FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

30—THE LIE

DISCLAIMER: Jack'n'Lizzie etc. do not belong to me. I make no money from the writing of this fan-fiction.

A/N: Hello, everyone! First and foremost, thank you all so, so much for the reviews from the last chapter! They were awesome!

Second of all, I'm terribly sorry for not updating in—gasp—a whole month! It's that lovely time of the semester that we refer to as "midterms," and usually they're spaced out over the course of a few weeks, but this semester, all four of my professors plotted together and gave their midterms in the same week. Also, I've been super busy preparing for a spring break road trip that's taken more time and energy than I thought it would.

Anyways! Thanks again for the reviews and thank you very much for your patience! On with the chapter!

The silence of the cabin and its surroundings was broken by a resounding crash as the empty bottle smashed against the closed door, broken shards of glass and remaining droplets of rum going everywhere. Elizabeth knew exactly how he would react, what he would say…

Another helpless bottle o' rum 'as fallen a victim in yer hands, hmm, Lizzie?

But she didn't care. Her frustration had reached its boiling point and with little else to take it out on, the bottle did indeed become her victim.

The cabin itself was in disarray. The mattress on their bunk had been overturned, the sheets torn off and left in a pile next to the overturned nightstand. Drawers from the desk had been pulled out from their spots, their contents spread on the floor. The cupboards had been cleaned of their possessions, of which were now scattered beneath the window alongside the items from the chest. The armchair's cushions had been pulled up and a loose floorboard that she knew of had been pulled up, only to reveal nothing, not the secret hiding compartment she had hoped to find.

Two hours had passed and Elizabeth's search and turned up nothing. Tired and irritated, she sat in a heap in the center of the room, so frustrated she was close to tears.

Did their conversation mean absolutely nothing to him? How could he so blatantly lie to her when he had sworn to her that he wouldn't? He promised her! Just last night, he had promised that wherever he went, she would go to. And all of it… all of his endearing words… all of it was completely empty.

LAST NIGHT…

Elizabeth rolled onto her back, sweaty and nearly exhausted with a complacent smile on her face. She let out a contended sigh and closed her eyes, her entire body tingling in that delicious sort of way… the sort of tingling that only Jack brought her. She opened her eyes slightly when she heard a low, throaty chuckle coming from the throat of her companion. She used what little strength she had left and rolled onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow.

"And what, dear captain, is so amusing?"

Jack chuckled again and let his eyes flutter shut. "The thing that's so amusin', darlin', is the notion that the once prim, proper an' refined Lizzie Swann now finds the famed Capt'n Jack Sparrow, pirate an' rogue, so unbelievably irresistible."

Elizabeth smirked. "Oh. Did I say that?"

Jack responded to her smirk with a very feral grin of his own. "Elizabeth, luv… ye didn't have to."

She smiled. "Modesty, thy name is Jack Sparrow."

"Captain Jack Sparrow."

This time, Elizabeth laughed. She scooted in closer to him and tucked her arm underneath his back, to which he responded by wrapping his arm around her and pulling her into the crook of his arm. "Well, Captain Jack Sparrow, you've done an excellent job at proving my point."

Jack chuckled again and loosely tightened his hold on her before letting the flat expanse of his palm come to rest on her backside. There were a few moments of silence as Elizabeth let her head rest on his chest. His breathing steadied and for a moment she thought he had fallen asleep when he casually cleared his throat.

"Jack?"

"Mmm?" he replied sleepily.

She didn't even know why she wanted his attention, if she even had anything to ask him. She let her mind drift for a few moments before it went towards the inevitable, towards the thoughts that always seemed to wander through her mind, even when she didn't want them to.

"Why the Caribbean?" she finally asked, faint pictures of what she imagined the kraken to look like making her feel lonely and haunted.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly.

"Well… when you found out the kraken was after you… you immediately ordered the crew to make all haste to the Caribbean. Why not chose someplace closer? Would it not be a safer option?"

Jack sighed. "Luv, first of all, if I lived by makin' safe decisions, you'n'me would not be lyin' here right now. Secondly, the Caribbean has more anonymous little islands than any other place that I know of… the perfect place to escape from a sea-beastie, savvy?"

"Oh." Elizabeth let her hand travel up his bare chest, coming to rest just over the bullet-shaped scars that were all too close to his heart. "I supposed it was just because the Caribbean felt like home to you."

Jack shrugged. "My home goes with me wherever I go." He might have finally worked up the resolve it took to push back his rough exterior and tell her he loved her, but he wasn't ready to tell her that his home was her… he'd just let her think that he meant the Pearl, for now, at least.

"How much longer do you suppose it will be?" she asked.

"Not much longer at all," he whispered. "We should be seeing the first islands by dawn… just a few hours away."

