Chapter Thirty Seven:
Similarities

Jack dropped Pepe onto the bed and began removing his hat and effects. His cabin was growing dark and he was barely able to keep his eyes open any longer. He hadn't slept the previous night and had found himself drinking rum all day, trying to ignore the empty feeling inside him and the problems he would still need to face. He certainly hadn't expected that leaving Kaitlyn behind would leave him with such a feeling of guilt. He was Captain Jack Sparrow, a pirate, scallywag, buccaneer, swindler, thief and womanizer; men like him didn't allow themselves to have personal attachments, let alone of the female sort. Yet, he realized that he had done the unthinkable by allowing her to become more than just a casual lover. What possibly troubled him most was that he realized that leaving her the way he had, had been cowardly. He had promised her that he would deal with the curse and he had gone back on his word. The idea of her being hurt or eventually despising him, drew emotions out of him that he couldn't recall experiencing since he was a child.

He tossed his hat onto the night stand after hanging his effects on the hook then dropped himself onto the bed. Immediately, Kaitlyn's scent caught his attention. This had been her bed for months and the idea that he would actually be so familiar with her that he would recognize her scent, left him perturbed. It wasn't the same as being near whores that wore perfumes and other toiletries. It was the scent of her hair that had been exposed to the salty sea most days. Unlike most of the men, she had made a conscious effort to remain groomed and didn't have to partake in the labor that they did. There was a vague scent of fruit and her powders and he found himself lying awake, wishing things had turned out differently than they had. Had Ackhart not become a problem, Kaitlyn probably could have stayed on the ship indefinitely once the curse had been taken care of. It wasn't common for women to sail on ships, but it wasn't completely unheard of either. It wasn't as though she had actually attempted to become a pirate and truthfully, he wasn't sure he would have wanted her to.

Pepe climbed onto his chest and interrupted his thoughts, for which he was thankful. "Get some rest, mate," Jack said. Dallin had left him with the monkey but Pepe wasn't really a bother. After a moment, Jack closed his own eyes and let sleep begin to overtake him. Before he was fully unconscious, he realized that a dream was beginning to overtake his subconscious. Once again he was aboard the Belleza Grande, standing on the deck of the ship. The star laden sky was dark and the wind calm. He could see some men waiting around near the cabin door, seeming annoyed and impatient. He walked over tentatively and stood, not sure what was happening.

"C'mon! You've had plenty of time!" Barked one of the men, as he pounded on the cabin door; after a moment he shoved the door open and stalked inside. Jack glanced through the open doorway and saw his father sitting on the bed holding Catalina, who began to cry hysterically at the sight of the other men and began clinging to him.

"¡No vaya¡Por favor¡No vaya!"

The crewmen dragged his father from the room and shoved him out onto the deck. "Quit wastin' our time," growled one of the sailors. One of the others entered the cabin and slammed the door closed behind him.

Jack's gaze remained on his father, who seemed genuinely upset by the situation. Finally, his father turned away and walked the deck, seemingly lost in thought. The actions left a million questions racing through Jack's mind. Had his father been romantically involved with Catalina? It seemed very unlikely. From what Jack had seen, it seemed as though he had been comforting her. After most of the commotion calmed his father headed below deck; not having anything else of interest, Jack followed, more and more curious about his father's involvement with Isidro and Catalina.

His father stopped and grabbed some hardtack and fresh water then made his way to the brig where Isidro was sitting. He sat down the biscuits and drink and stood silently for a moment.

"I spoke to Catalina," he finally said.

Isidro looked up at him then to the bit of food he had brought. "How is she?" His Spanish accent was very thick, but Jack could easily make out what he was saying.

"She's fine, mate, don't worry yourself over it," his father lied.

"Do not worry?" Isidro scoffed. "She is carrying my child, how am I not to worry?"

"Lillian is expecting too," his father said. "I have to watch my back or I'm going to end up in the same predicament yer in, mate."

"Just promise me that you will keep Catalina safe until she can be taken off of this damned ship," Isidro nearly pleaded.

For a moment, Jack saw hesitation in his father's eyes before he nodded. "I'll do what I can, mate."

The words were still resounding in his mind when his eyes opened. He couldn't have dozed off for more than twenty minutes. He suddenly felt much more sober. He hadn't expected the dreams to continue once the Angel Del Muerta was off the ship. He retraced the entire dream. It seemed as though his father had been trying to comfort both of them despite what the rest of the crew had planned, though he had made no real attempt to do more than that. His father had seemed upset at what the men were doing to Catalina. Jack had never had much respect for men that forced themselves on women. There were plenty of whores that were willing to take care of them for a few shillings; he saw no reason to brutalize innocent young women.

Then his father's words replayed, "Lillian is expecting too." Jack had never had an older sibling and there was no possible way his father and mother could have known each other ten years before he was even born, let alone had another child together. From what he had been told, his father and mother had barely been together for a few months before she had become pregnant with him. He began to wish he had remained in Port Royal longer, if only to learn more about the curse and tale behind it.

Kaitlyn dressed and waited for someone to come get her. The sun was just beginning to rise into the early morning sky. The previous night's dinner had been awkwardly silent. Something had been bothering Elizabeth but she apparently had no desire to speak about it. Will had done his best to engage in conversation with the Governor but Kaitlyn had been grateful when the meal was done and she could return to Elizabeth's room to sleep.

