Author: Pirate Turner
Dedicated To: Though this fic was written for an Aphrodite's Blessings challenge, it was also written holding my beloved Jack especially in my mind. I love you, my darling!
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Will reminds his beloved Jack why they'll never give up Pirating.
Warnings: Slash, Established Relationship, AU, Character Deaths
Word Count: 2,166
Date Written: 25 May, 2011
Challenge: DiteyBlessings LJ comm's monthly challenge for "April showers bring May flowers."
Disclaimer: Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Mister Gibbs, all other characters mentioned within, the Black Pearl, and Pirates of the Caribbean are & TM Marvel comics and Disney, neither of which are the author. Everything else is & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
They trekked across the small island in silence, their hearts laid heavy by the cost of the gold they carried. Though they had won, it had not been a battle for which they had asked, and survival had cost the lives of several of their closest friends. Pirates rarely admitted to having friends, but the crew members they had lost had been some of the few people they knew they could have always counted on to have their backs and had until the very end. The Pearl was left lonely without Ana Maria's and Elizabeth's loud boisterings, and the lack of Cotton's silent gestures and stares left a heavy silence draped over the ship.
Though they did not speak, each man held their friends in thought as they made their way to the place that only their Captain knew. He did not bother to bring out his compass to check their direction and instead let the sun guide him. He had learned long ago that his compass was broken and yet also worked majestically. It led him always to his true heart's desire, but that desire walked boldly at his side every day now and had for a long time.
They were blessed, the three men knew, blessed by the love that the Captain and his First Mate shared and blessed by the kinship and family that the three of them had become together. Yet, as Pirates, they were also cursed. They all knew that the life of a Pirate was wrought with danger, and they had all learned, through some of the hardest ways possible, that they would eventually lose every one for whom they cared.
It was that hard knowledge that had brought Jack to solemnly considering retiring. He loved being on the sea. He relished in the feel of the wind through his long, jet black hair; the sound of the waves slapping the sides of his ship; the cries of the seagulls; and, most of all, the feel of the Pearl's hard but loved wood in his hands. He had grown up on the sea, and it was more a part of him than even the very air, dry and hot as it was, that filled his lungs.
At last, they reached their destination, laid the chest down, and began to dig. Still silence reigned amongst them, pierced only by their grunts as they worked and sweated hard in the hot, afternoon sun. At one point, Will wandered off to relieve himself, and Jack looked to Gibbs.
Gibbs sighed. He knew the look in Jack's chocolate eyes and had known even before his expression rattled him what he was thinking. He had helped to raise Jack, had had more of a hand in the lad's upbringing than any one else, and knew the boy as well as if he had been his own flesh and blood. "It's a bad idea," he said and turned back to digging.
Jack paused, cocked his head to the side, and glowered at Gibbs. "Didn't say what it was," he remarked, stroking his beard.
"Ye didn't have ta," Gibbs returned, not looking up from his work. "I know ye, Jack, well'n as I know meself. I know it's temptin' ta want ta leave this life when we lose some one, but it's a part o' us, lad. We can't stop piratin'. We could leave th' sea behind, but she'd come wit' us. Piratin' isn't what we do. It's what we are." Sitting his shovel into the softened earth, he paused, wiped his brow, and at last met Jack's questing gaze with his own. "Ye knae that."
Jack's tanned, muscular shoulders slumped. "Aye," he breathed his admission, "I do. I jest . . . I don't want what happened back there ta happen ta Will."
"It won't," Gibbs tried to assure him but heard the empty promise in his own voice. He tried to shrug it off as he went back to digging. "Besides, if'n it did, ye'd follow him. Death ain't gonna keep ye two apart."
Jack gazed at Gibbs for a long time. "Ye're right," he said at last but before he could speak any further, Will's voice crying his name interrupted their conversation.
The Pirates glanced in the direction of the former blacksmith's yell. "Go ta yer lad," Gibbs directed Jack. "I'll finish here." The two needed some time alone, and he was more than willing to give it to him. Both men had become the sons he'd never had, and he wanted only for them to be happy.
Jack nodded, dug his shovel into the ground, and left it there as he followed Will's voice. He walked for a piece before finally spotting his back turned toward him in the trees ahead. "What is it, luv?" he called out.
"Come 'ere, Jack," Will called again.
Jack went, his nerves set on edge. He imagined stepping out of the trees to find a knife at his beloved Will's throat or a sword at his heart. There were so many people, Pirates, soldiers, and scurves that fell somewhere in between and could amount to neither ultimatum who wanted him, and all of them would gladly get to him through his love. Yet when he stepped out from betweenst the tall, ancient trees and his breath caught in his throat, it was nothing of the sort that Jack had found.
He turned slowly, his round, kohl-rimmed eyes taking in the scene. The thick forest had opened to a meadow that spilled out for almost as far as his eyes could see. Every inch of the ground was laden with rich flowers of all hues. Birds sang, and butterflies dipped amongst the flowers. He felt a hand slip into his, took hold of it, and looked up into Will's eyes with a grin teased by uncertainty. "Wow," he said. Will nodded his agreement, but then Jack asked, "What is this place?"
Will smiled, though sadness still glittered in his deep, brown eyes. "Haven't you ever heard the expression, sweetheart, that April showers bring May flowers?"
