Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean though it is a nice thought.

Truth among other Things

"Then it's decided," Barbossa placed the last rip of scroll onto the table among the others and pulled a smirk, "Your new pirate king will be Miss Swann." Elizabeth, who had been slumped in her chair, directed her attention to the pairs of eyes fixed onto her; they were anything but pleased.

"Me?" she countered, straightening her posture and rising to her feet, "But how?" The Brethren were being awfully quiet as they were apparently as stunned as she was.

Barbossa tilted his head so that his nose was turned up at her and said, "Seems you've won by a single vote as the rest of the lot voted for themselves." The crowd finally broke into an uproar, cussing and threatening each other with their pistols and blades drawn. Elizabeth took a step back, calculating how something like this could have happened. Of course she had voted for herself but to win? And by one vote no less. Casting a glance to her left, she spotted Jack silently rolling his piece of eight between his fingers, completely disregarding the brawl surrounding him. When he finally noticed her staring, his face warmed into a smile that seemed uncharacteristically genuine though convincing enough for her to realize he had been the deciding vote. Her mouth opened but snapped shut as a sudden shot was fired above them. Atop the round table Barbossa stood with his pistol in hand, the chandelier hanging lopsidedly. The crowd quieted, turning their attention to him.

"It be a clean vote, so quit yer complaining," he roared, tucking his pistol under his belt before he motioned to her with his hand, "Elizabeth is now our pirate king."

In the disarray of blankets and feathered pillows Elizabeth lay staring up at the oak ceiling above her. Shadows played across the grooves in the wood as the flame of the lantern beside her bed flickered against its wick. It was surprisingly quiet on the reverse side of the cabin door. No muffled conversation or creaking steps just the easy rocking of the Black Pearl against the tiny waves that slipped against it.

Elizabeth gently turned on her side, her hair a tangled mess of blonde upon her pillow. It was well past midnight and Jack still had not returned. Usually she would awake –if she had not been already – to find him lounged on the floor beside the bed, a courtesy he had granted her so that her 'honor' may still be intact. But not since the meeting that evening had she seen him when he had slunk off into the shadows only to disappear for the remainder of the night. She heaved a sigh. The cabin seemed different whenever Jack wasn't around. Something about it that she couldn't quite place her finger on though tried her best to ignore. It made it easier for her to think clearly without him clouding her thoughts. Still though, he had been gone for a while and it worried her to think of the dire possibilities that may have befallen him –

"That's quite enough!" she hollered, bolting upright from her place in the sheets. As stillness enveloped the room, Elizabeth came to find just how alone she really was. Her shoulders sagged, as the anxiety crept back into her mind. Perhaps I should go and find him, she thought, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed to slip into her boots.

When she paced out the bedroom and towards the cabin doors, a sudden tingle ran over her skin. As bold as she may have appeared, Elizabeth was well aware of the dangers that awaited her beyond those doors and was clever enough to know that not all pirates were as good-hearted or merry as that of Jack or his crew. They were docked in Shipwreck city, bordering with vessels run by the most callous of men. Who was to say she could hold her own with a group of them if they approached her? Besides, being most recently deemed 'Pirate King' would amount to no more than pure rage. They would undoubtedly, if they hadn't already, conspire to rid themselves of her if it meant another vote would come to pass.

Her fingers hovered over the doorknobs before she retreated to Jack's desk where a bottle of rum waited. She eased herself into the throne-like chair and propped her legs up onto the table. Uncorking the bottle, she took a swig. It was shocking Jack had even left a bottle behind, let alone one that was nearly full. Maybe he'd been captured, she thought, but soon dismissed the idea for who would have the desire to detain someone so worthless. Elizabeth bit her lip at how utterly cruel she sounded even in her inner ramblings before she drowned the guilt with another guzzle. Her tired gaze fell upon the few shillings that lay near the calipers atop some maps. Maybe he had been killed, she pondered again though this idea caused a sudden drop in her stomach that led to another drink. "Stop being so ridiculous, Elizabeth. You're working yourself up for nothing," she consoled herself aloud, drumming her fingers against the arm of the chair.

Elizabeth tensed as the doorknobs rattled before the doors swung open by none other than the man himself. Closing them behind him, he quirked a brow at her relaxed demeanor that crowded his work space. She quickly lowered her legs and ducked her head slightly to conceal the crimson on her cheeks before she turned to face him again. "And just where have you been? Are you aware of how late it is?" she seethed. He hung his coat up and smirked,

"I had no idea I was under a curfew, mother." Elizabeth pulled a face while he sauntered over to the table to seize the bottle from her. He studied it for a moment. "I don't believe I said you could have this."

"I don't believe you did either."

Jack laughed a sort of grunt like sound then tipped the bottle back into his mouth. Elizabeth watched, her eyes fixed on his Adam's apple as it bobbed slowly when he swallowed. Carefully her gaze fell to his chest where a gap of bronzed skin glistened under the firelight.

"I thought you would have been sleeping by now."

She tore her eyes back to his and grimaced.

"I would have if you'd come back earlier."

"Waiting up for me, were we, love? I had no idea you cared." His grin was a lazy one but she could see from the glint in his eye that it was more a challenge than anything. Elizabeth's brow creased with a frown.

"Care? Hardly. I knew if I went to sleep you would have woken me up with your drunken banging." She almost smiled at how well the lie flowed from her and wondered if perhaps he had indeed fallen for it. Though, it didn't matter anyway since there was no possible way to call her on it.

Jack's eyes fell to the floor, examining her boots for a moment before he swerved around the desk and captured the shillings in his hand. Her gaze followed him as he crossed the room. "Funny," he remarked while admiring the gold, "I half expected them to be missing."

"I don't see why, I'm not a thief."

"Of course not, just a pirate."

