Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Interlude - Chapter 4

January

The port had stopped feeling temporary almost immediately. The Pearl rarely stayed anchored anywhere long enough for routine to settle properly around her, and most harbors eventually blurred together into taverns, lanternlight, sailors, and noise until entire evenings disappeared without much separation between one place and the next.

A week earlier Lena had woken sometime before dawn with the lantern burned nearly to the bottom beside the bed and the space next to her already cold beneath one outstretched hand, only to find Jack by breakfast leaning beside the helm and arguing about currents near Tortuga while sunlight flashed lazily against the compass turning through his fingers.

Two nights later he disappeared halfway through cards with the crew after spotting somebody across the tavern. Lena barely looked up when he left and instead stole several coins back across the table while accusations of cheating erupted loudly enough to turn half the room toward them. Jack eventually drifted back through the tavern carrying two drinks, slid one absently in front of her, then leaned across her shoulder to steal cards directly off the table with a grin crooked enough to restart the shouting from the beginning. Later he fell asleep beside her with one arm heavy across her waist.

The following evening he vanished again, and by the time Lena stepped outside the tavern, the docks had emptied enough for harbor lanterns to reflect cleanly across the black water between anchored ships. She remained near the end of the pier longer than intended before realizing she'd spent half the evening looking toward the tavern entrance. Jack returned sometime after midnight smelling faintly of seawater and smoke while she sat cross-legged on the bed pretending to read one of the navigation journals scattered across the cabin, his fingers brushing the back of her neck as he reached past her for the rum bottle near the desk before kissing her temple.

Tonight the untouched glass turned slowly between Lena's fingers while she sat near the tavern wall listening to another card argument rise and collapse somewhere nearby. Her attention lifted automatically when the door opened, only to find two unfamiliar sailors stumbling through instead of Jack, and she dropped her eyes back toward the drink before the irritation could settle properly.

The rum burned harder than expected on the way down.

A chair scraped loudly near the entrance several minutes later, and Lena looked up before she fully registered the sound. Still not him. Disappointment landed first this time, irritation following quickly enough that she took another swallow before setting the glass back against the table harder than intended, the empty seat beside her becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Another swell of noise near the doorway pulled her attention upward, and once again there was no Jack. Lena closed her eyes briefly and considered returning aboard without waiting any longer, but the thought faded almost immediately. Her fingers tightened around the glass instead, and when another laugh broke sharply near the entrance, she looked up yet again before annoyance followed at how quickly she'd done it.

Still not Jack.

Lena lifted the rum and swallowed harder this time because the alternative seemed to be sitting there listening for the tavern door like an idiot. Normally Jack would've involved himself in the middle of the noise already, and the thought arrived automatically enough that she took another drink before it could settle.

Jack disappeared for hours at a time, followed whatever caught his attention first, and drifted in and out of rooms, conversations, and entire evenings like the world existed mostly to entertain him until something else pulled him onward. Nothing about the past few weeks had actually changed that.

A chair scraped near the entrance again, and Lena's attention lifted before annoyance followed almost immediately. She lowered the glass with slightly more force than intended.