13 Days of Halloween 2014 #13
Oct. 31st, 2014 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katleeptTonight, we have the final installment of this year's 13 Days of Halloween. We bring you a story of sea faring and love at its truest. It also just happens to be what I believe will be my beloved Drew's favorite part and is, of course, dedicated to endless love to my wonderful soul mate. I love you, my darling; happy anniversary and Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And happy Halloween to all and Samhain to those who celebrate it!!
Captain Jack Sparrow surveyed the still, dark water from his position at the very top of the ship. He used to love the climbing the Pearl's rigging and being so high he felt as though he could touch the sky, but he hadn't truly enjoyed anything in ages now. If he had been a bird, his wings would have been clipped well over a year ago, but he had never been a bird. He had only ever been just a man, a Pirate Captain granted but a man nonetheless.
"ALL'S WELL IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR!"
Moonbeams glinted on Jack's gold rings as he gripped the line he held harder. He was really going to have to teach Ragetti the true meaning of being stealthy, but that would have to wait until another night. Tonight, only one thing mattered, but it was midnight already and still no sign of he who he had come so far to reach. He would have done anything to be able to reach him, but this was the only opportunity he had discovered and it, too, seemed fruitless.
On the deck below, Pintel slapped Ragetti in the back of the head just as he started to cry out a second time. Gibbs, meanwhile, gave a heavy sigh as he watched the man who had come, over the years, to be like a son to him. Indeed, Gibbs had never had children, having lived as a Pirate almost all his life, and Jack was the closest thing he'd ever have to a son, cliche as it may be.
Gibbs' thoughtful eyes were not the only ones trained on Jack. All the crew watched their Captain, even Ragetti who had bitten his tongue when Pintel had struck him. The one woman in the group shifted uncomfortably, her dark hand going to the hilt of her sword. She would have gladly ran any one through for Jack, but he'd forbidden her to touch the Witch and had instead brought them all the way out here on Tia Dalma's word. It was just another fruitless search, but she and the others were tired of watching the life and soul slowly strain out of their once spunky Captain.
It was as Ana Maria turned her back to Jack that the wind changed direction. Gibbs wet a finger and held it up, checking the rising breeze, as Jack leaned further out of the crow's nest. The Dwarf started to head for the ropes, afraid his Captain might finally fall, and the feathers of Cotton's parrot rustled. The sound seemed surprisingly loud in the still, quiet night.
"Keep yer bird quiet," one of the other crew members ordered Cotton, but he was too busy turning to see what his parrot was watching to pay him any attention. The bird squawked, and all eyes went back to the dark ocean. The water was churning, and suddenly, ships began to rise from the dark depths.
"Battle stations!" Gibbs called out, rushing for the wheel. Ana Maria drew her sword, and Ragetti, Pintel, and Marty ran for the cannons. Cotton stood watching in silent, wide-eyed amazement as the others prepared for the fight of their lives.
Gibbs gave a quick shake of his whiskered head as he grabbed the wheel. His gaze turned once more to Jack. "I hope ya know what ya're gettin' us into, boyo," he murmured as the breeze became a gale. He shouldn't have let him bring them all out here, but it was either to mutiny and let their Captain go by himself or continue sticking with him and trying to keep him alive when, Gibbs knew, he'd wanted to die since he lost Will. Still, coming here to the Devil's Triangle in the Witching Hour of All Hallow's Eve could only ever be a fool's errand.
Ghosts and Zombies did exist. So did magic. They had all learned that in the last several years. But no matter what Supernatural forces existed that might be able to give Will Turner a chance to sail the seas again tonight, there existed far more that could easily devour their very souls. Gibbs wasn't going to Hell without being dragged there, but then, he wasn't letting Jack go, either.
At least a dozen ships were rising all around the Pearl, and they weren't all Pirate ships. There were military ships and vessels the likes of which even Gibbs with all his many years of Pirating had never seen. More rose as the breeze became a full gale. It tore at their clothes, tossed the rigging, and ripped at their flag. "JACK!" Gibbs thundered as he heard cannons being trained upon them.
Yet another ship sprang up, this one so close to theirs that it slammed into the Pearl and rocked her. Gibbs held to the wheel, but as he started to call his Captain again, Jack's name froze in his wide, open mouth. He shook as he recognized the ship that had risen. Her Captain jumped to the railing as his men fired on the ships that had been training their guns on the Pearl. Anamaria and Marty started firing on the ones beyond the Pearl that the Flying Dutchman couldn't reach for risk of shooting her, but neither was without whoops of joy.
