I'm awfully sorry for the delay in updates over the last few months. I have wanted nothing more than to curl up and continue writing Fiona's tale but alas ... life happened. Family illness and friends losing loved ones forced me to juggle my priorities for a bit. there was a comment or two asking why I'd not bothered finishing the story and this is why. I hope you are glad that I am back writing again but please appreciate that I have a life and loved ones who will always be my priority. If I do vanish for a bit in future just know I will never abandon this story because I love it and it is all planned out to the very end so the hard work is already back to our story... and the ever resourceful Elizabeth and Will Turner who have put some wheels in motion.

Chapter Fifty Nine - The George Town Diamond

"As I said the last seven times you have asked Mrs. Turner, admiral Norrington is not available for social calls at present. Perhaps you might return to town where you might find someone better available to take tea and scones with? An admiral's life allows little time for such diversions," Gillette quipped as he stared Elizabeth and Will down from four steps above them. He nodded once as a mark of politeness and made to retreat back towards the doors behind him.

Will stepped forward quickly before Gillette could vanish behind the double doors that led into the barracks at Fort Charles. Wedging the front of his boot between the two doors, Will prevented their closure. Gillette frowned at him but Will spoke before Gillette could admonish him. "This is with regards to Miss O'Connell, lieutenant. Surely that alone is reason enough to at least pass a message on to admiral Norrington for us?"

Gillette smiled knowingly. "Oh I think Mr. Turner that in fact the less that is said about that whole matter, the better off we shall all be. Now I must get on. Please think carefully about calling here again though won't you? That forge in town is still in your old masters name. A simple name swap on the deeds would change all of that. Indeed I think it is something admiral Norrington has been considering for quite some time because it appears that whilst you've been living a life of piracy Mr. Turner, your master neglected his work load completely. Remarkable, isn't it; that your leaving distracted him so entirely that not a decent piece of iron work left that forge in the weeks that you were gone from Port Royal. It's either that or the apprentice was doing all the work." Gillette's raised brow was enough I dare say to have Will pulling his foot free of the door and retreating back onto the steps. "Suffice it to say that admiral Norrington feels that under such circumstances your master shall take a leave of absence. The business is yours to do with as you wish, whether you keep it on or sell it for profit. Take this kindness for what it is and do not test the admiral's patience any further, Mr. Turner. He has rather a lot of work to do. Good day Mr. and Mrs. Turner."

Gillette threw closed the doors and Elizabeth and Will were left standing outside on the steps in a hazy light rain. Will lifted the brim of his hat briefly to share an apprehensive stare with Elizabeth before he turned and guided her down the steps and to the shelter of an awning. "What shall we do now Elizabeth? If Norrington will not see us then who can we go to for help? The Earl of Pembroke will want nothing to do with such a trivial matter and until he has managed to oust Beckett and until such a time your father's hands are rather tied. Who else is there who might help Miss O'Connell?"

Elizabeth placed her hand on Will's arm as she smiled softly at him. "I know you feel guilty for letting Fiona go Will, but it was not your fault. You believed she'd made the choice to take her life into her own hands and go off on a lone adventure. As soon as you knew that was not the case; that her uncle had a hand in it all and that she might be in danger you told me everything! It's just a shame that we did not get to speak to James in time to tell him what we know. If only he knew the truth things would be so different. I think now we only have one option entirely open to us. We must enlist the help of a certain pirate."

Will turned to her with a curious expression. "Jack? You want him to break Fiona out of wherever it is that her uncle is hiding her? We'd need to find her first Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth nodded as she finally produced her parasol and opened it above her head as a shelter from the rain. They walked out into the forecourt once more to stare up at Fort Charles that towered above them. Elizabeth says she knew that James must have been watching them from one of the many windows, either too ashamed or wounded to come forward and speak with them. It pained her a little to think of her friend shutting himself off from the world once more and all because of a woman. "Well, admittedly if everything goes wrong we may need Jack to do just that, but no. I was thinking that Jack might be more the sort of chap to break into Fort Charles actually. He can get to James better than anyone else right now."

Will laughed before he realised that it was a poor reaction given the situation and stifled his incredulity. "Elizabeth, admiral Norrington is not about to listen to a word that Jack Sparrow has to say!"

