Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Pirates of the Caribbean, and I don't claim to.

Chapter Five
The Governor's Mansion, Port Royal, Jamaica

Elizabeth, despite the odd hour of the night for such things, insisted on making Jack a pot of tea. She ignored all his protests, happily telling him to sit down and shut it – in rather similar terms, too.

This unfortunately left him quite alone with the sleepy and surly Will. After a few awkward minutes of silence, Jack walked to the door that opened on the hall and peeked out in hopes of seeing Elizabeth walking towards him with a heavy tray of tea and hardtack, or whatever it was one ate with tea in Port Royal.

Nothing.

The footman who had tried to prevent his entry was just returning to his room near the main door; he scowled at Jack unpleasantly before shutting the door with a quiet snap.

Jack turned back into the room, back to Will. His hands danced nervously over his coat, resting on trinkets and buttons, his calloused fingers memorized how each one felt. Hesitantly, he cleared his throat and said, "A bit mad, isn't she?" His voice seemed unnecessarily loud in so small a room. Will glared at him. Jack tried again. "She seems to be adjusting rather well to married life, I see. I always said she would be happier married."

Will closed his eyes tightly for a moment, and Jack stood back a little, wary. He had sailed with Will long enough to know that the boy loved his sleep and didn't love being woken up from it. Especially by him. "What is it exactly that you want, Jack?"

"Want? I don't understand your–"

Will stood abruptly; Jack took a few steps closer to the wall, his hands automatically held out appeasingly. "Maybe you can fool Elizabeth with your pretty words and promises, but you won't fool me. There isn't any reason for you to visit, other than that you want something that we can give you." He searched Jack's face. "What is it? Money? Is it ever anything else with you?"

"Now, now. I hardly think I deserve that sort of reputation." Jack slid along the wall, unpinning himself from Will's glare. He walked around the room to the bookcase that lined one wall and started browsing; an attempt to alleviate the tension. "Can't I visit my favorite couple just for the sake of visiting?" He picked out a book and turned to face Will. "It's been more than two years, you know. High time for a visit, I thought. 'Jacky-boy,' I said to myself, 'You have stayed too long away from friends. You should really go and check up on them to make sure they're faring well without you there to look after them.'" He smiled and spread his hands. "And here I am."

Will's response was temporarily forestalled by the arrival of the tea. Elizabeth hurried in, carrying a large silver tray, on which sat a porcelain teapot, surrounded by matching porcelain cups and saucers, and a heaping plate of crumpets. She set the tray on the nearest end table and looked over to where Jack was standing, then over to Will. "Tea is ready," she said simply. The sleeves of her nightgown were rolled up, and her hair was swept back messily, several long strands escaping to frame her face. She was looking slightly flushed and completely oblivious to the conversation they had been having before she entered.

"Yes, thank you." Will moved over and poured himself a cup, dropping a sugar lump into the steaming liquid. He retreated to the opposite side of the room from Jack, silently blowing on his tea.

Elizabeth looked to Jack. She smiled. "Tea, Jack?" He scrunched up his nose and was about to refuse– but the look on her face stopped him. "I made this specially for you," she said quietly.

"Oh, all right." He cupped his hands around the warm sides of the porcelain, staring distastefully down into the discolored depths. But then he had a stroke of genius. He set the cup down on the end table again and searched through the pockets of his coat for something.

Elizabeth leaned forward and watched his hands eagerly. Such a child, Jack thought warmly. Always expecting presents.

Finally, his hand touched upon what he was looking for. He drew out his hipflask and unscrewed the lid. He was about to pour a liberal dollop of the sweet, strong rum into his drink – to counteract the bitter taste, he reasoned – when Elizabeth snatched it out of his hands.

"No," she said firmly, and he thought some of her anger towards him was because he didn't have a gift for her. "Jack, why can't you just drink the tea?" It was a question that didn't need an answer. Without waiting, she said, "I'll get you some cream for it." She glared at him again before walking out to the hall, but Jack thought he saw a bit of a grin on her lips, an amused twinkle in her eye.

Alone with Will again. Jack didn't even try to make conversation this time. Whatever it was that Will was mad about now, Jack didn't feel like going out of his way to correct it. He stood by the bookcase, watching him.

Will eventually sat tiredly in one of the padded armchairs. "She seems to be glad that you're back," he said. There was some unspoken accusation in his voice. Jack would have addressed it, if it hadn't been for the frantic pounding that suddenly echoed in the entry hall.

