NB:

Hi there,

I am sorry for my complete fail at updating, really I am. The sad thing is that I have several chapters of this story already written, and have for a long time. The thing is that real life was really starting to nag at me to stop my daydreaming and writing as I am now in the process of Growing Up (TM), besides which it seemed that people had stopped reading. I didn't realize that there are people actually missed this!

It's been a long time since I checked my email, and I came back to quite a few reviews, which were unexpected yet of course welcome and even flattering. So it is my wish now to apologise profusely to everyone who has been kept waiting, and finally present to you another chapter of the final installment of my Beckett-and-Elizabeth-banter-buddies trilogy. Again, I am very very very sorry. I am actually throwing myself upon all of my readers' mercies. I know that I have been unforgivably terrible and I blame it on my own ignorance that people still even remembered my stories! Updates may not be as frequent now but I will try to never disappear for so long again.

Squeeks
xxx

FIVE: Brought to Boil

They had made their final preparations, and left, and had been sailing for about an hour now—to the Caribbean, though the exact location wasn't really known. Elizabeth had had a quick discussion with the physician before leaving, and he said that he would 'see to' Beckett... she was beginning to think that his 'insanity' wasn't too bad, but then again, she couldn't be sure with Beckett...

Sighing, she pushed into his cabin (well, the cabin he was staying in with some others; though he had appeared to be fairly annoyed about having to share, there was nothing he could do about it) and stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips. Beckett didn't glance at her.

"You're funny when you sulk. You know that, don't you?" Elizabeth asked, going for casualness, though it failed slightly. He turned, and glared at her. "Are you going to come out of the cabin?" Beckett just narrowed his eyes slightly, and then turned away from her again, stalking off through the row of bunks. Elizabeth looked left and right, and then followed behind him with a sigh. "Beckett! Stop being such a baby!"

He turned to face her, his expression not really a glare any more—he simply looked sour, and slightly disinterested. He pointed to his mouth. I am not talking to you. He pointed to the door. Get out. Elizabeth shook her head, exasperated.

"I'm the captain here," Elizabeth said, indicating to herself, "And you will do as I say! And I order you to talk!"

It was shocking that those words would ever leave her mouth. Beckett seemed to think so too—but he didn't speak, just raised an eyebrow, and then set himself down on his bunk, reaching into a sack—his sack of belongings—and pulling out a book. Elizabeth couldn't help but wrinkle her nose.

"Who brings a book on an adventure?" She demanded. Beckett ignored her, and opened the book at a marked page, beginning to read. Elizabeth folded her arms, glaring at him for another few minutes, to no response. "Beckett!"

He glanced up at her coolly for a moment, and then turned the page and carried on reading.

"You are... you are so annoying," Elizabeth fumed, turning and stalking out of the cabin, past the other five bunks, and slamming the door closed angrily. Beckett waited until he reached the end of the page before carefully marking the page once more and closing the book.

"Touchy," he remarked lightly as he placed the book on a small, ramshackle bedside table, "Does she want me to shut up, or talk? Women..."

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"Jack!" Elizabeth called to him from across the deck, "Come into my cabin, will you?" Predictably, Jack was wandering around as if he owned the ship—Elizabeth didn't mind terribly, she supposed, but she knew how to make it stop should she get annoyed by it. She was holding William once more; she had fetched him from Fen Wu... who was coming on their journey with them! Bo had been very kind... though, well, Elizabeth had asked Tai Huang really, and Bo was in no position to say no.

"Yes, love?" Jack asked, coming in through the door, in his usual unusual gait.

"I think we should discuss this little 'adventure' of yours," Elizabeth said, raising an eyebrow as he strode in. There were some charts and suchlike set on tables. There were candles, but Elizabeth had opted to not light them, instead throwing apart the heavy, red curtains, allowing sunshine to cascade into the room. The Red Kite was, as named, mostly red—with a jade green (or what used to be jade green) hull. She was painted in the usual bright colours, reminding Elizabeth of the empress—also, being a junk, the Red Kite's sails were curved and ribbed, allowing for much more flexibility in the wind.

