(Where we left off:)

(Author's note) Alrighty folks, sorry about the cliff-hanger from the last chapter. What can I say, I'm evil… muahahaha! Anyways, other than the first chapter, this is officially the one chapter that all takes place in one fixed spot. Actually, now that I think about it, the first chapter didn't really either. The third may have. (Firme de la bouch, Kris!) I just couldn't stop writing, and then when I added the stuff with Mia and Will it kinda broke the nice little flow I had going on there… so now it's like, 5 pages of nothing but Kris, Jack and the occasional Delia. What fun! So what I'm getting at here is sorry if this chapter's a smidge boring, but it'll just have to do. Savvy? Though, I might only find it boring because I read and revised and edited it so many times… god only knows…

Roz: bwahaha I'm evil… sorry bout all the torture, but I gotta get my fun somehow, right? Lol… and yes, Katrina's a pirate! Everyone rejoice. Hmm… good question… my guess is that he had a few extras with him. But you'll have to ask Will for that one… lol joking… well later Roz!

Jeyke: Yes, it's true! Jack's back! Kris was pretty surprised… so she did kinda keep quiet… and there's an argument of sorts in this chapter. I guess. Sorta. Maybe. Lol anyways… knowing them, there's bound to be plenty of arguments in the near future! Yeah, Elizabeth's still around, alive and healthy and in love with will and vice versa. I'm putting her in some more after a bit… and there may or may not be a dramatic (or not so dramatic, you never know) chapter involving her and Eponine in the near future…. O.o  Ha, dead stop… I'm evil… well glad you liked the chapter so much!

 As usual, thank you for the comments! I luv 'em! And also… I haven't really posted a disclaimer for a really, really long time… nor have I posted a proper one, so… *ahem*

 I, Christi (Kris) Hubbs, also known as Kris the Great, do not own Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Gibbs, Anna-Maria, the Black Pearl or any other related paraphernalia. All of it is copywrite to Disney (including ((sadly)) the one and only Jack Sparrow) and not me. Kris Kayte, Mia Kayte, Benjamin Kayte, Katrina, Delia Defaulo, Captain Jeremy Smith, Bill, Brett, Amara, and the once mentioned Captain Hubbs belong to ME, are my OWN creation and are copywrite to me!! (Also including any of them unimportant made up characters not mentioned…) This story and all events are also copywrite to me, I can legally post fanfictions because I get no profit (money) out of it… Any offence a person should get from this story is completely unintentional… blahblahblah yattayattayatta…

~Kris J

Chapter 11

This couldn't be happening… she didn't know what to feel, whether she should be angry or happy or neutral… But the man standing before her barely moved a muscle. Even without the small, virtually unhelpful stream of moonlight, she would have been able to recognise him. It would have been impossible not to.

 It was Jack.

They stood silently like this for what seemed like hours, neither of them quite knowing what was going on or what was going to happen next. They gave off the impression of wild animals caught in each other's paths, two thieves who had just happened to be in the same place at the same time.

 It seemed that one wrong move, one slip of the hand could change the pattern of Fate forever…

 Kris's overwhelming emotions soon sorted themselves out, mentally knocking her over with one simple, commanding instinct. Her hand relaxed, sending her sword clattering to the floor, finally breaking the heavy silence. But her sword had barely hit the ground when she had found herself in his arms, having rushed over to him so quickly that neither of them could have been sure how it happened. And the second Kris's arms had found themselves around Jack's neck, the second that she had felt the warmth radiating from his body and his surprisingly soft hair brush against her cheek, she had let herself go. Everything she had felt in the past two months, all the feelings of regret and guilt and sadness took form in the tears aimlessly spilling down her cheeks…

 All of his questions silently answered, Jack patted her back comfortingly. He'd never seen her cry before, and though he hated it when women cried, he found it slightly comforting to know that she was crying for him… that she missed him…

 "Shh… it's all right… don't cry, it's ok… Come on now Kris, it's all right…"

Though she had now found her voice, Kris's sobs grew slightly worse. "Jack… I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…." She sobbed. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean it, I swear, I thought you were dead! I thought you'd left… I'm sorry… I love you!" she said this last part slightly louder, as if verifying it for herself as well as him. It didn't even matter if he felt the same way. The words were alien to her; they weren't even in her vocabulary, but to hear them come from her own mouth, to hear her voice projecting them for all to hear held a strange sense of power, a feeling that you were attached mortally to reality yet still floating away from it…

 Jack said nothing for the next little while, patting Kris's back as she sobbed uncontrollably into his shoulder. He rocked her slightly, cradling her tightly in his arms. Finally, her un-godly loud sobs stopped, and she removed her head from his shoulder. She stared up at him, her bluish grey eyes slightly puffy and extremely shiny, and the small circle of faint moonlight coming from the knot-hole placed almost exactly on her nose. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face, grinning slightly.

