A/N: Yes I am still alive! I wasn't dragged off to a remote island and tortured! Blame my wonderful teachers giving me too much homework and varsity basketball. Well, maybe some procrastination was to blame as well. but anyway, I don't know if you're going to like this chapter, it took forever to get it to where I wanted it. In my head it just kinda spun out of control and took on a mind of its own. Well, here goes nadda!

^__^ ^__^ ^__^ ^__^ ^__^ ^__^

As the days wore on, there was an unspoken tension growing in the air. Jack spent most of the time attempting to mask the emotions daring to flood out of him. Anger, hurt, and betrayal seemed to slice through his chest like a knife. He couldn't remember feeling so melancholy and surly since he had been marooned by Barbossa.

~~** Well, actually, there was that time that you were stuck in that port in Singapore and couldn't find a whore that would take you in. Not even that fat wench with the nasty boil on her face**~~

Smirking slightly at the memory Jack rubbed the back of his neck absently. He was going to miss the whelp, much as he hated to admit it. Will was a good crewmember and a good friend as well. Most of the men onboard would miss him. Hell, Jack would dare to say that Annamaria would feel slightly remorseful at the loss of Mr. Turner. Turning around he saw the African woman snort in response to something Will said, and continued arguing with him, sometimes jabbing him with her finger.

~~**Yes, she will definitely miss him.**~~

Shaking his head, the captain looked the other way to see Ashley playing cards with a couple of the other men. She whooped and shouted as she laid down her hand, grabbing her winnings and dancing an odd form of a jig. Gibbs sullenly grabbed the brown flask that he always kept shoved in his pocket and mumbled something, obviously upset at losing to a woman.

Jack couldn't remember the last time his ship was so full of joy and life. Ever since that day when . . .

A lump formed in his throat and his mouth went suddenly dry. He had forgotten, the Black Pearl was sunk and rotting away at the bottom of the sea. and yet.. he was happy?

~~**That's not right**~~ He decided silently.

Angry, he gritted his teeth and bellowed for Annamaria to come forward. Reluctantly she headed to where Jack was and took over maintaining the ship's course. Without a word to anyone, he headed to his cabin, jamming his hat over his eyes and shutting the door behind him. Falling to the ground, he leaned against a desk and felt around for the nearest rum bottle. When he found one halfway full, Jack drank deeply and closed his eyes.

The last thing he remembered was apologizing to his once beloved ship, before drifting into a dreamless slumber.

~~**~~

"Jack . . ." Ashley was leaning over the unconscious captain, poking him with her index finger repeatedly.

"Ung . . . go away Scarlet, yeh've got a rash . . ."

"Jack . . . I'm not Scarlet . . . wake up." Slightly raising her voice, she poked him harder and refused to stop.

"Huh?" Jack blinked his eyes open slowly. Not registering what he saw, he took his hand and pressed it up against Ashley's face.

"Yer not Scarlet."

Slapping his hand away from her face, Ashley rolled her eyes and sat down in front of him.

"Get yer lazy arse up, Will's leavin' soon."

"Whassat?" Jack asked, pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose groaning.

"William Turner." She pronounced every syllable slowly and rather loudly.

"Leavin'? Now?"

"Yeah. I figured yeh might have wanted to say something 'fore he left."

In silent thanks, Jack nodded his head and stood up. Wobbling slightly, he made his way to the door and hesitated when his fingers ghosted over the knob.

"Yeh gonna go? Or do yeh prefer to sit 'ere an' sulk?"

Mumbling obscenities, Jack decidedly swung open his door and stepped onto the deck.

~~**~~ Will carried only a small satchel, slung over his shoulder, as he headed towards the ship's edge. His stomach was twisting in apprehensive knots, and he had to force his legs to move him across the deck instead of running into the nearest corner and hiding. While he wasn't sure exactly what he was afraid of he guessed it most likely involved with disappointing Jack.

Jack.

Will suddenly realized that that he hadn't said goodbye yet. In fact, he wasn't even on deck.

~~**Have I really made him that mad?**~~ Will wondered.

Well, he sure as hell couldn't back out now. He had already made the ship change its entire course. And while the pirates were not going to complain about going to Tortuga, they would complain if they were constantly having to cater to his every whim.

~~**No. Piss on Jack if he doesn't want to say goodbye. I'm leaving and that's that.**~~

"See if I care." Will quietly whispered to himself.

"See if who cares?" A voice questioned from behind him.

Spinning around quickly, Will eyes met a pair of brown seductive ones. But in the process of turning around his bag had swung wildly around and hit Jack squarely in the nose.

"Ah! Watch what you're doing, whelp."

"Sorry! Are you all right Jack?" Trying to help the older man, Will moved his hands to Jack's injured nose. Jack swatted away his hand and began to gently prod his nose. Satisfied that it wasn't broken the pirate captain cleared his throat and shuffled his feet.

"So. I guess it's almost time then."

"Yes, I suppose it is."

The two men were silent then , and didn't make eye contact. Will's eyes remained focused on the ground, and Jack's remained skyward, wandering around occasionally.

"Jack, I."

"Captain." He absently reminded the younger man.

"Captain Jack. I just wanted to thank you. For everything."

"Yer welcome."

Before either could say anything more, Annamaria appeared behind Jack.

"Boy! We're here. Yeh better get in a boat an' start rowing 'fore the crew gets too restless."

Without speaking, Will nodded and started to leave.

"Will!"

Raising his eyebrows, he faced Jack again.

". Say hello to Commodore Norrington for me."

