A/N: I'm sorry this has taken me so long, and I'm sorry it's so short. I've had a bad case of writer's block lately (at least at this section). I promise I will make it up to you in the next chapter! I'll try to get it up by Saturday, but no gurantees. Saturday is a hope, really. I'm studying for finals and packing up my dorm,so it's kinda hectic right now. Anyway, enough of my ranting... Enjoy!

Jack awoke with a pounding headache. Not that it wasn't common for him, but this pounding headache seemed worse than all the others. Opening his eyes slowly, Jack first saw a ceiling he didn't recognize, then walls he didn't recognize, and, upon rolling onto his side, a floor he didn't recognize. The only thing he did recognize was the black-clad blonde sprawled out in front of the door.

He really wished he remembered what happened yesterday...

Gingerly getting off the bed, Jack stood and held his head, wincing and groaning as the sharp pain continued. When he opened his eyes, he realized he was on the receiving end of the nastiest glare he had ever seen. Tazz hadn't moved, but her eyes were open and practically flashing fire. "I did something... stupid, didn't I?" he asked.

Tazz very slowly got to her feet, picking up her saber and pistol with her. The glare never let up. "What ever gave you that idea?" she snarled, then turned, threw open the door, and strode down the hall. He heard her footfalls pound down the stairs.

"Uh oh..."

It was luck and luck alone that allowed Jack to catch up to Tazz. She was all but running down the street, strapping her saber in place around her waist. Quite viciously, he might add. "Devil!" he called after her. She didn't stop. "Devil! C'mon, Devil..." His head still hurt badly, but he wasn't about to let Tazz just wander off into the city mad at him for something he didn't exactly remember. "Tazz!" That did it. She skidded to a sudden halt and allowed him to catch up. Yet before he could open his mouth, she rounded on him.

"What is the matter with you, Jack Sparrow?" she snapped, her eyes no friendlier than when he first woke up. "What defunct part of you mind thinks that what you do to other people is okay? Do other people's feelings not matter to you! Well guess what, Jack? I don't give a flying rat's ass what you think of me. You're a manipulative bastard and what you tried to pull last night was really uncalled for! And I wish I could hate you for it! But I can't! And fuck if I know why!"

Jack couldn't get a word in edgewise. Before he could even open his mouth, Tazz had turned away and was swiftly striding through the early morning crowds once more. Jack groaned and caught up once again, but as soon as he opened him mouth...

"And another thing!" Tazz seethed, stopping and facing him once more. "Next time, it's not that hard to find some willing whore! Leave me out of it!" Then she was gone again.

Jack didn't bother to give chase. He really wished he could remember what happened last night...

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Jack headed back to the Black Pearl, if only to change clothes. He hauled himself and his incredible pounding skull on deck, and immediately ran into Ana Maria. "What did you manage to do this time, Jack?" she asked, her arms folded loosely over her chest.

Jack blinked at her. "Eh?"

"Devil just came back t' change. She was in a right pissy mood, if I do say so. She didn't say a word t' anyone, but nearly threw Jonesy off the ship." She stared at him, as if trying to read his mind. "So what'd ye do?"

"Nothing!" Jack replied earnestly. Ana Maria raised a brow. "Well... I don't remember anything is more the like..." He shifted uncomfortably. "Is she still here?"

"No, she left again as soon as she had on clean clothes... which'll stick out like a sore thumb anywhere. Black shirt, blue pants... She even traded her boots for some sort of weird shoe. Never seen clothes like that before in me life."

Jack hung his head and groaned. "Best go find her then..." he grumbled begrudgingly.

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Tazz was busy fuzzing her mind in one of the local taverns. She was on her sixth refill of hard cider in twenty minutes. And since she had come in with a bad temper and knocked out the first person who came up and hit on her, she was left in peace. The hard cider wasn't as good as the last tavern's, but it would suit its purpose. Perhaps wearing her blue jeans and tennis shoes wasn't the smartest idea, but she didn't want to wear her old ensemble any longer... Something was on her foot.

