A/N: Cracking up at the idea of a ship pulled by undead seahorses! Why did I not think of that? That is DEFINITELY something Jack would have come up with. You're awesome.

And the sea monkey for Davy Jones's shoulder... yeah that me laugh out loud at work. In the words of Jack... Not good! Not good!

I was away this weekend, but don't worry, I'm back now, so updates will be back on schedule :o)

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

Governor Swann paced about the cabin into which he had been locked. The selfsame cabin, he'd been told, into which Elizabeth had once been locked when she was kidnapped by pirates half a lifetime ago.

So much had changed since then. Now she wore britches, for Heaven's sake, ran about embracing pirates like a common- well, he would not think that. He would not, not even after having picked her up smelling of rum and smoke after a night alone on an island in the company of Jack Sparrow. There had only been one campfire on that island, not two, and he had always refused to consider what that might mean.

Not after she had run off, alone, to live on a ship full of…

In any case. This had been her cabin, he thought, moving around it and touching the fixtures daintily. It really was beautiful. Decrepit, but somehow in an enchanting sort of way.

Swann was torn from his thoughts when the door burst open. "We're being followed," Will Turner said tightly. "We can handle whomever it is, but...Governor, you might not want to watch. Stay here until I tell you it's safe." He rushed out again, and Swann went to the doorway. From there, he could just make out sails on the horizon. Whose sails? It was hard to tell. Should he go back into the cabin? No, he decided to stay in the doorway, where he was - it seemed a little less cowardly than actually hiding, while reserving the possibility of changing his mind and ducking inside.

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

"He fancies you."

Elizabeth turned around. Jack was awake, sitting up against the wall with his arms crossed and a small smile on his face. She elected to ignore his comment. "Your lip's bleeding again."

He touched it and shrugged. "I think I've had worse." They both laughed, but he wouldn't let her be distracted. "I mean it, love. You've put a spell on that little bugger, he's been sitting here watching you sleep again."

"Sleep, what sleep? Every time we go to sleep someone wakes us. You look terrible."

"Oh, thank you." Jack decided not to tell her that nobody minded when she slept – it was only when he dozed off too that someone always came barging in. By now they were both feeling the need for a good night's rest, in a bed, without interruption. Jack wondered whether he was still capable of thinking up a new plan, or whether he should just go ahead and use a trick that had worked before. How stupid was Beckett really? Jack shook his head. His mind was wandering again. He needed a nap.

Elizabeth was not happy to have another admirer. "Ugh."

"Not ugh." Jack leaned forward and fluttered his eyelashes at her. He pitched his voice high. "Oh. Tee hee. Lord Beckett, you mustn't."

"No." The idea had already crossed her mind, of course, but she had her limits. "Why don't you seduce Beckett, why must it always be me?"

She didn't seem to be joking, so Jack explained, "I don't really think I'm his type." He searched for a way to make the idea seem more palatable. "Come on, Lizzie, you don't have to seduce him – just get him to tell you how he plans to have the heart guarded on Isla Cruces. I already made him tell me how it's guarded on the ship."

"How?"

"No." Jack sat back. "First you make nice to him, find out something, and then we'll trade."

"Jack, it's not a game! And I'm not going to make nice to Lord Beckett! Now you need to play straight with me, or I'll…I'll blacken your other eye to match."

"You can't."

Elizabeth was truly offended. "Jack Sparrow, how dare you doubt me! You have no idea the things I would do to-"

"I didn't say you wouldn't," Jack corrected, "I said you can't." He stood up and looked down at her. "Savvy?"

Elizabeth was cold and hungry. Not to mention frightened and incarcerated and completely exhausted. She was not exactly thinking at her best, so it didn't occur to her that her sudden rage was completely out of proportion to what Jack was saying to her. It also never crossed her mind that Jack might be antagonizing her on purpose. "Do not try to intimidate me." She stood, too, on tiptoe to reduce his height advantage. "Norrington's men shot me, Barbossa whipped me, I saw my fiancé killed before my eyes, I kissed Davy Jones himself on the mouth-"

"-Or whatever he calls it," Jack put in.

She shoved him. "And now you cannot scare me. I have had it up to here with people trying to push me around!"

