I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney does. I only own the characters that weren't in the movies; the ones I made up. I also do not own Alexander Swann, Isabella Swann, or Count Philip Rochester, who belong to Vilofied.

"Mmm."

"Hmm?"

"Lie still, dear...I want to hold you."

"The ground isn't very soft place to lie, darling...I was getting comfortable." I chuckled.

She chuckled as well, and nestled her head against my chest. "Try sleeping on the ground for ten years and then some; you make it comfortable. I've slept on it since you left to wherever you went."

It was little comments like those that shattered the moment. Little comments like that, that reminded me of how fragile a state my wife was in...Comments like those that made me hold her all the more tighter. We were still in that little dome-like clearing, with nothing but my deep green civilian-clothing jacket covering us, for it had grown quite nippy to our bare skin. I pulled her close, oh so close, until there was no space between us, and our legs were tangled. My left hand rested upon her back, while my right stroked her hair, and my eyes wandered.

"Jamie, look at me."

I did as I was told without hesitation, my green eyes meeting her beautiful blue ones.

She pulled her head back a bit to get a better look at me, and cupped my cheeks. "What is wrong, Jamie?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying to me." she said softly. "Tell me what is wrong...We're married, Jamie, and we're not supposed to hide things from each other. Now please, tell me what is wrong before I go mad." she said softer, a heavy trace of begging in her voice.

I sighed, unable to denie those eyes. "I'm worried about you, my sweet."

Her brows cocked with confusion. "Why? What is there to worry about?"

I felt my expression twist painfully with sadness. "Your health, darling. You're so fragile...and you're full of poison."

"Mhm?" she pressed gently.

That time I could feel agony in my expression, and I heard it in my voice. "I'm scared...of losing you. I don't know what I'll do if I lose you." My voice dropped to a whisper. "I don't think my heart would be able to bare it."

Chrissy's expression turned sympathetic, and she began to stroke my face. "I'm not going to leave you...I refuse. I will get better, Jamie. We're going to go back to England, just as you said we would, and we're going to live out in the country and raise our child." she paused. "Tell me how to get better, Jamie, and I'll do it. As soon as we get out of the jungle-"

"Don't you understand?!" I suddenly cried. "We're not in the jungle!"

Her face held confusion again. "No, we're in the jungle, on the island."

I slowly untangled myself from her and stood, before retrieving my breeches and putting them on. I then just stood, my bare back facing her.

Rustling told me that she had gotten up as well, and she placed one of her small hands on my scarred right shoulder. "What is bothering you, Jamie? I don't understand why you're acting this way!" she mumured.

I turned around quickly, discovering that she'd put my jacket on and had pulled it around her so that she was covered. My breaths began getting shorter and quicker, and tears welled up in my eyes. "We're not on the island, Chrissy, and we haven't been for months."

Her confusion only intensified. "We went back, and we haven't even left yet, darling! Why do you keep saying that?"

I could feel the warm tears streaking down my cheeks. "Don't you understand? We've been off of that blasted island for over three months! You're mentally ill, and seeing things!" I shouted. "We are on the island of Jamaica, and we're in Port Royal. We're nowhere near your island!"

She shook her head. "I don't understand. What do you mean I'm seeing things?"

I could tell she was becoming upset and more and more confused, and I only continued getting more upset and angry. "You've been poisoned, Chrissy! A pirate had someone poisoning you to get revenge on me, and it has ruined your mind." I was sobbing, nearly choking as I said, "It's slowly...k-killing you...and th-there's n-n-nothing I can do...ab-about it!" I screamed.

She was suddenly right there, her arms around me, her warmth seeping into my body, comforting me. "Shhh, Jamie. Please don't sob, please? It can be fixed! I'm going to get better, and we're going to live in England. I will heal...just as soon as we get off this island..."

I pulled back from her violently, very angry seemingly out of nowhere. I walked to where my shirt had been discarded, and pulled it on with great difficulty due to my anger and sobbing. "Stop talking about that damned island! I don't want to hear another word about it!"

She looked completely and utterly lost by then. "Jamie, I don't understand why you're being like this! What have I done to be screamed at?! I don't understand why you think we're not on the island."

"Because we're not!" I screamed/sobbed at her. "We're nowhere near it! You're sick! You're seeing things!" I quickly grabbed her nightgown from the ground and strode to her, before yanking my jacket from her body to replace it with the nightgown.

"Ow! You're hurting me!" she whimpered once it had been tugged over her arms and head. She tugged it on the rest of the way, and stared at me with glassy eyes. "Why are you treating me this way?!"