Elizabeth shrugged as she turned and began to walk towards the gates that led back down into the town. "Oh I think Jack stands just as much chance of getting James Norrington to listen to him as we do right now. After all, Jack would have no reason whatsoever to lie about what has befallen Fiona. It does not affect him in any way. He has no care whether someone like Fiona lives or dies. James will know by now that my allegiance will be to Fiona after all that she's told us. He will not want to speak to me for just such a reason. He may think that I too had been hoodwinked by her. If nothing else, Jack can find a way in to Fort Charles and he can lead the way for us. Once he's in, we have a proverbial foot in the door. James Norrington might be able to send his officers on his behalf to decline my company but once I am standing in person before him he will not refuse me. It would be an ungrateful slight after the friendship I've shown him and the guidance my father has so kindly bestowed upon him since we left England all those years ago. What's more, Jack can show him that Fort Charles is by no means impregnable."

Will scratched his chin as they walked briskly down the hill and turned in the direction of the docks. "How do you suppose we are going to persuade Jack to infiltrate a navy fort commanded by the scourge of the Caribbean himself? We'd be asking him to place himself in the line of fire!"

Elizabeth stopped abruptly and turned swiftly so that she and Will were nose to nose. "Jack Sparrow need only recall who it was that saved his life a short while ago. If not for you Will, then that noose would have snapped his neck in two. Without us standing between Jack and the barrel of a musket he'd have met quite the sticky end. I think it's time we called in a few favours, don't you?"

Elizabeth turned on her heel and kept walking, leaving her husband behind as he tried to recover himself. He couldn't quite work out which emotion would overpower him first. Was it terror and apprehension he felt or was it a notion of fascination and an overwhelming sense of being seduced by his own plucky and downright manipulative wife? Shaking his head to try and calm his confused mind he set off after Elizabeth to the docks.

Droplets of rum landed on their clothes, their faces and even into their hair as Jack spat out his mouthful of rum. "You want me to do what?"

Elizabeth and Will smiled grimly at each other before they turned back to face Jack. They had expected some kind of opposition on the pirate's part. "We want you to help us-"

"You, dear William are asking me to do the unthinkable for a pirate and break myself into a fort where I was once almost hung by the neck until dead as a certain commodore watched on. Said commodore who has repeatedly sentenced me to death and just recently had me locked within his brig for weeks on end? Said commodore who was so desperate to seek out a treasure like The Crown of Immortality? Why that man is almost a pirate himself! At least I'm honest about my vocation. With me what you see is what you get; a dishonest pirate with no heart at all and you can trust me to always be so. Commodore Norrington on the other hand, that one you want to watch. An honest man moonlighting as a pirate?"

"Admiral Norrington," Elizabeth corrected swiftly as Jack stopped prattling to breathe.

"It gets worse!" Jack crowed. "Admiral? They made old Norrington an Admiral? Just goes to show you what money can do, eh? Money and influence! That man has no motivation to remain objective in such a role! To be a pirate now is not the same as it was before! To be a pirate is to be hunted like game!"

"He was only made admiral because Fiona sold herself out. James had the potential of course but Beckett was never going to allow him to fulfill such a lifelong ambition. Indeed I do believe that perhaps such things had come to mean somewhat less to James over the last few months..." Elizabeth placed an elbow on the table and brought her hand up so that she might lean her chin against it in a deliberate show of what must have appeared to Jack to be a rather pretty kind of melancholy. "It is such a strange occurrence. Ever since I've known him he's wanted to be the best that there is, but a few weeks in Fiona's presence had him beginning to see the world in a better light. I think that is something we cannot ignore. Fiona was good for him."

"Good for him? Yeah she's good for him locked in Fort Matthew all alone awaiting her maker," Will supplied thickly. "Perhaps you should think on how you come to be here Jack, and not back in that jail in Rio. If Miss O'Connell hadn't sent her little friend your way with that hair pin, you might have faced a noose yet again and this time you might not have come out the other end of it."

