Witch

Witch, by Hellborne
Pirates of the Caribbean – Slash: Jack/Others, Jack/Will. NC-17.

Copyright. Characters, not mine. See the Mouse. Story, mine, but I make no money. He does, but not on this.

Typing convention: / is used for thoughts.

Archive: adult-fanfiction.org. If you want to put it elsewhere, no prob, just tell me the URL.

Beta: Now beta’d by my most perfect and wonderful Pendragginink and her magnificent Jackal! Hail to thee, oh modest and humble BetaGoddess!

Summary: What did Jack do to be tortured so? He would love to know. Torture, Rape, Lemon, Slash.

NOTE: I live for reviews. With my life treating me the way it has been lately, the least thing I can do for a little enjoyment is read some reviews. So REVIEW! PLEEEEEEZE???

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Chapter 12 – Discovery

It was well past midnight when Will returned to the Pearl. The lights in the cabin were out, so he entered silently, using his memory of the room to quietly deposit his clothes on the table and make his way over to the bed. As he started to crawl over Jack, a hand rose to his chest to stop him. “Careful lad. You’re going to have to crawl way over or ye’ll land on the good doctor.” Jack lit a lamp. A naked Timothy Abernathy was sound asleep, attached to Jack like a starfish to a small rock.

“Jack, why is Dr. Abernathy in our bed? I thought he didn’t exactly approve.”

“My thoughts as well, lad. But that’s not the real problem. I found out why the good doctor has been givin’ me such strong laudanum. He’s been makin’ it himself out of his own provisions. What we have here, dear William, is a man who chases the dragon. He was so far gone when he came in to look at me foot tonight that he fair collapsed on it.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, after I stopped screamin’…” Jack grinned. “I got him off me foot, trussed it up meself, and helped him into the bed wherein he started examinin’ OTHER parts of me body. So I decided to do some examinin’ of me own, and by the time our Dr. Tim started to think somethin’ was amiss, he’d already shot his cannon, so to speak. Found he liked it, so he stayed. We’re going to have to release him from the dragon, lad. I’m sure that’s how he managed to get accused of bein’ a witch. Gave the poor lot the wrong herb and didn’t know it I’ll wager. Do try not to wake him as you crawl over.” He chuckled softly. “He may try to play squid with you, and when the dragon’s got hold of him, he’s quite a handful.”

Will circled to the foot of the bed and crawled in, being careful not to wake the doctor and went to sleep. The fleet was going to be moving at dawn, so he knew he wouldn’t have much sleep as it was.

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At the loud knock at the door, the three men in the huge bed all sat up abruptly, wiping their eyes. Will crawled out of bed to answer it, not bothering to dress first.

It was Mr. Gibbs. “Beggin’ your pardon, Captain…er…Commodore Turner. But you told me to wake you half an hour before dawn.”

Will smiled, pushing his long, disorganized curls back with one hand. “That I did, Mr. Gibbs. Thank you.” He walked back to the bed, lighting lamps all along the way.

Dr. Abernathy was growing redder with embarrassment by the second. From what Will could tell, Tim didn’t realize why he was in the captain’s bed.

Will grinned. “Good morning, Tim. How was your sleep?”

Tim started to get rather flustered. “Um…I’m not quite sure, really. Captain? What am I doing in your bed? And why am I completely disrobed in here?”

Jack laughed. “Well, Dr. Tim. You came in here last night while Will was out apparently tryin’ t’find out what kind of ‘love’ ye could get in here. I daresay ye gave as good as ye got.” He suddenly became very serious. “Luv, we need to do something about that dragon you’re chasing. A doctor needs his full senses more than anyone else I can think of. And you don’t have them.”

What was left of Dr. Abernathy’s demeanor collapsed. He seemed a ghost of his usual self, his voice barely a whisper. “I’ve tried.”

Jack looked at him sympathetically. “Doctor. Did you even know how strong you made the laudanum that you gave me? If I hadn’t been taking the tiny sips that I had, I’d be chasing it with you. Now, I want you to go into your cabin with Will and bring back every bit of opium and laudanum that you have. I’ll watch it for you. As of now, YOU, my dear doctor, are dry. Permanently. Without the opium, you are the greatest churgeon I’ve ever heard tell about, and I can tell that my leg is going to be fine thanks to you. But doctor, last night, had you been operating on my foot instead of just checking up on it, I’d be sitting here with one leg. Or worse, with none. I can imagine that you’d cut off the wrong one in the condition you were in last night. Dr. Tim, I’m not trying to be hard on you. Every man has his failings, even me, and very few are proud of having them. But as a doctor, you HAVE to be at your best whenever we might need you, and on a pirate ship, that’s at all times. I’ll give you some of my best rum if you want, but no more opium. And if you give me the recipe for the laudanum, I’ll make it myself, and won’t have to worry about getting too much in a tiny sip.” He took the shaken doctor in his arms, hugging him and rubbing circles on his back. “We need you HERE, Tim. Please stay with us and not go chasing the dragon.” He lightly kissed Tim’s forehead. “Now go with Will and get all the opium in here.”

