FIC: The Long Con 2/3
Title:The Long Con
Part: 2/3 - The Turn
Author: miss_drea_fic
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Fusion with the BBC television show “Hustle”. Jack Sparrow, con artist, plays a local bank and its occupants for a fool.
Disclaimer: The Mouse owns it all.
Gibbs was asleep so Ana Maria threw ice water on his face. He woke with a start. “What the bugger...” he shouted, which woke Cotton in the bed next to him.
“Shut up,” he growled covering his head with a pillow. “What the bloody fuck time is it?”
Ana Maria looked at the clock. “Half nine,” she said dispassionately. “Get up, yah lazy bums. Jack has a plan, and William’s done his bit.”
Gibbs grumbled good-naturedly, then stumbled to his feet followed by Cotton. They arrived in the living room to Jack parading in front of the telly to Will’s manic laughter. Jack turned to face his friends and grinned brilliantly. “Mornin’ gents!” he said brightly, waving them to the couch.
“Well? What’s this plan?”
Jack sat leaning forward to convey his point. “Well. Will found out where they keep the diamond. We compose a bank heist, Will, you’ll act as hero, of course, to me the dashing villain, and we’ll pretend like we just want the diamond. And that’s all we’ll take.”
“But what about the feds?” Cotton asked practically.
“Well, Jones never comes to work on an actual day. He has to be called. So Will, you call 999 and get the authorities to come over, and I’ll act like I’m angry with you and make you call Jones instead. He’ll show up, we’ll shoot a few holes in the walls, get my diamond and get the fuck out of Houston.”
Gibbs cringed. “Um, Jack, I think you’re mixing metaphors...”
The con artist waved his hand, dismissive. “I want my diamond,” he said firmly. “And ye’re all going to get it for me.” He grinned suddenly, the same bright manic light entering his brown eyes. “I get to deal with Cutler Beckett again!” he crowed.
Will sighed to himself. “I can see that telling him about the vault was not the wisest plan,” he muttered to Cotton.
The Fixer snorted. “You just thought of this now?”
The Inside Man shushed him, then stood to placate and hopefully calm down his lover. “Jack?” he questioned once he entered the kitchen.
The other man turned away from the sink and grinned. “William, my beloved boy!” he drew Will into a tight hug. “I love you,” the older man said into his chest. “I love you so much.”
Will hugged him closer, whispering into his hair, “I know. I love you too.”
Jack pulled Will up the stairs stumbling in his haste. Will hesitated at the doorway when Jack started throwing off his clothes. When the shorter man stood naked before him, Will stepped into the door way and closed it behind him. Instead of his usual behavior, Jack led his younger lover to the bed and gently started divesting him of his clothing.
Once Will was completely naked, Jack merely laid a chase kiss on his lips resting their foreheads together. Will blinked at him, concerned and Jack smiled gently at him, pulling Will closer and curling up beside him on the bed. Will sat up and pulled the covers over them before pulling Jack into him, spooning and coveting his lover.
“Jack?” Will whispered, but only received a light snort in reply. Jack mumbled and huffed against Will’s bare chest but didn’t wake. Will pressed a light kiss to Jack’s dread locked hair. “It’ll be okay,” he promised quietly. “I love you.”
Then he too, fell asleep to the sound of his lover’s beating heart.
-
On Monday morning, Will walked up the doors of the Bank without paying much attention to anything. He ran straight into a man by the revolving doors and stopped shocked. “Sorry, sir!” he squeaked trying to scoot by otherwise unannounced.
David Jones would have none of it. “You must be William!” he said, his voice much warmer and jovial than Will had expected it to be.
“Yes, sir,” he said nervously, shuffling his feet like he used to when he was a child.
“Don’t be nervous, Will m’boy! I won’t bite.” The large bearded man grinned, his teeth flashing a bright white in the dark of his beard. “Much.”
Will chuckled weakly. “Yes sir,” he said at a loss on what else he could have said.
Davy led him to his desk, sitting down in front of him. “How do you like my banks, Mr. Turner?”
“I like them very much, sir, and I...well, I’m really glad I got this job, so thank you, so much for hiring me.”
Davy grinned at him. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about you, Mr. Turner. Our Elizabeth fairly sings your praises.” He looked at Will slyly, “any inter-employee relationships I should be informed about, Will?”
Will shrugged. “Maybe?” he said shyly. “I don’t know. Is it a problem?”
“No, no problem,” Jones said with a laugh. “I just thought James there would get to her first. Ah well, early birds and all that...”
