Chapter 2: Secrets and Plans Unveiled

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"My name is William Turner," Will said. "This is Gibbs, the first mate of The Black Pearl." Xander looked over toward the big man on the other side of him. Gibbs had long sideburns that came to his chin; the part near his ears was white that tapered down to a solid gray at his chin. He had thin hair that swept over his forehead. He was sizing Xander up now that he was awake; Xander noticed and inched a little further away from him on the bed.

"Next question," Xander said, his eyes were wide and darting back and forth between the two pirates as if trying to figure out which was less dangerous. He opened his mouth to say speak as he went to scratch his neck. The movement of his arm made him glance down to notice his lack of shirt. He had pants but they were too tight and they only hit him mid-calf; his sneakers were gone. If possible his eyes flew open even wider and he scurried to the back of the bed that was pressed up against the wall, his hands quickly crossing over his chest to cover for his lack of shirt. "Where are my clothes?!" He shrieked loudly. He looked back and forth around the room looking for a door. Before either pirate could answer his question his eyes widened more, then narrowed in anger as he noted the lack of his friend. "Where's Willow?!" He rolled to the side of the bed and leapt to his feet. He faced Gibbs nose to nose; the first mate was only a couple inches taller then Xander. "If you hurt her, I swear to God I'll kill you."

"Relax Xander." Will said gaining Xander's attention away from Gibbs. Gibbs took the opportunity to back away from the young man not wishing to hurt him. "You should sit back down." Will said motioning toward the bed. "You're weak yet."

"How do you know my name?" Xander asked, hands no longer covering himself but in a ready fighting position. He had hung around Buffy enough to know a few basic moves. He wasn't going down without a fight.

Will looked to Gibbs to see if he wanted a part of this conversation, but Gibbs gave him a look that said, 'he's all yours'. Will sighed and rolled his eyes and turned back to Xander. "Your friend, Willow, is fine. She told us your name when I went in to check on her earlier." He spoke calmly and slowly and made no sudden movements. He could hold his own in battle, but Jack probably wouldn't want him harmed, and it wasn't his style. "She's having a bit to eat as we speak. We took your clothes to dry them off so you wouldn't catch your death of cold. You were sopping wet when we brought you in here, and chilled to the bone. We haven't yet found a right match for your size on such short notice, but we have a crew member searching the decks right now looking for your size."

He paused allowing Xander a moment for all of this to sink in. He wondered if the boy had head injuries the way he was acting. And where had he gotten those clothes?! Xander eyed him and Gibbs back and forth before slowly lowering his arms from his fighting position, and crossing them in front of himself for modesty sake again. His eyes were no longer wide or narrowed at either of the pirates, but both pirates admired that he was still a little cautious and hadn't let his guard down completely. "Can I see her?"

"The Cap'n wants to talk to ye both, first. Separate an' all." Gibbs said, still standing a few feet away from the boy. "'es a little curious about ye…floatin' on a tree an' all."

"Whoa, whoa, wait." Xander said attention focused on Gibbs. "Did you just say floating on a tree?!" His eyes narrowed at both Gibbs and Will. "Where the hell are we?!" Before either pirate could stop him he dashed toward the window that was on his left side. He braced himself against the sill, and squinted out. All he saw was water…everywhere…and that was past the deck and railing. There was no land in sight. The sun was just setting and it made a beautiful array of colors on the horizon. Xander's heart increased to fifty beats a second. He glanced at the two men who had taken a couple of steps forward, he held up a finger then fell straight forward. Gibbs and Will both ran forward quickly to catch him, and laid him gently down on the bed.

They looked at each other and sighed. "And he's out." Gibbs sighed to Will.

Will shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Stowaways."

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This food isn't too bad. Willow thought to herself as she gripped a chicken leg and sank her teeth into it, just barely noticing all the juices that were running down her chin as she did so. It was perfect she took a couple more bites before noticing the tall cup next to her plate. She quickly dropped the chicken leg, and when should couldn't find a napkin for her hands she shrugged and rubbed the grease off on her pants. She quickly grabbed the mug; she crinkled her nose when she realized that it was probably beer. It smelled and looked like beer. She sniffed it disdainfully at first, but then she was so thirsty that she didn't care. The first tentative sip she took tasted nasty, and it burned her throat all the way down. Strangely enough it seemed to cure her thirst. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and cautiously drank another sip. This time it went down a lot easier, and before she knew it the cup was empty and she was craving more. "Ohhh…" She groaned and tipped the cup upside down, catching the last drop on her tongue. She jumped when she heard a voice.

