Chapter Text
After much cajoling, and plain manhandling, he managed to get Jack onto the Black Pearl. Gibbs saw them and hurried over, helping him by taking the other man's side as they steered him towards the great cabin.
Bill was glad to see that most of the crew didn't notice their passage, engrossed in their work. Of those who did, they quickly lowered their eyes or pretended not to notice after a stern glare from Bill.
By this point Jack was mostly senseless, eyes locked on some imaginary point, and humming an occasional ditty.
They tossed him none too gently onto his bunk, and Jack gave a soft noise of complaint and confusion. "Go to sleep, Captain." said Gibbs as he removed the man's boots.
Not for the first time Bill thanked the gods for the stable and reliable presence of Joshamee Gibbs.
"I'm surprised you got him this far," said Gibbs, tossing the boots into a far corner of the room.
Bill frowned thoughtfully and idly extracted a braid of hair that Jack was chewing on. "Hmm, well he's all yours now."
Gibbs looked up from what he was doing. "Yer not stayin'?"
Bill shook his head. "Can't. 'Sides, needed on the Dutchman more than I am here. Ye've got things well in hand, as always, Mister Gibbs."
Gibbs smileed and shook Bill's hand firmly. "Aye, well best o' luck to you then. We'll see ye soon, hopefully!" The man fidgeted for a minute, stuttering on a sentence, before finally looking solemnly at Bill. "I'm sorry about what happened to young Billy. We all are." Gibbs waved a hand to encompass the surrounding cabin and Jack's unconscious form.
Bill nodded his appreciation, throat closed up, and he ruthlessly suppressed the wave of grief. Clearing his throat loudly, he looked again at Gibbs. "He's going to be out for a few days. In the meantime, ye should head nor'east for a while. That's where we were last."
Gibbs just nodded and stared at the wooden bulwark of the Pearl, where even inside they could hear the steady pounding of waves against her side. "Aye, we'll do that. The sea's mighty rough, though... I had trouble gettin' the crew to fall into line. There's not a sailor in the whole o' Tortuga who ain't keen to get movin' again, but this weather." he looked at Bill, eyes troubled. "'M not sure we'll make it, not without the Captain at the helm."
As if in agreement the ship rolled with a particularly strong set of waves, wood moaning and rigging creaking.
Bill sighed and ran a hand through his hair with nervous tension. "Aye. Well, the Pearl's been through worse afore, so let's just hope she can handle what's to come. Ye'll be close to shore for a while at least. Once yer out on open water though..." Bill shrugged apologetically. "There's naught I can do 'bout that."
They stood in awkward silence, watching the sleeping captain, before Bill shook himself roughly. "Well. I best be off."
Gibbs watches as he crosses the room towards the bulkhead. "Goodbye, Mr. Turner."
Bill turned and took a last look. "Goodbye, Mr. Gibbs"
And then he was gone.
~*~*~
Jack came to with a severe start, blinking in confusion. He was on a wooden floor, somewhere. There was a loud moan of wood, and the floor pitched dramatically. Jack scrabbled with one hand to hold onto something and stop himself from rolling away. Deck, he corrected himself. He was on a wooden deck, somewhere.
Levering himself into a sitting position, he gazed about at the familiar confines of his cabin. He was on the Pearl, then. He blinked, and looked to the right, and where he, presumably, was tossed from.
"Why am I on the Pearl?" he asked the room.
His voice was hoarse and scratchy and his mouth tasted like it had been stuffed with something furry which had then died. He grimaced, using the bulkhead of the ship to lever himself up unsteadily. His muscles twinged painfully, and his stomach rolled with nausea. Eyes watering, he was intent on making his way back towards his bunk when the deck suddenly heaved again, and he was sent crashing into the opposite side of the cabin.
The Pearl gave a mighty groan of wood and listed alarmingly to one side. Jack growled angrily, lurching into the outer cabin. "What the bloody hell are they doing up there?!"
He made it through the cabin with minimal floundering, and tossed open the doors.
