Destiny's Requiem

CHAPTER 3

It was about a week later when she’d finally had the courage to bring the letter up to Jack. It had taken her that long to get a grasp on her thoughts. She loved Will, no doubt, but he was dead – technically. She had always felt some strange connection with Jack, and yes she did love him, absolutely. She always knew that Will would do anything to keep her happy, this could keep her happy. If he was right. Was he right??


Jack was at the helm for the first evening watch steering his ship towards the endless horizon when she came into sight.

“You knew didn’t you?” She asked breaking the silence of the evening.

“What exactly did I know?” Jack asked, startled by both her presence and random question.

She couldn’t quite find the words to explain it, “About Will…” She struggled to find the right words, “freeing me?”

“Oh….that.” he looked at her. “I didn’t read the letter Lizzie, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Why must you always assume I think your being deceiving, Jack?”

“Pirate.” He smirked at her, when he realized she wasn’t laughing his eyes dropped and he finished seriously, “Most people do.”

“Aye. You’re a good man Jack, and I’m not most people.” She smiled at him. “Was Will right?” She swallowed her fear as she asked him. She had gotten to the point so quickly because she knew she’d lose her nerve if she didn’t.

“About?” Suddenly he felt the need to play stupid. Yes Will was right, Will was always bloody right. Why else would he have even agreed to this whole thing? Why else would he even be here?

“Do you have to make this harder than it is?” She laughed at him slightly more from nerves than humor. His unflinching expression concerned her but she continued, “Will claims that you love me.” The words sounded bizarre once they were vocalized, had made so much more sense in her head.

“And what do you think?” He smirked at her with an unreadable emotion on his face.

She inhaled a deep breath getting agitated by his game, “If I had to guess Captain Sparrow I’d say its something along those lines. Why would you come and offer me passage on your ship if you didn’t? Why would you try to comfort me? Why would you have saved Will from an obvious death in the first place, granting him the immortal life that you so desired?” She was getting angry with him. She’d been through enough, she needed him to stop hinting at things and be honest with her and himself for once. She braced herself as she saw him smirk at her. In her head him loving her was logical yet now she was having some doubts. She wasn’t positive he’d admit to it anyways and her next words were sure to sink her if she was wrong, “Especially after I…”

He interrupted her, “Well dear William told me the same thing of you. So now either he’s trying to play matchmaker from the sea of the dead or he sees something with his new mystical powers.” He couldn’t admit it, wouldn’t admit it. He was Captain Jack Sparrow; he didn’t admit his feelings, hell he’d never felt anything like this before so he wasn’t quite sure how to admit them in the first place.

“What did he tell you?” She asked stepping closer to him suddenly feeling more confident, bolder. She was so close that he could feel her breath moving his dangles and he had to admit, it felt wonderful to have her that near.

“Asked is more the word.” His eyes met hers briefly before he continued. “Asked me to take care of you. Said I was the only man that could.” He paused and took a deep breath trying to control his desires, “Because I was the only other man you truly loved.” His eyes turned steadfast to the sea, it was getting to be too much for him.

“And what did you tell him?” She couldn’t hide the smile that spread across her lips as she looked up at him.

“Lizzie. Don’t expect me to admit it. After all, the last time I tried to do right by you ye chained me to a mast. I’m here. I’ll always be here. You’ll just have to accept that.” He silently cursed himself for being such an ass, but he just couldn’t tell her, not now…not yet.

Her eyes turned sad at the memory but her mind was working on the rest of his statement, after all he had just cut her off about that incident minutes ago. What did he feel about that; it was still an unspoken matter between them. “Jack are you ever going to forget the whole kraken thing?” Her eyes had suddenly lost the strength they had held and now flickered with regret.

“Forgetting is something that puts a man in peril. Forgiving would be a bit better for the current situation, and that is something I did long ago, luv.” He smiled at her before briefly pressing his lips to hers. He needed that, his body and mind had been screaming at him and he had seen the opportune moment with her being so unsuspecting. He felt her frown change over before she deepened the kiss and pulled him to her. They broke apart for air after what seemed like a lifetime. “If that doesn’t give you the answer you’re seeking Lizzie nothing ever will.” She instinctively wrapped her arms around him and he did his best to maintain his hold on both his ship and his Lizzie.

She smiled up at him “I’m glad once really wasn’t enough then,” and with that said she pulled away and left him to go get Willy who was wobbling around the lower deck giving Marty quite the tough time.