"Not bad, aye?" Jack Sparrow asked her. Willow looked quickly toward the door to find it standing wide open, and the man was leaning casually against the frame hands crossed over his chest smirking at her. She apprised him quickly, mug still hanging from her fingertips. He was cute, very cute actually. He had a three pointed hat sitting on top of his head, and she could just barely make out a worn red sash covering his forehead below that. Dreadlocks fell to the front of his face on the sides of his hair, the back looked normal. There was a strange bone or something that looked plastic that was hanging from his head on the right side. There were also numerous beads and jewels that decorated his hair. He had a mustache and two braids that hung from his chin for a beard. Willow just stared at him for a moment soaking it all in. He definitely reminded her of the pirates that they had studied in history classes…but much more real…and standing in front of her while she stared dumbly at him.

Jack stared back for a moment before taking a couple steps toward the girl. He started waving his hands back and forth in front of her face. "What?" Willow asked, she shook her head, and then grasped it tightly. Not only was the room still tipping back and forth, but she felt kind of light headed. The rum…was taking over. She hadn't yet made it to the window as Xander had moments earlier to realize they were out to sea, and that was the reason the room was moving.

"'ows the rum, luv?" Jack asked her with a smirk, watching her sway back and forth from her sitting position on the bed. He sat down next to her and she turned to look at him. He squinted at her. "Did ye eat somethin'?" He glanced toward the plate on her lap, and the chicken leg that was half gone, but the rest of the food untouched…with the large mug of run drained. Jack smirked to himself; she was definitely a light-weight.

"Who are you?" Willow asked, attempting to stand the plate of food was just barely saved by Jack who jumped up to catch it, and place it carefully on the table where it had originally been; then he carefully put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her gently back onto the bed to sit back down. When he was positive that she wasn't going to tip over he cautiously resumed his seat.

"I'm Cap'n Jack Sparrow." He eyed her curiously, noting her hazy expression. "Ye 'eard of me?"

"Nope!" Willow said with a shrug. Then handed her mug to Jack. "Do you have any more of that drink you gave me?" She smiled at him prettily. "It was good." She stood to walk back to the table where her food now sat to double check for other glasses full of rum. In the process she tripped over her two feet. Jack had been ready for this and was by her side catching her elbows and slowly guiding her back to the bed.

"I think ye've had enough, luv." He said, sitting back down next to her, always ready to jump to her aid. She seemed so helpless to him that he felt protective of her. He wasn't that often around teenagers, and there was this innocent quality that she had that just shone. "What's yer name?" Willow met his gaze, her head swaying back and forth. She was more then a little drunk from the powerful alcohol that the pirates were used to.

"I'm Willow!" She giggled. "You're cute!" She reached out and tugged on Jack's right beard braid. "Is this real?"

"Ow!" Jack called out, and gently removed her hand from his braid, grinding his teeth in irritation. He looked into her hazy eyes again. "'ave ye never drank before, luv?"

"Nope!" Willow said cheerfully. She looked around the room, to Jack, and back to the room again. "Why is the room swaying?" She started to move her head to the gentle swaying of the room surrounding her.

"Yer on The Black Pearl." Jack said. "We rescued ye an' brought ye onta me ship." He put a hand on her face to have it stop moving. "Do ye know how ye got here?"

"We fell through a puddle." Will said, nodding matter-of-factly.

"Ye fell through…a puddle?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. And people thought he was strange?

"Yep!" Willow replied and took her mug back from Jack who had held it on his lap while he talked to her. "Do you have any more to drink?"

Jack patted her on the shoulder. "Later, luv. Ye've had enough rum for now."

"But why is the rum gone?" Willow asked him, her eyes wide as if tears were ready to spill out. Jack had no idea what to think. He started to say something but she started talking at the same time, so he let her continue. "I bet the hellmouth brought us here." Willow continued. "Did you know there was a hellmouth?" She nodded. "There is." She leaned forward and whispered to his chin. "With vampires!" She smiled up at him from her position right by his chin.

"Vampires…aye?" Jack asked, and eased her back to slowly stand up. Willow nodded enthusiastically. "Ye should rest a bit, luv." He sauntered back to the door. "I'll be back…with…more rum for meself." He nodded quickly and disappeared out the door.

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"I'm gettin' impatient! When is the plan gonna happen?!" A gruff grungy pirate asked another of the same stature.

"Soon." The other whispered back to him, eyeing the other crew members that were busy working away aboard the deck. "Jack Sparrow is not gonna steal this treasure away from us or our Cap'n."

"Have ye seen this map yet?" The first asked.

The second shook his head. "'e guards it too close, 'e does. Wouldn't be surprised if'n 'e keeps it in 'is drawers."

"These two people that just came aboard…" The first looked menacingly at the second. "Keep an eye on 'em."

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"'ow long 'as 'e been out?" A feminine voice asked Gibbs and Will. They looked at each other, then both looked toward her and shrugged. She just stared at them. "Ye don' know?" They shook their heads, smiled as they slowly backed away, then practically ran toward the half open door.

"'e's all yers!" Gibbs shouted out before leaving the boy in Anamaria's capable hands. She sighed and dabbed a cool cloth on his forehead. "I need me own ship." She muttered to the boy.

