Due to popular opinion, the Jack/Heather story begins! And no, I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll be combining the stories. People keep suggesting that, and I think it might be a good idea....then I can get on to the planned Lord of the Rings story faster! Mwa ha! (Actually, my room mate is impatiently awaiting that - seems I promised to write her into a story, or something....)


So here it is, folks.


And yes, for those of you who haven't guessed, yes, this story will make more sense if you read Caribbean Secrets first. As this is the sequel....



Well...normally, this would be the part where I tell you all how much I don't own PotC, except.......Oil Pastel gave me the rights to it! *huggles, pauses, and looks around shifty-eyed* I'm not so sure Disney knows that, though......



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The sun was, as suns are wont to do, setting. Standing, I brushed the dirt off my hands, and was moving to do the same for the back of my pants when someone else caught me off guard and did it for me. Laughing, I turned around, catching the offending hands, and leaned forward, grinning. "You, Jack Sparrow, are absolutely hopeless, you realize that? In front of your crew, and everything?"


He laughed, using the fact that I held his hands to pull me a little closer. "What can I say, luv? The company, the burying of treasure, the atmosphere..." he grinned. "I've always like sunsets."


I had to laugh. "You would, wouldn't you?"


He flashed golden teeth, arching an eyebrow. "And you don't, luv?"


I just grinned. "Now, Captain, I never said that."


"Aye, you didn't." He glanced over his shoulder at the freshly turned soil, frowning a little. "And just why did you have to bury two perfectly good cutlasses?"


"They weren't perfectly good," I corrected - again. "The weight was all off. Figures those Spaniards would have traded us faulty weapons for their lives." Shaking my head, I leaned forward, resting my forehead against Jack's. "Care to head back to the ship, Captain?"


"Now, that depends."


"Oh? Does it?" I smirked, pulling back to give him my best curious glare. "And are you in the mood to explain just what you mean by that?"


His eyebrow arched suggestively again. "I was just wondering, luv, what exactly it was you wrote, in that there book we just placed six feet under for you."


It was my turn to arch eyebrows. "What, you mean in all your times of sneaking peeks over my shoulder, you still don't know what I wrote?" I grinned, and released his hands, stepping back a little. "I find that a little hard to believe, Captain."


He laughed, and immediately made me regret (no wait, regret? I didn't regret it at all) releasing his hands, as he slid them around my waist and pulled me close to his chest. "Oh, really? All right, then, suppose I told you that, yes, I have read a large part of it, but that I was rather.....curious as to where you ended it?"


"And why, captain, would that make any difference?"


"Because, if you ended that book like you ended your 'chapters', then in some 200 years, when you assume someone will find this, people are going to bring you back from the dead. So they can kill you."


"What, you think readers of the future won't appreciate me leaving them hanging?"


He laughed. "No."


Shrugging, I feigned naivety. "And why, Captain Jack Sparrow, would it make any difference to you?"


"Because, Mrs. Jack Sparrow, I want to know what you told people." He grinned, lowering his face to hiss in my ear. "And if I'm gonna get any desperate girls attacking me for a piece of your bounty."


"Jack!" I burst out in laughter, but tried to act scandalized. "Why, with that cheek, I don't think I'll ever tell you!"


He raised an eyebrow. "That your final word on it, then?"


"Yes. Yes it is." I hid a grin.


"Right then." He released my waist, but before I could ask what he was doing, I let out a yelp as I found myself dangling over his shoulder.


"Jack?! What're you doing?!"


He glanced over his shoulder, grinning, and reaching up to pat my rear with his spare hand. "If you're not going to tell me of your own accord, I'm just going to have to take you back to the Pearl, and force the information from you myself."


"Jack!" I laughed, as he began walking back down the beach, the last few straggling crew members still on shore turning to stare at us with wide eyes. "Put me down, you Neanderthal!"


"If I knew what those were, I'm sure I'd be more impressed," Jack grinned, not putting me down at all.


I smacked his butt in an attempt at retaliation, but at his laugh, I don't think it worked. As he splashed into the water, headed for the rowboat Red held steady, I laughed, "I ended right after we got on the Pearl, alright? Now put me down!"


"Oh, no. Yer not gettin' off that easy." He swung me off his shoulder, and I landed with a little thud on the seat of the rowboat. "I said I'd get that information out of you myself," he paused, and kissed the end of my nose. "And I will."


I grinned, and leaned up to kiss his chin. "Aye, aye, captain."



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20 years earlier, the sun was, as it does, setting. The sun was setting, the wind was in our sails, Port Royal was swiftly growing smaller behind us, and I was snuggled against Jack's chest, one of his arms around me, the other resting on the wheel. It was quiet, peaceful, just the two of us, the crew having left us alone for the while. I didn't want this to end, ever.


I tried to stop it, but a yawn suddenly worked its way out of my mouth. It had been a long day, what with sword fighting, and rescuing a man from the gallows, and ditching a fiancé, and jumping off a cliff, and swimming across several leagues, only to climb up onto a pirate's ship. I'd say I deserved a yawn.


Jack laughed. "Tired, luv?"


"It's been a long day," I muttered, failing again at preventing a yawn.


"Aye," he agreed, then raised his voice. "Oy, AnaMaria!"


"Yes?" AnaMaria asked pointedly, mounting the steps of the quarterdeck.


"The helm is yours," he said, patting the wheel fondly. "The lass needs some shut-eye."


"Right," she laughed, taking the wheel, as Jack led me down the steps. "I know as well as you that you have no intentions of sleep."


Jack just grinned, and I was glad for the encroaching night, so he couldn't see just how bright red my face was.


