First of all, I'd like to apologise to all people waiting on updates for Captivated, I have not forgotten about the story! :)

This little one shot was originally going to be part of a multi-chaptered fic from my old account which was sadly discontinued. I still quite liked the idea behind it, so I decided to make it into this; I hope you all enjoy :)

Hidden Truths

She snuggled closer to his warmth as they basked together in the wonderful afterglow of their gentle lovemaking. The past half a year or so had been extremely hard on Jack and Elizabeth; an unbearably close call during a run-in with the Royal Navy had almost cost them their lives, and Elizabeth had suffered two miscarriages…twice she had gone through such agonizing despair, and yet Jack had never wavered in his promise to take care of her. It was beginning to look as though they would never have a child, something that, although he may not be willing to admit it, Jack desperately wanted. Of course Elizabeth wanted to have a child too, possibly even more than one, but it appeared that some force somewhere out there did not wish for that to happen.

Elizabeth's fingers danced atop Jack's arm lazily as he slept with her head tucked away in the crevice of his neck. He held her with his arm around her waist, protecting his lover even as he slumbered peacefully. He stirred slightly, and she looked up to his beautiful face to see his kohl-lined eyes opening sleepily. She offered him a faint smile, feeling sadness creeping in at the thought of what she planned to do. How would it hurt him…her leaving? Would he even care? Elizabeth mentally scoffed, knowing that of course he would care; she didn't doubt him for even a moment. But unfortunately for her, that argument would make it nigh impossible for her to disappear, so she resolved to convince herself that he would barely even notice if she was suddenly gone with no explanation.

Her sad reflections were interrupted by Jack's lips softly touching hers in a light kiss, and she simply closed her eyes and gently responded. She would miss this; waking up with him, locked inside his arms so tightly that sometimes she thought he would never let go. And when he laid his forehead against hers and softly told her that he loved her, she found herself unable to do anything else but close her eyes and tell him she loved him too. For it was true: her love for him was so consuming that at times she wondered how it was even possible to feel that much about one single human being. She would do anything for this man, die for him…sail to the end of the world for him…and then she realised she had already done that; rescued him from a hell she herself sent him to. She didn't deserve a man as good as him, and he didn't deserve the pain she brought him. That was why she had to leave.

Elizabeth was about two and a half months into her third pregnancy, and Jack had no idea. Nor did Elizabeth have any intention of telling him. To see his face light up with joy for the third time at the news that he was going to be a father, only to see the hope coldly dissolving in his eyes when she told him that she had lost another child…that she had failed him yet again…

No, she couldn't do that to him. She could not allow herself to put him through such turmoil again. Feeling his breathing gradually become steadier, she soundlessly removed herself from his sweet embrace and shivered as her bare skin was hit by the harsh coldness of the air in the cabin. Searching around the floor for discarded clothes, she was careful not to make noise that would wake her sleeping lover. Moving to the drawer, she began to root around for another shirt, and had to bite her lip to keep from crying. She was, for want of a better word, abandoning him when he had done nothing wrong, and here she was essentially stealing his clothing.

Pirate.

Had the situation not been a truly heartbreaking one for Elizabeth, she'd have laughed. But instead she had to bite her lip so hard that she drew blood in order to keep from breaking down into sobs. Pulling a shirt from the armoire, she was surprised as something tinkled quietly to the floor. After pulling the shirt over her head, she bent down to inspect whatever had fallen. Her eyes widened when she came across a single gold band with a scarlet stone, engraved lightly with the words, 'I love you, Lizzie'.

Picking it up and staring at it silently, she momentarily forgot all about her plan. Damn it all to hell, she would wake him up now and accept his proposal, and then tell him that she was expecting another baby, and she was bloody well going to have this one if it killed her. But it was only a moment, and then she dropped the ring back into the drawer, and, tears streaming, she sat at his desk and wrote four simple words before preparing to leave. At the door, she took one last look at Captain Jack Sparrow smiling in his sleep before she fled the room, the ship…and him.

--

I have to go.

Even now, a solid eight months after first finding a hastily scrawled note stained with tears upon his desk, Jack Sparrow still could not for the life of him work out why she'd gone. That very same morning, they'd exchanged words of love. Somewhere between the day he went to the island to find her and was delightedly informed that Will said she could move on, and that day when she was suddenly nowhere to be found, he had it firmly fixed in his head that they would be together until the very end. Apparently, he was wrong.

