FicWad

Jack emerged from his cabin, surprised it was still light. James was asleep, helped along by a little something snuck into the rum. Man needed it, looking like he did. Big black circles under his eyes, face sickly pale under tanned skin, lines etched where they hadn't been before. He needed sleep, needed someone else to take care of things. James was too ready to give everything up, the life he'd worked for, the friends he had.

He was crazed with grief. No fit state to take care of this. To plan.

"What's going on, Captain?" Gibbs asked. "Turner said something about a baby in jail?"

"Aye. Norrington's son has been imprisoned by the East Indian Trading Company." He turned to his second in command. "We're breaking him out."

"It's not our fight, Captain," Marty protested. "We're not risking our lives for that Navy scum."

Jack turned on him. "You're wrong. It is my fight. Mine. My son too. Any man who doesn't want to risk his neck is free to get off."

"What? Here?"

Jack fought not to roll his eyes. "I follow the code. I will take anyone who wants off to a location they deem suitable, provided it does not postpone or prolonged the duration it takes to get to Port Royal and get a six month old child out of a jail cell." He began to stalk to the Dauntless, when a thought occurred to him. He turned. "Mariah Plover and Elizabeth Turner are also imprisoned. As you've all had dealings with at least one of the ladies, you might feel more inclined to go after them."

"What do you mean the kid's yours?" Gibbs asked. "You never said anything about a kid."

"Why do you think I was in Port Royal all those months?" He climbed onto the gunwale and leapt lightly to the Dauntless.

The tall, calm lieutenant, Groves, Jack thought he'd been called, was on the quarterdeck with Will. When Jack boarded, Groves gestured for Jack to join them.

He needed no further invitation. "We'll need your help," he said without preamble.

Groves nodded. "I assumed as much. Mr. Turner has been filling me in on what happened. I don't know why the Commodore didn't.... Anyway. I've talked to the crew. Only one man doesn't want to risk his career, so he's been confined to quarters until this is finished." He hesitated. "How is James?"

Jack narrowed his eyes and studied the other man, trying to gauge the intent of his question. James was his; he wasn't going to share, not with this tall, pretty man. "Sleeping," Jack finally answered. He turned to Will. "I need to know what you know. What does he want?"

"Becket? He said he wants your compass. He didn't say why. I told him it doesn't work, but..."

"It works." Jack stroked his chin. "How many ships did he bring?"

"Three. But he's taken over Port Royal. Commandeered the rest of them."

"And everyone's loyal?"

Will shrugged. "Everyone at the fort knows that James's son was placed in prison. No one stood up to him."

He cocked an eyebrow. "You didn't."

"I couldn't risk it. Where would I have taken them?" Will asked pragmatically. "Elizabeth might have managed an escape, but not from the inside."

Jack conceded the point. Will was too steady, feet too firmly planted on the ground. He was capable of brilliant planning, but the moment someone he loved was in danger, he became logical. Hesitant.

And James....

The man was brilliant, but this was his son. And he needed the ship and a safe place to retreat. His planning was over for now.

"I can't imagine anyone at Port Royal has actually turned their backs on James," Groves said. "He's very highly regarded."

"And Cutler is terrifying," Jack agreed. "If we were to go in, how likely is it they'd fight against us?"

Groves' face fell. "I'm not sure."

"Is there anyone to send it ahead to see? Someone who wouldn't be noticed, but who would be able to talk to the officers?"

"There's a few ensigns. Young, unnoticeable. They might be able to."

"The Dauntless will have to go in first. No. First, we'll send in the ensigns. Then you go in... the Pearl will follow, but we can't be seen."

"If the fort is too busy defending themselves from one of their own, they won't notice a small contingent that goes ashore."

"From the Dauntless. Pearl stays out of range."

Groves nodded. "Of course."

Jack tugged at a lock of hair. "That might work." He met Groves' eyes. "And my crew is safe?"

"Yes." He hesitated, then said, "After, I would like to know where you go. So I know that James is safe. And... And Mariah."

"Mariah?"

