Author's Note: I'm sorry!! I have no excuse for taking so long on this chapter. Sheer procrastination. I didn't even realize it had been that long until last week! Please don't hurt me! Gotta warn ya, this is longer than usual, but nothing much happens. Kind of a filler chapter. Hope you like it anyway! Please read and review!!!

On a much more depressing note, evil school has started once again. Usually this is good (for my story) because I have lots of time to write, but I heard Junior year is the hardest in high school and it doesn't help that I'm taking all the hardest classes, so I might not have much time to write. Oh well, knowing me, I'll blow it off for fanfiction anyway!

CHAPTER 15 - Free At Last

Will leaned against the side of the boat, staring off into the night. According to Jack, they were heading in the right direction and should reach Tortuga by nightfall tomorrow. How he knew where they were going was beyond Will. He had said something about the stars. 'Well, when it comes to the sea, Jack knows best. Pirate blood or not, I think I'll stick to land and leave the water up to him.'

Jack opened his eyes just enough to see the sky. There was a full moon out tonight and it cast a pale light on the small boat, illuminating Will. He glanced at the young blacksmith and studied him for a moment. He looked good. Too good. Something was different, something was off…AHA!

"Ya know, whelp, I know how much you idolize me and want to be like me and all. And, really, who can blame you? But you're gonna have to give the hat back. Only the captain gets to wear the hat."

Will moved to return the hat to Jack, having recently gotten a very clear idea of much it meant to him, when he stopped. "Well, actually…I am captain of this ship!"

Jack sighed dramatically. "Let's rephrase that, shall we? Only Captain Jack Sparrow gets to wear that hat. And besides, this is a boat.To get a hat I said you needed to captain a ship. Pay attention next time."

With a smirk, Will tossed the hat to Jack, landing it right next to his head. There was no winning with that pirate. If he didn't cheat, he'd get you on a technicality.

Jack set the treasured hat over his face and anyone who didn't know him would've thought he'd fallen asleep. But Will knew better. He knew Jack would never trust him to steer a raft by himself in the light of day much less sail a small boat in the middle of the night. It didn't matter how good he got, he would never be the sailor his father was and that made him forever inadequate. More than once he'd heard, "Stick to the forge, whelp. Pirating does not seem to be your calling."

Not that that concerned him too much. 'Never really liked boats anyway. Most of the ones I get on seem to blow up somehow. Land is definitely much safer.'

Since Jack's sleeping act was fooling nobody, Will decided it was time to break the silence with a question that had been burning in the back of his mind all night. "So why Tortuga?"

"Why not?" came the muffled response from beneath the hat.

"Why not? Well, personally, I'm not a big fan of Tortuga. It wouldn't exactly be my first choice for a vacation spot."

Jack sighed, something he felt they'd both been doing far too often lately, and moved the hat under his head to use as a pillow so he could be sure Will could see him rolling his eyes. "We are going to Tortuga, mate, because that's where the Pearl is. See, it's imperative that I get the Pearl back because it's been my experience that I don't appear to be a very fearsome pirate sailing into ports in a glorified rowboat. The Black Pearl adds something of a dramatic effect to the whole scene. Very important in my line of work."

"You really think the Pearl will still be there? Certainly the crew would've taken it out to look for us, by now!" Will said, choosing (as usual) to ignore Jack's obvious sarcasm.

"By now? You'd know better than me, William, how long have we been gone?"

"…a week? Maybe two? No more than that."

"Two weeks, at the most. Tortuga's a wonderful town, Will. Plenty of places a man can go to lose track of time. And even if someone notices we've been absent a little too long, chances are they're having too much fun to jeopardize their extended vacation. With the possible exception of Anamaria," he added. "She always seemed to share your views on Tortuga for some reason."

"You honestly think your crew would rather waste away in some dirty pub than save their captain?!"

"Save me from what?!" Jack was starting to get exasperated. Would the whelp ever learn? "As far as they know, I'm just as drunk as they are in another dirty pub. They have no reason to think I've been kidnapped!" Will stared at his boots, slightly embarrassed. He would never understand pirates!

Jack rolled his eyes again, starting to feel a little sorry for lashing out like that. Good, respectable blacksmiths can't comprehend the overpowering allure of a place like Tortuga that intoxicates not-so-respectable pirates. "Look," Jack said a little more gently, "isn't it better if they're docked right where we left them? I mean, if they went looking for us, they could be anywhere. It could take months to track them down. Do you wanna spend months in this bloody little thing?"

Will couldn't argue with that. If Jack was right, as he usually seemed to be, then he'd be sleeping safe and sound on board the infamous Black Pearl this time to tomorrow and be home wrapped up in Elizabeth's arms before he knew it.

On second thought, Thank God for drunken pirates!

