Destiny's Requiem

A/N: Oh dear I'm getting all dramatic. Let me know what you all think!

CHAPTER 4

Elizabeth awoke to the sounds of a sleeping pirate snoring heavily in her ear. She was even more surprised when she realized that Willy had not woken from the thunderous blare. She slowly turned herself in his arms to try and face him but found that her shirt – well his shirt that he had given her to sleep in after Willy had an unfortunate incident with some sea sickness on her shirt in the middle of the night – was caught under him trapping her there. She could think of some worse places to be trapped, so she snuggled herself closer and let her mind wander.

As she went over the events of the recent months she couldn’t help but think about Will. Was he really ok with all this? What would it be like to see him again after she had spent eight years with the man whose arms she currently lie? The man who had lied to her so many times, yet somehow convinced her to believe him this time. Then it dawned on her. What if he had been lying this entire time? What if the note from Will was just another of his many lies designed to get her in bed and leave her like he had everyone else? She needed to see the letter again. She was not going to allow him this revenge.

Her thoughts got her panicking and she was determined to escape, wiggling her way out of his arms all the while silently cursing herself for allowing all of his lies to be so convincing. When she found the note in her jacket pocket she sat at his desk staring at the handwriting. Looking for some sign that Jack had written the letter all along. It did look like Will’s handwriting. She started to doubt her doubts. When did Will ever write anything for Jack to have seen, to have been able to copy that precisely? It looked like every other letter Will had ever written her, but those were of love, this of freedom. Freedom from the life they had chosen before fate intervened yet again. She was so distraught in her thoughts that she hardly noticed Jacks eyes open.

She reached for one of his maps staring at his writing and back at Will’s, trying to notice the differences. The writing was as different as the men. Will’s was very neat, straight lettering, every “I” dotted every “t” crossed. Jack’s lettering was more erratic, more rushed, and seemed to carry the sway of the sea, as with everything Jack did. Tears began to cloud her eyes, merging the penmanship into indecipherable lines. Why was she having these thoughts, these doubts? Hadn’t she just been happy and at peace in his arms?

Jack began moving slowly as to not startle her, as for some reason he sensed something off within her. He couldn’t believe how long he had slept. He never slept that soundly, that comfortably, or for that matter, that close to anyone. Come to think of it, he’d never actually slept with someone, he never trusted anyone that much to let them at him when he was at slumber. He sort of liked the feeling he had when he had her in his arms. Now he was beginning to understand what made people fall in love. He knew he had to handle this carefully. Jack snuck behind her unnoticed and silently observed the situation before gently placing a hand on her shoulder and settling on his knees beside her.

“Lizzie.”

“Jack!” she jumped startled by his sudden presence.

“What is it luv?” He shifted her in his chair to face him, clearly concerned by her distraught appearance.

“Nothing. Nothing it all.” She lied and tried desperately to dry her tears. If she wasn’t in her current frame of mine she may have noticed the concern in his eyes, the fear that something terrible had happened to her, and the guilt that it was all somehow his fault. Instead she sat there sobbing with a list of insecurities lingering in her head that suddenly decided to surface when they probably should have the first day she’d seen that letter. Then she wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Lizzie, yer sitting at me desk mulling over a map of waters we are no where near and staring at a letter that ended …”

“How do you know what the letter said Jack, you never read it remember?” She snapped accusingly. His eyes changed over, clearly a defense when he realized he was under attack, again his emotions would go unnoticed.

Puzzled he looked at her slowly coming to realize something had snapped in her brain. He’d thought she was growing comfortable to the whole situation rather quickly; it had taken him enough time to understand it, surely she would need some too. Whether they wanted to admit it or not they had suppressed their feelings for the other since they day they had met. Getting them out in the open now was hard, for the both of them. “Ye told me you were free to live your life with me Lizzie. Will told me he wanted me to take care of ye.” He paused briefly “I may be mad but I’m not completely daft. What’s in yer head luv?” He didn’t mean for it to sound as callus as it did, but then again when did anyone understand Jack Sparrow?

Her anger overcame her for some reason and she screamed at him, “your lying to me again, aren’t you Jack? This is just another one of your grand schemes! Designed to get me into your bed and destroy me! Get even with me for killing you!” With her screaming she woke Willy, granting her an escape route, one she desperately needed to settle her thoughts. Jack’s jaw merely hit the floor as he sat gaping at her as she picked up her son and headed out of the cabin in a fury. For the first time in his life, Jack was speechless.

