Author's Note: Ahoy, readers! Wow... took a long time to update, didn't I? No matter... this one is pretty long; I hope you like it. I ask you again to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review, anything helps. It gives me something to work with in future chapters. Thank you again. Oh yeah, two new characters in here. Enjoy!


9 months passed very slowly for the young pirate captain. No one really was in need of any severe pillaging for more than half a year, and it bewildered Jack. What was becoming of this world, where ships didn't feel like they really needed to be pirated at all times of the year? He was almost 32 years old in a few months, yet he felt he was approaching what one phrased a "mid-life crisis" from such longing to do wild, adventurous things. Very few ships passed through the Caribbean in that time, probably because the season didn't allow much to trade. And, people generally didn't like to venture out on to the seas for travel, again, due to the season. Jack had periods of restlessness and listlessness as he scoured the horizon for the black splotch of some innocent ship hoping to pass by unnoticed by the bored crew. Apparently a few other pirate ships felt the same. They found one, called the Siren, who seemed friendly enough that they anchored to trade and talk and crag of recent victories. The Siren went her way the next morning, and the Black Pearl soldiered on another. Another pirate ship glided up a few weeks later, this one not as friendly. The crew of the Selkie was an aggravated and hot-headed bunch, bored out of their wits and longing for a fight. They fired on the Pearl's starboard side as soon as they got close enough. The Pearl joyfully obliged to responding by this call for battle. They didn't need Jack's orders of all hands on deck to scurry to their places and fire their dust-gathering ammunition. They fired first on the starboard side of the Selkie, then after a few blows they just fried at will. The Black Pearl was swiftly approaching- she a marvelous reputation for that. Only an extremely bored and/or idiotic pirate dared to pick a fight with the Black Pearl from a distance in hopes of escaping from getting punished for it. But these people wanted a fight, so the Pearl spread her black wings and flew rapidly towards them. Jack could now see the faces of the pirates on the other ship, looking as mean and red-faced as ever. They yargh-ed and arrr-ed for a moment, brandishing their weapons and showing off their fearsome faces while the hands prepared the ropes and planks to board the other ships, dodging cannons and shots. Then, a group of pirates swung over from the Selkie, and commenced in fighting with the crew of the Pearl. Enlivened and aroused from their joy of the acquittal of their boredom, the crew was no longer sluggish, but fought with vigor. Jack included. He shot and stabbed what seemed like twenty ugly men, arrrr-ing and yargh-ing zealously himself. Oh, the life of a pirate! How he relished it.

One man ran towards him, failing his sword madly; Jack ducked and caught him with his sword under the man's raised arm. Another came from behind him, and Jack swung round and fired his pistol at him before the other man could slice him in half. Two men, swinging over to the Pearl at the same time, drawing their knives simultaneously and shouting their war-cries- perhaps they were brothers- landed in front of Jack, brandishing their blades. Jack pulled the sword from a man's hand lying on the ground, and brandished his two blades as well. Metal clashed against metal, the vibrations of the jagged edges of the two blades against each other ran up and down Jack's spine and made him hyper. It was two against one, and any other pirate might call for help, but not Jack Sparrow. He expertly danced across the ship, jumping over wounded bodies and shipping his sword through the air till it ran into the other men's swords, thinking out his tactics for his next hit as a professional fencer would. That was the thing that Jack took pride in. His skills in sword-fighting were rather professional as well as spectacularly swashbuckling. Robin Hood couldn't have done better. Or won a bigger number of breathless ladies watching quicker. The two brothers lashed out, their blades almost parallel, planning on wiping out any means of Jack moving out of the way as they sliced off his head together. Jack ducked quickly, his blade whipping out and running a deep path across both of the men's stomachs. They doubled over, groaning at the same time. Jack turned, to find a man with a cigarette squashed between two yellow rows of teeth, his right eye squinted shut with a pistol in his hand. Jack chuckled, whipping out his pistol and firing at the man before he could react. Kicking another pistol lying abandoned on the ground with his boot, he caught it in his free hand and fired randomly at random people running and/or walking calmly around whistling. If Jack were set about 100 years in the future in the western region of America, on could've compared to him as a cowboy in the middle of a shootout at that moment, hooting and laughing roughly. He would've shot many more men having just as much fun had someone not knocked him on the back of his head, causing him to fall on his face and black out.

