There will inevitably be a time in all of our lives when we find ourselves forced to make a difficult, perhaps even life-changing decision. Very few of our decisions will involve time travel. Such was the predicament Jack Sparrow was in.

As Jack continued down towards the harbor, trying to make up his mind on exactly what to do, he started to form a sort of mental 'to do' list. First and foremost, Gillette would not get the Pearl. That scheming little coward wouldn't get his hands on the Pearl while there was still a breath in Jack's body. Secondly, Jack was pretty certain he'd get an earful from Will if he didn't work out that whole kidnaping thing, so they would have to make sure they stopped that plan before it go too out of hand. Jack knew that if it was up to Will, they would simply stop Gillette from even finding the ship to begin with. That, Jack mused, was exactly why Will was a blacksmith and he was the captain of the most feared pirate ship in the whole- well he would he again soon enough. No, Jack knew he had to let Gillette form his little plan so that he could foil it so completely that he would never dare plot against them again.

Suddenly Jack was struck with an idea. An idea so marvelously delightfully terrific that he had to pause a moment and grin. He knew exactly what he needed to do.

"Oh, this should be fun."

As Jack continued to refine his plan, he realized Gibbs and Anamaria would need more time to collect a crew, and Gillette would be able to find an excuse to get some soldiers together sooner or later. Something would have to be done. Jack stopped and turned to face Will and Elizabeth.

"We're going to need to buy Gibbs some time and keep Gillette occupied if we hope to succeed. I think a bit of a distraction is in order"

He rubbed his chin and moment and narrowed his eyes as if in thought, though to Will and Elizabeth, it seemed like he already had come up with an idea, and was merely doing it for show, which he was. He suddenly turned to Elizabeth and gave her one of those smiles that made her want to back away slowly and keep backing away slowly until she was far, far away from it.

"Elizabeth, darling."

"...yes?" she said in an uncharacteristically small voice.

"I'm afraid I'm going to need you to go a bit insane."

"What?"

"Crazy, mad, loony, et cetera, et cetera" Jack said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"But why on Earth would you want me to do such a thing?"

"Because if the governor's lovely wife is suddenly running around like she's lost her mind, it's bound to attract some attention, most notably that of the governor. Norrington will set every soldier on this island out to track you down and find out what the devil's gotten into you, and he won't particularly care if Gillette protests, especially if he doesn't have a good excuse for it."

Will looked contemplative for as moment. "You know, that actually might work..."

Elizabeth shot daggers at him, then fixed her gaze into an icy glare to face Jack. If Jack was bothered by having mental icicle-daggers shot at him by Elizabeth, he showed no signs of it.

"It's really the only way, love."

"But I'll never be able to show my face in Port Royal again! I'll be completely humiliated!"

"Well, if you do a good enough job, you won't have to worry about that now, will you? Jack said cheerfully.

"But…what am I supposed to do?" Elizabeth whimpered..

"Well that's the fun part." Jack said with a wink and a grin. "Be creative."

Elizabeth stood helplessly for a moment, then sighed, straightened up, and set her jaw defiantly. She took down her hair and mussed it up until it was a tangled mess. She then reached down to a nearby mud puddle and without flinching, rubbed her face, leaving great muddy streaks across it. She ripped at the lacy sleeves of her nightgown until they were a tattered mess around her arms.

"Not bad." Jack said as he walked out of a nearby stable with a drowsy looking dapple grey horse. Will, who had just stood looking rather uncomfortable as Jack had pilfered the animal, suddenly seemed to remember his gentlemanly ways of long ago and ran to Elizabeth's aid as she got up on the horse.

"Good luck." He whispered as he managed a pained smile.

Elizabeth looked down at him and returned his wavering smile with a warm one of her own. She looked down at the man who she had never really stopped loving despite trying to convince herself for years she had, and whispered. "We'll make things right."

The two looked into each other's eyes a moment longer before being snapped out of their reverie by an absurdly loud throat-clearing. Jack, who had thought he had been a rather good sport about putting up with such a nauseating display of affection, could only cross his arms and roll his eyes for so long before he had put an end to it. Besides, be reasoned, if wasn't exactly like they had all evening.

