Disclaimer: PotC and it's characters do not belong to me.

A/N: Thank you so so so so much for all of the feedback. Also, I've written a little one shot called "Lessons," so if you need another Jack/Ana fix, check it out and let me know how you like it.

Chapter Twenty:

"Make yourself at home," Prescott said, gesturing to the room's only chair. "Cause we've got a problem."

Sparrow turned the chair around and sat facing Prescott with his arms folded over the back. "What sort of problem?"

Easing his exhausted, aching body onto the bed, Prescott said, "Laffley told my sister about the pirate attack. Only his version is decidedly different from yours, Mr. Jackson," Prescott sighed. "Where'd the Sparrow come from, anyway?"

"My mother's last name," Sparrow said, his visage darkening. "Different how?"

"Well, according to him, Jackson, you, was a man driven by ambition who deserved to be left to the sharks," Prescott paused, Jack seemed genuinely hurt by the way the man he used to be was described. "I don't know the details, but he told Annie some story that left her believing that Chris did what he had to do."

The pirate was staring at his hands, and turning over and over a ring that he wore on his index finger. His expression was hard as stone, but his anger was seeping through the cracks. Anger that had been pent up for over seven years. Anger over the life that Chris Laffley had taken from him.

Prescott eyed the pirate. Annie would be devastated when she learned the truth about the man who she once loved. Prescott already detested the man for the pain he had caused her. But, if anyone deserved a taste of revenge at Chris' expense, that person would be the pirate.

"Look, Captain Sparrow," Prescott started. "I'm not about to believe Laffley's word over yours, but Annie was in love with that man. She gave her heart to him, and she wants to believe that the man she married is a good person. What's more, he's told her that he's dying. He's saying all the right things and playing all the right cards. Clearly, she isn't ready to see the truth, . . . " Prescott caught the pirate's dark eyes and held his stare. "She doesn't want to believe me, but maybe . . . maybe she'd listen to you."

"She's trusted you since she was born," Sparrow said, defeat woven into his voice, in place of his customary pirate accent. "If she won't listen to you, what on earth makes you think she'll listen to me."

Prescott smiled devilishly. "I never kissed her in the moonlight on her balcony," he said.

Sparrow's eyebrow rose.

"Word to the wise," Prescott grinned, somewhat delighted by the shocked look on Sparrow's face. "Her maid sees everything and tells everyone."

"A spy and a pirate. You never cease to amaze, Scotty."

"Tell her the truth," Prescott asked, his voice serious, again. "She might still be willing to hear it from you."

"If she isn't?"

"Please, Jackie, one crisis at a time."

88888

"Do you know him?" Ana sat on the davenport, while her brother packed his sea chest.

"Laffley?" Prescott repeated the name that had been on Ana's lips ever since the governor's ball. "Only by reputation."

"And what sort of reputation does he have?" Ana questioned, twirling a lock of her long black hair around her finger as she remembered turning circles around the dance floor with the handsome Captain Laffley. All of the well to do women in Kingston attended that ball, and they all turned as green as her dress with the envy they felt watching her dance with him.

Prescott halted his activity. Ana watched as he seemed to be caught up in some inner struggle. She had been babbling incessantly about the ball all week. Prescott had always listened, but never commented on her recent attraction.

"What is it, Pres?" she asked.

"He's an able sailor, and a Captain who gets results," Prescott said. "It's his methods that are sometimes met with criticism."

"What do you mean?"

"He's reckless. He gambles with his crew's lives . . . but, Admiralty excuses him, because he hasn't lost . . . yet."

A smile crossed Ana's face. "You don't seem to like him," she said, thinking that Captain Laffley sounded daring, and exciting.

Shrugging, Prescott resumed packing. "I don't know the man. I can't say that I care for him one way or the other."

"I never meant for any of this to happen," Chris' voice interrupted Ana's memory.

"I know," she said.

After her confrontation with Prescott, Anamaria had stormed out of the room and up onto the quarterdeck. A gentle rain was falling, and she had no raincoat. She didn't care. The cold drops felt good on skin heated by her fury. She was completely taken aback by Prescott's inscrutable behavior. He had no right to judge Chris, or the past actions of a frightened lieutenant.

"Your brother was right," Chris said. "I shouldn't ever have kept this from you."

Ana turned to her husband. "No, you shouldn't have. But, that was not any of Prescott's business." Her whole life, Prescott had looked out for her, and protected her. Any problem she had, he could fix. Any triumph she had, he always seemed twice as happy for her. Maybe he felt that he was protecting her now, but he had gone too far. What right did he have to terrorize a man who just wanted to die in peace.

"He was just looking out for you."

"There is no excuse for using a man's mistakes against him like that," Ana countered. "I doubt that everything my brother has done in his life is without reproach. No one has ever held his misdeeds out for the whole world to see."

