Chapter Two!
Yes, it has finally arrived, thank you to all of you lovely reviewers by the way, you're stars! I got impatient and just said 'I might not be able to update Saturday so hand it over now. You Absolute legends!
I still have exams *sad face.
Anyhow! Enjoy and Review Pleasseee!
http:(slash)(slash)www(dot)facebook(dot)com(slash)pages(Slash)CaptainSkitzoVamp(Slash)102197676519335?sk=info -my writers page for facebook, to keep up with any updates and fanart.
Rainbow-socks-girlie: Thanks you so much for your lovely review. Don't worry, updates are once a week I promise.
Flik: Aw thanks, I was just hit with the idea of a young Jack with a friend and then I was like 'it's hard to find good OC stories sometimes so I might as well make his friend a girl' and thus, the story was born! Thanks again for your review!
Tokioparawhore: I will continue it don't worry, I'm finished chapter 4 already :P I'll have to put a guard dog under my bed ;)
Trickypirate12: Girl power! I figured that if Jacks old best friend was a girl, she would probably be able to put him in his place which is a rare enough sight to behold ;) Thank you for your review!
MienFacade: I wasn't able to write pages and pages of flashbacks to be honest, and I didn't want an over the top prologue .You'll have to wait and see what happens next and luckily for you, this is a new chapter! XD Thanks for the review!
ILuvOdie: I love your name. It reminds me of Garfield. This isn't going to follow the movie plot I'm sorry. I don't think that I would be able to write out all the lines and plan out where my OC would butt in, especially with her not being a character from the future and knowing what everyone is going to say and when etc etc. This is based after At Worlds End and I don't think that there will be any Fountain of Youth, sorry. But thanks for your review!
If anyone has any ideas by the way, I'd love to hear them!
"Hey Jack, you haven't changed a bit…well…apart from a few extra trinkets and a beard" the woman across from him smirked.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, eyes wide as he watched her move away from the door to take a seat, grabbing an apple on the way. He couldn't believe that she was actually here, how did she get here, why was she here.
"You told the crew to let me on-board, remember silly?" she said with a smile, the same twinkle in her eye as before.
"It's been fifteen years, where have you been?" Jack asked, taking a step forward, absent mindedly taking a seat across from her. His eyes not leaving her as he moved, he thought that maybe if he blinked or looked away, she would disappear and he didn't want to lose her after this amount of time, and certainly not without an explanation.
"Oh you know, around. You said that you were going to be an infamous captain and here you are. I said that I was going to leave that hell hole and I did. I bartered passage wherever I could, saw some of the world, I swear, you'd love Crete, everywhere you go is nothing but booze"
Jack couldn't help but notice that she was avoiding the subject as to why she had left before; she was barely even looking him in the eye, so he felt as if he needed to ask.
"Why did you leave in the first place, why didn't you stay, why didn't you even tell me?"
"I wasn't allowed" came the reply, her voice had gone quiet and Jack couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows in confusion.
"But-"
"I don't want to talk about it okay?"
There was an uncomfortable silence, the pair not saying a word, Brannagh stopped eating and looked down, studying her apple as Jack observed her. Jack was never one for silence and he was sure that she would talk in her own time, so he decided to steer the conversation in another direction. "So, any news from Tom? Did he finish that training of his in the end? I was only thinking of that little window scenario earlier"
Brannagh chuckled and looked up at him with a smile, "Sent away on the missions I believe, he finished his training and was trying to convince my brother into joining the priesthood the last time I met up with any of them."
"What, Kyle? You can't be serious luv, the bloke wouldn't give up his drink and his women, you must be yanking my chain"
"I said that Tom was trying to convince him, not that he was succeeding"
"And when was the last time you saw them?"
"Around two years ago, Ma passed away and we all met each other at the funeral" Brannagh replied, her eyes distant, looking away from the man across from her.
"I'm sorry"
"Nah, you're grand, she died happy, she was sleeping when it happened, so she didn't feel a thing…But enough about me, how about your folks?"
"Haven't seen them to be honest, last time I saw Da was … probably before that war against Jones and the Company. We didn't really say much"
Brannagh laughed, "Same old Jack, you haven't changed a bit"
"What about your father, any news on him?"
The grin left the woman's face and she looked back at her apple, "I don't know, I haven't seen him, not since we left"
"He drank himself into a stupor after that, couldn't necessarily blame the poor bugger, but a day or two afterwards and he was right as rain, oddly enough" Jack said, remembering the man at the tavern, he pulled a funny face at the memory, momentarily forgetting his old friends presence. She laughed at him, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Oh yes, definitely the Jack that I remember." She giggled. Her giggles quickly turned into full blown laughter. Jack gave her a quizzical look which only made her laugh even harder, "Stop it" she choked, "Cut it out!" she cried.
