Summary: A happy marriage is interrupted when Elizabeth makes a faulty deal with the dreaded pirate Blackbeard. She must bring Commodore James Norrington and Captain Jack Sparrow together to help her save Will. But complications arise and Elizabeth finds herself attracted to her two companions. Who will she choose? Will/Liz Jack/Liz Norrington/Liz.

Notes: My friend and I are co-writing this. Written in POV (point of view,) by Chapter. Norrington, Elizabeth and Jack mostly.

Disclaimer: Alas, we do not own any of the lovely characters and or places and or anything whatsoever from Pirates.

Chapter 3: An Old Bruise

Bang! Bang! Bang!

My eyes flicker open. The sound comes again, …Bang! Bang! Bang!...What is that?

The servant's shuffling steps can be heard on the other side of the door, passing my room and running hurriedly down the staircase.

A visitor? It's the middle of the night! There must be a call for me at the port…

I open the door, walking briskly to the edge of the staircase. The banging on the door continues urgently, even violently. "Hudson, What is it? Do I need to gather my men?"

Just reaching the door he turns, "I'm not sure…one moment Commodore –"

Hudson swings the door open.

I squint through the darkness…"Elizabeth?"

There stands a tousled Elizabeth Turner, blood dripping from her forehead and eyes red.

I hurried down the stairs to make sure I wasn't dreaming. No. In fact, there stood Elizabeth in the most ghastly state I had ever seen her in. I could barely think of what happened to her. Unless, where was Turner?

"Come in. What happened to you?"

Her eyes began to redden again and soon little pools gathered at the corners of her eyes. I couldn't help it, I had to know.

"Your head! Hudson, bring Ms. Swan some warm towels." Hudson went to the kitchen, and I directed my attention back towards Elizabeth. "It looks like someone knocked you down. Who did this to you?"

"It's not Will, if that's what you're implying." I could tell my use of her maiden name had brought some life back into her lovely face. Her words were harsh, yet hurt. Tears overflowed from her eyes now, and the towels served more than one purpose.

"Please, come into the light. Let's see if we can't clean you up a bit."

"I'm sorry to come at such an hour but I couldn't think of anyone else..." Me? Some ghastly thing had happened to her, whatever it was, and she thought to come to me?

"I suppose it's because, you're the only one who can help me with this, situation." I didn't like her explanation for coming here. It sounded as if it had something to do with them. With, pirates.

"What exactly is the situation, Mrs. Turner?" She looked at me with her doe's eyes and it was evident: Will had run off to join Jack Sparrow and his merry gang of pirates. She was devastated, and she wanted Will to come back, but that still didn't explain the blow to the head. Was she lying to save Will's life?

She looked down at the towel in her hands. "I'm afraid I've done something terribly stupid..."

I couldn't imagine what she could have done to force Will to join Jack Sparrow in his little escapades, but she seemed to think she had something to do with it all. "What happened? Where's Will?"

"They've taken him. Because of me." Now it was beginning to become clearer. Will had not left to join Jack Sparrow, but Jack had taken Will by force, no doubt hurting Elizabeth in the process. Her head injury was serious, it wouldn't stop bleeding. I would have to take her to the hospital soon, but I also had to explain to them what happened.

"Why? Why did they take him?"

She bit her lip, trying to block the words from forming. "They took him," she was choosing her words carefully, "- in place of my debt," she sighed.

"Your debt? What debt do you owe to Jack Sparrow?"

She looked at me confused, as if I had asked her something completely irrelevant to the situation at hand.

"Jack? What does he have to do with Blackbeard taking Will as collateral?"

I could feel a wave of shock and embarrassment running through me. I was embarrassed that it wasn't the fault of Jack Sparrow, but I was shocked to hear the name of one of the most feared pirates on all the seas.

"Blackbeard? For what reason would Blackbeard take Will as collateral? What debt do you have to pay, Elizabeth?"

"When Will had his accident, I was desperate -"

"You were desperate?"

"Yes. He was on his death bed and I couldn't just let him-" she trailed off at the thought.

"So you struck a deal with the most feared pirate in Caribbean." I could feel the heat rise in my face. How could she be so stupid? She knew as well as I that bargaining with pirates was never the right option. But I couldn't help but wonder...

"Tell me, in exchange for Will's life, what did you give Blackbeard?"

She hesitated, having noticed the anger in my voice. "My hand in marriage."

I lost it. There wasn't an ounce of pity or reason for etiquette now; Elizabeth had done it again. "Your hand! You can't keep offering to marry blokes just to keep one alive! Especially one as brash and common as William Turner!" I could feel my temper rising uncontrollably, and every moral I had ever been taught vanished.

"You can't just come here in the middle of the night intending to ask for help. Especially when I'm in such a state." It was true; I hadn't my wig on or proper garb for such a matter. Finally, the worst had come. Elizabeth had been sitting there, taking everything I had thrown her way, and not once lifted a finger. "And all you want is Will returned safely? Is that it? How will this play out...let me guess, you will marry me if I return Will? Is that how this is going to work?" The dregs of my rant had finally come full circle, and the little twang of pain I had felt before now felt like a gaping hole.

She stood up quickly, wavering a bit due to the head injury, opening her mouth to speak and closing it again. "That was not my reason for coming here. I thought you would help me, but obviously I was wrong," she said bitter and hurt by my outburst.

She began for the door, but I couldn't leave her that way. "Elizabeth!" She turned around, tears lining the bottom of her eyes. My hesitation must have caused some confusion because she threw me a perplexed look. I tried to regain some of my composure and mannered appearance. "Forgive me; that was too bold of me. I should not have been so forward in this delicate matter. Please, I would like to help you recover Mr. Turner, if you'll allow it."

She stood there for a moment looking at me, then nodded and walked hesitantly back towards the chair.

"You'd be willing to help me find Will?" No, but I want to make you happy.

"Yes. Anything to find Will."

"Using any means necessary?" I couldn't tell what she meant by this, but I nodded nonetheless.

"Then we sail immediately." There she goes again, always jumping into things.

"Where? You can't expect to find Blackbeard's ship –"

"I don't. I expect to find someone who can."

A moment of silence passed. And then I realized the all too terrible implication.

"Oh No. Elizabeth, really I don't think that's necessa-"

"Anything to find Will?"

"Well yes but – "

"Do you know how to find Blackbeard's ship?"

She had me there. I could never find it, but neither could he. At least, I didn't think he could. Obviously she thought he could. She wore a slightly smug grin that implied she would get her way, which was true. I had told her anything and the necessary means, but I didn't think she would take advantage of it. At this point in time, anything was better than him.

"Then it's settled. We'll leave for Tortuga immediately."

"Elizabeth, I think we might need to have your head checked. It looks like you took a serious blow, and I don't think it wise to lose that much blood before fighting a pirate of unspeakable evils."

"My head is fine!" She yelled, offended. "I need both you and Jack to find Will. So can you please just put aside your differences for once and behave like grown men!" She was fuming now, breathing heavily and red in the face.

"Elizabeth. I want you to see the doctor at least before we leave, do you consent to that?" I watched her as she tilted to her right a bit and tried to correct her stance by moving too much to her left.

"No…maybe." She began tilting too much, so I walked towards her to help her lay down.

"First thing in the morning, I'll have the doctor come to check on you and get a crew together, then we'll sail to Tortuga."

She looked at me warily. "Fine. But I want your word."

"I swear to you; doctor, then Tortuga." She was too tired from the night's events that I was sure I wouldn't hear any more discord from her, so I had Hudson bring her to a guest room. And I went back to my room. I tried to somehow prepare for the voyage day ahead of me.