A/N: Sorry for the late update folks. Also there was a mix up between this chapter and another one from Dead Man's Chest. All fixed now...
This chapter's a bit different than I planned but I hope you still enjoy. And stay tuned for the next chapter cause things will get a bit racy! :D
I know thing's have been moving pretty fast in this story but now it starts turning into a 100 piece puzzle.
A bit of anger, some revelations and we see Jack and Elizabeth's plans unwrapping
She shut the door behind her and sighed. Why had she been so incredibly pleased when he'd swooped in to protect her.? The next moment he was so cold and bitter.
"Now you're just being rude," she said slyly as she placed her hands on her hips. "I was just going to thank you." He flashed her his fakest smile. "You're welcome than. Even though I was saving just myself…"
Now she made angry fists with her hands and walked closer to his desk. "Augh! God, I wish I'd never met you."
He looked up from his map and cast her a devilish smile.
"Considering the circumstances under which we met… letting you die in a bed of water is sounding more appealing by the second."
Despite the sudden feeling of desperation in her gut she managed to keep her exterior cold and incredibly hard. "I would rather be dead than here with you now…"
"Well darling, miles of water around. Help yourself," he said as he shook his compass furiously. "Bloody broken compass!"
He threw everything aside and grabbed his rum, taking a couple of sips before Elizabeth yanked it away from him. His eyebrows knitted together, thinking that she would give him a lecture on the evils of alcohol but instead she drank a healthy amount and sat on the desk with a sigh.
"Ah is this one of those 'let's bond with Captain Sparrow because he's soft underneath the tough exterior' moments? I hate those. They're quite non-existent and most definitely imagined by the other party,"
he scoffed sarcastically. She shrugged carelessly. "You do act like a complete…a complete…"
"Arse?" he smiled devilishly as he took the bottle from her, brushing against her hands. She pulled her hand away and tried to shake away the feeling in gut. She nodded uncomfortably and cursed her self for being
so tingly.
"Yes, yes. But you… What was she going to say? Was she going to say what she thought? Maybe if she took a chance and made him see that she knew he wasn't all bad he…
"You can be quite nice and charming at times," she concluded with a seductive smile. "So the ladies have told me," he matched her tone and brushed a stray hair away from her face. He coughed dryly and changed his expression from a seductive one to one of mischief.
"I would be even more nice and charming if you could only do both of us a favor and admit the extent of my…"
"You are so extremely full of words," she huffed and drank some more of the rum. It was half empty at this point, she realized and it was starting to make her feel loose and relaxed. "For once…why
don't you tell me something that means something?" He drained the rest of the rum and broke out another bottle.
"But my dear, I so love lying and saying things that don't mean a thing. As a matter of fact, I love lying so much I don't even lie about it."
She sat closer to edge of the desk and placed a leg on each side of his chair. "Right then! I'll go first. I'll tell you one thing that was important in my life and you tell me a story of yours." Playfully, he removed her legs
from his sides and cast an amused smile due to her tipsy state.
"You got yourself an accord love," he smiled and used this opportunity to put a hand on her thigh slyly.
She stopped smiling long enough to smack his hand away, which he accepted with a shrug and continued to regard her with his best listening face. "So tell me, what was it that was so important in your life?"
She was so light and careless and happy. She let her body sway gaily. "You."
"Oh really?" he said with a pleased grin. "Yours truly?"
"When I was a little girl I read about you over and over and over…" she rambled as she bobbed from side to side and placed a hand on his chest casually as she drained the second bottle of rum.
"And you were everything I wanted to be. Free. So free and wild and adventurous," she said.
Jack had a sense that it was just flattery but she actually seemed sincere. "Hmmm. Well what happened? Because unless you're very bad at conveying your emotions I don't see you idolizing me anymore."
She put both hands on his shoulders and smiled. "I adored you, the very idea of you and everything you meant and then I remember one night I was reading this book about you and you…you'd just sacked another
port without hurting a single man." Suddenly she wasn't smiling anymore. "And I was so incredibly excited! I wanted to know what happened next… you know what happened next? The maid explained to me how
useless all those stories were, took the book from me and burnt it in the fire," she laughed a bit at the memory. "I really did change that night. No more pirates, or treasure hunts or fantasies about you being heroic.
From that second on I saw the truth. It's not pretty but it's true," she made her point by wagging her finger at him with a feigned serious frown. Jack was no longer wearing his famous grin but held onto her instead
as she almost toppled over.
