Author's Note: HEY LOOKEY! I'M NOT DEAD!!! It seems to be a reacurring theme with me that I disappear for long periods of time before miraculously reappearing from seemingly out of nowhere...hey! I'm a female criss angel! ...Although not half as exciting or dramatic...unless you're just THAT into my story haha, anyway I have a general apology posted to my profile but I shall state here, I've just started college and though not half as scary as I thought it would be, it's still a lot of work.

Huge Amount of Thank Yous For: supercalifragilisticexplalidoc , -Valor- , Lady Nightlord , QueenOfWeird1995 , katilia , gothicluver13 , riddikchick1993 , peaches , and xBelekinax my awesome reviewers and doubly thanks to katilia for pointing out my little grammer mix-up, I went back to fix it but then I'd have to upload the chapter again and all that jazz so unfortunately it's going to stay all screwy for a bit...something that wounds me deeply as I am a grammer nazi and then of course a great big HOLY CRAP YOU ROCK thank you goes to ThePurpleness for all her support and reminding me to get this chapter out hehe

P.S. I admit this chapter is fairly short, but it's loaded, you'll see what I mean...and sorry for anyone who likes Elizabeth...heh heh.

After her discussion with James, Alina decided she would be of most use at the helm. She could give either Jack or Gibbs, the only two people other than herself trusted enough to steer the Black Pearl, a break and be at one with the vessel in question. The world disappeared when she commanded a ship, it was in this respect that she and Jack were exactly alike. The feeling of command, or control over one's own freedoms produced an ecstasy unparalleled to any other, aside from the obvious love making they had shared a few nights prior. As she made her way up one set of stairs, she noticed Elizabeth sulking on the other; the brief thought of talking to her passed through her mind but was quickly squashed as that small bit of jealousy reared its ugly head. Let the little she-devil sulk. She thought angrily convinced that her supposed-friend was trying to seduce her love. She soon regretted her decision however as she saw Jack approach with a half-empty bottle of rum in his grasp. From her position at the helm, she could see and hear everything that passed, and was unable to immerse herself in the usual bliss expected from being at the helm. Brandy joined her just as Jack began to speak.

"My tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature informs me that you are troubled." He said. Brandi could not help but scoff. Intuitive sense my arse, she thought, If he were so good he wouldn't be schmoozing another woman, he'd be up here kissing the daylights out of his co-captain!

"I just thought I'd be married by now." Elizabeth complained, her voice thick with unshed tears. She swallowed before adding, "I'm so ready to be married."

Jack seemed to contemplate her words as he handed her his bottle, "You know Lizzie, I am Captain of this ship." Elizabeth cocked her head towards him as he leaned in to add, "And being Captain of a ship, I could in fact, perform a marr-i-age. Right here, right on this deck. Right now."

Alina gave an almost inaudible gasp and Brandi placed a comforting hand on her friend's back. Alina was not able to tell if Jack was seriously propositioning Elizabeth or attempting to make light of the situation and steer her mind away from her missing fiancé. Either way Elizabeth took great offense to his words and pushed the rum back into his chest as she replied, "No, thank you." And stormed off to the port side of the ship. Jack stood and followed her, just out of range of Alina's ears. With the wind in her favor, she managed to catch a few words but was unable to understand the basis of the conversation.

"Why not?" He asked as he followed. Brandi, a look of murder on her face, moved to follow but was held back by a simple hand on her shirt sleeve by Alina, whose eyes were dead focused on the pair growing ever closer to each other. She briefly wondered why the man would sniff himself before the hurt returned as his face drew nearer and nearer to the blonde-haired beauty.

"To act on selfish impulse." She heard Jack tell Lizzy and her head swam with all sorts of selfish impulses he could possibly be imagining himself acting on.

She heard Elizabeth's voice talking matter-of-factly and inwardly sighed with relief that she wasn't reciprocating his feelings, "Moment...do the right thing."

