Fate Intervenes

Title: Fate Intervenes 7/?
by GylzGirl
Rating: NC-17
Other headers attached to chapter one.
Author's Notes: Thank you all for the feedback. You power the beast :) Ivory, if you didn't get my email, yes love! please!. Carol, Happy Belated Birthday! Thank you all for reading!
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CHAPTER SEVEN: Pirates

There were both advantages and disadvantages to being the only known ship in the Caribbean with black sails. On the downside, it meant you were instantly recognizable. This could be, and had been, problematic. Most especially when you came into view of a ship or port under the auspices of the Royal Navy or the East India Company. On the plus side, it meant you were instantly recognizable. This had been, and was proving to be again, quite helpful in the taking of other vessels with very little fuss.

Captain Jack Sparrow was a pirate and a scallywag to be sure but, a wanton murderer he was not. Providentially, due to the Pearl's bloody, haunted history under Barbossa's rule and Jack Sparrow's own legend of being untouchable by death, there were few vessels outside of the Navy or the East India Company who were willing to take on the infamous Black Pearl or her immortal Captain. Oh, they'd run. They all ran. But a faster vessel than the Pearl, the Caribbean had never known (at least not since the Interceptor met her demise under the Pearl's fire). And once the Pearl got close enough to her prey, it was like Nassau Port all over again.

At the first sign of the Esperanza dropping anchor, Jack found Elizabeth amongst the crew. "Prepare to board, lads!" He called to the crew. As men milled about the two of them, retrieving planks, Jack took Elizabeth by the arm and pulled her to the side. His eyes were deadly serious as they locked with hers. "Here," he said, pressing the hilt of a sword into her hand. "I know you know how to use this. I want you right at the back until the lads get the Esperanza's crew secured."

Elizabeth's mouth tightened. "Jack, I'm perfectly capable…"

"This is a direct order from your Captain and you'll follow it, Love, or it'll be into the brig with you." She blew an angry breath out her nostrils. Her neck began to redden. Jack took a deep breath, attempting to mentally direct blood away from powering an ill-timed erection.

"Jack Sparrow," she said through clenched teeth.

"That's the end of it, dearie." He gently brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. She leaned into the touch. "Your husband would have me keel-hauled should any harm befall you in the midst of a pirate raid. I promise you'll be able to join in the fun before it's all over. Let the crew earn their keep?"

Elizabeth's anger with him had died as soon as his hand touched her cheek. She smiled at him slowly. "One day, you're going to have to let me play with the big boys, Jack."

He grinned cheekily. "Aye. I suspect that to be true enough. But today is not that day, Love. Savvy?"

She sheathed her sword in the belt scabbard she wore and leaned back against the mast, her arms crossed over her chest. Quickly, Jack leaned forward and stole a kiss. Before she had time to register it, let alone return it, he was off and running towards the other ship.

"Bloody pirate," she said under her breath.

******

Jack's men preceded him to the deck of the Esperanza. The Spaniards were all made to cast aside their weapons, line up, and kneel. Gibbs, Marty, Cotton and Vasquez kept the Esperanza's crew under their watchful eyes while the rest of the Pearl's compliment searched the ship for additional souls.

Jack swayed his way across a plank that connected the two ships and jumped down onto the deck. He made his way to Gibbs, a smile crossing his face as he heard the words "el Kraken" and "no es muerto" amongst the worried whispers of the captured crew. Enzi, Hasani and Breverton, of the Pearl, emerged from below deck and walked to Jack.

"There be about 30 men chained below," Enzi stated with a noticeable tension in his jaw. He, as well as Hasani and Chane, had been recruited aboard the Pearl after having been found as cargo on a slaver ship bound for Bonaire.

Jack nodded. "They must've already made a few stops," he said, knowing that the holds of such ships were normally packed as full of human merchandise as they could fit. His face was solemn as he thought of the fate of those already sold. His eyes drifted to the Pearl briefly. Enslavement was abhorrent to him. To Jack Sparrow, freedom was life and slavery worse than death; and having been both enslaved and dead, at different times, he supposed he was in a unique position to judge.

"There were no further crew save a lad in the brig," Breverton added.

"Bring him up. I'll speak with him," Jack said. Breverton walked away. "Gibbs?"

"Aye, sir?"

"Kindly relieve these gents of anything of worth." Jack's crewmen, now returned from searching the ship, began to pick through the pockets of the kneeling Spaniards. Jack turned to the Pearl and waved Elizabeth over. She quickly scrambled to the planks and crossed to the Esperanza.

A clearing of a throat beside Jack got his attention. He turned to the young man that accompanied Breverton. He looked to be around 20. Before Jack could speak, Breverton took the man by the arm and turned him so that Jack could see the lines of blood soaking through the back of his shirt from where he'd received a recent flogging. Breverton stood him to face Jack once again and then walked several paces away.