"Will is right Jack. He and I saved you from the noose once. Now Fiona has done the same. All we are asking is that in return of such favours you go to Admiral Norrington with what we all now know about Fiona's flight. He refuses to see us because he believes we will champion her cause regardless of the truth. He believes Fiona hoodwinked him and abused his trust. Therefore he may believe we too have been hoodwinked. He's shut himself away from everyone. I am not even sure if his officers have been able to speak with him. Just think Jack of how rashly men behave when they believe their heart is torn asunder. Think of the anger and despair that drove him into that hurricane that killed almost all of his men! This new heartbreak is worse. It will turn him into a monster. If you thought the scourge of the Caribbean was bad before, wait until he catches up with you again Jack! all of that pain he currently holds within him is at war with the decent man I call a friend. He needs to know the truth of Fiona's actions. He needs to know that she's sacrificed herself to save him and the only one who stands any chance of telling him that is you! He will not believe the word of anyone else. What reason would you have for lying after all Jack? Fiona means nothing to you."

"Did neither of you come to see me just because you missed me?" Jack threw his arms wide in exasperation before he threw a curious look at Will. "Come on Will mate, call off your bonny lass eh? Make her see reason? Tell her what's really at stake here? Commodore-"

"Admiral," Elizabeth corrected again.

"Commodore, admiral; what's the difference! Still the same snobby, stuffed up git who wants to kill all pirates as soon as look at them!"

"James is not a snob," Elizabeth cried indignantly. "I've known him for a very long time and that is one thing he is not! He's no more a snob than I am! He just has his beliefs is all, and he's been hurt rather badly. It's driven him into a dark place that he was unable to find his way out of; that is until he met Fiona. Surely even someone as disinterested as yourself Jack must have noticed the connection between them both?"

Jack grinned. "Elizabeth, what on earth do you take me for love? I'm a pirate and what pirates do is steal things. In order to steal said things, we must first be intensely aware of the world we surround ourselves with. People don't realise how easily they give themselves away." He nodded at Will. "Take the whelp for instance. He had all of Port Royal and yourself fooled into thinking that he had eyes only for you and that his sole life's mission was to have you reciprocate his feelings. No. That's as far from the truth as can be. Don't get me wrong he's all for you but there's always been so much more beneath the surface. There's a quest to prove himself, to be the man that he has been told his father was. I told him once that his father was a pirate but a good man. Immediately he saw his black and white world full of wondrous colour. He didn't have to toe the line to have you finally notice him. He could be a pirate and a marauder who knew how to play the game and still win over his bonny lass because ultimately he could prove by his actions that he was still a good man at heart. he proved such a thing by risking his neck in sailing across the seas to save your life. Not that there's any real comparison but old Norrington and Fiona O'Connell were giving off the kind of signals that pirates pick up on long before those two even noticed it themselves. I saw it plainly for what it was. There was a power struggle balance there for a while. Neither one wanted the other to gain the upper hand in anything because then the truth is they would have lost one another. I saw very early on what was to become of them. How could I not when they bickered like an old married couple one moment and were saving each other's lives the next. I think old Norrington was rather bewitched by our little Irish friend because he's never met anyone like her in his life. She's essentially a pirate. Her captain was too. I know more of his dodgy dealings than I care to admit. She's got a cunning mind, that Fiona O'Connell. She wouldn't have stayed alive so long otherwise. She's got spirit too even when she's proved wrong. She's got this overwhelming notion that she's always right which in a way reminds me of myself. I do not mean to say she is in any way a pirate on a par with myself 'cause lets face it, there's only one Captain Jack Sparrow! She's a darned pirate at heart though but that heart of hers is good as gold. That is what has Norrington stumped. The last I saw of him though, he had no notion of the connection between them both. He had no idea of his own feelings. Now unless you'll be about to tell me that he's had a very public epiphany in the last lot of weeks; which I highly doubt given how sour tempered and rigid the bloke is, there is absolutely no way that Norrington knows he's in love with the lass. In turn I think he's rather confused her too and partly because she was aware of her feelings for him very early on. Perhaps women do feel these things more keenly or have a weaker mind barrier when it comes to romantic notions but ultimately she's spent her life believing that men like him have ulterior motives, schemes and tricks up their sleeve to fool and debase those who they believe to be beneath them. Fiona believed she would only ever be treated kindly by those of her own situation in life. How wrong could she be? That's why she was wooed by Patrick O'Malley and fooled by me. She thinks there is honour amongst thieves. She is wrong. There is only honour amongst good people. After everything that's happened to her, she was more than shocked to find that James Norrington appeared to be everything that a gentleman should be. It threw her, I think. So much so that I noticed a change in their relationship very swiftly. Fiona came to think highly of Norrington because he treated her as finely as he would a grand duchess and he did it without any thought. His merits as a man were exceedingly more important to her than his title or his upbringing. All of that fell away and she simply saw the good but tortured man behind all of that. I noticed it from their earliest and most insignificant interactions. There was a mutual respect there even though they were both loath to admit it even to themselves. How on earth she found all that in old Norrington I cannot fathom. The man was always a void of starched collars and discipline if you ask me. He had honour enough to see her for who and not what she was though. That's important. Two honest, decent and kind people who have a love for the sea but were entirely lost and heartbroken. Finding one another is the best thing that happened to either of them. Shame it's all going to end in tears but what can a pirate like me do about it, eh?"

