possibly believe you?"
Chase pulled something small and metal out of his pocket. He tossed it to her. Elizabeth caught it mid-air and examined the object in the palm of her hand. It was Jack's ring, the one that he'd used in their wedding ceremony. And it was covered in blood. Tears pricked at Elizabeth's eyes but she willed them away. She slipped the ring over her thumb and glared up at Chase.
"My own ring is also missing and yet I am clearly alive. This proves nothing."
"My dear, why are you trying so hard to deny the truth? Am I really so awful? Is anything I've done any worse than the atrocities your pirate has committed?"
"If you knew anything about Jack, you'd know that he was never one for atrocities. And true enough, as any pirate does, he has a tendency to acquire properties not rightfully belonging to him. But not people. And when it comes to women, you don't understand the difference. You aren't a tenth the man Jack Sparrow is. You're disgusting and evil. And I'll tell you one thing, even if Jack were dead, I'd rather be with him than let you touch me."
"You are a foolish child, Elizabeth. And you know nothing of your precious Jack Sparrow. Don't you understand? He's the one that brought me into your life. Don't get me wrong, my dear. You're beautiful enough, but there are others more so. And you are wealthy, but not in comparison to others I've already had. Others I could have invested my time and talents in. I will give you that you are cleverer than most I've selected. Or at least I thought you were. The fact that you've not worked things out by now has disappointed me somewhat I must admit."
"What the Hell are you talking about?"
"Don't you understand what you are to me? You are the restitution for Jack's sins against me. Has he ever mentioned Brigit Logan to you?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Just a little. I must say it's strange admiring a woman I never met but every time I see that horrible scar across your face, I do feel a wave of affection for her."
"She was the only woman I ever loved."
Elizabeth laughed. "She didn't love you. She ran from you."
"She would have come to love me. Many arranged marriages have become true love. I offered her structure and security. She would have come to appreciate that in time if Sparrow had just kept to our agreement. It was because of him that she died."
"She died to keep you from getting your hands on her. Do you seriously not understand that you can't do the things that you do and expect to be loved for it? How many women have to recoil from your touch, run to the ends of the earth to be away from you and even leap happily into the jaws of death itself rather than accompany you through this life before you understand how wrong you are?"
"Did he tell you what he did after she died?"
Elizabeth was quiet a moment. "No."
"Technically, Brigit and I were in fact married. It was never consummated, that's true, but on paper, we were legally husband and wife."
"Was she even aware of this?"
Chase pointedly ignored Elizabeth's remark. "I should have inherited all her assets after…she was gone. Her family money came from a vast coffee plantation in Ceylon. When Jack Sparrow realized that all that property and the profits made from it would fall to me, he burned the entire plantation to the ground rather than see me have it." Chase caught her gaze. "So you see, you're what is owed to me: his true love for mine. Your precious Jack is what has brought you to this. He is the one to blame."
Elizabeth's eyes lowered to the cabin floor. She had blamed herself for so much for so long. Chase's attempt at blaming Jack made everything finally so clear. God, she had been a fool. "No," she said quietly, eyes rising to meet his.
"What?"
"I said no. No blaming Jack. No blaming myself. You're the only one to blame. Anyone who ever did anything to thwart you or one of your schemes was in the right. I'd say it actually makes them heroes. Brigit and Jack both. With confidence, I can tell you from Brigit, that she's happier being dead than she ever would have been being your wife. And from myself, I can tell you I don't regret a moment of knowing Captain Jack Sparrow, nor will I ever."
"You will when we are married and I'm the one inside you."
"If it comes to that, I’ll be thinking of Jack the whole time and laughing at how you could think anything you do to me would compare with Jack’s touch."
Anger flared across Chase's features. He charged toward Elizabeth and shoved her to the bed. He scrambled atop her, trying to pin her down. She didn't fight. She merely kept her gaze fixed on him until he met her eyes. Her look was one of utter boredom and contempt. Chase froze in place. He moved off of her, stood and ran a hand back through his hair. Elizabeth sat up on the bed.
