Sometimes, even Jack Sparrow had to question just how inauspicious his meetings with Elizabeth Swann were starting to get.

He could cope with the rescuing from the water. He could cope with the pirate sacrifice. But dangling off a cliff? Bloody hell, even she should have realized not to stab someone when she was being held over a very long drop.

Jack hauled her up the side of the cliff, nearly hugging her as he peered over the side. "I know we discussed this scenario at length, but I never expected you to put it to use."

She grabbed his arm. "Will!"

"No, I'm Jack."

"No! Help Will!" She pointed toward the path that led down the cliff. "Gerrarrd has him!"

He only wavered an instant. Save the whelp or collect payment on the girl? He yanked off his jacket and hat, shoving them at Elizabeth. "Keep these."

And off he went, cursing himself for being a decent (if someone dishonest) man.

Will squawked when they dumped him into the longboat. Gerrarrd immediately struck the man who had dropped him. "The lad's wounded, iffin' ye please, mind how ye handle him."

"Elizabeth, not Elizabeth--"

Gerrarrd smiled. "Oh, she'll be joinin' ye, laddie, no worries there. Luercke will put a bit o'a scare into her, and all will be well! Ah, Iagan! Ye gonna live, mate?"

The man Elizabeth had so viciously stabbed had blood trailing down his neck and shoulders, but he smiled nastily in response to Gerrarrd's query. "Nothin' some rum won't cure."

He felt the boat lifting in the water, and the motion made his head spin. Too much. Too much. He had to get off this boat. To Elizabeth. To Jack. Yes, Jack. He would wring his neck. Stupid pirate.

Gerrarrd looked at something over his shoulder and grinned, picking up his pistol. "Sorry to do this to ye, laddie." With that, he cracked Will once on the head with it - and sent him spiraling off into darkness.

When Jack saw the boat passing by overhead, he propelled himself off the bottom, latched onto the side, and nearly flew into Ephraim Gerrarrd's lap.

It was only then that he decided this may not have been one of his better ideas.

Gerrarrd twitched his nose. "I'm guessin' ye don't want us to be leavin' ye?"

"Actually, I was hoping to take the boy and run..." Jack spotted Will lying at the bottom, sleeping like a baby. "He picked a hell of a time to doze off."

"He had a bit of assistance." Gerrarrd looked beyond him, back toward the island. "I take it my other man has been dealt with. The girl?"

Jack blinked at him innocently.

"Well, a damned shame, then. We'll have to make do without her."

"I see. Well, I'll just be taking the lad and--"

"Captain Sparrow..." Gerrarrd began, "...you are in a boat with me, five of my men, and my prisoner. Now, you can try to kill me if you like, but you know how this is going to end up, don't you? I'll give you a choice, out of respect to an old friend. You can hop off the boat and pretend we beat ye with oars, or we can do the actual beatin'. Tis up to you."

The good captain had slipped back into proper English tones again, and by the looks of it, his crewmen were noticing. Jack debated this. The odds were against him, of course - but when weren't they? Gerrarrd wouldn't be buying into his tricks, either. He knew him well enough for that. Damn. "I suppose I'll be stepping out, then."

"I thought you'd say that." Gerrarrd beckoned. "Come on, boy, over you go."

"One thing." Jack patted Will's foot when it moved. "You see Captain Noble lately?"

He dove at Gerrarrd, reaching for the pistol in the man's lap. The captain yelped as his head cracked against the boat's bulwark, and Jack grinned as he pressed the gun against Gerrarrd's temple. "Oh, he's dead, isn't he? Silly me. Well, give him my regards and--"

He heard the oar in the split second before it connected with hs head. "Oh, wh--"

Elizabeth picked her way down from the cliff just in time to see them fling a body overboard.

Hmm, this doesn't taste very good... shouldn't fall asleep in rum, it's a terrible waste...

Jack opened his eyes and immediately shut them against the sting of salt. His head throbbed, and something in his chest and nose burned. Burned? Was he on fire? He took a tentative breath....

