Little Miss Sparrow: Why thank ye for clicking! And no, you really don't want to know where I got that from. -smirk- Anywho, thankee for clicking!

marauder4ever: Yeah, I don't think anyone ('cept Jess) was expecting it. XD

Authoressinhiding: Sounds like you had fun! What band was it? Why am I asking, since I don't really listen to anything but soundtracks anyway? Anywho, thank you for being such a wonderful reviewer. Moo.

Jess Is a Pirate: Killing you? I know I'm violent, but I'm not that bad... anywho, it's in this chapter. Love me for this, cuz I can't believe I even let myself post it. Geeze. The things I do for you...

obbits14: I got one I got one! Yay, a new reviewer! WEEHOO! -runs around in circles (which is a lot of fun)- Glad to see ye finally decided to step out of the shadows. Much obliged for the review. Keep 'em comin'!

Hmm...murmur backwards...rumrum X3...embargo...ograbme o.0;;

Disclaimer: Hail the mouse.

Chapter Nine: Wait...What?

He stood immediately upon hearing her voice. He blinked a moment, looking quite confused, opening his mouth to say something, then closing it again, brow furrowing. Only a moment later, he had regained his composure. "Did you have an appointment?" he asked, suddenly looking nervous—well actually, looking proper and not with a bit of discomposure, but Ames had a way of seeing things like that—"Madam?" he added hastily, seeing past the deceiving clothing.

"Nah, mate. None at all, so don't go getting your britches all in a bunch now, savvy?"

He blinked again, a ghost of a smile appearing for the most fleeting of moments, and there was a masked but still existent look of amusement deep within the depths of his eyes at hearing her mock both him and his nemesis Jack Sparrow in the same action. "Can I help you with something, Miss?"

"I should hope so, else I'll be stranded here a good while, won't I?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No. Didn't think you would," she shook her head. "That's 'cuz I haven't told you yet. Savvy?"

He nodded, and for the second time that day, she explained everything about the movie, how she got here, and some things that were happening. Of course, that Jack was a horse had escaped her memory once again, but hey, she's only a teen. What did you expect? "Yes, Mademoiselle, I think I've heard enough. Please, stay here while I um, go fetch an escort for you to the Trinity Asylum."

Ames groaned. "Geeze, why does everyone keep doing that?" Her eyes narrowed with distrust, glaring at him.

Norrington only straightened and moved a step in the direction of the door. "No need to panic, milady. I am merely trying to help you."

"Help me? Helping me would be answering a few of my questions and perhaps help me find a way to return to my own dimension. That would be helping me." He still looked at her like she was crazy. Taking a chance and hoping she wasn't ruining things for Jack in the future, she added softly, "I know about your mother."

James blinked, silent a moment. "What?"

"I know she came from a world like mine, and that she was killed for no crime she committed."

The navy man's eyes darkened. "She was burned for allegedly practicing witchcraft. That she was a witch even I don't know for sure."

"Come on, she came from another world, didn't she? And if she did, why is it so impossible that I did, too?" There were hurried footsteps just outside the door, and a moment later Jack burst in, closing the door hastily and leaning against it to catch his breath. "Hey."

—Is for horses. How're things going with the stiff?

"Erm, we're still working on that one, Cap'n."

James looked from one to the other. "All right, I'll take a chance and guess Sparrow is in on this, too?"

"Captain. Captain Sparrow, to you, Norrikens." James blinked, brows coming together again. Norrikens? What in the heck? Jack nickered quiet greetings, before whinnying in low tones to her. "No, I haven't asked yet. He's like Will—wants to send me off to some mental hospital. Same one if my memory serves me correctly."

"And by now I know I was, in doing so, doing the right thing. If Sparrow believes you, well..."

"Oh you little—!"

Jack silenced them both with a neigh. Stop with this foolishness, the both of you. Even if you can't understand my saying it.

James heard the sound, caught off guard. "What, Sparrow? Coming down with something are we?"

"Um, actually no. It's just that he's a horse is all." Norrington's eyes narrowed, flicking from one to the other. "Ugh, fine. He needs proof."

Again? Bloody—! Ah well, at least he sees truth in fiction a bit more easily than young Mr. Turner. He was in denial. The Commodore here knows the truth when he sees it.

"Still, let's give him a show."

Jack sighed. You're starting to like this a bit too much, luv. Fine, fine, we'll show him exactly what we mean. God forbid if he even takes a step toward that bayonet... They both stepped closer to each other. You know, I think I might cave the floor in if we do this.

"Then we'll make it quick before that can happen. Now focus," she hissed. The wind came again, through the open window and scattering Norrington's orderly piles of paper. And there was Jack, a horse. Yet again. For the third time today. And human as soon as James nodded to confirm his belief. "So...in exchange for that little tidbit of information, all holds fair you return the favor. Eh? What say you to that?" Oh how she loved mocking Jack. So much fun.

