A/N: Go Sparrabeth! Reviews are good.

Disclaimer: PotC belongs to Disney.

I took a deep breath. You're going to be fine.

But of course I wasn't. I was going to fall onto one of those spikes--suddenly one of them moved--and I would die. And both Will and Jack would be heartbroken...

Elizabeth! It's no time to be thinking about that!

"What is it?" I hollered to Jack. He didn't see me; he must have thought it was someone on deck.

"The Jaw," he shouted. "This isn't good, but don't do anything not good because it will make our not-good situation more not-good, so that we will be in a very-not-good situation! Savvy?"

I sighed.

"Speak normal for once, Captain, and what do you mean by not good?"

Jack looked up and for the first time ever I saw a trace of fear in him.

"Elizabeth!"

"What?!"

"Don't do anything--stay right there!"

"As if I'm really capable of doing anything right now," I muttered, swinging my legs a little. My knife was still in my hand. I would have to do something, though. The rope wasn't going to hold me for very long.

"I didn't hear what you just said!" I shouted, and turned away. I'm getting myself out of this.

There was an enormous roar coming from below me--from the Jaw. I braced myself and leaned all my weight away from the rope--away from the thing that was keeping my alive. Suddenly, I pulled hard with the hand holding the rope, bringing myself back to it. The rope swayed.

Good.

I continued the awkward motion until the rope could swing a considerable amount. The sharp rock-like things beneath me lunged out, nearly reaching me. I stared at the surface and realized--it was a sea monster of some sort, it was only a shell on the outside, not rocks. I gripped the rope with my feet as well, and stuck my knife between my teeth, biting down hard. With my free hand I pulled out my gun.

"ELIZABETH!" shouted Will. "What do you think you're doing?"

Why is he always interfering during inconvenient times?! The fact that I had thought of something like that scared me, told me that I was supposed to feel grateful that Will was looking out for me, but he had broken many conversations between Jack and me before--

NOW ISN'T THE TIME TO THINK ABOUT THAT!

"Will, shut it and let me do this!" I attempted to shout, but it all came out garbled because of the knife. I pointed the gun down at one of the spikes. Above me, a few rope fibers snapped.

"Elizabeth, it's not the best time! The rope!" I briefly wondered how he could see so far up. A few more fibers snapped.

I cocked the gun.

"The rope's breaking on top!"

I pulled the trigger.

The shell of the Jaw shattered where the bullet had hit it. Crimson blood flowed from the wound; the Jaw gave a low groaning noise and stopped moving so much. Many of the spikes sank into the water. But of course it wasn't dead. Suddenly some more fibers snapped. I looked down as the rope swayed. Some spikes were still underneath me--I couldn't afford to fall yet.

There was much screaming on deck as the crew battled more spikes from below. A few more fibers snapped, and I realized it was almost too late.

"Hold on, Lizzie!" Jack shouted.

"Will everyone leave me alone for a bit!" I screamed through the knife, and leaned forward, fibers snapping all the while.

It was like rushing through a tunnel. The wind bit at my face, but my momentum was strong enough to keep me going. I heard the tiny cracks of the rope as it broke more and more.

There were only a few fibers left now. I rushed toward the second mast, hanging onto the rope with one hand and my feet. My eyes widened as the mast came toward me, getting closer and closer... in less than a second I had dropped the gun, pulled the knife from my mouth, and stabbed the wood as hard as I could.

A loud crack sounded. I swung my feet around carefully. A knife in the wood wouldn't hold me for long, either. I found a foothold and sank my feet into them gratefully. I was still holding one half of the rope in one hand. I wrenched the knife from the wood and managed to climb down to the deck, where most of the crew were still fighting.

"Run out the cannons!" shouted Gibbs.

Jack reached me first.

"I'm all right," I said immediately. Will was approaching quickly.

"Go," I said urgently.

"Lizzie, that was rather good, you improved our situation--"

"Jack! He can't see you with me, tell me later, go away, go!" I looked at him apolegetically, but he must have also seen that it was important. He left to try to man the helm.

"Elizabeth," breathed Will, glancing at Jack as he walked away. "Are you--"

"Yes, I feel fine! I'm perfect... Flawless. Impeccably--er... brilliant. I'm feeling great. Will you and Jack please stop worrying about me!" His face hardened at the mention of Jack worrying about me.

"I--" I said. "I'm going to go help load the cannons, er--" I forced myself to give him a quick kiss as I hurried below.

"Three... two..." someone shouted. I loaded a cannon quickly.

"One!"

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

"Fire all!" I tried not to notice the noise, or the great bellow of the Jaw, or the warm blood spurting out.

We managed to get the Jaw weak enough to get out of it's grip, and Jack maneuvered the Pearl to the opposite shore of the island.

"Jack, I'm coming," I said, as he pulled a few crew members off the ship with him. I climbed out.

"Come along, then," he said. He pulled out his compass and started walking.

"I guess they did have a good enough reason to be so vicious," he muttered.

"What?"

"Them. The bloody twins. They mentioned my leaving them on a deserted island with some beast. It was this island--that beast."

"Jack, why on Earth would you do that?" I asked exasperatedly. Jack always landed on both feet, always had some way of getting out of anything, but did he have to get into so much trouble?

"Look here," he said. "We were in some battle with someone doing some very stupid things. And in the middle of said battle with said someone doing said stupid things, I noticed that the said stupid things we were doing were very stupid, so I tried to get them to stop the said battle with said someone in which we were doing said stupid things, but they did not listen, so technically they were getting themselves into the mess, but admittedly it was my fault because I did not help them stop said battle with said someone, and left them here on this island with the Jaw, and the said someone we were battling ran off with the thing for which we were battling said battle. Savvy?"

I paused a little in my walking, then nodded and continued.

"Jack," I said slowly. "I heard your conversation with Will."

"Curiosity," he sighed. "I thought so."

"Jack," I said in a more insistent tone. "We can't be together. He'll kill you!"

"Lizzie, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!"

"Jack. I'm serious. We can't--I can't do this to you."

"Elizabeth."

I looked up at him sadly.

"He'll find out. I can't let you be in danger like this!"

"Elizabeth, I love you," he whispered.

I stared at him, tears brimming in my eyes. My heart started to beat faster, I felt a blush seeping into my cheeks but I also felt a warm, sweet flutter somewhere in my chest. I already knew what he had said, but hearing him say it... if it were a more normal day, I would have smiled all day. Yet I felt as if I were losing something. I knew I couldn't let Jack know, couldn't encourage him, but I wanted so badly to have him. Yet how could I without hurting him?! I have to give it up, I can't do this! But I did.

My voice was even quieter than his. "I love you, too, Jack."