A short chapter that Sparrabeth fans would kill me for having written. Please read and review! As always, I own nothing.

7. Betrayal

Jack taught me how to tie seven different kinds of knots and how to hoist the colours of the ship. He taught me the difference between port and starboard, how to steer a ship, how to load a cannon and fire it. He also tried to teach me how to sword fight, but I was dreadful at it, and he gave up quickly.

Most nights we simply sat on the deck, Jack sipping rum, and I contemplating how drastically my fortunes had changed in the last few months. Half of the time I wondered if I would wake up quite suddenly from this very pleasant dream to find myself back at the plantation, bound eternally to the pain and suffering I had grown up with.

'What do you think you'll do after you get your ship back?' I asked Jack one night.

Jack took a swig of rum and stifled a belch. 'Go back to thieving and pillaging, I suppose,' he said. 'What else are pirates good for, really?'

'And after that?' I was curious to see what Jack was planning to do with all of the wealth he would amass as a pirate.

Jack shrugged. 'Sail the seas forever, I suppose. Why?'

'Well, that's a bit silly,' I laughed. 'If you're not planning to buy anything with your plunder, then what's the point of sacking towns in the first place?'

Jack blinked. 'Amusement, maybe?' he muttered uncertainly. He passed me the bottle of rum and I took a sip.

'So pirates kill people for amusement?' I said sternly. If that was a large part of the profession, it was one I was seriously considering backing out of while I had the chance.

'Anamaria, love,' said Jack, leaning forward and putting a hand on my arm. 'I just want you to know that I for one have never killed another soul, and I never intend to… well, maybe one, but we'll see about that if I ever get my bloody ship back. What I find fun about pirating is it causes a lot of distress and grief for pompous authority figures like Beckett, and even you couldn't say no to that, eh? Revenge, if you know what I mean.' He took another swig of rum, his eyebrow raised.

Well, when he put it that way, I really couldn't resist the idea of becoming a pirate.

Jack pulled his compass off of his belt and flipped it open, reading it with a look of intense concentration on his face. 'Hold these,' he muttered, thrusting the compass and his rum into my hands as he rushed to the wheel and adjusted our course. I sighed and flipped the lid of the compass idly open and closed before noticing, not much to my surprise, where it was pointing. I smiled ironically as my eyes followed the hand of the compass to the man at the helm of the ship – the one thing I wanted most in this world was Captain Jack Sparrow, the pirate who would not be caught.

'Well,' said Jack, sitting back down next to me, 'I think I'll be turning in for the night soon, so good night, Anamaria…'

'Jack,' I asked suddenly, 'do pirates ever get married?' The second the question was out, I cursed myself for having asked it.

'Of course they do, they're people too, you know,' said Jack somewhat scornfully. 'If they can fight and bleed and die like they do, then they can certainly fall in love too.'

'Have you ever fallen in love, Jack?' Again, I had no idea what compelled me to ask the question, and I wished I hadn't.

Jack laughed. 'With the sea, certainly. With me ship, obviously. Never with a woman, though – too dangerous, that. Now, if you're done interrogating me for tonight…'

But I had already risen to my feet. I don't know what made me do it – maybe it was because I knew he was uncatchable, but if Beckett could hold him for a day, then maybe I had a chance of snaring him for a few seconds too. What prompted me, I may never know, but before I could give myself a chance to reconsider, I kissed Captain Jack Sparrow full on the lips, revelling in the bristly feel of his moustache, in the taste of rum on his lips. And, to my astonishment, he did not pull away with a stern glare or a mocking laugh. His arm encircled my waist and he was pulling me closer into him, his lips pressing onto mine more and more intensely. My arms wound around his neck, the rest of my body went limp, and for what seemed like an eternity we stood there, two souls lost in the murky waters of the sea at night, defying whatever fate was in store for us as we fed off of each other's passion.

I surprised myself by breaking away first. My breath came in short pants as I felt Jack's grip around my waist loosen, and I managed to find my feet again before his arm had released me completely. I could not look him in the eyes, I don't know why.

'Good night, Captain Sparrow,' I said quietly, and fled to my chambers without another glance in his direction.

Jack and I were strangely silent around each other the next morning. We ate our breakfast without so much as a look passing between us, and when Jack informed me that we would need to make port at the next island we reached to restock on fresh water, it was in the strict voice of a naval commander, not the playful banter that he had used since the day I had met him.

I was a fool for not seeing what was coming. As I wound my way through a thick jungle in search of a stream of fresh water, I cursed myself over and over for what I had done. Jack had not wanted it, he wanted his freedom, he did not want to be bound even emotionally to another being, and I had had no right to betray his friendship by leading him into temptation. From this point on, I would just be a distraction, someone he would fear to be around, and for the sake of his concentration, perhaps he would even leave me and go to find his ship alone...

I stopped dead in my tracks, and rushed back through the mass of branches and vines just in time to see my ship disappearing around the side of the island. From where I stood, I fancied I could see Jack standing at the helm, consulting his compass as the winds billowed in his sails and swept him off to wherever his ship was.

I could have cried in frustration. I had just lost my only friend, and my ship besides. I had betrayed the trust of my friend, the man I loved, and he in turn had betrayed me. Well, what should I have expected? He was a pirate. And what else were pirates good for?

I had two options: to pine away on the beach for a man I knew I could never have, or to join another pirate crew and make sure that one day Jack Sparrow paid me back for the ship he had stolen. It didn't take much thought for me to make up my mind – I was tired of being weak and reliant on others. So when another pirate ship stopped at the island two days later, I immediately asked to join the crew and was readily accepted on board. And for the next eight years I barely set foot on land.