A/N: Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Your comments were very much appreciated and really helped feed my desire to continue with this story. Thank you so much!!

Secondly, I would like to apologize in advance for this chapter. I was suffering the world's worst writer's block while I wrote it and I kinda lost some of my inspiration when I came up with an idea for a new story. I've realized that this chapter is rather corny and, well, it just sucks and I am very, very sorry.

And thirdly, I doubt that anyone would really care, but I am happy to announce that Johnny and I were joined in the bonds of holy matrimony on Wednesday, June 2 in the comfort of my own bedroom. My friend Leighann performed the ceremony, and then I did the same for her wedding to Orlando (though she had to divorce Dom first). We had a lovely honeymoon in Canada, and we even brought my friend Elaine with us (hi Leena! waves).

So enough of my pointless rambling and on to the final chapter of the story...

Jack awoke to muffled sobs. He blinked his tired eyes and his face pulled into an expression of confusion as the sound registered in his sleepy brain. What in satan's name was someone doing sobbing in his cabin?

He pushed himself up onto his elbows, feeling the harsh wood of the bunk through the thin mattress. The room was almost completely dark. A thin sliver of pale moonlight slipped between the closed curtains, leading his eyes to the trembling figure hunched on the floor. Jack shook his dark head, trinkets jingling, and blinked a few more times to clear his foggy mind. And it came to him; there was only one person who would or could be here this night.

"Will?" the pirate barely whispered the boy's name, but Will jumped violently in surprise, inhaling a shuddering gasp and spinning around to face Jack. "What the bloody hell are you doin' out of bed?"

"I – I," Will stuttered, voice shaking like a leaf. Jack could now see the tears glistening on his face. "Elizabeth… she's…" Will choked on his words and dissolved back into harsh, quiet sobs, burying his face in his hands in shame.

Jack blinked dazedly. The boy was very upset about something, that was obvious, but there was not much the pirate could discern from the words "Elizabeth" and "she's" save that it must have something to do with the fair damsel that young Mr. Turner seemed to be so attached to. "Come again?" Jack prompted.

Will could only repeat the name of the girl whom he said he would die for.

Good god, Jack thought to himself as he tossed his blanket off of himself and swung his legs over the edge of his bunk. People these days... He swiftly crossed the room and knelt in front of the troubled young man, dropping a hand on Will's shoulder and giving him a shake. He tried his best to keep the irritation out of his voice when he spoke.

"Will, lad, I can't know what the bloody problem is if you don't tell me using understandable English –"

Will interrupted Jack by simply lowering his hands enough to reveal his teary eyes. The look in them was enough to silence the pirate. There was pain there, deep pain, and there was fear as well. Something seemed to snap in Jack's shoulders and run down his arms, and before he could recognize what was happening he found himself embracing the boy before him, his fingers instinctively stroking the soft hairs at the back of Will's neck.

Have you lost your marbles, man? What do you think you're doin'?

Shhh, don't make this any more awkward for yourself.

"What if she's dead, Jack?" Will's shaky voice cut through Jack's thoughts, muffled in the older man's shoulder.

So that's what this is all about...

"Come now, William, it'll be all right. She isn't dead, lad. I can promise you that. And if I'm wrong you can kill me for even saying it, –" Will shuddered "– but I do know one thing for sure. Barbossa and 'is crew took Miss Swann for a reason and it was not to kill her. Savvy?"

Will nodded against him.

When all was quiet again Will lifted his face from Jack's neck but did not leave the pirate's warm embrace, perching his chin on the older man's shoulder.

"Have you ever been in love, Jack?" he asked softly.

Jack hesitated only a moment to accommodate his surprise. "No, I can't say that I have. At least, not the same kind of love you be talkin' about."

Will sighed a bit and Jack could feel him smiling. "It's the best feeling in the world. It's like being able to fly but knowing that that one person will always pull you back before you get too close to the sun. And when she looks at you, you know that there is nothing you won't do to see her smile. You know that if you lost everything and the life you've built for years and years all crumbled to the ground in a single moment, you know that you could still be happy with nothing else as long as she's with you. Anywhere she goes you know you will follow because you are bound so strongly to her, it's like you can't exist without her. All you would be is gloom and misery if she was gone." He let out the tiniest laugh. "It's almost like being crazy. It's like being so crazy you spend a thousand rainy days standing in the cold until you become ill just to be near her."

Jack was silent as time slipped past them. Of course he had known that Will was profoundly smitten with the lovely Miss Elizabeth, but he hadn't realized, having never been in love himself, just how dependent the young blacksmith was upon the woman of his dreams. The pirate knew that it was rather difficult for most people to truthfully state that they would give their lives for another, but this boy's word seemed completely honest and the depth of his emotions was humbling. He really would die for this girl.

Jack patted Will gently on the back, the right words to follow the young man's heartfelt speech finally finding him. "We'll get yer bonny lass back, Will. Don't you worry."

Will pulled back from Jack's arms then, staring at the ground as he wiped the drying tears from his face before looking up at the pirate. "I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, I… I guess I just lost control…"

"'S all right, mate."

Will paused for a moment. "Thank you, Jack."

"Don't mention it," Jack murmured, his voice soft and low. Will smiled. "No, really, I mean it. Don't mention it." Will chuckled slightly and Jack smiled in return. "Now get back in yer bed before I put you there myself – and I don't mean tuckin' you in with a nice bedtime story, savvy?"

Both men rose from the floor. Jack sidled back to his bunk and placed himself again between the mattress and coverlet while Will headed for the door, pausing to take a last look at the pirate before he left. He could hear Jack snoring as soon as he had taken five steps from the room. Will smiled and shook his head as he walked along the dark hallway once more. Some things would never change.

-End-