William Turner, Captain of the Flying Dutchman, stared at the open water in font of him. Not a lot of people were dying at the moment, so he had a few seconds to think. Leaning on the rail next to the helm, he thought to himself, 'What is Elizabeth doing right now?' "Will?" he heard a voice behind him. It was his father, 'Bootstrap' Bill Turner.
"Hello, father." He took his arms off the rail and stood up straight.
"You alright?" Bill took a step towards him.
"I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"About that lass you're courting?"
"I'm not courting her, she's my wife."
"Oh, right." Some sort of sadness filled his voice...was it sadness?
"Why do you say it like that?"
"No reason. It's just..."
"What?"
"What is she to do for the next ten years?"
"Whatever she wants, I suppose. Although I hope she decides to find an occupation that does not involve piracy. I also hope that she steers clear of Port Royal."
Bill put a hand on Will's shoulder and said, "Will, in the half hour or so I knew Elizabeth, I could see she was not cut out for that kind of future."

Will knew he was right, but he did everything to convince himself that he wasn't. He grunted and released himself from his father's hold. He grabbed the helm and gripped it tight, his knuckles turning white. He felt his father's hand on his back. Bill placed a hand on the helm as well and tried to reassure him, "You don't have to worry. If she didn't get a real job, I'm sure she's with Jack."

Will had never thought about that possibility. Now he was really worried, but then softened, "You think?"
Bill nodded, "Jack will take care of her. I think he has a soft spot for her."
"How would you know?" Will snapped. He normally didn't like to talk to his father like that, but the thought of Jack and Elizabeth together made him uneasy.
"Will, you don't honestly think that he saved your life for you...do you?"
"Yes...probably...maybe...I don't know." His hands dropped from the helm and he started pacing.
"You didn't see the look on Elizabeth's face after you died...agony, horror, sadness, pain, anguish..." His voice trailed, the thought of the memory coming back. He shook it off and continued, "Jack may be a pirate, but he's also a good man-"
"He said the same about you." Will cut in.
"Did he?"
He nodded.
"Oh. Well, I still think he has a soft spot for her."
"I'm sure he does. He kissed her, after all."
"What?"
"He kissed her. She and I were engaged, and he kissed her."
Bill chuckled a bit, "Did she kiss him back?"
Will said nothing, he wouldn't even look at his father.
"Ah. Well, she married you. That means something, doesn't it?"
"Does it?"
"Isn't that what marriage is?"
Will looked back at his father, "I, too, called him a good man once."
"Did you?"
"Before he kissed Elizabeth. Now I'm not so sure."
"Didn't he make up for it when he saved your life?"
"I just don't like the idea of the two of them sailing together without me there."
"Jealous of him, are you? There's no more competition, Will. You married her. You won. She's yours."
"For as long as I've known Jack Sparrow...Captain Jack Sparrow, I know that something like that wouldn't stop him."
"Don't you trust Elizabeth?"

The words stung Will's heart. Well, no. He didn't. She hadn't proven herself trustworthy. And she'd told him that he couldn't trust her. And he knew that he couldn't trust Jack either.
"Will, can you?"
"There's no competition with Jack. There's nothing about him that's appealing or worth following."
Bootstrap burst out laughing so hard, he bent over and slapped his knee. As his laughter died off, he breathed heavily, and he was wheezing. He caught his breath and started walking off. Eyebrow raised, Will followed him and asked, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing. I just like that bandanna you're wearing. Reminds me of someone."

Jack Sparrow...Captain Jack Sparrow took off his hat, straightened his red bandanna, and put it back on. He walked towards Collins and his army, seeing that Elizabeth was trying to hide her fear, but her raggedy breath showed otherwise. Jack's eyes never left the barrel of the gun that now pointed at her throat. He, too, was trying to hide his fear and concern. He smiled as he stopped two feet from Collins.
"Hello Sparrow." An evil smile spread across Collins' face.
Jack nodded, "Collins...well, I must admit that this is not what a man likes to see when he wakes up every morning...or evening, in this case." He took a step to the side, his foot bumped something. He looked down and Cotton's body laid there, motionless. The rest of the crew was sleeping below deck.
"He's alive, Sparrow. I just didn't want any witnesses."
"Oh, of course not."
"Let's get on the Nemesis."
"Why?"
"Because I'll shoot her if you don't."
"Shoot her, then. I don't want to go."

Elizabeth gasped and her face showed her horror. Jack tried to have no emotion show on his face. He would explain to her later. Collins blinked in astonishment, then frowned and lowered the gun. Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, then glared at Jack. He pretended not to notice and smiled at Collins, "See. I knew you wouldn't shoot her. You need her knowledge to get what you want. Plus, she knows things I don't know...and I, her. You need both of us."
Collins let go of Elizabeth and stepped towards Jack. Grinning, he said, "Sparrow... you're just making this harder on yourself. I will get my information out of you one way or another."
"Ten shillings says you can't."
"I'll take that bet."
Jack opened his mouth to say something, but everything went back.

