(no subject)

[pirate_gibbs]

The sea is calm, and after a fairly busy day of keeping the Empress ship shape, Gibbs has taken a seat on an turned-out bucket, hoping to enjoy a bit of rum and maybe some tobacco. The breeze is light, and the sun is setting. Being a pirate is a good thing.

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[try_corsets]

Even in the dying light, he's not hard to find. Elizabeth, standing in the stern with Tai Huang, waits until he moves off to join Gibbs. He gets a small, distracted smile, but she leans against the rail and fixes her gaze on the riot of colors sinking below the horizon.

The captain tends to favor silence at this time of day.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Captain." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out a rather battered pipe and a small pouch of rather poor quality (and wet) tobacco. He'd offer some, but knows she isn't one for smoking.

[try_corsets]

She's not, but something about the scent of pipe tobacco is soothing.

Usually.

Elizabeth takes a deep breath, then looks as if she'd rather not do so again.

"Fine night," she comments at last. "And a fair wind."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Aye. Should let us keep moving. If we choose to." The pickings of late have been a bit thin. No need to rush about if there's no place to be rushing to.

[try_corsets]

A nod. She's already made that choice.

"It seems I am a murder suspect," she tells him, after a quick glance around to ensure they are alone.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Captain?" He looks up at her, really surprised. Pirates do have a way of being murder suspects, but usually for some reason. There hasn't been any reason of late. "You mean that murder in the Bar? Surely you wouldn't." Would she?"

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth raises an eyebrow and says nothing for a long moment. Then:

"No. As annoying as I found the man, I would have gained nothing by bringing about his death."

Indeed, she would have lost much.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"No, what would the point in just killing. We do have standards." It's not like they would ever sink to the level of Davey Jones, after all. "But I can't imagine they'll believe you. No one ever believes a pirate."

[try_corsets]

"Yes."

She lifts her chin.

"And I was spotted near the scene of the crime that night." Beat. "Do you know a woman who calls herself 'X-23?'"

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"I can't say I do." He'd remember a woman with such a strange name. "Is she bein' a witness against you?"

[try_corsets]

"Not precisely. Apparently she's a member of Security. She questioned me about my whereabouts and connections to the deceased."

The breeze carries the sound of riotous laughter up from the deck below. Elizabeth frowns slightly and looks out to sea.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

He listens. He doesn't begrudge the crew their enjoyment, but he knows that he's still not one of them.

Not that he wants to be, of course.

"It may be best if we make ourselves a bit scarce from the Bar for a while. Let things sort themselves out. The killer will no doubt be found and then we can return."

[try_corsets]

"Impossible," Elizabeth says swiftly and with utter conviction, gaze flicking toward him. "I cannot."

She fights to keep her expression firm but mild.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"If the Captain doesn't mind me asking, what's waiting there?" He might like a break every now and then in the Bar, but even at its best, the Bar is too magical for him. And he prefers Tortuga to anything else, anyway.

[try_corsets]

"Will."

The answer slips out before she has time to consider, and thus it is completely honest and heartfelt. Will is ever and always the only reason she returns.

Or was. Now she has another reason.

"Mr. Gibbs," she starts, only to pause with her lips parted in a way that suggests she doesn't really want to say what comes next.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Errr, yes, Captain." One might say the pause is pregnant. But Gibbs merely thinks this is getting odd.

[try_corsets]

If it's any consolation, Elizabeth would really rather not have this conversation. Not with Gibbs, or any member of her crew.

"The woman, X, told me something else. She has-" a pause "-strange powers."

Elizabeth stiffens as though she's bracing herself to meet a strong wave.





"I am with child."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"With...with...with..." It takes a few moments for it to sink in. Really, it doesn't make any sense at all. Pirates do not get with child. Even if women do. "Captain...that's....good?"

[try_corsets]

It is

But it also isn't.

Away from Will's glowing happiness, she's not entirely sure how to feel.

"It's complicated, Mr. Gibbs."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Because you can't be with child and be a captain. Even if you are the king and all." Somehow, the notion that it's also complicated for her to be carrying the child of a man who is essentially dead doesn't occur to him. He's too busy worrying just what the crew will do to her. And to him.

[try_corsets]

"Yes, I most certainly can!" Elizabeth snaps, pinning him with a glare. "I have no intention of allowing anyone to usurp me. That has not changed."

She bristles.

"I'm telling you and only you."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

He's quiet for a moment. Mainly because Elizabeth is pretty damned scary.

"Mum's the word, Captain."

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth nods, as much for herself as him.