"Forgive me, my dear." Chase smiled, the mask of charm he used in society now firmly back in place. "I will not take that privilege until after we are married; when it is mine by right." He met her eyes once more. The unimpressed look on her face clearly confused him. "I'll leave you to your mourning. I do hope you're finished by the time we reach Port Royal; what with our happy day being so close at hand." With that, he turned and left her alone in the cabin.
Elizabeth stood shakily. Tears came freely now that there was no one to put on a show for. Her eyes went to the ring on her thumb. She slipped it off and wiped the blood on her dress. She looked to Jack's desk and walked over. Once there, she opened one of the drawers and pulled out a key which hung on a long leather cord. She hurriedly unfastened the leather and looped it through Jack's ring. Tying a knot in the end, she placed it over her head and dropped the ring down the front of her dress into her cleavage.
Elizabeth then walked to the window, looking back toward their island. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw smoke billowing from the trees. Her hand instinctively went to her chest, clutching the ring through the material there. She forced herself to be calm; to believe that she would have sensed if Jack had been taken from her and was no longer in this world.
"I wonder if Libertalia will be as beautiful as our island was." Elizabeth spoke to her husband even though he was not there. Their bond was so strong; she hoped that perhaps he might hear her. "We'll still live there together, one day when we're too old to be pirates. The two of us." She touched her fingers to the glass and whispered, “Jack.”
******
Jack awoke feeling like the floor of a Tortuga whorehouse on dancing night. There wasn't an inch of him that didn't throb or ache. He sat up gingerly. His vision was very murky. He sniffed the air. He soon realized that part of the murkiness could be put down to the beating he had received but most of if was due to the fact that the forested section of island he now occupied was on fire. Getting to his feet was painful, but necessary. He ambled slowly down to the beach where he would be safe from the fire. It obviously hadn't been set to harm him. After all, he'd been unconscious. They could have just set him on fire directly if that's what they had wanted. No, this was to destroy any sustenance or shelter the trees might provide to him. Another beautiful thing destroyed because of Chase's vendetta against him.
He'd known that Gabriel Chase wasn't exactly fond of him, but he'd never imagined that he was in fact the cause of Chase becoming this disease in Elizabeth's life. Jack had never suspected that Chase even knew Elizabeth was of any importance to him until he found them married aboard the Pearl. He also never imagined that Chase would ever find out that it had in fact been him that had burned the Logan plantation to the ground. Jack looked up to the sky. "I know it's what ye would have wanted me to do, Lass. It has, however, bitten me rather impressively on the ass. Either way, Lizzie didn't deserve this."
Jack shook his head slowly as he sank to his knees in the sand. "No," he scolded himself aloud. He'd told Elizabeth not to keep blaming herself for the things Chase had done, and he would not allow himself to start. He couldn't afford the guilt. Right now, Chase had Elizabeth and could be doing God only knew what with her. Guilt could wait. She needed him. He had to find a way off of this burning little spit of land so he could protect her.
A coppery taste coated Jack's tongue and he spat red on the sand. His eyes followed the little flecks of color as they sprayed over ground. He saw something pink and red a few paces ahead of him. Right next to that, he saw a glint of metal. Too tired to pull himself to his feet again, he crawled over to the objects. Once closer, he could see the pink and red was a torn-off piece of Elizabeth's dress with blood on it. A small jolt of fear went through him until he searched his memory of the attack and found the image of Elizabeth kicking and punching at Chase's men. The blood could easily be from one of them. He calmed himself and turned his attention to the metallic object which he plucked out of the sand. It was Elizabeth's wedding ring.
Jack palmed it and rolled himself carefully until he was sitting on the beach. He set the ring on his thigh. He reached into his tangled mass of hair and pulled out a section of wild strands which had so far escaped being matted into a dreadlock. With dexterous skill, he weaved the hair into a braid. About halfway down, Jack took Elizabeth's ring and wove it into the plait.
