A/N: I honestly cannot fathom this many reviews. I logged on, and there were NINE brand-spanken new ones, so I naturally flipped out. Sorry for the wait, you guys! My computer keeps crashing on me, and I never seem to save these chappies! This is my 5th go at this one! *throws gummi bears out onto the crowd*

Chapter 7- In Which Home Isn't so Sweet (and Commodore Norrington makes an appearance)

Morning came. Clouds slid past to reveal a blazing sun that illuminated two sleeping figures cradled in a crude boat. Jack Sparrow slid his arm out from around Elizabeth, and gave a long, hearty yawn. He looked over the horizon.

'Ey! He thought, his groggy mind trying to comprehend what he was seeing. He did a double take, and that was what confirmed it. The slowly crashing waves had taking him and Elizabeth all the way back to Port Royal, in less time then he thought was possible.

"Elizabeth, Elizabeth, wake up love! We're at your home!" he said, shaking her gently. She looked up, and groaned.

"So soon? You said it would be at least three days to reach Port Royal!"

"I lied," Jack said, smiling a toothy grin. She gave him a mournful look.

"Jack," she said softly, "I don't want to go back."

"To tell you the truth, " he whispered, "I don't want you to either."

She gripped his hand tightly. "Then why must I leave you?"

"It will be for the best."

@;---

Commodore Edward Norrington squinted into his spyglass. Were his eyes deceiving him? The endless blue of the Caribbean Sea was punctured by a small speck of brown that bobbed in the waves.

There are no ships scheduled to dock today. That must mean only one thing……

"TO ARMS MEN!" he commanded. The soldiers on his ship, the HMS Crane, hurried towards the boats, and dove into the water. Norrington fixed his glass onto the increasingly larger speck of ochre, and grimaced.

Pirates.

@;---

"Kidd's Beard!" Jack exclaimed, staring out to sea. "I'll be damned if that isn't your good pal Norrington coming to escort us into dock!"

Elizabeth peered out from behind his shoulder. A throbbing lump began to make itself known in her throat, and she fought away the violent urge to vomit. Jack began to make himself busy by hastily untying all the ropes he has so carefully knotted together just days before. Her eyes widened, and she screamed;

"Jack! What are you doing? Are you trying to make us sink?"

"If ye are going to answer your own questions, missy, I would recommend ye don't say them at all," he replied, "But to answer your first one, what I am doing is saving my life, and your livelihood. If I am not mistaken, they are too far away to have seen us properly, and therefore do not actually know that it is us they are seeing………"

@;---

"SIR!"

Norrington looked up from examining the guns, to be greeted by a grim look from his first mate.

"What is it, Gillette?" he said, exasperated. Gillette handed him the spyglass.

"I thought you might want to see for yourself, sir."

The commodore pulled the glass from his outstretched hand, and trained it to the sea. His mouth dropped a small amount. Where there was supposed to be a gallant pirate ship, there was only a few empty barrels, held together by some spare rope.

"GILLETTE!"

The mate jumped. "Yes Commodore!"

Norrington fumed. "Get………..get us……..oh, just get us back to port!"

Gillette nodded, and began to bark orders to the soldiers around him. Norrington went to his private office, and barred the door behind him. Burying his face in his hands, he tried to suppress the wave of tears beginning to wash over him. The thought of finding Elizabeth again had made him a bit too headstrong. Even if the unidentified flotsam had been a buccaneer ship, the odds of it being the ship that contained her were slim.

She might be leagues away from here.

@;---

Jack hit the top of his keg lightly with the butt of his musket. It popped open easily enough, and soon he was using a dagger to do the same to Elizabeth's confines. She came up, gasping for air.

"Jack Sparrow, do you realized what you risked? He could have taken us aboard!"

"Aye, love," he smiled, "But he didn't."

She rolled her eyes, and he laughed lightly. There was nothing in their way now, and soon she would be home, where she belonged.

I wish I belonged there as well, Jack mused wistfully, paddling with his hands over to where he had stashed the mast. Elizabeth looked deep in thought, so as he dragged the soggy blankets, and felled tree, he mumbled, "Shekel for your thoughts?"

"You don't need to pay," he whispered, "You know what I'm thinking." How I wish he was staying with me at home. How I wish my father would accept him. And how I wish, she choked down a sob, however wicked of thoughts they may be, how I wish that Will won't be waiting for me.

She never knew how prophetic one of her wishes was, yet how one of them had yet to be answered.

A/N: I'm watching the Pirates Survivor, and it looks vaguely fun. Too bad it's just as corny as the other Survivors, these contestants shame the name of pirate. Anyways, here's this chappie, hope you enjoy, and I'm sorry/ pleased to say that our lovely cross-dressing Will will (will will) show up in the next chappie, just in case you missed him!

Kudos to reviewers, you all get bandanas made from Jack Sparrow's clothing! (Now he is….CLOTHING-LESS! *drool*)

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