"I've been looking all over for ye, Plum. What are ye still doin' in there?"

I looked up slowly at Ana. I'm sure the scowl on my face said it all, but I figured I'd spell it out for her. "Jack's a bastard."

"Jack?" She let out a groan. "What happened?"

"I picked the lock but couldn't get out of the dress and that's when he found me."

"You couldn't get out of the dress?"

"Look where the stupid bow is." I turned around so she could see the impossible location of the darned bow.

"So tear the bloody thing off. It's not like ye like it anyway."

Damn. Why hadn't I thought of that? "Would you get me out of here already?"

"I may as well just leave ye, bein' that Jack knows."

"What?!"

She grinned at me. "Just playin' with ye, Plum."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Relax. Since he knows, I've got an idea how ye can get some of yer own back before we go off snooping."

**********************

I had to admit, Ana's idea was a good one. And it was simple.

The sun was just setting as I made my way onto the deck. Ana was close on my heels as I made my way up to the helm. Sparrow was busy looking through a telescope, so he didn't notice me coming until I tapped him on the shoulder.

He nearly dropped the telescope, recovered quickly and flashed me a grin. The grin almost made me think twice about what I was going to do. Almost.

"Hello, love."

I smacked him right across the face. Hard.

His mouth formed a perfect 'o' of surprise as his hand went to his cheek. "Maybe I deserved that."

"Maybe? Maybe?!" I had to stop myself from smacking him again. Damn, Ana was right. It was strangely satisfying and even more strange was that Sparrow seemed to like it. "You locked me in a jail cell all day!"

"Brig. Not jail." He rubbed his cheek and looked at me reproachfully. "Ye hit almost as hard as Ana."

"That's a compliment, Plum," Ana whispered in my ear.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I hadn't heard her come up behind me.

Sparrow shot her a look. "Ye put her up to this, didn't ye, Ana?"

She shrugged . "Ain't like ye didn't have it comin', Jack, makin' her wear this blue monstrosity and lockin' her in the brig."

"What's wrong with the dress," he demanded.

I rolled my eyes. "Do I need to write you a list?! Just give me my clothes back already."

"No." Sparrow arched an eyebrow at me, as if daring me to do something about it.

So I smacked him again.

"Oww!" He took a step back. "Stop that."

"Give me my clothes, Sparrow."

Sparrow took another step back. "What's gotten into ye, Stephanie Plum?"

"I'm a little pissed off, on account of being locked in the stupid brig all day and having nothing to eat," I admitted. "And having to wear this stupid –"

He cut me off with a kiss. This was a Joe Morelli tactic, but I had to admit, it worked pretty well for Sparrow, too. Finally, he broke the kiss and looked down at me, brown eyes dancing with laughter. "All right, love, run along now. I've a ship to navigate."

"Run along?"

"Aye." He punctuated it with a little finger-wave. "Run along."

Ana grabbed my arm and nodded.

I figured she was right and started to follow her.

"Ladies."

We both turned.

Sparrow grinned at us both. "Stay out of trouble."

****Note****

This was inspired by Jess' feedback, wherein she wrote, "Jack's a bastard." Thanks, Jess. We all needed that.