5 years later

Anamaria has long since tried to get over the ordeal that happened at that small port town, that changed her life, and those around her, forever. It just didn't happen to be working to well.

It was 5 years to the day, since they had left Jack's body, not quite cold, in that cave alone, and since then Anamaria hadn't been able to fight the nightmares away, the image haunting her. The question of what if?

To begin with, her method of dealing with it was to pretend like nothing had happened. That Captain Jack Sparrow, was still alive really, and just on a mission by himself. She was able to live in that day dream, getting along quite happily, until the birth of their twin sons, Jacob and Jack. With their birth, came the shocking realization for Anamaria that Captain Jack, was in fact, not coming back. That their son's would never know their father, and that their daughter, would most likely forget him in person or just have vague and fuzzy memories. That was what hurt her the most.

She still blamed herself, for what had happened that night, what if spinning forever in her mind. She felt that Jack blamed her for his death, and had even convinced herself, that he would have wanted her to die instead of himself, and when she confided this in Cathy, was met by harsh words, those harsh words trying to shake her out of the state she was in, but only making her dig further into the pit she had made for herself.

Taylor had also been hit badly, by what he had witnessed in that cave. He was partly the reason why Anamaria blamed herself, for her too blamed her for the death of his son. However, he didn't desert her or her children, staying by their side on the Pearl, not speaking a word of his anguish, till the day he died, 2 years after Jack's death, for causes unknown to them.

But now. Now the time had come to put those demons to rest. To get on with her life. And the only way she could do that, was to find where her lover was buried, or, with the tiniest bit of hope inside of her, if he was still alive, find him and take him home.

Stepping onto the ground, Anamaria was overcome by the urge to be sick. The town she thought would have recovered by now was still in a shocking state of devastation, houses still in the same state they had been left in 5 years ago. The streets were littered with dead bodies, old and new. Some were nothing more then bones. Upon seeing this, Anamaria's first instinct was to go to the cave where they had left him, if these bodies were left to litter the street, then why wouldn't his body be left to rot in that cave?

With only Will by her side- Cathy being heavily pregnant again, and not wanting any of the crew to come with them- they made their way to the cave- only to find it was no longer there. With no way of knowing what had happened to it, Anamaria was once again hit by a wave of anguish. If she couldn't find his body or grave, she didn't know what she would do. She would be forever in turmoil.

Will gently took her by the arm, and led her away from the site where the cave once lay. Not knowing the way to Taylor's old house, he let Anamaria once again take lead, following her through the devastated streets.

As soon as they got to the small hut, they knew instantly that someone had recently inhabited it. But that didn't surprise them too much. After all, people had to have a place to stay, after almost everywhere else was destroyed.

Since no one appeared to be living there at that precise moment in time, they decided to have a quick nosy around, see if there was anything that could give clues as to who was living there. They found a few peg legs- obviously the owner liked to have a variety. But what disturbed Anamaria was that they found beads- like the ones that Jack used to wear in his hair.

Feeling that she was never going to find out what happened in the end to her lover, she sighed and made her way towards the door, Will closely behind. As she reached the door though, she got the fright of her life to find a young woman, barley alive by the looks of things, standing in the door frame.

"Hello" A tiny smile appeared on the women's face, although pain in her eyes was visible. She barley more then one of those skeletons that littered the allies.

"Hi" Anamaria spoke warily, had they just intruded on this poor girl's home? "Sorry is this where you… erm, live?" The tiniest movement was made by the girl, what Ana made a guess at, as a shaken head.

"No miss. This was Mr. Sparrow's house. I'm afraid he passed away not too long ago."

Anamaria's face paled. Mr Sparrow. Sparrow. It couldn't be Jack. It had to be a coincidence. Jack had been long dead. And if he hadn't been, then why hadn't he gotten out of this place and come and found her? Although she was unable to speak through shock, Will had recovered faster then her.

"Mr. Sparrow you say? Could you describe him to us?" Thought crossed over the girls face for a moment before she began to speak.