Will and Elizabeth turned to stare at each other in amazement as Jack lifted his tankard of rum and drained the last of his drink. It is the strangest of characters I think that are not only steadied by rum but fueled by it. Who knows how much rum Jack had consumed that day before his two friends came upon him. Perhaps it was in fact the rum that sharpened his observations and gave him the backbone to spew it all out to two hopeless romantics like Elizabeth and Will Turner. Nevertheless, it certainly still had the power behind it to shock them both. I mean, who knew that Jack Sparrow was so observant about anything not directly related to himself?

"But Jack, don't you see that all of what you just said proves something. There is an undeniable connection between admiral Norrington and Fiona. She saved your life Jack and that of your crew. That's what she was working towards the whole time she was aboard The Surgence. Even now she risks her life to ensure that all of us are unaffected. We cannot sit idly by whilst someone with such a good heart looses everything, perhaps even her own life because she felt she owed it to us all to save us!"

"Do you ever get that sense of guilt, that notion that you owe someone a great deal and that you should offer to help them out if you can? Well, I don't have it." Jack offered them a smile and tipped his hat to them before he stood rather unsteadily and began to meander away from them through the haphazardly placed tables of the inn.

In the dim light Elizabeth could just make out the glint of the glass rum bottle tucked into Jack's coat and she found herself rolling her eyes even as Will sighed in defeat beside her. "What makes Jack tick?" Elizabeth asked him quietly.

"Rum," came Will's disappointed answer.

Elizabeth shook her head exasperatedly as she kept Jack's drunken retreat in sight in case he vanished. "Come on Will, he's just proved to us that there's a lot more too him than rum! Think like Jack!"

Will threw her a curious gaze before she watched the realisation cross his features. "Treasure!"

"Jack!" Elizabeth cried as she launched herself out of her seat to follow in the wake of her pirate friend. "Jack, wait!"

Jack turned slowly and neither Will nor Elizabeth were surprised to find him swigging from his newly opened bottle of rum. "Oh what is it now?" Jack threw his arms wide, almost dropping his bottle of rum as he stumbled over the flagstones below his feet. "Elizabeth love, I understand your predicament, I really do but what incentive is there for me to help old Norrington and his bonny Irish lass, eh? Commodore Norrington will string me up as soon as look at me. Unless...unless as said commodore is now no longer commodore but in fact admiral and by his being admiral of the fleet he would have the authority to choose his own commodore and by my helping him I might boost my chances of becoming said new commodore?" Elizabeth and Will's astonishment and confusion after Jack's rather mismatched statement must have said it all for he grinned softly at them both. "Nah, didn't think so."

Just as he began to turn to walk away again, Elizabeth threw cation to the winds. "Jack, what if I told you that Fiona knows where to find The Crown of Immortality!"

Jack spun around, his grin evaporating as he frowned. "Would there be rum?"

"We'll get you some rum, as much as you want," Will confirmed.

