Talia was correct--in a little over an hour, they arrived at the port of the strange little island that turned out, to the captain's utter dismay and simultaneous suspect, to have no plunder whatsoever. After returning to the ship for a few minutes, she poked Asher in the arm and told him to watch the crew for her while she was gone. Obviously, he obliged, then she headed back into the town to sit in the tavern and drink her own rum (Why trust bartenders that you don't know and could poison you? Talia was incredibly paranoid sometimes--but mostly just violent).

Just as she had settled into her seat, she heard an oddly familiar voice, who's owner she couldn't quite place. As she looked up from the surface of the table, she saw 'that malignant twit, Drew.' She blinked, at first thinking that perhaps the person just looked stunningly like that crazy man, but the more she looked at him, the more she realized that he looked identical, and it was unlikely that he had an identical twin, or something. Fortunately, she hadn't heard his voice talking to her--he had been talking to someone else, so she sunk her head lower to the table and watched him, slowly drinking her own rum (Paranoid today, aren't we?).

The sinking didn't help. Soon, he noticed her and gleefully smiled, almost bounding over to her in an embarrassing way. She hit the table with her forehead, suddenly too tired to hold up her head.

"Talia!"

Drew was greeted with Talia spitting out her rum in his face. Most people would have been disgusted at this, but Drew just sort of smiled and ignored it. Her jaw dropped and she stared at him in complete and total disbelief.

"What a pleasant coincidence, seeing you here!"

"Yeah…real pleasant."

He looked around for a moment, then sat down next to her, looking content. "So, I think this is a perfect time for us to get to know each other better, don't you think?" She couldn't believe her ears. Who did this guy think he was? Who did he think she was?? She was beginning to understand why Sarah hated him with such a focused passion.

"Why, yes, I do think this is a perfect time for us to get to know each other. You're sitting in this bar, at this table, and I'm leaving." She stood up and moved toward the door. What point was there in talking to a man who had no clue what he was getting himself into? He watched her for several seconds, then stood up and went after her.

"Talia--"

"Captain Frost."

"Why can't I call you Talia?"

"Because I said so, and that had better be a good enough answer for you, twerp." She turned to walk away, but the small protesting of her newly acquired admirer made her reluctantly turn around.

"Twerp is such a harsh word. I assure you, I am no twerp." She could do nothing but stare at him.

"Why yes, it is a harsh ward. And that's precisely why I'm using it." She brushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face in an agitated fashion. "Leave me alone."

She turned and began walking toward the docks, thankful that her painfully weird conversations was finally over. Unfortunately, she had only walked two or three steps before--

"You look beautiful today, Talia." She spun to her left; Drew was standing right next to her, smiling. She frowned, a little baffled. "Not that you don't look beautiful everyday, but you look especially beautiful today."

She dropped her hands on his shoulders, staring at him intently. "Drew, if someone told you to go away, far, far away, and never come back, what would you say? Tell me this."

"Mm, I'd ask why," He replied calmly. He seemed to be happy about Talia's hands on his shoulders.

"And if they told you it was because you were an, aptly named, 'malignant twit,' who has no idea what he's getting himself into and that it's incredibly aggravating that you follow them around, then what would you say?"

"Well, I'd probably keep following them until they gave me a better reason than insults."

"That's where you're wrong, my friends. When someone tells you to go away, you need to go away. I'm no ethics teacher, I'm a pirate, but at least I know this fact. Take heed." She hoped he wouldn't follow her again. She started to walk away but it didn't take long for him to pop back up next to her.

"Why don't you want to talk to me?"

She was getting frustrated. "This is what I mean! When someone tells you to go away, go away!!"

"Why?"

"To put it exactly as I said it, because you're an, aptly named, 'malignant twit,' who has no idea what he's getting himself into and it's incredibly aggravating that you follow me around! Don't you get it? I travel alone. All I have is me crew and me ship, and I'm happy with that. The only time I ever travel with someone is if I've made a deal, and even if you are a pirate, and, you do indeed say you are, aye?"

"Yes."

"Well, even if you are a pirate, I'm already traveling with Jack Sparrow, so just back off and get away from me."

Dreading what would happen soon after she began to walk, she sighed and put one food after another for a maximum of five seconds before Drew appeared again.

"You know you aren't making much sense, right?"

"DREW! If I stuck a fork in your eye, then pulled the fork out again, do you think the eye would come with it??" She was now no longer frustrated, just getting angrier by the minute. He didn't seem to understand just what kind of danger he was getting into. Drew, meanwhile, was thinking somewhat intently on her question.

"Hmm…I don't know, I've never tried it."

Talia grinned sadistically. "Let's find out."

"Let's not, actually. I think that'd be quite painful." Drew replied, his expression still horridly innocent--he didn't have any idea that she hated him now, honestly.

