Part two, chapter six

Well, here we are… this is the end of Wanted. I know updates have been few and far between, and I’m sorry for that. (I can’t believe it took me three years to write this thing…) I would also like to thank every single one of you who reviewed. Even if you only left one review for one chapter, it still meant something to me!

And, shameless plug time: now that I’m done with this one, I’ll be turning to my next multi-chapter epic. I can’t decide what to write, however. In my profile are descriptions of three fics for three different fandoms (Labyrinth, Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars). I invite all of you to read these descriptions and vote for your choice in my profile poll.

-

I must have floated in and out of consciousness for a while, because I had a few hazy memories of Robert, the ship’s doctor, bandaging my wound. I didn’t remember him taking out the bullet, but I figured that was for the best.

When I finally woke up for good, though, I didn’t remember where I was or how I had gotten there. Looking around, I realized that I was in Jack’s cabin, and figured he and Gibbs must have taken me there after the events on the deck of the Chimera.

I tried to sit up, but a wave of pain from my shoulder discouraged any thought of moving too much. I shifted restlessly. I was sore, but every time I attempted to move to a more comfortable position, my shoulder pained me too much.

“Well, bollocks,” I tried to say. All that came out, however, was a croak. I swallowed, realizing for the first time how dry my throat was. I was also very thirsty.

Somebody had piled several thick blankets on top of me, which somewhat limited my vision. Also, I was hot. I pushed them off my torso-

And something moved beneath them.

I jumped, then winced as the pain in my shoulder doubled. “Oww!” I croaked.

The blankets were moved aside, and Jack emerged from beneath them. I realized that he had been sitting in a chair next to the bed while lying half on it, and that I had inadvertently pushed the blankets on top of him.

From the look of him, he’d been asleep- but it didn’t seem to have done him much good. He looked pale and tired, and there were bags beneath his eyes. At the sight of me, however, he perked up.

“Ana! You’re awake.”

I managed a grin. “Yeah,” I said, but my voice was still rough sounding. I swallowed, but my mouth was so dry that the act was painful.

“Here- lemme get you some water.” Jack reached beneath the bed and emerged with a glass bottle, which he held out to me.

I gave him a skeptical look. It suspiciously resembled a rum bottle.

“I swear it’s water,” he said with a grin.

Rolling my eyes, I took the bottle, uncorked it, and began to drink. After I had drunk enough to rid my throat of its pain and dryness, I corked the bottle and set it down on the bed.

“Thanks,” I said, my voice back to normal. “I needed that.”

“I could tell,” Jack replied, flashing me another grin. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” I said.

It was his turn to look skeptical.

“Okay,” I conceded. “It bloody well hurts.”

“Doc said you’d be out for most o’ the pain, but tha’ we could give you laudanum if the pain was too much,” Jack offered.

I grimaced. “No thanks. Pain ain’t that bad.”

We sat in silence for a moment.

“Are you-“ I began.

“I was-“ Jack said at the same time.

We looked at each other, smiling.

“You go first,” he said hastily.

“I was just wondering if you were okay.” I said. “I mean… he was aiming for you, after all.”

“Wha- me?” Jack seemed taken aback. “I’m fine. Thanks to you.”

“I’m jus’ glad you’re okay,” I said. I was vaguely aware that I would never have said such a thing to Jack before all of this- I would have considered it far too soft. But now, it didn’t seem to matter.

“You’re glad I’m okay? Ana, you’re the one tha’ were shot!”

I had no answer for this. I had done the only thing I could have. Before that moment, I honestly couldn’t have said whether or not I’d die for Jack. In fact, I’d probably have said that it depended on whether or not he’d do the same for me. But now I saw that that wasn’t what it was about. It was about the fact that, like it or not, Jack Sparrow was the love of my life, and I’d willingly lay down my own life to save his.

I was smart enough to keep all of this to myself, however, and so merely said, “I was just lookin’ out for my captain.”

