Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 2 - Chapter 10

The second Lena stepped back onto the Pearl, she headed straight toward the stern without slowing, and nearby crewmen quickly shifted out of her path after one look at her face. The argument from the boat still twisted painfully beneath her ribs while the wind coming off the ocean did little to cool the heat beneath her skin.

Footsteps following behind made Lena close her eyes briefly before she finally turned enough to see Elizabeth approaching.

"Lena... can we speak for a moment?" Elizabeth asked quietly while the rest of the crew continued rushing around them, preparing the ship.

Lena folded her arms tightly across herself before turning back toward the water. "I'm not certain either of us particularly wishes to continue that conversation."

"No," Elizabeth admitted quickly, "but I think we allowed it to become something it was never meant to be."

That finally pulled Lena's attention back toward her, and Elizabeth continued carefully, "Nothing happened between Jack and me. What you saw on deck was not what you thought."

Lena stared at her for a second before disbelief finally pushed through the exhaustion still weighing heavily on her. "And leaning halfway into his lap was supposed to look innocent?"

Elizabeth let out a frustrated breath. "I was trying to force him to prove something."

"What exactly does that even mean?"

Stepping closer, Elizabeth lowered her voice further. "After what you said to me before we reached the island, I wanted to know if I was wrong about him."

Lena's grip tightened against her own arms. "You decided to test that by leaning into him?"

"I decided to see whether he would take the chance if it was handed to him," Elizabeth said carefully. "He didn't. He stopped himself."

The words landed harder than Lena expected, and for a moment neither of them spoke while the sounds of the crew moving around the ship continued behind them.

"You seemed rather certain he might," Lena said finally, quieter now despite herself.

Elizabeth hesitated. "I was. That was the point."

Embarrassment from the argument in the boat surged hotly back through Lena's chest. "That was not your decision to make."

"No," Elizabeth agreed immediately. "And I'm sorry for that. But you were the one asking me to believe there was more to him than what everyone else sees."

Lena looked away first. "I did not ask you to prove it for me."

"I know. I shouldn't have done it that way."

Lena finally let out a slow breath through her nose while the memory of Jack's face in the boat lingered painfully at the front of her thoughts. "Then why would you even—"

The ocean beside the Pearl erupted upward before she could finish.

Water exploded high enough to drench the side of the ship as the Flying Dutchman surged violently from beneath the sea, rocking the Pearl sideways and instantly burying whatever remained of their conversation beneath shouting across the deck.

Both women reacted at once, racing back across the ship while crewmen scattered in every direction around them. Elizabeth moved toward Will almost automatically while Lena's attention snapped toward the helm, where Jack lifted the jar of dirt toward Jones with a forced confidence she no longer entirely believed.

"Oi, fish face!" he shouted across the water. "Lose something, aye?"

Jack stumbled hard against the steps while backing away from the rail but recovered almost immediately, continuing as though nothing had happened. "Got it! Come to negotiate, eh, have you, you slimy git?" Raising the jar higher, he shifted into a mocking drawl. "I've got a jar of dirt, I've got a jar of dirt, and guess what's inside it?"