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The real story of how Captain Jack Sparrow escaped the noose in Curse of the Black Pearl. May be a one-shot, unless people really like it. Reviews are love!

Elizabeth sat on the window seat, unable to tear her gaze away from the moon. It was bright tonight, and full. It had been a full moon when…

"Don't think about it." Her brain warned her, trying to slam down the shutters.

"We're devils, we're wretches, we're really bad eggs…"

Elizabeth frowned and bit her lower lip in a desperate attempt to make the vision go away. She had drunk too much rum, that was all. It didn't mean a thing. Not the song, the dance, or the unquestionable, bizarre security she felt in Jacks presence, despite all logical reasoning reminding her how insane such an emotion was. Nothing mattered. It was over. Jack was to be hanged in the morning.

"Drink up me hearties yo ho…"

She supressed a sob as she threw herself face down onto her bed. It was too warm, too comfortable. It suddenly seemed frivolous and unnecessary, a purely material object which reminded her of the imprisonment she now faced. A bird in a gilded cage. For a while, it had all been so different – nothing but the wind and the adventure and the wide open sea.

"That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs. What a ship is, what the Black Pearl really is…is freedom."

It was too hard. Burying her face in the pillow again, Elizabeth allowed the tears to come. But her mind wouldn't still. What if her father and his men hadn't come to save her? What if they had escaped from that island on their own? And what if she hadn't thrown her life away in an empty promise of marriage to Norrington? There was no point. It was over.

"Drink up me hearties yo ho!"

But what if?

Will sat alone in his room, unable to sleep. He should be glad, in theory. The bad pirate had been caught and would be brought swiftly to justice, he was in the Governors good books and Elizabeth was safe.

And yet, and yet.

It was the marriage, he decided. Elizabeth was to marry Norrington, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. That was the reason for his insomnia, for his unexplained confusion, for the deep simmering anger he could feel brewing just below the calm exterior. His beloved was engaged to a man whose status would never be matched by blacksmith Will Turner. It was that which caused his distress.

But what if?

Unbidden, an image crossed his mind. Jack and Elizabeth walking the plank, to end up alone on a deserted island. That glint of intrigue in her eyes as she realised she was in the presence of the pirate she had been so long fascinated by. And the flash of pure anguish which tore her face when she learned of Jacks fate. She had tried to hide it, he had tried not to notice it, but denying the memory did not deny the existence.

"She's upset, she's sensitive. Jack helped us out, its natural. It doesn't mean anything." But the calm, reassuring voice wasn't working this time. Sighing, he stood up, running his hand over his face.

Barbossa in battle, his pistol pointed straight for Elizabeth…a shot…the look on the face of Captain Jack Sparrow….as he saved her life.

"He was doing it for himself, he didn't give a damn about her!" Will slammed his hands down on top of his dresser, emotion becoming his master. Taking a deep breath, he walked back over to sit on the edge of his bed.

"Nothing happened. It's the engagement. Sparrow means nothing."

...

But what if?

Jack smiled up at the moon, pretending to tip his hat to it. He liked the moon a lot better now that people weren't turning into creepy nasties at its presence.

"Good night to you sir." He nodded at it. This was madness, surely, talking to the moon? It was nice looking though. A nice thing to die to. Try as he might, Captain Jack Sparrow just couldn't see a way out of this one. Leaning his head against the cool brick behind him, he contemplated the events which had brought him here. The Pearl, obviously, but he had had no idea it would come with so much baggage. A chuckle escaped his lips as he remembered the day he was forced to use Elizabeth as his hostage to escape. Her determined superiority complex had amused– he liked a lass as stubborn as he was. Then that Will Turner had enlisted his services, they had fought scary monster from the deep, he had had to kiss up to Barbossa of all people and he still didn't have his bloody ship back. Sighing, he got to his feet and leaned against the bars. Bloody hell he could do with some rum.

"You burned all the food, the shade, the rum!"

That dry chuckle escaped him as he recalled again how furious he had been. And how, despite every nerve ending protesting, how bloody impressed. Burning the rum might be a sin worse than murder, but it was clever. And she had stood right there, hair dishevelled, in a creased and crumpled dress, and yelled straight back at him. And that was the moment Captain Jack Sparrow fell in love.

Wait…what?

His own thought process dragged him kicking and screaming back to reality. Carefully, slowly, he examined his thoughts. Beach. Singing. Burning rum. Love?

"What was in that bread they threw at you Jacky boy?" he mused , wandering about the tiny cell. "Love? Have you gone soft?"

But what if?

Jack sighed, perplexed at his train of thought, and even more confused that he seemed unable to control it. It was impossible, impossible that he, Captain Jack Sparrow, could love, let alone a jumped up spolit brat of a governers saughter.

But what if?

"Yo ho, yo ho…."

That bloody song wouldn't leave his head. He wold be remembering it when he dropped. And so remembering her. Bemused, he sank to the floor once again.

Well, if it was his last night alive, it couldn't hurt to contemplate all sorts of what ifs….

He was interrupted by footsteps. Jerking his head up, he looked at the tiny window to see if dawn had broken, but the sky was still black as ink. Who would be wandering around the cells at this hour? Wary, Jack rose to his feet and approached the door, alert to the danger he might face. The stairs in front of him darkened as someone started to descend. Quick footsteps, light. Now a hem, but too dark to see whose…now a silhouette…now a face…Jack felt his jaw drop and decided he had died a while and was now hallucinating.

Elizabeth Swann stood before him, holding a key.

"I can't let it happen, Jack. It's wrong, it's so wrong." She approached the door, and Jack didn't move. It was possible he couldn't move. Elizabeth was still babbling as she fumbled with the key, but stopped as soon as he put his hand on her arm. She stared at the spot where his ringed fingers touched her sleeve, then slowly brought her face up to meet his. Their eyes met, and he could only choke out onr question.

"Why?"

She didn't lose his gaze. One hand dropped from the ring of keys and met his.

"You told me it's not just the Spanish Main. It's the entire ocean. The entire world. Freedom. You need to be out there, Jack, living a life. I don't think I could handle it if I knew that there wasn't someone fighting so hard for freedom in the world, a flame that would never go out no matter how many times it is drowned. A fire fuelled by singing and dancing…and rum." Despite herself, she couldn't look away. Jack couldn't breathe, couldn't possible think of a thing to say. Except…

"We're devils and wretches and really bad eggs…"

Elizabeth smiled as she joined him; "Drink up me hearties yo ho."

Whispered voices rose in unison, and still they couldn't separate their gaze.

"Yo ho, yo ho…"

Elizabeth looked away as she fumbled with the keys, found one which fitted, and the door swung open. Looking up, she met those irresistible eyes, filled with confusion, gratitude, adventure, and something she couldn't quite discern. She stepped back to let Jack pass, as she whispered the final words which meant so much to her.

"A pirates life for me."