Thank you to my reviewers so far! You wonderful people.

So, as you can tell there is only mildly hinted Jack/Elizabeth so far, so you're probably not captivated with enjoyment just yet. After all, Jack and Liz are what you came for.

But I believe in proper story telling, which means juicy bits will start cropping up more and more often, until we get to the really good part. And then we can swoon over Jack's torn intentions and Elizabeth's romantic anxiety and the seductive moments below deck and the (very different) experience deserted on Jack's island.

So kick back, enjoy the narrative build-up, and feel the suspense as we wait for the lurve to blossom!

(Oh, and pretty please keep reviewing! You people who read and don't review, I can sense you there! Looting my treasure chest of fiction and leaving me without so much as a gem, with your piratey eyes... Jokes. But please do write if you like it! xx)

Songs today: 'Barbarian Horde' from Gladiator. 'Jack Sparrow' from Dead Man's Chest. 'Will and Elizabeth' from Curse of the Black Pearl.

2

So list while I sing ter yer about me darlin' Nancy
She's copper-bottomed, clipper-built, she's just me style an' fancy
Ye may talk about yer Yankee gals an' round-the-corner-Sallies
But they couldn't make the grade, me boys, with the gals from down our alley.

'Barbarian Horde'.

Elizabeth dropped the medallion a few inches on its chain, catching it again only as the pirates made a sudden move towards her, and Captain Barbossa uttered an undeniable No!

He recovered himself very quickly, however, and sauntered slowly over, feigning a nonchalant chuckle.
"You have a name, Missy?"

Oh, God.
Never reveal your real name. Pirates will ransom and threaten and - murder. Her father couldn't be put in peril because of her.

"Elizabeth..." she began.

The first name that sprang to mind was Sparrow. Her stomach twinged at the name - ridiculous under the much more pressing circumstances.
But no, no, too dangerous. From what Jack had said it sounded as though he wasn't well liked in some places. And pirate associates were dodgy things anyway.

Who knew if this bunch of rabid thugs had some kind of vengeful intentions towards him, and therefore towards all affiliated with him?
They may well kill her on the spot for mentioning one wrong name.

A name, any non-pirate name... a friend's name. Will would know what to do if they threatened him. He'd handled Jack, at least.

"... Turner. I'm a maid in the Governor's household." she improvised, even throwing in a slight curtsey.
Idiot, she thought.

"Miss Turner?" Barbossa emphasised, glancing back at his crew with a sneer on his unsightly face.
"Bootstrap." someone whispered in an ominous voice.
She hoped to God she hadn't said anything she shouldn't have.

Jack's words wandered into her mind.
And this boy who happened to be alone in a shipwreck, what was he doing?

To this day, she still didn't know who Will really was - where he came from.
Or who else knew things about him that she didn't.

Five minutes later, she was being dragged to spare quarters and told to wait until somebody came for her, medallion-less, utterly terrified, utterly alone, utterly hopeless.
They were setting sail. They were sailing away, and she wasn't returning home.
Not going home.
Her father. Her life... Taken so - abruptly.

Why did they want her on board? Wasn't it bad luck to sail with a woman?
Wouldn't they rather just have rid of her?
It was surely only a matter of time before she was killed or - or worse.

If Jack had taken her hint and escaped from the cell, he had better be coming after her as soon as he realised she'd been kidnapped.
He had to come after her. He was her only hope.
What was she saying?
She was talking about a bloodthirsty pirate with hope of compassion and heroic sacrifice.

He had been interested in Will's name too. She had seen it dancing alight in his eyes.

Prey to ruthless, bloody selfish pirates everywhere she turned today.
Where would she be by tomorrow?

Welcome aboard the Black Pearl , Miss Turner.

Music Stops.

My sympathies, friend, you've no manner of luck at all.

Bloody filthy no-good swabbing bilge-rat lugger bastard.

Sun was up. Still hadn't found a way out.
Pearl was gone.
Bloody awful.

Still no sign of the wench, and thus no sign of the medallion.
Or the whelp.

