A/N: Aha! I don't know how I finally got the Quick Edit/Preview to work again...but I did :o) Yea! Finally... Anyway, here is Chapter 15 for all you who have been awaiting :o)

Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Miss Anya...Ahhh, yes, I've managed to get everyone a little pissed off at dear ol' Jack, haven't I? The poor Captain...it wasn't my intention...but I guess he will have to deal with the fact. To answer your question...I'm not sure how long this fanfic will be. I'm just writing as it comes along, but I do know that my ideas have only just begun....bwahaha!

Kenn...You know me well enough to know by now that I try to be as accurate as possible...it's such difficult work doing all this research...especially when it comes to studying the movie...and Jack ;o) I was glad to read that you think things move along well...sometimes I wonder if that's all working ok. And just for the record, no I didn't believe until that last chapter that Jack was in love with Ana...but when my fingers started typing, that's what came out...I guess if Jack can admit it on paper, then so can I.

Cal...Yep...another review in which someone is angry at Jack. I have a feeling I should be getting accumstomed to these by now ;o) Has the new punching bag arrived yet? Or are you still taking out your frustrations on the cat? Well, I hate that our poor Captain has taken a fall from grace, but I'm sure that if anyone has a shot at redeeming himself in the future, Jack is the one. How can you really say no to all that wonderful pirate charm in the end? :o)

C'lyn...Thanks for the review. I was wondering about that last comment though...do you really wonder what Jack feels? Enjoy!

Indy Croft...Glad you enjoyed! Keep the reviews coming!

Chapter Fifteen

Nearly three full days passed before Anamaria awoke again. She had passed out almost halfway through the operation from shock and pain. At the time, Jack had been glad to see her somewhat released of her demons.

Since then, she had been resting in his cabin and he had been by her side at almost every minute. Every time she stirred, every sigh that passed her lips, he hoped that she would come back to the world of the living. But for days on end, she had stayed in her own universe, untouchable by all that was in his.

On the night of that third day, she sighed and then began to squirm slightly more than normal. Jack, who had gone without sleep since the night before they had set sail for St. Croix, thought that he might be hallucinating, but when her eyes fluttered open, he was the first thing that she saw.

"Jack?" she whispered, squinting to force his figure to come into form before the pain overcame her.

Her first instinct was to clutch at her missing arm. When she realized it was gone, she seemed shocked…Then the memories came flooding back and she began to cry uncontrollably.

Jack had been sitting on the edge of his bed beside her and when she began to cry he took her into his arms and held her as tightly as he could. He slowly began to rock back and forth, attempting to soothe her in her moment of need.

Slowly, her crying faded as she let Jack calm her. However, once the tears had ceased, she became angry, pushing him away from her. She was embarrassed by the fact that he had seen her at her weakest and even more embarrassed that he had had to pull her out of it.

"I can't believe you let them do this to me," she said spitefully.

"Ana, there wasn't any other choice…" Jack tried, confused by her sudden burst of outrage.

"Or maybe you wanted them to because you were afraid I was becoming too powerful. Was that it?"

Her words sounded white hot to Jack's ears. He had thought there might be some resentment, but not like this, and not directed at him.

"Afraid that I was going to become like Barbossa and betray you? So you betrayed me first instead."

"Ana, you know that's not true."

Jack's eyes gave away the hurt he was feeling and for some reason, Anamaria softened.

"Look at me," she whispered, her head falling, "I look like some sort of freak."

She began to cry again and Jack instantly took her back into his arms. "Sssshhhh," he whispered in her ear. "It's all going to be alright."

He could feel her shaking her head, disagreeing with him.

He gently rubbed her back with one hand while still holding her close to him with the other. "I know it doesn't seem that way now, but you'll see...with time...you'll see."

Anamaria was still crying into his shoulder, her head buried in his neck.

Jack pulled back for a moment and wiped at her tears with his fingers. She blinked and slowly met his eyes with her own. He hated all the pain he saw there, hated knowing that he was the cause.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered, trying to stop herself from crying any harder than she already was by forcing herself to look at the ceiling before bringing her eyes back down to meet Jack's.

"You're going to get well and you're going to move on," he said simply.

"How? I can't be a pirate now. And I definitely can't ever hope to be the captain of my own ship someday. Not now." Small tears were still leaking from the corners of her eyes.

"Why not?" Jack asked.

"It's hard enough to earn men's respect as a woman. But a woman with one arm, Jack? Come on, you know better than to think I'll ever gain anyone's respect this way." Her voice was heavy and more tears began to flow.

