The first thing Jack did when they came onboard the Pearl was carrying Angela to his cabin, he placed her gently on the bed, then Elizabeth came and undressed her, with Jack waiting outside of course. When he was allowed back in Angela was lying beneath the covers, with her framing her face, she looked like a princess. Or, she would have looked like one if she hadn't been so pale. Jack walked over to the bed, sat down and gently caressed her cheek. She was still cold as ice. She needed heat, so Jack lay down next to her, above the covers, with his arm around her and his head on her chest. He closed his eyes and just listened to her heartbeats and the long slow breaths, so happy that she still was breathing.

Norrington was standing with Anamaria at the helm, neither of said a word. Norrington couldn't stop thinking about what he had witnessed in the cave. Especially not the very last thing before he left. And he was still wondering if he should tell Jack or not…

He walked back into the cave, some of the men were missing and he figured that they must still be inside. And right he was.

4 of his men were standing in the cave, whispering to each other while looking and holding some gold artefacts, jewelleries and gold coins.

"Put it back! Right now. Trust me men, you'd want nothing to do with anything inside this place. Now come on, we're leaving!" The young men looked at him both disappointed and a little scared. One of them pulled up a small golden figurine out of his pocket and dropped it on the ground.

Norrington sighed and looked over to the big stone chest, standing on something that looked almost as a golden podium in the moonlight, right in the middle of the cave. The lid was now on and Norrington knew, even though he didn't know why, deep in his heart that that stone chest would not be opened in a long time, hopefully never.

He turned his head over to Barbossas body, wondering if they just should leave it. No, wait, where Barbossas body should have been, it was gone. Norrington looked around, but no body. A corpse can't just disappear? Can it?

Norrington sighed, he had to tell Jack. He deserved to know about Barbossas corpse gone missing. He walked across the deck, over to Jacks cabin. He waited outside for a moment, trying to find the words. He took a deep breath and then opened the door. Norrington immediately stopped in the doorway, with his eyes focused on the bed. First he was shocked by the fact that Jack was lying next to Angela in the bed, after all, she had no clothes on!

But then, the way he held her.

He really cares for Angela…

He cleared his throat. Jack turned around. When he saw Norrington he grinned a little embarrassed before he stood up and followed Norrington outside.

"I was jus' trying to keep 'er warm." Jack said to his defence, then he muttered something about body heat.

"Of course." Norrington couldn't help but smile when he saw how embarrassed Jack looked. He could deny it if he wanted, but Norrington knew that Jack had enjoyed lying next to Angela. Anamaria called Jack's name, Norrington could see a small box in her hands. Jack sighed and bit his lip. She walked over to them, Jack sat down on the deck, so did Norrington. Then Anamaria opened the box and Norrington could see tools that looked as if they were used to torture someone. Anamaria picked up a big needle and put some thread on it while Jack took of his coat, vest and shirt. Now Norrington saw the wound on his arm. Anamaria took a firm grip on his arm.

"Shouldn't a doctor take a look on his arm?" Anamaria smiled.

"Ye think we have any doctors out here? And what doctor would take care of a pirate? And besides, I now how to handle this, it's just a small wound." Then she turned to Jack.

"Ready Cap'n?"

"Wait, can' I 'ave some tranquilizer first." He grinned. Anamaria sighed but then picked up a bottle of rum from the box. And gave it to Jack.

"Ye're an angel love." He took several gulps.

"You say that now." Then she took a new grip on his arm and let the needle go trough his skin and flesh. Jack bit his lip and Norrington looked away, he wasn't too found of needles, something he didn't like to admit.

"Ouch!" Jack tried to pull away his arm, but Anamaria held it too hard.

"Ye're such a baby!"

"Yeah, and you're a…" Anamaria pressed her thumb right at Jacks wound.

"Ouch! Are ye crazy?" Anamaria didn't answer; she just kept suture his arm. It took a few minutes, no one said a word. Once in a while Jack let out a gasp of pain but besides that the only sound came from the water beneath them.

"There Cap'n, all done." Anamaria put everything back into the box, but she let Jack keep the bottle. She smiled at them both before walking over to Gibbs, who was standing at the helm.

Norrington watched as Jack got dressed, well, stared is a better word. Norrington had never seen so many scars on a mans body.

"Like what ye see Commodore? Well I'm sorry to disappoint ye but I aint like that."

"Oh, what? No! I was just…"

"I was joking." Jack grinned.

Oh, well, good. Mr Sparrow…"

"Call me Jack, no need to be so formal anymore."

"All right, Jack. How is she, Angela?"
"She's better. She'll be fine. The girl jus' need some time to get all of this out of her system."

