callieandjack:Yup, she was incredibly lucky!

SaveroftheSun: He'll be in the next one a bit more.

nineteennitytwo: Hope you enjoy this chap.

Fairy Skull: Holy Cow cakes indeed!

Nelle07: It makes me very happy that you love it.

Valor: Gr-gr-gr-great po-po-po-poetry! We sh-sh-shall have to p-p-p-put our thinking cap-p-p-p-p-s on and decide how to contact J-j-j-j-jack.

Klutzygal: Snap?

I froze. Could it really be him? Yes, it was. He was drunk and dishevelled, but it was unmistakably my brother. His once pristine clothes were stained beyond recognition. His powdered wig was in disarray and his face unshaven. But it was him. I had never been so sure of anything in my life. He had my father's green eyes and I would know his voice anywhere.

It hadn't registered with Gibbs yet. What would James think if he saw me in man's attire and in the company of pirates? Then again… I thought as he took another swig of rum he is hardly in a position to lecture me about involvement with pirates now!

James continued, "I chased a man across the seven seas. The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, my life."

"Commodore?" Gibbs had finally clicked.

"No, not anymore, weren't you linstenin'?" said James angrily. "I nearly had you all off Tripoli; I would have if it hadn't been for the hurricane!"

Gibbs looked shocked, "Lord, you didn't try to sail through it?!"

"Sir, do I make your crew or not? You haven't said where you're going… anywhere nice?" James tipped the table Gibbs was sitting at over and Gibbs was knocked to the floor. James turned away and pointed his gun at Jack, who was now hiding behind a pillar at the other end of the room. "So, am I worthy to sail under Captain Jack Sparrow… or should I just kill you now."

I found myself on my feet. Jack looked warily at James. He tested my brother's aim by moving from one side of the pillar to another. After judging that James was sober enough to shoot him, he said, "You're hired."

"Sorry," said James flatly, "old habits and all that…"

He cocked the gun. "No!" I screamed running forwards. He looked at me and it was his turn to freeze. There was a bang as the gun went off, but the new members of Jack's crew had managed to direct his aim and the bullet hit the ceiling.

The bang of the gun seemed to signal to everyone in Tortuga to go mad. All hell broke loose and everyone started trying to kill each other. Jack grabbed my arm, "Time to go, love."

"But what about James…" I protested.

"Erm… we'll come back for him…" Jack replied. As we left the pub Jack began took someone's hat off their head and tried it on. We reached the top of the stairs and Jack swapped his knew hat with on that a man at the very top was wearing.

"Thanks mate," Jack smiled and gave the drunk a friendly nudge. He fell off and down into the fighting rabble below. As we got to the door Jack stopped two men who were about to throw another one over the rail. He put the hat on the man and allowed them to carry on.

***

We had just reached the Pearl when someone shouted Jack's name. Jack glanced at them.

"Come to join me crew lad? Welcome aboard," he said, not giving them a second. I did though because I knew who it was immediately. I grinned at them. They grinned back.

"I've come to find the man I love," they replied. Jack stopped looking worried and scared.

"I'm deeply flattered son, but my first and only love is… erm…the sea," he said.

"Meaning William Turner, Captain Sparrow," said Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth!" Jack glanced at her before telling Gibbs to hide the rum. I ran to hug Elizabeth. She wasn't in the best of moods.

"I know Will came with Isabel to find you, where is he?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"Darlin', I am truly sorry to have to tell you this, but through an unfortunate and entirely unforeseeable series of circumstances that have nothing whatsoever to do with me, poor Will has been press ganged into Davy Jones's crew," Jack avoided my stern glare sensing that I would disapprove of lying to Elizabeth.

"Davy Jones?" Elizabeth repeated.

"Oh please!" James staggered up behind her. "The Captain of the Flying Duchman?"

James threw up. "You look bloody awful, mate, what are you doing here?" Jack asked him.

"You hired me, it's not my fault if your standards are lax," James sneered.

"You smell funny!" Jack retorted.

"Jack," Elizabeth brought him down to Earth again. "All I want is to find Will."

"I know…" Jack nodded and I saw a gleam appear in his eyes. "Are you certain? Is that what you want most?"

