HEADS UP: This is NOT a sequel of The Bounty of Captain Bartholomeu Santara or The Gems of Roslynn. It's a standalone fic! Have fun!
Hey, it's me again! JillValentine44. Yeah, me. YAY for a new fic!! I got the idea from my friend, actually, who said that she didn't see Jack the way I did. In "Bounty" and the other fics following it, Jack is sort of a misunderstood, lonely pirate who is really a sweet romantic once he finds the right girl -- my friend saw Jack as a complete scoundrel who only cares for his ship and himself. That was inspiration and so was the song "Men Don't Change" by Amy Dalley. That song rocks. Ooh! And, of course, mostly by "Girls Lie, Too" by Terri Clark. That is the best video EVER!! And that song is totally true! Anyway, this is TOTALLY different from my other fics. I hope you enjoy it, though!
This chapter is pretty long, but I wanted to include a lot to hopefully get people interested. This is NOT A MARY SUE. I love Mary Sues, but this is not one!
BTW, thanks to my buddies: short one who I love too much! Fire -- you support me more than I deserve, love you! DAFTLIKESPARROW -- my long lost year apart twin! You inspire me so much, thank you! You rock, me heartie! I love your stories so much! Write forever and always keep in touch!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything "Pirates" related, I'm not affiliated with Disney or anything else I write about. I'm just a fangirl! Don't sue me!!!
ENJOY THE FIC!!!
Catherine Elliot walked determinedly through Tortuga, searching for a certain pirate to help her. She had long, straight, black hair and bright blue eyes. She was clad in a red dress that was fairly expensive-looking, and somewhat low-cut. She didn't look like she belonged in Tortuga, since most of the women in the town were whores, which she was not. She was fairly tall and slender and very pretty.
She entered the Faithful Bride pub and scanned it for just the right scum. She found him.
"Jack Sparrow." she addressed, approaching him at the bar. Captain Jack Sparrow sat with a mug of rum next to several other pirates. Who doesn't know about Captain Jack Sparrow? The man's a legend! A good looking scoundrel with a famous ship who loved women and loved to drink.
"Captain Jack Sparrow, love." he corrected.
"Whatever." she muttered. "Anyway, I have a proposition for you."
"Oh, well, then, let's get a room, darling, an' we'll talk." Jack told her with a smirk.
"Shut up." she ordered, scowling at him. "Look, I want to get into your ship, not get into your pants, you scalawag." He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I need a ship and I need your help. I'm Catherine Elliot, niece of Christopher Elliot who recently passed."
"Christopher Elliot?!" Jack exclaimed.
Christopher Elliot was one of the richest men in the Caribbean. If this girl was related to him, she must be rich as well.
"Yes, and I'm his only living relative." she told him. "I've been left his inheritance. The only problem is... he's hidden it. He buried his fortune somewhere in the Caribbean, but only left me this letter." She pulled a piece of parchment out of her purse and unrolled it. "It says that he's left a string of clues for me to follow in order to find my inheritance, and I'll have to search the Caribbean for them. You help me find my inheritance and I'll cut you in twenty percent."
Jack considered this for a moment. "Fifty."
"Hell, no. Twenty five."
"Forty five." he insisted.
"Thirty." she stated. "It's my final offer."
"I want forty five." Jack said.
"Fine, I'm sure there's plenty of other pirates here who can take me." she told him, raising her eyebrows arrogantly.
Jack's mind wandered off of the real meaning of her sentence -- not "taking her" to her destination, or at least, the one she intended.
"What?" she asked, annoyed at how he was just staring at her. "What'd I say?" She thought over her sentence and found her mistake. "Oh, bloody -- take me to find the next clue, you disgusting pig."
"Er," he began, struggling to get his mind back out of the gutter, "I, er, still want thirty percent..."
"Deal." she said.
He thought about what he'd just said. "Wait! Not thirty! Forty five!"
"Sorry. I accepted the thirty." she stated. "Anyway, expect me on your ship at ten tomorrow morning." She turned on her heel and exited the bar.
The next morning, Catherine headed toward the docked Black Pearl, thinking about her plan.
'If this man is as much of a scoundrel as I hear,' she thought about Jack, 'then, I should be able to get exactly what I want. All I have to do is keep him thinking he'll get what he wants from me, and then, after I get my inheritance, I won't give it to him.'
