A Pirate's Life For Me (Part Two)

Jacqueline's thumb ran delicately across Ellie's little hand that was encased in her own soft hand, the work roughened hands of befor ehad gone since she had spent five years away from Pirating. He just had to be there at the beach hadn't he? No matter where she went he seemed to follow her, whether he was actually there or not. When she had been washing clothes or cleaning dishes at home, when she had been out shopping, and especially when she was sleeping with beautiful little Ellie snoring gently beside her, Jacques had been there, not in person but plaguing her mind. She sighed and tucked her legs up under her on the arm chair, Ellie was looking around the town fascinated by the people and the shops. She looked up at her mother "Mummy can we go and play in the sand again?". Jacqueline shook her head, she didn't want to do that today, not after yesterday's fiasco. Tommy had given her hell for that. He had told her that she shouldn't have went out without someone there with her and she agreed, she was glad that she had told him she was going to stay with a friend for the night in Palm Harbor, she would just get a room in St Margarette, it had been five years and she looked different, the only person that might recognise her was Jacques, and she had already warned him to stay away.

She still loved Jacques, but she shouldn't, she knew that much, it had always been that way with the two of them, a forbidden love. But this time it was different, she hated him for what he did, she hated him with a passion, worse than she hated Bane, the other man who had followed her everywhere, only this time literally. She had left him behind in England, or so she hoped. What was she supposed to do? There were no rules or guidelines for that told her what she could and couldn't do, no matter how much she wished there was. She had set her own rules about him when she was on the ship going back to Crableg's Haven if she were to run into him; she wouldn't speak to him if he spoke to her, if he asked about Ellie's father she would tell him that her daughter wasn't his, she would say it was a man from England, if he found out where she was staying then she would close the door in his face, if he approached her she would walk the other way. She wasn't going to entertain him at all, she wasn't going to seek him out, she wouldn't go anywhere that he might be.

So why exactly was she in St Margarette then? She was breaking her own rule, of course he would be around St Margarette, it was the Navy's Main base, their second base now being the town of Seagate, the once neutral town that didn't like any sort of fighting, where everyone was treated equally Navy and Pirate alike. The Navy had taken it over from the inside out, slimy rats from the Goverment in St Margarette had wormed their way into Seagate's goverment, Sergei Kovalyov had managed to take over the quaint town and destroy it for his own needs. Now there were two Navy towns to the Pirate's three. Crableg's Haven, Port Crimson and Palm Harbor were still very much in the hands of the pirates, but with a Navy Town at either side of them, exactly how long would that last?

Ellie tugged on her hand and pointed "Look Mummy, can we go and stand above the sea?", Jacqueline's eyes widened slightly as Ellie pulled her along the road toward the little Jetty that protuded from the promenade along the coastline. She almost whispered as the words caught in her throat "No Elisha, It's too dangerous. What if you fall in?" It was the very same jetty where she and Jacques had shot at bottles the first night they met, where he had tried where many others had failed to teach her to swim and where she had first felt her heart flutter at his touch. She couldn't go out on it.

"But Mummy...please!" Ellie whined slightly, she really wanted to go and play on the little wooden dock. Jacqueline decided to compromise with the girl. "If I let you play in the sand will you promise not to go on to that jetty?" Her blond her bobbed up and down happily as she realeased Elisha's hand and she ran off onto the sand, she shouted after her "Stay away from the water Ellie!" The little girl plonked down on the sand and started to collect it as though she would build something spectacular. Jacqueline sat down on one of the rocks watching Ellie contentedly, every so often her gaze was drawn to the jetty where it had all started. If she hadn't went to St Margarette in search of a bit of fun as she had called it, she wanted to tempt fate just for that adrenaline high that came along with it, she didn't think she would be eating forbidden fruit by the end of it all.



He was off duty again that day, he needed a day off after yesterday and he was lucky enough that The Flying Sword wasn't leaving port until two days from then, not including that day, so all in all he had three days left at home, that was quite good considering he hadn't stopped working for almost five months straight. After his days off he would be gone for a week and then back for another week, business was quite slow since two of the six major pirate ships had been destroyed. The Morning Star and the Poseidon's Cutlass had been totally destroyed, the first had been destroyed by the Sword and the second ship destroyed had been the ship that Delta's best friend, Alexa, had been on board with her little girl Cortana, he had nothing to do with it, it was the second navy ship comissioned in the area that destroyed the ship, but Delta still hated him for it, he knew that much. Alexa hadn't been on board, but he didn't know where she and baby Cortana had been, not many people had, they were all trying to defend Crableg's Haven where the ship had been docked, it was destroyed at the port, killing the meagre crew that were on it.