He smiled, as if knowing my real reasons ran much deeper. “Oh, Ana…” he sighed. “I didn’ deserve that, luv.”

“Course you did,” I told him kindly. “You’re Captain Jack Sparrow.”

Although he was still smiling, I could see the emotion in his eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I beg to differ,” I said softly.

We looked at one another for a long moment, and I was reminded again of how much I loved this man. Despite his imperfections and flaws, I loved him. And in that moment, I became certain of one thing: he loved me too.

“Jack…” I began.

I was interrupted, however, as the door of the cabin opened. It was Jody.

“Mum!” she exclaimed. “You’re awake!”

Jack smiled at me, and I grinned back. This moment had waited for more than fifteen years. It could wait a little longer.

I turned to Jody. “Aye, I am.”

She had hurried to the bed, but now hung back a little. “Are you- I mean- are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured her.

Jody, bless her, still looked doubtful. “Has Rob- the doctor checked you over?”

I shook my head. “Not yet, but I feel very well.”

She frowned. “Well, you aren’t a doctor, are you?”

“Well… no, but-“

“Then how do you know that you’re going to be all right?” she countered.

I honestly had no response to that. Rarely had I seen Jody this assertive. “She picked this up from you, I assume?” I asked Jack.

“I was always under the impression tha’ she inherited it from you,” he replied with a mischievous grin.

“Does it matter?” Jody asked impatiently. “I’m going to go find the doctor.”

“No, lass, I’ll go,” Jack offered. “You stay here.”

Jody nodded seriously. “Thanks.”

Jack left the cabin, shutting the door softly behind him.

I stretched for a moment, realizing that I was somewhat sore, presumably from being in bed for so long.

“How long was I out?” I asked.

“Three days,” Jody replied.

“Really?” I was surprised. I had only been expecting it to be a day later, at the most.

“I- we were worried,” she said, biting her lip. Her assertive, take-charge attitude of moments before had vanished, and I realized that it had been a front. Jody was, after all, only fifteen.

At that age, I had long ago been required to take on the responsibilities of an adult on the plantation. I remembered from that age how those older than I was had seemed to take it for granted that I was ready for adult responsibilities. I had gone about my work with bitterness directed at them all- the Master and his family, naturally; but I also harbored resentment at the older slaves who were so unsympathetic to my suffering. Looking back, it was plain that they had had problems of their own, without worrying about a young girl with no family- which was yet another reason I’d been so lonely.

Jody’s situation, however, was very different. This was a life she loved, and wanted- and perhaps she was trying to grow up too quickly, trying to prove her worth.

“Oh, sweetheart…” I said gently.

Tears welled up in her eyes then, which she quickly and defiantly wiped away. “I- I was afraid you were going to die,” she said, voice breaking.

A lump rose in my throat, and I felt a pang of guilt. I hadn’t thought of how hard this would be for her. Wordlessly, I held my arms open, and she embraced me as she had done when she was young. “I- I don’t want you to die!” she sobbed.

“I’m not going to, honey,” I assured her.

She drew away. “You don’ know that,” she said, sounding resigned.

“No,” I admitted. “Such is the nature of the life we’ve chosen.”

She nodded, calmer now. Her moment of- what, exactly? It wasn’t weakness, though I suspected she’d see it that way- had passed. She was calm now, and had passed her first real test in the life of a pirate.

Protectiveness welled up in me again- she was only fifteen! but I calmed myself. She had chosen this life, after all, as had I. As had we all.

“You saved Dad’s life,” she said.

I shrugged, strangely self-conscious now. “Maybe. Maybe he wouldn’t have been hurt any more than I am.”

Jody gave me a skeptical look. “That other captain wasn’t more ‘an five feet away, Dad said! He’d have got ‘im for sure!”

“Maybe,” I repeated.

Jody sighed, exasperated. “Well. One good thing came out of all this, anyway.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“You,” she said, positively grinning, “Can no longer deny that you’re in love with Dad.”