...and nearly convulsed as more water flowed into his straining lungs. He snapped out of the fog and struck for the surface, wriggling and squirming. Air. Need air. Need air more than rum. Swim Jack, swim dammit! His fingers brushed against air. Surface! Need air! His hand broke through. Then his arm. Then his head. He sucked at the air, stopping his swimming altogether and nearly sinking again before he remembered to keep moving. Swim. Yes, swim. The tides. No, the beach! The beach! Get to the beach!

The girl's probably going to kill me...

The beach stretched out, vast and endless before her. She ran to the shore as the remains of her shoes fell apart on the rough sand, running toward the figure staggering out of the water.

The lone figure.

Jack collapsed as soon as he judged he'd reached sand, alternately panting and spitting up water. Bloody hell, mate, you almost ran out of luck that time. He was a strong swimmer, but the currents of Will's Bloody Island had blasted minds of their own. And Gerrarrd... Gerrarrd...

Ephraim Gerrarrd had Turner's boy.

Bootstrap, I'm sorry.

"Jack! Jack!" A woman's voice, high and shrieking. Hysterical. Jack dragged his head off the sand long enough to stare up at her as she dropped to the ground beside him, grabbing his shoulder. "Oh, Jack, my God, I thought I'd lost you. Jack, Jack, are you all right, are you all right..."

Considering she was almost-instinctively gathering him in her arms, he thought himself to be quite all right in spite of the entire disturbing situation. Patting her hand weakly, he managed a smile. "I'll live, distressing as that must be to you..." He winced when she brushed against the lump on his head. "Watch me head, darling, he cracked me with the--"

"Where's Will?"

He pointed to the bay. Her gaze followed, and she dropped him back into the sand with a mild thud. "Ow..."

Wickedry gathered headway in the ocean breeze, pulling out of the bay... pulling away from them. He propped himself up onto his elbows and hitched as his lungs brought out even more seawater. Elizabeth walked slowly toward the water, her tangled hair whipping around her face. She stared at the ship, stared at it until Jack weakly got to his knees. "Gerrarrd caught him. He's alive... I think... I think I saw..."

She turned back to him, the horror clear on her face. "They have him... they have... my Will?"

Flip remark, flip remark, where is my flip remark... Where were his old defenses? The whole almost-dying thing must have shaken him more than he thought. "Gerrarrd has him. My effects. Where are they?"

She pointed carelessly to a pile of clothing and weaponry before launching into the spiel he knew was coming. "We must go after them!"

Jack looked up and down the beach, then at himself, then at her. "And how are we to go about doing that?"

"With--with-- we can swim!"

All right, it was the hysterics talking. Jack fell back onto the sand. "Feel free, m'lady, to swim after that boat with all your might. I'm in no shape for it."

By her silence, he thought she might well go and do that - until she clomped up next to him. "But the-- I need your help--"

"God's blood, woman, he nearly drowned me out there."

"I'm sorry Jack." The hysterical tone died a bit. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, so sorry, please Jack, please..." Well, maybe not. Her hands were on his forehead, his hands, his chest. It might have all been very pleasant if she hadn't been distraught. "I thought... oh, we can't be trapped again..."

"At least this one's got plenty of hunting to go around..."

"Why did they go?" Elizabeth sounded much calmer now; if her bout of hysteria had passed, all the better. "Why... I thought he wanted all of us."

"He has his plans."

"Like you had your plans?"

Jack sat up and stared at her. "When one plan falls through, another must be set into place. Ephraim Gerrarrd thinks nearly as fast as I do, and thus his opportune moments are almost as regular. He doesn't need you for ransom money, Miss Swann; so long as your father doesn't know where you are, he has no choice but to believe our darling Ephraim still has you. And the money goes rolling out..." He made a gesture with his hand. "...out, and out, and Ephraim gets very rich."

Her eyes were sad enough to break hearts. Jack shrugged off the notion. Often, the truth hurt.

When she didn't even bother denying it, he knew he was in for a long night. When Elizabeth Swann stopped fighting, that meant two things: one, she was dead, or two - she'd been pushed beyond caring, beyond reason. The first one would be unfortunate. The second one was just bad. "But you're Captain Jack Sparrow. He wouldn't leave without his prize quarry."

He could only manage a fleeting smile.

"You mean... he didn't..."