It had taken close to half an hour to find a pirate from Jack's crew that had clothes that would reasonably fir the boy. Most people like Gibb' were too big, others like Will might fit, but not assuredly. Finally a pirate by the name of Cotton had the right size of clothes. Will and Gibbs had dressed the boy then called for her to wake him up, by any means necessary. Gibbs was itching to get out of the cabin, and Will…was just itching. She thought he had a rash from the last island they had visited, but was being too "manly" to not mention it. She shook her head, he'd learn soon enough about what bushes were friendly, and which others weren't. A pirate would know. Half the other pirates would have made up an elaborate story on how they had gotten it, but not Will. Anamaria smiled slightly to herself. She wondered if he was heading straight toward the young woman's quarters to talk to the mysterious girl some more.

"Please, Mom." Xander's voice caught her attention, and she smiled down at his cute face. "Make them go away." She cocked her head to the side and let him continue talking in his sleep. "Don't make me stay here!" He started whispering. "I don't think they're pirates. They took my clothes, and I'm on ship…but they can't be pirates!" There was a pause and Anamaria opened her mouth then closed it as he whispered one more time. "I think the big man is gay…he was looking at me closely when they had my clothes." Now Anamaria had to cover her mouth to suppress her giggles. The thought…Gibbs, gay?! That womanizer?! Wait until she told him that! "I think this pirate thing is a joke. This is a place of orgies!"

Now Anamaria burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. The thought of Jack's crew…doing that?! Ewwww. It took her a moment to collect herself and to stop laughing. When she finally did and she looked down at him, she found the boy had his eyes opened and was staring at her appraisingly, obviously liking what he saw. "Hello." Anamaria said smiling down at him, she paused in her dabbing of his forehead.

Xander blinked a couple of times, he thought he was still dreaming. The woman that was sitting over him was beautiful! He smiled up at her warmly and the teen hormones kicked in. "Are you a part of the orgy?"

Anamaria laughed a little and continued to dab his forehead. "My name is Anamaria, and you're aboard The Black Pearl."

Xander stared up at her for a moment, his expression not changing. "And I just came to the scary conclusion…that I'm not dreaming." He sat up quickly. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find a corner and die."

Anamaria put a staying hand on his shoulder, and smiled at him. "That must 'ave been the last of yer fever talkin'." She lied. "Ye've been talkin' in yer sleep for a few minutes."

Xander pressed his palm to his forehead and squinted accusingly at her. "It feels cool."

Anamaria paused, and felt his forehead. Then she tried to get his thoughts on another track. "Of course, now." She smiled and adjusted his collar. "What's yer name?"

Xander looked down in relief to find that he was wearing clothes…albeit someone else's clothes, but at least he was clothed. "Xander…Harris." He held up a finger when she was about to talk so that he could continue. "So let me get this straight…we really are out to sea on some freaky pirate ship involving strange clams?"

Anamaria stared at him in confusion for a moment. "We are out to sea, yes…on a ship called The Black Pearl."

Xander nodded enthusiastically. "Hence the clams."

"Right." Anamaria said slowly. "Are ye hungry?"

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Jack Sparrow stared at the horizon in front of him, his mind wandering in a thousand different directions as usual. (Who knew exactly what goes on in Jack's mind?) The two things that he was thinking the most about were the two stowaways they had, and the treasure they were racing to find.

They had heard about the treasure when they had last stopped at Tortuga. Jack had commandeered a map a man was gloating about (right after he had punched him out), but before he could back to his ship to tell the crew the new plans, another pirate had blindsided him and stolen the man. When he'd awoken, it was about fifteen minutes later. Gibbs had been with him, and held up the map triumphantly. He had been about to talk to Jack when he had seen the other pirate attack him, and steal the map. Gibbs chased after the pirate until he lay unconscious on the dirt and Gibbs got the map.

There was some suspicion in Jack's mind that the map had been passed around a lot before, and other copies may be in circulation. Did another pirate hope to beat Jack to the treasure?

Jack's eyes narrowed at the thought. Nobody was going to steal his treasure from him. They needed all speed to find the treasure before anyone else might. He glanced down at the lower deck as he heard some commotion. Will came pounding up the stairs beaming, happy with himself about something. When he caught Jack's gaze he immediately tried to school his features and look more stern, more pirate-like. He narrowed his eyes at Jack, but they twinkled with life on their own accord.

"Will." Jack nodded to him.

"Jack." Will nodded back to him.

"Cap'n." Jack replied.

"Really?!" Will asked, he looked surprised. Then he shrugged, grinned broadly and moved beside Jack and took the wheel from him. He bumped into Jack to get him to move aside and inhaled deeply eyes on the horizon.

Jack stared at him for a moment before shaking his head, and bumping him back to control the wheel. They stayed like this for a moment, both trying to gain control of the wheel before Jack kicked Will in the ass and told him to check on the stowaways.

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That's the end of chapter 2. Tell me what you think!! Reviews are most welcome!!