Chapter one
Jack stood proudly upon the small mast of the pathetic little ship that they were currently sailing just off the coast of Port Royal. He glanced down at Raine, who was lying across two crates in the bottom of the boat, eyes closed, allowing the sun to warm her face.
"Janie, dear, wake up, we're almost to Port Royal."
Raine sat up and Jack was amused to see a scowl across her features, actually quite attractive with her smattering of freckles and tanned skin.
"Jack, if you call me that one more time, I will cut off something that you will want to use later, especially on those strumpets in Tortuga."
"Yer just jealous." Jack said, turning his attention back to the town up ahead.
"Yeah that's right. I'm dying to be another one of yer strumpets…" She grinned. "Like Anamaria. Boy, will she love seeing you again, after you stole this boat from her. Thank you, dear Ana, for the boat!"
"Shut it." Jack muttered, not looking down at her again. She looked around at the boat floor for a moment and frowned again.
"Leaking, Jack."
"I know."
Raine picked up a bucket and began to bail the water out of the bottom, sighing halfheartedly and finally giving up and putting it down.
"Come on up, darling, and look at the view." Jack said, grinning and offering her his hand. She climbed up next to him on the mast, ignoring the hand, just swinging herself up gracefully.
"Show off." Jack muttered.
The two of them stood there, looking a sorry sight on the mast of a sinking boat, wind blowing at their hair casually, mixing Jack's dark brown with her light, mousy brown. Both were wearing hats, but Raine had a green bandanna instead of a red one, and two large gold hoop earrings. They were wearing similar attire, right down to the kohl covering their eyes… but Raine had her hair braided into about fifty little braids, instead of with bead and trinkets.
Jack pointed silently to three skeletons hanging from a rock formation, with a sign next to it that said Pirates, Ye Be Warned.
They both took off their hats, and Raine bowed low, while Jack offered a silent salute.
It was perhaps an unorthodox, almost comical way of entering the port, but it suited the two of them just fine, turning up on a sinking ship.
They both stepped off the mast and onto the dock as if they knew what the other was thinking already.
A harbormaster called their attention back to the ship.
"What? Hold up there, both of you. It's a shilling to tie up your boat at the docks." Jack glanced back at the sunken boat, as did the harbourmaster, and Raine snorted with laughter, quickly turning it into a cough. "And I shall need to know your names."
Jack glanced at Raine, and she returned a similar expression.
"What d'ye say to three shillings, and we forget the name?"
Raine sighed in a this-is-a-waste-of-time sort of way.
"Welcome to Port Royal, Mr. and Mrs. Smith." The harbourmaster said, taking the three shillings. Raine's expression twisted when she heard his say Mrs, and she coughed again. Jack was choking on laughter. When the harbourmaster turned his back, she stuck her tongue out at him. Jack dragged her away and began to taunt her about it.
"So, what d'ye say, wife? You'll be my wife, darling?"
"Shut it, Jack." Raine hissed. She snatched up the bag of shillings from the post and jingled it a bit, handing it to Jack with a satisfied smile. He had been so busy teasing her; he had almost passed it up.
"Now, Janie, that's no way to talk to your husband."
Raine kicked him in the shin and marched on. Jack recovered as quick as possible, and fell into step beside her.
Well, not really into step. Jack had a defining swagger to his walk, and Raine walked with a more… bouncy step… every once in a while she would skip a bit or spin around, just to keep moving.
Raine was more following Jack around… she knew what they were in Port Royal for, of course, but Jack hadn't really spelled out the details. He never really did, but she didn't mind. He understood that she trusted him not to plan something that would mess with her mind.
The two of them walked down the docks within range of the interceptor, a fine ship which Raine could see from the way Jack was looking at it. She studied it carefully, making little mental notes.
"Not like the Pearl." She muttered with a sigh, so that only Jack would hear.
"No ship is like the Pearl." He said in an equally low tone of voice. They stepped forward, only to be cut off by two pompous looking soldiers of the British navy, dressed in red coats in order to look official. Raine held back an amused smile. These two were plainly idiots.
