Chapter 1

As gunshots rang in his ears and he was nearly knocked over by two brawling men, Will asked himself for the hundredth time since he'd arrived why he'd let Jack talk him into coming. They hadn't seen each other for three years and Jack insisted that they needed to do some "catching up". He began searching for the tavern Jack had described, though he had no clue how he was going to find it. It seemed nearly every door led to a club or tavern of some kind. The signs were of little help, most being too weathered to decipher. After unsuccessfully trying a few (and being thrown out), he came to a tavern with a sign that he could just make out to read The Jolly Roger. He was pretty sure that was the name Jack had given him, so taking a deep breath, he pushed his way in.

Will searched the room uncertainly for Jack. Just as he was about to give up, he heard someone call his name.

"Will!" Jack exclaimed, pushing his way through the chaos, "Long time no see!"

Will smiled. Jack looked the same as ever, save for a few hints of gray in his beard. "Good to see you, Jack."

Gesturing to a small table in the corner, Jack grinned widely. "Have a seat so we can talk. Can I buy you a drink?"

Will shook his head. "You know I don't drink."

"Oh, right…Can you buy me a drink?" he asked.

"No," Will said shortly.

Jack shrugged and signaled for the bartender to give him one. Sitting down at the table, he asked, "So, how's Elizabeth?"

"She's fine," Will replied. "Right now she's visiting her father, which is partly why I agreed to come. I still feel guilty leaving her seven months pregnant, though."

"Oh really?" Jack said, "That's why she was away?"

"Yes, but…how did you know she was away?" Will asked with a perplexed frown. "I didn't mention it in my letter."

Jack grinned. "You'd be surprised how much information you can buy, and for a relatively low price."

"I see," Will said slowly, "So what else have you heard about my private life?"

Jack shrugged. "Let's see…I know you married Elizabeth, and you now own the blacksmith shop."

"That's fairly common knowledge, Jack," Will pointed out. "I hope you didn't pay too much for it.'

"Who said I bought it?" Jack said slyly. "I merely mentioned that one could purchase such information if one was interested."

"Well then how did you get it?" Will asked impatiently. Jack still took forever to get to the point.

"A friend of mine was in your town about four months ago. I believe you met her. Her name's-"

He was cut off by a sharp explosion. The crowd drifted away to reveal a young woman with a smoking pistol in her hand. Will immediately recognized her as the woman from the jail. "Speak o' the devil," Jack muttered under his breath. Waving his arm, he called out, "Blackbird!" She turned around and quickly spotted Jack. Calmly stepping over the dead body, she made her way to the table.

"Jack!" she exclaimed, "I thought you weren't going to be in town until tomorrow!" "Change of plans," he replied with a shrug. Turning to Will, he said, "Will, I'd like you to meet my good friend Blackbird. Blackbird, this is Will Turner."

"Yeah, we met a while back…Whatever happened to not helping out pirates?" she asked.

"I'm not helping him out, he's just a good friend of mine," Will argued.

Blackbird shrugged. "Fair enough."

"Well, I see you got out alright without my help," he said.

"I did?" she asked, looking around her, "Well, would you look at that! I guess I can get along just fine by myself! No point in keeping you around, I suppose." She started to pull out her gun, but Jack stopped her.

"That's enough, Blackbird," he said.

She grinned. "I was only joking," she said sweetly.

"You know that and I know that, but Will here's not used to humor. He takes everything very seriously," Jack said. "So what was going on over there?"

"He owed me money."

Will gave her and incredulous look. "You killed a man just because he owed you money?" he asked.

"No," she corrected, "I confronted him because he owed me money. He got defensive, drew his sword, and said I could have it over his dead body. I complied." Will just shook his head in disbelief. Leaning back slightly in the chair, Blackbird started tossing a small money bag idly from one hand to the other.

"Hey, that's mine!" Will exclaimed suddenly, attempting to grab it from her.

"Was yours," she replied with a devilish grin. She pretended to contemplate, then tossed it back to him. "Not enough in there to make it worth the steal anyway. I did take the liberty of extracting a small fee, though. Don't worry; it's going to a very worthy cause." She signaled for one of the barmaids. "A round of drinks of here, if you please, Rose. The usual."

"You must come here quite often to know the barmaids by name and have a 'usual,'" Will commented.

"Once or twice a week. I personally prefer the Underground, but Jack insists upon coming here," Blackbird said off-handedly.

Will looked at Jack. "And why's that?" he asked.

"The ladies are far more attractive here and far less likely to beat you up," Jack replied, eyeing the barmaids' short skirts and dangerously low-cut blouses.