Jack sighed.

"Bloody hell, she shouldn't 'ave been there!"

"No one should ever have been there Jack.

"Aye…But if she 'adn't, I would not be 'ere today. Neither of us would."

"No, we ow her a lot."

"It's unfair. The poor girl is jus' trying to find out who she really is. Well Commodore, I can tell you what she's not! A warrior, a pirate," Jack counted on his fingers, "and a whore! But she's been forced to act, or been called, all these things during this past week, and nearly been killed. Several times!" He sighed. "Why? Why her?"

"I don't know Jack. And I doubt that we ever will…"

"Ye're probably right Commodore…"

"Yeah…And Jack." Jack turned his head and looked straight at Norrington, who smiled.

"Call me James."

Meanwhile is Angela still asleep. She is twisting and turning in the bed, her body soaking wet of sweat. She's dreaming...dreams that are not her own…

Dreams of battles, suffering and pain.

Dreams that gave answers, answers to questions asked long ago.

The dreams were just a short sequence most of the times.

Laughter. They were laughing as they forced Jack up on deck! Laughing at his pain, his struggle!

He could see the plank…the water…the island.

He knew that he was forced to leave the one thing he had truly loved, the Pearl.

One last try, one last chance to freedom. Bootstrap had given him a dagger one hour earlier. Jack used the back of his head to break the nose on the man that held him. Then he leaped to the side, avoiding the others. He reached Barbossa, aimed for his throat…and missed!

But he was able to cut Barbossas right cheek. Barbossa hit Jack across the face, he fell on his stomach, hitting his chin on the hard wooden deck. Then he was forced to stand up, forced out on the plank. Barbossa laughed, said something and shoved a pistol in Jacks hands. Then he held his sword against Jacks throat.

"Off you go."

Jack jumped…

One hour later Angela stepped out from Jacks cabin. She was shaking, but felt rather well. The first thing she saw was Norrington and Jack, sitting by the rail, talking.

When they saw her, they quickly got up to there feet, both smiling.

"Angela, ye're up!" Jack hurried over to her.

"Yes, apparently." Angela smiled.

"How are you feeling miss Angela?"

"Fine actually James, and please don't call me miss. I think we've past that whole formal thing a long time ago." Norrington nodded.

"Jack…could I talk with you for a minute, in private."

"Aye love." He looked at Norrington.

"Oh, I should leave the two of you alone." He walked over to Anamaria and Gibbs.

Angela and Jack walked over to the rear.

"What was it that you wanted to talk about love?"

"I've been dreaming. And the dreams...they told me things, explained a lot. So, I have a lot to tell you, you need to understand."

"All right." Jack sat down, so did Angela.

"First…you need to know why Barbossa chose me. Or, he didn't exactly choose me. Never mind, but the thing his he needed my blood. We all know that. He said it was because I'm a virgin." She blushed when she said this.

"And because I have some strength or something. But that wasn't the real reason. He didn't even know the real reason." Angela took a deep breath.

"I'm his relative. He is my great-great-great granddad or something. He has a daughter out there somewhere, and she's expecting her first child, a son. So I have his blood running through my veins, his life force, that's why he needed me! My blood…his blood." Angela sounded disgusted when she spoke. But then, she just looked sad.

"So I can understand if you want nothing to do with me from now on…"

"How can ye say tha'? Angela," Jack grabbed her shoulders, "ye're not Barbossa. If ye're related it doesen't show. Ye look nothing like 'im, and ye are nothing like 'im. You are a good person. He was evil." Jack spit on the deck.

"I wish the bloody coward is burning in hell right now!"

"I don't…" Jack looked shocked at her.

"You could never understand Jack. But I've felt his pain this whole time. He's suffered enough. He don't deserve any more pain."

"Ye are a far better person than me love. Ye're forgiving, that's good."

"I guess…I just wish he finds peace now." Jack didn't answer, he just looked at her.

"Angela," he said after a while. "He killed ye? I saw it, how could ye survive? How could ye be cursed?"

"The blood…I'm not sure. God, it's so confusing. I just found out all this, in my dreams. The Gods…I guess they felt that they owed me an explanation or something. But anyway, since I have Barbossas blood running through my veins the curse infected me as well the same second as I was brought here. That's why I wasn't killed in the storm. And that's why Barbossa couldn't kill me in the cave."

"Then how was he going to break the curse?"

"That's very interesting actually. I had no idea of this until now. But you see, I wasn't fully cursed. Only a small part of me was, only Barbossas genes. So during the day, I was mortal, and absolutely no use for Barbossa. If he killed me then the curse would not be lifted. And at night I was just as cursed as he was. I just never noticed myself."
"Neither did I. Angela shouldn't ye been a skeleton?"

