Disclaimer: Since I don't have one on the other chapters, this is a reminder. I own nothing, save Mari. She is my pride and joy and I'm exceedingly proud of the way she's turned out. sniff They grow up so fast...

A/N: There is a point to all of the chapters so far. I know it's moving a bit slow, but it will speed up. In the meantime, enjoy the interplay between Jack, erm, Captain Jack and Mari. I mean, Captain Mari...oh, bother, they're all the same. ;)

"What happened?" Elizabeth demanded as they entered the house. She carefully thrust Mari onto Jack's stool and gathered water and bandages. Mari looked at the group rather sullenly, thinking suddenly she'd have been better off in the hands of the Royal Navy. They didn't ask questions.

"I ran into a chap I haven't seen in years," Mari said jovially. She winced as Elizabeth began cleaning the blood from her thigh. "He never did like me much," she added.

"Sangre," Jack muttered under his breath.

Will glanced at him. "Sangre?" he asked. "What is that?"

"Not what, mate," Jack said quietly. "Who."

"They need know nothing, Jack," Mari said firmly. "They have no claim in this."

"I'd say they bloody do, my lass," Jack told her. "Bootstrap's family has as much stake in this as do we."

"I'm not 'your lass,'" Mari muttered, then realized what Jack had said. Her gaze fixed on Will.

"Young William?" she said quietly. Will nodded.

"Your father spoke of you often," she said. Will's eyes widened, his mouth opening in question, but Jack interrupted him.

"Where is it?" he demanded.

"Where's what?" Mari snapped back. Jack came very close to the woman's uninjured side.

"You know precisely what I'm talking about, my lass. Out with it."

Mari glared at him for a few seconds, then slowly drew a tiny square of parchment from her belt pouch. Jack plucked it from her fingers and looked at it. His jaw clenched as he crumpled the paper in his fist.

"You said nothing," Jack murmured dangerously. "You sent no message, you didn't seek me out?"

Mari remained silent. "

You ran from him? You ran from Sangre and then led him here?" Jack's voice was rising with uncharacteristic rage. Will and Elizabeth stared. They hadn't truly thought him capable of this sort of anger.

"You're practically giving Sangre all of us, wrapped up in a nice, neat package! If your blood trail doesn't lead him here, rumors will!"

Jack gripped Mari's shoulders, his eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you call on the Pearl? On me?"

"The last time I elicited your help, Jack Sparrow, you turned me in to the British Royal Navy!" It was now Mari's turn for rage.

"You left me in that godforsaken jail cell to get hung! That on its own proves you monumentally unreliable, not to mention all the incidents of my childhood on the Pearl-"

"That seafaring childhood is what kept you alive, young missy," Jack hissed.

"To bad for that," Mari snapped back. The two began arguing in earnest now, shouting at the top of their sea-roughened voices.

In the middle of all this mess, Elizabeth's maid, Estrella, stepped into the kitchen.

"My lord," she murmured to Will, "the Commodore's come calling."

Will's stomach turned over. "Show him into the parlor; we'll be with him as soon as we can."

Estrella nodded, and swept out of the room, taking young Anne with her. Estrella was as unflappable as a stiff set of shutters; the sight of two pirates screaming at one another in her lord's kitchen did nothing to her constitution.

"Pardon me," Will said loudly.

"Arrogant, insufferable old man..." Mari snapped.

"Supercilious little monkey..." Jack retorted.

"Would the two of you..." Will interjected.

"I thought hey named the monkey after you." Mari remarked.

"Just like her mother..."

"Should have considered that before sleeping with her..."

Will gaped for a moment at this revelation.

"Don't thrust into my affairs!" Jack shouted

"I'm the result of your constant affairs!"

"HEY!" Will retrieved his bearings and shouted at the top of his lungs. Both pirates and his wife stared at him in shock. The blacksmith took a deep breath.

"The good Commodore has decided to pay my wife and me a visit. I suggest the two of you resolve your family spat upstairs"- both looked sheepish here- "and," he glanced at Elizabeth, who was now smirking just a bit, "after he has gone, we are going to hear the full story of this Sangre. Now, upstairs! Elizabeth?"