Jack raised a pointed finger and punctuated the air with it as he spoke. "Always lead with the treasure and the rum. Look how much time we've just wasted on chatter!" Jack staggered back to the table and returned to his seat. Elizabeth and Will too sat back down, all three of them leaning in as closely as they could so as not to be overheard. "Hear me out lovebirds. I ain't breaking into fort Charles just like that to tell old Norrington his bonny Irish lass is in some kind of trouble without any decent proof. Instead, this is what I'll do..."

It felt like the cold was seeping into my very bones as I lay with my back against the cold stone wall, the iron grilling that separated me from the empty next cell near my head. I hugged myself tightly to try and bring the ripped parts of my dress together once more in an effort to keep out some of the cold to little avail. Whilst I was sure there was no one in the cell next to me, I could certainly sense the presence of others nearby and hear the odd shuffling sounds of movement followed by the clinking sound of the chains that bound them. I'd slept most of the time away I think, for I now know I was there a fair few more days than I first realised. I had no notion of whether it were night or day though and that kept me on edge even in my sleep.

I was awoken from a restless sleep at one point by a soldier but all he did was place shackles around my wrists and lock them tightly. He was gone in the blink of an eye and I winced as I lifted my hands. I tugged on the shackles and realised I was tethered to the wall. It worried me greatly that I had very little range of movement. It was bad enough that my knee already compromised me but if someone were to enter the cell and try to attack me, I had practically nowhere to run to as I was tethered to a hook on the wall. If I'd cared more about my life in those moments I might have tried to free the hook from it's holding in the wall. I certainly had the free time for such an occupation.

Unfortunately such interests had escaped me entirely. I slept most of the time away because to be honest with you I'd admitted defeat entirely. Apart from that one soldiers visit I was left so alone that I began to wonder if my uncle had forgotten me. I don't know how many days I'd been there for on my own before I finally heard the distant sounds of a familiar voice.

"Ain't you the lucky ones, eh? Old Norrington's been trying to catch me for years he has! Best not to let him know I'm here though mate, he'll only be upset that it was you what did the finding of my good self and not him. Or perhaps you'll be wanting to tell him in pursuit of some kind of reward? I mean, we could go halves on it mate! You tell him I'm here and he sends his lackeys to fetch me. I'll appear to go quietly and you'll get your money. Then I can escape, stealing back that which Norrington has already taken from me and believe me it's a treasure you'd want mate."

I'd opened my eyes by this point but I doubt the soldiers could see me at the back of the cell where I lay in only the light of their lone lantern. I could see them though. The lantern was held at the perfect height to frame their faces in a warm golden light. One man rolled his eyes at Jack and said nothing, whilst the other seemed mildly amused. "Do you really think Mr. Sparrow that you can escape from the holding cells in Port Royal? Why Fort Charles is even more heavily guarded than we are here at Fort Matthew. I do wonder at your confidence when the stark reality is that we've been instructed that you'll face a firing squad. Apparently you've slipped out of one too many nooses. They want to make sure you're dispatched with properly this time."

"I'm captain Jack Sparrow mate. Of course I think I can escape from Port Royal. I've done it before."

Both soldiers shared an ominous glance as if suddenly worried that there was truth in Jack's words. If it were indeed true that he had escaped Port Royal, how on earth were they going to keep Jack under lock and key here in the much smaller and less armed George Town? Despite their apprehension both soldiers carried out their duty in locking Jack in the cell I'd come to call home. Jack seemed to think that to let his mouth run away with him was going to benefit himself in some way for he was still talking when the key turned in the lock and he was once more a prisoner just like myself.

"Well Mr, Sparrow, Port Royal is a rather quaint little town compared to George Town. Here you haven't just a militia and some iron bars to get past. You'll have to fight your way through all of this rock that surrounds us. We must be what..." he turned to his fellow soldier curiously for a second before turning to grin back at Jack, "Ninety feet beneath the ground level of George Town?"

His comrade nodded and the two men grinned smugly. I'm not sure if they were as confident as they made out. Perhaps they wanted Jack to believe all hope was lost and that's why they were so keen to be smug. "Yes, ninety feet give or take. I'm afraid Mr. Sparrow that if you want to bombard Lieutenant beauchamp with pleas for your life, you'd better have a more than an adequate set of lungs on you to make your shouts heard through this rock!"