He reached out, cupping her face in his hand as gently as he could. "Elizabeth, love... he did not expect me, but he made arrangements to keep me. He could just as soon get on without me."

No. Her mouth formed the words, but her voice did not come until a moment later. "But... Gibbs and the Pearl... they'll come for us, won't they?"

"Of course they will! Give them a bit of time, we'll make a signal fire, and all will be right with the world. Keep a weather eye out, right, Miss Swann?"

Her eyes began watering, and Jack looked around for somewhere to hide. Damn you, woman, you are NOT going to start crying on me! "But... but they're looking for Wickedry... how will they know..."

"Pearl knows her captain," he assured her. "She will find us, Elizabeth. We may have to survive for a time here, but she will find us." Assuming Anamaria doesn't sink her. I'm not even going to contemplate that.

"And William? What of William Turner, Jack? What of your friend's son?"

Damn, Will must have told her the entire story. That would make it all the more difficult... he settled for looking at her silently, letting her draw her own conclusion from his stare. Her eyes came dangerously close to running over, but she pushed the tears away, nodding harshly. She crawled closer to him, made herself very comfortable in his unwitting arms. "Hold me?"

Hadn't she said he smelled bad? Well, that was Elizabeth Swann's own bloody fault. She certainly didn't seem to mind it now, huddling against him. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her forehead. "Aye, I'll do that, love." Poor girl was stuck in Gerrrard's clothing, after all. "I'll do that."

Meanwhile, on the Dauntless...

"...still no sign of..." Macey paused as Corwin held up his hand. He waited until Governor Swann had passed by to continue. "...Captain Sparrow or Miss Swann. If I may speak with you below, sir?"

Corwin followed him to the gun deck, eyebrows raised. Macey checked to be certain that none had followed him when he at last spoke again. "I do wish you'd come ashore, sir, because we ran into the most interesting man. Said he was of the Black Pearl and called himself Gibbs."

"...and what did Gibbs say?"

"He said to meet him in a tavern." Macey cleared his throat nervously. "I apologize, sir, but I felt it might be prudent to acquiesce to his wishes."

***

Thus, Corwin Norrington found himself hunched over a tankard of foul-tasting rum in a seedy-looking tavern on some blasted island in the middle of nowhere.

Splendid.

"'Allo, Commodore."

Anything to tear his eyes away from the rum. Corwin studied Gibbs for a few moments, trying to remember where he'd seen the man. The feeling of vague familiarity had tracked him since Relentless had left the Black Pearl... and now... "We've met before, haven't we?"

"'Tis bad luck to forget a face. Mark my words."

Corwin realized he remembered the man quite well. "Joshamee Gibbs... hell on water, why did you turn pirate?"

Gibbs waved a hand and sat beside him. "'Tis not a concern for ye right now, Commodore. Right now I come bearing most grievous news."

Oh, lovely. Simply lovely. "I... can't wait to hear it."

Gibbs regarded him gravely. "We've lost Captain Sparrow."

"You WHAT?!" Corwin doubled over coughing to shield his outrage from prying eyes, and only after certain patrons had turned away did he stare at Gibbs fully. "You lost your CAPTAIN? How the devil do you manage - oh, pardon me, it's Jack Sparrow. Of course. Black Pearl." He abruptly drained the tankard of rum, mostly because it seemed to be the right thing to do at that point.

"Now, Commodore... 'e got caught trying to find your lovey-dovey, Miss Swann. She escaped Wickedry."

"She escaped? Elizabeth's safe?"

"She was, for a time. Jack took 'er to stay with a friend o'his till he could muster up a way to spring the boy. Before he could do that, it's been told Gerrarrd got 'em both... 'twas a double cross. Bad luck."

Corwin took a moment to digest all of this. "And he has them still?"

"So far as we know. Pearl tracked 'em as far as we could before that storm blew up. Where they be now is anyone's guess... but we'll hunt them down, Commodore, mark my words."

"Consider them marked." Hadn't he said that before? Eight years ago, wasn't it? Wonderful. Now he was repeating himself. He pushed the tankard away and balled his hand into a fist. "Gibbs, listen to me very carefully. I have been doing some... investigation... of my own, and I have learned that Captain Gerrarrd sails from the Western Isles. Does that mean anything to you?"