“She thinks I’m lying to her again?” He asked no one in particular. “Well isn’t that bloody wonderful!”

Mini jack suddenly appeared and replied to him, “See what being honest gets ye? When you lie to women and then leave em, ye have no problems. I say whoring was the right way all along. At least then ye never woke up to this!”

“Shut it” the real Jack replied, “Lizzie’s different. I love her.”

The other mini Jack merely smiled at him, “took ye long enough mate,” and with that he grabbed the other Jack by his dreads and disappeared.

It was still early and Jack figured he had about an hour before the crew started to surface on the deck. He reached for a shirt and then realized that Lizzie stormed out without her pants. She’d likely want those before said crew surfaced. Besides, he needed to tell her. He walked out of the cabin, without his normal effects, Lizzie’s breeches in hand, determined to tell her he loved her and silence her doubts. He found her leaning against the mast watching Willy stumble around.

“Ye care to tell me what that was about?” He asked as he handed her the pants, a peace offering of sorts.

She looked at him and silently nodded her thanks for the forgotten pants. She’d realized she’d forgotten them and planned to sneak back in to retrieve them, she’d hardly expected him to bring them to her, especially after the way she had just behaved. She stepped into them and pulled them up, allowing Jacks shirt to hang over the top of them.

“Well Lizzie?” He asked her again, well aware that she didn’t want to talk but not allowing her the opportunity to avoid the conversation, he couldn’t help thinking how alike they were and it brought a faint smile to his lips.

“I,” she looked down, then at Willy, then at him, then back to the floor, “how do I know you aren’t lying to me Jack?” Her voice was calmer now, still held some tears deep down, but clearly she had leveled out a bit. But she believed her statement; that much was clear.

That hurt him. The first time it had shocked him, this time it took the wind out of his sails. “Lying to you?” He repeated it to himself trying to wrap his brain around what he was hearing, “Lizzie, after everything we’ve been through do you honestly believe I would lie to ye about this?” He thought to himself, certainly he had lied to her before but never to, well never to hurt her or break her as she had said.

“I don’t know Jack. I don’t know anything anymore. I was a proper lady dreaming about pirates, engaged to a commodore! Now look at me! I’m mother to a child of a cursed man whom I’m married to and get to see every 10 years because he sails the sea of the dead and tells me its ok to actually pursue my love for a notorious womanizing insecure pirate whom I once fed to a Kraken!” She inhaled sharply and met his piercing gaze.

He was impressed; she was staring to talk like he did and in a round about way she’d admitted she loved him. “Well now that you cleared that up Lizzie, allow me this. First, ye never wanted to marry the commodore and it wasn’t until ye met me that ye even had a chance with dear William ‘cause I had to kick him in the arse to get him to actually stop being a eunuch and tell ye how he really felt about ye. Secondly, ye always wanted to be a pirate and ye make a damn gorgeous pirate king at that. Thirdly, the boy is your world and ye love every minute of being his mother, and who his father is, is not a factor in this. Fourthly, I may be a notorious pirate but I certainly am not insecure” she glared at him briefly “ok maybe a little.” He silently questioned how she’d known that before raising his hand to caress her face and lock his eyes on hers “I learned my lesson in lying to ye the day ye fed me to the aforementioned beastie and I haven’t felt the need to lie to ye since. So with that being said, ye need to understand luv, that any doubts ye be having about your current situation need not surface cause there’s a pirate captain in these waters who loves ye more than he likes to admit and ye can’t be storming out of said captain’s quarters in a rage with no breeches around me crew, savvy?”

It was in that babble that she realized just how much he really did care for her. And like the sun lifting the darkness from the horizon, she leaned into kiss him and succumb to his embrace. “I’m sor…”

His lips descending on hers silenced her as she felt his lips turn into a grin before he pulled away, remembering Willy was nearby. “Now that the sun is up I need me effects. After all luv, I am captain of this here ship and I need to be acting like it.”

She smiled at him, “Aye Captain.”


He was standing at the helm much later in the day when she approached him, Willy running around near by, well running to the best of his ability.

“Jack?”

“Aye luv.” He moved a hand from the spoke to take hers and pull her near.

“I was wondering something.” She spoke cautiously, as if she was unsure of what she had to say.

“What’s that dearie?” He smirked at her to show her he was paying attention despite his eyes focusing on the sea.

“Can I stay with you again tonight? That is if it’s ok. I don’t want you to be pressured but I…”

He placed a finger to her lips to silence her ramble before smiling the most sincere smile she had ever seen grace his lips.