"I was. I just seemed to be in the shadow all the time, probably something they made sure of." She pointed up at the sky. Jack thought about it, and yes, she was probably right. The night in Tortuga had been cloudy, so had the night they spent together at the island. And Angela finally realised why she had reacted to the moon like she did the first night on the Pearl. And she figured that if she only had looked down on her hands when she stood by the rail, that night they branded her, she would have seen that she was a skeleton. But when the pirates came she stepped back so that she ended up in the shadows.

"The thing is Jack, that if Barbossa wanted to be free he had four demands from the Gods. One, have a huge sacrifice in the Gods honour. Two, kill me. Three, make sure that I was a virgin. And four, kill me during dusk or dawn. The time when I wash half mortal, half cursed. I could die while the part of me that belonged to Barbossa would continue on living, in him. But Barbossa mist it. He was two or three minutes too late. He killed me just when the sun was down and the moon was on it's way up." She shivered. "I really thought I was going to die. The pain from the sword. It was so horrible. I fainted because of the pain, but I was so sure I was dying. I mean, you don't usually survive a thing like that."

"I'm glad that you lived Angela. And that you came in time to rescue me, again." They both smiled.

"That's thanks to Will and Elizabeth; they saw my hand in the moonlight. They realized I was cursed. Elizabeth shot Barbossa while Will helped me up to the chest. Oh god…" She shook her head."

"What is it love?"

"I just came to think of the moment the curse was lifted, I could feel Barbossa being drawn out of me, torn away from my soul. That was much worse than the sword."

"I'm sorry Angela. I'm sorry ye had to go through all tha'. And I wanna thank ye. Thank ye for saving my life. All those times. Just can't understand why…"

Angela placed her right hand on his cheek and made him look at her.

"If you can't understand that Cap'n, then I've misjudged you. I guess you're not as intelligent as I thought…" Jack smiled and moved his head forward, closer to her.

"I know love, I just want to hear it from you."

Angela pulled away.

"You won't Jack. I can't…" Jack grabbed the back of her head and kissed her. Not like all the other times, this was a gentle kiss, passionate. Love…he kissed her with love. Angela returned the kissed, a long time. But then Jack pulled away, looked Angela deep in the eyes and smiled. He moved forward to kiss her again, but Angela placed her right hand over Jacks mouth.

"Don't. I can't do this. You're my friend Jack, and I really care for you. But I don't want to ruin anything." Jack took her hand.

"It wouldn't. It would just be wonderful."

"Yes it would. But no matter how wonderful it would be, or no matter how wonderful you are, nothing will ever happen again Jack. Please respect this. I don't want to do it, because you can't give me what I want."

"Of course I can, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" Jack grinned.

"I know, and that's why you'll never give me what I truly want. You can never be a one woman's man Jack."

Then she kissed his cheek and stood up.

"Wait!" Jack was standing too. They looked at each other. Angela was standing with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Are ye still cold love?"

"Yes…I don't understand why? Maybe I have a fever or something."

"Or maybe it's the curse."

"But I'm not cursed anymore, I'm free. Right?"

"Ye'll ne'er free love, it'll always haunt ye. But, the cold will disappear eventually. Ye just need to get it out of yer system. When you do, ye'll get warm. I was cold fer a few hours, then the curse let go, stopped calling for me. Can ye hear it call?

"Yes…It calls for me, wants me to return." Jack nodded, he knew exactly what she meant.

"It's a nasty thing those curses, eh?"

"Yeah…"

" Sucks out all tha's good it does."

"Almost like a dementor then."

"A what?" Angela started giggling. She said never mind and then looked away. She was never going to tell about the Harry Potter phenomena, or that she and Jonathan used to sit and read the books loud to each other. That memory was one that she definitely was going to keep to herself.

"Ye forgot something earlier."

"Oh really. I wonder what that could be."

"Ye forgot to tell me which song it was. The one yer mum sang."

"Oh. Well, maybe I'll tell you one day." She smiled and placed one hand on his shoulder.

"Oy, Cap'n! The Commodore says he wants to speak with ye!" Gibbs shouted, then he nodded over to James who was standing next to him. Jack walked over to the helm, where Anamaria also stood.

"Would the two of you mind giving us some privacy?" Gibbs muttered something and took up his flask, but Anamaria gave James a warm smile before the two of them left, leaving Jack and James alone.

"We'll be in Port Royal the morning," James said straight out.

Jack didn't answer; he just stood there, with the helm in a firm grip.

"And there is some matters that needs to be taken care of…"

"Say no more Commodore. I'll go with ye without a fuss. Jus' let me crew go. They're good people, deserves better than that."