“No,” I agreed. “I should think not.”

Jody deflated a little at this. Clearly, she’d been expecting me to continue to deny my feelings for Jack. “Oh.”

I smiled. “It’d be pointless to deny it now, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, aye. That was my point.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in!” I called.

It was Jack. He’d brought Doctor Robert with him, which I’d been expecting. But, to my pleasant surprise, Gibbs was with him.

“Ana!” he cried, rushing to the bed and embracing me gently. “You alright, lass?”

“I feel fine,” I told him. “However, Jody’s currently forbidding me to say yea or nay until the doc here looks me over.”

“Well, then, you might as well let me do my bloody job then, eh?” Robert grumbled good-naturedly.

Robert, or Doc as we usually called him, was actually a young man- young for a doctor, at any rate. He had just turned thirty, and looked younger. He was tall, blonde- and, I supposed, quite handsome. Jody certainly seemed to think so- Jack, Gibbs, and I had noticed her eyeing him on more than one occasion. Apparently, though, he wasn’t inclined towards women, so we had agreed that there was no harm in letting her look.

Doc took off my bandages and examined the wound. “Looks all right,” he said. “It’s healing well enough, and it’ll be good as new soon enough- if you’re careful. I want you in bed for the next week, at the least. After that you can get up, but go easy on it. And I mean easy- don’t return to your normal duties until I give the okay- assuming that’s all right with you, Captain, o’ course.”

“I just want her better,” Jack said.

“Right then,” he said. “I’ll jus’ put fresh bandages on an’ then I’ll leave you to get your rest.”

I scowled at the prospect of a week in bed. Ordinarily I’d have tried to weasel out of it somehow, but I knew that Jack, Gibbs, and even Jody would make sure I didn’t.

After replacing my bandages, Doc left us alone. Gibbs, Jack and Jody stayed with me for a while, and we talked for an hour or so. Jody, though she’d heard the tale of Barbossa and his cursed crew before, begged to be told the story again.

We acquiesced, and the three of us took turns narrating the various events of the incident. I wasn’t often called upon to contribute, preferring instead to let Jack and Gibbs recall the experience- they were, after all, the master storytellers among us. Most of my additions, in fact, were correcting Jack- and even Gibbs, at times. Clearly the story had become the stuff of legend, and I was hard pressed to remind them that it had all actually happened.

It grew late, and Gibbs finally declared that he was going to bed.

“You’d best get to sleep too, lass,” he advised Jody.

“I’m not tired,” she insisted. “Besides, I’ve got watch in a few hours.”

Gibbs, Jack and I exchanged looks. Any sailor, pirate or not, got used to using any free time before, after, or between night watches to catch some much-needed sleep. I suspected that the reason that Jody hadn’t learned this yet was that Jack and I had agreed to go easy on her as far as duties were concerned. I still felt that she was all too young for this life.

“Well, don’t go t’bed then, but you’d best clear out o’ here,” Jack said. “Your mother needs her rest.”

“Jack, I ‘aven’t been doin’ anything but sleep for the past three days!” I protested.

“You ‘eard the doctor,” he replied in a tone that left no room for argument.

I scowled. “Fine.” Though I was loath to admit it, I was a little tired.

“C’mon, lass,” said Gibbs to Jody. “We’ll go up on deck if you like.”

Jody grudgingly followed Gibbs out of the cabin, leaving me and Jack alone.

A thought occurred to me then. “Jack,” I asked. “Where ‘ave you been sleeping?”

He shrugged. “In ‘ere, in one o’ the chairs.”

“That can’t have been very comfortable,” I observed. “You look terrible.”

“I ‘preciate that, luv,” he responded sarcastically.

“I’m jus’ sayin’- looks as though I ain’t the only one who could do with some rest… and I ‘appen to know for a fact that this bed can fit the both of us.”

A slow smile spread across Jack’s face. “Aye,” he said. “So it can. But…”

“But?”