“I refuse to allow you slumber anywhere else Lizzie.” He then replaced his finger with his lips briefly as to not receive any catcalls from his working crew.

Her heart soared. She hadn’t slept so comfortably in ages and she enjoyed the feeling of merely being in his arms. It was a luxury she had never experienced with her husband and she longed to never sleep alone again. She just hoped that this time she wouldn’t have a mental breakdown and nearly push Jack away when she awoke. She wanted so much to be near him. She turned herself to him and gave him a hug to which he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tighter to him. Something in her belly started to stir and she recognized the cause, immediately unnerving her and causing her to tense.

“Lizzie what’s the matter?” Ever the observer Jack was quick to realize her flinching.

“Nothing.” She through on a fake smile to mask her nervousness, the same one she had used on virtually everyone in Port Royal all her life.

“What happened to not lying to each other aye?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“Jack. I just….” She bit her lip; she wasn’t sure how to say it, “I don’t know if I’m ready to.” she blushed and tried to continue but was cut off by Jack.

“What happened to my brave pirate king, eh?” He chuckled briefly, “ye can feed me to a beastie, take on Cutler Beckett, fight an army of Davy Jones’ sea creatures, but ye get all nervous merely talking to me.” He smirked at her and kissed her forehead, “Lizzie I’ve waited this long for ye I think I can fantasize a little longer, eh?” He smirked at her and kissed her cheek. “We do have eternity, just promise me it wont take ye that long?” Silently he could hear himself, ‘it better be sooner rather than later, I’m getting awfully tired of me own hand.’

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek before returning to Willy, a silent thank you for not making her vocalize her concerns. Meanwhile she silently berated herself for being so incapable of speaking to him. She needed to stop keeping everything to herself, Jack would understand. He always seemed to.


That night she returned to the cabin with Willy while Jack was giving out the evening assignments. She settled Willy in his crib and softly sang to him as he drifted off to sleep with little hesitation. Once he was settled she removed her pants and allowed the length of Jacks shirt to cover her bottom. She had grown quite fond of his shirt and wasn’t quite willing to give it back just yet, despite how big it was on her. She lit the candles by the bed and decided that she would read until he joined her. As she was picking out a book she accidentally knocked over a trinket he had sitting on the bookshelf.

Jack of course having impeccable timing entered to a sight he wasn’t quite expecting and couldn’t stifle the groan that mindlessly left his lips. Lizzie quickly stood up pulling the shirt down and blushing furiously.

“I would list that as a definitive perk of sharing me cabin with ye luv.” He smiled at her and tried to calm the feelings that were starting to brew within him. He had promised her after all, and she was clearly nervous that he had seen “that much” which in reality “wasn’t much” of her.

“Jack, I…” she wasn’t sure what to say; clearly she should have left her pants on a little longer. She thought about it and before continuing asked herself what the old Lizzie would say to such a remark. “I would hope that you have seen such a thing before and that it doesn’t affect our previous agreement.” She finished up more confidently, trying to remain as playful as she had ever been with him.

“Aye.” He closed the distance between them and placed his hands on her hips and his lips on hers. “No worries luv,” he smirked at her before continuing, “it’ll be mine soon enough.” He waggled his eyebrows at her before pulling away to disregard his coat and effects.

“What makes you so sure?” Suddenly the fire she’d been feeling in her belly all day was driving her to test him, rile him up a bit.

“Curiosity Lizzie. I’m Captain Jack Sparrow.” He spoke confidently as he unbuttoned his shirt, “and no matter how many times ye try and tell yerself that ye can resist, the simple fact remains that no woman can.”

She threw the pillow at him off of the bed and hopped in, “Jack, your conceit never ceases to amaze me and in case you have forgotten, I am not your typical woman.” She wasn’t mad at him, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of laughing either. “Come to bed.”

“Believe me luv, I have not forgotten. But you have forgotten that I am in fact that captain of this ship and as said captain I give the orders.” He smirked at her in confidence.

“And I’m your king” she smirked up at him, “by your vote if I recall. Come to bed.”

He muttered something indecipherable as he walked to the bed, quickly lying beside her so she could settle herself next to him. There was no sense in arguing with her; he had been smart enough to elect her despite how stupid it had sounded at the time. She placed her head on his shoulder and arm across his chest, “good night Jack.”

“Night luv” he replied as he turned his head down to kiss her head before blowing out the candle next to him.