Alice stormed into Jack's cabin and found him sitting at his desk, tied firmly to his ornate black chair. His face broke into a grin and Alice blew a stray hair away from her eyes.

"Hello, love." He said, "Care to untie me?"

Alice sighed and knelt beside his chair, quickly setting to loosening the ropes around his torso, "why did you see it fit to lock yourself in the cabin and leave me of all people to handle those dastardly creatures?"

Jack attempted a shrug, but had trouble moving in his bonds, "I would have been as useless as the rest of the crew, lass. You're the only one on this vessel able to withstand the mermaids' song, savvy?"

Alice realised his reasoning was rather sound and so huffed in response. Jack chuckled.

"No witty response that time, eh, Alice?"

"I don't have one prepared for this occasion, no. It isn't required for upper-class ladies to have any amount of wit; it caused my grandmother much grievance when I was younger. Luckily she managed to iron most of that cheek out of me some time ago." Alice pulled the final ropes off Jack's body and rose to her feet, "Feel free to stand, Captain."

The pirate opted not to stand and instead pulled Alice down onto his lap; she promptly let out a squeak and swatted his face, "Sparrow! What do you think you are doing? This is most improper."
She wriggled around slightly in a not-so-sincere attempt escape his grasp, this was enough for Jack to hold his hands beside his head, leaving Alice completely free to stand.

"I may be a pirate, but I'm not about to force you to stay if you don't want to, lass." He said, his voice dripping with tease. If Alice were to stand up and leave, he would have let her, but for some odd reason, the young woman found herself crossing her arms irritably, but remained perched upon his knee.

"Lass?" Jack asked and Alice turned to him, her lips pouted in an attempt to look unbothered, "you did hear me saying you could leave, hm?"

"Yes." Alice said firmly and Jack chuckled.

"Then why aren't you leaving?"

Alice blinked, why wasn't she leaving? She honestly wasn't entirely sure, she tried her best to classify the situation as nothing but friendly banter, but she couldn't ignore the possibility that maybe Sparrow was attempting to initiate something more…The young woman wasn't sure how she felt about that possibility, Jack was a rather…nice looking man? Perhaps, depending on the lighting and how recently he had bathed, but he was a pirate and Alice was engaged. All in all, she wasn't sure how to respond to Jack's question and so simply said:

"Because I find myself rather comfortable."

Jack cocked an eyebrow, "In my presence, or upon my knee?"

Alice turned beet-red and managed to stammer out, "uh, both, I suppose?"

Jack laughed and Alice found herself blowing more stray hairs from her eyes before Jack nudged her off his knee and onto the floor.

"Why did you do that?!" Alice exclaimed, she'd landed rather uncomfortably and hurt her upper leg somewhat, "you could have requested I get off if you were so desperate."

Jack didn't reply and instead began weaving his fingers through Alice's misbehaving hair. She let out a quiet "oh" and sat still, the pirate removed her tresses from the makeshift ribbon Anthony had given her and began to braid it.

"I've noticed it keeps getting in your eyes, love. Haven't you ever braided your own hair before either?"

Alice scoffed and crossed her arms, "I have, thank you very much. I'm simply used to having a variety of pins at my disposal instead of one dirty rag."

"You don't do very much by yourself, do you?" Jack asked and Alice sighed.

"I don't have to. Could we please change the subject?"

Alice could hear Jack shrug, "Don't need to, I've finished with your hair, you can leave."

The young woman fondled the braid now hanging over her shoulder, it was done very neatly and managed to capture most of her lose hairs alarmingly well. She quickly stood from the ground and turned to face Jack, his expression reeked of superiority. Alice wasn't sure what drove her to, but she placed a light peck on his cheek.

"Thank you, Captain Sparrow."

Then she awkwardly scurried from the room.

The young woman stood at the bow of the Black Pearl and gazed upon the rolling waves beneath her, the ocean breeze was blowing through her hair and a smile was set upon her lips. She could see land ahead.

"Land!" She cried, gesturing wildly to the landmass before them, "There's land!"

She could see sandy beaches and palm trees sprouting from the distant shore, the excitement bubbled inside her, her hazel eyes turned to the nearest pirate, who happened to be the one with the eyepatch.

"Master Ragetti?" She called, he spun to look at her, slightly uncomfortably, "do you know if we are to dock at this island?"