Their heads both snapped to the source of the noise, and they waited in tense silence. Will made no move to answer them.

They heard the quick steps of the plagued footman, his angry shouts. He unlocked the door, and his anger soon fell away to shocked protests. "Sir! I demand that you stop right where you are! This is highly irregular! I will call for the constable if you do not exit immediately!"

The door to their small sitting room slammed open with an audible crack against the wall. Jack and Will remained still, staring in shock.

"You bastard! You lying, cheating, idiotic bastard!" Norrington punctuated every syllable with a long stride towards Jack. He was glaring at him aggressively, the red in his cheeks brightened even more by the contrast with his clean white collar.

Jack stared at him, too surprised to do more than take a few stumbling steps backwards.

Once within arm's reach, Norrington grabbed a handful Jack's coat and pushed him forcefully into the wall. Jack held up his hands, already opening his mouth to placate him, but Norrington started first. "You– you– do you have any idea what you could have done? Do you have any idea of the magnitude of the damage you might have caused?" Jack tried to worm out from beneath him, but Norrington pressed down firmly on his shoulder. "I told you to stay on the bloody ship, and I damn well meant it! Do you have any idea what would have happened to me if anyone had seen you?"

"Er–"

"It would be my head, Jack." He huffed and glared hard at Jack. His lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line, and the veins in his neck stood out in relief. When he started again, his voice was deceptively calmer. "It was bad enough that I let you go that one time – that was the start to all my problems. I should have sent you back to the gallows the moment we had you. Fuck honor!" His voice shook. "Honor will be my noose."

Jack waited for him to continue, and when he didn't, Jack said helpfully, "Well, I don't think anyone saw me, so–"

"Why didn't you just stay on the ship? How the hell did you get out of the brig?"

Jack grinned; he knew the answer to this. "I'm Cap–"

"Oh, bollocks!" His hand gripped onto Jack's coat tighter, pulling with it a few dreadlocks; Jack leaned his head painfully to the side. "It took me years to regain the trust of my superiors, and now you're– you've destroyed that! This was my last chance, Sparrow. My last chance for the life I deserve. I had to work for Beckett, because he was the only one that would support me." Something changed in his eyes at this; Jack didn't like it, whatever it was. He backed up a little, let off some of the pressure he had on Jack's shoulder. "I have gone through too much to let it all be ruined by the likes of you."

Suddenly, he had his pistol pressed against Jack's forehead.

A gasp from the doorway. "James!"

He turned his head toward her, and the anger in his face faltered, his arm drooped a little. "Elizabeth," he said quietly, wonderingly. He looked around and seemed to notice for the first time where he was.

Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, Elizabeth rushed over to him and pushed his pistol away from Jack, held it pointing to the ground. "What are you doing here?"

Jack took this moment to inch out of Norrington's line of sight and toward the door.

Click.

He turned, head bowed in exaggerated defeat.

Norrington growled, "Don't you dare–"

"I wouldn't think of it."

"James." She moved in front of him, between him and Jack, demanding his attention. "What are you doing?"

The anger momentarily resurfaced before he could rein it in. "What am I doing?" His jaw worked, and he never took his eyes away from Jack. "This– this –" He checked himself. "–this scum was going to escape."

Elizabeth turned to Jack. "Escape?"

"I told him to stay on the ship," Norrington said fiercely. "I told him to stay hidden, because if anyone knew what I was doing–"

"I'm not a dog for you to order around," Jack snapped.

"No, you're right – you're worse than a dog. A dog would have sense enough to follow the orders of someone who just offered to save his life. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, Sparrow."

"Save his life?" Elizabeth looked up at him with wide eyes. Will moved quietly across the room and placed a hand on her back; Jack had a hard time deciding if he went to her because he was worried or because he wanted to show everyone that she was his. Elizabeth didn't notice.

Norrington couldn't hold her gaze; his eyes drifted away from Jack, but his pistol was still trained on him. "I misspoke," he said. A desperate attempt to weasel out, Jack thought, and an attempt that wouldn't deter Elizabeth.

"Norrington needs my help," Jack supplied helpfully.

The room fell silent, expectant. Norrington wasn't meeting any of their eyes. Abruptly, he pushed past Elizabeth and Will and grabbed Jack's arm. Jack stumbled as Norrington swung him around and placed him in a spindly wooden chair. From his belt, he produced a set of irons and locked one end firmly around his wrist, the other around one of the rungs in the back. Rubbing his face tiredly, Norrington sat in one of the armchairs.