"What? What am I doing?" he asked in alarm, he didn't plan on having a woman choke to death on-board his ship any time soon.
"Stop making funny faces!"
"I am not….you cheeky monkey" he said, getting up and reaching across the table to tickle her, causing her to laugh even more.
"Stop, stop, I surrender, stop, white flag, ha ha ha, PARLAY…please!" she half laughed, half cried.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but did Brannagh O' Rourke just invoke the right of parlay? I must be hearing things. Me hearing ain't what it used to be luv so you're going to have to repeat yourself" he said as he stopped tickling.
"Oh heave off"
"Alright then, you asked for it" he replied, before going back to tickling her, it was just like the old times. He had only ever wanted to see her happy and this was certainly better than an awkward silence or a refusal to talk about the past. She tried to hit him away but he dodged, only to trip over the bench and fall onto the ground, dragging Brannagh down with him.
She landed on top of him, her breath coming fast and uneven after laughing so hard and their little struggle. He still had his arms around her while Brannagh looked him over, he certainly had changed, yet remained the same. He stilled had the same mannerisms, speech and odd sense of fashion but now he had more muscle than before, he had a beard and his hair was much longer, Brannagh thought, taking him in. She also noticed how he had finally acquired the 'perfect hat' that he had always gone on about at home.
Home. Where was that now? They said that home was where the heart was, where was her heart at this very moment? It couldn't be with the man underneath her because they had only met up after fifteen years today!
She kept her eyes fixed upon his brown orbs, she bet that they had seen a lot during the fifteen years they had been apart. She was upset that she hadn't been there with him, but she had had to go. She felt guilty for not telling him why she had been forced to leave, but she had to do what her mother had told her to do. He had seen the war, it had been his ship that had fought the Dutchman, she had heard the stories from the sailors at the taverns when she had served them rum during one of her temporary positions as a bar maid. He had certainly amounted to great things, just as he always said he would.
Oh how she had missed him, she loved being with him again. He always had a way about him that could light up a room the moment he set foot inside it. He was her best friend, he deserved to know the truth, but how could she tell him. He would probably understand but he would probably speak of 'what if' scenario's too. Oh he was always a nutcase, but he was her nutcase. She giggled as she looked down at him.
"What is so funny this time, luv" he asked, feigning annoyance.
"You're such a nutcase" she replied truthfully, getting up and brushing the dirt from her shirt. Jack remained on the floor just looking up at her, taking in her full appearance he found that she was wearing woman's black pants, white shirt with a black corset and black heeled boots, she had a silver belt around her waist with a sword and pistol attached and a black waist coat with silver embroidery. He noticed how much she had filled out during their time away from each other and for a quick instant he wondered if she had had a man in her life during those fifteen years. He felt a bit of jealousy and resentment at the idea of another man with his paws all over her. She deserved better than some filthy low life.
"Nut case eh?"
She giggled at him, "Don't worry Sparrow, I love ye anyway" she smirked, offering him a hand to pull him up to his feet which he accepted. He smirked back at her.
"Well, if that be the case, you wouldn't mind if I told you that there are no more places for you to sleep apart from my cabin, unless you prefer the brig"
"So we are going to have a repeat of that camping trip from when we were twelve then? Your da looked half ready to hammer ye! I swear, all we did was talk, and if memory serves me correct, the adults were the ones to pair us up in the first place!"
Jack smirked at the memory. His father, along with two other men had been put in charge of a camping trip and Brannagh, being the tom boy that she was, had tagged along. And knowing that Jack wouldn't have acted any differently towards her, Teague had partnered his son up with her. They had ended up babbling all night, only to be shouted at by Captain Sparrow Sr.
"Well, I think that this time we won't be roared at, come on, I'll show you to the cabin" Jack grabbed Brannagh by the hand and led her up the stairs onto the deck and pulled her towards his cabin. If he had known that he would be running into his old childhood friend, he may have cleaned up but he knew that she probably knew him best and wouldn't care about the mess. She was probably as bad as him.
She looked around the room taking it all in and swiping the bottle of rum from his desk. He smiled at the scene, she was definitely as bad as him. She took a swig as she went over to the window and peered out, the sky was darkening by now, the sun setting.
"Beautiful" she whispered, as she watched the water turning a dark red, the sky the colors of pink, gold and red bleeding into each other as the sun began to sink into the horizon.
"I know, best room on the entire ship I say, now if you don't mind, I need to go and assign someone to relieve the poor bugger up at the crows nest, be back in a tick luv" and with that Jack was gone, leaving Brannagh alone. She pulled off her boots, belt and waistcoat and climbed into bed, crawling underneath the covers. She honestly didn't think that she would be in this position when she woke up in the brig this morning. She couldn't help but smirk as she dozed off into sweet unconsciousness.
