There had been no point talking strategy with Jack, as it seemed that Jack had decided to talk strategy with nobody save Jack the monkey. (Jack the pirate had been extremely annoyed to find that his namesake had somehow reappeared on the ship. He guessed it must have swum for miles until it caught up, which led to vague plans of a ship towed by undead dolphins or oxen or something, which could work forever without needing to be fed. Jack decided to look into it as soon as he had finished with the Davy Jones problem. And then he loaded Jack the monkey into a cannon and fired him over to the Dutchman to get him out of his hair.).

But in any case all of Jack's plans were made alone, in his cabin. He would not share their full scope with the crew, even when he gave them their orders:

"Set a course for Port Royal."

Then, days later: "We'll grab some captives - live ones, that's very important, gents, they have to be alive. We fire a few cannons, and we get out of there as fast as we can."

"But why?" Will spoke up. "Barbossa heard from Norrington that the heart is always either in Port Royal, or at sea, on a special ship that Beckett-"

"Exactly."

"But we don't know which spot it's in now! And if we attack one and we're wrong, Beckett will know and we'll have failed. He'll say one word to Jones and out comes the Kraken and it's all over for us."

"That," Jack said grandly, "Is why I propose a plan that removes the heart from either of these two locations. We'll have Beckett bring the heart to Isla Cruces - where he doesn't have a full fort of guards and prisons and gallows waiting for us. We'll take it from him there."

Will crossed his arms. "And how are you going to get Beckett to bring the heart from where he knows it's safe?"

Jack looked over at Elizabeth. "Persuasion," he purred.

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But as soon as they had landed, quietly, a fair distance away from the harbor, Jack pulled Elizabeth aside. "The rest of them are going to make for the streets and take captives," he whispered. "You and I are going to the jail."

"What? Why?"

"Trust me, you'll see when we get there."

By the time Elizabeth and Jack had successfully sneaked into the fort, Port Royal was in chaos from the pirate attack. The jail was thus left unguarded, and Jack scampered through lifting doors off hinges left and right, freeing all the criminals and madmen, knowing that every monkey wrench he threw into this evening could only help. Finally, in a dismal cell at the end he found who he was looking for. He threw the door out of the way and stepped in. "Evening, Governor," he said calmly, tipping his hat. He reached down and offered him a hand. "Let's go."

But Governor Swann scrambled backwards on the floor until he hit the wall behind him. He cowered down on the ground, shutting his eyes tight. "No God it's a ghost..." He began to mumble his prayers as best he could remember them in his terror.

"F-Father?" Elizabeth had come up behind Jack. When she saw the identity of their rescuee, she rushed over and threw herself at him in a hug that made him shriek. "Father it's me, it's Elizabeth, what are you doing here, oh my God!"

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth? No..." he held her at arms length to look her over. "It can't be you - they told me you'd been killed!"

"No, no, mate, you heard wrong." Jack was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed and hat pulled low over his eyes. "I was the one who was killed."

Governor Swann looked utterly bewildered. "Later, Father, I'll explain it all later, I promise." Elizabeth pulled him to his feet and winced. "Jack - there's shackles."

"Lizzie - there's keys." He tossed a keyring to her and she unlocked the cuffs, wondering why Jack had felt the need to tear all the doors off the hinges if he had had keys all along.

But there were more important things to wonder about: namely, what on earth was her father doing here and how on earth had Jack known? But it hardly mattered, did it, since he was safe now. On her way out of the cell she gave Jack a hug and murmured "Thank you, Jack," into his chest. His arms came up around her for just one tiny second, but the easy familiarity of it made the governor nervous. He pulled Elizabeth aside.

"I am still trying to come to terms with William Turner," he told her. "Please tell me that I will not have to accept a son-in-law who wears the pirate's brand."

She shook her head with a smile. "Jack is just a friend, Father. A very good friend. Now come on - we have to get back to the ship."

"Actually," Jack corrected conscientiously, "He has to get back to the ship. You and I stay here, love. We have to get ourselves captured."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped. "What?"

