"Captain." Called the man who dared to enter her cabin without knocking, every single time he entered the bloody cabin. It should have drove her mad but fortunately for them both, Nicolette found ways to release her frustration and wind him up equal amounts.

"Hector…" She grinned, looking up from the papers scattered over her desk with a long smug smirk. "What is wrong now?" He rolled his eyes as he came to a stop in front of the large oak table and groaned aloud.

"We will be arriving in Singapore my nightfall, your highness." He didn't bow…she may have found it more funny if he had added the bow, instead he just grunted as he fell back into one of the seats opposite her.

"Oh stop, you've been an old sourpuss since we left Tortuga." Nicolette pouted teasingly, taking a goblet from a side table behind her and filling it with red wine before handing it to him.

"Now you know how I felt for ten years." Hector quipped and as he took a long drink of his wine, Nicolette's face deadpanned dramatically. "I've been nought but your cabin boy since we left Tortuga."

"Well…" She sighed. "Stop knocking on my door every five minutes and I won't keep telling you what to do."

"You used to do the same." At this, Nicolette scoffed.

"Please, I used to try my best to avoid asking you questions." His grinned sarcastically and took another sip, falling into a silence she did not like. "What is it? What's wrong?" Mortal or immortal Nicolette still knew how to read his moods and although nowadays the man seemed much more harder to anger and easier to please, Hector still had that distinct distasteful scowl which came out only on a special occasion.

"The boy…" Barbossa whispered and Nic's brow quirked.

"Oh so at the last minute you're going to admit that I am right?"

Since the minute they had left Tia Dalma's she had not trusted Elizabeth or Will but the more the days past, the boy overtook the girl when it came to her worries. She knew of his previous desire for the Pearl and knew that there could be an issue there should they retrieve it. But then, Barbossa's bright idea to send him into Singapore solo to steal the charts they needed just increased her anxiety even more so.

Nicolette told him it was stupid, that it should be one of them to do it but he insisted that they should be the ones to go meet Sao Feng - another idea she wasn't too fond of, given her last meeting with the man. Then, just to put the icing on the cake, Elizabeth insisted on coming with them. She didn't even know why she had allowed them to join the meeting between herself, Gibbs and Hector. But they wormed their way into the Captains cabin just like they worked their way into Nicolette's daily irritations.

"I never said you were wrong." Barbossa tutted. "I said I thought you were over reacting." Nicolette stopped mid drink and stared at him through narrowed eyes over the top of her chalice.

"That's the same thing." Her tone was dull and bored but she ended up smirking as she seen a smile pull at his own lips.

Surprisingly they had been getting on a lot better than they had since leaving Tia's shack. They seemed to have formed some sort of unspoken alliance together. They didn't bicker…not seriously, and never as heated as they used to, Hector didn't tease her or undermine her any longer and most of the time they found themselves laughing together more often than they ever did. Maybe it was because, for once, they shared a goal and agreed on the steps they had to take to achieve it. Nicolette didn't doubt that it wouldn't last and they would probably be ripping at each other's throats by the time they got close to Jack but so far, things were good - much better than she had initially expected.

Nic finished swallowing and then licked her lips before she questioned him. "What's plaguing your mind about the boy?"

Hector glanced over his shoulder as if Turner may have miraculously been stood there in the door way and only after he saw the coast was clear did he relax back into his chair.

"He be too big for his boots shall we say?"

"Hmm that is one way to put it." Nic hummed and her eyes travelled to the door in thought as if she could see right through it and onto the deck of the Siren. "You think we can trust him? I think the days of using his bride as persuasion have long gone."

She had told Barbossa of the mistrust between the couple but Nicolette may have missed out the reasons why. No one but she and the girl herself still knew about her last contact with Jack and she wished it to remain that way.

"We have no choice." Hector said, watching his former wife closely as her eyes glazed over with the further she sunk into her thoughts. She still had the same harsh expression she had developed when they were married. He couldn't count how many times he had came back to the cabin they shared in the Pearl to find her sat behind his desk with that same expression on her face. "Sao Feng be expecting you and I now, one off us can't suddenly be missing."

"Then what do you suggest?"

Barbossa rose his eyebrows and tutted before he began to shake his head slowly. "There be nothing we can do but hope the boy has some loyalty to us."

"Oh." Nic deflated, rolling her eyes towards Hector. "Sounds promising. Can we not send someone to watch him?"

"Nah, it isn't worth drawing attention to him, or risking another man who may lead them back to us should he be caught." Barbossa began to tap his fingernails together, disgusting Nic greatly, as he began to voice his worries further and although she was listening she was starting to drift off. All this talk of getting caught, it was like he was asking for trouble.

"If things go sour that's why we have the backup plan remember?"

"Having that plan does not give you the right to run your mouth with Sao Feng." Barbossa warned her with a stern glare but she waved him off and stood to walk over to the small window which gave a clear view of the island's silhouette on the horizon. It was disappearing as the sun had started to set, painting the sky.

It had been a long couple of months, even longer given the lack of reputable company and she would be glad to finally step on land for longer than a few hours to rush a restock of supplies and flee before they bumped into any unwanted company.

"If I remember correctly, the man likes it when I run my mouth." Nic smirked with a small chuckle. The memory may have brought disgust to her but it was still oddly humorous, the way he pawed at her had been adorable…of course to a young Nicolette it had also been very sickening, but the way Jack had acted towards her afterwards was beautifully memorable. "He thinks I'm charming."

"Yes well I would rather not be saving you from being an auction piece this time." A sudden frown appeared upon her face as she remembered that particular part of their last meeting and she winced as she looked over her shoulder at Barbossa.

"One time you save me and you never let it go." Slowly, she walked back over to her desk and took a seat on the corner, retrieving her wine and taking a sip. "So…" Nicolette started and tried to retrace their conversation to where they had been before they had been led astray. "You say we let the boy go and hope for the best. And I will…reluctantly agree." Nicolette sighed and downed the rest of her wine, wincing as the aged liquid burned her throat on the way down.

"You still think he is planning to sell you to Beckett?" Oh she had been quick to indulge Hector into that lovely little nugget of information and he, as expected and much like Jack, had not reacted too prettily. As she recalled she had to talk him out of 'quartering the boy and branding him a bile eating scan hand'…

"Oh without a doubt." Nicolette scoffed and, as needed due to the mention of Beckett, refilled her mug and Hectors as he held it out to her. "More to save his own skin than Elizabeth's, and now that I hold the compass well…I've just halved the work for him haven't I?" She smiled sadly but Barbossa leant forward in his seat, his face turning sterner by the second.

"You can rest assured that I will not let Beckett lay a finger on ye." Barbossa whispered huskily after he was sure Nicolette was listening to him. "As for Jack." Her brow creased as Barbossa looked away but chuckled. "Well, Beckett should hope that we haven't got Jack back by the time he tries anything."

Nicolette smiled then, honestly, and she chuckled in the same manner as all of her thoughts turned to what Jack would do to the man and all the things he had threatened to do on that day, all those years ago.

"Let us just hope it doesn't come to him getting close." She was caught off guard by a call from Gibbs out on the deck, calling the men to all hands. They were getting closer to land and even closer to where the Siren was to drop them with nought but a longboat.

"Douse the lamps." Nic's eyes hardened as she stared towards the door. Barbossa had seen that expression before, she was preparing for battle, putting up the walls she needed to allow her to have a blank face in the midst of intimidation. "Prepare our crew and the longboats. We take nothing but ourselves."

"Aye Captain." Barbossa smiled, bowing his head this time, before leaving the cabin and leaving her alone to prepare.