When Jack had come back that night to find Bran fast asleep, he couldn't help but smile. He wasn't going to let her get away without telling him anything though, she would tell him one way or another.
Most blokes have to wait to get a lass into their bed, I have to wait to get a back story, he thought as he took the opposite side of the bed, but it ain't like that is it? We're just friends, just good friends, that's it. Bran isn't a fool, and she wouldn't even take me if I asked, I bet she knows about the women in my past. What is it that everyone says? A woman at each port?
The next day had started off fine. Brannagh had woken up before her friend had, which gave her plenty of time to have breakfast and try to get to know the crew. Before long she had learned that Cotton was a mute and that Gibbs felt threatened by her presence, but she could tell that he really liked her as a person, he was just superstitious, she talked to him for a while about other types of superstitions such as it being bad luck to have banana's, red heads, flat footed people and priests aboard and also how it was bad luck to kill a gull while at sea. Before long he had obviously begun to warm up to her since she knew that she was talking about. It was nice to have a woman with brains on-board.
She had met a few other members such as Marty, who seemed nice enough, Ragetti seemed nice too but Pintel seemed as if she would have to really take her time with getting to know him.
"And what do you think you're doing?" came a voice from the helm. Brannagh looked up to see Jack eyeing her suspiciously.
"Oh nothing" the woman replied, walking towards him, "Just getting to know the crew"
"Knowing the crew eh? Anyone else would say you were up to something. Not planning a mutiny I hope, or you'll find yerself in a brig again"
"Oh no! How could you think such a thing Captain, poor little defenceless me? Never!" Brannagh replied, feigning innocence as she placed a hand over her chest.
"Fitting in well then, I take it"
"Most definitely, we should all just have a drinking competition though, it would move the formalities along much faster" she joked, her hand trying to shield the sun from her eyes as the wind blew her black hair in all directions.
"So, you never did tell me how you wound up in that brig, care to share your story?"
Brannagh couldn't help but smile and decided to sit on the railing, her back against the deck full of crewmen so she could face Jack as he steered the ship.
"I may have…tried to pickpocket from the wrong person" she replied nonchalantly.
"Losing our touch are we?" Jack teased, glancing at her before looking back out to sea.
"Ah go away, the bloke caught me and threw me into the brig, damn cur", she muttered at the last bit. Jack couldn't help but chuckle, she still had the mouth of a sailor, then again who didn't when they had grown up in Shipwreck Cove?
"So what have you been at exactly? Fifteen years, you must have done something" he said, trying to pry information out of her.
"Port to port, work here, job there. I traveled mostly"
"Ah come on, it's me yer talkin' to, give me something"
"Well I'm sorry Captain if my story hasn't been as interesting as yours" Brannagh mocked.
"I just find it hard to believe that a lass such as yourself hasn't gone on a big adventure in the fifteen years ye've been gone"
"I just went from country to country, learned about new cultures…might have made new enemies, but you'd know all about that wouldn't you Jack?" she replied, earning another glance from the Captain.
"What are you going on about this time?" he asked with a fake anger in his voice. They had always been this way, if there was ever anyone in the world that would stand up to him or try to put him in his place, it was definitely the woman next to him.
"I heard about your little war against Beckett and Jones, and then there was Sao Feng and Barbossa, Oh and wasn't there that bloke from-"
"I get it, I get it…I've got people on my side as well though, you said it yerself, ye love me anyway"
Brannagh just rolled her eyes at his antics. Typical Jack Sparrow, she thought, always trying to talk his ways out of sticky situations. It reminded her of the time his mother came after him over something he had done at home, which he had yet to tell her, he had been literally backed into a wall, his mother with her wooden spoon in hand while glaring at him. She had been shouting to high the heavens. His mother had been a tough woman with a soft side. She always approved of Brannagh but knew exactly how to give her son hell if he were to place one toe out of line. He had actually gotten away with it that time, he had ended up turning his mothers wrath around and directing into the path of his father.
"Don't let it go to your head you cheeky bugger, some people can get along and some can't, that's life, now if you'll excuse me, I think I'd fancy some rum right now, want anything?" she asked, getting up from the rail and turning to head down the stairs. He shook his head in response and she disappeared down below to quench her thirst.
