So guess who has severe TMJ. This basically means the entire right side of my law hurts like a bitch. But I still gotta sing because I have a concert on Sunday. So woohoo for pain. Anyway, remember to review/fav/sub.


Alice sat alone in the corner of Tia Dalma's hut, feeling nothing but numbness as she watched the people gather around the hut, holding candles and holding a vigil for Jack. Her Jack. The man who'd sacrificed himself to save them all. It almost didn't feel like the death she would have pictured for Jack. Granted, she'd never let herself think about how Jack would die. She still didn't want to believe he was gone from this world forever. On the other end of the room, Will sat at one of the tables and kept throwing his knife into the wood. Each time he took it out of the grain, chips of the wood would splinter off and fall onto the floor. Everyone else sat in a solemn silence, not daring to speak a word. Each seemed to be lost in his (or her) own thoughts.

Tia Dalma stepped out from her kitchen, holding a tray full of mugs of rum. She held it out to Elizabeth and said, "Against de cold, and de sorrow."Elizabeth hesitantly grabbed a mug and held it close to her chest. Tia Dalma walked up to Alice and handed her another cup. Alice looked inside and frowned when all she saw was water. Every other cup was filled with rum… why not hers?

"Rum would not do de baby good," Tia Dalma said with a slight smile. Alice narrowed her eyes and shook her head.

"Baby?" Alice asked. "What… what baby? I'm not-" Tia Dalma nodded towards Alice's stomach and looked back up at the young woman.

"I know de body of a woman well," Tia Dalma said. "Have you been sick the past few weeks?" Alice froze and widened her eyes. The seasickness… what if it hadn't been seasickness at all? What if it had been morning sickness? Now that Alice was really thinking about it, she wasn't sure of when she last bled. It had to have been more than a month ago. Maybe that's why her stomach had been hurting while she was fighting on the Isla Cruces.

"I…" Alice whispered. She let out a shaky breath and gently rested a hand on her abdomen. She looked up and the entire remaining crew of the Black Pearl was staring at her in shock. Elizabeth's face fell and she sipped her rum, trying not to look at Alice. "How far along do you think I am?"

"If you've been getting sick, I would say close to two months," Tia Dalma answered. She nodded towards the cup of water and said, "Drink. You need it."Alice nodded almost numbly and Tia Dalma handed off cups of rum to the rest of the crew. Alice stared almost blankly into her cup. Pregnant. She was pregnant. There was a human being inside of her right now, a tiny human that would grow slowly within her over the next seven or eight months.

And her child would never know its father.

The thought of it made Alice's eyes well up with fresh tears. She hadn't cried since they arrived onto Tortuga with that merchant vessel they'd managed to flag down. She wiped the salty tears away with her hand before taking a long drink of the water. Tia Dalma was right; she needed to stay hydrated right now more than anything for her sake and the sake of her child; her and Jack's child. Tia Dalma walked up to Will and bent down next to him, handing him a cup.

"It's a shame. I know you're thinking that with the Pearl, you could've captured the devil and set free your father's soul," Tia Dalma said.

"Doesn't matter now," Will said. "The Pearl's gone, along with its captain."

"Aye," Gibbs said. "And already the world seems a bit less bright. He fooled us all, right till the end, but I guess that honest streak finally won out."

"Then I wish he would've stay a liar," Alice hissed. "I wish he would have been his usual selfish self in those last moments." Everyone was silent as they all stared at Alice. She knew what they were thinking. She knew they were all feeling sorry for her; the newly pregnant woman who just lost the love of her life. She didn't want their pity right now. She wanted Jack back.

"To Jack Sparrow," Gibbs said, raising his cup.

"Never another like Captain Jack," Ragetti said.

"He was a gentleman of fortune, he was," Pintel agreed, raising his cup as well.