Jacques stopped as he looked around, he hadn't even noticed where he was. He was stood outside of the tavern where he had first approached Delta, maybe he could have avoided all the heartache if he had just not went into that specific tavern, there were plenty more around. But that one had been the closest, it was where his feet had taken him, it was where fate had led him. He looked down at his feet before shoving his hands in his pockets, his flute and gun were not present on his belt today, he only took them with him to pirate towns on his days off, just incase.

His eyes were drawn upwards by a flicker of color to his left and he looked up, the jetty where he had first felt that tingle of electricity at her touch stood lonely and silent but about twenty feet away from it a young girl played in the sand, her mother sat watching from the rocks. Again he paused. Swallowing the lump in his throat he debated on whether he should approach her or not. He knew her so well, he used to know her so well, so he knew when she was issuing a threat and when she had told him to stay away from her and Elisha it was definetely a threat.

His feet had already answer him though as he walked over to where the rocks began and made his way down to a rock directly bside the one she was sat on, her brown hair billowing beautifully in the breeze and her summer dress waving delicately around the body he loved so much. "Jacqueline." He had of course noticed her choice of name, it was so very close to his own name that it was uncanny. He looked away from her as he perched on the rock, his legs bent up, his forearms resting on his knees and his hands clasped casually. He looked at her as she turned her head.

"I thought I told you to stay away from me and Ellie" she narrowed her eyes at him, why did he have to surround her, but then again, why had she come to St Margarette, it wasn't exactly for the thrill this time, deep down she knew it was to find him, even if it was a stupid thing to do. He simply nodded as he watched Elisha, could she possibly be his? "Yeah you did, but if you wanted me to stay away then it was kind of stupid coming to the town I live in." Delta, Jacqueline, looked away from him again, her birdsong voice rang in his ears, as beautiful as ever, if not more after he had been deprived of it for so long. "I do want you to stay away." her attempt at arguing back to him was half-hearted and weak to say the least. if she really wanted him to go she would as sure as hell have told him under no uncertain terms to leave her alone already.

He wondered again if the beautiful little girl with the oh so familiar teeth infront of them could possibly be his, would she have kept something like that from him? Of course she wouldn't have told him, after what he did he didn't deserve to know. "Delta...Ellie...Is she mine?" Delta's eyes shot back to him, she was never a good liar btu she hated him that much that her lies just might be good. "Of course she isn't." She scowled at him before looking at Ellie again, the guilt swamring over her for denying him his child like that, but she didn't need a father like him, she had her mother and Delta was more than capable when it came to taking care of her daughter, she had brought her up on her own so far, she didn't need any help now.

"Delta..." he sighed as she cut him off, turning her head and shoulders to face him again. "You listen to me Jacques and you listen good, you made me leave, I had to use a different name because of you, my life was ruined because of you, everything bad that's ever happened to me is your fault. So why would the most perfect thing in my life be yours? Now just drop it."

Her eyes were so sad and empty, he missed everything they had once had, it had been almost perfect once, for what it was, he missed her so much and now the woman he had loved completely hated him, and it was well within her rights to feel that way, after what he had done he hated himself. He paused and nodded gently, opening his mouth but faltering and closing it again, what could he say, sorry? No that couldn't ever make up for what happened, he didn't know how he couldn't have caused her so much pain, how it could have all gone wrong with one little bullet.

Any words he could have came up with wouuld have been like gasoline on flames. She wouldn't listen to him, and if it was him in her shoes, he wouldn't listen either. "Delta...I'm..." again she cut him off, her voice sharp and viscious, but her voice cracking at the same time as though she would cry. "Don't you dare...Don't say you're sorry."

His chest rose and fell rapidly as he stared into those blue eyes that had once held so muchh love for him, all he could see was hatred. He thought she would finish her sentence there but she continued in the same tone, the same venom, the same emotional cracking undertoning her words "Don't you dare. Where were you? hm? Where were you when I had to leave? You didn't try to stop me, you knew and you didn't even try, I was four months pregnant on a strange ship surrounded by strange people and you left me there on my own. Where were you when I had to travel three hundreds miles on my own through a strange country? Where were you when I went through the agony of labor? You weren't there when she was growing up, a man has to be present for their child's life to be called a father. You are not her father. All of this was your own damn fault and you deserve every bit of pain and agony and heartache you get." Her voice cracked and wavered as she spoke, but no tears were present in her eyes, they were steely and angry as she turned away again her brow creased as she looked away, scanning the coastline. "Delta...I didn't know...If you'd told me I would have..." again she interrupted him but this time he looked where she was looking and before she had even finished saying "Where is Ellie", her voice intonated with panic, he was running to where she had been. This was his daughter. He ran to the shoreline where her little footprints in the sand ended in the waves. Delta was quickly behind him. Her voice a choked whisper "She can't swim". She had taken to the water like Delta had, like a brick, she couldn't float or even do the embarrassing doggy paddle, her little girl was in the water and she couldn't swim.

