Disclaimer: Will, Elizabeth, and Jack all belong to Disney, although Ben Thorndyke is of my own creation.

Ch. 9: The Prisoner

Will yawned and settled himself down, resting his back against the door. He had no interest in interrogating the prisoner…that sort of thing was more Jack's expertise, anyway. He doubted he could be of much help, so he decided to stay out of Jack's way.

"You can take care of this by yourself, right Jack?" He called out.

"O' course," Jack reassured him. Satisfied, Will laid his head against the door and closed his eyes. It felt so good to rest, after staying up much too late the previous night during the storm. While Will got comfortable, Jack had already made his way over to where the prisoner was sitting at a desk, with his back to the pirate.

"'Ello, mate!" Jack said brightly, pulling up a chair. "Could yeh just make this easier fer the both o' us, an' tell me who yeh are?"

"Ha, not in your life, Sparrow," the prisoner sneered, turning around to face Jack. He was dressed in the standard navy coat with shiny gold buttons, white breeches and gleaming black boots. "When I return to my ship, the first thing I shall do is order my men on a search to arrest your sorry ass."

Jack grinned. "Yeh do talk!"

"Well, obviously," the man scoffed. "But I shant tell you anything of interest, nor betray my country, unlike you." Jack shook his head in amazement.

"Yeh know, yeh remind me o' me firs' mate. Yeh both talk too much, an' sometimes yeh have a rather annoying attitude." Jack received a murderous glare from British officer. The pirate squinted back at him. "Funny, yeh kinda look like 'im too," Jack mused thoughtfully.

"Lord Beckett will stop you, Sparrow," the man spat. "I know he's here, in Boston. If he caught you once, he can do it again."

"Yeh think so, eh?" Jack teased. "I won't deny it, 'e did capture me, a long time ago. But now I'm much more the wiser…I know how ta evade the bloody creep. But we're not 'ere ta talk about me…" It was around this time that Jack noticed the man's insignia on his jacket, which denoted his rank.

"From one Captain ta another…won't yeh tell me yer name, savvy?" The prisoner gave Jack a defiant glare, and was silent. The pirate sighed…this was not the way he'd imagined the interrogation going at all. But if the prisoner was going to be difficult, so was he.

"Alright, mate. I tried ta be reasonable wit' yeh. But yeh didn't want ta reason. So, we'll do this the hard way." Jack shot the man an unnerving stare. "Yeh got a wife? A girlfrien'? I know a high rankin' man such as yerself is sure ta have someone ta share yer bed with." The man's eyes flashed with anger, and Jack was encouraged.

"Ah, I see…now we're getting' somewhere," Jack continued evilly. "Well, whoever she is, that beloved girl o' yers, I will find her and I will hurt her. I will take 'er as me own, I will torture 'er a bit, and then – if yeh still don't cooperate, I will kill 'er, right 'ere in front o' yeh."

"Go ahead, then," said the man. Inside, Jack was quite taken aback, but outwardly he showed no emotion.

"Excuse me?" asked the pirate.

"You heard me, Sparrow," the prisoner sneered. "I don't care what you do with my wife." Jack's eyes lit up when he heard this piece of information.

"Did she cheat on yeh, mate?" Jack asked, not waiting for an answer. "That's rough," he concluded cheerfully, not sounding the least bit sympathetic.

"No, you insolent pirate," groaned the prisoner. "She's in love with a dead man."

"Interesting," muttered Jack, disappointed that this particular tactic was useless. "I suppose, if I was in yer wife's place, I'd pick a dead man over yeh as well, …" At that, the prisoner turned his chair around, so that he was facing the wall instead of Jack. The pirate rolled his eyes at the prisoner's childish antics.

"Hey, Will, mate…I could use yer help," Jack called, jolting him out of his semi-slumbering state.

"Be right there," Will answered groggily. After he stretched his arms, Will gathered himself and stood up slowly.

"This is an interesting development, Jack," he said, walking over to where his friend and the prisoner were seated. "You, having to ask me for help…" Will was unable to keep the smugness out of his voice.

"I want that reward, savvy?" Jack retorted, grabbing the prisoner's chair, and turning it back around so it faced him.

"Then you'd better split it with me if I can get him to…" Will stopped talking, mid-sentence. He stared at the prisoner, his eyes wide as if he'd seen a ghost. His muscles grew taut as a bow string. "You…" he breathed, his voice full of loathing. At the same time, the man whispered,

"Turner?" Without warning, Will lunged at the prisoner. Jack, who had been dumbfounded during their little exchange, reacted swiftly.

"Stop, Will!" cried Jack, yanking his first mate off the prisoner. Will's hands had been clenched around the man's neck, but Jack was able to pull him off without too much trouble. The prisoner warily massaged his neck, watching the pirates argue.