The first two or three weeks were a living hell. They stayed docked in the port that she'd vanished into. Jack was in constant denial, believing that any day she'd be back, she'd tell him it was a test of his love or some such thing, and then they'd sail off again, happy as could be. It wasn't until Gibbs sharply opened his eyes to the reality that he agreed to set sail again. And yet somehow he'd managed to persuade Gibbs and the crew to return to that little port again, aided by the compass he'd forgotten about when she came on board; there was simply no use for it then, she was what he wanted most and he knew that. So naturally he didn't think of the compass for a long time after her departure, but was now using it to find his way back to her.

It was certainly past midnight, but by how long Jack didn't know. He also didn't know why the door in front of him seemed so foreboding, when it was more than certainly concealing his most cherished treasure. There were no lights on in the small house, so if Elizabeth was home, she was asleep. Before he could change his mind and run, Jack had rapped three times on the door. A few seconds later, candlelight flickered to life in one of the rooms, and then the main room shortly after. And before Jack knew it, the door was open and there stood Elizabeth, hair mussed and eyes drooping slightly, but there, within touching distance.

"Jack…" she breathed quietly. He hadn't the heart to smile, and apparently neither did she. She cleared her throat and looked to the floor. His eyes searched her face for emotion, trying to decipher what she was feeling, thinking.

"Ye don't look happy to see me," he observed in a low voice. Her eyes did not move. "Any particular reason for that?"

His tone was bitter, she noted, as her eyes roved up to his. They contained a look she didn't think she'd ever seen in him; he looked unsure, conflicted, desperate for some answers.

"I didn't really expect you to find me," she answered finally. Jack's expression didn't change.

"Does that mean ye didn't want me to, or is this like a game to you?" he asked coldly. "Because I certainly am not finding this funny, Elizabeth."

She cringed at his harsh use of her full name. "I didn't think it was a game, Jack. I am not as cold-hearted as you so very clearly think I am."

"Well that's interestin', since most murderers generally are quite cold," he countered abrasively. He saw the effect of that comment immediately; she stiffened before his sentence had even finished, and her eyes flashed suddenly with the guilt she still carried from an event so far removed in time.

"You know I am sorry for that," she argued ardently, feeling tears swimming like they had every day she'd been without him. She was taken by surprise when Jack suddenly stalked past her into the small living room of the house. She shut the door behind him but did not move, finding herself scared by this side of him, such an unfamiliar part of him that usually did not even exist.

"I thought I did. But when someone who tells ye they love ye has suddenly vanished from yer life without so much as an explanation, ye begin to question things," he replied, facing her as she kept her back pressed to the door.

"I didn't lie about that," she whispered sadly, feeling the first of her tears fall. "I could never have lied about that."

Jack laughed without humour. "Perhaps not. But because of this situation we find ourselves in at the moment, I wonder whether ye simply gave up on the feeling and ran, because that is the only logical thing I can think of right now."

"I did not give up on you or the feeling, Jack Sparrow," Elizabeth spat, growing angry in response to his attitude. "I didn't give up on anything, no matter what you might think."

Jack turned away and walked to the window, staring out into the blackness of the night. "I don't know what I think, Elizabeth. The past eight months I haven't known what to think. Everyday I hoped that maybe the answer would come to me, I'd realise why you had gone. But I never did."

His voice was gradually becoming louder, she realised, meaning his anger was rapidly escalating. He continued, "Maybe ye tired of me? Ye wanted a taste and once ye'd bloody well taken more of me than I thought I had, ye decided ye'd had enough and ye bloody upped and left! Or did ye realise that ye changed yer mind, and ye would wait fer yer bonny whelp instead? Even though he plainly told you that it was all right for you to move on! "

She shook her head in silent denial. "That is not true, Jack…I would never grow tired of you. I did not decide to abandon you for Will, I was ready to stay with you forever!"

He turned sharply and stared at her in disbelief. "Ye have got to be kiddin' me!"

He started moving towards her, his eyes blazing with a torrent of emotion, and still she felt captivated by them, unable to look away. He pushed her back up against the door, caging her within the grip of his strong arms; she grimaced at his behaviour, shocked that he could act in such a way towards her. She turned her face to the side, finding it suddenly unbearable to look at him. He stood and watched her, searching her face for answers that didn't seem to be coming.

