Revelations:  Part Two

"Me and you, and you and me,
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be,
The only one for me is you, and you for me,
So happy together."

***

            "Can ye believe it", Sophia asked Ana, though it was more a question to herself.  "Killin yer first person at fourteen", she shook her head.  "I guess it's not that unbelievable in Tortuga", she chuckled oddly.  "Anyway, after that I had nowhere to go.  Friends though they were, Jack's parents had a new woman in me mum's room naught but a week later.  But business is business I guess.  Thankfully, being like family to me, they let me stay."

            "Guess what", Jack exclaimed happily as he threw open the door to his room which he had shared with Sophia for the last three years since her mother died. 

            "What?"

            "We're moving", he announced proudly.

            "What are you talking about?"

            "Just hear me out alright", he implored as he entered the room, pulled her out of the desk chair, and down next to him as he sat on the edge of the bed.  "I've been savin this as a surprise", he continued, a pleased smile dancing lightly on his lips.  "Ye know how I've been workin down at the docks for the last coupla years."

            "Aye, so?"

            "Well, lately I've been doin a little extra work on the side.  Nothing major, just runnin some errands for certain captains and such.  They paid generously for the services and now I've finally saved enough and got us a place.  It's back on the second block, so we'd be away from all this", he pointed around to indicate their surroundings.  "But we're still close to everything."

            Sophia looked at him stunned, and he took her silence to mean she was not so thrilled with his decision.

            "Look.  I know ye want to get out o' here, for good.  This isn't a permanent thing, just a step to help us along the way", he tried to explain, fearing that he'd made the wrong decision.         

            "I know that", she cut him off putting a hand over his lips.  "I'm not upset, I'm absolutely amazed at you Jack", she assured him, her expression full of affection.  "The fact that you would do all this", she stopped, her breath catching as tears started to make their appearance. 

            With the arm he had wrapped around her, he pulled her onto his lap and hugged her tight.  "O' course I would do it.  I love you Soph."

            She laughed through the sniffles and gave him a soft kiss.  "I love you too Jack."

            They were moved within a week, not having much to take with them.  The new place was at the opposite end of the town back a block from the waterfront, a slightly more residential area but still littered with small shops.  It was the third floor of a reasonable sized house, the owner was an older man who lived with his wife on the first and rented out the top two.  In truth, he wasn't too keen on the idea of two young people moving in, but it turned out that Jack had been kind enough to help him out one day while he was struggling to move a cartload of stock and that meant something in such an atmosphere as Tortuga.  So a month or so later when the young man came to inquire about the available space, he did not hesitate to grant him his wish.

            Jack had taken Sophia to see it the very day he told her, and what she saw was enough to send her to tears again.  No wonder it had taken him almost a year to accomplish.  The place was fully furnished with furniture that he had bought all himself.  It remained undecorated but he had told her that he had intentionally saved that part for her to do.  After all, she was the artist between the two o' them. 

            "He really did that", Anamaria asked Sophia in disbelief.

            "Aye, he did", she answered with a small smile.  "Life was great then, so great I didn't even care if I had to live in Tortuga for the rest o' me life.  We had our own place, a nice place, and we were happy", she trailed off, remembering their first year in their new place.  She liked the happy memories, even though they made their current situation harder to bear. 

            At his desk, Jack had very nearly finished his third bottle of rum and was beginning to seriously feel the effects.  Deciding to slow it down a bit, he pushed the bottle away from him, his shirt sleeve catching on the desk corner in the process revealing his sparrow tattoo.  He looked at it thoughtfully, smiling to himself at the memory of how it got there.

            "I been thinkin luv", Jack started over dinner.      

            "And what have ye been thinkin about", Sophia asked with a smile.  It was always something when Jack had been thinking.

            "Has Tim let ye start doin yer own designs yet", he inquired before telling her what was on his mind.

            "No", she sighed in response.

            "Well, I've been thinkin I want to get meself a tattoo.  And I think ye should do it", he told her matter-of-factly.

            "Oh I don't know Jack.  I'd be too afraid of messin it up", she replied uncertainly.

            "Nonsense.  Ye have three times the talent of that oaf and who betta to practice on then someone who isn't gonna try an break yer arm if ye mess up?"

            Still Sophia was not convinced.  "I'll think about it alright."

            There wasn't much thinking involved however.  Jack was persistent, as he always was when he wanted his way with something.  The following day the two walked down to the tattoo parlor where Sophia worked as an apprentice to get the job done. 

            "JACK", the owner greeted him with a clap on the back.  "How ye doin boy?"

            "I've been great Tim", he greeted him in reply.

            "What are ye doin down 'ere today?"

            "Well, I'd like a tattoo and I thought I'd have Sophia give it to me for practice."

            Now Tim looked at the both of them in a less than loving manner.  It wasn't that he didn't think Sophia had the talent, he just wasn't crazy about a woman doin his job.  He had hardly wanted to take her on in the first place, but her designs were enough to convince him and he could not refuse.  He had put off letting her do any real work since she'd started and he knew she was getting rather restless.  Still, he knew that if he deterred he any longer she might not stick around and in all honesty, she was the best assistant he'd ever had. 

            "Alright, I guess it'll be fine.  Go on Sophia", he motioned them back toward the back.        

            A pleased grin spread on the young woman's face as she led Jack behind the counter and sat him down on the table. 

            "Alright, what is it that ye want?"

            "I want something that screams JACK SPARROW", he answered with a cocky grin.           

            She rolled her eyes.  "Yer so full of yerself."

            "Aye", he admitted.

            Turning to the huge pages kept under the counter, Sophia pulled them out and began flipping through them.  After several minutes of searching however, she could not find anything she liked.  Looking back at Jack, she surveyed him thoughtfully for a minute, before grabbing a blank piece of paper and a quill and setting to work.  Scribbling furiously, her brow furrowed in concentration, she carefully constructed what would become the legendary tattoo to grace the arm of Captain Jack Sparrow.

            "What do ye think", she asked, holding it up for him to see.

            He looked over her drawing then looked at her with a little frown.  "It's perfect", he said breaking into a huge grin.

            Relief washing over her, Sophia set work getting herself ready.  Pulling out various needle bundles of differing size, she settled on the smallest, prepped his arm, and went to town. 

            "Ye should get one to match", Jack thought aloud when she had finished and he sat examining her work.  He was really quite impressed for her first one. 
            "What?"

            "Yeah!  Get one to match", he urged.

            "And why would I want a 'Jack Sparrow' tattoo stamped on me?"

            "Well, ye are plannin on bein Mrs. Jack Sparrow one o' these days aren't ye?"

            She couldn't argue with that. 

            "You're kidding", Ana exclaimed.  This tale was getting more unbelievable by the minute. 

            Sitting up, she pulled back the long sleeve of her shirt, revealing the matching tattoo in the very same place as Jack's, even the brand underneath. 

            "Not sure I deserved that", Sophia remarked on the brand.  "Pretty sure I was still in my thievin days when the East India Company got hold of me", she added with a snicker.