Disclaimer: Don't own Jack, Don't own Will, don't own any sanity...mayber shouldn't have admitted to that. Well Cheers mates, this is hoping that three times is indeed the charm. LS


"Having fun?" I asked Rachel. She was currently braiding many more braids into poor Jack's head.

"Hell yeah, I am!" She answered back. It was a pity she didn't know how to cornrow; it would have been a better look for him.

"Well…we're off to save Elizabeth." I sighed. The prospect of seeing Will's wet hand over HER lips was not very appealing.

"Alright. I hope YOU have fun. I guess I'll just sit here until dear Jack decides to wake up. Pity you won't be able to see the look on his face. Won't be one to miss!"

I grinned. I can just hear him cursing now…anyways, Rachel and I said our goodbyes and I padded along after Will as he peeked through cracks in the cave wall. Suddenly, he gasped lowly and mouthed Elizabeth's name while taking a step backwards.

"What's wrong?" I asked running after him as he moved towards a hole in the wall, which led to the waterway.

"That heathen bastard hit her. He laid his hand on her and if he ever does that again it'll be the last thing he ever does."

"Oh, that." I answered, a note of boredom in my voice.

"How can you be so nonchalant about it?" Will retorted as he stood gazing at her motionless frame a few yards away, "She's not moving! We have to get to her immediately!" He made a move to climb into the water but I stopped him.

"Will, she's fine! He didn't hit her that hard! She's probably just pretending to be unconscious. Look." I said pointing to the small scar below my right eye, "I got hit here and I was fine! Phew, you should have seen what happened to the other guy!"

Will's face took on an impressed look. HA! I win again! Ok, so I didn't get in a fight…I really got the scar from skidding on a blacktop, but whatever. His thoughts were taken away from Elizabeth for a bit so I was happy. Then, he turned away from me and stepped into the water. I threw up my arms. That boy has the shortest attention span.

I turned my back and him and Elizabeth and soon enough he was helping her out of the water. They stood for a moment looking at each other and then quickly drew each other in a chaste embrace. By embrace I mean hug. You think I'd let them kiss in front of me? And by let them I mean I allowed it for about two seconds before I stuck out my hand for Elizabeth.

"Nice to meet you, Elizabeth." I said politely. I'm always polite, er….at least I'm good at faking it! They separated and Will put his left hand on my shoulder blade.

"Elizabeth, this is Ms. Fraser. She's been a good friend and companion on the trip to rescue you." He said smiling at me. I was beyond happy and trying too hard not to blush to comprehend that he'd introduced me as a "companion." Oh bother.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Fraser." She answered, taking my hand and smiling. I realized much to my dismay that her politeness was not the fake-kind.

"Please," I told her, "call me Victoria. I have no idea why Will feels the need to be so proper all the time." I would have told her to call me Vicki, but come on, let's not get carried away! I'm supposed to be enemies with this girl!

"Well, now that we're all caught up," Will smiled, "let's get the hell out of here." As soon as he said it, Elizabeth and I stopped dead in our tracks.

"Did you just curse, Will?" I whispered. He shrugged, seemingly unsurprised. I was needless to say, impressed! Not that I'm not always impressed with my little Occasionally-curses-McHott! Ok, I snuck another one in. I turned to say something to dear Liz but Will had started to sprint towards the rowboat.

"Aren't you going to steal all their oars?" I asked Will, when we were getting in ours.

"No, why?" He asked back. Honestly, that boy…Mmm.

"Well, when Barbossa and his crew discover that Elizabeth's gone they'll go looking for us, and if the oars are gone they won't be able to come after us!" Will contemplated this for a moment and then ran about frantically, searching, gathering up all the oars. He placed them in the boat. I hopped in and he gently helped Elizabeth in. Ugh.

"Ms. Fraser, would you mind rowing again? I mean, I'd be happy to but you were very good at it." Will asked. Needless to say I was blushing…again.

"Of course, Will! I'd be delighted to." I couldn't help but glance over at Liz for a second, and let's just say she looked more than a bit put out. I sat in the rowing seat, took a hold of the oars and began to quickly take us out of the cave.

We were only about three minutes away from the opening of the cave to the ocean, when a crab scuttled off the sides of the cave walls and into the boat. Now, it came in on Elizabeth's side and quickly scurried under her dress. I didn't say anything because it wasn't hurting her er…yet. It quickly scurried out again and positioned itself right in between Will's legs. I watched with horror in my eye as it began to move, raising a claw, getting near and nearer to Will's…er…fun zone.

