As much as Jack would have liked her to, Ash did not spend her time healing in bed. Still, he would not allow her up unsupervised, and sat near her in the galley while she made herbal supplies. His concern was both sweet and annoying.

"We're going to need a lot of nets, and lines," Ash said as she walked through the supply room.

"Would you please stop your pacing and sit down?" Jack wanted to know.

"I want us to be ready to move as soon as you'll allow it," Ash responded, "So I need to make sure we have everything we could possibly need."

The only thing holding them on the ship, of course, was the fact that the cut in her side was not entirely healed. Jack didn't want her traipsing through the jungles up and down hills and a mountain until it was gone, never mind her protests that she was fine.

"And you guys really don't have to come with me," she added sourly.

"What, like we're just going to let you do this on your own? Not a chance. Could you?"

"If I was on my own, I'd still have to try. Who knows, maybe I'd even succeed. You'd be surprised how resourceful you get when you have no other choice."

Jack followed her back to the galley, where she started to put together a pack to take on land. She filled it with food that would keep on the road and didn't need cooking, as well as a bar of soap, nets and ropes, and various wizardy things that Jack couldn't identify. Over the next few days, she began to fill smaller bags with food, nets and ropes, making enough bags so that each crew member had one.

Ash's hands healed first, which made sense because they were merely skinned raw. When she stopped spreading a healing, cooling gel on them that she'd made and the bandages weren't in place anymore, Jack knew it was only a matter of time before the cut in her side healed and they would have to be on their way. It already shrunk day by day. Soon after her hands were back to normal, the cut skin on her side knitted itself back together. The next morning, Ash nearly danced with anxiety as she made breakfast for the crew.

"Savor this meal lads, it will be the last hot one for a while," Jack announced somewhat reluctantly.

All movement stopped. Ash looked over at him, the expression on her face a mix of hope and disbelief. Slowly, a smile spread across her face.

"Really?" she asked.

"Aye," Jack answered, forcing a smile onto his face.

He felt sick. He didn't want to allow this. But he knew the longer he delayed, the more likely it was that Ash would tell him sod his authority and go do what she had to do on her own, which he wanted even less. He had never seen her eat so quickly. When she gulped down all her food, she went around passing out the packs she'd put together to the crew, even he got one.

"I don't suppose you know exactly where his lair is?" Ash queried as they stood on deck, looking out at the island before them.

"Aye. Top of that mountain," Jack pointed, "That big rock that looks like a skull is actually an enormous hollowed out cave."

Ash tilted her head to one side as she looked at the skull rock on top of the huge distant mountain, a grimace of distaste on her pale face.

"It's a very... classic location for one such as Roger."

Jack chuckled. He knew by "classic" she meant "unoriginal".

"You're disappointed by his choice of abode? Where did you expect him to settle? A grand palace?"

"No. I expected it would look something like this. That's why I'm disappointed. One of these days, I'm going to be wrong about something, and it will surprise me so much that I'll probably have a stroke and die."

Her dark, sarcastic sense of humor had lost it's effect since her fight with Roger, Jack realized. Before, he would have at least chuckled at that statement. But not now. Not since he was filled with a fear like ice that he would lose her. As tough and fiery as she was, she was only human. Still concerned about her, he snatched her pack from her once they had all climbed down off the ship.

"Hey!" Ash protested, grabbing for the netted bag.

Jack held it up over his head, so not even if she jumped could she reach it. She tried that, actually. He found it to be rather adorable.

"You're newly healed from your near trip to the land of the dead," Jack told her frankly, "I can carry this until we get to our destination."

"You have your own bag to carry."

"I can handle two. Now, lead the way, oh great and powerful wizardess."

Ash pouted at him. Jack thought she probably expected it was a scowl, and she looked ferocious and terrifying. But it was a pout, and it was incredibly cute.

"I will bite you," she threatened ominously, turning away and walking off.

"Do you promise?" Jack called, grinning widely.

He was pointedly ignored.

The beach they had docked on led sharply into a jungle landscape. The very air around them turned hotter and muggy, the moisture in the air weighing them down like a physical force. Unable to take it for long, Jack removed his coat and hat, stuffing them into his pack. The entire crew was sweating bullets. The only one among them that seemed to be perfectly fine was Ash. The small woman was ahead of them all, surging along as if she was light as a feather. Then again, she was the smallest out of all of them, so in a way she was the feather. Huffing as he pulled up beside her, Jack forced a water bottle into her hand and ordered her to drink. To his surprise, she did. The rest of them had been gulping water like fishes, but he hadn't seen her take a drink for hours, almost as if she had forgotten about it.