"Stay out of it, Jack," Will snarled, but Jack knew that he wasn't seriously angry at him. "He deserves to die."

"Who is he, William?" Jack asked, trying to calm down his now irate friend.

"That sonuvabitch is the man that stole Elizabeth away from me!" Will bellowed, clenching his fists at his sides.

"Ahhh," said Jack knowingly. "So that's Thorndyke." Will nodded, glaring at Elizabeth's husband like he wanted to tear him limb from limb. "One good thing has come from all this…we can identify him to Adams and collect our reward!" Jack's attempt to lighten the mood was wasted on Will, who was still glowering menacingly at Captain Thorndyke.

"How could you do it?" Will shouted, making Thorndyke jump. "How could you go through with marrying Elizabeth when you knew she was promised to me?!"

"I had no choice!" Thorndyke insisted, racking his brain for some way to shift the blame. "It was the King's orders, and besides, I heard that it was a favor granted to some higher-up…this bloke called…Norringson, I think it was."

"Yeh mean Norrington," Jack corrected him automatically.

"Yes! That's the one," said Thorndyke, relieved the pirate knew of such a man. "He was also probably the man behind your arrest on false charges…I had nothing to do with it."

"I don't believe you," Will snarled, starting to advance towards Thorndyke again.

"Excuse us fer a mo'," Jack muttered, dragging Will out of the room so he wouldn't do any serious damage to the now-identified prisoner. The pirate captain slammed the door behind them and released his friend.

"Look mate, I know you want to hurt him," Jack began, standing in front of the door.

"That's an understatement," Will growled, trying to get past Jack into the room.

"…But we need 'im ta cooperate," Jack finished. "D'yeh realize what could come o' this? What we can learn from 'im? If we could find out where the British are plannin' ta strike next, we might be able ta help the colonies win this war."

"And after that?" Will prodded. "He deserves to be punished for –"

"Yeh know," Jack interrupted, holding up his hand. "I'm not so sure that he really did have much to do with your arrest. Not that he couldn't have prevented it, but I believe what he said – about yer buddy Norrington orchestrating the whole thing." Will frowned.

"But why would Norrington want to frame me? He knew that even if he got me out of the way, Elizabeth would never marry him." Jack shrugged.

"He'd have plenty o' reasons. He probably still carried a grudge against yeh – an' if he couldn't marry Elizabeth, he didn't want the man who 'beat' him fer her hand ta marry her. Or he could've just wanted ta further his navy career by namin' 'traitors' ta the king – I heard he was promoted ta the rank o' Admiral not too long ago. Either way, yeh should focus on gettin' revenge on Norrington, not Thorndyke…" Jack paused mid-sentence, thoughtfully stroking his beard.

"Although if yeh did want ta take out Thorny, yeh have my sympathies; the bugger is mighty annoying." Will frowned slightly.

"Jack, I don't think you understand the serious of the situation. Elizabeth thinks that I've been dead for the past seven years and therefore –" Will was interrupted by a sudden appearance of Mr. Adams.

"I thought I told you not to let the prisoner out!" he cried, staring at Jack, as if he'd gone mad. The pirate captain narrowed his eyes.

"What are yeh talking about, mate? I didn' let the prisoner out." Adams did a double take.

"Oh…forgive me, I thought you were..." Adams trailed off, as if seeing Will in a new light. "My God," he breathed. "You look almost exactly like…" He gestured towards the room that held Thorndyke captive. It was then that Sparrow and Adams began to ponder the same idea.

"What if Will…" Jack began.

"Don't you think he could…" Adams started to say.

They spoke simultaneously, and shared a good laugh.

"Not to worry, Mr. Adams, I'm way ahead of you," Jack said with a grin. "This pirate knows an opportune moment when he sees one – or rather an opportune mission."

"We've never had this kind of direct access into the enemy's inner circle," Adams breathed, practically salivating with anticipation. "Just make sure you get plenty of useful information out of the prisoner, or it will never work," he cautioned.

"I understand," said Jack, grinning widely as he considered the means in which he could extract the needed information from Thorndyke. He already had something special in mind… "By the way, 'is name is Captain Benjamin Thorndyke."

"Er, you both lost me," said a bewildered Will, whose thoughts had solely been on ways that he could reunite with Elizabeth, and how he could get revenge on Norrington.

"Captain Sparrow - Jack - can you explain it to him?" Adams asked him in a rush. When Jack nodded, he continued on. "I'm needed elsewhere, to prepare for tonight's meeting. Mr. Turner, if you should agree, the United States will forever be in your debt. Oh and Sparrow, here's your reward." He tossed him the golden statue that Jack had been eyeing earlier. Samuel Adams left the two pirates standing in the hallway, one extremely confused and the other gleeful.