It was incredibly rare to find a woman with a love for rum, but she had grown up with pirates. He remembered the time that they had been taken away to a different port when they were eight. His father had wanted to trade some of his swag and had let Brannagh tag along as Jack always went with him. The port had been inhabited by higher class people and all wrinkled their nose when they saw that Brannagh was wearing boys clothing and hadn't acted like a lady at all. They had all expected her to stand up straight and proper like a young lady should, with her hair neatly tied up, a corset and a dress, not saying a word while being accompanied by an older relative. Instead Bran had worn her long messy black hair down while wearing pants, wandering around on her own, constantly babbling and going to punch him in the shoulder. His father had merely laughed at them and returned to business while they bickered and messed about. A man working at one of the stalls had given them a piece of toffee each for free, saying that it was nice to finally see children acting like children for once.
Yes Brannagh had never been one for lady like behavior, but she did have a knack for imitating the upper-class people perfectly. She could wrinkle her nose and feign the accent as if she had been brought up as a downright snob.
Life on the Pearl was certainly about to get interesting.
"Bran, meet Ana Maria, Ana this is our newest member" Jack introduced the two women, hoping that they wouldn't wind up pulling out each others hair. Neither woman shook hands or said a word, instead looking at each other emotionlessly.
"Okay then" Jack said, trying to relieve some of the tension, only to decide on running away after learning that he wasn't doing anything to help. "Bye". He ran off towards the helm, not wanting to get caught the middle of a war zone. Sometimes woman could be like dogs, dead territorial. Jack smirked at the idea of Brannagh being territorial over him, he had had a few women fight over him in his day and it made his chest swell with pride but it would certainly be odd if it were Brannagh doing the fighting, but amusing all the same, he knew that Ana Maria wouldn't waste her breath though, she didn't like him that way…but then again, neither did Bran, if he told her about his little day dream about her being territorial over him she would just wave him off and say that he was just 'acting the twat'.
He looked over to see how the women were reacting to each other and was a bit disappointed to find that the two women had gone off in separate directions. Ana Maria had gone to one side of the ship, tying down ropes and going about what needed to be done, while Brannagh had gone below deck with a mop and bucket, probably going to swab around the galley or the brig.
As the day progressed he had decided to go to Greece, just as Bran had suggested to him the night before. He didn't been there for years and in all the times that he had went, he had never once considered going to visit the island of Crete. Something told him that Brannagh would be a handy person to have around the ship.
"So, what do you think about the new crewmember?" one of the crewmen, known as Thornton, asked. He was a middle aged man with dark curly hair and pale blue eyes.
The crewmen were sitting around their sleeping quarters drinking rum and playing cards for the night and were currently discussing the arrival of the ships latest recruit.
"Came from the brig from that last ship, the Captain seems happy enough with her, they seem a bit close though, one of the fellas said that they saw her coming out of his cabin this morning" replied a man named Woody, no one knew his real name but they just called him Woody seeing as he had had a bit of a run in with a wooden rail a few years ago. He was a skinny man and had light blonde hair and dark grey eyes, filled with curiosity.
"You don't think she was hired as a wench do you? I heard about ship wenches, I hear it's meant to be nothing but trouble" Thornton replied, a bit sketchy about the whole thing., forever the pessimist.
"Royal flush, I win" a third man declared, taking up his winnings and pocketing them. Brown was a young cocky man with dark brown hair and cunning hazel eyes, "We'll never know until we try now, won't we and I don't know about you but I'm feeling a bit lucky.", he smirked, before winking to the men and getting up, leaving the room and the two men behind, looking after him as he went.
"He's a dead man" Thornton said, watching the door.
"Aye, if she was with the Captain, then everyone knows to keep their paws off unless he says otherwise." Woody agreed, shuffling the cards and dealing them out again, just as Walker walked into the room. The blue eyed, balding man sat down in the chair that Brown had recently occupied and clapped his hands together, "So lads, what'd I miss?"
Brannagh had finished swabbing below deck ages ago and decided on cooking something in the galley out of sheer boredom. She wasn't the best cook in the world but she knew how to not poison someone. She couldn't work up on deck for fear or running into Ana Maria, and as confident as she was in a fight against the dark skinned woman, she couldn't be bothered getting caught up in a fight on her first day, especially when the crew still had yet to know her.
Something about Ana had just put her off, there was something in her eyes, a coldness. It was just some sixth sense that Brannagh figured every female must have and that by one glance, she could tell if she would get along with another person, or if they were even nice.
The pots and pans were filthy, so the young woman began to wash before she even cooked, which was odd seeing as that was meant to come after cooking. Everything was so backwards, but then again this was Jack Sparrow's ship.
She heard the door open and close and looked up from the pots and pans to see a man standing there looking for her. His dark eyes watching her hungrily, which unnerved her to no end.
