Jack was right. The walk was long and not at all pleasant for Will. They were barely outside The Rusty Heel when Will's head had started pounding and his legs were none too steady. Jack had carefully put an arm around Will's waist, mindful of his injuries, and guided the young man through the winding, filthy streets.

When he felt Jack's arm around him, Will looked nervously at the other people on the street. If there was anything out of place, if it was at all odd to see two men with their arms around each other, nobody gave any kind of indication. Will mentally kicked himself when he remembered that this was, after all, Tortuga, and the sense of propriety that currently permeated Port Royal didn't seem to exist here. Nobody gave a damn what he and Jack looked like. Will supposed that was a good thing, as he was still wearing very expensive, broquade breechers and a now torn and stained, but still very elaborate and obviously costly, white shirt. He refused to take his jacket with him despite Jack's protests. He wanted nothing to do with the clothes he had worn to his almost wedding. In fact, Will would have been more than happy to leave behind the rest of the outfit except that he assumed walking (or limping as the case were) through town naked would have drawn unnecessary attention. Not that he'd have ever seriously considered doing that. As another person passed them, clearly disinterested in the pair, Will wondered if he'd have drawn any attention at all had he gone parading around in the nude.

"Jack?" Will started, slightly winded though they were not going very quickly. "How is it this place is so different during the day? It almost feels abandoned," he commented as they turned a corner only to find yet another nearly empty street.

"'s the middle of the night Will," Jack said. He was becoming more certain that Will wasn't going to make it all the way back to the Pearl under his own power. While he wasn't thrilled with the idea of carrying the young man, Jack could tell it was becoming a very real possibility that he might need to.

Looking up at the sun that was not yet overhead but shining down on them nonetheless, Will gave Jack a confused look. "It's not night, Jack. I wasn't hit THAT hard on the head you know."

Smiling, Jack shook his head. "Well for the folks 'ere it migh' as well be. Work on a different clock. When yer up all 'ours of the night, mid mornin' becomes the wee 'ours, savvy?"

"Not so much," Will admitted. He wasn't sure if it was the pain or the medicine that was making it so much harder to understand Jack, but Will was certain there must be an explanation for why next to nothing the pirate captain said made sense to him since they left the tavern.

Stopping and pulling away a bit as though to assess his condition, Jack narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Will. The lad seemed particularly daft this morning.

"They're all sleeping, Will" he said slowly, enunciating his words.

"Ah, yes, I see," Will said, nodding slightly. His head was now not only pounding but there was also a faint buzzing too. He imagined a miniature version of himself in a smithy located inside his head, banging over and over at a piece of metal laid out on an anvil. There was also some kind of giant bug standing in place of the donkey, its enormous wings flitting over and over making the horrible buzzing sound in his mind...

"Will!"

Will felt himself being shook a little. He pulled himself back out of his thoughts. "What?"

"I've been sayin' yer name for awhile now," Jack explained, a look of concern on his face.

"Sorry, Jack. Just got a little, uh, distracted."

"Pearl's not that much farther." Putting his arm back around Will, Jack slowly started guiding the unsteady man forward again. "Be there in no time."

Will looked back in the direction they'd come from. The movement made his head hurt worse. He was right to leave this place with Jack. He could leave behind the memories of getting into a stupid fight, unarmed and exhausted. He could forget his mistake. Now if only he could forget what had come before...

........................................................

Surprisingly they'd made it to the Pearl and were on board before Will's battered body finally gave out. Jack had been talking with Gibbs (who was very pleased to hear Will would be joining them) and several other crew members whom Will had not met before. The Captain had been giving instructions about their departure, though Will wondered if perhaps that was more a formality given the way the crew confidently and efficiently went about making the ship ready to sail. Will had been watching one of the men shimmy up a rope in an almost gravity-defying manner when he'd started to get dizzy. Black and red spots blotted out his vision quickly, and he could feel himself blacking out, but was powerless to stop it. As soon as his knees buckled, and right about the time he began to slip away so far that he no longer cared he was passing out right on deck, Will felt Jack tighten his hold. He hadn't even realized Jack still had an arm around him, supporting him, until his unplanned nap caused Jack to tighten his grip in an effort to prevent him from taking a nose drive into the deck. Unfortunately, the hastily tightened grip caused the pain in his ribs to flare up, and Will heard himself groaning just before he was pulled unwillingly into the darkness.

..................

Anamaria waited until Jack had Will settled on his own bed before she slapped him on the face.

"What do you think yer doin'? Bringing a hurt man on board-"

"Now Ana," Jack started, surprised by her outburst. Anamaria wasn't a typical female, so Jack expected no sudden show of sympathy or hysterics, but he definitely hadn't expected she'd object to Will's presence onboard.

"...and makin' him stand there 'till 'e drops!" she finished, ignoring his interruption. Turning to look at the unconscious man lying on the bed, she continued, her tone now softer, "What 'appened to 'im?"

"Elizabeth lef' him at the alter."

"I could have tol' ya that was gonna 'apppen," Anamaria said, though there was no pride or smugness in her voice. On Jack's look of confusion, she explained, "Women's intuition."

"Yer no' a woman. Yer pirate," Jack said.

Anamaria rolled her eyes before continuing, "What else 'appened? Elizabeth might be a spirited lady, but there's no way she did all tha' to 'im." She gestured to the red and purple bruises and cuts on Will's face.

"Losin' end of a fight I'm told," Jack said looking at the marks again. He leaned over to unbutton Will's shirt and make him more comfortable. "Nothin' too bad, nothin' permanent anyway. I expect he won't be up an' around much for a few days though."

Anamaria nodded as she watched Jack work. He was so careful and gentle as he loosened Will's clothing and pulled the covers over the sleeping man.

"And th' other? 'ow's he feelin' 'bout being left like that, 'bout 'er droppin' 'im?"

"Don't know," Jack admitted as he took a seat on the side of the bed. "Not too happy 'bout it so far as I can tell." After a pause, Jack admitted, "Hell, he's a mess."

Feeling like it was a good time to give Jack some space, Anamaria started to leave the cabin. "I'll see us off. You take care of him, you hear me, Jack?" she threatened unnecessarily and out of habit.

"That's Captain Jack!" Jack said as she left. When the door swung shut as she left without an apology, Jack returned his attention to the figure on the bed. "Don't you worry, I'll be watchin' o'er him," he said softly to himself.

Though he kept his eyes closed, mainly because his head was still threatening to explode, Will barely resisted the urge to smile. Again he felt as though things were coming full circle.