"I love those moments." Jack replied loudly, "I like to wave at them as they pass by." He walked further away and now Alina could hear nothing. She could only watch as the two drew their faces nearer and nearer. She seethed as Elizabeth suddenly felt the same compulsion as Jack. She saw her now ex-friend move ever closer to Jack's lips and she saw them ready to kiss.

Move away Jack, please, don't do it. She begged him in thought, Please, don't do this to me. Suddenly, Tia Dalma's words came rushing back to her in a wave of clarity. 'Follow your mind, and your heart die. Follow your heart, and your body die. Follow your body, and your mind die.' Things slowly made more and more sense with each passing moment. Her mind had slowly fallen into a whirling mass of confusion and angst as she tried to decide whether telling Jack how she felt, ultimately following her heart, would be the wise choice to make. Her mind, she acknowledged was dying slowly with each day that passed and each question was left unanswered, Does Jack truly love me or am I just one step up from being yet another conquest of his?

Now, as she watched the product of following her mind instead of her heart, the product of keeping her true feelings to herself unfold, she was actually watching, little by little, her own heart die. That's when the unexpected happened.

Jack pulled away.

Alina could just barely contain her sob of relief as he moved away from Elizabeth and slipped the rope knot over a spoke in the wheel to hold steady so she could run to him and into his arms. She kissed him fiercely before pulling away and looking at him with such pure joy and abandonment. "You didn't do it." She laughed with tears in her eyes, "You didn't-" She stopped in mid sentence as a thick, oily, black scab appeared in her palm. Recognition washed over her face and she pushed away from him fiercely. He would have done it. She realized, If not for the spot, he would have done it. Her chest convulsed in anguish as she felt the pain of a jagged-edged dagger rip through her heart at his betrayal.

"Ali." He whispered.

"Don't." She replied, holding her hand up to stop him, "Just don't." She walked passed him, her face expressionless, on her way to her cabin. James took her arm just as she was about to descend the stairs and gave her a look she couldn't quite place. It wasn't quite sympathy, it was more like empathy. It was then that she realized the woman Jack was about to kiss was Elizabeth, a woman James had now lost twice over.

"If this is how he treats his treasure, he doesn't deserve it." He told her solemnly, "He doesn't deserve you."

Alina's expressionless face twisted to show the pain she felt as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders to embrace him, "Likewise." She whispered through the tears she was desperately trying to withhold, "And thank you. I'm proud to call you my friend." With that, she released him and left for her cabin.

Brandi stood where Alina had left her, fuming. She was going to make that stupid chicken realize he couldn't just play with her friend's emotions. "Captain Penguin!" She called to him as she came down from the helm to face him. This earned many snickers from the crew.

"What did you just call me?" He spat at her with a glare.

"Well if you insist on befuddling my name, I must insist likewise. Now where do you get off playing with Alina's heart like that?" She smacked a hand across his chest and continued stalking forward, pushing him up against the rail threateningly, "Now you listen here you smooth-talking, half-witted, head-up-a-horse's-behind, bird-man! Captain Alina Carter is a wonderful person with a wonderful heart and you'd have to be a complete ignoramus to not realize that nor acknowledge not only her excellence but also your unworthiness. In fact you should be contemplating what you are going to say as you get down on your knees in front of her and beg her to overlook your absolute lack of sound mental judgement. If I ever find out about you treating her even half as horribly as you just did, I swear to Davy Jones' locker that he will be the least of your problems. We've already established that my sanity is lax, do you really want to test me while I'm also on my cycle?"

Jack could only shake his head with slight fear at the crazy, streaky-purple haired woman before him. Even being a good head and a half shorter than him, he was quite, embarrassingly so, afraid of her. His fear was only heightened when he heard Gibbs bellow, "Land ho!"

"Ngh." He whimpered, "I want my jar of dirt."

review please!

oh and I've posted some self-made (all be-it not that good) title pages on my profile page too, and even though they could be better I'm a little proud that I managed to make something. Check it out ^.^