"...no, sir..."

"All right. I am taking Dauntless to Rudder Bay in order to investi--"

"Rudder Bay?" Gibbs paled. "Commodore... the Captain and the Miss... Gerrarrd got 'em in Rudder Bay."

Corwin had to remind himself to close his mouth. "You knew about Rudder Bay?"

"Well, Jack did, and--"

He didn't hear the rest of the explanation. He could hear only his own thoughts, the screaming voice in the back of his head... All for nothing. It was in vain. Pintel and Ragetti had not given him false information; they'd given him old information. He folded his hands tightly together, forced himself to think clearly. "Thank you for telling me this, Gibbs. It seems the Dauntless will have to ponder her next course..."

"Aye sir." The pirate regarded him. "We'll be tellin' ye sir, if we be finding anythin'."

"Will you, now?"

"Aye sir. Soledad has a way of finding what needs to be found. Me compliments, sir, and thank ye for meeting me here."

Gibbs slipped away to wherever the Pearl was docked, and Corwin was left to mull over his thoughts.

So, Back on Will's Bloody Isle...

At least now they could eat without having to worry about someone seeing a fire. Jack stretched out in front of it, his coat tucked snugly around him. The girl hadn't said a word since curling up with him earlier, but at least she hadn't done anything crazy, like... keening. She spent most of her time alternately staring at the fire and staring out at the ocean. The coconuts he had gathered and dropped next to her had gone unnoticed.

"That's the second time pirates have sailed away with him," she said.

Uh-oh. Reflection time. "On the bright side, they won't be sacrificing him."

"This is my punishment, isn't it."

He would have scratched his head if he felt like moving. "For what?" The cold look she sent him would have made most fellows cringe. "Oh... that. No, probably not. Your life is simply destined to revolve around me." Oh, bad move mate, now she's going to slap you. "I mean... my sort. Pirates!"

"Why did you come back?"

At least she hadn't slapped him.

"Reach into my jacket pocket... no, not that one... oh, my, how did that get in there? Other one... yes, that's it." Waterlogged but readable. Elizabeth carefully unfolded it, sitting next to him. Jack tensed, ready to move away from a fast-moving hand if he had to. "Please don't... set it on fire."

She replaced it, much to his relief. "So you're a privateer?"

"No. Not quite. That little thing... does not take effect until after you are safe in father's loving arms."

When she spoke again, her voice had gone cold. "So that's why you came back for me."

"Yes... well, that's not entirely true... the money bit?"

"It isn't?" She gazed at him, dark eyes softening. She handed him a coconut. Kind girl, if a bit disturbing.

"Your father's granted me a full pardon for bringing you back. I would've gotten some compensation, too, but Will was more of an add-on, y'see, he wanted a two-for-one and--"

She slapped him.

He blinked. "I don't think I deserved that. If you think I'd do this for free--"

She slapped him.

"Well, it's the truth."

She slapped him, and left him sitting on his bum in front of the fire. He picked up the coconut, addressing it directly. "I may have deserved that."

And Elsewhere, Sometime Later...

The bounty was a simple thing, really. The good Governor had taken a bit of convincing, but had eventually agreed to put forth the money required to undertake such an endeavor. It was a lovely sum... one that would make any man save a king wealthy beyond his dreams. It was a simple bounty, requiring the return of two individuals.

The only stipulation involved the two individuals being alive and relatively unharmed.

It was marked under the name of a Lord Chatterley. Few knew of him; fewer cared. All that was for certain was that he had some form of grudge against the notorious pirate Jack Sparrow and some lady-friend tagging along with him, and he'd pay handsomely to get them there in one piece.

Money is money.

The hunters of the Caribbean began their search.

(My apologies if it's a bit disjointed. Part of it is intentional. As for the rest - much to cover in this chapter, much to set into place. Another one arriving soon.

Readers of George R.R. Martin's spectacular 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series might recognize Elizabeth's reaction...

Oh... for those concerned about dear William, please don't be. We'll get back to him quite soon.

Anyone got a better title for this chapter? I was stumped. Winner receives full credit for it. Ta!)