Disclaimer: Ye know the drill: I am but a humble writer, who owns nothing.

Hey everyone! The numbers are climbing and that makes me VERY happy : ) I hope you enjoy this chapter…in my opinion, it's by far the best one there is. More to come soon…it's my hope that it only gets better from here. Enjoy!

Elizabeth needed to get out of the brig. She had been sitting down there for hours on end, tending to poor Will, who was not getting any better. For hours, she had been repeatedly wiping down his body, trying in vain to get his temperature down. Maybe she should try and get him to the deck, where the sea breezes could cool him off. Elizabeth was contemplating the idea when Mr. Gibbs came rushing down the stairs.

"Miss Elizabeth, you'd better come quick. It's the Captain."

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth was on her feet in flash, surprised at how concerned she became at the new that something was wrong with Jack.

"The Capt'n, he's singing." Mr. Gibbs sounded so worried that Elizabeth had to do a double take.

"Jack is signing?" she asked.

"Aye." Mr. Gibbs turned to go back up the stairs and Elizabeth turned back to Will, placed the cloth firmly on his forehead and then followed Mr. Gibbs all the way to Jack's cabin. Elizabeth could hear Jack signing from inside.

"Yo ho! Yo ho! You Who! Yo Ho!"

"I'll be around if ye need me." Mr. Gibbs said before running off. Elizabeth rolled her eyes and walked into Jack's cabin.

"Feeling better, Jack?" she asked, amused by the sight. Jack was lying on his bed, cradling his bottle of rum. She noticed the rag had been dumped in a pile on the floor.

"Rum is a beautiful thing, love." Jack said, holding the pouch up, expecting the rum to flow into his mouth. However, nothing came out. Jack gave it a shake only to come out dry. He put the cork back in the small leather pouch and held it out Elizabeth.

"I seem to be out. Be a dearie, would you Lizzie, and get ol' Jack some more?"

"Hold on a minute, Jack. I thought our accord was rum in exchange for the rag."

Elizabeth and Jack both looked at the rag crumpled on the floor.

"I thought we could just assume they were more…guidelines." Jack said. Elizabeth just raised her eyebrow and Jack knew that he wasn't going to win this, even if he was Captain Jack Sparrow.

"So if I put that cursed piece of cloth back on my face, I can have more rum?" Jack asked.

"If you'll let me see if you still have a fever and you promise to leave the rag alone, yes, you can have more rum." Elizabeth bargained. It was pretty clear by this point that rum and only rum was going to keep Jack quiet and although Elizabeth still despised the drink, Will needed her more than Jack did at the moment. So she was willing to let Jack have his rum, even though it was doing weird things to him. For heaven's sake, he was singing. Although, Elizabeth realized, that if he was singing, he couldn't be that ill.

"Agreed." Jack would do just about anything to get more rum and, given the facts that no one bothered coming into his cabin besides Elizabeth and that he could barely lie still without getting dizzy, much less walk around, Elizabeth was his only hope for finding more liquid relief.

Elizabeth didn't say anything but stooped to pick up the rag, not surprised it was long dry by this point. She guessed that Jack had flung it off the minutes the door closed-and although unaware of it, she couldn't be more right. She dipped it in the bucket of water and wrung it out. Before placing it carefully, Elizabeth laid her hand on Jack's cheek. His skin was still warm to the touch but nothing compared to Will's, at the moment.

Jack, on the other hand, was enjoying the coolness of Elizabeth's hand on his face. He didn't want to admit how lousy he felt and he found some relief in Elizabeth's presence. Not in a "lovey-dovey let's break out the drinks" sort of way but more of "I'll look out for you if you look out for me" feeling. It was and always had been a comfort for Jack, although it was his secret, one that he often didn't even admit to himself. He somehow felt embarrassed to have feelings for anything other than the sea and his ship. Jack felt Elizabeth remove her hand and lay the cool piece of cloth across his forehead. Although it lacked the personal touch of Elizabeth's hand, it had the same cooling relief, one that rum didn't have.

"I'll be back with your rum, Jack." Elizabeth said, gathering the pouch before leaving. When Elizabeth returned, she was pleased to find that the rag was still in its original place, untouched. Jack may be a pirate, but he had an honest streak, always trying to be a man of his word. He called it his own sort of curse at times. Well this time it was doing him well. What pleased Elizabeth even more was that Jack was sound asleep. She placed the rum next to him, knowing he'd want it when he awoke. He always took what he could and gave nothing back-it was one of his many mantras. Well, in this case, he gave back some rather off pitch songs that no one wanted. Elizabeth, along with the rest of the crew-Mr. Gibbs especially-hoped he would go for give nothing back at all the next time he awoke.

Part of this chapter focused on "take what you can….give nothing back." But please can you break from the pirate code and review? Please?