Welcomes and Farewells

 As dawn filled their room with a rosy gold light, Will Turner stretched and felt his body groan in complaint. He was no stranger to working tirelessly, but the days since the storm had pushed even his body to the limit. He was well and truly exhausted and simply not going to get up early this morning.

He looked over at Elizabeth—hair spilling all over the pillow, hand tucked under her cheek, a slight smile playing across her lips perhaps from a good dream. They had not even made love once since the hurricane had passed, both of them collapsing into bed at the end of the day and occasionally waking up in the morning to find themselves still dressed in their clothes. Will kissed her forehead tenderly and not a little wistfully and then settled in with his eyes closed to listen to familiar sounds of his house in the morning, all the comforting noises that told him the storm was over—well the weather, anyway. Rosetta was frying bacon in the kitchen, and Will could hear the sounds of pots being moved about. Pudding the cat was meowing at something—no doubt she’d be jumping on the bed in a minute, with that uncanny cat radar that always knew when you were awake. Jeremiah, the gardener, was chopping at the coconut palms with his machete to remove the tenuously held limbs before the next wind brought them down onto their heads—work best done in the relative cool of the morning. Jack and Suzanna were making love—work also well done in the cool of the morning or at any other time, not much seemed to dissuade them, Will thought smiling to himself. Carts were passing in the streets laden with…

“What!!”

He jumped out of bed so fast that he startled the hell out of Elizabeth who bolted upright wondering where the fire was. “Sorry...just listen....”

Elizabeth did and her eyes widened as it all hit her. She screamed, “Aaah! He’s back! He’s back! He did it!” and she hugged Will for a very long time...long enough that her thoughts turned to other things again now that relief flooded through her. 

“I should probably get up, now that he’s here and things to do and a welcoming to happen...” but Will’s voice trailed off as Elizabeth made a trail of kisses down his neck. “Mmm, well it’s not like they would want me to interrupt them...”

“Jack would run you through. I think it’s best we just have our own celebration and see them later,” she told him and pulled him back down to the bed.

********************

It was well into afternoon by the time a crumpled and rumpled and madly grinning Jack and Suzanna made it downstairs with their arms wrapped around each other as much as they could be and still walk. Will and Elizabeth had been sat in the dining room going over household accounts and sprang to their feet immediately, surrounding them and almost crushing the two of them in their embrace. Jack winced and Elizabeth pulled back instantly, “Jack, are you hurt?”

“Just a few bruises here and there, luv. Things have a tendency to move about a bit on a ship in a storm that size.”

“A few bruises!” snorted Suzanna. “Look at him!” She pulled up his shirt, much to Jack’s great chagrin, and displayed a right side that was so purple it hurt to look at him.

“Ah, let me go tell Rosetta. Some plantain poultices and some comfrey should help with that,” said Elizabeth.

But Rosetta had already heard Jack’s voice and had come out to welcome him herself, and even he looked rather startled when she hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Praise the Lord you are back!” she exhorted and then said something quietly in a language Suzanna did not recognize but made Jack and Will smile. “This lovely lady of yours has been pining away for you, Captain, I could not bear it much longer. Best audience I ever had for my cooking, and she barely ate a bite. I thought she might disappear. I told Mr. Turner I might have to go look for you myself if it kept up. It would ruin my reputation amongst the other cooks if they heard Lady Suzanna wouldn’t eat my food! I’ll get Missy to make up some poultices and I’ll go make you two something to eat.”

Suzanna was so grateful for the mothering that she disengaged herself from Jack for just a moment to go hug Rosetta. “Thank you, Rosetta, that would be lovely. To tell you the truth, I’m starving.”

“Well hallelujah! Music to my ears,” and with that Rosetta was off to the kitchen to work her magic.

Rosetta’s words had put Jack’s mind to something though, and he looked at Suzanna’s face more critically in the bright afternoon sunlight that had been muffled by the drapes in their room. Last night all he knew was that he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life, and of course that still held true. His fingertips had told him that she had lost weight, but as he looked at her more carefully now, he realized her clothes were hanging on her. She was pale, intolerably pale, paler than she’d been when she arrived from England, and her eyes were smudged with exhaustion. The thought that she had suffered like this over him drove him mad, and he just wanted to fix it right away, so he kissed her as if he could breathe the color back into her face with his lips, and truth be told, he succeeded more than a little. When they finally became aware again of other people in the room, Elizabeth had tears in her eyes and Will looked more than a little misty too. “It’s good to have you back, Jack.”

