DISCLIAMER: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. I'll tell you now that I do own Jack Sparrow. Any ideas of my own I do own.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to thank those of who reviewed: TheJoker'sGotMyHeart and it really means a lot to me. :D Hope you like this next chapter! It was fun to write. Enjoy!

Previously on Unlocking the Past:

And then suddenly, wham! I hit something hard and solid. I groaned in pain and rolled over, my eyes shut tightly. I opened them and gasped, only to shut them right away. It had gotten suddenly bright out, the sun glaring at me. And it was more humid than usual. And was that … a rocking motion? I willed myself to open my eyes, squinting a bit from the light.

I looked around a bit more, to see a few men scrambling about in dirty clothes. I could hear someone yelling, calling out orders to them in a husky voice, his R's rolling and asking for rum. I sat up, and ran a hand through my thick hair. I was indeed on a boat.

Chapter Two

Dining with Pirates

"All hands on deck – Turner! Man the starboard, mate! We don't 'ave all day!" The words of the man with the husky, rough voice echoed in my head which only made it throb more painfully than it already was from my fall. I had to close my eye because the light was too bright. How much had I had to drink last night, and why did my house smell like sea water and body odor? Who had turned the heat up to a million degrees Celsius, and why was my bed rocking?!

There was the sound of people running around, like when you're watching a play and the characters are dancing on the stage? There were calls from others, one a woman's voice and the shriek of a monkey. What the hell? At this, I had to re-open my eyes.

The sun hit me like someone throwing a stone to my head. I had always been sensitive to light when getting a migraine and this was not helping at all. I squinted and tried to sit up, wanting to see where I was. I rubbed my eyes and was able to see more, not just the white light that was threatening to blind me. I looked around and could finally make out the whole scene: about thirty men were running around, with buckets of water and tossing them over the edge of the … boat? Oh yeah, ha ha, I was on a boat. Curse bloody Dave for singing that song.

I pushed myself out of the way and against a wall as a man with balding head ran past me.

"Watch out, Poppet," he said. I blinked. What had he called me? It seemed that he too had been taken by shock for some unknown reason because he stopped and turned around. "Poppet?" Poppet? What the hell had he smoked? My name was Veronica….

"Er…." I replied, my voice hoarse.

"Cap'n!" the man with the long, straggly white hair called. "Cap'n, where's Lizzie?" I followed his gaze to the front of the boat, or the forecastle as I had heard people in pirate movies call it. The man, presumably the captain by the looks and sounds of things, turned around.

I had to admit this man, whoever he was, was actually quite … handsome? He had long hair, most of it in dreadlocks and a few beads hanging from strands of his dark brown hair, maybe in his early twenties. I couldn't make out the rest of him, so I cannot go into full detail….

"OI! Pintel," the captain yelled. "And jus' what do you think yer doin'?" he asked, his voice slightly slurred. So I wasn't the only one who had been drinking? He stepped down from the Main Boom I believe it was called and stumbled a bit. I covered my mouth to hide my smirk and watched as he swaggered over to the man he had called Pintel.

"There's a lady, sir," Pintel said. The man with the dreadlocks raised an eyebrow.

"If yer referring to Miss Swann, I beg to differ," he said and gave him a look. Pintel shook his head and gestured toward me. I jumped and stood up right away, half-expecting him to grab me. He didn't, he just outstretched his arm.

"Behind me, sir," Pintel said. The captain bent sideways and inclined his head and bit until he saw me. He raised both of his eyebrows before bending back and back to his previous stature.

"And, uh, how did the young lady get here?" he asked. Pintel shrugged. Both men slowly turned and looked at me again. I busied myself with looking at my manicured nails, feeling their eyes on me. When I thought it would be safe to look up, they had both turned back around and the captain was giving out orders again to Pintel.

"Just … get the rest of this bloody water of the – my – ship." Pintel nodded and resumed running while carrying what looked to be two very heavy buckets. I supposed they'd be filled with the same water and seaweed that covered the deck now. The captain stayed there a moment, watching or making sure that he did what he was supposed to.