He muttered to himself as she walked away “Never was Lizzie, never will be.”

“I always knew Jack,” she silently spoke to herself.


The next day, Jack had requested her presence in his cabin, but she hadn’t known his intentions. He wanted to talk to her without risk of the crew listening in, and he wanted to kiss her again. In their own ways each had admitted that Will was in fact right, but neither would verbally acknowledge it - stubborn and thick headed as they were; peas in a pod.

“Jack why is Willy’s crib in here?” She sounded somewhat concerned. Surely he couldn’t think that they could be at that stage already.

“Why hello to you too Elizabeth.” He noticed an anger building in her eyes, “Easy luv. Before you get all riled up and start yelling at me, I wanted you to join me for dinner. I figured Willy here would fall asleep and you’d want him near by as to hear him if he cries or does something else baby-like. This way we can talk, savvy?” He smiled at her, trying to express his innocence. It wasn’t like what she was clearly assuming wouldn’t be an accepted form of entertainment for the night; he somehow knew she would need some time before that could happen. He hoped not too much.

She calmed her temper, “Sorry. I have to stop being so defensive when it comes to you.” She smiled somewhat ashamed at herself, “you have a way of always thinking of everything, Jack.” She laughed at him.

“That’s why I’m the captain.” He smiled at her mischievously, before placing a kiss on her cheek. Willy reached out and grabbed his dangles, tugging on them furiously. “Oi!” He removed the small boys hands from his beard and smiled at him. “Now is that any way to treat your Uncle Jack?” He asked the boy as he took him from his mother’s arms. Truth was Jack was growing quite fond of the lad. There was something distinctly enchanting in his youthful innocence, so long as he didn’t soil his pants around him. He sat and bounced the boy on his knee, motioning for Lizzie to sit across from him.

“I can’t believe how fast you’ve warmed up to him Jack.” She laughed. “Although I’m not entirely surprised.”

“He walks like a drunk, how can I not find him entertaining? Besides, he’s got the potential to be one hell of a pirate.” He turned his focus to the child on his knee, “Just like your mum, eh?” His eyes moved back to hers. “Course she might not let ye near the rum just yet.”

She shook her head and smiled at him, words would never be able to express the way her heart swelled when she watched him with her son.

They ate leisurely, passing a bottle of rum between them. Chatting about nothing, everything. Willy seemed quite content to be playing with his Uncle Jack and was soon sound asleep. If there was one exceptional convenience to being a ship, the natural rocking did wonders for his sleeping. It seemed to counter his walking efforts a bit, to which Jack insisted were clumsy because he “must have gotten into the rum.” She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this at ease with her life, this happy. She was questioning whether she had ever been this happy when she realized Jack had been staring at her.

“What?” She asked.

“Nothing at all.” He lied, unwilling to admit the thoughts he was having.

“Then why are you staring at me?” She questioned.

He walked slowly around the table and pulled her into his arms.

She blushed and tried to push him away when she realized his intentions, but despite her hesitation she felt his lips on hers, and she still wasn’t quite ready for it. “Jack I…”

“No worries, luv. I’ve got all the time in the world.” He smirked at her and held out a bottle of water. “You can too ye know.” He just kept reminding himself that he had had more time to get used to the idea and that it was still new to her.

“What?” She was slightly confused at the subject change.

“Live forever,” he handed her the bottle, “drink that. It’s water from the fountain of youth. Will grant you immortality, so long as you drink it every so often that is.” He smirked at her.

“I never thought I’d see the day where the infamous Jack Sparrow would drink…water.” She chuckled, “So is that where you were for the last two years?”

“For the first year or so.”

“And the next?”

“Trying to convince meself of some things.”

“Like?” She questioned.

“You ask too many questions. Are you going to drink it?” he tried to change the topic back to something he was more comfortable discussing.

“Only if you tell me why it took you a YEAR to find me after you spoke to Will.” She pressed on, her curiosity again getting the better of her.

“Didn’t take me a bloody year! Why do you think Barbossa found ye?” Something about the way she said pressed the issue had aggravated him, didn’t she know how many precautions he took to assure her safety while he convinced himself he could do this for Will, for himself, and ultimately for her. Something had snapped within him.

“Jack. You SENT Barbossa to find me??” Her eyes bugged out. So it wasn’t a coincidence that she had run into him in Shipwreck City.

