Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 9

The trip to shore was awkward at best. The boat was already a tight fit with Norrington and Elizabeth in the back, Pintel and Ragetti rowing from the middle, and Jack and Lena crowded toward the front beside the shovels, supplies, and Jack's jar of dirt. Every shift of the boat forced some part of him against her shoulder or arm despite how stubbornly she kept her eyes fixed toward shore, and each brief point of contact only made the silence between them feel heavier.

At one point Jack muttered something dry beneath his breath about Pintel rowing in circles again after the boat drifted sideways hard enough to nearly throw Ragetti into the water, but where Lena normally would've reacted, this time she barely heard him at all.

No one commented on the silence. Elizabeth hadn't tried speaking to her again after they boarded, while Jack's attention kept drifting back toward Lena whenever the boat rocked hard enough to push them together before he eventually stopped trying to get a reaction from her at all. Pintel and Ragetti, meanwhile, carried on arguing about the Kraken as though nothing else around them existed.

Their conversation blurred beneath the water striking the boat while Lena stared toward shore until she barely saw it anymore. No matter how hard she tried forcing her thoughts elsewhere, they kept circling back to Jones, Beckett, the brand on Jack's arm, and the way his voice had flattened in the cabin while speaking about the Pearl burning beneath him. Only an hour earlier he'd sat across from her saying things she doubted he told many people at all, yet the moment they returned to the deck, that private version of him had seemed to slip back out of reach before she'd even figured out what to do with it.

It wasn't until the boat scraped against land and a hand appeared in front of her that Lena realized everyone else was already climbing out.

"Best get moving if you don't want to guard the boat."

She hesitated before taking Jack's hand anyway, and the familiar warmth of his fingers closing around hers loosened something beneath her ribs before she could stop it. He pulled her easily to her feet and toward shore, though the second her boots touched solid ground, Lena slipped her hand from his almost too quickly and turned away before she'd fully steadied herself.

Jack watched her for another moment before looking elsewhere. Tossing his coat into the boat, he grabbed a shovel and pointed it toward Pintel and Ragetti. "Guard the boat. Mind the tides. Don't touch my dirt."

With compass in hand, Elizabeth led them farther inland while everyone followed the arrow. The longer they walked without finding any sign of the chest, the more Lena's nerves pulled taut until eventually the compass stopped cooperating altogether.

"This doesn't work," Elizabeth muttered, shaking it once in irritation. "And it certainly doesn't show you what you want most." With that, she dropped cross-legged into the sand beside it.

Jack wandered over almost immediately, looked down once at the compass, then snorted. "Yes, it does. You're sitting on it."

"Beg pardon?"

"Scoot."

He waved both hands impatiently until Elizabeth moved aside, then whistled for Norrington and pointed toward the spot with the shovel. Digging quickly became Norrington's problem while everyone else scattered around the clearing to wait.

The moment there was nothing left to do, Lena drifted farther from the group before anyone could pull her into another conversation. Elizabeth remained near the pit, alternating between pacing and watching Norrington dig, while Jack settled himself on a small rise with the appearance of someone attempting meditation. It lasted less than a minute before Lena noticed him getting up again.