He was awoken a little later by Bootstraps, shaking him awake and dousing him with a bit of sea water.

"Whhrrathappehggbyy?" Jack sat up, rubbing his head as he came to

"Cap'n," Bootstraps said, smiling, "Cap'n, we won! We seized the ship!"

"Oh," Jack said, blinking his eyes several times for his vision to focus, "Well… that's good. I mean, I wouldn't expect less! Yes! Because we're the best pirate crew on this ruddy ocean! Yes… um… so… oh yes, where's the crew?"

"The bow, captain. We've got 'em all tied up."

"Very good. Um… yes. So… I'm going up to look, now."

"Aye-aye, cap'n."

Jack strode up to the crowd of his jeering crew at the crew all sitting, tied up near the mast. "Settle down, gents!" Jack barked. The crew's cries died down eventually. They were still too hyper to be completely obedient now.

"Where's the captain of the Selkie?" Jack called, looking around. That man looked like him. He was a big man: dark hair, a huge neck, and an angry purple face.

"Right here, Captain." The captain was pushed forward. Jack leaned forward. This one wasn't as big as the other one; in fact he wasn't big at all. He had a giant array of curly red hair, and as Jack looked down towards the knees, he breathed in sharply in surprise. Those weren't man-thighs! The captain lifted her face, and Jack's suspicion was confirmed. He stepped back with a conceited smirk.

"'Ello again, Jack." She gave him a sneering smile.

"Nice seein' ye again too, Rose." Jack smirked back.

She looked about the same as when Jack last saw here, not a few months ago, in fact. Maybe a year or so. Right before that freakish Bernice accident. (Or was it Beatrice? Betty?) Rose had wild hair, as red as a scorching fire. And she had a temper to match it. She was constantly setting off on something, getting touchy then lunging at her new opponent with some random weapon. She had pretty Irish eyes like sparkling emeralds, and a smile as untamed as the grassy rolling hills she came from. Her voice was unimaginably Irish and brassy, especially when she was yelling at him. She was also admirably well-built with hips like enormous giant waves and breasts like two mountains of Ireland in juxtaposition, not to mention lean long legs wrapped up in leather boots much like his. She was well-known for her skills with a sword, but she had a pretty nice shot as well. When that didn't work out, Rose simply kicked her opponent right in the groin, Jack knew this from unfortunate experience. They had quite a few adventures together; Jack and she were enemies at first. She was a stowaway on the ship he worked on as a boy, but he didn't like to talk about that. Then, in his first few years as a pirate, they met again on the same ship, fighting alongside as temporary friends. When Jack became a captain, he found Rose clinging to a drifting piece of wood, the ship she was on had sunk. He rescued her, ad brought her aboard. She worked under him for a bit, begrudgingly at first, but eventually developed feelings for him, as all women do when they've been around Jack for too long. He wooed her, and they commenced in a passionate love affair. But, alas, they were both wild creatures of the sea, and not meant for settling down. Jack loved his mistress the ocean more then Rose, although the difference between his loves was pretty narrow in comparison with his love for her. So one day, after a fight about his true love for her, Jack found Rose with another sailor on his ship, a Pole named Schmitz. He was a generally sweet man, hard worker, but not too smart- and especially not as clever as Rose. Jack found her sitting on Schmitz's lap- facing him- unbuttoning his shirt as she planted passionate kisses on his neck. The infuriated Jack dragged her outside onto the deck, demanding her motives from her in a yelling voice. The crew turned from their stations to watch while they worked. Most of them suspected this would happen. Rose yelled back at him- her cheeks as red as her hair- that if he couldn't commit entirely to her, she had the right to go philander with any man she fancied. Jack growled at her that she wouldn't do that on his ship. Rose argued that she very well could. It went on like that for quite a while, and the crew's ears began to ache eventually. When the couple was hoarse and so angry with each other that they couldn't speak, they stormed to opposite ends of the ship and didn't see each other until the next day. Jack had a talk with Schmitz, who protested that Rose was only doing it to make Jack jealous, she had it written all over her face, and she talked of him the way a woman does when she wants a man to notice her. He said he would've objected to her actions, but Jack broke in at that moment. Schmitz, in order to prove his point, pulled out a picture of a young blonde-haired girl with a cheerful smile, saying that he had his heart set on her. Jack, feeling unceremoniously judicious at that moment, decided to forgive Schmitz, concluding that he was too valuable of a sailor to let go. They made their way to a port nearby, it was English. Jack figured this jealous thing Rose had going on would die down eventually. But when he found Rose the next day acting overly friendly than normal to random men, distracting them form their work, he lost his patience. He quickly walked over to her, the Black Pearl coming up to the docks slowly, and confronted her. She turned to him with cold, hateful eyes. Jack gave her a sneer with a nod of his head, and threw her overboard. Rose toppled into the shallow water, screaming angrily. Jack paused to make sure her head came up above the surface, before turning and ordering Barbossa to turn round and head north by northwest. Barbossa looked at him as if he were mad, but Jack simply yelled some more. The confused crew obeyed sullenly. Jack, for as long as they could remember, was the best pirate captain anyone had seen on the high seas; but when he got tangled up in love he was the worst possible fool to ever step aboard a ship. The Black Pearl left Rose soaked to the bone, screeching curses into the wind on the dock as passerby stopped to stare at the spectacle. Jack hadn't seen her since.