When he opened his eyes, Jack could see that he was in a cell. And common knowledge told him that he was back on the Nemesis. The hard floor he was lying on was cool and damp. Water from the ceiling dripped on his face...and something was on top of him. He lifted his head and saw that is was Elizabeth. "Oh," he exclaimed to no one. Her head laid on his chest and her arms were wrapped around his torso. She was smiling, too. Without thinking, he stroked her hair. It was soft, but a little wet from the dampness of the cell. He inhaled the scent of her, she smelled of the sea and rum. His two favorite things. The rum smell was probably from the pubs she'd been in the last few days.

He patted her back to wake her up, not wanting to, but knowing he must. She groaned, tightened her grip, and nuzzled his chest. Apparently she didn't know what she was doing. Then, he heard her mutter softly, "Jack." His eyes were more wide open then they'd ever been before. A half-smile spread appeared on his face. He then put his hand on her shoulder and gave it a shake, "Lizzie! C'mon, love, wake up!"

Still unaware of what she was doing, she lifted her head a little, her eyes still closed. She placed both of her hands on his chest and pushed herself up. Hanging her head, she opened her eyes. Jack smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders. Her eyes got big and she sucked a lot of air in. Jack braced himself for the hissy fit, but her eyes shrunk to normal size and she breathed steadily. He sighed in relief and said, "Hello Lizzie."
She said nothing. She only punched him hard in the shoulder.
"OW!" Jack complained, placing a hand on his poor shoulder. It didn't really hurt, but he didn't want her to try harder.
"That was for telling Collins to shoot me!" She got off of him and leaned against the bars of the cell.
Jack scoffed and said, "Oh, love, you and I both knew he wouldn't shoot you. Even he knew he wouldn't shoot you. He was bluffing."
"Well, what if he wasn't bluffing Jack? I'd be dead right now."
"Elizabeth, I swear I would never risk your life to save my own skin."
"You risked Will's!"
"Yeah, well he's not you, is he?" He raised his eyebrows and smirked. She frowned and hugged her knees. He scooted next to him and tilted his head back to rest it on the bars. Letting out a long breath, he asked no one in particular, "How are we going to get out of this one?"

Elizabeth giggled a bit, then replied, "Well, I most certainly am not going to push you over the ship again." Jack chuckled patted her shoulder a few times. He heard rain outside, "It's raining."
"Do you think it's daytime?"
"I believe so."
"Jack, does it hurt really bad to be branded?"
He looked at he with a furrowed brow, "Why?"
She hugged her knees tighter, "Collins said that I was going to be branded. I want to prepare myself."

Jack didn't want to scare her. It did hurt...a lot. It even made HIM cry out in agony. He saw the fear on her face. He wouldn't let her go through that. She didn't deserve that kind of punishment, her unfortunate circumstances forced her to do the pirate-like things she did.
"You don't have to worry about that, love."
"Jack...you're not fooling anyone, tell me."
"Yes. It hurts, love."
"A lot?"
"A lot lot."

Elizabeth stood up and walked over to the opposite side of the cell. She wrapped her arms around her waist and threw up. Coughing really hard, she started to cry. Jack immediately walked over to her. Not caring at all what he was doing, he grabbed her and held her tight. To his surprise, she did the same to him. She sobbed into his chest and her shoulders were shaking.
"See? I didn't want to tell you because I knew it would make you nervous."
"It's not your fault."

Jack didn't exactly know what to do. He wasn't used to dealing with emotional women. That was for whelps like, well, Will. He rubbed her back and said, "Uh... don't cry." He let out a quiet whimper. He was so frustrated! Crying girls were not his favorite thing.
Then he heard the sound of boots walking down the all-too-familiar steps...

Elizabeth knew she shouldn't be embracing Jack the way she was. He felt so warm and inviting. She wished she could hold him like this forever. The sound of his heart beating made her forget her fears. Her happy moment ended when Jack released her from his grasp. "Collins," he whispered to her. She turned around to see the evil soldier standing in front of her. Wiping her face with her shirt, she stepped towards him. Collins stopped outside the door and smirked, "How sweet. A swan and a sparrow. Two caged birds who are soon to be tamed."
"Oh, come off it, Collins," she said, surprising the two men, and herself, with her boldness, "you'll not be hearing anything out of us."
"Oh, I think I will."
"Nothing you do to me will make me talk." She walked closer and looked him in the eyes.
"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you, Elizabeth."
Confusion showed on her face.
"You and Jack are close, I see. You wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him, would you?"
Elizabeth's heart stopped beating. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, "Elizabeth, you can't tell him anything."
"What?"
"No matter what he does to me, don't say a word. I've been through more than you can imagine."
"But Jack-"
"Promise me."
She didn't want to see Jack hurt, but he was more serious now than she'd ever seen him before. She lifted her hand placed it on his cheek. He shuddered at her touch. Realizing what she'd done, she pulled it away fast.
"Alright, Jack."