Chapter 2 Authors Note: I know Jack would go in, sword glinting, but he couldn't be captured again. Ana didn't even know him... the whole outcome would just be bad. So that's my apology for his resort to gentleman in the previous chapter... even though he is pretty much a good person, even though he'd not admit it to anyone. Lol. There IS a reason he's being so... nice... you'll find out soon...

She woke up early the next morning careful to lock the door behind her this time, the horses still had to be fed and watered. Tending them gave her time enough to think, something she definitely needed to do.

Jack's wounds would heal and he'd be able to leave, nothing was stopping him now except she noticed that it almost seemed like he wanted to stay. She knew that was impossible, he looked out the window towards the ocean a lot, but when she asked him about a ship he just shrugged and gave his trademark grin.

This was the calmest she had ever seen Thanatos before, he didn't paw or stamp his foot while waiting for food and water. He just nickered softly as she put the hay and bran into the manger.

"G'morning, Ana." Tim, a lad of about ten and two entered the stable carrying an empty bucket. "Sugar ready?"

"You know where she is." Ana smiled as she finished grooming one of the horses, Tim was a usual this early in the morning, he considered 'Sugar' his. He would fill the bucket with feed, Ana made sure that the water was already there so he wouldn't strain himself to lift it.

She was a good ten years his senior and despite his contradictions, she took care of him and watched out to make sure he stayed out of trouble rather than it being the other way around. He had a mother who looked after him, but Ana was there to be his friend.

Sugar's real name was Athena, but Tim couldn't pronounce it correctly so he dubbed her for her pure white color. A more mild-mannered horse she had yet to see. The tap of boots on the floor had her turning with her hand clenched around a hoof-cleaning tool.

"McRyn?" an aristocratic voice called her name, it wasn't Losthun this time though it was a very good paying customer.

"Aye, sir. Which horse would you like made ready for you today?"

"I'd heard word that you've hidden a pirate." He said instead, his blue eyes were ice-cold. "If that is the case, I'll have to take my business elsewhere."

"I'm sorry, but you've been misinformed." Ana replied not noticing how her whole demeanor had changed, this was no mild-mannered lady he dealt with now, her eyes were nearly as icy as his , "I don't know who's been spreading such tales, but I can assure you that they're all lies."

"So long as you're sure..."

"Positive." She said with no hesitation in her voice. "Is that sufficient, or will you need to look somewhere else today?"

"No, no, that's fine for me." Only his upbringing had saved him from feeling like a schoolboy under question, "The regular horse, it's much appreciated."

He left leaving her with an extra bit of money as tip. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had been spreading such deceit about her. This wasn't the first time that had happened, and now she was sure that it wouldn't be the last.

"What was that about, Ana?" Tim asked coming cautiously out from the stall, "What did Burkin want?"

"To know more about the pirate that escaped, that's all." Ana sighed, "Nothing to worry about."

"Is there a pirate here?" he asked eyes bright with interest.

"No." she replied firmly, "You know the danger that would put me in, why would I do such a thing?"

"Because it sounds like a lot of fun, you know to go adventuring with pirates? Live the life of a buccaneer under the ocean, just like in the stories you used to read me. Remember? Captain Jack Sparrow and his escapes? The Black Pearl?"

"Aye, I do remember, but they were just stories."

"But they were in the newspaper, Ana. The newspaper don't print lies."

"Doesn't, and not always." She saw the stubborn look on his face and knew that it was best to get him doing something before he attracted even more attention to pirates, "Shouldn't you be walking Sugar? She's been in the stall all night long."

"Alright, but I still say Jack Sparrow's real."

"Oh, do you now. And who would you have heard that from?" Her good fortune had come to a crashing halt, standing just inside the door was the man she had done her best to avoid.

"The newspaper." Tim replied sensing that it was best to keep quiet this time.

"Can't believe everything you read." Losthun ruffled his hair on the way over to where Ana stood. Tim hastily backtracked back into Sugar's stall and kept as quiet as he could, for that Ana breathed a small sigh of relief. "Can you, little Annie."

"Annie?" she sneered, "I told you not to call me that again. Why don't you just leave me alone?"

"I warned you that the black devil-horse of yours wouldn't keep you safe forever." He scorned. "Now there's nobody here but me."

"You spread all those lies about me. Why? To try and make people stay away?" she laughed despite the knot of fear in her stomach, "Burkin's already been here, do you think the others won't come now?"

"No, I know they won't." his eyes narrowed to slits and danger lurked in his eyes. "Or rather they will come by later, but not to rent a pony."

"What have you done?" she hissed her anger rising as her fear did, no man made her cringe away and Losthun couldn't be considered a man.

"I warned everyone that the little stable mistress might not be as innocent as they think." She could smell stale alcohol on his breath, "And they aren't as hospitable as you seem to be."

"You bastard." She swore, "How dare you! I haven't done anything to you! Ever. Yet you won't leave me be!"

"Wench!" he slapped her across the cheek, "I told you before not to talk back."

"Now that, mate, wasn't very nice." Jack tapped him on the shoulder. When Losthun turned to see who had dared interfere a fist met him squarely in the right eye. He fell to the ground gracelessly cursing up a storm.

Jack rolled his eyes at the sorry state of the man and looked at Anamaria to make sure no further harm had come her way. The panic in her eyes was warning enough, and he ducked just in time to escape a clumsy blow given by a man still facing the after effects of too much drinking.

"Different story when you're facing a man, eh?" Jack said while delivering a blow to the man's stomach and neatly pinioning to avoid the kick aimed his direction. "Can't handle your liquor worth a damn either."