"He was a good man," Elizabeth said, lifting her own cup. Alice looked down and raised her cup of water. She would have much rather been toasting to Jack with a mug of rum. It would have been a much more suitable tribute to him… but she had his child to think about now. The last thing he could ever give her. Was she even ready to become a mother? Would she even do any semblance of a good job? The men around her all took a long drink of their rum.

Will turned around to face Alice and put a hand on her knee. "If there was anything that could be done to bring him back…" he said.

"Would you do it?" Tia Dalma suddenly asked. Alice looked up and stared at the swamp witch in shock. What was she getting at? "Hmm? What would any of you be willing to do? Hmm?"

"Anything and everything," Alice said, her voice cracking between her words.

"And de rest of you?" Tia Dalma asked. "Would you sail to de ends of the de Earth and beyond to fetch back witty Jack and him precious Pearl?"

"Aye," Gibbs said after a moment of silence.

"Aye," Pintel agreed, standing up and setting his rum down.

"Aye," Ragetti added. Cotton's parrot squawked as Cotton raised his cup.

"Aye!" it shrieked. Elizabeth nodded slowly and looked from Alice to Tia Dalma.

"Yes," she said. Alice felt herself smile as tears began to fall down her face. All of the people here were that willing to bring Jack back if they could. They were all willing to go that far for the idiot she loved. Will finally turned to Tia Dalma and nodded.

"Aye," Will said. Tia Dalma smiled and looked at every pirate in the room.

"All right," she said. "But if you go and brave de weird and haunted shores at world's end, then you will need a Captain who knows dose waters." Tia Dalma turned around and Alice heard the thumping of shoes coming down the steps. Alice narrowed her eyes to see who was coming down the stairs. She let out an alarmed gasp when she saw the scarred and weathered face of the man who was now standing before her. Her hands instinctively went to her sword and to her stomach.

The man standing before them was Captain Hector Barbossa.

He was alive.

"So tell me, what's become of my ship?" Barbossa asked. Jack the Monkey jumped up onto his shoulder as Barbossa took a bright green apple from his coat pocket and took a large bite out of it. The juice dribbled out of his mouth and down his beard as the man smirked at the shocked looks before him.

"How?" Alice demanded. "How are you alive?"

"Tia Dalma brought me back," Barbossa said as he took another bite of his apple. Alice tensed her jaw and gripped the hilt of her sword tighter.

"And why should we trust you?" Will asked. "You've tried to kill most of us in the past."

"And I obviously didn't succeed, right?" Barbossa asked. "We have a common goal. We all want to retrieve Jack for our own reasons. Am I correct in assuming he failed to pass on his piece of eight?" Alice widened her eyes and looked down. The thought had just now occurred to her. He was still wearing his piece of eight when he died. Jack was too headstrong to think that he'd die that day; otherwise he might have passed it along to her. "You all just said you were willing to go to world's end for him. Are you about to go back on that?" Alice tensed her jaw, looked at Hector Barbossa right in the eyes, and shook her head.

"Not a chance," Alice said. She looked around at the rest of the crew and said, "I hope you all follow my lead. This mission needs more than a resurrected Captain with no ship and a pregnant woman." Barbossa looked around the room, as if searching for someone. Alice felt her stern look fall away as she realized who he was looking for. He didn't know that she'd been taken by Davy Jones yet. He didn't know that she was possibly dead or worse.

"Where's Lydia?" he asked, his smirk slowly fading. Everyone looked away from him, not wanting to be the one to break the news to him. Alice took a long, deep breath and then looked up at Barbossa.

"She stayed behind, on the Isla Cruces," Alice said. "She got the rest of us away from Jones' men. He has her. I don't know…" She felt her throat tighten up at the thought. "I don't know if she's even alive or not." Barbossa closed his eyes and sighed. Alice could put herself in his shoes. He'd waited for so long to see Lydia again, only for her to be gone the moment he comes back to the land of the living. Alice bit her lower lip and continued. "There's something else. You wouldn't like it, at all." Barbossa opened his eyes and glared at Alice.