Elizabeth pushed away from the desk and fell into step behind him. "I'm not a pirate, Jack." Her voice was quiet and unsure and it worried her. Stopping suddenly, he pivoted and she found her face only inches from his. "Oh? Then do explain why it is that you entered your name to be Pirate King of the Brethren?" He didn't sound at all angry but instead troubled. Silence hung in the air and all Elizabeth could concentrate on was how dangerously close they were. Black eyes knocked to her lips and all at once panic and desire flooded her entire being. Was he going to kiss her right then and there? But Jack merely backed away from her, his expression forlorn. Finding her composure, Elizabeth veiled her face with a most defying of looks.

"I only put my name so that I wouldn't regret putting someone else's." Jack stared at her for a moment as if searching behind her eyes for a grain of truth but the both of them knew better than that.

"Well, it's a shame I voted for you then." With this, he turned again and headed for his bedroom with Elizabeth nipping at his heels.

"But, why did you vote for me? Why didn't you vote for yourself?"

He scoffed, grabbing one of the pillows from the bed and tossing it on the floor beside it. "I'm in no position to be throwing around orders to a group of men that I owe more than half my lifesavings to. That is, if I had any life savings." Elizabeth watched as he approached a trunk hidden in the shadows of the room and pulled open the lid.

"But why vote for me?" She found herself pleading more than anything for an answer that it embarrassed her. There was a rustle of fabric heard and a few escaped cusses before he stepped back into the outstretched fingers of light with a blanket draped over his arms.

"Why?" his eyebrows arched questioningly at her, "Because to tell you the truth, love, I believe you were the only pirate present with the ability to take charge." Her face turned crimson at first before her attention was drawn back to him as he clumsily kicked off his boots and fumbled with his belts. Elizabeth felt compelled to look away as it was not at all proper to be watching a man undress before her. Though, one could hardly say she had been outspoken when it came to propriety for the past few months. With her trekking across the globe with pirates for company, dressing in men's clothing to fool sailors, coveting another man in the absence of her fiancée. Stop that now, Elizabeth, she warned herself privately, No need to…

Elizabeth's mouth gaped as Jack pulled his tunic over his head, letting his tangled black mane fall onto dusted brown skin. She looked away, baffled with how to act next. As her eyes wandered aimlessly about the room, she could feel his wondering stare piercing into her. Finally, she worked up the courage to face him and was relieved to find him half covered by the blanket. "I suppose you should get some sleep, big day tomorrow. I'm sure your fiancé will be ecstatic to see you again," Jack remarked flatly, turning on his side with his back facing her. He stuffed his arms underneath his pillow and buried his face in it leaving her to an empty response.

At first, Elizabeth stood bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet, willing herself to keep her eyes away from the sight of him, hoping that maybe the lantern would suddenly blow out and she would be able to crawl into bed without temptation. When she finally gave way and did look, she found herself struck by devastation at the scars littering his back. Swollen lines cut paths through bronzed skin that brought Elizabeth to her knees. Crawling wordlessly over to him, she observed the wounds. Against her will her fingers ghosted over the scars. There were so many she found it difficult to imagine the kind of pain he might have endured. A tug at her heart yearned to share in the burden that she found both strange and alarming and not at all suitable for a betrothed woman. Still, since Jack's retrieval from World's End she'd found herself fighting against her feelings so it wasn't odd that she'd used Will as an excuse. Gently tracing across the markings with her fingertips, she felt him shudder beneath her touch. In one swift movement though he'd captured her hand with his own and pinned her to the floor.

Elizabeth's chest heaved in fright as he loomed over her, his hair creating a veil around their faces. The flickering light that sliced through the swaying strands of hair and rounded beads cast slits of light upon his face that glowed in the pools of brown in his eyes. The hand caught between his trembled slightly as she felt him lower himself closer to her body. The heat that radiated between their two bodies shot through her stomach straight to her pelvis and she aimlessly wondered if the same had happened for him. When he said nothing, Elizabeth uttered with unmasked concern, "Where did you get those scars?" He held her gaze a moment longer before he released her from his grip and backed off of her. She wanted his body to remain as close as it was but found he had already shifted into a seated position against the bed.

"They're from a long time ago, a past life so to speak." His eyes locked on the floor, refusing to spare her even a glance. Sitting upright, she questioned,

"Did Beckett do that to you?"

"Does it matter? Knowing it was him or not doesn't quite change the fact of why it was even done in the first place."

"Then why was it done?" His brow flattened as nostalgia took hold. She could almost see the flurry of emotions his eyes took on as he sifted through his thoughts. Elizabeth placed a hand on his knee and smiled, a gesture she found far too delicate for him yet she felt compelled to do so anyway. "You can tell me, Jack." To be completely honest, she wasn't at all certain she even wished to know but her mouth had seemed to do the talking for her. Or had it been her heart, she wasn't sure. Jack's eyes fell upon her and Elizabeth felt the raw desire coarse through her like it had a moment before. He looked at her thoughtfully.

"No."

Elizabeth was taken aback by his swift denial and felt her face pinch in distaste. "What do you mean 'no'?" Jack smirked in response to her agitation.

"Lizzie," his hand cupped her face tenderly, his thumb tracing her jaw line, making her quiver. Too close, this is too close, Elizabeth, her mind shouted until it was muffled by the beat of her heart in her ears. "There's a lot you don't know about me and as improbable as my legend may be, there is far too much truth to the real story than I wish to bestow upon you." He ran his fingers through her tousled hair and sighed dejectedly. Catching his fingers, she grinned,

"And what if I wish to know?"

"Maybe one day, love. But I don't believe now is the best time for a trip down memory lane."

"Then how will I know when the right time is?"

"You won't." With that, he gently pulled her face forward and pressed his lips against hers.