Disclaimer: I tried to lure Jack into my house with rum, but Disney got in my way, so he's not mine.

AN: Yes, Rose is the rebellious one, isn't she? And yes, Jack did snip off his beard, but it will grow back, so don't worry. Meanwhile, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and will review. Thanks!

Chapter 23: Frustration on All Sides:

Walking back towards the docks, Jack tried to keep his emotions in check. He wanted to smile and whistle because he had seen Rose and knew that she was fine and unharmed. However, he also wanted to yell and curse in anger at not being able to bring her home that very minute. If that blasted guard hadn't shown up when he did, then perhaps Jack could have stolen his wife away with no one the wiser.

'Foiled again by some idiot in a uniform,' Jack thought as he made his way towards the Horizon's Flame. 'Why do those wig-heads always show up at the worst possible time?'

Well, at least he had been able to see Rose and know that she was alright. Even though he hadn't shown it, Jack had found her quite fetching in the blue gown she had worn. The blue was like the open Caribbean sea, the lace at the collar and the sleeves like white clouds that only enhanced the beauty of the gown. Jack made a mental note, wanting to be sure to get another just like it for her to wear either on the Pearl or when he decided to take her to an expensive inn for dinner.

'You have to save her first, mate,' Jack silently chided himself. 'Get Rose first, then shower her with gifts apologize for letting this happen to her.'

Sighing, Jack boarded the Flame and went to his cabin, pulling off his disguise and tossing it in a corner before flopping onto his bed. Elizabeth had insisted on giving him the second-largest cabin onboard; after all, he was their friend, and he would be sharing the cabin with Rose after their little rescue effort was over. The room wasn't nearly as big as the Captain's Cabin on the Pearl, but it would do. The bed certainly was big enough for two…

Grinning, Jack dozed off, thinking of his wife surrounded by blue silk as she smiled up at him.

Loud banging on the door woke him from a glorious dream, one which involved Jack, his wife, and a lovely beach. Things were just getting interesting when the banging started, jolting the pirate captain out of his pleasant rest and back to the unpleasantness of real life.

"Jack, I know you're in there!" a female voice called through the wood. "Open the door this instant!"

Groaning in annoyance, Jack managed to roll himself onto his side. "Give me a few minutes, Lizzie, and I'll meet you in the main cabin!" he yelled, grumpy at having his nap interrupted by the banshee on the other side of the door.

He heard her muttering as she turned and left, her footsteps fading as she headed up to the top deck. Jack, in turn, began muttering curses of his own as he began to straighten up. Not that there was much to straighten in the first place; his hair almost never needed a brush (unless Rose asked him to brush it, of course), and his clothes were always rumpled, so all he really needed was a quick splash of water to the face and he was ready.

Minutes later, Jack was walking through the door of the main cabin. William and Elizabeth were already seated with goblets of water in front of them, a bottle of rum set on the table before a third chair. As he entered, the Turners turned to greet him, only to have their jaws drop open in shock. There was complete silence for a moment, and Elizabeth was the first to speak.

"Jack, what on Earth did you do to your beard?" she gasped.

Barely restraining himself from rolling his eyes, Jack waved the comment aside as he took a seat. "I'm afraid it was a necessary sacrifice, dear Elizabeth," he said, propping his feet up on the table as he picked up the bottle of rum. Using his teeth, he removed the cork, spat it out onto the cabin floor, then took a deep drink from the bottle.

"A necessary sacrifice for what?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes focused on his chin.

"Well, since I went outside in the guise of a clergyman, I couldn't go around with those beads dangling from my whiskers, now, could I?" Jack replied in a sarcastic voice. "After all, clergymen don't have bits and bangles in their beards."

Will's eyes widened considerably. "A clergyman?" he blurted out, a smile tugging at his lips. "You impersonated a man of the cloth? Jack, really, was that a good idea?"

Rolling his eyes, Jack took another drink of rum before answering. "A man of the cloth is pretty much the only disguise I can wear and not be seen as a pirate, Whelp," he said. "Besides, my beard will be easy to grow back; my hair is a completely different matter. Rose will have my head if I cut one strand of beads out of it, but she seemed perfectly alright with my cutting off my beard strands."

Now he had Elizabeth's full attention. "Rose saw you?" the young woman gasped. "You actually got to see her while you walked around town?"

"Aye, and she knows that we're all here to get her out of this mess," Jack replied, lifting the bottle to his lips again. A few swallows later, the bottle was lowered. "No worries, Lizzie, my lass was fine, though apparently they forced her into a gown for the day." He grinned broadly. "Can't help but wonder what sort of trouble she caused for them, if that's the case."

