Author's Notes (MUST READ the paragraph with the *): Sorry for the late chapter guys, just found out that my muse has left me on my Seven Years Later after racking my brain for a chapter and that planning a prequel for that story will definitely be postponed. Plus the fact that I wanted to update my other story, Slayers and the Witches and came up with nothing, are one of a few reasons why I haven't been able to update as much as you or I wanted to.

But as my thoughts and luck (I think) has it, I will be placing my full attention on Pandora's Box from now until it is finished, hopefully this will not come at all too soon. Yippee all!

Anywayz, I think it's safe to say that Slayers and the Witches will definitely be on hold, sorry all! Can't do two things at the same bloody time, either that or you'll hafta wait a really long time for another update in this story if you want me to continue that story on…..your pick. And um the prequel for Seven Years Later is still in construction, but I won't be able to type in it as much as I would like. Thanks however for the wonderful reviews, keep them coming. They are one of the reasons why I'm continuing this story and postponing the rest.

*Also, the request for trivia questions and for the nightmares has apparently gone unnoticed since suggestions haven't been sent. Shame on you! You want your named being mention and ideas being here? This is perfect for you! But may I remind you that they both have to be appropriate or it won't be posted up here. Your answer should be also in the trivia along with the questions, (if you ARE planning to submit ANY) and sent to the review box thing down below OR to hobbes288@aol.com if you don't want anybody reading the answers.

Now, time to recognize the folks that knows Pirates of the Caribbean and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Great congratulations to:

daeth, Slayerq, rogue-angel82, mikla, quiet-one123145, and to animechickie for successfully having at least 4 out of 5 correct answers in the trivia.

Now, onto the new chapter and hope you guys very much like!

Chapter 9, Gaining On Us

Buffy laid there awake, staring into nothingness once she has realized that going back to sleep was hopeless. Minutes ticked and countless seconds passed by in her head and she was definitely bored as hell. Sure a couple of the crew members were sent down occasionally to check up on her, but she really couldn't make a lasting conversation since they either simply opened the door and looked if every thing was all right, or they had to get back on the deck quickly after they just started talking to her.

Yup, life couldn't be anymore boring. Buffy tried to go back to sleep numerous times, concentrating at the sound of the lapping waves against the Black Pearl or the memories of Sunnydale, but the image of Angelus biting her neck kept popping out in her head when she was in the brink of going to sleep until finally she just gave up trying. It wasn't an easy feat to try and sleep after dreaming about your ex-boyfriend biting you in the middle of your wedding, she thought unhappily.

Buffy was aching to do something; anything that would keep her occupied. She scanned Jack's quarters for any book that she could read, but only found parchments of maps and the book that contained about information about Ithaki which didn't do much since she couldn't read Greek. The Slayer suddenly found herself looking in disgust once she realized how Jack's room looked like.

Bottles of rum that were empty or still full rolled on the floor due to the rocking motion of the Black Pearl and used candles that were down to its wicks and unusable wax were still around the room, giving the place a pathetic look. Piles of torn and ragged bed sheets piled up in the corner of the room while a broken closet door hinge kept on closing and opening with an irritating squeak. The windows were smudged with grease and dirt, only letting a few strands of light pass through the almost ancient looking glass to lighten up the room.

With a sigh, Buffy made her way towards the closet and closed it, stopping the annoying sound finally. She glanced at the room once more as she contemplated in her head if it was even worth cleaning the room just to pass her time. But giving her situation, cleaning the room was better than lying around like one of those beer-bellied, couch potato, old geezers who do nothing but watch a rerun of the last year's football game with corn chips surrounding their unwashed mouths.

And so, Buffy took out the most decent looking clean rag and started to rub the glass vigorously, taking away the dirt and grime from the windows. She did the same thing to the other little glass squares that made up the windows, brightening up the room more and more as she cleaned each one. As she cleaned, Buffy found a latch that will actually let the salt air get into the room and provide some ventilation in the stuffed room. The sudden breeze of the Caribbean air gave her a momentary bliss, making her realize that the sea was a breath-taking part of the world she never got to know because of her calling.

The slayer shook her head and went back to work, humming a pop tune while she cleaned up the place. It was finally until mid-noon when she got a visitor that she could actually talked to.

"Wake up, ye lazy Slayer!" Ana Maria suddenly busted in the room with a playful smirk, carrying a wooden tray of Buffy's cafeteria food. When the pirate entered the room, she was expecting the same old look Jack's room always had, but the actual clean windows and the straightened up things along with the missing presence of the useless bottles of rum gave her a momentary shock. Ana Maria found Buffy balancing a clean empty bottle of rum on her forehead.

"Lazy says you, but cleanliness plus boredness says I," Buffy replied to her with a bit of a smirk as well as she took off the bottle from her forehead. "So, are ya planning to check me and then run along on the deck like the others did?"