With that the soldiers took their leave, chuckling jovially with their lantern swinging easily between them. Only when all light had faded did I sit up. Lieutenant Beauchamp? Was that not the same lieutenant I'd met very briefly aboard The Surgence? Was that not James's cousin? If those soldiers really did answer to lieutenant Beauchamp that was not the best of news for me. If the man himself came down here with enough light to peer into the cell, would he recognise me? Granted, I'd been in his presence for all of a few moments when we'd met but something told me that he would be just as shrewd and calculating as his cousin. If he found me in that cell then my whole plan would be in jeopardy. Come to think of it, my plan was in jeopardy with Jack Sparrow only a few feet away.

"You won't tell his loyal highness the commodore will you, eh?" Jack called to the retreating backs of the soldiers. We could already hear their footsteps on the steps nearby. "Do a pirate a favour will ya? If he gets wind I'm here I'm done for!"

I did wonder what gave Jack so much cause for worry. If James found out he was incarcerated in George Town and saw fit to have him transported to Port Royal, Jack would still meet the same sticky end as he would if he stayed in George town. To me, something was up.

"What the hell are you doing here, Jack?"

He spun on his heel quite clumsily to peer into the gloom of the cell and I could tell already that he was drunk, but wasn't he always? "Who's there? Come out and show yourself?"

"Why? Have you a sword at the ready? A pistol shoved into the waistband of your breeches?" I laughed hollowly. "You know exactly who I am Jack Sparrow, and I know exactly why you're here. You won't be threatening me with swords and pistols today, Jack."

"Captain, love. I'm still a captain of my own ship! You know about the George Town diamond then do you? Yes it appears you know a lot about treasure love for someone who says they ain't a pirate." His voice was closer at hand as he sought me out in the darkness. I could smell him before I saw him emerge out of the gloom. He stank of rum and piss and god knows what else.

"Diamond? Here? That sounds like an interesting story Jack!"

"It is love. Promise me that when old Norrington sends his lackeys to fetch me, you'll come with me and I might just tell you said story."

I snorted. "Yeah you're here for some diamond alright Jack. Who was it then? Elizabeth? Will Turner? I asked him not to breathe a word!"

"Oh I think you told him not to tell Norrington but I don't think you mentioned me love." I could hear the smug grin in his voice even as I turned away from him. "See young Will tells me that you're locked up here in George Town and in need of rescuing so I decided to come along, scope the place out so that when the Turners swoop in to save you, there'll be no nasty surprises... see I'm not one to discourage anyone from following their dreams but those two are not the best pirates I've ever seen, got too much heart you see, too romantic for their own good! ... but I arrived in town here at the same time as a shipment of this massive diamond. Just my luck. A young lady here in George Town by the name Anastasia Turgenev is due to be married in a few weeks. Pretty little blonde Prussian thing. So I says to myself, what does a pretty thing like that need a great big diamond for when she's already so beautiful. Might be overkill when she eventually meets her husband to be if you know what I mean. Imagine that great big rock strung round her neck, weighing her down and taking all the attention away from her pretty face. See, it's her husband to be what sent it as a gift so she couldn't refuse them even if she wanted to. So I thought to myself, Jack Sparrow might be able to help out the pretty Prussian lass by nicking the diamond from right under her nose. That way, when her husband to be shows up to meet her for the very first time it'll be her that's impressing him and not the rock. Shame it didn't work. Now I'm stuck here with you love. Imagine that though. Imagine knowing you are bound to marry someone your parents have chosen and you've never even met him. I think I'd take the stinking cell over the arranged marriage don't you love? Even to a man who sends a shipment of one massive diamond as a betrothal gift. Marriage, eh? Who'd have it? Love and marriage is where danger lurks I tell you. You're Irish; surely you've some kind of superstition that warns against falling in love? You should have listened to it love. You wouldn't be rotting away in here then."

I ignored all of Jack's rambling because if I'm honest he had a point and I didn't really want to dwell on the fact that a man who was three sheets to the wind already could strangely make complete sense and none at all at the same time. "The Turners aren't foolish enough to attempt a rescue mission. Their own lives are already at stake Jack."

