“No. For the last time, no!” Will said, starting to get exasperated. “Jack I’m serious, you are not to leave that bed under any circumstances.”

“Normally I’d be very much inclined to agree with a request such as that from a man such as yourself,” Jack said with a leer, “But you see I’m going a touch crazy locked away in ‘ere, Will.”

“More than a touch I’d venture,” Will said softly.

Jack continued, clearly ignoring Will’s comment, “And seein’ as I can’t really DO much of anything that this ‘ere piece of furniture was created for-“

Will sighed loudly, “Well how about sleeping? Was the bed not intended for that purpose?”

“Well yes A bed but not really MY bed, you see? Especially not with you ‘ere. It makes thoughts of sleep rather difficult,” he finished with a waggling eyebrow.

“I’m not leaving Jack,” Will said evenly. “If you’re trying to get me to go outside so you can sneak out you can just forget it.”

“Why Will,” Jack started in his most indignant tone, “I’d never dream of such a thing.”

In truth Jack had been trying very hard for the past several hours to drive Will from his cabin. The young man had the patience of a saint however, and, apparently the stubbornness of a bull as well.

Finding himself unable to effectively encourage Will’s exit, Jack decided to change gears. If Will wouldn’t leave him to sneak out then the boy had better be willing to entertain him. If he wasn’t then Jack could always try to drive him out, thus completing the cycle he’d been using for the past several hours since the Pearl had docked.

“Wiiiiiillllll,” Jack drawled. “Come ‘ere.”

Will crossed the room and sat on the side of the bed, carefully so as not to aggravate Jack’s injuries with unnecessary jostling.

“Closer Luv,” Jack beckoned. “I’m not that badly hurt.” Despite his words Jack was very careful not move or sit up at all.

“Jack you’re just going to end up in pain again,” Will warned.

Looking into Jack’s eyes as the pirate captain gave his best wounded puppy look, Will felt very conflicted. He knew Jack was terribly bored and desperate to amuse himself. While Will could certainly do with some messing around about now (since he too felt pretty cooped up in the captain’s cabin) he knew that there was just no way to fool around comfortably given the extent and nature of Jack’s injuries. And it wasn’t as if they hadn’t tried. In fact that was HOW he knew it was a bad idea and despite Jack’s encouragement Will was more than a little reluctant to try something that would more likely than not end up with Jack feeling worse rather than better.

“Oh come on now, just mind where yer settin’ your weight and I’ll be just dandy,” Jack said enticingly.

“Aaaalright,” Will said reluctantly. He slowly lowered himself over Jack’s prone form, careful not to press against him. Eyes closing he moved his lips to brush against Jack’s own. Just as he was about to seal the near kiss Jack gasped and jerked beneath him. Will swiftly sat back up but it was too late, the damage was already done. The very slight pressure of resting his chest just barely against Jack’s had sent the man into a very painful moment.

Will watched with saddened eyes as Jack scrunched his now pale face up in a grimace of pain. He listened to the ragged breaths and watched as Jack’s jaw twitched as he ground his teeth against the pain.

“Jack I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“No, ‘s okay,” Jack said softly as he began to relax minimally. It was difficult if not impossible for him to find a position that didn’t hurt. Mostly though he’d realized that staying still caused the smallest amount of aggravation to his injuries. But for Captain Sparrow this was even more difficult than he’d anticipated.

And it wasn’t standing still that had caused the injuries. There had been a particularly nasty sea battle with another pirate ship. At first they’d been set up to do some trading, the ships attached at sea. Relations had soured rather quickly however. Jack had know the other Captain was just as likely to try and overtake them as trade with them but the opportunity had been too good to pass up.

In retrospect Jack could see that the other Captain had just been looking for an excuse to give the order to fight. He’d found that excuse rather easily. He’d bated Will and, in what Will must have thought at the time was the correct course of action, the young man had threatened him. All hell had broken loose as pirates from both ships began sword fights and hand to hand brawls that spanned the decks of both ships.

Thinking of the mess Jack wished Will had shown just a little more restraint. Sure, Captain X had been looking for a reaction, a threat from anyone. Jack had recognized the tactic immediately and had been as impassive as he could be. Will however, still needed to learn a thing or two about rash actions. All it had taken was one comment about the nature of Jack and Will’s relationship (and Jack was fairly certain Captain X had simply guessed the nature of that relationship) and the Captain found himself on the business end of a certain ex-blacksmith’s sword. Yes, Will really did have some things to learn about hasty reactions. What might be gentlemanly behaviour when it came to comments about what occurred behind closed doors between a man and a lady, was most definitely not the correct response to accusations of certain baser acts between two male pirates.

Unfortunetly for Jack he’d ended up with several broken ribs and a fairly deep sword wound through his left side. He’d be injured far worse before and Captian X had been returned to his ship in two pieces after Will had turned his sword on the man. Still, even with Captian X dead Jack wasn’t feeling much better. The sword wound in his side had mostly stopped bleeding now but had bled quite badly for some time. Worse yet were the broken ribs that seemed to scrape and creak with every breath and movement. All in all Jack had not faired terribly well in the fight for a change.

