A/N: C'mon, folks, you gotta trust me! It'll be cool, honestly. On top of that, I have a bit more time these days as a couple of other fics are complete, so updates on this fic will now be EVERY Tuesday to the end of the story )

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10

Bella was deathly pale as she returned to Tom's cabin. She had been gone so long, he was already beginning to worry, and though she returned with the food she had gone for, the pirate looked as if she would rather be sick than eat anything herself right now.

"Gracious, child, whatever is the matter with you?" asked Clara worriedly, "Have you been discovered? Has the Captain seen through your disguise? Oh, Heavens above us, Master Tom, your father will have me thrown out with the castle rubbish if he knows what I have allowed! Your poor dear mother would turn in her grave!"

"Clara, please!" Tom snapped at her, much more harshly than he would usually dare, as he went to Bella's side and took her by the arm, "Bella, whatever is wrong?"

Her eyes seemed to focus at the sound of his voice saying her name, but still Bella was no further forward. Her eyes shifted to meet Tom's own but she had no words to speak. There was no right and proper way to tell a man he was going to die, or at the very least that there was a plan for such a thing to happen. It would have been hard enough to say these things to any person she knew, but to Tom, the first man she had ever felt this strongly for...

"I am quite well" she lied, "Truly, I… I shall be fine" she forced a smile that wavered from the start.

He didn't believe her at first but by the second time she confirmed it and started to spin excuses about working so hard, Bella had Tom quite sure she was telling him the truth. It felt wrong to lie to him, so very awful to have him and Clara believing all was just fine when it was in fact so awful, but Bella was a good a liar as her father before her and right now that served her well. There was no way she could reveal the truth, it would do no good. Whoever was out to get Tom, whichever of the crew it was that wanted him dead, she could not be certain. No man would confess to such a thing, for fear of the consequences, and it may make matters worse if she allowed such a person to know they were suspected.

Bella must keep what she knew a secret until she could further investigate the situation. She had wondered why fate threw herself and Tom together and now she fancied it must be to save his life. Having them meet and fall for each other as they seemed to have done, it would be too cruel for it to all be for nothing, for her to lose him in the most permanent state so soon, even worse than his going home to his country and her heading back to the open seas.

"Really, dear, you don't look well at all" Clara noted as she divided out bread and wine and such between them, "Perhaps it is best in every way that you will play Master Thomas' servant until we reach land" she smiled.

"Indeed" she smiled back just the same, though she knew her own expression did not reach her eyes, "By his side is the very best place for me to be" she agreed.

It took all Bella's efforts to force down any food at all, but she tried her best. She must behave as normally as possible and ensure she stayed close to Tom at all times, for fear a random attack should take place. She had heard those odious men speak of poison, but if she were to be the one to always fetch food and wine for her so-called master, they could not employ such a trick without risking the entire crews lives, and that she was sure they would not dare. Their own lives might be in as much danger as anyone else's in such a situation, and they could not fail to eat from now until they completed their journey, it was simply too far and too long.

When Tom smiled across the table at her, Bella smiled back, though inside she was far from happy now. As if it were not painful enough knowing they must be parted before too long, quite possibly forever. It would be so much worse to know he was not even there, not alive in the world and happy somewhere. Tom's happiness mattered more than her own somehow, his life had to go on even if she could not be a part of it. Somehow, she needed to protect him, and she had no safety net of her parents or crew-mates to help her. This was not quite the adventure she had planned for herself, but then that was often what occurred where such journeys were concerned. Bella was being tested and she would rise to the challenge. She had to, since Tom's life was hanging on her success.

In the dark it was almost impossible to know where they were or in what sort of direction they were headed, but in some ways Jack liked it better that way. In daylight hours, he knew he was out in the middle of the ocean, one of his favourite places to be, but he also knew he was miles away from his baby girl. He might be alright with that if she were older, or if he knew she was somewhere relatively safe. Not that the open seas aboard a pirate ship could ever be such a thing, but Jack knew what he meant in his own mind, even when he couldn't properly explain it to his dear Lizzie.

Elizabeth hid her fears well, she had learnt to do so after years married to him and living aboard the Pearl. Still, Jack knew she was as hurt by Bella's disappearance as he was, and as anxious to find her. They knew they must catch the Mary Sue in order to track her down, pinning their hopes on the fact it was the correct vessel. Its movements were the unknown entity, though there were only a few destinations it could head to. Land must be visited before long to bring aboard further supplies, and so even a trip as far as the Americas, never mind Europe, would require a stop on the way. Jack hoped his extensive knowledge of the sea would serve him well as it always had before. At night, he could convince himself they were gaining on the ship aboard which he would find his little girl, but each day as the dawn broke, he lost a little hope when no other vessel was anywhere in sight.

"You must sleep, Jack" Elizabeth told him as she appeared out of the shadows, "What use will we be to Annabella if she should need us to be strong and you have not slept for days?" she asked, as she put her arms around him from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"A man on a mission needs no rest, Lizzie, and could not find such a thing until the task is complete" he assured her, "'Sides, I've drunk almost all the rum and still stand perpendicular. Must be a hopeless case" he told her, patting her hands where they lay on his chest, "Should not stop you from getting your beauty sleep though, luv" he told her, "Not that you ever need it" he assured her with a smirk then, glad to see her smile in response when he turned his head to look.

