Night had come quicker than either could imagine. Jack spotted a cave nearby where they could camp for the night. Angelica, whose throat was sore from calling her son's name over and over again, didn't argue.

Angelica collected some wood to start a fire and Jack ran off to find food. Crickets chirped in the distance when she finally finished, and the fire was glowing brightly, making shadows dance around the cave. She slumped against the rock wall, exhausted.

She almost didn't want to stop for the night, because of her worries for Jason. But her legs were sore from walking, her throat and mouth were still dry from shouting. Of course, she told herself, if they kept going, she would most likely faint out of exhaustion or hunger.

Her eyes wandered down to her hands, which the ring Jack gave her was on her left index finger. It was lovely, complete with a circular emerald in the center and a skull engraved on each side. She wondered how he found it...and why it was his favorite.

"Ahem!" said a voice from the entrance of the cave. Angelica looked up and saw it was Jack, who was watching her examining the ring. In his hands were two ripe, red apples.

"Oh. You're back." She said as he came towards her.

"And I have food. Here," He tossed her an apple, and she caught it with both hands. "Lovely fire, by the way."

"Oh, thanks." Angelica tried not to look in his eyes, fearing that her heart might flutter that way again. "Where on Earth did you find these?" She held up her apple.

"On a tree. Weird, isn't it? That something as normal as an apple could be found in a bizarre place like this." Jack sat down about a yard away from her, also against the cave wall.

"Are you sure they aren't...poisonous?"

"Pretty sure. I saw a bright green bird eating a fallen one, before I scared it away." Jack said, then took a bite into his apple. After a moment, he smiled at her, "See? I'm still alive!"

Angelica rolled her eyes with a slight grin and took a bite into her own apple. It was quite sweet and took care of her sore throat. The only sound for a while was the crackling flames and the munching of the fruit. Jack then asked, "Say, can I ask you something?"

She shrugged, staring her almost-finished apple. "Sure. Why not?"

"If you didn't want me in Jason's life, then why did you send him after me?"

When Angelica didn't answer at first, Jack worried that he had made her upset. Before he could apologize, she answered, "Because...I thought I was going to die." She stared into the flames, "And...since my Aunt Camilla was very sick...Oh, Jack, I knew you would take him in your crew. I didn't want him to be alone in this world, you know?"

Jack was silent as he took this in. "So...you didn't want me to rescue you then?"

"Not at first, because then things would become complicated, like they are now. I actually hoped we would've gone separate ways if you did find me."

"But why is so bad that I'm the father? We can tell him, you know!"

"No! I told him his father left long before he was born! Which is true!" Angelica glared at him, "I don't want his heart to break like mine did. You left me, Jack. After you told me you loved me!"

"And I still do!" He said, "Look, I was young and foolish back then. We both were! Surely you recall the night when...you know..."

"Jason was conceived?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! Because honestly, I don't remember it."

She laughed, "How many times must I say? You were drunk! So drunk, in the morning you thought I was some beautiful mermaid and kept calling me ángel over and over again."

He grinned, "Because you are one, love!" Angelica thanked the dim light to hide her blush. "Anyway, I do want to be with you. And Jason! We can live on the Pearl, as a family!"

"Please! Like you could settle down..."

"Technically, we'll still be on the Pearl, so..."

"Jack! I don't think it's in your nature to help raise a family." She said to him gently. "That's another reason why I never thought you wouldn't want to know about Jason."

He sighed and scooted closer to her, "Back then, maybe that was true. But Angelica, I didn't lie to you when I said I do love you."

"I believe you, Jack, it's just-" She couldn't find the words to explain her thoughts.

Jack leaned in closer, trying to find the answer in her eyes. "Just what? Is it because I left you? Seriously, that was fifteen years ago! And I'm sitting here, confessing my love to you by a marvelous fire you made yourself, eating apples from a random tree-!"

"Jack! I want to say I love you! But...I'm..." Angelica looked back at her hands, avoiding Jack's face.

"Worried? Afraid? Unable to admit your own feelings?" He asked with a broad grin, leaning back a little.