The lieutenant's face turned red.

"Does she know?"

"I've... We've spoken. But I don't know if she realizes how... how highly I regard her."

"I shall pass on your respects. And our location." He nodded and gave the lad a smile, more inclined to be friendly as he was not a threat. "We'll stay here for the night. When James awakes, we'll finalize our plans."

"Aye, Captain," Groves said, giving a respectful salute and smile.

James gave him a bow, then twirled around and headed back to the Pearl.

"Jack," Will said, falling into step beside him. "What is going on?"

"I thought it was quite obvious. A child has been put in prison, Captain Jack Sparrow runs to the rescue. I happen to love that boy, if you haven't noticed." He climbed onto the gunwale and swung across to the Pearl.

"I never expected any less," answered Will, following. "I watched you with Gavin every day. I knew you would help. But what's going on with you and James?"

Jack spun around, arms out. He shrugged. "I don't know what you are talking about. Mr. Gibbs?"

"Aye, Captain?"

"Anyone complaining about our mission?"

"No, Captain. Although, you might want to talk to them, later, too."

"Of course."

Will grabbed Jack's arm. "What's going on, Jack? You seem awfully familiar with James."

"Of course I'm familiar with him. Spent the night on his ship, once. Tried to hang me."

"Yes, I know. And yet, you seem forgiving."

Jack smiled. Spread his hands. "Always magnanimous, me. Never one to hold a grudge."

"You carried a single shot to kill Barbossa for ten years!"

"Score wasn't settled."

"Jack. You called him Jamie."

"I call your wife Lizzie."

"You're friends with my wife."

Jack gave up. Simply looked at Will, eyebrow raised.

Will blinked. Shook his head. "You can't.... You can't mean that you and James Norrington are... friends."

"No, I don't mean. I do mean that he and I... What he and I are is something he can explain to you. In the meantime, rest assured I only mean the best by him and his son." He turned and began walking way.

"You were there for weeks and you never saw fit to explain to either myself or Elizabeth of your... arrangement?" Will shouted. "What about Mariah?"

"As I'm sure your darling wife explained, Mariah and I never entangled. Well, have not entangled for quite some time. Years. Not while I was in town, at any rate."

Will grabbed him. "We were worried. Felt guilty that we were allowing you near Gavin. Thinking he'd protest, thinking we were being poor friends for not following what surely were his wishes. And you knew!"

"Despite what you may believe about me, I am not, in fact, a mind reader."

"Jack."

Jack twisted his arm in Will's grip, taking hold of him and tugging him close. "Despite my rather unconventional attitude toward life, that does not mean I am prepared to ruin the life of another. Especially not one such as he."

Will gave him a long, steadily penetrating look. "Jack, I..." He furrowed his brow. Pulled his arm away. Stepped back. "Jack. Am I to understand that you... that you and James has formed... have done... have been... in some sort of... sexually intimate... thing?"

"Not that it is any of your concern, of course."

The boy looked up at him. His cheeks burned a dull red. "I must know. Neither of you has been... you've not forced him nor he you. Have you?"

He frowned. "Of course not. Neither of us is the type of man to be..." The lie suddenly burned sharply on his tongue. He had to swallowed before amending his statement to, "Neither of us is the type of man to force another into our bed." He grinned. "Don't need to, mate. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

Will gave him a wan smile in return.

"May I ask what brought on this unpleasant question?"

He shrugged. "On my voyage from England, there was a man... a man who was quite insistent of his pursuit of me."

"Will," Jack said, stepping closer.

The boy shook his head. "No. Nothing happened. Not... much. The cook and the first mate made sure I was guarded when they discovered what was going on. But now... I don't know anything, Jack. That's all I know about this kind of thing. All I've heard. Pain and humiliation."

"It's not always like that. Just like it's not always like that between men and women." Jack shrugged. "There are always them that take pleasure in the pain and hurt of others. It's got nothing to do with sex. Nothing to do with love."

"Do you love James?"

Jack hesitated. He hated to lay himself bare. Hated to give someone else an opening against him.

