Spoiler: It was him!

Disclaimer: POTC belong to Disney.

Chapter 33

The atmosphere in Captain's Quarters was not exactly an atmosphere that might have been called comfortable. As a matter of fact, it was far from being comfortable. And to be even more precise, it was decidedly uncomfortable.

Governor Swann was strolling nervously around the room, with his hands clasped behind his back. Jack sat at his table, sorting his maps and charts, and piling them up ridiculously neatly on the right side of his desk. Elizabeth sat dully in the armchair, shooting from time to time surreptitious looks in Jack's direction.

"What does he want", said Elizabeth aloud, eventually tired of silence, and for some reason rather annoyed.

"The Black Pearl", replied Jack, glancing at her with a smirk. Her disappointment at the turn of events was making him smile.

Elizabeth gave him a playfully hard look.

"I don't mean what he said he wants. I mean what he really wants", she pouted.

"What's more interesting is how he had known we were in Tortuga, luv-", said Jack. "Elizabeth", he corrected himself quickly, glancing at the Governor.

"And what was he doing there", added Elizabeth, rising from the chair.

"He has no right to do anything. He has been ousted from his post four months ago", observed Governor Swann firmly.

"Which he might have failed to acknowledge", cut in Elizabeth, walking slowly towards Jack's desk.

Jack looked up at her, and smiled. Having finished sorting his papers, he blew the dust away from his desk (receiving a sigh from the Governor at the sight of this), and staggered to his feet.

"I am not going to tolerate this kind of treatment", stated the Governor after a moment of consideration. He turned around, and strongly knocked on the door.

As soon as the Governor turned towards the door, and therefore could not see them, Jack hurriedly cupped Elizabeth's head in his hands, and kissed her deeply on the mouth.

"Are they going to ignore me?", said Governor Swann in a low tone of voice, as he kept knocking on the door, without receiving any reaction from the guards.

Jack deepened the kiss once more, before reluctantly pulling away, just in time, only a moment before the Governor turned back towards them.

"This is unprecedentedly, unimaginably unacceptable!", he exclaimed indignantly.

It occurred to Elizabeth that the style of his utterance sounded somewhat familiar... Oddly...

"They know nothing of the etiquette", agreed Jack resolutely.

The Governor shot him a blank look. He did not really know what he should think of this man. And he was well-nigh certain that he will never know what he should think of him. He was certainly not content to be locked in the room with a pirate, although having the option of his daughter being locked with Jack Sparrow alone, and the option of them both being trapped here with him, there could be no doubt as to which option he ultimately preferred.

"Unlike us", added Jack meaningfully.

Elizabeth looked at him suspiciously, suddenly having the premonition that he was up to something.

"As we have been, due to not very fortunate circumstances, but still quite fortunately granted valuable time together", began Jack, taking a few steps towards the Governor, "perhaps we could discuss a certain very important matter."

Jack glanced at Elizabeth, who gave him a questioning look. He smiled at her quizzically, and reached for her hand, pulling her with him towards the Governor, who was gradually becoming more and more baffled, and more and more on the alert.

Elizabeth looked at his father somewhat confused herself, and then looked back at Jack, who cleared his throat, and with a solemn look on his face, began:

"Since we're... we are all here", started Jack, his voice becoming more serious as he spoke. "I would like to use this opportunity to humbly yet firmly ask for your assent, that is your consent, in other words your approval, and ultimately your permission for marrying your daughter... that is Elizabeth."

Governor Swann choked nervously, and wrinkled his forehead, staring at them both wordlessly. He was about to humbly yet firmly object, when he caught the sight of Elizabeth's sparkling eyes. He could not remember when was the last time he had seen her face so aglow. Sometime in her childhood, perhaps. When her mother was still with them, when they were living a happy life together, the three of them, enjoying every day of effortless happiness that had seemed unbreakable; until it broke...

Her smile was so bright that it almost blinded him, when he looked at her. She threw her arms around Jack's neck, and kissed him in the impulse of the moment, quickly drawing back when she remembered her father's presence.

The Governor was taken aback by the situation, by the proposal, by Elizabeth's behaviour. There was nothing more natural than to say "no". There was really no other possible answer than "no". There was no other answer than "no", because "no" was the only answer. He stared at them irritated that he had been put in such a position. And he tried to convince himself that he was not considering the answer, but merely considering the way of saying "no".

"Ah!", exclaimed Jack, as if suddenly remembering something.