"How are you managing this blasted wet heat?" Jack wanted to know.

She looked up at him, surprised.

"Are you kidding? I love this kind of weather. I'd take heat over cold any day."

"The muggy heat?"

Ash shrugged.

"It doesn't bother me."

Jack shook his head, amazed.

"Something is off though," Ash continued, looking around.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I'd have thought we'd have run into a zombie or two before now. But nothing. It's starting to set my teeth on edge."

Jack paled, looking around suspiciously. He was starting to learn that whatever disturbed her boded ill for all of them. But nothing happened, and even Jack began to feel the strange energy growing. It spread to the rest of the crew, who started to show signs of restlessness, though Ash and Jack kept it hidden inside them.

"I'd druther we be jumped," Carver said wearily.

"Aye," the crew chorused in agreement.

Ash smirked and shook her head, amused in spite of the unpleasant off feeling inside her.

And then they reached the waterfall.

It gushed over the side of a cliff in a beautiful column, which formed a rippling, shimmering pool before turning into a placid stream. They all set down their packs with grateful sighs, sitting down and taking the weight off their feet. They ate, drank, and refilled their water flasks. Then Ash started to remove her clothes. The crew made panicked faces and immediately looked away, but Jack wasn't happy about this development anyway.

"Are you crazy?" he hissed, stomping over to her.

"I prefer charmingly eccentric," Ash responded mildly, "Leave me alone, I'm hot and sweaty. The water is cool and clean, I want to be clean too."

"You're just going to let a bunch of men see you naked?"

"I don't care if they see me naked Jack, I want to get clean. Besides, they aren't looking now, are they?"

Jack turned to look at them, puzzled when he saw she was right.

"Well no. Which is odd, because usually they'd never pass up such an opportunity."

"I could say the same of you."

Jack looked back at her.

"What?"

"When I had my little bath on the beach, before the fight with Roger. You were staring at me. Openly and unabashedly. So since you've seen me naked already, feel free to keep staring."

With that, she jumped into the water, splashing him in the process and getting him soaked. Jack sighed.

"I'm having a bad influence on you," he said ruefully.

"Which before I'm certain you would have said was a good influence. Come on Jack, am I not attractive? Be honest, usually you'd be thrilled to have a woman running around naked in front of you."

Jack frowned. That was true. So why was this so disturbing to him now? He did like what he saw, after all.

"You don't make any sense," he replied petulantly.

Ash laughed, the sound was clear and beautiful, like a bell ringing out.

"I'm making too much sense for you to comprehend," she responded, and he could still hear the laugh in her tone.

"Did you just call me stupid?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"Would I do that?"

Frustrated, Jack threw up his hands and stomped off to sit with the rest of the crew.

"Why aren't any of you any help?" he demanded, not really expecting an answer.

They exchanged glances with each other, before looking back at him.

"What, exactly, would you like us to do, captain?" Gunnar asked carefully.

"I don't know. Be useful. Why aren't you staring at her?"

They made uncomfortable grimaces and shifted uneasily, suddenly interested in looking anywhere but him.

"Wait. So there is a reason. Come on, out with it. This is unnatural. Men don't just not stare at a beautiful naked woman. Not men like us anyway."

"She's terrifying," Andrew said in a low voice.

Jack looked at him, surprised. That tiny woman scared them?

"She wrote strange symbols on the deck in her own blood," Carver explained.

"She obliterated an undead monster that no one else could deal with, he even had you runnin' scared, cap'n," Gunnar added.

"Not to mention she's a right devil with that rifle of hers," Gibbs put in, "No one is gonna risk their skins to look at her naked. No one will touch her, she'd probably flay 'em living."

"Besides, we all know ye are fond of her," Gunnar said.

"And she is of you, even if she won't say it out loud," Jahir revealed in his deep rumble.

Jack stared around at them all, stunned. Fear mixed with healthy respect and honor among thieves. That's what it came down to. Still, he couldn't say they didn't have a point. Even he risked being punched if he wanted to kiss her. She probably would skin them alive if they tried something with her.

Ash finished cleaning herself off and re dressed, then they all headed off again. They reached the mountain in a couple hours, and were at the top entering the skull cave as the sun set. That ominous feeling Ash had been feeling all day was ten times stronger now. Perhaps it was because the sun had set. Perhaps it was because all noise of the jungle and the animals that lived in it was cut off in here. There was only silence, and the increasing darkness. She stepped carefully further into the cave, when something made her pause. Then, without warning, she spun in a half circle on her heel. Just in time. The zombie that had launched itself at her from the shadows missed her by inches. As she turned to complete the circle turn, her left leg came up, catching the zombie in the side and knocking him to the other side of the cave. The crew stared at her. Ash stared back, stunned for an instant.

