Muse

A/N: Ok this chapter is a little confusing...

In the film they get back to the ship and then the Flying dutchman more or less comes after them straight away...well it don't here (only coz i couldn't resist a bit of J/E interaction before the battle with the Kraken..naughty me, hehe!) ...this is before the kracken comes after them...and the dutchman, for that matter...

I met a dutchman once...very nice chap :-P hehe

Thankyou for your reviews! Keep em coming...the end is near :-(
!!!

Thanks again,
shellie
xxx


Chapter eleven


*In a wood full of Princes,
freedom is the kiss.
But the Prince hides his face,
from dreams in the mist*


Will was still out cold.


She had watched him sleep now for over an hour. Watching his chest rise and fall. She wondered if he knew she was there.

"I remember watching you like that...wondering what the hell I was doin'"


Elizabeth didn't need to turn around to know who was speaking to her. That voice had sent tingles down her spine that often that she recognised it all too well.


"I need to makesure he's safe...he had a nasty fall from the looks of it"


Jack smirked. "Aye...by the looks of it"


"May I enquire as to why you've taken it upon yourself to check up on Will's health?" She asked him inquisitively. Not entirely sure his intentions were completely towards Will.


"Lookin' out for a friend, Luv" He told her simply.


He was stood right behind her now.


"I'm sure he would count you as no friend of his..." She concentrated on Will's face, almost willing him to wake up.
She did not want this now...not infront of him...it was too close...she did not want the guilty pleasure.


"Maybe I wasn't talkin' about Will..."


His hand crept to her shoulder, holding there for what seemed like an eternity.
Did he know what he was doing to her?


Obviously, or he wouldn't be doing it... She scolded herself.


She shook her hand off of her. "Jack, don't"


She wasn't doing this for him, she was doing it for her.


He did not try it again....she almost wished he had. Then she would not have to put up with the sound of his shoes walking away from her.


She turned around to look at him, standing up as she did so. It made her feel more righteous when she stood; made her more able to justify her actions.


"I need to makesure Will is alright. I need him" She told him simply.


Jack looked back at her smiling. "You don't need him...you love him"


She gave him a slight smile back. "Yes, and that too"


"You don't need to justify your actions to me, Luv." He told her, walking towards her this time, not losing eye contact with her.


She knew she didn't. He was Jack, and Jack didn't accept justification. He didn't need to.


"I wasn't justifying them...I was just-" Just what? Just letting him know that she cared for her fiancee? He knew that already....So why did she feel the need to make him understand what was going on with her and Will?...did she want to give him the wrong idea?


He knows where he stands...you belong with Will and he belongs...with the Pearl?...


"-Just what, Luv?" Jack was looking at her intensely. How is it that when he looked at her, it was like he was looking into her soul?


She tried to think.


"I-er...I was just...erm -" Yep, that was a brilliant explanation.


She didn't realise how close he had gotten to her until he was standing there right infront of her.
She could hear people above on the deck, stomping around. Besides her, Will and Jack there was no one else down there...no one would know...


Jack reached his hand out and touched her cheek.


Oh god, not again...not infront of Will...


"You're babbling..." He almost whispered, taking in the slight flush that was appearing on her cheeks. She really did look damn sexy when he touched her, the way she seemed to melt into him.


She could not meet his eyes. Instead she closed hers.


Bad move! Her brain told her.


"What would young Will think..." He said quietly, his other hand coming up to twirl her long blond hair between his fingers. "...If he opened his eyes and saw this..." His thumb traced the outline of her lips. "...His fiancee locked in an internal battle with her mind..." He brought his lips just inches from hers. "...and her body"


She licked her lips, and opened her eyes.


She had never wanted it more than what she did right now. With Will just inches from them both.


She looked at his lips..those lips that could destroy her sanity with one touch.


He was looking at her. Looking straight at her. She was looking back, holding his gaze.
She knew he wanted this as much as he did. She could feel his need; see the haze forming within his eyes. He needed this, just like she did. He needed the freedom.


"Why do you want me, Jack?" She asked him, this time her lips went to his ear, his hand within her hair bunching it up.


"Because we're Alike...you and I...I and you...Us..." He whispered.


She smiled slightly against his hair. "I know..."


This time it as his turn. "Why do you want me, Miss Swann?"


She withdrew her head this time, looking at him deeply, bringing her lips so close to his, he thought she might actually kiss him.


"I don't want you..." She said within a whisper. "...I need you..."


