A/N: Wow, it's done! 8O I have to give a massive thank you to my beta, jedipati, for being a part of this project! Also, thank you to lady angst, Calathiel of Mirkwood, master of time, Belphegor, and Manwathiel for your reviews! A novelization isn't exactly exciting to most people and I appreciate your time and words more than I can say. YOU ARE WONDERFUL!!

To master of time: You are incredibly sweet. The Will-Elizabeth scene is one of my favorites too. Thank you so, so much.

To Manwathiel: Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! It means so so sooooo much. You rock!! :D

Disclaimer: POTC belongs to Disney!

Jack Sparrow was given royal treatment. A rope was tossed to him; he seized it, and was promptly wrenched out of the water. Up, up, up he soared, a willingly snared fish. Splashing saltwater over all, he dramatically careened amongst the masts, allowing himself to be swiftly lowered to the quarterdeck. He landed with a wonderful thud.

A tad sore in the tailbone but completely oblivious of it, he sat up in the warm sun and squinted sternly through his hair and beads at Mr. Gibbs, who had rushed up to greet him.

"Thought y'were supposed to keep to the Code," Jack said severely.

Gibbs quirked a brow. "We figured they were more actual . . . guidelines."

The mute Mr. Cotton and Marty came up behind Gibbs, firm agreement in their eyes. Then Gibbs offered his captain a sturdy, worn hand, which was eagerly taken. Jack came to his feet and faced his beaming first mate and crew. He thought about how grateful he should be that the pirates who had left him to hang had come back just before he died. He discovered then that he was grateful…somewhere…

Mr. Cotton redeemed the entire crew when he held out Jack's worn hat, his face split into countless smile-seams.

"Thank you." Jack took the hat and pulled it gratefully over his sopping head. Aye, the world was good now.

"Captain Sparrow."

Jack turned toward that woman-voice, and there was Anamaria, leaning calmly against the helm. Her black hair swished in the breeze as she surveyed him for a long, eloquent moment. Then she went to him. From behind, she placed his dark coat over his shoulders. She gazed at the side of his thoughtful face as he fingered the material. "The Black Pearl is yours."

Jack's avid eyes went to the waiting helm. He minced cautiously to it. Slowly, slowly, his fingers circled one sun-warmed knob. Then his eyelids lowered and he stroked the wood with his other hand, the passionate caress bringing silence to the entire deck.

Five highly touching seconds later, his eyes snapped open. Gone was the bedraggled survivor, the man without a home. Now one exceedingly swashbuckling Captain Jack Sparrow was surveying the smiling faces of his crew. His brow furrowed.

"On deck, you scabrous dogs!" he bellowed. "Hands to braces!"

With properly intimidated scuffing and jostling, the crew scattered as Mr. Cotton's parrot echoed, "Hands to braces!"

"Let down and haul to run free!" Jack added, savoring the words. Alone now, he took a tight, intimate grasp of the helm as the briny breeze stirred its damp strands around him and his beloved ship.

"Now." He lifted his gaze and squinted out, far. "Bring me that horizon." He hummed Elizabeth's tune in vague exultance, lifting his north-ignoring compass. When he turned the helm, it creaked with reassuring eagerness; he felt the sea and the wind pull tight about the Pearl, bracing to make her fly. "And really bad eggs . . ."

Seagulls drifted sideways on the gusts above, calling down to their wooden water-sister, watching her poise for flight. Indeed, awareness of the reunion between the Black Pearl and her beloved resounded in every wave in every sea. In that moment, an hourglass set by the true king of the sea ran out, and beyond the end of the world, a monster stirred awake with a clarion call that shook the dawn.

But that moment passed. Now, the Pearl's sails awaited Captain Jack's signal to invite the wind–

"Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!"

He snapped his compass closed, the wind hurled itself into the warm canvas, and in that moment, all was satisfied delight.

For all love a happy beginning.