Jack woke up when the first rays of light shone through the windows of his cabin.

He yawned, stretched himself and then turned to his side to watch the still sleeping Will.

The sight of him made Jack smile, he looked so peaceful, so innocent, almost fragile.

The wave of affection that followed was frightening.

Jack turned on his back again, letting out a deep sigh. The aftermath wasn't as much fun as it had been the night before.

If only his traitorous compass hadn't pointed at Will, he would have never admitted the feelings he had for his best friend.

And now that he did, now that they spend the night together, he had to deal with the consequences. Which meant they probably had to talk about it. Something Jack didn't like at all, talking about his feelings.

Except if it was to a bottle of rum.

Rum! Rum would solve everything.

He could drown everything he felt if he only had a bottle of rum.

Only problem, the rum was still missing…

He had to find it,at any cost.

Jack quietly got out of bed, not wanting to wake up Will. Then he dressed himself before he left the room.

If he wanted to find his rum, he had to investigate the case himself.

So Jack made his way through the ship, trying to think of anyone who had been acting suspicious, asking questions to his crew.

None of them knew anything though and Jack started to give up hope.

The one that stole the rum would not come forward and clearly there were no witnesses.

Jack continued to wander the ship for hours, untill he walked into Gibbs.

"Jack." Gibbs said. " What are you doing here? Why aren't you on the deck?"

" I might have a big problem, Gibbs." Jack sighed.

" And what might that problem be?" Gibbs asked.

" The rum, all of it is gone." Jack answered. " And I can't figure out who took it or where it's been hidden."

" Aye, I see." Gibbs replied. " The mystery of the rum."

" You don't have any idea who took it either, do you?" Jack asked.

" Oh, I have an idea." Gibbs said. " I know exactly who took it. I only don't know if you are going to like what I have to tell you."

" Who was it?" Jack asked hopefully.

" It was you, Jack. Gibbs replied. " You drank all the rum."

" Me?" Jack asked. " That can't be. I would know if I drank all of the rum myself."

Gibbs shook his head. " Two nights ago I saw you with all the rum in your arms, on your way to your cabin. You had enough to drink when I saw you. So I doubt you remember anything of it."

" So you're telling me, the rum has been in my cabin the entire time?" Jack asked a .

" If you didn't drink all of it." Gibbs replied.

" Thanks for the info Gibbs. Now I've got things to do." Jack said, then walked away.

Jack made his way to his cabin, opened the door and saw Will sitting on his bed.

" What are you still doing here?" Jack asked as he walked towards the bed. " Don't you have anything to do?"

" I've been waiting for you." Will answered. " When I woke up, you were gone."

" That's because I went looking for my rum myself." Jack replied as he went through his knees. " Since you clearly didn't do a good job yesterday."

Jack looked under his bed, let out a cry of joy and pulled a crate with the remaining bottles of rum from underneath it.

" You had them all this time?" Will asked.

" Apparently I did." Jack replied, getting back on his feet. " I only didn't know it myself."

Will shook his head when Jack opened one of the bottles and took a sip of it.

" You and your damn rum." Will sighed. " It's always going to be the rum. Isn't it?"

" I like my rum, aye." Jack replied. " What's wrong with that?"

" I at least expected you not to sneak out on me." Will retorted. " But apparently that's too much to ask for."

" You were asleep." Jack defended himself. " And I had to find my rum."

" Your rum is all you ever think about." Will scolded. " An other person's feelings not so much."

" Why are you so upset?" Jack asked. " All I did was find my rum."

" All you did, was making me think that none of what happened last night mattered to you." Will answered.

" Who said it did?" Jack retorted. " There was no rum. I had a moment of weakness. Things happened…"

Will's jaw tightened, disappointment visible in his eyes. Jack felt a soft pang of guilt, so he took another sip of the bottle in his hand.

" Is that so?" Will asked, clearly hurt.

Jack nodded. " And if you could leave now, that would be very nice."

" Don't you even want to talk about it?" Wil asked.

" There's nothing to talk about." Jack replied. " Now off you go."

Will slowly got up.

" I clearly was wrong about you." He stated before he rushed out of the cabin.

Jack couldn't help but notice the tears that started to flood out of Will's eyes as he left.

And no matter how much rum he drank the rest of the day, the guilt didn't go away.