Will nodded slightly, watching Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye. She was talking to her father and shooting him furtive looks over one shoulder. He fought not to bury his head in his hands. He was so too gay for this job. “Worms, right?” he said, feigning brightness. “Are you calling Elizabeth a worm?”
David laughed. “I like you, Will. Welcome to the company.” He got up, walking away, booming to Weatherby. “I’d like to see my diamond before I go, Swann!”
Will watched carefully as Jones opened the vault and walked in. Will stood with some papers to file and watched as David opened the fourth box down, in row...sixteen. Will smiled to himself, filed the papers and hurried back to his desk.
On a post-it, he quickly wrote down fourth column, sixteenth row. He stuck it in his pocket and waited for the day to end.
Just as he sat down at his desk, his phone rang and giving it a surprised look he lifted it from the desk. “Dutch Banks, this is William, how may I help you?” he said smoothly.
He heard a light chuckle on the other end of the phone. “I didn’t t’ink you’d have really taken this job, young William,” the voice on the other side said amused.
Will rolled his eyes. “Hello Tia,” he said, spinning slightly in his chair to face his computer desktop. He held the phone between his head and his shoulder and said into it as he typed, “what made you call me here?”
The chuckle came again. “I heard what you was doin’ for ol’ Jack,” she said liltingly. “And I t’ought it was a wonderful idea. I t’ink you know what it will do for you an’ him,” she said knowingly.
“What,” Will said dryly into the receiver, “are you talking about?”
“You’ll see what I mean, Young William. Hang up the phone, a customer is going to call you.” Then the line went dead and Will dropped the phone onto the desk.
The phone rang. Staring at it in shock, he hesitantly picked up the phone. “Dutch Banks, this is William, how may I help you?” He listened for a moment then said kindly, “all right, hang on a tic while I transfer your call to Mr. Swann. Yes, your welcome.” He hit a few buttons then turned in his chair towards Elizabeth. “Miss Swann...?” he began.
She turned to face him. “Elizabeth. What’s up, Will?”
“Elizabeth. I was wondering...” he began, but she smiled and interrupted him.
“The new Thai place on the river?” she asked coyly, and he nodded his ascent. “Good. I love Thai.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had it,” Will said contemplatively. “Never been to Thailand.”
“Where have you been?” Elizabeth asked, leaning forward in interest.
Will thought for a moment. “Well, I’ve been across the Pond to both America and Canada. I’ve been to Brazil, Panama, several Caribbean Islands, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, China, Japan, Malaysia, Austria, Australia, New Zealand...and Morocco.”
Elizabeth blinked at him. “What about Borneo?” she asked finally. Will laughed, but shook his head. “And do you speak all those...languages?”
Will grinned. “I told you. I speak a lot of some.”
-
While leaving the Thai place, Will wrapped his arm around Elizabeth’s waist. “Let me walk you home, mei-mei?” He questioned with a grin.
“Mei-mei?” she asked, confused, but nodding her acsent.
“It’s Chinese. Cantonese, I think,” he said contemplatively. “I learned some of it, in Hong Kong with my father.”
“Cantonese!” She brightened. “I know a word! You, William Turner, are a hundan!” She stared in shock as Will broke out laughing, almost tripping over his own feet. “What?” she asked blankly, “what did I say?”
He sniggered. “Elizabeth, you just called me a bastard.”
She froze. “I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!”
Will just chuckled at her. “It’s all right, mei-mei. C’mon. Let’s go, it’s getting chilly.”
After dropping Elizabeth off at her penthouse apartment with a chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth, Will took a taxi home, anxious to see Jack again. He was waiting in the kitchen for Will, drinking a beer. “How was your date?” he asked immediately.
Will sighed. “Are we having this conversation again?” he asked, opening the refrigerator and taking out a beer of his own. “Jack, I’m gay. Why do you insist on assuming that I’m going to drop you for Elizabeth?”
“I am not,” Jack began hotly, “assuming anything. You’re the one who jumped at the chance to take this con and...”
Will slammed his beer bottle down on the counter. “Jack, would you just listen to yourself?! You’re the one that fronted this idea in the first place. You didn’t give me a choice!”
“I should made Annie do it. She could have dated...someone! It didn’t have to be you!”
Will dropped his head into his hands. “Jack,” he muttered, his voice muffled by his elbows and sleeves, “why do we always have this conversation?” He glanced up. “Why are you so afraid you’re going to lose me?”
Jack turned away. “I’m not afraid.”
Will grimaced. “When you’ve decided to tell me the truth, you can come upstairs to bed. Otherwise, the couch is in there.” He slammed out of the kitchen loudly, taking the stairs two at a time and slamming the bedroom door as well.
