Chapter 17 - All Ashore
Jack looked at her with the same face he had when she pulled her cutlass out on him, that evening when she had been drunk. She recognised it but she wanted to stay as calm as possible, it was taking all of her willpower to do it, but she wasn't going to get angry.
"I don't think that's such a grand idea darling"
She took a deep breath as if trying to repress whatever was on the tip of her tongue, "why not?" she asked in as normal a tone as she could manage.
"Might be dangerous luv and I wouldn't want anything to 'appen to ye" he noted the flicker of surprise as he said the last part.
"Did it ever occur to you that the last time you locked me away for safety I ended up..." she stopped. She wasn't trying to blame him but as she heard the sentence come from her own mouth she heard how it could be taken. Jack felt the ripple effect of what she did and didn't say, he still felt a gut churning guilt after trying to protect her and failing.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that, it's just...you're always trying to look after me and sometimes I don't need you to". This wasn't going exactly how she had planned, with each word she could imagine herself placing another knife in his back. All he had ever done was look after her and offer her a home where anyone else would throw her overboard or off at the next port. However rather than feel betrayed his face lit up in a sort of victory smile.
"Ahh so sometimes ye do need protecting, and I think this be one of those times"
She backed up waving her hands, "no you've got it wrong".
He jumped up and grabbed her hands stopping them in mid air, "I just don't want ye to get hurt again".
"I won't, I mean where in the world will I be safer than with you?", she could see his mind working as the words stroked his ego. She ran a hand over his shoulder and down to the small of his back, his eyes glazed over momentarily with lust but his mind remained orientated.
"No darling, I don't want you coming, I need to know you're safe on me ship"
She sighed, disappointed, but obviously this was to make Jack think she had accepted his decision, which she hadn't. He noticed the lack of resistance, Louise doesn't just accept decisions.
"Well Jack I need to get back to the galley, the food won't cook itself".
He put a arm around her waist as she tried to leave, "what ye up to luv?"
She turned back to him with the most innocent look she could muster including the tinniest hint of a pout, "nothing Jack", she smiled sweetly while hiding crossed fingers behind her back "promise".
Jack had told Gibbs to ready those going to shore and the long boat, he also mentioned that Louise would be staying and asked him to check on her at least once. Jack in some ways felt bad for making her stay aboard but he knew it was for the best. He had studied Abrey's map as much as possible and it was a fairly simple route to the caves but apparently the caves themselves were the maze. The day quickly disappeared and the small mass of land in the distance soon materialized into Nevis, a lush island with a small fishing town and a mass of forests. After the anchor had been dropped, Jack climbed down into the now packed boat, he nodded up at Gibbs on deck who shouted back.
"Good luck captain"
As they rowed away towards the vast beach Abrey looked over at Jack, who had simply nodded at him with a knowing smile as he had lowered himself into the boat. It made him feel uncomfortable the way Jack seemed so confident in himself, he couldn't have figured out his plan could he? He reassured himself as they got closer to the shore, Jack ignored Abrey as he felt the familiar feeling of excitement, squinting at the island he knew he'd enjoy the treasure like the rest of the crew but for him it was all about the hunt.
"Miss Roberts?", Gibbs coarse voice was followed by a tapping on Louise's door. The only problem being Louise was not in her room as he suspected and he had already been to the galley. He shuffled onto deck scratching his chin in a genuinely confused way.
"Row, row, row your boat", he looked up at the parrot circling. 
Looking around for Cotton he asked more to himself than the bird, "what's that about then?". That's when it hit him like a rum bottle to the head, he ran over to the edge of the deck and looked out towards Nevis, in the distance on the beach he could see the first boat on the beach and there in a second boat halfway there was Cotton, Louise and Anamaria. The second of whom stood up in the small boat at the sight of him and waved grandly, she was all ready to do a happy dance too but Ana pulled her back down as her standing was rocking the boat.
Gibbs looked around wildly as if hoping to see some sort of answer but all he was left with was, "Oh crap".
Unfortunately for Gibbs this was not his only problem as Marty, who was in the crows nest shouted, "red sails on the horizon".
Gibbs again looked out to sea where he saw red sails but it was the ship itself he was more curious about, "it can't be".
Louise smiled at Ana as she sat back down, "I told you he'd only realise when it was too late". Ana looked at Louise with a mixture of admiration and contempt, you had to respect her determination but maybe not her methods. Louise however was not paying attention to Ana as Cotton's parrot had just landed on his shoulder and she seemed to be having a staring contest with it.
"So you got me in this boat, we're heading for Nevis what do you plan on doing once we get there?", she could see Louise's smile as she asked the question but she didn't move as she answered.