Ana Maria was still staring in shock at what she has done to the place, making Buffy chuckle and raise her left eyebrow. "Bit of a breather, isn't it?"

"Aye, 'tis is. Haven't seen this room this clean before. Jack ne'er really uses this room I'd wager. Always up on the helm or out doin' one o' his crazy antics an' ideas. Great captain, Jack is. Although he's a bit daft on tha head, don't get me wrong," Ana Maria tapped her forehead to mock Jack a little bit, making Buffy laugh at the pirate's description of Jack. Ana Maria walked over to Buffy and placed the tray of food over the table that you can actually recognize as a French design. Probably stole it from one o' our plunders, Ana Maria thought with a smirk.

"So what does our beloved Capt'n use this: 'now-clean' quarters for anyways?" Buffy asked her curiously as she looked over the tray of food. She was happy to find that Ana Maria placed some edible fruit and actually soft bread on the tray. The Slayer didn't even bother to look at the pile of 'mucked-up-crud' in the bowl.

"Mostly he uses this room if he has some hango'ers or a pleasure-able company he's taken up to tha Pearl," Ana Maria answered nonchalantly. Buffy's eyes bugged out and snorted, almost chocking on the piece of grape she happily took off from her plate once she's realized where she is sitting and what she just cleaned for the past two hours.

"You mean….oh damn…," Buffy managed to stutter when the grape finally passed her throat and stood up frantically making Ana Maria chuckle at what her reactions were at what she has realized. "That was so under the ratings of not being close to funny.

"Man," Buffy whined, irritated at what she just touched, smelled, cleaned, and slept on. "I just cleaned what? A decade's worth of dirt and…and…stuff, and there is not even one little bit of return. Well, I guess getting me a ride to apocalypse-ville might be one, but still." She ranted on.

"So Judgment Day is really happenin' then?" asked Ana Maria, taking advantage at the mention of the apocalypse. Buffy's face turned from annoyance, to a solemn expression she used when she's facing a fact she really doesn't want to face.

"An unfortunate answer of yes. God," she sighed as she took a seat on a chair. "This will be my what? Fifth apocalypse already? You'd think by now I would have gotten used to the fact that trouble will always call me whenever I go, but this, this is different. This is a whole lot different. Timely different even."

"Aye, many things are like tha' Buffy. One day ye think ye know what's tah come, who ye are, wha' everything is suppose tah be…But here ye are, livin' proof tha' there are otha things out there tha' not many a people know 'bout….Frightens the shit outta me actually…," Ana Maria droned off as if she was recalling a past memory. Buffy looked at her with confusion but before Buffy could ask her why, the door swung open, revealing the captain finally.

"Wha tha bloody 'ell did ye do to me quarters?" Jack half-squeaked and half-shouted, his voice almost frightened at what his room looks like now. Buffy glared at him, as if taking insult of his question.

"I cleaned it, washed it, and made it look good dearie ol' Jack. One of the results of me getting bored and having this as a room. Don't ever do it again," Buffy snapped at him a bit playfully, but Jack didn't take any notice to her. Even if he did, he didn't show it. He took a good look around, and his eyes got big once he realized what were missing.

"Tha rum! Why's tha rum gone? Don't tell me ye gone all 'Lizabeth on me now, Summers and threw me bottles o' rum in a bloody bonfire," Jack asked her, face cringing at what her possible answer will be. His hands were together as if he was praying to the Gods and his voice was in a pleading tone.

"I couldn't even make a bonfire even I wanted to," Buffy rolled her eyes. "Your bottles that actually have rum in them are in that closet over there while the ones that are empty are in that huge tub right next to that desk. And who's this 'Lizabeth gal anyway?" Buffy asked them both. Jack ignored her and went to the closet and sure enough, half empty to full bottles of rum of almost every shaped bottle were stacked neatly; wine style. He sighed happily when he saw the stack.

"`Lizabeth is this lass we met 'bout a year 'go, per say. Last I 'eard she's married to William Turner. Son of a man I'm proud I once knew. Eunuch though," Jack replied finally while he got out a couple of bottles of rum and offered one to Ana Maria. When the female pirate refused, Jack pointed the bottle to Buffy who just glared at the bottle so Jack just shrugged and sat down at an opposite chair.

"Who, the man or this William?" Buffy asked in confusion once he sat down. "What the hell is eunuch anyway?"

"Poncey ol' Will's tha eunuch. An' I bloody well know tha' Bootstrap's too good tah be like tha'," Jack drank a couple mouth-full of the liquor after he replied.

"That answers one question, not the other…," Buffy trailed off, but she noticed that Jack blanched at the mention of what a 'eunuch' is, so she turned to Ana Maria who was smirking at Jack's uneasiness. "Ann?"

"A eunuch…is a man, whose manhood got cut off," Ana Maria explained to her making a cutting motion with her middle and index finger.