"Uh-uh, no way!" I jumped up. We were far enough away from the pirates for them to hear my cries. I quickly snatched up the crab and held it out to look at it.

"If you ever feel the need to scurry into our boat and position YOURSELF between HIS legs, let me know first, because I LOVE crab rolls!" I told it fiercely. Of course, when I said that thing about positioning himself between Will's legs I was saying something around the line of…'that's MY job' in my head. And then it hit me. That crab had been DANGEROUSLY close to Will's – Will-ness -, which meant that my HAND was DANGEROUSLY close to Will's – Will-ness – HELL YEAH! I think Will realized this point too, because as we had exited the cave and I was speedily rowing towards the Interceptor, the look on his face was priceless. He was looking at me in a way he never had before. His eyes were wide in an "I've never encountered that kind of boldness before from a woman" way. A slight smile graced his lips and I smiled back, in a sort of sly way. Elizabeth simply wasn't moving. I was hoping she had given up already, knowing full well that she couldn't compete with me.

We finally reached the ship and I hooked the rope onto the rowboat as Will threw the oars into the dark blue water. He again helped Elizabeth onto the ship but I noticed that he also glanced at me while taking her hand.

Struggling up unto the deck Elizabeth stumbled and found herself in front of surprise, surprise…pirates.

"Not more pirates." She groaned.

"Welcome on board, Ms. Elizabeth."

Elizabeth peered at the man who had addressed her and placed him as the swarthy sea dog from years ago, "Mr. Gibbs?"

Mr. Gibbs nodded, then questioned over her shoulder to Will, "Boy, where be Jack?"

Will approached Elizabeth placing an arm around her shoulder, "He fell behind."

Everyone went still. Mr. Gibbs fought with some effort in his mind and then reminded all the rest, as though he were reminding himself, "Keep to the code."

Wow. Annamaria sure takes charge fast. Watch that girl go!

"Raise the anchor! Hoist the sails! Hands on deck, you ninnies!"

Now this is the point in the story where I have to explain something. If you spend a lot of time with someone in a fantastical situation, you begin to forget about how the amazing the place and the person are. You get used to the situation and just…live. Now, in my case the small picture of Orlando Bloom I kept with me all times in my bra (close to my heart) was a constant reminder of my obsession, but I was beginning to change. I forgot that all this would eventually end and that I would be left alone in my room with my Orlando posters, dreaming about getting close to a certain character of his. I forgot (almost) about Orlando completely. All I knew was that I was climbing unto a ship and Will Turner now had his hand on my shoulder, asking me if I was alright.

"Yes. Yes, Will, I'm fine." I answered, slightly winded by my own emotions. He nodded.

"Will, are there any bandages? I really need to bind my hand to stop the bleeding." Elizabeth asked him.

I REALLY wanted to turn to her and say, "Oh, were you careless with the kitchen knife? Do you need to bind it with some aroe root?" (He he, Sleepy Hollow!) but I controlled myself.

"There's some down in the brig. I'll show you." Will offered.

The moment the words left his gorgeous mouth my heart sank deep into my chest. I knew this scene in the movie only too well. It was the one that made my blood boil. I REALLY didn't want to see Will lovingly bandaging her hand, calling out her name as he leans in towards her, or her sly movement of bringing his hand down to her BOOB in her little, 'Oh, I just wanted to give you back this, not force you to feel me up, te he!' thing. Only this time my blood wasn't boiling. It wasn't jealousy I was feeling. It was pain, sadness. All at once I realized that no matter what little things I caused to change in the movie, the ending would remain the same; Will would be with Elizabeth. He loves her and he always would, I was just someone tagging along for the ride.

I sat in my cabin in the corner, fresh tears on my face. I missed Rachel, a lot. She was probably at the moment copping feels at Jack, and warding off him doing the same to her. I moved toward the port hole and taking the small picture of Orlando out of my bra, tore it in half, and threw it out the opened porthole. 'Time to grow up, Vicki,' I thought to myself. Just then a knock came from the door.

