Disclaimer: I still only own Christine and Anne. Still no word from Disney about giving me the rights to the franchise.

Author's Note: Flashback chapter two! Stick with me on this, folks. There's going to be a point behind all this. Eventually. I promise.

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Caribbean Tales

Book I—Curse of the Black Pearl

Chapter Three: Secrets Revealed and Truth Lost

I froze as I stared at the captain. How long had he been there? What had he heard? Oh, God…the panic I had been holding back before came sweeping over me in a wave. No…nonononono…I didn't want to be sent now…

"'Cause if I am interruptin', I can always jus'…go…"

It was almost impossible to not see the amusement in Sparrow's eyes as he looked from my father to me and back again. Apparently so did my father, as he turned deadly pale, resting a hand on my shoulder and gripping it as tightly as he could. It hurt, but I wasn't about to complain about it right now. After all…this was my fault more than anyone else's. Damn it. I didn't want to face him now, but I had no choice now.

"No, Jack," my father said quietly. "Ye migh' as well know."

"Oh, might I?" Sparrow asked with enough sarcasm for me to suddenly feel an irrational dislike directed at him. "An' what might I be coming to be knowing, William?"

My father looked down at me as I stared at the captain pointedly, my hands clenched into fists. The air seemed to crackle as we all looked at one another, but I wasn't about to let either man know that they were getting to me.

"This…is m'daughter, Christine," he said slowly, keeping me close. "My oldes' child."

I watched the captain closely, trying to judge his reaction. There was surprise, of course. Which was followed by amusement and…I couldn't really tell what else it was that crossed over his face. All I really knew was that suddenly I was blushing as my father pulled off my hat, revealing my still uneven hair that was now somewhere around my shoulders. I would have to cut it again soon, but I had not had the time or privacy to do so before now, so I had been forced to hide my hair in my hat.

I ducked my head so that the captain couldn't see my face and sighed heavily. Sadly, that also meant that I could not see Sparrow's face and guess what he would decide to do about me now.

"Well, William," he said after a long moment of silence. "I will say this…she's done good work so far. The cook swears by her. I'd hate ta see her go. And given where we are located at this point, it would be quite impossible ta send her back in the first place."

Such a good point. Hope swelled up inside of my chest as I looked up at Sparrow. If he could convince my father to let me stay, I would never be able to thank him enough. I tried to not look too pleading or pathetic, but I couldn't be sure if I was succeeding.

My father did not seem to be of the same mind as Sparrow, though. "Jack, she can' stay here. She has ta go home."

"We're in the middle of the ocean, William," Sparrow retorted. "It isn' as though we can stick her on the firs' British ship we see."

"She's standin' righ' here!" I protested. "Please, Papa! I wanna stay…jus' a li'l longer…" I looked up at my father with my eyes wide and pleading. "Please…"

There was a long pause as my father and Sparrow stared one another down, as though mentally arguing over where I should go in the end. I didn't want to leave. They had both heard me say as much, and now my fate was in their hands. Well…technically it was in Sparrow's. He was captain here, and so he had the final say. The sudden thought took hold of me and I clung to it as though it would save my life. I had to stay on this ship. I didn't completely understand why I did, but something about it just called to me in such a way that I couldn't leave.

It felt like an eternity before my father finally spoke. "Fine. Bu' the minute we're near a por' an' I feel she has ta go, she is gone."

I felt so relieved that I almost sank to the floor as I looked from my father to the captain and back again. Sparrow nodded his understanding and held out a hand to my father.

"An' the fact tha' she's yers—an' a she—never leaves this cargo hold," he said with a smirk.

Closing my eyes in relief, I nodded and hastily tucked my hair under my hat. "Thank ye, cap'n…" I said quietly.

"An' she's not bunkin' wi' the res' of the crew anymore," my father added fiercely, his eyes almost glowing.

"William," Sparrow said slowly, as though trying to carefully explain something to a child, "there isn't room fer her ta go somewhere else. I would pu' her anywhere else if I could, y'know tha'."

My heart sank. I hated being surrounded by all the crew and trying to hide my gender from them. I might not be able to keep it up for much longer at this rate. My father had a point that I had to go somewhere else.

"Find a way," my father said firmly.

The captain's eyes danced with mischief, and I could almost see the various smart remarks that he was tempted to use in response to my father's demand. In response my cheeks flushed a brilliant scarlet. This seemed to only encourage the captain, it seemed, as he smirked even more, winking at me conspiratorially.

"Ye have my word, William," he said with a nod. "Now…Christopher has some work ta get back ta."

Right…we were back to my lie. I continued tucking my hair into my hat and nodded, rushing away from the two grown men. That was far too nerve wracking. Closing my eyes tightly, I grabbed what the cook had sent me for and once more rushed past my father and Jack. I threw myself into the rest of the day, trying to ignore the growing desire to simply collapse from nerves. I didn't allow myself to do that until I finally made it to my bunk. Then I curled up tight and tried to disappear into the woodwork of the ship.