"Then you're not as strong as I thought you were," Jack said.

Anamaria looked at him questioningly. "I am strong, but this is too much for even me to beat."

She hung her head and Jack pulled away, studying her thoughtfully.

"It wouldn't 'ave been too much for the Anamaria I thought I knew to beat. What happened to you?" he asked.

"What happened to me?" she repeated, beginning to get angry again. "I've lost my arm Jack! Can you really in all seriousness ask me what's happened to me?"

Jack shook his head, holding her gaze. "You're stronger than that. I know you are. You're unstoppable when you want to be...don't think of this as any different. So you lost your arm? Are you going to let that stop you from finishin' your dreams?"

"I don't see how it could be possible for me to be a captain now," she answered.

"Then you won't be," Jack said, rising from the bed. He was growing tired of their conversation. The Ana he knew was better than this. She was stronger than this. "Toughen up," he said, leaving the room and pulling the door closed behind him.

Anamaria sat, staring after him, for a moment before beginning to cry again. A small tear slipped over her cheek and then more followed. It hurt because she knew Jack was right. Or at least he would have been in the past. Now, she questioned her strength.

She looked to a nearby table and spotted a bottle of rum that Jack must have been working on earlier himself. It was half empty, but the pain in her arm was becoming unbearable and she needed something to dull it. She struggled to move her feet off the bed, sitting up straight before trying to actually stand. As her feet brushed the floor and she attempted to rise, her head whirled and she blinked back stars. Seconds later, she was lying on the floor and Jack was back by her side.

"Anamaria? Are you ok? Anamaria?"

She slowly attempted to nod in response as she felt his arms pulling her up and carrying her back to the bed.

"You're not supposed to be getting out of bed just yet. Your body's not strong enough to 'old you up." He wiped at the tears that had stained her face earlier and then handed her the bottle of rum that she had been attempting to reach.

She took a long drink and then handed the bottle back to him, empty.

"Decker is going to be 'ere in a minute. 'e was glad to 'ear you were awake," he said.

"I don't want to see him," she snapped.

"I know you're angry. Everyone understands that, but Decker saved your life. Whether you appreciate that or not at this point, you better start to realize it soon," Jack replied. She was beginning to push his limits and he knew that he was going to have to become more understanding of her situation.

Decker knocked twice before twisting the handle and letting himself in. "Good morning Miss Anamaria," he greeted. "It's good to see you awake."

Anamaria grimaced, "Good morning."

"How's that wound of yours feeling?" he asked, beginning to slowly pull at the bandages that wrapped the stump where her arm used to be.

"It hurts," she said quietly. "It hurts where there isn't even anything to hurt anymore."

"Ahhh," Decker sighed. "That's just phantom pain. You'll get used to that soon enough. Your body knows what's there and what's not, your mind is just having a hard time adjusting." He pulled off the final bandage and looked encouraged. "This looks really good."

"It's not even there," Anamaria couldn't resist. "How could it possibly look good?"

Decker ignored her comment. "It's healing very well, much better than I expected. You'll be up and back at it before you know it," he said, applying some medication to the wound.

Jack gave her a small smile, knowing that she wouldn't see the situation as a positive one, but unable to conceal the fact that she would be able to return to a somewhat normal life fairly soon.

"You ought to thank Captain Sparrow for being so kind in your moment of need Miss Saldana," Decker said as he began to rewrap her arm. "He's been at your side for the last three days and he even dropped anchor at a large port city so I could go ashore and get this medication for you. Expensive stuff and the best on the market, none-the-less. Not to mention the danger it put the whole crew in."

Anamaria glared at Jack, the pain having intensified with the application of the medicine.

"There you go," Decker said, finished wrapping her arm.

Anamaria knew that both the men expected her to say thank you, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Not just yet.

Decker understood and turned to Jack. "She needs to get a good meal so she doesn't get malnourished and give her some rum to go with it. It will help numb the pain."

Jack nodded, "You'll be back by in the morning?"

"Of course," Decker said.

"Thank you," Jack said, making sure that Anamaria overheard his words.

"Goodnight Captain...Miss Saldana," Decker turned to leave, not expecting to hear from Anamaria and left the two of them alone.

"I'm going to get you some dinner. I'll be back soon," Jack said. "It would be nice of you to thank Decker for his care," he added as he left the room.

Nice of me to thank Decker. Anamaria thought sarcastically. For what? Cutting off my arm? I don't think so Jack.

