A/N: Sorry I took so long to update, my computer loves causing me havoc *rolls eyes* Anyway, the rest of the AN is after the chapter…which, in case you hadn't guessed, is the FINAL chapter! *sob*

Chapter 13-Overflowing Emotions

The speeding bullet hit Nicola in her right arm. She screamed in pain, struggling to hold back the tears which formed in her eyes. The world suddenly seemed to move in slow motion, everything blurring as it moved. She blocked out all noise, apart from Jack's cry of "Nicola!" as he realized what had happened. He caught her in his arms as she wobbled on her feet.

"Nicola?"

She held on to him with her uninjured hand, more scared than she had been during the entire journey.

"Jack..." she whimpered as she allowed a few tears to fall.

Jack was stunned, and for the first time in his life, he truly didn't know what to say. But he quickly pulled himself together and tried his best to comfort her.

"D-Don't worry, you'll be fine. Come on, I'll help you get below deck."

But before he had a chance to move her, there was another shot fired from an enemy's gun. Jack too found a bullet embedded in his body, only his was in his back. He groaned almost silently, and, trying to ignore the pain, continued to pull Nicola towards safety. However, his strength wavered and he fell to his knees.

"Jack!" Gibbs had seen Jack fall and he came running over, punching any attackers on the way. "Jack, are you alright?!"

"I-I'm fine," He stammered in reply, his normal confidence vanishing from his voice. Using a nearby plank of wood, he heaved himself back onto his feet and carried on walking. "Come on, Nicola."

She stood back up and followed him below deck. Neither of them noticed the violent battle still taking place around them. 

"Jack! Sit down! You're in agony!" She ordered him as soon as they were safely below the deck, forgetting her own state of health.

He obediently sat on one of the wooden stools. Nicola sat on the one opposite, resting her injured arm on the table in-between them. She saw her wound wasn't bleeding as bad as it had been, but the bullet was still embedded in her skin.

"Here, I'll help you with that," Jack told her, reaching out for her arm and wincing in pain.

"Jack, you should really be tended to first, that wound is near your spine…."

"Don't worry, love, I'll be fine. It's not the first time I've been shot." He inspected her arm. "The bullet isn't too deep." He managed to remove it without too much difficulty, relieving her of the cold, harsh metal which had been causing the pain.

"Ow, ow, ow…" she whimpered as it came out and looked away as he cleaned the open wound with some water that had been left on the side. When the pain had died down a little, she thanked him with a weak smile.

"Turn round, I have to help you." She whispered. She knew the bullet wouldn't have done too much damage - the pirate had very bad aim - but she was feeling faint after the ordeal and was struggling not to let her mind drift to unconciousness.

"No, love, I'll be-ow!-fine. Don't worry about me." He insisted, edging away as best he could without causing more damage.

Nicola tried desperately not to laugh. Jack was a typical man; always avoiding help because their 'pride' would be dented. She knew she would have to take extreme measures. In other words, tug on his heartstrings until he willingly surrendered.

"Jack, if I don't help you now you could die. I really don't want that to happen to you…you're too good a man to die yet! Turn around, please? Not just for me…for the crew…for the Black Pearl!" she pleaded, finding her own heartstrings being tugged at her words. She hoped they would have the same painful effect on Jack.

He sighed. "Fine, if you must. Not that I'm happy about it, savvy?" Slowly, he turned around and allowed her to lift up the back of his shirt. The sight which greeted her made her gasp in shock. As well as the open bullet wound, there were several scars down his back where he had clearly been shot, cut and bruised in the past. It took a moment for her to respond.

"Well, I guess your back isn't as hairy as you made out in the story." She said, giggling nervously, not knowing how else to react.

"Big shock, eh?" he grinned.

Nicola proceeded with her task. She examined the wound carefully, looking for signs of dirt or debris which might need to be removed. She only found the bullet, which she carefully removed using her hands. Jack's yells almost lifted the ceiling as she finally managed to take it out of his back.

"Bloody hell, love, that hurt!" He moaned as she tried to stop the bleeding with a piece of ragged cloth. She ignored the blood flowing from her own wound, Jack being the most important thing on her mind at the time… as he had been since she joined his crew. She paused for a moment, still holding the rag to his injury.

"Jack?"