I weighed my options: I could either try to explain myself to this man and come off as a psychopath who claims they were from the … past or future (most likely the ladder), or try and find a way off of this ship. Yes, it was indeed a ship. I confirmed this as I looked around again, taking in the men who were running around with white, loose shirts that were stained with blood or dirt, the various cannons and the stench. I glanced up to see that the captain of the ship had turned around to look at me. I suddenly felt a bit self-conscious about the outfit I was wearing: a loose, hot pink shirt that was tighter at the waist and the black mini skirt and white leggings under it. I had disobeyed my mother's rule of "your fingers cannot be longer than the hem of the skirt." It barely covered my butt! I had accessorized with a silver chain and black ballet flats. Of course, I now wore the gold key necklace I had found in that chest.

I pulled at the hem of my skirt, and crossed my legs, still standing, and looked away from his intense gaze.

"Who are you?" he asked suddenly, taking a step forward. It didn't make me feel any better, but at least there was still a good space between us. I glanced up at him. I could see his face more clearly now. He wore dark eyeliner around his dark brown eyes (and if this was a few hundred years previous, he did a good job). He had a mustache and a goatee with a beard that he had put into two neat braids with gold and red beads at the end of one, and green and silver ones on the other. I could now see that his hair looked blacker than the chocolate brown I had mistaken it for, but it was not black at the same time. I'm going to settle for dark brown…. All in all, this man was incredibly sexy.

"Veronica Givens," I said in a quiet voice. I had never felt shy much in my life, but I really felt strange here. The man's mouth curled into a smile.

"Captain Jack Sparrow, m'lady!" he announced proudly. He bowed to me, gently took my hand and pressed his lips to it. I felt butterflies in my stomach and my cheeks get hot. He straightened up again, letting my hand drop to my side. "Welcome to the Black Pearl!" The what?!

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"The Black … Oh, don' yeh tell me yeh don' know who I is, too?" Bad grammar, much?

"Er, no…." I said. "Sir!" I added quickly. He was obviously expecting some sort of recognition, so maybe if I spoke to him like he was actually someone famous or important or something! The man sighed heavily.

"Well … I'm the captain of this ship," he said. "And how did you get here?" he asked. "Because last I checked, Lizzie was the only woman on this ship." I blinked.

"I, uh…." I wringed my hands nervously. I touched a necklace from a chest in my backyard, and was magically transported here. Nope, that would not work. Unless, this man was drunk enough….

"You….?" I sighed before saying,

"I was digging in my backyard with a friend of mine when I found this necklace." I pointed to the key which hung around my pale neck on its long chain. "I put it on, and … ended up here." To my surprise, Jeff, or whatever his name was, didn't laugh like I had thought he would. Instead, he frowned.

"You dug that chain up, you say?" he asked in all seriousness. I nodded. He pursed his lips and blew out his cheeks. He let out his breath, and shook his head before throwing his arms up in the air and saying quite loudly again, "welcome to the Black Pearl!" He tipped his hat to me and walked away. I stared after him.

"Mr. Gibbs," I heard him yell, "are you … man the starboard!" I heard a reply of "yes, cap'n!" I made my feet move and jogged after Jeff.

"Excuse me," I said. He ignored me and turned around to a scrawny man with tousled hair.

"Ragetti," he said. "Get me some rum." His arms were bent outward, and he swayed on the spot.

"Yes sir!" the man called Ragette said. He turned around and started to run, only to trip over a wooden crate and cry out "me eye!" The capuchin monkey I had heard earlier ran off with something that had fallen to the floor. That man's eye? Gross!

Jeff continued walking so I followed him. I forced myself not to reach out and tug on his puffy white fabric of his sleeves. He continued to walk along the deck, waving his arms about as he gave orders.

"Slacken the braces-" he started to say, but I interrupted him before he could carry on.

"Sir!" I yelled. He stopped and turned around, swaying on the spot from the speed of his movement.

"Eh," he said. "Yes?"

"Who are you and where the hell am I?!" He stared.

"I thought I told you who I was…." He looked taken aback.

"You did," I said, my voice quieter and not as firm. "I'm just … how do I get back?"

"Get back where?"

"To 2010!"