-
Jack knocked on the door a few minutes later, after having paced back and forth in indecision. “Come in, Jack,” Will said tiredly.
Jack let himself in, hunching himself close to the door jamb. “Will...” Jack said quietly. “I was in a relationship before this one. I think you know that...” Will nodded unnecessarily. “And...he left me, for a woman. So did the man before that, and the man before that. I’ve never...” he huffed out a breath. “I’ve never had a relationship that lasted more than a few months.” Will opened his mouth to object, but Jack shook his head, heading him off. “Except for this one. Will...I’ve loved in my life but I’ve never been loved.”
“I love you, Jack,” Will said quietly.
“I know,” Jack said softly back, “that’s what scares me.”
Will rose off the bed. “Jack...I...”
The older man shook his head. “I don’t want to push you away, Will. But fuck if I’m going to los
e you to a girl.”
Will knelt in front of his elder lover. “Jack...I have been gay my entire life. I have never been attracted to a woman in my entire life. I’m enjoying my friendship with Elizabeth like your friendship with Annie. I love you, Jackson Devlin Sparrow. I will love you forever, and I would marry you if I could.” He drew in a deep breath. “If you told me to fuck the Con and stop dating Elizabeth, then I would in a heartbeat. But that diamond makes you happy, and I want you to be happy.”
Jack touched Will’s cheek gently. “William...”
Will smiled up at him. “So tell me what to do Jack, finish the con?” Jack finally nodded. “Okay. I won’t date Elizabeth anymore. I’ll feed her some reason. Maybe I’ll even tell her the truth.”
Jack smiled. “For me?”
“For you, love. Only for you.”
*
Elizabeth sat at her computer early that morning staring despondently at the screen. Will sat next to her. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Mei-mei means little sister,” she said quietly. Will froze. “You...you called me little sister. That’s sweet, but I want more.”
Will sighed. “Elizabeth, I didn’t mean to lead you on. I have so few friends who are close to my age. My brother is older and all of my friends are his, that I immediately snatched you up. Elizabeth, the truth is...”
“I don’t want to know the truth, especially if it’s about me!” she said emphatically, turning to face him.
“It’s not you!” he said hastily. “It’s not your fault I was born gay,” he said as after thought, unwilling to say anything more.
She paused. “You’re...what? What?”
“Gay,” he said quietly. “So very, very gay.”
She shot him a shrewd look. “Oh,” she said knowingly. “So I propose a date this evening, William Turner!” Elizabeth said triumphantly to his startled look. “We get to go shopping!” She got up and sauntered away, leaving Will to bury his head in his hands.
“I hate stereotypes,” he mumbled to the desk, before getting up and going back to his own desk. He picked up the phone and called a number he’d known by heart. “Jack?” he said quietly to the silence, “it’s done.” Then he hung up the phone and waited for the day to end.
When it did, Elizabeth began to drag him out the door chattering happily about finally having a shopping partner. Her cell phone rang and she scampered off to answer it while Will caught his breath. James sauntered over. “Troubles?” he asked, staring after Elizabeth longingly.
“Yeah. She’s all yours, mate,” he said honestly. “She’s not right for me.”
James looked at him strangely. “Not right for...how can someone like her not be right for someone like you? You’re perfect together!” he said firmly.
“No,” Will said, amused. “Someone like you would be far more appropriate for my tastes.”
James blinked at him. “A security guard?” he asked blankly. Will stared at him uncomprehending. Then the light bulb went on in James head. “You’re a shirt-lifter?!” he hissed.
Will glanced at him unperturbed. “If that’s the way you want to put it,” he said easily. “Gay usually just works for me.”
James glared at him. “So how did a fudge-packer like you get the girl, eh, mate?”
“Guess I’m just prettier than you,” Will said sassily, turning towards Elizabeth where she waved at him to come. “Coming, Liz!” he said brightly. He smirked at James and jogged over to meet the girl, catching her hand and pulling her along. “Where to next, darling?”
“Harrods,” she said evenly, watching as his eyes widened. “You asked for it, William Turner!”
He sighed. “Lead on, oh Mistress,” he said dryly.
*
Jack was in the kitchen when Will got home at nine. He raised an eyebrow at Will’s harried countenance and laughed at him when he pulled several bags along with him. “Did she take you shopping because you told her you were gay or because you don’t have a backbone?” he asked when he stopped to breathe.
“Bite me,” his lover growled. “Or I won’t give you your present.”
“Present!?” Jack perked up and immediately vested Will of his bags. “Well come on then, lazy bones, we need to put away your bags and give me my prezzie.” Will chuckled tiredly and followed Jack into the living room. He rifled through the bags but came up empty. “Prezzie?” he asked sadly.