In blind rage I grabbed her shoulders and began shaking. "Stop it! Stop seeing things! Stop it this instant!"

I was suddenly ripped away from my wife, and a hard fist landed upon my right cheek. My back hit the ground squarely and hard, forcing the breath from my lungs. As soon as the multi-colored rods of light stopped flashing before my eyes, I sat up, dumbfounded.

A very angry Lieutenan Theodore Groves was standing over me, his fists at the ready, his breath heavy. "You will not treat my sister that way; I don't care if you're her husband or not! You could have harmed her the way you were shaking her so!" he snarled.

"How did you find us?" My wife asked, her voice sounding very small and timid.

Theodore turned and gently put his arms around her. "I heard the two of you screaming. Did he hurt you?"

My anger had dwindled by that time, and I felt absolutely ashamed of my anger-blinded actions. I shifted so that I was on my hands and knees, and I used all of the strength I had left to look into Chrissy's eyes. "I...I'm so sorry!" I whispered. "I just...I became so angry! I didn't...I didn't mean anything I said...I'm sorry." I hung my head shamefully and crawled to her, hugging her legs. "Please, please forgive me."

From the corner of my eye I saw Theodore's boots back away, and then I felt my hands and arms being gently pulled from around my wife's legs. Chrissy knelt down before me and tilted my chin up. "It's alright." she whispered, a smile slowly tugging at her pale lips.

I shook my head. "No, it's not alright. I could have harmed you!" the tears were flowing down my cheeks again.

Chrissy cupped my face in those small hands, her smile not wavering. "You're just frustrated about...everything. Everyone feels that way sometimes. Don't feel bad anymore, Jamie. I'm not angry at you, I promise."

I pulled her close and buried my face in her neck, inhaling her scent. Her scent, which smelled like flowers and the sea, always seemed able to calm me. I took several deep breaths, and in a few minutes, I wasn't as upset as I had been.

"I won't tell anyone of this," Theodore said quietly, catching both mine and Chrissy's eyes, "But if I catch you treating my sister like that in any way again, I will take her until I'm certain you can keep yourself calm."

I glared. "Over my dead body will you be taking her anywhere without my permission."

"Please," Chrissy started softly, "Please don't fight. I don't like it when you fight...it hurts me."

Both of us looked to Chrissy, sitting there all pale and weak, looking at the two of us with pleading eyes, and then we looked back to each other. Theodore nodded, as did I, before I put my stockings, boots, waistcoat, weapons belt, cravat, and tricorn back on. I helped Chrissy to her feet before I fetched my coat, and slid it on her arms and straightened it on her shoulders. I then pulled her close, pressing her tightly to my body, before lifting her up in my arms.

She wrapped her arms around my neck as I carried her, and placed a lingering kiss on my cheek. She didn't seem angry at all about the circumstances, for she smiled nearly the entire way back to the manor, making small talk with both me and her brother.

The maids and butlers all looked at the three of us strangely, but I paid them no mind. All that mattered was getting my wife to our room, to our bed, where I could watch her and tend to her every need. As I made my way up the stairs I saw Oliver in his room, staring at one of the purple spots on his neck in the mirror. I stopped to look at him, an idea dawning on me like a slap to the face.

"Why didn't I think of it before?!" I murmured.

"Think of what?" Chrissy and Theodore asked at the same time.

I didn't answer, but only jogged to our bedroom and placed her on the bed, before rushing back out. I ran down the stairs and outside again, to the little pond near the stables. A rope was suspended in the water, and I yanked it up as quickly as I could. A bucket was tied to the other end with a lid tied over the top. Wasting no time I drew my sword to cut the string holding the lid on, and with a relieved expression drew out what I'd come for. I then ran back to the house, grabbing a rock, bowl, and plate on the way, and dashed back to the bedroom.

"I think I have the answer to our problem." I said quickly as I seated myself on the mattress.

My wife had that confused expression on her face again. "What are you going to do with those?"

I held up the red plants, very similar to a quill in appearance, just with a slimy plant texture. "It worked for the spider poison in Oliver, and I'll wager it'll work for this poison that's in your body."

Theodore studied the plants, which I had set atop the plate on the nightstand, as I grabbed the bowl and rock. "But, she has so much poison," he whispered so that only I could hear, "It may not work fast enough."

"We have to try it, Theodore. Oliver said it tastes bloody awful, but it cured the poison that had been in his body, leaving him with only one side-affect." I answered in an equally quiet tone.

