Wasn't too long, was it? Not a month, but one day it may be, so be prepared for that and try to love me even though I will go out of my way to make it the most painful wait of your lives.

Love ya!

Xx

The blade of the knife pressed against my throat hard enough for my to feel it there, but not so that it cut me. I kept my eyes locked on Jack's. Looking at him was the only way for me to stay strong and at least if I was to die now I would have a quick way to say goodbye. Jack's were shaking and the gun he had trained on Barbossa was unwavering in its target, but trembling all the same. "Let her go," he begged. "Please let her go, I'll leave, I swear."

Barbossa laughed again, "Now you see, I don't believe that Jack, so don't ye be taking me for a fool. If ye leave, ye'll only come back again when you think I'm not around. So, I'm afraid I won't be letting ye leave without making sure ye never want to see this ship again… Fancy living in the same place you watched Ms Norrington die?" His cruel question hung in the air. Jack could do nothing but shake his head. "Thought not," Barbossa said, twisting to look at me. "Apologies, Isabel, but really, it's Jack ye have to blame for it." He ran the blade up and down my cheek. He sounded like he was enjoying himself. "I'll be quick, I promise. You'll hardly feel a thing… Any… last words."

"Yes, I have three," I said, holding my chin up high. "Don't underestimate me!" I grunted, twisting in his grip and kicking him hard in the shin. His hold loosened enough for me to dislodge the pistol out from his hand, but this gave me too problems. The one weapon he had left was the knife, which meant that the only way left for him to kill me was the messiest and most painful. It also left him one hand free to grab me by the arm and push me to my knees. The small dagger I had been clutching since I had arrived on the Pearl flew from my fingers and spun across the deck. Barbossa's foot connected with my back and I cried out in pain. Jack sprang forward but, before he could lay a finger on Barbossa, Ragetti swung his legs into the back of Barbossa's knees. His legs buckled underneath him and he came crashing down on top of me. My ribs were crushed between Barbossa and the deck and I winced, unable to scream or cry. Suddenly the weight was lifted as Teague and Jack hauled Barbossa to his feet. I scrambled up and looked around. Barbossa was shouting to his crew for assistance, but his orders fell flat. Some had already been captured and held at gunpoint by Teague's crew. Others, like Marty and Cotton had handed themselves over voluntarily. Not one person moved to help Barbossa and I felt a rush of love for all of them. They could really pull through for their rightful Captain, although often it was a very last-minute pulling through. But they'd done it all the same. Barbossa fell silent.

"Nobody trusts a traitor to be Captain," Teague reprimanded in his usual wise and grave tones, "And the betrayer nearly always becomes the betrayed." Sometimes Teague talked as much rubbish as rubbish as Jack, but just like Jack it all sort of made perfect sense in a beautifully illogical way. A warning not entered Teague's voice, "Easy lad…"

Jack had raised his gun and was pointing it at Barbossa. The gun was shaking, but it was anger that was making it shake now that all the fear had gone. And Barbossa just stood there and laughed. The cold laughter only served to make Jack angrier.

I moved slowly towards him. "Jack," I called to him. I felt as of I were calling him away from somewhere very dark he was descending into. I had to pull him away from it some how, stop him crossing the line between revenge and being in the wrong. It was a line that was very often forgotten about by those skirting dangerously close to the edge. The edges could often be a bit hazy and I didn't doubt how smudged the boundaries were for Jack. As an observer, I had to stop him crossing it. For both our sakes. I called for him again. Something in his eyes flashed, a brief moment of recognition and a glimpse of something a bit more human than his eyes had previously looked before the rage took over again. The pain Barbossa had caused him had built up so much that I could see it straining to get out of him. The hatred an pain was shaking him as it scotched and burned its way through every blood vessel, every bone, every organ and every fibre in his body. It pulsated through him and burned up his flesh. All of his muscles tensed as his emotions fought to get out, I could see them pushing at the boundaries of his eyes. I understood it, but it scared me. He scared me. This wasn't Jack. This wasn't even human. How tempting, how easy it would be to just pull the trigger on Barbossa… again. This time it would be forever. Then the cause of all Jack's pain would be gone, but would the anger now that he had hurt him twice? What Jack needed was to stick to our original plan, to see Barbossa suffer through what Jack had. Shooting him would fix nothing long-term.

"He's not worth it," I told Jack even though I doubted he could hear me. I stood in front of him, between the gun and Barbossa, but for the longest moment of my life he didn't see me. I put my hand on the barrel of the gun. "Put it down, Jack. He's not worth it."

I slowly and gently pushed the gun down. His wild, hurt, lost eyes found mine and something clicked into place. I held his gaze as I peeled his fingers away from the handle of the gun and slipped it out of his hands. The surface where he had been holding it was warm to the touch. I looked at Teague, "I think it would be best if you took him to you're ship tonight."

He nodded and gave me a brief smile. As he lead Barbossa away Jack called out, "And the rest of them! Take his crew too."

I looked at him, as did everyone else. Teague's crew remained hesitant, unsure as to whether to follow Jack's orders to lock away a crew who had readily handed themselves over and been absolutely no threat to us. "Jack…" I said quietly. "You don't mean that…"

"I do, he assured me.

"Jack…" I sighed. What was he doing to our friends? And why? They had helped us, helped him. Teague nodded to his crew and the Pearl's crew were marched across to the other ship. Jack's jaw clenched as he watched them all go. I turned his face towards mine. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know how much I can trust them."

"They didn't fight for Barbossa, they fought for you," I said gently. "You can trust them."

He nodded slowly. "I… know I… I'll free them in the morning…" he promised. "But I just want one night on my ship with someone I can trust."

He closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. The sigh released all his pent-up tension and his muscles relaxed. He stayed there with his eyes shut as I watched the anger drain from his body. I stretched up and pressed my lips lightly to his. His arms wrapped around my waist. "I love you," I whispered.

He smiled and opened his eyes, "I love you too."

The boarding planks were sliding away from the Pearl. I looked around the deck. It was so quiet now…so peaceful… it was… "Home," I finished aloud. "I'm home…"

My eyes followed the line of the rail as it circled the ship, not hemming us in, but keeping us safe. I knew the wood almost better than I knew myself. I had heard rumours that the reason the wood and the sails were black was because it had been stained that way by all the blood spilled on her or by her crew. I had no idea if there was any truth behind us behind it and I had a feeling that Jack would lie if I were to ask him either to impress me or to cover up for the fact that he didn't actually know. Whether it was blood or not, the Pearl was definitely stained by something that had seeped its way into the wood… it was history. Events that had happened here and the people who had walked the deck, even if only briefly, had lingered on in some way or other. The Pearl absorbed everything. I could almost feel the history running through the grains in the wood as if they were veins and the Pearl was a real living being, breathing with each swell of the waves beneath her. It was just people and moments that ran through her veins, she kept secrets too. Every emotion that had ever been felt, every smell- good, bad or… Tortuga- and every sound- a laugh, a shout, a cry or the final, dying breath of a man, she kept them all hidden, buried deep inside the grain of the wood, locked there, forever secret and forever safe. The Pearl breathed history in a way that no other ship had. My own history was there too, along with many others before me. All my secrets. No matter what happened to me, I would always stay here. I was as big a part of the Pearl as she was of me.

"Darlin'?" Jack's voice pulled me away from my train of thought. I looked at him and smiled, a rush of happiness warming me from the inside out.

"Captain," I replied and his smile matched mine. He squeezed me tightly to him and kissed my forehead.

"Are you tired?" he asked me. I considered it.

"No, I am cold though."

"Come on then," Jack led me off the deck and into the Cabin. I waited until he'd lit some candles before I shut the door. He pulled a face, "Stinks of Barbossa in here."

I laughed as he removed every trace of Barbossa's existence, taking his things and everything he had possibly touched and shoving them in drawers and cupboards with very little care or ceremony. Some were even flung out of the door. "There!" he said brightly when he was done. "Much better."

I cocked my head to one side as I surveyed his handiwork, "Hmm… I thought it looked better with all of Barbossa's things. They're just… so much nicer than yours..." He looked at me and I smiled. "I'm just teasing you, honey."

"I know," he said, but looked relieved all the same. I walked over to him and looped my arms around his neck. He held my waist, one hand resting on either side and as I looked at him I knew, yet again, that I was the safest place possible. A little ridiculous given that the person holding me was a beacon for danger.

"Well, well, Captain Sparrow," I said.

"Never tire of hearing that," he grinned. He kissed my forehead then his lips brushed lightly down my skin as they made my way to my cheek. I turned my face to catch his lips in mine. I closed my eyes and moved one of my hands to his cheek. Both of his hands slid from my hips to the small of my back and held me tightly to him. My hands slipped to rest on his chest. They slipped under the folds of his coat and he let go of me, pulling his arms back to let me slide it off him. I felt his hat against the top of my head and I reached up to remove it. Jack's kisses moved to my neck and I opened my eyes. My pulse had quickened and my breathing wasn't normal, it was quicker and more erratic. His lips were hot on my skin. One of his hands ran up my back. I laid my his hat down on the table we were standing next to and Jack's lips began to work their way back up from my collar bone. "Isabel," I felt him whisper, his lips touched mine as he said each letter of my name. I closed my eyes again, leaning into him as he kissed me harder. I could feel him pushing against me, pushing me backwards. As his hand clenched in my hair something pressed against the back of my legs and I sank down onto the soft mattress beneath me. Jack's hands on my shoulders pushed me down onto my back. He was getting harder and harder to resist, but I would have to try.

'I should stop this,' I thought.

I pulled my lips from his to give me some time to think. It was too hard to be rational and sensible and calm when he kissed me like that. No matter how much oxygen I tried to fill my lungs with there didn't seem to be enough reaching my brain to make it function properly. He shifted on top of me, pushing his body closer to mine, his hands running up my arms and pinning them behind my head. His lips were at my neck again, moving down.

'Stop' I thought, but I couldn't quite manage to say it.

"Jack…" it came out as a whisper, but it was a word at least. He murmured something to me, but I didn't catch it. His voice made my spine tingle and the feeling started to spread through me. My head was clouded by it.

'Stop…'

Something hard with a sharp edge dug into my stomach and I winced. "Ouch," I gasped. He pulled back, propping himself up on his elbows to look at me.

"What?" I reached down and pulled out his Compass. He laughed and took it from me. I pulled myself up a little, to clear my head a bit more. I tried to think of the best way to stop what was going on without hurting him. He was looking at the Compass and then he looked at me, "I know what I want…"

'So do I, but I'm not sure I can give it to you.'

"I know why it's still pointing to you."

'Please don't ask me to sleep with you. I'm not sure I can…'

He kissed me again and then his lips move to my ear. He kissed it before he whispered to me. His breath was rugged and deep, his voice low and breathless, "Isabel…" he murmured. His hand ran down my torso to my waist and another pushed through my hair.

"Jack…" I put my hands on his shoulders in a weak attempt to dislodge him.

'I can't… I know what you're asking and I can't…'

"Marry me," he breathed.

'WHAT??? Well… that's not what I was expecting at all…'