Will laughed at him. “Jack, did you really think I’d be stupid enough to put your present in with the bags. It’s in my pocket.” Jack made a face and tried to pounce on Will, but the younger man evaded him. “Would you stop?” he chastised. “Sit.” Jack sat and Will purposefully left the room. He returned several minutes later with Ana Maria, Cotton and a yawning Gibbs.
“What’s goin’ on, Willie?” asked Josh as he sat on the couch. Cotton said beside him and Annie leaned against the wall.
“Oh, nothing,” he said lightly.
Jack pouted. “He bought a prezzie for me and won’t give it to me.” He sat down between Cotton and Gibbs and pouted deeper for effect.
Will laughed and knelt in front of Jack to lean on his knees. “Would I do that to you?”
“Yes,” Annie called from the other side of the room.
“Shut up,” he called back amicably. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a little box and handed it to Jack.
Jack’s breath suddenly hitched and the room turned somber. “Is it...?” he breathed out on a long exhale, opening the box with shaking fingers. Inside was a ring, a wide silver band with to set blue diamonds and in the center; a set black pearl. He pulled it out of the holder and turned it over in his hands, silent. Inside, engraved to the inside were their names. “Will?” Jack asked, his voice shaking.
“I told you last night Jack, I’d marry you if we could.” He gestured to the ring. “So this is how I would do it.” He smiled sweetly up at his male lover. “So marry me?”
Jack tackled him, kissing him breathless. “Yes!” he said against Will’s lips. “Yes, yes, yes an’ more yes.”
“Good.” Will kissed him again.
-
At two in the morning, the phone rang, and snarling Jack rolled over and answered it with an irritable, “‘lo?”
Through the receive Will could vaguely hear Tia’s melodic voice. It was harsher than usual, her words choppy and hurried. “Jack, Andy and Theo did they do work in the Precinct for you?”
“Ye’h,” he yawned. “Why?”
“They’ve been caught. Hector got arrested on his way home to me last night, Ed and Charlie are already in jail. I’m probably next but I know they don’t know where you are. If you’re going to do the Con, then do it, and do it soon.”
“What?!” snapped Jack, suddenly very awake. “Who got it?”
“Beckett,” Tia said tiredly. “My line is secure, you come up as a private number, so they can’t track you. But do your con, get your diamond and get out of the country, Sparrow.”
“Thanks, Tia. We’re on it. Maybe we’ll go to the states.”
“Maybe. Kiss Will for me.” There was a clatter on her end of the phone. “Ahh,” she said, her voice changing from the clipped tone she kept with Jack to her crazy accent from her Native Islands. “I t’ink yeh ‘ave t’e wrong ‘ouse, Officers.” Then the phone went dead.
Jack swore avidly under his breath. “Will,” he said, “wake up the others.”
“On it,” he said quickly, rolling out of bed and tugging on his sleep pants. He stumbled into Gibbs and Cotton’s room, and woke the two sleeping men. She banged on Annie’s door, calling for her a minute later and they all congregated to the living room. “Tia, Ed, Charlie and Hector have been compromised,” he said a minute or so later. “Theo and Andy, the two who cleared my record have been taken in as well. We have every confidence that they can get out. I’ll call my father.”
Jack continued the explanation. “What do we need to do to finish the Con?” he asked Cotton.
Cotton thought for a minute. “Guns, black clothes, bullet proof vests, a van, my safe house, train tickets, plane tickets, house across the Pond, bank account in Switzerland,” he rattled off.
“How long will it take for you to do all these things?” Jack asked, blinking at the list.
“With all my resources stretched to the max?” the Fixer asked, and Jack nodded. “Half hour.”
“You serious?” Annie asked.
“Aye,” Cotton said, ticking things off with his fingers. “Guns, we’ve had them since day one. Black clothes, let’s raid Jack’s wardrobe. Bulletproof vests, simple, have them with the guns. A van, got one in the garage for getaways just like this. My safe house, the key is in the van, train tickets, bought and waiting in the safe house mailbox, plane tickets, also in the mailbox, house in America, my sister died last month and left me the lease to her penthouse in New York City, bank account in Switzerland? Where do you think all of our money is anyway?”
Gibbs shook his head. “Thought of everything, didn’t you?”
Cotton nodded with a grin. “I’ve even got smoke screen makers installed inside the water sprinklers at the bank. Just in case.”
“How’d you do that?” Will asked.
“Sometime last week,” came the vague answer. Cotton grinned. “Ready, Willie? It’s your debut.”
“I’m ready.”