Carrying out his plan of action, and disregarding the Governor's lack of response, he pulled a small, red, velvet box out of his pocket, and presented it to Elizabeth.

"What is it?", asked Elizabeth with a smile, pretending not to know what it was, although she was sure that it could only be one thing.

Jack opened the box for her, took a ring from the box, and holding her hand, put the ring on her finger. It was a gold ring with a black, beautiful pearl surrounded by small, glimmering white diamonds.

"It's beautiful!" Elizabeth leaned towards Jack, and kissed him.

The Governor choked. It was the second time Elizabeth kissed Jack right in front of him. And he most certainly did not approve of that.

"Father!", Elizabeth came up to him, waving her hand before his eyes. "Isn't it beautiful? Look!"

Governor Swann looked. He looked at the ring. He looked at Elizabeth. No, it was not like in her childhood. Even in her childhood he had not seen her this happy. He felt a twinge of something... But he did not know what it was. Was it irritation? Annoyance? Anger? Guilt... She was elated. Strangely elated. Dangerously elated. Miraculously elated.

"Yes, it is beautiful", he consented blankly.

Elizabeth smiled... No, she smirked. He could not believe his eyes, but she actually smirked almost like him. She ran back to Jack, and... kissed him again...!

The Governor was unimaginably grateful, when a knock on the door interrupted the scene. The door opened from the outside. Why is somebody knocking, then?!, thought Jack, rather amused.

"Lord Beckett has ordered to bring you water, and bread", said the man in a solemn tone of voice, walking in with a pitcher of water and an indignantly-looking tray with loaf of bread on it.

"Water and bread", muttered the Governor, clearly annoyed.

Elizabeth and Jack looked at the man, who without even looking at them, or asking where he should put what he brought, just left the pitcher, and the tray on Jack's desk, and headed for the door.

Elizabeth and Jack exchanged surprised glances.

"You!", exclaimed Jack, before the man managed to leave. "The man with a knife!". The man turned around.

"I've got no knife!", said the man, bewildered.

The Governor raised his eyebrow.

"Oh", the man suddenly seemed to understand. "It's you!", he pointed his hand at Jack, and then at Elizabeth. "And the Governor!", he said, shifting his hand, and pointing it at Governor Swann, who stared at the man baffled.

Accidentally, the man happened to be the very same cook, who had made his unexpected and unfortunate appearance on the ship which Jack and Elizabeth had commandeered in Tortuga, while running away from Will and the Governor.

"What are ye doing here?", asked Jack, knitting his eyebrows. For some reason, the cook could never fail to annoy him.

"I work for Lord Cutler Beckett now. He hired me", said the man with pride in his voice.

"When?", asked Jack suspiciously.

"Recently", replied the cook, as if trying to remember. "When that ship had crashed, after the storm, you know, I had gone to the port, and the Lord Beckett's ship was there, and I had gone to ask him, whether they weren't in need of a cook, and they had happened to be, and then they made me prepare some sample meal, and-"

"Wait!", Elizabeth broke in. "Do you mean you had met him on that island? Isla de Dolor?"

"Yes", nodded the cook. "So. I prepared a delicious-", he tried to come back to his story.

"What was Beckett doing on Isla de Dolor?", asked Elizabeth, turning to Jack.

"How can I know?!", exclaimed the cook, failing to notice that he was not the addressee of this question.

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Ye may go now", he said to the cook, and waived his hand, pointing at the door.

The cook looked slightly disappointed that he did not manage to finish the story of his hiring procedure. He looked at the Governor, shrugged his shoulders, and left.

"It was him", said Elizabeth as soon as the cook had left.

Jack wrinkled his forehead, turned around, and sat at his desk, thinking.

"He was behind it all", Elizabeth continued, knowing that Jack was listening, even though he was not answering.

"What do you mean, Elizabeth?", asked the Governor with a confused smile.

"He had wanted the ship", replied Elizabeth feverishly. "He had needed the Black Pearl, and he had known about that curse, that the ship had to come back after a hundred years to its first captain, so he had known the Pearl will be on Isla de Dolor, and he had known that Jack would follow the Pearl to retrieve her."

Governor Swann blinked, as the explanation left him even more confused.

"What curse?", he asked in a low tone of voice, baffled.

But the question was left unanswered, as the door cracked open, and two guards stepped in, announcing that Lord Beckett wished to speak with Mr. Sparrow.

"Captain Jack Sparrow", said Elizabeth angrily.

Jack grinned.