Jack was kneeling in front of the barred cell door, trying to decide whether to attempt to pick the lock with the bone the seadogs had left him.

What was she thinking, giving him bloody advice that didn't make sense?
Jim?

"Who is this bloody Jim?" he muttered to himself, getting all the angrier for saying it aloud.
"Jim, Jim, Jim! JIM! Well, where the blazes are you, you blaggard? Who do you think you are?"

'Jack Sparrow', DMC.

A small whine answered him.
He looked wildly about for the source of the noise - and saw, in the doorway, that bloody dog, still clutching the keys in its mouth.

Penny in the air...
The dog stared at him expectantly. Neither of them moved for a moment.
... And the penny dropped.

"Jim?" he asked incredulously.
The dog yawned, iron ring dangling from its lower teeth, then trotted over to the cell as calm as you please. It dropped the keys into Jack's tentative open palm. Licked his fingers as an afterthought. And bounded off again.

"... JIM!" Jack exploded with delight, doing a small and embarrassing jig, "You're a diamond, mate!"
When he got hold of Swann. When he - got ahold - of Swann.
He was going to plant the biggest, strongest ruddy kiss on that sweet bonny mouth... Ohh ho!

Music Stops.

"Snap out of it." he told himself indignantly, shoving the first key into the lock.

Five minutes later, he was running through the town towards the smithy.
Find the whelp, find the medallion, find the Pearl.
Elizabeth's steely gaze flashed into his mind, and he winced. The medallion might prove itself the trickiest.
Maybe have to bring the wench as well.

He didn't have to look far - the lad's body was spread eagled in the middle of the dusty road right in front of him.

Will's brain was fuzzy.
When he opened his eyes, the image in front of him didn't match up to his expectations.

First of all, it was light. It had been very dark when he was smirking at the pirate he had just outwitted.

Second, there was a man staring down at him with a vaguely amused expression on his face.
At least, it looked like an amused expression. Hard to tell, as the man's face was upside down.

Will flicked away a dreadlock that was hanging into his eye.
"You?" he choked.
"What?"
"You're supposed to be in a cell. Why are you here?"
"Don't ask stupid questions. You're what I need. Now come with me, savvy?"
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Will retorted with feeling.

He felt the cold weight of a shotgun's muzzle against his shoulder.
"You are coming with me to the Gov'nors house, or I blows yer weasley black guts out."
"I am not helping you to plunder that house."
"I don't want to plunder, I'm just after this one thing - your friend 'Lizabeth has it."

"Elizabeth was taken by the pirates, which is a damned sight more important than whatever you're after."
Jack's face contorted in mental anguish, as the realisation that he was now one piece short sunk in.
"That's not more important, it's the same thing!" he cried in distress.

He looked about him helplessly.
So Barbossa had the medallion. Jack had the boy.
Tougher trade, compared to what he thought he'd end up with.
He sighed with vehemence.

"Right. Well. That's that then. We follow the ship. You, with me."
"Why me?" Will protested, utterly lost to what was going on.

Jack started to tell him the truth, stopped, and thought about which lie he was going to tell for a good moment. It had to be a convincing lie.
I plan to trade you to Barbossa in exchange for 'aving my ship back wasn't going to get him very far.
The best lies, he considered briefly, were however often the ones closest to the truth.

"I need a pirate to help me. No other bloody pirates in Port Royal, is there."
"I'm not a pirate!"
This wasn't going to be as easy as he'd planned out.

Explanations later. Threat of imminent death would do for now.
"Argh! I don't 'ave to explain meself to you. Just move!" Jack jabbed him with the gun and hauled him to his feet, "An' move quick, I don't 'ave all flamin' day."

They frog-marched as swiftly and surreptitiously as possible towards the docks, Jack pressing the gun between their bodies to hide it.
Finding close cover, they peeked out at the tall ships anchored lazily on the water.

"We're going to steal the ship? That ship?" Will asked incredulously, motioning towards the Dauntless.
"Commandeer. We're going to commandeer that ship." Jack pointed instead at the Interceptor, "Nautical term."