********************

The day passed in a sea of stories, with the four of them never moving from that big table until long after the candles and lanterns were lit. Suzanna told about the intriguing Mr. Abernathy and the role he played in her emancipation. Will and Elizabeth’s stories were of Elizabeth’s father and his reaction to the news. She was honestly afraid she might have killed him at first, he had looked about to keel over, but once it had settled he was thrilled of course and was already planning a huge ball to introduce the two of them in their new station.

“Actually, he is even more agreeable to me now,” said Will. “It may be for all the wrong reasons, but it seems as though now that my ‘lack of position’ is no longer such a detriment to his daughter, he is content enough that she should love me and that I make her happy.”

“He no doubt wants to stay on your good side now that you are married to his daughter, the Duchess.” Suzanna added. Elizabeth’s breath hitched and they all looked at Suzanna. “Sorry, I’m sorry, too many years at court breeds a lot of cynicism in these things, I’m afraid. I apologize. Actually, Elizabeth, I have always liked your father. You know, Will, I realize that he has been a bit hard on you at times, but the fact is if he had really objected to you marrying her, you wouldn’t have.”

“What do you mean? Once I saw the truth of it, I would never have let her go.”

“Don’t misunderstand me, I am not doubting either of you or your love for each other, but I don’t think you quite understand yet about power. He could have had you arrested or deported. You might have simply disappeared never to be seen again. He’s the Governor, Will, and many thousands of miles away from anyone he is accountable to, not that they would care anyway. So the fact is, he put Elizabeth’s happiness first you, and you have really had his approval all along. Otherwise you simply wouldn’t be here.”

“Well, that is something to think about, isn’t it?” Will responded after a long pause.

“So what about you, Jack?” asked Elizabeth. “Defying all the odds and living to tell the tale once again?”

“What can I say, luv? I keep telling people, I’m Captain Jack Sparrow, and they still don’t see it.” It was said with his usual bravado, but an attentive audience could certainly see something else.

Will chortled. “You know, Jack, I used to think you were mad when you said that. But now I know you are not only the most cunning of men and the most relentless, but also I really do think you live a kind of charmed life.”

Jack pulled Suzanna closer and kissed her cheek. “And I, William, would say that is more than evident.”

Suzanna sighed, putting her head on his good shoulder. They had been eating and sipping all day—roast lamb, corn pudding, oxtail soup. Suzanna might think Rosetta was trying to put the weight back on in one sitting, and she had done her part with three helpings of mashed potatoes. They were drinking a lovely, silky, well-aged French red—aanother “gift” of Mr. Mouton if she wasn’t mistaken, but it had all made her a bit sleepy now.

“I believe, Elizabeth, that that will be a rousing story for another time, as I think this lady here is more than ready for bed.” Jack picked her up gently, careful to keep her on his good side and carried her to their room.

“Sorry,” she murmured, not really awake but not quite out either, as Jack undid ribbons and lacings and slowly worked her dress off.

“Think I could get a job as a ladies maid?” he asked her.

Even half asleep, she giggled. “Wolf and the sheep...so sleepy...don’t want to miss anything...”

“It’s alright, luv,” he said laying down next to her and pulling her to him, “I’m not going anywhere, not without you.” Suzanna nuzzled into his chest and promptly fell fast asleep, just as Pudding jumped on the bed and curled up at their feet, purring loudly. “Just what I was thinking, mate” and he closed his eyes.

********************

She woke up in the middle of the night, feeling more than seeing his eyes on her and the tears came to hers immediately. She had thought she might never do that again.

He pulled her closer and she expected a kiss, but instead he buried his face in her hair and her neck and just breathed. “You wore the perfume.”

