Plums of the Caribbean 3

By MsBrooklyn

Chapter 1 – From AU to AU

Author's note: This sequel seemed like it would never happen after I saw Dead Man's Chest. Too much had changed and I wasn't sure how to make things fit anymore. AWE's after-credits scene left me the opening I needed and gave me some fun new characters to play with, even if it took away some of my favorites. The trick was putting Stephanie back in context. Hopefully this chapter does it and then we can get on with the show.

Oh yeah – I don't own 'em (the pirates belong to the Mouse and Stephanie belongs to the goddess, Janet Evanovich).

Here be spoilers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When I was a little girl, I liked to pretend I was a super hero. I jumped off my parents' garage and broke my arm. When I was about twenty years older, I liked to pretend I was a bounty hunter. I never broke anything, but a lot of my cars got blown up. Still, I was sort of good at it and at least I made enough money to pay my rent. Usually.

My name is Stephanie Plum and I'm stuck in the year 1689 where there are no superheroes or women bounty hunters. There aren't any doughnuts or Tastykake butter krimpets. There isn't much of anything and if I had my choice, Port Royal in 1689 is the last place I'd be. Especially today.

Today I had a date with Commodore James Norrington and he took me to a hanging. Hangings were the 1689 equivalent of a Devils game, with the beer but the losing team went home in a box.

"Stephanie?" Norrington was doing a little trot, keeping up easily with me. I would have been running, but I was wearing enough fabric to not only upholster my sofa but also wallpaper the living room. "Please say something."

I stopped and looked out at the horizon. The sand was hot under my bare feet. I'd kicked off those uncomfortable 1689 shoes the second I hit the beach. It was a smart move because I could walk faster and because it slowed Norrington down while he retrieved them for me.

"It was important for you to accompany me," Norrington said, grasping my arm. "You've been among us for two months now and my acquaintance with you has gone beyond idle gossip to public knowledge –"

"Stop." I interrupted him with a raised hand but didn't take my eyes off the setting sun. "We've discussed this before. I can't marry you."

He let go of my arm. "Regardless, it is a known fact that I am courting you –"

"And I let you talk me into going to a hanging." I shuddered at the memory. "I'm not doing that again, no matter how long I'm stuck here."

"I will not ask you to do so again."

"Damn skippy." I let him take me to a public event and show me off to shut up the local gossips. Now all they were going to talk about was how I tossed my cookies all over Murtogg. There was a bright flash of lightning in the distance and it gave me the opening to change the subject. "Looks like a storm's coming."

Norrington gave me a funny look and seized my arm again. "No, Stephanie, it does not. Come. Hurry."

It took a second and then I realized exactly what he meant. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. "Oh sh ---"

Before I could finish the sentence that would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap, everything went black.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I woke up with the mother of all headaches and normally, that would have upset me but I was glad to be waking up at all. Tossing aside the covers, I ran a hand through my hair and stumbled out of bed in search of water and a bottle of aspirin. I got as far as opening my bedroom door.

There, in my doorway, was a little boy staring up at me with big, brown eyes. "Auntie Steph? Are you unwell?"

I glanced past him at an unfamiliar hallway and then back at the bed I'd just climbed out of. That wasn't familiar, either.

"Aunt Stephanie?" the boy repeated.

He had a British accent, which meant I wasn't in New Jersey. Was I still in Port Royal? And why did he know who I was but I didn't know him?

"Mummy!" The boy turned and ran down the hallway. "Mummy!"

Well, at least now I would get some answers.

I was sure I would have preferred a Tastykake.