"Um…Victoria?" Came a small voice from the door. I wiped my eyes and opened it. Elizabeth stood outside, needless to say she was not who I was expecting.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Will's in the brig. He wants to see you." She answered. Oh great, probably wanted to talk to me about his love for Liz. I thanked Elizabeth, went to the opening, and climbed down the ladder. In the dimly lit room sat Will, leaning against the wall, running his finger over the rim of the medallion. I sort of expected him to say, "My precious!" but he didn't. I sat down at the other end, where only minutes before he and Liz shared their "moment". At first, he made no movement to acknowledge my presence, but then he quickly flicked his dark brown eyes to meet mine.

"You wanted to see me, Will?" I said. I sounded a little cold, which was mostly unintentional, but I was still upset. He paused before speaking and he was still staring at my own green eyes. I was getting a little uncomfortable and I wanted to look away, but I found I couldn't. Finally, he spoke.

"She took it from me, Ms. Fraser. All this time I thought it was at the bottom of the ocean, but it was around her neck. I don't know her anymore, I never really did. She said she took it because she was afraid I was a real pirate. But if I am, I'll have to face it someday, and she'll have to take me for who I am. All the feelings I felt for her can't be. We have no idea who the other person is." His eyes moved back to the medallion.

"I'm sorry, Will. Is there anything else?" I asked him, slowly becoming numb to my feelings. He shook his head.

"No, I just…" I waited for him to continue, but he didn't. I rose from my seat and moved to the ladder; new tears were already forming in my eyes.

"I'd love you no matter who you are." I muttered under my breath. As I walked up the ladder, I noticed the room below me got dark. He'd blown out the candle. I'd lost him.


As soon as I reached the top of the ladder, I heard shouts from above, on deck. I quickly scrambled to the top, where Mr. Gibbs was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Hands aloft to loose t'gallants! With this wind at her stern, she'll carry every sail we've got!"

I ran towards him, Elizabeth at my side.

"What's happening?" She asked. Mr. Gibbs turned to look at us, a look on his face as if he had only just noticed we were on the boat. He opened his mouth probably to tell us to get below deck where all the bad luck belongs, but Annamaria opened hers faster.

"The Black Pearl! She's gaining on us!" She said, her eyes gazing warily behind us at the quickly approaching Pearl. I heard a noise behind me and I turned around to find Will. He looked down at me, I narrowed my brow a bit and looked up at him, then he and Elizabeth looked at each other. Mostly, we just looked at one another uncomfortably.

"But this is the fastest ship in the Caribbean!" Elizabeth cried, joining Anamaria at the helm.

"You can tell them that after they've caught us!" She snapped, her grip on the helm tightening. Elizabeth looked around searching for answers; finally it seemed she thought of something.

"We're shallow on the draft, right?" She eagerly asked Anamaria, who immediately looked confused.

"Aye." She answered, almost questioningly.

"Well then can't we lose them amongst those shoals?" Anamaria, Gibbs, and Elizabeth all looked at each other.

"We don't have to outrun them long, just long enough." Gibbs said desperately. Anamaria began to turn the helm.

"Lighten the ship, stem to stern!" She cried. Will ran to help, but I had a question I REALLY needed to ask Elizabeth.

"So, Elizabeth. How is it that you know so much about ships and naval battles? I mean, I've grown up in a port city myself, I've been on sail boats or racing shells all my life, but I certainly don't pretend to know how to fight on the water!" Elizabeth half-smiled.

"Well, neither do I, but all the time father invited Commodore Norrington to dinner…I guess all the naval talk just sank in. I don't pretend to know either." I nodded. The answer was believable enough. Damn! Why did that girl have to be so BLOODY honest and likeable! I quickly ran to the middle of the boat to assist in anyway I could. Mr. Gibbs was standing in the thicket of everything and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Anything that we can afford to lose, see that it's lost!" I immediately grabbed a bag of something heavy and heaved it over the side of the ship.

"Whew. That was gratifying!" I said. Will, who had just thrown an empty chicken coop off next to me, smiled as I said that. I tried not to melt and get over him. He was only playing with me, right? As soon as he tossed the coop off he ran to the other side of the ship. I ran along behind him and swung out off the side of the ship as he did. This was possibly my favorite shot of him in the movie, so I couldn't help but look back at him. He looked back at me with wide eyes before jumping down unto the boat again. I stayed out a moment longer. The feeling of flying is the only way to describe what it was like. The ship was moving so fast and I closed my eyes to feel the world spinning around me. Will came up to the edge again to throw a barrel off. A crew member tried to throw a cannon off, but Will stopped him.