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Losthun roared, "Another customer of Annie's?"

"I believe she told you not to call her that." Jack said slapping him neatly across the face, the same way he had hit Ana. This time was more of a warning than the actual lessons that had been taught before, to humiliate rather than hurt. "And you'd not know who you're facing after all this time? You sure speak of me enough."

"Sparrow!" Losthun gasped, "I knew it."

"You know nothing." Jack said all seriousness, "Make sure the people you've warned understand that as well, or make bloody right sure never to come back here. Savvy?"

"You'll regret this." Losthun wiped the blood from his nose and glared through an already purpling eye, "I'll have every lawmen down here before the noose can be made ready."

"Thanks very much for the warning." Jack shrugged, but didn't loose eye contact.

"You're a dead woman, Annie. Mark my words, this isn't over."

"Oh, I very much think it is, mate." Jack replied taking a dagger out of his boot and aiming it towards Losthun's heart. He threw it and Losthun yelped, the dagger was embedded in the wood; very close proximity to his head.

Losthun stormed out of the stable, but before Jack could say anything more Tim poked his head out from Sugar's stall. He noticed the anger and fear on Ana's face, but was even more drawn by his hero's appearance.

"Are you really Jack Sparrow?" he asked coming closer and looking at them through dark green eyes, "Is he, Ana?"

"Aye, lad." Jack answered, "And what's your name?"

"Timothy Flaet." He replied raising his chin proudly.

"Good strong name." Jack praised, "Fit for a man such as yourself."

"Will you take me with you when you go?" he asked, "So I can be a pirate, too?"

"How old are you?" he noticed the warning glint in Ana's gaze.

"One and eleven." Tim hesitated before adding, "Captain."

"I'll tell you what." Jack knelt down to face the boy squarely, "You meet me on that dock when you're four years older and we have an accord, savvy?"

"Aye, sir." Tim shook his hand, the smile on his face bright enough to match the sun, "Four years."

"Keep this a secret now, you hear? Just between us men." Jack unthreaded a gold coin from his hair and gave it to the boy, "Er, just between us." He shot a conspiratorial glance over at Ana.

"I promise." Tim looked at the coin in wonder.

"Good, now wasn't there a horse you were taking care of?"

Ana didn't wait for Tim to leave with Sugar, she grabbed the nearest saddle bag and started to throw things inside. Salve, apples, a blanket, canteens of water, she was about to put a brush in when Jack stopped her.

"What's all that for? Planning to go somewhere?" he asked her.

"No, you are. You can't stay here, they'll find you. Then what? I can't protect you from them!"

"I don't need you too." Jack took the bag from her hands, "Rest a moment, take a breath, I don't want you swooning here."

"I won't faint." She felt oddly light-headed all the same.

"Come sit down, I have a story to tell you." He made her sit on one of the wooden benches then proceeded to do the same. "About ten years ago I met a woman who helped me to meet my future. I was only about fifteen at the time."

"Like you promised Tim."

"Don't miss much, do you." Jack looked at her appraisingly, "But aye, just like that. I promised her on my return the following year that if there was anything I could do for her, it would be done. All she asked is that her daughter be taken care of should anything happen to her. Her lass was about ten, and I swore that I'd do what I could."

"So this woman you're talking about was... thirty-five, and would her name happen to be Marie?"

"I wasn't in time to help her, but her daughter is in the midst of some trouble and although I'm not known to be a man of my word, it'd be ashame to put a black mark on my otherwise perfect record, so here I am."

"Well, no worries, Captain, but I'm not a charity case for you to be taking care of." Ana hadn't known about that, her mother had died peacefully in her sleep having succumbed to a life-taking illness. That had been the reason for her helping all the strays and less fortunate people, it helped ease her mind some that she was able to do a bit of good before she died.

"Your mother gave me a future, in the shape of a ship with wings and a bird flying over the sun she made sure I stayed true to what she saw for me." Jack showed her the black tattoo over his left arm. "I wouldn't have stayed unless I thought it a promise worth keeping, savvy?"

"Jack Sparrow, you are hereby under arrest for..." the voice droned on outside the confines of the stable.

"They've come already." Ana fretted, "Was the promise really something you'd die over?"

"I owe her my life, love. A promise given..." she didn't notice the mischievous expression on his face as she retrieved the brown saddle-pack.

"Like hell." She slammed on her hat and shoved the bag into his arms. "If what you said is true, you owe me your life in return for that promise you gave her. I'll not be letting you die on that account." She didn't turn back as she headed outside to face down the mob that had formed at the mention of Jack's name.

It would take all the finesse she had to prevent them from entering the stable, but so long as breath stirred in her lungs, Jack Sparrow would stay unseen. The daft fool, what had happened to the intelligent man she read about? He wouldn't trade his life for an oath, although she had to admit... he was a brave, handsome, roguish type of fool.

Authors Note 2: So by my calculations that makes Jack about twenty-seven, and Ana twenty-one. Her mother was thirty-five, Jack was fifteen when he left and it's been twelve years past. Ana was ten and she's now eleven years older. Her mother gave birth to her at twenty (?) and that makes sense for that time-period. It all ties in well, at least I think so, and it gave Jack a reason to stay.

Authors Note 3: I've kept them in character, haven't I? Jack's mischievous attitude even when faced with danger, but respect towards Ana (and all women) by coming to her rescue against Losthun and the fight, Ana's spirit and to-hell-with-all nature that makes her who she is? I hope so... review? Lol.