1Hey guys, sorry for this very late chapter update! But it's here and .. I'm proud of it? Haha tell me if you like it. Alonefreehearted: Thank you for the review I'm glad you thought it was beautiful. Sparrowlover: well thanks for the review! If you've been following the story, you should have reviewed! Ahh! Well thanks though, review again! Dugadugabowbow: I know, it's terrible for them to be apart, but I had to add a little drama to the story, otherwise it just wouldn't be Jack Sparrow! LadyAlmathea...: wow your name is so lonnng! Haha well.. Thanks for the review, and I don't think Isabelle's dad is coming back in the picture.. Haha he's good and gone. Thanks for the review, don't forget to do it again! Emiliosloofah: glad to know you haven't forgotten about me! Well thanks for the review, and I can't wait to hear from you again. We had fun in Greece too! And I can't wait for a description of our journeys in New Zealand! Ta, darling, much love to you and Emilio, and from Johnny too of course.

Here's your chapter...

Leaving Jack alone was not an easy task for James Norrington. Especially after the way he had watched Jack shake Diana like a little rag doll he saw one of the littler girls carrying tucked under her arm. Especially after Jack threw his trembling fists at the strong door to Isabelle's chamber and hammered until his hands bled crimson. Especially when he laid his weak, dark mane in Elizabeth arms and closed his furious dark eyes, even though some of the fight was slowly leaving him now. James watched silently as Jack tossed and turned in his covers, how he flung his arm out to the side Isabelle was supposed to be on. James watched Jack's face contort with confusion when he felt nothing but air. No, James thought, he didn't want to leave the infamous Jack Sparrow alone this night.

"Come, James," Diana said with honey in her voice, and James was just so tired and his limbs were so heavy, that he didn't argue with her when she gently tugged on his arm to get him through Jack's white wood doorway and down the hall. Diana slipped her tiny hand through the crook of James' arm and James placed a loving hand over hers as they walked. "What is troubling you, James," she asked, looking straight ahead and not averting her eyes to James at all. James heaved a sigh full of anguish and looked to the ceiling.

"It feels as though someone has just walked over my gave," James said meekly, his soft British accent coming out quietly for a once naval officer. Diana nodded slowly and smiled up at him.

"It's late and the dark shadows are playing tricks on us. You will go to bed and feel better once you wake," she said soothingly, squeezing his arm gently. James sighed again and nodded allowing her to take her tiny hand away from him as she slipped into her chamber. "Goodnight, James," she said softly, smiling kindly and she brushed her lips across his cheek with simple affection.

"Goodnight your highness," he said sullenly and dragged his heels to his bed, hoping Jack would sleep through the night.

Yes, dear Jack would sleep through the night, but he wouldn't sleep well through the night. Terrible nightmares haunted him, but Jack knew they were more than just men and women his mind conjured, they were alive, living somewhere in the world. They were real people, ones he had met and loved and spoken to, all congregating at the same time in his tortured mind.

"Oh Captain, my Captain, our fearful trip is done." Jack opened his eyes and looked around at his pride and joy, the Black Pearl. Her sails blew neatly in the wind and her deck shined like the butt of his pistol. She was in her prime. "The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought and won." His crew was working, speaking to him at the same time. He thought a great battle must've been won for them to speak like this. He looked around. Not a scratch on his ship, so he stood and listened. "The port is near the bells I hear, people are exulting." Jack furrowed his brow. There was no port in sight. "While follow eyes, the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring," one of the crew members spoke while he swabbed the deck. "But oh heart! Heart, heart! Oh bleeding drops of red, where on the deck my Captain lies, fallen cold and dead."

Jack pushed his way through the crowd around the deck and when he reached the

center he stood still, a cold rush numbing his mouth and making his fingers tingle. He looked

down upon himself, lying just as his old crew member described. Cold and dead. "Oh Captain,

my Captain! Rise up and hear the bells!" another crew member screamed, making his way

through the crowd to see his fallen captain. "Rise up-for you the flag is flung, for you the

bugle trills." Jack looked around frantically and blinked his eyes hard, his sweat and his tears

mingling in one, soaking his eyelashes, turning them dark black and sticking them to his

cheeks. "For you the bouquets and ribboned wreaths, for you the shore's a-crowding."