"We're gonna need that." The crewie looked at me and I nodded then got down. I glanced over to the Black Pearl, who'd just put out its oars. So that's what Will was looking at! That's why we needed the cannon! It all makes sense now! I ran over to Anamaria to tell her about the oars but she'd already seen them and was talking to Will, Gibbs and Elizabeth.

"It was a good plan…up till now." Suddenly Will stepped forward.

"Gibbs! We have to make a stand. We must fight! Load the guns!" Anamaria didn't look convinced.

"With what?" She asked, shaking her head.

"Anamaria, we have to stand up to them! We can't just sit here and let them overtake us!" I cried, suddenly finding my voice.

"Fine! But what will we load the cannons with? We've got no more cannon balls left?"

"Anything," Will answered for me, his arms swinging in gestures, "Everything! Anything we have left!" Gibbs nodded and stepped out of the small conference to address the crew.

"Load the guns! Take shot and langrage. Nails and crushed glass with a will!" The crew hopped to it and began throwing utensils and silverware into the cannons. The little person pirate grabbed Gibbs' flask and threw it into his cannon.

"Sorry, Gibbsie, it was inevitable." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"The Pearl is going to luff up on our port quarter. She'll rake us without ever presentin' a target!" Gibbs cried out to Anamaria at the helm. It was silent for a moment…shouldn't Liz have another idea. Oh, here it comes.

"Lower the anchor on the right side." No one was getting it. "On the starboard side!" Oh, now they understand. I looked to Will, who turned to Gibbs and shrugged.

"It certainly has the element of surprise." Will turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"What do you think, Ms. Fraser? Will it work? You're the rowing expert here." I looked around. Anamaria, Gibbs, Elizabeth, and of course Will were looking at me. I gulped. Oh, the pressure!

"Yes: It…it should work." I answered, my voice wavering.

"You're daft, lady! You both are!" Anamaria cried.

"Daft like Jack!" Gibbs said. He showed no sign of uncertainty. "Lower the starboard anchor!" The crew hesitated, "Do it, ye dogs, or it's you we'll load into the cannons!" The crew immediately heaved the heavy anchor into the water. A few seconds later, it must have hit the bottom because the whole boat leaned sharply to the right. I lost my balance from the unexpected jerk and went tumbling towards the side of the ship.

"Ms. Fraser!" Will cried. He lunged forward and caught me before I hit the edge. I caught my breath and stared at him. Just then, Elizabeth cried, "Let go!" and Anamaria did so, letting the wheel of the helm spin wildly of its own will. Will let go of me to go help. A huge crashing noise came from the hull obviously the anchor's rope had smashed into the ship. I watched, my heart beating faster every second as the Black Pearl swung around and became parallel to us. I gazed down at Barbossa's crew making faces at us and I responded with a few obscene gestures, which being pirates, they eagerly returned. Suddenly, I remembered something. The boat fight scene…the wind ripping through the sails…

"Number 7!" I cried out. Gibbs and Will had come over to edge alongside me, and they exchanged looks.

"Number seven?" Gibbs asked.

"On the soundtrack. This is number 7! It's my favorite!" I could feel my spirits returning. I was ready to kick some ass. In the middle of the ship I took a few moments to sing to myself.

"Buh-buh-buh-bubuh! Buh-Buh-buh-bubuh! Buh-Buh-buh bubuh! Buh Buh buh bububuh!" I stopped when Will called my name. I ran over to join him at the edge.

"Here." He said handing me a pistol. I slowly took it out of his hands and held it. I felt sort of powerful, and knowing that I wasn't going to actually kill them helped.

"Do you know how to use it?" Will asked. I wasn't listening, because I was holding a pistol!

"Do you know how to use it?" He repeated.

"Oh…uh yeah." I answered. I'd seen enough movies to understand the basics. Will patted my on my back and stood up.

"Keep us steady now." He said to Gibbs. Then, after looking around to find everyone ready, he thrust his hand in the air.

"Now!" He cried, and the crew around me lit the loaded cannons. There seemed to be a split second of silence before booms went off all around me. I looked over and watched as Elizabeth mouthed, "Fire!" I'm sure she actually screamed it, but my eardrums were already shot. I looked down at my pistol and pulled the uh…barrel-loader…thing back. I brought it up to my face and peered through the tiny eye-hole. Suddenly it hit me. Rachel was on that ship! What if she got hurt? A few moments of extreme panic went by before I realized she'd stick by Jack. I found a pirate in the eye-piece, the one with blond dreadlocks, and slowly pulled the trigger.