"And what could I possibly like less than the news that the woman I love could be dead?" he hissed. Elizabeth placed a hand on Alice's shoulder and shook her head, as if to tell her to not tell Barbossa about Lydia's change in marital status. But Alice knew she couldn't keep this information from Barbossa. He'd find out eventually. It would be better to deal with the repercussions now rather than later.

"She married someone," Alice said. "To secure freedom for me, Elizabeth, Will, Kitty, and Norrington. And he wasn't good to her… not by a long shot." Barbossa took another long, deep breath. She could practically feel the fury radiating off of him. "He-"

"I don't want to know," Barbossa growled. "I don't want to know what he did. I just want to know his name so that I know exactly who I'm going to kill." Alice looked around the room. No one dared to look at Barbossa. She could tell that most of them still didn't want to trust him. Only Alice, Pintel, and Ragetti seemed to have some semblance of compassion for the resurrected Captain.

"Beckett," Alice said. "Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company. Who, ironically, more than likely possess the heart of Davy Jones now." Barbossa looked over to Tia Dalma, who had now taken a seat at one of the tables in the room. Everyone else in the room looked around almost awkwardly, unsure of what to say or do.

"I think it's best for us to retire for the night," Gibbs said. "Marty? Cotton? Do you agree?"

"Aye!" the parrot squawked. The three of them quickly left the room and made their way to their makeshift beds in the next room over that Tia Dalma had prepared for them. Elizabeth and Will looked around the room and ended up following Gibbs out of the room. Pintel and Ragetti were close behind. This left only Alice, Barbossa, and Tia Dalma in the main room. Barbossa let out a breath and looked over at Tia Dalma.

"Is there a way to know for certain what fate has befallen her?" Barbossa asked. Tia Dalma smirked and revealed her clasped hands. She was shaking something inside, already prepared to read what happened to Lydia. She opened her hands and let the crab claws fall onto the table. She looked down at them and let out a soft smile.

"I should have expected dis of Davy Jones," she said. "Lydia is alive, but she's been trapped in de Locker with Jack. It makes sense. Jones would want one less Nereid in de world and killing her would just ensure dat another one gets born."

"How does that logic work?" Alice asked. "Does she have to be dead to be in the Locker?"

"Not necessarily. It may be the Land of the Dead but not all of its denizens are actually dead. They just can't die," Barbossa explained. He frowned and turned to Tia Dalma. "What I don't understand is why the Nereid soul wouldn't flee from Lydia and find a new vessel. It would be completely aware of her fate."

"Their souls are bound till death," Tia Dalma said as she rose to her feet, collecting her pile of crab claws. "De Nereid don't have a choice. Where Lydia goes, she goes." She picked up a candle with her free hand and turned to Alice, "Get some sleep. De spare bedroom upstairs is yours, Alice." Alice nodded and said a quick good night to Tia Dalma as she disappeared into her bedroom. This left Alice and Barbossa alone together in a dimly lit room and a heavy load of awkwardness and tension.

"For the record, I'm sorry about trying to kill you three times," Barbossa finally said after many moments of uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry I helped kill you," Alice replied with a ghost of a laugh. Barbossa let out a light scoff and picked up one of the abandoned cups of rum.

"I'd offer, but in light of recent developments," he said, glancing down at Alice's stomach. She rolled her eyes and held up her cup of water. Barbossa took a long, long drink of the rum and let out a sigh when he dropped the cup. "You've no idea what it's like to go over a decade without tasting rum."

"I can scarcely imagine going without for the next seven months," Alice said. She sighed and shook her head. "How am I talking to you so easily? Like you said, you've tried to kill me three times." Barbossa took a drink from a different mug of and shrugged.

"After the Isla de Muerta, how was-" Barbossa paused for a moment and took another drink of rum. "How did Lydia adjust?"

