Disclaimer: its not mine...I wish it were. Stupid mouse owns it.

Authors notes: Not what i expected it to turn out like. Takes place a few weeks after the end of the movie.

888

"Jack Sparrow." She mumbled slurring the words. It came out more like 'Jackkkkk Spawoah'

No, it was Cap'n Jack Sparrow; she reminded herself bitterly, raising the bottle to her lips to take another swallow of rum. The bottle was half done, but that did not register in her mind. As the bottle was about to reach her lips the ship she was on lurched in a way that she knew that they had let down the anchor. The force of the ship dropping anchor sent her bouncing off a wall and down to the dirty floor; landing in a pitiful heap. The bottle flew from her hands, smashing harmlessly at her feet, spilling the remaining rum everywhere.

She pulled herself into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. Her eyes found the trail the rum was making as it dribbled down the dirty floor; her face contorting into a grimace. For a moment she couldn't remember why she was drinking the rum to begin with but then it came back. She had thought the rum would calm her, but instead it only made her angry at Jack for doing this to her. In her mind it was Jacks fault that she was the drunken mess she was now. It was his fault because he was infuriating, and he confused the hell out of her. The tears started to stain her cheeks and she made no effort to stop them; letting them come. They seemed to be coming quite a bit lately and every time because of him.

She didn't want him back.

Here she was, not wanting a thing to do with Jack, yet on her way to save him. They were on the Ghost. It was Barbossa's ship of choice for the journey. Well, everyone else was above deck, yet she was sitting here in the poorly lit galley feeling sorry for her. It seemed every time she swore she was done with pirates another quest or adventure popped up.

God only knew why she had agreed to go after him with everyone else. Maybe it was because Will was going; maybe it was the thrill of another adventure; perhaps because she felt guilty about leaving him stranded on the Pearl; or maybe it was because some part of her wanted him back. She snorted softly; she didn't want him back she was sure of that. In her head she knew he didn't need to be back in her life, it was easier without him; and that she was perfectly happy. Trying telling her heart that though.

It was all well and good for her to say she didn't care about him at all when she thought he was dead. Death seemed to simplify things she found; it gave you fewer options to choose from and you could trick your mind to believe one thing when really your heart believed another. Jack being dead meant that logically she had to love Will, seeing as it was pointless to love Jack in death. She was sure that everything with Jack had been meaningless, now she didn't know. She had convinced herself of that she didn't love Jack; and a few weeks ago she had been perfectly happy to accept that she belonged with Will.

Now though, she had to face the very real possibility that he was coming back again.

She didn't want to face it though. That was why she was down in the galley drowning her sorrows with rum, to avoid a decision. She smiled bitterly to herself in the gloomy darkness; it seemed even in death or whatever it was; that she could not escape Jacks influence on her life. If she accepted that he was back, then she would have more options; options such as choosing Jack or Will.

Before death had made a choice for her, she just had to accept it.

And accept it she had; until now that is. Know she did not know what she wanted. Her mind told her that she wanted Will; he could support her, wouldn't leave her and loved her and be faithful. He was a good man. Most of her heart agreed with her head to, except for a small part of her that wanted Jack. She didn't know why seeing as he was a cheating vile thief but most of all a pirate. Jack well…Jack had his whores. He would leave her without a second thought, without regret; so why did she want that?

She didn't know.

If it came right down to it, she was scared, scared of Captain Jack Sparrow. She was scared of how she felt around him; acted around him. It was like her head had taken a holiday and left the rest of her body to do the thinking with hormones. She was scared that she liked him more then Will; that she would choose Jack over him.

"You'll come around…you know why? Because of curiosity."

That was when it had started when they had talked about curiosity on the pearl. He had made her curious, she hated to admit and she hadn't stopped thinking about him completely since then. She was curious about his life, but that did not mean that she wanted him. It seemed the more time she had spent with Jack on the Pearl; the more she came to trust him.

She hit her fist on the ground, not doing any damage to the ship but instead to her hand. He made her so angry; angry that she felt this way about him. She didn't want to. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She was supposed to be married by now! Not on another bloody pirate ship. She should have been in her new house, been attending fancy dinner parties with Will; taking care of a household.

"Remember that you robbed me of my wedding night."

The words that she had stated so calmly to the Lord came back to her now. At the time they had been meaningless words, said in the heat of the moment to get the man to sign the letters of mark. Now they held meaning. She wondered what would have happened had her and Will had her wedding night; if they had been dragged into this adventure a day later. Surely she would be blissfully in love with Will, too enamored to see Jacks charm. Elizabeth bet that she wouldn't have fallen for Jacks charm if things had started a day later. Or if they had not been arrested at all.

