Here is Chapter 12! I hope you enjoy it! I removed the lyrics because to be honest, I just got tired writing them. I'm lazy, what can I say!? Any more typing than necessary and I can't stand it. So, yeah, I've removed them.

And thank you for the reviews!

Now this IS THE LAST CHAPTER FOR THIS STORY! I'll be honest, it probably seems rushed but I just can't write this story anymore and if I managed to sort of finish it off in one chapter instead of six, then I'm going to. So here we go. Hope you enjoy it as much as you can anyway. Maybe if my mojo comes back I'll rewrite this... but right now... no.

Chapter XII.

The voyage back to London was long. Isabelle mainly kept to herself, locking herself in the side cabin and barely emerging. Sometimes a crew member knocked and left food; sometimes she actually went out to the galley for it, but for the most part, she stayed in the cabin.

Jack didn't come and visit her at all; in fact she never saw him that much. He always made sure to have already eaten by the time she came to the galley, or to send some other man to take the bowl of stew to her. Sometimes, on the rare occasions when she went onto the deck, she would spot him at the helm, but he was always pointedly looking away from her; at the horizon, striking up conversation with the nearest person so he wouldn't have to look at Isabelle. Most of the time, after seeing his complete and utter avoidance of her, she would return to the cabin and just collapse onto the bed with a deep sigh.

By the time the Black Pearl docked at midnight, she was torn. She didn't want to go back to the loveless marriage that she now knew she had; but she wasn't sure life at sea, life with Jack was what she wanted either. And apparently Jack wasn't completely fond of the last idea either. Of course he wasn't; he was a lawless pirate. He was probably just disappointed that he couldn't bed the frigid noblewoman before he dropped her back home; dropped her back to her death.

'How do you wish to do this, Captain Sparrow?' She questioned with a raised eyebrow, finally getting up the courage to approach him for the first time since the whole incident with Elizabeth. She remembered that night; going back to the ship and they kissed again, and they fooled around a little just like that morning, and they were interrupted once again. That's when the cold shoulder started. 'Do you want me to come back with the ransom, or are you coming to the house yourself? Demanding it in person?'

He studied her for a moment, regarding her with narrowed eyes before he sighed. 'I'll come back to the house.' He answered shortly and Isabelle sighed, nodding her head and turning away from him, trying to hide the disappointment from his short and almost impatient answer.

Not long after that, she found herself in a longboat with Jack and Gibbs, who was coming along for backup. She looked down at her hands that were in her lap, and noticed that they were caked in dirt; they were black and there was no white showing through. Her skin had taken on a glow; darkened a shade, even under the layer of grim and dirt that covered her, she could see that; would get a better look at it when she got home and finally bathed. She had doubts of ever leaving the bathtub at the mere thought.

By the time they get to her house and Jack has grabbed ahold of her and pressed a gun to her head, before telling Gibbs to bang the door, Isabelle still isn't sure she wanted to return home. But she was there now, so she really couldn't say anything anymore.

The door is pulled open a moment later, and instead of Matthew - though Isabelle didn't really know why anyone thought Mr. Moran would open the door himself - Ariana appeared at the threshold. She took in the sight in front of her before she let out a high pitched scream. But she didn't run, almost knew that running wasn't the best way to deal with this and so, when she finally got control of herself, taking a deep breath, she took a step forward, rushing towards Isabelle.

'Isabelle! Are you all right?' She questioned and Isabelle noticed that she didn't call her "Mrs. Moran" like she normally did, and that warmed her heart.

Ariana was stopped from moving any further forward when Jack moved his pistol away from Isabelle's temple and pointed it at her instead, and Isabelle stiffened.

'Don't hurt her.' She ordered and she felt Jack's hold on her upper arm loosen. Isabelle didn't get the chance to tell Ariana she was all right, for Matthew was suddenly running towards the door, gun in one hand, small chest in the other. He pushed Ariana aside, and Isabelle clenched her jaw when she saw her maid - her friend - fall to the ground from the force of it.

'You let her go. I have your money.' Matthew signalled to the chest he held in his hand, but he did not lower his pistol and did not make any move to.