But he hated even more that Will wouldn't look at him. That he kept edging away from Jack, biting his lip.

So he forced himself not to disassemble for once in his life. "I do."

Will relaxed. Looked at him.

"William," Jack said, taking a step closer. "When I first met you and Lizzie... you were both the most beautiful people I'd ever met. Spent time trapped alone with. And I wanted you. Both of you. So very much."

The dull red was back now. Brighter, spread all over Will's face. "So, why didn't you..."

"You wouldn't have understood. Neither of you. Anything I did would have been misinterpreted. It would have hurt you. But James..." He shrugged. "I knew the moment we met that we'd end up tumbling in bed."

"Didn't he arrest you when you met?"

Jack waved his hand. "He did his job. Flirted on top of it. We ended up coming to an arrangement on the voyage to Ilse de los Muerta to rescue you."

"Oh."

"I would never hurt any of my friends. Never force anyone into bed. You've no fear, William. And if you're still not assured, ask James later, when he wakes."

"I trust you, Jack. I do." Then he shrugged and said, "But, I'll probably still talk to James. Not because I don't trust you, but... well. You do seem part witch sometimes. I have to make sure he's not, you know. Enspelled."

Jack laughed. "Well, me mum dabbled a bit. Myself? Never seen much point in all that nonsense." His smile dropped away. "We all right?"

Will nodded. "Yes, Jack. We're good."

*

James opened his eyes and blinked confusedly at the unfamiliar roof over his head. He didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten here. His head was muzzy and heavy, eyelashes sticky, vision cloudy.

A loud snore cut through silent air.

He stiffened, muscles tightening painfully. Then memory washed back over him in a tar-black wave.

James struggled to sit up. Turned. Jack was splayed out on his back, arms and legs askew. The blankets were tangled around his legs, his mouth was open and he snored softly.

James smacked him across the face.

Jack came awake with a shout. "What are... Don't..." He blinked. Eyes focused on James's face. "Jamie. What?"

"You drugged me?"

"You needed sleep."

He was trembling with rage, throat stopped up. "Do not ever do that again. I can't... Don't..."

"Shh, love," Jack soothed. "It's all right."

James found himself engulfed in Jack's arms. He clung desperately to his anger, but found it giving way to a myriad of other things he'd rather not feel: grief and fear and helplessness. And Jack's hands were stroking his back, soothing, his voice assuring him it would all be all right. And his baby was back in Port Royal, held captive by a ruthless man and he...

Something inside him snapped. To his horror, James found tears pressing against his shut tight eyelids, demanding to get out. His head was still heavy and even though he knew where he was, he felt disoriented. Despite the sleep, he was exhausted. There were no defenses, and Jack kept soothing him like a child.

He couldn't stop the trembling. He couldn't stop the small gasps for air. Couldn't stop the tears from breaking through and rolling down his face, falling onto Jack's skin.

James felt dizzy. Months he had done nothing but dream of his child. Of being reunited with him. Hearing Gavin laugh, seeing those pudgy hands reaching for him. Longed to see that small, beautiful face as he'd longed for nothing before, and when it finally happened....

It seemed forever before James was able to pull himself together. The tears abated, but the terrible emptiness and clawing pain within him did not. Still, he moved away from Jack, face aflame, unable to meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said, using a corner of the blankets to wipe away the evidence of his weakness.

"Nothing to apologize for, love."

He rolled his eyes. Sniffed and dropped the blanket.

"James, what you've gone through is more than any man should have to. Cutler Beckett is a monster, and he's hurt your own heart. 'Tis not unexpected you'd react thus."

"I'm a man. One of honor. I cannot afford..."

"Here you can, love." Jack placed his hand on James's knee. Squeezed. "Here, with me, you can afford anything."

He sniffed again. Dared to raise his eyes to Jack's. "How... What..." He pressed his lips together. Shook his head. "I hardly know what question to ask first."

Jack studied him a moment before nodding. He rose from the bed and rummaged through a pile of clothes on the floor. A moment later, he produced the wretched compass.

