Thanks to all my dear reviewers! You're diamonds, mates;)

Spoiler: I am sorry, however... in this chapter, Will is still alive...

Disclaimer: I don't own POTC (if I remember correctly).

Chapter 10

After Will had left, Elizabeth slumped onto the bed. His words stunned her into silence. She could not collect her thoughts. Could Jack really say all of these? What for? Why? How? She was unable to think clearly.

He had said he loved her. He had said it. He did not have to, and yet he had said it. He must have been conscious that she was bewitched by him enough to let him do with her almost whatever he wanted, even without declaring that he loved her. She blushed, as she realized that. But it was true, she could not deny it.

It seemed painfully incredible that he might be so cynical. And even if he was, why should he admit it to Will? It flashed through her mind it was not true, but then it would mean that Will had lied to her, that he had deliberately deceived her, and that appeared to her to be virtually an abstract possibility. Will was not a liar. He never lied. He could not lie in such a vicious way. She was positive about that.

She sighed, and fell on the bed, her eyes closed. When she opened them again, they were full of tears.

"Oh Jack", she whispered, brushing the tears away, and staring blankly at the ceiling.

"What, luv?"

She started, and quickly straightened herself up on the bed. Jack was leaning against the closed door, looking at her thoughtfully.

"I didn't hear you...", she said softly.

He did not want to come to her, he did not want to see her, yet this feeling was stronger than his will, and eventually he had to come. He was beginning to realize that there were emotions which he could not control, and what he felt for Elizabeth definitely belonged to this new category.

Elizabeth looked at him with sparkling eyes. She forgot what she was thinking of.

Jack smiled at her faintly, feeling that all his anger, all his jealousy was thawing in her presence. Especially, that he could see in her eyes all these feelings he hoped she had for him. So how it was possible that...

She looked so fragile, so vulnerable, her hair in such a charming disarray that there was really nothing else to do but take her into his arms and never let go, never let go...

He took a few steps forward, and noticed that she must have been crying. He sat next to her, and propped her chin with his hand.

"Why are you crying, Lizzie?", he asked, looking at her intently.

"Why are you angry with me, Jack? About what? What for?", she asked in quivering voice.

"I should not", he said, taking his hand away. "I know I shouldn't. Ye did what ye had to do, or... what ye wanted to do", he added after some hesitation, staring at the floor. "Doesn't matter."

"What are you talking about?", asked Elizabeth, instinctively leaning towards him, so that when he lifted his head, they were facing each other directly, their lips inches away from each other's, their eyes fixed.

"Why did ye do this?", Jack almost pleaded.

"What?", she inquired, perplexed.

Jack sighed, and tried not to look at her. But it was even worse, for when he turned his head to look away, he could feel her warm breath on his neck.

"Why did ye... Why did ye...", he stammered with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Why did ye marry him?", he finally managed to finish his question, and looked at her peevishly, at the same time however, also hardly keeping himself from pressing his lips against hers.

Elizabeth blinked several times, before she could give him any answer.

"Why did I what?!", she exclaimed, quite shocked.

Jack drew back a little, and looked at her, stupefied.

"Why did ye... marry him?", he repeated with a doubt in his voice, as a merry thought crossed his mind. "Because ye did, didn't ye?"

"I did not do such thing!", said Elizabeth, frowning indignantly.

Jack stared at her with a blank expression on his face, until a faint smile flickered across his lips, changing quickly into a roguish one, and then disappearing again, as he muttered under his breath with astonishment:

"Bugger. Little lying bugger!..."

"Beg pardon?!"

"Not ye, luv", explained Jack quickly with a smirk.

"Will...", she guessed, thinking about what Will had said that Jack had told him.

"Aye", nodded Jack. "But I have a feeling that we could change the topic now", said Jack, looking and feeling completely relaxed again, as the situation had luckily and conveniently clarified itself.

He lifted her hand to his lips, and kissed her gently.

"But you did believe him", said Elizabeth, slowly withdrawing her hand from his.

Jack looked at her questioningly.

"You don't trust me", she stated sadly, looking as if she was about to start crying again.

"I do trust ye, Lizzie", said Jack almost immediately, brushing her hair off her face.