"Well then Elizabeth, do us a favor and hold off on the theatrics until you're a ways away from us, and stay clear of the fort, aye? Godspeed love." he said with mock-seriousness as he squinted up at her.

Elizabeth gave a nod, dug her heels into the still groggy horse's side, and took off.

Will watched her disappear into the night and turned to find to his surprise that Jack had nearly done the same. As soon al Elizabeth had left, Jack was already taking off in the opposite direction, and Will had to race to catch up to him. "Jack, why did you tell Elizabeth to steer clear of the fort?"

Jack sighed. "Really William, must I explain everything?"

"You...you aren't actually planning on going there, are you?"

"Unless you people keep your guns somewhere else in the future."

"But the Navy..."

They then both turned towards the sudden sounds of screaming and shouting in the other direction.

"...will be otherwise occupied." Jack finished with a grin.

Jack and Will crept silently along the wall of the fort, edging slowly towards the entrance. Jack listened intently, then held up a finger and both men stopped in their tracks and pressed their bodies against the wall as a stream of crimson clad soldiers streamed out of the wide doorway. Jack cast a disapproving glance at Will's gut, which protruded out a great deal from the rest of him and was rather hampering their stealthiness. The last of the soldiers ran though the doorway and towards the commotion, and Jack motioned Will inside.

The two made their way down to the armory. Before them was a whole array of weaponry. Jack grinned and steepled his fingers in front of him, hardly able to keep them from twitching with anticipation."Will, be a good lad and find us some horses and I'll stay here and load a wagon."

Will took off reluctantly, mumbling something about how Jack really shouldn't be able to call him a 'lad' anymore.

"There's a good lad." Jack said as be cheerfully went to work loading the nastiest looking weapons he could find. A wagon load of weaponry 20 years more advanced then where they were going would certainly an advantage.

Jack held up a rifle and murmured, "Have I got a surprise for you Gillette."

"Actually, Mister Sparrow, I believe it is I who have the surprise."

Jack's face took on a pained expression as he turned slowly to find a very large pistol aimed at him, held by none other then Gillette.

"You know Sparrow, I'm doing you a favor."

"Are you now? Much olbliged I'm sure." Jack replied, his tone mocking, despite the pistol aimed at his face. "Remind me what it is again you're doing for me, mate."

Gillette chose to ignore Jack's mocking tone and continued. "That ship is unpredictable. Dangerous. You never know where it could take you or when. It dissapeared shortly after we captured the Pearl."

"Thanks much for the warning, but I've always been one to take my chances." Jack replied, swaying just slightly and looking past Gillette.

"No Sparrow, I don't think you will." Gillette said as he cocked the pistol. His face then took on a bemused expression and he lowered the pistol just slightly. "You know, never capturing you was one of my only regrets. Of course, taking your precious ship from you did far more damage then I could have ever hoped. I only wish that your death was at the hands of the Navy."Gillette paused a moment and his face lit up. "Though I guess now it will be afterall! That ship truly is a blessing." he murmured as he took aim with the pistol once again.

"You'll be thinking very differently in the future-er, past as it were. You'll think of it as nothing but a curse." Jack then held him hand to his chest." And as a man that's dealt with more then his fair share of curses, you can trust that I know one when I see one."

"Always talking like you have every situation under control! You just grin that stupid grin of yours like you're so certain that you can get out of anything!" Gillette shouted, nearly hysterical."When will you understand Sparrow? It's over! You lost. You can't do anything to stop me!"

"You're absolutley right, mate." Jack said, flashing that infuriating grin. "But he can." Jack pointed behind Gillette, and he spun around just in time to see the thing that was about to knock him unconscious face-to-face just before it did. And by the look on his face just before it collided with a rather thick plank of wood, he also cought a glimpse of the person weilding it, too. Will decided that one look was worth all the trouble of this little adventure, even if it didn't succeed.

I was going to stop this chapter right after the "Actually, Mister Sparrow, I believe it is I who have the surprise." line, but that would have just been mean. Oh well, you could have blamed Dead Man's Chest for that cliffhanger. Damn movie's a bad influence. This was just one of those chapters you kind of need to get through to get to the fun part, but I'll hopefully have the next one up soon since I'm so excited about it. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!