A/N: So, this is the result of Rumbuss noting that I should write this, so here it be. I appreciate the support you have given me throughout the years, and a little One Shot for you is a bit of a grander Thank you from me! :)
And then I'd like to thank everybody for the general support! Leaving a few words in either reviews or in a PM does encourage me A LOT. Speaking the truth, I write for myself. I write what I want to read. But getting feedback from you, is the motivation. To know that somebody reads my work and actually enjoys it. That makes me really happy. Then additionally, it is lovely to share the interest of Jack and Angelica because those two are like THE hottest I have ever seen on screen. Suppose their chemistry does push me forward as well. I would just die to see more of them on screen and hopefully we will (someday if she is not in a cameo in DMTNT).
This One Shot follows "Where Do I Begin?" (Search on my profile for this first One Shot). It is not necessary, but if you want to read this "in order" you should read that other one first.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated to Pirates of the Caribbean.
Summary: In his drunkenness, Jack waltzes from the pub in search for a brothel when he stumbles upon a Spanish convent.
The Convent
Cadiz, Spain
"Now ye follow me precisely," Gibbs spoke with a slurry tongue.
It was pitch dark in the Spanish costal town at night. But the torches on the walls did assist somewhat. A bit harder for the vision though when one or two many bottles of stronger spirits had been drunken. The chubbier loyal sidekick, if approved being called so, promenaded confidently beside his captain.
The captain himself strolled with this swagger as if he waltzed the steps towards the well known brothel. Words had even reached their ears of this infamous place most tradesmen and merchants visited. Pirates were no exception.
"Been 'ere before," Gibbs went on as his eyes peered in search for the familiar letters engraved into a wall above a wooden door.
Jack, equally gone in mind, reflected Gibbs' look of peering eyes and slightly wobbly steps. A little spinning as if searching for balance.
Sipping on the rest of what was left in the bottle, Jack realized he soon had to enter a pub to refill it. Or, inside this brothel. The duo was facing the grand building. It was hard to be mistaken. Women were laughing loudly, with low cleavages. Men tended to clung around them, preferably with a glass or partly broken bottle in the hand. Taking a swig every now and then.
When taking a firm and large step ahead, Gibbs' forceful arm reached out to block Jack's way.
"Capt'n!" he hissed and nodded seriously towards a nearby WANTED poster that had been piled onto a wooden pillar.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Long time I've waited for this brothel. Will not miss the opportunity once it lays in front of me eyes, Gibbs," he snorted.
Gibbs shook his head and pointed to the corner of the building. "Take the backdoor, aye? Nobody shall see ye then."
At first Jack gave Gibbs a disapproving look but eventually he nodded in agreement.
"Aye."
Lingering a moment longer than necessary, Gibbs made sure Jack rounded the corner to take the backdoor. Once the flamboyant figure with stork steps was out of sight, Gibbs hurried to the porch for the brothel.
However Jack searched among the windows on what he believed was the correct building. His eyes narrowed when trying to read the letters above an entrance further away.
"Convento," he read in Spanish.
A drunken man was sipping on his bottle of alcohol. Jack pointed towards the building and looked over his shoulder towards the man.
"Sen-yoritas?"
The man chuckled. "Sí, señoritas, (Yes, women)" he nodded towards the house and chuckled in his drunken state.
Jack clasped his hands. Well that was all he needed to know. In his blur vision he at last noticed an ivy growing on the wall reaching up to a window. Not so smoothly he took a hold of it and began climbing. Now, he would find himself a proper lady.
He shoved the window open and fell headlong onto the floor over the windowsill.
"Ow..," he groaned. His bottle of rum began rolling on the floor. "No, no, no, no, no - come back!" He did not manage to reach it from his position, sprawled out on the floor. His head was spinning.
Suddenly a lady was screaming her lungs out. Jack frowned and lifted his upper body to get a good punch of a porcelain vase breaking on his head.
"¡Un hombre del inferno! (A man of hell!)" The woman backed and the door flew open.
"¿Hermana Isabella? (Sister Isabella)"
That voice.
He drew in his breath.
Even though he was more drunk than ever, he recognized that woman from the market square. She was wearing a more covering attire than she had before, but indeed - he knew it was her.