Oddly enough, Jack looked pleased with her. "So everyone gets their crack at the indomitable Miss Elizabeth Swann, but not me? Now, that's not fair, love, is it?" He caught her hands when she tried to push him again, and forced her across the cell to the far wall, in the shadows.

"Jack, stop it."

"But I thought you weren't afraid." Jack put his lips right by her ear and whispered, "Before you tell me I can't scare you, you do have to let me try." He licked her.

"Jack!" she shouted, horrified. She struggled wildly and managed to bash him in the face with the top of her head. He staggered back and put his hand to his nose. Blood was everywhere. She froze and before she thought better of it breathed, "Jack I'm sorry…"

Jack growled, grabbed her, and spun around to slam her against the cell door. It clanged but not quite loudly enough to drown out her squealing. He tried it again. Elizabeth screamed and fought mindlessly for a moment, until Jack yanked her back away from the light.

Then she could hear the grind of keys in the lock and the stamp of boots. Men were pulling them apart, holding them away from each other, and when everything was finally still Beckett stepped up. "What went on here?"

"Lovers' quarrel," Jack answered immediately.

Elizabeth lunged for him again. When the soldiers prevented her from reaching him, she hissed, "Oh, you wish."

He made a face at her. Beckett looked from one to the other, noted that all the blood seemed to be Sparrow's, and said, "Clearly they can't be left alone with each other. Take her to my room. And someone stay to help teach Sparrow the code of conduct on my ship."

Jack winced. He had rather hoped another beating was not in the cards, but other than that, the incident was a brilliant success. Elizabeth was shaken but angry. She needed someone to pour out her feelings to. It was just the sort of thing Beckett would like, and Jack would be extremely surprised if Beckett didn't confide some secrets of his own during the conversation. What an idiot, he'll fall for that one every time. Jack gave himself a moment to gloat, before beginning the work of damage control with regard to the two very beefy and angry-looking soldiers Beckett had left him for company.

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

This time Beckett poured two drinks and gave Elizabeth her own. "I suppose given the amount of blood you coaxed from Sparrow, it would be an insult to ask you if you're all right?"

"I'm fine." She kept her eyes on her glass.

"I'm glad to hear it." He held out a chair for her, but then instead of sitting down behind his desk, he perched on top of it. The proximity made Elizabeth nervous without really knowing why. "May I ask what really happened?"

She looked up at him. "You may ask, but I'm not…" But then she felt suddenly sick and tired of controlling her tongue and her feelings and everything else, all for the sake of pirates who couldn't even handle a disagreement civilly when all was said and done. "Jack thinks just because I'm not yet married that it's all right for me to- to do all sorts of things," she explained. She was speaking before thinking and she knew it, but right now she was just too angry to care. "And how many times have I told everyone that I love Will and I'd never do anything to hurt him!"

Beckett liked the fire in her eyes. "But if he doesn't know-"

"But I'll know! That's what Jack doesn't understand, that I have a conscience and it matters to me what I-" she sighed. "Oh, never mind. Conscience isn't your strong point either, is it."

"On the contrary, I'm very concerned with conscience," Beckett corrected with a smile. "I just don't happen to have one of my own."

She surprised herself by laughing a little. Then, because he had lifted her mood even that tiny bit, she decided she owed him something of a warning. "Davy Jones is going to have your head, you know that."

If Beckett was trying not to look smug, he was failing miserably. "Oh, I think I can handle Captain Davy Jones," he assured her. "I have his heart, and I've given a lot of thought as to how I can protect it. I'm a reasonable man, you know, Miss Swann. Jones might be upset with me now, but he'll soon learn that it takes very little to please me. Sink a few vessels here and there, fair weather for a few others, once in a blue moon he may need to make an appearance in that monstrosity he calls ship, but all in all, I think he'll find it infinitely simpler just to obey me when I call. And then we'll get along fine."

"I suppose." She finished her drink – wine, she realized too late – and he poured her another. This one she put down and made a mental note not to touch. It would not do to get free and easy around Lord Beckett, and especially not to let him think he was seducing her. No more wine.

A pause. "You haven't asked me how I intend to keep the heart from Jones's dark clutches," he reminded her after a bit. It stung to have to grovel for her attention, but he couldn't help himself.

