The Pirates Household

Jack picked through the carton of Chinese food, finally finding a peice of shrimp and attempting to grasp it between the two chopsticks. A frown appeared on his face as it kept evading him over and over. The frown was soon followed by a sworn oath. Elizabeth sighed and leaned over the table.

"Here, Jack. Let me show you how to do it." She said. "I've had enough practice with those sticks after long nights at the office."

"I'll do it all by me onesies, savvy?" He told her and went back to jabbing the sticks in the box, muttering about cursed shrimp and not understanding why people used sticks to eat in the first place. Elizabeth sat back down in her seat and picked up her carton again.

Barbossa watched the struggling pirate captain. "You're useless, Jack." The doll finally drawled as Jack managed to get half a noodle in his mouth. The pirate stared at the doll in contempt before sucking the rest of the noodle into his mouth.

"I'm not a doll, am I?" He said sweetly, flashing a grin at Barbossa before attempting to pick up the shrimp again.

"Cheap shot."

"Pirate."

Anamaria shook her head as she flipped the page on the paper and folded it up, handing it to Bill. He took it from her and opened to the commentary page, stuffing nearly half an egg roll in his mouth as he did so. Gibbs finished his food and set the carton aside put the bookmark in his book. Silence fell heavily over the table.

"We're rather not talkative when everyone isn't here, aren't we?" Anamaria said. "We're only missing Norrington and Will, but we seem less talkative than usual."

"Just got nothing to talk about." Jack said with a shrug. His tongue stuck out of his mouth slightly as he finally managed to get a good grip on the shrimp with the chopsticks. He carefully lifted it from the box. In his haste to get it into his mouth, the chopsticks slipped position and the shrimp became a missile, plunking Anamaria right in the forehead.

There was a moment of silence as Anamaria picked up the peice of shrimp. Jack stayed frozen in place, except for his eyes which remained on the shrimp. Ana looked at the food, then back to Jack.

"Would you like this back?"

"I would very much like it back." Jack responded carefully. "And I'm sorry?" He really wasn't sorry, but if it got him his beloved shrimp back, he could say the words. Ana smirked and whistled. A moment later, Whelp came bounding into the kitchen. "No!" The dog sat by Ana's chair, ears perked and tail wagging. She held it up above the dog between two fingers. Jack dropped the box on the table and lunged across it, snatching the shrimp as it fell and shoving it into his mouth. Whelp snapped at empty air and then looked confused as he realized he hadn't caught any food at all. His ears drooped and he whimpered, looking as if he'd been kicked.

"Jack, you got poor Whelp's hopes up. Without Will home to sneak him human food, he's had to finish his kibble." Elizabeth said, reaching over and scratching the dog behind the ear.

Jack sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he chewed the shrimp and swallowed. "Too bad. It was my food." He said. "And I don't feel bad for him, as I remind you of the towel incident."

"Good times." Both women said in agreement.

"What towel incident?" Bill asked, glancing up from the paper and looking around the table.

"Don't you dare." Jack threatened Anamaria. She held up her hands, smiling innocently at him.

Gibbs decided that this would be the good time to interject and cleared his throat. "So, what do you think Norrington and Will are doing now? What was it they were doing?"

"A weekend hike for their class." Elizabeth said. "I believe it was that English class on myths and legends."

"That sounded pretty interesting from what I heard." Anamaria replied. "The woods they were hiking in were home to a witch. They say it's haunted still to this day. From what Norrington said, while looking very unamused, they were going to hike up to where the cemetary and the house were that she lived in. In other words, creepy stuff."

"That does sound like fun." Gibbs replied thoughtfully. "Although maybe a bit boring, seeing as how it's probably nothing more than a legend..."

Lost

"James? Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That!"

"I'm sorry Turner, I did not hear a 'that.' I was too busy trying to find out just where we are on this useless peice of paper trying to be a map so that we can rejoin the rest of the group. Now hold the flashlight steady before I shove it down your throat."

The last remark earned him a dark glare from the ex-blacksmith and a few moments peace. Norrington traced his finger along the map, muttering quietly to himself. Will took the opportunity to point the camera towards himself, looking vaguely annoyed.

"Day One of our project has come to a lovely end. As you can see, James amazing talent with reading maps has gotten us completely lost in the middle of the woods." He explained and paused. "Not only that, but I lost my cell phone." His nose wrinkled up. "And it's raining. Neither one of us is in a good mood and if we don't find the others soon, we'll miss out on the historical landmarks tomorrow, which was the entire point of this trip."

Suddenly Norrington grabbed hold of the camera, pointing it towards himself. "What Turner failed to mention is that I can read maps perfectly fine, but he was the one who broke the compass."

"I did not break the compass! You just can't figure out our newfangled map system, can you?"

"Turner, I have more map reading experience in my pinky than you do in your entire body. I suggest you think that over before so rudely blaming our plight on my skills."

"I have thought it over. This was my conclusion. I think that you need to take that map and shove..."

Both men stopped as they heard a sound. Norrington took the flashlight from Will and shined it in the direction they'd heard the noise while Will pointed the camera in that direction. "It's probably just an animal or something of the sort." Will said softly, then blinked. In the monitor light, his face went pale. Norrington glanced over at him.

"Turner? What's wrong?" He hissed.

"I-I saw something." He stuttered. "Out in the woods. There was a white flash and it wasn't an animal and now it's gone."

Norrington gave him a dark look. "Imagination getting the best of you?"

"No!" Will protested.

Norrington tilted his head slightly. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Will whispered back, looking around uncertainly.

"The sound of Deliverance banjos." The ex-commodore replied, still gazing steadily at Will.

Will glared back at him. "Very funny." He growled and glanced back towards the woods. His gaze returned to the video camera and he fumbled in the darkness to find the rewind button. The tape sped backwards. "Look! There it is!"

Norrington took the camera for him. "It looks like a flash of light and nothing more. It was probably you not being able to hold the flashlight straight." He replied and shoved it back into Will's hand. "Now hold it again so I can try and find our position."

"Won't work without a compass."

"We wouldn't need a map and a compass if someone had kept their cell phone in one peice."

"I slipped! It wasn't as if I did it on purpose!"

"You wouldn't have slipped if you hadn't been imitating me behind my back!"

"Yeah? Well..." He threw up his hands. "I have no response to that, but I will."

"Of course you wi-" Once again, he was cut off as a loud, horrible shriek echoed through the clearing. Again there was no one in sight. Unnervingly, it wasn't that fact that scared Norrington. It was that at the sound he'd clung to the first thing in proximity. The first thing being his sworn enemy of the moment.

"James, would you please let go of me?"