"I'm the wrong person to ask," Alice admitted. "I left Port Royal about two weeks after that battle with Jack. But based on what I heard from Kitty and Elizabeth, she was really quiet for a long time. I mean, Lydia's always been quiet but it was a different kind of quiet. Then when I saw her again, it was post-Beckett marriage. She just seemed so much colder, like she didn't care what happened to her anymore." Barbossa tensed his jaw and nodded slowly. Alice could tell that he was trying to hold back every ounce of anger he was feeling. She couldn't blame him for that in the slightest. If she'd found out the woman you loved married another man who hurt her repeatedly, she'd be just as furious. "But as far as her Nereidness goes, she's so much stronger than she was two years ago. On the Isla Cruces, she literally held back five of Jones' men with this wall of water. If I hadn't been running for my life, I would have stopped to admire it."

"Is that why she got caught by Jones?" Barbossa asked. Alice nodded and took a drink of her water.

"She dropped the wall and used the last of her strength to push our longboat off shore," Alice said. "Looking back, I think she knew that she'd pushed herself too hard. I think she knew she wasn't going to be able to get to the longboat in time."

"I got the impression that she'd do anything for her sisters," Barbossa said. "I'm glad she finally found her strength, though. Even if it was in less than desirable conditions."

"Now we just need to get her and Jack out of Davy Jones' Locker," Alice said with a frown. She shook her head and felt a tear start to roll down her face. "I'm not even sure I should be going with you. I want to, but… but I have this child I have to think about now." She wiped the tear away and felt herself start to break down again. Barbossa was the last person she wanted to have this mental breakdown in front of, but she couldn't stop the tide of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. "I can barely take care of myself; I don't know how I'm going to manage a baby and Jack's not even here for this and I know that, yes, he'd be surprised, but he'd be so happy and…" Alice felt the tears finally burst through and she buried her face into her arms, her head collapsing to table she was sitting at. "I don't want to do this alone. We might get them back and then I won't have to. I'd have Jack. But if we fail…" She felt Barbossa almost hesitantly touch her shoulder in a feeble and awkward attempt to comfort her.

"We'll succeed," Barbossa said. "We'll get Jack and Lydia out of the Locker. But don't think you'll have to go through this alone. You have your sister and what remains of the Black Pearl's crew. Not to mention if I didn't at least attempt to help you, Lydia would kill me." Alice let out a laugh at that and sat back up.

"She would," Alice agreed. Barbossa stood back up and took a drink from the last remaining cup of rum in the room.

"You need your rest," Barbossa told her. "I can imagine you haven't slept much lately and you need to think about your kid." Alice nodded and stood up. She let out a long sigh and then began to walk towards the stairs.

"I assume we leave in the morning?" she asked.

"Aye," Barbossa said. Alice nodded and took a few steps up the stairs. She paused and then turned around.

"Good night, Barbossa," she said. Barbossa picked up an empty cup and smirked.

"Good night, shrimp," he said. Alice furrowed her brow at the nickname, but merely shrugged it off. She turned back around and made her way towards the upstairs bedroom. With each step she took, she felt her eyelids slowly grow heavier and heavier. The exhaustion from the past week was finally catching up to her. By the time she made it into the bedroom, she had already felt herself begin to fall asleep. The last thing she registered was hitting the bed before succumbing to a deep, dreamless sleep.


Kitty tensed her jaw as Port Royal came into view. She crossed her arms as she watched the familiar docks slowly appear closer and closer to her. In the distance, she saw the English flag waving proudly atop Fort Charles… the fort where her monstrous brother-by-law now resided. She felt a hand on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked to her left and saw James standing next to her, looking just as apprehensive as Kitty. He stared almost blankly at the bright, sunlit port city. "I haven't seen my son since he was a month old," James said. Kitty placed her hand on top of James' and gave a quick squeeze. "Do you think he even remembers me?"

