Disclaimer: I own Scarlett and Hector. Not Hector Barbossa, mind you, though I desperately wish I did.
The Debt to be Repaid
Epilogue
"Time's been kind to you."
Not as kind as it had been to her, that much was certain. She was still petite, but she'd filled out a little in the right places, namely the chest and hips. Though, in all honesty, it was difficult to discern the true size of any woman's hips when she wore a dress quite so large. But none of that mattered in the end. What mattered was that she was here and he was here and why they were both here.
He was here looking for the gold. She, with a baby in her arms, lived here. The little one was a spitting image of its mother, right down to the wisp of red hair on the top of its round head and the bright blue eyes that stared at everything with a twinkle inquisitive wonder. It was a beautiful child...
"Aren't you going to make some sort of witty remark?" she asked, in a deeper voice than he recalled. But eight years had passed, and of course things had changed. He blinked and looked at her again, as if he were seeing her once more for the first time, but knew that she was waiting for an answer. And then he realized that even after all the time they had spent apart she still left him speechless.
But of course things had changed. She had changed, and he had, too. So he replied, "I never figured ye one fer havin' children."
She smiled. "Yes, well, having a husband certainly helps." Her expression then grew sad, and the babe instantaneously detected its mother's distress. Its mouth turned down at the corners as it stared at the man who was causing said sadness, and that man stared back with his own blue eyes. "I wish, sometimes, that you could be my husband, and this your child," the mother went on. Then she looked up at him. "I've another one, you know. A girl, older than this one but still a child. She looks exactly like her father, right down to his nose. Oh, how I wish she had your nose."
He tried to talk her out of it, shaking his head and saying, "No, me nose wouldn't look right on yer pretty little girl."
But she seemed to pay him no mind, merely continued to speak, as if to herself. "I regret not staying with you, I realize that now. Every day I wish I hadn't chosen Charles. Every day." She smiled sadly, tears in her eyes. "But never do I lament the birth of my babes. They are my most precious possessions. I only wish they had Barbossa blood coursing through their veins. Ah, but their blood is Black, as Black as their name." She let out a laughing little puff of air from her nose at her own play on words. "And I am Black, too, and will never be a Barbossa." She walked toward him then, balancing the baby on her hip like a true mother. Then she whispered, so that none of the crew standing about on deck could hear her, "So let us kiss one final time, and then I will never see you again."
And he obliged her, grabbing her face fiercely with his fingers as he thrust his tongue into her mouth, and she wept as she wrapped her own fingers around the collar of his over coat. But they quickly pulled away, determined to stop themselves before they went too far, which was indeed a wise choice.
She dried her eyes and sniffed, then hugged the baby to her bosom and said, "Come, Hector, let's go home." She smiled one last sad smile at the Captain, who blinked at the child's name, before she was rowed ashore. And when she was safely home with all the doors and windows of her family's house locked tight, the siege of Port Royale began.
Well, that's it, folks. Story's over. This installment of the tale of Scarlett and Barbossa is finished, but the recent release of the third film got me thinking again, and I may write a sequel, provided, of course, that I can actually motivate myself to do so, lol. It would also be nice to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter, so if you leave a review, tell me what you think of the idea of a sequel. Also, if I do write a sequel, there would be a couple little one-shots that would serve as kind of in between explanations of Scarlett's future actions. But I'll reveal no more than that. The blood is the life, Lady Sikerra.