Chapter Twenty Six

I have managed to pinch a bit of internet access briefly to post this chapter, hopefully my broadband should be back on in about ten years so hopefully I will be able to post as normal from that point, although obviously no guarantees! Anyway, many thanks for all of your kind reviews, they really mean a lot to me, I am so glad that this story seems to have been so popular, please keep the reviews and comments coming, as it does make the effort worth while, and it is great on the rare occasions that I get to check my e-mail to find lots of reviews awaiting me! So please take just a moment to review at the bottom of the page!

Chapter Twenty Six

"Where the 'eck has Jack got to?" Ana asked, her tone a mixture of concern and confusion, her Captain had been acting strangely of late, yet there was no way he would simply disappear just as battle was about to break out. Will exchanged a worried glance with the female pirate. He had not seen jack since he had gone to escort the prisoner to the brig, and had to admit that he too was confused by the pirate's strange behavior.

"I haven't seen him for a while, come on. Let's go and look for him?" Will offered as he began walking away immediately, Ana followed without as much as a word. The two made their way silently to the captain's cabin, and exchanged a look of worry at the partly open door. Ana stepped up to enter the darkened room, yet something was obstructing the doorway, given it a sharp shove the door finally opened the rest of the way to show a slumped figure on the floor with a pool of blood surrounding his familiarly dreadlocked hair.

"Oh sweet Jesus!" Ana cursed when she realised who the figure was. Will gasped when he saw the blood surrounding his friend's prone form. The two bent down and gently lifted Jack from the wooden floor, before silently carrying the limp figure across to the bed and laying him down on his back.

"Bloody hell! What's going on here?" a gruff voice asked from behind the two as Gibbs entered the room.

"I dunno, we just came in and found Jack on the floor covered in his own blood. Only Jack Sparrow could get himself based over the head on his own bleeding pirate ship" Ana responded, her concern for her Captain making her tone harsher than usual.

"Why does everyone always forget the bleeding captain, it's Captain Jack Sparrow savvy?" a weak voice cut in from the bed, followed immediately by a groan as the stubborn Captain attempted to draw himself up to a sitting position. Three sets of hands put a stop to his plan as his three concerned friends prevented him from hurting himself further in his attempt to once more rush himself back to full health.

"Jack? What the hell happened?" Gibbs asked, his voice sending bolts of pain through the delicate head of the pirate Captain. Jack barely repressed his wince, although did concede enough to refuse to open his eyes for fear of the light assailing them.

"Was that no good betrayer Barnett. Bastard's a traitor, part of their crew, he bashed over the head and scarpered" Jack replied, his voice a bare whisper until his emotion got the better of him and his voice rose in volume to match the anger he felt. Ana sucked in a worried breath through her teeth, desperately trying to refrain from comment, she didn't even ask how or why Jack thought that, for by now she had learnt to trust her Captain's instincts, what worried her more was how Jack was going to take this latest betrayal. He had already been hurt enough times in the past, and for all of his tough words, and reputation at the end of the Captain Sparrow was a man first and a pirate second, and there was only so many times he could survive his heart being trampled on and for such a betrayal to come so soon after his cousin's attack and the massacre of his only family could prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Where on earth have they all disappeared to?" Elizabeth spoke to herself. She felt so out of the loop already and it was only made worse by the constant disappearance of her friends, without even letting her know where they were going. She sighed deeply to herself and headed off to Jack's cabin hoping to find the missing blacksmith and pirates. She barged her way into the cabin and only just managed to prevent the angry words from leaving her mouth, as she noticed Will and Gibbs worriedly looking on as Anamaria gently bathed Jack's still bleeding head wound.

"What's happened?" Elizabeth asked Will quietly, and listened shocked as Will told her all that they had just found out.

"Well does anybody know where this Barnett has gone?" she asked, and the words barely left her mouth before a rather dizzy Captain had swayed past her intent on finding the answer to her question.

End Chapter Twenty Six

That's all for now, but be sure to check out my newly updated 21 Jump Street fic!!