"Well then, I'll admit it, yes, my mother had claimed to come from another realm, and had found this world a bit more accommodating," he murmured quitely, only hoping Jack couldn't hear so well as a horse while human.

Ames brightened. "So you'll help then?"

Norrington gave her a contemplating look, seeming as if he were about to answer yes. Instead... "No." And he turned, scooping up his coat from where it had fallen to the floor in Jack's transforming wind, putting it on, then crossing the room to replace a fallen map to its rightful position on the wall.

At his decision, she looked a bit crestfallen. But moments later, her face creased into a sly grin, an idea coming to her that she would never have done before she came here. Hey, being around Jack does that sort of thing to you. "Ja-ames," she cooed to his turned back in an almost sing-song voice. He rolled his eyes, still refusing to turn around. There was a slight clunking noise just behind him, but he disregarded it as anything important. He tensed when he felt her arms drape around his shoulders. "Oo, Jamesie, yer such a gentleman," she whispered softly in his ear, gently sticking a hand down his collar and tracing a finger along his collarbone. "Now, please," she layed a few butterfly kisses to his neck, "be a dear and help us out a bit, eh?" She could feel him blushing, and had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. She chanced a glance over one shoulder at Jack, whose lips were pursed tightly in a futile attempt to hide laughter. He was clearly enjoying the show. As was she. Who wouldn't want to see the high and mighty Commodore squirm?

"Miss, please..." he couldn't finish, the pressure she was threatening to release on his earlobe forming a lump in his throat and silencing his voice. He swallowed heavily.

"Oh, James, what ever could be the matter?" she mocked his voice femininely. "Not having any fun?" He still couldn't speak, just shook his head. "Well I can always stop, you know." She felt him begin to relax in her embrace. "At a price," she whispered dangerously, and his shoulders tensed again. "I'll stop, Jamesie," she cooed, "if, and only if you promise to help us out...Savvy?" He nodded once more, and she immediately removed her hand from its place inside his shirt. "Oh, good!" she said in a strangely cheery voice. "No worries, then." She hopped off the chair she had set behind him and walked over to Jack, stopping before him, arms crossed, wearing a humorous frown. "The things I do for you," she said with narrowed eyes and a shake of her head. Jack could barely suppress his laughter, and a bit of a nicker was all he was able to manage in comment. She nodded agreement. "Yeah, best entertainment I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Very funny. Much fun. Never doing it again!"

Now it was Jack's turn for a humorous frown. Even funnier than that McCarthy chap during the...what was it you said, food fight?

"Yeah, surprisingly! I mean, principal McCarthy? All we saw of him was this old guy yelling at us and red in the face, calling us embarrassments over a food fight. Yes, I think we were embarrassments." Jack met her gaze seriously, about to contradict when she cut him off with a chuckle: "Cause that was prolly the weakest food fight in history!"

Jack grinned. Yer incorrigible, luv.

"Yup. Almost as much as you!"

All through this, Norrington had not once yet turned around, and now was looking out through the window, arms folded neatly behind him, still refusing to face them. "Might I ask why you have chosen me of all the claimed psychics out there? Why not some fortune teller in Tortuga? Or some gypsy in South America?"

"Because you're the only one who knows any of this for sure. And you're the only one at least I can trust, even if Jack is a bit skinky about it." Yeah, 'skinky' was one of her self-manufactured words, but the meaning was identifiable, at least.

"Why is it, may I be so bold as to ask, that you have the notion that this is any of my concern?"

"It is your concern, sir. Your mother was innocent. We all know that much. What would you do to have been able to help someone like your mother? What would you have done to even be able to meet someone like your mother?"

He finally turned around to face her. "A long time ago, I would've given a lot." There was a silence, and his eyes grew distant for a most fleeting of moments. "Tell me, in your world, can you light an entire room without flames or the like with just a touch to the wall?"

It took the ignorant teen a few moments to understand what he meant, but then it dawned on her like a pigeon working on its target practice. "Oooh. Yeah, something like that. We flip a switch on the wall and that sends energy through the wires to the filaments in the light and something—heck, even I don't know that much—happens and it lights up with the electricity and I'm making absolutely no sense to you whatsoever anyway, am I?"

Jack was gaping at her, and James could only shake his head a little bewilderedly. "No." Then he realized she had basically answered 'yes' to his question, and ventured further. He had a hunch... "What's your name, miss?"

Her dark, brown eyes flickered to Jack's face for a moment. "Uh...Amy."

She let out a cry of alarm as he lunged forward, grasping her tightly by the shoulders, face only inches from hers. "What is your surname?" he demanded. She only blinked at him, untrusting, eyes still wide with surprise. He gave her shoulders a shake. "Tell me."

"Okay, okay! Geeze, keep your britches on already!" Norrinton blinked and released her immediately. "...Okay. Xyphir. My name—is Amy Xyphir."

The commodore shook his head in what looked to be disbelief. "And you're yet unmarried?" She nodded. "Are you honest, young lady, or is this all some hoax?"

