Victoria awoke the next morning to find that Jack wasn't there. Sunlight streamed into the room, as she got out of the bed.
"Jack Sparrow?" said the woman at the front when she asked about him. "The only people lodging here last night was you and your husband, Mr. Smith," she added, flipping through some papers.
"I saw your husband leave this morning, saying something about a crystal. No Jack Sparrow, though."
"My husband?" Victoria said, blinking in astonishment. The woman chuckled, still absentmindedly searching through some papers.
"If Captain Jack Sparrow lodged here, we'd have the British Navy storming into my inn! Well, Mr. Smith did say something about your ramblings about Jack Sparrow. He's a pirate, you know. Probably hundreds of pirates trudge through Tortuga each day. But the amount of shillings they would reward for Sparrow is sky-high. It's no wonder you're so excited about him," she sighed, ducking under the table to retrieve a quill.
"He said something about a crystal?" Victoria said, finally catching on to Jack's tricks.
"Yes, he said that a crystal could be found in some tavern…" Victoria didn't stay to listen to the rest.
CRYSTAL! His 'girl'! Oh, I would love to meet her! She thought bitterly, marching back to her room. She found Jack's coat, wrinkled and messy at the foot of the bed. Pulling it on, she drew her hair into a tight bun. Using the kohl she found in Jack's coat pocket, she quickly colored in a moustache and thickened her eyebrows. Victoria came back to the front, about to leave when the woman popped up again.
"Excuse me, sir, but have you paid for you lodging?" she said to Victoria.
"Uh…" Victoria cleared her throat, trying to make it deeper, "…yes, I have. And now I'll be going. Because I'm a man, and…and men are nothing but seascum. Now I shall go and find a woman, or two," she rambled, backing towards the door and stepping out.
Victoria breathed in the crisp morning air as she made her way back to the pub. There was no chance that any man would go for her in this state, she thought confidently as she walked in. Scanning over the heads of the crowd, Victoria immediately found Jack sitting at a stool, with three women in his lap. She smiled pleasantly, plopping down beside him.
"Why, 'ello, mate," she said in a gruff voice. Jack looked up, apparently surprised at being addressed by a man.
"Uh, yes, hello…" he said, raising an eyebrow. His eyes landed on the coat.
"Hey, I have that same coat, mate. Very good coat-" Jack was cut off by another woman coming and making a seat in his lap. Victoria immediately averted her eyes, looking in another direction, when suddenly, a woman came, her dress ripped in many places. She had a teasing glint in her eyes.
"Hello, stranger," she said, batting her eyelashes. Victoria's eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. Do I look that much like a man? she thought. The woman leaned against her shoulders, twirling a stray piece of fabric. Victoria looked to Jack for help, noticing that he was yelling under a pile of girls, "WHOA! Easy on the goods, please!" Her brow furrowed as she said in her deepest voice, "Well come on over here…uh…lass. Because I'm a man. Not a woman." The woman obliged immediately, falling onto her lap. Victoria almost dropped her, trying to conceal her fair and immaculate hands.
"My name is Crystal," the woman said flirtatiously, pulling at her blonde locks. Victoria almost dropped her again.
"You!" she screamed, nearly revealing herself.
"'You' what?" Crystal giggled, wrapping her arms around Victoria. Victoria remained as stiff as a board, holding her breath.
"You…are beautiful," she said. "Who's that?" she asked, jerking her head towards Jack.
"Oh that's Mr. Smith. He's…a friend," Crystal said absentmindedly.
"Mr. Smith, is it?" Victoria growled. Jack's head popped up from beneath the pile of giggly girls.
"Aye?"
"I'm Mr. Reming. A friend of your wife's." Jack was still oblivious. Just then, Crystal, spotting new prey, jumped out of Victoria's lap, going to another man. The other women in Jack's lap followed suit.
"Thanks very much, mate," Jack said, putting his hands in a prayer-like gesture. Victoria noticed that he still didn't know it was her.
"I love b-uh, girls. But the one I love the most is my…my fiancé. Her name was Victoria. She drowned while traveling on my ship. I never saw her again." Jack's eyes lit up.
"I know someone named Victoria! But she's alive. And she almost died-last night…" he said, more to himself than to "Mr. Reming". He suddenly got up, leaving his almost full tankard of rum on the bar table.
A/N: Tell me, what should I do next? How do you do that? Well, you click on that little button that says, Submit Review. So submit, submit, submit! Woohoo! I'm almost hitting the big 5-0! *crowd cheers *