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The Dauntless was an enormous ship. I discovered this by trying to keep track of my brother on it over the next several weeks that we were there. Keeping track of a twelve-year-old boy is never an easy task, as I knew from experience, but it was even more difficult to keep an eye on him on a large ship like this one. Thankfully I had two allies on the ship, not counting little Anne. The kind Mr. Gibbs and Lieutenant Norrington promised me that they would help me to keep an eye on my brother, but even then it wasn't quite enough.

I was protective of Will, and I realized this. I'd spent two years teaching and raising him after our mother's death, so it was natural that I would be protective. But he was also twelve, and old enough to know when to walk away from situations that could be potentially bad for him. And yet, I clung to the idea that he was a child that needed my protection and for me to shield him from the world. It was so hard for me to let him go like this.

All the same, it did help me to not have to watch over Will every waking moment. I needed the silence and the peace, as I had so much to think about right now.

I was attracted to Lieutenant Norrington. No one could blame me for that much. After all, he was a handsome man who had saved my life. At the very least, he had given the orders that led to my life being saved. I was grateful, naturally, and so I wanted to express that gratitude somehow. I just didn't know how to do so.

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Jack Sparrow was a man of his word. Not only did he arrange for me to have my own space, but he made it so that my father would be there as well, making it less suspicious that the lowly cabin boy got an entire cabin—a tiny one, but still a cabin—all to himself. It was a relief to be able to be myself and not Christopher Sawyer when I went to go to bed. Especially after long days where I was on my hands and knees scrubbing the decks until my fingers bled. Such had been the case today.

Groaning as I sat in the cabin that was now mine, I winced and tried to wash the blood off of my hands without causing too much more pain. That did not work as well as I had hoped it would. Tears of pain were burning their way down my cheeks by the time I had cleaned off my hands, and I curled up on my bunk with tiny whimpering sounds. I didn't notice my father coming in until I felt his hand on my shoulder. Looking up pitifully, I smiled weakly.

"Papa…I suppose this is when you say that you warned me…" I muttered darkly, curling up tighter on the bed. "But, please don'…"

"I promise I won'," he said, gently stroking my hair and sitting down beside me. "Actually…I wanted ta say happy birthday."

…Oh…I had almost forgotten that my birthday was coming when I signed up to become a member of the crew of The Black Pearl. And now it was here…I was fifteen now, and yet I still felt like an exhausted fourteen-year-old whose hands were still bleeding. Groaning as I forced myself to sit up, I began attempting to bandage my hands. It wasn't easy, as the fingers on both of my hands were unyielding and I couldn't quite hold onto the bandages.

"Here, le' me," my father said gently, slowly wrapping the bandages around my fingers and palms. "Sorry," he apologized when I winced at his touch.

"No…it's fine," I lied, clearly not convincing anyone. "My birthday…"

I hadn't thought of this. Mama and Will must be so worried about me at this point. I'd been gone for almost three months, and now it was my birthday and they still hadn't heard anything from me. What if they thought I was dead, or worse? Oh…I really hadn't thought through any of this when I made the choice to follow my father.

"Don' worry 'bout yer mother," my father said with a wry smile, almost as though he could read my thoughts. "I wrote ta her as soon as I foun' out 'bout ye bein' here an' sent it when we stopped tha' merchan' ship tha' gave us the supplies."

Sometimes I wished that my father wasn't so good at reading me. Smiling wryly at him, I looked down at my now-bandaged fingers and felt the tears of pain building up again. It hurt me so much…but it would be worth the pain, I supposed. I wouldn't give up now just because my fingers were hurting.

"M'sorry…" I muttered slightly. "But…thanks, Dad. She was probably panickin' 'bout me bein' gone."

"Probably," my father agreed, his tone bleak. "Bu' there's no changin' what's been done. An'…it's yer birthday. Let's no' talk 'bout tha' now."

With a nod, I moved to snuggle against my father. I hadn't really had much of a chance to spend time with my father since he had discovered my secret. I had also been avoiding the captain like the plague. Now that he knew that I was a girl, my infatuation with him would be so much easier for him to discover. That was the last thing I wanted right now. I wanted time to overcome it before I could face him. Just thinking about it made me flush a brilliant red, that I hoped my father couldn't notice.

"I s'pose a gift woul' be too much ta hope fer righ' now…" I said weakly, smiling up at my father.

He smiled back at me, stroking my hair, which had continued to grow out and lost some of its uneven look. "Actually…" he said slowly, reaching into a pocket and pulling out something wrapped in a kerchief. "Happy birthday, luv."

I was honestly surprised by this. We were in the middle of the ocean. How did he manage to get me a gift like this? Well…taking the kerchief in my hand, I gasped in amazement at what I found. Somehow my father had found me a gold locket, with intricate etchings of flowers and vines all along it. When I opened it, I saw an old image of my mother and father together. Tears filled my eyes as I smiled at my father.