"Well, tie him down!" she shouted.

Some of the crew raced to do as she said, while the other half started lighting lanterns they found in their packs. They froze when sounds of footsteps reached their ears. Many footsteps. The crew formed a line, grabbing nets and lines hastily. They were coming. All the zombies Roger made were slowly converging on their location.

"Well, this is convenient," Ash said cheerily.

Jack stared at her. She was happy about this? Seeing his look, she explained.

"Well, we'd have to spend who knows how long hunting for them through the jungle otherwise. It's considerate of the universe to gather them all here in one neat little spot for me. Finally, I get a break."

Charmingly eccentric his foot, Jack decided she was insane.

"Do not try to kill them, they won't die," Ash told the crew, raising her voice and projecting it so everyone heard her, "Restrain them in any way you can. Hold them back while I find the bottles with their souls in them. Hopefully they'll stop attacking once I deal with that side of things."

"Hopefully?" Jack echoed.

"Um, yeah. I don't exactly know how to restore their souls to their bodies. Do I just smash the bottles and hope they get to the right place? Or is there something else involved? I don't know. I've never done this before. I don't know of any other way, so I'm just going to have to improvise and hope for the best."

"You didn't mention that on the ship," Jack said crossly.

"Well, no. You'd never have made the trip, and wouldn't have let me come either. So umm... sorry, but I'm not sorry."

With that, she turned and ran off into the maze of tunnels that made up the cave.

"ASH!" Jack yelled, infuriated.

But she didn't answer, and they were alone with vicious zombies who wanted to kill them. Ash ran in the darkness, her heart pounding in terror. Not for the first time since joining Jack's crew, she felt like she was in way over her head. Yet there was no other choice but to go through with things. She was a wizard, she was going to make this right even if it killed her. Ducking down another stone passageway, she ran straight until coming into a dimly lit stone room. It wasn't lit by the light of candles or lanterns, but the soft glow of dozens of little lights in glass bottles.

She wanted to run right over to them and start smashing things, but who knew what traps Roger might have put in place. Taking a coin out of her pocket, she flipped it into the air. It spun end over end, catching the light and sparkling as it fell. The sound of it hitting the stone floor was deafening. Ash waited. Nothing. No poisoned darts shooting out from the walls, no floor caving away to a pit of molten lava, no spectral guard appearing to challenge her. Ash ran across the room to the bottles, grabbing one and throwing it down on the floor. The glass smashed to bits, and the light inside zoomed out of the room. She counted every bottle that she smashed, and kept the number in her head as she ran back to the main room, noting that the number of bottles matched the number of zombies. The crew had subdued the zombies, who were now back to their normal human state. And they were groaning in pain. The poison was now affecting their systems.

"Jack, toss me my bag!" she shouted, running to the closest man and kneeling beside him.

She caught the netted bag one handed and rummaged through it, drawing out the antidote she had made in the galley ahead of time. Still, she hadn't counted on this many patients, and hoped she had enough. Measuring out the proper dose, Ash forced the antidote down the man's throat. Then she moved onto the next one. And the next. Once they all had the antidote, they settled down, no longer writhing and groaning in agony. But her work wasn't done yet. Many of them had physical injures on top of that from old wounds, old foes that had tried to kill the unkillable.

For those that didn't have physical injures, Ash ordered them to be released from their restraints. They were allowed to sit up and given food and water. As for the rest, Ash went from person to person, doing what she could with what she had. Hours passed, and she was still working on their injuries. The sun had long set, and now there was only lantern light.

"Ash, you need to sleep," Jack said, concerned.

Half the crew had already taken to snoozing on the stone floor, and some of the recently saved victims as well.

"No," she said grimly.

Jack sighed. He knew that tone. It was the one that tolerated no arguments. Nothing he said would change her mind, not now that it was made up.

"At least eat this, and drink some water," he wheedled, holding out some food and a water flask.

Ash nodded and took the food, scarfing it down without a word, then swigging deeply from the water flask. After only a few minutes of her eating break, she went back to helping the victims. Jack tried to stay awake, to keep an eye on her. He really did. But as the minutes slipped past, he started to get more and more sleepy. His eyelids closed, jerked open, then slowly closed again. When he woke, it was because there was sun in his eyes.