Will offered his wife his arm as the two pirates scrambled upstairs. The Turners made their way sedately into the parlor and greeted James Norrington (they hoped) as if there were nothing amiss. Norrington greeted them both genially, though Will thought his gaze rested a bit too long on Elizabeth. But, a mere gaze was nothing to duel over, and the blacksmith ignored it.

"What brings us the pleasure of your company, Commodore?" Elizabeth asked politely, but rather distantly. Will resisted breaking into a satisfied smile.

"I'm afraid this isn't merely a pleasant call," the Commodore began. A loud thump overhead distracted him for a moment. But, Norrington recovered his composure quickly and continued.

"You see," he began again, "there have been several pirate ships spotted uncomfortably close to the harbor, two last night and one this morning. One of them," he sighed heavily, "had black sails."

Elizabeth gasped, while Will's mouth dropped open. He knew! He knew that Jack was here, that they were hiding a criminal...

"I know that you are rather fond of a certain pirate captain," Norrington went on, "but if you have any information on the whereabouts of pirates, any pirates..." Once again, the officer paused as a series of clearly audible thumps came from above them.

"What is going on up there?" the Commodore asked. The Turners wracked their brains for an excuse.

"We've got" –another thump, Will cursed inwardly. "We've got, um..."

"Bats!" Elizabeth supplied. "Bats came in through the upstairs fireplace. We would have told you, but it's a rather embarrassing situation..." Another thud, this time accompanied by the sound of shattering china.

"They're very big bats," Will told the Commodore carefully. The officer's face was a moue of confusion.

"So it would seem," he remarked dryly.

"There are rooms and baths prepared for you upstairs," Estrella explained as she led Jack and Mari upstairs.

"You are, without a doubt, the most wonderful maid I've made acquaintance with," Jack said exultantly. Estrella opened a door and ushered them inside.

"Probably the only one, Master Sparrow," she replied. Jack grinned and kissed her hand.

"Never assume anything, love. And it's captain, if you please."

"As you please," Estrella said, blushing slightly. "Your room adjoins to this one, through that door there." And she left.

Mari dipped her fingers into the bath water and sighed.

"Better accommodations than I've had in a while," she commented, casting Jack a significant look.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I've explained to you already; you were safer in the jail."

"Oh, yes, it's very safe to be sitting in a stone gutter waiting for the gift of a hempen collar!"

"Sangre was there that day, Mari! He was looking for you."

Mari shot him a sharp look and slipped behind the changing screen. "I don't believe you!"

Jack threw up his hands. "Haven't you ever heard of suspension of disbelief?"

Mari stormed into the open, wearing her drawers and shirt only and holding a leather boot.

"It's not a safe thing to practice in certain company," she retorted.

Jack decided to change the subject. "Why did you come here?"

"Why does any pirate come to Port Royal?"

"No, I mean why here? Why this particular blacksmith's shop?"

"You saw my sword. Turner has a good reputation."

"And him being Bootstrap's son has nothing to do with it?"

"Saving that he'd be more willing to work with pirates...no. What are you implying, Jack?"

"Everyone needs a bit of leverage."

"You think I would trade him to Sangre, to save myself?" Jack shrugged.

Mari twisted the boot in her hands. "I would never betray anyone in Bootstrap's line. That's your area of expertise."

"Ah, but dear lass, you are your father's daughter, savvy?"

The boot flew at his face, hitting its mark squarely. Jack, not expecting the blow, fell backward with a thud. He then hurled the offending piece of footwear at Mari, but missed, hitting the changing screen. The screen fell with a clatter, knocking over the chair and stand next to it. The china pitcher on the stand also fell and shattered. The two stared at the mess for a long moment.

"Your room, not mine," Jack proclaimed.

The mate to the first boot sailed after him as he swaggered through the door, but hit only the lintel. It fell to the floor with another resounding thud.

A/N: I know this ends pretty openly, but it was kinda long, so I felt it would be better if I truncated it somewhat. Feel free to review! I mean, really, I could use the praise....please?