"I figure we follow the path that Jack and his little gang have made until we catch up"
Ana snorted, "you just want to catch up with him even though he thinks you're aboard?".
"I never said we were going to show ourselves", this time she did look at Ana who just had confused look so she continued, "in the words of our dear captain we'll wait for the opportune moment". She grinned mischievously and Ana could swear she saw a flash of Jack in her eyes but as quickly as it was there it was gone and all that was left was Louise looking most pleased with her choice of words.
"So when in your expert opinion", she emphasized expert sarcastically, "is the opportune moment?"
Louise just laughed shaking some hair out of her eyes, "I have no idea".
"Captain?", Danny asked into the dark, he could barely see the flicker of Jacks torch. He asked again a little louder and the sound bounced off the walls along with the occasional dripping of water from the distance.
"Aye lad keep going we're almost there". Danny motioned behind them for the rest of them to continue following the dim light in the distance. They walked until the light got brighter and eventually Danny walked straight into Jack. He was about to apologize when he looked around at what Jack was staring at. They were standing at the opening of a huge cavern, it seemed to be unusually large as if it was too big for the island itself. There was a small stream of water running through the length of the space, to one side was a mound of flat rocks almost too perfectly placed to be naturally there, they formed a wide platform, but there was one thing missing from the room and it was pointed out by a gruff voice from within the group of pirates.
"Where's the treasure?" this was followed by aggravated mutterings from the rest, Jack walked leisurely over to Abrey who was looking nervous, a strange emotion to see in a pirate, even an old one.
He leaned on Abreys shoulder as he spoke, "as my fine crew 'ave pointed out there's something wrong with this picture, don't ye agree?". Jack just stood waiting for an answer twirling one of the many rings on his fingers.
"erm...you see it should have been here...the gold, the jewels, this is where we left it". He could feel the tension rising with the other men who seemed to have assumed Abrey had led them here under false pretenses, or for 'no good reason' as Danny put it. Jack raised a hand to them quietening them enough so he could speak.
"So you mean to tell em, there's no treasure?", Jacks calm voice remained reasoning, which made Abrey even more nervous.
"There should be!"
"I think he means there will be", they all turned to see a dirty looking man dressed in the fineries of a captain. The rest of the crew were holding their weapons ready but they unfortunately Jack hadn't expected an ambush and they were slightly outnumbered.
"And who might you be mate?", Abrey was dumbfounded but Jack remained cool even though he could tell his crew were too few.
The man smiled but missing teeth just left disfigured holes in the image, "you think Cray didn't 'ave a first mate, someone to take over should the worst 'appen?". He drew his sword and revenge was obviously on his mind, "course we didn't know his downfall would be Jack Sparrow and that little whore".
Jack smiled, "must be hard knowing your captain was tricked by me ships cook". From her hiding place Louise smiled. She, Ana and Cotton had found a second entrance to the caves and were currently hiding in a small crevasse in the side of the cavern. Louise could feel Ana's silent protests to jump out and help but she just turned to her silently mouthing the words 'opportune moment'.
"Musta been harder seeing your whore shot by the man she tricked, I do hope she's not alright", Jacks teeth only slightly clenched, he knew how to keep his cool.
"Actually she's right as rain and safe on me ship" he finished with triumph.
He heard the cock of a pistol behind him and he involuntarily shuddered, he almost knew who was there before he turned around and sure enough as he glanced behind him he saw Louise and surprisingly Ana and Cotton all standing at gunpoint.
"Ye never listen to me", he shook his head disapprovingly before returning to the matter at hand, "as ye can see no harm done to 'er so I guess we won that round".
Crays descendant just laughed mockingly, "ye think you've won? Well Sparrow let me be the first to tell you that her being alive is only temporary and will only benefit me".
"And 'ows that then?"
"You don't know? You honestly don't know what's so important about 'er? Sparrow I'm surprised at ye, a legend such as yourself not knowing the full story of this 'ere treasure?"
Jack looked around dumbfounded, "what treasure ye blind fool?"
"All in good time Sparrow, all in good time".
--Authors Notes--
Yay for being back. I know I've been away too long. I mean first the birthday thing, then I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean maybe a few times (okay okay 6 times then...so sue me). And other than that I have had a major case of writers block. The amount of times I sat down to write this chapter and came up with one or two lines that weren't even that great. So I am very much hoping it is okay and I apologize for the shortness. On the plus side though I have already started the next chapter, inspiration flows easy once I've got this part of the story going. Anyway I'm prattling on now, when really I should be thanking all of you for your wonderful reviews, and perhaps begging for more...oh I'm just terrible ;) Anyway like I said thanks to the wonderful, lovely, intelligent reviewers who make me smile. Too much? It felt like too much. Oh what the hell it's all true :P