After falling with a thud in the dirt below her second story room, Elizabella stood and looked up at the open window and the trellis she had ventured down, making sure her sister or grandmother hadn't heard her. Inside the house, no one moved. After being sure it was absolutely safe, she ran down the road that lead toward the docks, her shoes leaving quiet taps to echo through the night air.

To join the echoes once she was far enough away from home she sang softly,

'Cause her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
I loved that girl with all my heart
I only liked the upper part
I did not like the tail.

It was a song about a mermaid her father had sang to her when she couldn't sleep in the stiffening darkness of their home… that was before he left on a merchant ship and her mother died. Back when things were at least somewhat happy.

She reached the docks to find a militia of military men lined up to guard the gates. How on earth am I to get in there? She wondered, gazing at them nervously from behind a concrete column. She thought for a long while then decided that if Captain Sparrow really wanted to see her then he'd come to her when he heard her voice. After all, he was military as well. She ventured straight into the soldiers' line of vision unafraid but acting nervous. "Bear! Bear! Where could that mangy cur have gone!" She called out, frustrated.

"Ma'am… you're not supposed to be-"

"I'm terribly sorry sir, but my puppy has wondered off somewhere and if I don't find him soon I'll just…" She started to cry a bit and the man consoled her awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, ma'am but I don't know where your dear pet could have gone… I didn't see him pass by here."

"I know where he is!" A man piped, walking away from the Wicked Wench and up to Elizabella. "I seen him trot by not too long ago… I'll take you to him." It was Captain Sparrow. They ventured away from the docks and Sparrow grinned widely. "You're clever."

"You're a fool!" Elizabella said, turning her nose up at him.

"Why do you say that?"

"'Come back tonight.'" She mocked, "What a brilliant plan! I mean, aside from the military and the guns and risk of death hanging over my shoulders, tonight has been great!"

"Ah, but, dear, would it have been half as fun meeting me here if there wasn't a risk?" He said, crossing his hands behind his back and tauntingly walking in front of her.

"I suppose… you have a point," Lizzie said, catching up with him. "Captain Sparrow-"

"Jack…"

"Beg pardon?"

"It's Jack, love…"

"Ah… well… Jack, what would you call your ship if it weren't the 'Wicked Wench'?"

"I'm not sure," He replied, walking to the shore and sitting in the sand. Elizabella sat beside him and continued listening to him speak. "It would be something mysterious… something… oxymoronic."

"Oh…" was the only response Lizzie could mumble. She didn't know what he meant… and she certainly didn't know what 'oxymoronic' meant.

There was a small moment of awkward silence that passed after Jack laid on the cool sand and looked up at the stars, muttering, "Tell me, deary, what did that prick Becket have to say to you as you left?"

Elizabella rolled her eyes at once and quietly mocked her fiancée, "Now, Lizzie, do remember your current place… and that would be as my fiancée… not some ignorant sailor's concubine." Jack's mouth slowly turned up word into the handsomely sly grin he wore so well. "The nerve of that man! To think that one: I would be so promiscuous that I would lose my morals and sleep with some 'ignorant sailor'" Lizzie quoted angrily, "and two: that I am so ridiculously stupid that I would forget that I was his 'fiancée' and run off with another man." She looked up at the stars almost forgetting Jack was accompanying her and muttered, "Not that I enjoy being due to betroth that man… I despise the very idea of it."

"Then why do it?" Jack interrupted, switching his position so that he may lay on his side to face her, his head propped on his bent arm.

"It's not like I have much of a choice," Lizzie said, suddenly remembering that Jack was beside her and looking down at him.

"It's your life, is it not? You're a woman… free to choose whatever fate you like for yourself."

"Not entirely free, I'm afraid," She replied. She pulled her shawl over her shoulders and looked at the sand below her. "I've got to think of my family. My sister, Lord bless her, was in an awful accident a few years ago… she burnt her leg so badly that no man ever looks twice at her. My grandmother's husband left this world long ago… my brother has a family of his own to support… don't see how though. He'll viciously beat anyone in his way when he's angry. My father left some time ago… wanted to be free to sail the seas. Never came back…" Her voice faded as the picture of her not so perfect family flashed through her mind.

"And what of your mother?" Jack asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

A tear came to Elizabella's eye as she spoke. "My mother…" The faded image of a small, dainty woman passed through her imagination as she mumbled, "My mother died when I was still a little girl…" All was quiet for a moment and even the chorus of crickets and frogs that were heard in the distance seemed to silence their song in remembrance.

Jack rose and placed an arm awkwardly around Lizzie's shoulder, unused to bringing comfort to anyone. Still, set on getting Elizabella's mind off of the subject, he said solemnly, "You still are a little girl, Lizzie." She smiled a bit as the leftover tears spewed from her eyes and onto her pale cheeks.

"Not according to Beckett," she mumbled, laughing a bit and wiping her cheeks.

"He's sick… desperate, I'm sure," Jack muttered, removing his arm from her shoulder and started looking out to the sea. "Tell me, Lizzie… if not Beckett… what kind of man would you marry?"

"Well… perhaps a sailor. I was always told that women always grow up and marry their fathers… not literally of course, but yes… yes I should like to marry a sailor of sorts."

Jack was silent for a moment. Then, after a devilishly handsome grin spread across his face, he said, rather solemnly, "Perhaps you should get home."

"Why? The sun doesn't come up for another few hours!" Elizabella protested.

"You look like you need some rest, dear… and aside from that, Beckett's sending me off on some ridiculous task in the morning and I need to get my bearings… It was very nice talking to you, Lizzie." He stood, held his hand out and pulled her to her feet then turned, his black hair, straight and tame, slicking from over his shoulders to the original position on his back, protecting most of his neck from the chilling night air.

"Jack… will I ever see you again?"

"Perhaps. Although, with Beckett being your fiancée I've a feeling he'll put a stop to our meetings when he finds out."

"How will he know?"

"The docksmen may not be the brightest, but they'll catch on… Lizzie, I'm not so sure you and I will be seeing each other outside of Beckett's company."

"Why've you changed your mind so suddenly? Just moments ago you were alright with you and I meeting in secret… and I quite like the spontaneity and excitement of it all… Jack, you're one of the only friends I've ever had… without you I… I don't know what I'll do."

"Friends?"

"That's what I'd like to think you are," Elizabella mumbled, smiling and lowering her head to hide her reddened face.

"A friend wouldn't put their companion in harm's way, love"

Elizabella thought for a moment and suddenly decided he was right… He didn't want her to get into any trouble… and she didn't want him to encounter any either. He smile faded and she nodded silently, and then started to walk away from him, almost in tears. She turned back to him as he watched her leave and mumbled, "Would a friend walk their companion home?"

Young Jack silently smiled, and walked over to Elizabella, linking his arm with hers. He started walking her in the direction of her home and as the night air slowly engulfed them in the sorrowful knowledge of them knowing it was the first and last time they'd share any sort of moment like this, they cherished the connection between them.