A/N: Thank you, dear reviewers!
Disclaimer: PotC belongs to Disney.
Night and silence fell like a blanket around the Pearl. I quietly stepped on deck and approached the bow. There was no one on deck, no one at the helm. The ship sat still on the water. I glanced to the side and saw that the anchors had been dropped.
I rested my elbows on the sides of th eship and tried to imagine myself being truly free. There were so many possibilities... with Jack, but after what I had done to him... I had just turned to go back to my cabin when I saw Jack leaning against the helm, watching me.
"Jack--" I said immediately, while at the same time he said, "Are you--"
"You can speak first," I said.
"I thought so," agreed Jack. "I was saying, are you finished with your little... tantrum?"
I sighed.
"I was going to talk about that. Jack, I'm--I'm scared. I didn't mean to say those things, but I'm scared... that maybe it was intentional, and that someone, that you, could possibly do that..."
I entwined my arms around his neck and he pulled his arms around me.
"You must loathe me now," I whispered. "I really shouldn't have said that, about pretending... I'm sorry. I really am. And I wouldn't blame you for loathing me now..."
"No, darling," said Jack. "I don't loathe you. Funny how I don't, eh?"
I smiled with relief and Jack pressed his lips to mine.
"Do you think we could possibly run from Beckett forever?" I asked.
"Aye, we could run from the Dauntless," said Jack. "But sooner or later, luv, they'll get a new, faster ship or more ships and then we won't be able to run. Savvy?"
I gave him a blank look.
"It means we'll have to fight," he said.
"Jack, no!" I protested. "What if someone... what if you--"
"It's worth the risk, darling," he whispered. "to be free."
"No, it's not!" I said firmly.
"The other choice is hanging. We can't run forever."
"You're right," I sighed, looking up at him.
"Always the tone of surprise," said Jack.
He tightened his embrace around me, as if unwilling to ever let go. And I stood swaying in his arms, taking in every detail of him--his rough tanned hands comfortingly stroking my hair, his lips ever-so-gently brushing my cheeks, his dark eyes, never leaving mine for more than a few seconds. They looked like two pools that were as deep as eternity. What a world he must have gone through... unlike me... and like me. And I felt as if I had come home from the world I'd come through, home to adventure and love, and freedom.
"Yes, it's what I want," I whispered. The risk, and the danger. Part of the adventure I had yearned for all my life.
"And you can have it, when it comes," said Jack. "But at the moment we're after what I want."
"Merlow's treasure?"
"Aye. And his rum."
"How could I forget," I muttered, but suddenly I remembered something. "Jack..."
"Yes, Lizzie darling?"
"You owe the twins a blood debt."
"I do."
"How can you pay that?"
"Normally a blood debt is formed when someone saves someone else's life. Therefore, it would stand to reason that the said someone else would pay the blood debt by saving the said someone's life when the said someone is in danger. Savvy?"
I nodded.
"But in my case, I did... sort of leave them to die. I could still save them. But they have the right to leave me to die somewhere any time."
"But--" I said.
"However, they wouldn't do that because although I owe them a blood debt, they owe me a few favors because I brought them powerful magical items. If they leave me to die, they wouldn't be the rightful owners of said powerful magical items, and they would want to be, so they wouldn't leave me to die. Savvy?"
I nodded again.
"I see only one little problem," I said.
"What?"
"You said we're after Merlow's treasure. But I don't see that we're sailing."
Jack grinned, and started to say something, but he motioned for me to turn around and look behind me.
I did so slowly and dreadingly.
And found the Dauntless skimming in the water, its bow nearly level with the the Pearl's.