Jack remembered all this as he stared at his old girlfriend, sneering coldly back at him.

"So…" Jack said, regaining his voice, "You're a captain now?"

"Aye," Rose's smirk was filled with conceited pride, "All agree I pirate a ship far better than any man."

"Which explains why we sacked everyone on your ship in… let's see… less than an hour." Jack replied coolly.

All of his crew laughed. Even a few of the men from the Selkie chuckled to themselves, despite their situation. Rose's proud smirk withered, reduced to a broken glare.

"You're really full of it, Sparrow." She growled.

"You're really full of it, Captain Sparrow, if ye please."

"Release me. You've had your fun. Now let us go if ye be a man," she paused. "Oh, wait. Never mind about the man part. Just let us go, if ye please, little Jack."

It was the crew of the Selkie's turn to laugh now. Barbossa snickered, but was received a death glare and remained silent.

Jack turned back to Rose. "I'm afraid we can't do that, lass. We're going to take yer crew prisoners."

"What will become of our ship?"

"Don't worry, we'll bring it along for safekeeping. You can trust us to take good care of it, right gents?"

A cheer and more laughter. Rose looked around, quivering.

"You can't do that. It's in the Code."

"Technically, we're not stealing your ship. The Code says if a crew has been taken hostage, the pirate crew in question has the right to seize the ship or leave it behind. If ye were a real pirate captain, ye'd really know the Code."

Snorts and snickers of laughter. Murmurs about women being good for only one thing. A death glare cold as ice quickly diminished these remarks. Rose turned back, and spat at him. The crew of the Selkie jeered and arrrr-ed at Jack, egging him to do something vicious. They knew their captain would conquer him in five minutes or less, it would be entertaining.

The scene was interrupted by Bootstraps, who came running up with a bundle and a few scrolls of paper protruding from his big arms. "Captain!" he called, "Captain, we found another one on the ship!"

Jack glanced over at him. "Well, why isn't 'e tied up with the rest?"

"It's a she." Bootstraps handed the bundle to him. Jack uncovered the blanket wrapped around it, to find two wide emerald eyes staring back at him.

"A… a baby?" Jack sputtered.