"2010?" he asked. "Darlin', you're in 1895." I stared at him. I had gone back in time? Well, I knew that, but not that far! He turned around again and muttered to himself, "rum, rum … get that – RUM!" A couple of people scurried about, until finally someone got him his bloody bottle of rum.

"Thank you, mate," he said to a chubby man. He uncorked the bottle and took a long swig.

"Excuse me," I said again.

"Oh, sorry, dearie. Where are me manners? Do you want some too?" he asked, turning around and holding out the bottle.

"No!" I shrieked. He frowned, shrugged and took another long drink. I sighed.

"So, do you know how I can get back?" I asked.

"No, sorry, sweet." He shook his head.

"Hey cap'n!" I heard a man's voice call. The same one who had lost his eye before came out. I noticed that he had one brown eye and the other one was blue. Only, the brown one looked more like a marble or something. He looked at me, a grin spreading across his face as he looked at Jeff. "Hey, who's this pretty thing?" I blushed and scolded myself for it. I tugged at the hem of my skirt again.

"Miss Veronica Givens," Jeff said, looking me over again. He grinned. "What are you wearin', darling'?"

"Er…."

"LIZZIE!" Who was this Lizzie? "Oh, ELIZABETH!" he called. Oh, so "Lizzie" was short for "Elizabeth."

A young woman came out, and I supposed she was around the same age as this Jeff – early to mid twenties. She had honey-blonde hair and was wearing dark blue slacks with a white shirt similar to Jeff's with a long, brown vest with a hat. Strange fashion, but they were pirates…

"Jack," she huffed. Jack! That was it! Not Jeff, geez I needed to get one of those CDs with the music that enhanced your memory on it. When I get back, of course.

"I will not respond to yelling in the future," she went on. "What do you want?" Jack grinned at her before airily waving his hand at me.

"Would you please get Miss Givens some proper clothes?" he asked. "I fear she is attracting too much attention." Well, yeah, if the looks I'm getting are the ones you just gave me, I thought as he looked at me shoes to the top of my head and back. I blushed scarlet. The lady called Elizabeth took in my appearance and frowned.

"Yes, yes," she said. "Come with me," she added, giving me a smile. I felt more comfortable knowing that I was indeed not the only woman here and that I would be in more … capable, sober hands. And I would soon me clothed….

The dark green, prom-like dress I was given to wear was not what I expected. It was tight at the top, but I had to admit from shirts and certain … pieces of underwear … I was used to the amount of cleavage it showed. I knew I would feel a bit better, but still uncomfortable from the many stares I would still attract. Thanks for pointing that out, Jack! Anyway, the rest of the torso was that of a corset, only not nearly as tight as one I had been made to wear in a play in year nine. The skirt of the dress fanned out, making my butt look bigger than it was and the torso and skirt were decorated with silver beads. Elizabeth had shown me to a full-length mirror and I took a good look at myself. The dress itself was gorgeous. It wasn't dark green, but emerald. Well, I suppose they're the same thing….

I hadn't noticed that my hair was damp from landing on the wet deck, but Elizabeth had taken care of that. She had taken a towel and dried my hair for me. It was still wet in some places, but I guess they didn't have electric hair dryers in this age…. Victorian Era I decided.

She put my hair up in a high pony-tail, some how curling it and making it wav with just a hair brush. She let some strands hang loose and made those wavy too. She then took the pony tail and yanked it ("sorry if this hurts," she had said) and clipped it so it gave it higher volume. I actually quite liked it. I felt like a princess though I knew I was far from it.

"How do you like it?" she asked when she was all finished. I turned to her and smiled my thanks.

"It's lovely," I said. Oh! I was beginning to talk like a Victorian Lady now, too? She smiled.

"I'm glad you like-"

"LIZZIE!"

"Bloody cod fish," she muttered. "Come, we better go and see what Jack wants." I nodded and followed her up the stairs, making sure I hitched up my dress a bit so I didn't tread on it. I was glad that it went with my ballet flats. But you couldn't really see them anyway.

"LIZ-" Jack started, but then he saw us. "Oh, you're here." He grinned toothily.

