A/N: Yes, I realize that I'm horrible at updating. All I can say is that school teachers always seem to think I have nothing better to do than stupid homework assignments. I will try to be more consistant with my posts.


This is my first POTC ff and I'm trying hard for Cat not to be a Mary-Sue. Please don't go too hard on me. (Constructive critisism is welcome though!)


Disclaimer: I sent a request letter to Disney asking for the rights but they sent it back with the word no written all over the letter and envelope. I wonder if they were trying to make a point... Still not mine.


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Chapter 2: Nightmares


As it turned out, Jack left of his own accord as soon as she had given him two bottles of her best rum. He grinned as he made his way through the darkness to the rowboat that sat on the shore, waiting for him. He'd be back on the Pearl soon, and maybe he'd open one of the rum bottles he'd gotten from Cat.


Jack frowned to himself as he moved the boat out into the water. The girl interested him. She was cocky and arrogant, yet at the same time he had detected uncertainty and even hints of fear in her voice and actions. At least, he thought to himself, she knew when she was beat. There had been people who would challenge him to a duel and then, when he actually won, would refuse to accept that fact. Will had been one of those for a while.


Hopping into the boat Jack began to row back to the Pearl. The moonlight streamed down on the water as the oars sliced through it, creating a set of ripples each time. Cat had most definitely intrigued him and he planned on returning tomorrow. Perhaps after he had visited with Will and Elizabeth as they had insisted he do. And who knew? Maybe he could convince her to part with another bottle of rum. Jack grinned, and his golden teeth, caught by the moonlight, glimmered.


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Half an hour after Sparrow departed, Cat began to shoo everyone out of her bar. She needed sleep, and it had been a while since she'd fought someone decent, so she was tireder than usual. Once she'd managed to get the protesting drunks out, she had to try and get rid of Tomas, which proved to be something easier said than done.


"All right, well, I'll see you tomorrow Tomas," Cat said, standing by the door and indicating that he was to leave. Tomas, however, didn't take the hint.


"What did you think you were doing?" he asked her with a frown.


Oh no, here comes the speech again, she thought. "Tomas–" she started.


"Don't you, Tomas, me, Jennifer Cattilia," he snapped. "That was a very stupid thing to do. That was Jack Sparrow for crying out loud!"


"First off, my name is Cat," she snapped. "Second, I don't see why it matters now, it turned out all right didn't it?"


"It was still a stupid thing to do! Don't you pay any attention to the stories?"


"Yeah, I especially loved the one about him escaping from a desert island by roping himself a pair of sea turtles with hair from his back." Cat's voice dripped with sarcasm.


"Cat! You're not listening! He could have killed you!"


"But he didn't!"


Tomas just stared at her for a moment. "Cat, he could have, regardless of whether or not he did." He hesitated. "I don't want anything to happen to you."


"Careful Tomas," Cat said, a slight grin playing at her features. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were getting sentimental in your old age."


"Naw," he answered gruffly. "But I promised your brother that I'd keep an eye on you."

Another moment of silence passed between them before Cat said, "I'm sorry. I should have paid attention to you."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Tomas said. Turning away he headed out the door into the darkness. Cat watched him go, a mixture of amusement and annoyance in her eyes. She closed the door and locked it before doing the same with the grating. Shaking her head she started to blow out the lamps, but not before lighting a candle to make her way back to her room with. As she walked by the cabinets that held the bottles of alcohol, she was sorely tempted to take one down and get drunk. But she managed to make herself keep walking. The last thing she would need in the morning was a headache.

Shutting her bedroom door behind her Cat pulled out her night clothing and changed into it. Yawning widely, she put out her candle and slipped into bed. She fell asleep quickly, only five minutes after she had laid down.


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Cat sat up with a scream. She rolled over in her bed, trying to find her candle. Her hands trembled as she struck the match and lit the candle. She took one deep breath, then another as she sat there rocking back and forth in the semi-darkness.


The candlelight pushed the darkness further away but did nothing to dispel it. It still surrounded her like the bars of a cage. A dark cage...


Cat sat on her bed, holding a candle and rocking back and forth, tears sliding silently down her pale cheeks. She stayed that way for a long time, and did not go back to sleep until the sun's first light had broken over the horizon.