Then she did something he did not expect. She withdrew from his touch altogether. She sat down on her barrel by Wills canopy as she had just a moment ago.
Then she turned and looked back at him, her eyes almost looking sad.


"But I've already told you...I need Will, too"


Jack nodded. He knew she would inevitably choose the whelp...she loved him, afterall. But to deny herself of that one moment of true freedom?


She'll be back... He told himself.

And he knew she would.

*_*_*_*_*_*


Will stood next to the helm, watching Elizabeth down on the deck, occupied within a conversation with Gibbs.


"She seems subdued" He said quietly. "I thought me being back with her would make her as happy as it has made me...perhaps I was wrong"


Jack tried to mind his own business. But he had noticed it.

Will had been back on the Pearl for a little over a day now. And Jack was not seeing things when he saw the drastic change in mood of the young man's fiancee.


"Has she said anything to you, Jack?" Will looked over at him, not even finding it slightly curious that Jack would not meet his eye.


"Me?" Jack asked him incredously. "Nah...she's a Lady, she doesn't talk about Lady things with me...although I could see why you would think that..." Jack admitted.


"I just wish i knew what she was thinking..."


Ha! You probably wouldn't like what you heard if you DID know... Jack thought, smirking beside himself.


"A woman's mind should never be undone by a man...too much mess comes from it" Jack added.


"You seem to know alot about women, considering I've never seen you with any" Will told him.


You'd be surprised what I'm like with Your Woman...


Jack smiled. "You learn alot of things about women...and each theory contradicts the next." He said, his fingers playing over the helm of his ship."But there is one thing about women I can tell you...and You will stick to it for life" He said matter-of-factly.


"And what would that be?" William asked, his eyes seeking out his fiancee once again.


"Never ask a woman if she's pregnant" He said, his dead-pan tone making Will look at him once more.


"Except for when you can see the baby coming out of her..."

*_*_*_*_*_*_*

He slid his arms around her waist. She didn't even feel him anywhere near her, so her surprised reaction to him did shock her.


"I've missed you" He told her, putting his head on her shoulder.


"I've missed you too" She answered. Sort of...kind of...


"Jack said you've been trying to help out on the ship"


She turned around at that. "Trying? I've worked my heart out!" She looked over to the helm, only to find Gibbs there instead of Jack.


Bloody Pirate.


Will smiled at her. "I might of guessed Jack would be less than greatful for your help"


He wasn't ungreatful...he just didn't like to show his appreciation much...give too much away...


She didn't say anything, she just stared off into space.


Will knew there was something different about her. When he had come around from his nasty bump on the head, she had been there watching over to him...but she seemed like she was somewhere else.
She was doing it again now, and she was starting to do it more often, like there was something troubling on her mind...He had not been there for the best part of two weeks...he was starting to think that maybe this change had come about because of that.


His relationship with his father had taken the front seat over his relationship with Elizabeth. He knew it should not compare, but seeing his father again for the first time in years (especially after thinking he was dead) had stirred something within him...made him feel like his life was worth a purpose again.


But now he was back on the Pearl, and that meant that until he found a way to save his father, he would spend his time catering to his fiancee's needs.


"I wonder where Norrington took the chest..." Will asked.


Elizabeth had filled him in with what had happened since his little bump on the head, and had explained that Norrington now had the chest...but that meant that apparently he had the heart, too. Which meant that if Jones' crew had tracked him down, then they would inevitably have the heart by now...


Oddly, Jack did not seem too subdued...which she found odd.


Her and Jack were on civil speaking terms. They understood eachother.

She knew that he was first and foremost the Captain of his ship, and his duties came first no matter what his private life was doing.

He knew that she was first and foremost the fiancee of William Turner, and her duties to him came first no matter what she actually wanted to be happening in her private life.


She did want him, she knew it and he knew it.


He wanted her just as much.


But when she had told him she needed him, she did not think about the consequences of her words. She had inevitably set up something between them both that would stand until one day they both decided to give in. And seems as though she was going to stay faithful to Will, she knew that the bond between them would be there for a very long time.


They had their chances, and squandered them too. If things had gone differently maybe she would not be feeling this way; maybe she would be over this, and able to move on to start another part of her life with William Turner.


But things went how she supposed they would, and now she was trapped by the love of a man that she did not entirely want, and the want for a man that she did not love.


Damn that fatal attraction!


"I don't think we will be seeing him again for alongtime..." She said, more to herself than to Will.


