There is an old wives tale that when you hear a ringing in your ears, it means that someone else is thinking about you. Sitting in his cabin with a lone candle flickering wildly on his desk, Jack Sparrow couldn't think over the ringing in his head. Although, that could have something to do with the amount of rum he had consumed, he would rather not think about that. In his wormy mind he would rather believe that his ringing ears had something to do with a certain governor's daughter and where her thoughts had wandered to.

No, he didn't love her. The rogue only loved himself, the sea, and, most of all, his ship. This wasn't love, it was just a mere attraction. She had lured him from the beginning. From the first moment he had pulled her from the water he had felt some sort of attraction to her. When he learned her name and who her father was, her hold on him intensified. When he discovered the name of her fiancée, well, she became irresistible. It wouldn't have mattered if she was the size of a whale, uglier than the she-male he had encountered in Bolivia, or reeked of week old sausage, the thought of having the Governor's daughter, who was engaged to a Commodore in Her Majesty's navy, fall in love with him was just too good to pass up. A challenge had presented itself.

Of course, Elizabeth's whole being-in-love-with-his-old-best-mate's-son thing was a bit of a problem, but he could get past that. The boy was rather irritating anyway. All he needed was a bit of time alone with her. Unfortunately, that time alone involved being marooned, too much rum, too little rum, and Navy arriving too early to really get anywhere in his plot. But Jack felt he had made an impression on the girl.

He knew just how much on an impression when she stepped next to Will and helped save his life. The Captain still felt a little bad about that whole experience. He had no intention of ever repaying the favor, (in fact, he intended to steal the girl right out from under Will's nose) and when he remembered the looks on their faces that morning, it seemed as though the two star-crossed lovers thought he would say the magic words and turn them into pirates. That was the last thing Jack wanted to do. The whelp had that whole 'hero' thing going on that Jack never understood. That William always wanted to hasten to the rescue, save everyone, win the girl, and make the world an all around better place. A pirate ship was worst place for a person like that. And Elizabeth, well, besides the fact that Gibbs would have a heart attack at the thought of another woman on board, having Elizabeth on board would certainly mean having Will on board, and well, we've just gone a circle now haven't we?

Then that whole cannibal thing came about. Will reappeared, unfortunately Elizabeth-less, and helped save Jack, yet again. Jack, of course, he repaid William for all of his good deeds by handing him over to Davy Jones. Well, that took care of the whole being-in-love-with-his-old-best-mate's-son thing. Elizabeth couldn't be with the whelp if the whelp was off on some God forsaken death ship somewhere now could she? It was only a matter of time before she would arrive and Jack could set more plans into motion.

That fateful night in Tortuga when her voice rang out on the dock, Jack could feel the tension in the air. It suddenly dawned on him why his compass hadn't been working. While he really wanted to save his life, ship, and crew, the want to seduce Elizabeth was equally strong. Again, it had nothing to do with love, unless you count loving his reputation. Adding a name like Elizabeth Swann to his list of conquests would place him in contention with the likes of Casanova and Don Juan.

So, he used her. He placed the compass in her hands and willed her to help him find the chest. He could get everything he wanted from this girl. It was only a matter of time.

It didn't take long for him to start making his move. The flirting, that started so subtle, had become more frequent and more obvious. It surprised him when she began to flirt back. The two of them, standing on the deck of his ship, exchanging glances, smirks, winks, and tempting words, it was amazing rumors weren't buzzing around the ship about them sleeping together. Of course, Jack knew he was getting somewhere when he started getting dirtier than normal looks from Norrington. Then, the unthinkable happened.

She had come onto him. She had made the first move. Jack loved that. Her face so close to his he could feel her breathe on his lips as she spoke. They had come so close to kissing today that just thinking about it that evening made the Captain's breath catch in his throat. His hand brushing aside her hair, his lips going in for the kill and...

The black spot reappeared. He could have murdered someone. He didn't even register the words she said to him as he quickly withdrew from her arms and tried to find a new plan.

Sitting in his cabin, in the flickering candle light, Jack Sparrow looked down at the ugly spot on his hand and let out a sigh. Had it not been for that stupid spot on his hand, he would have been that much closer to finally accomplishing his goal. He was so close to kissing her.

He wanted to kiss her.

It wasn't love, he reminded himself. It's just he uncontrollable urge to have something forbidden. He wasn't allowed to have her, and by God that gave him reason to want her, that girl with her beautiful eyes, soft hands, and wicked personality.

Alright, so maybe there was a little bit of love involved. Imagine the smallest grain of rice you've ever seen and that is how much love was involved. Falling in love with her isn't the worst thing that could happen. A little love's never killed anyone.

Right?