 "I know." He said. They stood there for a long time, merely looking at each other, mentally sorting through what had just happened and basking in each other's presence.

 "Well now, isn't this cute." A cold voice came from just behind them. Jack recognised the voice straight away. It was Smith.

 Kris whipped around and pulled out her pistol, pointing it directly at Smith. It took her a slight moment to realise that she had just placed herself right in front of Smith's out-stretched sword, the tip barely inches away from her own face. She stared dumbfounded at it for a moment, before

Smith's icy voice snapped her back to reality.  

 "Honestly, how many times have I told you that escape is impossible, Sparrow?" He spoke as if speaking to a disobedient child, stretching each word with slow, exaggerated syllables. The way he called Jack 'Sparrow' held none of the affection it did when Kris said it, instead it was dripping with hatred that seemed to pierce the dark, seemed solid enough to overtake both of them, to pierce their very hearts… "I really would have thought you were smart enough to have realised that by now."

 Kris loaded her pistol with a slight movement of her thumb, the click echoing throughout the barren bilge.

 "And you, you… who are you?" Smith said, turning to Kris. He waved his sword slightly in the air as he spoke, as if it could tell him everything about her. "You're one of those bloody pirates that stormed my ship, aren't you? Yes, I can see it in your eyes, the cold defiance. They bloody well killed half of my men, but we drove them off eventually. And you should be proud; they stuck to those pathetic little guidelines. After all, they left without you, didn't they?"

  Kris's finger found the trigger, her hand tensing until the right moment to shoot. Jack's hand stayed protectively on her shoulder, but he stayed back; he had no weapons, after all.

 "It's really too bad." Smith continued. "You're a pretty thing, you are. You shouldn't be wasting your time on this pushover, he doesn't love you. That creature's incapable of even the simplest feelings."

 Kris pulled the trigger.

 Jack's hand tensed at this simple motion, gripping her shoulder almost painfully, and even Smith flinched. But nothing happened. Kris pulled the trigger again; still nothing. She pulled it again, one last time, and a pathetic little puff of gun powder protruded from the nozzle.

 Smith snorted. "That was it? That's really all you've got? The Captain Jack sparrow has to rely on some woman with a defective gun to manage his escape plans? The Captain Jack Sparrow has to-"

 He was cut off by Kris angrily whacking his sword from his unsuspecting hands with her the nozzle of her pistol, sending it clattering to the floor. Sensing his chance, Jack stepped forward and punched Smith square in the jaw.

 You've got to understand that this particular situation would have made for a fantastic escape, had the clattering of Smith's sword not summoned four more sailors and had Kris not unceremoniously tripped over her own fallen sword as she had reeled back out of Jack's way.  

 "Yet again, Sparrow," Smith said, lightly rubbing his jaw, which was beginning to bleed. The soldiers who had been drawn by all the noise immediately surrounded Jack and Kris, weapons pointed straight at them. "You're outnumbered."

 After a few moments of struggling, the sailors (under Smith's order, of course) had managed to force Jack and Kris into the cramped cell. The sailors had quickly dispersed, leaving Smith sneering at them as he stood a few feet away from the cell.

 "Let us out you bloodthirsty bastard!!" Kris screamed through the bars.

 "You can't keep us here forever!" Jack added.

 "Damn you and your family and your family's children to the deepest bowels of hell, you bloody-"

Kris was cut off by Smith.

 "Oh really? All of my family?" He jeered, slowly approaching the cell.

Kris spat through the bars, narrowly missing his face. Disgusted, Smith retreated back to who knows where, leaving Kris and Jack.

 "That spastic cold blooded BASTARD!" Kris screamed, banging her fists against the bars. She gave them one last hit before resting her head against the cold metal, fighting back the urge to slam her whole body against the bars. She groaned slightly, banging her head slightly against the bars in a rhythmic manner.

 After a few moments, Kris looked up and walked over to where Jack was sitting, in the same bored, uneasy position he'd been sitting in when Delia was still his cell-mate. Kris sat down beside him, leaning her head against his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. Jack, although he was notably miserable that he had to spend more time in his brother's jail cell, couldn't help thinking that, this time around, the conditions were noticeably leaning towards his favour. Though he had lost one huffy, slightly snobbish woman and had gained one with a temper that could be compared to that of a bull's, there were a few minor changes. One, he no longer had to worry about what Kris was doing with his ship; he only had to worry about what the rest of the crew was doing to his ship. Two, Kris certainly didn't hate him. And three; this time there was no guard.

