It was two years later when she occured anything not of noble nature, blood, or substance. The Commodore and Blanche had sent her off to Tortuga to get some of the better wines for a banquet being held later that month for James the II's third birthday. They figured that since she was sixteen and had spent six years in the manor that she was responsible enough to trust with the wine, but they sent Meg with her anyway.

She was definitely responsible enough.

But was she proper enough...that was different.

The pirate in her trickled through her mind as she got off the ship at Tortuga, seeing what had graced so many pirates before her.

"Meg, you go to the inn, I'll be there in a few hours, okay?"

Meg looked at her a little funnily. "Of course, Lily."

Lily walked into the bar, to be greeted by the smell of spiced rum, tobacco, and sea salt. It smelled oddly comforting, and she sunk onto a barstool, trying to avoid the stares of many people. She slumped. They continued to talk.

Someone tapped her shoulder.

"Yes?" she said, without looking around.

"I was just wondering if you would like some company, love." said a scruffy, thick voice, and a bedecked man in a three-cornered hat sunk next to her. He was rather handsome.

"Not really, but do I have a choice?" she said, and the bartender walked over. She knew it was to squeeze money from her, as she looked rather noble in a dress that Blanche had given to her to wear for the trip so as not to mistaken for "dirty-blooded pirate scum".

"Not really." said the man.

"Rum, please." Lily said. "A LOT of rum." A pirate drink. Da would hate her if he knew.

"Rum, m'lady? That's a pirate's drink!" said the man.

"Yes, but it's good. And warm. And it makes me VERY tipsy VERY quickly." Lily said, regretting that last part, and took the tankard full of rum in front of her, gulping half of it down.

"I'm Jack Sparrow by the way." he said, and she spit out some of her rum in shock.

"Commodore?" she whispered, her eyes searching the mans face. She grabbed his wrist and lifted up his sleeve. "Oh, god, Commodore!"

"I stay with Head Captain....so I can stay Captain Jack Sparrow...but no matter....You know of me?" he said, his eyebrows raising. Wow, he was good looking. Twenty years older than her, but good looking. Just as she had remembered him. Two years ago. He had left her.

"I've read about you, of course, but......I was on Will Turner's ship......captive." she lied.

"I knew you looked familiar! I'm not that good with names though, savvy? You seem a little...noble to have been captured by us....you aren't a governor's daughter, are you?"

"No."

"Then who exactly are you, love? No one too important to be having fun with?" Jack said quietly, touching a lock of her hair.

"I'm sixteen, Captain. Little young, don't you think?"

"No, but anyways, who are you again?"

"My name is Lily, but I was born Liliana."

"Liliana. Beautiful name." he whispered in her ear.

"Don't tease me, Captain Sparrow."

"Please, call me Jack." He flipped a bead out of his face. "More rum!" he commanded.

Lily looked him straight in the eye. "Take me onto the Pearl with you."

Jack cocked an eyebrow as he swallowed another mouthful of rum.

"Why, love?"

"I can't stay in...this anymore." She gestured towards her noble dress.

"I can help you out of it..." he said with a grin.

"As much as I would love that, Jack." she said, facing down, looking up into his eyes. "And believe me I would....That's not the reason I ask you this. Let me come on that wonderful pirate odyssey of a ship you call the Black Pearl," She laid her head on his shoulder, and turned it up to face him.

"Well, when you put it like that...."

Jack was just like any pirate, a sucker for anyone who used flattery when speaking of his ship.

"Jack, Jack, Jack...it must be so wonderful being a pirate. A real pirate." She practically fell off her stool.

"Yes, very wonderful...You say you want to come with me on the Pearl?"

"Yes." She cast a sideways glance at him.

"Well, then, come with me!" Jack grabbed her hand and swayed out the door, Lily trailing behind him, confused

"Captain Jack, we're going NOW?"

"Yes, love, nothing else to do."

"We could have drank more rum! The ru-hu-hummmm....." she whined.

"That's true......but no matter. Must introduce you to the crew!"

Lily followed him anxiously. The Black Pearl. She had waited all her life for this. Well, up until two years ago. But all her swachbuckling dreams and hopes came flooding back. The Black Pearl.

And then she saw it, glittering in the moonlight by the water.

It was beautiful. Perfect. There were holes in the mangy black sails, and she loved it. Decaying, evil looking it may have been....but it was beautiful in the eyes of a pirate. Well, at least, a wannabe.

"Captain....it's even more utopian than I imagined."

"You best stop using big words, love, or my head will start to hurt." He stood on the docks and called up to who was left of his crew on the ship.

"OI! GIBBSY!"

"Ar, what now Jack?"

"WE GOT A NEW CREW MATE, SAVVY?"

"Who?"

Jack turned to her. "Ah, what's your name again darling?"

"Liliana."

"LILIANA!"

"A woman? What did I tell you about-"

"JUST SEND DOWN THE BLOODY....THING! I FORGET WHAT IT'S CALLED!"

"You are really drunk, you know that, Captain Sparrow?"

"Yes, yes, whatever."

Lily pulled away. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I have a friend with me, at an inn. She'll be worried."

Jack nodded. "Aye, aye...."

"I'll meet you at midnight, savvy?"

