A/N: So, I'm a little disappointed that this fic didn't make so much of a splash. I had people asking me for this and voting in a poll to say they wanted it, but matbe now you're not reading it? I don't know. Either way, I'm going to keep writing, for myself, and for those lovely peops that left such kind reviews. A little encouragement is always of the good, so thanx for that :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 2

It was early morning, the sun was but a glimmer swimming on the edge of the ocean far in the distance, when Annabella slipped from her bed in silence. She would have to be quiet and careful, but this was the perfect time to make her escape, she knew. A ship did not sail itself and some of the crew were always awake and alert, minding the helm and keeping the Pearl straight and true on her latest voyage. Still, first light was changeover in shifts, and so a perfect time to steal away was before that moment.

The crewmen that had worked all night would be tired and ready for their beds, whilst those due to take-over would still be slumbering, dreaming of gold and rum and women. Not a soul would notice Annabella's escape, she would see to that, as she pulled on her clothes quickly and quietly. Binding her hair up in a tight knot, she hid it under her hat. Better not to draw attention to herself as a girl when she was already trying to hide she was on the run.

Slipping out of the door, Annabella peered out on to the deck, looking left and then right in the relative darkness. The lamps shone dimly, the candles almost spent, and the light of day creeping up to take over from them. Snoring pirates lay above and below, on the deck itself or in their hammocks. In light almost ballet steps, Annabella slid by, around past the helm she ducked, trying not to snigger at the sight of the man practically asleep at the wheel.

Poor old Gibbs. He was so determined to keep on going, to keep pace with the other men that were half his age and less. He did it admirably well, and Annabella was proud enough to be allowed to think of him as part of her family in a strange way, but at such an hour, she was hardly surprised to find his concentration or even his consciousness waning. It was only lucky really that they were in clear water, where no harm could befall them when his attention was lost.

Annabella was considering this so much, giggling softly into her hand, she was unaware of the fact she was no longer quite as alone and unseen as she ought to be. The moment she turned around, she ploughed quite literally headlong into Ragetti and Pintel coming the other way!

"What are you doing out here at such a time, young Bella?" the first asked her, wooden eye swivelling of its own accord as it so often did.

"Something wrong, poppet?" his mate added, finding it just as strange for the girl to be loitering about on the deck so early and alone.

There was a long awkward moment when Annabella floundered for an answer. She really had not thought about what to do if caught in her endeavours, so sure was she that it would not occur. Of course, it was somewhat advantageous that the two men who had discovered her were this pair in particular. Of all the pirates aboard ship, they were two of the kindest to her, and yet at the same time had to be the most lacking in brains. She might actually be able to turn their interference to her advantage, Annabella soon realised, as she faked a sigh.

"My father has me running errands already" she said, all wide eyed and apparently sad, "I suppose it is my punishment for my insubordinate behaviour" she huffed, like it was all such a hardship just being her - not really a stretch for the girl who so often complained of such things lately anyway.

"Anything we can help with?" Ragetti offered with a grin that was lacking a few teeth.

Bless them both, they looked so eager to be of assistance to the Captain's daughter, she almost felt bad for duping them. Still, needs must and she could not fail in her endeavour to get off the ship unnoticed. As it was, Bella realised she was wasting far too much time. Come sun up there would be a shift change and her family would wake. All would be lost and trying again tomorrow would be all the more difficult. If she was caught a second time, it would never be so easy to get out of.

Besides which, no position would ever be better than the one she found herself in this morning. Annabella was not stupid, far from it, and she had done her calculations. As they were currently sailing, this morning afforded her the very best chance to escape from under the noses of her parents, brother, and crew. They were almost in a perfectly central line between two islands, therefore, when it was discovered that she was gone, there would be no real way to guess which direction she had headed in, which island she might land on. By the time they figured it out, she could be gone again, miles away by land and sea. Yes, she had it all meticulously planned, and even this little mishap now seemed to be working out just fine.

"Yes, indeed" she told the crew-men, "If you would not mind at all" she feigned innocence and sweetness both, "The Captain requires the dinghy to be packed with supplies and lowered down" she explained, going on to tell them what needed to be loaded onto the small boat before its deployment.

Pintel and Ragetti listened intently and then shared a befuddled look. It bothered Annabella that they would question her or just not believe her, but then she was sure whatever they thought or said she ought to be able to talk her way out of it. As previously noted, neither man was the sharpest crab in the net.

"But... At this time?" checked Pintel.

"Seems a bit strange" added Ragetti with a frown, scratching his stubbly chin.

"It was an order!" Annabella snapped, as loud as she dare given the circumstances.

As it was Gibbs stirred a little at the helm, but thankfully was drifting again after just a moments pause. Sometimes she was entirely grateful that her father's crew could not be entirely relied upon to do their duty, whilst others would respond favourably to her own sharp tone. Whether it was fear of her, or fear of disobeying their Captain (again!) really didn't matter to Annabella. Pintel and Ragetti were now doing as she asked, rushing to gather the food and such that she had listed off before. This was perhaps even better than she'd planned. Honestly, she had been contemplating how best to go about her mission, getting the boat and the supplies all off-loaded before anyone noticed. A little help was certainly agreeable, and Pintel and Ragetti were only too quick to assist when she made a point of it.

In no time at all, the dinghy was all packed up with everything she would need and the men were lowering it down into the sea below. Annabella smiled widely and proudly at them, before suddenly gasping.

