Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 4

The deck of the Pearl remained quieter than usual beneath the gray light before dawn while crewmen moved between the lowered boats and scattered supplies with the heavy slowness of men who hadn't properly slept in days. Damp river air clung to everything, mixing with the lingering scent of saltwater and wet wood while the jungle stretched dark and dense along both sides of the narrow inlet ahead of them.

The few hours of sleep Lena had managed hadn't done much to help. Exhaustion still sat heavily behind her eyes while every muscle in her body protested the previous days of climbing, running, and barely surviving the island at all, and though she no longer felt half-dead from it, she certainly wasn't rested either.

Nearby, Will was already awake beside the boats being prepared for the journey upriver, speaking quietly with Gibbs while the rest of the crew loaded supplies beneath lowered voices, and the sight of him alone was enough to pull Elizabeth immediately back to the surface.

She was still trapped in Port Royal while they drifted deeper into swamps and superstition chasing answers Lena barely understood.

The thought settled heavily in her chest as she moved farther onto the deck, though movement near the rail caught her attention before she could dwell on it for long.

Jack was already awake. Of course he was.

He stood near the starboard side watching the shoreline ahead, one hand resting against the rigging beside him while the other flexed absently at his side beneath the loose wrapping still covering the Black Spot. Even from across the deck Lena could see the tension sitting through his shoulders despite the outward calm, his attention shifting constantly between the river ahead, the crew, and the tree line stretching along the shore.

Before she could fully cross toward him, Jack glanced sideways and caught sight of her, his attention sharpening immediately. Without a word he pushed away from the railing and crossed toward her just as Lena reached automatically for the crate sitting near the stairs, only for him to take it first as he stepped around her.

"I could've carried that," she muttered tiredly.

"Mm." He shifted the crate easily beneath one arm before nodding toward the boats below. "You look half asleep already."

"Feels worse than half."

That earned the faintest grin from him, tired around the edges as his attention flicked toward her before drifting back toward the shoreline. "Try not to fall into the river before we leave. Terrible start to the morning."

The corner of Lena's mouth pulled upward despite herself while Jack guided her around a crewman carrying rope across the deck, his hand settling briefly against the middle of her back before dropping away again.

He was trying. She could feel that much in the way he stayed beside her instead of immediately disappearing back toward the railing, in the way he'd taken the crate without asking and the absent touch against her back as he guided her through the growing movement across the deck. None of it erased the fact that something still felt wrong, but for the moment she let herself take what he was offering.

"I probably would've slept longer if you'd actually come to bed," she said as they stopped near the rail.

That pulled a quieter grin from him, his shoulder brushing lightly against hers as he looked toward her. For a moment he said nothing at all.

"Mm," he murmured eventually, softer now. "Sorry, love."

The apology surprised her enough that Lena turned fully toward him, a faint warmth loosening something in her chest before his attention drifted back toward the shoreline again, drawn almost immediately toward whatever waited ahead of them upriver.