"Yours, actually," Rose commented from her binds, "Little bugger does nothing but cry. 'Er name is Erin."

Jack stared in horror at the child blinking up at him. She played with a shiny cufflink on his jacket, cackling gleefully. "Take 'em below," Jack ordered. The crew of the Black Pearl pulled the crew of the Selkie to their feet, pushing them down into the hold. Jack grabbed Rose by the shoulders, looking into her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me you bore a child?" he demanded.

Rose looked back at him with cold, unblinking, hurt eyes, and said barely above a whisper, "Honestly, Jack, would you have cared?"

Jack stared at her for a moment, before letting her go. Hobbes grabbed her and gently- because she was a woman- but firmly pushed her to below deck where her crew sat tied up in a cage below. Rose continued to glare at him as her curly red head disappeared into the hold. Jack stared after her indifferently; a serious, calloused look in his brown eyes: it was a look Captain Jack Sparrow didn't give people often. He reserved it only for special occasions, such as when someone close to him was threatening him and went too far, finding themselves soon regretting it. Such a look required utmost solemnity and graveness in the person who was forced to perform such an act that it would cause so much pain from someone so close, which is why Captain Jack- for all of his alleged malevolence and criminality- never gave this look often. He would find much later on in his life that he would give the same look to his first mate Barbossa, whom was at that moment boarding the Selkie to follow the Pearl, when he was forced to shoot him with a gun he had been carrying with only one shot for years.

Yet Captain Sparrow, as he gave orders to raise anchor and hoist sails and bid Barbossa and several other crew mates to follow his lead, despite his calloused stare and rival-like attitude towards the captain he had tied up, found himself strangely developing affections for his old lover. He hadn't seen in her in years, but now that he had laid eyes on her and found she (both physically and mentally) hadn't changed, he found the old feelings for her way back when found their way out again. Jack tried to dismiss these heated feelings; but they refused to leave. Little did he know that his recipient returned his affections mutually.

A few days passed. Jack, busy trying to keep up with two able ships, rarely had time to sneak a glimpse of Rose. He did see her though, when strolling down to see if everything was in order and no one was trying to break out. She stared at him from the bars of her confinement with that jealous look shed had given him while flirting with Schmitz. (Schmitz, by the way, finally decided not a few months before to go and marry his bonny love and settle down under a false name.) Behind those sparkling emeralds of eyes, he saw her want for him too.

"I trust you're having a lovely stay aboard our humble ship. We know ye aren't used to such circumstances, what with all of yer fine pirating and elegant ships and all." Jack grinned mischievously.

Rose chuckled hiding the bone she was using to pick the lock of her prison from him, and getting up and crossing over so that she was within two inches of his face. "Silly, silly Jack," she whispered, "You never will learn that you cannot keep wild things that you love in cages for very long."

Jack blinked at her, taken back. He looked around him after a while, clearing his throat and striding up to the deck. He couldn't let them see him weak like this. He couldn't let her see him weak like this.

So Jack didn't go down and see her again for another day. He didn't even bother to send down an extra ration for his baby daughter, cooped up with her mother down there. Jack would never admit it, but he felt somewhat guilty for doing this. It wasn't a very paternal thing to do. However, cuddling and cooing at babied wasn't exactly a pirate-captain thing to do either.

But he saw Rose shortly after that. That night, as he was settling in bed (sometimes he slept, sometimes he would steer the ship into the night under the stars), he heard a creaking in the dresser in the corner. Jack glanced up, and drew his sword. Shirtless, he was off guard, but he had another weapon nearby. As Jack slowly pulled open the door, he wasn't surprised to find Rose crouching there, green eyes full of mischief and… lust, perhaps?

He opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped when Rose advanced, locking her arms around him quickly and pressing her lips on his passionately. Jack complied to her want, locking his strong arms about hers and hoisting her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He had been without her for so long, so long, she looked so beautiful, her breasts were so perfect, her hips fit in perfectly, her hair tangled deliciously up his dirty fingers, her gasps of pleasure so satisfying as he tugged hastily at her blouse. Rose was here. Rose was now. It was the only thing that crossed his mind: Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose! Rose is the only woman in the world. Rose is perfect. Rose wants me. I want Rose. Rose. Rose…

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Meanwhile, across the dark depths of the Caribbean Sea, a young French girl-woman sang lullabies to a child she did not birth, dreaming of far away places and familiar brown eyes.

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The ship creaked peacefully in the Caribbean morning, as Jack awoke to the scent of the sea and red hair caressing his bearded face. For one moment, he stared at the smooth, bare back of his lover, the ripples and rolling hills of her body hidden demurely under a sheet, and felt at peace: everything in life was right and justified and innocent. But then, just for a moment, as he glanced from Rose's shoulders to her beautiful jawbones, he laid eyes upon her neck. Quickly, only for a second, another face flashed before his eyes, and he felt culpable. Jack sighed. Why did he feel so culpable so often? He was a bloody pirate, for heaven's sake. Pirates are tough, rough, and do not care for babies. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for the job, because he never thought doing something so villainous would require so much heaving and sighing and feeling sorry for oneself after one had committed yet another wrong deed. Sleeping with Rose was very wrong indeed. Firstly, she might turn on him any moment and cut off his… arms… holding him captive and gaining back her ship. Second, she had betrayed him, and he never felt for women who betray him- except lust. Was that all he had been feeling? Lust? He supposed so. Barbossa was going to be sulky again; he always got moody when Jack brought relations into his career, because the rest of the crew had to put up with it. Sometimes Jack wondered if Barbossa would ever reach a breaking point, and betray him or something. No, he would never do that. Barbossa was all talk, that's all. There was a fourth thing too… yes… he was already married! Oh, well, when had that ever stopped him? Still, he did feel that terribly annoying guilt as he lay there in bed, tangled up in the arms of another woman, thinking about the poor lass at home singing lullabies to another one of his mistakes. Why was he running into so many of his children lately? Oh, the baby! He had forgotten, as usual.

"Where…" Jack started, "Where's Erin?"

Rose turned over, and sighed. "How should I know. Probably back in the hold somewhere, with the crew. She's terribly annoying, just like 'er dad," she smiled, and kissed his nose.

Jack heard shouts above him on the deck, rising from the sheets to listen. Oh, Lord, what was it this time?

"Captain!" Barbossa shouted, "Captain!"

"Jack?" Rose sat up in the covers, "Jack, what is it?"

Jack hurriedly scrambled out of bed, grabbing his pants and shirt and putting them on hastily. "What?" he shouted.

"Captain," Barbossa opened the door, panting, "They've gone! They've broken out… they're on the Selkie!"

"Then where's-" Jack dashed up the stairs to the deck, staring in disappointment at what was behind him. Not the Selkie, not his great conquest, but the Caribbean sea- smirking back at him with as it gently creaked the ship, almost telling him see, you knew it was coming.

Rose peeked her head out of the captain's quarters, wrapped in the sheet, and gasped at the disappearance of her ship. "Oh, hang it all! The bloody scoundrels went off and left me!" she cursed, rather boorishly.

Jack grabbed her arm. "You let them go, didn't you." He growled.

Rose glared back at him fiercely. "Don't be daft, Jack. I didn't let them go. They must've used the bone I used to break out. God! Why did they go off and leave me?" she cursed a few more times. Jack pounded his head against the mast. God, why did lust have to be the one weakness of his that always screwed him up?

Barbossa jerked him back, fuming. "She broke out, and you let her sleep with you?" he cried angrily, flecks of spit flying every which way.

Jack tore away, dashing down to the hold to just check to see if anyone was still left. No. The cage door was left hanging open. Erin was still in the other cage, though, wailing. Jack cursed some more, hastily grabbing his daughter and handing her off to Bootstraps- he would know what to do. Bootstraps nodded, hurriedly taking the child off somewhere where she would be safe. He was a good man.