"Well, he had had a bad leg and arm injury, so they had both been cut off. Luckily, he used to say, that it had been opposite sides, he used to joke had it been otherwise he would be forever toppling over!" The girl smiled in memory. "He used to have black hair, but towards the end it was more silver then black! For some reason he wore it with beads and trinkets, but then he cut them all out, not long before he died. He used to wear kohl underneath his eyes, from his pirate days he said. When I found out he used to be a pirate I was really scared of him, but that soon changed, he wasn't a bad man you see. Erm… what else? He had a hat he wouldn't let anyone else touch, that was buried with him. He said he was a really famous, wanted, pirate captain, but I hadn't heard many stories of pirates, I hadn't been aloud. He used to tell me all these stories of adventures he had had!" The girl paused, long enough for Will to say something.

"Why had he ended up living here?"

"He said that after that attack from those pirates, and after what had happened to him, he was better off dead then alive to his crew and family. He said he had family, and that I reminded him of his wife and daughter. This is why he looked after me after my own family died."

"I thought you said you didn't live here?"

"Oh I don't, I got married not long ago. Just before he died." The look of sadness crossed over the girl's features, and she spoke quietly. "But my husband died just after Jack did. I don't know why though."

By now Anamaria had sat down, unable to take in all that was being told to her. He had been alive, he had been alive. And yet, he had let her believe that he was dead. She had come back too late. Finally she found her voice.

"When did he die?" The girl looked down to her.

"About 3 months back."

"Where is he" Ana paused. "Where is he buried?" She took a good look at Anamaria before answering.

"Up on the hill, next to the church. He hated church, but I still wanted him buried there." Ana smiled briefly. He would have been better buried at sea, for that was where he was most of his life. But of course, since he had been too much of a coward to come back to her, it didn't matter really anymore. Did it?

It was Will who spoke next. "Why did he die?"

"He said he was dying of a broken heart, silly isn't it, but the doctor said he died of some sort of starvation. He never ate properly. He said he wanted to die since he found out he had lived. It was only when I married, that he finally gave up altogether."

"Well he was a coward then." The girl shot Anamaria daggers.

"He was not a coward. He just, couldn't go on. Those pirates had destroyed everything he had. He tried to leave, he was going to take me with him he said, but then he heard the news that everything he had, was well, gone."

"He thought we were dead?" Anamaria spoke barley in a whisper, but it was loud enough for the girl to hear. A look of shock spread across her face, as she finally realized who the dark skinned woman, sat before her really was.

"You're… you're Anamaria?" Will's mouth hung open, as the girl said her name. "But you can't be. He was told you and your daughters were killed by another pirate ship. He was told it destroyed the Black Pearl and everyone on it."

"And he didn't think to check. He's more of a fool then I thought he was!" Anamaria paused. "Hold on- did you say daughters. I only have one daughter. I have 2 sons." The girl frowned.

"Erm, ok. But that's not Mr. Sparrow thought." Everyone was silent until Will spoke again.

"How about we visit his gave hey? Let's say goodbye properly." Everyone was silent once more, both Will and the Girl waiting to see what Anamaria was going to do. Slowly she stood up from her sitting position, and nodded her head. At this, the girl- whose name they still didn't know- walked out, and started along the streets, pausing every now and then to make sure Ana and Will were still following.

Xxx

It was only when Anamaria saw the gravestone did her finally admitted to herself that he was gone forever. It was then and only then, that she could begin to move on with her life and no longer be burdened by wondering if she could have done anything to save him that night, 5 years ago, in the cave. The fact that he didn't die helped her. Although she never saw him again, she was glad he lived a further 4 and half years. Forever she would wonder why he didn't check the rumours that he had heard, but the only thing she could think of, was that he couldn't, just in case, just in case they were true. For he too, probably lived in hope that they were still alive out there. Just as Anamaria had done.

The sad part is though, both of them were alive, and both of them were unaware.

Anamaria later found out that the girls name was Roseanna, and invited the child to live aboard the Black Pearl with them, and live some of the adventures Jack had told her about.

Their children grew up, listening in awe to the stories of what they're father had done, and how much of a hero he was. And although he wasn't there in the flesh, his sprit lived on through his children, especially one son in particular, who, although had never met his father, was the spitting image of him- personality and all!

The END

Xxx

A/N Thanks for all the reviews! This is it, the end to these stories, I'm not going to do a sequel this time i'm afraid. I can't really anyway, since Jack died and all! Please review! Thanks, Suzy xxx