"You're insane."

The tea was almost cold at this point; Adelaide and Jack had been talking together for over an hour and a half, sometimes in English, sometimes not. Whatever he had just said though, it did not make her look happy.

"You know it's funny, love, because everyone thinks I am, when really, I'm far from it..."

"No. This time, you have lost your mind. Pouf. Gone. Jack, and please, answer me honestly because I think I could learn from this, why on earth you thought I would agree with you."

"Celia needs her mother whole--"

"Oh don't pull the parent card with me Jack, you're the last to--"

"Love, shut up and hear me out, really." Jack made a gesture at her, waiting for the okay to continue; she nodded with a sigh, and he moved on. "Right. So see, love, Celia needs her mum whole, yeah? Free of entrapments and holdings and debts to be repaid and whatnot."

"Go on."

"You have, in front of you," Jack gave Will a sidelong glance, barely noticeable; but Will saw it and inwardly groaned. He knew this would involve his own demise someway or another. "The tools with which to, perhaps, strike a bargain, and at the same time, get back at the one person you and I both know would be better... dead."

She gave Jack an unexpectedly thoughtful look before turning to Will. "Did you know I knew your mother?"

Will started, shocked by the conversation's sudden turn as well as her words. "I beg your pardon?"

"I knew your mother. Your mother was a great friend of my chamber maid growing up-- she was one of the people I looked up to. I knew you too; I can remember you, but only as Marian's son, not as the young man you are now, obviously."

It clicked, then, why her face had looked so familiar-- she was the woman that had helped him after his mother's death, the kind lady who had gotten him passage on a ship and given him money for the journey and...

"I knew you looked familiar!" he said finally, shaking his head, and she grinned.

"Well, I'm glad you did get off alright, anyhow. Me and Annabel were a bit worried, but she said... doesn't matter. Anyway, what Jack's saying, or not saying, I suppose, is that a very long time ago, your family did my family a very great good, and we have been struggling to repay that debt for many years now."

"Is that why you helped me try and find my father?"

"Not totally, no, but it didn't hurt your case. We thought you had died, though, when that merchant ship blew up."

"How did you know I was on that ship?"

"More tea?" She stood up quickly and began walking back towards the kitchen, pot in hand, almost spilling on the blonde-haired girl who fell towards her as the door opened.

"Celia!" She scolded, and although the little girl had the decency to look ashamed, Will snorted behind his hand. She had obviously been listening behind the door.

"I want to go."

"Que?"

"I want to do whatever you and the Capitão are going to do."

"Ai, bad girl, you were listening on the other side of the door, weren't you."

"I want to go with you."

"Não."

"Sim, Mama! I am old enough now, I can do what it is. I am not a baby, not anymore, não pequena."

"Baixinho. You're eleven-and-a-half."

"Por favor."

"May I interject that I agree with the young mistress?"

"No. Jack, she can't go, and that's final." She sounded final, too, and everyone in the room knew it-- there was a collective sigh.

Celia's eyes filled with tears, and she fled the room; Adelaide shook her head, turning back and placing the teapot back on the table.

"You know, Addy, I think that thing you told me about not having children was an excellent idea."

"It took you this long to figure that out." She looked a bit weary as she sat back down; her long brown hair fanned out over her hands as she took it out of her ponytail, rubbing her temples.

"I just don't know what to do, Jack. I want her to come with us, I really do. She can't stay in this place, not alone... God damn it all!" She swore vehemently, and Will blinked. There was a silence-- Will hurried to change the subject.

"So this deal from long ago-- the ones that our families had together--do you have any idea what it might entail? For either of us?"

"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. But see, that, that louco Capitão, he knows. So it seems that unfortunately, for either of us to get what out of it, I have to know what it is, whichwill require Jack's help, and... let me guess, Jack, the only way would be to accompany you on this little adventure."

"Your intelligence has always been your most attractive feature."

She sighed, obviously resigned to whatever and whereever they were going, shaking her head. Will opened his mouth to speak again, hoping the conversation wouldn't turn back to the young girl again-- but unfortunately, she sighed and went on.

"What am I going to do about Celia? I can't just leave her here, she's barely into double digits and she just lost her father; am I supposed to tell her that she has to stay with someone she doesn't know so that I can go gallivanting across the oceans for God knows how long?"

"That would be utterly convenient if you did so."

"Sorry, darling, not going to happen."

"Send her to your brother."

"Oh yes, Jack, that's an excellent idea. I'll just go right up and knock on the front door, shall I? 'Hello, brother. I know you've tried to kill me every time you've seen me, but in the interest of you know, family ties and burying the hatchet and such, I figured I'd leave my little girl with you while I frolic off with the only person you hate more than me.' Yes. What a brilliant plan, Jack. I can't imagine why I hadn't thought of it before."

Jack pouted, sipping his cold tea with a forlorn gaze. "You don't have to be so snippy with me, love. I was only thinking—"

"Well you better think harder, Jonathan Sparrow, because without her taken care of, I'm not leaving this house."

He downed the insipid liquid with a grimace, rubbing the tightly wound bandage on his hand as he thought for a moment.

"What about Tia's?"

"Tia who?"

"Dalma's, idiot."

"Hmm. That's a possibility. Is there a need to go there, though? And what about payment?"

The captain looked at Will, back at Adelaide and then at Will again before dragging the woman over to a corner of the room and ducking down, turning his back to Will as he messed with the bandage on his hand. Will couldn't see what he had shown her, but it must have been alarming-- she gasped, shuddering.

"Thirteen years already?"

"Fraid so, love."

"You're the idiot." She gave another long-suffering sigh.

"Well, I suppose that'll work. She'd better not end up as payment for anything, though, I'm warning you. I don't want to come back and find my daughter wearing scandalous dresses and married to a longshoreman with no teeth and a parrot."

She stood up, taking the teapot with her and slamming the door open in front of her to her wide-eyed daughter, sitting on the floor.

"Pack only what you need, Celia. We leave in two hours."