Chapter Seven

Elizabeth

The next morning Charlotte woke up, dressed and washed her face before she pulled her hair into a pony tail and walked out of the cabin and on deck. She looked around until she finally found Jack and jogged over to him. "Jack?"

"Yes luv?" he said instantly and turned to face her.

"When are we leaving?" she asked as he sloped an arm around her shoulders and leaned closer.

"Soon." he whispered. She nodded her head and gulped at the closeness. He grinned at the reaction he was getting from her and slowly bent forward and captured her lips in a soft kiss. She tensed but slowly responded. She couldn't help herself. Whenever it came to this man she always seemed to lose it. He pulled back, pressed one more kiss on her lips and then stroked her cheek. She opened her eyes and looked at him. He opened his mouth to speak when a voice interrupted. They turned to see a young boy jogging over to them.

"Captain Sparrow?" he called and Jack raised an eyebrow at him.

"Come to join me crew, lad? Welcome aboard." he grinned but the boy didn't grin back.

"I'm here to find the man I love." he said and Jack gaped.

"I'm deeply flattered, son, but my first and only love is the sea." Jack said and pulled Charlotte closer to him whilst he indicated to Gibbs to get rid of the lad with an alarmed look on his face. Charlotte wrinkled her nose when she heard Norrington throw up in the bay.

"Meaning William Turner, Captain Sparrow." the boy said and Jack turned them around fully from where he was pulling her back up to the ship.

"Elizabeth?" he questioned and the boy, now girl, nodded. "Hide the rum." he quickly said to Gibbs and Charlotte rolled her eyes. Gibbs took the bottle from his hand and walked onto the ship.

"Jack. I know Will came to find you, where is he?" Elizabeth demanded bluntly.

"Darling, I am truly unhappy to have to tell you this, but through an unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that had nothing whatsoever to do with me, poor Will has been press-ganged into Davy Jones's crew." Jack said and gave charlotte's arm a squeeze.

"Davy Jones?" she questioned and frowned up at him.

"Oh, please." Norrington snorted, whilst still being sick. "The Captain of the Flying Dutchman?" Jack looked at him and grimaced.

"You look bloody awful, what are you doing here?" he said and Charlotte couldn't help but agree. He was pale, dirty and smelly.

"You hired me. I can't help it, if your standards are lax." he sneered and Jack scowled.

"You smell funny." he pouted childishly and Charlotte rolled her eyes and squeezed his hand whilst Elizabeth shouted at him.

"Jack!" she shouted and glared at him. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "All I want is to find Will." she said in a sad voice.

"Are you certain? Is that what you really want most?" Jack asked and she looked offended.

"Of course." she said automatically. Jack waved his hand so she would come closer to him and Charlotte. She narrowed her eyes but slowly moved forward.

"Because I would think, you'd want to find a way to save Will most." Jack said slyly and she looked hopeful but suspicious.

"And you'd have a way of doing that?" she asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, there is a chest." he said.

"Oh, dear." Charlotte heard Norrington groan and she actually felt bad for him.

"A chest of unknown size and origin." he said.

"What contains the still beating heart of Davy Jones." Pintel said as he and Ragetti passed them. Ragetti held out his hand and imitated a still beating heart after it had been torn out and Elizabeth frowned. Charlotte was a little confused to what Jack was doing.

"And whoever possesses that chest possesses the leverage to command Jones to do whatever it is he or she wants. Including saving brave William from his grim fate." Jack said and looked at Charlotte.

"You don't actually believe him, do you?" Norrington asked disbelieving. Elizabeth didn't listen as she was still looking at Jack.

"How do we find it?" she asked curiously and Jack grinned and pulled out his compass with his free hand.

"My compass... is unique."

"Unique, here, having the meaning of broken." Norrington spat and Jack briefly scowled at him.

"True enough." Jack sighed and Norrington walked off to throw up some more making Charlotte wrinkle her nose. "This compass does not point north."

"Where does it point?" she questioned.

"It points to the thing you want most in this world." he said and Charlotte's eye widened. She recalled to where it pointed to when she was in the tavern. It pointed to Jack. So the thing she wanted most in this world was... Jack.

"Are you telling the truth?" she breathed.

"Every word. And what you want most in this world..." he trailed off and placed the compass in her hands. " ...is to find the chest of Davy Jones, is it not?"

"To save Will." Elizabeth said and looked at the compass.

"By finding the chest of Davy Jones." he said and pulled his arm off Charlotte and opened the compass and briskly stepped away. The needle span around before finally stopping resolutely. Charlotte saw Jack sneak up to look at the needles' coordinates. "Mr. Gibbs!" he called and he came up running.

"Cap'n?"

"We have our heading." Jack told him and Gibbs sighed and smiled.

"Finally! Cast off those lines, weigh anchor, and trough that canvas!" he shouted to the crew who quickly set to work.

"Ms. Swann." Jack said with a sweep of his arm and she walked on board. Norrington swaying, followed him.

"Jack what was that about?" Charlotte asked him and he smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her again.

"I told you I would get you brother back and that is what I intend to do." he said and smiled at her.

"Welcome to the crew, former Commodore." Ragetti smirked and pushed a goat into Norrington's arms.

Later that evening, on The Black Pearl, the crew was swabbing the deck as Jack and Elizabeth were having some kind of conversation and were holding some papers. Charlotte was bent over the railing and was looking out at the ocean and the ripples that were floating along and then fading out. She wondered how her brother was doing and if he was alright. She knew the crew was cruel and so was Davy Jones and he could be hurt right now and she could do nothing about it. Will had been there for her during everything and it hurt that she could not do the same. Jack had promised to get him back and to her, it did seem that he was trying. She was glad Elizabeth was safe and was back on the ship as she would have someone to talk to other than Jack and Anamaria.

She sighed and brushed her hand over the wood railing and closed her eyes. "Alright luv?" she heard a deep husky voice say right next to her ear making her jump. She opened her eyes and looked at Jack. He was putting some papers in his jacket pocket.

"Fine. Just thinking about Will." she sighed. He wrapped his arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder.

"Don't worry luv. I'm sure he's fine." he said soothingly.