Jack took his tired eyes off himself and looked behind him at the crowded shore line. He shook

his head and blinked hard, there was no shore line before, he was sure of it. He saw beautiful

flowers and people in bright colors he knew they didn't know what had happened. "For you

they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning." People waved, children raced each

other up and down the beach. And he remembered. If he died, he would never see his son, or

his dear Isabelle ever again. "Here Captain! Dear father, this arm beneath your head." Jack

watched as a man got down on his knees and took Jack's head in his lap carefully and with

loving hands. "No, no, it's some dream that on the deck I've... I've..."

"You've fallen cold and dead."As soon as the crew member said the word dead, every familiar face in the crew that he knew and loved, turned into their immortal duplicates. Jack panicked and watched as the man that had Jack's head in his lap rose to his feet and didn't mind the thud sound when his head hit the deck. He felt a sickening fear rise up his spine and tickle the bottom of his neck. He backed up and they advanced. "My Captain does not answer, he's fallen cold and still." Jack felt the horror boil in his stomach as his crew crawled toward him, still speaking as though they were normal. "My Captain does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will," they said with harsh coldness and Jack's eyes widened as they reached out for him, the real him. He backed up, watching his own dead body in the distance. His mind raced, his stomach turned, his limbs froze and he stood stock still as they made port. "The ship is anchored safe and sound, this voyage closed and done." Jack felt the jerk as the anchor was pushed off and landed somewhere at the bottom of the deep sea. He watched as the crowd gathered around the ship, unaware that his dead body lay just behind the immortal pirates. Isabelle was there. She was beautiful, her long black hair flowing down her back and a soft yellow dress enclosed around her body. He wanted to reach out, but she was pushed further and further into the crowd. "From fearful trip, the victor ship comes in with object won." He listened as the bells rang and the people cheered happily in his name. But he couldn't hear it, for he was lying cold and dead on the deck of the ship he called home. "Exult o shores and ring o bells." And they did, Jack heard them. And then Isabelle appeared over his dead body and suddenly Jack was trapped inside of it. Unable to stop her tears and unable to tell her he was okay. Her tanned hands trembled uncontrollably as they reached out and stroked his black mane. He could see the raised veins in her hands and he could smell her perfume, her hair tickled his chest and her dark eyes reflected the light from the sun. She bent down and kissed his forehead, even though the crew crept up behind her with trained stealth.

"But I, with mournful tread, walk the deck my Captain lies." Isabelle kneeled closer and took his head in her lap like the man did. He felt her warm hand on his head and he felt her stomach pressing against the top of his head. She cried over his body for what seemed like forever, and just as his immortal crew came so close behind her he swore he could smell death surrounding them like a disease, creeping up to take her at any moment. And she spoke, her soft Spanish accent dripping onto his cold face and sinking into every pore as though they begged for the words. "Fallen, cold and dead." His immortal crew ripped her away from him and he watched as her black hair shielded her face while they dragged her, screaming and crying away from him.

Jack ripped himself away from the pillows he had his head rested on and looked around, feeling his chest and breathing heavily. "God dammit!" he screamed like a child who didn't get his way, pounding his throbbing hands against the bed sheets.

He slept the day away after that. He slept for so long, Diana began to wonder if he was alive in his room, which he was. They waited for him during breakfast, and he never came. They looked for him when lunch rolled around, but he didn't show up. And when the dinner men called out that dinner was served to the palace, Jack was not in attendance then either. Jack wasn't anywhere to be seen that day because he was sulking in his room, alone and tired. He was tired of waiting for the baby, he was tired of being alone. He wanted to hold Isabelle in his arms again, he wanted to smell her hair, he wanted her out of that little room they had her shut into so tight she could barely chase away her nightmares. He buried his head deep in the pillow and heaved a heavy sigh. His life was on hold.

Elizabeth carried the cup of warm ale to his room that night with tired feet and drooping eyelids. She knocked on the door, but it was pointless because she was going to let herself in anyway. "Jack," she said soothingly, setting the cup down on the night stand and sitting on the side of the bed next to Jack's muscular back and tense arms. She knew that those same tanned, smooth arms were waiting to hold Isabelle and mourning the loss of their partner. "Please, you have to come out of here sometime," she said softly, not wanting to stir any foul emotions in him while he was so fragile. He huffed and rolled over so he was looking up at her. She looked tired and Jack felt bad that she walked all the way to his room just to comfort a man that didn't want to be comforted. But he would pretend so she would smile. "Jack, what's all this about staying in bed all day?" she asked as she situated herself on the bed.

