Okay here's just a short James/Isobel dialogue chapter that I figured I would go ahead and get out tonight. I'm not sure when I'll get the next one out, but I'll try to have it completed before the end of next week.

'Could You Love a Monster?'

James felt as if the room was spinning. The pain in his back was forgotten for a moment as he stared into the captivating green eyes that gazed at him sorrowfully. It couldn't be! It couldn't possibly be! How could this be happening?! He panted as he watched her turn her back to him and shake with quiet sobs.

"Isobel." He repeated her name in astonishment.

It was impossible. He had seen her die! He had held her in his arms, gently rocking her back and forth, as she gasped her final breaths. He had watched her body slowing sink down to the depths. He had known she was dead. And that was when he really saw her. Her skin was sickly pale with an almost blue tint. Barnacles marred her face. Her once lustrous and beautiful red curls were tangled and riddled with tentacles. And when he looked down at her hands, he realized that only one was a human hand. The other was the lobster claw that he had first seen.

All sorts of emotions coursed through him. He didn't know what he should be feeling. There was bewilderment, of course. There was also a joy at hearing her voice again. Then there was anger, at both Isobel and whatever had happened to her. How could she have been alive all these years, knowing how much her death had tortured him and yet not seeking him out? But as soon as the question entered his mind, he tried to push it down. Of course she couldn't have sought him out. He looked up and down her body again with a feeling close to horror. She was one of them. Anger surged up in him again at thinking of how she must have been mistreated these past 15 years. He opened his mouth searching for words but none seemed appropriate. She kept her back to him, obviously wanting to hide as much of her changed appearance as she could.

Finally, he choked out, "Isobel, how?"

By this time her sobs were uncontrollable, so it took her a moment to quiet them enough to speak. "I made a deal with him," she moaned in anguish, "I wasn't ready to die! But now I realized that death would have been much better." She looked back to find him staring at her with a look on his face that was agony, mixed with anger, mixed with pity, mixed with horror.

Isobel's face crumpled in torment, and her tears began anew. "Oh, stop!" she cried, "I can't bear you looking at me like that. Like I'm a…. a… monster!" She hid her face in her one human hand and tried her best to hide her claw against her breast. "Oh, God! I am a monster!"

It tore his heart out to see her in such pain. After all, she had been the love of his life, and even now, he knew he still loved her, but what could he do? She was part of Davy Jones' crew! The enemy, for God's sake! How could he help her? You helped her once before when she was the enemy, said a voice in his mind. And he knew it was the truth, but…. He had been a different man then. A hot-headed young man who acted before he thought. Now he had more self control. Of course, he could never regret the short time he had had with Isobel. Nothing could ever make him regret that. But even though he didn't regret it, it had still ended badly. Perhaps if he had taken a different action rather than what he had, their relationship would not have ended in Isobel's supposed death. After that he had learned to think things through. But even though he racked his brain, searching the farthest recesses of his mind, he could find no solution to their current problem. He could still barely acknowledge that Isobel was, in fact, alive and sitting in front of him.

"Isobel," he said and despite his best efforts, his voice came out thick with unshed tears. He wouldn't let himself cry. He remembered the last time he cried, and it had been the night after Isobel's death when it really sank into him that she wasn't coming back. He couldn't let himself cry. "Isobel," he repeated her name, still loving the sound of it on his lips. It had been many years since he had spoken that name. "I don't know what to say. I thought… I didn't know… I thought you were… dead. If I had known I would have…." He trailed off, not knowing what to say. What would he have done? Could he have done anything? He most certainly would have tried, but would it have helped.

She continued to sob. "Oh, James," she wailed, "Why did you have to get mixed up in this? You should have never touched that heart. I know you say you don't have it, and I believe you, but I think you know where it is. He will not stop until he finds it, James. What you felt today will seem like a caress compared to how much he will hurt you in the future. And I don't know if you can stand to be beaten like that again."

Her words caused him to suddenly remember the biting pain in his back and the blood dripping down his sides. If this was a caress, he didn't want to know what would happen in the future. A wave of nausea swept over him, and he sat back down as he let out his breath in a rush.

Isobel took her face out of her hand and bounded to her feet. She picked up the wet and bloody cloth she had been holding and walked behind him. He flinched at the first cool touch but began to relax as Isobel both cleansed his wounds and caressed the few areas on his back where the skin was unbroken by Maccus' whip. If he tried to ignore the searing pain and tried to forget where they were, he could almost imagine that it was 15 years ago, and he and Isobel were sitting in bed talking and stroking each other like they used to.

After a moment, he said again, "I would have done… something had I known, Isobel. I would have tried."

"I know," Isobel replied quietly, "And I'm glad you didn't. If you had, you would be in the same plight as me or maybe dead now. I'm glad you didn't."

James changed the subject. "How did Jones find out about me?"

He felt Isobel tense behind him, and for a moment he feared that she was going to admit that she had been the one to betray him. He didn't think he could handle that. Therefore, he was glad when she allayed his fears. "It was a stinking son of a bitch who doesn't even deserve to be called a man," she growled. And if circumstances had been different, he would have smiled at her vehemence and her language. That was certainly the Isobel he remembered. Passionate, fiery. He loved that about her. "I told him so too," she continued.

"Who?" he repeated when she stopped.

"Jack Sparrow."

James would have jumped to his feet if not for fear of knocking down and hurting Isobel. He almost did anyway. "Jack Sparrow?!" he exclaimed, "That filthy bastard!"

"I called him that, too," Isobel remarked dryly.

"He has caused nothing but trouble for me," James said angrily, "First the loss of my position and now this! Is he on the ship?" Isobel nodded. "I will definitely have words with him. That scoundrel will regret this, mark my words."

There was a long period of silence in which Isobel finished cleansing his wounds. She walked around in front of him. He looked straight into her beautiful emerald eyes, the only part of her that hadn't changed. After a moment she said, "Why did you do it, James?"

"The heart? Well, I…"

"No," Isobel interrupted, "Why did you become commodore? I thought… I don't know what I thought, but I certainly hadn't expected that."

James stared at her silently for a moment. Then replied, "After you… died… well, something snapped in me. I'm a changed man now, Isobel. I'm very different from who I was 15 years ago."

She stared at him for a while, and a small tear trickled down her ghostly pale cheek. "I still love you, James," she whispered finally.

James stared back at her, searching for words. He looked at her changed appearance and was reminded that she was part of Davy Jones' crew now. Bound to him for another 85 years. Nothing good could come of this. He had to keep himself under control. But when he looked into those eyes, it stirred old feelings in him, and a part of him that he thought had died long ago tried to awake. Maybe…. No. "I…." he trailed off and looked away.

"It's alright, James," Isobel said quietly, and he could tell she was crying again. "I don't expect anything in return anymore. After all, could you really love a monster?" She turned and swiftly ran away before he could say anything.

---------

Please review! I can't stress enough how important reviews are for me. They inspire me and help me write faster and better. So if you want to read the next chapter anytime soon you better review! Lol. J/k. But seriously I would really appreciate it.