Immediately a fierce wind drove rain and saltwater into his face, and he squinted out at the men scurrying about deck.
He grabed the nearest crew member, an Asian man they picked up some months ago, and screamed "What the bloody hell is going on?!"
It was only after the man looked at him in alarm, and then dashed away that Jack remembered the man didn't speak a word of English. He cursed and was about to set off into the tempest when Gibbs half ran, hafl fell down the aftcastle stairs.
"Jack!" He said, grin spread wide. "Your awake!"
"Course I'm bloody awake. What the bloody hell is going on?!" The Pearl rocked heavily, and he could hear the sound of rigging snapping somewhere above. "And what the bloody hell are you doing to my ship?!"
He stormed past the flustered Gibbs, and made his way up the stairs. At the helm he could see Cotton, who had valiantly lashed himself to the wheel and was bearing all his weight to the starboard side.
He strode over and lent his weight, shouting orders at the men below as he did. The Pearl gave another groan before turning dutifully, her prow pointing into the oncoming waves.
It was only after he'd helped secure the new position that he realised he wasn't wearing any boots. Or his longcoat. And where the hell was his hat?
"Are ye sure ye should be up, Captain?" Gibbs yelled over the noise.
Jack blinked the water out of his eyes and narrowed his gaze at the other man. "Ye have a lot of explaining to do, Mister Gibbs! Who ordered you to set sail?!"
Gibbs looks shocked for a second before he nervously glanceds at the mute Cotton. "Ye don't remember. Right. Course, ye don't. Um...."
"I'm waiting, Mister Gibbs."
Gibbs swallowed. "Bill Turner."
Jack stared dumbly at the other man, and probably would have continued to do so for a while if the deck hadn't given another violent tilt. He grabbed a rail and stared, "Bill Turner?"
"Aye, Cap'n. He came and found us in Tortuga. Demanded I ready the crew, and then went and fetched you from Charlie Changs."
Jack winceed, memories flooding back with painful clarity. "Oh."
"He said he needed our help, and to sail for the Dutchman immediately."
Jack flinched and looks at Gibbs in horror. "Ooooh no. No, bad bloody idea. No. Turn her around, Mister Cotton! Take her back to Tortuga!"
"We're four days out Cap'n!"
Jack stareed at the other man. "I've been asleep for four days?"
"Aye, Cap'n."
Jack could feel the nausea from before return with an almighty vengeance.
"Bill said you owed it to him and Will both. That Will's not in a good way, an' he's got Calypso's favour."
Jack glared and waved his hand at the towering waves. "Well, obviously!"
Gibbs shook his head and followed as Jack made his way back towards the cabin. "It's worse than that. The Dutchman's been firing on any ship that crosses her path! Bill's worried we're gonna have a return to the... well, the situation from afore!"
"Not much incentive for us to go out and find the Dutchman, then is there?"
They make their way inside out of the wind, and the sudden silence is heavy and uncomfortable. Jack plodded over to the desk, careless of the puddles created in his wake. He sat in the large chair behind the desk and opened one of the drawers, grabbing a silver flask from it's depths. He popped the lid and went to take a drink, before shaking the empty cannister. "Damn."
Gibbs stood uncomfortably before the desk, watching him silently. The sounds of voices calling and feet running to and fro on the deck fillled the space. "Your orders, Cap'n."
Jack gave a world-weary sigh, and shifted a piece of parchment aside on the desk. Beneath it was a colourful circular object. He sat and studieds it's detailed etching on the rolling surface of the desk.
"Any word on Alvarez's position?"
Gibbs shook his head apologetically. "None, sir."
Jack's lips quirked at the honorific. "Steady on, Mister Gibbs, we're not in the navy anymore."
"Aye, Cap'n. Sorry, Cap'n."
The silence continued it's ponderous weight, as Jack idly twirled one of the rings of the map around. He stopped and pressed a hand over the coloured marking of an ornate silver cup.
"Tell Cotton to turn her north west."
"Aye, aye, Captain."