Jack cast his eyes out over the water. He thought he could just about see the outline of the Pearl in the distance. "I'm coming for ye, Lizzie. Just hold on. Hold on."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Talon's Reach
Previously:
CHAPTER ONE: The Proposal
CHAPTER TWO: A Clean Start
CHAPTER THREE: Vows
CHAPTER FOUR: Marr-i-age
CHAPTER FIVE: Honeymoon
CHAPTER SIX: Dark Horizon
CHAPTER SEVEN: Pirates
CHAPTER EIGHT: What Happens in La Vega, Stays in La Vega
CHAPTER NINE: Rude Awakening
CHAPTER TEN: Deja Vu
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Letting Go
Following Chapters:
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Talon's Reach
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Slain
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Departure
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Scars
Crossposted to sparrabeth, pirates_bride and deppfanfiction
by GylzGirl
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Sparrabeth. Spoilers for DMC.
Summary: Elizabeth is in trouble and it seems Jack, and something he asked her a long time ago, are her only hope.
Other headers attached to chapter one.
Author's Notes: Firstly, I bless my beta Karen for her suggestions and speed. Sorry about the long delay. Since the last posting I was sick for a couple of weeks and had very bad news on the job front. In addition to that, Halloween be a very important thing round these parts and that took up a few days in itself. I was a pirate wench, go figure 'eh? I know I don't need to excuse myself. I just want you all to know that it means a whole hell of a lot to me when you guys give me feedback and ask me to please hurry up. I don't delay you on purpose. I really do try to get the next bit to you as fast as I can manage. Thanks for sticking with me even on the weeks when I can't do that. :)
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CHAPTER TWELVE: An All-Consuming Fire
Elizabeth slept until well-past noon. She stood and dressed before making her way to the beach. She strolled out to the waterline, grinning at Jack who was, once again, standing waist-deep in the ocean with a spear in hand.
“Perhaps I should come out into the water with you so that you can teach me to fish as well?”
Jack turned to her and smiled, clearly thinking pleasant thoughts. “Experience says that you and I in the water together may lead to many things, but a meal is not one of them. Besides, you’ve got the touch when it comes to getting the fire started. Ye take to that task and let me worry on the food.”
“You just want me helpless and dependant on you,” Elizabeth teased.
Jack turned his attention back to the water, probing it with his spear. “You depend on me for the fish and I’ll depend on you for the fire, how’s that? If ye like, I’ll teach you how tomorrow.”
“Yes, I’d like.” Elizabeth grinned. “And if you like, I’ll teach you how to build a fire.”
A lazy smile crossed Jack’s face. “Oh, I’d like very much, Love. Very much indeed.” She turned back to shore to go start the fire. "Lizzie," Jack said without looking up from the water. She stopped and faced him again. He turned his back to her. "If I want ye helpless, one day when we've got our Pearl back, I'll tie you to the bedposts and use me tongue until ye beg me to stop."
Elizabeth had the sudden urge to run into the water then. Whether it was to temp Jack from his task or just to cool the heat his words had sent rushing between her legs, she wasn't sure. Instead, she took a shaky breath and walked back onto the beach to get the fire started for their meal.
Some time later, Elizabeth sensed Jack behind her. She turned, admiring not
only the sight of the sea-soaked man, but the three fat fish on the end of
his spear. With not a little pride in his swagger, Jack moved off to prepare
his catch.
When he had finished, Jack looked back towards the fire but could find no sign of Elizabeth. He’d thought she may have gone back to their campsite but a coconut striking the ground caused him to look up. There was his Elizabeth, legs wrapped around the uppermost reaches of the trunk of a palm, dropping coconuts to the ground.
Jack’s eyes grew wide and he immediately went to the base of the tree. “Liz, what do ye think you’re doing?”
“Getting water. What’s it look like I’m doing?”
“Something very stupid.”
“Look out.” Jack stepped out of the way as she dropped another coconut down.
“You should leave that to me, Love. It can be dangerous.”
“I’ve climbed trees before, Jack. And I’ve watched you do this.”
“All the same, Lizzie, it's best you leave that to me. After all I’m…”
“If you’re about to say you're a man and I’m a woman, I won’t miss you with the next one.”
“I was going to say experienced.”
“How am I to become experienced if I never get a chance to try it myself?”
“It would be different if the crew were here. If we had Gibbs or Cotton around to tend any injuries, but we haven’t.”
