Author's Note: Special thanks to the person who set up an email reminder for updates, despite this story being untouched for six years. You have no idea how much this has motivated me! To reassure you, this story is finished, with the final version sitting on my computer, waiting to be published. So here we go!

"Will! Will, where are you?" Elizabeth screamed as she ran through the house, searching frantically. "Will!"

"I'm here, Elizabeth," he called as he ran out of the parlour to meet her. "What's wrong?"

"Mariana's gone! Someone took her in the night!" Elizabeth replied, her voice desperate.

"What! No, no one's taken her," Will said unbelieving as he ran up the stairs to Mariana's room. "No one could have taken her!"

He burst into the bedroom, looking around frantically. Elizabeth entered the room behind him, and helped her husband look for their daughter, in the hope that somehow she hadn't heard their cries.

"Mariana!" he called one last time before sinking onto the bed, his head in his hands. Elizabeth sat gently beside him, staring into nothingness in utter shock, a million questions running through her head. Absently, she reached out and ran her hand over her daughter's pillow. Elizabeth's head snapped around as her hand brushed against a piece of paper. She picked it up and looked at it, and in that second, many of her questions were answered.

"Will, look," she whispered, handing him the scrap of paper. He took it and studied it. Drawn in black ink was a sparrow in flight, and the sun setting over the sea behind it. Will looked at Elizabeth, sudden realisation dawning on his face.

"Jack."

Will pounded on the door of James Norrington's office, and didn't bother to wait for a reply before bursting in through the door. Norrington looked up at Will, and then saw Elizabeth standing behind him, both looking distraught.

"Elizabeth, William, what ever is the matter?" he asked concernedly as he stood up and walked around his table, which was covered in various pieces of paper.

"Mariana's gone," Elizabeth replied, her voice sounding weary and worried. "Jack Sparrow took her last night."

"What?" Norrington asked, surprised. He'd always thought that after he's almost been hanged there twenty years ago that the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow would never return to Port Royale, much less kidnap someone there. "Why?"

"We don't know," Will said as he put his arm around Elizabeth as though to keep her from being taken too. "We found this on her pillow," he said as he handed the Commodore the slip of paper. "That's how we know it was him."

"And he took her, just like that?" Norrington asked as he studied the paper. "You haven't seen him?"

"Not since…" Elizabeth's voice trailed off and she bit her lip as though painful memories were rushing through her mind.

"I see. So that mad pirate though he could just come here and snatch Mariana right out of the blue. I should have expected something like this of him all along."

"Wait," Elizabeth said, frowning as she realised something. "Will, the black pearl pendant Mariana received last night. It was from Jack, a signal that he was coming. Why didn't we realise?"

"Because we told him to stay well away after what happened. He gave his word that he wouldn't come back until he was wanted," Will replied.

"And you trusted his word?" Norrington asked in near disbelief.

"Yes," Will replied simply. It was true; he had trusted Jack's word that he wouldn't come until he was wanted. Jack knew how they felt, and why they had asked him to stay away.

"I am not leaving my daughter to sail with pirates," Elizabeth said as she paced to the window and looked out at the sea, her voice wavering as she spoke.

"No, of course not," Norrington said as he strode towards the door. "We will sail after them immediately. They can't have gotten more than an eight-hour head start, so we should easily catch them on the Spirit. She'll be ready to sail in an hour or so."

"Thank you, James," Elizabeth said, the gratitude showing clearly in her voice.

"Think nothing of it, Elizabeth. You know that you are like family to me now," Norrington said, looking Elizabeth in the eye. "Go and get whatever you need from the house, and meet me at the Spirit's dock in an hour."

Elizabeth nodded, and she and Will hurried back their mansion.

An hour later, Norrington was giving the order to heave anchor and sail out of Port. As he commanded his men, who scurried around the ship, doing his every bidding efficiently, Elizabeth moved to the very front of the ship. She looked out on the open horizon, wondering how many miles ahead her daughter was, and hoping that she was safe. Elizabeth had been through a somewhat similar ordeal once before, and she knew the story; and the ending wasn't a happy one. She shivered and rubbed her arms, though the sea breeze was far from cold. But the last time, it hadn't been at Jack's hands. She had to keep reminding herself of that.

Elizabeth suddenly felt hands grasp her cold arms, but she didn't need to look to see who it was, and she lent against her husband.

"Don't worry. We'll get her back," Will said reassuringly.

"Will, how can you know that?" Elizabeth asked, resting her head back on Will's shoulder. "How can you trust a pirate with the care of our daughter?"

"He's not just any pirate, Elizabeth. We both know that. I know Jack. He'll keep Mariana safe from harm."

"That mad man can't even keep himself safe."

"He cares for others more than he cares for himself," Will said, turning so he could look Elizabeth in the eye. "Try to trust him. He knows how we feel, how much we care about her."

Elizabeth just nodded, fighting her emotions as she lent against Will.

"I just hope we find her soon."