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Jack took his time waking up. His death hadn’t exactly been restful, and somewhere at the edge of consciousness he knew there were things waiting for him that he didn’t feel particularly up to dealing with. The others had come this far; he left them to the cleaning-up as well, before he began to stir.
“Think I just saw ‘is eye twitch,” Ragetti whispered loudly. Jack suppressed a sigh. Where there was one, there was the other. Still, he supposed he ought to extend a modicum of regard if they’d managed to stick around through it all.
Will’s fingertips pressed against the inside of his wrist, a pleasant reminder of the return of touch and warmth and real, actual skin. “His breathing hasn’t changed.”
“What else can we do?” Jack was satisfied to note that he could put that aggravated tone to Elizabeth’s voice at any time, including asleep and from beyond the grave. “The water had no effect.”
Oh, he did rather hope they’d soak him again – he’d been out of the sea for so long –
“Cap’n Jack, contrary to the last,” said Gibbs with weary affection.
“We could always try it like they done in th’ stories,” Ragetti suggested.
“Stories?” Pintel snorted. “What stories?”
“Fairy stories. Y’know, princesses an’ dragons an’ such – in stories, they always wake ‘em wiv a kiss.”
Well now. Perhaps he wasn’t such a simpleton after all.
Jack waited, imagining the onlookers staring each other down, listening to the rustles as they shifted uncomfortably. It was Pintel who finally spoke again, sounding like he expected a clout for his trouble.
“We’ve only the one lass amongst us…”
“Don’t be absurd,” Elizabeth snapped.
A bounce on his left side was Will dropping onto the bed. Jack could feel the boy’s eyes fixed on his face as Will said quietly, “It may be worth a shot.”
“What?” The others fell wisely silent, no doubt watching Elizabeth pace in short strides up and down the length of the cabin. “Will Turner, you of all people –!”
“Elizabeth, we’ve just brought a man back from the edge of – from who knows what, and now look at him. He’s alive and breathing, but he hasn’t stirred. If there is any way…”
If you move a bit closer, lad, Jack thought, but instead Will got up, no doubt to take his beloved’s hands. He said something else to her, but it was very low and muffled, and Jack couldn’t make it out.
“All right,” Elizabeth whispered after a moment. “I’ll try.”
Aye, you do that - you owe me one, after all…
The mattress dipped as she sat down and leaned over him, curving her hand against his rough cheek. Jack was exceedingly glad he’d granted her this opportunity to rectify her last attempt. Her lips brushed against his own, gentle and swift; when he did not respond, she kissed him again and let it linger.
Jack answered it for a fleeting second, making her gasp and pull back. But he continued to lie still, hoping they might sweeten the pot still more.
“I thought, for a moment there –” Gibbs sounded puzzled.
A sound like a balding head being smacked echoed in the cabin. “O’course,” Pintel exclaimed. “In the stories it’s always a prince doin’ the kissin’…”
Jack didn’t even have to imagine all the eyes rocketing to Will.
“Absolutely not,” Will declared. “Stop looking at me like that!”
“But Will,” said Elizabeth sweetly, “you said it yourself: if there is any way of waking him up…any way,” she added, in case he wasn’t clear on the concept of self-sacrifice, which Jack thought was entirely unfair of her. The appeal worked, however, for when she stood up, it was only a moment before Will took her place on the bed. Jack had usually pictured the both of them there together, but he’d take what he could get; and anyway, there were currently too many spectators for his tastes.
He heard Will take a deep breath, steeling nerves, then felt that breath wash over his face in a warm gust as Will bent down. He gripped Jack’s shoulder to steady himself for a light, chaste kiss. This time Jack tilted his head and opened his mouth, licking at the restorative lips and opening his eyes to watch Will jerk back. Close behind him, Elizabeth’s intent face broke into a grin.
“It worked,” Will breathed, jaw hanging open.
Jack patted his knee, reaching out to Elizabeth with the other hand, reveling in the astonishment and delight of their audience. “There’s a grain of truth in near every story, love.”