A/N: YIKES! Wow, SO very sorry for the long wait on this update, everyone. With school starting, it's been pretty hectic. Besides that, my muse temporarily ran away, leaving me no hints to any of the character's personalities until I watched PotC again. So, that said, here's the next chappie up!

 "Don't tell me, Jack," Will interrupted.

"Another island?" Elizabeth sighed.

"Aye," Jack said in reply to them both with a frown. Well, at least it hadn't been that same one. He was starting to hate islands.

"I wonder," Will mused, " is three times some sort of record?"

"Ah yes," Elizabeth dictated, "The infamous Jack Sparrow-"

"Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow, darlin'."

"The infamous Captain Jack Sparrow," she corrected, "he who holds the record for most occasions marooned upon a lone island."

"Ah, but shouldn't escape be included in there?" Jack reminded.

"Of course. And however did you escape this time? I suppose a considerable amount of rum was involved?"

"Yes, how did you escape, Jack?" Will also questioned. Perhaps, by some miracle, they would receive an honest response.

The pirate grinned, showing off his gold-capped teeth in a particularly devilish way, and attempted to hoist himself up a bit. "Well, you see…" he began in an utmost serious tone, usual air intact, and would have sat up the rest of the way if it wouldn't have caused him unnecessary pain. If only Jill hadn't taken out that thread she'd closed his wound with; then it wouldn't have had to be cauterized, although, in all likelihood, there would have had to have been something wrong with the cord if she'd left it in. "This time, I swam out to sea almost the moment those ships turned their backs on me, third bloody time, and stayed there in that water for hours before a shark finally came swimmin' by. Then I punched him hard on the nose… with me right arm o' course. Then we both had a nice calm ride to the next dock, currents allowing of course. Wonderfully useful sharks can be once they know you're the captain, eh?" he finished, with an over exaggerated pointed motion of his right arm.

Will nodded, appearing just as serious as Jack when he'd started the tale, but Elizabeth appeared about as disbelieving as if he'd told her he was really her father reincarnated… fifty years in the past.

Finally, Will spoke up, breaking the silence that followed. "How did you keep it from going under?"

"Well that's where the really very interesting part comes in. I ripped off one of me favorite hair-pieces, bloody terrible that was, and used it like reins, pulling up whenever it tried to surface."

"I don't see any hair missing," Elizabeth stated matter-of-factly.

"How could you tell?" Will was watching Jack's hair now as if it would pop up and devour one of them whole at any moment, one eyebrow raised. It truly would be impossible. Jack looked at him a moment, not really offended but more… offset, and turned away, back towards the dear Miss Elizabeth, who was scowling just a little. None of it was really all that serious, but still, it felt better to outsmart than to be outsmarted.

"There is still no possible way in which you might have accomplished that, Jack," she continued, refusing to surrender.

"But you weren't there, were you luv? And I'm a pirate, besides. And pirates… don't lie, at least, not much," Jack grinned in response, ignoring both Will and Elizabeth's disbelieving looks. Had they ever had one accord with a pirate in whom a man's word had not been kept? Even Barbosa had kept his word, mangy as he was… to a point at least.

"Sounds as if you've done so at least once or twice to your sister," Will interrupted, changing the subject just enough to keep Jack and his wife from a so-called "battle of the minds". Besides that, pirates were known for being lying scoundrels, and if that tale Jack had of the Pearl's latest abduction was even half-right, then the sister of the man certainly seemed to think so too. But then again, if that tale was to be trust, Jack's sister wasn't in the right mind.

"Ah yes. My twin sister, actually. Lovely girl. Looks just like me, and 's just as brilliant. Crazy as a loon, though." He really was frowning now. How could things have gone so wrong with her?

"But… Jack, what does all of this have to do with us?" Elizabeth asked, knowing very well what it had to do with them as her and the one she would spend the rest of her life with exchanged glances.

"Well, you see," he started, picking up his right arm to sway in sync with his words. "That's really why I came here, really. As I'm a bit short on me list of allies at the moment, I could really use some help." Elizabeth sighed, eyes momentarily downcast. That was what she'd been afraid of.

"We have to help him, Elizabeth," Will said the moment the door was shut on their own bedroom. The nursery was directly across from them, for obvious reasons, and Jack right down the hall. Oh, they had to do something with Jack soon. Only an hour or so after he'd shown up at Will's door and been managed into the house, they'd been questioned on whether either of them had seen him or had had any contact with his person. He'd been spotted, not having been at the peak of his stealth.

On top of that, Elizabeth's father was not going to stay away forever, was expected, in fact, only three short days hence, and the servants were becoming suspicious of the mysterious man in one of their guest bedrooms. A lie that he was an ill uncle of Will's was not going to hold up for long. It was pure luck that had kept him safe so far, and pure luck that had arranged it so that Jack would arrive precisely when the Governor was out.

"We've just had a child, Will! We haven't even named her yet. How can we just leave her like this?" she argued, although whether it was more with him or herself, she didn't know.

"We owe him a hundred times over, and a hundred after that! We can't just leave him after he comes to us for help. You know that."

"I- oh, we couldn't his sister have stayed in the New World?" she muttered, not expecting an answer. Will was holding her now, her leaning back into his welcoming hold, and it was all that was keeping her from a breakdown of some sort. This was her child, her only child!

 But this was also Jack Sparrow. "I suppose we really do owe him a great debt, don't we, Will?"

"And he us," the blacksmith agreed, head situated comfortably beside hers.

"What are we going to do about the baby?"  Elizabeth Turner really had no urge to leave her newborn; the very thought of it chilled her to the bone. Slowly, she turned in her beloved's grasp, looking deep into his eyes. "I-I'm not sure if I can leave her yet, Will."

He smiled, trying his best to cheer her up. "I know, but it's Jack, Elizabeth. With his inane insanity and brand of luck, we should be back in less than a week."

"You're probably right," she sighed, not able to suppress a smile of her own. Reluctantly, she drew back. "I suppose I'll inform one of my maids that she is to watch her for a day or so before Father returns, and he'll hire a fine nurse."

"It sounds perfect." With a loving kiss, the two finally parted, and the mother changed out of that dress she readily despised, as it too had to come equipped with that wonderful thing that was called a corset, and changed to a nightgown before leaving the room, going to feed that darling infant of hers who was now screaming for dinner.