Jack shook his head, the beads strewn throughout his long rivulets jingling loudly in the audible but peaceful quiet. The only other sounds that could be heard were the pleasant songs of the happy birds. "No," he admitted even as he wondered if it was May. He had not kept track of the months or days for years now, only marking them as far as to know how many days they were at sea so as to make sure to return to land before they ran out of supplies.
Will's smile grew, and his eyes twinkled with his first sign of happiness in weeks. He reached out, pulling his beloved Captain closer with one hand while his other swept gently across Jack's handsome face and embedded into his fine, ebony hair. "It means that no matter how many bad things happen, there's always more good to be found around the corner. I know what you've been thinking, Jack. We're not going to stop being Pirates. It's who you are, and thanks to you, my love, I now know it's who I am as well. This is the life we're meant to led. It's a blessing to live with you, and I'd have it no other way!"
He brought Jack closer still until their bodies pressed against each other. Then his free hand left off from stroking his hair and cupped his dark chin instead. He laid his lips to his, and together they drank of the finest treasure the world would ever have to offer them: each other and the resplendent love they shared. Jack sighed happily, his mouth drifting open underneath Will's tender, sweet onslaught, and Will slipped his tongue into Jack's heated contours. He drank more deeply of him as Jack's tongue pressed against his and they dueled in the one language that was older even than their Pirate bloodlines, the oldest language of all the world, that of a love that never ended.
Will rolled Jack through the flowers that day, and when at last they were done rolling in love's sweet arms, he held him close, his head resting upon his bared shoulder. "I love you, Jack!" Will breathed, running his fingers through his soul mate's long, black hair. "I love you, and I love the life we live together! It does bring sadness sometimes, and it will happen again. But I'd have our world no other way than to be adventuring together across the seven seas and loving each other every chance we get! You're always looking for treasure, but for me, having you loving me and being together in this wonderful life are the best treasures I could ever possess! Your love makes me the richest and happiest man in all the world, and it's the best blessing, and treasure, I could ever have!"
Jack turned his head and kissed Will's chest. "I'll always love ye!" he told him breathlessly. He wished he was as adept at words of love as his soul mate, but whereas his wicked tongue could bedazzle almost any one, he had yet to master the language of love. He would show Will, however, how much he loved him alone with every fiber of his being for all eternity and beyond again with his actions very soon. There was always a time and place for words, but when it came to loving his man, Jack preferred to let his mouth and hands do the talking for him.
"And I will always love you," Will said, hugging him tightly and gazing down at the top of his ebony-tressed hair, "but I'll not have you giving up what you are, what we are together. You've spoken to me before of fate and destiny. We are each other's destinies, but we have another fate out there on the seas. We're going to live it together. We might not love every minute of it, but overall, we do and will love it still."
Jack grinned, his gold tooth glittering in the bright, afternoon sunlight. "Ye're right, o' course," he said, and then he pounced Will, rolling him underneath him and ravishing him all over again in heated, passionate kisses and loving, wild, burning, and simultaneously soft caresses.
They stayed in the meadow all day, frisking and frolicking as though they were once more young, and indeed they had found the secret to eternal youth together. They kept one another alive, young, and mostly carefree, their love making their joined destiny outshine every dark aspect of their lives. They stayed together, taking turns rolling each other and basking in their glorious love that each knew would never end, until Gibbs at last came to collect them at sunset.
"Treasure's buried," he called out, standing at the mouth of the meadow and looking over, but not into, the flowers. "Ye lads done wit' Jack's foolishness from before?"
Jack sat up, flowers entangled in his long hair, and laughter barked from Gibbs' throat before he could stop it at the sheepish expression Jack wore. He looked like Gibbs had always imagined a child with his hand caught in a cookie jar would appear. "Aye," Jack said, and as he grinned, Gibbs realized that he was purely glowing with happiness.
Will sat up next to him, his hands still holding to Jack's. "Absolutely," he grinned.
"Good." Gibbs also grinned from ear to ear, but then he turned away. "Get some clothes on," he ordered, "an' then we can get back to bein' the Pirates we are."
"Aye, aye, Capt'n," Will teased and laughed gaily. Every one aboard the ship thought that Jack was their only Captain, but he knew better and had learned the truth shortly after meeting Mister Gibbs. Jack was the Captain, but even he, at times, took orders from Gibbs.
Jack laughed, Will's teasing not ruffling him in the least though he had been bothered and somewhat irked the first time Will had asked him why he took orders from Gibbs. Gibbs was the only real father he'd ever known, despite the fact that his own father still lived, and Jack's heart glowed and trumpeted within his powerful chest to know that his family still lived and was complete at long last. He threw his head back and laughed, a mischievous grin splitting his handsome face, and then he pounced Will again, tossing him back into the soft bed of richly colored and sweetly scented flowers. "He can wait," he rumbled to his love. "Captain's orders."
Will's eyes shimmered with delight as he gazed lovingly up into Jack's deep, dark, and rich orbs. "I think that's the best order you've given in a very long time, love," he said and kissed him again and again. Their love shone throughout the night and every day and night thereafter, even long after the destiny they fulfilled together and the mortal lives they shared, onward into their shared existence together in the great thereafter, and for all infinity and beyond.
The End