Nicolette stood with her back the cabin door, her back hunched and her shoulders pulled up protectively as she chewed on her finger nails feverishly. Her eyes remained unblinking as she stared out at the open waters and blue skies which were made distorted by the stained glass windows. As the waves rocked the Pearl, she swayed with it, the coins of her skirt quietly singing along with the rhythm of the movement.

Apart from the light creaking of the ship as was ever present, there was silence. Not even the feet rushing around above her or the calls of the crew outside broke through the barrier which had been put up. She had been like this for what seemed like hours and Jack knew exactly what scenes were running through her head.

She was reliving every ounce of the pain Beckett had inflicted, remembering all of the fear and the hurt and anxiety. He knew because the same memories were coming to him. Just one glance over at the bed was enough to bring the image of her lying there back so strongly. He could smell the burning flesh which had lingered around her for days and feel her nails digging into Jack's arms as they did each time she awoke in a panic.

They vowed never to speak of that day again. Not so long as they both lived. And yet there they were with Jack telling her that Beckett was back and he was looking for her.

"Nicolette?" He called, softly, from his place by the cabin door.

Upon entering, he had only had to utter the mans name for her to know. All of the puzzle pieces suddenly fit together in her brain and it was all so clear. How could she not have seen earlier? All Jack had said was "it's Beckett" and it had been enough for the connection to be made which had sent her into an eerie vow of silence.

When she failed to acknowledge Jack, he started to take slow steps intending to cross the cabin and join her side. But as she began to shake her head, he stopped.

"Of course it's Beckett." She spat, eyes narrowing and focusing on nothing in particular. She began to rub the tips of her fingers together in agitation, her jaw clenching and her breathing growing heavier as the memories began to fade, leaving behind raw emotion.

As Nicolette turned her head to look at Jack from the corner of her eye, she scoffed and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

"Tell me again what the boys plan was?" Jack started to approach her again, cautiously, and cleared his throat as he started over. He was still trying to make sense of it himself, seeing as the news had come through Elizabeth, so as he talked, his brow creased in confusion.

"From what I understand, the boy made a deal with Beckett to bring him back my compass and you." He finally came to her side, stopping and turning into her as she stayed focused on the waters. "I assume in return he and Elizabeth were to be pardoned."

Nicolette swallowed hard and sniffed loudly but as she tried to wipe away and hide the stray tear which she had allowed to fall, Jack took her hand in his. He wasn't shocked when she immediately pulled away, turning from him to walk away towards the liquor cabinet.

"Right, of course." She scoffed softly. "No wonder he was so eager for my help. He was down right begging at one point." All of the emotions she was feeling started to fight one another, and bitterness started to win as she plucked out a bottle of expensive wine and pulled the cork from its neck, letting it drop and roll around the cabin floor. "He didn't want my help he just needed me close." Nicolette took a few long gulps of the potent liquid, gasped when the bottle was finally removed from her lips.

"He's not going to lay a finger on you." Jack snapped, the anger finally beginning to infect him as he saw how she was rolling back so quickly to the bitter woman he had found by Barbossa's side. "Either of them. The whelp will pay for bringing you here."

"I'm glad he brought me here." She snapped back in return. When she noticed how angry she had directed the words towards Jack however, her face fell and she gave a gentle shrug. "I don't… I just wish I had known so I could have shot him once I found you." A smile teased the corner of her lips for a second as she glanced at Jack but then it quickly disappeared.

Jack came close and his hand took hers again, holing it tight as his other hand came up and threatened to peel the shirt down from her shoulder.

"Don't." Nic snapped as she forcefully slapped his hand away. After a moment Jack sighed in defeat but then nodded, understanding. "Just because he is back does not mean I have to look at it."

Jack would not have been surprised if she had never looked at it since that day she awoke and finally understood where she was, that it hadn't been a dream. She hadn't cried, that had been the biggest shock to him. He expected her to sob and scream and claw at it all over again. But Nicolette had simply stared at the mark and then turned over and pulled the covers over her head. She stayed there for days. Not eating, never sleeping. She didn't make a sound. And then one day Jack had awoke and she was gone from the bed, running out of the cabin in a panic he had found her sitting atop a barrel in the sun, chatting to Bootstrap while he was swabbing the deck. That was when the vow had started, both of them hoping they were free of him forever.