"Somewhere deep inside you don't, if you believed him...", she insisted, unconsciously stealing for the touch of his hand on her face. "And I did not believe in what he said about you...", said Elizabeth, idealizing slightly her attitude towards Will's lies.

"An' what was that?", asked Jack, merely intrigued, more interested at the moment in running his hands slowly through her hair, and then down her neck.

"Well...", began Elizabeth, blushing, trembling, avoiding his eyes as much as she could; trying to concentrate on what she was saying.

Jack smiled, wrapping his arms around her. He thought that she looked lovely when she was embarrassed. Almost as lovely as when she was upset.

After some hesitation, Elizabeth decided to literally quote Will's words. She expected Jack to express some kind of indignation, but instead he seemed rather amused.

"A night or two...", he said thoughtfully. "Yes, I definitely couldn't have said that."

Elizabeth smiled, and wanted to say something, but then Jack added:

"Three or four, yes. But two?"

"Jack!", she exclaimed angrily.

He put his hand over her lips in order to silence her, and slowly leaning towards her, began to kiss her delicately, tenderly, planting kisses on her eyelids, on her cheeks, on her neck.

"As we have bravely defeated a crisis that was about to ensue between us, luv", he whispered, looking steadily into her eyes, "some kind of a reconciliation seems to be necessary..."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, putting a defensive look on her face, wondering whether he could hear her heart beating furiously in her chest.

"We did not really argue, so how come we need a reconciliation?", she asked with a grimace.

"Well, a reconciliation needs not an explanation but it does yield for a gratification that could reconcile and explain the reasons for reconciliation in the first place", said Jack matter-of-factly.

"I don't understand a single word, Jack", whispered Elizabeth meekly, pressing her lips against his.

"But ye've got the meaning right, luv", said Jack, grinning, and promptly returned the kiss.

Holding her in his arms felt strangely wonderful. As if everything else was of little importance. He used to think he needed so many things to be content. The sea, the Pearl, the adventure... The rum. And now he felt as if the only thing he needed was her. And the thought was somehow disturbing, dangerous; most definitely not pirate-like.

"What are ye thinkin' of, Lizzie?", he asked, noticing her slipping suddenly into a pensive mood, as she reluctantly broke the kiss.

"My father", she said sadly.

"Aye. That's right. Ye spoke with yer father... And what did yer dear father had to say 'bout yer evil pirate captain fiancé?"

Elizabeth gave Jack a searching look. Did he mean it? Or was his choice of words accidental?

"Nothing new, I guess", she said looking pensively into the distance. "He said... what Will said... that you're treating me like a plaything."

"A plaything?", the word amused Jack. He smiled mischievously, which upset Elizabeth.

"I'm not a plaything!", she declared firmly.

Although Jack usually considered their arguments amusing, at the moment he preferred a docile and timid Elizabeth over a temperamental and a frowning one, so he did what he had learnt to be the simplest way to tame her – he kissed her.

"Jack... Jack...", she tried to push him away, although not very resolutely. "We have to... Jack!..."

"Hush, plaything", he whispered with pretended arrogance.

"Jack, I'm serious!", she exclaimed, finally managing to draw back. "We have to come up with a plan!"

Jack rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I know", he nodded.

"I have an idea", said Elizabeth in a proud tone of voice.

Jack smiled roguishly.

"The plaything has a plan. Let's hear it", he ordered.

Elizabeth pouted her lips, and stood up quickly.

"Well, if you're not interested...", she started.

Will could not figure out what happened next, but nevertheless, soon, the words were audible again. He stood near the door, barely breathing, eavesdropping for couple of minutes now. He had come, because he wanted to speak to her again, but then he had overheard some voices, and begun to listen.

His plan had gone to pieces. They had quickly deconstructed all his lies. Many times he just wanted to walk away, to walk away from everything, to forget everything, but somehow he could not move. So he stood there, almost absent-mindedly, almost absent, trying to understand how all of that could have ever happened. What kind of mistake had he made? When exactly had he lost her?

As soon as he heard what they were planning, he ran away from the door; he ran away from them; he ran away frantically, with last, faint, feverish hope of shattering this ridiculous happiness, which for him meant only intolerable, and undeserved misery.