"Can I help you?" she asked, a bit coldly, he was looking at her as if she were a piece of meat. He began to move closely towards her, making her feel more uncomfortable so she grabbed a nearby knife from the counter behind her. The dark haired man put each hand on the counter behind her, trapping Brannagh as he did so.
"What do you want" she spat, she couldn't contain her anger, she knew what he was after and she wasn't a common whore, she might as well teach him that lesson the hard way. As soon as he went to touch her, she slapped his hand away, making him angry. He roughly grabbed her by her shirt and crashed his lips onto hers roughly. Brannagh didn't scream but she struggled and ended up plunging the knife that she had been holding onto, straight into his shoulder. The man jumped back with a shriek and yanked the knife from his shoulder. "You bloody cow!" he roared, running at her with the knife, but she was to quick for him and grabbed his arm, twisting it and holding it behind his back, ready to break it if she had too. He dropped the knife and began to pant as he began to panic, this woman had not been what he had expected. He tried to move away but she merely tightened her grip on his arm, causing his to yelp out in pain. She punched him in the face out of anger and began to drag him up onto the deck towards the helm, knowing that Jack would know exactly what to do with him.
She threw him to the ground as soon as she reached the helm, looking at the captain expectantly, while he just looked at the man on the ground and back at her again.
"Having a spot of trouble luv?" he asked with a smirk, he knew that she could take care of herself.
"A little, what do we do with this bugger?" she asked, hands on her hips. She demanded that something be done about this, if this little prat wasn't punished then what would that tell the rest of the crew? For a second she wondered how Ana Maria put up with this.
"Mr Gibbs" Jack called to the man behind him.
"Aye, Cap'n"
"Take Brown here down to the brig"
"Aye sir" the older man replied, and with that he lifted up the man, known as Brown (who was also sporting a split lip by now) and led him down to the brig.
"That's it, take him to the brig? If that your solution to everything?" Brannagh turned angrily at Jack, she was barely able to prevent herself from screaming at him.
"Well he didn't get away with anything, you saw to that" Jack said in his defense.
"But what if I hadn't been able to? What then? What does this tell the crew? He thought I was a bloody wench! What if someone else tries it, or he gets out."
"And I'm the one with the enemies" Jack smirked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Not now Sparrow! If you won't take care of things then I will" she threatened.
"Look here now lass, this is my ship, therefore what I say goes, and you will be doing nothing of the sort. Do ye get me?" Jack turned to her, a serious look in his eyes.
"Oh sod off!" Brannagh cried in exasperation, throwing her hands into the air before storming off down the stairs, heading towards the store room. Just as she reached her destination, a hand caught her by the arm and she quickly turned around, ready to fight anyone who may have been trying to copy their little friend that was in the brig.
Brannagh was shocked to see that it was Ana that had caught her.
"I'm sorry about earlier, I passed judgment and I shouldn't have" she said, a look of guilt in her eyes. Brannagh looked at her, seeing the truth in her words, she gave her a small smile and signaled for her to follow her into the store room. Once inside she pulled out two bottles of rum and handed one to the other woman. Both of them took a seat on one of the crates and looked down at their drinks.
"It's my fault too, I didn't really try to strike up conversation or anything" Brannagh said to the woman across from her.
"No, it's me, it was all me. I thought that you were some weakling that we would have to drag everywhere. But after seeing what you did to Brown and seeing you stand up to the captain like that, I see that you are the complete opposite. And I'm sorry for stereotyping you like that. I promise that it will never happen again."
"Apology accepted, and its okay about the whole standing up to the captain thing, he won't mind, we go back years. This whole thing will be forgotten about before dinner. Although I did mean what I said about taking care of that creep meself"
Ana saw the dark look on Brannaghs face and decided to change their conversation topic. "Well let's start again shall we, Hello, my name is Ana Maria" she declared, offering her hand.
"Hello Ana, I'm Brannagh, it is a pleasure to meet you" Bran replied with a fake posh London accent, while accepting her new friends outstretched hand. Ana laughed and shook her hand before turning back to her rum and taking a swig.
"So how long have you known the captain exactly?" Ana asked, curious about her new found friend, she peered over at her and took in the black hair, slightly tanned skin and vibrant green eyes.
"All our lives really, I grew up with the bugger, he's grand really once you get to know him. We got up to all kinds of mischief. I'm surprised we weren't kicked out of the place"
Ana laughed, she couldn't imagine a young Jack Sparrow, and when ever she tried, she just saw a five year old with a bandana and tonnes of trinkets. And Ana highly doubted that he had had dreadlocks at the age of five. This woman, Brannagh, must have a lot of dirt on him, some of which, she could probably use to her advantage, but she could tell that Brannagh was loyal, maybe if she got a few rums in her, she might speak.