"What?" He turned his head to face her, a grimace In place of his usual cheery grin.

"I…well, I, um, I think…" Say it! She screamed to herself inside her head.

"I, uh…I was wondering if you have any proper medical supplies. This wound really needs a proper bandage of some sort." You daft woman! You were supposed to tell him how you felt!!! You'll never get married if you keep this up!

"Sorry love, it's just old rags aboard this ship. There's some more in a drawer in my room, it you need 'em."

Nicola quickly set off towards his room and returned with the rags, cursing to herself at how she couldn't seem to say the one thing she really needed to say...

Her anger must have shown on her face, as Jack seemed to back away slightly as he asked, "You alright, love?"

"I…I'm fine, my arm hurts, that's all."

As she wrapped a long rag around the top of his torso, she sighed, longing to be able to keep her arms there, to embrace Jack and show her love, even if she had trouble saying it. But this wasn't the right time, even though she could have sworn she had seen Jack sport a tiny grin when she lifted his shirt up…  Instead, she hesitantly removed her arms and tied the ends of the rag together, stemming the flow of blood.

"Thanks, love. Here, I'll do your arm." He said, picking up a smaller rag and tying it around the open hole in her arm. She watched his face as he did so, taking note of how focused he was. He was a little nervous when he saw she had been watching him that closely, and let out a small laugh.

"A great couple we are, both getting shot by standing still in the midst of battle."

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" Jack asked, concerned.

"I shouldn't have argued. It's wrong to argue with the captain's orders, and now I know why. Because it can get you killed." She sighed, feeling tears well up in her eyes for the second time that day.

"Don't blame yourself, love. You just wanted to help us win. I don't blame you for goin' against my orders. I wasn't treating you like you were part of my crew. So it's actually my fault, savvy?" He took hold of her hand to comfort her, partly to comfort himself.

She looked up and her eyes met with Jack's, looking sympathetic, as they had done back when she was explaining her original problem. It seemed such a long time since then…she remembered how, later on that night, she had looked down at the sea and decided it was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on. Jack was starting to make her change her mind about that. So he wasn't formally dressed like Alexander Worthington. And he didn't have perfectly straight hair tied in a ponytail, like Alexander Worthington. And as for playing piano…she highly doubted Jack had even been interested in the slightest at playing music, not when he had the gentle sound of the ocean waves lapping against the side of the Pearl. He wasn't the 'perfect' man…and that was what she loved most about him. She finally understood the phase 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" which her grandmother had insisted on telling her when she was a child, and she saw it was completely true. Jack's lovable-rouge look was more beautiful than anything she had seen in her life.

 She squeezed Jack's hand as he looked into her eyes. He almost seemed to be trying to see into her mind, with very little success. He sighed. Nicola never seemed to express exactly what was happening in her head. Gibbs' words had left him wondering; Did Nicola really like him that way? She didn't seem to mind when he had put his arm around her shoulders that night, unlike most women who would have gasped and slapped him round the face for daring to do such an intimate action. And even now, when he was holding onto her hand, she didn't pull away. If anything, she seemed to want to hold his hand. Maybe she just wants comfort; she just got shot for God's sake! Jack thought to himself. Why did women have to be such bloody enigmas?

Nicola blushed as he squeezed her hand in reply, grinning despite his pain. She had to look down to stop herself turning scarlet. The last thing she wanted was for Jack to know that she liked him. Yet at the same time, that was exactly what she wanted. Men are so bloody irritating, she moaned to herself.

"I had better get back on deck," Jack finally said reluctantly. "They're still fighting up there, and they need their captain, even if he is sufferin' from a bullet wound."

Just as he stood up shakily, however, Gibbs burst through the wooden door.

"We won Cap'n, we won!" He shouted joyfully, "We beat 'em all and took their ship!"

Gibbs' words were hardly needed; the crew was cheering loud enough to make the ship go flying to the moon!

Jack's grin increased ten times in size. "That's great news! We beat those thievin' dogs and we got their ship!" He was about to raise his arms in excitement but stopped when the agonizing pain in his back reminded him he had been shot in the battle. "Damn back." He moaned.

"The rest of the crew are waiting on deck for yer. In fact, the whole of Tortuga is waitin' for yer, everyone watched the battle from the shore. I guess Tortuga ain't as intrestin' as it used to be if people are interested in watchin' others kill each other."