"I'm tired," he said simply, taking a long swig of ale and pulling a face. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at that and he laughed gently. "No rum?" he asked and smiled when Elizabeth laughed.

"Diana says it's only a matter of days, maybe hours, until Isabelle has her baby." Jack rolled his eyes.

"I suppose I'll be on the other side of the door for that then too," he said nastily, thinking of how Diana could be so cold. All he wanted was to see his child, and to see his wife. There was no way this would go over well.

"Jack..." Elizabeth was cut off when Ana Maria came whizzing down the hallway and threw herself into Jack's room. Jack sat upright in bed and Elizabeth stood. "Ana?"

"Liz, Cap'n, It's Isabelle, she's in labor." Words could not describe how quickly Jack was out of his bed and to the door, Elizabeth waddled behind him like a faithful friend, but could not catch up with Ana and Jack, whom flew down the hallway in a mad dash for the chamber. Diana was there and Jack barreled into her, holding her tightly against his body and fuming.

"Diana, if ye don't let me go in there and see me wife, I'll kill every single one of these nice people in the palace, savvy?" he asked, his pirate accent returning full force and his threat full of hatred and desperation. She nodded and followed Jack into the room, along with William and James who happened to slip in afterward. One of the nurses stood up and raised her voice at the sight of the men, but Diana sat her down forcefully with a single hand on her shoulder, and told her to get back to what she was doing. The nurse complied and shot Jack a nasty look. Isabelle sat on the bed, soaked and red in the face. Her hair was matted to her head and her teeth were bared in pain. Jack flew to the side of her bed.

"Jack!" she screamed, and took his hand into hers right away, kissing it and smiling up at him with all the adoration in her eyes that was there on their wedding day. Jack smiled genuinely for the first time in two weeks and kissed her forehead. "What are you doing here?" she asked him, looking around. Although she didn't mind it, she knew the nurses would.

"I'm sorry, Isabelle, I couldn't stand outside the door and listen to you scream again," he said softly and she smiled, but her smile faded when another bout of pain racked her tiny body.

"Sweet...Jesus!" James shouted and Jack heard him as he stood with Isabelle. He looked up and saw the horror on James' face and William's. Childbirth was nothing new to him, he had seen it, helped it along, and delivered once. But he knew it was terrifying his good mates.

"Push a little harder, Miss, you're almost there," the nurse encouraged. Isabelle threw her head back and let out a scream as she pushed. The grip on Jack's hand tightened so hard, he thought she would break it. "One more, Miss!" Isabelle whimpered as she pushed again and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the tiny baby slide quickly out of her. Jack watched as the nurse took the baby into her arms and rocked it against her chest until she handed it over to another nurse. It was indeed a boy.

"Oh, darling, he's beautiful," Jack said through the knot in his throat. Women ran around in every direction. Some cleaned the baby, some wrapped it up, and other just ran to help Isabelle. Jack stayed by her side, holding her hand and speaking to her softly to calm her down. A little after the birth was over, one of the nurses handed Isabelle her pride and joy, and Jack watched as mother and son looked into each other's eyes for the first time. Isabelle felt the tears roll down her cheeks as she looked into the deep chocolate eyes of her son and as she kissed his soft rosy cheeks.

"William."

"William," Jack agreed willingly. After all, that was his chosen name.

Jack sat and basked in the beauty of his wife and his son. He watched as the little boys eyes lit up with wonderment at a new face Isabelle would make or a funny sound she would make. William would huff and puff when he got tired and Jack watched as Isabelle rocked him gently to sleep in her loving arms. He watched as the rest of his entire life flashed before him in his son's face. He saw moments that he looked forward to, and then there were moment that he dreaded more than anything else. Moments like, watching him get his first girl, watching him get hurt for the first time, watching him let something he wanted slip through his fingers. But there were so many lovely time to come as well. First step, first words, marriage, sword fighting, things like that. He laughed as he thought of his little son playing with the big boys. He knew he would now do anything for this little bundle of wonder as well, along with his other joy, Isabelle. They molded into one in his mind, and as they became one, he felt himself latch onto them and grow with them, in love, in parenthood and fatherhood, and in life.

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That was that! And I hope you liked it here's your quote!

-Contrary to what the cynics say, distance is not for the fearful, it is for the bold. It is for those who are willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It's for those who know a good thing when they see it, even if they don't see it nearly enough.

-Kate (Dessie)