Chapter 13-

Portia and Jack avoided each other like the plague for the rest of the day, and when they reached the island at sunset they went their separate ways- or as far as they could go on the island and not start getting close again. Anamaria and James, who had become what could be called friends over the course of the day went in search of a treatment for the bruise on his face. Emily, James, Elizabeth, and Will stayed near the ship and had a quiet dinner on the beach. Despite the fact that Elizabeth had broken the Commodore's heart to be with Will, they still got along surprisingly well.

Once their dinner had been cleared away Portia reappeared and Emily took her aside. One arm hooked around her friend's waist, Emily forced Portia to walk with her along the beach. For a while they just walked in silence, watching the stars come out, and then Emily, growing impatient, broke the quiet.

"What's going on with you and Jack, and you and James for that matter?" she demanded, stopping firm in the sand.

Portia turned to face her, anger and frustration in her eyes. "I want to go home," she whispered. "Home where everything is so simple and easy- and maybe we can leave James here so I don't have to deal with him either..."

Emily shook her head at her friend. "You know we can't do that, not yet at least. We have to sort out this whole prophecy thing- and that means you need to tell me about Jack and James." Watching Portia carefully, Emily could see that her friend was going to give in. if Portia had her way she would never tell anyone her feelings and keep them all bottled up inside, but there was something about Emily that always made her let them out.

"I love him… them… I don't know, Emily, I really don't," Portia said. "You know I love James, but things have been different lately. The last few times we've been out together there hasn't been that same spark as before- at least not on my part. I love him, but its fading, and that was scaring me when we were at home, I was trying to fight it, and now there's Jack. I mean, at first I thought I liked Will, but that went down hill when we were brought here because of Elizabeth, but even when we were at home… when I took him shopping, and then that night in the kitchen… and then the other night on the deck…" Portia trailed off, at a loss for what else to say.

"Well considering the argument you and Jack had earlier, I can definitely say you have at least some kind of feelings for him- it takes quite a bit for anything to elict that kind of response from you." Portia smiled. "But the question is whether it is love… or…"

"Lust?" Portia filled in. "Part of me says its only the latter, but…"

Emily sighed. She knew what love felt like, and so did Portia, but the latter was in no position to judge whether she was in love with Jack, so it would up to Emily to determine that.

"How often is he in your thoughts?" Emily asked.

Portia almost asked "who?" playfully, but at the look on Emily's face said nothing. "Every moment when I'm not busy doing something else," she finally admitted.

Emily nodded and sighed- she need not hear any more, from watching Portia all that day and her admission now, Emily had no doubt her friend was in love with the pirate captain. And Portia knew it too, but she didn't want to admit it.

"You can't ignore it, you know," Emily said. "He needs you- that is, if you're the one the 'prophecy' speaks of."

"And what if I'm not?" Portia asked, fear in her voice. "What if its you?"

Emily cast her eyes towards the ground. "I really hope that isn't the case. Now go, find him before he drinks himself into oblivion." Then she shooed Portia away down the beach towards where she knew Jack had taken several bottles of rum.

Portia wandered slowly through the sand, dreading the moment when she would happen upon Jack. She would have to apologize for the things she had said earlier, and try to explain her feelings for James- two things she did not in the least bit want to do. After a while when there was no sign of Jack Portia decided to turn back and try him in the morning, when the chorus of "Yo Ho" came to her ears.

Resolutely turning back the way she had been walking, Portia soon came upon Jack sitting in the sand, an almost empty bottle of rum in his hand. Two others lay next to him, already relieved of their contents. The sand masked the sound of her footsteps, so Jack did not know she was there until she was almost on top of him.

Suddenly feeling her presence, he looked up, and seeing her tried to scramble away in his sitting position. Portia suppressed a laugh, but soon turned serious again at the look of hurt and anger on his face.

"Jack…" she said, not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry, for earlier, for everything."

"Right love," he replied. The term was not an endearment as it had been before, which made Portia shut her eyes in frustration- it was not going to be any easier to do this with him drunk.

"Can you, forgive me?" she asked, sitting down in the sand next to him.

Jack looked at her curiously. "Don't think anyone's ever asked me for that," he said.

Portia smiled half-heartedly. "You have to understand something about me and James," she said and Jack went back to his bottle at her words. "We're good friends, and we used to be, a couple, but he broke up with me, and after that, well I hated him for a while, but then we became friends, and that's all we are." The words came out in a hurry.

"He, left you?" Jack querried, looking at her again. Portia nodded. "And he's only a friend, you don't love him?"

She nodded again. "I love him as a friend, but not romantically- I thought I did, but you changed my mind."

A smile finally broke on his face. "Me love?" he asked.

"Yes you," Portia replied, smiling too.

Whether it was her words or the rum Portia was not sure, but Jack eagerly leaned forward and kissed her, wrapping his arm around her waist, dropping the rum bottle in the process.