"I''ll be up in a minute." He told Gibbs, who ran back up the steps to the deck happily.

Still grinning, he turned back to face Nicola. She almost melted in the presence of his grin, but, like usual, tried her best to hide it. Instead, she smiled back and took hold of both his hands.

"We won." She said simply.

"Aye, love, we did."

They both sighed.

"Come on, I'm goin' above deck, you may as well come with me and share the victory. Don't worry if you fall, I'll pick you up again!" Jack said, still holding on to her hand even as they staggered up the steps back to the deck.

They were greeted by the sight of hundreds of people on the coast of Tortuga cheering the victory of the Black Pearl. The crew was excited by this new found attention, and while some of them, like Cotton, stayed still enjoying their victory honourably, others, like Gibbs, took bows and waved to the people on shore. Jack made his way to the side of the ship facing the island, happy to hear the cheers become even louder when the civilians saw him.

"The legend of the Pearl and the infamous Captain Sparrow are still living..." He thought to himself.

Eventually though, the cheers began to die down, and the ship was prepared by the crew to make berth in the harbour. Nicola looked up at Jack again, who was clearly enjoying the attention he was receiving.

It's now or never, she thought to herself as she strode up to him.

" Jack Sparrow."

Jack turned to face Nicola, his grin stretching wider than ever, teeth glinting in the sunlight.

This is it, Nicola thought to herself. This is the opportune moment.

She stared into his russet brown eyes, and he looked back at her confidently, his expression softening slightly.

"I…Would you like some rum?" No! She had bottled out again! Why could she never-

But she never finished those thoughts, as Jack leaned down and kissed her there and then. The pain in her arm disappeared, the noise of the crowd was banished from her ears and she melted into Jack's strong, secure arms.

"Argh, damn this back of mine!" He yelled as the pain overtook him again mid-kiss.

"Jack!" She yelled at him, trying not to scream that he had spoilt the most romantic moment of her life.

"Sorry, sorry, love! I didn' mean it! I…uh…did I mention I love you?" He asked as he pulled her closer into an even deeper kiss than before and they floated into a world of their own.

So this is what heaven is like…was the last thought in Nicola's head before she sank into perfect bliss.

End A/N: Aww! I think that is the best ending I have written to any of my stories so far…although I do know it leaves a lot of stuff unexplained. Maybe I'll get round to doing a sequel at some point, but it isn't too likely at the moment as I have all my exams this month (EEP!). Anyway, I know this is the last chapter but review anyway, I love to read them and they will help me improve for my next fic!

Oh, and here's the promised thank you list to everyone who has reviewed so far. Sorry if I miss anyone out, I am really tired!

Charmed Angel:  Your reviews made me smile so much that people think I had Botox gone wrong! Lol! Thank you!

JeanieBeanie33: Heehee, I loved the amount of passion in your reviews! 'Damn them! Damn them to hell!", "don't let those sucker bitches to take her! DON'T!"

Lol! Thank you!

Twilight-la-fae: I'm on your favourite author and your favourite stories list! W00t! ^__^ I'm very sorry for torturing you with my cliffhangers, but it would be a pretty boring story without them, right? Actually, I take that back, there's no such thng as a boring story if it's got Jack in it, right?

Clueless-Patty: Liked the passion in your reviews too - "ARGH! HOW COULD YOU! STOP IT RIGHT THERE?!?!?!??!?!?"  Thank you!

ChaosLightning13: Thank you for both praising and criticizing my work! Those kind of reviews are PERFECT! Also, I would be quite happy to buy Tortuga with you but currently I only own £2 (about $3?) so I don't think that's too likely, savvy?  

Kaitlin: You were passionate also! Lol! I really hope you haven't done anything too extreme to ease your suffering while you've been waiting this chapter…

SparrowPhoenix: You ain't that lame, not really! Don't put yourself down! Thank you!

And I think I will thank you all again just for fun…

Thank you!!!

I will try to get more fics on ff.net a.s.a.p! In the meantime, it would be good idea to check out my livejournal to keep updated (and read some of the weird stuff I post, if you have any questions, email me at Suzanne_Langton@hotmail.com

(Shock! Everyone knows my real name! lol)

Bye for now!

Suzy-L