3 – Good decision for the wrong reasons

Elizabeth put down her bottle and looked at him.

What just happened wasn't in her plans, she had acted on a spur of the moment feeling.

They were having fun, lot of it. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so happy, careless and free. The way Jack talked about the Pearl got to her. Listening to him she understood that she could see herself gaining that type of freedom that a ship could give. She had wanted a taste of it, so she had kissed him.

It was brief and chaste, on her part, but still she had felt her heart beat faster than ever. Then Jack kissed her with more passion and she hadn't been able to think. He tasted a lot of rum, but she did too, even if she hadn't drunk as much as him. His lips had been soft on hers, not at all what she expected from a pirate, but still demanding.

She smiled and pushed away some of his dread-locks from his face, a warm feeling spreading inside her chest when he seemed to follow her light caress, trying maybe to capture the warmth of her hand.

Elizabeth looked a little around, stupidly afraid of being seen, before using one of her finger to trace the profile of his nose, of his jaw, and, in the end, of his lips.

She wasn't sure how long she stayed there, immobile, watching him sleep peacefully.

She came back to earth when one of the piece of wood inside the fire crackled loudly. Elizabeth looked around and shook her head, trying to remember what she needed to do.

She started to pile everything that could burn that she could find inside the rum-runners cellar near the palms, then she used the old fire to start the new one. She used what little rum there was left in their bottles to help the fire to raise up then, when the sun was starting to come up, she started to add whole barrels. The rum's barrels started to explode and the fire got so high that the palm started to burn, just like she planned.

"No! Not good! Stop!" She felt Jack screaming at her. The rumors and the smoke woke him up. He was waving his arms, making her want to laugh "Not good! What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade! The rum!" Until the last thing, he had a point. Rolling her eyes, she turned around.

"Yes, the rum is gone." She smirked evilly to him.

"Why is the rum gone?" He was desperate, like a kid that was punished for something he didn't do.

"One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels." She was serious as death, Jack probably couldn't even remember the kiss from the previous night because of it. She was partly relived and partly sad about it. "Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me, do you really think that there is even the slightest chance that they won't see it?"

"But why is the rum gone?" He was insufferable but cute, she couldn't really stay angry, but it was better if she didn't show it. She sat herself on the beach.

"Just wait, Captain Sparrow. You give it one hour, maybe two, keep a weather eye out and then you will see white sails on that horizon." She felt him moving behind her but she didn't turn. "And I'm not completely heart less. I left you a bottle near the cellar."

Without even turning she could tell that Jack had scampered off to get it. She smiled and turned slightly to watch him walk away from her, probably to go somewhere where he could brood a little about the loss of almost all the rum.

She looked at the horizon, hoping that her plan worked or else Jack would become even more insufferable and they would have nothing to drink, or eat, or rest under.

After maybe fifteen minutes she saw him coming back, a scowl on his face.

"I saw that ship, Dauntless, wasn't it? It's coming for ye." He said pointing to a direction somewhere behind him. "Give them ten minutes."

She smirked but was smart enough to know when not to taunt him, he would be impossible if she started to say 'I told you so'.

"I suggest that you drink that rum, they won't let you keep it." She only heard a grunt in answer, but when she turned she saw Jack taking big gulp from the bottle. He had almost finished the whole thing. It amazed her how much he could drink without completely lose his self-awareness. Even the evening before she had to restock his bottle two times before he fell asleep. And even after all the drinks he had been pleasant to be with, not the scoundrel that she had expected him to become. Elizabeth started to think that maybe the rum did not make a scoundrel, but the person that drink it did, because when drunk you let your true self out, without the restriction of the society.

When James and her Father, together with at least ten soldier, came to the beach she wasn't surprised.

"Dad!" She ran in is arms, happy to see him again after those last long days.

"I am so relieved that you are alive my dear." Her father hugged her fiercely. "I was so afraid for your wellbeing. Those monsters hurt you, my dear?"

"No, father, I only have a little cut on my hand, they never touched me." She explained smiling at him.

"Miss Swann, Governor, I suggest that we continue this conversation on board of the ship." Smirking James looked behind her, where Jack was looking at the scene with boredom. "Jack Sparrow..."

"Captain Jack Sparrow." Both her and Jack corrected him. He smiled briefly at her.

"I think it's very fortunate of me, finding you on this spit of land. The gallows were waiting for you, I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you return for the ceremony."

"I'm sure they will." He was caressing his neck with one hand, a little fear on his face.

"James, he saved me again, don't punish him for sins that are not his own." Elizabeth tried to help.

"But you see, Miss Swann, he had sinned too much for me to let him go. I am bound by the law." He answered her, no pity at all in his eyes for the pirate.

Without adding anything else he turned and gave signal for his men to take Jack. They reached the longboat and rowed back to the Dauntless.

"We need to make a plan." Elizabeth said when both James and her father got on board. She may be unable to help Jack, but she would help Will.

"We do not need to do such a thing, Elizabeth." Her father looked at her confused.

"But we've got to save Will!" She exclaimed starting to get angry.

"No. You're safe now. We will return to Port Royal immediately, not go gallivanting after pirates!"

