A broken gasp rose from my lips. "Jack," I whispered.

Silence greeted me. It was broken only by Jack's sobs. Each one broke my heart a little more.

This couldn't be real. It couldn't.

"Jack," I said loudly, my voice cracked. He continued to rock my body in his arms and kissed the top of my head. This was too surreal. It wasn't right… it wasn't real. It couldn't be… This had to be some kind of dream. Some kind of ridiculous nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. "Jack!" I screamed. He didn't react. Why couldn't he see me? Why didn't he know that I was here? "Jack, I'm here." My hand shook as I reached towards him. If I could just reach him, just let him feel that I was here maybe I could wake up. Maybe this dream would end. As my fingertips came within inches of his skin I was stopped by a searing and impenetrable heat. There was no way that I could get near him. No way for me to hold my husband. As I watched him crying tears began to spill out of my eyes and down my cheeks. "Jack! I'm here!" I still tried desperately to wipe away his tears. "Jack, please. I'm right here!"

He didn't hear me. Nobody did. How could they? My screams were nothing but silence to the ears of the living.

I was dead.

Dead.

There was no way I could deny it when I could see my own corpse lying there in front of me. Lying in the arms of my broken husband. I couldn't bear to see him in so much pain. Not when I was the cause of it. And especially not when there was no way that I could comfort him. No way for me to talk to him and let him know that I was here. I just wanted to heal him. All I wanted was for him to be all right.

I was in utter turmoil.

My own pain and frustration tore through me. How could I be dead? How could it be that I would never be able to communicate with my husband again? And my son… my poor baby boy. How would he ever know how much his mother loves him? Whatever was left of me… my spirit, my soul… whatever I was now… was being ripped apart by grief. How could I carry on like this? No matter how loudly I cried and begged and screamed… pleading for him to hear me… he was oblivious to me kneeling before him. He was wrapped in his own grief and clinging to the empty shell that had once been me.

What was I to do?

What I was meant to do, I suppose. What I had promised to do… stay by Jack's side. He was my everything. I couldn't just let him go. We were to inextricably linked. Maybe I was here for a reason. Maybe I'd been given this chance to watch over Jack and our living baby, to protect them to the best of my abilities. Even though I didn't seem to be able to communicate with anyone in the living world and being confined to just watching would be almost unbearable. But not as unbearable as leaving him.

Rebecca was my only comfort. I pulled her towards me and clutched her tightly in my arms. At least I had one little piece of Jack to hold with me in whatever bizarre spiritual plane I was currently dwelling. It began to dawn on me just how still and silent Rebecca had become. I glanced down at her. Her eyes were shut and her face peaceful. It took me a mere second to realise that this was not merely sleep. This was the same look that had been on her face when we had both been floating in the endless sea of the dead. I was immediately worried. How was I to know whether or not this was normal or safe for a baby in this kind of situation?

"Jack," Gibbs stepped forwards. His voice was husky and he was reluctant to even begin speaking. He stood behind Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder. He tried to gently prise my body from Jack and get him to come away with him.

"No!" Jack snapped, fiercely. "NO!"

"Capt'n…" Gibbs said gently. "It's not good for you to-"

"I'm not leaving her!" He clung to me so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "I can't leave her. She can't be… she… she can't… she's not."

"Let go, Jack," Gibbs tried again. "You need to let go."

"No!" the word seemed to rip out of his throat from somewhere deep inside him. He buried his face in my hair again. Everyone around him exchanged a look and fell back into silence. "Get out." Jack muttered. Everyone shared another uncomfortable glance but nobody moved. I was glad. I didn't want Jack left alone. It was just as I was beginning to feel slightly calmer that his head snapped back up to glare at them all. He sprang to his feet. "OUT. EVERYONE OUT!"

The people in the room, including myself, jumped at the ferocity of his words. The room quickly emptied. Gibbs was the last to leave Jack's side. "Don't leave him," I whispered despite it being futile. None of them could have heard me, even if I'd shouted it.

Jack fell to his knees again, his hand brushed my cheek. "Why?" he whispered to my unresponsive face. "Why did you have to go?"

His tears fell thick and fast. I stood as close behind him as I physically could. "I'll never be gone," I said quietly even though he would never know that I'd said it.

There was an almighty crash and the door I had come through at the far end of the hall shook on its hinges. I remembered with a dreadful fear who was on the other side of it. In my previous state of confusion I hadn't even recognised him, but now that I was fully aware of who I was, where I had been and who I knew I began to feel ill at the thought. Here was my husband kneeling before me, broken and vulnerable. On the other side of that door were the two men in the whole world who were most desperate to see him dead. One was George. The other was Barbossa.

And there was not a single thing I could do to protect him.