Sighing again, Talia slapped her own face. "Do you know what subtle means?" She asked, watching as his face changed from thoughtfully concerned to needlessly happy.

"Yes, I do! But I don't know how to explain it."

"Then take this subtle hint; go soak your head."

As she walked away for the fourth time, she heard him yell, "I don't' get it!!" She laughed and thanked God that she had finally lost him. Seven seconds later--

"Talia, yo--"

"GO AWAY!! I HAVE WALKED AWAY FROM YOU FOUR TIMES ALREADY!!" She was now getting dangerously close to exploding. What could possibly be wrong with this insanely obsessive and stalking fool? "Get out of my box! Out! Out of my box!!" She traced a box around her feet and pointed at it violently--Drew, consequently, had his toes inside her 'box.' He stepped back about a foot and looked at her expectantly.

"No, no, no, my box is the whole island! The whole thing! Get out of my BOX!! GO! Go in the water, drown, get eaten by sharks, I-do-not-care. GETOUTOFMYBOX!!"

Drew stared blankly for a second or two, then tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "You're upset today, aren't you?"

"AUGH!!" She threw her hands into the air, letting them fall and slap at her sides. She turned promptly and started to walk at a faster pace than usual. She wanted very badly to get away from him. Very badly.

"Talia, is there anything I can do?"

He was there again. At her right this time. She slowly turned, nerves snapping. She was had been pushed too far past the line to be calmed down--Drew really should have known better than to awaken her dangerous and ridiculously short temper, but he didn't, so now Talia was ready to self-destruct.

"Drew."

"Yes?"

She bared her teeth, grabbed Drew's collar, and dragged him swiftly into an almost completely empty alley (there were a few boxes here and there) between two buildings. She hoisted him off the ground and against the wall of one of the buildings. Instead of loud anger, her voice was full of somewhat quiet and intense fury that sometimes flared.

"Listen here, you macabre, enigmatic, despicable, wretched, scary man! I-want-you-to GOAWAY!! I can't count how many times in the last hour I've said that! Leave! Now!! You're creepy!! Creepy, creepy, creepy! I hope that this is sinking through your impenetrable skull! Creepy and stalking don't match! This is a very small and important fact, and I don't want you to EVER FORGET IT!! EVER! And I never want to see you ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER again!!"

"That seems to be a popular trend with me."

"I don't care! I don't care if licking toes is a popular trend with you! I don't care if admonishing stray goats is a popular trend with you! I just want you to leave me alone! Stop…stalking me! When I walked away the first time you should have taken the hint, but noooo, you have to follow me, driving me to the point of insanity!! I want to you stop popping up in my life! Pop out of my life, please!"

"You know, you have a very short temper."

"I don't care if I have a short temper!!! I can live with my short temper! My crew lives with my short temper, strangers live with my short temper! In fact, you're the only one who doesn't live with my short temper! So you know what--you'll die with my short temper!!"

With little dramatic flair and more channeled rage, she threw him onto the ground, pulled out a knife, and pointed it directly at his face from where she stood at his feet.

"So you ponder me warning, Drew, because if ye like your fingers, and I know ye do, ye'll be upset to wake up one morning without them."

She turned and walked to the end of the alley, to where she entered in the first place, then quickly turned and hurled the knife at Drew--it wedged itself into the ground just a hair away from his face, though it did graze his ear. She narrowed her eyes cruelly.

"And next time, I won't miss."

And with that, she turned on her heel and stomped back toward the Death Lily.

Drew, wide-eyed and breathless, as well as half deaf from the furious red-head's speech, slowly inched his head away from the knife and sat up. He turned from where he sat and pulled the dagger out of the dirt. Smiling after several second of shock, he pocketed the blade carefully and safely, then he stood and went on his way.

As all of this chaos happened, Sarah and the rest of the crew were back at the Death Lily, performing menial tasks. At the moment, Sarah was unpacking the bag she had meant to unpack at least a month ago.

While she scurried about her less-than-spacious quarters, she faintly heard someone enter her room.

"Sarah?" Jack asked, watching her stuff things away.

"See those things there?" She pointed to her bed, where there was a pile of possessions near her bag. He acknowledged that he saw the stuff. "Don't touch it."

Now, it was awkward for Jack, standing in the room, looking around blankly, while Sarah unpacked her bag. He thought about offering to help, but he knew that she would either reject him, finish just as he said it, or not reply at all. Finally, after the silence had gone on for a painfully long time, spoke.

"Have you ever kissed someone before?"

She slammed her hands on the box she had just finished emptying her sack into. Slowly turned around, she replied, "Uhh…what brought this up?"

"I'm just making conversation. It's not like you were making an effort." He shrugged. "So? Have you?"

"I don't have to answer that!"