Soon the captain was back with her dinner and she had to admit that it looked very good. After not eating for three days, anything would have been tasty at this point, but Jack had taken special care to bring her the best food that the pirate ship had to offer. While she didn't thank him directly, he knew that his efforts had not gone unnoticed.

Before Anamaria had been injured she had known, possibly better than even Jack himself, the quality of the food their ship held. But Jack had stopped and gotten food in the port city as well. Good food.

He had hated having to stop there. It had put them back on the map, alerted the Navy to their location. Jack rarely sacked port cities for that very reason. He was much more fond of hitting up ships at sea. It was harder for anyone to pinpoint them that way.

It was almost as if Anamaria, who had previously been enjoying her dinner in silence, had read his mind, "You shouldn't have put the crew in danger."

Jack sighed. "Decker gave you twice as good odds of surviving with the medicine as without it," he said. "It wasn't really a choice."

"Still," she insisted, "my life is not worth risking the entire crew's."

"Ana, you are an essential part of this crew. They need you to be ok," Jack tried to explain.

"But you could replace me," she argued, still eating the food he had prepared for her.

"I don't want to replace you," he said, beginning to get annoyed. "Ana, this business of you not being a pirate anymore. You can't be serious about that. Are you?"

For the first time, she looked up from her food and met Jack's eyes, "I don't know."

"But this is your life," he argued.

"It has been up until now. But who's to say that can't change?"

"But you love the sea. You love sailing. You love…" Jack started, "being a pirate."

Anamaria took a few more bites of her food. "Yes, I suppose I do, don't I?"

"Then why think of leaving all that behind?" he asked, his voice softening.

She shrugged her shoulders, continuing to eat.

Jack was fighting the urge to get mad with her again. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. "I know 'ow you must feel..."

Anamaria cut him off, angry eyes flashing up at him, "You have no idea how I feel Captain Sparrow."

Jack cringed at the use of his proper name from her lips. "No, you're right, I'm not in your position, but I can imagine how you must feel and the hurt you must be experiencing. But it's no reason to give up. If anything, it should give you a reason to be stronger."

Anamaria remained silent, finishing off the food that he had brought her.

"You've beaten a lot of odds in your life to get where you are. The fact that you would even think of letting an injury stop you is almost inconceivable to me," Jack said. He was watching her through sad eyes as he thought of her broken spirit.

Anamaria pushed the plate away from her to show that she was done and rested her hand in her lap. Her eyes met Jack's, but she made no effort to speak. He hesitated a moment, almost hoping she would respond, but when she didn't, he picked up her plate and left the cabin.

Her depression weighed heavy on his soul as he took the plate to the kitchen and then made his way back to his room. She had already laid back down on the bed and her eyes were closed when he entered.

"Would you like some more rum?" he asked, passing the cabinet and pulling it open. "I stocked up."

Anamaria opened her eyes just enough to study the supply and nod her head in agreement.

Jack brought her a new bottle and pulled the cork for her, passing it to her as he sat down on the bed. He watched her as she took a long drink and then stared back at him. As her eyes met his, Jack thought of how glad he was that she was finally awake again, of how optimistic Decker had seemed about her making a full recovery, and a small smile touched his lips. Reaching out in a gesture of kindness, he went to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, but she flinched and his hand fell to the sheets as the spell was broken and the harsh reality began to set back in. Anamaria realized her mistake and reached to touch his hand. Their fingers entwined and the small crooked smile reappeared on Jack's face. Anamaria attempted one of her own, but failed.

"I'm glad that you're awake," he whispered, running his fingertips gently over the back of her hand.

Anamaria nodded slowly, her eyes focused on his small gesture.

He wanted to kiss her so badly at that instant, but he was afraid of the rejection that he was almost certain would come. "Why don't you try and get some rest?"

Anamaria let go of his hand to take up the rum bottle again. She took one more long drink and passed it back to him. "Thank you," she said weakly, hoping it would cover the multitude of things that she knew he had done for her.

Jack nodded, helping her to move under the covers. "Do you need anythin' else for the evenin?" he asked.

"No," she said softly.

Jack stood, "I'll be right 'ere if you change your mind."

He moved to a chair that sat beside the bed. Anamaria almost felt bad, knowing that he probably would not sleep again tonight, but she didn't feel that she was ready for him to join her in bed yet.

"Goodnight," he whispered as she felt herself beginning to drift off.

She could feel his eyes on her, studying her, but she couldn't bring her own to open. "Goodnight," she returned.