A/N: Sorry the last chapter was so short. This one and the next one will be as well, but they are the final chapters of the story. At least as of right now, I'm fairly certain the next chapter will be the end.

Chapter 9: To the Pearl

Thomas forced Abby to stand, still holding a fistful of her hair, and drew his arm back to kill her…

As he was about to thrust the bottle forward, he let out a yell of pain as a sword scraped his arm.

"Let the girl go," Jack ground out, pointing his sword at Thomas.

"Do you really think you can stop me, Jack? She deserves to die. She's an evil thing! And I'm going to be the one to kill her!"  Thomas yelled crazily.

Jack cocked his head slightly to the side. "And people say *I* get too much sun…" he muttered.

Since he couldn't think─ well, less than usual─ because of the added liquor in his system, Thomas flung both Abby and the bottle to the ground, not realizing what could possibly happen.

"Jack!" Abby cried out as the bottle sliced her forearm.

"you'll pay for that, Thomas." Jack pinned him with a glare.

"C'mon, Jack. Le's do it then. Just you 'n me, no weapons," Thomas challenged.

Jack stared hard at him for a moment before flinging his sword from them.

"Jack, no!" Abby screamed in terror.

"Abby, run. Find th' ship. Tell Gibbs and Annamaria that if I'm not there in 15 minutes, then to leave without me."

Abby stared at jack, eyes wide as she trembled on the ground in fear.

"Go!" Jack yelled.

She scrambled up, sand flying into the air as she did, and ran along the beach as fast as she could.

"All right, Thomas; let's fight," Jack held up his fists as Thomas did the same…

As she ran, the ship came into sight. Running to the rowboat sitting on the shore, Abby saw Gibbs waiting inside it.

"Mr. Gibbs! Mr. Gibbs!" she yelled.

"Abby! Where's Jack?" Gibbs asked as her helped her to climb into the boat.

"He… he… he's fighting Thomas," she panted, trying to catch her breath. "He said if he's.. he's not here in… 15 minutes, then to… to leave."

Gibbs looked down the beach. "How long do you think you were running, Abby?' he asked her.

"I.. I don't know. It felt like… forever!"

Gibbs sat and took the oars in his hands.

"Mr. Gibbs? We're not leaving, are we?" Abby asked in panic. "What about Jack? We have to help Jack!"

"We need to get you on the ship now, Abby," was Gibbs's only response.

"Mr. Gibbs?" Abby's voice shook. She turned to look back at the shore as they moved away from it. Suddenly, a shot rang out through the air. Abby jumped.

"Mr. Gibbs? What was that?"

Gibbs's face stayed neutral. "It was a shot. One of them is prob'bly dead."

"Jack?" Abby turned to the shore once again as they reached the ship. Once on board, she went to the railing as Gibbs started yelling orders to set sail.

"Gibbs? Where's Jack?" Will asked.

"On the island. We're goin' 'round to look fer him," Gibbs responded.

"We are?" Abby overheard.

Gibbs nodded. Abby hugged him around the waist excitedly. Unsure of what to do at first, Gibbs hesitantly patter her on the back.

As they rounded the island, they saw a figure trudging along in the sand.

Will, Gibbs, and Abby─ who insisted she not be left behind─ got in the rowboat to go to shore. As they neared, saw Jack, bottle of rum in each hand and singing at the top of his lungs.

"We pillage, we plunder-"

"Jack!" Abby yelled.

Jack turned to look at her. "Abby! What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave."

"We came back for you," Will told his friend.

Jack glared at him. "Crew can't even follow their cap'n's orders… again…" he muttered as they stepped onto the shore.

"Jack!" Abby flung herself at him. Automatically, he dropped the bottles─ thankfully corked─ onto the sand and picked her up, settling her on his hip.

"What happened?" Will asked.

"Well, killed Thomas. About it. Then found 'is rum! Now that was the accompplimp… accomplimpimp… acompolisholmentle…" Jack looked confused.

"Accomplishment?" Will suggested.

"Tha's the one!" Jack pointed wildly at him.

Gibbs laughed. "Well, the cap'n is 'is old self then."

Will nodded in agreement. "Let's go then. We're done here."

The four of them went to get into the rowboat, before Jack spun around madly.

"Me rum! You can't forget me rum!" he yelled. Walking back to where he had dropped them, he scopped them up with one hand, still holding Abby with his other arm, and strode back to the rowboat.

"*Now* we can leave," he grinned. "To the Pearl!"

A/N: You know, I have absolutely no idea when Thomas went crazy. I guess it was when he kidnapped Abby though he didn't let the rest of us know until this chapter. But he really wanted to be crazy, so I let him be crazy... What do you guys think of the crazy Thomas? I rather like him... In that… he's really evil kind of way… Heh. : ) But we all knew Jack was gunna get there and win. Like I was about to let the crazy drunk guy have his way… ha! But one more chapter until the end!!!