The others slowly sat down, staring at him. Will was the first to speak. "You needed Jack's help?"

"Hey!" Jack sat up straighter, momentarily stopping his attempt to break the rungs to get free. "I resent the way you say Jack. Is it so hard to believe that I could help?" Everyone was ignoring him but Elizabeth, who only glanced at him in her calculating way.

"What is going on, James?"

Before answering, Norrington turned to Jack and gave him an ill-tempered glare that clearly communicated, this is all your fault; if you had just done what you were told, we wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't have to be explaining to them what we have to do. Jack guessed that, when they got back to the ship, he wouldn't be enjoying the welcome spaciousness of the larger-than-average brig much longer. "Nothing," he said tiredly, still not looking directly at them. "Just– Jack will prove to be– useful on my current mission."

"Useful," Will said. He looked at Jack, then gave Norrington an expressive look.

"He's having trouble with pirates," Jack said. "He needs me to talk to them, reason with them, because whenever he's within shooting distance of a pirate, he has this unshakable urge to kill the poor bugger."

"Then why haven't I killed you yet?"

Jack grinned. "Because you–"

Elizabeth interrupted. "I want to go with you."

They all turned to look at her. Of the three of them, Will looked the most surprised, and he nervously tried to reason with her. "Elizabeth, I don't know if that would be safe. No, I know it wouldn't be safe. I thought we'd talked about this before; I thought we agreed no more pirates."

"Will, obviously this is really important; something that might effect us later if we do nothing about it. Right, James?"

Jack couldn't see Norrington's face from his angle, but he could guess the expression. "Elizabeth– Will is right. Where we're going is no place for a lady. And even though you may have had some experience with pirates in the past–" Will's expression hardened at this. "–you were extremely fortunate to come out alive. It would be foolish to test your luck again; it would be tempting fate. I don't want you to get hurt."

Elizabeth's face had gradually been closing off to the world, until she appeared to be completely cut off and unaware that anyone was even talking. A lengthy silence followed. When she finally spoke, her voice was softer than would be expected. "But this isn't the life for me." Before Will could object, she said, louder, "I've tried it, and I don't like it. I want to go back to the sea. I'm tired of the dresses and the dinners and the balls and the compliments and the etiquette. I'm tired of it all. I'm suffocating, Will."

Without any delay, an argument ensued, with Norrington and Jack as the reluctant witnesses.

"I thought you told me you were happy."

"I was – I am. Will, don't take it that way."

"What way? What other way is there for me to take it other than that you have been lying to me?"

"I haven't been lying! I would be happy anywhere if you were there with me."

"Don't try to deter me, Elizabeth."

"I'm not– God, Will, you're so unreasonable!"

Jack said quietly, "Elizabeth." Her gaze snapped towards him, the remnant of her fury still on her face. Will looked ready to strangle Jack with his own hair. "Elizabeth, you shouldn't come. You should stay here."

Everyone went silent, shocked.

"You shouldn't come. Your place is here, just like my place is out at sea. Maybe you had fun playing pirate for a while, but that isn't the life for you, love."

She looked stricken. She remained staring at him – eyes wide and searching, lips closed tightly – until he spoke again quietly, urging.

"Elizabeth."

Finally, she looked away. She stood up quickly and walked over to the cooling teapot and ran her fingers over the smooth porcelain with its cracking paint. "All right," she said softly. Her back was rigid. "All right, I won't go. I spoke too hastily; I didn't know what I was saying."

The men let out a collective sigh of relief. Will stood and hovered nervously at her side; she turned and embraced him, burying her face in his shoulder so she wouldn't have to look at the others.

Norrington sat watching them a moment, immobilized; Jack could guess what was going through his mind. Then he silently stood up and moved to unlock Jack's cuffs from the chair; but he pulled Jack's hand behind his back and locked the other hand. Holding tightly onto the chain, Norrington led Jack out, nodding curtly at Will.

Back on the ship, Jack was pleased to note that Norrington placed him back in the brig with his crew; his way of thanking him, he liked to think.

Author's Note: This chapter gave me some trouble, so I ended up just rewriting the whole thing. I'm happy with the result, I think. And please, please don't make me beg for reviews; it's rather undignified. Thanks very much to those of you who are reviewing!