The time past slowly – mostly in silence - but no one was complaining. Just to be out on the open water with the wind blowing the fresh sea air through their hair and the sun warming their battered bodies seemed like heaven after being in that windowless, reeking cell for one agonizingly long week.

Will followed Jack's occasional directions and prayed they were accurate. God only knew where they were – well…God and Jack, apparently. All Will could see was water, but Jack remained confident. He hauled himself to the edge of the boat and pointed toward the setting sun.

"See that island on the horizon?"

Will squinted into the fading light but couldn't see anything that looked even remotely like land. "…yeah, I see it."

"Thank God you steer better than you lie or we'd probably be halfway to Africa by now.

"But trust me, it's there. Tortuga – happiest place on Earth! Well, maybe not for respectable eunuchs such as yourself, but for the rest of us there's no where better!"

Will eased the little trawler into the port and stepped out onto the dock. 'Well, at least some things don't change." Things certainly hadn't. Tortuga was still swarming with drunkards tripping over there own feet and vomiting in the alleys or passed out in the streets. Glass was breaking, pirates were fighting, and whores were working. 'Ah, Tortuga…A pirates life for me,' Will thought sarcastically.

He turned back to Jack, who was somehow managing to crawl out of the boat, and bent down to help him, but Jack waved him off. When he finally got his butt firmly planted on the dock, he stopped to rest. "I seem to recall getting out of these little things was much easier last time," he muttered to himself."

"Well, that's probably because it was sinking."

If looks could kill, Will would've been floating face down in the water. "Who told you about that?!"

Will, leaning coolly against a pole, arms crossed over his bare chest, glanced down at Jack nonchalantly. "The Great Captain Jack Sparrow is hardly immune to gossip – and not only the stories you want people to hear."

Still scowling at Will, Jack pulled himself to his feet. "Time to go, I think. The sooner we get you back to your smithy, the less chance there is of me hurting you. Now, lead the way."

"Lead where?"

"The nearest pub. Where else?"

Will leaned his head against the wall and tried to block out the nearly unbearable noise of the pub he had lead them to. They were sitting in a corner, sipping rum, and keeping an eye out for one of Jack's crew members. It had been nearly an hour and so far no one had appeared. Will was still working on his first and only rum. Jack was on his fourth, which Will suspected was quite conservative of the rum-loving pirate.

Jack closed his eyes and rested his head on his left hand. His right arm was still out-of-comission, something he was brutally reminded of everytime he tried to move it. In spite of the ever-loudening ruckus, he was very nearly asleep when he was jolted awake by a familiar voice.

"Cap'n! There ye are!" Joshamee Gibbs worked his way through the crowd and plopped himself down at their table. "We've been wonderin' where the two of ye ran off to. 'aven't seen ye since we docked!" His smile faded as he finally took in the appearances of the two bruised, beaten, exhausted, and half-naked men in front of him. Will's head was still resting against the wall, his mouth hanging slightly open, and Jack was holding his head in one hand, the other other hanging limply at his side instead of wrapped possesivly around a pint as it should have been. "My God! What the bloody 'ell 'appened to ye?" He asked in horror, motioning to Jack's bandaged chest.

Neither had moved an inch since Gibbs sat down and they both just continued to stare blankly at him. "…Cap'n?" No answer. "Mr. Turner?" Will moaned a little, but nothing verbal came out. It was finally over, but they were too tired to care.

Gibbs looked around, hoping to see someone hurrying to his rescue. No such luck. He jumped a little at Will's weary voice. "Just take us back to the Pearl, Mr. Gibbs."

Will woke up on a makeshift bed in Jack's cabin, not really recalling how he'd gotten there. It was the exact same spot he'd been sleeping in just over a week ago when the whole horrible thing had started.

Jack stared at the ceiling. He was finally on his own ship, in his own cabin, in his own bed. He should have fallen asleep as quick as Will had, if not quicker, safe and sound at last. But he hadn't. 'Because I'm not safe and sound. Not yet.'

Will sat up, bleary-eyed. He could tell Jack was wide awake, even though he was still lying in bed, his left arm under his head. "Are we still in Tortuga?"

"No. Gibbs got us on the Pearl then went back out to round up the crew. We left as soon as enough of them had sobered up a bit. That was about an hour ago, I think."

Will sighed, happily for once, and layed back down, finally relaxed. "Home at last."

"Not quite."

Will shot back up. "What?! Home, Jack! We need to go home! Now!"

"I am home, actually."

"Well, I'm not! And, besides, you need a doctor! We need to go to Port Royal, Jack!"

"I know that," Will had never heard anyone's voice so laden with pain and exhaustion. "But there's someone on this ship I can't trust. We're not going anywhere until I find out who betrayed me."

A/N: Whoo! That was my longest chapter yet! Too bad nothing really happened. Hope it was somewhat enjoyable, though. It's really late, so please let me know if you find any typos so I can fix 'em. AND REVIEW!!!!!