"Oh no!" she declared, "We completely forgot the parrot"

Pintel and Ragetti looked to her then as if she had grown a second head, but Annabella did not flinch.

"Father wishes to take parrot with him on his venture" she continued, "Between you and me" she whispered, "I think he hopes to lose it on the journey"

Immediately the words were spoken the two pirates rushed off in opposite directions to find the troublesome bird. Most aboard would be happy to see the back of the wretched thing, Pintel in particular, since it did have a fondness for his wooden eye on occasion.

In their absence, Annabella made haste, shimmying down the guide ropes to the dinghy below and seating herself comfortable. With her hat firmly placed on her head, she took up the oars, threw aside the ropes that bound her to her home and pulled away for all she was worth.

Under cover of near-darkness still and in the direction she was headed, Annabella estimated that she would be far and away, out of sight, before she was missed. The chances were good that even when Pintel and Ragetti realised she were gone it would take a good while to raise the alarm and by then she could easily be out of view.

Unbeknownst to Annabella, the two hapless pirates were proving her right. Returning to the spot where they had left her, feathers all over them, Pintel and Ragetti came to declare they just could not catch the infernal parrot. Indeed they found her gone, the dinghy too, and both went into a panic.

Their arguing over what to do next had Gibbs awake in no time at all, and this time he was not so quick to drop off again.

"What is all this noise?" he asked them, as if scolding two naughty children.

He immediately called for Cotton to take the helm a while, crossing over to where Pintel and Ragetti stood, and pulling the squabbling pair apart.

"What has the two of you in such a lather?" he asked them, "You want to wake up the Cap'n and his Lady? Or the young ones?" he checked crossly.

"We won't wake Annabella" said Pintel, looking guilty, at which Gibbs frowned hard, "Tell him then" he said to his friend, elbowing him in the back.

"You tell him" he countered, feeling sick.

"Why don't you both be telling me" Gibbs suggested with a nasty gleam in his eyes, "before I fetch Jack out here, sword in hand, and let him cut the truth outta ya?"


"Hmm, good morning" said Elizabeth as she stirred from sleep to the delightful feeling of her husband's lips on her skin.

"Good morning to you too, luv" he greeted her, kissing her smile, "Though tis barely morning yet, and much could be done before anyone chooses to stir from their beds" he told her, with a look that made his intentions entirely clear.

"Jack!" she giggled girlishly, despite the fact it was some years now since she had become a woman in all senses, "I never do grow tired of waking up this way" she declared then, melting into a moment of passion with her man.

They were allowed only a minute or two of pleasure before a rapping on the door interrupted.

"Go away!" the Captain told them, barely sparing the door a glance before he returned to his plans of making love to his wife.

Unfortunately, it seemed those that would bang on the door were not to be deterred and before long Elizabeth was squirming out from underneath him.

"Nobody would be making such a fuss if it wasn't an urgent matter" she insisted as she got to her feet and threw a blanket from the bed around her body.

"I was having my own urgent matter" Jack muttered as he got himself off the bed and pulled on his trousers, the moment apparently well and truly lost.

The moment the door to the cabin was pulled open, Pintel, Ragetti, and Gibbs all practically fell in on top of Elizabeth who reeled back with surprise, asking what in Heaven's name was going on.

"Begging your pardon, ma'am" Gibbs apologised, looking oddly nervous as well as flustered, "We, er... we might've misplaced something rather valuable to ya" he said awkwardly, at which point Jack appeared at his wife's shoulder, looking worried.

"The rum?" he checked immediately, his prorities as skewed as ever they had been, though Elizabeth had long since learnt to deal with it.

"What's going on?" asked John as he appeared from the other cabin, rubbing his eyes.

There was a horrible sinking feeling in Elizabeth's chest then as she had a terrifying thought. The door to her daughter's room was still firmly shut, but there was no way she could sleep through all this commotion, she never had done before. She always wanted to know what was going on, to be in the thick of the action, a little more than her mother was really comfortable with in fact.

"Where is Annabella?" she asked then, looking from one man to the other gathered around her.

"We didn't know she was going to run away!" Pintel announced suddenly, slamming his hand over his mouth the moment Jack glared his way.

That particular expression on the Captain's face never led to anything good.


Far away across the dark water, Annabella had circled around the back of the ship and rowed for all she was worth til she was far from the ship she had grown up upon. There was every chance her parents had risen from their beds by now, probably woken by panicking pirates and much ado was most likely taking place upon the decks of the Pearl.

Annabella loved that ship, as well as her family and crew, there was no question about that, but she needed this adventure. She needed to prove she could survive alone a while, just as her parents had done so many years ago. It seemed unfair in the extreme to Annabella that both her mother and father had been out on the high seas at barely more than her age, without their own families to take care of them, and yet she was all but bound and gagged aboard her home. Not anymore, she thought to herself, as she let the oars drop a moment, her arms and shoulders screaming from the sudden exertion of so much rowing.

At this point, she was very slightly closer to the land than the ship. At this range and in the gloom, she would most likely not be spotted for a while, and by the time her father focused his telescope upon the spot in which she sat now, she could be long gone. Annabella smiled as she watched the sun rise a little more, casting golden light across the water before and beyond her.

"I am Annabella Sparrow" she said to herself, repositioning her tricorn upon her head and grinning widely, "I shall have my freedom and my own adventures, come hell or high water!" she declared, as she picked up her oars once again and continued to row towards land, not realising quite what distress she had left behind, and in this moment, not caring either.

To Be Continued...