Some of the Pirates stood still in shock. Cotton's parrot shrieked. Pintel turned to the darkest shadows around him and wiped a tear from his eye. Gibbs just let his fall as he watched Jack swing down from the Pearl and join Will on the railing of the Dutchman. Their arms went around each other, and every Pirate on the Pearl cheered uproariously as they kissed.
Both men wanted to stand just like that, their long-lost love wrapped securely in their arms and kissing so heatedly that even they could not tell where they ended and their lover began, but each knew that time was of the essence. Will was the first to lift his mouth from Jack's. His hands cupped his face, and his thumbs brushed over his beard as he wiped away some of his tears. "You shouldn't be here," he whispered, but the bright light shining in his brown eyes told Jack how happy he was that he had come.
"No one keeps me away from ye, luv," Jack whispered heatedly, his breath rushing over Will's lips. He started to angle in for another kiss, but Will stopped him.
"Jack, you know I can't stay. This is just temporary, one night."
Jack ran his fingers through Will's short hair. It didn't feel as thick as he remembered, but it was still luxurious to him. His whole being thrilled just to be touching him again. "It doesn't have tae be."
"What do you mean?"
Jack let his left arm rest on Will's chest, his hand slightly cupping the back of his neck, as with his right, he withdrew a small vial from a pocket on the inside of his tarnished, white blouse. "Drink this," he told him. "Drink this, an' ye can stay wit' me until I die."
"Where did you get that? What is it?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes, of course, it does! Jack, you didn't -- "
"I didn't sell me soul. I almost did, but Gibbs was right." He made a mental note to thank the friend with whom he'd been arguing and fighting for months. "If I'd sold me soul, we'd've both been trapped, an' they wouldn't have let us be tagether."
"So what . . . ?"
"It's a potion from Tia Dalma."
"What makes you so certain it will work?"
Jack was silent for a moment. "It has tae. I can't keep livin' wit'out ye, Will! I miss ye so much!" The tears shining in Jack's dark, kohl-rimmed eyes startled Will. He had hoped he might really love him, but he'd never dared to think he could miss him this much. Jack's hand trembled as he softly caressed Will's face. "Come home wit' me, Will," he pleaded quietly. "Live wit' me. Make me whole again."
No one had dreams in Hell, but Will had never stopped wishing not just for a way out but for any way for him to be with Jack again and for the Pirate Captain to actually love him. He knew, in this moment, that he did, but, still fear clutched at him. It wasn't like Tia Dalma to freely help any one, and even if claimed to help, it was very much likely that the potion still wouldn't work. If it did work, he might well come back a Zombie or something else of similar ilk where he no longer had control of his own being. There was every reason to think it wouldn't work and not a single one to believe it would.
"Will?" Jack asked softly, and in the dark, enchanting eyes of the man he loved, Will suddenly saw it all. Jack was relieved and thankful to be with him, but his hesitancy was now making him afraid that, as Will had once feared the reverse, Will might not love him as he did him. He had come all this way and would have indeed given his very soul if it would have worked to reunite them, and now, suddenly, he was truly frightened that Will might not love him, after all.
Jack had always been the one with the smooth tongue. Words often failed Will, as they did now, but he knew just what to do to erase his soul mate's fear. He grabbed his handsome face in his hands and kissed him long and deep, his tongue diving into his mouth and plunging along his. He kissed him long and deep and would have quite possibly kept kissing him if the Dutchman hadn't rocked.
"LEAVE! YOU HAVE TO LEAVE NOW, SON! GO!" It was his father yelling at him, and for a moment, Will was caught between life and death, his father and his lover, as he looked down to Bootstrap with Jack's face still in his loving hands.
"I'll stay wit' ye if ye want, Will," Jack whispered urgently, "but ye knae they won't let us be happy tagether."
"HE'S RIGHT, BOY! GO!"
"Father, -- "
"I KNOW!" Bootstrap ran at them as others of their crew covered him. He shoved them off of the railing. Jack had tied a rope around his waist, and now, holding onto Will, he swung back toward the Pearl. Cotton grabbed the other end of the rope and pulled them aboard.
Bootstrap saw their safe arrival to the Pearl and smiled through the tears filling his eyes. "I love you, too, son," he whispered before turning and diving back into the fight. Leave it to the undead, he thought, to spend the one night they could leave fighting again to the death. But at least his Will was happy, and Bill smiled all night as he fought.