Before she had even blinked Jacques was in the water, he dived under the waves, bubbles trailing behind him as Delta panicked on the very brink of the waves. The water lapped over her feet, soaking the bottom of her dress. She couldn't see either of them and suddenly she found her self panicking not only for Ellie, but for Jacques. She yelled on both of them but got no answer. Jacques looked around under the water, the salt stinging his eyes, he surfaced to a frantic Delta screaming her...their daughter's name again and again. Her heart failed for a moment as she realised he had surfaced without Elisha. He went under again searching around him starting to panic himself, he couldn't lose his daughter after just finding her, it couldn't happen that way, he deserved to be punished but Delta didn't, Ellie didn't.

He caught a flash of blonde to his right and without even thinking he swam rapidly towards it, Elisha, it was her but her eyes were shut. He wrapped his arm tightly around her chest and as he surfaced he had to fight against the current while keeping her head out of the water, but he fought hard as he heard her coughing and spluttering, he finally managed to get back to the shore, panting heavily he laid Ellie on the sand, his clothes and hair dripped salty water over the warm sand but his focus was on Ellie, he leaned over her and she croaked slightly, whispering as she smiled a little. "You're that man mummy was angry at yesterday." He smiled slightly and chuckled "Yep." as he fell onto his back, panting for air. Delta ran quicker than ever before to where Jacques and Ellie had washed up, she skidded down onto her knees, leaning over Ellie she cupped her hands over her cheeks. "Are you okay baby?" Ellie nodded as her mother lifted her head up on to her lap and smoothed a hand over her hair. "Don't do that again, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Ellie looked up at her muttering an apology. Delta leaned over to Jacques who was directly beside her as she kept a hand cupped on Ellie's cheek she ran rested her hand on his cheek lightly. "What about you?" he didn't smile, her touch was like a jolt through him, it made his frozen insides feel like they were melting with her warmth. "I'm fine." There was a second, a brief and almost unnoticable second in time where she had a loving, caring look in her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared and her anger came back. "You shouldn't have been distracting me in the first place. She nearly died because you want to try and clear you name with me."

"Mummy...why are you shouting at him? He got me out of the water." Ellie looked up at her mother with a look of confusion as she shivered. She was freezing to the touch, Delta had to get her somewhere warm and safe. Jacques knew that and so did she. He pushed himself up, he didn't answer her back. He just nodded and dusted some of the sand off of his pants. He extended a hand to Delta, Jacqueline, whatever, but she refused it. "Come on."

She raised an eyebrow and lifted Ellie up onto her hip as she stood up, the little girl cuddled into her mother's shoulder as Delta stared at Jacques shaking her head. "I'm not going anywhere with you." He sighed and shook his head stubbornly, "Look, she's cold, she's wet and she needs to sleep or eat something. My place is ten minutes away."

Delta wanted to argue back but she had to do what was best for her daughter and if it was fraternising with a murderer then so be it, he wouldn't want to hurt them, she knew that but it was whether she wanted to hurt him that she was thinking about. She nodded tentatively as she looked at Elisha out of the corner of her eye, she was nearly asleep, her clothes soaking through onto Delta's skin and dress, but she didn't care, she hugged her tightly to her. "Fine, Lead the way." He smiled and nodded, he was glad, he didn't want them travelling back to Crableg's haven if Ellie was ill in anyway. He coughed, his whole body dripping wet. He certainly didn't want them going to some crummy, cold Inn for the night. He would rather they took his bed and he took the couch. As long as their daughter was safe and warm, as long as Delta was safe and warm. "Thank-you Delta."

One thought plagued his mind, besides the wellbeing of Ellie, why in those four months she had been at hime had she not told him she was pregnant, if she knew, which she must have after a couple of months, then why had she neglected to tell him? Everything that had happened had happened in the month that she left for wherever she had ended up. So how was he only finding out now, five years later? He couldn't ask her at that moment, she might change her mind.