The Price Of Indecision


General cast: Jack, Elizabeth, Will, Gibbs, Cotton, the usuals.

Pairing: Jack/Elizabeth – sorry to all W/E fans but the second film shows a much more J/E theme so I just had to follow. OK, to be honest I just wanted to, ; )!

Set: After Dead Man's Chest, somewhere before World's End.

Length: 2 + fics when finished


Prologue

(Elizabeth): Will still seems to love her but every time she thinks of Jack she wants him more. The compass has told her her heart's desire but how can Jack still want her after what she did?

(Jack): The Black Pearl is back and Davy Jones is out of the picture, but the East India Trading Company is getting closer and his feelings for Elizabeth are growing…

(Will): Elizabeth is slipping away and there's nothing he wants more than an end for Jack Sparrow, but at the moment he's a wanted man and it seems like every ship in the Caribbean is after them and everyone knows his face. If he steps off the ship he knows it's straight to the gallows and no one can sail the Pearl like Jack, so for the moment he must watch in silence as his love falls for a pirate.


Chapter 1: Since That Day

Nobody mentioned that day. No one had asked Jack what had happened, where he'd gone or what it had been like and nobody had asked him how he had got his hat back. And neither Jack, Will or Elizabeth had mentioned the kiss.

So, Elizabeth loves Jack now. That was the thought Will couldn't get out of his head. He tried to tell himself it couldn't be true, there must be some other explanation, but Elizabeth hadn't come to him to apologise or even confess. She avoided his eye and never talked unless she had to. She had hardly drunk anything and only ate when they made her. He knew she wasn't sleeping. But, selfishly, it made him feel slightly better to see there had been little or no change in her behaviour since Jack had returned. He so longed to kill that man. And the rest of them, too, even down to that irritating parrot. He knew if he showed his anger he would lose her completely, but he couldn't hold it in much longer...

Jack didn't feel bitter towards Elizabeth. He had thought he might but he really didn't resent her for it. It had been necessary and she had done it to save herself and the others. In fact he admired her for it, although he was starting to admire her more and more these days... She couldn't look at him. He knew why, she was afraid he would hate her for it and he wanted to reassure her but every time he thought he was going to he didn't and he wasn't sure why. And anyway, she was avoiding him. But something was starting to worry him quite a lot and it wasn't the fact that the East India Trading Company had everyone in the Caribbean on their heels. Every time he saw her he felt... odd. His stomach twisted and he felt light-headed. Yet the feeling was not wholly knew to him. He had felt like this once before, a long time ago, back before Davy Jones... but that was in the past. What was worrying him most was that he was feeling this more and more for Elizabeth. A lady, aristocracy, betrothed to a man who hated him. Granted she was on the run from the law and facing a hang-man's noose if she set foot back on land right now, but the differences were there. The biggest problem was Will. He was no one to judge but she seemed not to be so friendly with him since he had returned. Had Will seen them kiss? Perhaps she didn't love him anymore... Perhaps - no. That couldn't work. Although... They were in rather the same boat at the moment. Maybe, just maybe...

Afterwards, Elizabeth had tried to convince herself she had done it solely because it was necessary, but deep down… She'd said she wasn't sorry and ever since that moment she had wondered why. And as if it wasn't enough to have to watch the Black Pearl go down along with the man she – along with Jack, she had had to endure Will's cold politeness ever since. She knew he was hurt and she understood why and she knew she should feel she'd done something wrong, but she didn't. It hadn't felt wrong at all. It had felt wonderful. And she knew thinking that was wrong and she knew she should be guilty but the only thing she felt guilty about was the fact that she had killed Jack. There was no other way around it. That day she had not been able to cry. She had felt hollow, like there was some black hole behind her eyes and the tears just wouldn't come. She had sat, staring at the fire until her eyes felt so dry she thought they would never close. And now he was back she didn't know how to feel or what to say to him. She had been avoiding him, finding any excuse not to be alone with him. Never once had she looked him in the eye and even though he mostly didn't pay her any attention she felt like he was always staring her, accusing, even when she was alone. She had never felt so horribly confused in her life.