A/N: Yay, my first fic of more than ten chapters!!! It's a short chapter, I know, but I never really intended to let this small thing here have a chapter of its own. It was supposed to be the ending for chapter ten, but as that one was already longer than most of the chapters, I thought I'd put it into chapter eleven. Well, the planned chapter eleven then had to move to chapter twelve… Anyway, read and enjoy. And review, please!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pirat… Oh, gawd! I don't own anything. Final.

Miss Sofie.


Chapter Eleven - Regrets

"Don't stop!" Julia said and breathed in deeply reaching for Jack's hand. The pirate placed his hand on Julia's again, and she felt the adrenaline rush through her body as his seductive eyes held her gaze. They were dark and soft and they were moving closer.

As Jack's lips brushed Julia's to finally settle on them, the girl withdrew her hand from his and raised it to slap him.

"Ouch! What did you do that for?" Jack asked with a bewildered frown as Julia's hand hit him.

"You shouldn't… We shouldn't… I shouldn't…" Julia replied not really knowing what she meant.

Then she woke up feeling stupid and slightly embarrassed, though no one knew about her dream but herself.

Why did I slap him? She thought and sat up in the plank bed. No, why did tell him not to stop? She corrected herself, still haunted by the picture of the pirate kissing her. She hadn't wanted to, of course, he had just done so without her permission. Not even in her wildest dreams would she want him to kiss her! Never! Not even if he promised her the world or the moon and the stars would she think about it. He was disgusting!

---

"Did you have fun last night, Captain Sparrow?" Julia's voice greeted Jack as he climbed aboard the Pearl late in the morning. The rays of the sun were already piercing his aching head. Did Julia really have to do it too?

"Aw, shut up, will ya?!" Jack said annoyed and let himself fall onto a barrel with fresh water that was lashed to a mast.

"Sorry." Julia mumbled and turned to walk away. "I was just trying to be friendly."

She left a very much hung over Jack feeling even worse. Her face was the last one he had needed to see and the first one he had seen after returning from the worst night he had had for years.

On top of it all he also had to feel guilty now. He hadn't meant to snarl at Julia, but he had thought she was about to start scolding him and he really couldn't take that in his state. For once he had been unfair to her, though it used to be the other way around.

"What a mess, Capt." Jack muttered to himself and got up from the barrel to go to his cabin, but he was stopped by Gibbs, who spoke way too loudly for Jack's like.

"Captain, are we gonna set sail today? Or do ye intend to stay another day?"

"Just…get goin'!" Jack said with a quick wave of his hand. Then he had to hold on to Gibbs.

"Are ye still drunk, Captain?" Gibbs asked with wide eyes. He hadn't seen his captain drunk in the morning before. At least not when he hadn't been drinking since the previous night.

"Just tell Ana Maria to head for Port Rewland, will ya? And I don't want to be disturbed, savvy?"

"But…"

"Savvy?!"

"But Ana Maria's on the Dispute, Capt'n!"

"Then put somebody else in my place! I don't care who! Just leave me!" Jack almost yelled at Gibbs, who backed a few steps. As he did so, Jack noticed most of his crew staring at him with amused smiles.

"What are ye looking at, you dirty rats?!" He yelled but regretted immediately, as his eyes wandered on to the young girl and boy and their little brother looking at him as well. Daniel looked frightened, and Julia very displeased. Matthew, however, whose hangover had finally worn off, was obviously finding Jack very entertaining.

"Oh, perfect!"(1) Jack muttered sarcastically before fighting his way down to his cabin. "Really brilliant!"(1)

---

"Do you think we'll ever meet Jack again?" Daniel asked his older siblings. The three of them were sitting in the crow's nest in the mast. Matthew had persuaded Julia to come with him and to let Daniel come along as well. The crew of the Pearl was still wondering how he had managed that.

"I hope not." Julia said looking to the horizon. It was late in the afternoon, and it had been quite a few hours since they had last spotted land.

"Yes, maybe we will." Matthew said ignoring his sister's remark. "Would you like that?"

"Yes, because he's my friend and he's a pirate!" Daniel said and looked down to the deck. "He's kind, isn't he?"

"I don't know about that." Julia muttered sourly. She had begun to almost like him yesterday, but then he had been so stupid at the tavern, trying to flirt with Mary and all. When he didn't get his way with Mary, he had just found some other girl to spend the night with and hadn't come back to the Pearl until late in the morning. What kind of brute did such things?

"You're just jealous." Matthew said not directed at Daniel.

"Jealous? At what?" Julia exclaimed glad that they were out of earshot of the crew. Her latest dream – no, nightmare – threatened to come back to her mind, though she had done everything that was in her power to keep it away all day.

"At Jack. Because he leads the life he does."

"You can't exactly call piracy 'leading a life'!"