Getting arrested had changed her. In their first adventure on the Pearl, she had thought that she was better then the pirates; oh Elizabeth would not have admitted it, but she did. She carried herself and treated them in a way that showed that she thought them lower then her. Being arrested had made her realize that perhaps they weren't so different. Pirates were men who had no other choice in life really, they wanted their freedom as much as the next man and just had to go by other means of obtaining it. She had obtained her freedom to, just not legally. She had got hers by holding a man at gunpoint. Elizabeth had escaped from prison, found Jack, sailed on two ships; all to find Will. The experience had changed her.

She had become a Pirate.

She admitted it now. She did not know if she wanted a quite life anymore. In fact she found it downright thrilling to be reveling in her freedom knowing that there were people in Port Royal who would kill her. She got a rush from helping the crew, who she actually found to be quite civilized. They were as ordinary as her, not the mangy pirates she had thought of them originally.

She thought that if she ever did settle, it would have to be near an ocean. She was different, she craved the adventure now. She just did not want to be on the adventure that she was currently in.

It was bad enough going to find Jack and becoming confused again, but it was far worse knowing that it was Barbossa who would bring them to Jack. Barbossa disgusted her; he went against the Pirates code. Most had morals, but he had none. She refused to be alone with the man as she didn't trust him. He had almost been responsible for her death once; but it wouldn't be twice.

Will on the other hand was always with Barbossa it seemed. Last she had checked they were talking in hushed tones up at the helm. Will was currently navigating for them with Jacks compass. For some reason the compass pointed at Jack. What Elizabeth did not understand was why would the thing that Will wanted most be Jack?

Maybe Jack was right and he was a Eunuch.

She laughed softly to herself, knowing even as she thought it that it wasn't true. If he was her choice would be a lot easier to make. Will had asked her why she had agreed to find Jack; she hoped not out of suspicion about the kiss (which he surprisingly had not talked to her about). She had replied that she wanted some questions answered, and she did. She wanted to know why he came back.

She sighed; a pounding headache would soon be setting in but for now she could feel the rum she had consumed wearing off. She had found it easier to think when she was drunk, the thoughts came easier into her mind and she did not over analyze everything. Maybe she was developing a love for the drink that she had formerly thought vile.

Speaking of things being vile, James Norrington had surprised them all. She had always thought him to be an upstanding respectable man. Sure he was not in the best of shape when Elizabeth had met him in Tortuga all those weeks ago. He had lost his job, his home and his dignity, but yet she pitied him and helped him out…after knocking him out that was. He had even sacrificed himself on the island to save all of them, or so they thought.

Word had reached their ship about him when they had landed in Tortuga to stock up on supplies. Word was they he had somehow managed to get off that god forsaken island and had gotten back to Lord Beckett with the heart. Rumor had it that he now had his old life back. She despised that man now she had not known him to be so selfish. She also had not thought that he would sink so low as to turn on them all.

"James Norrington has become a vile man."

"I agree" A voice boomed out of the darkness; one that she recognized instantly.

"Will, why are you down here?" she managed to stand up and not slur her words.

"Came to bring you up onto deck." He answered.

She walked towards him in the darkness, to where he stood silhouetted in the dimly lit doorway. He turned to allow her past so she could go up the stairs first. She tried to make it up the stairs as steadily as she could without betraying that she had been drinking. She didn't feel comfortable with him knowing that for some reason.

Well, Elizabeth figured, musing to herself once again. Since I'm a pirate I might as well abide by their code. A large part of the pirates code was to live each day as your last, and look ahead to today, not to tomorrow. She simply wouldn't think of the future until she had to. Who knows; she might not even feel the same way about Jack when she saw him again. Hell, she knew she liked Will a lot right now, so why bother bringing Jack in to complicated things until it were necessary?

She wasn't happy with life, not by a long shot. Living each day for the day seemed the best solution she could come up with. And if she happened to like Jack when they found him, then she would sort out her feelings then. If she chose him over Will, then she owed Will to have a long talk about why she would do that. If she chose Will over Jack, then she would not talk to Jack. He could always go back to his whores.

She would take it one day at a time; all she knew for sure right now was that fate had a cruel way of playing games with her life and that she didn't like it.

The world was cruel.

Emotions to her were worse.

888

More authors notes: So this isnt what I expected out of this, but this is what i got. Its the longest chapter of them all, I hope you guys like it.More one shots are on the way, but none will be related to Condemned.

Thanks to all the reviews so far, I love you all! If you havent reviewed yet, don't be shy! Review review!