She was intending to use her looks to keep Jack interested in helping her, but she certainly wasn't going to sleep with him -- please, got standards? If she can't get help honestly, then she'll just have to get some help dishonestly.
She stepped onto the ship at precisely ten o' clock and was greeted by Jack.
"Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, love." he told her.
"Thanks." she said flatly and he showed her to her room, which, not surprisingly, was right next to his.
"Unless, o' course, you want to share a room with me, love." he offered.
"Oh, please." she grumbled sarcastically. "Keep dreaming, Captain."
"Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where I am." he told her.
"Oh, yes, I'll remember that." she said. "...If I ever decide I feel like committing a murder..." she mumbled.
"I'm the Captain, love, better respect me." he warned.
She wanted to say "Respect this!" and do an obscene gesture, but she really did need his help if she wanted to find her inheritance, so she restrained herself. She wasn't starting off very well... she needed to make sure that he would keep helping her...
"Ooh, Captain..." she purred. "What power you must have."
"O' course." he said, attempting to make himself look more manly -- she obviously didn't fall for it. "Enough power to take a few hours away from me busy schedule to... entertain anyone I want."
"Maybe later." she said, smiling, and raised her eyebrows suggestively. She walked into her room and shut the door.
'Wow," Jack thought, 'that girl really goes hot and cold. Insults me one minute, then almost takes me up on my offer the next...' He sauntered off, up on deck.
After Catherine got herself situated and unpacked, she went up on deck with her uncle's letter.
"Okay," she began, pulling the parchment out of her purse, and about to read it to Jack, "let's see... It says: 'Catherine, my dear, your inheritance is near, all you must do is solve the clues.'
"Does 'e always rhyme like this?" Jack asked.
"I suppose." she replied, wanting to get back to reading the letter. "'Rosalia town is sweeter than sweet, there is where the clue you'll meet. All you have to figure out, is where in God's Name that clue is waiting about. Watch with the crows and then, who knows?'"
"Well, 'e certainly wasn' a poet." Jack said.
"I don't care, I just want my money -- I mean," she hesitated, "I just want my uncle's money to be well taken care of." She smiled a fake smile.
"Believe me, love, I can't wait to get that thirty percent o' mine." Jack told her.
"Anyway, let's get going to Rosalia." she said. "On our way, we'll figure out this clue."
They set off toward Rosalia and Jack and Catherine stood at the helm, deciphering the clue.
" 'Where in God's Name...'" Catherine contemplated. "Maybe a church?"
"That's too blunt." Jack said. "I doubt it would be that easy to figure out."
"Well, fine, what's your bright idea?"
"Hm... 'God's Name...' Why would he capitalize that?" Jack pondered.
"Well, Jack," she began as if he were an idiot, "you tend to capitalize things like that, names of gods and--"
"Tha's not what I mean." Jack said, ignoring her. "I mean, why would he capitalize the word 'name?' Christopher Elliot was a very intelligent man from what I know, an'... 'e wouldn' jus' make a mistake like that..."
"So, you're saying that's deliberate, then?" Catherine asked. "Why, though?"
"I don' know." he replied.
"And what about the crow thing?" she asked. "I mean, what does that mean?"
"Well, I guess we'll find out when we get to Rosalia, eh?"
They arrived in Rosalia the next day and Jack and Catherine went out looking for anything they could that even remotely was related to the clue. They walked through the streets, looking around like mad people.
"Where do crows go?" Catherine asked, thinking.
"I don' know, to trees?" Jack suggested with a hint of sarcasm.
"Crows look at a lot of things..." Catherine said. "What could they see that we can't?"
"I don' know..."
"Well, let's see..." Catherine contemplated. "'God's Name...' Maybe a church or something?"
"I suppose anything's worth a try." Jack said. "Let's go."
They headed off to the nearest church and snooped around outside of it.
"What do crows see that we can't normally see at a church?" Catherine asked. "...Crows mostly just sit in trees all the time... That's it! Jack, climb up that tree!" she ordered, pointing to a large palm tree next to a window of the church.
"What?!" he exclaimed. "I'm a Sparrow, not a monkey!"
"Ha ha, you're so clever." she said flatly and unenthusiastically. "Anyway, do you want to find the clue or not? You said anything's worth a try! Get up there!"
"Why do I 'ave to?"
"I'm in a dress, what do you want me to do? Show the world what's under it?" she asked, annoyed.