“You’re s’posed to be resting,” he said.

“Who says we can’t rest at the same time?”

Jack grinned. “Aye, luv, tha’s an uncommonly good idea.”

I moved over, patting the bed beside me. Jack kicked off his boots and slid in under the covers, and I snuggled against him- at least, as much as I could without aggravating my shoulder. We lay there in silence. The though entered my mind that I should say something, that I should finally, after all these years, tell Jack that I loved him. But the moment was so perfect that I didn’t want to break it, and after a while, Jack began to snore softly, and my chance was gone.

Yes, I thought to myself as I drifted off towards sleep of my own. I should tell him. But not yet.

That night I dreamed of Jack, and of the days when we sailed the seas together without a care in the world.

-

The days of my recovery passed slowly. It was exceedingly boring to lie in bed all day, and though the other members of our little family often came to keep me company, I soon grew restless.

“Can’t I get out of bed yet?” I complained one day the moment Jack walked through the door.

“Nope,” he replied. “Four more days.”

I sighed. “I know it. Oi, get me some rum, would you? Help the time pass.”

I knew full well Jack wasn’t going to argue with that. All the same, he didn’t look thrilled at the idea. “Aright… maybe just a bit.”

I scowled. “Well, you’re a hypocrite. When you got that knife wound, you were drinkin’ like a fish. And,” I went on, remembering further evidence of Jack’s duplicity. “You were laid up for what, a day? After that you were back to orderin’ us around.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “It were shallow! Didn’ even need stitches, an’ it was only in the arm- the left arm, as I recall. Besides, that was years back.”

“That’s not the point. An’ it did so need stitches, you just refused to get ‘em,” I replied.

“I didn’ get ‘em because I didn’ need ‘em,” he retorted. “Ahah!”

He’d been rooting around in his desk, and had finally found two bottles of rum. One was fairly large, and nearly full. The other was small, and half-empty.

“Here you go, then,” he said, handing me the smaller of the two.

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes. Pretty soon, I’d downed the bottle- not that there had been much to begin with. I held out my bottle to Jack, wordlessly asking him to refill it. He looked from me to the bottle, and then back again. He took my bottle and poured in a bit of his before handing it back. I didn’t know if he had given me such a small amount out of concern for my health, or because he was loath to part with his own portion.

“Y’know,” I remarked. “The Chinese believe that if you save someone’s life, you’re responsible for them forever.”

Jack absorbed this. “Seems like it oughta be the other way ’round,” he commented.

I shrugged. “Mubbe. They believe your lives are permanently intertwined, anyway.”

Jack smiled. “Our lives are already intertwined, luv.”

I nodded, knowing he wasn’t only referring to Jody. “Tha’s true enough.”

Neither of us spoke for a few moments. I was gazing steadily at Jack, who wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. He wasn’t ready to admit to his feelings for me, I guessed. And given how hard I’d been trying to make him do so, maybe I was similarly unprepared.

After all, what did I have to loose by telling him that I loved him? I was sure he knew already, so speaking the actual words couldn’t possibly make that much of a difference. But although my head knew that, my heart cried out in protest. To that young woman of fifteen years ago, it would have made all the difference.

Well, I thought, maybe that was the problem. The woman I’d been fifteen years ago… she’d been strong, but also unsure. So she’d done what she thought she had to, because she thought strength and bravery were the same thing.

But I knew now that she- that I- had been wrong. Because it would have taken so much more strength, so much more bravery, to tell Jack the truth. To tell him I was pregnant. To tell him I loved him, and wanted to be with him. But I’d been too scared, and I’d taken the coward’s way out. And it had hurt not only Jack and I, but Jody, and even Gibbs, as well.

I had to let go of those old ways. I vividly remembered how scared I’d been, sitting with Gibbs in Dr. Landis’ office. I’d felt like my life was over, that I was being punished- by God or Fate or something- for having been so foolish. Well, now I knew that the only one I’d been punishing was myself. Back then I had made the selfish choice. Now, I had to do what was best for our family.