Back on the Pearl, Will raised the vial he had grabbed from Jack when they swung and uncapped it. He swallowed the entire potion whole. It bubbled in his throat and burned red-hot as it spread throughout his body. He capped the vial and handed the emptied bottle back to the man who had never ceased being the Captain of his heart. "If this works," he asked, "what do we owe her?"
"Next Halloween, we come get her lover."
"Is that all?"
"Aye." It seemed to simple a deal to Jack also, but he'd had little choice but to accept the Witch's offer. It was, after all, the only one he had found that might actually work.
Will gazed into Jack's eyes for a moment longer, still afraid the potion might not work. They had to make the most of whatever time they did have together, and he grabbed him and resumed kissing him as though indeed he might die again at any second. Jack's hands tried desperately to cover every inch of Will's body, stroking, caressing, and squeezing him as they went as his tongue danced with his. Cannons fired all around them, and still, they just kept kissing.
"MEN!" Anamaria's dark eyes rolled, but she was still grinning as she fired again.
Pintel wiped away another tear and stepped closer to Ragetti when no one was looking. Cotton shrugged with a smile and turned away to give his Captain and his lover what privacy he could. His parrot squawked, turned around on his shoulder, and angled his neck to get a better look. He squawked a second time when Cotton silently covered his eyes.
Marty had gone to firing other cannons, but he continued to whoop and holler as Gibbs released a bark of laughter and set their trail for home. The Dutchman continued to cover them until they had left the triangle. Will felt it when they moved out of the possessed area. He clung to Jack tighter and kissed him harder, but nothing more happened.
The crew was exhausted, but as most of them began to relax, they still continued to throw glances at the lovers. They had all watched their Captain suffer without his young love, and there wasn't a single person on board who resented them their time together, even if it had began in the midst o a dire battle.
Gibbs continued to steer them toward home, but he kept a watchful eye on Jack and Will, as well. Although he knew they couldn't be followed out of the Triangle by the ghost ships, he maintained a steady course until he saw day breaking above the far, eastern horizon. It was at that time that he stopped the ship and simply watched his "son" and his lover. Like Will, he feared that Tia Dalma's potion would not work.
The crew members had been lulled to sleep by the gentle sailing and lapping of night waves against the ship's hull, but now they began to stir again. Anamaria shoved Marty off of her while Pintel curved his arm a little closer around Ragetti, who snuggled in deeper and continued to sleep. Silent eyes turned with anxious fear to the two men who, somehow, were still managing to kiss. The parrot squawked again.
Their eyes had drifted close, but both men could feel the heat of the morning sun touching their flesh. They held each other tighter. Only Will opened an eye to check fearfully on how close the rising sun was. He lifted his mouth from Jack's. "I love you, Jack!" he breathed, wanting him to be sure of that before he was taken back to the locker.
Jack cupped his face, his thumbs brushed over his bruised lips. "I love ye, too, Will, an' we're goin' tae be just fine!" he persisted despite the fear in his heart.
Will's lips slammed back down onto Jack's. They held each other as closely as if they were a second skin, kissing, touching, caressing, and loving every spot of the other, until the sun fully bathed them. Will's eyes were open, and it was now broad daylight. He was still kissing Jack, still tasting his wonderful deliciousness that was rum, sea salt, rough living, and just pure Jack, and day had come! He was a ghost no longer and still in full possession of his own mind, heart, and soul -- or at least that which he hadn't given freely to the man he loved!
His lips rose from his. "Jack?"
"I know." He stroked him, long, agile fingers caressing his cheek and arm. His smile was huge; bright sunshine gleamed on his gold tooth. "I told ye we'd be fine, luv! Now," his fingers entwined with his, "let's go celebrate th' first day o' th' rest o' our lives th' proper way!"
The whole crew looked on as he led him out of the rigging and into his cabin. Then they cheered and broke out the rum. The Captain's door opened one more time that morning as Jack's hand snuck out and grabbed the bottle of rum from the closest person, who just happened to be Marty. Marty had been about to take a sip of his bottle when Jack stole it from him. He started to holler, but as the door quickly shut again, he just stood there for a moment with a silly grin on his face. Then he laughed.