"What's your name, lad?" Jack said in Spanish.

"Miguel Castillo, sir."

"And what heinous and atrocious crime did ye commit to earn the marks on your back and the hospitality of the brig?"

"I-I was caught stealing food, sir. They hadn't fed the men below for two days. I sleep on the floor just above the hold. I couldn't take the crying any more."

"I see." Jack smiled. "Good lad. Tell me, Miguel, have ye ever thought about becoming Captain of your own vessel?"

"Sorry?" Miguel blinked.

"The men below can be trained up as a crew, but they are inexperienced sailors. They will need a proper Captain to get them back home." Jack's eyes drifted to Enzi who was close enough to hear their conversation.

"What say you, Enzi?" Jack said in Swahili. The darker skinned man nodded.

"Enzi can translate and help instruct the men. He'd make an excellent First Mate for you, Captain Castillo," Jack continued in Spanish.

Miguel raised his arm experimentally, wincing a little in pain at the pull in the slashes in his back when he did so. "And them?" He gestured with his head at the Esperanza's crew.

"We'll put them off in the longboat. It can't be more than a couple of days row to land, if the weather holds out. We'll even be generous and leave the whole lot of them one single apple." Jack turned to the man who had formerly been Captain of the Esperanza and smiled. "After all, according to how they've treated those souls entrusted to them, a body doesn't need much of anything to keep it going for several days. Isn't that right, sir?" The man was seething, but remained on his knees. Jack turned his attention back to Miguel.

"What'll it be, lad? Your own ship and crew or the longboat with your mates?"

Miguel smiled. "I've always wanted to be a Captain."

Jack extended an arm around the younger man's shoulders. "I know exactly what you mean there, son." He gestured Miguel to speak with Enzi and turned once more to his own First Mate. "Mr. Gibbs, leave the food and the furnishings but make sure anything of a shiny nature is transported to the Black Pearl, toot sweet."

Before Gibbs could answer him, Jack heard, in instant succession, the cocking of a pistol, a male scream, and clattering noise. Turning that direction, he saw a pistol on the deck, a Spanish Ensign clutching his now-bloody hand and Elizabeth standing over him, sword raised near his throat and tipped red. The Ensign looked to her with pain-filled eyes. "That's my Captain you were trying to kill, Mate," she said coolly.

Jack smiled proudly at his bride. "Vasquez, Chane, let's get these men on their way!" Several members of the Pearls crew got the Spaniards to their feet and walked them to the ladder where the Esperanza's longboat was tied.

When the boat was filled to capacity, Jack leaned over the railings of the Esperanza and looked down on them. "Oy, catch!" He threw a single green apple down to the men. The former Captain caught it and sat back down with a venomous stare. "Start rowing, gents!" They glared at him defiantly. Jack whistled and was joined at the railing by several members of his crew. They all pulled pistols and began to fire at the edges of the longboat and the surface of the water nearest it. Startled and frightened, the Spaniards began to row away from the Esperanza as quickly as they could. The sound of the Pearl's crew laughing accompanied them until they were out of earshot.

******

The heat of day had finally succumbed to the cool, breezy night. Jack stood at the wheel, looking out over the water as the party died down on the deck of the Black Pearl. The crew had bid goodbye not only to Enzi but Hasani and Chane as well. He pondered that all men had a secret urge to return home one day. Being born on a ship that had long ago sunk to the depths and having been raised in ports and on vessels too numerous and various to name, Jack never really considered that he had a home to return to, save the ocean. He caught a flash of blonde hair in his peripheral vision and turned to find Elizabeth and Gibbs laughing and dancing about to the tune of the one fiddler who had not since retired to bed.

Jack smiled warmly at the sight. He noticed, not for the first time, how much more he seemed to be doing that lately due to the presence of his wife. He'd always been a man of good, if not slightly twisted, humor. But for some reason, Elizabeth just provoked him to smile at even the slightest prompting. He supposed it meant that he was truly a happy man, maybe for the first time in all his days. That thought scared him more than he could have imagined. Happiness, in Jack's experience, was as fleeting as luck. And the only thing that could make his happiness flee would be…

Jack swallowed hard and turned his gaze back to the water, refusing to even entertain the notion that one day he might wake up without the promise of seeing Elizabeth. He'd known she had a disturbingly large presence in his heart ever since that night, so long ago, with a bonfire, a pirate song, and two bottles of rum. But he was certain he could move on from her. Indeed, he had compelled himself to do so feeling sure that distance and the treasure of the Isla de Muerta would cure him of the proper Miss Swann. It only became clear to him when his bloody compass failed him when he needed it most just how deeply he'd allowed the Governor's daughter into his heart. Every part of him screamed that he had to find some way, any way, to escape 100 years of enslavement in the crew of Davy Jones. And yet, the blasted compass pointed unerringly towards Port Royal, towards Elizabeth, towards home. He wanted her more than his own freedom or his own lonely life. Despite all logical, conscious argument to the contrary, the proof lay in the palm of his hand, if not beating within his chest. He grinned as he realized that their first night as man and wife, he shouldn't have told her "Mine". He should have told her "Yours".

