A/N: Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews & I hope you're having a joyous Christmas Day! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own PotC.
Chapter 2
"Lizzie, wait!"
Jack ran after her when she turned to leave.
"I'm not stealing from Santa Claus!" she exclaimed so loud that Jack began waving his hands in front of her in a rather frantic manner.
"First of all, I really intend to only borrow the map. Secondly, how is stealing from Santa Claus any different than stealing from anybody else? May I remind you who helped me to tear out a certain page from a certain Code not so long ago?"
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. "It was… a higher necessity. Besides, The Code is common good," she added, thrusting up her chin to make up for the lack of confidence in her voice. "As a pirate, as the Pirate King! I can do whatever I want with it."
"You wouldn't believe how much rum I'd be willing to give up just to see you deliver this explanation to Teague," Jack said with a lop-sided smile.
"I'm serious, Jack," Elizabeth said in a truly serious voice. "I'm not taking anything from here!" she said, extending her hand toward the knob but before she reached it, the door opened and a tall man appeared in the doorway, his white beard sparkling in the well-lit room, his clothes sprinkled with snowflakes, his eyes glittering with contagious joviality.
Jack and Elizabeth's faces quickly adjusted to the season becoming noticeably pale.
But Santa Claus did not seem startled by the sight of strangers in his library.
"Are you the new elves?" he asked with a broad smile, quickly taking in their appearance.
Jack's eyes glimmered at this assumption and he was about to vigorously confirm, however, Elizabeth interrupted him.
"No, we are just... leaving," she said, feeling very uncomfortable looking Santa Claus straight in the eyes. "There's been a... a... a mistake! We're very sorry for the intrusion."
She began moving toward the door, Jack following in her wake but before they walked into the corridor, Santa Claus spoke again:
"Have you been looking for something here?" he asked with sincere interest.
Jack and Elizabeth turned to face him, very quickly shaking their heads in unison.
Apparently, Santa Claus found this very amusing because he laughed, his laughter reverberating in the entire house.
Both Jack and Elizabeth stiffened, expecting the change of mood and a severe punishment to follow but instead Santa Claus pointed his finger at them and said in a most cheerful voice:
"You are very funny!"
Elizabeth let go of a breath she did not know she had been holding.
Jack blinked. "Funny?" he asked cautiously.
Elizabeth elbowed him.
Santa Claus tilted his head to the side, regarding them with a smile. "I've read about you very recently."
"Read about us?" Elizabeth echoed in a faltering voice.
Santa Claus laughed again. "Naughty!" he said, shaking his finger at them. "Both of you!" he said, chuckling to himself as he walked toward one of his bookshelves.
Jack and Elizabeth were so stunned they did not even exchange a look with each other while Santa Claus was not looking.
"Oh, here it is," Santa Claus said joyfully, looking through one of the books and turning toward them again. "Elizabeth... Swann, isn't it?" he said, glancing at Elizabeth from above the pages. Elizabeth nodded mechanically. "And... Jack..." Jack opened his mouth to make the necessary correction but to his surprise Santa Claus corrected himself. "Captain Jack Sparrow!" He looked up at Jack who smiled at him weakly.
Santa Claus' eyes shifted back to the book. He quickly skimmed through the pages, different emotions passing through his face but somehow all of them were laced with recurring happy smiles and when he finally looked at his guests again, his face was beaming with perfect joy. "So you're looking for the Fountain of Youth?" he asked smilingly.
Elizabeth was about to protest but Santa Claus gave her such an amused look that she understood there was no point in lying.
"We were hoping to... borrow a map leading to the Fountain of Youth..." she admitted reluctantly, receiving a mockingly surprised by her choice of words look from Jack.
"Why didn't you say so already?" Santa Claus exclaimed happily, proceeding to rummage through his shelves for a while before producing a tattered roll from behind the books on one of the shelves. "The Fountain of Youth..." he muttered thoughtfully to himself, unfurling the map and studying it for a moment. "But you do know there is a catch?" he asked, looking to Jack and Elizabeth again, and Elizabeth noticed that for the first time during the conversation his eyes sparkled with more serious emotions.
"A catch?" Jack repeated.
"What kind of catch?" Elizabeth inquired, wrinkling her forehead.
Santa Claus sighed. "Well, I can't tell you but... perhaps by the time you find the Fountain you'll know what the catch is and whether the risk is worth taking?" he said mysteriously with sudden gentleness, shifting his smiling eyes between them and handing the map over to them.
Jack and Elizabeth exchanged a hesitant look.
"Now," Santa Claus rubbed his hands together. "Do you have any Christmas wishes? What is it that you want most?" he asked, startling both Jack and Elizabeth with this particular question. "I don't have much time. It's Christmas Eve today, after all!" He chuckled. "Lots of places to visit and presents to deliver. So..."
"Oh, we wouldn't dare-" Elizabeth started but Santa Claus hushed her with a gleeful smile.
"I have to admit I can read your thoughts, so this is really a formality but a necessary formality nonetheless," he said with a wink. "Come here, my dear," he said, beckoning Elizabeth closer.
After a moment of consideration and a look at Jack, Elizabeth slowly made her way toward Santa Claus who slightly leaned down to make it easier for her to whisper her wish into his ear.
Once she walked away, it was Jack's turn. Elizabeth watched him whisper his wish, trying to hear what he was whispering but no avail.