"Oh, like you didn't have that problem!" She threw up her hands before crossing her arms. "Look, I'm not going to lie and say I haven't thought of you all these years. But things have changed. I have been taking care of Jason and you have been-"

"I just want to know if you love me or not!" Jack blurted.

"I..." Again, no words could come out. Angelica feared that she was stuttering too much.

"Angelica..." Jack whispered, then did something out of the blue and unexpected (Well, what did you expect from Captain Sparrow?) He had leaned forward even more so that he was close enough to press his lips against hers.

She froze, mostly because out of the shock that her heart stopped inside her chest. Her eyes automatically closed, as did his. She had denied it over and over again, that her love for Jack was over. But Angelica couldn't help but have all her thoughts disappear as her mouth moved deeper into the kiss. His lips tasted sweet, and Jack's hand reached up to stroke her hair gently, and her hands found their way on his shoulders.

Angelica had leaned in too far and Jack almost fell backwards, but caught himself as they broke apart. Suddenly, they both started laughing at their clumsiness. She had kept her hands on his shoulders as they giggled together, and was still extremely close to him when he asked, "Well? Do you love me?"

She wanted to say no, but looking into those deep eyes that charmed her so many times before, she was torn. Jack knew her too well, and she just couldn't lie to him again.

With a deep breath, Angelica answered in a whisper and with a tiny smile, "Yes. I guess even after all of these years, I still do."

"Come on, don't be a baby!" Anya called out to Jason from the top of a rather tall palm tree.

"No thanks, I'm fine down here." He answered back, not wanting to reveal that he had never really climbed a palm tree before and didn't want to look like a fool doing so.

Anya giggled and remained where she was, scanning the area. "Our path heads into a narrow river!" She reported, "Followed by a thicket of thorn bushes!"

"Oh, well that's wonderful!" Jason said, throwing his hands up in frustration as Anya slid back down to the ground. She landed on her feet with grace as Jack the monkey screeched a welcome at her from Jason's shoulder.

"Let's go then, before it gets too dark." She said, looking at the setting sun. Anya led the way to the river with Jason closely behind with the monkey, Mr. Cotton's parrot circling above them in the sky.

The river was easy to cross, for it only went chest-deep. Fish with every color of the rainbow swam under them. It may have been as cold as ice, but Jack the monkey was still alright after he fell in by accident and came out shivering like crazy. Jason cuddled him against the dry part of his tunic, trying to bring the warmth back to the animal.

Now on to the thicket of thorn bushes. And these weren't just tiny thorns you would find on a rose's stem, these thorns were as long as fingers and as sharp as needles, pointing in all directions on the twisted bushes which they grew on.

"Um...are you sure there isn't another way around these?" Jason asked, eyeing the plants.

"Unless you would rather take the path through the quicksand," Anya told him, "then yes, this is the only way." She unsheathed her sword and tried to cut a trail, but it took more than five swings before she even made a dent.

"Hey, look!" Jason caught her arm, "There's a few bare patches. We can step in them to get through, okay?" Anya nodded and sheathed her sword. Jason went first to step in a patch of dirt where no thorn bush grew. He had to squeeze both feet in it, though.

About a yard away was another patch, so as he carefully reached his foot over there, Anya stepped where he currently was. And so they went like this through the entire field of thorns. Only Jason's sleeve got caught on one of them and it made a slit in the fabric. Jack stayed on his arm the entire time, now not as cold.

Finally, he made it out. With a sigh of relief, Jason let Jack the monkey climb onto his shoulder. "That wasn't so hard..." He said, turning around back to where he expected Anya to be, out of the thicket and by his side.

Instead, she gave a high-pitched scream as she lost her balance on the bare patch her foot was on. Her body tilted backwards, and she landed hard on her left arm in a large bush with many thorns that soon turned red with blood.

A/N: So...what did you think? Like? No like? Sorta like? REVIEW!

And answering just a fan 's question: Yes, pretty much all of them survived. All of the 'important' ones, anyway. I just didn't know their names! :P

Thank you guys SO MUCH for all the feedback! You all are awesome :)