Elizabeth peered down on him, smiling. “Aw, Jack, you’re just worried for me. That’s very sweet.”
He pouted. “You could have picked a shorter tree to start with as well. Not to mention it’s not exactly a job conducive to scrambling about in skirts.” A thought struck Jack and he tilted his head up. A wicked grin appeared on his face. “Not that the view isn’t lovely from here, darlin'.”
“All right, all right, I’m coming down now.” Elizabeth started to slowly slide backwards down the trunk when she realized the truth of Jack’s words. She’d been able to keep her skirt between her body and the tree on the climb up, but performing the same task in reverse was proving somewhat impossible. Her lack of undergarments made her cringe at the idea of attempting a straight slide down. Elizabeth’s hands began to sweat. She started to fear that at any moment she might lose her grip. She licked suddenly dry lips, ready to call for Jack even though the idea of admitting defeat…
Elizabeth was startled to feel hair underneath her bare feet. A sure hand gripped her ankle as she steadied herself again.
“You good?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” she said, quietly.
“Right, climb down over me and then get a good hold 'round me shoulders. I’ll take you the rest of the way.”
“Jack…”
“I know that you could get yourself out of this. I also know that you are bloody-minded enough to have tried even when ye knew you needed help. Just count it as my being unwilling to risk the part of your anatomy that would have borne the brunt of your stubbornness and we’ll say no more about it, eh?”
Carefully, Elizabeth did as he’d told her, sliding down over his back, securing her legs around his hips and her arms around his shoulders. Jack turned his head to her. She kissed his cheek and held tightly to him as he eased them both back to earth.
Jack’s feet touched down first, Elizabeth’s legs still wrapped around his waist. He covered her hands with his own.
“That’s it. Tomorrow, we’ll recce the interior of the island. See if there isn’t another source of freshwater." Elizabeth was silent. “Eh, you all right?”
She slid to her feet and disentangled herself from him. “Just a little embarrassed.”
Jack grasped her wrist and reeled her back to him. “Don’t be. Last time I went up that tree, all I got for me trouble was coconuts.” He slid his arms around her waist. “I like this much more better.”
He kissed her slowly. By the time it ended, they were both smiling. “We’d better get back,” Elizabeth said. “I hope the fire hasn’t gone out.”
“I hope the bloody fish haven’t buggered off.”
Elizabeth laughed as they walked back to the fire together. Jack cooked the fish, teaching Elizabeth as he did so. The work went quickly and in no time it seemed they were sitting down to eat their meal next to the fire.
"Jack?"
"Hmm," he said with his mouth around fingers coated in fruit mush.
"I know you'd miss being at sea if this were forever. I think I would too, really. But is it wrong of me to be very happy right now? Now that the world literally only consists of you and I…I and you…us?" Elizabeth grinned at him and took a bite of her fish.
"Not at all, Love." Jack smiled. "We'll be rescued. Count on that. But we'll have this again someday as well."
"What?"
"I suppose it's safe to let you in on the secret. I suppose, as me wife, you're due the information. Ye know how the Isla de Muerta sank with all its shiny treasure into the briny depths?"
"Yes?"
"A lie."
"A lie?"
He nodded. "It did indeed sink, but not before we'd picked it clean of all, non-accursed, manner of loot. We divided the spoils and sailed on to Libertalia."
"Where's that?"
"It's off the coast of Madagascar; an island nation of pirates and former pirates. Me and the crew found a place called…well, it don't much matter what it were called as it's now called Sparrow's Cove." He wiped his hands on his breeches and threw the leaf and shell that had been his supper dishes into the roaring fire. Elizabeth smiled over at him and did likewise.
"Anamaria and a few of the others elected to stay behind and start building homes and the like. The rest of us sailed on to Tortuga to pick up a new crew and spread the tale of the lamentable lost treasure of the Isla de Muerta. Didn't want others sniffing around our good fortune, savvy?"
"You think you'll settle there one day?"
"I wasn't sure then, but now?" Jack shrugged and slipped an arm around Elizabeth's shoulders. "Death at sea loses some romance once you've already done it." He squeezed her gently, kissing her neck. "One day, when I'm older… might not be so bad."