"I'm telling you the freaking truth, damn you!" ...Yeah, she easily lost patience in these situations...

James' shoulders sagged slightly, like the truth of something was hitting him full force. "So you must be the original, then."

Ames smirked. "Theee one and only." Then she frowned, realizing his words had more meaning than what she'd taken. "Wait...what?"

"My mother...I recall her saying that I would meet her original one day. She said she was made from another person...like a copy. She used some word foreign to me to describe it, but I can't seem to remember what it was. C-something..."

There was a short, uneasy silence. "Clone?" the girl ventured.

James' head snapped up, and he looked her in the eye. "Yes. That."

Her brow creased. "I'm gonna get CLONED?" And she loosed a long stream of curses and swears which shan't be listed here that one can only acquire from being around pirates, scallywags, devils, black sheep...really bad eggs...drink up, me 'earties, yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's—oops! Yeah, umm, back to the plot-thing... "Who would wanna clone me anyway?" she was fuming. "And how? I mean, what—is someone stalking me? They'd have to, to get my DNA and stuff."

"She said something about being a hyper-clone. I'm not sure—the term makes no sense that I can decipher. An energetic copy? No, she was a very calm woman."

"No, no. Hyper-clone means a clone made at hyper speed. Like an instant copy. Didn't know technology was getting that far... How old was she when she came here?"

"I don't know, Miss Xyphir. I was only a child then—it was all so long ago."

"Fine, fine," she grumbled.

Jack finally pulled out of his confused silence. Whoa, luv, back to the matters at hand, eh? I swear, you deviate from the main path like roots of a tree.

She blinked, staring at him a moment. Strangely enough, his analogy had made sense to her. Oh noz, she thought. Now he's starting to sound intelligible. I've definitely been here too long... "Oh...right. So, Jamesie, what all do you know about how yer mum got here?"

"Nothing besides some measure of desire... But I have a few of her belongings with me—she gave them to me long ago, years before she was captured. One of them was her diary, but, for the sake of respect, I've not laid eyes on its contents."

"Even so, before we can do anything, we need to get Jack back to normal."

Glad to know I'm still on your to-do list, darling, Jack whickered.

James looked unsure. "Come on, buddy, we can do both simultaneously. Besides, it's my fault Jack is like this in the first place. I won't leave until he's cured, if there even is a cure, and—well, I take it you're a man of your word and I trust that you are—so naturally, you'll stay along for the ride and look through anything of your mother's that might lead to something." He was looking distant again, probably reliving some old memory Ames' presence had unearthed. "You will still help us, won't you?" He gazed at her, confusion and uncertainty creasing his (fine) features. He could see his mother in her easily. Too easily. To know that this was the girl his mother had even come from... "Of course, I would understand if you wouldn't want to. I'm sure my coming here has caused you a lot of pain, and you know, of course, that my not returning would result in your mother never existing. I would understand if you didn't want to send me back—she wouldn't have to go through any of it. Even if it meant you would never have been born..."

Do you know how many lives that would change? asked a voice in her head. So many people would not be alive today. Too much is at stake: the esteemed Commodore Norrington is too important a man to not exist. Ames blinked. That certainly wasn't her normal mental voice...sounded a bit, in fact, like Jack... She felt a tug at her mind as the voice spoke again. As much as I hate to admit it, his presence is key for me, too. If it weren't for him, I would've hanged all those years ago, now, wouldn't I have?...And no one day's head start.

Yes, she thought back to the voice. I don't know why, but it just felt like that was what needed to be said. Jack shifted suddenly, and she looked to see him gaping at her with a shocked expression on his face. Had he just heard her thoughts? Oh right, we're linked like that. Remember this morning when we were experimenting? You knew my mind was wandering because you knew my thoughts. That must be how it works.

So then, we're communicating through thought right now?

Telepathically, yes. ...Weird.

James looked from one to the other as they stared at each other. The way their eyes bore into the other, it seemed as though they would stare a hole right through one another. Then he realized he had not yet answered the girl's question. How rude of him, he noted with a mental wince. Clearing his throat, he commanded their attention. "I can see her in you," he murmured. "If it means helping Jack so that she could even enjoy being alive, however short her life was, then I'll do it."

"Ah, thank you, sir!" and, acting on impulse, she wrapped her arms around him, coming from the big happy hugging family she did, and held him close for a moment in gratitude. She felt the graze of his arm lightly around her before she pulled away, blushing. "My apologies," she bobbed her head. "I tend to—er—act on impulse, something that has, since I've been in accordance with Jack, been occurring increasingly often...today..."

There's yer chapter. And oh! Look, I made it 'specially long just for you! ...and to make up for how short the last chapter was, but it's still for you.

Yeah yeah, I know, this chapter lacked all action and even slightly interesting plot. Intermediate chapter. Yeah yeah yeah...anywho, review. Or suffer. Suffer horribly...just as soon as I discover new technology that will allow me to smite you all through cyberspace... ...not... working... So just review. Please? Pretty please? Please as pretty as Jack?