He kissed her forehead and headed for the helm, leaving her to her thoughts.


That was not a good idea, seems as though these days most of her thoughts turned to Jack Sparrow.


She looked out to sea, with no idea where they were going. She only knew that wherever it was, they were running away from something.


"I'm curious, Luv. You seem so...distracted. It makes me wonder what could possibly be in that prissy little brain of yours to make you so..off-colour"

She looked over at him. No matter what he said to her, he always seemed to have that smirk on his face.

There were no secrets between them anymore, they both knew what the other wanted. The hard part was allowing themselves to forget about it.

"I think you know what's on my mind, Jack" She told him truthfully.


He was standing next to her now along the rails of the ship, looking off into the distance.


Captain Jack Sparrow, the ever present enigma.


"I don't no what you plan on doin' about it.." He said, his voice low. He wasn't looking at her, he was still staring out at sea. "...I have some ideas up my sleeve...but none of them involve you keepin' your dignity"


She saw him smirking.


"I'm going to marry Will and live a normal life" She told him, her voice almost sounding disappointed.


The smirk remained on his face. "I admire your bravery, Luv. Not many women I know have followed their original path's after they've met me..."


And she did not even contemplate the fact that he was lying to her.


"I have to follow mine. It is the right thing to do"


"For him...but what about you?" He was looking at her now.


"What about me?" She didn't want to look at him. Looking at him would make her think about it, and that was never good for her stability.


"What do you want? Do you want the life of a blacksmith's wife? Do you want to be stuck on land for the rest of your life? You know the sea will call to you..." His hand was right next to hers on the wood of the ship. One more inch and they would be touching...


"You know what I want Jack." She looked down at his hand. Tempted to reach out...stolen touches to ease the burden of that lust that would just not go away. "But I've already told you what I have chosen. Will is a good, loving, honest and loyal man. He's worthy of alot more than I can give him - which is true...but he loves me, and I intend on making him happy"

"Reguardless of your own happiness-"

"-Would I be truly happy living on a ship with you?" She asked him truthfully.


He looked at her face. "I wasn't talking about you being happy with me...I'm not the type of man who could make you happy, Luv. If i get the wind in my sails, then I'm gone...on to the next adventure-"


"-And I don't suppose you'd want to take me with you-"


"-Well take into consideration that you bein' with us on our latest voyages has lead up into extremely back luck thus far-"


"-Your beginning to sound just like Gibbs-"


"-Which isn't such a bad thing, Luv." He smiled at her then. "He knows what he's talkin' about"

She Just didn't get it. Why was it so hard for her to understand? She knew his only love was the sea...they did not even have a sexual connection in that way, and yet it still seemed like they had shared far more than anything she could have shared between her and dear William.


"Look" He told her, grabbing her and turning her to face him. "I'm not the type of man any woman wants to share any sort of life with. I'm more of a ... passing fancy, you might say. This is exactly what there is between us, Elizabeth."


She saw straight through him.


"Inevitably" He continued, incase she interrupted him. "This means that you'll go back to your ordinary little life with Will, and I'll be left to sail the seas with my Crew, just like the last time you left me. I'm only a man, Luv. But I'm a man that's learned enough to know that what you want, and what you actually get are two completely different things."


She understood him completely.


"Then I guess we'll always have the 'what if'..." She said lightly, smiling up at him. His still had hold of her shoulders. She wondered momentarily if Will was watching...a small part of her hoped he was.


Why was this happening to her? And now he was telling her that it could not happen? Only a few days ago she thought he may actually persuing her...


"You know what I want, Luv. If it weren't for your modesty and your damn engagement ring on your finger then I would have it, but I'm not one to actually do the deed if the deed is there to be done by someone else...savvy?" He released her then. He started to walk away.


"So you would? If it weren't for your own damn pride and you thinking that you have to respect me because I belong to someone else?"
She still stood where he had left her.


He looked over at her. "I think we both no the answer to that" He was about to turn around and walk again, but stopped himself before he turned around and added ; "Oh and by the way...everythin' I say; I do mean, Luv. All those times I've made passes at you, I've never played around...I thought you would have caught on by now..."


And then he left her standing there...again.


Everything he had said to her? The Marr-aige he had proposed on the stairs? All those times she thought he was just being insufferable Jack Sparrow?
And what about that Island they were marooned on for a night? He had spoken to her curiously then...maybe he was telling the truth.


But then...she'd come to expect that.