A/N: Yes, I am back! Finally. Here's the last chapter of Seven dedicated to EnglishFreckle. Hope you like it! :)

There is a bit of harsh language in this one as well as adult-situation-suggestive comments. If you don't like that, I suggest you don't read it.

Disclaimer: Nope. Just messing around with a few pirates characters. Would like to own Jack. :)but alas, I don't. :(

He that is proud eats up himself: pride is
his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle.
Troilus and Cressida 2.3.152-4, Agamemnon to Ajax

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).

"I'll love ye forever, I will, darlin'. My pride and joy you are…but I love her more…I'd die for her all over again…frightening isn't it?"

Elizabeth frowned and rounded the corner. She had every intention of swallowing her own pride and apologizing for the night before. Who is he talking to?

Jack didn't seem to be talking to anyone, but his ship. He stood in their cabin with his back to the door, rubbing down a few scuffed places on the bulkhead.

She winced, remembering why those scuff marks were there.

The night before had been a disaster. Oh sure, it had started well…but things got steadily worse. Sometime after leaving Nassau, Jack had spotted white sails on the horizon. Upon further inspection it was revealed to be a heavily laden merchant vessel in the distance sporting English colors and ripe for the taking. Elizabeth had felt quite a bit of anticipation and excitement when he informed her they would be plundering this vessel. She remembered him chuckling at her enthusiasm and the thrill that shot down her spine when he pulled her back against him and nuzzled her neck affectionately.

Then things had started to go wrong. The merchant vessel was not going to surrender to a bunch of pirates easily, especially since it was heavily armed. As cannonballs began to whir overhead, Jack began shouting orders to his crew and then turned to Elizabeth. "Get below deck!"

"No!" She had replied indignantly. This was not her first fight and it was absurd that she had to go below deck. Only cowards go below deck. "I can fight just as well as any of them and you know it!"

"GO BELOW DECK NOW ELIZABETH! THAT'S AN ORDER!" He bellowed, making several crewmembers look up.

"I will not! There's no way in hell I'm following those orders. I'll out fight you and that's what you're afraid of!" Those were mutinous words, she would later realize, but right now she didn't care. She didn't care that he was glaring daggers at her. She didn't care that the crew were listening. She didn't even care that she would regret it later.

His anger was obvious and he spat his words from gritted teeth as he grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her kicking and screaming to the cabin. "We'll discuss this later."

"We most certainly WILL NOT! UNHAND ME!"

Once inside, he pulled her roughly against him. "You will stay in here and you will follow your captain's orders."

"I will do as I please."

"One more mutinous word from you and I won't hesitate to have you thrown in the brig!" He hissed. "We'll discuss this upon my return to the cabin. I do NOT want to see you on deck. IS THAT CLEAR?"

She frowned at him and wrenched herself free, but he shoved her against the wall. "I said IS THAT CLEAR?"

"Crystal." She replied in a dull angry tone and watched him storm from the room, slamming the door behind him.

She spent the remainder of the fight fuming and pacing in their cabin, anger boiling throughout her veins and only getting worse by the minute as she damned his handsome pirate hide to the very depths of hell. She wanted action and adventure not tedium and boredom.

About two hours later, Jack stormed into the cabin in a black mood, slamming the door behind him. The fight had not gone well, several pirates were injured and the Pearl was listing. They'd have to make port soon, not to mention the fact that the cargo on the merchant ship was hundreds of African slaves, something that sparked hatred in Jack's heart as he remembered his time of so-called respectability before being branded a pirate. How could anyone sell another person or put them through such atrocities? The fact that he had already been angry with Elizabeth, and the crew was beginning to mutter about her impertinence, only added fuel to the flame.

Elizabeth met his glare with an icy one of her own as they began to circle each other like tigers stalking prey. "How dare you make me stay below deck?" She spat.

"How dare I? HOW DARE I? How dare you disobey your captain's orders? When you chose me over Will you made a choice to become part of my crew, Elizabeth, and just because you're FUCKING the captain does not mean that YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU PLEASE! So don't even start in with 'How dare I'."

"Maybe I made the wrong choice!" She spat.

Hurt flashed across his face before he hid it with his anger. "Maybe you did."

"I certainly thought I meant more than a common whore. Didn't you tell me that once? Oh wait. You told me that to get into my knickers and win a bet no doubt."

"Believe what you want. I won't disagree with you!"

"I hate you!"

"I don't give a bloody damn what you hate. I will not have a mutiny aboard this vessel again all because some LYING BITCH decides she must defy the captain's wishes and I will not tolerate the captain's little WHORE trying to tell him whom he should let fight and whom he shouldn't, because that's what you are isn't it?" Deep down, Jack's rational side cringed at these words. They both knew half of it wasn't true, but he couldn't stop his raging temper.

Elizabeth paled and then flushed with anger. Grabbing the first thing in her reach, which happened to be a brass paperweight, she chunked it at his head.

Ducking, he watched it hit the bulkhead with quite a bit of force. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" He bellowed charging towards her and dodging the decanter of fine scotch she tossed in the same direction and which also hit the wall.

"Don't touch me!" She spat as he grabbed her wrists tightly.

"Enough." He growled and let go of her wrists before he did something more foolish. "GET OUT!"

Tears poured down her cheeks as she left the cabin slamming the door behind her. That night, she cried herself to sleep curled up in a lonely dark corner of the deck, freezing cold. The next morning, however, she realized that maybe he hadn't completely given up on her when she awoke to his warm coat draped over her huddled form and that brings us to the present Elizabeth, watching Jack talk to his beloved ship as she slowly swallowed her pride.

"Jack?" She murmured, making him stiffen.

"How long have you been there?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"Long enough."

A heavy sigh caused his shoulders to slump. "Elizabeth…I'm sorry. I should never have said those things to you and I didn't mean any of them."

"No. I'm sorry. I should never have challenged your authority in front of your men and any harsh words you said last night…I deserved them. I'm actually surprised I wasn't locked in the brig."

"I considered it, you know."

She nodded meeting his gaze as he turned to look at her with a miserable look on his face.

"Do you believe you made the wrong decision?"

She frowned, knowing exactly what he was talking about, but her answer was resolute. "No. I made the right decision…it was my temper and hurt pride talking, Jack."

His eyes softened with relief. "You're not a common whore, luv. You could never be that and I'm sorry I said such a thing that was my temper and hurt pride talking. I love you, darling. Nothing is going to change that, but I won't have you upstaging me in front of my crew, that could put us both in danger."

"I'm sorry, Jack."

"Come here, darling."

She hesitantly stepped into his embrace. "I would have come to you last night if my pride hadn't held me back." She whispered. "I love you too, Jack. I was just frustrated because I felt like a coward, hiding below deck while everyone put their lives in danger."

"I was only trying to protect you. I almost lost you on our return from Singapore and I didn't want to actually lose you this time, but I see now that I can't keep a fiery temptress pirate as yourself away from battle. I won't hold ye back again."

"Good." She smirked, lifting her head proudly and kissing him soundly upon the lips. "Now, you've successfully gotten into my knickers once again."

He chuckled and pulled her closer.

A/N: So what did you think? Did I do them justice or was it horrid?

Stay tuned. I'll be putting up "Table Manners" sometime in the next few weeks, though it may be with a different name.