Yay for updates!! Okay, I know alot of you have been asking about updates for "Getting Her Back." And I'm trying, I really am. Truth is, I have hit a terrible case of writers block. I'm really sorry, I'll try and get updates up as soon as possible.. In the mean time, enjoy this story, and check out the poll on my profile!

DID YOU KNOW... Johnny has a fondness for hand-rolling Bali Shag tobacco with cheroot papers... interesting..

Disclaimer: Nothing is owned by me.

Chapter Eight

Jack groaned and rubbed his eyes. It was still dark out, Jack noticed, but there was a sliver of light shining under the door, telling him that they had lit the lamps in the hallway outside his room. Jack glanced at the clock; 4:30 am. Perfect, he thought, the entire town is now hung over. He rolled over and looked at Elizabeth, still sound asleep. He smiled and brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, hoping she was never again troubled by nightmares. And as he thought that, he realized that he would do absolutely anything to keep her happy. He loved her. Crazy as it seemed, Captain Jack Sparrow was in love.

Gently, so as to not wake her, Jack climbed out of bed, and walked into the room adjoining to his room to fetch Elizabeth's shoes. Finding them, he re-entered his room and crossed over to the bed, and dropped her shoes on it. He then attempted to wake Elizabeth.
"Lizzie, darlin'." he said quietly, sitting down on the bed. "Wake up, love." Elizabeth moaned and opened one eye sleepily.

"C'mon, get your shoes on, love." he said, standing up and gathering his clothing. "Coat, hat, belts, pistol, boots, compass, very important…" He ceased talking to himself as he turned around and saw Elizabeth had rolled over and pulled the blankets up over her head.

"Elizabeth!" he scolded her gently, walking back over to the bed. "C'mon, love, we're gonna go get the Pearl, remember?" He pulled the blankets off of the bed entirely, causing Elizabeth to gasp and curl up into a ball, her knees resting against her chest. Jack smirked and helped her to sit up, with her legs dangling off of the bed. He put her shoes on her feet and then picked her up, bridal style, and walked over to the door. Setting her down, he opened the door and started to walk down the hallway, but stopped as he glanced back and noticed Elizabeth leaning against the wall near the room they'd just vacated, eyes closed. Jack sighed and walked back to her, and picked her up once more, shaking his head.

"Why are ya so tired?" he asked her, reaching the end of the hallway and beginning to descend the stairs.

"Why are you so awake?" she mumbled in return, leaning her head against his shoulder. Jack chuckled, and set her on her feet once more as they reached the door leading outside. Jack grabbed Elizabeth's hand and, after making sure his hat was on straight, led her outside and into the night.

"Jack?" Elizabeth yawned, "How do you know where the Pearl is?"

"The docks, Lizzie." Jack said patiently, glancing around them warily.

"Yes, but…which ones?" Jack stopped and looked back at her, eyebrows raised.

"There's only one dock, Liz." Jack said. "Not awake yet?"
"No."

"When we get the Pearl, ye can sleep all day, love." He continued walking and pulled her after him. As they walked, it occurred to Elizabeth that, as the sun was not yet up, it was cold. Very cold, for the Caribbean. She shivered slightly and thought Talking will make you warm.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

"Sleeping, I suppose." Jack said, shrugging.

"Like n-normal people?"

"Aye." Jack chuckled, looking back at her. "But Captain Jack Sparrow is as far from normal as ye can get."

"T-t-true." Jack frowned and looked at her more closely.

"You're cold!" he said suddenly.

"N-no, Jack, I'm f-fine." she said, unable to keep herself from shivering as she said it. Jack whipped off his coat and put it over her shoulders. Elizabeth smiled and hugged it closer to her.

"Thank you, Jack." she said. Jack winked then continued walking. They rounded a corner and there she was, tied up at the docks.

"There she is!" Jack said happily. "There's the Pearl!" Elizabeth couldn't help but smile; he was as excited as a young boy. Jack led Elizabeth up to the Black Pearl, and as they neared the gangplank, Elizabeth said incredulously,

"We're just going to walk right on?"

"Aye. Why shouldn't we? It's my ship." he responded, as though stating the obvious.

"We're not going to be just a little bit more sneaky?" Jack thought for a moment.

"No. I'm good with this." Jack said and then walked up the gangplank and onto the Pearl. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and followed, and as she stepped onto the deck, Jack went below deck, motioning for Elizabeth to stay. She did so, and almost laughed out loud as she heard Jack waking what few crewmen were sleeping on the ship.

"OI!" he shouted. "On deck all hands! Movement! I want movement!" From where she stood, she could see the crewmen emerging, and she was pleased to see all of the old crew members were there.

Mr. Cotton came up first, the elderly mute sailor with his beautiful parrot. The poor man had had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him… Nobody really knew how…

Next came Marty, the shortest of the crew, but one of the hardest and most enthusiastic workers. If he couldn't do the job that needed to be done, he would always cheer on the men that did it. Nobody really knew his story, he was a rather secretive midget, but he was friendly and polite.

After Marty came Pintel. Pintel was mostly bald, wave for a ring of long straggly hair around his head. He had yellow, scary eyes, and if he looked at something long enough, his left eye would drift away from his right eye.

Right behind Pintel came Ragetti. Ragetti was a tall skinny man, with an eye patch over his right eye. There had previously been a wooden eye where the patch was, but it had been taken from him and burned by Barbossa.