Nic kept the brand covered. She no longer cared about the 'P' which simply served as a reminder of how far she had come and how she was proud to be called pirate. But that burn, the mark which branded her as if she were cattle and made her feel as if she were nothing more than an object to be owned, was always covered. Normally with a wrapping of gauze, masterfully wrapped and secured so it lay perfectly and indistinguishably against her skin. But she could always see it of course, out the corner of her eye, every time she bent forward and her shirt dropped. Or when a man stripped her during what was meant to be a moment of passion and freedom; it was there.

"What are we going to do?" She asked, feeling the force of Jack's hand which she had slapped away combing through her hair. "Jones and Beckett? Who the bloody hell is next?"

"At least you can say you never had to reject a proposal from Jones." Reluctantly, Nicolette chuckled.

"Now that would be awkward." As Jack's hand skimmed past her bandana and his finger began playing with one of the turquoise feathers in her hair, she sighed. "But seriously. What is our plan?"

"Same as it was. We're going to find the chest, before Beckett. And then once we have seen to Jones, I will deal with Beckett." Jack promised, both to her and himself. Too much time had passed and it was time for Beckett to be dealt with. It was just an unhappy coincidence that in coincided with his dept being due.

"Sounds simple enough." Nic whispered mockingly and leant into his touch.

Why were they back here when only moments ago she had been watching him with Elizabeth. Young, pretty Elizabeth. Perfectly innocent Elizabeth. She was what Nicolette used to be before Beckett caught her…without the high society of course. No wonder Jack wanted her.

They caught each other's eye as Nic was lost in thought and she smiled without knowing it, holding onto Jack a little tighter.

Wanting what you couldn't have. It was the worst feeling in the World. Having something be so close and not being able to grasp it with your full strength was hell. Beckett hadn't just left her scarred, he had taken away every chance of them being something more. Jack didn't know, but she remembered hearing what Beckett said to Jack that day, that she had gave him a weakness.

She did not know if it was Jack pulling away or her or both or if it was just in her mind. But Nic felt them drift apart a little, only getting intimately close when no one was watching. They could never be two parts of one whole. Jack had enough to worry about without her getting in his way.

The demon in her mind returned and started banging against it's cell walls, and Nic closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She took his hand and removed it from her, placing it back down at his side.

"Enough talk of demons." She whispered. "I'd rather save my anger to be taken out on the boy."

"Wouldn't we both darling." He chuckled but it was forced and he could not help but become confused as she took a step back, out of his reach and embrace. Her face was a picture painted with disappointment and he wished to reach out for her but something didn't let him.

"Back to work." She smiled before turning and leaving the cabin, returning to he helm and leaving Jack alone with his swirling thoughts.


They were sat together again, the lovebirds. Oh just having that thought run through her mind made her feel like a bitter wench, then again she was starting to believe she was a bitter wench.

Sure in a Tortuga she had laughed occasionally, gambled and ate and drunk like a human again but she was still the same heartless woman who had haunted this ship for ten years. A little holiday with mortality could not change that, Jack could not cure that. The demon living in her wasn't an infection, it was just her conscience telling her truths she did not wish to hear.

For example, how Jack was infatuated with the young girl Elizabeth. That's why his compass had not been working, that's why he jumped every time she tried peeking. It was pointing to her, the girl, towards Port Royal.

She had just been a distraction, a prize after Barbossa's murder. She was beginning to question if Jack cared for her at all or if she was just another tool to him, a one it was better to keep close than loose track of.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe they could not be one whole not because Jack did not want a weakness. Perhaps he simply did not care for her that much anymore.

There was a time only weeks ago she thought different. But now Elizabeth was here and all of the puzzle pieces were fitting together, the world was a little more clear.

And they were both doing a very good job and painting a crystal clear picture.

"It was one thing to have Turner take her away from me. But I find that to be plain insulting." Her eyes automatically rolled to the back of her head as the sour tone came from her side - however it was mildly refreshing to hear the bitterness coming from somewhere other than inside her own head.

"Have you seen yourself lately?" She drawled sarcastically, eyeing the former Commodore briefly.

"Do you think I have more of a chance like this?" He asked, joking and she could not help but laugh at him.

"Perhaps." Nicolette smirked and took another glance at him, dragging her eyes from his boots which were caked in dried mud to his hair which hung down past his chin in loose waves. "If you were to come into my tavern, I would buy you a drink."

After a moment during which she though she had broke him, Norrington pouted in thought and then stood a little more upright and a little more proud. She started to chuckle as she watched him and suddenly felt as if she need no longer think. Instead, she could play her own games. At least that was her plan until Norrington brought them up again.