"Of course!"

"Because," Jack seemed undeterred, "I would have thought that you would want to find a way to save Will most."

"And you have a way of doing that?" she sounded disbelieving.

"Well, there is a chest…" Jack began.

"Oh, dear!" James snorted before throwing up again.

"A chest of unknown size and origin," Jack continued.

"What contains the still beating heart of Davy Jones," said Pintel as he and Ragetti walked past carrying a crate. Ragetti pretended to pull out his own heart.

"And whoever possesses this chest possesses the leverage to command Jones to do whatever he… or she wants, including saving brave William from a grim fate.," finished Jack.

"You don't actually believe him do you?" James asked.

"How do we find it?" Elizabeth ignored James. Jack pulled out his compass.

"With this. My compass, 'tis unique," he said proudly.

"'Unique' here having the meaning of broken?" James butted in. Jack looked annoyed.

"True enough, this compass doesn't point north," he admitted.

"Where does it point?" I asked. He looked at me.

"It points to the thing you want most in this whole world," he said.

"Jack, are you telling the truth?" Elizabeth asked.

"Every word, love," he replied placing the compass in her hands. "And the thing you want most in the world is to find the heart of Davy Jones, is it not?"

"To save Will!"

"By finding the chest of Davy Jones," Jack nodded, making sure that that was what she was thinking about. He flipped the lid of the compass up and sprang away from it. I drew closer to Elizabeth to watch the needle spin. It came to a stop. Jack looked at it and smiled, "Mr. Gibbs! We have out heading!"

"Finally!" Gibbs sighed happily and started shouting orders to the crew. Jack, Elizabeth and I began to make our way up the gangplank to the Pearl. It was then that a sudden thought struck me.

"Jack, why didn't the compass point to the chest when you held it?" I asked.

"Yes, Jack, why not?" Elizabeth smirked at him, an eyebrow raised as if she knew something we didn't. Jack looked more than a little shifty. Elizabeth handed him the compass and stepped back. Still smirking, she turned our back on us and walked away across the deck of the Pearl. Jack stared at the compass.

"So, why didn't it?" I pressed after it seemed he wasn't going to answer.

There was a lengthy pause, "Because it's not what I want most."

My eyebrows raised in surprise, "Really? What do you want most? The key?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm between things," he said. Now we were getting somewhere.

"What things?" I asked. "Is the chest one of them?"

"Yes."

"What else then?"

"I don't know," he was starting to look a little stressed, but I wasn't about to drop the subject. What was he hiding from me? I thought he said he trusted me!

"You can't 'not know'! You have to have some idea of what you want!" I protested. He stayed quiet and I thought I may have cracked him. "Open it then," I urged. "Lets see."

"No."

"Why not?"

"There's no point! Nothing will happen!" he tried to stuff the compass in his pocket.

"Something has to happen," I said.

"All that'll happen is that the needle will keep spinning."

"Lets see," I said. He looked at me for a long, long time. I stared straight back. I must be the person he hated most at that moment in time. He pulled out the compass, sighing.

"I can promise you, love, that the needle won't stop," he said.

"Well I want to see," I said. He flipped the lid of the compass open. I moved closer and watched the needle spin. It spun a lot faster and for a lot longer that it had for Elizabeth. It was quite relaxing to watch. I rested my head on Jack's shoulder and watched it go round.

The needle began to slow.

Jack snapped it shut.

"What are you doing? I think it was slowing down!" I protested.

"No, it wasn't!" he put the compass back in his pocket. He turned away from me, "If you'll excuse me, I have to go and be a Captain now"

He walked off. I sighed and went to find Elizabeth. She was always good at deciphering other people's behavior. She grinned at me when she saw me approach.

"Well?" she asked, just as nosy as I.

"He wouldn't tell me…" I grumbled.

"I wonder why!" she said, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"What do you mean? Why did you say it like that?" I frowned at her.

"Isn't is obvious?" she rolled her eyes at me.

"If it was obvious, I wouldn't be asking." I hated it when she knew things I didn't. She was always so patronizing.

"You're so naive!" she sighed and then looked my straight in the eye. "He's in love."