“Will, really, ‘s alright now,” he reassured. Will had a look on his face that was somewhere between revulsion and fear. Jack almost caught himself telling Will that it wasn’t his fault. And really, at this particular moment it wasn’t – Jack knew he’d brought his most current moments of pain on himself by wearing down Will’s resolve. But they both knew it was mostly Will’s fault Jack had been injured in the first place. Jack suspected Will was feeling more than a bit guilty for starting the huge fight and probably even more guilty that he’d been unable to help Jack when members of SHIP X’s crew had ganged up on him. It had just been circumstance and in the end the Pearl was victorious but Jack figured it had to be bothering Will that the Captain was currently stuck in bed and not in a pleasurable way.

*KNOCK KNOCK!*

They both jumped at the sound, Jack hissing in pain at his sudden, unplanned movements. Will opened the door to find Gibbs had returned.

“Capt’n Jack,” he said with a nod. “Hope’n yer feelin’ better.”

“Well I am still ‘ere, aren’t I, Mister Gibbs,” Jack said, glaring, his voice with just a slightly angry edge to it.

Will glanced between the two men, puzzled. Gibbs looked downright uncomfortable under Jack’s seemingly out of the blue evil eye and Will had no idea why he was suddenly acting so strangely towards Gibbs.

“If you’ll excuse us, Jack,” Will said subtly nudging Gibbs backwards out of the doorway he was blocking.

The two men walked out onto the deck, Will’s blinking to adjust to the bright sunlight. He turned to face Gibbs. “What was THAT all about? And why is it you think that Jack is going to get off the ship, much less out of bed considering how he’s hurting? What’s going on, Gibbs?”

Gibbs held up a hand to stop Will’s questioning. “I told you to watch ‘im cause you know what a slippery bastard he can be when he wants out of somewhere.”

“Yes but he’s really hurting. I don’t think he’s going to be leaving anytime soon.”

“Ay, the infamous last words of many a jailor I’d venture.”

“Point taken,” Will conceded. “Really though Gibbs, what’s the big problem? I mean I know that he shouldn’t be moving around too much with all those broken ribs and all but I hardly see how much trouble he could possibly get into in that condition.”

“You’ve no idea, boy,” Gibbs said. Though it wasn’t meant to be condescending Will couldn’t help but feel a bit insulted. He was neither a boy, nor was he unaware of Jack’s … unique nature and penchant for trouble. Who knew him better, Will thought, than the man who shared the captain’s bed (his mind choosing to emphasize the word MAN).

Sensing Will’s irritation Gibbs quickly said, “Will Jack got into quite a stick of trouble some months back in this ‘ere port. ‘s fer the best that he remain on the Pearl, even if he doesn’t see it that way.”

Gibbs pulled out a small bottle of liquid, the motion so familiar that Will assumed it he was pulling out his ever present flask. When the bottle turned out to be glass and was handed to him Will gave Gibbs a questioning look. “What’s this?”

“That’s fer Jack, ‘til help with the pain some. Be very careful you not give him too much, ‘es got a real taste for that sort of thing. Just got it in town. Should be done trading by tomorrow night, there’s some travellin’ merchants due in later t’day. Just keep your eye on ‘im and don’t let ‘im off the ship.”

Grinning at Gibbs, Will stated, “Why Mister Gibbs, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were trying to avoid telling me a story.”

“Well … you know I’m not one to keep a story to meself but it’s not my tale to tell, young Will. ‘sides, ‘til give you an’ Jack something to talk about.”

“Huh, never saw you as the mysterious type before. I suppose I’ll have to ask Jack then. At least it’ll give us something to do. I was getting a bit stir crazy in there myself,” Will admitted.

“It’s not catching or we’d all have be like him by now,” Gibbs said good-naturedly.

“I suppose. I’m just not used to being shut up in there and not … um, that is …” Will stammered, turning a very lovely shade of crimson.

“Fear not, Will,” Gibbs reassured, pointedly ignoring Will’s embarrassment. “I’m sure he’ll be healed up soon enough. For now give ‘im a bit of the medicine I gave ya and keep an eye on ‘im, make certain he doesn’t go for any strolls on land.”

“Alright,” Will nodded. “You uh, be careful, right?” He felt stupid telling the obviously more experienced and better traveled man to be careful but Will felt increasingly attached to and concerned about the welfare of the crew as the months had passed.

Gibbs, as always, found Will’s sincerity to be touching and agreed that he would indeed be careful and would look out for the others. He promised to have a few pints in Will’s name at the pub that evening as he tromped across the gang plank and headed back into the town.

Will watched him go before turning back to the captain’s cabin armed with questions and some sort of mysterious potion.

unfinished

~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~