I started to run to the door to see if there was anything I could do that would be of any use. I doubted it, but I would never forgive myself if I didn't try. I only got about halfway across before I began to feel incredibly dizzy. I stopped and swayed on the spot. I felt clogged and drowsy. I looked down at Rebecca and realised what was happening. Not again. "No…" I murmured and turned to look at Jack one last time before that irrepressible darkness swallowed me up.

Let me stay…

My eyes opened. How long had it been? How long had it been since I had seen Jack? It was impossible to tell in the moments during which I had slept -if 'sleeping' was even what it was- how much time I had spent not existing. I knew the moment my eyes opened that I was back in that stagnant, unmoving land of the dead.

"No!" I cried out, my frustration breaking the silence. "No! Take me back!"

I wasn't sure who I was shouting to, but there was no reply and nothing happened. I wasn't sure what I had expected the answer to be. I had hoped that whatever had happened to me before would happen again so that I could go back to where Jack and my son had been left to fend for themselves, but I had known deep down how unlikely that was. I felt like crying or screaming. Or both.

At least I wasn't underwater like I had been last time. At least now I was above the surface. And I still had Rebecca. That was one plus. She was awake again and happy. She seemed more animated in this world than she had been when we had been in the land of the living. We were now in a boat floating on the surface of a calm and still ocean. Lights came from lanterns that hung from the front of every boat. We weren't the only ones here. There were dead people in boats all around us, but I seemed to be the only one who was actually aware of where we were and the fact that we were dead. I wasn't surprised. I had been here before. On the way back from rescuing Jack from the Locker we had sailed right through here and seen Governor Swann. It felt like a lifetime ago.

I supposed it was a lifetime… technically.

I thought back to that day. Will had asked Tia if there was any way to bring the Governor back. She had said no. Did that mean there was no way for me to go back? Maybe those few minutes I had spent with Jack had been it. Maybe that was the only time that you got to see your loved ones and say your goodbyes. Maybe I would never see him or my son again. I almost started crying again and looked around for something… anything that would help me. Nobody in any of the boats around me so much as blinked. I stopped wondering why they weren't panicking and terrified like me and began to wonder why I wasn't peaceful and oblivious like them. Why couldn't I rest?

I wasn't at peace… how could I be, knowing everything that I had left behind?

As we sat there, drifting slowly towards… God only knows… I played out all the different scenarios in my head. What would happen if George had gotten to Jack? What if George killed him? What would my son be left with? What if Jack had killed George? I wasn't sure if he was in a state to fight. If he wasn't, would there be anyone around to protect him? These questions and deadly scenes went round and round in my head, lodged there. Stuck. I felt myself spiral downwards into despair. All of these unanswered questions were driving me insane.

I needed to go back. I needed to know. I needed Jack to be okay.

The boats ahead of ours came to a stop. We'd reached land. One by one the occupants of the boat stood up and stepped ashore in their dream-like fashion. Their boats then dissolved into the sand as if they had never existed to begin with. I stood up and waited for my own turn. I couldn't wait to get off this boat. Perhaps if I could find some oars on land I could row back to Jack. Even as I thought of it, I knew it was a ridiculous idea. But that wouldn't stop me from trying. I leapt off before the boat touched the sand and looked around me for help. It was dark; the only light was still coming from the lanterns at the front of each boat. The sand stretched out a few feet in front and then disappeared into the dark. I didn't know what lay beyond where I stood, but the more I looked into the blackness and thought it about it, the more terrified I became. Something deep inside me told me not to walk any further in.

I turned to look back at the way we had come. People climbing out of the boats continued their serene walk on the sand. They all seemed to know where they were going and they were all going in the same direction. I shuddered. I tried to step in front of one of them. "Excuse me," I said. She didn't even blink. I turned to another one and spoke again, louder this time. "Excuse me! Can you help me?" He kept walking too, staring fixedly ahead of him. Not one person so much as flinched or acknowledged me. They continued on their sombre march. I wondered if I should follow them. I really didn't want to, but it was looking as if forwards might be the only way to go. I was pretty sure that once I had gone with them, there wouldn't be a way back. I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand here.

I waded out into the waters and stood beside the nearest boat. I hesitated before gently laying Rebecca down inside the boat, freeing my hands up to grab on to the sides. I pulled with all my might, but no matter what I did or how much I pulled the boat continued its steady progression towards the sand. If I could just turn it round and go home, where I needed to be… The occupant of the boat stood up and got ready to step out. The boat began to disintegrate beneath my fingertips. I snatched up Rebecca and within seconds the boat was gone. Water lapped at my ankles. This was hopeless. I was verging on tears. I looked out in the direction that the boats were coming from.

Then, from the silence, came a welcome voice. "Isabel," his voice was so familiar. "My darling Isabel…" I felt relief shake my body. I was sure that my joy and shock over hearing him speak again ] would have stopped my heartbeat if I'd had one. "I've missed you," he said. I'd missed him too. I let out a soft sob.

"James," I whispered. "Help me."