Tendrils of red swirled away with the waves, as Jake crouched with his bloodied hands dipped in the water. He watched, mesmerised, as one of his last links to Blunt was washed away. Breaking out of his idle speculation, he shook his head to try and rid himself of thoughts of his upcoming interrogation with the Navy.

He rose, glancing towards his guards, who were warily watching his every move. Away to his right he could hear the finishing murmurs of the discussion that had been going on between Captain Montrose and the rest of his family.

It felt strange to go back to that, having someone he could call his family. Although he had to admit it made a good change from being alone with only the captain to depend on.

He sighed, lowering his aching body onto the beach, watching as the ship that had been his home for as long as he cared to remember sailed away, slowly diminishing to a smudge on the horizon. His head was throbbing from the explosion, and he gingerly prodded his ribs, only now becoming aware of the intense pain, probably caused by the fight on the bridge. He had definitely bruised or cracked at least one rib in that fall.

It had been barely half an hour since Blunt had passed away, and he was only now getting over the initial shock of the day's incidents, and beginning to think about the aftermath. Jake felt a fleeting realisation of what a dangerous situation he had gotten himself into, a feeling which he immediately suppressed. He would deal with that later, or rather, he would be dealt with, one way or another. He was safe, for now at least.

He was broken out of his musings by the sudden arrival of Sarah, who had ignored the guards' half-hearted attempts to stop her, and dropped down on the beach next to Jake. Somehow he knew there was something on his newfound sister's mind…

They sat in awkward silence until suddenly… "What was it like?"

"What do you mean?" answered Jake, bewildered and a tad apprehensive.

"Piracy! How did you survive? They all looked like violent, fool-mouthed thugs!"

"Well… the Captain helped-"

"Blunt? He seemed like the worst of them all!"

Jake sighed. He'd been wondering when this would come up. "He wasn't normally like that. He acted differently here, but on the ship he… well he looked out for me."

Sarah seemed to contemplate this for a while, while Jake held his breath, hoping she wouldn't stay on this line of questioning for much longer; there were some things he couldn't confront, not yet.

After a couple of minutes of pensive silence, Sarah glanced at the dining area. "What do you think will happen? With Father, I mean."

Jake thought on this for a while, "I honestly think he'll be fine. He saved Captain Montrose's Daughter from… the Captain and Pickles. I think Captain Montrose owes him one or two favours for that."

Sarah tactfully pretended not to notice her brother's inability to say his surrogate father's name, not quite understanding why.

"I wonder what will happen now. I used to hate this island, but now I couldn't bear the thought of leaving it. England seems… foreign, I don't think I'd like it. I suppose you'd be more used to it, you must have travelled quite a bit by now…"

Jake let the unspoken questions hover between them, watching as Sarah idly burrowed her feet into the sand.

"I'm really sorry, you know," he suddenly burst out.

Sarah looked at him, obviously confused at thus abrupt exclamation. Then it suddenly clicked.

Softly she stated, "It wasn't your fault. Anyone would have done the same after seven years on a pirate ship. Nobody blames you."

"You should! I knew something would happen; I should never have let Blunt come here! I could have stopped all this!"

Sarah stared; this was the most animated she had seen Jake become in the last few days.

Jake slowly regained his composure, reverting back to what Sarah had started to refer to as his 'neutral' face, the expression he wore when he didn't want to give away any emotion, which, now she came to think of it, was more of his default look. Probably a side effect from living with a bunch of treacherous pirates, she decided.

"You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry you had to go through it." He finished.

Sarah let it lie, aware that there was something Jacob wasn't telling her, but not quite comprehending what was on his mind. Despite their separation, she still felt a strong attachment to her older brother, and she knew from past experience that he would tell her in due time. Even though he looked like a completely different person after all this time, she still saw something of his old character under the pirate façade.

"How's Fritz?" he inquired, wretchedly

"He's fine, the bullet didn't go in far, it was just a flesh wound, really. Don't worry!" Sarah tried to reassure her brother, knowing he would be blaming himself for Fritz's injury.

Jake looked back at the guards, who had drifted somewhat away, wincing at the sudden movement and unconsciously putting a hand round his chest after this brought on another painful reminder of the fight. Sarah noticed his grimace, and realised for the first time the bloody, dusty shirt he was wearing.

"You're filthy," she told him, matter-of-factly, "I can get you a clean shirt at least."

She got up, but Jake made to stop her, saying "Don't worry, I brought some things with me though…" a thought struck him, and he once again glared at the guards with contempt, saying with a bitter smile, "I think I'd probably get shot if I tried to get them."

Sarah immediately offered to get them, and ran off, again blatantly ignoring the two Navy men. She returned with a simple canvas bag, handed it over to Jake and sat down again, seeming not to notice the guards' indignation.

Jake suppressed a smile, taking a bundle out of the bag and handing it to his little sister.

"This is for you."

Sarah eagerly opened her package to reveal…

"Isabel! You kept her all this time?"

"I kept her so I wouldn't forget," Jake replied, simply.

Sarah sat with the doll in her lap, silently taking in her pristine condition and the care in which she had been wrapped up securely. Meanwhile Jake had been rummaging through the bag again, finally bringing out a clean cream shirt, and proceeding to take off the stained waistcoat and shirt. Sarah took in his nearly emaciated appearance and long scar along his ribs, and exclaimed at the bruises that littered his abdomen.

"What happened? That can't have been from your fight with Blunt!"

Jake smiled self-consciously, shrugging his shoulders dismissively, "It's nothing. I wound up Pickles a couple of days ago, and he… he gets angry easily. It's nothing, don't worry."

Sarah looked at him sceptically. The bruises were only faint at the moment, but they were extensive. She didn't ask him what he did that annoyed Pickles to such an extent, knowing that she probably wouldn't like the answer.

As Jake put on the new, clean shirt, and put his other clothes back in the bag, she noticed the rag tied round his left hand.

"What is that for?"

Jake froze, eventually answering, "Rope burn. It's hell to get when you work on a ship, but inevitable. This stops me getting it so badly". He hated lying to her, but felt that the truth would raise too many questions and lead down yet another path he was unwilling to revisit.

But Sarah wasn't going to fall for that trick. She persisted, "Why do you only have it on one hand then? Especially as you're right-handed!"

"You ask a lot of questions!"

"And you avoid answering them!" She retorted. Yet she let the subject be, not willing to risk the frail relationship they were rebuilding, especially not just because of her own curiosity. She sighed, Jake was hard to talk to in 'default mode'; he was too careful not to give away anything about his life on the pirate ship.

Jake could barely suppress his relief at the appearance of Ernst, hoping that Sarah would be too distracted to ask him any more awkward questions. His relief was short lived, however, after he realised why Ernst had left the discussion.

"You're wanted in the dining room Sarah, they've decided what to do about Father's sentence!" Ernst looked uncomfortably at his younger brother, adding "And Captain Montrose wants to talk to you now Jacob."