Gibbs chuckled as he handed him another bottle. Cotton grinned; his parrot squawked. Anamaria lifted a bottle into the air in a silent salute; the others also lifted theirs. Then, together, laughing and smiling they drank. Life was good once more, and their Captain, their worlds, were whole once again.
The End
And happy Halloween to all and Samhain to those who celebrate it!!
Captain Jack Sparrow surveyed the still, dark water from his position at the very top of the ship. He used to love the climbing the Pearl's rigging and being so high he felt as though he could touch the sky, but he hadn't truly enjoyed anything in ages now. If he had been a bird, his wings would have been clipped well over a year ago, but he had never been a bird. He had only ever been just a man, a Pirate Captain granted but a man nonetheless.
"ALL'S WELL IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR!"
Moonbeams glinted on Jack's gold rings as he gripped the line he held harder. He was really going to have to teach Ragetti the true meaning of being stealthy, but that would have to wait until another night. Tonight, only one thing mattered, but it was midnight already and still no sign of he who he had come so far to reach. He would have done anything to be able to reach him, but this was the only opportunity he had discovered and it, too, seemed fruitless.
On the deck below, Pintel slapped Ragetti in the back of the head just as he started to cry out a second time. Gibbs, meanwhile, gave a heavy sigh as he watched the man who had come, over the years, to be like a son to him. Indeed, Gibbs had never had children, having lived as a Pirate almost all his life, and Jack was the closest thing he'd ever have to a son, cliche as it may be.
Gibbs' thoughtful eyes were not the only ones trained on Jack. All the crew watched their Captain, even Ragetti who had bitten his tongue when Pintel had struck him. The one woman in the group shifted uncomfortably, her dark hand going to the hilt of her sword. She would have gladly ran any one through for Jack, but he'd forbidden her to touch the Witch and had instead brought them all the way out here on Tia Dalma's word. It was just another fruitless search, but she and the others were tired of watching the life and soul slowly strain out of their once spunky Captain.
It was as Ana Maria turned her back to Jack that the wind changed direction. Gibbs wet a finger and held it up, checking the rising breeze, as Jack leaned further out of the crow's nest. The Dwarf started to head for the ropes, afraid his Captain might finally fall, and the feathers of Cotton's parrot rustled. The sound seemed surprisingly loud in the still, quiet night.
"Keep yer bird quiet," one of the other crew members ordered Cotton, but he was too busy turning to see what his parrot was watching to pay him any attention. The bird squawked, and all eyes went back to the dark ocean. The water was churning, and suddenly, ships began to rise from the dark depths.
"Battle stations!" Gibbs called out, rushing for the wheel. Ana Maria drew her sword, and Ragetti, Pintel, and Marty ran for the cannons. Cotton stood watching in silent, wide-eyed amazement as the others prepared for the fight of their lives.
Gibbs gave a quick shake of his whiskered head as he grabbed the wheel. His gaze turned once more to Jack. "I hope ya know what ya're gettin' us into, boyo," he murmured as the breeze became a gale. He shouldn't have let him bring them all out here, but it was either to mutiny and let their Captain go by himself or continue sticking with him and trying to keep him alive when, Gibbs knew, he'd wanted to die since he lost Will. Still, coming here to the Devil's Triangle in the Witching Hour of All Hallow's Eve could only ever be a fool's errand.
Ghosts and Zombies did exist. So did magic. They had all learned that in the last several years. But no matter what Supernatural forces existed that might be able to give Will Turner a chance to sail the seas again tonight, there existed far more that could easily devour their very souls. Gibbs wasn't going to Hell without being dragged there, but then, he wasn't letting Jack go, either.
At least a dozen ships were rising all around the Pearl, and they weren't all Pirate ships. There were military ships and vessels the likes of which even Gibbs with all his many years of Pirating had never seen. More rose as the breeze became a full gale. It tore at their clothes, tossed the rigging, and ripped at their flag. "JACK!" Gibbs thundered as he heard cannons being trained upon them.
Yet another ship sprang up, this one so close to theirs that it slammed into the Pearl and rocked her. Gibbs held to the wheel, but as he started to call his Captain again, Jack's name froze in his wide, open mouth. He shook as he recognized the ship that had risen. Her Captain jumped to the railing as his men fired on the ships that had been training their guns on the Pearl. Anamaria and Marty started firing on the ones beyond the Pearl that the Flying Dutchman couldn't reach for risk of shooting her, but neither was without whoops of joy.