Looking under the table, she saw a small rat sitting on the tongue of her shoe. Arching a brow, she lifted her foot and the rat slowly crawled onto her knee, then sat on its hind legs and sniffed at her. She felt a small smile tug at the corner of her mouth. "A friendly bar rat... What next?"

The rat made its way onto the table top and sniffed curiously at the half empty mug. It managed its way onto the mug rim and dip its nose into the liquid. Tazz chuckled and folded her arms on the table, resting her chin on them. She watched the rat, who she officially deemed in her mind as "Henry", tumble into the cider. "That's not very good for you," she muttered, plucking the rat out of the cup. "You'll end up like me."

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It seemed he found her just in time. She was sharing a drink with a rat. Sighing, Jack walked up to her chair and pulled it out slowly. Tazz didn't seem to notice; she just kept her head on the table and slowly leaned out of the seat. Before she fell, Jack picked her up and hefted her over his shoulder. Unbeknownst to him, she grabbed the rat before they left.

Jack found it odd that she wasn't fighting him yet. Just how much had she drank in the small amount of time she had been out of his sight? "Honestly, Devil, what's got into you? Ye act like I beat you last night... which I still don't remember... and now you're runnin' around town in your... whatever these are." He tugged at the denim on one leg. Suddenly, he felt her shift her weight. Looking over his shoulder to see what was up, he came nose to nose with the rat that was Tazz's guest at the table. He barked out in surprise. "Bloody hell!"

Tazz was snickering to herself. "What's the matter Jack? Can't handle a li'l rat?" She groaned and went limp again. "And they're 'jeans', thank you much..." There was a slight drawl to her voice, meaning she was decently drunk... hence she was not kicking him yet.

Ignoring the strange stares he was gettin from people in the street, be it from him carrying a girl in strange clothing over his shoulder or from the girl talking to a rat, Jack continued on his way back to the Black Pearl. After another block, Tazz had stopped talking to the rodent. It didn't occur to him that that was a bad sign...

There was suddenly something small and furry crawling down the back of his leg. He yelped and nearly dropped Tazz on her head. His body lunged forward and he leaned far enough back that Tazz was easily able to grab up Henry again as he appeared out of Jack's boot. Jack straightened and didn't feel the little feet touching him anymore, but he shook his leg for good measure.

Tazz was giggling like a hyena and trying to cover it. Jack resisted the urge to strangle her and kept walking. "Jack's afraid of mice, Jack's afraid of mice..." Tazz taunted in a sing-song.

"That wasn't a mouse, that was a rat..." he grumbled at her. Somehow, he made it to the docks. He plopped Tazz in a boat, then took up the oars and rowed them towards the Pearl. Tazz was slumped over the boat's bow, the rat climbing across her shoes and one hand hanging in the water. "If ye don't snap out of it soon, I'll toss water on ye," Jack said.

Tazz scoffed in reply. "Like you've got any right t' do anything t' me... Jerk..."

Jack sighed in vexation and scowled. "Would you mind telling me what it is I did?"

All of a sudden, Tazz spun around in the boat and leaned in at Jack, her eyes narrowed to angry slits. "It's even worse that you don't remember, you asshole!" she roared. "You think that just cuz you're Jack Sparrow and everyone else just loves you, that I have to as well! No! It doesn't work that way! Find a damn hooker on the street, not me! Here's your rude awakening, Sparrow: fuck you!"

She slumped her back against the boat's bow and panted slightly, looking like a leopard who just found an intruder in her territory.

Jack had long ago stopped rowing and was just sitting in the middle of the bay, stunned. "Did I... Was I... with you last night?" he asked after a long moment of silence.

"No" Tazz sniped, sending a wave of relief through Jack, "but you damn well tried..."

Jack shook his head clear and started rowing again. "Look Devil, I'm sorry for whatever I did. Name what I can do to repay you and I'll do it, alright?"

Tazz's angry eyes never wavered from Jack's, even as Henry the rat scuttled across her lap. Then, after a long minute and though her eyes never lightened, she slowly smiled...