The first thing he saw was Ash sitting in the middle of the cave, surrounded by the patients she'd been tending. She looked worn out, but her eyes were still open and had a fierce, determined light in them. Jack got up and went to sit near her, offering her more food and the water flask. He was willing to bet good money she hadn't had anything since late the night before, when he forced her to take it. When she got focused on something, she ignored absolutely everything else, even her own needs. She took what he offered without a word and ate mechanically, then swallowed some water. Then more, once her body realized how thirsty it was.

"So? How is everything?" Jack wanted to know.

A small, smug smirk tugged at her pink lips.

"I saved them," she stated, "All of them."

Looking around at the sleeping former zombies, Jack was impressed. Some of them had been wounded in a way he didn't expect them to survive. He should have known his stubborn wizardess wouldn't allow any deaths when she could stop it.

"It will be a long, slow way back to the ship," Ash added, "They're still healing. But I want to get out of here. This place... I can't explain it except to say I don't like the energy here."

"For once, I agree with you."

"And the extra mouths to feed will be a fast drain on our remaining supplies on the ship. So we'll need to make for Tortuga as fast as the ship can go."

"We'll be fine," Jack assured her.

Ash nodded, accepting his assessment without comment. She suspected she hadn't yet seen exactly how fast the Black Pearl could travel, but she was about to. However, they had to get there first. After everyone woke and ate a quick breakfast, they were on their way. Miraculously, all of the men she'd saved were able to walk, but progress was slowed significantly compared to the trip the day before. When they reached the waterfall, their rest stop was longer as well. Ash bathed once more after she'd eaten with the rest and checked on the wounds of the would be victims, water flasks were refilled, and then they were off again. They didn't reach the ship until well after sunset.

It took some time to settle the new crew men into places to sleep and rest, and once that was seen to, the final meal of the day was passed around. She was glad she'd brought enough road food with them to accommodate both the original crew and the extras, because she didn't feel like cooking. It was late, and she was exhausted. Her bones felt like lead. Her hammock called to her, more alluring than the siren's song ever had been. She didn't even remove her clothes. She just fell into her hammock, pulled the blanket over her, and slept like a dead woman. It felt like she had slept for only seconds before someone was shaking her awake. Groaning and opening her eyes a bare slit, she saw Jack standing above her.

"Ash, it's time to eat."

She wanted to sleep. Not get up and cook. Grimacing and summoning every ounce of her will power, she sat up and got to her feet. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done. Harder than fighting Jolly Roger. Following Jack to the galley, she found everyone already there and eating. Surprised, she looked at Jack.

"Jahir and I put our heads together," he admitted, "Here, come have some breakfast."

Warily, Ash peered at the food they'd prepared. But to her immense relief, it had actually turned out half decent. After she'd eaten, she gathered her supplies and went around to check on the wounded. As the weeks went on, they healed very well under her care. Many of them had been close to starvation as well, so she made extra food for them, and worried at the dwindling supplies. But Jack was true to his word. He knew his ship and how fast it could go. Leaning over the rail one day, Ash saw the water speeding past and whistled, impressed.

"Son of a biscuit eater!"

They practically flew to their destination. They made the trip in half the time it would have taken normally. All of the wounded thanked her profusely for saving their lives as they departed. Embarrassed, Ash only smiled and said it was nothing. But Jack knew better. It was not nothing. It cost her in ways they would never know or understand. He had been in a state of heightened anxiety ever since Tortuga came into sight. Now that they were docked and their passengers were leaving, it was at it's worst. When he saw Ash step up on deck with her netted pack slung over one shoulder, he knew his time was up.

"Well," she said as she faced him, "Take better care of yourself, will you? Try not to do anything stupid."

"No promises," he replied, "It's a pirate's life for me."

Ash smiled a forced, strained smile, then turned away. Jack cursed under his breath. He couldn't let this happen.

"Wait," he said, the word leaving his lips in a rush, too fast to stop.

Ash halted in her tracks and turned to face him, her head cocked to one side in curiosity.

"Don't go."

Her brows furrowed.

"I don't have any reason to stay."

He took a deep breath.

"I love you."

Her pink lips parted, and her eyebrows rose oh so slightly. Then her surprised expression crumpled. Her brows furrowed again, and her lips formed a frown. Inside, she was panicking. What could she say? She hadn't been expecting this. She didn't know what she felt. She couldn't lie and say it back. The truth then.

"Jack... I don't think I know what love is."

He took a tentative step closer to her.

"Then stay," he pleaded, "Let me show you."

She hesitated for the longest moment, her eyes searching his. Then, she came to a decision, and took a deep breath.

"Okay..."

Author's Note: How would you feel about some mature content? If nah, speak now or forever hold your peace, 'cause I'm leaning towards yes.