Will glared at him in silence for a moment.
"You said you needed a pirate -"
"Not now! Not the bloody time."
"But how could I be a pirate? What do you know about me that I don't?"
"If you stick around long enough to set sail wi'me, I may well tell you everything you want to know." Jack suggested.
Will set his jaw and said nothing.

"Besides," Jack furthered, eager to seal a deal that didn't involve having to hold a pistol at his only shipmate and steer with one hand, "I'm sure you are anyway under moral obligations at said present time to return a favour."
"Favour?" Will snorted, "I don't owe you any favours."
"I'm not talking about meself, mate."

The boy looked at him with wary eyes.
"Miss Swann." Jack rolled his eyes, "Should think her family would appreciate the... reciprocated rescue of a certain - not shipwrecked - young vulnerable individual out at sea. As it were."

Will almost managed a comical double take as he finally understood.
"How did you know about that?"
"She told me."
"When did you get the time to stop and chat with the Governor's daughter?"
"On one of her rather admirably risky visits to the poor jailed pirates of Port Royal." Jack grinned half to himself, "She's a fiesty lass, that one. Give her a sword and a nice hat, she'd make a good addition."

"Don't talk about Miss Swann that way. It's disrespectful." Will snapped.
"Let me guess." Jack came back just as quick, "She made you play Jolly Roger in your younger, nipperish days."
He took the silence as some form of confirmation.

"You know she used to sneak up to the cells and listen to their stories." he continued, "Aye, she's got grit. She'll do alright aboard the Pearl for now. Perhaps have done with piracy by the time she's headed home."
"How do you know it was called the Pearl?"
"I said don't ask stupid questions."

"... Can you promise she will come home?" Will asked.
"Who knows, mate. But it helps to think good. The rest sometimes follows of its own accord."

Will considered his options.
Then he realised he didn't have any. He couldn't risk running away from a pirate's precisely aimed pistol. He had a fool's hope of getting out alive.
And Jack wasn't the sort to give up so easily even if Will did escape.

The only consolation to be had was the thought of discovering his father's identity, and possibly being reunited with him.
Though if Jack knew him, he hoped it wasn't too personally.

Getting Miss Swann out alive should be his priority now. If he couldn't save himself from pirates, at least he should try and return her favour, like Jack said.
Perhaps the Governor and the Commodore would reward him, on the wild, improbable chance that they returned safely.

They set out to commandeer the speediest ship in the Caribbean.
Or so Will thought.

'Will and Elizabeth'.

Commodore Norrington scowled through his telescope at the escaping ship.
"What on earth is Turner doing with that pirate?"

Gillete was waving frantically at them from the small emergency boat, shouting.

"That is without doubt the worst pirate I have ever seen." Norrington sniped disapprovingly.
He swiftly boarded the Interceptor, caught up to the offendors within minutes, and with the rest of his crew, swung across to the Dauntless to capture them.
"Search every cabin, every hold, down to the bilges." he snapped.

Two figures just on the edge of his sightline swung back across to the better ship.
He thought it was soldiers going back for a moment, but then -
"Sailors, back to the Interceptor! Now!"

Too late. Turner was voluntarily cutting the ropes, Sparrow brandishing a shotgun in the blacksmith's general direction as he deftly steered the ship out into faster waters.

"Thank you, Commodore, for getting us ready to make way! We'd have had a hard time of it by ourselves!" he nodded gleefully in Norrington's direction.

Norrington quickly ordered for the ship to be manouvered and the long nines to be put to good use.
Groves obeyed, but raised his eyebrows.

"We open fire on our own ship, sir?"
"I'd rather see her at the bottom of the ocean than in the hands of a pirate." he replied firmly.

Somebody cried out in dismay.
"Commodore, he's disabled the rudder chain, sir!"

Norrington took in a very deep breath.
Groves stood useless, gazing out at the escaping vessel as it mowed down Gillete's boat and the men swam for safety.
"That's got to be the best pirate I've ever seen."

Another deep breath.
It was just going to be one of those days.

"So it would seem."