Will smiled as he saw his captain come out of the cabin for the first time since he had woken. That had been over a week ago, Jack had found himself to be without much energy at first, his injury and the stress he had been under for a number of months finally having got to him. Since being reunited with his father, Thomas hadn't left his side. He was still much too quiet for Jack's liking, but at least he was responding to someone. Even if it was only one person. After waking up the second time, Jack had enquired about the gem they desired. Happy to know that it had been found and was being kept safe in his desk draw, Jack asked that the ship be slowed down, making the journey back a little longer. Confident Anamaria had at least another four months to live before the curse killed her, he wanted to let as much time pass as possible, before reaching land again- thus giving Thomas a chance to regain his former self and not worry his mother too much.

Jack had surprised Will by refusing to crush the gem, like he had before. His reasoning's were clear and understandable. If it was the wrong one, he wanted as much time as he could possibly have to find the correct gem. At least this time there was a fifty fifty chance of it being the one he needed.

The Black Pearl and her captain arrived back at the port town a good three weeks later. It had been gone a grand total of eight weeks. Two months. During the voyage back, Thomas had celebrated his second birthday- with his mother absent. The child himself was becoming more confident around others again, allowing himself to be touched and spoke to by another person- so long as his father was in view at all times.

Jack stepped off his beloved ship, happy to be on land again, with Thomas still on his hip. Waltzing through the town, he had a smile firmly placed on his face. The gem was safely in his pocket, protected from damage by a few pieces of cloth. However that smile quickly disappeared as he reached the house. Flowers had been placed outside the door as though someone had died recently or was dying. Jacks thoughts went back and realized that Valerie had been due to give birth during the time he had been away. Assuming it was her on her deathbed, his thoughts went out to John. Although, those thoughts were corrected when he stepped through the thresh hold, to find Valerie weeping at the kitchen sink. Frowning, Jack walked forward placing a hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

"Jack!" a mixture of relief and surprise shone in Valerie's eyes as she looked at the pirate who was frowning in front of her, his son still in his arms.

"What's goin' on? 'Ow's Anamaria." Tears filled Valerie's eyes again, a few managing to break free and roll down her cheeks.

"Dying Jack. She has a few hours left at the most." Jack frowned shaking his head.

"No, no, no, she 'as at least two or three months left. No' hours." Valerie looked at Jack, eyes still shining with tears, both pity and sympathy present on her features. The truth was Anamaria had shocked them all by living as long as she had. By rights she should have been dead weeks ago, every morning when they woke up they expected to go into her room to find her lifeless body. But she had kept fighting, some days being better then others, occasionally being strong enough to sit and talk. Yet now it seemed as though she had had enough of fighting, had enough of struggling against a losing battle. She had finally given up and let death in.

"I'm so sorry Jack." Shaking his head once more, Jacks hand dived into his pocket retrieving the gem.

"'Ere, is this the right one?" Valerie looked astonished as she watched Jack pull out the gem. She had believed that when he showed up, it was simply to drop Thomas off before heading out on the search again. He gave her reason to believe this, after last time smashing the gem before letting her check it over. With shaking hands she took it from him and began inspecting it.

"I…. I don't know." Now that hadn't been the answer Jack was expecting. A simple yes or no would have been a lot more helpful.

"What? What do you mean you don't know? What am I supposed to do now?" Valerie sighed, her hand rubbing her forehead.

"Jack, I'd say just smash it. If it's the right one then brilliant, she has a chance, but if it's the wrong one, it'll make no difference. She's dying Jack, she'll be dead by sunset tonight, if this is the wrong one and we smash it or not, she'll still be dead." Jack shook his head once again, his free hand was moving about as though he was trying to express something of importance.

"No! No, I don't believe you. You said she would have more time then this. She, she can't be dying."

"Go take a look for yourself Jack and you'll see what I mean…" Jack turned to move. "Jack. I… I wouldn't take him in there." Jack sighed looking down at his son. His brown eyes looked up at his father, wondering what was happening.

"Fine, I'll leave 'im with you, but I warn ye, he might not be easy… on seconds thoughts, he'll be easy but probably terrified." Jack paused, looking down at his son again, this time speaking directly to him. "Tom. I'm goin' t' leave you with Val here-" Jack pointed to Valerie. "Fer a few minuets ok mate? Now you be a good boy and I'll be back in a moment or two." Jack attempted to pass his son across to the woman, having to un-claw his hands from his shirt as he did so. A quiet 'no' was heard from Thomas, his bottom lip starting to quiver from the sudden abandonment. Without looking back, Jack headed into Anamaria's room.

The sight made his stomach lurch and his heart skip a beat- for all the wrong reasons. At that moment he was glad to see she was alone- although his mind was telling him to be angry about it. The sight was almost too much for him to bear. Anamaria's thin body lay motionless on the mattress, a sheet lightly covering her. The only sound in the room was her breathing, the long raspy breaths. The outward effects of her curse were still clinging to her skin, almost shining in the dim light. Jack's eyes laid on her bump, and his hand went to rest on it. She was at least five or six months gone now. He relished in the feeling of movement underneath his hand, only for sadness to take over moments later when he realized that their child might never get to see the outside world. Anamaria's breathing began to hitch, and Jack froze, terrified that she was about to give up on him and the life inside her. To his relief it went back to what was considered normal with her now. Taking only another moment or so to gather his thoughts and emotions Jack hurriedly walked back out the door and into the kitchen. His eyes laid on Elizabeth for only a moment, before spotting the gem lying on the table surface. With no warning to either of the women, Jack brought his hand flying down on top of it, causing it to shatter. At first nothing happened apart from the two women jumping slightly.