Some of the Pirates stood still in shock. Cotton's parrot shrieked. Pintel turned to the darkest shadows around him and wiped a tear from his eye. Gibbs just let his fall as he watched Jack swing down from the Pearl and join Will on the railing of the Dutchman. Their arms went around each other, and every Pirate on the Pearl cheered uproariously as they kissed.
Both men wanted to stand just like that, their long-lost love wrapped securely in their arms and kissing so heatedly that even they could not tell where they ended and their lover began, but each knew that time was of the essence. Will was the first to lift his mouth from Jack's. His hands cupped his face, and his thumbs brushed over his beard as he wiped away some of his tears. "You shouldn't be here," he whispered, but the bright light shining in his brown eyes told Jack how happy he was that he had come.
"No one keeps me away from ye, luv," Jack whispered heatedly, his breath rushing over Will's lips. He started to angle in for another kiss, but Will stopped him.
"Jack, you know I can't stay. This is just temporary, one night."
Jack ran his fingers through Will's short hair. It didn't feel as thick as he remembered, but it was still luxurious to him. His whole being thrilled just to be touching him again. "It doesn't have tae be."
"What do you mean?"
Jack let his left arm rest on Will's chest, his hand slightly cupping the back of his neck, as with his right, he withdrew a small vial from a pocket on the inside of his tarnished, white blouse. "Drink this," he told him. "Drink this, an' ye can stay wit' me until I die."
"Where did you get that? What is it?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes, of course, it does! Jack, you didn't -- "
"I didn't sell me soul. I almost did, but Gibbs was right." He made a mental note to thank the friend with whom he'd been arguing and fighting for months. "If I'd sold me soul, we'd've both been trapped, an' they wouldn't have let us be tagether."
"So what . . . ?"
"It's a potion from Tia Dalma."
"What makes you so certain it will work?"
Jack was silent for a moment. "It has tae. I can't keep livin' wit'out ye, Will! I miss ye so much!" The tears shining in Jack's dark, kohl-rimmed eyes startled Will. He had hoped he might really love him, but he'd never dared to think he could miss him this much. Jack's hand trembled as he softly caressed Will's face. "Come home wit' me, Will," he pleaded quietly. "Live wit' me. Make me whole again."
No one had dreams in Hell, but Will had never stopped wishing not just for a way out but for any way for him to be with Jack again and for the Pirate Captain to actually love him. He knew, in this moment, that he did, but, still fear clutched at him. It wasn't like Tia Dalma to freely help any one, and even if claimed to help, it was very much likely that the potion still wouldn't work. If it did work, he might well come back a Zombie or something else of similar ilk where he no longer had control of his own being. There was every reason to think it wouldn't work and not a single one to believe it would.
"Will?" Jack asked softly, and in the dark, enchanting eyes of the man he loved, Will suddenly saw it all. Jack was relieved and thankful to be with him, but his hesitancy was now making him afraid that, as Will had once feared the reverse, Will might not love him as he did him. He had come all this way and would have indeed given his very soul if it would have worked to reunite them, and now, suddenly, he was truly frightened that Will might not love him, after all.
Jack had always been the one with the smooth tongue. Words often failed Will, as they did now, but he knew just what to do to erase his soul mate's fear. He grabbed his handsome face in his hands and kissed him long and deep, his tongue diving into his mouth and plunging along his. He kissed him long and deep and would have quite possibly kept kissing him if the Dutchman hadn't rocked.
"LEAVE! YOU HAVE TO LEAVE NOW, SON! GO!" It was his father yelling at him, and for a moment, Will was caught between life and death, his father and his lover, as he looked down to Bootstrap with Jack's face still in his loving hands.
"I'll stay wit' ye if ye want, Will," Jack whispered urgently, "but ye knae they won't let us be happy tagether."
"HE'S RIGHT, BOY! GO!"
"Father, -- "
"I KNOW!" Bootstrap ran at them as others of their crew covered him. He shoved them off of the railing. Jack had tied a rope around his waist, and now, holding onto Will, he swung back toward the Pearl. Cotton grabbed the other end of the rope and pulled them aboard.
Bootstrap saw their safe arrival to the Pearl and smiled through the tears filling his eyes. "I love you, too, son," he whispered before turning and diving back into the fight. Leave it to the undead, he thought, to spend the one night they could leave fighting again to the death. But at least his Will was happy, and Bill smiled all night as he fought.
