Fathoms Below: Captain Jack Sparrow

Chapter 16: The Warning.

Jack remained seated at his desk for hours after he and Lily had retired to his cabin. She had fallen to sleep quickly, curled up in bed as Jack continued working, trying to find their next path.
Tapping the compass again, he sighed with an exaggerated fall of his head. The compass directly pointed the same way it had for weeks: right to her.
He turned in his seat, looking over at her where she slept soundly in his bed, or was it their bed now? Her body seemed to glow in the candlelight, her red hair shining in the glow looking like a beautiful, roaring fire. Her features were soft and peaceful as she breathed gently facing him as she lay on her side, her full lips pouting slightly in her slumber.

In his drunken state, he considered sauntering over to her and making his move. He so desperately wanted to make a move on her, but even with a full bottle of rum down him, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Until he saw it.
He froze, his heart pounding as he gazed at her. Where she had un-laced her dress in the front, her under-slip was showing. This wasn't new to him having slept beside her nearly every night. However what he wasn't used to seeing, was the smooth skin of her cleavage which was now on show, her slip pulled down and twisted slightly due to the movement in her sleep. He couldn't see the full breast by any means, but he could easily make out the enticing valley of her cleavage as she laid on her side, the closest he'd ever come to seeing what he was envisioned hundreds of times since he met her.

He had to take a deep breathe, feeling his arousal spiking as he gazed at her wondrous chest. He forced himself to look away and turn around, instinctively reaching for the bottle of rum off the table, feeling it empty but tipping it out anyway, just to be sure.
"Why is the rum always gone?" He uttered, standing up from his chair and instantly stumbling, almost into the wall. "Oh, that's why."

He looked for his hat and found it next to the bed, just where he'd thrown it when he had walked into the cabin many hours ago.
He stumbled over to the bed and couldn't resist reaching down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead, his heart swelling when he saw her lips twitch into a soft smile whilst she slept. Damn stirrings.

He grabbed his hat from near her foot and stumbled away to the door, grabbing the rum key off the hook and sauntering off towards the rum store.

Grabbing the nearest lantern, he closed the cabin door quietly and took off down the stairs towards the hold, stepping quietly past the resting crew.
"As you were gents," he said, before unlocking the rum store. His face dropped when he saw the bottle he grabbed was the last one.
He frowned and closed his eyes a few times in disbelief when he was the bottle was filled with sand which was quickly falling from it.

"Times run out Jack," an mysterious voice spoke from the corner, sounding ominous, causing Jack to jump in surprise and drop the bottle he held, forcing it to smash in the ground. Holding the lantern out in front of his face, he crept towards where the voice had come from. The voice was familiar to him, having heard it many times, a long time ago, but surely he had died hadn't he? It couldn't be possible that it was him.

"Bootstrap?" Jack whispered as he spotted the figure perched in the corner who seemed to be dripping wet, "Bill Turner?"

Bill looked up with sad eyes, bugs crawling around his face as Jack looked on in horror. He was covered in an array of barnacles and sea-creatures, a starfish invading nearly half on his face. "You look good Jack," Bootstrap said, seawater falling from his mouth as he spoke.

Jack froze for a moment, turning his head slightly to the side to comprehend what was in front of him. "Is this a dream?" Jack asked with a tone of disbelief.

"No," Bootstrap whispered, seemingly just as confused at Jack's behaviour as Jack was with him.

"I thought not," Jack said. "If this were a dream there'd be rum and-" Jack began speaking when Bill suddenly reached out, his arm clicking, holding out a bottle of rum towards Jack. He hung up the lantern before accepting the bottle from Bill, having to pry it out his stiff hand. Jack never finished his sentence, not wanting to divulge the existence of his Lily, nor did he want to explain that she would be naked in his dream, in front of his old friend, knowing that Bill would be forced to feedback everything Jack said to Davy Jones and he certainly didn't want Davy Jones to know about Lily.