"I see," Elizabeth said, yawning. She closed her eyes, prepared to fall asleep, when a thought crossed her mind, something she needed to say. "I've not forgotten, you know."

"Forgotten what?" he asked.

"Your promise. I've not forgotten."

"I meant it. Where I go, you can go too."

Elizabeth mumbled something resembling the word "good," before letting the combination of Jack's steady heartbeat and the gentle rocking of the ship lull her to sleep.

The next morning came as a violent intrusion. Elizabeth shot straight up in bed as a colossal shaking and bumping of the ship woke her from her slumber. She cried Jack's name and looked to her side to see that his spot in the bed had been vacated, and judging by the lack of warmth beside her, had been for some time.

She grabbed the sheets and hastily wrapped them around her body as she quickly padded across the room. She threw open the curtains to see… trees? Sand?

Her heart jumped into her throat when suddenly the door swung open and in stomped Jack. He took one look at her, wrapped only in his bunk sheets, and a wicked grin spread across his face. "Waitin' for me, eh, luv?"

"Jack! What is going on? Where are we?" she asked, completely ignoring his remark.

"We've arrived," he said.

"Arrived where, exactly?"

"Isla de Pelegostos," he told her. She glanced back out the window before looking back to him, watching him as he rummaged through his desk. "Get dressed Lizzie. We've a long walk ahead of us." He pulled out a small telescope. "An' bring this with ye. Good for ye to learn how to properly use one of these. Ye'll need it." Without saying anything else, he left her alone, swaying out of the room the same way he had swayed into it.

Elizabeth dropped the sheet and quickly found her clothes. She had gotten on her pants and boots and was just pulling her arms through the sleeves of her blouse when she heard a noise coming from the door. She felt a nervous lump rising in her throat, completely aware of what that noise was but not wanting to believe that she had actually heard it.

With as much haste as she could muster, she began to button her blouse as she made her way to the door. She reached for the knob and, sure enough, it was locked. She was instantly hot, though of anger or embarrassment or something else, she wasn't entirely sure.

"Jack!" she shouted, hoping the door was just stuck and not what her better judgment told her was going on. She rattled the knob to no avail. "Jack!" she shouted again.

Several moments passed, of which she furiously tried to open the locked door, before she heard heavy boot steps approach and Jack's voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Callin' for me, Miss Swann?"

"Jack!" she screeched, slapping her palm against the wooden door. "This door better be stuck and not what I think it is!"

"And what would you think it is, Miss Swann?" he asked, his voice loud, yet calm and nonchalant.

"Stop calling me that and unlock this door right now!"

"I didn't lock the door."

She paused. "You… didn't?"

"No. I had Gibbs do it for me."

"JACK!"

"Sorry, luv. But don't worry, we'll only be ashore for a few moments and then I'll be right back."

A fresh wave of anger and frustration washed over her and she angrily pounded on the door, infuriated that there was nothing she could do from where she was. "You are not leaving me here!" she shouted. "Jack, you promised!"

"I know…" he said slowly, a hint of hesitation in her voice. "I lied."

"Jack!"

He said nothing, and she was left with nothing but her own frustrated cries and the sound of his boots as he walked away.

Elizabeth crossed her arms and let out several frustrated puffs of air. She knew in the long run, looking at the big picture, none of this would matter. It was such a stupid thing and she was mostly frustrated that she had allowed herself to get so frustrated in the first place.

She wasn't even all that mad that he'd locked her in, either. Sure it was irritating that he didn't trust her, that he wouldn't allow her to participate in what he allowed his entire crew to participate in. Didn't he have faith that she could take care of herself, after all they'd been through in the short time they'd spent together?

But still… what stung the most was that he lied to her. How was their relationship supposed to move forward, become anything of any real value if he couldn't even be honest with her? True, she knew who he was, what he was, when she met him. She didn't expect him to be entirely truthful all the time… she just wanted him to be honest with her. Was that too much to ask??

She sighed. She was running out of ideas. She'd turned the entire cabin upside down looking for a spare key or something that she could use to jimmy the lock, but had found no such key and no tool good enough to unlock the door. All that was left was… she turned around, looking towards the window. It, too, was locked, but unlike the door, she had other options. She just had to find something of little importance to break it with.

Elizabeth got up off the ground and stalked towards the window, muttering curses against Jack's name under her breath. She flung open the curtains and was about to turn her attention elsewhere when something suspended it out of the corner of her eye. She blinked a few times, hardly able to believe what she was seeing… a person…? Climbing out of the waves…?

She strained her eyes to see and gasped, realizing that not only was there a person emerging from the ocean, but that it was a very familiar person. A single name escaped her lips in the form of a frazzled whisper.

"Rosalind?"

A/N: Thanks for reading, now go review! See you next time!