"Jack…" Jack grunted so that Angela would know he was listening. Neither of them had said anything for a while, Jack had just kept drinking and Angela, who didn't dare to drink any more had watched him.

"I don't understand what you meant earlier, when you said that you betrayed Bill. It wasn't your fault that he defended you."

"I know…and I didn't really betray him."

"Then what did you do? Who did you betray?" Jack turned his head away from her, closing his eyes, taking a deep breath.

"A promise…"

"To who?" Angela placed her hand on Jacks cheek and gently made him turn back to her and looked him straight in his eyes. "To who Jack?"

"To me…"

"To you? You made a promise to yourself that you betrayed?"

"Aye. Ye see, when I finally had gotten of that bloody island my only goal in life was revenge. I didn't know at that time what had happened to Bootstrap. Bu' I found out one night in a bar, one of the girls there were talking to her friend and I overheard what they said. She said that one of the men she had held company the night before had told her a funny story abou' a treasure and one man in their crew trying to make a mutiny on his one. And got send to Davy Jones' Locker. She said his name was Boot something… I don't remember it that good, had a lot to drink that night. But I understood what had happened. So, I decided to go to England and to that lovely town Bills wife and son lived in. T' tell them what had happened. I thought his wife probably had figured out that he wasn't coming home, it had gone two years, bu' she deserved to find out what had happened. But…" Jack sighed, "I got there too late. Emily, Wills mother, was dead, from some disease I can' remember right now. I asked around for the lad, 'e wasn't old. So I promised myself to take care of 'im, as a last chance to repay my dept to Bootstrap. But the lad 'ad already left the town. Went on a merchandiser to go and find 'is dad. I kept looking for 'im, fer over a year. I 'ad to, but I gave up, figured the lad would be better of without me, the man who killed his father…"

Angela stared at Jack in shock, but then placed her hand on his shoulder.

"You didn't kill him Jack. Bootstrap did what he felt was right; you would have done it for him as well, right?"

"Aye…I guess I would." But I'll ne'er forgive meself for letting my best friend die, 'cause he died because of me."

Angela said nothing, she just sat there, looking Jack in the eyes, not accusing, nor disgusted, just with an innocent curiosity, but also with a sad shadow over her eyes. Jack looked at her and realised how much he appreciated her company, really appreciated her. She was so different from any other women he had ever met. Then, he suddenly realised how close they were to each other, Angela nearly lying down on her side, her right shoulder touching Jacks left, her left hand resting on his knee and her face so close he could feel her warm breath. He could so easily just lean towards her and kiss her, take advantage of her, but he didn't want to, he didn't want to move at all, he wanted them both to stay just like that forever. He looked deeply in to her beautiful blue eyes; a funny feeling appeared in his stomach. She leaned closer, too close. Jack put away his bottle, moving his right hand towards her face, caressing her cheek; Angela closed her eyes and smiled. Jack moved closer towards her lips when she opened her eyes again, Jack saw fear in her eyes and in just one short second the magic was gone.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't…"
"No, I'm sorry Jack." She looked down, her eyes focused on her hands resting in her lap.

Sorry for what? For nearly kissing me, or for not kissing me?

Jack looked down at Angela's hands too, and notices the old rag nearly falling off.

"That thing won' stay on fer much longer, 'ere, let me 'elp." He reached out his hand.

"No!" Angela pulled away.

I can't let him see…

Jack watched the terrified look at Angela's face.

"What happened? What do ye 'ave underneath tha' thing?" He tried to grab her hand but she pulled away.

"Nothing, nothing at all…"

I can't tell him…no one must ever know…

"Please Angela, I aint gonna hurt ye, I swear."

Angela hesitated, but reached out her hand and let Jack take off the rag.

He gasped when he saw the brand, and Angela saw how his face changed from worry to fury.

"What did they do to you?" His voice where low and he looked at her hand with disgust, when Angela didn't answer he grabber her shoulders and forced her to turn to him.

"What…did they do?"