The other screaming lady ran out of the room in panic and Angelica gasped by the sight of Jack on the floor.
"YOU?!" she let out accusingly with peering eyes. "Again?!"
Before Jack had time to respond, she went on. "Have you been following me?"
Jack frowned as he shakily stood up. His legs and knees were indeed affected by the rum. "Ye flatter yerself, luv."
She seemed beyond upset. "A stranger like you should not be here."
"A stranger?" he repeated. They had presented themselves before at the market square, had they not? He smoothly brushed his fingers against her face and carefully grabbed her jaw line to make her look into his eyes. It seemed almost as if he would kiss her.
"Yer face looks familiar. Have I... threatened ye before?"
She shot him a glare and he let go but could not deny her urge she had felt by his touch.
Jack smirked but inwardly felt how his fingers burnt where contacted by her skin.
"Oh you have and you do threaten..," she accused and backed a step. "My dignity!"
She stormed out to the hallway and marched down it. Jack was hot on her heels, having to use his flapping arms to keep the balance when hurrying his steps to her.
"Feisty damsel, just how I like 'em."
She did not appreciate those words. Her storming steps were in such pace her long silky hair breezed in the air she caused.
"GUARDS!" she shouted when almost reaching her room.
Jack's dirty hand covered her mouth to shut her as he pulled her with him inside the room. She struggled against him and he himself had to struggle to close the door. She bit his hand and that was when he let go.
"Me apologies, luv. Cannot risk gettin' hanged - again," he smiled wryly to her and then brought up his hand to count on his fingers. "Perhaps it be the fourth time Again? Or the fifth Again." He began counting again and shook his head. "No, no, no... NO. One, two, three," he counted his fingers. "Four, five, six, seven, eig... Seven?" he looked up to see Angelica distracted search under the bed's mattress for something. "Ah, seven darlin'. Don't want to get in court to risk getting doomed to hanging for the seventh time, savvy?"
He heard the well familiar sound of metallic sharpness crossing air, aiming towards him. Just as he thought, the Spanish woman was standing with both hands clasping the handle of a sword tightly. She was looking at him with irritation, frustration and a bit of challenge.
He smirked.
Swiftly he swung up his own and met hers, letting metallic clash against each other. She spun around for new strength to throw herself on him but even then he met her. With her determination she fought until he his sword met hers with such power it was forced out of her grip, tossed aside to the floor and out of her reach. Instead she ended up with Jack's blade towards her.
Not that he would hurt her. But she did not know that.
She was breathing heavily and unintentionally kept his eyes locked into hers. She, nor he, knew what happened when that chill went down both of their spines. Jack noticed how this pure lady's gaze moved down to his lips and he had to give her a wry grin.
He removed his sword and shook his head amused. Obviously she was attracted to him.
"Clearly, ye need a drink."
She snorted.
"In fact," he went on while putting his sword back. "Ye should join me on The Pearl, regarding yer clear talent."
She was provoked.
"Maníaco, (Maniac)" she let out between gritted teeth.
"Never need to convince when recruitin'. What makes ye such a hard deal?"
Her eyebrow quirked. "You sail the legendary Black Pearl?"
"Aye."
"It's a ghost story," she spoke as if matter of fact.
Jack gave her his eye, proving he was not fancying her way of questioning him.
"Then how come I be the captain of it?"
She folded her arms and leaned towards the wall, rather comfortably. Not afraid of this human man anymore. She never really hung out with men, as she was a novice. Although, she had been warned many times about how harmful they were. In some way, even though the pushy side she had seen of him, she felt... a comfort. She checked him out from tip to toe to get a good impression of who this muddy so-called captain was. Of anything out there, he did have a very charming grin. When those eyes met hers she did blush and move to focus on something else. Jack noticed it and his wry grin grew slightly wider. Had he finally won this playing-hard-to-get lady over?
But then she...
"John?" she asked out loud. "That was your name, right?"
She had been provoked, and now she did provoke - on purpose.
Jack however was not entertained. He was in fact very insulted. Seemed as if his theory of gaining her interest was not so close after all.
