As Jack helped Elizabeth climb back up the hill, Elizabeth winced in pain. The pregnancy was getting more difficult to handle as time went on, and living on a ship didn't make it much better.

"Elizabeth?" Jack asked her in an attempt to not sound alarmed. "When are you planning on having this baby of yours?"

"Well," Elizabeth replied, thinking. She was attempting to reach the top of the hill by herself, but most of her weight had begun resting on Jack. Elizabeth's legs moved one in front of the other slowly as she continued to be in pain. Toughing it out, she continued, "Do you remember when we went to go see that midwife?"

Jack nodded. The woman had at first assumed that he was the father. The look in the eyes of that midwife when she thought that Captain Jack Sparrow was planning on raising a child was horrible, and he would rather forget the offense. Jack tended to despise anyone who doubted his ability to do anything, even in the odd circumstance of raising a family.

"Horrible woman," Elizabeth grunted as she paused for a moment to catch her breath. The hill was not at all steep, and she was usually able to handle it, but the pain was beginning to take over. "Well," Elizabeth grunted. "She said that I had about another month." With a roll of her eyes, Elizabeth said, "You didn't want us to leave port because you thought it would be safer."

"I still think it was a good idea," Jack interrupted as he held onto her side so that she didn't have to bend over as much. "What if we don't get back in time for that woman to help you?"

"Don't worry," Elizabeth replied with a sharp breath as they finally reached level ground. She seemed to be continuously attempting to push back the pain. "I think that we still have enough time."

"You think," Jack said doubtfully as they walked on farther at a slow pace. It was silent other than Elizabeth's panting for quite some time, which gradually grew louder and louder. With a loud breath, Elizabeth could no longer handle it yelled out in pain. She almost fell, but Jack's loose grip on Elizabeth instinctively grabbed her tightly, bringing her body up into his arms.

"Just to be clear, you are not faking this time. Correct?"

Elizabeth tried to stand up again but couldn't. "Oh, I'm... fine… really…" she stammered. Her legs were shaking and her teeth were chattering. Jack could see the pain in her eyes and gave her a doubting look.

"Okay, okay, I'm not fine," Elizabeth snapped at him.

"Now, that's more like it," Jack replied cheerfully as if they were taking an afternoon stroll. "You have got to be more honest with me, love. One of us has to be." With that, Jack picked Elizabeth up and started to walk in the direction of the ship. To Elizabeth's surprise, he could lift her fairly easy, no doubt the result of working on a ship most of his life. Elizabeth tried not to show the pain with great difficulty, and she continued to wince quietly.

"Don't hold in the screaming if you must, Elizabeth," Jack attempted to reassure her. "I can take it. Just breathe after you do," Jack grunted as he adjusted his hold on her. He was trying to remember everything that midwife had said. His mind was in a panic, but Jack knew that he must remain calm if he was going to keep Elizabeth calm. Once given permission, Elizabeth did not hold back in the slightest. She screamed into Jack's ear directly with every once of energy she had in her..

Jack winced at the noise that had gone directly into his eardrum. "Well, maybe it's advisable that you don't scream quite that loudly," he restated. "Save up your energy, you know. Just, breathe. I suppose."

"What's the problem?" Gibbs said once he caught up to them. The crew had been dragging behind, and Gibbs had been keeping an eye on them.

"What do you think is the problem?" Jack exclaimed. "Elizabeth is screaming like a madwoman into my ear!" Turning back around and walking more quickly towards the ship, Jack muttered, "Now we're going to have a baby born on the Black Pearl with no midwife in sight. Might as well surrender now."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much more relaxed about all this than I was before, Jack," Elizabeth breathed in loudly. "Thank you for that insightful point," she grimaced.

"There is simply no time for sarcasm, love," Jack replied. "We have to get you back to the Pearl."

"How far," Elizabeth gasped, "away is it?"

"Not too far I think," Jack said. "For God's sake, Elizabeth, breathe!"

"You think," she said, mimicking him.

"What did I tell you about sarcasm? Okay, I know thatwe're getting closer!"

"How would you know?" Elizabeth said as she got more irritable.

"Because I'm walking towards it, which means we are getting closer!" Jack yelled at her. He was beginning to regret the sacrifice he had made by bringing a pregnant woman aboard. Jack wasn't aware that Elizabeth was pregnant at the time she rejoined his crew, but he couldn't simply kick her off on some port and be done with it. He cared about her too much. "Do you want me to drop ya?" Jack threatened in frustration. "I swear I'll do it!"

"No!" Elizabeth said, gripping to him. "Don't you dare drop me Jack Sparrow!"

"Captain," Jack replied, challenging her.

"I'm really not in the mood to call you by your title," Elizabeth argued. This was one of the few times she had refused to address him as a captain, and she was angry for not being able to under this one circumstance.

"Well that's just too bad, isn't it, savvy?" Jack stated defiantly as he pretended to drop her.

Elizabeth screamed into his ear from both fear and pain. "What did you do that, for?" she yelled to Jack.

"Sarcasm annoys me more than when you burnt all the rum," Jack replied simply as he began to walk faster.

Elizabeth didn't respond to his remark. She was too busy gasping and breathing over her next contraction.

"Breathe Elizabeth, just breathe," Jack sighed. "We're almost there, see? You can see the sails." He had become suddenly calm in an attempt to make up for all of his yelling. Elizabeth had yet to loosen her grip on his neck.

Jack had been trying incredibly hard to make their situation work, but he was still frustrated that they hadn't made it back to port in time for Elizabeth to have her baby there. The whole situation was incredibly stressing. Nobody in the crew knew much of anything about delivering babies, and Elizabeth was the only remaining woman. The midwife had told Jack of some things if there was an emergency, but his attempts to remember it all were being overpowered by the fears of nothing being enough.

When they got to the Pearl, Jack carried Elizabeth up onto the deck with his crew following close behind. Jack paused in the middle of the deck and turned around to face them, Elizabeth still in his arms.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" he asked them loudly.

"Orders! Orders!" Cotton's parrot squawked.

"Oh," Jack mumbled, thinking. "Uh… man your stations? Don't set sail! Swab the decks if you must. I don't care!" Jack commanded as the crew stared back at him with confused, blank expressions on their faces.

"Elizabeth's havin' her baby," Gibbs explained to them.

"Ah…" they all said with a look of realization on their faces.

As the crewmen began to complete their mindless jobs, Jack gently helped Elizabeth stand up again. She continued to lean against him as he slowly helped her walk to his cabin.