New Beginnings: Chapter 1

She had changed her mind…again. Dani was, after all, a woman and everyone knows how many times women change their minds. Danielle was proud to be a pirate again. But that raised a question: was she ever not a pirate?

It was a year after Davy Jones was defeated. It was just Jack, Dani and the main crew onboard. Elizabeth requested several days after defeating Jones that she be able to go home. And Will, doing anything for her, agreed. So there was a short trip to Port Royal to drop them off.

Dani didn't know how they were going to survive in there, though. When they had left, they were fugitives. But Will insisted that they had leverage and they would be fine. Bootstrap had elected to say on the Rum with Dani and Jack being that land-living didn't suit him.

Dani knew she shouldn't have been so happy to see Elizabeth leave. But she was just so…annoying. She was glad to be rid of little miss know-it-all priss. Lizzie couldn't keep her nose out of other people's business and always needed to be rescued, despite her claims of being taught to use a sword by Will.

But their departure was a long time ago. Beckett probably had their heads on stakes. Dani would only miss Will.

Dani was sitting on deck of the Rum, surrounded by scraps of fabric. The old red dress, her pride and joy, the one she accidentally went swimming in, was being cut up for parts. She was making a quilt.

Jack had decided that they would be sailing north, into colder waters. So Dani was taking advantage of her free time to create a blanket for their bed. But Jack didn't realize what fabrics Dani had used, and she was glad about that. Jack had grown to really like that dress over the year.

Jack, however, found the bodice of said dress in the cupboard in their shared cabin. He had a quick thought about Dani in just the corset, then hurried out of the cabin to find her.

"Danielle Marie Reese!"

Uh oh. Jack had used her full name.

"Why are you cutting up your dress?"

"Because I thought you would be angry if I cut up the sails."

"I'd like to know why you were chopping anything up."

"To make us a quilt, Jack. Any idiot can see that," she sighed. Dani pointed to the half-sewn quilt.

"You never told me how you learned to sew like that," Jack said to her as he sat down.

"My mother taught me. She was an excellent seamstress."

"What was she like?"

"I don't want to talk anymore, Jack. Leave me be," she waved him away with her hands as she went back to her work.

Dani had finished the quilt alone some time later in their cabin. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She knew she could tell Jack anything. But she didn't want to tell Jack that her father had sold her into a marriage at the age of fourteen.

She had lived for three years as an indentured servant; cooking, cleaning, and pleasuring her husband, who has twenty years older than she.

Dani shook her head in disgust, as if it the memories would come loose and go away. Then the thoughts of her pregnant body entered her mind. She had gotten pregnant a year after marrying him. But he had beaten her so severely, for something she couldn't remember now, that she miscarried. Danielle had begun to cry while sitting there and hadn't even realized it.

Jack walked into his shared cabin. It took a minute for things to register. She was sitting with the new quilt on the bed, but she was crying. Silent sobs were wracking her body. Jack panicked. Dani just didn't cry. That wasn't one of her emotions.

"Please, tell me what's wrong…"

"No, Jack. I can't tell you this."

"I am your captain and future husband and I demand to know what made you this way," he said, waving his hand around her face.

"Okay, Jack. I was married once before."

Jack had to hold onto the bedpost for support. Being taken aback was an understatement. "To whom?"

"I doesn't matter. He's long dead," she told him. It didn't make him feel any better, but he could hear a touch of anger in her voice.

"Why were you crying?"

"Because he killed my baby."

Jack had an incredible urge to raise this man from the dead and kill him again. Dani was so strong, but she looked so small sitting there hunched over, legs folded under her on the floor. 'How could I never see this coming?' Jack thought.

But Dani didn't stay small for long. She stood up and wiped her face with her hands. "That was when I was fifteen years old. It's over and done with. No use crying over it now. I took care of that man…" she smiled devilishly despite her wet eyes.

"How?" Jack asked as he put his arm around her waist.

"Some men just can't hold their arsenic," she laughed. Jack looked momentarily worried as he slipped his rum, but then thought better of it.

"That's my girl," Jack smiled. He then had a thought, "how old was the baby?"

"Unborn. I was never lucky enough to meet it," she said with sadness in her voice once again. She then quickly changed the subject. "I am going to make you a new coat, Captain."

"I like my old coat."

"Your old coat it twenty years old and is from the navy."

"I've made it my own. We've been through a lot together," he said as he pulled the coat tighter.

"I can see that." She faced him. "Give me the coat and no one gets hurt." She was at least four inches shorter than him, if not more, and Jack didn't look the least bit frightened. She pulled his gun from his belt.

"Easy on the goods, love," he said as he savored their closeness. She cocked the gun and held it to his chin.

"If you shoot me, you won't have to make a new coat."

"Nor will I have to look at the old one."

He gave in. Without losing eye contact, he dropped his coat on the floor. "Your turn, love."

A sly smile spread across his lips as she unbuttoned her own shirt with one hand, a gun in the other.

"Where are we going next, Jack?" She asked breathlessly.

"We're looking for treasure," Jack told her before they both ended up locked in a passionate kiss.

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A/N: Okay, this is the first chapter. I go on vacation for the weekend and won't have my compy. Okay...let me know. The story is a bit random right now. I wanted it to show Dani's emotions right off the bat this time instead of her just fainting. I'll continue if you all review. I hate it when people don't review.

thomthom