It's not looking like Jack and Lily are going to be the best of friends...hope you enjoy this chapter please review to let me know what you think!

Chapter 7

The fighting spirit had long since left Lily as Jack bore her relentlessly away from the people she loved, she was now limp and he was very much relieved.

"You may as well put me down Sparrow; they're gone." Lily said quietly, her voice hoarse from screaming.

Jack stopped and lowered her to the ground, watching her warily as she steadied herself against the wall. She looked like she was about to keel over, he wished she had as what she did next was far more awkward.

Lily leaned into the wall, pressing her forehead against the cool stone, and began to cry. She folded her face in her arms and wept without restraint from fear and loss and pure exhaustion.

Jack went to pat her on the back and then changed his mind at the last minute, swerving away and instead nudging her warily with his boot.

"Er...there's a time and place luv." He said awkwardly and she sobbed once, hitting out at him surprisingly accurately. Her blow caught him on the shoulder and he stepped back, affronted.

"Ow!" He grunted, glaring at her. Lily turned around to face him, her face set despite the tremors in her lips and chin and the tears that still coursed down her cheeks.

"Take me back." She demanded, "As heir to the pirate throne or some such nonsensical thing you (as a pirate) are bound to obey me and I am ordering you to TAKE ME BACK."

Never had Lily looked less regal so her words sounded faintly ridiculous and she knew it.

"Nice try." Jack said. There was a pause in which her glare became more and more deadly until finally Jack snapped.

"Look they'll be fine alright? Back off Missy-if-looks-could-kill-you'd-be-dead-right-now."

"Fine? FINE? They could very well be dead you moron!" Lily screamed and Jack absently put a finger to his ear to stop the ringing.

"Keep it down." Was all he said in response but there were many insults flying around in his overcrowded mind that he could have hurled at the proud, conceited girl before him.

Lily turned back to the wall and tried to calm herself – would the tears never stop? Behind her Jack was silent, she felt guilty at the way she'd spoken to him...he was only trying to help but couldn't he understand?

Meanwhile Jack, as he stood behind her shifting from foot to foot, experienced one of the few moral awakenings in his life as he noticed how small and fragile she looked pressed up against the wall like that, her tiny shoulders shaking as she tried to calm herself down.

Taking a deep breath Lily faced him having successfully managed to stop crying.

"I apologize Mr Sparrow, as you can see I was somewhat overcome." She said formally, ruining the grand effect by sniffing loudly. Jack grinned lopsidedly.

"What of it luv, aren't we all?" He asked wryly as he draped an arm round her shoulder and steered her round the corner. "Come along with old Jack, I know just what you need."

The route Jack took her was winding and complex and the further they went the grottier their surroundings became.

"Where are we going?" She asked after a while and he laughed loudly; Lily had noticed that the farther away from civilized society he went the more comfortable he became.

"Not far now luv." Was his useless reply and Lily rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't answer my question." She muttered but he only laughed louder.

"Good thing we're here then ain't it?" He announced grandly, taking her round yet another corner at the end of which Lily found herself staring at the filthiest building she'd ever seen and milling around outside were the filthiest people she'd ever seen.

"Mr. Sparrow!" She hissed, horrified. "I do not think that -"

A loud yell cut her off mid-sentence as two unsteady looking men capered out of the building, one hitting the other with a tankard, the other wielding a chair. Lily yelped and sprang back but Jack still held her by the arm and simply pulled her back to his side. The men were fighting in a way that Lily had never seen before and she didn't like it one bit, the larger of the two had the upper hand and was just about to bring his chair down onto the other mans head when the smaller man spotted Jack.

"Shparra!" He slurred loudly and the other man turned to look, when he saw Jack he released the other man and nudged him companionably instead.

"Aye an' ain't that the devil hisself? How goes it Jacky?" He yelled and then squinted at Lily.

"Cor whos'at then?" He asked, nudging his friend again whose mouth had dropped open.

"Well she's a beauty even fer you!" He said, trying to clap Jack on the shoulder but missing and hitting the wall instead.

"OW! Bliddy -" His curse dissolved into unintelligible complaints as he nursed his hand while the other man roared with laughter.

Lily looked up at Jack, her eyes wide and he grinned down at her.

"Don't fret." He said and she shrugged away from his grip.

"You've taken me to a tavern Jack!" She reprimanded, whispering the offending word.

"Yep." He replied, taking her arm again and swaggering into the crowded tavern, nodding at the two men (who were fighting again) as he passed.