"Good afternoon, gentleman," Raine said with a fake smile. They ignored her.
"This dock is off limits to civilians." One of them said.
"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know. If I see one, I shall inform you immediately." Jack said, and tried to step around. The two redcoats followed him so that he could not pass, and Raine smiled brightly at him when he glanced at her.
"Apparently there's some sort of a high toned and fancy to do up at the fort, eh? How could it be that two upstanding gentlemen such as yourselves did not merit an invitation?" Jack continued. Raine rolled her eyes and sighed impatiently. Jack threw her a look… a shut-up-we-have-no-choice-but-to-do-this look.
"Someone has to make sure this dock stays off limits to civilians." Said the same British soldier as before.
"Ah yes, and we all know how important that is. I bet that nobody could live without you two gentleman standing here, protecting this ship." Raine piped in sarcastically, with a bright cheeriness to her tone. Jack glared daggers at her, but the two red coats just looked bewildered.
"It's a fine goal to be sure but it seems to me that a…" Jack shifted and began to gesture toward a ship over to the side, but Raine interrupted him.
"Have you gentleman ever had any experience with pirates?"
The men shifted uncomfortably. Jack frowned at her… he hated it when she cut him off. Which only made her do it more often, of course.
"Well," one of them said. "We've been on ships before that were capturing pirates… but we've never had an actual encounter with pirates themselves…"
Raine sent an amused smile Jack's way.
"That's not true, Mullroy!" The other one said. "Don't you remember, I've seen the Black Pearl!"
"The Black Pearl?" Raine and Jack both said unanimously, standing up a little straighter.
"Are you sure it's not just some sort of legend?" Jack said, carefully.
"It is a legend!"
"No it isn't!"
"What?"
"I've seen it with my own eyes!"
"You haven't seen it."
"Yes, yes I have!"
"You've seen a ship with black sails, that's crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out?"
"No."
"No."
"But I have seen a ship with black sails."
Raine rolled her eyes and glanced at Jack to see if he was planning anything. She was surprised to see that Jack was already making his way over to the interceptor… why hadn't he told her?
"Oh, and no ship that's not crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out could possibly have black sails therefore couldn't possibly be any other ship than the Black Pearl. Is that what you're saying?"
She crept over to the ship and walked up as carefully as she could, keeping the corner of her eye on the two bickering soldiers, but at the same time moving toward Jack, at the helm. For a moment, she forgot everything… he just looked so happy at that helm, and she couldn't help but that that was where he truly belonged… behind a helm.
But the she heard the shouts of Murtogg and Mullroy, and reality snapped back into place.
"Hey, you! Get away from there!"
"You two don't have permission to be aboard this ship!"
"Oh, I'm sorry… permission from you?" Raine said sarcastically, shrugging comically.
"Raine!" Jack said sharply, and she threw him an innocent look.
"Well, very sorry, mates, it's just… it's such a pretty boat… ship."
"What's your name?"
"Smith… or Smithy, if you like, and my lovely wife."
"Jack…" Raine said warningly.
"What's your purpose, in Port Royal, Mr. Smith?"
"What, do I like, not exist? I can't have a purpose, of course, because I'm a woman, isn't that right?" Raine asked bitterly.
They ignored her.
"No lies." The one called Murtogg said.
"Well then." Jack said, stepping forward a bit. "I confess, it is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out!"
"And mine!" Raine pointed out.
"Yeah, can't forget you." Jack said.
"I said no lies!" Murtogg said.
"I think he was telling the truth."
"Well, if he was telling the truth, he wouldn't have told us!"
"Unless, of course, he knew you wouldn't believe the truth, even if he told you."
"Well…"
"Would you like to hear some more truth?" Jack said.
"Jack, nobody wants to hear another one of your fluffy made up stories." Raine said.
"They might!"
"I doubt it."
"Well, just because you've heard the story before doesn't mean…"
SPLASH!
Jack hadn't been watching, but Raine had seen very clearly when the girl had fallen into the water. Jack turned to the stuffy red coats, but Raine was already pulling off her boots and effects, handing them to Jack.