"There will be no execution Jack." Jack looked at Norrington suspiciously.

"I was thinking about a small reward, but if you'd rather take a punishment then…"

"No! No." Jack grinned. "A reward, sounds good."

"Yes. You will receive a small amount of money. Help to restore your ship, with free material of course and you will be allowed to stay in Port Royal until your ship is fully restored. But, and listen very carefully now. If you, or any member of your crew breaks the law, even you just steel a small piece of bread, you will be executed. Do I make my self clear?"

Jack smiled. "Inescapably clear."

"Ah, yes. The Governor told me to give you this." He held out a scroll.

"It's a letter of marque. If you take it, you simply agree to be on our side."

"Sail under yer colours ye mean…"

"Well, no. Not in this case. Governor Swann, and I, would much rather know that the infamous Jack Sparrow is on our side. Your achievements, all the arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, everything, will be erased. There won't be a black mark on your record."

"And what do ye want from me?"

"Just don't attack our ships, don't steal from us, just behave. Try to be legal. And some protection would be nice, and maybe a few tips about other pirates…?"

"I'll behave, and if someone tries to attack yer town when I'm around, sure I'll help. But I don't work fer ye."

"Well, I had no expectations of that. So, we have an agreement then?" Jack doubted.

"See this as your second chance Jack. You can become more than a pirate. With this," he held out the scroll once more, "you can have whatever future you want."

"I'm happy with being a pirate Commodore. I'm happy being the one I am."

"I should have known." Norrington turned around; ready to leave Jack alone, but Jack grabbed his arm.

"I didn't say no Commodore. I'll take it, just let be me. Let me Jack Sparrow, the pirate. But I am on your side James. I'm not your enemy."

"I know." Norrington held out the scroll again, and Jack took it. He looked at it for a while. Then he opened the red ribbon that was tied around it and looked at the parchment, he read it, then nodded.

"Well…I agree then." The two men shook hands.

"Jack, what did Angela tell you?"

"That's between me and 'er."

"Of course. I'm just worried." Jack nodded and folded the parchment and put it in one of his pockets.

"She don't hate 'im." Jack said suddenly. "Barbossa that is, she wishes 'im peace."

"Really? After all that he did? To you, to her!"

"She's to good. She deserves better. Jus' wish she ne'er set a foot on that bloody island."

"I wish no one ever had."

"One thing is fer sure, I aint going back."

"I destroyed the bearing earlier, don't want to be able to find the way back. I'm glad I'm not the one with the key." He nodded towards Jacks belt, where the compass was. But then Norrington grabbed Jacks arm.

"But what if someone else gets hold of it?" Jack took the compass and held it tight in his hand. He looked Norrington so deeply in the eyes that he wanted to look away.

"Let's make sure no one does." Jack dropped it, there was a small thud when the dark brown compass hit the deck. Jack pressed his lips together, made a decision, and with a small roar he drew his sword and used all force he had to smash the compass into several pieces. He shoved his sword back into the sheath, then he kneeled and picked up the pieces. He didn't know why, but it had been a hard decision to destroy the compass, it had been like a part of him during the past 11 years. But it had to be done.

"Jack." Both James and Jack turned around. "What have you done?"

Angela placed her hands above Jacks, with a look of sudden understanding in her eyes. James backed away, he had a feeling that he should leave them alone.

"James." Elizabeth and Will had turned up too. James leaned over to Elizabeth and whispered: "Do we need to worry?" He looked at Jack and Angela, holding hands and looking at each other with such tenderness.

"No", Elizabeth answered. "And I don't believe that it is any of our concern anyway."

"Cap'n, ye need me to take over the helm?" Anamaria had turned up to. Jack stepped away from Angela with a mischief grin on his lips.

"No need love. Me and Angela was jus' on our way into me cabin, care to join us?"

"Jack?" Elizabeth was shocked. What the hell was Jack doing now?

"Ah mrs Turner, ye are of course more than welcome to join but ye'll have to leave that eunuch husband of yours here, I'm not into that stuff." His grin grew even wider, but then SMACK! Anamaria had slapped Jack as hard as she could. Jack shook his head before the next slap hit his cheek, from Angela this time, and then a final hard slap from Elizabeth. Jack shook his head once more, looking almost as shocked as James and Will. Then he shouted to the three women, that now was standing a few feet a way.

"So you mean that there are three women on this ship and I, the Captain, have to sleep alone?"

"Yes!" All three had given him the angry answer before walking away in different directions. Jack rubbed his cheek but then he got the mischief grin again, he looked at Will and James.

"It was worth it."