"But admit it, Jule, you like sailing. You like the wonderful feeling of being free that you have felt since we left Papa and the commodore. And the feeling of doing things that you know you're not supposed to is kind of appealing to you!"

"We haven't exactly done anything disrespectable if that's what you mean!"

"One week ago you would have thought everything we've done since we met Jack 'disrespectable'!"

"Oh, please!" Julia laughed rolling her eyes. But she was not as sure as she tried to sound.

"Come on! Don't tell me that you'd rather spend the rest of your life in a town like Port Rewland, married to Walther Allenby, instead of sailing with a decent pirate such as Jack?!"

"Married to Walther Allenby? No. But spending my life in a town like Port Rewland? Why not? What is so wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I guess." Matthew sighed not knowing how to make his point clear. "But I'll sure miss sailing."

"Ah, sailing I would miss, too. At least as long as there is dandelion tea enough."

"But do you know what the worst thing about going back is?"

"No, what is it?"

"We kind of have an explanation issue!"

"Yeah. We do, don't we?"

"Yup."

"Papa is going to kill us!"

"Yup!"

Julia pondered over this most of the afternoon and evening. It seemed that she and Matthew were not the only ones who regretted that the trip was coming to an end. Will said he'd miss the action Jack had brought into his life again for a short moment (though he did look forward to seeing his fiancée again(2)), Daniel simply wanted to "be a pirate" forever, and Mary dreaded the moment she had to face her employer again.

Jack wasn't too happy about it either, though he kept it to himself once he woke up with a ceasing hangover. He'd miss having kids aboard his ship, he finally admitted to himself, as he went to see Harriet. She was still unconscious, or at least asleep. Mary was there with her, and as Jack couldn't get a word out of her, he gave up and left.

Daniel had been quite fun to have around, and apart from this morning, when Jack had yelled at his crew, he hadn't looked frightened a single time since they had taken over the Dispute. The boy really seemed to enjoy life aboard a ship. He'd make a bloody good pirate some day!

Jack really didn't feel like ascending to the deck yet, but he was the captain, and his crew would begin talking if he didn't show up soon. Besides, he was a man, a pirate, a captain! What could anyone possibly say to embarrass him? He was not one to throw off balance! Except by… NO! That was ridiculous!

Jack knocked back a glass of rum before finally going to face his crew and his guests again.

"Captain! Ship ahead!" Duncan's voice sounded from the lookout post just as Jack finally showed his face. It gave the latter no time to think further about what people thought of him.

"Looks like the one we left behind in Port Rewland. The one of the Royal Navy!"

Perfect! Just brilliant!(1) Jack thought for the second time that day. At least now he had his wits back!

The loud sound of a cannon being fired tore the air, and Jack saw Daniel hide in his sister's skirts, trembling with fear.

"Stop firing at our ship!" Julia shouted angrily, though the ship with her father and the commodore was way too far away for her crew to hear her.

Our ship?

"That would be my ship, love!" Jack said pointing his index finger at himself. He couldn't help smiling, though. "And that was only a cannonball meant to warn us. If they had meant to strike, they had done so in their first attempt!"

"Oh." Julia said placing her arms around Daniel. "Would they have done so if we weren't aboard?"

"I suppose they would. The commodore and I aren't exactly the best of friends. So thanks for being here, love!" Jack replied, emphasizing the last sentence with a mock smile.

"You're despicable!" Julia exclaimed in a loud mumble, totally misunderstanding the pirate.

"What did you just say?" Jack yelled stiffening all over. "Gibbs, cooperate with the commodore! What did I just hear you say, Miss Kelly?!"

"That you're despicable!" Julia repeated defiantly.

Jack moved closer to her and took a firm grip of her wrist.

"I'm the captain here, and I never want to hear that coming from you again, savvy?!"

"No!" Julia replied crossly. She too, moved closer to Jack, staring him in the eyes. None of them wanted to drop their eyes. They both wanted to win this.

"After everything I've done for you and your family, you still have the nerve to call me despicable?!" Jack spat. He was so close to Julia that the warmth of his breath hit her face.

The girl didn't reply. Suddenly she felt insecure. Her eyes flickered for a moment. Then she looked back into his dark eyes. They were not soft anymore. They were flaring with rage and something else that Julia couldn't quite read. Was it hurt?

"Forgive me!" She exclaimed almost in a whisper before she twisted her arm to get free from his grip. Tears were building up inside of her, and she knew that she'd have to leave – now – to avoid them from being seen. "I'll be looking after Harriet!"

She ran to the cabin and threw herself on the bed. She cried for the first time since her siblings got kidnapped. And she despised herself.


(1) All credit for this "sentence" goes to Kian Egan from Irish boy band Westlife!

(2) Sorry, Heav! Added that one for you. Couldn't help it! ;)

A/N: That's all there is from me today. Thanks for reviewing!