How was she actually making him feel bad? He'd been heroic so many times and it had never worked but now he felt like he should've been a hero all along. It felt so good to know how she'd admired him, he
was so proud. This feeling was so scary. There was no choice. He had to get rid of her, make her not like him and push her away. "Did the pretty little princess get offended that someone burnt her pretty book? No
stories made the princess sad?" he slurred bitterly. She stopped laughing and stared at him in bewilderment. "What is—"
"Well darling would you like to know what my life changing memory was? You want to know what I did before I became a pirate?" She edged towards him, her mind slowly slipping out of the numbness induced by
the rum as she regained her ability to think bit by bit.
"I worked for the East India Trading and transported slaves," he said proudly as he threw his arms open and drank more rum. That would get her. "It was a very important moment in my life," he mimicked her sarcastically. She laughed nervously.
"Charming. You're drunk and lying."
"Not drunker than usual and telling the truth for once," he shrugged. Her mind slipped away from the rum and confusion and came into bitter focus.
"But you were tricked into it. You didn't know what you were carrying on the ship."
"Oh I did," he assured her.
"You probably didn't have a choice…they threatened you," she tried desperately. The little girl inside her watched her favorite book being taken away from her.
"Not at all."
"You refused to do it…" she raised her voice as she hopped off the table and threw her hands in the air. Her book was in the fire now and she was watching it.
"Darling, people don't do things because they're heroic. They do it to get what they want…and that's the truth. It's not pretty," he chuckled. The noise that escaped her lips was a mix between a roar and
a scream. "You're evil you know that? Sometimes you make me so impossibly, incredibly angry…" she muttered as she made her way to the door. "Every time I talked to you, I just want to…augh!!" She slammed
the door behind her and leaned against it. The little girl watched the fire burn every little bit of the book. She'd gave him too many chances and she'd finally made up her mind. The book Andrew had given her was
still in her pocket. The book which contained everything on the curse. It would come in handy in the quest to best Jack Sparrow. Her eyes rested on the empty bottle still in her hand and then on the sunset they
were sailing into. That meant they were sailing west of Florence. Taking the book out of her pocket she ripped out the first page, with the title on it, and searched her pockets for anything to write with. Finally she
took the knife out of her boots and carved the words 'West of Florence' as delicately as she could, rolled the paper, put it in the bottle and tossed it in the sea. The current was flowing towards the port she saw in the
distance. As much as she hated Moretti she hoped he would get the message. The inspector was the only person who would understand at this point. Understand that the only thing they had in common was the
desire to take Jack down. That she didn't like or respect him but needed his helped without being judged. The book would be useful and she would read every word of it in time but for now… The night was still young
and so she decided she needed another, politer, drinking partner and forget about that monster.
"Why don't you just leave Will?" she said softly as she leaned against his shoulder and watched the sun set.
"I think you're too good for all of this." He smiled sweetly and handed her the bottle of rum.
It was so easy to talk to him and to listen to him talk about his childhood in England and his whole life. "Jack might pretend to be the most notorious pirate in the Caribbean but he's a good man," Will admitted and shook his head when she offered him the rum.
"Never did like rum. All I'm saying is that if there's anyone who will help me free my father it's Jack, even if he won't admit it." Elizabeth snorted. "Good man?! Only person better than
him is Satan." Will shrugged. "He's done some good things he'd never tell you but he isn't so bad." Not wanting to sound too interested, she decided to drop the subject and talk of something else. "I suppose," she
shrugged as she helped herself to some more rum. After all, she needed the empty bottles. "The Pearl…I've heard so many stories about it."
"Hasn't everyone?" Will smiled. "I have to unfurl another sail. Come with me."
They walked away from the stairs and towards the main masts. "Is that why she's so fast? The sails?" Will untied a badly done knot and pulled the rope tight.
"Maybe," he said, looking uncertain.
The rope slipped but Elizabeth caught it in time and together they pulled it tighter than before. Elizabeth studied his hand carefully as he tied the knot. Following her gaze, he smiled. "I could teach a couple of things about this ship if you want…including tying knots."
"Oh really?" she said sweetly. "How about you tell me the real reason why she's so fast? Oh yes," she added to his surprised expression. "I know you're not telling me something."
He pulled another rope and smiled. "It's a good story."
"I'll be the judge of that," she said playfully as she followed him towards the helm. "When this ship was under the East India Company it was called The Wicked Wench…it was fast but not as fast as the Pearl," he explained.
Anything to keep him talking, she though as she watched him change course.
"Where are we going?" "Don't know yet," Will shrugged. "I'm setting us two degrees north just in case Jack decides to go to Tortuga yet again." She made a mental note of it for the bottle message. "And so who captained the Wench?"