Dainty footsteps on the stairs caused Jack to flick his eyes over. There he found Elizabeth studying him. "Oh no, it's the Dread Pirate Liz Sparrow. Please dearie, don't take me ship."

She smiled and walked up to him. "And what would you trade for being allowed to keep said ship?"

"Alas, me ship is all I own in this world. I expect the only other thing I have to offer is the use of me body for your perverse pirate pleasure."

Elizabeth stopped before him. Her lips just out of his reach. She gently brushed a hand over the front of his breeches. She grinned as she discovered the growing hardness beneath. "Tempting offer, sir. But I think I'll have the ship." Elizabeth moved her hands to his chest and shoved.

Caught off guard, Jack stumbled back a little. Keeping her eyes on him, she wrapped her hands around the wheel's pegs. Recovering quickly, Jack took up position behind her and placed his hands over her own. "Want me to teach you how to steer?"

She turned her head to face him. "Aye," she said.

"Well first, we should have a heading."

"Have we one?"

He nodded. "La Vega. Not as well known as Tortuga, but just as much fun if you know where to go."

Jack's hands guided hers and the movement of the wheel. All the while, he kissed and nuzzled at the side of her neck. Over Elizabeth's shoulder, Jack caught the eye of Joshamee Gibbs. Jack smiled at him. Gibbs rolled his eyes but couldn't help a grin himself.

"Alright lads," he said to the straggling crew members on deck. "Let's get below and give the Captain some privacy." He shooed them down to the crew quarters before following them himself.

Once the crew was out of sight, Jack slid his arms around Elizabeth's waist and began to unfasten her breeches. He pushed them down to her knees and pulled her a bit closer to him, but made no move to turn her to face him.

"Jack?" she said. "What are you doing?" She let go of the wheel but he quickly replaced her hands on the pegs.

"Any Captain worth his or her salt knows that you don't let go of the wheel during a storm."

"It's perfectly placid out. Oh!" She bit back a moan as his long slender fingers slipped between the folds of her sex, stroking her.

"Things can change very quickly in the open water, Love." She heard a rustle of fabric. "One moment, everything in sight is calm as you please. The next?" Elizabeth gasped as he entered her from behind in one thrust. "It can start to get very rocky," he whispered in her ear as his hips began to work his cock within her. He removed his hands from atop her own and snuck them under her shirt to knead her breasts. "You've got to learn to keep to that wheel, no matter the conditions. Savvy?"

Elizabeth could only nod. She was panting. Her hands kept a death grip on the pegs. Jack began to kiss her neck again and she leaned her head back against his shoulder. This sensation was so different to the lovemaking they had done before. She had always felt so completely filled by his size and now, if it were possible, she felt fuller than ever. He pulled her hips back towards him, bending her slightly forward and sped his movements. The pleasure built so quickly it caught Elizabeth by surprise. Her hips pushed back at him, seemingly of their own accord and she was forced to bite against her own sleeve to muffle the screams she couldn't seem to contain.

Jack grinned sinfully behind her. His eyes were closed. His head bowed so that the ends of his dreadlocks and the cool tips of trinkets tickled at Elizabeth's back where her shirt was rucked up. His breath caught as Elizabeth climaxed around him, triggering his own.

Elizabeth rested her forehead against the cool damp wood of the wheel. Jack rested his against her shoulder. Both were still breathing hard. Still within her, Jack once again slipped a hand under her shirt and fondled her breasts, his mouth returned to her neck placing light kisses on her skin.

Elizabeth smiled lazily and turned her head in his direction. He met her lips and the two shared a languorous kiss. "Did you enjoy your lesson, Love?"

Elizabeth nodded. She knew she preferred the enjoyment of chest to chest contact and the erotic power of his kohl-lined brown eyes watching her fly apart under his sexual skill. However, this was definitely something they would have to try again. Soon.

Jack nipped at her chin. "Ah my Lizzie. I've so much yet to teach you." They kissed again but this time, all Elizabeth could think of was how bereft she felt having nothing to teach him.

"Jack?" she said.

"Hmm?" he answered as he kissed her collarbone.

"Is La Vega very much like Tortuga?"

"In all the ways that count, Love."

As Jack busied himself with her earlobe, Elizabeth smiled. Perhaps La Vega could provide her the opportunity to surprise her husband.


TBC: CHAPTER EIGHT: What Happens in La Vega, Stays in La Vega