"I condemned him"

It came out as only a whisper, but it was more then enough for the harsh reality of what she had done to set in. A single tear rolled down her cheek and she made no effort to hide it. That one tear was followed by many more, each seeming to take a little of her pain away. She turned her body on the rough wooden plank seat she was sitting on, drawing her knees up to her chest. She had angled her body toward the rapidly distancing ocean, looking at where the Black Pearl had stood majestically earlier in the day. Now it was gone, and he was gone to, and it was all her fault.

She had done what she thought she needed to do; Jack was being selfish and endangering everyone but only trying to save himself. Kissing him was the only way she had seen that would get him to back against that mast so she could save herself and Will. Her Will. She turned her head to face him, where he was sitting with his head in his hands. She watched as shadows of the tall trees on either side of the river they had entered cast dark shadows on his face. She would have to tell him about the fact that she kissed Jack soon, he needed to know. He had never kept anything from her, and she could not keep anything from him.

"You alright love?" His voice was soft, caring; even after everything. He had caught her staring at him. His eyes were full of sadness.

"As good as I can be."

"We will be there soon". His eyes looked haunted with pain.

She managed to drag a weak smile onto her face for him. She needed to be strong for him, not let him see how his words broke her heart. Love. Jack used to call her that all the time…before. She never had known if Jack meant what he said to her, or if it was a careless word, just thrown around in the air with no affection behind it at all. She bet Jack had said it to plenty of girls in his lifetime. When Will said it, she could tell that he meant it, because he did not use words lightly. Heavens it had taken him almost 17 years to call her Elizabeth and not Miss Swann. She used to love the feel of the word when Will called her love, like she was immersed in something no one else could understand. But when he had just called her that, she had felt nothing, only sorrow and longing, for that to be someone else's voice saying that to her.

She forced her thoughts away from him. They were completely in the river area now; the open ocean could not be seen. They were on their way to someone's house. Some wise woman jack had know, Tia something…she would find out who she was soon enough anyway. Her thoughts turned to Will. Of course it was Will that she loved, he had saved her twice now, and then she had gone to save him. He was what mattered, now and before; not Jack. Will was a good man. She had chosen to be with him before, and she would be with him always. She hated how commodore Norrington had brought up that she was on her second fiancé now. She had never even loved him! And she was certainly not thinking of Jack that time on the Black Pearl. Well, not a lot anyway. It was the right thing to love Will, besides Jack was gone. But if it were so right, why did her thoughts keep circling back to Jack?

"As captain I can perform weddings…on this ship…one this very deck…I could perform one…say right now."

She had laughed in his face when he had said that. She certainly did not want to marry him. She didn't no what to think about him either though. He was just Jack. No wait; he was Captain Jack, captain of the Black Pearl, and kisser extraordinaire.

That kiss. The only way that she could think of to save them, and herself, had been to kiss him. And kiss him she did, she had never meant for it to go on as long as it did, she just wanted to get him against that mast. Her plan had been kiss and handcuff, not kiss for a minute then handcuff. When she had kissed him, she felt entirely new emotions woken up inside; all pleasure. Ending the Kiss and chaining him to that mast was the hardest thing she had ever done.

"Pirate."

Again it came out as a whisper this time imitating his last word to her. When he had said it, it had been the hardest thing she had ever had to hear. It felt like she got the wind knocked out of her. But this time it did not hit her like a slap in the face. She had already known, deep down inside that she was one. When he had called her a pirate, it was hard for her not to unchain him and prove him wrong. The worst had been how he said it; with a smile on his face. It was a taunt, something that he had known for a long time before he forced her to think about it. Fresh tears coursed down her face, eventually hitting the wooden bottom of the boat below.

"We are a lot alike you and I"

His voice came back to her now, from that day on the ship. They were a lot alike he was right. They were pirates. They both thought only of themselves and condemned others. Jack had condemned Will, and she in turn had Condemned Jack. Both had done it to save themselves. They also were dishonest; Jack getting himself out of every problem, while she stole papers to free herself and Will, the dishonest way. He was right. She was a Pirate as much as he was. But did that make it okay to feel the way she did when he had kissed her?

Wait, Jack couldn't be selfish because he had come back. She had seen him, rowing away from the pearl in the last moments. That had been selfishness had it not? He had abandoned them to save herself. But he had come back, she had grabbed his boot. Had he come back to save the pearl, or them?

Or me? She thought. She was so confused.

"Sorry darling…it could never work between us."

Again Jacks voice from the past. Those words were the most honest thing that he had ever said to her. He might have said it over a year ago, but it was as fresh in her memory as always. She lifted her chin from where it had come to rest against her knees. She couldn't be confused. He was right. It would never have worked between them; they were too much alike, both to selfish to make it work. Both to much of a Pirate. How could she have thought there could have been more? The kiss was a one time thing, something that had to be done. She was feeling regret, nothing else over losing him. Why he had come back would always be a mystery. But it was something she was willing to live with. Say what he might Jack Sparrow was a good man at heart. She kissed him to save Will, to save herself.

She belonged with Will, now and forever. He was a better man then Jack. They were enough alike to make it work, but different enough to balance each other out. How could she have doubted him? One kiss should not change her entire feelings, and it hadn't. She had just been confused. Jack had been playing games with her head even in death.

Her hand pushed away her tears, as she got up from her place in the boat careful not to rock it. There was an empty seat beside Will and that was where she belonged. She sat down beside him and sought his fingerse out with hers. She belonged here. With him for the rest of her life.

88

Authors notes: my first attempted at fanfiction. I had a plot bunny refuse to leave me alone after i saw DMC. Its a great movie...if you haven't seen it already then GO!.