She stared at him in amazement. He's going to tell me, just like that? And then a moment later, Jack planned this whole thing, didn't he. She gulped and tried to put her thoughts in order.

"Miss Swann?"

"Elizabeth, please," she said with a short laugh, playing for time. "Look at me." She gestured at her messy appearance, an invitation for Beckett to ogle at her even more openly than he had been doing.

"Elizabeth, then," Becket said softly. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." In a flash an explanation came to her. "I just…no offence, but I'm not completely sure you'll get the best of Jones. And the more I know of your plans, the worse he's going to treat me when he catches us all."

"Ahhh." He tsked at her. "Have a little faith, M-… Elizabeth." Beckett waited until she looked up at him. Her cheeks were still flushed... but he didn't deceive himself, that was probably a result of the little spat with her cellmate… and her clothes in even greater disarray than when she first came aboard. "Let me tell you what I'm going to do. I think you'll agree that Davy Jones has no idea who he's dealing with."

She sat back and crossed her arms. "All right," she said, smiling wryly because once again Jack had gotten the better of her. "Let's hear it."

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

The next day Beckett cut himself and bled into the sea, and Davy Jones was as quick as ever in responding to the summons.

A mere hour later the Dutchman surfaced, and Beckett opened his spyglass and invited Jones over. He didn't give another thought to the rest of the ship, which is why he didn't notice the one human being among the fish-people, signaling back and forth with Jack Sparrow to try and figure out what was going on.

"Have you been to Port Royal yet, or is the place still intact?" Beckett demanded.

"What?" Jones cocked his head. "I haven't...I mean, what do you..."

Beckett misinterpreted the confusion in his voice. "Yes, I know all about your little lies and schemes," he said coolly. "And rest assured, Norrington will get what's coming to him, the same as you will. But for now... Listen carefully. I have instructions for you."

The squidman's wreath of tentacles coiled angrily, but he wasn't nearly stupid enough to let pride get in his way now. "I'm listening," he growled.

"Pirates have come and gone from Port Royal who know far too much," Beckett explained. "I don't know who it was, but the captain of their ship is a man I want very badly to meet. So. I want you to find that ship." He considered. "Kill the rest, but keep that captain for me. Then you are to meet me at the usual place. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Jones didn't quite have the hang yet of sounding servile, but Beckett was sure he would learn quickly.

"Good," Beckett said. "While you're gone, I will be going off to begin construction of a new safe hiding place for my treasure - one that's really safe, this time. If I see you, your ship, or those pirates anywhere near where I'm building, I shall take it as a sign that you are breaking our treaty, and I'll kill you. Understood?"

This time Jones simply nodded.

Beckett absolutely hated what he was about to do, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed that having Jack Sparrow around while the heart was in such a vulnerable position was a bad idea. A terrible idea, in fact. Until everything was one hundred percent in place, the further away Jack Sparrow was, the better.

So he gave orders for the prisoners to be brought up on deck and handed over to the Dutchman for temporary safekeeping.

"I'll want them back later on, alive" he told Davy Jones. "Even Sparrow. I suppose you can have your fun with him if you like in the meantime, as a gift for your cooperation. But Miss Swann is not to be touched, do you hear me?"

Beckett wanted to get started on taming Elizabeth as soon as possible, and just in case a stint on that ghost ship didn't do the trick, there were other ways. Of course it wouldn't do for her to hear the order come from him, though, so he took Jones aside and whispered it: "When you do catch me that pirate captain, if you feel the need to harm him in any way..." He glanced over at Elizabeth. "Just be sure that she watches."

Jack stuck his tongue out at Lord Beckett as he left the ship.

But a few moments later, he was on the deck of the Flying Dutchman and Beckett's ship was pulling away. He smelled something very fishy and bad over his shoulder. He doubted that it would go away if he just stayed still, so he finally turned around. Davy Jones was grinning at him from a distance of about six inches.

Jack decided, too late, that he should have found a way to stay in Beckett's cell.

xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

TBC.

Sometimes I think the plot of my story is too crazy and convoluted… And then I think of the wheel scene in DMC and I think nothing I come up with can possibly be too crazy for Pirates.