Chapter Twenty-Three – Cake, Knives, and Goodbyes

Carly stirred when she heard the sound of someone pounding on the door and calling her name. She knew she couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour, and she couldn't for the life of her figure out who was calling her name. Although it was certainly a man's voice, it was neither Will nor Jack. It was then that she noticed she was quite still, and not rocking back and forth like she would have been on a ship. She swore and shut her eyes tight when she realized that the previous day hadn't been a dream, but a harsh reality.

"Carly! Carly, are you awake?" the governor called, still rapping on the door.

"Yes, I hear you!" Carly yelled, looking to her nightstand for something to throw at the door.

Governor Swann opened the door and entered with two maids before she could get her hand around the candleholder. "Get up, we haven't time to dawdle." He threw back the curtains on the window, allowing the bright morning light to fill the room. He turned to the maids, exasperated. "Dress her! And do something with her hair."

"My hair? What're you going to do to my hair?" she asked, shielding her eyes from the sun while the maids pulled her out of bed and dressed her behind the screen.

"Anything will be an improvement," he answered. "Now, this is a very important day, you understand. Do not ruin it. Stand up straight and don't speak unless you are spoken to, and if the occasion arises that you are required to speak – heaven forbid – then you will simply agree with Commodore Norrington on the subject. You are to dance with him, and only him – "

She gasped and cursed at the maids as they laced her corset, showing no sympathy for her. "Dance with him?"

"Surely you've learned to dance,"

"Dancing with Commodore Norrington is an entirely different matter from dancing with a man," she choked out, feeling her insides being squeezed closer and closer together with every merciless tug of the laces on her corset.

"Yes, well I imagine dancing with Commodore Norrington would be a fairly new experience for you if I am correct in assuming that the only men you have ever had the pleasure of dancing with are pirates. I can only hope that you will be a lady and not make a spectacle of yourself. How's the dress coming?"

"I can't breathe."

"Good."

Commodore Norrington stood beside Carly and rolled his eyes when she attempted to hide a yawn behind her fan. The change in her physical appearance had not had much of an impact on her behavior, he thought, besides the fact that she had been squirming uncomfortably in her dress all morning. She may have passed for a lady while she was dressed in proper clothes and had her hair neatly curled, but she was still just a pirate in a nice dress. To further prove his point, Carly chose that moment to look down at her cleavage and try to adjust her bodice so that at least a couple parts of her could breathe. She began to wave her fan furiously on her face in an effort to cool off, and then she proceeded to lift her dress to her knees and wave the fan under there as well. Disgusted as he was, Norrington felt his cheeks blushing ever so slightly. He turned his attention instead to Elizabeth and Will, who were dancing with each other.

Governor Swann approached the commodore and cleared his throat. "Perhaps you should ask her to dance before she gives someone a heart attack?"

Norrington looked as if the governor had just asked him to sever an appendage and serve it to Carly on a silver platter. "Dance with her?"

"Yes. Now."

The commodore turned to Carly and grudgingly extended his hand to her. "May I have this dance?" he asked, as if the words burned his throat.

"No, any sudden movements and something might pop out of my dress," she said. "Terribly sorry."

"You're embarrassing yourself, not to mention the governor and me. Dance with me and consider it a favor."

Carly was offended and looked somewhat less than willing to dance with him, or to be within a hundred feet of him for that matter. Nevertheless, she did accept his hand, which only made her think more of her impending doom. The two began to do a basic box step, each of them thinking of places they would rather be and things they would rather be doing.

Dancing nearby were Will and Elizabeth, who looked considerably happier than Carly and the commodore. Will looked up at the sky when a flash of bright blue and yellow wings caught his eye. Elizabeth followed his line of sight and smiled when she recognized the bird.

"You're stepping on my feet," Norrington grumbled to Carly.

"Your feet are in my way," she replied.

"Did it ever cross your mind that perhaps your feet are in my way?"

Will approached the unhappy pair and cleared his throat. "May I interrupt?"

"Please," Carly said, gratefully.

"Be my guest. Watch your toes; she'll trample you with her abnormally large feet." Norrington handed his partner over to Will and went to join Elizabeth for a dance.

"So Mr. Turner, how does it feel to be joined in holy matrimony with your one true love, to have and to hold for all eternity, to share cold, lonely nights with – "

"Look," he interrupted her, nodding his head toward the bird that was circling above Commodore Norrington and Elizabeth.

Carly's eyes lit up when she saw the blue and yellow feathers. "Mr. Cotton's parrot!" Her expression changed from that of excitement to one of shock and amusement when she saw the parrot's droppings land on Norrington's shoulder. Norrington yelled and looked angrily up at the sky as the bird flew away.

Suddenly the ladies shrieked when none other than Jack Sparrow appeared, followed by Captain Rae with her sword in hand. Jack stuck his finger in the frosting of the cake and ate it. "Excellent cake," he yelled, grinning.

"Jack!" Elizabeth smiled.

Governor Swann stared open-mouthed at the pirate as he ate the frosting off his finger. Momentarily at a loss for words, he motioned at the Navy men. "Shoot them!" he ordered finally.

Jack's smile faded, and in one swift move he grabbed Elizabeth by the shoulders and held her in front of him as a human shield. Rae breathed a sigh of relief when the men held their fire as she stood behind Jack for protection. "You look lovely by the way," he said to Elizabeth, holding his pistol to her head.

She smiled, knowing that he had no intention of harming her. "I'm glad you made it Jack,"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, love. Looking forward to the wedding night I imagine?"

Rae looked to the nearest Navy man while Jack and Elizabeth chatted. She smiled at the man and winked, causing him to lower his gun a bit and gulp uncomfortably.

Will felt uneasy with so many guns pointed at his wife. He looked over at the commodore, who was no more comfortable with the situation than he.