"Well..."
"Wait! Don't you dare answer that -- we're on church grounds, you rotten scoundrel!" Catherine cried. "Anyway, hurry up, and climb up there! We don't have all day!"
Jack walked over to the tree, grumbling and looking severely annoyed and began to climb it. He struggled a bit to get up but finally was able to make it to a branch at the top. He looked around, trying to spot something conspicuous.
"Do you see anything?" she yelled.
"No!" he yelled back. "There's nothing' I can see from 'ere that I couldn' see from the ground!"
"Nothing?!" she yelled.
"Nothing!" he yelled back.
"Ugh, fine, then, hurry up and get down!" she yelled. "We haven't searched the docks yet!"
He began to get out of the tree when he realized that his coat had gotten stuck on a small branch. He yanked at it, but for some reason, could not get it unstuck.
"What are you doing up there?" she yelled. "Get down! Hurry! I'm getting hungry -- it's almost lunch, you know!"
"Well, I would, but I'm stuck!" he yelled.
"You're what?"
"I'm stuck! My coat is stuck on a branch!"
"Well, just leave it there!"
"NO!" he protested. "This is my coat! I've had this coat for years! Through many adventures!"
"Yeah, yeah, save the Napoleon gab, just hurry up and get your coat loose!" she ordered.
"I can't!" he yelled.
"What do you mean you can't?" she asked.
"I can't reach it!"
"What?!"
"You're goin' to 'ave to come up an' 'elp me!" he yelled.
"I can't climb up there!" she yelled back.
"Yes, you can! It's very easy!"
"Easy for you!"
"Well, love," he began, "you 'ave two choices: you can either 'elp me get down or stay 'ere an' complain until I go mad an' shoot meself! So decide!"
She sighed, irritated. "Damn it!" her eyes widened. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she cried, and made the sign of the cross.
"Wait!" he yelled. "I think I got it!" He reached up and out to a smaller branch and scooted out more on the one he was sitting on. "Oh, bloody--"
CRACK! SNAP! THUD!
Catherine ran, laughing, over to Jack, who was now on the ground with a pile of branches and leaves.
"Lose your balance?" she asked haughtily.
"No." he replied defiantly. "I jus' decided that this was the quickest way to get down."
"Yeah, and you're a gentleman, too." she said sarcastically. "Please."
He got up and brushed himself off.
"I'm hungry." she stated.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack said, holding out his hand to her.
"Shut up -- don't patronize me." she told him, irritated. She sighed. "Well, let's go eat before we say anything else that's unacceptable on church grounds."
They left the grounds (after Catherine made the sign of the cross again), and headed back to the Pearl. As they were walking along the docks, Jack noticed something.
"'ey... that ship..." he pointed to a large, old, brown ship.
"It's ugly -- what about it?" she asked.
"It's name is 'God's Name.'" Jack told her.
"Oh, my! I'm sorry! It's not ugly!" Catherine cried and made the sign of the cross again.
"Come on, darling, you're religious like I'm celibate."
"I think the odds favor me on that one." she said bluntly. "And I am, too."
"Whatever, sweetheart." he dismissed. "Anyway, the ship. 'God's Name...' It's got to be there."
"This ship is huge -- where is it?" she asked.
"Bloody 'ell if I know."
"You know, you really shouldn't say things like that around a lady." Catherine said. What a hypocrite.
"Well, I don' say things like that around ladies." he told her.
She scoffed. "You'd better watch it or I'll--"
"You'll what?" he asked.
"It's a surprise." she replied. "But I can tell you you won't like it."
He raised an eyebrow and abandoned the subject. "Anyway, let's see... where do crows go?"
"Er... to their nests?" Catherine asked, oblivious.
Jack paused, thinking. "That's it!"
Catherine's brow furrowed confusedly. Jack sauntered aboard the empty ship and started to climb up the rigging. He climbed up to the crow's nest and got inside as Catherine went to the mast to wait for him. After a moment, he climbed back down... with the next clue!
"You found it?!" she cried excitedly. He handed her a rolled up piece of parchment.
"The crow's nest -- I should've known." Jack said obviously.