Jack protested.
"Raine, what are you doing?"
"Well, Jack, I'm saving her, I would think that would be obvious?"
"I'll do it!"
"Shut up, you. I can swim faster, remember? And you were thinking I couldn't pull it off, but I did manage to drag you off the ocean floor. I must say though, you are heavy when soaking wet."
She took a swan dive off the boat and swam as fast as she could toward where the woman had fallen. The water was cold, but she pushed herself further until she reached the woman, stretching out to her breathing limits. She pulled the woman up out of the water and swam a few feet, before realizing she wasn't going anywhere. After panicking for a few seconds… she didn't know how long she could keep her strength… she realized that the reason she wasn't going anywhere was that the dress on the girl was weighing her down. She stared at it for a moment, not wanting to do it, but then decided it must be done… she pulled off the dress layer on top and hoped that when she got back, Jack wouldn't decided to be perverted.
Thankfully, he wasn't. Helping her out of the water, the woman was laid down on the deck, but she wasn't breathing.
The two soldiers bent over her, and after a brief glance at Raine, Jack bent over the girl too.
"Move." He told the two soldiers, and then shoved them out of the ways, ripping off the woman's corset and throwing to it Murtogg. The woman was instantly alert, spitting water over the deck and gaining consciousness.
"Never did like those things." Raine said distastefully, and was once again, ignored.
"Never would have thought of that." Mullroy said.
"Clearly you've never been to Singapore." Jack said.
"We'll have to arrange a visit for you." Raine said, grinning at Jack, who smiled back and then studied her, if only to make sure she was okay. Jack then turned his attention back to the woman, and noticed the medallion around her neck.
"Where did you get that?" He asked softly. Raine noticed too, and gasped.
"Jack, is that…?"
"On your feet!" A voice said from behind them. Jack stood up, and then held out his hand for Raine. She ignored it and stood up. He scowled at her.
A rather well-off looking man with a gray wig stepped forward and helped the woman on the deck up.
"Elizabeth. Are you alright?" He asked in a worried tone.
"Yes, I'm fine." The woman, Elizabeth, said, tucking the medallion hurriedly back into her dress and looking from the pirates to the officers.
"See? She's fine." Raine said, but fell silent when Jack poked her. Because at that moment, it seemed that the respectable men realized that the woman was without corset and Jack had taken it off.
"Shoot him!" The well-off man cried.
"Father! Commodore, do you really intend to kill my rescuer?" The woman cried out.
Raine choked. "Excuse me? Am I going to continue to be consistently ignored?"
"I believe thanks are in order." The Commodore man said, sticking out his hand to Jack. Jack backed away.
"She saved her." Jack said, pointing to Raine. The commodore glanced at Raine and then back at his men.
Everyone laughed, except Jack, Elizabeth, and the two soldiers, Murtogg and Mullroy, who had witnessed it. And of course, Raine fumed.
"You don't want to be doing that, mate." Jack said, observing Raine's expression quietly. The commodore quit laughing and seemed to decide that he believed it, at least somewhat.
"Very well." He stuck out his hand to Raine and she shook it reluctantly, but when she did so, he pulled up her sleeve to reveal the pirate brand.
"Had a brush with the East India Trading company, did we, pirate?" He looked at her for a moment, and then turned to Jack.
"I blame you. Influenced her, you did. A pirate also, I presume?" He turned back to Raine and pulled up her sleeve further to reveal another tattoo. This one was simple, just two swords in the shape of an X.
"I don't recognize this." He said, pointing to the tattoo. "Some pirate you are."
Raine spat at him, and he stepped away in disgust. "I wouldn't imagine you would recognize it. I don't either. But the name is Raine." She tried to pull her arm away, but the commodore caught it and pulled her over to the corner, where irons were put on her. Then he stepped back over to Jack, who was silent.
The commodore studied him.
"Jack Sparrow, I presume? Somehow, I thought you would be… never mind. I can tell who you are. And I suppose you have the tattoo to prove it?"
"Captain Jack Sparrow, if you don't mind sir."