"If you think for one minute I am leaving my daughter here in this cell, Sparrow, you've lost what mind you had." Governor Swann stepped in front of her. "I won't go without her."

Jack huffed impatiently and flapped his hands in a manner that suggested he wanted Elizabeth to reason with him.

Elizabeth thought for a moment. "I don't like it either," she said at last. "But he has brought us this far. I think perhaps we should just trust him."

"Leave you here?" Swann was aghast.

"Not here, really," Jack put in. "We intend to be captured as close to Beckett's hiding place as we possibly can."

When Elizabeth reiterated her faith in the plan one more time, Governor Swann finally agreed to go off to the meeting place in their stead, and explain to Will the next phase of the plan.

He gave Elizabeth such a long hug before he left that even Jack worried they would run out of time.

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When Jack was sure she understood what to do, they broke into Beckett's office and started rummaging around, taking care to make a bit of noise. "I told you it's not here," Jack hissed.

"It must be," she argued. "I heard Norrington say it myself. Nobody lies to Davy Jones, you know that. It must be here."

"I don't think Norrington was lying, I think he was lied to," Jack answered, opening up drawers and shuffling through their contents. "He might believe Beckett really put the thing here, but honestly, even Beckett is not that stupid. See? You little fool of a girl! It's not here!"

"Well, now what?" she asked once she had ripped into all the rest of Beckett's cabinets.

"Now," Jack growled, pouncing on her, "You've brought me here for nothing."

"Let go of me! Jack!" This had not been part of the plan. Jack was supposed to be provoking Beckett, not provoking her! It was not an act when she tried to shove him away.

He held her easily. "Oh, what are you going to do," he growled, "Scream?"

At that moment the door burst open. "She won't have to," said Lord Beckett, smug as everything. "Yes, I've heard the whole thing."

Jack drew his pistol immediately and tried to shoot, but Beckett's guards had drawn at the same time and Elizabeth tackled Jack to the ground to get him out of the line of fire. Everyone missed.

A moment later the guards were on them, hauling them roughly to their feet. "I told you it wasn't here!" Jack barked at her.

"For a change, Miss Swann, Sparrow is right," Beckett droned, sounding bored. "I really am not so stupid."

"See?" Jack pitched his voice high and gave a terrible imitation of Beckett's highbrow accent. "Oh yes, I think I shall just bring the heart of Davy Jones into my home city, so that he can just come on in and take it and slaughter everyone I know! Tee hee!"

Beckett cocked his head. "Davy Jones can't set foot on land, everybody knows that."

"Ha!" Elizabeth drew herself up and cast a triumphant look in Jack's direction. "See? I told you! He really is that stupid! It might not be actually in this office, but he really was stupid enough to bring the thing home!"

"What?" Beckett couldn't believe he was losing control of the situation when both intruders were already captured and being pinned by three guards apiece.

Jack had gone very still. "You don't really have the heart here, do you, mate?"

"Why? What are you talking about?"

Elizabeth was watching his face. "He does. My God. We have to get out of here!"

She and Jack explained in a panic that it was only the enchanted island of Isla Cruces that Davy Jones was unable to set foot on. Jones had been told where the heart was, they said, and was coming for it. As a result, they had come to steal it if possible, and if not possible, at least to escape with everyone that mattered to them in this city. Jack had already freed his pirate friends and Elizabeth her father.

"Leave the heart, forget the heart, we have to go," Jack finished. "If it's here Jones will sense it. We have to go now."

"I- I don't believe you," Beckett stuttered uncertainly.

"Norrington played you for a fool, mate. Tell me something: where is he now?"

"He... he went out after the pirates who..."

"Yes exactly: he's gone from here. Leaving you in the lurch," Elizabeth agreed. "You're as big an idiot as I thought. My father could have been killed for your greed, you disgusting-"

"She could be telling the truth," Beckett said loudly, over her, "But then again she could be lying. Get the heart to my ship just in case - the special ship. We know it's safe there. We're going to Isla Cruces. And in case this is a trap... we'll take these two with us, to bargain with."