-
Part: 2/3 - The Turn
Author: miss_drea_fic
Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean
Pairing: Jack/Will, Will/Elizabeth
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Fusion with the BBC television show “Hustle”. Jack Sparrow, con artist, plays a local bank and its occupants for a fool.
Disclaimer: The Mouse owns it all.
Gibbs was asleep so Ana Maria threw ice water on his face. He woke with a start. “What the bugger...” he shouted, which woke Cotton in the bed next to him.
“Shut up,” he growled covering his head with a pillow. “What the bloody fuck time is it?”
Ana Maria looked at the clock. “Half nine,” she said dispassionately. “Get up, yah lazy bums. Jack has a plan, and William’s done his bit.”
Gibbs grumbled good-naturedly, then stumbled to his feet followed by Cotton. They arrived in the living room to Jack parading in front of the telly to Will’s manic laughter. Jack turned to face his friends and grinned brilliantly. “Mornin’ gents!” he said brightly, waving them to the couch.
“Well? What’s this plan?”
Jack sat leaning forward to convey his point. “Well. Will found out where they keep the diamond. We compose a bank heist, Will, you’ll act as hero, of course, to me the dashing villain, and we’ll pretend like we just want the diamond. And that’s all we’ll take.”
“But what about the feds?” Cotton asked practically.
“Well, Jones never comes to work on an actual day. He has to be called. So Will, you call 999 and get the authorities to come over, and I’ll act like I’m angry with you and make you call Jones instead. He’ll show up, we’ll shoot a few holes in the walls, get my diamond and get the fuck out of Houston.”
Gibbs cringed. “Um, Jack, I think you’re mixing metaphors...”
The con artist waved his hand, dismissive. “I want my diamond,” he said firmly. “And ye’re all going to get it for me.” He grinned suddenly, the same bright manic light entering his brown eyes. “I get to deal with Cutler Beckett again!” he crowed.
Will sighed to himself. “I can see that telling him about the vault was not the wisest plan,” he muttered to Cotton.
The Fixer snorted. “You just thought of this now?”
The Inside Man shushed him, then stood to placate and hopefully calm down his lover. “Jack?” he questioned once he entered the kitchen.
The other man turned away from the sink and grinned. “William, my beloved boy!” he drew Will into a tight hug. “I love you,” the older man said into his chest. “I love you so much.”
Will hugged him closer, whispering into his hair, “I know. I love you too.”
Jack pulled Will up the stairs stumbling in his haste. Will hesitated at the doorway when Jack started throwing off his clothes. When the shorter man stood naked before him, Will stepped into the door way and closed it behind him. Instead of his usual behavior, Jack led his younger lover to the bed and gently started divesting him of his clothing.
Once Will was completely naked, Jack merely laid a chase kiss on his lips resting their foreheads together. Will blinked at him, concerned and Jack smiled gently at him, pulling Will closer and curling up beside him on the bed. Will sat up and pulled the covers over them before pulling Jack into him, spooning and coveting his lover.
“Jack?” Will whispered, but only received a light snort in reply. Jack mumbled and huffed against Will’s bare chest but didn’t wake. Will pressed a light kiss to Jack’s dread locked hair. “It’ll be okay,” he promised quietly. “I love you.”
Then he too, fell asleep to the sound of his lover’s beating heart.
-
On Monday morning, Will walked up the doors of the Bank without paying much attention to anything. He ran straight into a man by the revolving doors and stopped shocked. “Sorry, sir!” he squeaked trying to scoot by otherwise unannounced.
David Jones would have none of it. “You must be William!” he said, his voice much warmer and jovial than Will had expected it to be.
“Yes, sir,” he said nervously, shuffling his feet like he used to when he was a child.
“Don’t be nervous, Will m’boy! I won’t bite.” The large bearded man grinned, his teeth flashing a bright white in the dark of his beard. “Much.”
Will chuckled weakly. “Yes sir,” he said at a loss on what else he could have said.
Davy led him to his desk, sitting down in front of him. “How do you like my banks, Mr. Turner?”
“I like them very much, sir, and I...well, I’m really glad I got this job, so thank you, so much for hiring me.”
Davy grinned at him. “I’ve heard nothing but good things about you, Mr. Turner. Our Elizabeth fairly sings your praises.” He looked at Will slyly, “any inter-employee relationships I should be informed about, Will?”
Will shrugged. “Maybe?” he said shyly. “I don’t know. Is it a problem?”
“No, no problem,” Jones said with a laugh. “I just thought James there would get to her first. Ah well, early birds and all that...”