"Well then," she smiled at Bran, "Here's to history" she toasted, before knocking back some more rum.
Jack was getting worried now, he knew that Brannagh had been serious when she had made her threat and he hadn't seen her for hours. He put Cotton in charge of the helm and decided to go and look for her, heading down the steps from the helm and going below deck. He heard cheering and went to follow it. It seemed to be coming from one of the store rooms so he walked over to it and pushed the door open to find half of his crew cheering on someone that was in the middle of the crowd. He began to push the men aside to find out who was causing all the men to cheer so loudly. Since it was night, he didn't mind as much as he would have if it were day time when all the men were supposed to be up on deck going about their chores.
He finally reached the middle of the crowd to see Brannagh chugging back a bottle of rum, Ana coaxing her into finishing.
"Oi, what do you all think you're playing at!" he roared at the crew, silencing them all, "Well, what are you waiting for, get going you dogs!" The men ran out of the room as fast as they could, handing each other money from their bets as they went.
Ana was the only one who remained in the room, a stubborn look on her face, "You too" Jack barked, waving towards the door, an annoyed look on his face.
Once Ana had left, Jack turned around to see a tipsy Bran, she was swaying on her feet and looked about ready to fall over at any time. Jack walked over to her and put his arm around her waist, trying to support her as he led her out of the room, back towards his cabin.
"Jackie" she drawled, as he led her inside and tried to close the door without letting go of her. She hadn't called him that in years, it was a bit strange to hear it from her again after all this time, but seeing as she was drunk he may as well play along.
"Yes Bran-Bran? What is it?" he asked, as he lay her down on the bed, trying to remove her boots as she lay back and stared at the ceiling, her hands reached out in front her like a baby in a crib.
"I'm sorry"
"Why… what did you do? You better not have killed that cur in me brig" he warned.
"No…I'm sorry for being such a cow. And I didn't hurt that cur, but I want to, I promised Ma that I would"
"What are you talking about. Do you know him?" Jack asked curiously, covering the drunken woman with the emerald green blankets.
"No, I don't. But I promised my mother that I wouldn't let a man try to touch me like that and get away with it."
"Well I doubt he will be getting away with it, seeing as he is in the brig, and you did almost break the poor buggers arm off, not to mention the split lip"
"I promised her Jackie, and I always keep my promises" she whispered as she tried to snuggle up closer to him as he sat beside her on the bed.
"I know darlin' , I know…I still don't get why you didn't run that time I broke the window though"
"You needed me to be there, so I stayed" she whispered finally. Jacks eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What is she on about, he thought as he looked down at her to find her fast asleep.
I bet Ana has something to do with this, I bet Bran probably drank half of me friggin supply while she was at it.
Brannagh groaned in pain as she rolled over, her head throbbing from all of the alcohol she had consumed the night before. The light streaming into the room was making her eyes burn so she quickly closed them and rolled over again, her back to the windows and tossing a pillow over her head. She heard the cabin door open but didn't move, it was probably Jack and he, of all people, should know the pain of a hangover.
She heard him chuckle and felt the bed as it sank on one side, obviously meaning that he was sitting on it.
"Here luv, I knew you'd be needing this, from what I hear, you drank quiet a bit" he said to her, as she began to remove the pillow and looked up to see him handing her a mug.
"What is it?"
"Don't worry, just drink it. You'll feel better. I should know"
She took it from him, if he was anyone else she would have either refused or continued to pester them until they told her what was in the mug, but seeing as it was Jack she knocked it back.
He watched her intently as she knocked back the contents of the mug as if it were water and tried not to laugh when she began to choke.
"Coffee" she spluttered, "This is coffee"
"Course it is, what did you think you'd be getting, more rum?" Jack retorted sarcastically.
"That would be nice actually" Brannagh shot back, sticking out her tongue at him.
"Oh you are so mature" Jack said, keeping up with the sarcasm.
"I know! And you are so normal" Bran snapped, picking up on his mood.
"Yes I know I am. After all I am the infamous, intellectual, dashing Captain Jack Sparrow ain't I luv?"
Brannagh rolled her eyes at him, "No, you're the idiot that set fire to the shed by the inn". Jack couldn't help but pull a face at that statement. It hadn't been his fault, he wasn't the one that had put all of that hay there in the first place.
"Hey, that wasn't my doing and you know it"
"Really? Keep telling yourself that"
"Oi, I'm being serious"
"Pfft, yeah" the hung-over woman scoffed, "You're as serious as Hairy Harry at the pub on a Friday night"
"Alright that's it" Jack said, exasperated, and grabbing the nearest pillow, he whacked Brannagh over the head with it, causing her to yelp in surprise and pain.
