A/N: Hope I didn't make you all wait too long. I promise never to make you wait so long for an update ever again. Unless of courseI forget...
Gotta give props to one of my reviewers - Smithy - real quick -Yes you did predict Will's reaction quite accurately, didn't you? I swear you've gotsta be psychic ;-)
Jack had gotten to the ship and snuck up behind the two young men easily enough. He knocked them out and had Gibbs take them down to the Brigg. He wanted to question them; he doubted that two amteur half-wits like them could find his ship without help.
He mentioned this to Gibbs, who he knew he could trust with his life, butthe old manmerely shrugged it off, saying it was 'bad luckto accuse a man of traitorin' behind his back'.
His head was swimming with troubling thoughts. Why would one of his crew betray him? Could it have been Julianne? No, he knew it wasn't her, she wouldn't have sent the Navy to her just to run back to him. It had to have been one of his crew, but why? He had always treated them with as much respect as they did towards him, always abides by the code. Of course he knew this was in violation of the code and whoever had done such a thing would have to be marooned, something he hated to do to someone after what he went through, but he had to stick to the code.
Jackwas so caught up in his thoughts that he almost set sail without returning for Julianne, and Captain Jack Sparrow never makes mistakes.
-A week Later-
Julianne gently knocked on the door of Jack's cabin. She heard no answer, but knew perfectly well that he was inside, so she tried to push the door open, only to find that it was locked.
"Jack?...Jack, I know you're in there," she said as gently as she could. She was about to call to him again, but the door flew open and she was nose-to-nose with the Captain of the Black Pearl.
She was speechless at how terrible he looked. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and he was noticably paler than usual, with large circles under each eye, and had lost disturbingly too much weight for just a week, even considering the fact that he rarely came out of his room, and wouldn't let anyone in, including Julianne. She had been sleeping with Will and Elizabeth in the spare bunk that Jack said he always kept in the back, and she decided to just ignore the fact that he didn't offer her said bunk when she arrived, and concentrated on trying to get him out of his room, first. And finally here he was. In the flesh- if just barely so.
"What!" he said finally, a little to sharp for Julianne's taste.
"Jack, you look horrible!I'm going to goget you something to eat, and-"
"I'm fine, Julianne." He interrupted her, and almost shut the door in her face, but she spoke again, determined to make him let her in.
"But Jack, if you just let me in you could tell me-"
"I'm doing all fine by me wilties, alright?"
"Why don't you just talk to me and-"
"Or, ye could bloody leave me alone for one bloody minute so I can think, hm?"
She was getting very frustrated with him interrupting her and attempting to shut her out, and mostly she was worried about what he was doing to himself, and he finally pushed too hard.
"Gods, no wonder James hated you so much, you annoying-"
This time it was her turn to block him from finishing his sentance with a swift move of her hand followed by a sickening crack that filled their ears. A red handprint was already forming on his cheek, and her face was flushed with anger. Her next words were so low he could barely hear them, but they put the fear in himthat he put into many men's hearts himself with just a look.
"You have no right." She took a breathin, trying to calm herself, then slowly exhaled."Jack, I'm only worried about you. You've been in there all week and you need to come out sometime to eat or you'll bloody starve to death! You can't shut me out, Jack. I want you to tell me what is going on right NOW!" She stomped her foot and looked up into his widened eyes.A look of utter defeat andweariness flashed across his handsome featuresand he let go of the side of the door andstaggered over to the other side of the cabinto sit on the bed.
The room looked exactly the same as the last time, except the books were strewn about everywhere on his desk.
She joined him on the bed, laying her head on his shoulder. She wasn't sorry for what she had done, she knew he deserved it, but she was sorry that he was so distraught that he would say something that she knew he wouldn't have if he hadn't been so utterly exhausted with whatever he had been doing this past week."Please tell me what's wrong. You know you can trust me, don't you?"
He snorted, "Can't trust anyone now, luv."
"What do you mean?"
"Betrayed! I've been trying to find some loophole, some...ambiguity in the damned code. Do you know what the penalty for betrayal is?"
Julianne shook her head, still feeling confused, but not wanting to make Jack any more upset.
"Maroon. I've got to throw Gibbs on some God forsaken spit of land so he can watch us sail away-"
She thought of the elderly man. He had never been unkind to her, but she knew he wasn't in favor of her staying onboard with them. But he had always seemed so loyal and obedient to Jack's every command. "Jack, I don't understand. Gibbs betrayed you? How so?"
After they had set sail, Jack went down to the brig tointerrogate the two young men inside. He stopped at the door when he heard someone talking to them just barely above a whisper, and he had to strain his ears to hear them.
"I told ye to bring some more. Ye aren't gonna get the Cap'n with jus' the two of ye." He couldn't tell who it was, just that it was a man. Which ruled out Ana Maria.
Excellent progress, he thought to himself.
"Well excuse us for not trusting pirates," saidone ofthe young men. Aha, he was a pirate! ...wait, no progress there. "And we had a whole ship of us, thank you. But they told us to go on foot to look for the Black Pearl and report back anything we found before we attacked."
So whoever it was almost got them all killed! He couldn't hear what was said next so he leaned further into the door, but there was no room to do so,resulting inthe door flying open and the Captain stumbling down the steps to the floor of the brig.
He quickly looked up to see who it was that wasskirting aroundbehind his back, and saw only the two flustered men in red coats and-
"Gibbs," Jack threw his arms up in the air, which would look almost comical if it weren't for the grave expression on his face. Julianne had never imagined Jack could break down like this, merely over one of his seamen that could easily be replaced.
"Jack, it's alright," she didn't know what to say. She stood up next to him and put her arms around his neck, patting him gently on the shoulder.
"Ye don' understand! It was Gibbs...I trusted him. I can't do that to him, what my crew did to me. Screw the code...screw the bloody guidelines! He's my friend. I'll just kick him off at the next island and-"
Jack was cut off by pounding on the door, and AnaMaria burst in, an anxious expression on her face. "Captain, it's the Commodore! He's been following us and...he's catching up!"