"Honestly, part of me isn't even sure he'll remember me," Kitty admitted. Truth be told, Kitty's mind wasn't on seeing her son again. It on what she witnessed back on the Isla Cruces, as she watched the Kraken attack and sink the Black Pearl. She and James could do nothing but watch as the Kraken grabbed men with its tentacles and flung them into the water. The only thing that gave her some peace of mind was seeing the longboat sail away from the Pearl before it sunk. Based on the wails she heard in the distance, she knew that Alice had to be on that longboat. If Kitty knew her sisters, they made it off the Pearl as well. Jack Sparrow was most definitely dead, but Kitty didn't exactly feel torn over the loss. If anything, she felt worse about Alice losing the man she loved than she did about Jack succumbing to the Kraken.

"You're still thinking about it, aren't you?" James asked. Kitty nodded slowly and took in a deep breath. "I understand how you feel. It… that thing… I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it."

"No wonder Lydia woke up screaming as much as she did…" Kitty said. "Seeing that every night would make even the most hardened man wake up in a sweat." The ship slowly sailed up to the docks. Already the crew of the East India Trading Company ship that had picked them up as they drifted on the sea with the makeshift raft they'd constructed from the broken mill wheel was preparing to go ashore. Ian Mercer, the man Kitty had recognized as Lord Beckett's left hand, was emerging from below deck and making his way towards the Norringtons. Even now, after spending so long with pirates, the man's rough, scarred face intimidated her. In his hand was the now-familiar folder containing the Letters of Marque. Kitty subconsciously looked down to the bag that James hadn't let out of his sight since they'd gotten onto this ship; the bag containing the still beating heart of Davy Jones. Even thinking about that thing gave Kitty chills down her spine.

"You two are coming straight to Fort Charles with me," Mercer said. He looked down at the bag in James' hand and added, "For obvious reasons. Lord Beckett will want that straight away."

"Understandable," James replied. The ship finally reached the docks and the sailors were preparing to tie it up. The sails had been furled back into place and the gangplank was being lowered as they spoke. Mercer led the Norringtons down the gangplank, not even bothering to look at anyone else on the docks. He had his task set clearly in his mind and it was all he seemed to care about. Kitty, on the other hand, couldn't stop herself from looking around these once familiar docks. It used to be filled with merchants and traders to the brim. It was still filled with merchants, but now all of them bore the symbol of the East India Trading Company. It almost made Kitty feel sick to her stomach.

Mercer rushed the two up to Fort Charles. East India Trading Company soldiers and marines covered the fort, some of them staring at James in shock as he passed them by. Kitty understood the stares; after all, James hadn't been seen in nearly a year was assumed dead by now. To see him back in Port Royal in this state of filth was unprecedented and probably more shocking to his former men than anyone. They were lead up towards an office Kitty knew well; James' former office, the office that Cutler Beckett had taken to residing in. "Wait here," Mercer said. He looked at the two guards that were guarding the office and gave them steely glances, as if to tell them that it was their heads if James and Kitty escaped.

Not that they would ever make the attempt. Beckett quite literally had their future in the palm of his hands. He controlled whether or not James regained his position and whether or not Kitty would see her son again. Though based on what she'd been told by Mercer on the ship, her son was residing with her now-freed father back in their mansion under the close eye of the East India Trading Company. Though she was glad Little James was safe with her father, she wasn't thrilled to hear that Beckett had taken to frequently visiting his nephew.

The door to the office was left open as Mercer stepped inside. "Any news of the chest?" she heard Beckett asked.

"No," Mercer said. "But our last ship picked up two people adrift at sea. They had this." Mercer held out the Letters of Marque and dropped them on the table in front of Beckett. He took the binder and swiftly unraveled the leather cord, revealing the contents inside. Mercer nodded his head once and the Norringtons were escorted in.

"I took the liberty of filling in my name," James said. "I assume you'll drop whatever charges you planned on giving my wife." Beckett looked at the two and smirked, motioning for them to come forward with two fingers. The wedding band on his left hand didn't go unnoticed by Kitty. It almost made her sick to think of Lydia warming his bed during the nights she resided in Port Royal.