“Bugger.”

“Jack you had better explain yourself.” She sat down at his desk and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly aggravated with the pirate before her. Her emotions were confusing her.

“I don’t know what your talking about Lizzie.” He tried his best to look innocent.

“Jack.” She shook her head disapprovingly, “how can I have faith in you if you cant even be honest with me?”

“Maybe ye can’t.” he’d muttered his answer. Here he was blowing his chances, again, but why? The mini Jacks were cursing him.

“Nice try Jack. I’m not letting you run this time. I know what happens when you open that bloody compass of yours, I used it remember?” She couldn’t believe she’d admitted that to him, even that she called him out on what he knew to be true long ago. Somehow her fears of losing another man she loved outweighed her fears of losing her aura of strength around him. She had finally figured him out. He’d push you away before he admitted his feelings and she’d discovered that he masked his own insecurity behind his overblown ego. She wasn’t letting him do it again, “What took you a year, and why did you send Barbossa to find me if you clearly knew where I was?” She presented him with no option but to answer and he knew it. Someone was on to him.

“Bloody hell woman!” He grunted, “I needed to come to terms with meself first.”

“Meaning?”

“Stop pressing and just listen will ye?”

She nodded and motioned for him to continue.

“Meaning…. I needed to establish for meself that I could in fact do this… look out for someone else’s hide as it were.”

“And did you establish that?”

“I’m here aren’t I?” He asked somewhat sarcastically.

“Aye.” She smiled at him. “But Barbossa?” Her voice seemed to lose the hostility it held.

“I needed to get ‘im off me ship somehow! Didn’t trust him not to scheme and steal me ship again.”

“But you trusted him to watch over me and my son?”

“You seemed to be getting along just fine when I showed up, so where’s the problem, aye? Besides, he’d kill me if he knew I told ye this but he had a son, died along with his mother from some disease when he’d left her on land. He wasn’t always a hard scallywag. That came from his experiences; he wasn’t born a backstabbing mutinous scoundrel. Knew old Hector had a soft spot that could be properly utilized when inspired, savvy?”

“I never knew.”

“And ye still don’t.”

“Point taken. But why would he willingly watch over me?”

“Because I wouldn’t give him more water unless he did.”

“So you granted your rival eternal life to keep me safe?”

“In a way.” He nodded, “besides I needed to have someone to fight with for all eternity and he likes babies.” His eyes remained locked on hers. “I also had to get ‘im a ship of his own.”

She walked over to him and ran a hand along his face. “I’m glad you’re here now Jack.”

“So ye don’t miss Turner?” A question he had meant to ask internally, but somehow vocalized, damn those voices in his head. He silently cursed his self-doubt. Even his flamboyance couldn’t cover his concerns about being her second choice.

He always loved her, but he hated her too. He set his sights on Tortuga when he’d dropped her off in hopes of forgetting all about her, but that didn’t exactly happen. He spent days in his dinghy afterwards trying to remember that she had killed him. His own suffering did nothing to chase the pesky emotion, as he knew she was suffering worse than he was. It had been like a penance for her crimes against him, that’s how he justified it to himself. But he hadn’t let Will stab the heart with that intention; he had tried to spare her the pain of losing him. It was the first time one of his impulsive plans backfired, and it bothered him. About the time he’d reclaimed his ship he discovered that he didn’t hate her, he hated caring for her, and her not even giving a second thought to him. But then he’d realized she had come to save him, guilty heart or not, that had to be something. Sometimes you don’t see things that are there, and when the whelp told him what he didn’t want to admit, he had to accept that he loved her.

“I’d be lying if I said no.” Her voice brought him out of his thoughts as she locked eyes with him, “but he has his destiny to fulfill, and WE have our life to live,” she pressed her lips against his as if to prove her point and build his confidence back, “and I intend on living it with the only other man I could ever love.” She paused, “That is of course dependent on you.”

He smirked before kissing her again, “I think I spent enough time running from it Lizzie.” They kissed again breaking when Jack realized he could avoid saying it again with a change of subject, “So are ye going to drink the water luv?”

“Jack, if it will shut you up, YES!” She grabbed the bottle from his desk and chugged it down. “Happy?” She asked him in mock frustration? Couldn’t he just tell her and get it over with?

“Eternally.” He smiled back at her and returned his lips to hers.