I awoke suddenly to a knocking sound. Sitting up, I stared around groggily and my eyes found the door.

The knocking persisted, and I grabbed my cutlass from under the bed and padded toward the door, wondering who the hell was bothering me at this hour.

I swung the door open, my blade trained on whoever was on the other side, but relaxed when I saw who it was.

"Jack!" I hissed. I ignored the butterflies that erupted in my gut. "What do you want?"

He grinned and motioned for me to lower the sword. "Hello, love."

I dropped the weapon and glared at him, my cheeks flushing. "What, Jack?"

He shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. Wanna fence?"

I stared at him. He was so handsome, his shirt half open, some of his tattoos showing. "Right now?"

He nodded and swayed slightly.

I sighed and straightened my shirt, extremely

self-conscious. "Why not?"

After retrieving my baldric, we made our way above decks, careful to not wake Will.

"He would kill me," I whispered through the darkness.

He was above me, hopping up the stairs, the moonlight framing him. "Why?" A pause. "Are you two related?"

I shook my head as we cleared the top. "No, just friends. He has a very bleak outlook on pirates."

Jack smiled. "I see."

Then, he was attacking me, pushing me toward the railing. I quickly drew my blade and rushed to parry, our swords clinging and clanging as we pushed one another around.

We were evenly matched; neither of us could gain the upper hand, not to mention I was so distracted by all of him. I spun around and hit his blade out of the way, then found myself pressed against the doors of his cabin, Jack's cutlass pressed against my neck.

"I thought you said no kill shots?" I asked jokingly, though my voice shook a bit. He was so close, so bloody damn close...

He grinned, his gold teeth glimmering. "Never trust a pirate, love."

My eyes narrowed. "Is that a warning?"

He shrugged. "Maybe." Apparently he didn't notice my increasingly shaky insides.

I stared at him for a minute, studying his beautiful features. Then, suddenly, I knocked his blade up, jerked him forward by his collar, then turned him around so his back was to the door.

"Ha!" I laughed.

He smirked and pushed away my sword, the tip touching his chest. "Nice, very nice."

I sheathed my blade and let him away from the wall. "Will taught me how to use a sword after I watched him practice one day."

He put his sword away as well and turned, opening the doors and walking inside. "Did he, now?"

I nodded and followed, more than a little distracted by the skin showing from his half-buttoned up shirt. "Yes. He's quite accomplished with a sword; he may have beaten you, had you not cheated."

He smiled at this and picked up the compass, staring at the needle. "I could beat the eunuch with my eyes closed, savvy?"

I laughed and punched him lightly. "He's not a eunuch!"

He rolled his eyes in a whatever way and snapped the compass shut, then shook it vigorously. "Right, love."

I stared at his compass curiously. "Is it broken?"

"Far from it." He said, and pocketed it.

I could tell it was something he didn't wish to discuss, so I dropped it. "Well, I'll be back in my cabin, if you need me for some important reason."

He nodded and pointed at me, swaying. "Admit it. You're glad I came."

More than you think. I felt my face heating. "You keep telling yourself that, Sparrow."

He grinned and waved me off. "To bed with you then, early start tomorrow, all that. 'Night."

"'Night." I turned and walked back below decks, in deep thought.

Did I trust Jack? The question burned at the back of my mind, never quite leaving me alone. Even as I crawled back under the covers I was still pondering it.

I had decided to not tell Will about Jack's true intentions. I believed him when he said that he was going to rescue Elizabeth, he was already on his way there, why not? But if the Black Pearl was all he cared about, then maybe I should be more cautious...

I awoke the next morning to more knocking. "Jack, if that's you I am going to..." I trailed off, growling, and trudged to the door as if the floor was made of thick mud.

I opened the door. It was Gibbs, actually.

"Oh, hi!" I said, and rubbed my eyes. He smiled sort of apologetically.

"Jack wants everyone above decks." He said.

"Oh, the able-bodied crew. You tell him that I'll come when I want to come, hmm?"

Gibbs winced. "Had ye ever heard the phrase don't kill the messenger?"

I sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'm coming."

After I had slipped my baldric back on over my head and taken another sip of the rum Jack had given me (I was conserving it) I headed above decks. We weren't as close to the docks as we had been yesterday; there was a dinghy posed to be dropped into the water next to the ship. At the docks, I could see a gathering of what I assumed to be sailors.

Jack sauntered up to me, Will and Gibbs tailing behind. "Into the boat!"

I raised my eyebrow at him but obeyed. They followed; Jack took the oars and he silently rowed us out toward the docks.