"Yes, Jack, so it would seem," Elizabeth said. I smirked at the reproving look he gave her. He shook his index finger at her.

"Now, now, Lizzie." His eyes caught me and he looked me over. "Much better, my dear, you look," he bent lower here, so he was closer to me and whispered in my ear, "ravishing." I blushed again. He was charming. But his breath smelled strongly of rum, which wasn't all bad, but it wasn't the best either. He straightened up again.

"Right! Shall we go and see if Marty's got dinner ready?" he asked. Dinner? They used formalities like dinner on a pirate ship?

"Well, everyone else is in the dining room," Elizabeth said as if he was daft. He grinned and motioned us to go back down the steps with his hands.

I had to admit that for a pirate ship, the dining room was exquisite. Everything was a dark colour, with the wood being that beautiful mahogany. The chairs had a chrisom red fabric on the part where you sat and the back of it, and it was dimly lit with candles. I supposed that this Marty was a good cook because the food smelled delicious! I looked around and I could see that the rest of the crew was sitting down; only Jack, Elizabeth and I were still standing.

"Alrigh' ye," Jack announced, walking around the table. He bumped into a chair and looked around quickly to see if anyone noticed before continuing on. "This here," he gestured to me, "is Miss Veronica Givens!" I smiled sheepishly at the many looks I received. Some of them were grinning, others looking thoroughly confused.

"Cap'n!" the man I remembered was called Pintel said. "How'd she get 'ere?"

"Veronica," Jack said, "was transported through time." Alright, was he making fun of me?! The whole crew went silent before erupting into laughter. I went a dark pink, I could feel it by my cheeks heated up.

I wanted to run from this room and … jump into that sea! I hated it here, and I'd only been here a total of an hour. I looked around at the men, but it seemed the more intelligent-looking ones weren't finding it funny at all. Jack wasn't laughing. In fact, he look outraged.

"Alrigh' yeh mangy dogs," he said, "I want yeh to all stop laughing and look at me!" they did so. "Miss Givens claims to have found this necklace and been sent here from … what was it, 2010?" I nodded as he reached over and lifted the necklace from my chest. I inhaled in the slightest, feeling a bit nervous from his close proximity. He glanced at me and dropped the necklace before swaggering over to his seat at the end of the table. Elizabeth seemed to get the point that everyone was to sit down.

"You'll have to sit beside Jack." She smiled at me and gestured to a chair beside Jack. I nodded and walked over to it and pulled it out, sitting myself down. I glanced around nervously. I was still attracting stares. Did I have something on my face? Maybe I had a rip in my dress! Oh, I'm being ridiculous!

Soon a tiny, short little fellow came out and served everyone. Jack thanked him, calling him Marty. Oh well, him I liked! He didn't stare at me like everyone else!

"You can eat, yeh know," Jack said, looking at me. I blinked. What time was it anyway? I glanced out the window and saw that it was dark out, the stars twinkling. Well at least I was still in the same time zone.

"Oh," I said, nodding idly. "Er … it's not poisoned, is it?" He frowned and the corners of his mouth turned downwards.

"No, dearie," he said. "It is in my … books … to not poison anyone's food." He smiled proudly. "Now just eat it." I looked back at the food on my plate. It looked delicious! It really did! The mashed potatoes were mashed to perfection with gravy running down them like water on a mountain, the peas and carrots were mixed together like my grandma did on Thanks Giving, Christmas and Easter. There was the stuffing from the turkey as well. I must have been hungry to describe it like that….

I picked up my fork and hesitated before I took some potatoes and put it in my mouth. They melted when they touched my tongue and the yummy gravy made me crave more. Despite my want to just dig in and eat as much as I could in the shortest amount of time, I ate daintily like Elizabeth. She wasn't eating like the rest of the crew who were talking loudly and stuffing their faces full. Even Jack seemed to eat properly which made me wonder if he had been a pirate all his life.

"So, Veronica," Jack said to me. I swallowed and looked at him. "This 2010 place you speak of … what's it like?" Oh boy. How was I supposed to explain it all to him? There were TVs, cars, computers – the whole works! Nothing like what they had in 1895. I smiled at him, thinking of the best way to start/

"Well … It's a lot different from now," I said. At this, he waved his hands to silence everyone. They did so, becoming quiet and looking at me. I looked down and folded my hands in my lap. This was awkward. "For one, they don't have ships like these anymore."

