"Well, well, well," the pirate says, looking down into the barrel of potatoes, "what do we have here?"
"Found her while I was cooking the stew, Captain," the cook says, looking down into the barrel as well.
"The Captain, who has long black, unkempt hair and a red bandana looks at you carefully. You look up, unsure of what is happening. You had not meant to end up on a pirate ship.
Another man, with huge muscles, comes over and pulls you out of the barrel with ease. You stand before the three men with your dress soaking-wet from the potato barrel.
The Captain makes his way to you swaying a bit as he walks.
"I'm not very tolerate of stowaways, Miss," he says, looking down at you. You can smell rum on his breath. "Do you know who I am?"
You look around the ship. Black ship with black sails. The ship of legend: The Black Pearl.
"You're Captain Jack Sparrow," you state with what little confidence you have. He looks at you with a smirk.
"Glad you've heard of me. Saves my introduction. But, would you be so kind as to tell me who you might be?"
"(y/n)," you say quietly, hoping he would just wave it passed him and let you leave.
"Aren't you the niece of Lord Vanguard(1)?" the man to the right of the Captain says. You slightly nod your head, and they all smirk to themselves.
"He will not pay ransom for me. He doesn't even like me. That's why I ran away!" you say, knowing what they were thinking. The truth is, you hate your uncle. Your parents had died and your uncle had sole right to you. He treated you like a slave and beat you almost everyday.
"Then, what good are you to us?" the Captain smiles. "We can't very well keep you on this ship."
"We could sell her," one man says.
"Aye, but I don't think many would want a bruised apple," Jack says, turning your head as to see the bruise on your neck better. I've seen you before. When we hit port a few days ago. You were escorting your uncle."
The Captain's men look at him, confused about what he was saying.
"So what should we do with her, Captain?"
"Take her to the Captain's Quarters. I'll decide what to do with her later," Jack says, straightening his hat and turning away. His two men grab you by the arm and pull you with them. You pray that Jack Sparrow had some mercy in him.
The ship rocks back and forth as it makes its way through the water. You lay asleep on the large bed. When they had brought you into the cabin, you couldn't help but notice the bed covered in layers of fine blankets. After a few hours of waiting, you thought the bed began to look quite appealing. You had made your way over to it and here you are now, asleep and comfortable. You had taken off your dress and lay in just your shift, not wanting to make the bed too wet.
You don't really dream about anything you can remember. Your breathing is calm, and you fell so comfortable.
You awake to the cabin door closing and barely open your eyes to see Jack Sparrow setting his hat down on his desk. You realize, that for a very unkempt pirate, he kept very good care of his quarters.
He walks over to you slowly, while you pretend to still be asleep because you were afraid to talk to him.
"Sorry 'bout earlier," he says, surprising you out of your false sleep. You sit up, looking carefully into his eyes, trying to find if he meant it or not.
"I will accept your apology, Captain, when we have hit shore and you let me go free," you say with courage you didn't even know you had.
"I will do my best to let you go free," he says, stroking the braids of his beard, "but it goes against our codes."
"What will happen to me?" you ask, a little scared of the answer he might give you.
"Don't worry, love," he says, looking down on you, "I'll think of something. But you may need to cover yourself."
You look down and notice what he is talking about. Your shift is white and soaking wet. You quickly grab a blanket. Jack chuckles to himself, seeming to be in his own thoughts. He stood up, smiling strangely down at you.
"Thank you for your time, Miss (y/n)," he says and makes his way out of the cabin.
A year has passed since the day you had been found of the Black Pearl. You had been given two choices the next day.
You could wither go free on and island inhabited by natives, or stay aboard the ship and become a part of the crew. You decide, in both options, you had to deal with savages, but decided to stay on board and became a pirate.
Note that you weren't a very good pirate. You never drank, never stole, never killed anyone, and didn't know anything about ships. You learned more about the latter as time passed, but the others were strictly against your morals.
Also, over time, you grew a liking to the ship and its inhabitants. The Captain gave even gave you special privileges, such as sleeping in his cabin when he didn't, and dining with him when he ate aboard the ship.
When you went ashore, you stayed at an inn while the others drank at the pubs. (You told Jack that drinking was bad for him.) And when morning came, Jack would not leave until he knew that you were on the ship. When you were ashore during 'supply gathering' times, nobody ever expected you to be a pirate, and Jack would keep telling you what an advantage that was as a pirate.
Sometimes you wondered about Jack's behavior toward you, but you decided that he must act like that toward all ladies.
The ship hit Tortuga today, and you stayed upon the ship to sleep in the Captain's cabin.
You look around the cabin, searching for anything new. Jack had left his hat on the desk, next to a compass that seemed to be broken.
You kick off your boots and flop down onto the bed. You let out a long sigh and close your eyes.
You hear the door open and quickly lift your head to see if it was one of the crew who had stayed on board. It wasn't.
Jack stood at the door with his hat in his hand. He stopped at the sight of you, since he had forgotten you had stayed on board this time.
"Sorry, Captain," you say, standing up quickly. "I can leave—"
"No need, love," he says. He puts his hat on and sways toward you. "And how many times do I have to tell you to call me 'Jack'?"
"You give me too many privileges, Captain. I must leave you some dignity," you say. He stops in front of you. Strangely enough, you can't smell any rum on his breath. He leans in. Usually this wouldn't bother you since he tends to lean into people's personal space all the time. But this time, he seemed too close.
"It's 'Jack'," he said. "And I must say, you look absolutely beautiful now, without all the bruises. Not that you didn't look as nice before."
Was he rambling? You couldn't really tell. Maybe he was drunk.
"Tis a shame I couldn't put that man out of his misery, for harming such a lovely creature."
Now you knew he must me drunk. He was off on some completely random idea.
"Captain, who are you talking about?" you ask.
"Your uncle," he replies and he leans in again. "And it's Jack."
His lips meet yours and you are caught by complete surprise. Instinctively, you lean in and complete the kiss. You have no thoughts. You were just there, with him.
You slowly pull away, coming back to reality. Jack looks down into your eyes.
"I've been waiting for that for a while," he says softly. You know that you are blushing. He strokes your cheek and you smile. You don't know how long he had felt this way, but you knew that you had been harboring feelings for him for a very long time.
"Best leave before someone finds out that you're my favorite. I don't need another mutiny aboard my ship," he says. He turns to the door, walking a little straighter than usual.
"Hey!" you call. He turns to you. "Thank you, Cap— Jack."
Jack smiles at you and says, "No, thank you." And he turned quickly, leaving you on the edge of his bed. You sat in thought. What just happened seemed so unreal. Then you began to regret his leaving… he had left so abruptly. If only you had told him that you wanted him to stay. What would have happened though?
The door opens again and you look up to see Jack entering again.(2)
(1) Vanguard is a name I thought of off the top of my head. It has no actual reference to Pirates.
(2) I'm so cruel! Now your imagination will wonder!! Mwahaha!