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A/N thank you for the reviews! I love them! Anyway… enjoy ) ) )

"You. Get up."

The man that had previously been asleep snapped his eyes open, looking up to see the captain towering above him. Quickly scurrying to his feet, he stood in front of Jack. The only thing between them was the bars of the cell. Jack stood staring at the man for a number of minuets, as each second passed the man found himself growing more and more nervous. Had he angered the captain?

"What's yer name?"

"J… J… John." The man had a stutter to his voice through his nerves. He jumped back as the cell door swung open, Jack's face emotionless in front of him. He nodded his head to tell John to step out of the cell. The man's wife had woken up at this point, her face showing concern for her husband, unaware of what was happening. Jack closed the cell door, locking it once again before heading up the stairs, out into the open, with John following close behind.

Jack led them both into Gibbs's cabin. He had given it up for the time being, at Jacks request. It was the second largest cabin, and since captain quarters currently held Anamaria, Jack didn't see it appropriate to interrogate the man in there.

Neither had said a word since John being freed from the brig. Now sat in the cabin, Jack took another look at the man. He looked quite simple; he was obviously frightened of what was happening to him. He didn't look the type to help pirates.

"So ye told Barry ye was a doctor then?" the man nodded. "And that you'll 'elp us." Once again John nodded his head. "So what's in it fer you?" He began to open his mouth to protest, before quickly shutting it again, knowing that there was no way he could fool the captain into believing he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart.

"I was wondering if you could drop me and my wife at out home. You see she's 5 months pregnant and I'm rather worried about the affect all this stress will be having on her and our child." Jack narrowed his eyes at the man.

"'Ats it?" Once again John nodded, still very frightened of the pirate that sat before him. Jack lent on the desk, his hand rubbing his temples as though he had the worst headache in his life. "And yer defiantly a doctor?"

"Yes."

"Ye better be tellin' the truth mate. For yer wife's sake as well as yer own." John's eyes widened at the thought of something bad happening to his wife. He wouldn't be able to bear it. "She's this way."

As Jack entered the cabin with John close behind, he nodded at Gibbs, who had been sitting with Anamaria. Over the course of the night she had gotten worse. Along with her face and arm, now her neck, shoulder blade and part of her chest had been covered. The only consistency with what was happening was that it was all entirely on the right side. She was still out cold, which they were mostly thankful for. What kind of reaction would she have if she could see her skin go from beautiful and flawless to horrible, brunt and disfigured?

As they watched Gibbs leave the room, John stood behind Jack not daring to move forward or even look at the woman lying on the bed. He didn't want to risk upsetting the captain that had his life and that of his wife and unborn child, in his hands. Jack walked over to Anamaria, his hand stroking her left cheek, before turning to face the man that may just be able to help her.

"'Ave a look at her then." John paused for a moment, making sure he was defiantly aloud to go up to the woman.

He turned her head so that the left side was facing down on the pillow, and he could see the right side. He bit back a gasp, trying hard not to show he was distressed at what he saw. He could only imagine what the captain was feeling, looking at her. His fingers lightly trailed over the 'wounds', the slightest touch made one of the spots pop and ooze with pus and blood. He turned to see what Jack made of that, but found that the captains head was turned, not bearing to look. With slightly shaking hands, John lifted the sheet that covered her body, looking at her neck, collar bone, and chest. Anamaria's breasts had been bound before the doctor had been allowed to take a look at her, Jack wanting to keep her dignity. It was if a line had been drawn down the centre of her body, separating it. Half was normal and beautiful, the other disfigured. While the doctor was examining Anamaria's chest, he jumped back.

Her stomach was beginning to burn, and become like the top half of her. But only on the right side. John stood, transfixed at what he saw. It was unlike anything he had ever seen in his entire profession, in his entire life. It went against everything he had ever been taught. He turned his head round to see Jack, who stood there also watching.

"Err… Captain err…" Jacks eyes met his.

"Sparrow. Yeah, it did that before." John simply looked at Jack, unsure of what to do, before diverting his gaze back to the woman that lay on the bed.

"I… this isn't something that I have come across before I'm afraid Captain Sparrow. But I don't think this is medical. I think it's more…" John struggled with the right words. "Too be honest I think this is more my wife's area then mine." Jack narrowed his eyes at the man. "I think it's been done by voodoo. I can't say for certain since I don't have much knowledge in that area. However my wife- Valerie- she grew up on it and well, has a vast knowledge in the stuff. Do you think it would be possible for her to look at…? I'm sorry but I don't know her name."