'You lower your firearm, then we'll talk nicely.' Jack retorted and Isabelle knew him well enough now that she could hear the smirk in his voice; could picture the crooked, satisfied grin on his lips.

Matthew looked between Isabelle, Jack and Gibbs for a moment and when his eyes met Isabelle's brown ones again, he slowly, but surely, lowered his pistol, letting it hang by his side. A moment later, he uncocked it.

Jack took a moment before he did the same, re-holstering it in his belt before he took a step forward, forcing Isabelle to move with him. He held out his hand for the chest and after a moment of deliberation, Matthew placed it into his grasp. Jack took it back and tucked it under his arm, readjusting his hold on Isabelle before flickering his eyes around himself.

'You need to take better care of your wife, mate.' Jack informed before he made his move. He lowered his voice to a whisper, 'Sorry,' he muttered in Isabelle's ear before he thrust her forward with force, causing her to stumble into Matthew. But even then, he was so unprepared that he feel back too, stumbling and falling with the weight that they both ending splayed on the floor in a heap.

'Mrs. Moran!' Ariana gushed, crawling over and trying to help her mistress stand, but Isabelle remained where she was, creating a solid weight on Matthew's chest, squirming helplessly to keep him stuck on the floor whilst Jack made his escape.

Finally, Matthew had enough of Isabelle and with a curse, forced her off his chest with a powerful shove that sent her flying into Ariana. He bolted from the ground and ran to the door, onto the grounds but Sparrow and his companion were nowhere to be seen.

'Dammit! What were you thinking Isabelle? Did you want him to get away?' Matthew growled, rounding on her with a harsh glare.

Yes. Isabelle thought, but instead, as she stood and helped Ariana up with a soft smile, before turning to Matthew, she answered, 'Of course not! I couldn't manoeuvre myself, Matthew, that was all! I'm sorry he got away, my love, I really am. Maybe you can still catch him?' She offered and his eyes narrowed slightly before widening, and he turned away from her and bolted out to the ground, shouting and screaming at the male butlers to follow him.

Isabelle watched them head to the docks, frantic, but she knew Jack would be nowhere to be found. He was amazing like that. She turned back to Ariana.

'It's good to have you home, Mrs. Moran.' She informed and Isabelle bit her lip, because it was "Mrs. Moran" again.

'Can you draw me a bath?' She replied instead, because she wasn't really sure if she could agree with her.

She wasn't sure if it was good to be home.

~oOoOoOoOoOo~

Isabelle retreated to herself after that. Once again ignoring everyone around her and retreating into herself. Ariana was getting worried, she could tell. Matthew was getting impatient, but not really worried, and even when she moved into a spare room, refusing to sleep in the same room as him, he still said nothing.

'Mrs. Moran, is everything okay?' Ariana questioned, a week after she came back and it was the first time that she had been spoken to. She turned her head away from the window, the one that just so happened to overlook the sea and the docks - she told herself that it was just a coincidence, but something told her that she picked this room because she knew it was the only one that looked over the ocean.

'Yes. Of course.' She replied, her head turning back to look out the window when she realised that was the question. 'Is there anything else?' She added when she realised that Ariana hadn't left the room yet.

Ariana opened her mouth, thinking about saying something else but instead she closed her mouth, swallowed and shook her head. 'No, ma'am.'

~oOoOoOoOoOo~

Isabelle finally left her room a week after Ariana asked her if she was okay, heading out to the grounds for a walk. She made her way over to the stables, heading straight for her horse, Kitsune. Her hands come out and stroke his golden fur with her hand, running a hand through the almost-white mane. The old horse had been a gift for her fourth birthday and he was still going strong; retired to the fields for grazing. She had been fascinated by mythology since she was young and when her four-year-old mind saw the golden coat on the horse in front of her, her mind went straight to the animal she had recently read about.

'I don't know what to do, Kit,' she murmured as she rested her forehead against the long face of the horse. Of course the horse didn't answer, and after a moment she sighed and lowered her hand from his mane, only to raise both and wrap them around his neck. She pressed herself closer to him and held on as if her life depended on it.