"I hadn't noticed," Will said uncomfortably.

Jack winked. "Sure ye didn't."

Rose walked up and set the drinks on the table. "Here ye are, mates," she said lightly.

Blackbird looked up. "Thank you kindly, Rose," she said, handing her the coins. "There's a bit extra in there for yourself," she added. The girl nodded gratefully and hurried over to the next table. Blackbird grabbed a mug for herself, then slid one over to Jack, and finally handed one to Will. She raised her mug. "Here's to our good friend Will Turner. Many thanks for his selfless contribution to our fund," she said, taking a swig of the rum. Jack did the same, but Will looked uncertainly at the mug.

He looked to Jack for help, but Jack only shrugged and muttered to him, "When in Rome, mate." Will tentatively lifted the mug to his lips and forced himself to drink. His eyes immediately watered and his throat burned.

"How can you drink that?" he choked. "No one in his right mind would put himself though that!"

"I take it he's not used to strong drinks?" Blackbird said to Jack.

"He's not used to drinks at all. This is only the second time he's even been in a bar," he explained.

It was Blackbird's turn to look surprised. "What do you do with all that spare time?" she asked.

"What spare time? I'm married with a child on the way and I run a successful business. That's my life," he said with a shrug.

"Well as fun as that sounds, I think I'll stick to piracy. Less commitment…Anyway, I'm impressed. Not many rookies can take a Devil's Brew that well, though that was by no means well."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"Any time," she replied, standing up. "Well it's been fun, but I should probably be going. Three of our men quit at the last second."

"Really?" Jack asked, "Who?"

"Let's see...Cotton, Keetch, and Johnson. All good men. They'll be hard to replace on such short notice."

Jack just nodded. "Why wasn't I informed?" he asked.

"I just found out myself," she explained. "I was just on my way out when I got in that fight."

"Well then, you'd best be off. Find us some good men." She grinned and started to walk away. "Oh, and Blackbird," he called after her. "Make it two. I've got one in mind."

Once Blackbird was gone, Jack asked, "Well what did you make of her, Will?"

Will shrugged. "I'm not really sure," he admitted. "She's an odd one, to be sure. She was either drunk or insane."

"I would wager a little bit of both. No worse than me, though," Jack said.

"I guess not," Will conceded. "I've just had time to grow accustomed to you."

Jack nodded. "I bet if you got to know her you'd see her differently."

"Yes, well, unfortunately I doubt I'll have the pleasure of doing so," Will replied. "From way she was talking, it sounded like you would be leaving in only a day or two."

"The day after tomorrow," Jack said. "Which brings me to another important matter. As you might or might not have guessed, I didn't just ask you to come so we could talk."

"I had suspected such. Why?" he asked.

Jack leaned back slightly in his chair. "I want you back on the Pearl, Will," he said. "Simple as that."

Will sighed. "Jack, you know I can't do that. I have a family to take care of and my responsibility is with them. I refuse to be like my father."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that, mate," Jack said mildly. "You want to come. I can see it in your eyes."

Will put his head in his hands. "If I had only myself to think of, then yes, I would gladly accept. I will admit that I miss the open sea. It's odd…at the end of that journey, I thought that I would be content to never set foot on another ship for the rest of my life, but now...I don't know. It feels as if it's calling me." He quickly shook himself out of it. "But I can't go," he said firmly, though half to himself. "I must put my family's well-being before my own personal pleasure."

Jack just sat there looking at him. "Are we done arguing with ourselves?" he asked pleasantly.

"Yes," Will muttered in annoyance.

"Good," Jack said, "because I have more to say. If you'll hear me out, you might change your mind. I won't force you to make any kind of commitment, but we are setting sail in two days. You say that Elizabeth is staying with her father until she gives birth. That shouldn't be for about two months. The nature of our journey is a routine trade with the natives of a small island called Kelumar. The maximum amount of time that could take is three weeks, maybe four if we ran into some huge obstacle. My point is, you could come just for this voyage and still make it back with plenty of time to spare. What do ye say?" "Jack..." Will complained, "I'm not a sailor, and I'm not like my father, whatever you might say. I'm sorry…I just can't."

Jack nodded slowly. "I see," he said calmly. "Well, I can't make up your mind for you. Before we call anything final, why don't you sleep on it? I won't say anything more to persuade you. I won't even mention the generous sum I pay my sailors, which, by the way, would more than support your family for several months. Might even cover a small gift for the wife..."

Will stood up. "Good night, Jack," he said, starting to leave. "See you in the morning."

Jack waved and went back to his drink. "He'll come," he muttered to himself, "He'll come."