 Fate, in a way, was on his side.

* * *

 Kris awoke to a thin stream of sunlight illuminating their cell, giving the atmosphere an almost cheery feeling. She yawned and shifted her position slightly, feeling the rough wool of Jack's coat brush against her skin. She realised that it was covering her like a blanket. Funny, she didn't remember having it on…. It must have been Jack. She turned to face him, his arm that had previously been resting around her waist shifted slightly, coming to rest on her arm. She looked at him for a while, almost hungrily drinking in his features, the face she hadn't seen for so long… He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. There was no trace of worry in his face; no indication of any of the hardships that he'd been through or the pain his past had held… Unless, of course, you caught a glimpse of one of his many battle scars. Kris immediately turned her attention to the arm that was slung across her own, the arm which she knew held an extensive, lightning-bolt like scar sprawled across it. She gently pushed up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing the light, slightly parched pink skin of the scar. She'd heard the story behind this particular scar many, many times; but the fantastic story behind it wasn't why she had always felt a certain amount of compassion for him for bearing it; it was the scar itself. Having a similar one running the length of her leg, from her thigh to her knee, she knew how painful they could be. And hers, she knew, was barely half as bad as his. She gently traced the length of the scar with her finger, quickly drawing back as Jack flinched.  

 She sat up slightly, so that she was at the same height as him as he lay half sitting against the wall, and lightly kissed his lips. When he didn't move, she kissed him again; slightly longer this time. He groaned as he awakened, moving only slightly as if he wanted to fall back asleep. Kris laughed slightly and gently pulled down on one of the braids in his beard, causing him to flinch and groan again.

 "It's too bloody early…" he groaned, not opening his eyes. "Too early…" Kris laughed again as she brushed some of his hair off of his face and planted yet another kiss on his lips, this time lingering slightly longer than she'd intended to. He leaned over to her, draping his arm across her back as Kris kissed him again. "Mmm… I'm awake, I'm awake Delia…"

  Kris immediately drew back, so violently that Jack was forced backwards. He opened his eyes, a frightened look on his face, but smiled when he saw Kris. "Nice way to wake me up, though I could have done without the whole shoving me off of you bit…" he trailed off when he saw the look on Kris's face.

 "Delia?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "May I ask who Delia is?"

 Jack's jaw dropped. "Did I just say…" Kris nodded. "I called you…" Kris nodded again, this time narrowing her eyes.

 "And you still don't feel the need to tell me who she is?" Kris demanded calmly, her voice eerily quiet compared to her expression.

 "No, really, she's not…" Jack tried to explain. Kris glared at him.  "I didn't…" Kris shook her head. "She was me bloody cell-mate, alright?!" Jack replied, stumbling to find his wording as he sat up. "We didn't…"

 "You didn't what?" Yet again, Kris's voice was eerily calm.

 "She engaged to my brother!" Jack blurted out, growing uneasy at the way Kris was looking at him. "She's practically my sister in law!!!"

 Kris's expression turned from angry to surprised. "Really? You're brother's engaged?"

"Surprisingly, yes, I have no idea how he'd convince any woman to marry him though because-" Jack started, but he was cut off by Kris.

 "You have a brother?"

Jack immediately realised that he had not-so-tactfully forgotten to mention the fact he had a brother to Kris. "Yes."

 Kris looked at him for a moment, her expression unreadable. "I don't believe you."

"Why not?!"

"Because." Kris said, a hint of anger showing in her voice. Just a hint. "I know you, Jack. You're a good liar and you're a charmer and you'd do anything to cover something up. Besides, even if she really was engaged to your brother that would never stop you!"

 "Kris!" Jack yelled. "Trust me! I swear on my mother's grave that I didn't do anything!"

 "What have you done to make me trust you?!" Kris yelled back.

Just then, to Jack's surprise, Delia entered the bilge carrying a large bundle in her arms. Her long, blonde hair was brushed and curled to perfection, and it looked as if she had long ago changed out of her ripped up purple gown as she now sported a lavish green satin number. "Hello!" she said cheerfully.

 "Tell her we didn't do anything!" Jack exclaimed to Delia, pointing at Kris.

"Well, we did try this unsuccessful escape plan and we fought a lot but…" Delia trailed off at the strange stares she was receiving from the two pirates. "Oh, you mean did something…" she gestured suggestively, before making a face. "Hell no! I mean sure, maybe if he had a bath or something, but let's face it, he's no Jeremy. I mean, just look at him-"

 "Thank you, Delia." Jack said, before turning to Kris. "Do you believe me now?!"