"Preposterous!" Jack exclaimed. "Sorry," he said, "go on."

"Like I said, they don't have ships so you can get to places faster…."

"What do they 'ave instead of ships?" a man at the other end asked. I looked over to see that he too wore a hat. He had a dark, curly beard with hair to match. His voice was deep and gravelly, and he seemed to have a permanent frown on his face.

"Er, cars," I said.

"What did she say?" he asked, looking to anyone for an answer. Pintel and Ragette shrugged and both mumbled, "I dunno."

"I said 'cars,'" I replied more clearly than the first time. He nodded, but it was evident he didn't understand what I was saying. They probably thought I was from another planet! Well … things change in different eras so I guess you could say I was.

"And what are these cars? What do they do?" the same man asked.

"They take you places…. I'm not sure exactly how they work – people in certain jobs know more about them." I paused and thought back to my History class. What did they use to get around back then? Carriages, right! "They're like carriages, only they're not pulled by horses." They nodded.

"Do you sleep?" Jack asked. I couldn't help the amused smile that crossed my face at this. Did I sleep? That was funny…. I didn't actually sleep very well at all – I was always waking up at the least little noise. I was a very light sleeper.

"Yes," I said. "Every night. But with some people, they have to work at night time so they sleep during the day. Not all the time, though." They nodded. Perhaps that happened here, too? Maybe with the doctors and such.

"What about bathing? You bath?" Elizabeth asked. I went to answer, but Jack interrupted me.

"Ignore her. She's obsessed with hygiene." I grinned and nodded to her disregarding what Jack had said.

"Yes, we do. It's considered very … strange if you don't." Jack looked away as did most of the crew, apart from Elizabeth, Will and a few others.

So the night went on, and I basically lectured them the whole time about the differences between my time and theirs. It was a long and tiring topic to discuss. Even the more intelligent ones like Elizabeth and Will didn't understand. Well, I couldn't blame them. I'd lived with these customs for my whole life and I still didn't understand half of it. Jack found it all interesting, but he was seriously against the cars. He announced that he didn't know a better way to travel than by ship. Clearly, his brain was waterlogged.

After dinner, Elizabeth was to show me around the ship. I didn't fully understand why Jack was going out of his way to make me feel comfortable – I had told him I wanted to be out of here as soon as I could. He said that he really didn't think that'd be in the "near future" as he didn't know much about the necklace.

So once I had seen most of the ship, Elizabeth showed me to a spare cabin they had. It consisted of a bed and a set of drawers I could keep the five dresses and two other outfits she had given me in. She also gave me a spare night gown she had and that she'd talk to Jack about taking a detour to a town for some shopping. I thanked them all, but I felt bad at the same time. They were being nice and I was really starting to like Elizabeth, but I knew that I would be gone as soon as I got the chance.

I sighed to myself and I closed the door to my cabin and shrugged off my dress, letting it drop to the floor. I stepped out of it and put on the long white, lacy night gown Elizabeth had given me. It was really comfy and light, which I liked about it. My PJs had to be loose! I walked over to the window and sighed. I was at sea; surrounded by a whole bunch of people I didn't know. I missed my family more than I ever had and was beginning to feel homesick. I couldn't imagine what Dave was doing right now or what he had done when I had passed out. But the strange thing to me was the fact that I had left my body where I had been, just lying on the ground. Maybe this was all a weird dream! I pinched myself to check, and gasped as a pain shot up my arm. So maybe this was real. I still had to get back. I knew this as I climbed into bed, pulling the covers over me. They were nice … for a pirate ship. I closed my eyes and soon drifted off into dream land…. But I still had to get back.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, I hope you liked it! I know it was a bit longer than the last one but that's what I was going for! Thanks for reading, I'll update as soon as I can, and please review! It'd mean a lot! If you have any constructive criticism or suggestions, you can email me at ! Love you all! And thanks again!

~ Moldy Voldy.