"What do women see in him?" He asked with a frown clearly directed at the couple sitting close together at the other end of the deck. "What is it?" Nic, for once, didn't know what to say but when she shrugged she felt Norrington's stare turn down onto her. "You must know what you saw in him?"

Saw. Funny way of phrasing it, she thought and scoffed to herself. Then Nic allowed herself to find Jack and look at him, really look at him, while trying not to focus on how close Elizabeth was leaning into him.

"He can be charming?" She ended up presenting her answer as a question, her face twisting. "He…he knows exactly what he is doing and how to get what he wants. That's how he gets them." She started to laugh and shook her head as Norrington watched her closer. "But he is free and he seeks adventure…that's what I saw."

"And he's absolutely mad." Norrington added to which she did not have an argument against.

"Yes, well, everyone has their faults." She sighed. Her fingers began playing with the handle of the dagger attached to her right hip and she hummed, smiling to herself as she thought about what she had just said. She was wrong, it wasn't a bad point. His madness was what entertained her, without it he would just be another man and another captain.

"It's hard, watching them go." Norrington spoke and she felt her smile fade. Go? Is that what she was watching? Him leaving? "You can force them to stay. I tried to. But they will always defy you."

"You still love her?" Nicolette asked as she was forced to look away as the couple in her sights grew even closer and Jack caressed Elizabeth's cheek, just as he had caressed her own that same morning.

As she turned out towards the ocean, making sure they were no longer temping her to look, Nic noticed Norrington doing the same and she started to feel sympathy for him. Nothing overwhelming or life changing, she wasn't suddenly going to throw herself into getting James Norrington his life back…but she felt a little sad for him.

"Yes. Don't think I ever won't these days."

She took a moment to look at him and then followed his line of sight to Jack and Elizabeth.

"We could always kill them." She uttered and was relieved when James started to chuckle along with her. But then that all stopped when they both noticed Jack leaning in to kiss her, and Elizabeth was posed perfectly, waiting to accept it.

"I am sorry." James then said, his voice deep with something she didn't recognise, and before she got a chance to find out what it was he walked away.


Jack was faced with two options. One was to find Nicolette, who he knew would help him get through the full bottle of rum he held loosely in his hand, while distracting him from the looming threat of Jones by bringing the every swirling thoughts of her to the forefront of his mind. Or two…go to Lizzy who he had already found and hope that she provided the same distraction from the woman who constantly plagued his mind, threatening to make him go against every promise he had made himself in regards to her.

He choose the second. For even a minute in Nicolette's presence made him ask himself why he was torturing himself so much. He was Jack Sparrow, he could take what he wanted, couldn't he? No, apparently not, because he was too afraid of loosing it completely.

With pathetically begrudged steps, Jack drew a path along the deck until he sank down to sit beside Elizabeth on the steps of the Pearl.

"My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are… troubled." The girl looked up, just for a moment and then turned away with a pout.

"I just thought I'd be married by now. I'm so ready to be married."

Jack smirked and popped open the fresh bottle of rum, handing it to her. A moron could see that she was upset as she took a long swig, no longer gagging and spluttering like she had when they had been marooned together on that Island.

They had got along then, Jack thought, quite well. They had sang and drank and laughed, he had felt then like he did a lot of the nights he spent with Nicolette…or so he told himself in that moment and snatched the bottle back when the thought of her passed through her mind.

"You know…" Jack cleared his throat and turned to the girl he was going to make his sole focus. "Lizzie, I am Captain of a ship and being Captain of a ship I could, in fact, perform a marriage right here. Right on this deck. Right now."

Elizabeth stared at him in disgust, speechless and again the differences in reaction he would have received from the other woman crossed his mind. He took another sip, and Elizabeth stood up to walk away.

"No, thank you."

Jack pouted as he came to and made quick work of following her.

"Why not? We are very much alike you and I. I and you… us." He was impressed by how honest he sounded when in fact he had not thought it over at all. Jack had to admit however he was somewhat offended when the girl scoffed and scowled at him.

"Except for a sense of honour and decency and a moral centre." She listed, running her eyes over his ageing clothes. "And personal hygiene."

Elizabeth turned away and Jack took the opportunity to take a sniff of under his armpit. Smelt fine to him and he hadn't had many complaints.

"Trifles." He frowned, though began to smirk when he noticed the girl watching him from the corner of her eye. He knew that look, she was curious, and that was exactly the lead that he needed for him to start forgetting about…the other thing. "You will come over to my side, I know it."