No one can prepare you for the jolt of shooting a pistol. In the movies, guys do it with one hand, and they seem to do it so easily. Well, I'm here to tell you first hand that it's not. The second you pull the trigger an earthquake starts in your hand. It travels all the way up your arm before it finally blows you down. I was on the floor of the deck in one second and up in the next, hoping to God no one saw me. I looked across to the Pearl to see where my target went to. When after a few seconds of looking, he was nowhere to be found, I began to load the pistol again. Just then, Ole' Blondie popped up from behind the side of the ship, his hand on his head. He looked way more pissed off then before.

"Oh my gosh! I shot him! I SHOT HIM!" I yelled. Will congratulated me and I failed to mention that since the pirates were undead, shooting them really made no difference. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off by a sudden, extremely sharp pain in my upper arm. I looked down to find that a bullet had slashed it. I moved my arm to get a better look at it and must have blacked-out for a moment because when I opened my eyes I was on the floor, Will standing over me.

"Ms. Fraser! Are you alright? You're lucky," he sighed, "a tiny bit more and the bullet would have lodged in your arm." I looked down at the wound to find it bleeding freely. Will was right, the cut was deep. All I could think in my head was, 'Crap. This is all I need right now. A huge gash in my arm and no modern medicine! No Advil, no anesthesia, no band-aids or liquid stitches! With my luck it'll probably get infected!' I found that pessimism went along with pain. Gibbs came over to where I was leaning again the hull.

"We could use a few more ideas, lass." He said to Elizabeth, who sat beside Will. She turned to me.

"Your turn." She replied quickly. Gibbs shook his head.

"We need us a Devil's Dowry."

Suddenly, Anamaria threw her arm over Elizabeth, a look of anger in her face. She pointed her pistol at Elizabeth.

"Then we'll give 'em her!" I heard Will shift his weight beside me.

"She's not the one they're after."

"The medallion!" Elizabeth said breathlessly, grabbing at her bare neck.

"Uh-oh." I murmured. Will grabbed my hand and I followed him down to the brig.

"I left it down here. Where is it?" He said frantically searching for it. The candles had blown out so it was very dark. Will pulled the table back up and ran his hands over the floor. A thin layer of seawater was on the floor and it was cool on my aching feet. I'd thrown my shoes and socks off a long time ago, giving myself up to the pirate life. I joined Will in the search the noise growing louder above us and then I remembered. We were going to be trapped in a very short time. I began to explain to Will what was going to happen but I heard a whizzing sound, which stopped me. I lunged toward the ladder, everything seeming to go in slow motion; I probably mouthed a low-pitched "Nooo!" as I ran. I only made it to the base of the ladder, however, when the mast crashed down on top of the door.

"What was that?" Will cried, the water coming in quicker now.

"The mast! It fell!" I cried, jumping up to try to push it off, though I knew it was no use.

"Hey! Hey! Below!" Will called.

"We're down here! Help!" I joined him. Fear began to flood my senses. What if we both weren't able to get out? What if me being down here too messed up the survival rate? I continued frantically, crying out and soon I saw Elizabeth above us, her thin fingers pushed through the squares in the door.

"Will! Will!"

"Elizabeth!" Will answered. I cried out too, my own voice shriller than Will's but smoother and a bit lower than Elizabeth's. She continued to try and pull off the broken mast.

"I can't move it! Will!" She called out. I watched as two pairs of hands reached out and grabbed her from behind.

"Elizabeth! Look out behind you!" I cried, but she was already being pulled away.

"Will! Will!"

"Elizabeth!"

They called for each other. I felt a small tingle over my cut and realized that the water had risen to my shoulders.

"Will! The water! Oh, Will…what will we do?" I choked to fight back tears, but found I couldn't. As hot tears fell down my cheeks, I looked at Will.

"Don't worry, Ms. Fraser. We'll find a way out." He then leaned over and as I closed my eyes I felt soft lips on my forehead. They pulled away a moment later but the feeling remained. The next second the water rose to our mouths. We looked at each other, breathed in deeply, and plunged under.


Just a reminder all chapter from the point of view of Vicki were written by her, and Rachel's pause were well written by…why Rachel of course. It'll get tricky now, because the story splits into points of view of things that happen at the same time. Rachel's adventures to follow in the chapters to come.