"Not now?"
He smiled. "Not ready yet. Can ye imagine the trouble I'd get into were I not a pirate?"
Elizabeth laughed. "Jack?"
"Yes, Love?"
"Kiss me?"
"Yes, Love." Jack leaned in to oblige his wife. The next hour or so was passed in a pleasant, leisurely blur of lips and tongues and gentle caresses next to their slowly dying fire. They paid no attention to their surroundings until the daylight began to dim and the wind around them blew colder.
Elizabeth gasped when she finally tore her attention from tasting Jack. "Jack, the sky."
He looked up and saw that dark clouds had rolled in and swamped out the remaing hours of sunlight. "It's allright, Love. That rain is miles off. We won't be getting wet from it any time soon." He saw a little shiver run through her. Jack touched her face. "However, it's likely to be bloody cold. We'll risk a fire tonight. We'll have to." Elizabeth shook her head no. "Lizzie, I'll not have you freezing to death or being carried off by some illness that a little warmth could have prevented."
"It's not that cold, Jack." She stood, kicking sand on the embers of the fire. She extended her hands down to him and tugged him to his feet. "Besides, I believe my husband has ways of keeping me warm."
"You're already cold, Love. I don't think that, and I'm kicking meself as I say this, but I don't think now is the time for ye to be taking off what clothes you've got."
She smiled. "Experience says that it doesn't take either of us being very bare at all for things to get decidedly… warmer." She turned and walked into the woods.
Jack grinned and kicked sand at a couple of remaining glowing orange spots in the fire and then followed her back to their bed. When he got there, Elizabeth was kneeling in the leaves, hands beckoning him to her.
He dropped to his knees before her. Jack's hands automatically slipped into her hair and he kissed her fiercely. Elizabeth slid her fingers down until they met the front of his breeches. She deftly unfastened him then reached inside and gently pulled his straining cock into the open air. Jack reached down and grabbed fistfuls of her skirt. He hiked it up around her waist and sat back on his heels as he pulled her towards him. He guided himself inside of her, her wet heat engulfing his hardness. Jack hissed as he sheathed himself to the hilt. He let her skirt drop to cover her bare legs against the wind-chill. His hands moved to Elizabeth's hips and they began to rock in unison.
There was nothing hurried about this coupling. Every movement was slow and deliberate; a careful calculation of pleasure in the giving and the taking. Elizabeth's soft sighs in Jack's ear were urging him to move faster on some primal instinctual level. It took great effort not to obey but he loved this feeling of being inside of her, of her silky, hot, most intimate self gliding back and forth across him. He wanted them to enjoy it together for as long as he could make it last.
They had both begun to sweat. Jack moved his kisses from her face and lips to her neck, lapping at the salty skin there. He sucked at her pulse-point, eliciting a long moan and leaving a small mark of love. It was dwarfed by the much larger bruise caused by Gabriel Chase's rough handling of her, but it made him feel as though he had, in part, erased Chase's unwelcome echo on her flesh with one of his affection.
Elizabeth's hips quickened the pace that Jack had been so reluctant to increase. She whimpered and shivered as she rode him faster. The last of his resolve melted away with every new thrust his bride instigated. Sighing, Jack clasped a tight hold on her thighs and laid her back against the leaf-covered ground. This buried him even deeper within her. The scream of pleasure that tore from Elizabeth's mouth sent a quake through Jack's whole body. They were quite beyond taking their time now. They pushed each other along towards the edge at an increasingly more frantic rate until Jack threw his head back and stilled, moaning as he found release within her. Elizabeth arched her back, gasping and trembling in their shared orgasm.
When they both had recovered from their climax, Jack pulled out and tucked himself back into his breeches. He smoothed Elizabeth's dress down over her legs, making sure she was well-covered. Then he gathered her against his chest and kissed her forehead as he followed her into slumber.
******
Jack awoke to the sound of Elizabeth screaming. His eyes snapped open and he sat in one swift movement. Before he could even focus, something hard connected with his jaw and he was on his back again. Quickly, he took in the surroundings. Several men were pulling a struggling Elizabeth away from him and receiving bloody noses, blackened eyes and missing teeth for their troubles. Jack smiled proudly and started to get up as his eyes sought out what it was that had hit him. He looked directly up into Gabriel Chase’s smiling face. His own grin rapidly faded.