And that was bringing everything out into the open.

And after all, I thought, No one ever said I couldn’t do it with style. Jack would approve. So I drained the rest of my bottle for a bit of Dutch courage and forced nonchalance into my tone.

“Jack,” I said casually, acting as though my heart wasn’t pounding in my throat harder than it had in my entire life. “I… ah, wanted to tell you something.”

“Wha’s ‘at, luv?”

“Um… Well, you know you’re pretty much a bastard.”

Mentally, I slapped myself across the forehead. That hadn’t been what I wanted to say!

He regarded me somewhat dubiously. “I don’ b’lieve my parents were hitched, no.” He looked at me closely. “That all you wanted to say, luv? ‘Cause I knew that.”

“No, that’s not what I wanted to say,” I managed. “I was trying to tell you that I love you, you wanker!”

This time I really did slap myself on the forehead. “Shit,” I swore, sliding my hand down to cover my eyes. “Look, that’s not how that was s’posed to-“

“Ana,” Jack interrupted. “I don’ give a fuck how you say it.”

I nervously peeked out from behind my hand to view his reaction- and found myself blown away by what I saw. It was the most intense expression I’d ever seen from him.

“What matters,” he went on. “Is that you said it.”

And with that, Jack leaned forward and kissed me with such intensity that it left me breathless. “I didn’ think you’d ever say it,” he murmured.

“You ‘ave t’ say it back, now,” I told him.

Jack flashed me that trademark grin. “I know.”

I raised an eyebrow- because that grin, I knew, was a front. He wasn’t going to be expressing any feelings with that look on his face.

Jack chuckled nervously. “Aye, alright…” he took a deep breath, “Ah, bloody ‘ell, Ana, you know I love you!”

I laughed out loud. “Why did I think this was goin’ t’ be romantic?”

“ ’Ey!” he exclaimed. “You love me. That means you ‘ave to put up wi’ me!”

I heaved a sigh. “Well,” I said in tones of mock resignation. “I s’pose someone’s gotta do it.”

-

A few days later I was out of bed. Both Jack and Gibbs were insisting that I take it easy, and so although I was no longer confined to bed, I wasn’t doing much more than stroll around on deck.

One evening found us sailing towards the setting sun. I was standing up at the bow with Gibbs when Jody approached me. “What are you doin’?” she asked.

“Watching the sun set,” I replied.

“This ‘ere’s the most beautiful sunset I’ve seen in a long while,” Gibbs added.

Jody regarded it for a moment. “Yeah,” she agreed. “It is pretty.”

“But no’ as pretty as your mother,” Jack said, walking up and putting an arm around me.

I turned to look at him. “Why Captain Sparrow, are you tryin’ to sweet-talk me?” I teased.

“Maybe,” he replied, eyes dancing.

Jody was observing us with undisguised glee. She and Gibbs had been positively ecstatic when Jack and I had told them that we’d admitted our feelings for each other.

“So,” she said. “You two gonna get married?”

Neither Jack nor I spoke for a moment.

“I don’t think either one of us thought o’ that,” I said finally. “But it ain’t a bad idea.”

Jack looked slightly pained. “Aw, Ana… d’ we really need some minister t’ say a few words? We already know how we feel ‘bout each other.”

“But it would be so romantic!” Jody interjected.

“She ‘as a point,” I said playfully.

Jack looked to Gibbs in a silent plea for aid. The other man shook his head. “Oh, no,” he said. “I ain’t gettin’ involved in this one.”

I planted a kiss on Jack’s lips. “I don’ need you to marry me,” I told him seriously.

I looked around at the four of us. We’d been through a lot in the past fifteen years, but through it all we’d loved one another. And that was what really counted. We might not be traditional, but all the same- we were a family.

“I already have everything I ever wanted.”

-

THE END