"You seem very certain."

"One word, love: curiosity." He whispered, huskily and hung from a loose rope as Elizabeth rested her hand against the railing of the Pearl. "You long for freedom. You long to do what you want to do because you want it. To act on selfish impulse." The neck of his shirt was cut into a deep v revealing his tanned chest and his sleeves were rolled up showing off the vast amount of tattoos he had collected from a life at sea. "You want to see what it's like. One day… you won't be able to resist."

Elizabeth paused, her tongue pressing hard into her cheek as her foot bounced and fidgeted. He was getting to her and that made him very happy.

"Why doesn't your compass work?"

"My compass works fine." He frowned, both at the accusation and the unwelcome change of topic.

"Because you and I are alike. And there will come a moment when you have a chance to show it. To do the right thing."

"I love those moments." Jack smirked and pushed off from the side of the Pearl, walking around Elizabeth. "I like to wave at them as they pass by." He smiled and waved out at the waves as he walked, knowing she was following.

"You'll have the chance to do something… something courageous. And when you do, you'll discover something. That you're a good man." Jack turned suddenly, making Elizabeth come to a sharp stop in front of him so that they didn't collide with each other.

"All evidence to the contrary."

"No, I have faith in you." Elizabeth laughed. "You want to know why?"

"Do tell, dearie." Jack whispered huskily and took a step towards her. The aim was to intimidate her, to push her and see how far she was willing to go, to see how far he could pull her over to him. He was surprised when she didn't pull away, but instead leant in closer.

"Curiosity." The girl sounded out the word with a pleasantly husky tone, through pouted lips. "You're going to want it, a chance to be admired, and gain the rewards that follow." She leant in further and it was Jack who found himself taking a minuscule step back so he could gain the upper hand and tilt his chin down, looking at her. "You won't be able to resist. You're going to want to know what it tastes like." Her tongue lingered on her lips, and Jack caved. He finally got his wish and all thoughts of Nicolette diminished as he moved and trapped Elizabeth between him and the Pearl.

"I do want to know what it tastes like." He rose his hand, caressing her cheek and Elizabeth looked at him as his eyes fell almost shut.

"But seeing as you're a good man, I know that you'd never put me in a position that would compromise my honour." He was less than an inch from her lips with Elizabeth's chin raised and ready to meet him. When a different face to hers flashed in his mind causing his eyes to flash open and then at that same moment, he saw the black festering mark creep back onto the hand which was brushing through Lizzy's hair.

He pulled away slowly and then snatched his hand away as different emotions and thoughts clashed together in his head.

"I'm proud of you, Jack." She whispered, almost sounding sad. But he wasn't listening and he did not realise Elizabeth had walked away until he came to his senses and looked around, his eyes catching sight of Nicolette laughing at something the Commodore had said to her.

"I want my jar of dirt."


"Land-ho!" Gibbs had made the call and when Nicolette turned she could see the tiny faded strip of land just on the horizon ahead of them. When she looked back, she saw Jack was no longer in the spot where she had last seen him and neither was Elizabeth.

Automatically, given her past with Jack, her eyes flickered towards the door of the Captains cabin with a sullen pout and she sighed.

"Where are those shovels? The two quivering imbeciles cannot place them." Nicolette gasped, and very almost squealed as she spun around on the spot to come eye to eye with Jack… Jack… she thought and looked back at the cabin door and then back to Jack twice over. "Are you alright love?"

"I- mhmm." Though her breathlessness did not convince him as he studied her through narrowed eyes. "You startled me…I was thinking." Jack still looked unsure and, only after blowing out his cheeks and huffing, did he seem to let it go.

"Hmm." He grunted. "Anything to do with what you were talking to Mr Commodore about?" His question shouldn't have amused her as much as it did and she raised her eyes brows, crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed.

"Am I not allowed to talk to him?"

"No." He grinned, and then frowned as he noticed her face changing for the worse. "I mean yes, of course you are…About things such as…" Jack trailed off hoping she would fill in the blanks but this time he would just have to mind his own business.

"Oh, don't worry." Nicolette cooed with a smirk and took a step into the space which separated them. "Nothing about you." His face was a picture, she almost had to shut his mouth for him, but then she stepped around Jack before he tried to pull her closer. "I'll find the tools."

Jack waited a minute, watching her go, and she had probably made it two decks below already before he emitted a short high pitched squeak. "Thank you." He mumbled to no one and then took a quick look around for any looming ears. "Bloody women will be the death of me, never mind Jones."