When the wishes had been told, Santa Claus laughed again. "You're both really funny," he said shaking his head and Jack could not help slightly narrowing his eyes at him.
Jack and Elizabeth explained that they were already in the possession of a one horse open sleigh but Santa Claus only waved his hand on that in a dismissive gesture.
He walked them out of the mansion but instead of letting them go to where their sleigh was waiting, he asked one of the elves to take care of it. Then, to Jack and Elizabeth's utter astonishment he invited them into his sleigh, offering to drop them anywhere they considered most convenient – anywhere they would like to find their presents waiting for them.
Dashing through the snow – and more amazingly through the air! - in the beautiful, moonlit night, they arrived in an exotic port where they said a good-bye to Santa Claus. He wished them happiness and asked to let him know how their quest would end... Then he remembered that he was going to find out and read about their quest anyway hahahaha Elizabeth shot Jack a scolding look when he rolled his eyes.
They watched Santa Claus ride away in his glittering sleigh and disappear from view and from the night sky along with his laughter that seemed to reverberate in the air even after they could not see him anymore.
"I wonder if-" Jack started but fell silent, rendered speechless by the sight.
Elizabeth followed his gaze, stifling a chuckle.
Jack glanced right and left, blinked, rubbed his forehead and eyes. "I don't understand..." he mumbled, his eyes fixed on the Black Pearl docked right next to them, looking beautiful and magnificent against the black, moonlit sky.
"What is it?" Elizabeth asked, a bit puzzled by his reaction. He turned to look at her. "You don't like your present?" she asked, biting her lip.
Jack frowned. "It's just not... it's not what I... I actually didn't..." he trailed off upon noticing an amused smile flitting across Elizabeth's face. "Lizzie..." he said in a different voice, a hint of anxiety in it.
Elizabeth laughed. "Don't tell me it's not what you wanted most?"
He was silent for just a split second but her heart skipped a bit nonetheless.
"Of course it was," he said, averting his eyes from her. "But why did you do that? Why did you wasted your wish on me?" he asked, looking at her again.
She smiled and shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to my mind." He looked at her so intensely that it made her smile falter a bit. He leaned toward her and she drew a breath.
"If you think that it was what I wanted most..." he said, glancing at her lips and then focusing on her eyes again, reminding her of a moment that seemed simultaneously so far and so near... "How did you know I wouldn't ask for it myself?" he asked with a small smirk that did not reach his eyes which remained strikingly serious.
"So what did you ask for?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
His face fell a bit at her question and she arched an eyebrow when his eyes traveled to the sea as if he was expecting to see something beside the Black Pearl there. "If I tell you I'll ruin the surprise," he said with a smile that she thought was curiously sour.
"You wished for something... for me?" she asked with a small smile. He did not say anything, just looked at her in that strange, sad way so she continued, trying to shake off the impression. "It's odd that my present is not here yet. Santa Claus said our wishes would come true at the same time."
Jack blinked, suddenly remembering that Santa Claus had indeed said something like that. "Aye," he said, looking around.
Elizabeth gave him a questioning look but he only shrugged his shoulders in response. She rolled her eyes. "Jack. Tell me what you wished for. I don't want to be standing here forever and waiting for something to happen!"
Jack rubbed his forehead, twitching his nose, and still stealing glances at their surroundings.
"Jack!"
He pouted.
"Jack!"
"Alright!" He waved his hands at her, sighing in exasperation. "I wished... I wished for you to spend this Christmas with the person with whom you'd like to spend this Christmas most," he said so quickly that it took a moment for his words to register in her mind.
"Oh," she said after a pause and he could not decipher her thoughts from the look in her eyes.
"But it seems that Santa Claus decided to fulfill only one of our wishes," Jack said, looking away, his heart hammering in his chest.
For a moment all he could hear was the sound of the waves leaping against the Black Pearl's hull.
"What makes you think that?" Elizabeth asked barely above a whisper, her voice so soft, and serious, and almost sad.
He slowly shifted his eyes back to her. She smiled, bringing her face closer to his.
He lifted his hand, slowly running his fingertips across her cheek. "Lizzie..."
"Jack! You're here!"
Jack and Elizabeth drew apart, watching Gibbs run toward them.
Jack gave Elizabeth a mockingly questioning look.
"It's so good-" Gibbs started, trying to catch his breath.
"Mr. Gibbs. That is most disappointing," Jack said in a very severe voice causing Gibbs to blink repeatedly in puzzlement. "I certainly didn't expect that. Not from you!"
Gibbs stared at him, utterly confused. He looked to Elizabeth for assistance but to his further puzzlement she burst out laughing, and before Gibbs managed to say anything Jack laughed as well.
"If you're in such good moods I presume you've got the map?" Gibbs asked hopefully, shifting his eyes between them, not even trying to guess why they were laughing.
"Aye," Jack said, twitching his nose. "But there is a catch," he said, producing the map from under his coat.
"A catch?" Gibbs asked, wrinkling his forehead. "What kind of catch?"
Jack grinned, handing him the map. "That's for you to find out, Mr. Gibbs. We got the map. Now it's your turn to contribute to our adventure."
And with that, Jack took Elizabeth's hand in his and they headed for the Black Pearl, Morning Star already bright on the horizon.