Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Part 3 - Chapter 16

A/N: Updated

The celebration had gradually begun to lose some of its earlier force, though it had hardly disappeared entirely. Laughter still carried across the Pearl in scattered bursts, bottles continued passing between the crew, and every so often another cheer rose from somewhere on deck, but damaged lines were being replaced now, splintered wood cleared away, and the Pearl had settled onto a new course while the last ships of Beckett's armada disappeared farther behind them.

Somewhere along the way, Jack had disappeared back into his duties as captain. Lena had stayed near him at first, content enough to remain at his side while the crew celebrated around them, but there were only so many conversations with Gibbs and shouted questions from across the deck she could linger through before she finally left him to it. He wasn't difficult to find whenever she looked back, moving between the helm and whichever crewmen had stopped him, and knowing exactly where he was made it easier to wander farther across the deck without much thought as to where she was going.

That changed when she caught sight of Elizabeth near the railing, looking toward the island gradually drawing closer in the distance. Lena's steps slowed, and for several seconds she simply watched her from across the deck. After everything that had happened on the sandbar earlier, she had no idea what she could possibly say that wouldn't eventually circle back to it, and turning somewhere else would certainly be easier than trying to talk to her.

She almost did. Her weight had already begun to shift before Lena glanced back toward the quarterdeck instead, finding Jack still occupied with Gibbs while another crewman waited nearby for his attention. By the time she looked toward Elizabeth again, the island seemed impossible to ignore behind her. They would be there soon, Elizabeth would leave to meet Will, and Lena had no idea when they would find themselves standing on the same deck again. She lingered another moment before finally crossing the remaining distance.

Elizabeth looked over as she approached, greeting her with a quiet, "Lena."

"Lizzy," Lena returned, and then promptly found herself with nothing else to say. She stopped beside her and looked toward the approaching island instead, suddenly far too aware of the silence between them. Once, she wouldn't have thought twice about walking up to Elizabeth or finding something to talk about. Now every opening that came to mind either sounded painfully ordinary or led somewhere Lena wasn't sure she wanted to go.

Another laugh broke out behind them, followed by the scrape of something heavy being dragged across the deck, and Lena let the noise fill the silence for another few seconds before nodding toward the shore. "It looks like they're almost ready. You should be able to meet Will soon."

"I know. It's strange." Elizabeth watched the approaching island as the wind caught several loose strands of her hair. "I kept thinking once this was over, we'd finally know what came next. Now Will has the Dutchman, I'm..." Her lips pressed together briefly before she finished, "I don't know. I suppose we'll figure it out."

"You will. Maybe not today, but you will." Lena managed a small smile when Elizabeth glanced toward her. "And you'll still have Will, even if it isn't exactly how either of you planned it."

"No. I don't think much has gone the way we planned." Elizabeth's attention wandered across the deck until her gaze eventually settled on Jack among the men surrounding him. "You and Jack seem to have found your way through it."

Following her gaze just in time to see Jack gesture impatiently toward something Gibbs was trying to show him, Lena's smile pulled a little wider. "Somehow. Though I'm not sure I'd ever call anything involving Jack going according to plan."

A faint smile tugged at Elizabeth's mouth. "You are happy, though?"

There had been a time when Lizzy would have asked the question very differently. Lena glanced toward Jack again, watching him for another second before the answer came easily. "Yes. I am."