“Bugger,” Jack said.
Chase took two fistfuls of Jack’s shirtfront and hoisted him to his knees. He bent down, nearly nose to nose with Jack. "I didn't choose her by accident, Jack. Ever since our little encounter, I've been quite interested in the fantastic tales of the immortal Captain Jack Sparrow. It didn't take long for the stories of the beautiful governor's daughter whom Jack Sparrow loved but lost to a poor stupid blacksmith to reach my eager ears. Her money is a nice bonus of course, as is her visage, but my exclusive pleasure is in taking what you want most and destroying it. Just as you did to me." Chase once again hit him in the face. "And while you're thinking of all that Elizabeth is experiencing because of what you did, I hope you'll consider how far a small fire can spread out of control. And how many lives it can consume in its path."
Jack's eyes widened in surprise. Chase dropped his hold on Jack and began throwing kicks and punches. Jack managed to block a few of them, but not enough to be able to get his feet under him and properly defend himself. He soon tasted blood in his mouth.
Chase stopped a moment. "I'll tell her you're dead. And while you're stuck here, I want you think of everything I've done to her and everything I'll be doing to her." Chase punched Jack twice, then grabbed him once more by his shirtfront until he was inches from Jack's face. "I want you to remember how she felt writhing beneath you in pleasure, and think of how she'll feel when she's under me. And I want you to remember that all of this is happening to her because of you."
Chase coiled his fist back and then hit Jack again. Elizabeth screaming his name was the last sound Jack heard as darkness claimed him.
Elizabeth saw Jack fall limp beneath Chase's blow. She screamed again in frustration and kicked out at her captors. Two more of them fell to the sand as wildly thrown kicks landed fortuitously on a knee and a groin. They dropped their holds as they fell, but the ones who held her arms were not to be budged, and two more took the fallen crew's place to try to tame her kicking.
Chase’s first mate, Azevedo ran up to him. "Orders, Sir?"
"Get her aboard the Pearl. Then you will take command of the Talon."
"And him?" Azevedo gestured at the unconscious Jack.
"Leave him to stew over her fate," he said quietly. "The Talon will remain behind, but out of sight of the island. In two days, return and finish the bastard off. And that will be the end of it."
"Forgive me asking, Sir, but may we take drastic measures to subdue her? The men are already hurting. That wench of yours has a kick like a donkey."
Chase smiled. "Do what you must, only try not to mark her. It will look bad for the wedding."
Azevedo nodded to the crew holding Elizabeth and one of the men struck her on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking her out.
******
Elizabeth woke up in bed in the cabin she shared with Jack aboard the Pearl and smiled. "Jack?" The door to the cabin opened and in strode Gabriel Chase. Her smile quickly faded. She sat hurriedly and winced as a pain in the back of her head brought her back to reality. It might be a nightmare but it had been no bad dream. Chase had found them, had separated them. She was at his mercy and God only knew what he had done with Jack.
"Oh good, you're awake. We'll have you home in a few hours."
She narrowed her eyes. "I am in my home. And you are not welcome in it. Bastard."
"Darling, that is no way to talk to your fiancé."
"For the thousandth time, I’m married." She pulled her hand out from under the covers and wiggled her finger at him, only to realize her ring was missing.
"Alas, my dear, you are in fact a widow."
Elizabeth smirked and climbed out of the bed. "You're a monster and a liar. Why would I possibly believe you?"
Chase pulled something small and metal out of his pocket. He tossed it to her. Elizabeth caught it mid-air and examined the object in the palm of her hand. It was Jack's ring, the one that he'd used in their wedding ceremony. And it was covered in blood. Tears pricked at Elizabeth's eyes but she willed them away. She slipped the ring over her thumb and glared up at Chase.
"My own ring is also missing and yet I am clearly alive. This proves nothing."
"My dear, why are you trying so hard to deny the truth? Am I really so awful? Is anything I've done any worse than the atrocities your pirate has committed?"
