A/N: AWE was so amazing! It took a while of considering, but I finally decided that even though AWE has ruined my fanfic, I'll continue. Ignore everything that happened in AWE, thanks!

Disclaimer: You already know what I don't own. :)

"It's Lizzie, isn't it?" asked Aryza as I slid down to the damp floor to sit, shivering a little in the cold air.

"It's Miss--" I began, my fear turning to disgust, then stopping suddenly. I wasn't "the governor's daughter" anymore. "It's Elizabeth."

"Well, Elizabeth," said Emera. Her voice seemed to have lost some of its fury and contempt from earlier as she threw a fluffy warm blanket at me. I guessed that it must have been stolen from a very fine place.

"So how did you meet Jack?" she asked, her hard golden-brown eyes staring at me with interest.

"I--" I began awkwardly, still feeling uneasy under the twins' gaze, "I--fell into the water, when I lived in Port Royal, and Jack saved my life, while getting caught himself."

"You lived in Port Royal?" asked Aryza.

"I was the governor's daughter," I said without thinking.

"And you're a pirate?" There was a hint of admiration and disbelief in her voice now. I nodded.

"So he saved you and got caught," said Emera. "How noble of him. I s'pose it's the only thing he's ever done that's not for his own benefit. Or perhaps he fell in love the moment he saw you falling, and wanted to capture your heart that way."

I was liking them less by the minute, and rushed in defense of Jack.

"That's not true," I protested hotly. "He must have done plenty of good things, even for the pirate that he is."

Aryza laughed--a high laugh that I didn't like very much.

"So when did he start to fancy you?"

"I don't know," I said slowly. "But I'm engaged to Will. He'll get over this."

"Ah, is that so? Well then, tell us about his latest 'victory.' I've heard he died, then came back and killed Davy Jones?"

"Yes," I said, and related finding the Chest and having the heart of Davy Jones stolen by Norrington, and returning to the ship, and the kracken, and the terrible deed I did on the ship in a selfish hope of getting out alive.

"I kissed him," I said, feeling my face burn scarlet. "And while he was distracted, I--chained him... to the mast... when the kracken came. I thought it was the only way--I knew it wanted him, not any of us--I thought..." I trailed off, feeling the guilt and shame hurt me again.

"Well done," commented one of the twins. I ignored her.

"And we sailed to the end of the world to find him," I said. "And when we came back, we fought. He stabbed the heart of Davy Jones."

"And after what you did to him, he still loves you?" asked Emera. I shrugged a little.

"He's a good man," I said quietly, and for once they were silent. I slumped on the floor with the blanket around my shoulders, unable to untangle my feelings. The only thing I knew was that I loved Will... and perhaps I could consider the relationship between Jack and me friendship. He had forgiven me for what I had done, even when I was still unable to forgive myself. He had been like... a brother, a charming and wonderful friend, working alongside me and the rest of the crew the entire time, and still as unpredictable as the wind that filled the sails. He had promised to rescue me again, and I trusted him with all my heart. And now I did regret saying the things I had that day on the ship, because I knew he did care about me, even if love was one step too far...

Stuck in the middle of my knot of emotions, I found myself drifting away...

I half-awoke as I felt the strong arms of one of the girls carrying me and dumping me not very ceremoniously on a pile of blankets in another alcove. She had barely whispered something, making a stone door close the alcove, before I fell asleep again...

I awoke again as the door opened and Aryza stood above me, chanting something, then I fell back onto the blankets, realizing too late that they were putting sleeping spells on me...

"Elizabeth," whispered a familiar voice. "Elizabeth, wake up."

"Jack," I mumbled. "I want to sleep."

"Oh, bugger," he muttered. "Sleeping spells..."

I felt his arms slide under my body and lift me up.

I found him carrying me away—I didn't know where we were going, but I knew he could not open the stone door of the alcove.

"Where're we going?" I asked groggily.

"Shh," he said quietly. "The Pearl."

"What?" I opened my eyes a little. "But... I was locked up..."

"I'll explain, be patient," said Jack in a hushed voice. "You'll have to be quiet for now. You wouldn't want to go back there, and they can make their increase their hearing tenfold in less time than it takes to get back to the ship, savvy?"

"Mm," I said, and before I could figure out what he had said, I felt overly drowsy again, and fell asleep.

I finally awoke for the last time to golden sunshine that streamed through a window by the bed I was on. I looked around and recognized Jack's cabin. I got out of his bed and walked to his desk curiously. I couldn't help looking a little at the maps and charts strewn over the desk, with various markings all over them. I noticed the compass lying on top of one of the maps and reached for it. I opened it slowly, not really knowing what to expect. The needle inside spun a little, then stopped, pointing to the door of the cabin. Is Will on deck...? I wondered, thinking that I should go see him and find out what had happened, but I stayed instead, my eyes roving over the charts of the Caribbean Sea. I still held the open compass in my hand, and turned it a little. The needle still pointed to the door, which suddenly burst open, revealing Jack with his hat in his hand, walking in.

I snapped the compass shut.

"Curious, aren't you?" said Jack. "Didn't I tell you about you and curiosity?" I blushed a little, feeling embarrased for looking through the items on his desk.

"I'm only human," I said. "Savvy?"

Jack grinned roguishly.

"I suppose you'll want to know what happened?"

"Indeed," I said.

"I decided to explore this cove here," he stated simply, "and I at the very end I found an opening, and I managed to make it big enough. And I went through, and I found you there, and I realized where I was."

I noticed cuts and bruises on his arms, and felt my gratitude increase.

"I knew you would come," I said softly. "Do they know...?"

"Aye. I told them they said they would keep you for a day, and it was just about a day by then. I'd already got you here by then. So I could only fight them off--lucky they didn't think about that spell they'd put on you, because I had forgot too. So we're sailing now, and we have three days to get their bloody payment."

"But they're strong," I said. "It would be really hard to, you know, try to fight them. And they're witches as well."

"Darlin, I told you to trust me," he said, making his voice sound mock-offended. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!"

I rolled my eyes playfully a little.

"But I did have some help," he admitted as an afterthought. "Your fiance came after a while."

I smiled, feeling warm inside. Will's always there for me. But somehow now I felt different towards him. My feelings for him seemed to have diminished, as if they had been stolen away by something or someone else. I started to panic.

"How can I ever thank--" I began to Jack.

"It was my fault, love," he insisted. "And my duty to get you out of there. I'm just glad you didn't do anything stupid... like your fiance might have done."

"Oh, honestly," I said halfheartedly, laughing and trying to shake off my unease--it didn't work. "Now if you'll excuse me, captain, I think I ought to be outside now."

"To work, then," he said, holding the door open for me. I stepped into the blazing sunlight and found someone descending from the rigging.

"I'll take that post," I said, and started to climb.

When I had reached the top of my set of ropes, I had a gorgeous view of the ocean around us, with Isla de Profecia shrinking into the distance. I glanced down at the deck as I worked with the ropes, where Jack had taken over the helm with his compass in hand. He looked smug and quite pleased with something. Smiling slightly, I watched as he turned the wheel with practiced strokes, then out of the corner of my eye I saw someone staring at me. I turned my head, feeling a little reluctant, and found Will with a strange, hard expression on his face. As soon as he realized I saw him, he looked away.

And all of a sudden, I knew exactly who had stolen my feelings for Will. Trying to calm my becoming-more-irritated mind, I took a few deep breaths, but only succeeded in making more panic rise.

Who do I love?