After a moment, she pulled away from him and headed over to his tack; she placed the saddle onto his back, tightened the girth and then pulled his bridle on.

Before long, she was leading him out of the stable, pulled herself onto him and started out towards the trail in the woods to keep her mind off… well… everything.

~oOoOoOoOoOo~

She returned to the stable a few hours later, the sky had turned black but she paid no attention as she placed Kitsune back into his table, untacked him and threw some hay in. She headed back to the house and headed straight for the spare room that she was now sleeping in.

She opened the door and her eyes widened as the nightgown that she held in her hands fell from her grasp.

'Jack?'

'Hello, love.' He muttered in reply.

She walked inside after she finally regained her senses and closed the door behind her, looking around herself and taking in the room. Nothing had changed, not really, and a few candles were littered around the room, keeping it alight for her. She knew Ariana would've done that for her though, not Jack.

'What're you doing here?'

'To see you. To get you.'

'"Get me"? What is that supposed to mean?' She enquired as she moved over to stand in front of him, but still keeping her distance.

'You're not meant to be here, love.' He answered instead and she knew exactly what he meant. He was asking her to go back to the Pearl. To leave this behind.

'Do you really mean it?' She asked and he cleared his throat, looking away from her for a minute before nodded his head once. 'Then yes.'

That's all that happened. She didn't rush over to him and wrap her arms around his neck and hug him, didn't kiss him. She just gave him a smile before she walked over and picked up the first small trunk that she came to. She sat it on her bed, threw one or two dresses and nightgowns in before she closed it and turned to him.

'You're really serious?'

'As long as you are.' He replied as he walked over and took ahold of the trunk, pulling it from the bed and holding it beside him, the bottom hovering a few inches from the ground.

'I am.'

'Then so am I.'

He leaned down then, pressing a soft kiss to her lips before he pulled back.

'Now, let's go before we get caught.' He murmured, looking out the window towards the dock. He walked over to the window, which luckily only on the first floor. She moved to follow him but a moment later she stopped short. She held up a finger to him and moved back over to the desk and pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.

'A letter to…?'

'Matthew. I think it's only fair.' She answered shortly, before signing it off with her name. She knew that it was short and bittersweet and that he was going to be mad when he read it. If he ever read it. But she needed to give them both closure. It was a simple goodbye; just that this wasn't who she was supposed to be, that they never really loved each other, that they were just pretending. And she knew that Matthew would agree with it all.

She left it on the desk, along with the gold band that was her wedding ring, before she turned to Jack. They moved back to over to the window and after Jack went first with the trunk, he helped Isabelle down.

The minute her feet were on the ground, she turned to him.

'Would you mind taking someone else aboard?' She asked softly, not really sure what she would do if he said no, but by the expression he had on his face, she kind of doubted that he ever would.

'Your cute little maid?'

'Her name is Ariana.' She retorted but took it as conformation, and before she knew what she was doing, she walked to the window that she knew Ariana was in and gently tapped on it. She waited for a minute before she saw the shadow of Ariana approaching the window. She smiled when Ariana pulled the curtain away and noticed how her eyes widened and her hands went straight for the latch to open the window.

'Is that…? That is…?'

'Ariana, I'm going to give you an offer; you can either stay here and continue to work for Matthew, or you can come with me and live a free life at sea. It's up to you, but me? I'm going for the second option.' She informed, casting her eyes back to Jack, who was watching her with a small smirk on his lips. She turned back to her friend, 'I'll tell you everything if you decide to come, but it is up to you. This is my point; everything is up to you.'

Ariana eyes flickered between Jack and Isabelle a good dozen times before she landed on Isabelle again.

'Okay.' She muttered before she headed back into the room.

When she was ready, Jack helped Ariana through the window, and with a small smile between the three of them, the headed straight for the Black Pearl.

Without ever looking back.

The End.

Okay so yeah... hope you enjoyed it. Even though this wasn't how I wanted things to go, it's finished now.

~Charlotte.x