A/N: Here's the next one. It's a little shorter than I was going for originally but decided I should do what I was going to do in a separate chapter. Hope this one is enjoyable. Next chapter posted tomorrow night. I promise. I'll post it right after I read Sorceror's Stone for my class.

thomthom

At World's End: Chapter 26

The next morning, or rather afternoon, Elizabeth and Will joined the rest of the crew on deck. Even though the whole ship was full of seasoned pirates, they could hear a distinct sniggering coming from all directions, but saw no one. Both Elizabeth and Will looked disoriented and disheveled in the early afternoon light. Elizabeth blinked into the sun as she went to Dani for answers.

"Do you know how we got back on the ship?"

"We brought you back," Dani answered her, never turning around. She was busy stitching up one of the sails. It had suffered significant damage in a windstorm earlier that week and no one had gotten around to fixing it.

"Where were we?"

"Tortuga."

"I know that. I mean, what happened?

"You drank too much rum and drunkenly stumbled into the wrong pub," Dani explained. "We found you and Will passed out upstairs in one of the boarding rooms."

Elizabeth looked mortified. Her faced first went white as a sheet, and then turned pink from embarrassment. "Did we…?"

"Didn't appear that way, unless someone came in and dressed you both. Which is entirely possible, but most assuredly, Jack and I did not do it ourselves."

"No more rum for me."

"That's what you say now," Dani laughed as she inspected her work. "You're going to need rum when and if we run into Davy Jones."

At the same time, Will had wandered up to Jack, who was standing with his compass at the wheel.

"Jack, I do not remember last night at all."

"Well, what happens there, stays there. It's probably for the best, mate."

"What happened?"

"You can't hold your rum, that's all," Jack told him and poked him in the chest. "You got too drunk and got Lizzie in a private room at the boarding house."

"What!" Will shouted causing the entire crew to turn around and look at him. "I mean, what?"

"But you, mate, being the gentleman that I am most certainly not, passed out fully clothed next to your bonny lass on the bed."

Will looked relieved. He wanted to remember such experiences with Elizabeth. He didn't think that if they had waited all that time, the first should be in a dirty pub boarding house. But he didn't want to tell Jack any of this. He didn't want Jack to know that they were waiting. He knew full well that Jack and Dani were together. So, instead of waiting to hear what Jack was going to say next, as Jack had started to open his mouth, Will waved a quick good-bye and walked quickly down the stairs.

Later that evening, Dani sat across the table from Jack, watching him go over his maps.

"What are you doing?" Dani asked as he took tiny steps across the map with his fingers.

"I'm trying to figure out where we will meet that bloody Jones."

"Don't you suppose that if you brought it out in the open, he would hear it beating?"

"I don't know," Jack said as he stopped his calculating and looked up at her. "But we could try it."

"Well, maybe we should wait until morning. When everyone'll be prepared."

He had been taking a swig of his rum, but spit it out all over her at the mention of preparedness. "My crew? Prepared? Surely you are joking, Ms. Reese."

"It was just a suggestion, you don't have to be such a bloody bastard about it," she said, drawing her sword for a tiny duel. She and Jack used to practice together all the time.

"You don't want to fight me, woman," Jack told her, looking stern.

"I wouldn't have drawn my sword if I didn't want to, Jack Sparrow."

"It's 'Captain' to you," he smiled. He stood up and drew his sword as well.

They started to clash swords back and forth in the small cabin, knocking over everything in the process. Dani's jewelry box was overturned and Jack's rum spilled all over the floor.

"No fair, you're playing dirty, spilling my rum…" Jack muttered.

"Pirate," she fired back at him.

Dani opened the door and backed out of it. She was enjoying this mock battle. She moved backwards up the short flight of stairs and Jack followed, almost slashing the sleeve off of her shirt when she tripped on the rise of the top step.

It was just dusk as they chased each other around the ship. The crew didn't know what was going on and Elizabeth panicked.

"They've turned on each other. See what the pirating lifestyle does to a relationship."

"I think we already knew that," Will joked, alluding to what had come between them.

"We need to stop this," Elizabeth said as she stood. "C'mon, Will." She pulled him by the sleeve.

"Stay back, girl," she was ordered by Dani. She didn't like being ordered around immediately.

"Banging away at each other will solve no problems. It causes more."

"And you will be wise to back off before your pretty little dress gets cut to shreds."

"Why are you fighting?" Elizabeth shouted. She always had to know everything.

"We are not fighting," Jack answered. "We are simply practicing, if you must know."

"There's a ship on the horizon!" Marty called down to the crew.

They all immediately stopped what they were doing and looked out. Just barely, was the outline of a ship on the horizon, maybe 5 miles away.

"Jack, is that…" Dani began to ask. The ship was gaining on them. It was getting bigger by the second.

Jack had his compass out and was staring attentively at it. The four of them gathered around it and watched. It pointed straight out towards the ship that was advancing through the water rather quickly.

"It's him," Jack informed the entire crew.

"What would you like us to do, Captain?" Gibbs asked, approaching the small group.

Jack turned around to face his oldest friend, "we wait."