"Oh, spoil sport. Just answer the question!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Ye--can we stop? I did this with Talia and it lasted around two minutes." Sarah went quiet, rolling her eyes and dusting off her hands with a touch of sarcasm. "So, just…answer the question. Please?" He grinned.

"Fine, fine." She held up her hands in protest. "No, I haven't."

"Ever wanted to?"

"Jack!"

"Well?"

"…Y-yes."

It was like an interrogation, which mad her feel uncomfortable--as if she wasn't already uncomfortable enough talking about this subject with Jack. Since her gut was telling her that he still had questions, she sat down on her bed and propped herself up with her elbows.

"Who?"

"Uncalled for. I veto your question." She replied, laughing a little. She really didn't want to tell him that. That wasn't his business.

"Oh! It's Mr. Gibbs, isn't it??" He exclaimed.

"WHAT!?" She cried, sitting rigid. "It's not Mr. Gibbs!!"

He grinned at her jokingly. "Okay, okay." He demoted his gaze from a grin to a smile. Seeming a reluctant to sit in the chair in the corner of the room, he stood near the door and with most of his weight on one foot. "Ever pretended?"

"Veto."

"Can't. Ye can only veto 'who' questions."

"Too bad." She crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue at him. "My turn. What about you? Have you ever kissed anybody?"

"Mm…not that I can recall. Maybe a whore or something…somewhere…" He took a random, short moment to take a look at the small hole that could be considered a window--but not really. It was still pretty cloudy out, but it didn't really look like rain. Not yet, at least.

"Wanted to?"

He paused. "…Yes." It was more of a confirmed sound, unlike Sarah's answer, which had sounded unsure. It hadn't been, but she hadn't wanted to say it, nonetheless.

"Who?"

"…I…think I'll veto."

"Pretended?"

"Yes, actually."

"Aaand who?"

"A definite…veto."

Sarah smiled. Jack smiled. They smiled and there was a reverent moment of peace and void of noise. Then she leaned back on her elbows and awaited Jack's next comment.

"My turn again. Of the person you want to kiss, do I know them?"

She was about to answer when she was abruptly hit in the stomach by her logical (and angry) side of her brain. Whether she was bored, or just plain lonely, she suddenly wasn't sure why she was calmly having this conversation with Jack.

She stood and, facing Jack, who looked terribly startled, began speaking. "You know, I just realized how incredibly illogical this is. Why would I talk to you about kissing people? That's crazy! I have no reason, you have no reason, a-and what gives you the right to ask me that?? What? And where did 'Mr. Gibbs' come from? Eh?? That was pretty strange!"

As she ranted on and on about the pointlessness of the previous questioning, Jack felt his thoughts move from weirdly distressed about her standing so unexpectedly to slowly wandering and his eyes began to wander, as well. She's really set on describing this in detail. He thought dumbly.

Finally, after around six minutes of blathering on her end, Jack sighed, stepped forward, close to Sarah, and clapped his hands on her shoulders.

"Sarah," He started. She stopped and stared at him, more surprised that he was suddenly standing so close to her, and she didn't even notice him come. "Shut up."

In a split second, it seemed, Jack leaned down and kissed Sarah, and all she could hear was the sound of silence. At very first, she wanted badly to scream, kick, even thrash in a painful manner, but that was only at first, then she gradually calmed down and closed her eyes. It started to rain lightly, drumming on the small window-thing.

But the moment didn't last long--nothing did. The creaking of the door broke the heavy stillness. It rapidly seemed important that she need to open her eyes, but she didn't--instead, she heard--

"Oh…my…sweet savior."

This was the point where Sarah's eyes bolted open and she broke away from Jack. In the doorway, stunned and smiling amusedly, was Talia. She slowly moved her hands so they rested on her hips.

Sarah's head whipped around so she could look at Jack, who was looking a little dazed, though he wasn't dazed at all. She seized him by the shirt and pulled him closer to her face.

"If I catch you so much as thinking about what just happened, I will personally relieve you of your kneecaps, ribcage, and jaw, savvy!?" He nodded tensely, then she released him a little forcefully and stormed out of the room.

Talia's entertained smile turned into a triumphant smirk. "Well, if that didn't prove you're in love with her, I don't think anything will." Jack sighed, watching Talia leave, please (and secretly irritated that a crew member on the Death Lily would have such relations with a man like Jack.).

As she stalked past the doors of rooms below deck, in eventuality, finding an empty one and taking a seat, Sarah began to viciously make an almost nonsensical oath, one that, if heard, would probably only make sense to her and her alone. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever again, NEVER! Not again, there's no way I'll put up with it again, no way, never ever! I'd rather die; I will die! I can't get my hopes up like that again, not for the pain, never evereverevereverever evereverevereverever!! NEVER!!

She would never let it happened again, but she hoped she wouldn't have to worry about it. After all, she couldn't be in love with Jack again--

Could she?