“Every night. The perfume and your shirt. Every night.” They spoke in whispers as if the things needed to be said, but perhaps not wanting them heard. “They were the threads that tied me to you. The threads that held me together. And I just barely held.”

“I thought the Pearl was lost. I thought I was going to die. I’ve never been afraid to die before, but I didn’t want to lose you. So I fought like hell because I was fighting to get back to you.”

They were both trembling now, and Jack moved over her, letting her feel the weight of him as he burrowed again in her hair. He inhaled deeply and the force of it slammed into him. All the nights of their separation, the aching need for her, the frenzy he felt at wanting something so desperately and being forced to wait, and now he could not wait another minute. He bit into her shoulder, eliciting a gasp and moaned into her ear, “I need you. Now.”

He was already pushing her thighs apart, and she opened herself to him more than willingly. She was breathless as she bit and suckled at his throat, “Then take me back.”

Jack had never taken any woman before without foreplay, but she was ready for him. In fact, her body cried out with the same need as his, and he drove into Suzanna now without so much as a kiss, and she pushed back with everything in her. Their coupling was not about grabbing at or giving pleasure, it was about closing the space between them. When the pleasure did come, it took them both by surprise as waves of grace washed over the two of them—clean and full and whole again.

********************

When they awoke the next morning, still tangled up in one another, there was an audible sigh of contentment from them both. No need to do anything but breathe to be happy. But these were not two quiet minds by nature. “We need to leave, don’t we? And the sooner the better,” Suzanna mused.

“That might be best,” he replied. “Old Norrie is certain to have got wind by now. I’d expect him to turn up at any given moment. Are you sure you’re ready for this, luv?”

Suzanna looked at him in some amazement.

“I know, it’s a hell of the time to ask the question...just now that it’s here, are you really ready to give it all up? It’s not too late that you could still...”

“Captain Sparrow, are you in the habit of embarking on a long search for treasure only to offer to give it back when you’ve finally found it?

“I can’t say that I am, no,” he smiled, his fingers stroking her face. But then his face got serious again. “But then I’m not in the habit of wanting the treasure to be happy, either.”

“Jack, everything that I have ever wanted in my life is right here. I’m on the cusp of having all of it, and nothing, not even you suddenly going all chivalrous on me, is going to get in the way of me getting what I want.”

“Well then, I guess that answers that. Now I have only one more question. When did you become the pirate?”

********************
For breakfast that morning there was hot tea and fresh eggs, buttery and scrambled with cream and a local cheese, and a fantastic kind of hash with pork and onions and potatoes that made Suzanna’s eyes roll back in her head with delight. There were some things she would definitely miss. And two more of them were looking at she and Jack right now.

“We realize that you’ve got to get moving, but we were hoping you could spend just one more night. We might have a little farewell dinner this evening. There are a few people who would really like to see you before you leave as well,” Elizabeth enjoined them.

Suzanna looked at Jack, “Is that alright? Do you think it’s very dangerous? I do have some things to get in town,” a smile crossed her face thinking of the surprise she had in store for Jack, “things ordered and whatnot, and more ink and notebooks to buy...”

“I’m sure it will be fine, luv. I may even do a spot of shopping myself. I need to arrange for some supplies for the Pearl. We’d be delighted, Elizabeth.”

They all raised an eyebrow at that. “Jack, I did think I’d get dressed up for the party tonight, but I’d really rather not have to break you out of jail again.”

“Even iron bars could not keep me from you tonight,” he told her, kissing her with barely restrained passion and then disappearing though the door to the kitchen calling, “I’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner,” and he was gone.

********************
That evening, Suzanna finished dressing and looked into the mirror with a self-satisfied gleam in her eye. Who knew when she would ever have a reason to dress like this again, and so she had pulled out all the stops. The dress was not fussy—that had never been her style—but it was a deep red silk with a boned bodice that showed off every curve to its best advantage and then flowed over her body to the floor. Her shoulders and neck were bare, and her hair was swept up on top of her head with the few tendrils of curls that were already escaping just adding to the overall effect. A delicate necklace of rubies accented with diamonds draped around her neck with small drop earrings to match.

It was getting close to six now and she was just looking somewhat anxiously out the balcony when she heard the door open. She turned around and they both froze where they stood.