I felt him shrugging beside me before he waved his hands around in the air. "Don't shoot the messenger love! Of course, you could always come with me when you get the chance, in that way you will save the fools a trip down into this pit. That Lieutenant's men will have no doubt notified him that I'm here. Old Norrington won't be able to resist sending for me for old time's sake."

I frowned in confusion. "You asked them not to tell him Jack."

"Exactly! They'll run right to him. All you have to do is tell them who you are love and we'll both be saved. You can tell old Norrington you're here to save his hide 'cause you love him and I'll be pardoned as I brought the two of you together again!"

"What?" I snarled as I scrambled away from him. "Where are you getting all these notions from Jack? I'm going nowhere! I'm here so that he's safe, so that Elizabeth and Will can have a future. I can't tell him the truth! I won't have him laughing at me or pitying me! I won't! I haven't spent god knows how many days here enduring my uncle's torrid treatment just to cut my losses because you've come along Jack Sparrow!"

"Tell me about your uncle then," he said conversationally. "Tell me all about it and I'll promise not to breathe a word of it to Norrington. I won't have to 'cause you'll be with me and you can tell him yourself."

I was shaking my head at him in confusion and bewilderment. How had he come to think he was my new confidant all of a sudden? He'd used me and almost gotten me killed in search of some treasure and now he thought we were the closest of friends. That was when I realised something. "That's what this is all about isn't it? That's what's in it for you! Treasure! How many times do I have to say it! I do not know where The Crown of Immortality is! And to think Jack, for a moment there I thought you were here to do the right thing! I thought you'd come to try and help me but you just want me alive to lead you to bloody treasure. Even if I did know where it was, you'd be the last person I'd tell!"

Jack rolled his eyes at me. "Well we all know that love. You'd tell old Norrington first! That's where your loyalties lie now! You know, for a pirate you're an incredibly loyal little Irish rover. Norrington had no idea what he was throwing away!"

"Speaking of loyalties," I suddenly cried as I turned to fully face him for the first time. "I'd like to remind you of yours. I'll tell you about my uncle Jack, and I'll tell you how you must protect Elizabeth and Will from him at all costs. My uncle seems to have agreed to my bargain that my death absolves the Turners, governor Swann and James Norrington of any guilt. They will be free. I do not trust my uncle for reasons you will shortly find out. I want you to uphold my bargain after I'm gone. Protect them. I dare say Admiral Norrington can look after himself well enough now he's admiral of the fleet and his letters are already on their way to his king but look to Elizabeth and Will. Make sure they're free."

"Is that why you're doing this love? So that Norrington makes admiral? You want to find yourself a man what has no ambition love! Safer all round for you both it would be! But then, I don't suppose you can help who you fall in love with, can you? Not you Irish, who jump into every bleeding thing with both feet! Come to think of it love, how did you know he'd been made admiral? I was told that only happened a few days after you high tailed it off with your new betrothed?"

"Never you mind how I know he's made admiral. It's not overly difficult to figure out is it jack? These things always require payment of some kind. Apparently this time the required payment is my life. The seventeenth of the month has been scheduled for my hanging, or at least so the soldier who brought me food yesterday told me. I Don't know if that's true and if it is I couldn't tell you when the seventeenth is. I seem to have lost track of everything down here apart from the reason I'm doing all of this in the first place. You can't tell him Jack! On your honour as a pirate I forbid you tell James Norrington my reasons for doing any of this! He cannot know. I won't have him laughing at me or pitying me! I'd rather that he thought ill of me than sorry for me! I won't have my plan crumbling around my ears. So much more is at stake than my miserable old life. I know that despite your apparent lack of interest, you do genuinely have a care for Will and Elizabeth. My being here absolves them of guilt for a time at least until you see fit to drag them into another one of your schemes."

"On my honour as a pirate," Jack confirmed solemnly. "Honestly though love, do you really think old Norrington would listen to anything I had to say anyway, even if it was about you? Go on then, tell me all there is to know about your uncle. Tell me how I might ensure that our friends are safe?"

In the next chapter we see just how persuasive Jack Sparrow thinks he can be when it comes to James Norrington!