"So, Captain," I said, shivering a little against the growing cold of the night. "If you'd be so kind as to direct me to my cabin?"


He laughed. "But of course." A few steps more, and he swung open a door and pushed me in ahead of him. Then he stepped in behind me, and shut the door behind him, plunging the room into almost complete darkness.


"Jack. This is your cabin."


I jumped as arms snaked around my waist, breath trailing over my neck. "That would be the point."


"Jack..." For a moment, I was quite distracted from what I had been intending to say by kisses running down my neck, but when his teeth nipped the skin, I pulled away. "Jack," I said, shakily, then cleared my throat, and started again. "Jack. Stop it."


He nibbled on my earlobe, instead.


"Jack, I mean it!" I tugged against him, quite perturbed that his iron arms weren't letting go.


"What, suddenly we're shy and ladylike again?" He didn't sound impressed.


"I never wasn't," I protested, then paused. "Okay, so I was. Look, Jack. I have lines that I refuse to cross. And you're getting dangerously close to one of them."


Jack sounded frustrated. "Luv, you were the one that came on board my ship."


"I know, but I still have lines. And one of them is that I still refuse to...to....well, you know, until I'm married!" I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring into the darkness.


His arms tightened, and I found myself crushed back against him. "Yer refusing a pirate captain in his own cabin after inviting yourself aboard?" He hissed in my ear.


I swallowed. "Yes."


Silence for a moment, then Jack's arms released me. I took a quick couple steps forward, wrapping my arms around myself to try and stop my shaking. "Darn it, Jack. Why'd you have to do that?"


"Because I'm a pirate, and that's what pirates do?" His voice was still only inches from my ear, and I shivered again.


"Jack, if you're trying to make me loose all morals, you're on the right path!"


There was a flash of golden teeth to my right in the dim light. "Ah, then, I'm doing an excellent job!"


"Aw, stop it." I crossed the room, and sat down on the bed, curling my knees up to my chin. "Look, Jack, I...I really don't know how to say this. I like you, yes, heck, Jack, I may even more than like you, I don't know." I glared into the darkness, trying to figure out what to say. "Okay, honestly, I would love to do what you're suggesting."


There was a shifting of weight on the bed behind me, then Jack asked, "And then, why not?"


"Because I made a promise to myself," I said firmly. "I promised that I wouldn't cross that line until I was married to someone I was going to spend the rest of my life with."


There was silence. "And you don't think you'll stay for the rest of your life?"


"Jack, you're a pirate. I don't know if you'll stay the rest of my life."


"Ah." The balnce shifted again, and hands set gently on my shoulder. "Luv. I can't promise I'll stay. Not now. Maybe never. But...would it help if I said I wouldn't want to leave?"


I sighed. "Maybe. A little."


"Right." Silence, then Jack spoke up again. "What if...ye just stayed here, anyways. We don't do anything unless you give it the word, savvy?"


I paused, then had to smile. "Alright, I suppose. Sharing your bed, but not technically sleeping with you?"


"Right!" He leaned back, then a flare of light burst suddenly into the room, as Jack struck match to candle. Holding the flame aloft, he looked around, spotting a bottle of rum on the table. "Now there's the key, luv!" He cheered somewhat, leaping off the bed to snatch up the bottle. He uncorked it with his teeth, leaning back to take a swig.


Sighing, he lowered the bottle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "That's the stuff," he grinned, then offered the bottle. "Want some, luv?"


I grabbed the bottle from his fingers, carefully tipping a little into my mouth. It still burned on the way down, but I think desert islands have a terrible effect on me. I'd been craving the stuff ever since we left the island. "Thanks," I grinned, sipping a bit more.


Jack raised an eyebrow, setting the candlestick back down on the bedside table, and sitting beside me. "You can't drink, luv."


I shot him a nasty look. "You tell my mother that. She says I drink like a beer guzzler."


He made a face. "Beer? That's for little girls. Rum, now that's the real stuff!"


I rolled my eyes, then obliged and took a proper swig of the drink. Nearly ended up choking on it, too, as I handed the bottle back, gasping. Jack laughed, setting the bottle on the table beside the candle - after taking a swig first.


And then, he blew out the candle, and settled back onto the bed. "Sleeping, luv?"


"Right," I said, a little warily, and shifted on the bed, moving to a spot where he wasn't. "Um...I don't suppose you have any kind of...nightclothes, I could change into?"


"Ah, no."


"Nothing?"


"Nope. Although you're quite welcome to simply sleep in the buff, if you prefer."


"That, Captain, would be quite counter-productive." I lifted the covers, and carefully slid between them. "Goodnight, Jack."


Silence.


"Jack?"


Still no answer. The man couldn't be asleep already.


"Jack? Ya lug, yer not sleeping." I sat up, leaning over to look at him. "Jack? C'mon, you - hey!" I let out a yelp as his arms snaked up back around my waist, swinging me back on top of the pirate captain.


"Now this is an interesting turn of events," he said, and I just knew he was grinning. "Change yer mind after all?"


I rolled my eyes, and shook my head, despite the fact that I knew he couldn't see it in the dark. "Very funny, Jack. No, I have not. Now, you want to let go, please?"


"Right. O' course. Sorry about that, luv. But really, if you don't intend to do anything, you shouldn't be climbing on top of pirate captains when they're trying to sleep." He released me, then, but not before leaning up to plant a little kiss on my forehead. "Savvy?"


"Savvy, Jack," I agreed, rolling back over, and curling up into a ball. "Now, goodnight."


"Right. Until morning, luv."


"Until morning." I agreed, closing my eyes. Provided I managed to last until morning.



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Mwa ha! First chapter of the first sequel!!! (Sounds like a bad summer movie, doesn't it?)


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