He chuckled slightly and nodded. Walking over to the small boat that was prepared for him, Will climbed in and placed his bag beside him. As he was lowered into the dark water, he never looked away from Jack's eyes until the wood hit water.

It was that last time he ever saw the ship, sailing away, lost to the night.

~~**~~

The moment Will was out of sight, Jack's nose began to bleed profusely. It was dripping down his face and into his hands. Annamaria was laughing hysterically as he tried to plug up his nostrils with anything he could find. He even tried sticking old rum corks up them.

"Try standing upside down and suck on this potato." Gibbs had suggested.

"Shub ub Gibbs!" Jack groaned, his bloody nose hindering his speech. Deciding that his crew was getting on his nerves, because they refused to stop laughing, Jack stormed back to his cabin.

"Dabbit! When's ib gonna stob!"

"You really shouldn't talk with your mouth full."

"Oh bo.. Not yeh. Go abay."

Ashley was lying face up on his bed with her hands behind her head. Opening her eyes slowly she smirked at him until she saw the blood coating his face.

"Bleedin' Christ! What did yeh do?"

"Nubbin!"

"Well it don't look like nothin'! C'mere and lemme see."

"Bo!"

"Yes!"

When he made no move to get closer to her she stood up and advanced towards him.

"Just lemme see it for one bloody second."

"BO!"

At the moment she lunged, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards her. Struggling to get away, he whacked her repeatedly, cursing her nonstop.

"Shut up yeh baby!"

And saying that she gave him a hard smack across the face.

"OW!!! What in the bloody hell is yer problem!"

Stopping suddenly, he noticed that there were no longer two waterfalls of blood dripping down his chin. He put the back of his hand to his nose, and his eyes widened when all that he saw was crusted blood.

"It stopped."

"Exactly."

Not sure what he should say, Jack settled for extending his hand in thanks. She shook it and then pulled him to the opposite end of the room.

"Now, let's stop sulkin' and play a game!"

"What kind of game?" Jack asked suspiciously.

Thrusting two rum bottles in the air she smiled and replied,

"A fun one! Now sit down and let me explain . . ."

~~**~~

Apparently Ashley's 'game' was to get drunk. Very drunk. So drunk that both would be able to answer any question no matter how personal it might be. After they each had finished a bottle they got to ask the other a question. At first, the questions were fairly mild, but that had quickly changed after the third bottle.

"ALL RIGHT!" Jack shouted, falling off of the bed and landing in a heap at the bottom. Ashley snorted loudly and started giggling, the pirate hat she was wearing awkwardly hanging off of her head.

"BOO!" Reappearing beside her, Jack was on his knees, his chin resting on the side of the bed. Ashley screamed and picked up a pillow, whacking Jack on his head over and over again.

"Sh! Stop! I's yer turn!"

"Really? Umm. Oh.I know!" Straightening her hat, Ashley put on a serious face and leaned in close to Jack's face.

"Why did yeh rescue me?"

Pausing, Jack put his finger to his lips, deep in thought. After a few moments, he smiled and replied,

"I thought yeh might have something valuable on yeh."

"That's horrible!" Ashley screeched, hitting him again with the pillow.

"Ah! Don't hit me rum!" Protectively shielding the bottle with his body Jack finished the entire thing in one gulp.

"My turn!" He declared loudly. In response, Ashley pouted and sat back down.

"Fine.ask away."

"What 'appened that night that I can't seem to remember properly. Yeh know, I think it had something to do with the crow's nest."

Crossing her eyes, Ashley cocked her head slightly and lost herself, deep in thought. Staring intently at her, Jack waited patiently in silence.

"OH!" Shrieking loudly enough to rouse the dead Ashley grabbed Jack's shoulder's and began to shake him violently.

"I remember! I remember! I remember!"

"Bloody Christ woman, shut up!"

"I gave yeh some o' this!" Thrusting a small leather pouch at him she began waving it around him and laughing.

"I wanted to give yeh this! And I hoped yeh would make an idiot of yerself afterwards! This stuff can be really strong to someone who 'asn't 'ad any 'afore. I was hopin' yeh would make yeh crew mad enough to throw yeh overboard! WHEEE!" Giggling again she replaced the bag in her pocket and fell back onto the bed, not stopping even as Jack crawled on all fours to be above her.

"Yer turn." He whispered quietly.

She remained silent, gently pulling on one of his unruly dreadlocks and playing with it in her hands. He watched her in slight fascination until she asked,

"Do yeh know why I slice my palm to make deal with people?"

"No. Are yeh going to tell me?"

"It's something that has to do with tradition. Something about yer blood flowing with someone else's, they're connected, and makes them less likely to betray yeh, I guess."

Neither responded to her statement. Jack was still on his hands and knees above her, and she was continuing to play with his hair.

"Yer turn."

"Are yeh a virgin."

Her eyes widened and then closed.

"Jack."

"Aye?"

"DIE!" She grabbed the pillow and smacked him across the face. Jack fell off the bed, clutching his face. When he pulled back his hands he groaned and replied,

"Bloody hell..I'm bleedin' again."

Ashley couldn't help it. She squealed with delight and rolled around on the bed.

"I hate yeh." Jack mumbled, crawling into his bed and burying his bloody face in her hair.

"I hate yeh too." And with a tiny yawn, she stretched out against him, and the two fell asleep, neither caring about the small puddle of blood forming around their heads.

A/N: There is an epilogue.....but I strongly suggest that if you like the way this ended that you don't read any further. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing.

I love you I love you all! But you're all f**king mad!~ Ozzy Osborne