"Oh, is that what that's called?" Catherine asked. "I just remember that every time someone was up there, they always yelled 'land ho!'" Jack stared at her, seeing no point to her sentence. "What?" she asked, annoyed. "Were you expecting philosophy? Who am I? Confucius?" she snorted. "Anyway, let's see what this next clue is." She unrolled the parchment and read it aloud. "'Okay, I can't think of a rhyme for you, Catherine, sorry -- I'm not a poet. Well, here's a riddle, anyway. The Oasis waits for you. Watch out for number one and don't lose your light.' What's that mean?!"
"I suppose we'll figure it out when we get back to the Pearl." Jack said.
"Yeah, I'm hungry." Catherine told him.
They made their way back to the ship and did not notice the two men sitting on the docks nearby, fishing. They were both dressed like pirates, but no one paid any attention to them if they didn't cause a stir. One man had brown hair and the other black.
"That must be her!" one of the men said.
"Must be." the other confirmed.
"So, what do we do, George?" the one asked.
"We follow them, John. Obviously." George replied, annoyed.
"Oh, yeah." John said.
"Get the crew." George ordered.
After dinner, Jack and Catherine were up on deck and it started to rain.
"Damn, my hair is going to get all wet!" Catherine exclaimed.
"Don' you like the rain?" Jack asked.
"Love it. From the inside."
"Well, anyway, I'll walk you to your room, if you like." he offered.
She thought for a moment. "Do you have any rum?" she asked curiously.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Aye..."
"Well, can I have some?"
Thinking this might be his chance to get lucky, he went down to the galley and got a bottle of rum for her. He took it to her room and sat down with her to have a drink.
"Don' drink too much, love -- don' want to get drunk, do you?" he asked. Yeah, he really didn't want her to -- sure, yeah.
"I can handle as much rum as you can." she said, drinking down another swig of rum.
Jack chuckled. "I don' think so, darling, I've been drinkin' for years."
"And I haven't?"
She suddenly thought of something: that beautiful dress in the dress shop she'd passed. Oh, how she wanted it... but what money did she have now? She couldn't wait until she got her inheritance to buy it... Jack wouldn't give it to her... Well... she shouldn't do what she was thinking... Stealing isn't very nice... But he's a pirate... it'd be doing the town some good -- punishing criminals.
She was wearing her red, low cut dress and a shawl around her shoulders. The dress was off the shoulder -- that should do. She got up and paced to the window, looking out. She pulled the shawl off her shoulders and tossed it onto a chair and looked back at Jack.
"You should see this rain -- it's amazing." she said, and looked back out the window. She made her dress a little more low-cut as Jack joined her at the window. "I really do like the rain, from inside... It's very romantic, you know." She looked at him. "You know, you really are rather handsome..." she put her arms around his waist and he put his arms around her.
"An' if there's a Cleopatra alive anywhere, it's got to be you, darling." he told her.
She smiled and ran her tongue along her teeth suggestively. She grabbed hold of his braided beard and pulled him into a kiss.
'Okay, let's see...' she thought. 'Where does he keep his money?' She slipped a hand into his right jacket pocket. 'Not there...' She searched his left pocket. 'Damn.' She ran a hand down his chest and searched the right inside pocket of his jacket and found what she was looking for. She pulled out a bag of gold and dropped it in her purse. 'Score.' He kissed her neck. 'Getting bored now... I want to go and get that dress.'
"You know, Jack, I just don't think this is the right time for this." she stated, slowly pushing him away.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because." she replied.
"Why?"
"Because."
"Why?"
"Because!" she exclaimed. "You know, I think I'm going to go into town while you cool down." He questioned her with his eyes. "I think I just made a mistake. I'm sorry." she smiled arrogantly and walked to the door. She stopped and looked back coolly. "Maybe you should have a bit of rum to calm down, huh?" she raised her eyebrows pompously and left the room.
'What is with that girl?!' Jack thought, taking a large gulp of rum.
Ah! First chappy! How do you like it? Different from my other stuff! But I love this one! I write to please others, so I hope you love it!! PLEASE REVIEW!! I get inspired by reviews and get more enthusiastic about writing! So, please review! Hannon le!!
"We can't wait to hear about your round of golf, love to see dear heads hanging on the walls and we like Hooters for their hot wings, too. Other guys never cross our minds, we don't wonder what it might be like. How could it be any better than it is with you? Girls lie, too. We don't care how much money you make, what you drive or what you weigh. Size don't matter anyway. Don't think you're the only ones who bend it, break it stretch it some. We learn from you. Girls lie, too!"
--"Girls Lie, Too" Terri Clark