"CABIN BOY!!!! Where is that good-for-nothing bastard son of a goat?!?! CABIN BOY!!!" Their 'new' captain roared, completely ignoring the fact that said 'cabin boy' was right behind him, complete with the chart Captain Jack hadn't even asked for yet.

"Right here, Captain. Are these the charts you wanted?" Will held up the pieces of paper for the man to see, being careful to keep his expression neutral, despite the pain Jack's indifferent eyes always caused him.

"Yes." Jack snatched the charts from him, eyeing him suspiciously from under the feathery wreath of his newly short hair. "How did you know I wanted them?"

"Call it intuition." Will smiled, doing his very best to be as mysterious and intriguing as he had found the pirate during their time together.

"Well, stop it." Jack turned his back, smoothing the paper out along the rail. "It's annoying. If I wanted a mind reader, I would have asked for one."

"Yes, Captain." Will sighed, wondering whether he should cross off 'mysterious' or 'helpful' on his list of attributes Jack liked.

"You know…" Elizabeth leant against the railing next to him, watching the elusive pirate as he plotted out their next course. "Maybe you should try just acting like yourself. After all, that's what made him fall in love with you the first time, isn't it?"

Will looked at her in a way that probably would have offended her back in Port Royal, but was really quite welcome here on the ship. Any look that wasn't a leer was welcome.

"Yes, but he's not the same man now as he was before, now is he? He's changed, Elizabeth." Will sighed and looked back at the object of his affections.

"Did you think I hadn't noticed? I mean, really Will. The hair alone should be enough to tip anyone off. But that's not the point. He's still the same man, Will. He's just fallen a few chapters behind, that's all." It was Elizabeth's turn to sigh. "Just give it some time, and you'll see. He'll be the same old Captain Jack that he's always been."

Will looked at her, suddenly glad she had joined him on this trip. Elizabeth knew how people functioned, something he had never quite figured out. If she said everything would be ok, then it probably would.

He was about to give the young woman a profound thank you, but before he could even open his mouth, the ship was rocked with yet another call for the Pearl's new cabin boy.

Will sighed again and went running off to do Captain Jack's bidding.

Standing against the rail, Elizabeth watched him scurry away and wondered at the truth of her own words. She had known people to change, but never as suddenly or as completely as Jack. He had lost all memory of someone who had been apparently very important in the formation of his character. What the motley crew of the Pearl were seeing now was what Jack would have been had he never met Bootstrap Bill. Never had she thought Bootstrap had had such an important role in his development. According to all testimony, Bootstrap had just been another member of the crew. The evidence was pointing in another direction, however.

From what Jack himself had told Will on the beach that long-ago day, Jack had had romantic feelings for the older pirate, perhaps much as Will now had feelings for Jack. Based upon Will Turner Jr.'s existence, Bill had either swung both ways or shut Jack out entirely. Probably the latter, Elizabeth surmised.

"So." She looked to the strange pirate as he ordered Will around some more, scolding him for not anticipating the Captain's needs ahead of time. "Captain Jack's a spurned lover. Never would have guessed."

As Will dashed off to do whatever it was he had been told to do, Jack turned to her as if he had heard her whispered words. He raised an eyebrow, the expression known to untold numbers of tavern wenches across the Caribbean sliding onto his face.

Elizabeth laughed, shaking her head and crushing whatever hopes the Captain might have had.

Some things never change.

Mwahahaha... Good news for all you people heavilly annoyed at the infrequency of my updates! Thanks to a certain someone by the name of darkestNoir who was angry at me for not updating one of my fictions for two years, I have officially made a schedual. (You know, it's not really that I don't have any of this written. It's actually that I just don't update. ) Expect new chapters on Fridays from now on. Thanks for your tolerance!