Angela felt that she had no choice, she realised that it wouldn't be fair not to tell him, so she did. She told him everything that she could remember. She even showed Jack the marks on her neck where Barbossa had grabbed her. When she had finished she cried, she hadn't cried since she left England, but now her silent tears never seemed to end. Jack couldn't stand watching her cry like that; he grabbed her and pulled her into a hard embrace. They sat like that for a long time, Angela sobbing against Jacks chest, Jack stroking Angela's back gently.

Angela stopped crying, but she didn't move, she closed her eyes and just listened to Jacks heartbeats, feeling his arms around her and she felt safe, for the first time she really felt safe.

She suddenly looked up, deep into Jacks eyes. Jack wiped away her tears with his thumb.

"It's funny. I have wanted to spend some time with you on this island so many times, but when it happened, I wanted nothing more than to leave it. And now…", she smiled, "I'm not sure what I want, or what to feel. I don't know what to do…"

Jack wanted to tell her that everything was going to be all right, but realised that he couldn't make a promise like that, so he said nothing at all.

Angela leaned a bit closer and Jack noticed the funny smile on her lips.

She leaned even closer, so did Jack, but with a battle going on inside his head.

No, ye can't, it's because of the rum, only because off the rum.

She caressed Jacks cheek.

Ye can't use her; she's drunk, it's wrong!

But I want her!

No, not like this! This is wrong and ye know it!

It feels right!

Maybe now, but she would never do this if she wasn't drunk! So don't!

But I want to…

"Angela…" He whispered her name before kissing her.

Before Angela had a chance to realise what happened she was lying on her back in the sand, with Jack lying on top of her, kissing her passionately. She had never felt anything like this, her whole mind was spinning. Somewhere, deep in her mind a small voice told her this was wrong, but she ignored it. She could feel Jacks hands on her thigh, he started kissing her neck, his hand slipped under her shirt, her heart was beating so hard and her body was on fire. The voice inside her head grew stronger. His hands were moving up, up, up and…

Angela sat up, pushing Jack away.

"What the hell are you doing?" She yelled at Jack even though she knew it was her own fault.

She stood up, fast, too fast. All the rum combined with the heat and the fact that she had hardly been eating nor sleeping in several days made her head spin. She tried to walk away but she didn't get far before it felt like her stomach was turned upside down and she started throwing up. ..

She heard Jack walk towards her.

Oh great, he just had to see me throwing my guts out!

She was expecting Jack to say something, to taunt her but he didn't.

Instead he stood behind her and held back the hair from her face.

When she was done she stood up straight again, but didn't turn around, she was too ashamed.

"'s bound to happen the first time love. But keep spending time with me and ye'll get used to drinking. Oh, and ye forgot something earlier."

Angela turned around, and Jack held out her rag, offering to put it back on. Angela didn't say anything; she just held out her hand and let Jack tie the rag back on her arm.

Then she tried to walk back to the fire, but she was to week and nearly fell, but Jack grabbed her, as always.

"Come on love, we should get ye back to the fire, eh?" He helped her walk, then sat down, leaning on a palm trunk near the fire, Angela leaned against him with her eyes closed. Jack looked around and noticed his bottle lying there in the sand next to him. But he didn't take it. "I'll stay awake fer the rest of the night love, 'ave an eye open fer ships. So don' worry love."

He looked down at her but she was already asleep, with her head on his lap. He placed his hand on her arm, and he suddenly felt how cold she was, he could feel it through her shirt. He held her tighter and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He looked up at the sky, noticing how cloudy it was, he couldn't see one single star. Jack closed his eyes for a while, feeling the warm breeze from the ocean, hearing the wind playing with the palm threes and feeling the warmth from the fire. He opened his eyes again, and then looked down at Angela again; then he leaned down and whispered in her ear:

"I'll stay awake, I aint gonna touch tha' bottle…I'll stay awake…"

One hour later the bottle was empty and Jack was sound asleep…

Authors note:

I know it's taken a really long time, sorry about that. I just don't have much time to write right now. But the next chapter is almost finished, and I really hope that there is still someone reading this story.