Two days later Kate was standing in her room, preparing for the journey she was about to start. Her bed disappeared under a heap of partly smooth, partly rumpled gowns, her chest of drawers was wide open as well as the wardrobe. On the floor in the middle of the room stood a huge trunk, that was empty except for a golden locket, laying on the ground. Kate stood in front of her bed, her eyes wandering undecided from the clothes on her bed to her wardrobe. Finally she made up her mind and walked over to the wardrobe. She knelt down and when she rose to her feet again, a neatly folded package of rather unusual clothing lied in her arms. She carefully put the pair of grey trousers and the white shirt onto the ground of the trunk, stuffing the gowns rather carelessly onto it. Contented with her work she let her look roam around the room until it fell onto the ground beneath her desk. There still layed the pirate-book she had thrown there, when her stepmother had ordered her to appear on her party on that evening that had changed her life, throwing her into the eye of a storm. Slowly she went towards her desk and picked up the book. It was opened in the middle, showing a treasure map, an illustration, seperating chapter 10, when the wild, charming pirate lost his lady to the treacherous aristocrat, from part 11, when the lady finally recognized her fianceƩ`s maliciousness and returned to the capt`n of her heart, who in turn - of course- renounced the treasure, he originally had been coming for. A half ironical, half bitter smile tugged at the corner of Kate`s mouth, as she thought of what Jack would do in such a situation. Being the caricature of a pirate he was, he probably would dump the girl to keep on chasing after the gold. But why should she bother about what Jack would do? He was no business of hers, unless running from him counted as business, of course. With a sigh she shut the book and put it into the trunk, stuffing it at one side. Then she closed the heavy trunk and shoved it outside by using her hands and feet. A last she gave her room one final look, before she turned around and closed the door, not knowing, that she should never return.

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Jack was standing on his ship, one hand resting lightly on the wheel. Shielding his eyes with the other hand he looked out into the distance where the endless blue lied in front of him. That was the life he`s always wanted to lead. He was free; free from all these foolish rules, governments tended to take so seriously; free from the trouble of a constantly bickering wife; free from the force of fitting into a system that squeezed every bit of life out of its members, turning them into obedient puppets instead, who were always trying to do the right things; always trying to obey the rules. But what was the sense in that? What was the sense in a life without a little bit of fun? Personally he had always made sure, that he would have as much fun as he could. And something in the changing wind told him that a lot of fun was lying in front of him, just a few days and a boarded ship away.

"Capt`n?" Gibb`s voice interrupted Jack`s thoughts, and he casted his old mate a fleeting glance, before his eyes searched the horizon again.

"What`s up, Gibbs?"

"The crew wants to know, if we`re heading to Tortuga again."

"Aye." Jack nodded and then looked Gibbs full into his face, a dark light shining in his eyes. "But first we gotta do something else."

"What?" Gibbs frowned.

A wide grin flew across Jack`s face. "Gotta take a passenger on board."

"Sanders` daughter? Jack, ye can`t be serious. They almost caught ye last time, remember?"

Jack nodded, his grin spreading even wider. "Aye; But I`m `ere, no?"

"But, Jack," Gibbs tried to appeal to Jack`s reason; a thing, even though he still wasn`t sure, if it existed. "Ye can`t go back. They`ll be waiting fer ye."

"I won`t go back."

"But ye said ye wanted to get the girl." Gibbs stared at him questioningly.

"I do." Jack smiled, enjoying the confusion that was painted on the other man`s face. "We`ll get her on sea."

When instead of disappearing the confusion on Gibb`s face just increased, Jack gave a deep sigh. "Tell me, Gibbs, if ye had a daughter and I would try to take her away, what would ye do?"

"Scalp ye and sell yer head to the highest bidder." Came the prompt reply.

Jack grinned selfcomplacently. "Would be a good deal. But what, if ye couldn`t catch me?"

Gibbs thought for a moment and then answered slowly. "Hide her from ye."

"Aye." Jack nodded. "But where?"

"Dunno." Gibbs gave a shrug. "Away from `ere. Another country. I guess."

Jack beamed and spread his arms widely. "Ya got it, mate. And when they set sails to bring her to another country, we`ll be there, savvy?"

A grin grew on Gibb`s round face, as understanding broke through to him. "So, we wait and hide and then chase them and board their ship? Bloody brilliant, Jack!" He gave a roaring laugh and patted Jack`s back, before he turned to go to inform the crew.

Jack stared into the distance again, searching the horizon for the familiar merchantman. He could almost smell the splendid times ahead of him. Times full of fun, challenges, adventure, revenge and a treasure of course. A lewd smirk curled his lips. Well, two tresures actually. Capt`n Jack Sparrow was about to honour his bad name again.