"Maria –"

"I don't want to talk about my brother anymore," Ana said, staring out towards the horizon. The clouds ahead were dark. They were sailing into a storm, and Ana could not help but feel that the thunder and lightning in the sky would be the least of the turbulence.

88888

"What is it, Captain Tarret?" James was sitting behind his desk reading , when Prescott entered his cabin.

Sighing, Prescott stepped forward and sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. He was running out of options. If Sparrow couldn't convince Annie that Chris was a liar, then what would stop her from letting him back in her life? He needed another ally. "I've come to apologize, James," he said.

Norrington glanced at him over the book that he was reading. The Iliad. The story of a terrible war fought over one woman. How fitting.

"You were right," Prescott said. "I've lied to you."

James closed the book and folded his hands on the desk, giving Prescott his undivided attention.

"I lied when I told you that Annie had been on a ship bound for Nassau," Prescott said, sighing. "In truth, she had gone to Tortuga, looking for Sparrow. You know what something like that could do to a woman's reputation. I couldn't tell you."

James' eyebrows rose slightly, implying that he was not only buying Prescott's latest version of the events, but he was even agreeing with his fellow officer.

Prescott forced his bruised body to lean forward in the chair. A reputation was a tricky thing. Prescott certainly did not want Annie to lose face in front of the citizens of Kingston, but when he had agreed to go with her to Tortuga, he had to admit, her reputation was the last thing on his mind. At any rate, James would have worried about her social standing, and it was James who he was trying to convince. "James, what I'm about to tell you, must not leave this room. Do I have your word?"

"You do," Norrington said.

"Haven't you wondered at the coincidence of finding Chris Laffley in the wreckage of a ship called the Lady Maria?"

James' eyes narrowed.

"He was the only one who ever called her Maria. Don't you think it's just possible that he hasn't been a captive for these past two years?"

"Pirate captains name the ships," James said.

"That's what I'm saying." Prescott almost smiled in spite of himself. James Norrington was a smart man. He would have drawn the conclusion that Prescott was making, eventually, but Prescott didn't have the time to wait for his friend to come around. He needed James to be wary of Laffley right now, so that man did not have the chance to come up with anymore lies.

"That's why you sent me after that ship?" James mused. "You suspected that Captain Laffley was alive."

"I'd heard rumors, of a Captain calling himself 'Lucky.' The story goes that he used that name because he was caught in a hurricane two years ago and considered himself lucky to have lived," Prescott paused letting this latest bit of news sink in. "The coincidences were just too many to be ignored."

"Indeed," Norrington agreed, scratching his chin.

"I don't want to believe it, James," Prescott went on. "It would mean that Chris chose to stay away from Annie."

"But, if it is true?"

"If it is true, I cannot in good conscience stand by and watch Annie fall for his lies."

"No, certainly not. What do you propose?"

"I'd like your permission to speak with Sparrow," Prescott said, hoping that asking for James' blessing would make him more agreeable. "If Chris has been a pirate these past few years, who better to ask then another pirate?"

"I don't trust Sparrow."

Prescott didn't comment. Sparrow was probably the most trustworthy person on this vessel.

"But, find out what you can," James finished.

Heaving a deep sigh of relief as he stepped out of James' cabin, Prescott returned to his own room. He did not have to talk to Jack. He already knew that Chris was a villain. And now, he had planted the seeds of suspicion in Norrington's mind. On top of that, Prescott had actually been telling the truth when he spoke to James. Chris had lied about being pirate captain. With the way James saw piracy in such black and white terms, he would be compelled to do something. Maybe he would not take a dying man into custody, but he certainly would not allow him to stay with Annie any longer. In his eyes, that just would not be proper.

Laying on his bed, Prescott finally gave his screaming muscles respite. Between Jack talking with Annie, and his discussion with James, things could still work out for the best.

88888

The rain was picking up. The dark clouds in the distance were now surrounding the frigate, and the low rumblings of thunder had begun to roll. Chris stood staring out at the sporadic bursts of lightning, while Ana leaned her back on the railing looking over the activity on deck.

Much to her simultaneous excitement and dismay, she saw the figure of Jack Sparrow swaggering up from below. The officer of the watch was forward, inspecting something, and Jack was wearing the blue striped shirt of a Navy man. For the moment, he would go unnoticed by the authorities charged with keeping him a prisoner. However, it would not be long before her husband noticed the man who had kissed her less than an hour ago in the brig.

"My God," she heard Chris' voice.

She turned to the sea, expecting to see some gigantic bolt of lightening or a particularly ominous sky to cause Chris' words, but, to her surprise, he was watching the same man who had held her attention.

"My God," Chris said, again. "Jackson?"

TBC

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