Will and Elizabeth smiled and shook their heads. Both of the Turners knew that Jack was proud of his wife, and that seeing her alive and unharmed had set his mind at ease. However, Elizabeth noted that there was a semi-dreamy glaze in Jack's eyes, and she knew that the pirate was thinking of Rose. Will occasionally got that look whenever he saw his own wife after only a few hours of separation, and so it was something she was very familiar with.

"Well, now we at least know that she's unharmed," Elizabeth said, tapping the table with a finger. "Just how far were you in town when you spotted her, Jack?"

Pulling his feet off the table, Jack sat straight up in his chair, his mind now focused on Rose's rescue. "I was just inside the part of town where the wealthy families live," he replied. "The merchants and other rich families built their houses up the hill, probably to have a nice view of the town and to look down their noses at everyone else."

"There have to be at least a dozen or more homes up there," Will protested. "How will we know which one is hers?"

"Ah, now there is the beauty of it," Jack said with a smile. "In the past, Rose frequently told me that she could see the ocean and the harbor from her bedroom window. Since the bedrooms are at the rear of the house, that narrows it down significantly. There are only six or seven houses up there with their front doors facing away from the harbor, so…"

"So one of those houses is Rose's old home," Elizabeth deduced with a smile. "Well, at least it will be slightly easier to find her." She then grew chagrined. "At least you managed to discover something useful. Will and I walked for hours and didn't find much, though we now know that Hastings is still here. His ship is here, at least, and from the gossip around the docks, he happens to be the favorite of the Nelson family, for reasons I can't understand."

Jack grit his teeth together. "That's because, before we were married in India, Rose's last name was Nelson," he ground out. "Hastings is going to be treated as the welcome hero because he brought Rose back to her family." He took another long drink from his rum bottle.

"We'll save her, Jack," Elizabeth said, her voice soft as she tried to sooth his nerves. "We'll get her back before anything can happen to her."

'I hope you're right,' Jack thought as he took another gulp of alcohol. 'If not for Rose's sake, then for mine, since I don't think I can live without her for much longer.'

The moment I returned home, I simply swept into the house, handed the butler my parasol and hat, then headed up stairs to my room. I was not in the mood to be lectured on my morning's behavior, and preferred to be alone with my thoughts, all of which included Jack and our encounter earlier this afternoon. Besides, I had missed lunch and was hungry.

Walking through the hallway towards my room, I ignored the stares of the passing servants…except for one. It was a little blonde kitchen maid standing in the hall by my room, and she looked at me with a touch of awe and fear in her grey eyes, almost as if she thought I would tear her head off. I gave her a small smile, which seemed to calm her a bit.

"Would you be a dear and fetch me something to eat and drink?" I asked in a kind voice. "I'm afraid that I missed luncheon, and it is a while until supper."

The maid curtseyed. "Yes, Miss," she said, her voice small and timid. "However, I should warn you that the Missus and Master are going to be having tea this afternoon, and will likely wish for you to join them." The poor little thing looked up at me once more.

'Oh, for heaven's sakes, I'm not going to harm the girl!' I thought to myself. Perhaps she'd heard that I had sailed with pirates and feared the some of the habits I might have taken on? It certainly would explain a great deal. Keeping a hold on my patience, I kept my smile on my face as I spoke.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said, causing the maid to look up at me. "What's your name?"

"Molly, Miss Nelson," she muttered, looking down once more. "Molly Winters."

"Well, Molly, I assure you that I won't hurt you in any way," I said, reaching out to grasp her chin and forcing her to look up at me. "I may have lived among pirates, but that doesn't mean I like to randomly hurt people who make me angry. It's not the way all pirates live."

Molly stared at me for a moment before smiling. "They said you'd sailed on the Black Pearl," she whispered, her eyes darting around in case one of the upper servants spotted her talking to me. "Is that true, Miss? What was it like?"

I grinned. "Fetch my lunch to my rooms, and I will tell you."

She vanished down the hallway before I could blink twice.

"So you actually married Captain Jack Sparrow?" Molly breathed as she leaned forward on the table.

We had been talking for well over an hour, and I could tell that Molly was on the verge of worshiping me. Actually, I was the one who had done all of the talking, occasionally taking bites of my food while Molly sat there and stared at me from across the little table the tray was on. Of course, I didn't tell her why or how I had ended up on the Pearl; instead, I told her about the adventures I'd had on the ship, and about the crew, since that appeared to be what she wanted to hear about most.

"I'd always heard that Captain Sparrow wasn't the marry kind," Molly said, her chin resting in the palms of her hands. "And yet, he married you. He must love you very much, Miss, if he was willing to take you as his wife and let you aboard his ship!"

I smiled and took another sip of lemonade. The food was gone, and all that remained was the refreshing beverage, which I savored. I would definitely have to get Jack to stock up on the sour fruit, since it would help fight scurvy and give the crew a non-alcoholic beverage to drink with their meals. Not that I would forbid rum on the Pearl, but the crew needed a way to stay healthy, and lemonade just might be it.

