Part 6

Notes: This is the first time I've ever written PotC fic. With HP fic there seems to be a higher ratio of comments to hits. Ah, well. From what few ppl who have commented have said, I'm doing a pretty good job.

Elizabeth woke up to a foul taste in her mouth, and the sight of Will and Jack over her. Both had fallen asleep sitting up, and during the night the two had leaned against each other, Jack's dreaded head resting on Will's shoulder. She hated when things felt this right. "The two of you looking like that will be the death of me."

She managed to crawl off them without waking either man, and couldn't help but steal a quick kiss from Will's slumbering lips. So far she hadn't touched either of them if it was not absolutely necessary, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt.

Elizabeth leaned towards Jack next, and as their lips brushed against each other his hand came up to the back of her head, and he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss.

"And you sass me about my oral hygiene," he chided as soon as they separated.

"Bastard," she replied, face still against him. He pushed her away and waved her breath away.

"I'm serious. That was the worst tasting kiss I've ever had." Elizabeth slapped him hard across the face. "I knew that was coming."

"I hate you. What happened to my hat?" She looked around the room.

"Table, luv," he replied just as she spotted it, jamming it on her head and turning back to him.

"Don't call me that."

"Get off it. I call everyone 'luv.'"

"You do not."

"Sometimes when he's drunk," Will's groggy voice replied. He stood up, trying to work the kinks out of his neck. "Good morning."

"Yes, good morning," Elizabeth said, still annoyed with Jack. "I'll be leaving now."

"You can't," Jack told her. "We're back out at sea." And he proceeded to explain their suddenly perilous situation. "So," he said to finish with. "What light have you to shed on this mystery?"

"I-I don't know." She sat down in a chair, elbows on her knees. "I started calling myself Ely as soon as I got the Heart. No one on the ship knew my real identity except Kim." She smiled a little. "He's the one that started calling me 'the Gent.' For the way I speak and dress." She picked at the hem of her coat, green that day.

"Who's Kim?" Will immediately demanded.

"My first mate. He died in the wreck. He was…a friend."

Jack watched her face as she said this, and knew it to be true. Will was naturally more suspicious when it came to the likes of Elizabeth Swann. "Could this Kim person have been using the name behind your back?"

She shook her head. "I trusted him with my life."

"Not everyone can be trusted with that you know."

"Don't patronize me, Jack. Kim was a good man. Loyal and kind and protective." She smiled a little. "Too protective sometimes."

Will, never one to mask his feelings, spoke up. "Did you love him?"

Elizabeth wiped a single tear from her face before looking up to glare at him. "I loved him--as my dearest friend. Though my friendship may have left him wanting."

Will nodded. "You do that a lot." He turned to his captain. "Orders, Jack?"

"We need to go back to Tortuga as soon as we're sure the wigs have gone. Let's have a trip around the island, shall we?"

Will left, and Elizabeth looked on after him, incredulous. "Did I do something?" she asked Jack.

"You always do something. The problem is, you never follow through."

"Well how would you like me to fix that? Do I 'follow through' with every man who finds me attractive?"

"No, just with me. And you probably should have with that Kim fellow, being dead and all, poor bugger."

"And Will?"

Jack's face turned serious. "Darling, I hate to be the one to tell you--obviously you've not been informed…but you ex-fiancée? Eunuch."

Elizabeth drew herself out of the chair. "You can't take anything seriously, can you? I'm leaving now."

She wandered the ship, finding Mr. Gibbs hiding in a corner with his flask. "Why is Jack so bloody difficult all the time?" she complained.

"You're not actually asking this, are you?"

"Yes, yes, I know. I need off this ship. There's too much confusion when I'm around Jack. Will, he's an easy man to understand, you know? But Jack…" she smiled a little. "He can be sweet. But also strange and inappropriate, and…well, why is it that I'm attracted to that?"

Gibbs took a long drink. "I changed me mind about not wanting women aboard. This talk ain't for a man's ears. Go talk to Ragetti."

Elizabeth climbed up into the rigging to be alone for a while. Will had gotten over Kim and was playing his lost puppy game again. It was very sweet, in an annoying way.

In the months before they were arrested he had been wonderful. Her father, having washed his hands of the whole situation, allowed her to go down to the forge everyday, and she would help him work. She'd gotten pretty good at the construction of a horse shoe after a time. It gave him more time to work on the swords he loved, and they got to talk. He taught her how to fight, and she taught him how to dance (not that she'd ever cared much about that). He shared his dreams of becoming a master sword smith. She lied about wanting nothing more than him.

They stole secret kisses and touches behind the forge. First initiated by Elizabeth, and then Will, when he decided he no longer cared about being proper and the only thing that mattered was being close to her. She would have--could have been content with such a life.

If she had never met Jack again.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Regetti climbed up the ropes to her side. "Captn' Ely? Captn' Sparrow wants to see you on deck."

"You know luv," Jack said when she dropped to the boards, "I do like you in the trousers and jacket, dont get me wrong,but wouldn't you be happier in something a bit more, oh I don't know. Frilly?"

"You want to buy me a lace collar?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of a dress."

"Not going to happen," she replied fiercely. "What's this all about?"

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter. We're going back into town and they're looking for a man. You need to be a woman."

"And I suppose you just happen to have a dress lying around the Pearl?"

"Several, as it were. Regetti has this thing…well, never mind. The two of you are about the same size. C'mon now. Let's go get you a pretty frock."

Half an hour later Elizabeth strutted across the deck in a dark blue with lace at the sleeves and a dipping bodice. She refused to wear a corset, so it was a little tight--and she couldn't remember the last time her breasts were so exposed. She glared at Jack accusingly, who's eyes were not on her face. "I hate you."