Disclaimer: I still don't own Pirates of the Caribbean or any of its characters.

A/N: Thanks, as usual, to all of my reviewers! You are my inspiration, I love you all!


Jack could feel Julianne's grip tighten around his shoulders. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and kissed her on the forehead to calm her before grabbing his shirt and cutlass and following Ana Maria out the door and onto the deck.

They passed by Gibbs, who reluctantly looked to Jack with guilt and fear mingled in his dark eyes. Jack couldn't look to the man he used to call a friend with the pride and respect he once had in his heart for him. He knew he couldn't maroon the man, the code be damned. He would kick him off at the next town and let the local authorities have their way with him.

Looking ahead towards the horizon, he saw the closing silhouette of a respectable sized warship bearing white sails and the flag of England. They were to close to outrun, but Jack still had every confidence that he and his loyal crew could defend themselves and have their victory, betrayal or no.

"Load the cannons!" He yelled to one of his men, then turning to Ana Maria, "drop the anchor on the starboard side."

"Then what?"

"Prepare to fight."


After Jack had left, Julianne was left sobbing on the bed she had longed to lay in with Jack for the last week. Now she feared she may never get that chance again. She was soon accompanied by Elizabeth, who came rushing into Jack's cabin naught but two minutes after he had left.

"Julianne is it true? He's come to take you back, hasn't he?" Julianne felt the bed groan as she was joined by her friend on the bed, and was soon wrapped up in a sisterly embrace.

"Oh, Elizabeth! I just can't go back. I'll die first!" She sobbed into Elizabeth's shoulder.

"Jack would never let that happen."

Julianne desperately wanted it to be true, but she forced herself to remember that he was a pirate. He would never settle down, never love any one woman. To him, she was just something to look forward to at night...nothing more. But her feelings for him were different.

"I love him." she hadn't realized she'd spoken out loud, and looked up to find Elizabeth grinning knowingly at her. She looked back down at her hands, realizing how naive she must sound. "But I can't! He doesn't care anything for me, I know it! I mean nothing more to him than one of his Tortuga whores."

"Don't be utterly ridiculous. It's obvious the way he feels about you."

Julianne looked back up, daring to let a drop of hope find its way into her heart, "What do you mean?"

Elizabeth smiled warmly, "I can see it in his eyes. The way he looks at you. Like James did, before...oh Julianne, I should have noticed. I don't know why I was so stupid. Will and I were always gone and I have known James for so long that I just couldn't imagine him being so..." her voice trailed off and tears started to fill her own eyes, but Julianne mustered up her strength to fill her voice with as much resolve as possible.

"Nonsense. There was nothing you could do; I was the only one with a choice to stop it. I shouldn't have let it get so bad."

"You've changed so much. Just in these past weeks. I'm so happy you and Jack-" but Elizabeth never got a chance to finish. The door to burst open to reveal a bloody and obviously infuriated James Norrington. And before Julianne knew what was happening, a shot rang through the air, and Elizabeth fell back limply onto the bed.

The face she had prayed every night she would never have to see again grinned maliciously at her, "Miss me, darling?"

She screamed and looked down to Elizabeth, then back up at the maniacal, haunting face of her husband, who was now pointing a bloody hand holding a pistol pointed directly at her. She could see Elizabeth was still breathing, but she didn't know how long she could live with such a wound.

"What? All this time we've been apart and not even a hello?" He said, cocking the gun. The sickening click of the bullet being put into place also made all the anger she had built up inside her explode within, and she felt as if it were pouring out through her skin. "It's to my understanding that you've been quite unfaithful. Tell me, is this true?"

"No more than you have, darling," she put as much disgusted emphasis on the last word. Seeing the look on his face take a surprised tone, she spoke again, "Tell me, did you get bored of all the whores in Port Royal? Or was it that they didn't fancy the idea of sleeping with a woman beater?"

He took a menacing step forward, "If I was in your place, I wouldn't be saying such things."

"And if I was in yer place," said a husky voice behind James, "I would put the gun down and step away from the girl."


Jack watched, pleased with himself at the fury and menace in his own voice as James froze at his words. He clutched at his stomach, which was bleeding furiously from the wound caused by the Commodore's sword. He had to force his legs not to collapse under him and hardly felt as confident as he sounded, but he couldn't let the girl go. In a movement quick enough that the slightly distracted Jack Sparrow didn't know what was happening, James had Julie held tight in front of him with the pistol pressed roughly against her temple. Jack cursed himself for letting his thoughts run away with him like that.

"I would suggest you lower your weapon, Sparrow. I'm feeling a bit drastic." He said, pressing the gun impossibly further into her head for emphasis. "This is the second time I've lost a woman to a pirate, and I can't let this mutilate my reputation further."