Jack smiled at her. "You already know me."

"I said...savvy?"

Jack nodded. "Savvy."

Lily ran to the inn, only to find Meg sleeping. She scribbled her a note and got her things together, including most of the money she had made during her time with Blanche, the quilt the seamstresses had made her, and some extra clothes.

..................................................

At midnight she walked down to the docks to find Jack standing there, leaning on the boarding ramp.

"Hello, love." he said huskily.

"Hello, Jack." Lily said in practically a whisper.

The two walked up the ramp, Jack helping Lily with her things.

"Jack, it's bad luck having a woman aboard, you know that." Gibbs said, a wary eye on Lily.

Jack swayed onto the deck. "Gibbs, you must have something wrong with you, what with your obvious fear of women....you aren't a Eunuch, are you?"

Lily snickered as Gibbs turned away, a slight blush in his cheeks.

Jack turned to her. "Here's the plan, pet. You have to sleep with me in my cabin for a while, oh the horrors, until we find someplace for you to stay on this wonderful ship of mine, savvy?"

Lily nodded.

"And we should probably 'invest' in some clothing for you."

"You mean, we need to go steal some better work clothes for me."

"Yes, you already speak pirate, I see."

"I was a captive on Captain Turner's ship, remember?"

"Ah, yes, I do remember that much. Rather odd though, you were a captive for him...he doesn't seem very interested in the whole 'kill people and take their treasure' idea. Or 'capture helpless maidens to...' well....to do things I can't rightly say in front of a lady like yourself."

"Maybe because of Parlez?"

"Ah, yes, Parlez. Love that man."

"It's a rule in the code."

"Oh, right. Love that rule."

Liliana took Jack's hat and put it on her head. "Jack, you are a very drunk man."

"Rum is good." he said. "Give me back my hat."

"No."

"Okay." Jack swayed into the cabin and dragged Lily along beside him. "Love, there is only one bed in this room, sadly.....What a shame."

"Exactly, and please don't get any ideas. Just because I am sleeping with you, doesn't mean I will, well, sleep with you."

"I'm hard to resist." Jack said, and pulled her to sit on the bed.

"Not THAT hard....Okay, pretty hard. Jack, this arrangement probably won't work..."

She leaned towards Jack, her rum-addled brain not properly controlling her lust.

"It's okay, love. Just..." He drifted off as he pulled her close to him. "Submit."

Lily shook her head and sat up, saying a little too nervously, "Anyway, where does your first mate sleep? Who is your first mate?"

"He's but a lad....Zachary Breakman, only 17. One year older than you, my lass."

Lily perked up. Aha, someone to share youth with. "Really? Where is he?"

"In his cabin....ZACH!"

A young man stumbled into the room, his worn cotton tricorn lopsided. He wore a full-sleeved off-white shirt, stained with blood and dirt in a few places, and a long olive green vest, buttoned almost all the way up, except for the top three buttons. His breeches were black, but covered in dirt, tucked into new-looking black leather boots. He wore a wide black leather belt and many rings, and a faded yellow sash was tied in a huge soft bow on his belt, next to a smaller red one. He tried to stand up straight, but failed, and slumped against the wall.

"Yes, Captain Jack?"

"Gotten into the rum again, have we?"

"What if I have?" he said, his words slurring oddly.

"Nothing, just wondering. Meet our new crew mate, Liliana."

"Hello, m'lady." Zach said, bowing, but falling over in the process. He slumped onto a chair.

"No 'm'lady'. I'm not rich, or well-blooded. I'm a maid."

Jack raised his eyebrows.

"A maid, eh?" he said. "Maids are always good fun." He leaned close to her ear and played with a lock of her hair.

"Jack, I don't want to see this. Why did you bring me in here?"

"To meet this young woman."

"Why?"

"She's going to be a part of our crew."

Zach rolled his eyes.

"A lady pirate? She hardly looks fit enough to breathe sea air."

Lily looked crossly at him. "I am perfectly fit to be a pirate!" she said indignantly, flicking back her long, golden hair.

"Sorry, love, but being a pirate doesn't involve sewing dresses and having tea parties."

Lily leaned back against Jack, her eyes closing.

"Jack, make him go away, he annoys me." she said, casting a sideways glance at Zach before closing her eyes again.

"Zach, you heard the lady, go away." Jack said, and his fingertips danced along Lily's shoulders.

Zach left the room with an nnoyed sigh, and Jack kicked the door shut.

"Come here, love, let me help you out of that constricting bodice of yours." Jack said, unlacing the back of her dress and slipping it off of her to reveal a thin, dark red chemise with no sleeves. and a slate-blue ribbon under the bust.

"Jack, there's not going to be any sex tonight." Lily said, climbing into bed with him.

"Oh, love, why not?"

"Because...I'm still...chaste, and I want it to be with someone special."

"I'm not special?"

"Yes, but...you know."

"Well, then..."

"I didn't say we couldn't have a little fun."

"No, love you should save that for someone special, too. Unfortunately, my first time was with a whore from Singapore who cost me about a shilling."

Lily laughed.

"It's true. I regret it, too, actually." Jack sighed. "Get some sleep, love, you're gonig to have a big day tomorrow."