"The Wench was always Jack's. No one else wanted it…they said it was cursed. It was made of black Walnut wood from coffins-dug up from a cemetery-and launched on a Wednesday with a full moon on the make," Will explained. She nodded and set the empty bottle of rum aside to use later.
"And that's bad luck?"
"No it's the devil's luck Elizabeth. Every single detail was made it so perfect that they called it wicked and restless and Jack was the only one who would
take it. Of course it came with a price…in exchange Beckett-the Commodore of the fleet- had him transport cargo." Elizabeth nodded. Even though her initial plan had been to find out as much as she could about
their heading she was becoming interested in the story. "Slaves," she realized. Will nodded. "You've heard then," he said. "Jack did what he does best. Pretended he didn't know. Agreed to it without seeming to give a
second thought…a week later? He'd let them all go somewhere between Portugal and Morocco!" She stared at him with her mouth agape. "Wait…he…what?" "You heard me. He let all of them go…right where Tia's
shack is. You might have seen them…"he said absent mindedly. "So he turned pirate and he almost got away with all of it but Beckett had a spy on board. Before he knew it they'd branded him a pirate and set fire to
his ship…" "And that's why he made that supposed deal with Jones," she said with a sudden realization. "And he renamed it the Black Pearl and lost it to Barbossa about a year later," Will concluded. "Some choose to
believe it and some…" he trailed off and shrugged.
Three weeks. He had three weeks to break that bloody curse or… Well he should have been nicer to her because if she decided to leave that would ruin everything. For all his bravado, he would never stop her if she
decided to go. Even if she asked for a longboat and a supply of food, he would probably give it to her after a long persuasive conversation trying to convince her otherwise. He'd never let her know that of course. He'd
used so many excuses as to why he was keeping her. To protect himself from Norrington, to find the book… But he could never let her know that from the moment he'd laid eyes on her, he'd thought she was the
perfect person to break the curse. Now he wasn't so sure anymore…he wasn't sure he could go along with it. A laugh escaped his lips as he stood up. Captain Jack Sparrow thinking of someone else's well being? How
very funny. All he had to do was make sure she was close enough but not too close. Definitely not too close. Once again he was a couple of steps ahead of everyone. Three weeks was a long time to get what he
wanted and break the curse as well. He'd have his cake and eat it too.
She laughed absent-mindedly. It was almost completely dark now and as much as she loved talking to Will. As easy and completely comfortable it was. As much as she loved knowing all the little adventures and the
things about his life she couldn't take her mind off Jack… He's done some good things he'd never tell you… You're welcome than. Even though I was saving myself… You're evil! She faked a yawn as her hand
squeezed his shoulder lightly. "I'm so tired, Will. Sorry to walk out on you like this but I must get some rest."
"I'll keep your word on the sword fighting lessons."
"Of course. Tomorrow at noon?" "Good night Elizabeth."
"Good night," she smiled before turning away. The empty bottle of rum was still in her hand as she neared the cabin and she knew she had to make a decision. She had made a mistake about him but that
didn't stop her. She'd already decided that on her first day aboard. She would best Jack Sparrow, get that book and the Pearl and no one would stop her. This time she ripped the last page of the book out and
scribbled. "North. To Tortuga but just for now." After throwing the bottle to the sea, she looked at the cabin doors. She still owed him an apology. Even if she was going to betray him and get him arrested…he was still
her hero. Slowly she opened the door and slithered in, spotting him by the tall window, his back facing her. The moonlight pouring in. Her heart swelled with emotion as she got close enough to see the intensity of his
gaze, his pensive, almost peaceful expression. It was the man she'd dreamt of meeting all her life. Cautiously she wrapped her arms around his middle and rested her head on his shoulder, ignoring the fact that it was
quite vulnerable and most certainly ignoring her heart beat against her chest. "Why didn't you tell me you let them go? Why do you hate the fact that you are a good man?" she whispered. There was only silence
and a noise that resembled a laugh. "Who are you?" she asked with sincerity that shocked herself. "No one you'd like to know Miss Swann," he chuckled bitterly. A surge of anger plunged through her.
"Don't call me that. Don't you dare call me that!"
"I'll call you whatever the damn hell I please, Lizzie," he muttered in a tone that was both annoyed and playful.
Want to find out what happens next?? You should press that little purple button. All opinions and constructive comments are welcome. Sorry for the multiple update...I was trying to fix some of the problems caused by the site.
Again, excuse my error in updating this the first time. Hope you liked it!