"Here." Jack placed the compass in James's hand. "Here is the prize that Cutler desires so greatly."

"A compass that doesn't work."

"It works, James." He covered James's hands with his own. "Think. What is it you desire most in this world?"

"Gavin."

"Hold his image in your mind. Hold that thought." Nimble fingers pulled away, opening the lid of the compass as they did.

It twirled dizzyingly, failing as always to find north. James was about to express his disgust with the entire proceeding when the needle stopped suddenly. Pointed south-east, towards...

"What on Earth?"

"It points to that which you most desire. 'Tis how I was able to track the Pearl as she traveled to the Isle de los Muerta. 'Tis how I will always be able to find you."

James glanced up. His eyes met Jack's and his cheeks warmed.

Jack offered him a small quirk of a smile. Leaned forward and brushed his mouth over James's . Pressed again, mouth open, clinging. A touch of tongue, then Jack pulled away.

The world settled itself more firmly under James. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. With his free hand, he reached for Jack's hand. He shut the compass with the other. "What is, I wonder, that Beckett most desires."

"Power," Jack replied without hesitation, causing James's eyes to snap open. "It's the only thing he cares about, if anything. Only thing he knows how to pursue."

"You can't find power with a compass."

Jack shook his head. "No. I don't know what he's after, in the particular. Only in the abstract. That, as ever, remains the same."

"What is your relationship with this man?" James asked, the question that had been burning in him since first meeting Beckett voiced at last.

And Jack....

The look on Jack's face told him enough. The closed eyes, the tightly pressed mouth. A man forcing himself to remain in the image he'd rebuilt upon devastation.

He felt as if he would be ill. "Jack..."

"Worked for the East Indian Trading company when I was young. Cutler... was young. Unworldly. But as dangerous then as he is now. His father thought he needed more responsibility. See more of the world. So he stuck him on my ship."

"What happened?"

"Nothing. Man was intelligent, a quick study. Within days he knew what takes men years. He was quiet, pleasant. Sometimes arrogant, but he was a lord in training, it was to be expected.

"And then... there we were attacked. By pirates. Despite my orders, Cutler joined the battle." Jack shook his head. "I did not see him until the end. Covered from head to toe with blood, a kind of... spark in his eyes. You've seen them."

"They're dead. Expressionless."

Jack nodded. "Aye. Yet, in that moment..." He swallowed. "Then, there were the wounded. He helped the surgeon. I thought... I thought it would help. That the fighting had driven him half mad, and helping preserve... saving..." Jack let out a long breath. His eyes fell shut. "I was wrong."

"What happened?"

"Never quite figured out what he did. But more of my men died more painfully than I've ever seen on that ship. Even those whose wounds were hardly a trifle." He opened his eyes again. "He's so rational about everything. Thinks about everything and comes to conclusions no man ever has. We'd sit at nights and he'd talk about... about men dying, about animals he'd experimented on. Experimented he called it. Torture I'd say. So rational. Proper and polite, over tea." Jack shuddered. "He'd sit there, talking. Cool and calculating, pleasant as you please. And the whole time, I felt as if it were me being dissected."

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "One night, we got into a particularly heated discussion about slavery. I'm rather against the notion, as I spent a good portion of my life indebted to others, working for food and a hammock under a leak. Cutler felt slavery was necessary and justifiable. We exchanged words. Almost came to blows, except he'd never sully his hands over something so common. The next day, we made port and he disembarked. Returned to his father's side." Jack frowned. Traced his finger over James's thigh. "The next, I was given my next assignment. They wanted me to go to Africa, pick up a load of slaves, cram them into the hold, and take them the colonies. I refused. Barely escaped with my life, stole a ship with the crew, and turned pirate. The ship I stole, the Wicked Wench/, was rechristened to the /Black Pearl and I began my life of thieving villainy."

"He did it on purpose, knowing it would hurt you," James murmured.

"Yet another experiment."

"And since then, have you seen him?"

