Here for your enjoyment is Chapter Two. Again, nothing is mine except for Ellie and the plot. That would be mine. This chapter's dedicated to my first reviewer Dimonah Tralon. Many thanks and lots of love! ENJOY and then REVIEW!!!

Chapter Two: The Black Pearl

"Ohhh..." Ellie moaned. Her head ached painfully. She looked around her in wonder. She

was in a small paneled room on a soft bed of white linens. Next to her was a straight-

backed chair and a desk covered in maps. Out a small window, she could see the blue of

the ocean. Ellie decided that she was most definitely in Jack's cabin on the Black Pearl.

With Jack, anything was possible. She got shakily out of bed and staggered on deck,

head pounding. It was dark outside. She must have slept all day. At the helm was Jack,

humming softly.

"Drink up me hearties yo ho! Ah, Ellie luv," he grinned at her. "Feelin' better?"

Ellie reached up to rub her head, only to have Jack stop her.

"You've got yerself quite a lump there, lass. Don't want to be hurtin' yerself."

"Oh, thank you." Ellie gazed out onto the open seas. "Jack, where are we going?"

"Wherever the winds take us, luv. Or would yeh want to return to Tortuga?"

She shivered, only partly from the wind. "No, thank you for taking me away from there.

Without a job I would have starved."

Jack stood closer to Ellie, allowing her to rest her weary head on his chest. He smelled

comfortingly of the sea and alcohol. Her eyes closed.

"We're beggars and blighters and ne'er-do-well cads..." Jack sang.

"Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me," Ellie whispered.

"Aye lassie. It's a pirate's life for you."

Ellie pulled away from Jack, suddenly embarrassed to have been so close to him.

Frightened at Jack's warmth, Ellie hurried back to his cabin, falling fully clothed into

bed. The rocking of the ship soon had her lulled to sleep.

"Get that boy! I say, get that boy!"

A fat merchant chased after a gangly boy in tattered clothing. Ellie laughed at the sight of

the boy, running with the fat man's chicken in his tanned arms.

"Come Elizabeth," her mother pulled the thirteen year old girl away. "Do not stare."

"Look at that lad, Mother! Does he not look merry?" Ellie stood stubbornly, watching

him still.

"No, he is a dreadful thief and no good will come of him. Now come along."

Ellie sighed, but submitted. Her home was so dull, Ellie could die. Her father was a

wealthy merchant who hosted parties every weekend at their mansion in Jamaica. To

entertain herself, Elizabeth read pirate tales and pretended she was living a life as

exciting as Morgan's or Drake's. The allure of the exciting boy she had seen in the market

was too much. That night, Ellie slipped out of her window and ventured onto the docks.

There, she found the boy, cooking his prize.

"Hello," she said boldly.

"Oh, 'ello," the boy grinned at her. "Aren't you the lass in the market today?"

"Yes." Ellie was both pleased and shy that the boy remembered her.

The boy offered her a chicken leg. "Have some?"

"No thank you."

He shrugged and devoured it. Fascinated, Ellie watched.

"What is your name?" she asked at length.

"Jack Sparrow. You?"

"Ellie Fly. I live in the house on the hill." She pointed.

"Aye, that so? Merchant Fly's daughter?"

"Yes."

"Do tell."

Ellie obliged, glad to find such a fast friend. It had been years since she had a playmate.

Each evening, Ellie snuck out of her home to see Jack. They ran the docks like two wild

spirits. The hours of freedom from her restrictive life were heaven, and as Ellie grew, she

came to love her best friend. Often, he would leave Jamaica, but he always returned to see

Ellie. Five years back, Jack had returned to find Ellie gone. After inquiring around, he

discovered that her parents had died in a fire, leaving her alone. The family funds milked

dry by con men and tax collectors, Ellie had been forced to find a job. a dockworker had

last seen her on a ship to Tortuga. It was there Jack found her.

"Wakey wakey luv."

Ellie groaned as she stretched. "What's the time?"

"Seven. Breakfast is on." Jack crossed the floor to Ellie's bedside and handed her mug of

coffee. "Strong an' hot."

"Thank you." Ellie took it gratefully. She took a sip, then coughed. "Oh God, Jack! This

isn't coffee! It's dishwater."

Jack looked carefully into the cup, then took a sip himself. "Nope. That be coffee. Good

and strong at that. Drink up!"

"Maybe later." Ellie put the mug on the desk and got out of bed. "I had a dream about us,

Jack. About when were we young."

"Dream luv?"

Ellie impulsively straightened Jack's hat. "Aye, a dream. Remember those days, Jack?"

Jack smiled at her motherly instincts. "Aye. You were a pretty little lass."

"And I'm not now?"

Jack took a draw from his hip flagon. "No, Elizabeth, yer not. Yer a lovely woman. Come

on now. Yeh have work to do."

Ellie threw a blanket around her shoulders for warmth. "Work?"

"Aye. Didn't think ye were gettin' free passage, did yeh?"

"I suppose not seeing as I'm with you," she grumbled, following him down into crew's

quarters. Jack opened a small door in the wall and led her inside. It was a tiny room,

stocked from top to bottom with food.

"Anchovies, apple butter, marmalade," Ellie read the names of the hundreds of jars. "Some

collection you've got here, Jack. What do you expect me to do with all this?"

"Cook luv! Thought you'd know what to do with it. useless, just useless yeh are! regret

savin' yeh now. No livin' with a lass who can't cook..." jack raved as he traveled back on

deck, leaving Ellie flustered and slightly hurt.

"Fine! I'll show you cooking, Jack Sparrow," Ellie rolled up her sleeves and prepared to

make Jack the meal of his life.

"Reef tops'ls! Reef yeh landlubbers!" Jack yelled good-naturedly to his crew. Eager to

please, they shot up the mainsail like monkeys, hauling canvas.

"Jack," his first mate Gibbs, a portly man with muttonchops, approached him. "Yeh sure

about this lass of yers?"

"Aye Gibbs. Good girl, she is. Think I should have told her I hate almonds?"

"No matter, Jack. Will she be bringing us trouble?"

Jack's face was solemn. "No. She is alone."

"I see."

"But I would endure any trouble to keep her safe," he added in a whisper so low he was

sure Gibbs wouldn't hear. Unfortunately, his ears were better than Jack expected.

"What's that ye said?" Gibbs squinted. "Ye aren't fallin' for this girl, are yeh Jack?"

"Me? Pirates don't love, Gibbs. May as well be part o' the Code."

"Aye. Of course."

But when Gibbs was gone, Jack wondered silently to himself if perhaps his feelings for

Ellie were stronger than friendship. If perhaps pirates could love...