Work Text:
Love on the High Seas: A Samhain Moment
by Pirates Sparrow and Turner
Jack patted his shirt pocket to be sure that the box was still there. Reassured that his treasure was safe, he hurried on down the darkened street, hoping to reach the Fokker Inn before he ran into more trouble.
He had been attacked by two drunken exfriends of his who had thought it great fun to knock him to his feet. He had thought for one moment that he was done for, but in the next minute he had managed to crawl out from under them for as they had both reached for him at the same time their heads had bumped each other's. Then they had started swinging fists and cursing each other, and he had quickly scrambled away. As soon as Jack had gotten far enough away, he had gotten to his feet and had walked as quickly and quietly as he could.
He could see the lights of the Fokker Inn, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He had to be there at midnight, and he knew it was almost upon him. He ran the last few steps and burst into the inn with a glad cry of hello dying even as it left his mouth. The room was dark, and the sound of his voice echoed in the empty room.
His frightened heart cried out, {Where are they?!} Were they under attack again? Had they been stolen away? Terror filled his heart even as he heard something breathing heavily nearby. Who or what had taken his, and were they waiting to eat him? Gleaming yellow eyes stared at him in the darkness.
The being stepped forward. Jack took a cautious step backward, his hand going to the ready on the hilt of his sword. A hand reached out and grasped his forearm. Jack's eyes widened, but then, as he recognized the touch of the hand that he knew almost as well as he knew his own, he relaxed. Fangs as white as pearls gleamed at him in the darkness, and a smile broke out over Jack's face.
"We were beginning to wonder if you were going to make it." The other man's voice was rumbly and deep, smooth and no longer shy. The cheer that resounded in it made Jack's smile grow even brighter as he thought of how far his brother had come over the last couple of years. "They're waiting for us, Jack."
"Aye," Jack agreed. "I finally got Will's present! I was beginning to think Ola wasn't going to come through with it." He had already told Brendan about the present. He realized every one must be in another room, getting ready to have their celebration. He gripped his brother's forearm. "Can't wait to see his eyes light up! Did you get Prue's?"
"That," Brendan answered with a slight incline of his head, "and more. Getting what we want sometimes takes a while, but it's always worth it in the end. Ola's a true friend, Jack, like you. Even when you give up on yourself, she never gives up on you. I knew she'd come through with yours. I just never thought she'd be right about me, or that you would, but . . . " His grin grew. "I'm going to wine and dine milday Prue tonight like she's never been wined and dined before."
Jack chuckled deeply in his throat. "You devil!" He grinned slyly at his brother. He was proud of how far his brother had come. He hadn't proposed to Prue yet, but Jack figured that would not be too long in the coming. He only wished he could propose to Will the same way. The present he carried in the small box that was in his breast pocket was a promise. That was all Jack dared do for now, though he longed to do much more. He wanted Will to know that he'd be his forever and, should he be killed before Will, he'd come back and haunt the lad. "Shall we go?" he asked his brother, indicating that Brendan should lead the way.
Linked arm and arm with the man who'd kept him alive throughout countless dangers, including the greatest danger of all to himself which had always been his own lowly hide, and who he was proud to call brother, Brendan headed toward the party and a night he knew would change his life forever in ways he'd never dared imagine before. "Tell me," he whispered in a deep, husky voice, "what do you think of the name Mister Brendan Halliwell?"
As the brothers descended into the darkness, linked arm and arm and heart to heart, they whispered excitedly, and both thought over all that the last year had brought into their lives and all the good All Hallow's yet to come.
The End