"If you knew anything about Jack, you'd know that he was never one for atrocities. And true enough, as any pirate does, he has a tendency to acquire properties not rightfully belonging to him. But not people. And when it comes to women, you don't understand the difference. You aren't a tenth the man Jack Sparrow is. You're disgusting and evil. And I'll tell you one thing, even if Jack were dead, I'd rather be with him than let you touch me."
"You are a foolish child, Elizabeth. And you know nothing of your precious Jack Sparrow. Don't you understand? He's the one that brought me into your life. Don't get me wrong, my dear. You're beautiful enough, but there are others more so. And you are wealthy, but not in comparison to others I've already had. Others I could have invested my time and talents in. I will give you that you are cleverer than most I've selected. Or at least I thought you were. The fact that you've not worked things out by now has disappointed me somewhat I must admit."
"What the Hell are you talking about?"
"Don't you understand what you are to me? You are the restitution for Jack's sins against me. Has he ever mentioned Brigit Logan to you?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Just a little. I must say it's strange admiring a woman I never met but every time I see that horrible scar across your face, I do feel a wave of affection for her."
"She was the only woman I ever loved."
Elizabeth laughed. "She didn't love you. She ran from you."
"She would have come to love me. Many arranged marriages have become true love. I offered her structure and security. She would have come to appreciate that in time if Sparrow had just kept to our agreement. It was because of him that she died."
"She died to keep you from getting your hands on her. Do you seriously not understand that you can't do the things that you do and expect to be loved for it? How many women have to recoil from your touch, run to the ends of the earth to be away from you and even leap happily into the jaws of death itself rather than accompany you through this life before you understand how wrong you are?"
"Did he tell you what he did after she died?"
Elizabeth was quiet a moment. "No."
"Technically, Brigit and I were in fact married. It was never consummated, that's true, but on paper, we were legally husband and wife."
"Was she even aware of this?"
Chase pointedly ignored Elizabeth's remark. "I should have inherited all her assets after…she was gone. Her family money came from a vast coffee plantation in Ceylon. When Jack Sparrow realized that all that property and the profits made from it would fall to me, he burned the entire plantation to the ground rather than see me have it." Chase caught her gaze. "So you see, you're what is owed to me: his true love for mine. Your precious Jack is what has brought you to this. He is the one to blame."
Elizabeth's eyes lowered to the cabin floor. She had blamed herself for so much for so long. Chase's attempt at blaming Jack made everything finally so clear. God, she had been a fool. "No," she said quietly, eyes rising to meet his.
"What?"
"I said no. No blaming Jack. No blaming myself. You're the only one to blame. Anyone who ever did anything to thwart you or one of your schemes was in the right. I'd say it actually makes them heroes. Brigit and Jack both. With confidence, I can tell you from Brigit, that she's happier being dead than she ever would have been being your wife. And from myself, I can tell you I don't regret a moment of knowing Captain Jack Sparrow, nor will I ever."
"You will when we are married and I'm the one inside you."
"If it comes to that, I’ll be thinking of Jack the whole time and laughing at how you could think anything you do to me would compare with Jack’s touch."
Anger flared across Chase's features. He charged toward Elizabeth and shoved her to the bed. He scrambled atop her, trying to pin her down. She didn't fight. She merely kept her gaze fixed on him until he met her eyes. Her look was one of utter boredom and contempt. Chase froze in place. He moved off of her, stood and ran a hand back through his hair. Elizabeth sat up on the bed.
"Forgive me, my dear." Chase smiled, the mask of charm he used in society now firmly back in place. "I will not take that privilege until after we are married; when it is mine by right." He met her eyes once more. The unimpressed look on her face clearly confused him. "I'll leave you to your mourning. I do hope you're finished by the time we reach Port Royal; what with our happy day being so close at hand." With that, he turned and left her alone in the cabin.
Elizabeth stood shakily. Tears came freely now that there was no one to put on a show for. Her eyes went to the ring on her thumb. She slipped it off and wiped the blood on her dress. She looked to Jack's desk and walked over. Once there, she opened one of the drawers and pulled out a key which hung on a long leather cord. She hurriedly unfastened the leather and looped it through Jack's ring. Tying a knot in the end, she placed it over her head and dropped the ring down the front of her dress into her cleavage.
