A/N: Honestly, I have no idea why I'm writing this. I suddenly just had this weird urge to write something weird. Ok I think I am seriously losing my mind. I suppose we can just wait and see how this goes, at this rate I don't even know where's its going. As I type the author's note here, I don't even know what story to write a fanfic about. But here I am doing it anyway. Funny how things like these turn out isn't it? Well I've got an idea so let me just roll with it. If it sucks then just let me know and I'll take it down. In this case flames are acceptable b/c I don't know where this is going. Enjoy if you can.

Disclaimer: Yeah...don't own...whatever it is I'm writing about...I think it's POTC...not really sure...

One...two...three...four...five...

Breathe.

One...two...three...four...five...

It's been awhile since I've had a decent bath. What I do, we don't bathe often. Well the men don't at all. I try to bathe at least twice a week but it's hard with a ship full of men and ice cold salt water. Now as I lie in the marble bathtub, trying to hold my breath underwater, I feel myself drifting away from who I really am.

Every second I was trapped in this town was sucking away the adventrous side of me. Yesterday, I almost put a ribbon in my hair! Horrible. I can't even hold my breath longer than five seconds anymore. It's time to go...if only it were that easy. My little girl...had to do it for my little girl.

"Mummy?" A soft voice murmured from behind the wooden door.

I shifted down lower in the bathtub, couldn't let my daughter see that I was fully dressed in a bathrub, especially not in the "men's clothes" I was wearing.

"Come in Angelina." I replied.

Angelina, my darling five year old daughter, pushed open the door delicately and closed it again. It was terrible how much she looked like her father. She had golden locks that curled around, which she kept in front of her shirt instead of the back, tied off with a red ribbon. She wore a lavender nightgown with a light pink bow in the center near her bellybutton. Her eyes were a light shade of green and blue, it was like staring into the ocean when the sun was set at the center of the sky. If I didn't know better, she would be a porcelin doll. The maids always put so much powder on her face that I'm surprised people didn't mistake her for a doll.

"Will you come read me a story?" She pleaded, shifting her eyes to the floor, as if she were embarrased to ask that question.

I smiled at her, understanding. She must not have wanted to disturb me so she went to ask her father, Boone. But he was always so busy, selling as much as he could to make even more money than he needed.

"Of course." Angelina's face brightened. "You go brush your teeth and hop in bed and I'll be there in just a moment."

She smiled and exited the bathroom, leaving me again in the silence of my own thoughts. Shaking off any thoughts, I sank below the watery surface and tried holding my breath again.

One...two...three...four...five...

I sat back up again, catching my breath. I cursed bitterly and drained the water from the tub. I watched as it spiraled down like a tornado until there was nothing left. I threw my wet clothes on the floor and changed into a white nightgown before climbing the spiral staircase to Angelina's room.

She waited eagerly on her bed, bouncing up and down in excitement. I looked across her sheets, noticing no book anywhere in sight. I got the hint.

"So you want to hear a pirate story." I guessed, sliding next to her on the tiny bed.

"Tell me the story of Captain Jack Sparrow's escape from the East India Trading Company." She begged, still bouncing up and down underneath her quilt.

"Alright, but you have to wear the hat." I advised, reaching into her top closet shelf and pulling out a Captain's hat, plopping it down on her head.

It didn't fit at all, so the top always slid over her eyes. She simply pushed in back with her thumb and settled back against her pillows.

"Let's see...where does the story begin?" I pondered, pretending I had no idea how the story went.

But I really did. I was there.

"Ah yes, it all started with the Black Pearl. Captain Jack was sailing his mighty ship the Black Pearl across the depths of the ocean." I began in a dramatic voice that made Angelina squeal. "He needed to retrieve something veeery important from the East India Trading Company..."

"What was it?" Angelina demanded.

"No one knew. Captain Jack kept it a secret. He told his crew to wait and that he'd be back in a flash. The crew begged Captain Jack to let them come along, just in case, but he gave his strict order. With that he disappeared into the town. It was said that one of the crew members followed Captain Jack, and saw him get caught just as he was pocketing the thing he came in to get. The guards were all over him..."

Angelina gasped in horror as I built up tension.

"The crew member claimed to have blinked an eye, and in that blink, Captain Jack had vanished from sight of the seven agents in the East India Company. The crew member stealthy crept back to the Black Pearl...and when he climbed onboard..."

"Captain Jack Sparrow was at the wheel!" Angelina concluded.

"That's right! Nobody knows how he did it...to this day it's still a mystery."

That wasn't the full story, the full story was much too scary and would reveal too much. This story was mysterious, but had a rosy ending. There was no sweet ending to what really happened that night.

I blinked, trying to store that memory away somewhere. Angelina crawled into my lap and placed her ear over my heart.

"Mummy?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"You're heart's beating really fast."

I inhaled deeply, shaking off the frightful memory. Angelina pressed her ear up against my heart again and smiled.

"It slowed down." She confirmed.

"Good, now it's time for somebody to go to sleep."

Angelina crawled under her quilt and buried herself deep inside it.

"The great Captain Jack Sparrow has disappeared once again!" She cried triumphantly.

I tickled her sides from under the sheets and she screamed with laughter. I finally got her to lay her head down on her pillows and reached for the light switch.

"I love you mummy." Angelina yawned.

"I love you too."

I clicked the light off and gently closed the door. I picked up my robe from my bedroom chair and walked downstairs to Boone's office. He was at his desk, going over a bunch of sales he had made that day. He recorded anything he sold or bought and the exact amount of each item to the penny. His dirty blond hair was in a mess on his head, his brown eyes staring down at the table, as if to drill holes through it. I rapped the door frame with my knuckles.

"Working too hard to read Angelina a story?" I questioned.

"Oh...Emily I'm so sorry dear. I've just been so busy lately..." Boone stammered out an excuse, fixing his eyes on mine. "Besides, she likes it better when you tell her those tall tales."

"Tall tales?"

"Yes, yes you know the ones with Captain Jack Sparrow in them." He waved his hand lasily, before turning his eyes back to his work.

Tall tales, I huffed inside my head. He didn't know, he was never there. He didn't have to go through what I did to get Jack out of trouble. I was the one who made him 'disappear' during the East India Trading Company incident. I was the one who convinced Barbossa to dump Jack off at an island that at least had food, shade, and rum. But Bootstrap...oh that was beyond my control. I shuddered at the thought.

"You need to try harder with Angelina." I informed him.

Wouldn't want to suddenly have to leave because Jack did something stupid nearby and come back to find Angelina dead on the couch. Not that something like that would happen. She was a clever girl, she learned quickly. She knew how to take care of herself in case her father couldn't. It was sad actually.

I rolled my eyes and stalked out of the office, slightly frustrated. I went to my room and slipped on a long cloak and a pair of boots. I opened my bedroom window and climbed down the vines out to the ground. From there I ran to the docks, sat down, pulled off my boots, and dipped my feet in the water as if they were on fire.

I felt so connected to the ocean, it hurt to be dragged away from it. It had been so many years since I had been out on a ship, holding a sword in my hand, and dueling with my Captain. Well...at least he was my Captain until the mutiny. After that I gathered up my own crew and sailed upon my own colors. Those we're the good times. But they were six years ago. I sighed and traced the top of the water with my fingertips.

I needed to get out.

A/N: Ok so maybe I do have an idea as to where this is going. I suppose we will all have to wait and see won't we? All as in whoever actually took time to read this rosy little chapter. It'll get better, promise!

-16aqua