Chapter Twelve: From Bad, to Semi-okay, to Bad Again... ah hell!

Jack had been standing outside the door, coming to take his hat back. He let Elizabeth walk past him, but stopped Trinity in her tracks. "So that was the information, eh? Will's bonny lass had a special relationship with the Commodore?"

Trinity had a look of utter guilt on her face. Sure she would have ratted Elizabeth out in a heart beat, but not like that. Not by someone over hearing them. "Yes. That was the information."

"And why was it no longer valuable?"

"Because!" she pushed past him and started up the wooden staircase. "She is already on the ship and I don't think she will plan on leaving any time soon if she wants her child back."

"And not William's child."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious."

Jack was jogging to keep up with her. "What if I said that that information was still valuable?"

"How could that be, Jack?" Trinity had stopped and turned towards him. He was considerably farther down the stairs, but Trinity was still looking him squarely in the eye. "Elizabeth won't have it anymore."

"Let's say we leak the information to a certain Governor. Tell him that Elizabeth is planning on telling everyone. Convince him that it's bad for his image, which shouldn't take much. Then we offer to make the information disappear. The only ones knowing it would be..." Jack did some mental math. When that failed, he used his fingers. "The four us. Five if Elizabeth tells William. Upon offering such deal, we say we can only do it for a price."

"Enough to account for the treasure." Trinity was smiling, her hands cupping Jack's cheeks. She had never thought her husband was as brilliant as she did now. "But will he have enough?"

"Oh I think he'll make due." Jack curved the side of his mouth in a menacing fashion.

"What if Elizabeth plays the tattler? Goes running to her father? She's probably done that more than once in her life."

"We'll have to square with that in time. First, we set up a meeting telling Teach that we'll get him his treasure and for him not to leave Tortuga. Then we set sail for Port Royal once again."

"Couldn't we just leave her here? As collateral or something? It would make the trip so much easier. and quieter, too" The two continued up the stairs, faking smiles to the crew. Try as they might, Jack and Trinity were too loud to have such a conversation out in the open. Especially when things got ugly. Most of the time they got ugly. So once actually on deck, Trinity covered Jack's mouth before he could respond, than dragged him into their cabin. She retreated from him and began to undress to prepare for bed.

"No, afraid not. We could probably use her as leverage to get Norrington to allow me anywhere near Port Royal. Illegally of course. You know I don't like doing lawful things. Makes me feel icky." Jack watched his wife strip with fascination.

She was down to her under garments when she saw them. Jaden's things sprawled out on the small cot Jack had set up for him. A toy sail boat, a wooden sword, a book. "I won't cry, I won't cry..." she hummed to herself, slipping a shirt over her head and turning away. "I'm okay." Jack didn't need to ask. The way he was looking at her was saying enough.

She silently picked up the book and closed the cover. Then, as graceful as she could, walked over to the book case to put it away. She ran her fingers over the titles of so many of her son's books. When her fingers came to a gap, she reached through the space looking for something.

In a hysteria, Trinity dropped the book she was holding and started ripping books from the shelf. "What is it?" Jack was dodging literature left and right.

"It's not here!" She screamed, quickening her pace and moving on to the next shelf. "It's not here! Oh God, Jack! It's not here!"

Jack grabbed her before she could ruin another shelf. He held her arms tightly by her sides she wasn't able to move them. "What isn't there?" he asked calmly.

"The journal. Kydd's journal. It's not here, Jack! I read it and put it behind these books and it's gone. Oh God. Jaden must have found it. He must have had it when he was kidnaped." Jack let her go and watched her pace frantically, clenching her hair with tight fists. "This isn't good, Jack. There were things in that book. Bad, bad things."

"Trinity, you're going to need to calm down." he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her onto his lap, holding her there. "What kind of bad things?"

"Everything. Kydd logged every waking moment of his life in that book. Every detail. There are things in there about all of us. You, me, Gibbs, Anamaria, Will, and even Elizabeth. Every crime any of us have ever committed." Trinity had a horrified expression set on her face. "Jack, if Blackbeard gets his hands on that book...let's just say that there would be enough information to condemn us all to death, hang us without trial, dissemble our bodies, place them in a trunk and sink it to the bottom of Davy Jones' locker, only for them to dig it up years later with some miraculous way of bringing us back to life, and do it all over again."

Jack looked pained. He made a face of the thought of all that happening. "Let's just hope Jaden doesn't give him the goddam book then."

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not really sure if dragged is a word... should it be drug? is that a word other than to describe medications (some legal, some not). i think i may have slept through that english class... i don't know. for all the grammer junkies, sorry if i pissed you off with that. but if u'r a grammer junkie, i probably piss you off daily because...i...like... ellipses...a...lot...!

A/N: again, i think another crap chapter. i hate when i only write for two characters! it bugs me sooo much! and yes thomthom830, Trinity hates Elizabeth because i HOPE SHE CHOKES ON A GLASS OF RUM AND DIES! can you choke on liquids? i don't care. i still hope she does. i was only nice to her in my last story because i had to lead up to this...

hey ppls reading this! go to my profile and click on my hompage link. VOTE FOR ME! i'm trying to become a full fledged pirate. if you do me said favor... i will send you a treat. it won't be a real treat, because i think that might fry my computer, but it will be good. not really sure of what kind of treat... but it will be good...