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She awoke perhaps five hours later to a pounding on the front door of the bar. Climbing out of bed and throwing on a robe over her nightdress she proceeded to the front door of her bar, muttering about stupid drunks under her breath. Unlocking the grating and the door she threw them both open with a vengeance, ready to tell off the fool who had decided to disturb her. So she felt incredibly shocked when it was not one of the drunks standing at her door but Elizabeth. Cat stared stupefied for a moment.

"Well, are you going to let us in?" Elizabeth asked teasingly. It was only then that Cat noticed the other two people standing behind her. She nodded and step aside wordlessly. Elizabeth, Will and Jack Sparrow all trooped into her bar. The last member of this group caught her attention and she promptly found herself fully awake.

"What," she demanded, rancor in her voice, "are you doing here?"


Sparrow turned to look at her. He smirked and said, "Well, love, I believe I earned the right to be here last night. Or do I have to beat you at swordplay again? Not that it would be that hard mind you but I'm just not in the mood."

Cat's hand flew in an arc and landed with a slap against his left cheek, leaving an angry red mark there.


"Jennifer!" Elizabeth said in shock. In the back of her head Cat knew she had no reason or right to slap him and that he indeed had earned the right to be there but she chose to ignore the rational side of her mind and she just glared at Sparrow, waiting for his reaction.


Sparrow raised a hand to touch the red mark her hand had left upon his cheek. He looked at her his eyes indecipherable and said, "Now would you mind telling what I did to deserve that?"


Cat couldn't think of anything to say. Why had she done that? Sure, she didn't like him too much but that didn't mean he had done anything to deserve it. Letting indifference slide into her eyes she said the first thing that came to her mind.


"Because I could Mr.–"


"Captain," Sparrow put in quickly.


"–Sparrow," she continued as though he had not spoken. "Just because you have the right to be here does not mean I want you here, nor does it mean that I have to welcome you." Ignoring the shocked looks of Elizabeth and Will she stormed back to her room and slammed the door behind her.


She walked around her room, pulling out the clothing she intended to wear, throwing it angrily onto the bed. She didn't know just why she was angry but she was and so help anyone or anything that got in her way. She reached for her brush but in removing it from her dresser she knocked something to the floor. With a slight growl she looked down to see what had fallen.


She felt her anger drain away as she bent down to pick it up. She recognized it. It was a necklace that her father had given it to her years ago, a day or so before he had been caught and sentenced to death...


Cat stopped right there. She wasn't about to go into that right now. Instead she looked closer at the necklace It was a simple, ribbon-like gold chain and off it hung a small key. Cat had never discovered what the key opened. She assumed that whatever it was had been lost years ago. Slowly, she unfastened it, brought it up and refastened it about her neck. It felt heavier than she had expected it too.

Calmer now, Cat turned to dress and found Elizabeth standing in her doorway. Elizabeth smiled at her and closed the door behind her.


"Are you all right?" She asked the younger girl, concern evident in her brown eyes. "I haven't seen you be so obviously rude to anyone in a long time..."


Cat had to think about that one for a moment. She had been rude to Sparrow, and for no apparent reason either. He'd done nothing to her and no matter how hard she tried Cat could think of no reason why she had done what she did.


"I–I'm not sure," she said hesitantly. "I mean it's not like he did anything to me... I can't think why I just acted like that."

Elizabeth looked at her again, more closely than before. Cat found herself sinking into a thoughtful mode. Elizabeth had seen her through a lot and if anyone could help her right now then it was her.


"Well," Elizabeth said after a moment. "I know you've never really had mood swings before. Has something changed?"


Cat shook her head as she started to yawn. Bloody hell, she was tired. That's what she got for staying awake so long– Her mouth snapped shut. She remembered now. In her anger it had faded from her mind but now it was back.


"Last night I- I mean, I," Cat stumbled over the words, not wanted to detail her dream out loud. She met Elizabeth's eyes again. "That is to say, the nightmares are back."


Elizabeth's eyes widened slightly. "Back? But I thought they were gone..." she trailed off, unable to think of what to say.


"So did I," Cat said softly.


Silence reigned in the room for a few moments. Both women were silent as they thought.

"Are they the same as before?" Elizabeth asked suddenly, alarm in her eyes.


Cat shook her head. "No," she said. "They're different but they have the same feeling to them. And they feel closer..." Silence fell again. This time however, it was not broken by either of the two women but by a yell and a loud crash from the other room.


"Oh God," Cat muttered, and retying the sash to her robe, she dashed from the room.


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