Estrella was already up and about, doing her morning chores; Kaitlyn had heard her humming in the corridor and had decided to get herself up. Now she was staring out the window, looking out at the sea. She missed the gentle rock of the ship beneath her and the smell of the salt water splashing onto the deck of the ship. She missed Dallin, Ana Maria and even the crew. She hadn't realized just how much she had come to see them as a family of sorts until they were gone. Most of all, she missed Jack, though she knew it was silly. They had been prepared to part ways in the near future anyway but somehow, it felt as though that day would never come. Her curse had begun to feel like a blessing of sorts. Had it not been for the threat to them, the curse would have been plenty of reason for her to remain on the ship. Jack had promised that he wouldn't return her home until it had been seen to.

A knock at the door drew her from the window, "Yes?"

The door opened and Estrella peaked inside. "The Commodore is here, Miss."

"Thank you," she said with a smile. She gathered her small satchel when the maid retreated from the room and then gave a heavy sigh. She had said her good-byes to Will and Elizabeth the previous night. Governor Swann and Elizabeth had both left her with an open invitation to return, though she doubted she would ever be able to. She would no doubt be married after she returned home, at least if her father had anything to say about things.

She hurried from the room and down the stairs. The Commodore smiled politely when she approached him and then opened the door. "I thought perhaps we could take a stroll to the docks. The ship is being loaded as we speak."

"A stroll sounds lovely," she answered. Though she had yet to spend much more than a few moments in the Commodore's presence the fact that Jack had felt that he would keep her safe, was enough to keep her nerves calm. She imagined that it would be quite different being on a naval vessel than it had been on a pirate ship. She followed him outside and down the path, at first remaining silent as they walked. "I'm actually glad that we have a few moments alone. I wanted to thank you for what you're doing. From what Elizabeth has said, you should have rightfully put Jack in jail."

Norrington glanced in her direction and then gave a heavy sigh. "By all rights, I should have, yes. He's committed acts of piracy against the crown and was branded a pirate by the East India Company. But…" he looked to her again. "As a man of honor, my first duty is to help those in need. He brought you here, which quite frankly, I found a bit curious. From what I know of Jack Sparrow, he is not one to risk himself in order to help another human being."

"Perhaps what you know of Jack Sparrow isn't who he really is," she countered.

"What I know of Jack Sparrow, is what he wants everyone to believe he is. As long as he is more concerned of having a reputation than actually being known for who is really is; he will remain a criminal in the eyes of the law."

Kaitlyn looked to the Commodore as he spoke. "I am beginning to see why he brought me to you."

The words caused Norrington to slow and look at her. "And why is that?"

A smile began tugging at the corners of her mouth as she looked in his direction. "You and Jack seem to have a lot in common. He could have returned me home himself and yet," she stopped speaking and glanced around the small port before looking back to him. "He chose to bring me here, specifically for your help."

"I hardly think I have much in common with Jack Sparrow," he scoffed.

"Really? So far the both of you have completely ignored past encounters and the very fact that you are on opposite sides of the law. Jack had no real need to come here, if he simply intended to get me off of his ship. And you had no reason not to arrest him, if your only intention was to return me to my home. And yet Jack came here…and you didn't arrest him."

"I am still failing to see how this means I have anything in common with him."

"The both of you take your positions seriously—seriously enough that the both of you seem to have an unspoken respect for the other, even though it would probably take torture to make either of you admit to it. On some level you both must be good men, if you were willing to set aside your differences in order to protect someone else's life. But it's mostly because I know Jack would never leave me with someone unless he trusted him."

James looked at her suspiciously, "You hardly sound like someone that has been abused and kidnapped by pirates. You sound like a foolish love stricken girl that doesn't know any better," he quipped.

"I was never kidnapped," Kaitlyn told him honestly. "But Captain Ackhart did cause problems for us. He's the one that did such a brilliant job of cutting my hair. After our last encounter with him, I told him I would allow him to return me home so that he could blackmail my father, under the condition that it cleared his debt with Jack and the crew."

The Commodore looked over at her again, realizing that he hadn't been told the entire story, though wasn't entirely surprised by that. "If you agreed to let Captain Ackhart take you, why were you still with Jack Sparrow?"

For a moment, Kaitlyn hesitated to answer him then she sighed heavily. "Do you believe in curses, Commodore?"

The instant the words met his ears he silently cursed Jack under his breath, "only since I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Jack Sparrow."

"Then it seems we have something in common as well," she replied as they made their way down the dock toward the ships.

Norrington glanced at her again then shook his head. "I suppose we can finish this conversation once we get our voyage underway." He led her to the smaller vessel that they would be traveling on. All of the men were dressed in their navel garb and she immediately found it funny that the atmosphere on the ship was so much different than it had been on The Pearl. "There's a small room that you can use below deck. It's not much but it's dry and it has a cot."

Kaitlyn smiled politely, "Thank you, Commodore."

"It's James," he told her, "at least when I'm not on deck barking orders at everyone."

Kaitlyn nodded, "I'll speak to you later then, James."

He watched as she started toward the stairs and was led down to her room by one of the crew men, wondering if he would find out the actual truth from her or if assisting her, and Jack Sparrow, would cost him more than he cared to lose.

A/N: Well, it's been a rough couple of weeks. I caught the flu during chemo, so I've felt really, really crappy. We've been having one snow/ice storm after another and I'm lucky enough to just have power. We were running on generators for awhile and were limited to using "necessities" only, so I didn't have a computer for about a week, which really sucked.

On the plus side, we found my donor and hope to be in the hospital by the beginning of April. (Of course, it would have been nice to do the hospital thing during the cold, winter months rather than missing spring, but…oh well) They're not a "perfect match" but close enough that we can do the transplant. There is risk of the new immune system attacking my body (called, "Graft Vs. Host Disease") so my hospital stay could be as short as a month or it could be several months. I'm just looking forward to getting it over and done with already!

Thanks so much for reading!