It was no use. The ship was out of sight. They could try to catch up with it and blow it to smithereens, but what was the use? They were bored, they had their fun, and now it was time to move on. Still, the blame was upon him. The crew looked at him with cold, calloused eyes- staring at him the stare he gave Rose not few days ago. It didn't make him feel... like he deserved the title of captain. He had let his wants get in the way of everything else- again- and the crew would make him pay for it. But not yet.

"The question is," he said wearily, later on in the day after he had gotten clothes on, "is whether or not we want to catch up with them again, or if we want to just go our own path again."

A great, stony silence weighed down the Black Pearl. No one spoke for a while. All eyes stared at him in solemn, condemning judgment. Jack sighed.

"Listen, I know it's my fault. I know I did wrong. I'm not perfect, gents. If anyone in here is in fact without any imperfections, please step forward."

No one did. Bootstraps volunteered something in the back. "It's not all a loss, captain. I… um… I managed to steal something from the ship." Jack looked up. The crew all turned to stare at him. Bootstraps twiddled his thumbs. "They hid their maps in the left-hand drawer of the captain's dresser. So… well, when I was over there, I thought that it wouldn't do that much harm to… well…"

"Well?" Jack demanded, his eyes bright.

"Steal of them. Treasure maps. Even the one leading to the island where they buried all their loot." Bootstraps shrugged. "I'm sure they won't mind."

Jack grinned as the crew began to laugh. "Bootstraps ol' mate, that was very ungallant of you indeed," Jack called.

Bootstraps shrugged again. "Pirate," he reminded everyone. The crew clapped him on the back.

"I suppose we can forgive ye this one time, Jack," Bootstraps rolled his eyes, "After all, who'd not give into lovely temptation like that? Ye are, after all, a man. Or supposed to be, anyway."

Jack ignored this jab at his manliness. He wasn't in the mood for arguing, he had just been forgiven out of one in one million chances. "Alright then, gents! Hoist sails and set course for Tortuga!"

The crew cheered, scrambling to their places. Jack gave Bootstraps a manly, grateful clap on the back.

"Yer a good man, Bootstraps," Jack said.

"Happy to be of service, cap'n," Bootstraps said, before climbing the ropes to his lookout position.

Rose stayed in his room all day. Jack didn't know what she could possibly be doing in there, but he thought he heard yelling of frustration coming from his bedroom a few times. He didn't see her all day, as he was busy regaining his authority by ordering everyone around in a very primarily-career-focused manner. He planned on telling Rose about everything that night. Who knows, maybe she would come back as part of the crew. But what would the crew think about that? They were not the sort to forgive Jack for the same mistake involving the same woman three times, as they rarely forgave at all. So Jack put the thought in the back of his head, and worked all day on the deck. That night he slept on the deck, propped up against the mast, snoring. No one on watch that night bothered to disturb him. He awoke early that morning, rather tense and sore, going downstairs while everyone was asleep to check on Rose. But when he searched the room, he found she wasn't there. Her clothes were gone, as well as one of his swords. Jack dashed to the deck, went to the kitchen, found some of the food gone that should have been there, dashed back up to the deck, and found one of the rowboats gone (there were two, one on each side). Then he knew- she had gone. Jack wasn't all that surprised, he somehow knew she was teaching him he couldn't keep wild things caged up forever. And as Jack stared out into the sea most of that morning, taking a good swig of rum and thinking deeply about what he should do now, the crew went on their way manning the ship as if it were any other day. The watches never bothered to tall him they had seen her go that night; they thought it best that she should go. The cook didn't even say anything about the missing rations, although Hobbes one time made a comment on the thinness of the soup a short time after. Jack stood there on his ship, thinking about the baby Rose had apparently left behind, for Bootstraps found her that morning sleeping peacefully where he left her. He sighed, looking out across the smirking Caribbean sea, feeling once again let down by someone. It wouldn't be fair to let Erin down by keeping her here.

He knew what he had to do.