Will nodded slightly, watching Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye. She was talking to her father and shooting him furtive looks over one shoulder. He fought not to bury his head in his hands. He was so too gay for this job. “Worms, right?” he said, feigning brightness. “Are you calling Elizabeth a worm?”
David laughed. “I like you, Will. Welcome to the company.” He got up, walking away, booming to Weatherby. “I’d like to see my diamond before I go, Swann!”
Will watched carefully as Jones opened the vault and walked in. Will stood with some papers to file and watched as David opened the fourth box down, in row...sixteen. Will smiled to himself, filed the papers and hurried back to his desk.
On a post-it, he quickly wrote down fourth column, sixteenth row. He stuck it in his pocket and waited for the day to end.
Just as he sat down at his desk, his phone rang and giving it a surprised look he lifted it from the desk. “Dutch Banks, this is William, how may I help you?” he said smoothly.
He heard a light chuckle on the other end of the phone. “I didn’t t’ink you’d have really taken this job, young William,” the voice on the other side said amused.
Will rolled his eyes. “Hello Tia,” he said, spinning slightly in his chair to face his computer desktop. He held the phone between his head and his shoulder and said into it as he typed, “what made you call me here?”
The chuckle came again. “I heard what you was doin’ for ol’ Jack,” she said liltingly. “And I t’ought it was a wonderful idea. I t’ink you know what it will do for you an’ him,” she said knowingly.
“What,” Will said dryly into the receiver, “are you talking about?”
“You’ll see what I mean, Young William. Hang up the phone, a customer is going to call you.” Then the line went dead and Will dropped the phone onto the desk.
The phone rang. Staring at it in shock, he hesitantly picked up the phone. “Dutch Banks, this is William, how may I help you?” He listened for a moment then said kindly, “all right, hang on a tic while I transfer your call to Mr. Swann. Yes, your welcome.” He hit a few buttons then turned in his chair towards Elizabeth. “Miss Swann...?” he began.
She turned to face him. “Elizabeth. What’s up, Will?”
“Elizabeth. I was wondering...” he began, but she smiled and interrupted him.
“The new Thai place on the river?” she asked coyly, and he nodded his ascent. “Good. I love Thai.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had it,” Will said contemplatively. “Never been to Thailand.”
“Where have you been?” Elizabeth asked, leaning forward in interest.
Will thought for a moment. “Well, I’ve been across the Pond to both America and Canada. I’ve been to Brazil, Panama, several Caribbean Islands, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, China, Japan, Malaysia, Austria, Australia, New Zealand...and Morocco.”
Elizabeth blinked at him. “What about Borneo?” she asked finally. Will laughed, but shook his head. “And do you speak all those...languages?”
Will grinned. “I told you. I speak a lot of some.”
-
While leaving the Thai place, Will wrapped his arm around Elizabeth’s waist. “Let me walk you home, mei-mei?” He questioned with a grin.
“Mei-mei?” she asked, confused, but nodding her acsent.
“It’s Chinese. Cantonese, I think,” he said contemplatively. “I learned some of it, in Hong Kong with my father.”
“Cantonese!” She brightened. “I know a word! You, William Turner, are a hundan!” She stared in shock as Will broke out laughing, almost tripping over his own feet. “What?” she asked blankly, “what did I say?”
He sniggered. “Elizabeth, you just called me a bastard.”
She froze. “I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!”
Will just chuckled at her. “It’s all right, mei-mei. C’mon. Let’s go, it’s getting chilly.”
After dropping Elizabeth off at her penthouse apartment with a chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth, Will took a taxi home, anxious to see Jack again. He was waiting in the kitchen for Will, drinking a beer. “How was your date?” he asked immediately.
Will sighed. “Are we having this conversation again?” he asked, opening the refrigerator and taking out a beer of his own. “Jack, I’m gay. Why do you insist on assuming that I’m going to drop you for Elizabeth?”
“I am not,” Jack began hotly, “assuming anything. You’re the one who jumped at the chance to take this con and...”
Will slammed his beer bottle down on the counter. “Jack, would you just listen to yourself?! You’re the one that fronted this idea in the first place. You didn’t give me a choice!”
“I should made Annie do it. She could have dated...someone! It didn’t have to be you!”
Will dropped his head into his hands. “Jack,” he muttered, his voice muffled by his elbows and sleeves, “why do we always have this conversation?” He glanced up. “Why are you so afraid you’re going to lose me?”
Jack turned away. “I’m not afraid.”
Will grimaced. “When you’ve decided to tell me the truth, you can come upstairs to bed. Otherwise, the couch is in there.” He slammed out of the kitchen loudly, taking the stairs two at a time and slamming the bedroom door as well.
