Chapter 18: Bounds

One year later

Jack pushed his thin body through the mouth of the hole where the long, windy and sometimes underwater passages of the cave took him. Finally he was out on the fresh air, not far off from the end of his journey to the Fountain Of Youth. He scratched his head to get rid of all the mud stuck to it while half heartedly scanning the scene for any signs that somebody else could've been there lately. Of course, he hasn't seen a human for days, but pirates were a suspicious race. The trees were not exactly helping his visibility, so he cornered a few to practically stumble over a formation of rocks looking like a natural spring. It was also welled up all round to have the appearance of a small fountain instead, but the man made construction didn't stand up to the hardships of time and looked rather shaky. Ironic that, if this was indeed the water that made everyone young. To investigate, he jumped like crazy and over the wall quickly, then stalled at the sight in front of him from up close. Jack sat down slowly to examine his findings, but the fountain seemed so dried up that even the ivy that covered the surrounding rocks was dry and dead.

Which means it was all for nothing. The squabble with Barbossa, dealing with the cannibals again, hiding his secret tattoo from the whores in Tortuga, hoping that one day Lizzie will want to leave the Dutchman and his immortality will enable him to wait for her. He scrubbed a hand across the rocks inside the fountain walls to see if any of them had any traces of wetness on them. If this will give him no results, he might have to dig up the whole site. He undid the little ax from his belt he's been using to claw his way up cave slopes, hesitating about moving the rocks. For twenty years, he's been trying find a way to become immortal. Yet now that he seemed to be failing, he didn't feel bad. Kind of a relief it was, living forever with himself if it wasn't with Lizzie as well didn't seem such a rosy prospect.

"Don't you think axing it is a bit drastic?" Elizabeth climbed on top of the wall and sat on it casually. "Besides, the spring's giving a drop once in a while, something like a few times a day, you just have to be there to catch it and collect it. I could already drink some," she showed him a little bottle and shook it so he could hear the water shuggling in it. "What? Did I render the great Captain Jack Sparrow speechless?"

"How luv?" Jack squinted and looked around to make sure she was still there when he turned his head back. He then cornered her and sneakily slid along the wall to sit beside her, "yer supposed to be with yer dear beloved."

"Am I not?" She answered seductively.

"I mean how did ye get here!"

"Pirate. When I was using you as a pillow and you were sleeping I figured if Jack Sparrow'll tattoo something at his inner thighs it's going to be of some importance. Only I was getting rather bored here. I expected you months ago!"

"Life still no cheery on the Dutchman, is it?" He now tried to find out now why she was there.

"Not after Will found out I was expecting your child," she leaned over to the other side and produced a basket with a moving pink bundle in it, "your daughter. I named her Perla."

Jack raised his eyebrows and winced. There's not much you could say to such surprise. He gulped and drew a bit back. There were many things he wanted from Lizzie, a child he never thought about before.

Elizabeth however, didn't wait much, she pulled the baby from under her covers and dumped her in Jack's arms. "I'm not asking you to be around, be there for her, care for her or even provide any protection. I'd simply like her to know who Jack Sparrow is, up close."

Jack pulled back again, this time scandalized, "ye told me I was a good man and ye proved it to me too. Do ye really think I won't care about her? Or the mother of me child as a matter of fact? And is it which part of me saving ye, saving ye again, coming back fe ye, dieing fe ye, forgiving ye, saving yer Will fe ye, making love to ye, getting ye out the locker and letting ye to be with yer betrothed may suggest such a thing?"

Elizabeth shook her head, confused, "you...you left. And you didn't come back."

Jack nodded, waiting till she came to her own conclusions. Doing things that signified he loved her was one thing, admitting it to her out loud was another.

"Well, I'm glad we met here," she concluded finally. Expecting too much from a pirate she'd not, she knew how they were, she was one herself. It was the here and now that mattered and she'd stay with him as long as he wanted it. She didn't have to bother figuring out the signs, if Jack had enough, he'd disappear by himself anyway. She nestled her face on his shoulder, both of them marveling at the sleeping bundle in Jack's arms.

"Ooh, niiice." Barbossa's voice was coming from the other side of the wall as he was facing them just a few feet away, his pistol directed at Jack's chest, a little too close to where Perla was for Jack's liking. "In my years as a pirate I have to say I came to learn marooning people has a tendency not to work, how come ye didn't come to the same conclusion yet, Jack? There's always turtles about! What's more, being caring does have its reward!" The old pirate captain said sarcastically, "next time ye should check whether the one who washed yer sweat off ye when ye bit yer own lips bloody in yer nightmares had seen under yer trousers or not! Here with that bottle!" He waved the weapon in the direction of the water collected earlier by Elizabeth.

"I thought ye knew yer place, Mrs. Turner," Barbossa emphasized the last word, but the comment was more about her standing in front of Jack and the baby, rather than about her relationships.

Elizabeth raised her chin and scrutinized Barbossa self consciously. It was tables turned. This time it was her who was unable to die from mere gunshots, although that one she didn't try out yet since drinking from the fountain. The water produced an effect, she knew that, the cuts she inflicted on herself to test it healed immediately, but she wasn't looking forward to the pain a bullet would cause. Hopefully though, it wouldn't have to come to that, but she'd protect Perla and Jack with her flesh. Acting as cover, she handed the bottle to Jack so that he could drink from it behind her back and out of sight.

Jack frowned. How could the water of life taste so bland. But of course, compared to rum everything did. He wasn't so good at placing the baby back in her basket in safety at the other side of the wall without making her cry, but ultimately he stepped to the side holding his own pistol to the bottle with very little youth water left in it. "How many weeks ye intending to sit here waiting fe a drop, mate? There's never a guarantee there's going to be any more, ye know," he held the items in his hand like that till they could both backtrack and Lizzie was in a position to pick the basket up and run. Then he sat the bottle nicely on the top of the wall and took hold of her hand for while they were fleeing.

When they were out of the reach of the gun, Elizabeth asked, "why did you do that? Why did you leave him the water of life?"

"What's a long, eternal life without yer favorite enemy and a little excitement about?" He grabbed her bottom to demonstrate excitement, "I think he must've calmed down by now and is enjoying the benefits of what he wanted. So how about going back and asking him to marry us?"

The End.