How could her dad tell those things? He saw William grow up, he cared for him, just like her, even if in a different way.

"Then we condemn him to death." She was disgusted by the cowardice of the so-called men of her life. Will came to save her asking the help of a pirate, said pirate would have no problem helping her save William for the right prize, but the people that should care about Will wouldn't save him at all. She looked at their faces. James was looking at her with disapproval clearly displayed on his face, while her father looked at her with a little bit of exasperation, like he was trying to reason with a little kid.

"The boy's fate is regrettable, but, then, so was his decision to engage in piracy." Her father went on, every word he let out making her more and more nauseous.

"To rescue me. To prevent anything from happening to me." She reminded him.

"If I may be so bold as to inject my professional opinion." Jack passed her and went in front of James. "Think about it. The Black Pearl. The last real pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up?" He tried to bribe them. He didn't probably care for Will, but still it was a sad day when a blacksmith and a pirate had more courage than your own father, but she couldn't tell him that.

"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself." He turned around to leave them. She couldn't permit it.

She thought back at her thoughts of freedom that Jack and the past days had inspired in her and decided that Will wellbeing was more important than her own needs.

"Commodore, I beg you, please do this. For me." She said following him. "As a wedding gift." He turned his head toward her.

"Elizabeth." Her father was beside her, a happy smile on his lips. "Are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?"

"I am." She said, sealing her fate. She would never sail the seas, she would never live an adventure, she would never be free to truly love, she simply will never be free. Trapped in a gilded cage, in a world that she never found right for her. A caged Swann, like the one she saw in a petting zoo when she was little. Sad and alone. She was going to cry.

"A wedding! I love weddings…drinks all around!" Jacks screamed, giving her the time to put all her emotions in a box and lock it, so as not starting to cry for what she had just lost. "I know. "Clap him in irons," right?" He added when her future husband looked at him.

"Mr. Sparrow, you will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with the bearing to Isla de Muerta. You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase "silent as the grave." Do I make myself clear?"

"Inescapably clear."

She looked while two guards escorted him to the helm, he was the one in the end that know the way. She saw the guards chaining him to the mast behind it, as to not let him escape.

"I need some clothes, father." Elizabeth said turning toward him.

"Oh my God, how could I leave you in such conditions for so long!" His father took of his jacket and put it on her shoulder before asking to Norrington for some clothes.

The best they could find was a uniform, she didn't care, she liked how the breeches and the shirt let her move so much easier than a long dress. She will be able to help with those clothes.

Jack said they will be at Isla de Muerta after midnight, so James decided to let all the men not needed take a nap, to be ready for when they'll need to fight against Barbossa's crew.

Elizabeth tried to sleep, but she couldn't. She was worried about Will, so she stayed on the upper deck, looking at the sun disappearing over the horizon.

"What's the plan?" Jack voice, coming from just behind her, made her jump a little.

"Jack!" She hissed at him.

"Sorry, luv. I had no intention of scaring you." She could tell from his smirk that he was lying.

"Sure. What plan?" She asked then remembering his question. "And how can you be here, you were chained to the mast." She looked down at his hands and she found no chain at all.

"Well, Miss Swann, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." His smirk became larger and he gave her a little bow. "But let's not waste time with trivial things. I want to know your plan, ye know, to not marry the Commodore."

"I have every intention to marry him, Jack." She could feel the sadness in her own voice. How pathetic. She did what was needed of her to save Will.

"And here I thought that you loved the Whelp." She understood that he was talking about Will.

"I gave my word, I can't back from it." She said honestly. "For how much I would desire to."

"That's not a life for you, Lizzie." She turned and saw that the smirk had disappeared. "You were made to be free, to sail those seas. You are a pirate at heart, luv." He smiled at her.

"I am not such a thing."

"Oh, but you are, Lizzie. I could see the longing in your eyes when we talked about freedom, about the Pearl. Your eyes looked just like mine when I first understood what I wanted to do for the rest of me life." She trembled a little, knowing that if he remembered that part of the evening before, then he must remember even the kiss. "You see something you want and you take it. You manipulate people and trick them. You just did that on me, and you are trying to do it with the Commodore, even if you are trying to deny it to yourself. You won't marry him." His lips were less than an inch away from hers. "Pirate." He whispered to her.

Elizabeth couldn't move. He was right, she had no plan about backing from her accord with the Commodore, but she would never marry him. She would rather die than live her life as the good wife and mother for a man that could not understand her.

She looked up, fixing her eyes on Jack's. They were lust filled, just like hers probably were. This man, this pirate, understood her and made her feel things that she had never felt before. He was dangerous.

Jack eyes slipped down on her lips and she knew that he would kiss her. She couldn't let that happen. She loved Will, she always had, but when his lips touched her she forgot about it. The kiss was chaste and short, but still her heart started to beat faster.

"Maybe you should go back." She whispered putting some inches of space between them. "We are almost there. James and my father will be here shortly."

She was both relived and disappointed when Jack took a step back, not pursuing her.

"You may be right, Miss Swann." She didn't like to hear him change back to her surname. "Best let them believe that those irons can keep me chained." He smirked and went back to the mast, where she saw him put back the manacles.