Finally, came Mr. Gibbs, Jack's elderly, often confused first mate. He, like Jack, was very fond of rum, and always had a flask of it with him. He was a very nice, sympathetic old man, and had always like to tell Elizabeth stories. Jack affectionately called him a superstitious old goat, which, admittedly, was true, but his superstitions often came in very handy.

"Right!" Jack said loudly, coming up behind his newly re-found crew. "Let's give Barbossa a taste of his own medicine, eh? Weigh anchor! Full canvas! Let's get outta here!" The crew looked at Jack in silence for a moment, then simultaneously gave a cheer of joy. Jack grinned, but hurriedly shushed them, waving his hands wildly.

"Yes, yes, glad to be back, gents. Now get movin'." Jack said. The crew began to move, cheerfully.

"No ,wait!" They all stopped and looked at Jack in confusion. "Ya all remember Elizabeth? She's comin' with us. To find the Fountain of Youth and so on. So. Ye will treat her as another captain, savvy?" The crew acknowledged her and then looked back to Jack.

"Do we have a heading?" Marty asked.

"Ah." Jack said, pulling out his compass. "A heading." He stared at it for a moment, then sighed in fake exasperation, beckoning Elizabeth to him.

"Always points to ye, love" he murmured softly in her ear, ignoring the looks the crew were giving him. "Apparently you're always going to be part of me."

"Part?" Elizabeth said suddenly. "Heart! Oh Jack, Will's heart, I left it on that dinghy!"

"Now, calm down, Liz. "Jack said soothingly. "I'm sure it's fine, I'll go and get it."

"No, I should go," Elizabeth argued. "I'm the one who's supposed to be watching over it." But Jack wouldn't hear it.
"Absolutely not." he said firmly. "You are not wanderin' the streets of Tortuga alone. 'Specially not at night. Just stay here, I'll be right back." Elizabeth stared at him in indignation for a moment, then, realizing that Jack was right, and that he could navigate those streets a lot quicker than she ever could, nodded.

"Be careful." she said softly.

"Love, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. I don't need to be careful." he said lightly, laying a kiss on Elizabeth's lips. "But I will anyway, just for you." He winked and then turned and walked briskly down the gangplank and off into the night. Elizabeth watched him disappear, and then turned to see the crew staring at her.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You jus' kissed the cap'n!" Pintel said in shock, pointing at her.

"Technically," Elizabeth said, grinning. "He kissed me. But either way, go do what you were told to do." She waved her hands about, acting very much like Jack, and walked into the Captain's cabin.

JEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJE

Jack sauntered down the streets to the beach where they'd left their dinghy, muttering to himself.

"Stupid bloody Will and his stupid bloody heart." he said crossly. "I just had to be a "good man" and let William stab the heart. Should've just stabbed the heart meself. After all; the Immortal Captain Jack Sparrow has such a lovely ring to it." He'd come to the beach and started trudging through the sand to where their dinghy was anchored.

"'Course, if I had let Will die and stabbed the heart meself, not only would Lizzie not be with me, she'd be sad. The whelp's death would definitely make her sad… Can't stand seein' her sad, breaks me heart… Speakin' of hearts…" Jack had come to the dinghy and reached into it, extracting the ancient, engraved, rather hideous chest containing Will's heart. He turned and headed back, still mumbling.

"…And if Lizzie weren't with me, and she wasn't on that island William had left her on, who knows where she'd be? No, perhaps it was a good thing this is the eunuch's heart and not mine…Love has a funny way of reshuffling one's priorities."

"Jack." Jack dropped the chest and whirled around, pulling out his pistol as he did so.

"Bootstrap…Bill Turner?" Jack asked in disbelief. Bootstrap nodded, a grim look on his face.

"You look good, Jack." Jack grinned and put his pistol back where it had been before.

"And you look considerably better than the last time I saw you." Jack said, gesturing to Bootstrap's face and shoulders. "No starfish and whatnot." They stood in somewhat awkward silence for a moment.

"Well." Jack said, picking up the chest. "If you'll excuse me, I've a very lovely lady waiting for me." He began walking up the beach to the street but Bootstrap stopped him, laying a hand on his shoulder. Jack stopped walking, not turning to face Bootstrap, grimacing as he spoke.

"I know about Miss Elizabeth, Jack."

"Really?" Jack said, feigning shock. "You've seen her lately? Well, if you see her again, give her my regards…" He trailed off as Bootstrap continued to silently stare at him.

"How long have ya known she's with me?" Jack asked sadly.

"I saw ye and Missus Turner earlier, Jack. In the alley." Bootstrap replied. "That, and ye have William's chest." Jack pulled a face and glanced down at it.

"How much did ya see in the alley?"

"Enough to tell that the lass has fallen for ye. Hard."

"Listen." Jack said in a low, urgent voice. "We were goin' to tell Will, we were just waitin' for the opportune moment."

"He wants to see ye, Jack." Bootstrap interrupted. "William wants to see ye."

"Can't it wait?" Jack asked. "I've gotta get this back to Lizabeth, commandeer the Pearl, set sail for Aqua de Vida, I'm really quite busy."

"Now, Jack."

"Fine then." Jack said gloomily. "Just give me twenty minutes."

"Aye, Jack. Twenty minutes. A longboat'll be waitin' for ye here." Jack nodded and headed back to the Pearl.

"Jack, you're all right!" Elizabeth greeted him as he walked into the Captain's cabin. Jack set the chest down on his desk and Elizabeth flung herself into his arms and covered his face with kisses.

"I was so worried, you'd been gone for so long, I thought something horrible had happened…" she trailed off at the look he was giving her.

"Will's here." he said grimly. "He wants to see me."