Shame washed over Jack's face. His eyes fell shut, fingers tightened in James's hand. "Five years later, merely months before Barbossa stole the Pearl away, we stumbled across one another. He'd... he'd grown. Matured. His fair was ailing and he managed to convince me he was frightened for his future. Of being forced into a position of power before having truly lived.

"I don't know why I believed him. He convinced me... convinced me to let him on the /Pearl/. Said he wanted to know freedom."

"And you believed him?"

Jack shrugged. "Drunk on me own power. My own invincibility."

Sounded like Jack. "What happened?"

"We went out. He played part of the crew. We came across a ship laden with rum and gold and attack. And, again, he was..."

"Vicious."

"Aye. Only this time I knew not to let him help with the wounded." He licked his lips. "We divided up the booty. Made port. He and I went to a tavern. I remember him encouraging me to drink."

"You hardly need encouragement," James couldn't help saying.

A quick, sickly smile flitted across his face. "You can never have too much rum. I thought he was drinking, too. Never noticed..." He pressed his lips together. "He watched everything around him. Studied 'em. All." Jack let go of James's hand. Pressed the back of his hand against his eyes. "I was in high spirits. Wanted company in bed. There was a couple of wenches and a room."

"Both together?"

"Part of the thrill, love. We were drunk. I was drunk. And Cutler is a handsome man."

"So why not bed him?"

"Handsome, he may be. Cold. You cannot touch the man. He flinches from contact. Stiffens. Always has. He all but ignored the whores, but I didn't notice. Both women came to me, on the bed and he just sat there and watched."

"Watched you."

Jack nodded. "Only I was too caught up to notice."

"What happened?"

"We had our fun. I fell asleep. Passed out. When I woke, I was on the Pearl. Lashed to the mainmast. Naked." He took a shaky breath. "He was talking. Saying stuff about power and the pursuit of it. About taking from others what you needed, the very nature of piracy. Only he were going to do it more. Do it better. It weren't just about taking what they have. It's about taking what they are. And then." He swallowed. "And then he took me."

James's heart felt rend in two. "Jack." He reached for Jack's hand.

"William... Turner? Will's father. He found me. Still naked. Bleeding all over. But I was hurt inside, bleeding worse from.... And branded."

"He branded you /then/? While he was a guest on your ship?"

Jack's smile was ghostly. "Proved some point. Anyway. Two weeks later, I met Barbossa. Few weeks after that, they mutinied. So. I guess Cutler managed to do as he set out."

"No." James moved in. Kissed Jack on the forehead. "Had he truly taken your power, you'd be dead long before. Instead, you've reclaimed your ship, settled your score, and have moved on. He didn't take your power."

"Perhaps not. But now he's got our heart, love." He grabbed James and pulled him in. Kissed him fiercely. "We will get him back. I won't let that bastard take him from us."

He shook his head, throat too tight to speak. He moved closer to Jack and pulled the other man into his arms. The thought, the idea of what this man had been through, what had been taken from him, yet was still able to trust him.

He kissed Jack's forehead. His temple, cheek, jaw. Mouth. "Part of my heart is in Port Royal with my... our son. But the other part always remains with you." He brought Jack's hand to his heart and squeezed. "I love you."

Jack's mouth was warm against his. His beard scratched softly at James's cheeks, quickly soothed by calloused fingerprints. "Barbossa angered me," Jack whispered. He rested their foreheads together. "When he stole my Pearl, I was incensed. I wanted to gut him, but I had to bide my time until I could take back my ship and extract my revenge." He swallowed. Pressed himself against James. "Cutler... Cutler drove me half mad. I'd do anything to avoid facing him again."

"Jack..."

"Except give up my son or leave you to face him alone." Jack pulled back. Gazed into James's eyes. "I love you. Don't say that, not ever. And I mean it. And I mean it when I say I won't let nothing happen to you and Gavin, not if I have to face a hundred Cutler Becketts."

"You don't have to. I can face him alone if it comes to that. You just make ready to sweep us away when it is over."

"No, Jamie. We will face him together. If comes to it, we'll do it together."