"Uh, I think so." He replied, scratching his head with one hand and squinting his eyes, "The Cap'n did say we was looking for some chalices soon."

Alice quickly remember the map and the chalices that appeared upon it, she grimaced, "I imagine they won't be easy to acquire."

Ragetti shrugged, "S'not going to be the worst thing we've been though."

Alice laughed, "It's certainly going to be the worst thing I've been through."

Suddenly the cabin doors flew open and Jack walked out, a confident smirk gracing his features. He was holding his compass in his right hand and the rolled up map in his left.

"Drop the anchor, lads! We make port here." He called in a commanding voice. Ragetti gave Alice an apologetic glance before running off to follow Jack's orders. Barbossa was standing on the middle of the deck looking more irritated by the second.

Jack sauntered up to Alice and slung an arm around her shoulders, she diligently shrugged it off, "How is the ex-captain fairing?" She asked, her growing concerns at the suspicious nature of Barbossa were growing worrisome.

The pirate ruffled Alice's hair, "I've got him under control, no need to worry, love."

"Alright…" Alice said uncertainly, it wasn't that she didn't have faith in Jack's abilities, it was just that Barbossa had an air of scheming about him that put Alice on edge.

Jack flicked his compass open and Alice managed a brief glimpse at the spinning needle before he snapped it shut again. Jack looked slightly
concerned for a second, but his grin came back once his eye's met Alice's, "Would you like to share a rowboat with me, love?"

Alice grimaced, "I thought we were done with rowboats."

Jack chuckled, "you could always swim if you prefer, Alice."

The young woman turned light pink, "I can't"

"You can't swim?" Jack asked, his lips curled up in a mischievous smile.

"Well, no." Alice began, while leaning against the ship's railing, "I'd never really seen the ocean prior to my engagement to Charles, my grandmother was very apprehensive about me being near the water, it was also far too cold to swim, not to mention how improper that would be."

Jack winked, "Guess I'll have to teach you then, lass. For now though, hop in the boat down there" he pointed to a rowboat bobbing just beside the Pearl, "I'll get the crew organised and get back to you."

Alice nodded and watched Jack walk away, a shameless smirk gracing her features. He became all the more appealing with every passing day. She shook away that thought quickly and headed towards the boat Jack had pointed out. There was a rope-ladder hanging down the side of the Black Pearl that Alice managed to climb down rather quickly, she was honestly rather impressed with herself. While she sat in the boat on her own, she couldn't help but wonder what Charles was up to, was he alright? She'd noticed that her guilt about leaving her grandmother and future husband was fading the longer she was on the Pearl and it was beginning to worry her, was she becoming a heartless pirate? The mere thought of it made her squeamish. Luckily her thoughts were interrupted by Jack landing in the boat with her, causing it to lurch rather uncomfortably.

"Hello again, love." The pirate said, with a smirk, "ready to set off then, eh?"

Alice smiled as Jack organised a pair of oars, "Ready as I'll ever be, Captain."

As they began making their way towards the island, Jack hummed some sort of shanty under his breath, Alice was unfamiliar with the tune, but she was suspicious that may have had something to do with the tone deaf nature of Jack's singing voice. Although he was rubbish at holding a tune, Alice couldn't help but smile, it was somewhat charming, in an odd way.

"Might I inquire as to where you learned that song?" She asked and Sparrow stopped singing rather abruptly.

"A lass named Elizabeth Swann, she must have been about your age last time I saw her. Although I suppose its Elizabeth Turner now."
Alice noticed that Sparrow spoke in a manner that was somehow both affectionate and malicious about this woman; she couldn't help but wonder under what circumstances it was the two had met. She didn't have it in her to pry though; it was against her better judgement.

"Well, it's a lovely song at any rate."

Jack scoffed, "I know I can't sing to save me life, lass. No need to pretend otherwise."

The young woman turned rather pink, "Yes, well, it wouldn't have been very proper of me to criticize you, Captain Sparrow."

"You're always going on about propriety, Alice. But I think you'll find that you were the one making advances towards me in my cabin earlier." Jack said with a raised eyebrow.

Alice chewed on her lower lip, remembering the strange feelings that possessed her to place a kiss on her Captain's cheek, "I was simply showing my thanks and would rather if we didn't address the topic further."

"Whatever you say, love." Jack said with a grin, "we'll reach land in another minute anyway and I'm sure we'll be able to find much more fascinating things to talk about there."