"I remember mornings such as this" she sighed heavily, looking out across the water to a crack in the sky where the sun threatened to burst through any moment, "Years ago in the beginning, just you and I, and the horizon"

Jack remembered too, of course he did, when he and Elizabeth sailed together, commanding the crew as great warriors and all. They were still as such now, but also parents, which brought with it all the best and worst of life's gifts and troubles both. It wasn't that he regretted the children Elizabeth bore. Annabella was his own pirate princess, the perfect combination of the two of them, and Jonathan was scarcely any less perfect as a mix of Jack and Elizabeth's best points. They were lights in his life, as Elizabeth had always been, and though that life had turned out so very differently to how he expected, Jack could not regret a single moment, except perhaps the argument he had with Bella, the day before she ran away.

"Elizabeth…" he began, planning apologies and excuses, and a sharing of fears.

Instead he stopped short of saying another word at all, looking back further than her face, over her shoulder and the hull of the ship to the open water beyond.

Shafts of sunlight began to beam across the Pearl and onto another vessel, almost entirely hidden until this moment. Jack was not shocked, after all he had encountered the Flying Dutchman that could emerge from the deep at a moments notice, and his own beloved Pearl as she changed dramatically under moonlight when cursed. This was definitely not a surprise, to suddenly find he was being followed, but it blew a cold wind of fear through his entire being to contemplate who or what might be lurking there.

"What do we have here then?" he asked no-one in particular, though it was Elizabeth who answered as she followed his gaze back.

"Another ship?" she noted, "What does it want with us?" she wondered aloud, as the two of them turned as one and moved back down the deck.

"Mr Gibbs!" Jack bellowed, "Take the wheel"

"Aye, sir!" the old man responded fast, rushing to his post, though he had been all but asleep a moment before.

"We didn't see it, Captain!" Ragetti insisted as his leaders came upon him and Pintel, hanging on the railing at the back of the Pearl and looked behind to the other vessel.

It was barely a few yards back across the water and could catch them or attack at a moment notice. It had to have been there for miles and yet nobody had noticed in the dark, and no sound had alerted anyone to its presence. Jack might have been fearful, though he wouldn't have shown it anyway, but he soon knew that no worries were necessary.

"The old goat" he smirked to himself, causing Elizabeth to frown since she could not understand why her husband was suddenly so unconcerned by all this.

"Jack?" she said as she looked from his face to the ship behind them and back, "Who is it?"

He didn't answer her, just kept on smiling, giving some kind of salute to the ship behind. Elizabeth knew who he saved that particular gesture for and a smile spread across her own lips as she shielded her eyes from the sunlight that started to flood in to see just who she was expecting on the deck of the ship behind then - Captain Teague.

Annabella was trying her best to act normally, all the time keeping her eyes and ears open so she might protect her dear Tom, Prince of Alamantza, from some kind of assassination attempt. He ought to know the truth, and she ought to be he one to tell him, but honestly Bella didn't know where to begin. Telling Tom what might happen would only scare him, and she could not blame him for that. The bravest of men would be fearful to know their life was in danger, possibly from the very people who were supposed to protect him.

Bella still had not managed to work out who it was that would plot behind Tom's back. Even if she identified the two she had heard talking, there was nothing to prove they were working completely alone. Half the crew could be involved, there could be various plots and she was only aware of one. It scared Bella half to death to think about it, and yet it crept into her mind every second.

They were taking a turn about the deck, herself and Tom and dear Clara. It had been the older woman's idea and Bella was sure she knew why. The Prince's chaperone was what they called 'an old maid' and had probably experienced very little in the way of attractive male company. Aboard the Mary Sue were many a strapping young man with muscles to flex and a wink to make a lady blush. Bella was unmoved my them, though of course they did not pay her any mind in any case, since to them she was a boy. They played up to Clara's sighing and gazing, and when she was too preoccupied to notice a mop and bucket left haphazardly on the deck, she might have gone sprawling straight over it, if not for a certain sailors fast reflexes.

"Steady there, ma'am" he said politely, with a smile to melt a woman's fluttering heart.

Bella started at the sound of his voice. The words he said were normal enough, kind and reasonable even as he righted Clara and checked she was uninjured. It was the voice, that steady, even, deep rumble of a voice. Closing her eyes a moment and listening only, Bella knew she was right. He was one of the men she had heard in the bowels of the ship, plotting Tom's demise. It was worse than ever she could have imagined, she realised, as she opened her eyes and stared straight at Timpson, the Captain's First Mate.

It made Bella feel sick to her stomach, to think that it was not just some random lackeys aboard the ship that were set on taking Tom's life. If Timpson was involved, it could be the Captain himself had given the order. It was impossible to know how many aboard this vessel knew that the trip would end with at least one less passenger than it carried now.

To think that Annabella Sparrow had fancied herself so clever and brave when she ran away from her home aboard the Black Pearl. She had come seeking an adventure, and by goodness if she had not found it, though she wished in this moment that she had not. As much as she loved the fact she had come to meet Tom and share time with him, to experience a first kiss and a range of emotions she never knew she could feel, it would be worth nothing if it all ended in death and destruction.

"I wish my father were here" she whispered, at least she thought she was quiet enough, "He would know what to do"

"Know what to do about what?" asked Tom, proving her tone had been too loud whilst her mind was wandering.

When Bella looked up then and met his eyes, she knew she could not carry on lying. Concealing the truth from him was unfair and could only make matters worse. In something that concerned him so much, Tom deserved to know just exactly what the dangers were, so that he might help to protect himself alongside her.

"We must return to the cabin" she said quickly and quietly, "and I will explain all"

To Be Continued...