"Jesus Sparrow, Not the head!" she cried, grabbing her own pillow and hitting him with it as compensation.
"You were asking for it and you know it"
Brannagh just stuck her tongue out at him again and hit him with the pillow. And so the pillow war raged on. Jack noticed how they were acting like a bunch of children again, everyone knew him as odd, but mature...well perhaps mature wasn't the best word to use per say, but he was definitely known to not act like a child. But with Bran he was young again, he had pillow fights with her and bickered, as she stuck out her tongue and let out nonsensical comebacks and remarks. It was as if they were children again and the past fifteen years had never happened. They had their own world together and he wasn't an important pirate captain, just as she hadn't been found in a brig for pick-pocketing. They had their own world that best friends had, with inside jokes and code words. It was as if they were sneaking away from their lessons again and were trying to steal an apple at the nearby market for lunch.
In no time, the cabin was covered in down feathers and the pillows were in tatters, both adults collapsing on the floor and sitting with their backs against the bed trying to catch their breath.
"Bugger" they said in unison, looking at each other and laughing.
"Sorry Jack"
Jack rolled his eyes at her, "And what should you be sorry about this time luv?"
"Sorry about your pillows, I'd say that I would pay for new ones but seeing as I was locked up for stealing, I'm obviously broke, I'm sure that you can afford it though, an intellectual bloke like ye"
"Oh so I'm smart now am I?"
"Nah, you're intellectual, not smart"
"And what would the difference be there luv?" he asked, watching her as she got up and tried to shake some of the feathers from her raven black hair.
"Well" she began, edging closer towards the door with a mischievous grin on her face, "Smart is brainy, intellectual is thinking and acting as if you are brainy, when you're really not" she said, before running quickly out the door, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts and millions of feathers. It took him a minute to decipher her words.
"Oi!"
"I hope he wasn't too angry, I bet he is blaming me for everything. I'll admit that I was sort of handing you the drink, I'm sorry if I got a bit carried away. It's just that we've never had anyone who has the amount of dirt on Jack Sparrow that you do. I bet you've even seen him cry" Ana said, as she stood next to Brannagh on deck, tying down ropes and going about her chores. Bran had decided to permanently take up the job as a swabber and was currently cleaning a spot near Ana for the past fifteen minutes while she spoke to her friend and tried to look as if she were doing something, any more scrubbing and she was sure that she would seeing her reflection in the wood.
"It's okay, I understand, trust me if I were in your position I would have done the exact same thing and I'm glad that you understand why I'm not saying anything. Jack's a good friend you know and I wouldn't want to betray him or anything, especially after the mutiny, well that and the fact that he has enough dirt to use against me as well" Brannagh replied, a smirk on her face.
"At least you're not angry with me, you're so much better than the last girl I had to sail with" Ana shuddered, "She was a bit too perfect and then ordered everyone around as if she had been sailing all her life, at one stage I pointed a gun at her and tried to hand her over to Barbossa but it didn't really work out"
"When was this?"
"Oh, ages ago, back when Jack went to get the Pearl back after the mutiny"
"You mean the run in with that cursed gold on Isla de Muerta?"
"Aye, how'd you know?"
"Oh, I've done me homework, people talk at the taverns, especially when they're drunk. I did my homework and listened to everyone as they traded stories that they had heard about Jack. I didn't want to be kept out of the loop, Jack is an old friend and I was curious to know about what he was getting up to. The thing is, Jack Sparrow may not always go looking for trouble but trouble always comes looking for Jack Sparrow."
"So what was it like, growing up in Shipwreck Cove I mean, what's it like actually living there as a child. What're the people like, did you meet Jacks family?"
"The place is big enough, you should see the island itself …its big enough to hide if you are running from anyone else that lives there, I suppose. And as for the family bit, of course I bloody met them. Who hasn't met his da?"
"So what were you doing before you were thrown into that brig? You have yet to explain"
Brannagh stopped what she was doing and looked up at Ana, "Well, I hadn't found a job yet and needed the money, so I was pick pocketing and selling things on the black market. I was picked up in Boston. And was stuck in that brig until you lot came along and took me out of that shit hole"
"So what were ye doing in Boston?"
"Just traveling, wandering from place to place"
"So where have you been so far?"
"I don't know really, many places. I've yet to see a few places though" Brannagh replied, going back to swabbing.
"Where would you like to go next?"
"Erm…I've always wanted to see Morocco and Sicily. And Turkey, I hear that's meant to be nice. I'd like to see more of the New World though. Actually, I have yet to see Italy, I was only there for a night once when I was on the run, but I never got to actually explore the place"
"Someone certainly gets around" Ana laughed, Bran smirked and went to poke Ana with the mop, soaking her with water. Both of them began laughing at one another until they got a call from the helm. "Oi, you two, knock it off!"
