Yeah! Getting fixed! Whoot! Slowly but surely getting back to normal Jackness. Or at least behaving like normal Jackness. It'll be a while yet before it actually IS normal Jackness. Actually, I'm not really sure if I can write Jack anymore. Hm...

Things were changing.

Slowly but surely, they were getting back to some semblance of right. There were some things that would never be the same, of course. It would take years for Jack's hair to grow back, and considering the drastic improvement to the man's smell, Will wasn't entirely sure he wanted it to. At least not into the same thick dreadlocks. And the beads were gone forever, disappeared into the breach with the rest of the hair.

There were other things Will liked about this new Jack, too. He wasn't nearly as intimidating, for one. Before, he always seemed to know everything, to be in control of the situation. Even bound in locks and chains, he was calm and cool. He might not necessarily have been in control of himself at times, but very little of the outside world seemed to faze him. He was worldly and experienced and more or less everything Will was not.

Now, he was mostly just confused.

He was confused about everything. The first time the deal had gone through and wiped out his memories, he had at least had a vague idea of who he was, what he was. He might not have really understood how he got there, but he dealt with it in a suitably Jack-like manner. He'd blustered his way through it and into a sort of semblance of normal. And then there had been that moment, that single moment of recognition, of understanding, and it was gone again.

All of it.

The more Will thought of it, the more it made sense. What exactly had happened, that is. Although Jack hadn't really remembered him, he had managed to figure out that there was something to remember. He knew they had history. He remembered the events of Elizabeth's rescue. The memories themselves were there. Will just wasn't in them. But when the second sweep came around, it took everything. Now there was not only a piece missing, but an entire section.

Trying to assess the damage was tricky, however. If he pointed out too many contradictions, pushed too many questions, it might happen all over again, and he didn't know how much of Jack there was left to lose. He had to be careful. He had to just seem curious.

And that was easy enough. Jack had already accepted that Will had feelings for him. Curiosity was a natural thing. And although he didn't return the affection, he didn't rebuke it, either. He was too unsure, too uncertain of who he was and what he wanted to resist. He just went along with it, just like Jack always had. Going with the flow, making stuff up as he went along and making it look like planning. That was the one thing that had never changed, no matter how much of his memory was lost.

"Jack? Can I ask you something?"

They were in the Captain's cabin, drinking rum. Another thing that hadn't really changed, although the quantities had dropped drastically.

"You already have." Jack smiled as he poured Will another drink, apparently quite please with himself. "But go ahead, I'm listening."

"When, exactly, did you become Captain of the Pearl?" Will watched the older man closely, looking for the hesitation, the confusion that warned off further pressing.

"Hm…" Jack filled his own glass, looking contemplative, but not confused. "I'm not sure, exactly. Quite a lot of the intermittent time was spent at sea. And there aren't exactly seasons in the Caribbean. I'd say… Fifteen? Sixteen years? I don't actually know, nor do I care"

"Sixteen years? That's a long time." Will sipped at the alcohol, now somewhat anxious. Sixteen years ago, he hadn't even been old enough speak properly, and Jack was already Captain of a ship? "How old are you, anyways?"

"Pfft."Jack scoffed into his drink, apparently highly amused. "This is the Caribbean, luv. No one knows how old they are."

"True enough." Will had to agree; He wasn't entirely sure of the exact number himself. It was easy to lose track of time, out on the open ocean. "Still, you must have been fairly young at the time. I mean, you can't be that much older than me."

And then came the pause, the hesitation, the confusion. The look of worry in those dark amber eyes, as unsure as they could get.

"I suppose I was. I don't really recall." Jack downed his rum in one quick gulp, already beginning to pour himself another almost before the glass was back on the table.

There would be no more questions that night.