Author's Note: As promised, here is the companion piece to "Son of a Pirate". I just couldn't wait to start it! As always, the only Jack Sparrow I own is the life size cutout in my room. The mouse owns all.
For as long as Tara could remember, she had wanted nothing more than to get away from Port Royal. She was the only child of a slave merchant, and the same lack of human kindness that allowed William Riley to buy and sell human beings also made him very prone to take out his frustrations on whomever was in his path, usually his daughter. Tara's mother had died young, under rather shady circumstances, and so left Tara to bear the brunt of her father's anger. At seventeen, she already carried scars from his drunken outbursts.
It was one of those outbursts she was trying to avoid today, as she hid below one of the many docks that lined the bay. Master Riley had just received word from an agent of the East India Trading Company that one of his captains had turned loose a whole load of slaves and then sunk the ship. While she was glad that the slaves had been set free, she knew that her father had taken a huge loss and would soon be looking for someone to take it out on. Tara lay sprawled in the sand under the dock, trying to stall for time. She knew when it got dark she would have to go back. She absently rubbed the purple and yellow bruise on her forearm, the leftovers of her father's last tirade. She closed her eyes and tried to picture someone whisking her away from her father; some romantic rescuer who would take her far from Port Royal and never do anything else but love her.
She was broken out of her reverie by a male voice. "Are you alright down there, miss?"
Tara jumped and tried to stand, smoothing her dress into place and trying to brush off the sand. "Yes, yes, I'm fine." She took the hand that was offered to her, then followed the arm with her eyes to so the face attached. He was ruggedly handsome, the face of a sailor, with warm brown eyes and a crooked smile. "I was just… thinking."
The man raised an eyebrow at her. "Must have been thinking of something pretty bad, luv, judging by the sour look on yer face."
Tara smiled brightly, only half faking it. "Oh, its nothing, just a girl's troubles, nothing important."
The man smiled back. "Well then, its getting late. Might I escort a girl home, Miss…"
"Riley, Tara Riley. And certainly, mister…"
"Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow."
Before you finish and say that Jack doesn't seem quitre right, remember this is a younger, less piratical Jack. He's just been branded a pirate, and he's still growing into his persona as the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. Please R&R, it makes me a very happy author!