Will gave me a hand out of the dinghy. I didn't meet his eyes but muttered a thank you. Jack stopped us before the dirty pirates and studied them with a critical eye.

"All of 'em faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt, and crazy to boot." Gibbs stated proudly.

Will gazed at them disbelievingly. "This is your able-bodied crew?"

Jack said nothing, but walked down the line, staring at each pirate. "You, sailor!" He said, pausing at a scruffy older man. There was a beautiful green parrot perched on his shoulder, his head tilted at Jack.

"Cotton, sir." Gibbs corrected. He glanced at Cotton almost uneasily.

Jack rolled forward on his feet. "Mr. Cotton! Do you have the courage and fortitude to stay brave on the sea and in the face of almost certain death?"

Cotton looked fed up and glanced at Gibbs pleadingly.

"Mr. Cotton!" Jack demanded, getting up in his face. "Answer, man!"

Gibbs stepped up. "He's a mute, sir. Poor fellow had his tongue cut out..."

Jack leaned away, wrinkling his nose, as Cotton opened his mouth and showed us a stub of a tongue. I glanced at Jack and laughed.

"...so he trained the bird to talk for 'im. No one's yet figured how." Gibbs finished.

Jack made to walk down the rest of the human line, but stopped himself. "Mr. Cotton's, erm, parrot. Same question."

"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" The parrot squawked.

Jack looked to Gibbs for a translation, and Gibbs said, "Mostly, we figure that means yes."

Jack nodded. "'Course it does!" He turned to Will, who was watching with an unreadable expression. "Well, there you have it. Satisfied?" He asked dryly.

Will said nothing, so I offered, "You've proved they're mad."

"And what's in it for us?" A suspiciously female voice asked from down the line.

Jack froze. I stared at him and fought to suppress my amusement.

He cautiously padded down the line, until he reached a sailor with his(?) hat pulled low over his face.

Jack grimaced and yanked the hat off, dark hair tumbling out, to reveal a rather pretty, tan skinned woman. He forced a smile and said, "Anamaria."

Anamaria raised her hand and slapped him with all she had.

Jack staggered backward a bit, almost knocking me into the water, and Will leaned over him. "I suppose you didn't deserve that one, either?" I grinned and elbowed him approvingly.

Jack winced. "No, that one I deserved."

Anamaria nodded angrily as Jack turned around to face her again. "You stole my boat!" She shouted.

"Actually--" Jack started to defend himself, but was cut off as Anamaria backhanded him again. I couldn't help it; I laughed. Anamaria glanced at me, amusement in her eyes, but said nothing.

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath before facing her again. "Borrowed. Borrowed, but without permission. With every intention of bringing it back."

Anamaria looked absolutely lethal. "But you didn't!"

Jack looked taken aback, but he recovered and smiled. "You'll get another one!"

Will jumped in. "A better one!"

Jack glanced at him, and then back to Anamaria. "A better one!" He chirped.

Anamaria pointed a long finger in Jack's face. "I will." She sounded absolutely murderous.

Will nodded and pointed off toward the water. I followed his gaze and saw the Interceptor, floating gallantly on the sparkling waves. "That one!"

Everyone turned to look, except Jack, who turned to Will. "What one?" Will gestured back toward the ship. Jack spun around. "That one?"

Everyone turned back to Jack and Anamaria. Anamaria stared at Jack, warnings written all over her face as if she had spoken them.

Jack smiled. "Aye. That one. What say you?"

"Aye!" She shouted, and the crew followed suit. They all piled into the dinghy and waited for us.

"No, no, it's frightful bad luck to have a woman aboard, Cap'n!" Gibbs stuttered.

I rolled my eyes and drew my cutlass. "I am a woman, Mr. Gibbs, sir."

He stared at my weapon, blushing.

"It would be far worse to not have them, Gibbs." Jack said, and turned, heading for the dinghy. Gibbs followed, seemingly humbled. Will and I were alone.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered, sheathing my blade.

He sighed and took my hand. It wasn't a romantic gesture, it didn't give me butterflies like Jack's touches did, but it did give comfort. "I know. I shouldn't have yelled. I respect your opinions."

I squeezed his fingers and smiled. "I respect yours as well. After you?" I gestured at the boat, and he smiled before leading me into the dinghy.

Someone took the oars and we coasted back to the Interceptor, the process much longer and straining now that the boat was heavier and there were only one set of paddles.

"What idiot," I heard Jack say, "Only brought one pair of oars?"

I laughed and relaxed, watching the wake of the boat. "Isle de Muerta, here I come," I whispered.