"Yes, it left him blind in one eye." he prompted.

"When he had been nearly completely blind in both. It left his left eye blurred. He can see with it, it's just blurred."

My hands worked quickly to crush the liquid out of one of the plants in the bowl, the rock in my hand scraping my skin due to the grip I was using to hold it. I found that it really didn't take much of the plant to get a lot of liquid from it, because I hadn't even crushed half of it to get the small bowl full of the reddish liquid.

Setting the rock back on the nightstand and the partially crushed plant back on the plate, I turned back to my wife. "Darling, " I murmured, "I need you to drink this."

She stared with a sort of disgusted look at the stuff when I held it before her face, before flicking her eyes to mine. "You...You think this will help my condition?"

I nodded. "I believe it will."

She looked back and forth between me and the liquid, before placing her hands atop mine on the bowl. "Alright...but you're going to have to help me drink it...That liquid tastes bloody awful."

Without warning I pressed the bowl to her lips, forcing the liquid into her mouth. Her hands tightened on mine as she snorted into the bowl, causing some of it to dribble down her throat, but she didn't stop; she continued drinking until she'd drained the red liquid. Her breathing was heavy when I finally pulled the bowl away to place it on the nightstand, and she gripped one of my hands as she tried to get her breaths under control.

"What now?" I asked softly.

"We...wait." she breathed.

I was silent for a moment, before I reached out to grab the partially-crushed plant again.

"What are...you doing?"

"I'm going to rub it on your skin, just as you did Oliver." I answered, rubbing it on her right wrist.

"How is that going to help, James?" Thedore answered.

"It will seep into her skin, and into her bloodstream. When it reaches her heart it will pump all through her body." I paused my task for a moment, and turned to face Theodore. "Could...you give us a moment, please?"

Theodore furrowed his brows, before realization sank in. His cheeks turned a light shade of red, and he nodded, before exiting the room.

Chrissy's brows were furrowed as well when she looked at me. "What...are you going to do?"

"I'm going to rub this plant liquid all over your skin, just like what you did with Oliver."

"So...why did you have to send him out of the room?" she asked, innocently clueless.

I gave her a pointed look, and placed my hand, which was wet and red with the plant liquid, on her ankle, and massaged.

Her cheeks turned red after a moment, just as her brother's had. "Oh."

I couldn't help but smirk a small bit. "I like it when you blush."

She still looked confused, but as she gazed at me, became intrigued. "Oh?"

"Mhm." I nodded, scooting down to the end of the mattress so I could better massage the liquid into her ankles. "You look so...innocent." I began rubbing her feet with the liquid, which seemed to make my wife sink back a bit more against the pillows. I chuckled.

"I..." she started, "You do that well."

"What?"

"Massage...it feels wonderful."

I smiled gently at her, and moved to her other foot.

"Jamie?"

"Hm?" I asked, not taking my eyes from my work.

"What are you going to do in England?"

I met her gaze again. "Hm?" I hummed in a higher pitch.

"When we get to England, what are you going to do? You've told me you're resigning from the Royal Navy."

I swallowed lightly, sighed through my nose, and looked back down at my gently working hands. "I don't know."

Her foot slowly slid from my hands, and the mattress shifted as she slowly moved herself closer to me. Her small hands tilted my chin up so she could look up into my eyes. "Jamie, how are we going to support the baby? Where are we going to live?"

I pressed my forehead against hers, looking her directly in the eyes. "Don't worry, darling. I'll find a place for us to stay, and I'll find a way to support my family. We certainly won't be living out on the streets, if that's what you're afraid of."

She sighed, touching her nose to mine. "I don't know what I'm afraid of." she whispered.

My hands found their way to her shoulders, where I pushed them slowly beneath the fabric of her nightgown to rub the remaining liquid from my fingers onto her skin. "Don't be afraid. I will provide for us. We'll have a place to stay, food to eat, and money. Perhaps not so much money, but we'll still have a reasonable sum. We'll be able to take care of Melody, and I'll be able to help your condition." I paused to smile at her. "I'm going to take care of you."

She returned my smile, and placed a light kiss on my lips. "I don't have to worry?"

"Leave it to me." I assured. "Now then, let's finish getting this on you."

She took the plant from my hands. "Let me help."

Okay, I know the ending of the chapter was a bit abrupt, but that's about all I could think of. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and there will be much more to come! There are only a few chapters left, but please review anyway! By the way, I want to do a sequel about Melody. What do you think? Please review! Thanks!