"He loves me very much," I said with a sigh. "He loves me just as much as I love him." I put the glass down and looked at Molly. "Now, why don't you tell me about yourself? I'm sure you're tired of hearing about me, and I would like to hear about you."

Molly seemed to sit straight up in her chair. It had taken a little while to get her to relax around me, since my father was her employer, but she had since settled down and accepted the fact that I had no intention of holding myself above her. Most wealthy young women would mistreat their servants or degrade them with words and embarrassing chores, but I never did that. After all, servants were people as well, and didn't deserve to be treated like animals!

"Not much to tell, Miss," Molly replied, her hands twisting her apron in her lap. "Just an ordinary girl in need of work after her mum and dad died. I've got no siblings, so there's just me in my little room in the servants' quarters."

I felt a surge of sympathy for the girl, but knew there wasn't anything I could do for her, right now at least. For now, I could give her a bit of light in her life by telling her about the one I'd led aboard the Pearl. "Well, since my meal is over and done with, you may take the tray back to the kitchens," I said, rising from my seat. "And be sure to tell the rest of the housekeeper that I'm promoting you. You'll be my one and only maid. The others can return to whatever they were doing before I came back."

Molly, who had risen to her feet when I had, now sank back down to her chair. "Me? Your own personal maid, Miss?" she breathed. "Are you sure? I mean, I can do everything that the other maids do, but the others are sure to be angry about this."

I sighed and shook my head. "I really don't need a dozen maids hovering over me every moment of the day," I said. "I can do things for myself, and things I can't do alone require only one other person. Will you accept the position, Molly?" I gave her a smile. "I could use a friend."

A broad, happy smile spread across Molly's face as she got to her feet. "I accept the position, Miss," she said with a curtsey. "I'll take your word to the housekeeper at once and return shortly."

I watched with relief as Molly picked up the tray and ran out the door, her face practically glowing with happiness. I knew that I had done the right thing, and after I was rescued, I would do everything possible to help Molly start a new life, one that was far away from here. She deserved better.

Sighing, I turned towards my bedroom window and walked out onto the balcony, my eyes drifting towards the docks. The ships' masts resembled a forest striped of its branches and leaves. One of those masts belonged to either the Pearl or to the Horizon's Flame, though it was most likely the Flame; Jack and the Pearl were both well-known here, and he wouldn't risk the safety of the crew by bringing the Pearl back, especially now that my parents knew who I had been sailing with.

In the mean time, I would have to think of a way to get myself out from under this roof. Jack couldn't think up a rescue plan "all on his onesies," as he was fond of saying, so I would have to help. He did have Will and Elizabeth with him, but I could tell that Jack would be the thinker in the plot. William was sweet, as well as a good man and fighter, but Jack was the one who would set everything into place for a rescue.

'And Lizzie will help, too,' I thought with a grin. 'Elizabeth will have the sense to stop Will and Jack from doing anything too daring or stupid.' I would never forgive them if they needlessly endangered lives, including their own.

Closing my eyes, I savored the sea breeze in my face. In my mind, I pretended I was back on the Pearl, standing at the helm with Jack's arms wrapped tightly around my waist. I sore that I could almost hear him humming his favorite sea shanty as we sailed for the horizon.

That evening, the Nelsons sat in their parlor, discussing the recent events occurring in their home.

"Richard, you should hear the uproar going on in the servants' quarters!" Karina declared to her husband. "Angela just released all of her maids and hired a single little kitchen girl in their place! It's just horrible! What will people think of us?"

Richard Nelson sighed and leaned back in his chair. As much as he loved his wife, sometimes she could be a bit overexcited about the smallest things. "Darling, there really is nothing bad about that," he said. "We both wanted to cut back a little on our spending anyway, and since Angela insists that she doesn't need a dozen maids tending to her, we save quite a bit of money that way."

Karina sighed as well. "I swear, Richard, Angela has grown so savage since she was last here! She refuses to wear a corset, and most of the clothes in her wardrobe require that she wear one in order to fit into them. She cannot be seen wearing the same five dresses over and over again in public; the rest of the society will think that we have fallen on hard times when no such thing has happened!"

"One thing at a time, Karina," Richard gently chided his wife. "First, it must be difficult for Angela to be back in polite society. She has been among pirates, remember, so of course her attitude has changed significantly. The best thing to do is to let her mind come back to her, and in time, she will be as she once was. Perhaps a little tea party is in order?" Richard smiled upon seeing his wife perk up at the idea. "Invite a few friends of hers here to remind her where she comes from. That should do the trick, and before you know it, our Angela will be back."

Karina gave him her most brilliant smile as they both returned to their glasses of sherry.

AN: Another short chapter, but that's not my fault. Too much Pirate stuff being put out, and it fried my brain! I should be back to normal soon…whatever "normal" is! Please review!