"I…Papa, thank ye!" I whispered, truly touched. "Where did ye…?"

"It was yer mother's," he explained. "I gave it ta her when I firs' me' her. She said that I shoul' give it ta ye when I though' ye were old 'nough fer it."

Oh…now I felt even worse about leaving my mother and brother behind. I didn't want her to think that I wasn't worthy of her trust, or that I wasn't mature. I only hoped that when I did return home—whenever that was—that she forgave me. Blinking back the tears in my eyes, I smiled weakly.

"Er…mind helpin' me put this on?" I asked, indicating my bandaged and stiff fingers.

"'Course, luv."

Lifting up my hair out of the way, I felt my father clasp the locket around my neck and smiled to myself. I wouldn't be able to show it to anyone, but I didn't care at this point. In a way, this was a gift from my mother more than from my father, and I was going to cherish it no matter what.

"It looks lovely," my father told me with a smile. "Go on an' ge' some rum."

That surprised me. My father had never allowed me to touch the rum on the ship. It was as though he was afraid that I would get drunk and reveal my secret. I wasn't that insane. Apparently my father was willing to forego his usual protective nature for this one day. Grinning broadly, I jumped to my feet and kissed my father on the cheek, tucking the locket under my shirt as I left the cabin.

The cook nodded to me as I snatched a bottle of rum, winking conspiratorially with an amused smile. Thankfully, he didn't try to ask me to do anything in the kitchen. I assumed that was because he saw how stiff my fingers were. At least, I hoped that was why. Once I had the bottle in hand, I made my way to the main mast and began climbing up to the crow's nest. It took a bit of creativity, and quite a bit of pain for my hands, but I finally managed to get up there. No one else was there, so I took off my hat and settled down so that no one could see me over the top of the crow's nest.

Having my hair free again was a relief. Especially since it had grown out to almost its original length, making it uncomfortable to keep it tucked into my hat all day. I was seriously considering re-cutting my hair, but I never could bring myself to do so. My hair was the one thing that I thought of as pretty about myself, and at the moment with how I was hiding my gender from the world, it was all I had left of my femininity. Whatever femininity I ever had, that is.

Smiling to myself, I wrestled with the cork of the bottle, I winced in pain for a moment before I managed to take a drink. The alcohol burned its way down my throat, making me cough wildly for a moment. I blinked rapidly as the burning sensation brought tears to my eyes and coughed again. The flavor left a little something to be desired, but it wasn't…bad, necessarily. Pausing for a moment, I slowly took another drink and smiled when it didn't burn as much as before. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as I had thought it was…

"Permission ta come aboard, lass?" I heard Sparrow's voice ask quietly.

Jumping a little in surprise and nearly spilling my rum, I scooted over to the edge of the crow's nest and looked over the side. It was the captain, I noticed to my great relief. Smiling weakly, I nodded to him.

"'Course, cap'n," I said quietly, scooting back over to where I had been before, sipping at the rum again. Coughing again, I made a slight face at him. "How d'ye enjoy this so much?" I demanded.

"Practice, luv," Sparrow said with a smirk. "I've been drinkin' it fer years."

I blushed a little at being called "luv". He'd taken to calling me that whenever it was just the two of us, or whenever my father was with us. It was…endearing, and embarrassing all at once. Why did he keep doing that to me? Making me blush and…honestly.

"So basically I have ta keep this up until I'm always drunk like ye?"

"Oi! I am no' always drunk," Sparrow protested with a smirk. "I jus' act like it."

Laughing a little, I took another sip and nodded to myself. It seemed that I was getting used to the taste now. It also didn't burn so much going down. That was a bonus. I almost didn't notice the slight buzzing in the back of my brain as I sipped at the rum, glancing over at the captain.

"Now. Why'd yer dad let ye finally get a taste of the rum?" he asked with an arch of his eyebrow.

Another blush crossed my cheeks. "It's…my birthday," I mumbled.

"Ah-ha!" he said with great wisdom. "Well, many happy wishes, lass," he toasted, saluting me with his bottle of rum.

"Thanks," I muttered, still bright red. "It's no' importan'…"

"'Course no'," he replied. "An' how old are ye now?"

"Fifteen," I shrugged. "It feels like I haven' been here long 'nough ta be tha' age."

He considered me fore a moment and then nodded slowly. "I can understan' tha'. Well…all the same," he said with a smile. "Congratulations."

We were both silent for a long time, not quite looking at one another and slowly sipping at our rum. Finally, after what felt like hours of companionable silence between the two of us, Jack rose to his feet and sighed.

"I'll have ta say good by fer now, luv," he said with a smile. "Happy birthday again."

"Thanks, cap'n," I said with a nod.

There was a pause as Jack looked at me closely. My face turned bright red again and I ducked my head shyly. Then I felt his lips pressed against the top of my head and my face was on fire. Why had he…? I looked up at him in surprise as he made his way down to the deck. What had just happened?