Will helped Dr. Abernathy out of the bed. They both dressed and went into the other cabin. Several minutes later, they brought in several armloads of large jars. Will seemed worried. “Jack, I think we over-purchased opium in Tortuga.” He went back for more. All told, there were twenty large jars of opium placed on the table, along with twelve bottles of laudanum. Dr. Abernathy also brought in four pots with plants growing in them. Will finally came back in. “That’s it.” He nodded at Jack and left for the helm.

Dr. Abernathy finally checked Jack’s foot. “Captain, at this point, all your foot will need is exercise and time to completely heal. It’s up to you now. My job is done, so you don’t have to put up with my antics anymore.”

Jack leaned forward and drew the doctor close. “Doctor, your job is far from done. I don’t know when to take this confounded corset off of me foot. And with the upcoming battle, you’re going to see more action than I will. Now don’t even think that I’m letting you off the Pearl. I wasn’t lyin’ when I said you were the best churgeon I’ve heard of, and I mean to keep you, dragon or no. I just don’t want you accidentally killing someone by giving them the wrong medicine or too much of the right one. Savvy?”

Tim smiled sheepishly. “Yes, I ‘savvy.’ And it IS nice to find someone who knows about my problem and doesn’t want to kill or abandon me because of it.”

Jack grinned. “Dr. Tim, you’re among pirates now. If we only took on people who didn’t have ‘problems,’ the Pearl would indeed be a ‘ghost ship.’ We all have our own dragons.” He showed him the pirate brand on his wrist. “If that navy man in there gets me in HIS jurisdiction, this is my permanent ticket to a neck-stretchin’ party with me bein’ the man of honor.”

“Indeed.” Norrington stood at the door between the cabins. “And I suppose the brand is there by mistake?”

Tim stood back, embarrassed. Jack grinned. “Oh, no Commodore. They branded me o’purpose. But there are pirates and then there are PIRATES, if you take my meaning. I mean…if you just look at this fleet, you can tell that there are many grades of pirates. I’m a pirate, sure. But I’m not bloodthirsty. I don’t go killin’ for sport, nor even in order to relieve someone of their swag. I only kill in defense of my body or my crew’s, with very few exceptions, and it hurts me to do it each and every time, as I do prize life. And not only my own life, either. In fact, Commodore, should someone in the fleet learn that you’re here, you’ll learn that I DO prize the lives of those on my ship enough to defend even YOU. Now, some of the other captains…they prize only their own lives and the booty they plunder, and should even a member of the crew do something they don’t approve of, they torture or kill them. They run their ships with an iron fist. I run my ship with Will more like a family, though Will and I are the heads of that family. Many of those pirates out there will take a man or woman by force. If any man or woman in my crew does that and word gets back to me, they’ll have Will and me BOTH to contend with, and I doubt they’ll want to try it again, even if they were still on my crew afterwards.”

“Captain, I have yet to see that difference with my own eyes.”

“What about your own ears, Commodore? When they read my little indiscretions when I was standing on the gallows, do you recall anything of rape or murder in that list?”

“No, admittedly not.”

“No. And you won’t ever find it in any list of things I’ve ever done. I’ve killed men, yes. But never in cold blood, and only when there was no other way out.”

Norrington stood in the doorway in a quandary. He couldn’t quite bring himself to reconcile the terms “pirate” and “good man,” though Jack had shown more signs of the latter than the former. And Will was a conundrum in and of himself. The former blacksmith was someone who Norrington always thought of as a “good man,” and even in his rationale for wanting the commodore to lead this fleet he was showing those signs, yet he called himself a pirate, and was a captain of the Black Pearl; one of the most notorious pirate ships in the Caribbean. /But that was due to Barbossa’s bloodthirstiness./ He shrugged and walked out, shaking his head, bewildered at what he just heard and his own thoughts. The door closed.

Jack grinned and turned back to Dr. Abernathy. “So you see, Dr. Tim. When you’re in ‘polite society,’ they look on everything you’ve done wrong in your life and judge you on that. On this ship, we look upon the good things you’ve done and either forget about your little indiscretions or try to help you get over them…such as your problem in chasin’ the dragon.” He patted the bed next to him, his eyes heavy-lidded and seductive. “Now, come on over here and we can get reacquainted.”

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TBC

A/N: Next chapter: “Debauchment.” I guarantee you’ll like it. IF and *ONLY* if I get enough REVIEWS!!!