"I will, of course, pardon my sister-in-law of her crimes in her attempt to find you. Call it a familial favor," Beckett said, glancing up at Kitty. "But if you intend to claim these, then you must have something to trade. Do you have the compass?"

"Better," James said. He took the bag containing the heart and dropped it onto Beckett's desk. Kitty could see the heart beating within the bag. Beckett leaned closer to it, his eyes widening in a mix of shock and elation. "The heart of Davy Jones." Beckett's lips twisted into a sick smile and he looked up at the two. He stood up and opened the bag, peering inside.

"Remarkable," he whispered.

"I take it I've won the commission of privateer," James said.

"Oh I think better," Beckett said. He walked around his desk and opened up a sword case. Inside was a sword that Kitty knew well. It was the sword he was gifted at his promotion ceremony to Commodore. It was sword from the day the Swann family became entangled in the webs of pirates and their legends. "Reinstatement to your former rank and status, all rights and privileges attended," he said as he walked over towards the window of his office. He then turned back to Norrington and smirk. "And I think a promotion is to be granted as well. Do you agree, Admiral Norrington?" Kitty watched as her husband took the sword from the case and picked it up. She could sense the familiarity of the blade wash over him as he studied it carefully. He nodded his head once and then tilted his sword, reading to pierce the heart.

"Give the order, sir," James said.

"No, no, no," Beckett said simply. "That would be terribly imprudent. Where's the profit in killing Jones when we could add another ship to our fleet?" Beckett opened up the glass doors to the balcony and Kitty gasped when she saw none other than the Flying Dutchman crashed through the water into the harbor of Port Royal. She, along with James and Mercer slowly stepped onto the balcony as they watched the ship sail slowly into the harbor. "Whoever controls the heart of Davy Jones controls the sea."

"Not entirely," Kitty murmured. She almost clasped her hands over her mouth when the words escaped her lips. It had just occurred to her that Beckett had no way of knowing about the Nereids or Lydia's status. At the very least Kitty could keep Lydia's gifts hidden… but she'd just betrayed the other forty-nine Nereids that existed. Beckett turned to her and arched an eyebrow. He opened his mouth to speak when an older man appeared behind him.

"Excuse me, sir," he rasped. "The map is finished." Kitty watched as Beckett turned around and strolled back inside his office. She looked up at the large map of the world that had been painted on the wall. It was almost fitting how his painting of the world was completed when he'd just been assured dominance over all of its waters.

"Just the way I imagined it," Beckett said. He turned around to the Norringtons with a smirk and extended his arm to Kitty. "Come. I think I've done a satisfactory amount of work for the day. I'm sure you're more than anxious to visit your son. Luckily, I'm also eager to see my nephew." Kitty looked up at James and hesitantly took Beckett's arm. "Besides, dear sister, I think we have much to discuss."

"Of course," Kitty said. She would have much rather been alone with James when she reunited with her son, but she wasn't about to be picky with the circumstances. She just wanted to see her baby boy once more. It had been far too long and every bit of maternal instinct inside her was screaming to see Little James. The three of them strolled out of the office, Mercer following close behind them. When they reached the entrance of the fort, a carriage was already waiting and prepared to depart for the Governor's mansion. Kitty was the first to step inside the carriage. To her displeasure, Beckett opted to take the seat next to her. James and Mercer were sitting opposite of them. The carriage began to move, the rocking feeling unfamiliar to Kitty.

"Don't bother lying to me sister," Beckett said immediately. "You know something that I don't. Talk." Kitty looked down and sighed. She closed her eyes and steeled her resolve. There really was no point in lying to him. All of the cards were quite clearly in his hands. At least she knew she could keep Lydia's status a secret. Besides, she didn't know where the other forty-nine were. She couldn't exactly betray the location and names of women she didn't know. She looked back up with a solid plan in mind, meeting Beckett's eyes and began to speak.

"Have you heard of Nereids?"