"Jack Sparrow," Governor Swann looked at the pirate, disgustedly.

"Captain," Jack corrected.

"I do believe I've given you too many chances. This is the last time you'll ever step foot on solid ground again."

Jack smirked. "Aye, yes. But you see, you wouldn't dare let any harm come to Lizzie 'ere, would ye?"

The governor opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. Carly stepped out in front of Elizabeth, facing the governor. Jack gave her a questioning look, which she smiled at as if she had a plan.

"How about I go with Jack and Rae, to end all of this of course," she spoke as if she wasn't doing it for herself. "They promise never to return to Port Royal, and then you'll be rid of all your troubles."

"That sounds splendid if ye ask me," Jack spoke up, leaning over Elizabeth's shoulder.

The governor thought for a moment. "Alright." This caused Commodore Norrington to smile at Carly for the first time.

Elizabeth turned around to face Jack. "You do know he has no intention of letting you go, right?" she said so that only he could hear.

Jack nodded and watched as Carly and Elizabeth traded places. He then nodded at the governor. "Pleasure doing business with you, governor." Jack stole one last taste of frosting as he and the others began to walk towards the docks. Governor Swann nodded at the Royal Navy to begin firing on them.

"Now we run," Rae said to the others.

The governor looked at his men, "Follow them!"

Jack looked back at Carly dragging behind them. "Nice dress. Take it off,"

"Alright," she said, a little too eagerly. She didn't need to be told twice by Jack to take her clothing off. He helped her finagle her way out of her dress as they ran through the water to the ship. As they grabbed onto the ropes on the side of the ship, Jack yelled back to Governor Swann and the Navy men.

"Gentlemen, my lady," he motioned towards Elizabeth who had also followed, "this is the day you will always remember as the day that-"

"Jack!" Rae shouted. "We don't have time for this."

Norrington watched the despicable sight as Jack Sparrow and the two girls escaped, one of them in her nightdress. He looked at the bird droppings on his shoulder, disgusted.

Carly made herself as comfortable as her hammock would allow below the deck of the Contentious. She looked around at the men that she'd been forced to share sleeping quarters with; although Rae had assured her that they wouldn't bite, she didn't fancy taking any chances. She made sure to put her hand on her pistol before closing her eyes, and soon began to dream…

Carly was running through the jungle and suddenly came to a halt. She looked blindly around for any signs of Jack, Rae, or Will, but her searching was in vain. It was so dark that she could hardly see her hand in front of her face, and the sweltering heat around her felt heavy on her skin. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she tried to concentrate on anything besides Rae's warning that repeated itself again and again in her mind: Here be monsters. A gasp escaped from her mouth when someone grabbed her forcefully by the shoulders.

"We've been looking for ye,"

"Jack, I'm lost."

"Didn't I tell you to make your boot into a lobster trap?"

"What?"

"Shh." He pressed his finger to her mouth to silence her and looked up expectantly, as if he'd heard something. Carly fixed her eyes on his chest and stood very still, not daring to make any noise that might let their whereabouts be known. She briefly caught a glint of gold and jewels in Jack's vest. He put his hand to the side of her neck, and with the other hand he caressed her cheek. The next moment he was leaning over the side of a boat and holding her head underwater as she struggled to get free. She dug her nails into his forearms and tried desperately to break free of his grasp, but he was too strong. With every yell she swallowed more water, until suddenly someone pulled her from the water. She coughed and gasped for air and opened her eyes just long enough to see that it was no longer Jack who had a hold of her – it was Captain Snarl. He held onto her head by her hair with one hand and with the other he raised his knife to slit her throat.

Carly jumped and opened her eyes when a bucket of cold water was dumped on her. Surrounding her were several members of Captain Rae's crew, and one of them held a bucket in one hand and a mop in the other.

"Time to get up, your majesty. That is, if ye've had yer beauty sleep," spoke the bucket-bearing man. Some of the men agreed and made rude comments, while the others laughed. Carly glared at them and wiped the stinking water from her face. She didn't appreciate having a bucket of dirty water thrown on her. "It's tradition to 'av the whores swab the deck,"

"Since when?"

"Since this morning. Get to it," he ordered, thrusting the bucket and mop at her.

"If Rae knew that you – "

"Captain's orders!" he growled at her.

She made her way above deck, still fussing over the rude awakening, and the stench. "This is lovely. I smell like – "

"It's nice of you to join us, Miss Carly," said Rae as she approached.

"Hm."

"Sorry if you're not used to having to work, but you can't stay on my ship without having some responsibilities."

"The work I can handle, it's your men that exhaust me."

Rae laughed and went to the side of the ship while Carly got to work. "I'm sure they'll come to terms with having a second female on board soon enough. Hope you don't mind their company,"

"Oh no, not at all. I rather enjoy the smell of dung," Carly responded with sarcasm. She carried on swabbing the deck and chatting with Rae until she hit something with her mop. It was some sort of dagger covered in mud and sand. She stared at it for a moment, and then dropped the mop on the deck and kneeled down to pick up a dirtied knife. Upon wiping off the caked-on gunk and revealing the dagger, the color drained from her face. "Rae?"

"Yes?"

"What happened to the knife? Snarl's knife…did you take it?"

"No, of course not. I should think it's at the bottom of the ocean along with his decaying body and his ship, where they belong."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes…" Rae went to Carly's side to see what had prompted such a question, and there in Carly's hand was a double-bladed knife with a bejeweled handle. It was quite a beautiful blade, actually.

Author's Note-

Finally, it's complete! It's only taken...forever. Now Jen and I shall focus on Overcoming Complications, and maybe Reality Check. If you haven't read either of those, please do check them out. Thanks for reading. If you're interested in the TV show Supernatural, I currently have a finished story for that show. Rachel.