Elizabeth told her aunt not to wait up, that they had some loose ends to tie up after the battle. It was late enough she thought she and Jacob might as well sleep right there on the Pearl. She carried her son in the longboat, but it was already getting late and he fell asleep in her arms before they even arrived at the Pearl.

"Here, let me carry him up," Jack offered. He propped the baby over one shoulder and climbed the ladder one-handed. Elizabeth followed, more slowly, as she was also carrying the chest containing Will's heart. To Jack's amused delight, she had stuffed his voodoo doll down her shirt again.

"Evening, Cotton," Jack greeted the older man who was on watch. "All well?"

Cotton nodded, and smiled at the sleeping baby.

"Good." Jack handed Jacob to Elizabeth. "Here, ye can put him into his little bed in me cabin if you wish. I just have to call Will out here first."

"All right." Elizabeth brought Jacob into the captain's cabin. She laid the baby down on Jack's bed while she pulled out the bottom drawer of the dresser where Jacob had slept before, and folded up a blanket for the bottom of it. She bent and placed the baby into the drawer. "Well, you're not going to fit in there much longer," she said to the sleeping baby. "However, for tonight it ought to be well enough. It'll be just like old times, won't it? But healthy this time, thank the Lord!"

Jack came in looking smug. "Got him all settled, love?"

"Yes, though he won't fit into your dresser drawer much longer!"

Jack shrugged. "So we'll get a cot. Maybe put it over there under the window, like you used to have yours in Flimwell." He lit a lantern to offset the gathering gloom and hung it up in the center of the cabin.

Elizabeth smiled. It was still so strange to hear Jack talk about things like that. It reinforced the permanent nature of their future associations. "Did you have any trouble calling Will?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Not a bit. Think the little blighter's starting to like it."

"Will?"

"No, Pigeon."

Elizabeth gave him a strange look, but did not ask. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what Jack was talking about. "How long does it usually take Will to arrive?"

Jack shrugged again. "Five minutes. An hour. Two. Half a day."

"It varies, in other words."

"Didn't I just say that?" Jack asked innocently.

Elizabeth made an exasperated noise in her throat and stalked past him. "I don't know why I put up with you," she muttered.

Jack caught her arm as she passed, and drew her close to him. "It's all due to my wit, charm, and handsome face," he informed her.

As an afterthought, he added, "That and the fact that I love you more than life. Now come and give us a kiss, sweetheart."

How could Elizabeth resist him when he said things like that? She melted into his arms and met his lips with her own.

Several enjoyable minutes passed in this fashion, until suddenly they heard a voice say in disgust, "Oh, I could have done without seeing this. Really I could."

It was Will.

Jack took his time ending the kiss, and he rested his cheek on Elizabeth's hair as he glared at Will. "So knock next time."

"I didn't figure you'd be doing anything requiring much privacy, after that little talk we had," Will retorted.

"And yet, here we are," Jack taunted. "Matter of fact, we were just celebratin' our engagement."

"Congratulations," Will said, looking as if he had just bitten a lemon. "Haven't wasted much time, have you? So did you call me because you actually needed something, or just to gloat?"

Jack grinned and opened his mouth to taunt Will again, but Elizabeth interrupted.

"All right, that's enough! Both of you!" she spoke with schoolteacher-like firmness. "Jack, stop gloating and be a good host. Will, a polite guest does knock before materializing in someone's cabin. Make sure you do that next time."

Jack watched, amused, as she took control of the charged situation. "All right, love," he said. "Thanks for coming, Will. Drink?"

"Brought my own," Will said, conjuring a bottle from thin air like he had done before. "Thanks anyway. So what am I doing here this time? You keep on calling me, but never have anyone dead for me. I do have a job to do, you know."

"Well… we have a favor to ask," Elizabeth said.

"A favor? From me?" Will pulled out a chair at Jack's dining table as if he lived there, sat down and steepled his fingers in front of himself like a judge. "This I have to hear. What, pray, may I do for the two of you?"

"Take Angelica Teach on board your vessel," Jack said. "She's here on the Pearl, in the brig." He and Elizabeth both sat down facing Will.

"She isn't dead," Will pointed out. "I'd sense it if she were."

"No, and she isn't likely to be for more than a century," Jack said. "She drank from the Fountain of Youth, so she has endless years to come after us and try to kill us again and again… and again."

"If she's alive I can't take her on board the Dutchman," Will said. "Not permanently. You know that, Jack. I couldn't have taken you on board either, yesterday."

"She's only alive because she got all of her father's years," Elizabeth said, "And Jack tells me he's aboard the Dutchman."

"Aye, he is, but he's already dead." Will hesitated a moment, and then went on. "If she somehow died on the water, then I could take her." He avoided Elizabeth's gaze.

Jack grimaced. "I know she's a rabid bitch, but I don't particularly want to kill her in cold blood," he said.

"And I had my chance to kill her yesterday," Elizabeth said, "but I didn't." She sounded faintly regretful.

"Aye," Jack teased her. "You save that sort of thing for your friends and loved ones."

Elizabeth tsked and cuffed him lightly on the side of the head. Grinning, he caught her hand and kissed it.

Will's face took on a pained expression.

"What, have ye never seen a couple in love before?" Jack taunted.

"Not one that regularly expresses it with violence," Will shot back.

Elizabeth and Jack looked at each other. Then they both raised their eyebrows in a "duh" look at Will and said, with one voice, "Pirate!"

"Oh, God," Will groaned. "You two are going to drive me 'round the bend. All right, as long as we're talking piracy, why should I help you with Miss Teach? What's in it for me?"

"A chance to meet your son," Jack said quietly.

Will's eyebrows shot up. He leaned forward. "When?" he asked, also quietly.

Elizabeth started to speak, but Jack talked over her. "Just as soon as we've taken care of this Angelica infestation of ours."

Will stood up. "She's in the brig, you say?"

Jack nodded.

Will vanished.