"We stay the course. Keep it quiet while we still can, and then treat it as a normal occurrence."

On a pirate ship? Her eye twitches slightly.

"Nothing to warrant a change." Beat. "I'll need your assistance."

That's not easy for her to say.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"I'll do what I can." He tries very hard not to look worried. Or panicked. The crew will not be happy at all with either a pregnant captain or a woman trying to raise a baby on board. And he's not sure he'd blame them. But if Gibbs is anything, it's loyal. "What would you ask of me?"

[try_corsets]

They've overcome more difficult situations, or at least that's what Elizabeth keeps telling herself.

"You are an exceptionally good story teller," she remarks, looking him in the eye. "When the time comes, it would not hurt our cause to put around the idea that anyone who denies the wife or child of the Dutchman's captain might meet a fate they would otherwise wish to avoid."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

Who's to say it's just a story? If he heard that, he'd believe it. "Is there any chance that the captain of the Dutchman might be persuaded to make an appearance himself and remind the crew of such a thing?"

[try_corsets]

"Persuading him would present no difficulty," Elizabeth replies.

She is rather good at the art of persuasion, but with Will it's even simpler than that. All she would have to do is ask.

"Whether or not he can is another matter. Without..."

Looking faintly sheepish, she indicates the possibility of tentacles.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Ahhhh. Had not though about that." And now he wishes he wasn't thinking about that now. "Well, we can manage without him. We just need to tell the tale the right way."

[try_corsets]

"I'll ask, in case."

That's the spirit, Gibbs. Satisfied, Elizabeth gives him an approving nod.

"And keep them in coin and their cups."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"That does have a way of making any pirate a bit on the calm side." Especially the latter. "Any ideas for where next to find coin?"

[try_corsets]

"I spoke with Tai Huang," Elizabeth announces, by way of an answer. "He had much to say about 'Shadows,' but not demons. Not exactly."

A small smile.

"I've also heard there is a ship with a less than savory crew at anchor off Nassau that recently acquired a sizable treasure."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"That I suspect that we should pursue that. And perhaps after we have made some profit, see about talking with Tai Huang a bit more." Nothing buys talk like a successful raid, after all.

[try_corsets]

"Yes. I think they are destined to fall foul of the Empress," says Elizabeth, a gleam of anticipation in her eye. "Then we find a priest."

Just in case he's tried to put that idea out of his head.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

He's tried. Though given all the ideas filling his head today, it's not surprising that he came close to forgetting.

"Aye. There shouldn't be a shortage of such men on some of the islands. But I can't say I've seen any on Tortuga." Or at least any worthy of the name (even if it was a French colony).

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth nods absently, her thoughts returning to why she originally initiated this conversation.

"Have you ever wanted children?"

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Me? I'm sure I might have some out there, but as to wanting them...no, that never occurred to me." Or rather, the life that would allow for a wife and children never happened. How could it?

[try_corsets]

"Nor I," Elizabeth replies, slanting him a half smile. "Not when Will-"

The smile thins.

"The possibility never occurred to me, to be honest."

She doesn't have a clue what to do.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

Far be it for Gibbs to tell his captain the facts of life.

"I suppose when you have a ship and pirating and wars and a crew, you forget other things."

[try_corsets]

Elizabeth wasn't completely unfamiliar with the facts of life. However, no one ever factored in an as-good-as-dead husband into their limited explanations. Even Adam the Antichrist.

"Will is incandescent with happiness."

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"As he should be, I suppose." Gibbs gives a small smile. "He seems very much the type who wants children."

[try_corsets]

"Children?" she asks, tone clipped and not entirely steady. "Do you think he wants more?"

And here she'd been struggling to adjust to the idea of one.

[pirate-gibbs.livejournal.com]

"Guess it depends on whether he's one of those people who thinks that if you didn't have any brothers or sisters, you owe it to your children to make sure that they have them.

"Which I can tell you is not something everyone wants." That house in Bristol was awfully small for seven kids.

[try_corsets]

"No," Elizabeth confirms, "I'd think not."

After.

After the ten years are up they can negotiate for more. One child on this pirate ship might be considered eccentric. Two would be asking for serious trouble.

Elizabeth backs away from the rail, eyes drifting up to her flag flapping in the wind: beside Sao Feng's red skeleton is a larger disembodied arm with a sword. The new symbol means power. The more she looks at it, the better she feels.

"I suppose this means I'll be able to plead my belly, as they say, should we be captured," she remarks, smile turning sly.

It's possible she just made a joke.