Back on the Pearl, Will raised the vial he had grabbed from Jack when they swung and uncapped it. He swallowed the entire potion whole. It bubbled in his throat and burned red-hot as it spread throughout his body. He capped the vial and handed the emptied bottle back to the man who had never ceased being the Captain of his heart. "If this works," he asked, "what do we owe her?"
"Next Halloween, we come get her lover."
"Is that all?"
"Aye." It seemed to simple a deal to Jack also, but he'd had little choice but to accept the Witch's offer. It was, after all, the only one he had found that might actually work.
Will gazed into Jack's eyes for a moment longer, still afraid the potion might not work. They had to make the most of whatever time they did have together, and he grabbed him and resumed kissing him as though indeed he might die again at any second. Jack's hands tried desperately to cover every inch of Will's body, stroking, caressing, and squeezing him as they went as his tongue danced with his. Cannons fired all around them, and still, they just kept kissing.
"MEN!" Anamaria's dark eyes rolled, but she was still grinning as she fired again.
Pintel wiped away another tear and stepped closer to Ragetti when no one was looking. Cotton shrugged with a smile and turned away to give his Captain and his lover what privacy he could. His parrot squawked, turned around on his shoulder, and angled his neck to get a better look. He squawked a second time when Cotton silently covered his eyes.
Marty had gone to firing other cannons, but he continued to whoop and holler as Gibbs released a bark of laughter and set their trail for home. The Dutchman continued to cover them until they had left the triangle. Will felt it when they moved out of the possessed area. He clung to Jack tighter and kissed him harder, but nothing more happened.
The crew was exhausted, but as most of them began to relax, they still continued to throw glances at the lovers. They had all watched their Captain suffer without his young love, and there wasn't a single person on board who resented them their time together, even if it had began in the midst o a dire battle.
Gibbs continued to steer them toward home, but he kept a watchful eye on Jack and Will, as well. Although he knew they couldn't be followed out of the Triangle by the ghost ships, he maintained a steady course until he saw day breaking above the far, eastern horizon. It was at that time that he stopped the ship and simply watched his "son" and his lover. Like Will, he feared that Tia Dalma's potion would not work.
The crew members had been lulled to sleep by the gentle sailing and lapping of night waves against the ship's hull, but now they began to stir again. Anamaria shoved Marty off of her while Pintel curved his arm a little closer around Ragetti, who snuggled in deeper and continued to sleep. Silent eyes turned with anxious fear to the two men who, somehow, were still managing to kiss. The parrot squawked again.
Their eyes had drifted close, but both men could feel the heat of the morning sun touching their flesh. They held each other tighter. Only Will opened an eye to check fearfully on how close the rising sun was. He lifted his mouth from Jack's. "I love you, Jack!" he breathed, wanting him to be sure of that before he was taken back to the locker.
Jack cupped his face, his thumbs brushed over his bruised lips. "I love ye, too, Will, an' we're goin' tae be just fine!" he persisted despite the fear in his heart.
Will's lips slammed back down onto Jack's. They held each other as closely as if they were a second skin, kissing, touching, caressing, and loving every spot of the other, until the sun fully bathed them. Will's eyes were open, and it was now broad daylight. He was still kissing Jack, still tasting his wonderful deliciousness that was rum, sea salt, rough living, and just pure Jack, and day had come! He was a ghost no longer and still in full possession of his own mind, heart, and soul -- or at least that which he hadn't given freely to the man he loved!
His lips rose from his. "Jack?"
"I know." He stroked him, long, agile fingers caressing his cheek and arm. His smile was huge; bright sunshine gleamed on his gold tooth. "I told ye we'd be fine, luv! Now," his fingers entwined with his, "let's go celebrate th' first day o' th' rest o' our lives th' proper way!"
The whole crew looked on as he led him out of the rigging and into his cabin. Then they cheered and broke out the rum. The Captain's door opened one more time that morning as Jack's hand snuck out and grabbed the bottle of rum from the closest person, who just happened to be Marty. Marty had been about to take a sip of his bottle when Jack stole it from him. He started to holler, but as the door quickly shut again, he just stood there for a moment with a silly grin on his face. Then he laughed.
Gibbs chuckled as he handed him another bottle. Cotton grinned; his parrot squawked. Anamaria lifted a bottle into the air in a silent salute; the others also lifted theirs. Then, together, laughing and smiling they drank. Life was good once more, and their Captain, their worlds, were whole once again.
The End