"Do what you like with us, mate, only get us out of this city," Jack said quietly. "I'd rather face death a hundred times over than be taken by Davy Jones."

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Fortunately Beckett's ship was already prepared for departure in case of just this sort of emergency. Jack and Elizabeth were brought to it blindfolded, so that they could not see the arrangements that were used to keep the heart protected.

As soon as they were underway, and the heart firmly set in its elaborate safeguards, Beckett decided to spend some quality time with his prisoners. His first move was to make Elizabeth watch Jack Sparrow kicked around by his men for awhile. It was fun, but neither she nor Jack himself gave Beckett the reaction he was hoping for. He eventually gave it up and had Elizabeth brought to him instead, alone and in chains, to pass the time until they reached Isla Cruces.

His first reaction to her ragged appearance had been distaste, but after he had gotten used to it he decided the dirty, pigpen look rather suited her. Or could be made to.

He smiled benignly at her and snapped his fingers for Mercer. "Those aren't necessary," he said with a gesture towards her shackles.

Elizabeth's chin shot up. "Yes, they are."

"I see," Beckett said after a moment. "And do I need the guards as well?"

"Only if you value your miserable life," she growled at him. "I can't imagine what you've brought me here for. I don't know anything about Jack's plans, and even if I did, I would never tell you, regardless of what you do to me. And if you try to take liberties to the extent of so much laying one finger on the very tip of my nose, I shall bite it off and then proceed to make a eunuch out of you. Is that quite understood, Lord Beckett?"

He found himself charmed by the transformation of the highborn lady into a street urchin. "My, my, but you've grown so...forceful."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I assure you you have no idea." She jerked out of the grip of the guards and ordered them, "Leave us alone."

Beckett nodded and they went out. He poured only one drink, sipped from it, and then offered her the remains. She wouldn't touch it. "I wonder," he said at last, "Whether you would persist in this hostile attitude of yours if I told you that your friend Captain Sparrow might suffer for it?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "I like Jack, but you're mad if you think I'd be willing to make a trade for the life of a pirate. And you'd be madder still to think you could overpower me."

"Perhaps."

Beckett might have an appetite for suffering, but Elizabeth was willing to bet he lacked the stomach to inflict it himself. She also thought that he was three-quarters intimidated already, so all that remained was to cement her hold over him by showing a little contempt and a little skin. "Look at this." Even with her hands bound it was an easy matter to slip the wide neck of her pirate shirt down over her shoulder to show off her bullet wound, which by now had closed into a rough, angry-looking red scar. "You can't scare me. That's why I sent the guards away - to save you the embarrassment of their seeing you try and fail."

Her assessment of Lord Cutler Beckett was about seventy percent correct. There were two important aspects she had missed: First, Beckett's failure to rise to her challenges was more a result of bemusement than intimidation. Second, instead of being merely humiliated by his inability to handle this little hellcat, Beckett was humiliated, intrigued, and truly admiring.

He let her eat from his own plate before sending her back to the brig with instructions that the prisoners were not to be fed.

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Elizabeth's first clue about Beckett's unhealthy interest was that when she awoke in the cell, he was perched on a stool mere inches from the bars, watching her intently.

"What do you want?" she demanded rudely. Her pillow shifted and groaned beneath her, so she struggled up into a sitting position. "Sorry, Jack."

She scooted closer to the bars and addressed Beckett in a lower voice. "Well?"

"You always call Sparrow by his given name," Beckett observed. It was dark enough that she couldn't make out much of his face, but the smile was plain in his voice. "So who is this 'Captain' you were dreaming about? Not me, is it? He sounds like quite a lot of fun."

"What?" Elizabeth half-shrieked, forgetting her intention to let Jack keep sleeping.

It was a shot in the dark - Beckett was sure that this dream had simply been a garden-variety nightmare. But now, thanks to his cleverness and her guilty conscience, he knew a fairly useful secret. He wished he could figure out who was this man on her mind… the one she turned to when she was frightened and unsure...