"Look, Jack," Will began before his friend could get in a word edgewise. "I don't want to accept any new missions right now. All I want to do is find Elizabeth and tell her that I'm alive, and that I still love her as much as ever."

"You can," Jack said, his dark eyes gleaming with mischief. "All that Mr. Adams and I are asking yeh ta do, is ta return ta yer bonnie lass, only as her husband." It took a moment for that to sink in.

"Wait a minute – are you saving you want me to impersonate Ben Thorndyke?" Will asked incredulously. "Are you insane?! I mean, more than usual?" Jack folded his arms and smirked at his first mate.

"Far from it. Yeh'd be perfect, mate; there's no one better fer the job."

"Right," Will scoffed. "And why is that?"

"Well, fer starters, yeh do look an awful lot like the bugger," Jack reasoned. "And then there is the small matter o' fooling one Elizabeth Swann Thorndyke into thinking that yeh are her husband. That would be no mean feat, considering she is probably one of the most intelligent females I've ever had the pleasure o' knowin'. No one could convince her better than yeh, since yeh know things about her that no other man could possibly ever know…"

"I don't know, Jack," Will vacillated, torn between duty and matters of the heart. "On one hand, it would be the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the British, and it would give me the chance to be with Elizabeth again. But I don't know if I could deceive her like that. And even if I did convince her that I was Thorndyke, it wouldn't last. Eventually, she would notice that there was something different about her husband, and when she did realize my true identity, she would never forgive me for misleading her."

"But she would be so happy ta have yeh back, mate – I'm sure she would get over the small detail that yeh were parading around as her husband," Jack insisted.

"I'm not sure if I could take that chance," Will said softly. "I lost her once to a misunderstanding; I won't do it again."

"Yeh have ta do it, William," Jack said, as serious as Will had ever seen him. "If yeh don't, then Adams will send another man who physically resembles Thorndyke to go in yer place. Right away, Elizabeth will notice that the man is an imposter, and possibly blow 'is cover. Then we will have lost our chance ta find out secret British information."

"I don't have to do anything," Will muttered, his stubborn streak kicking in. Jack tried a different tactic.

"Say yeh don' accept this mission," Jack started. "Are yeh just going to stroll right into Boston, knock on Elizabeth's door, and say 'I'm alive, let's get back together', and hope that she'll take yeh back? Even if she wanted to, Elizabeth couldn't legally be with you. She'd still be married ta Thorndyke. The fact that yeh are alive doesn't change that."

"You're right," Will said, his eyes heavy with regret. "What am I going to do, Jack?" he whispered.

"Yeh're goin' ta accept the mission," he told Will, quietly but forcefully. "Yeh will go ta Elizabeth pretending ta be her husband, but yeh will treat her like yeh always did. She'll see how her husband has 'changed' fer the better, and when yeh do reveal yourself, she'll understand why yeh did it. If all goes well, she will let yeh live with her, as the married couple yeh were supposed ta be years ago. She may never be Mrs. Turner legally, but a' least this way, yeh can be together."

"You really think it's necessary that I convince Elizabeth that I am Thorndyke?" Will asked. "Couldn't I just tell her who I am from the start and save myself the trouble?"

"I do think it's necessary, and I think Mr. Adams would agree wit' me," said Jack. "If yeh can convince Elizabeth that yeh are Benjamin Thorndyke, yeh can convince anyone - including all of Thorndyke's British army friends."

Will was silent for a moment. He really didn't have any other options, and he did want to spend the rest of his life with Elizabeth… What the hell – I'd better be able to pull this off as well as Jack thinks I can.

"Alright, Jack – you've convinced me," Will said, giving his friend a genuine smile for what seemed like the first time in years. "Tonight, I'll tell Adams that I'll accept the mission."

"Excellent," the pirate captain grinned. "I knew yeh'd see it my way." Will resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well, if I'm going to become Benjamin Thorndyke, I'd better get started on learning everything about him – right now." Will turned to open the door to the bedroom when Thorndyke was being held, but Jack stopped him.

"Yeh may need my assistance on getting' him ta talk." Will shrugged.

"Be my guest – what did you have in mind? He knows that we can't afford to kill him, so threatening his life is out of the question..."

"That's true," said Jack, pulling out his sword and giving it a few practice swings. "But I don' think he'll take ta me threatening ta make him a eunuch." Jack made a chopping motion with his sword and this time Will really did laugh.

"I promise yeh, William, once he hears of my intentions, he'll tell us all we need ta know, and yeh'll be off ta see yer bonnie lass this time tomorrow." Grinning, Will let Jack enter the room first. They were going to have so much fun messing with Thorndyke…

End Ch. 9

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter – more from the pirates is to come, and don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Elizabeth and her situation. I'll get to that soon enough :) And remember folks, FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS SHIP JACK/ELIZABETH! Who me? Biased? Never.