"It's Anamaria. Why would she want t' help pirates?" John looked Jack straight in the eye.

"Same reason as me. Since you haven't harmed me, she'll figure you're unlikely to harm her and she'll begin to trust you. It doesn't take much for her to trust someone- although if you lose it you'll never get it back, at least not for a long time." The man smiled at the thought, then quickly shook it away, remembering the situation.

"And if she can't help? What ye goin' t' do then?" the man stayed silent for a moment, deep in thought.

"Captain Sparrow, you may be pirates, and you may think that I am only helping to get home again. Part of that is true, but I will not stand by and let someone- especially a woman, who I'm assuming is the mother of the child we heard scream earlier- die or suffer if I can help it. If my wife cannot help, then I will do everything I possibly can to get her back to health or at least help make her more comfortable. We may be from different worlds and have different views on life, but I'm still a doctor and I still believe in helping people." Jack studied the man's face for a moment, shocked at the sudden bout of honesty from the man, something he himself would never do.

"Let's go get yer wife then mate."

Valerie, John's wife was quite happy to be let out of the tiny cell that held her and 6 others. She was the complete opposite to John, not nervous or intimidated by Jack in the same way as her husband was. She was a lot chattier too. Before they had even reached Captains quarters she had heard about Anamaria's condition, and although she didn't voice her thoughts at the time, had pretty much figured out what was wrong with the lady.

As soon as she had looked over Ana, the thoughts she had been having before were confirmed. And she voiced them.

She asked Jack if he had any particular nasty enemies- Jacks response had been that he was a pirate and had dozens of enemies. Valerie asked would any of them sink low enough to do a revenge plot using the person he loved most in the world- Jack said he could think of a few, but most of them were dead. And Anamaria wasn't what he loved most in the world- he simply cared a lot for her. Although Valerie had looked unconvinced at that last statement, she began to explain what she thought Anamaria's condition was- and what had caused it.

The woman spoke of four gems. All identical in everyway apart from one. Three of the gems were perfect, a deep blue. The forth however had a small dent, barley visible to the human eye. That was the one that he needed to cure Anamaria. Someone had used one of the other three gems to curse her. Over the course of 24 hours the whole of her right side would become infected. If left uncured it would eventually cause her death, the virus eating away her insides. If only one of the gems had been used it could take anything from a week to eighteen months for her to die. If two had been used the largest time would be halved, so it would be anything from a week to nine months. Had all three been used then it would shorten her life from a week to three and a half months. Hardly any time at all. Yet there was a twist. If the gems were used at different times, say the second used after Ana had survived a month already, along with the largest amount of time being halved, and extra month would be taken off her life. Leaving her less time to be cured.

The whole concept of the curse confused Jack, it having to be explained to him more then once. If he didn't find the right gem then she would die. If he found the wrong gem, it would shorten her life and give him less time to find the right one. The thought of her dying crushed Jack, that niggle of how he would cope eating away at him. The mess that she was in was his fault too. It was his enemies that were doing this to her. And there was only two which would sink as low to use someone else to get revenge on Jack. But which one was it?

It wasn't until the next day that plans were made. Everyone needed rest; Jack gave John and his wife a cabin for the night, saying that as they were helping him he couldn't put them back in the brig. Jack however slept in his cabin as always, laying next to Anamaria, watching her for a moment, seeing only her left side, the smooth skin that it held, appearing perfect as though her whole body still contained it. He was only woken by the cry for him that he could hear. Although it was no where near as desperate or sad as the one he had heard the day before, the sound still sent shockwaves of panic throughout Jack.

Before he went to find Thomas he had a quick look at Anamaria. He must have slept through most of the day, after not going to sleep till past at least 4 in the morning. Just like Valerie had said the whole of Anamaria's right side was now covered, from her hairline down to her toes.

The plans that Anamaria should be left on land with John and Valerie were made. Elizabeth and Thomas were also to stay with them, to make sure they were not harmed in any fights the Pearl was likely to get into. Jack was putting a lot of trust into this man and his wife, which he wasn't very fond of. But he couldn't see another way.

It only took one week and a half for the Pearl to reach its destination. At the same time it let the prisoners in the brig go, having more important things to worry about then where they should leave the survivors. Thomas was still very clingy to his father, although Jack had tried to lessen that as much as possible, knowing that if he gave in and let the boy stay with him constantly it would be much harder to leave him behind.

Jack left Anamaria, Elizabeth and his son with the promise of returning soon, with the gem to cure Ana and get everything back to normal. They all had faith in him. But did he have faith in himself?