Well, next chapter, we find out who the betrayer is. I've been kind of afraid to expose him/her 'cause I have a bad feeling it's not gonna go over well. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

This stupid site seems to have deleted 3 of my reviews for some reason, so if I didn't thank you, I'm really sorry, but blame the spontaneous deleters at this site.

THANKS

OpraNoodlemantra: Heehee! Yeah, Lange's a stupid buttplug! Is he dead? Well, I have my own ideas on that, but I think I'll let that be the reader's prerogative, at least for now. That F&LILV quote has got to be my favorite one in the whole movie, even more so than the one I used in the last chapter! Thanks for the review!

No 1 u wanna no: What a cool pen name you have! No, there's not gonna be any Jack/Will in this story. I thought about it, but it just isn't the direction I decided to take. Sorry! Maybe next time. Glad you like this story and I certainly hope you continue to read it anyway.

JackFan2: Always glad to here from you! I was very relieved to hear you loved the Jack POV section because I went back and forth on whether or not to leave that in. Is Lange dead? Well, like you said, there's always that little speck of doubt… I certainly hope this is meeting your expectations and continues to do so. Thanks for reviewing!

Merry-2004: Glad to hear from you again! Thanks for the compliments. Hope you're still enjoying this.

Atticus Crisps: You're compliments are truly appreciated! As any writer knows, I feed off reviews like yours. They're what keeps me writing. I'm very happy to hear you liked the Jack POV section because I wasn't sure how that would go over. I hope this is still meeting your expectations.

JessieRose: I'm very happy to hear you liked their escape and the way I portrayed them. I'm never sure how out-of-character they are sometimes. Part of me is sad to see this end, too. I'm considering a sequel, but…I don't know. We'll see how people react to the ending since that is, after all, the most important part.

Alori Kesi Aldercy: Sorry I grossed you out! I seem to have a habit of doing that. But after what that piece of crap did to poor Jack, I figured it was the only way for him to go. Thanks for the review!

Padfoot n' Moony: Thank God I didn't gross you out! I was really worried how people would react to that, since burning people alive is pretty horrible. But I thought it was the only thing suitable after what he did to Jack.

Jeshika-chan: Yayness! Thanks for the review! I hope I managed to update quick enough for you. I know what it's like to wait forever for an update; very annoying.

Hell On Hooves: First of all, awesome pen name! Barbossa did take the diamond, but is it on Isla de Muerta? Hm…only time will tell. Thanks for taking the time to review my little story!

YRP-is-so-kool: Well, I'm very honored to be the first PotC story you've read! Thanks for the great review!

ellennar: Thanks for still sticking with this story. I always thought of Lange as a rather flammable person, but maybe that's just me. Maybe Jack is still intent on getting in his vacation. I mean, imagine how stressful burning the rum would be for him!! Traumatizing! He might've thought that was the worst thing I did to him!

Enelya Took: Glad you liked how I whacked the bastard. And he is a bastard, even if he doesn't agree. Thanks for still reviewing!

Wildthing370: You're back, you wild thing, you! Well of course you're back; I sat you down at my computer and made you review! But still, it was a nice gesture. Ok, we've done Slurpees. Next time let's get together and do…BONO!!! Well, I'll do Bono, you can entertain yourself, kay? Hasta luego, mi hombre!

MichYep, "Fear and Loathing…" is an awesome movie! Thanks for reading my story!

Narcissa-Malfoy-22: Thanks for taking the time to review and for saying this is one of the best! Very flattering! Sorry about the torture parts, I know they're a little hard-core.

Pippin-n-legolas: I'm glad you liked the part from Jack's POV since I wasn't too sure about including it. Hope this chapter wasn't too disappointing. Thanks for the review!

ashlyns: Hey there! Thanks for taking the time to read mine. Glad you liked Jack going back for the hat. I thought it sounded…Jack-ish. Is Lange dead? Well, I have my own ideas, but I think I'll let it be the reader's prerogative, at least for now. Yeah, I thought Will deserved to kick some butt for a change. Hope this chapter wasn't a disappointment. Now quit reading my stupid story and go update yours!!!!

Beanie2552: Callin' me cheap! How dare – oh, wait! I am cheap! Of course I didn't expect to hear from you 'cause I threaten you with violence every day and it never works! I knew you'd like Will having a bigger role in this. And you know why he did? My Orlando posters!!! And wallpapers, course. Yes, they are very inspiring. I don't wanna include everyone, just the hot guys! But it looks like, by popular demand, I'm gonna have to include the women soon. Now review again or I'll kick your ass all the way into Senior year!!

Celebrean: I am honored that you chose to read this story first! Very honored! Glad you enjoyed the fic and thanks for taking the time to review it. Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. And welcome to the Pirates world!