~ Okay, some people tell me I am rushing it a bit. Is it that I'm skipping weeks? I don't know, but remember, this is my first fan fic. Be kind. ~

~ Chapter Four ~

Judy woke up the next morning. She felt Jack's warm body behind her, and smiled. He had his arms wrapped protectively around her. She turned in his arms, and studied his features, as she had done so many times before. His long black hair, his goatee, always in those two long braids, and his tanned skin, from being at see so long. And her favorite, his eyes, though they were closed in slumber, were so mysterious. They were so dark, and pretty. Jack was a very handsome, desirable man.
Judy put her hand on his chest, and felt him breathing steadily. Then she snuggled up closer to him, smelled his salty smell of the sea, and fell asleep again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All of a sudden there was a BOOM!!! And Jack pulled out from behind her. Judy's eyes fluttered open. Jack was pulling his clothes on. Judy got up and was doing the same.
"What's going on?"
"I've no bloody idea," he said, and grabbed her by the arm, "Now come on."
They ran up to the deck. The crew was running around, preparing the cannons. "What's going on, Gibbs?" Jack inquired. "Sir, it's Capt'n Rackhem." Gibbs said, looking a little frightened, "He's firing cannons at the Pearl."
"Who's Rackhem?" Judie asked.
"Just my mortal enemy, love," he said, smiling, "Nothing to fret about. Now you go help the boys load up the cannons, and be sure to keep yer head down. We don't want you to lose it now, do we?"
Jack leaned over and gave her a quick kiss, and headed off to see to the warfare. Judy ran over to Gibbs.
"Why is this man attacking us?"
"Because he wants the Pearl."
"Why?"
"Because a few months ago, right b'fore you showed up, Jack had been drinking again. Now this man, he asked Jack to play him in a game of War, and they placed their ships as bets. Well, as you can imagine," Gibbs said, ducking as a cannon fly by overhead, "Jack lost. They said that Rackhem could go by in the mornin' and get 'is new ship, But Jack had other plans."
Gibbs grabbed Judy by the arm and took her below deck. It was much safer down here to talk. They could hear cannons booming and people yelling.
"You see, missy, Jack loves this here ship. He loves nothing more. So he set sail that night, and Rackhem was mighty pissed when he came by in the morning, and his ship wasn't there."
Just then, an idea hit Judy.
"Come on, we need to get up there and help."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As Judy expected, Rackhem's ship, the Niverlander, had pulled right up next to the Pearl, and its crew were swinging aboard. She ran up to one of them, a skinny blonde man, who smiled when she approached him.
"Oh, lookie what we got here, looking for some love, missy?"
"Parley."
"What?"
"Parley, are you deaf?" she nearly screamed, "It means take me to your captain."
"I know what it means, woman, but I don't think you'd be liking our capt'n."
"I don't care, take me, now!"
"Ok, then, here we go," he said, grabbing her, and swinging over to the Niverlander. Judy nearly puked. She didn't think swinging over to another ship would be this bad. Everything was spinning. Finally they landed, and the blonde man dragged her up to a large man. You could see that this was the man in charge.
"Oh, Jimmy, what gargage have you brought aboard this time?" he asked, looking her up and down with his deep blue eyes. He had black hair, like Jack, only it was cut short, and combed back. He was tall, and he was built like a bull.
Judy choked back her fear, pulled out of Jimmy's grasp, and walk up to Rackhem.
"I come pleading parley."
"And why would I want to hear what you have to say? Why shouldn't I kill you?"
"Because I'm Jack's wife."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack looked around everywhere for Judy, but she had disappeared. Rackhem's men had pulled away, and they had stopped firing cannons at them. That couldn't possibly be a good thing. Jack went over to everyone, and asked them were she was. They didn't know. Just then Lila ran up to Jack.
"She went pleading parley. I saw them take her."
Dread suddenly filled every part of Jack. They had Judy. He ran over to the starboard side, and stared at Rackhem's ship. There she was. The bastard was holding her, touching her. She was crying. Then Jack's eyes went wide. They had her in shackles. They would pay for that.
"Load the cannons! Set sails. We're going after them."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Judy was crying when they pulled away from the Pearl. But this was her only choice. She had to save Jack. Had to save everyone on board the Pearl. And now she would surely die for it. They had put her in shackles. As they were taking her to the brig, she saw Jack run to the side of the ship. She couldn't see dread in every movement. She couldn't look at him.
"Now, now, missy, don't cry," Jimmy said, shutting the cage door behind her, "We'll take very good care of you."
"You won't come near me."
"Oh, you won't have to worry about the crew, missus, it'll be the Capt'n you'll have to look out for."
Judy watched Jimmy walk back upstairs, and then got up and started looking for a weak spot in the bars. She shook them, and kicked them, but to no avail. She was stuck there, until Rackhem came to ravish her, and spoil her forever.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Judy didn't have long to wait. As soon as it was dark outside, Rackhem came down, and unlocked the door.
"Time to have some fun, love."
Judy smacked him. "Only Jack is aloud to call me love."
Rackhem backhanded her.
"I don't give a buzzard's gizzard for your Jack."
He dragged her, kicking and screaming to the top deck, where all his crew were partying. There were cheers at her arrival.
"Me lads, here is your dancing entertainment." Rackhem said, tossing Judy in the middle of the circle. Judy stood up, and tossed her hair.
"What makes you think you can make me dance for you or your scum?"
"Oh, we have a wild one on our hands do we? I can see why Jack is with you then," he said, pulling out a pistol, "But he won't want you after we ruin your face, will he?"
"Um, how about I sing instead?"
"Fine, just give my boys something to dance to."
Judy thought for a moment.
"You can dance if you want to," she started, remembering the old song from the eighties, "You can leave your friends behind. Cause if you don't dance, and if you don't dance, then you ain't no friend of mine."
Rackhem and his men loved it, never having heard it before. Soon she was singing more songs for them from the future, and they were up and dancing before long.
Judy was right in the middle of a Britney Spears song, when she saw Jack's head pop up over the rail, spotting her and making a signal for her to be quiet. But Judy's voice betrayed her, and at the sight of Jack, she skipped a beat.
"What's wrong?" Rackhem asked.
"Nothing," she said, nervously, "I just need some water."
So one of the men gave her some water, and she started singing again. Everyone but Judy was having such a good time that she was the only one who noticed Jack and his crew, climbing over the sides of the ship. Jack snuck up behind Rackhem, and put a knife to his throught.
"Now, no need to worry, we're just going to kidnap your captain," he said.
Everyone stopped dancing, and stared at Jack. That was the opportune moment so the rest of the crew took hold of Rackhem's men. Soon, Jack was holding Judy and kissing her.
"Why did you do that? Why didn't he kill you?"
"I told him I was your wife."
Jack stared at her. "What?"
"I know how much you love your ship, so I gave myself to him to save you and your crew."
"My wife?"
"I don't know why I said it, it just seemed like the best thing to say."
Jack hugged her closer and whispered into her ear, "Will you marry me?"
Tears welled in Judy's eyes.
"Yes."