"Alright," Jack clapped his hands together and smiled his golden-toothed smile, before reaching into the folds of his topmost coat and brought out a smallish, rolled-up object. Elizabeth faintly recognized it, and her eyebrows rose when he unfurled it into the middle section of Sao's map.

"What happened to Sao's map?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the splintered edges.

"Oh, I 'ad to steal it from dear Hector, before he sailed off in me ship," Jack looked a little annoyed, "I knew I couldn't trust 'im... treacherous swine..."

"Jack, that is a priceless artefact!" Elizabeth yelped, looking at the wrecked map more closely. Jack simply looked unimpressed, and she regained her composure, deciding that it was—after all—the middle that mattered. "Alright... what on this map has interested you?" Jack spun one of the sections of the map a little, and then revealed it to her with a flourish, pointing one grubby finger at the correct spot.

"This! The Water of Life," he put one arm around Elizabeth's shoulders and held his hand out in front of both of them, as if showing her something right in front of them, "The Fountain of Youth! Imagine it, Lizzie—living forever. Perfect."

"Yes, Jack," Elizabeth sighed and pushed his arm off of her shoulder. He looked at her for a moment, seeming put out. "I don't know. I can't see the upside to me going there. I don't want to live forever." She folded her arms and looked at Jack—who seemed very surprised. His eyebrows had nearly disappeared into his bandana.

"You don't want to live forever? You want to die?" Jack chided. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"No, I don't want to die—but I don't want to live forever. It seems, to me, to be a little bit of a responsibility. And a horribly irreversible one at that. But I am interested... thinking about how much people would pay for this..." she frowned slightly, and Jack nodded eagerly. "We'll have to make sure it doesn't get into the wrong hands, though..."

"The wrong hands?" Jack shrugged, "Way I see it, its no problem as long as they're payin' us with something valuable and sparkly... you know?"

"I'm not like you, Jack," Elizabeth sighed. She looked at him for a moment, and then finally nodded, cradling William, "But I think this'll be an interesting journey, anyway..." she looked at the place he had pointed to, and frowned, "That's in Florida..." Florida's English colonies had failed overall, and been taken over by the Spanish (and some French) mostly, though that was to change in the future.

"Yes, 'tis," Jack smiled, "But we shouldn't go to Florida first."

"And why's that?" Elizabeth asked, folding her arms. Jack pointed at a tiger embellished on one of the outer rings of the map.

"When kitty lines up with our destination," Jack nodded, "It means we're goin' to have safe passage. Before headin' to the treasure that is the Water of Life," he said the name of his so-called treasure with a flourish, "We need to find out more of its myths... or we'll end up very dead. Which really is the opposite to the point of this expedition."

"I see," Elizabeth sighed, "And where do we find out its myths?"

"There is a book," Jack said boldly, and Elizabeth realized that he was possibly going off on one again, "A mighty fine, old, magical... special book, that has all the myths inside. And that book," Jack grinned, "Is mine."

"Alright... so where is it, Jack?" Elizabeth asked, as if asking a very young child.

"That's the problem. It's on the Pearl. And I could use some help gettin' it back..." Jack uncurled a hand in front of him, a gesture for god-knows-what, "It's hidden on board. Darling Hector or his aggressive little pet are certain to have not found it, as it is hidden very, very, very... very well."

"How did you get this magical book?" Elizabeth put her hands on her hips, quite sure that it wasn't by honest means. And she was right.

"Oh, I stole it, from... someone not important right now," Jack shrugged airily, "What does it matter? I know it's correct, and worth an absolute bloody fortune! You trust me, don't you?" He looked to her, questioningly.

"I'm not entirely sure I want to come on this journey," Elizabeth sighed, "It sounds dangerous, and... well, it's quite clear you're using me."

"Using you? Lizzie!" Jack spread his arms out, "Elizabeth! I have your best interests, and I know that you are just hankerin' to get out there and do something... am I right?" Elizabeth didn't deny it. "Think about it! Adventure, excitement, immortality! What more could you want, eh?"

"Hmm," Elizabeth pursed her lips, "It's not just me. If Beckett gets wind of this, he will probably explode. You know that, right?"

"All the better!" Jack declared.

"Hmm," Elizabeth sighed, "I'm going to go talk to the ship surgeon. I'm sure he'll take a look at Beckett..."