“And to think there was a time when I’d have been focused on getting that jewelry off you, well not only the jewelry,” he admitted, snaking an arm about her waist, his other hand drifting over laces and fastenings, “the dress off as well,” he added, “but then I wouldn’t have really seen the woman underneath it.”

“Maybe that’s because you never had the right woman underneath,” she shot back, nipping at his ear.

His eyes widened and he looked at her. “You, milady, are now making lascivious jests? I have been a bad influence. It is a good thing I shall be hiding you away from this respectable company ere you find yourself spurned by society all together.”

“I don’t know, you are looking a bit more respectable tonight yourself. You did some shopping as well.” She reluctant pulled back from him to get a better look, but it was well worth the effort. He wore new black breeches and boots, a crisp white linen shirt, black vest, and a solid scarlet sash to match the one holding back his amazing hair. “You look even more fantastic than usual, and believe me that is saying something.”

He couldn’t supress a small smirk and bowed. “But why so uncharacteristically tied up this evening?” she asked fingering the collar of that shirt.

“Ah well, I promised William I would make an effort. Apparently his father-in-law will be in attendance.”

“My uncle? The Governor? Well that is interesting.” She looked at him coyly now. “But the problem is, I won’t be able to think about anything else all evening but undoing this later,” she told him, her fingers still at the collar of his shirt.

“How much later ?”

********************

Off the drawing room spilled a large stone terrace with a low wall that in no way impeded the view of the sea beyond. Sometime during cocktail hour, Jack handed Will a glass of something and steered him outside.

“Well, William, I can’t help but feel that...well I can’t exactly say simplifying... but sorting out my life has well and truly bollocksed-up yours.”

“Jack, you may be one of the few men alive who could imagine that his wife becoming a duchess and inheriting an enormous…no a staggering amount of money would make a man unhappy.”

“Ah but then there’s not many men who know the thrill of bringing their lady into port, who know that salt can taste sweeter than sugar, who would prefer a canopy of stars to one of satin.”

Will was silent for some time.

“I’ll admit that until the other day, I’d no idea.”

More silence.

“But you know having spent time around Suzanna, I’ve started thinking that it is time for me to start taking a longer view of things. I’ve always been a sort of take life as it comes person. But now I am seeing there can be a real benefit to making a plan. I think between us all we can come up with a strategy that will work.

“It’s not as though I despise my life here. I have work I love to do, and I do it well. These are good people here. And most importantly, I am truly, madly in love with the woman I get to wake up with every morning, as stubborn and demanding and impossible as she may be at times.”

“I have a feeling she is going to need all those traits and then some to swim with the sharks she is going to have to deal with.”

Elizabeth of course appears right on cue to announce that dinner is ready and to tell Will to get a move on.

“On the other hand...” Jack begins.

“The sharks had bloody well watch out for themselves,” Will grinned back.

********************

As the main courses are cleared away, Elizabeth goes over the menu in her mind and remembers those lovely cheeses she bought at the market, well overbought really, any excuse to spend money with the local merchants who have lost so much in the storm. She crouches between Jack and Suzanna’s chairs. “Jack, I’ve just remembered something, and I was wondering if you’d mind nipping down to the cellar to choose some lovely sweet wine, since I do believe you are the one with the greatest expertise in the room.”

“Well perhaps the most experience, though I think the expertise would fall to Suzanna. C’mon, luv, I could use a stretch of me legs a bit regardless. Let’s grab some of that lovely port you like.”

********************

Suzanna is doing her best to ignore the heat generated just by the feel of Jack’s hand on her waist as they walk down the stone steps to the cellar, feeling the temperature of the air around them drop and a faint musty smell of dust and bottles and age and buried treasure.