 "She seems sincere enough, especially about the whole bath part." Kris commented, studying Delia. "I believe you. But who's Jeremy?"

 "My brother." Jack replied sullenly. "My half brother really, his last name's not Sparrow. It's Smith."

 Kris gaped at him. "That bastard is your brother?!"

 "Excuse me!" Delia said, rapping her fist against the bars. "That bastard's fiancé is standing right here."

 "Oh yeah." Kris replied sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm sure he's really ah… um… nice?"

 Delia laughed. "That's all right. And I'm guessing you're Kristalle?"

 Kris nodded. "But how did you-"

 "Oh, Jack talks about you a lot. Never really mentioned your name properly, but he mutters in his sleep." Delia said. Jack gave an objective snort about her comment on his muttering in his sleep, but Kris laughed slightly. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Kristalle."

 "You too." Kris replied. "But please, call me Kris."

"Is Smith planning on letting us out anytime soon?" Jack asked quickly, before either of them could take up talking about him again.

 Delia sighed and brushed a stray strand of her golden hair away from her face. "He hasn't mentioned it, but I'm working on him. I know I can convince him to let you out somehow, but it'll take a while. He's unbelievably stubborn." She shoved the bundle she had been holding through the bars. "I brought provisions, though. If I remember correctly, Jeremy hasn't fed you since our last escape attempt."

 Jack readily grabbed the bundle from her and opened it, grabbing a piece of bread and hungrily biting into it. Kris looked through the rest, before pulling out a bottle of deep, red liquid. She smiled as she held the bottle up to the sunlight, the liquid shimmering. "You brought us rum?"

 Delia smiled. "Just because you're stuck in that cell doesn't mean you can't have a bit of fun, does it?" she cringed slightly after a moment as she realised the numerous possible meanings of what she just said. "But not, just, no. I'll be back tomorrow to bring more food, and I'll bring you some clothes, too." She motioned to Kris, whose clothes were not only tattered from the previous night's battle but also smudged with crusted blood, not all of which was Mia's.

 "She doesn't need clothes." Jack replied, his words slurred due to the fact that his mouth was stuffed full of bread.

 Kris shot him a murderous look as Delia reluctantly started towards the wooden steps. "What the gentleman."

 Jack chose not to answer as he was too busy eating. Kris sat back down beside him and stared at the bottle in her hand silently.

 "Is something wrong?" Jack asked once his mouth was finally emptied.

 "No." was Kris's initial response. It was a reflex really; she was never used to talking about anything that bothered her.

 "Yes there is. Was it something… did I do something?"

 Kris shook her head and looked up, giving a weak smile. "No. It's just… Mia."

 "What about her?"

 "She was shot."

 Jack, who had just bit into a piece of sweetmeat, nearly choked and immediately spat it out, barely missing Kris. "She what?! Is she alright?"

 Kris was surprised at how he actually seemed to care about whether or not Mia was hurt. "She's fine… I think. She only got hit in the shoulder, but it was bleeding pretty badly. I was with her when it happened. That's the reason I came down here, I thought the shot had come from somewhere in the cabins…"

 "And you found me." Jack finished for her. "And you got stuck in this jail cell, and now Mia's out there bleeding to death because of my brother."

 "Close." Kris replied. "But Mia's not out there bleeding to death, Will took her back to the Pearl."

 "He always was the honourable hero type."

 Kris cracked a slight smile. "And you're not?"

"No."

 Kris laughed. "I'm sure she's fine though, Jacob would have taken care of her by now. Unless, of course, you decided to fire our surgeon before you ran off."

 "Not to worry, as far as I know Jacob's still there patching people up. But I didn't run off; I told you that." He took another large bite of sweetmeat and attempted a smile, only succeeding in looking completely barbaric.

 Kris smiled and held up the bottle she still held in her hand. "Guess there's only one thing left to do." She said, popping the cork and taking a long swig.

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Okay, okay, had this chapter been a music video I'd definitely make it onto Fromage 2005. And also, you may not have noticed my (very) subtle yet sick little jokey hint type things that have been placed throughout the story, but there were a couple in this chapter so I just apologise for any of you out there who are shaking their heads… Tisk tisk. But hey, I don't really want to actually mention stuff… This story's generally supposed to be for all ages… well, I'm sure all of you out there are yelling 'firme de la bouche' at me so I'll shut me yap. *hands a candy apple to everyone actually taking the time to read this* thankers! J