Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates or anything associated with it (though if whoever does own it--Disney, I guess--wants to get rid of it, I'm very willing to take it off his hands...). I'm not making any money off of this story (because if I were I would be in the Caribbean, not posting a fanfic about it).


Chapter 4, Jack's island, midday.

It wasn't long before Bill came back, but he seemed a little more excited than Elizabeth thought was fitting, under the circumstances.

"Elizabeth!" he called, running up to her. "You'll never guess what I found!"

She couldn't think of much that would excite him so much. "A ship? A boat, at least? A way off?"

He grinned and held up a sand-encrusted bottle. "Better," he told her happily. "Rum!"

Elizabeth stared at the bottle in shock. "Better? I thought I burned all that stuff last time!"

He grabbed her hand and dragged her back the way he'd come. "The whole island didn't burn," he explained. "Some storm or something doused it before it burned the whole thing. And the rumrunners weren't stupid enough to put all their rum in one place. They had two--maybe even three--different places, in case one got raided. You burned one, but the other's still there!" He pulled her over to an open hatch similar to the one Jack had found. Elizabeth peered in, and sure enough, the cache was even more full than the other had been.

"Oh, wonderful," she said dryly. "Now we can get drunk every day for a month. Just what I wanted."

Bill looked slightly injured. "Hey, I thought you'd be excited," he apologized. Apparently all the women he'd known shared his love for rum. It made Elizabeth wonder about Will's mother...

"Oh, yes, I just love getting drunk. I especially love getting hung over the next morning. Oh, I'm excited all right," Elizabeth retorted bitterly. "A stockpile of rum is really going to make me happy."

Bill frowned down at it. "We could set it on fire," he suggested. "Like you did."

Elizabeth glanced at him, wondering if he was joking. "Nobody would come. Nobody's been looking for me for a while, Bill. They all think I'm dead."

Shrugging, he climbed down and pulled out another bottle. "Suit yourself," he said. "I'll just pull most of it out--no use wasting that much good rum--and torch it myself."

She grabbed a bottle and took a big gulp. "Just be careful when you do, to make sure that we have enough food to live off when nobody comes," Elizabeth warned. She walked away, still holding the bottle of rum.

"Where are you going?" Bill called.

Elizabeth turned around and shouted back, "To get bloody drunk!"

I thought she didn't like rum, Bill thought to himself. Ah, well, women will be women. Shaking his head, Bill set to work.


Okay, that was certainly on the shorter side of things (I have a feeling that the chapters in this story are doomed to be short) but I had it ready and I had a spare minute in which my computer actually let me on line--miracle of miracles!--so I decided to give you another chapter. Next chapter should introduce Captain Jack Sparrow! But be warned--Captain Sparrow is notorious for getting out of character, so it might take me a while to post simply because I can't get Jack to act like Jack. Punk. Man can't behave himself to save his life (of course, that's a foregone conclusion, and I'm sure you all know that and love him for it, but it sure makes writing him a demmed inconvenience).

Many thanks to my reviewers and for the support you've given me. My roomate gets annoyed because I get all excited when she's trying to study--"Omigod! I've already got two reviews! Check it out!" And she's sitting over there going "What a loser..." BUT I don't care; I'd much rather be a happy loser than a miserable winner. So, as always, reviews are welcome (and encouraged)!

--JSK