-
Jack knocked on the door a few minutes later, after having paced back and forth in indecision. “Come in, Jack,” Will said tiredly.
Jack let himself in, hunching himself close to the door jamb. “Will...” Jack said quietly. “I was in a relationship before this one. I think you know that...” Will nodded unnecessarily. “And...he left me, for a woman. So did the man before that, and the man before that. I’ve never...” he huffed out a breath. “I’ve never had a relationship that lasted more than a few months.” Will opened his mouth to object, but Jack shook his head, heading him off. “Except for this one. Will...I’ve loved in my life but I’ve never been loved.”
“I love you, Jack,” Will said quietly.
“I know,” Jack said softly back, “that’s what scares me.”
Will rose off the bed. “Jack...I...”
The older man shook his head. “I don’t want to push you away, Will. But fuck if I’m going to los
e you to a girl.”
Will knelt in front of his elder lover. “Jack...I have been gay my entire life. I have never been attracted to a woman in my entire life. I’m enjoying my friendship with Elizabeth like your friendship with Annie. I love you, Jackson Devlin Sparrow. I will love you forever, and I would marry you if I could.” He drew in a deep breath. “If you told me to fuck the Con and stop dating Elizabeth, then I would in a heartbeat. But that diamond makes you happy, and I want you to be happy.”
Jack touched Will’s cheek gently. “William...”
Will smiled up at him. “So tell me what to do Jack, finish the con?” Jack finally nodded. “Okay. I won’t date Elizabeth anymore. I’ll feed her some reason. Maybe I’ll even tell her the truth.”
Jack smiled. “For me?”
“For you, love. Only for you.”
*
Elizabeth sat at her computer early that morning staring despondently at the screen. Will sat next to her. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Mei-mei means little sister,” she said quietly. Will froze. “You...you called me little sister. That’s sweet, but I want more.”
Will sighed. “Elizabeth, I didn’t mean to lead you on. I have so few friends who are close to my age. My brother is older and all of my friends are his, that I immediately snatched you up. Elizabeth, the truth is...”
“I don’t want to know the truth, especially if it’s about me!” she said emphatically, turning to face him.
“It’s not you!” he said hastily. “It’s not your fault I was born gay,” he said as after thought, unwilling to say anything more.
She paused. “You’re...what? What?”
“Gay,” he said quietly. “So very, very gay.”
She shot him a shrewd look. “Oh,” she said knowingly. “So I propose a date this evening, William Turner!” Elizabeth said triumphantly to his startled look. “We get to go shopping!” She got up and sauntered away, leaving Will to bury his head in his hands.
“I hate stereotypes,” he mumbled to the desk, before getting up and going back to his own desk. He picked up the phone and called a number he’d known by heart. “Jack?” he said quietly to the silence, “it’s done.” Then he hung up the phone and waited for the day to end.
When it did, Elizabeth began to drag him out the door chattering happily about finally having a shopping partner. Her cell phone rang and she scampered off to answer it while Will caught his breath. James sauntered over. “Troubles?” he asked, staring after Elizabeth longingly.
“Yeah. She’s all yours, mate,” he said honestly. “She’s not right for me.”
James looked at him strangely. “Not right for...how can someone like her not be right for someone like you? You’re perfect together!” he said firmly.
“No,” Will said, amused. “Someone like you would be far more appropriate for my tastes.”
James blinked at him. “A security guard?” he asked blankly. Will stared at him uncomprehending. Then the light bulb went on in James head. “You’re a shirt-lifter?!” he hissed.
Will glanced at him unperturbed. “If that’s the way you want to put it,” he said easily. “Gay usually just works for me.”
James glared at him. “So how did a fudge-packer like you get the girl, eh, mate?”
“Guess I’m just prettier than you,” Will said sassily, turning towards Elizabeth where she waved at him to come. “Coming, Liz!” he said brightly. He smirked at James and jogged over to meet the girl, catching her hand and pulling her along. “Where to next, darling?”
“Harrods,” she said evenly, watching as his eyes widened. “You asked for it, William Turner!”
He sighed. “Lead on, oh Mistress,” he said dryly.
*
Jack was in the kitchen when Will got home at nine. He raised an eyebrow at Will’s harried countenance and laughed at him when he pulled several bags along with him. “Did she take you shopping because you told her you were gay or because you don’t have a backbone?” he asked when he stopped to breathe.
“Bite me,” his lover growled. “Or I won’t give you your present.”
“Present!?” Jack perked up and immediately vested Will of his bags. “Well come on then, lazy bones, we need to put away your bags and give me my prezzie.” Will chuckled tiredly and followed Jack into the living room. He rifled through the bags but came up empty. “Prezzie?” he asked sadly.