Jack smirked. He knew how to play this game. "Go ahead, kill the wench. And if I was ye I'd be thinking about more than me reputation, mate." Julianne's eyes widened, and he so desperately wanted to tell her that he wasn't serious, how much he needed her with him, but he had to keep up his act or it would be the end of both of them.

James raised an eyebrow, "Really? I could kill the girl right now and youwouldn't tryto stop me?"

Jack shrugged, "She was a good lay, butI've had my use out of her, I just don' want to have to clean up both yer body's worth of blood off me bedroom floor."

"You bastard!" screamed Julianne. Jack barely winced, but that was all thatJames needed.

"I don't believe you. You could have dropped her off at any port along the way. So I'll just have to make a deal with you. You come back with me to Port Royal, I let the girl go. Or I could kill the girl and you both, but it's so much work."

"Ye'd kill yer own wife? What would those high-class folks back home think about that?"

"I don't think they would be at all surprised to find out she had been raped and killed by a certain Mr. Sparrow on her little adventure."

Jack contemplated this. He could go back to Port Royal, let the girl have her chance at a good life. Or he could watch James put a bullet in her head and kill him afterwards. Either way he would lose, somehow he knew that his life wouldn't be the same without her with him like she had been the past weeks. He then realized something, something that had been tugging at the back of his mind, but he subconsciously chose to ignore. He loved her.

He couldn't stand it anymore; the woman he loved was at the mercy of his worst enemy. He knew then that death was better than living without her. He had to surrender.


Julianne saw the look in his eyes and she knew what was going to happen. She couldn't let James take Jack back to Port Royal. She realized how stupid she had been, Jack did love her. He was trying to protect her by bluffing. She had never wished more than at that moment that she could turn back time, but she knew what she had to do instead.

"I'll go with you!" She screamed before Jack had a chance to speak.

"What?" they both spoke in unison, questioning looks on their faces.

"I'll go home with you, James, but you must promise to leave Jack and the crew alone. And you must take Elizabeth to get medical treatment, she's still breathing." she hoped it wasn't a completely foolish thing to do, but she knew Jack would surely be hanged if he were taken back to Port Royal.

"Well, if you will truly come back with me, I swear on pane of death, the Black Pearl's crew will be left completely unharmed, and dear Elizabeth will be nursed back to health if it's the last thing I do."

Julianne could plainly see the pleading in Jack's eyes for her to not do this, but she knew she had to. She timidly walked up to him, hoping that James wouldn't stop her, and brushed her lips across his cheek. Then she felt a hand grab her roughly by the arm and looked up at the jealous face of James, before stealing one last glance at Jack and her freedom, getting farther away with each step.

James practically dragged her over a plank to his ship, where she was gifted with a warm blanket by one of the Lieutenants aboard the Royal Navy ship. None of these respectable men had any clue of the actions of her husband that caused Elizabeth's wound and the cruelty that filled his otherwise empty heart.

She saw two men carrying a semi-conscious Elizabeth onboard also, and presumed to follow them, but felt an arm curl around her shoulders, which would seem a loving gesture, but she felt only hate towards the man holding her at that moment. However, she thought of the reason she was doing this; Jack, and she let James walk her to his office.

She looked over to the man she recognized as Mr. Gibbs, the superstitous man Jack had accused of betrayig him. She saw him collecting his payment for turning in the infamous Jack Sparrow and his crew. She fought the urge to run over to him and claw his eyes out, and contented herself with the hope that his guilt would eat him from the inside out.

"If you ever try to leave like that again, I will kill you."Jamesdeep voice ripped her out of her thoughts as he spoke just loud enough for her ears to catch his words. He thrust her into his office and locked the door behind her. She was alone, just like in her dream. She looked over to the window, hoping reality wouldn't follow parallel to her dream when she opened the window, but she couldn't resist a last glance at the place that had given her the freedom she had so wanted just a few weeks ago, and the love she found with the pirate scoundrel.

She let her eyes rest upon the magnificent ship for a moment, and felt her stomach drop as flame erupted onboard. She saw men jumping off as the flames grew, explosions and smoke filled the gray sky above, and her eyes filled with tears for what seemed like the hundredth time that long night. Tears of hate towards the cold man that was unfortunately her husband, tears for the life of undoubted agony that lay ahead of her, tears for all the people caught in the explosion on the Black Pearl. Will, Ana Maria, and the man she wished she could be with the most...the man she loved. Captain Jack Sparrow.


Hmm...it's not over. I am not really satisfied with this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. I was hoping for more tragedy and tearworthy stuff, but I just don't know what more to do with it.

Whatever, now review! Good or bad….I've prepared meself.