"It's unnatural I tell ye. But somehow, the French thinks so otha-wise..," Jack intervened. (A/N: To any people, who think that that is an insult and that I am being prejudistic towards the French race, please think so other-wise. I have no intention of being it that way. I just wanted it to be a silly comment from Jack since he does kinda say it in the deleted scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean; The Curse of the Black Pearl DVD. I hope that nobody, nobody, gets insulted by this and that this author's note is taken seriously. I'm not a prejudistic person. I respect the French actually; inventors of mayonnaise and parley…... Anyways, getting back on track.)

Jack kept quiet when Ana Maria glared at him for interrupting her. "Anyways, I doubt ol' William is a eunuch…he loves his bonny lass too damn much tah le' his opportunity get away, if ye get me drift."

"Oh….so the 'bonny lass' is this 'Lizabeth gal, right?"

"Aye."

"So where are they now?"

"I believe their off in their honeymoon. Somewhere in Nassau Port I think. Dunno why they chose tha' place, they 'ave a British Navy even a low like meself scallywag would be disgraced of," Jack pondered, but shrugged again as he took another sip from his bottle. A long pause came after that, with only the lapping sounds of the waves around the Black Pearl as a continuous sound.

"So Summers, how be yer wound?" Sparrow finally broke the silence. A loud bang of the door interrupted Buffy's reply. Their heads snapped to the intruder, and saw that it was James, one of the pirates that were supposed to be up on the deck setting up the sails.

"Captn' …she's gainin'…on ….us," James panted heavily from the fast sprint he just made. Jack stood up quickly, alarmed at the news.

"Who's gaining on' us, boy? Tell me who?" Jack asked him, his voice somewhat steady at the prospect of who the ship was. But the answer only made him smirk and get into full 'Captain' mode.

"`Tis tha Dauntless, Captn'. `Tis tha Dauntless."

A/N: Heheh…gotta admit, not my best chapter. Spending the first part talking about Jack's room and then some silly stuff might be a bit annoying for you guys, but please understand I wanted to end it in a cliff hanger and still have enough storyline to move it on without just bombing it completely at you guys plus I wanted to make this chapter sort of a comic relief kind of thing, hopefully it worked. Reviews and thoughts on this are still welcome!!!!

Trivia Questions:

What kind of trinkets were in Jack's hair? (Coins, beads, dice, or silver cubes)

2. Who was the third person to appear in the movie?

3. What were Jack's final words to Elizabeth in the end of the movie?

4. How did Spike become corporeal again?

5. Where did Angel say Buffy was last?

There you go guys….the trivia questions. Answer them, mail 'em, get 'em right.

Want to thank these people by the way:

Catlimere= hopefully you liked this chapter too, but I'm really glad that you liked 'Musings'. It was really fun to write it. About the green flicker that Jack saw…you'll find it out when they get to Ithaki. Hint though: it's the reason why Buffy's dagger wound hurt when she woke up. Thanks for telling me that Jack's persona didn't change when I wrote it. That part was hard since I wanted Jack to have that sincerity but not overload it with too much emotion that it would make him…not himself. But like you said it was fine and I wouldn't have to edit the chapter. Yippee!

dhrachth= I know what you mean. It's really quite annoying when authors and writers alike just write a relationship with characters without relating them to each other. Where's the connection? The troubles? The twists? No relationship is ever perfect so those kinds of shippers are almost unrealistic. And I do too, I love romance (but not those sugar fluffed ones *shudders*) opposed to like you said 'bed hopping'.

Elita = you gotta love the snoopy dance once you see it. Thanks for your compliments and I will add lots and lots more. Probably a sequel or two depending on how the story goes and chapters!

Lady Phoenix Slytherin= like I said in the author's note, apologies for not being able to update soon. Am hoping that I will and faster!

Mikla= Glad you thought that this was a good chapter. I liked this chapter too and hopefully you'll like this as well

redcristal= unfortunately, I wasn't able to update soon. Hopefully I'll be able to in the next chapters though!

Rood-Roosje= *blushes* thank you so much for reviewing. Really am glad that someone thinks that this IS a well written story. I do try my best on writing them, but I'm not really that good though. And no, I will never ever abandon this fic. Unless I suddenly died *knocks on wood* then we'll see.

Slayerq= appreciate the fact that I made a reader enjoy my story. A lot more compliments like this and my ego will go wacky. Haha..wacky. I'm still not sure about the sequel. It really depends on how this story goes and ends. So stick around!

.......... = thanks very much! There are at least ten Pirates crossover out there, and I'm really pleased that you'd find this one the best. You'll see J/B vibes but no fluff as of yet.

And to anyone else out there who had reviewed or just answered the Trivia Questions, I'm still happy since you cared enough to send it. Merry Christmas YO!

PreCarIouS*pErsOnaTa

~A.K.A. Erin~