Interesting, Beckett thought, that her protector of choice was neither her fiancé, nor her father, nor the pirate in whose lap she had so indecorously spent the night. Davy Jones perhaps? Hmm.

This person could be the key to predicting her behavior and more importantly, to understanding this new, troublesome (yet alluring) confidence of hers. Once he had cracked that nut, he would be a long step closer to achieving his goals - all his goals.

Because the list of Lord Beckett's goals had recently been amended.

Now, not only did he want the heart which was the key to incalculable wealth and power, he also wanted the loyalty and admiration (among other things) of one Miss Elizabeth Swann. A girl who had at one time been engaged to a blacksmith-turned-pirate called Will Turner. That engagement was over now, of course, Beckett was certain. Elizabeth and Turner simply hadn't been told yet.

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The arrival of Jack (the monkey) presented Barbossa with a very delicate problem. On the one hand, Jack the monkey was a very dear and faithful friend and of course deserved nothing but the best.

On the other hand, however, especially after having gone and gotten all drunk and chatty with Davy a few nights ago, Barbossa was hesitant to be seen cuddling with something soft and furry. His best protection against enemies – and Davy Jones was stillan enemy, regardless of how understanding a few drinks made him – was the appearance of having veins full of icewater. He was not sure he could do without that protection now, even for dear old Jack the monkey.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

This time, instead of jumping in surprise, Barbossa went on the offensive. "So, even the great Davy Jones, who never needs to make confession, needs somebody to talk to from time to time. Intrestin." He didn't bother looking to Jones's face to read his reaction; he often couldn't read the face anyway. It would only let Jones know how nervous he was.

Apparently it was a bit of a sore spot, because Jones's moustache wriggled and he snapped, "Well I didn't choose these men for their scintillating personalities" with a little more bite than was usual.

Jones had – and frequently used – the power to realize Barbossa's worst nightmares. Yet here Barbossa was antagonizing him. The situation made him extremely uncomfortable, and Jack (the monkey), with his usual sensitivity to his master's emotional state, scampered over to climb up his coat and sit on his shoulder.

The monkey's warm and slightly smelly weight made Barbossa feel better immediately. That decided him.

"Could I ask a favor?"

Davy Jones looked like someone had spoken to him in a foreign language. "Beg pardon...You said you want to ask me to do a favor for you?"

"A completely innocuous one," Barbossa assured him. "You mentioned that you might happen to know the whereabouts of a certain sunken stone chest..."

"I might."

Barbossa reached into Jack's collar and snapped the chain he wore around his little neck. "Then next time you pass by it, would you be so kind as to drop this in?"

The medallion was already smeared with blood and ready to go.

"That," Jones said after a moment, "Is so sweet it's revolting." He snorted and huffed and then held out his hand. "Oh, give it over here. I'll do it. But you owe me."

"Well I'll be sure to send some flowers or bake ye a cake," Barbossa snapped back. Then he winked. "Jack thanks ye."

Always quick to know when he was being talked about, Jack jumped up and down on Barbossa's shoulder and made some noises. Davy Jones held out his claw thoughtfully, and the monkey punctuated his chattering by drumming on it.

"D'yeh think one of those would survive here on the Dutchman?" Jones wondered aloud.

"Being that your ship spends half its time underwater, I'd say probably not." Barbossa scooped Jack up protectively and took a step back. "And you can't keep this one to try it."

Jones left, muttering something about pirates with flowers in their hair. Barbossa yarrred at his back.

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TBC.

Fear not, friends, Barbossa is not losing his edge, I promise. Fear not, also, on account of Lord Beckett's fascination: I have made it a point til now to have Elizabeth kiss everybody, but I think this time she will draw the line.

Thanks so much to the people who have stuck with this story so far and who have responded with encouraging and inspiring comments. Three or four in particular who've written numerous detailed reviews that make me smile…you know who you are, I'm not going to name names in case I'm forgetting one…You guys are great, I hope the story continues to amuse you!