Will laughed at him. “Jack, did you really think I’d be stupid enough to put your present in with the bags. It’s in my pocket.” Jack made a face and tried to pounce on Will, but the younger man evaded him. “Would you stop?” he chastised. “Sit.” Jack sat and Will purposefully left the room. He returned several minutes later with Ana Maria, Cotton and a yawning Gibbs.
“What’s goin’ on, Willie?” asked Josh as he sat on the couch. Cotton said beside him and Annie leaned against the wall.
“Oh, nothing,” he said lightly.
Jack pouted. “He bought a prezzie for me and won’t give it to me.” He sat down between Cotton and Gibbs and pouted deeper for effect.
Will laughed and knelt in front of Jack to lean on his knees. “Would I do that to you?”
“Yes,” Annie called from the other side of the room.
“Shut up,” he called back amicably. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a little box and handed it to Jack.
Jack’s breath suddenly hitched and the room turned somber. “Is it...?” he breathed out on a long exhale, opening the box with shaking fingers. Inside was a ring, a wide silver band with to set blue diamonds and in the center; a set black pearl. He pulled it out of the holder and turned it over in his hands, silent. Inside, engraved to the inside were their names. “Will?” Jack asked, his voice shaking.
“I told you last night Jack, I’d marry you if we could.” He gestured to the ring. “So this is how I would do it.” He smiled sweetly up at his male lover. “So marry me?”
Jack tackled him, kissing him breathless. “Yes!” he said against Will’s lips. “Yes, yes, yes an’ more yes.”
“Good.” Will kissed him again.
-
At two in the morning, the phone rang, and snarling Jack rolled over and answered it with an irritable, “‘lo?”
Through the receive Will could vaguely hear Tia’s melodic voice. It was harsher than usual, her words choppy and hurried. “Jack, Andy and Theo did they do work in the Precinct for you?”
“Ye’h,” he yawned. “Why?”
“They’ve been caught. Hector got arrested on his way home to me last night, Ed and Charlie are already in jail. I’m probably next but I know they don’t know where you are. If you’re going to do the Con, then do it, and do it soon.”
“What?!” snapped Jack, suddenly very awake. “Who got it?”
“Beckett,” Tia said tiredly. “My line is secure, you come up as a private number, so they can’t track you. But do your con, get your diamond and get out of the country, Sparrow.”
“Thanks, Tia. We’re on it. Maybe we’ll go to the states.”
“Maybe. Kiss Will for me.” There was a clatter on her end of the phone. “Ahh,” she said, her voice changing from the clipped tone she kept with Jack to her crazy accent from her Native Islands. “I t’ink yeh ‘ave t’e wrong ‘ouse, Officers.” Then the phone went dead.
Jack swore avidly under his breath. “Will,” he said, “wake up the others.”
“On it,” he said quickly, rolling out of bed and tugging on his sleep pants. He stumbled into Gibbs and Cotton’s room, and woke the two sleeping men. She banged on Annie’s door, calling for her a minute later and they all congregated to the living room. “Tia, Ed, Charlie and Hector have been compromised,” he said a minute or so later. “Theo and Andy, the two who cleared my record have been taken in as well. We have every confidence that they can get out. I’ll call my father.”
Jack continued the explanation. “What do we need to do to finish the Con?” he asked Cotton.
Cotton thought for a minute. “Guns, black clothes, bullet proof vests, a van, my safe house, train tickets, plane tickets, house across the Pond, bank account in Switzerland,” he rattled off.
“How long will it take for you to do all these things?” Jack asked, blinking at the list.
“With all my resources stretched to the max?” the Fixer asked, and Jack nodded. “Half hour.”
“You serious?” Annie asked.
“Aye,” Cotton said, ticking things off with his fingers. “Guns, we’ve had them since day one. Black clothes, let’s raid Jack’s wardrobe. Bulletproof vests, simple, have them with the guns. A van, got one in the garage for getaways just like this. My safe house, the key is in the van, train tickets, bought and waiting in the safe house mailbox, plane tickets, also in the mailbox, house in America, my sister died last month and left me the lease to her penthouse in New York City, bank account in Switzerland? Where do you think all of our money is anyway?”
Gibbs shook his head. “Thought of everything, didn’t you?”
Cotton nodded with a grin. “I’ve even got smoke screen makers installed inside the water sprinklers at the bank. Just in case.”
“How’d you do that?” Will asked.
“Sometime last week,” came the vague answer. Cotton grinned. “Ready, Willie? It’s your debut.”
“I’m ready.”
-