Then an earth shattering scream pierced through the silence…

Everyone stood staring at each other for a moment, frozen to the spot, each person scared about the shrill sound they had all heard. Jack was first to snap out of the trance, turning on his heel and running back to the room he had just come out of. The two women soon followed, Valerie still holding Thomas in her arms.

Anamaria was still alive much to Jack's relief. The gem he had just crushed appeared to be the right one after all, the effects of the 'curse' no longer apparent on Ana's skin. In fact, from the exposed skin that Jack could see, she had gone completely back to normal, no scaring at all. But Jack's relief didn't last long as he noticed the thin layer of sweat still present on Anamaria's forehead and that her breathing was still shallow and raspy. Spinning around to face Valerie, Jack's eyes were accusing.

"Why is she still like this? You said that when the crystal was broken she'd be fine. The curse would be lifted. Why is she still ill?" Valerie's face showed she was unsure of what to say. Her thoughts were broken by the cries of a baby, woken from the sudden noises in the house.

"Jack she's not suffering from the curse anymore, which has been lifted. Her fate had been changed so much so she was supposed to die later on today. You've tried changing it again, when she had already let death in. It has a grip on her now, and won't let go very easily." Valerie paused, obviously anxious to get to her son. "Before she was fighting a losing battle, but at least now, she has a chance. If she still wants to fight she can, and she can beat this."

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming on?"

"Because Jack, if she has no fight left in her, the chances are that she will die anyway." Jack stayed silent; he snapped his head away from the sight of Valerie and Elizabeth. Swallowing hard, he willed the pair to leave them alone. Valerie handed Thomas to Elizabeth, sensing that Jack wouldn't want to hold his son again just yet, before heading off to comfort her own child. Elizabeth stood staring at Jack's back for a moment, her mouth opening and closing a number of times, unsure of what to say to help him. It was then that Jack spoke to her.

"'Lizabeth, Will's waitin' for you on the Pearl." Once again Elizabeth's mouth opened to say something. She had got the hint that Jack wanted to be left alone with Anamaria, but she was unsure of what to do about the small boy she held in her arms. Jack answered that question for her. "Aye, take 'im with you." Elizabeth nodded, and headed out of the room without a word to Jack. As soon as the door was shut behind her, Jack made a move to sit down beside Anamaria. He watched her for a moment, before placing his head in his hands, his shoulders sagging from the weight of the worry and stress. Bringing his head back up, he studied her again for a few minuets, unsure of what to do in the situation.

"You can wake up now Ana. I think you've 'ad enough sleep for the moment ay?" silence. "I don't know if you found out what 'appened Ann, but, I got 'im back, I got Tom back. 'E's fine, little shaken up, nothin' his mam can't cure…" Jack paused again, moving so that he was sat on the bed beside Anamaria, his hand stroking her sweat filled hair. "That's why you need to wake up now, you need to wake up for him, you need to get better for him, and you have to Ana." Jack stopped short of admitting that he needed her to wake up for him, that he needed her to get better for him not just their son. Silence filled the room once more, the occasional groan coming from Anamaria as she stirred in her fever-fuelled unconsciousness.

Jack stayed with Anamaria constantly for a further two days. He refused to leave her side for anything, other than to relieve himself. He barley slept, ate or acknowledge any other person in the room, apart from Anamaria. He could bear to leave, just in case. Just in case she woke. Just in case she died.

Then, two days after shattering the gem, Jack's worst fear came true.

Elizabeth had been trying to convince Jack to leave Anamaria's side, if only for a few hours to get some rest. She was telling him that she would come and get him if anything happened. But he was having none of it. The pair sat in silence, Elizabeth refusing to leave Jack alone with Ana as he so desperately wished. Then all of a sudden the silence became almost deafening. The only sound in the room had been Anamaria's breathing, and that had gone quiet. Jack held his own breath, waiting for Anamaria to snap back into action, to refill her lungs with air once more. But that didn't happen. Tears filled Elizabeth's eyes as she realized what was happening.

"No, no, no, not good! Come on Ana, breath." Jack had snapped out of his trace, jumping up to get to Anamaria's side. He gently tapped her cheeks, as though coxing her to wake up after a deep sleep. When nothing happened, he lowered himself onto her, pressing his lips firmly on hers and breathing air into her lungs. He did this a couple of times, desperate to get Anamaria to breath on her own again.

"Jack. Jack stop- she's gone." Jack bought his eyes up to meet those belonging to Elizabeth. She involuntary took a step back, shocked at what she saw. Pure fire raged through his orbs, taking over that of sadness and defeat.

"No!" Elizabeth's bottom lip began to tremble; she wasn't sure who she was more upset for. Anamaria for losing her life at such a crucial point, the unborn child who would never be a part of the world, Thomas for losing his mother- or for jack. Who know doubt felt like he was losing everything.He was losing his first mate, best friend, lover, mother of his child(ren) and, although he seemed set against admitting it, the woman he loved.She slowly began to back out of the room, deciding that the captain would probably prefer to be alone as he came to terms with the death of his lover. Jack barley noticed her absence, concentrating purely on Anamaria.

"Come on Ana, breath. I can't keep doin' it for you luv." Still Anamaria's body lay unmoving, un breathing, on the bed. "Please breath?" once again Jack's breath filled Ana's lungs with air, something she seemed powerless to do for herself.

Jack carried on breathing air into her, hoping it would bring her back to him, refusing to believe she was truly gone…

A/N oh dear. Please don't flame me! The next chapter is the last one of this story I'm afraid. Or at least I think it is. There might be two, if I include an Epilogue… Anyway, please review! Thanks! Captainme