Brannagh merely rolled her eyes at the sound of Jacks voice but stopped what she was doing anyway. She decided to take a break and left the mop and bucket by the railing before heading up to the helm to pester Jack for a bit.
"So, you never did tell me, what was I sorry about? This morning you said that I was sorry again, what did you mean by that?" she asked, taking her usual place at the railing, overlooking the ship with her back to the crew and her body facing the ships captain. She was thankful that she had found a brown bandana to keep the hair from her eyes, seeing as the wind was strong today and she didn't feel like having to be pulling her hair from her eyes.
"Last night, you said something about promising something to yer mum, was all"
"What?" Brannagh whispered, her eyes widening. Oh God, what else did I say to him last night, she thought worriedly.
"Something about, not allowing a man to hurt you, or something or other. You weren't making much sense luv"
Brannagh mentally scoffed at the thought of a drunken Brannagh not making sense to the great Jack Sparrow who was always drunk and never made sense himself.
"I don't know what I was saying. I must have really been plastered." Was all she could say, she hated lying to him but she was planning on telling him the truth soon enough. It was just hard for her. What had happened, had ruined her life and not only hers but that of her family as well. She knew that he would understand but…ugh, why did things have to be so damn complicated?
"I better get back to work" she said, turning to leave.
"Wait!"
Brannagh turned around to face her new captain again, "Yes?"
"Who put you on swabbing duty?"
Brannagh gave him a cheeky grin, "I did, of course" giving him a look as if it were obvious. She turned around again and walked down the steps, going back to her mop and bucket, not noticing the smirk on Jacks face.
Brannagh had tried to think about anything but her conversation with Jack. She was terrified that she had let something slip, was he getting suspicious now?
She sighed in frustration as she scrubbed the plate in her hands.
Why did she have to get drunk? Especially after what had happened in this very room? It was stupid, stupid stupid stupid, she thought to herself, hitting her head off of the wooden cupboard above her.
Dinner had been quite an event. The crew had gone on about how amazed they were at how she was able to hold her drink. They couldn't believe that she had still been standing at the end of the night. Ana was a bit quiet during dinner, still feeling a little guilty but Brannagh had managed to cheer her up saying that if it weren't for Ana, the crew wouldn't be so taken with her, even Pintel was complementing the woman.
Jack hadn't been at dinner, he was always a picky eater anyway so she knew that he would come down to the galley in his own time.
Brannagh was currently in the middle of doing the dishes, trying to take her mind off of today, besides she doubted that anyone else would do it, the thought making her nose wrinkle in disgust, a rare occurrence for her. What was she going to do? Thank God she didn't talk in her sleep; she would definitely be in trouble then. Then again she was known to have sleep walked before.
"What's going on?" came a voice from the doorway, a voice which was easily recognized.
Brannagh didn't turn around as she heard Jack walk towards her, his trinkets clinking off of one another and his boots making noise against the wooden floor. She didn't say anything either, as he placed both his hands on her shoulders and forced her to turn around and look at him.
"Look, I know that you don't want to talk about why you left, and I ain't gonna push you. But what is up with you today?"
Brannagh didn't know that to say as she stared at her shoes, unable to meet his eyes. They used to be so close. She felt a hand under her chin, lifting up her face to look at him and she couldn't help but stare back. He hadn't done anything. Neither had she for that matter, but he didn't deserve this.
"Come on Bran, we used to tell each other everything, it's not like we had a fight and refused to see each other again" Jack coaxed, trying not to wince as he remembered thinking about how he never wanted to see her again that day fifteen years ago.
"I've just been thinking about the past. And I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to tell you what was going on. I was scared, we all were" Brannagh said, trying to hold back tears but feeling her eyes well up. "You shouldn't have to be putting up with this, I'm so sorry"
"Will ye do me a favor luv?" he asked gently, his eyes warm. She nodded and watched as he smirked down at her, "Stop apologizing"
Brannagh looked up at him confused.
"You apologized twice this morning and you were even pissed out of yer head, give it a rest, I know that you don't mean harm to anyone…'cept maybe that bloke in the brig"
Brannagh couldn't help but giggle when he said that, her hands going to her mouth as she did so, but it didn't last and before long she was crying. Jack couldn't stop himself pull her into a hug when she did that. What had happened to her all those years ago? And what was she hiding, he thought, as she sobbed into his chest.
Et Voila!
There you have it! The chapter you were all waiting for. And you know what is a great way of thanking the author? *Whispers* 'It's reviews. PRESS THE BUTTON PLEASE! Or I'll take Jacks rum and blame you ;)
Capt. Skitz xxx
