I'm married to the sea

Jack is going to try very hard to stick to his original plans with Pearl. He really is. Even though he's walking a bit funny and Sheldon left him with a painful hard on that is taking too long to diminish. He doesn't have time to jerk off and it seems wrong, somehow, anyway. When Pearl arrives home, there will be a trail of rose petals to the bedroom. Inside, there's a box wrapped in silk sitting in the center of the bed. Inside, there's a sterling silver compass, two necklaces with keys, and a map.

The map has a few Xs on it and instructions with each. By the time she gets home, leaves Shelly to go spend time with her uncle, and sees the rest of the kids get in safe from school, there will be a limo waiting outside to take her to the first X: a lake not far from Pearl's family home. The map will lead her from the road, through a fence that's been left open but is marked 'no trespassing', through the trees and to a clearing near the water. There's a soft glow from the fire Jack has burning. He sits on a blanket spread over the grass with a small picnic basket at his side. There are a few red roses waiting in Pearl's spot next to him.

Jack gets up earlier on Valentine's Day than most days of the year. It's a very busy day for him. Always. He spends a little while in bed, snuggling and kissin with his wife. She came first last year, though, so this is Sheldon's year. They each get equal time, but Jack switches who gets the day hours and who gets the night from year to year. Sometimes it just depends on circumstances.

This year, he wakes up early and goes to see his mother. He takes her a dozen red roses, candy, and a stuffed bear. He spends a short while with her before she tells him he's a very good son, but he should go be with his wife. She then keeps him with her and talking for another couple of hours. He knew she was in no hurry to give him up to Pearl. She is more understanding than she has been in the past, though.

He finally breaks free and heads back to Anna's house. The boys are all in school now and Pearl agreed to take Shelly out during the day if Sheldon will babysit in the evening while she and Jack go out. He comes back to a house with just himself and his twin. He takes out his lighter and begins lighting cones of opium scented incense he left around the house. A trail up to the attic. That's the first place Sheldon and Jack were ever together in Pearl's childhood home. Some very interesting photos have been taken in the space over the years. Now, a pile of pillows lays on the floor with blankets spread out as well. Jack strips down quickly, shivering in the cold attic, and moves to the even colder air of vent that leads outside to let his skin grow cold. Several things were set up in advance in the attic and he takes up the waiting pipe, lighting the sticky opium inside and breathing it in deep. The heavy smoke leaks slowly from his lips and Jack smiles lazily. It will help him lay still, feel cool to the touch, and limit his reactions if that's what his twin wants.

Jack knows Sheldon will have heard him come home, so everything had to be ready and waiting for him to get set up quick. As his twin follows the sounds and smells, he'll find sets of wrist and ankle cuffs coupled with their keys, a blind fold, and silk rope. There is also a carefully folded heart made of paper. It's a card. Sheldon gets one every year and Jack then reads it to him when they're together.
By the time Shel gets to him, Jack is laying sprawled naked and cold on the pile of pillows.

To: James Norrington
Date: February 7, 2008
Subject: Forget that previous request
From: LaVieDeBoucanier@gmail.com

Jamie,

Thank you for whatever efforts you may have put forth in meeting my legal needs. However, it will no longer be necessary. Call off the hounds, as it were. I've taken care of it.

-Jack

To: James Norrington
Date: January 13, 2008
Subject: I have a legal team, don't I?
From: LaVieDeBoucanier@gmail.com


James, as I'm sure you know by now, I'm in Pennsylvania. Before you ask, it's awful, that's how it is. My mother is ill and I'm seeing to her. That's all you or anyone really need know. Less, if possible. Regardless, I will likely be here for some time. That's not why I'm writing, however.

I'm writing to ask about what my legal capabilities are. You see, Pearl and I are interested in adopting a child. The problem is, that the girl is not in fact up for adoption. I can assure you, though, that her home is not stable or safe. Her mother is a beast, Jamie. Trust me. She's spent more time with our family than in her own home for the past six years. To move everyone here to the bloody ozarks without her is to split up our family. It's cruel.
There's surely some way we can legally go about adopting her? I'd hate to have another kidnapping charge on my record.

Do let me know what can be done ASAP.

The devil you know,
J.A.Sands

It's been odd staying with my mother again. I feel terrible for Sparrow, but the boy's been doing well, all considered. Every morning I rather expect to find him gone.

We've started searching for a house. I doubt we'll find any that are truly satisfactory. Unlikely rural Pennsylvania holds any homes with an ocean view. Even a sizable dock seems impossible to obtain within any reasonable distance.

Bugger and fuck.

I demand a realtor willing to alter geography to satisfy me! I want the withers to at least be somewhat happy when they arrive or at least moderately comfortable.

For now, I'm just exceedingly displeased with present circumstances. The children have never lived so far from the ocean. I worry for them and, quite honestly, for myself. I thought work may distract me while here, but it's been slow going when going has occurred at all.

Jack was more than a little surprised when the twin who has been shrugging off his attentions since he was small decided to make amends. He assumes Lux is responsible for this sudden affection from his brother, but he isn't going to spend too much time second guessing it. Caz wants to go out on the boat: just the two of them and their twins. Maybe he has questions --or they both do-- about how twins behave. Maybe they just prefer being around their 'own kind'. Whatever it is, he's prepared to deal with it. So long as his children all still care for him, Jack will bend over backwards.

They set out just after breakfast and are out on an endless stretch of sea by noon. It's a fast ship, and a good one.

"Right, men, what shall we do next?"