Elizabeth then walked to the window, looking back toward their island. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw smoke billowing from the trees. Her hand instinctively went to her chest, clutching the ring through the material there. She forced herself to be calm; to believe that she would have sensed if Jack had been taken from her and was no longer in this world.
"I wonder if Libertalia will be as beautiful as our island was." Elizabeth spoke to her husband even though he was not there. Their bond was so strong; she hoped that perhaps he might hear her. "We'll still live there together, one day when we're too old to be pirates. The two of us." She touched her fingers to the glass and whispered, “Jack.”
******
Jack awoke feeling like the floor of a Tortuga whorehouse on dancing night. There wasn't an inch of him that didn't throb or ache. He sat up gingerly. His vision was very murky. He sniffed the air. He soon realized that part of the murkiness could be put down to the beating he had received but most of if was due to the fact that the forested section of island he now occupied was on fire. Getting to his feet was painful, but necessary. He ambled slowly down to the beach where he would be safe from the fire. It obviously hadn't been set to harm him. After all, he'd been unconscious. They could have just set him on fire directly if that's what they had wanted. No, this was to destroy any sustenance or shelter the trees might provide to him. Another beautiful thing destroyed because of Chase's vendetta against him.
He'd known that Gabriel Chase wasn't exactly fond of him, but he'd never imagined that he was in fact the cause of Chase becoming this disease in Elizabeth's life. Jack had never suspected that Chase even knew Elizabeth was of any importance to him until he found them married aboard the Pearl. He also never imagined that Chase would ever find out that it had in fact been him that had burned the Logan plantation to the ground. Jack looked up to the sky. "I know it's what ye would have wanted me to do, Lass. It has, however, bitten me rather impressively on the ass. Either way, Lizzie didn't deserve this."
Jack shook his head slowly as he sank to his knees in the sand. "No," he scolded himself aloud. He'd told Elizabeth not to keep blaming herself for the things Chase had done, and he would not allow himself to start. He couldn't afford the guilt. Right now, Chase had Elizabeth and could be doing God only knew what with her. Guilt could wait. She needed him. He had to find a way off of this burning little spit of land so he could protect her.
A coppery taste coated Jack's tongue and he spat red on the sand. His eyes followed the little flecks of color as they sprayed over ground. He saw something pink and red a few paces ahead of him. Right next to that, he saw a glint of metal. Too tired to pull himself to his feet again, he crawled over to the objects. Once closer, he could see the pink and red was a torn-off piece of Elizabeth's dress with blood on it. A small jolt of fear went through him until he searched his memory of the attack and found the image of Elizabeth kicking and punching at Chase's men. The blood could easily be from one of them. He calmed himself and turned his attention to the metallic object which he plucked out of the sand. It was Elizabeth's wedding ring.
Jack palmed it and rolled himself carefully until he was sitting on the beach. He set the ring on his thigh. He reached into his tangled mass of hair and pulled out a section of wild strands which had so far escaped being matted into a dreadlock. With dexterous skill, he weaved the hair into a braid. About halfway down, Jack took Elizabeth's ring and wove it into the plait.
Jack cast his eyes out over the water. He thought he could just about see the outline of the Pearl in the distance. "I'm coming for ye, Lizzie. Just hold on. Hold on."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Talon's Reach
Previously:
CHAPTER ONE: The Proposal
CHAPTER TWO: A Clean Start
CHAPTER THREE: Vows
CHAPTER FOUR: Marr-i-age
CHAPTER FIVE: Honeymoon
CHAPTER SIX: Dark Horizon
CHAPTER SEVEN: Pirates
CHAPTER EIGHT: What Happens in La Vega, Stays in La Vega
CHAPTER NINE: Rude Awakening
CHAPTER TEN: Deja Vu
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Letting Go
Following Chapters:
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Talon's Reach
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Slain
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Departure
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Scars
Crossposted to sparrabeth, pirates_bride and deppfanfiction