"Dammit, Jack! Can't you just for once deny something?" Raine said from where she stood.
"Well, I don't see your ship… captain." The commodore said, ignoring her once again.
"Well, we're in the market, as it were."
"He said he'd come to commandeer one." Murtogg said, ignoring the glare that Raine was giving him.
"Told ya he was telling the truth." Mullroy said, blushing from Raine's glare.
The commodore glanced over at the two idiots, and in that moment, Jack took the opportunity. He tossed Raine's pistol to her, and she pointed it at Elizabeth. While the commodore was distracted, Jack pulled his pistol out and aimed it at the commodore, who was frowning down the nose of the barrel now.
"We have two shot's, commodore, between the two of us. One of them will not be used. I'm sure it would be better if neither will be used, but for that you would have to let us go. Who will we shoot, if provoked?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow.
The commodore seemed nervous now, but he glanced at Elizabeth, who was looking distressed. The commodore glanced at his men and started to open his mouth, but Jack cut him off.
"If any of your men so much as raise their guns, she will be shot."
"Aye, and don't think I'm afraid to kill such a pretty lass such as yerself." Raine said.
The commodore seemed to be making a decision.
Jack, meanwhile, was making his way toward Raine, very slowly. The commodore would not simply allow them to go, so they would have to break the ice.
Once he was next to Raine, he leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"Ready, love?"
"What do you have in mind?"
Jack hesitated.
"Do you want to get wet? We could jump in the water… there is the slight risk they might shoot us."
Raine seemed to think about this for a moment.
"Any better ideas?" She sighed. Jack looked around.
"Yeah. But it probably wouldn't work."
Raine was silent for a second.
"Is this the 'get caught' kind of wouldn't work, or the 'might die' kind of wouldn't work?" She asked Jack quietly.
"Might die." He answered. She sighed.
"Might as well have some fun." Jack grabbed her around the waist and took two steps back, still holding the gun out.
"Give me a chance to show off, love?"
"Anytime."
Jack grinned, and handed her the rest of her effects, and while she put them on, he spoke.
"Gentleman! M'lady…" he said to Elizabeth. "You will always remember this as the day that you almost… caught Captain Jack Sparrow!" He turned, still holding Raine around the waist, and kicked a piece of metal that was securing a rope. When the rope flew free, he grabbed it and Raine did also, so that they were both lifted high up and spun around. Raine laughed, and clung tighter to the rope, but Jack looked uneasy. The rope finally hurled them over onto another platform, where Jack struggled to keep his balance, and for once in her life, Raine did too.
"Hang on, Jack." She told him, and swung her handcuffs over a rope, sliding down it and landing firmly onto the dock, ahead of the soldiers running after them. Jack hung onto her waist again, but that threw him off balance as he landed on the dock. Raine helped his stay upright, and the two ran down the dock together, dodging bullets, and throwing each other grins about the stunt they had just pulled off.
"Certainly not our best…" Jack commented.
"We must do things like that more often!" Raine said, laughing.
"Do you laugh at everything?" Jack said, clearly amused. Raine didn't answer, so he continued. "Maybe you're right…we should leave."
"I have to get these handcuffs off, Jack." Raine said, holding up her hands, which made a clanking noise.
"Living proof that you're not ignored all the time." Jack pointed out.
"Are you ever anything but annoying?" Raine asked him fondly.
***~***
A/N I hoped you liked it! I'm trying to improvise on the movie script a little, I know I cut out the important bit, but I'll fit it in later, don't worry.
Thanks to my reviewers so far, even though I only put out the prologue… Amy85, drop-depp-gorgeous , and SpAnIsH-EyEs2, thanks.
Dimonah Tralon… Actually, in case you wanted to know, there is something between Raine and Jack… always has been, but he's sort of a loose man… never stopped him from women in Tortuga, and Raine has never really cared what he does. As she said before, she's not interested in being his strumpet. But they care for each other.
Lyra Silvertongue 13, DarogasRainyDaae, good job to the both of you for recognizing the title. : D not that hard to figure out, huh? And thanks, Daroga, for the corrections.