But all thoughts of wine fly from her head the moment they are inside. They take two steps into the room before he catches her wrist and pulls her very slowly toward him. Just the look on his face, so smoky and dark, eyes black and glittering, is enough to steal all the breath from her body. His arm wraps back around her waist, his other hand tangling in her hair drawing her closer until they are sharing the same breath. “I was told to find something sweet, was I not?” He kissed her slowly and deeply and more and more. His fingers that could untie a knot from 20 paces made very short work of the laces and ribbons though he does not undo them all. “As much as I love to look, it will take too long to get it all off you,” he regrets, as the back of his hand trails over her cleavage, “but at least now I can touch.” He eases her breasts up over the front of the gown and wastes no time in drawing her into his mouth, his moustache and beard tickling at her skin making her shiver even more. The warm tongue and soft lips licking and sucking at her nipples, the feeling of the cold brick pressed against her back, her breasts exposed in this elegant red dress—it is just too much, she feels utterly wanton. The fact that anyone could walk in on them at any moment just adds fuel to the fire. He suckles at her long and hard until she is grinding into him, her hips rising up to find him and her hand now sliding inside those new black breeches. He is solid satin in her hand, already slightly sticky with wanting her, and he groans and holds her still. “It’s a lovely thought, darling, but I’ve been going insane with wanting to touch you all night. So I think it had better be ladies first.”

His hands push up her skirts until he can find his way in. Under the last of many petticoats lies only silken skin. He caresses her thighs but she is gasping now and pulls him to her, biting at his lip. “Please Jack, just touch me.” His fingers slide inside her soft warm body and his tongue inside her mouth. Nothing in her can resist him when he is like this—insistent and relentless in demand of her pleasure. She melts. She is as liquid and syrupy as the port they came in search of, and she opens further and further to him as he strokes her, sliding up to circle and then back in again, bringing her ever upwards.

He searches for her mouth again, but he wants more. His teeth tug gently at her nipples as he moves down to the floor. She is so close now, he knows her body, knows she will give herself to him completely, and he wants to be there to catch her when she does. He slides one leg up and over his shoulder and hangs on to her hips as he slides his tongue inside, reaching to release her. She shatters and falls, lets go of everything that is not Jack and now and this perfect moment. He is strong enough to catch her, to hold her up and lower her down to him, but he struggles a bit to be gentle as his own need is so great now, the taste of her flooding his senses and making him desperate.

“That’s the wine I was looking for,” he growls in her ear. “Surrender,” he growls as he kisses and licks at her neck and holds her so tightly.

She knows his body too, can feel how close to the edge he is now. She is getting better at these buckles and belts, her fingers pulling at the buttons now as she can feel him tremble. Her hand wraps around him, and he lifts her to where she can slide herself on top of him. And then above their heads a door bursts open and the unmistakable sounds of boots moving across wooden floors with a strong sense of purpose.

“Goddamn sodding bastard, send him to hell, Commodore bloody sodding Norrington...” Jack snarls quietly but with vociferousness. Suzanna is not sure how to react, and a kind of squeak comes out of her mouth that is part fear, part frustration, and part impossible-not-to-feel-it amusement at the look on Jack’s face. He has them up and moving before she is entirely sure what is happening, back to the coldest part of the cellar where the whites and champagnes were kept in a kind of closet with the stone dripping slightly. They stand and listen and wait, and occasionally a drip would fall on their skin, making them shiver again.

Jack whispers very, very softly in ear, “Just so you know, when I do kill him, it won’t be for trying to hang me or for blowing up my ship...it will be for this.”

********************

They are not found and though they had already planned to leave in the early morning, this has given things a much greater sense of urgency. “Sorry, luv, but no time for long goodbyes now. We’ve got to go.” There was so much she hadn’t said yet, but it would all just have to wait. She would trust that they would all be together again soon, and that between them, Will and Elizabeth would find their way.

The farewells were hasty and there was one introduction that Suzanna had not gotten to make yet and insisted on. The tall, gaunt form of Algernon Abernathy was tugged into the parlor as Suzanna presented him to Jack as their veritable savior. Jack took it quite seriously. “You have done us a great service, sir, and I am in your debt. If my sword or my ship can ever be of service to you, you have only to ask.” In his bearing, in the strength of his words, in the unflinching way he met his eyes, the lawyer saw how he could have won this extraordinary woman’s heart. There was strength here to meet strength and integrity no matter what the world might name him. Abernathy couldn’t imagine why he would ever take him up on his offer, but he knew he could trust him if he did.

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