"If ye really were so ready to stay forever," he snarled, "ye wouldn't have done what ye did! Please tell me why Elizabeth, so that I can understand!"

The pleading look upon his face was so hard to ignore, that Elizabeth whispered back, "I was hurting you. Almost every single day I was with you on that ship, I managed to hurt you. And I couldn't bear that I was the one doing that to you…I was bringing pain to the man I love, and I just couldn't do it anymore!"

He looked genuinely startled. "What in the name of Davy Jones are ye talkin' about?!"

"Jack, I could tell you wanted a child more than anything, and every time…" she faltered slightly, staring hard at his chest, "every time I failed to give you one, I knew it upset you. I felt truly awful that I couldn't give you what you wanted, when you gave up everything for me, and so I left so that you could move on."

Jack dropped his hands from around her shoulders, trying to comprehend what she had just told him. She stood now with her face in her hands, sobbing with such heartbreaking intensity that it only then occurred to Jack what this woman had been through for him, in a simple attempt to make him happy.

"That's why ye left?" he whispered softly. "Ye couldn't make me a father so ye thought I wasn't happy with ye?"

He propped her chin up with his index finger, forcing her to pull away her hands and look him in the eye. He waited for her to say something, to confirm his suspicions.

"That's only part of the reason," she admitted quietly. "Twice I lost your children, and I wasn't about to put you through such misery again. That's why I went; I was pregnant again when I left you, Jack."

Jack's eyes widened considerably at this revelation. He dropped his finger from her chin, and held her shoulders with both hands in an attempt to comfort her. He gave them a light squeeze.

"Ye…ye went through a miscarriage on yer own?" he whispered disbelievingly. He was even more shocked when she shook her head, and let out a weak little laugh as she smiled. How he missed that smile…

She raised her hands and wrapped them around his waist, whispering tiredly, "We did it, Jack. I had the baby."

For a few long moments, it seemed that time had stopped. All that could be heard was Jack's shallow breathing, and Elizabeth's small sniffles. Then, when the world began to move again, Jack smiled; a truly genuine smile. He brought his hand up to run across the back of Elizabeth's cheek in a gentle caress.

"We…we have a baby?" he asked delightedly. At her nod, he crashed his lips down onto hers in a passionate kiss. As they broke apart, Elizabeth hurried away into an adjoining room. Jack stood frozen to the spot, unable to move. He turned around just as Elizabeth re-entered the room with a small bundle cradled in her arms. She sniffed as she looked down at the baby she held, only looking up when Jack forced her to look him in the eye. He kissed her then, the softest, most tender kiss she'd ever received from him.

"Captain Jack Sparrow," Elizabeth smiled, "I'd like you to meet your daughter."

He stared down at the baby girl in wonder as Elizabeth handed her to him. She helped him position her carefully in his arms as she leaned her head against his shoulder, looking down into the young, sleeping face as he did.

"Did ye name her?" Jack asked quietly.

"I was thinking Anne, but I don't want her to be named anything you don't like," she replied, reaching over to brush some dark hair from her daughter's face.

"Anne's perfect, love," he grinned, catching Elizabeth's hand before she pulled it away, and planting a soft kiss upon her knuckles. She smiled up at him lovingly.

"Where's the Pearl?" she enquired thoughtfully, frowning.

"Docked not far from here. Same port ye ran away in, actually," he chuckled, much to Elizabeth's relief. "Fancy comin' back to her? Several of the crew members missed ye."

She looked up at him, smiling from ear to ear as she raised an eyebrow teasingly. "And what about the Captain? Did he miss me?"

She was quite surprised at how serious and solemn his face became at her playful suggestion. "It was worse than the Locker, love. Thought I'd never get ye back."

She pressed her lips to his in a reassuring gesture that he had her back, and she wouldn't be leaving again. "Of course you'd get me back; you're Captain Jack Sparrow."

His smug grin told her that the serious moment had passed. "Plus, I couldn't have stayed away much longer anyway, what with you planning to propose…"

"Aye…" he murmured absently, before her words struck him and he gazed at her, puzzled. "How did ye…?"

She smiled, brushed her lips against his, and whispered,

"Pirate."

Oh, how I wish the ending was better. I fail.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this, and see that little green button below? I like it when you press it ;)

WD,
xo.