"Firstly," his finger was raised and he hoped he was not spitting in irritation. "It be Jack. Not John, Jack. And secondly, it be Captain, Captain Jack Sparrow. I shall not be referred to as anything less."
Clearly she had hit his Achilles' heel. "Well, you are not my superior. God is."
When Jack rolled his eyes, she lounged for her sword and quickly had it at Jack's throat before he even had a moment to flinch.
His hands were up, palms facing her as he astonished glanced down to the warning gesture.
"Moody," he commented.
She kept looking daringly into his eyes. "Take that back!"
"What back?"
"Your gesture."
He said nothing as response. When his eyes met hers, he could see her relaxing. Who was she trying to fool? Even Jack knew that Angelica would not hurt anybody. He almost gave her an understanding look. Confidently yet carefully he lowered her sword with his fingertips. He kept staring into her eyes after finding this odd difficulty of tearing his gaze away from hers. She did have them completely locked under her gaze. Now it was his eyes that moved to her kissable lips. He did not know what was happening to him. Why he felt this urge of touching her soft silky hair, or why his hand suddenly clasped around hers in this helping assistance of dropping her sword. He was leaning in as if she had a magnet on her.
Surprisingly, she did not wince by his approaching presence.
"Join me on The Pearl, luv."
His breathing was felt against her lips and she suddenly felt how her knees weakened slightly.
Then he backed away and lifted his hat as he made his way towards the window. "I be at La Terna."
"La Taverna," she corrected.
For a brief moment he paused on the windowsill. "La Taverna. Are ye comin'?"
She shook her head slowly but smiled with a closed mouth, somewhat amused of this man's careless sort of lifestyle. It was tempting in a way.
She looked after him when he had jumped down, not a smooth landing at all. When he at the corner had looked over his shoulder to look up to her, she blushed and noticed how he quickly turned his head back as if he denied to have tried to catch a last glimpse of her.
But it did not take long until the thoughts of her father appeared in her head and she would change clothes. She slid carefully along the wall to the ivy at Sister Isabella's window which she used on her way down to the ground. She made her way to La Taverna. The sight of the big amount of drunken people made her stop tracks. Still, she managed to push herself inside the crowded chamber. She was definitely not fitting in there. She made the sign of the cross while looking up to the dark ceiling.
Jack was not hard to find. He was sitting on a counter, taking a large swig of rum. Her nose twitched by the odour of alcohol. Nasty.
Carefully she approached him between men wrestling around her.
His eyes scanned the room and when they landed on her, it seemed as if he was content. He even looked rather smug, as if he had the victory of a battle.
"They always come back."
She gulped, not really understanding what she was about to do. He snatched his fingers for a drunken bartender.
"A glass for the lady."
He quickly fumbled up a glass and handed it to Jack, who in turn poured it with rum before giving it to Angelica. She took it hesitatingly.
"I don't..," she began but silenced when examining it. She gave Jack a sceptical look but he nodded approvingly. She gulped it down and made a horrified face. "Madre de Dios (Mother of God).
He jumped down from the counter and flung his arm to hug her to his side.
"Don't worry, luv. I'll take care of ye."
She shoved him away from her. "Who has ever said I needed a hero?"
He stopped for a moment and just examined her eyes. There was something about this Angelica. She was certainly not like anybody, let alone any woman, he had ever encountered.
"I know my father was a pirate. Don't know where he is, but if I board your ship, I may find him somewhere."
Jack did not know what made him more confused. That he in fact had managed talking this prude woman into getting to a pub, or in fact recruiting her. Or that this angelic magnetic hot lady could be the daughter of a pirate. Well, a common one, he must be. Her father could possibly not be somebody Jack had heard of.
He nodded and gave her his wry grin again. "Aye, ye speak true words, Angelica."
A smile tugged her lips. "You recalled."
"'Course I did."
And for what reason he did remember her name he did not know.
Nor did he know that it would be the only name he would think of during the time ahead.
A/N: Little cheesy ending, huh? But a little sweet in my own opinion. So, this is my idea of a possible event in how they met. I have always thought of how to put out this scene from the convent, so (Thanks Rumbuss). What did you guys think of this little piece? :) My classic "Like it/Hate it?"