Chapter 35

Revenge so Sweet

It didn't take Catherine long to recruit her old crew members. They had all mostly stayed in Port Charles, albeit on the worst side of town. They had greeted her with a mixture of respect and wariness as she walked through the door of the tavern they frequented, The Rosette. They had come around quickly though once she gave them the gold from her bags. They always had been a greedy lot, pirates mostly are. She had been as greedy once too, before Jessie had been born. Once she had her daughter though she had left the pirating business for good, selling her ship to the highest bidder, Jack Sparrow.

Jack had been nothing then, a little less than nothing actually. He had come to her one night on the Pearl, which he later renamed the Black Pearl, and told her how much he loved her ship. He had produced fifty thousand gold pieces, more than her asking price, and she had sold him her ship. She remembered the day she found him on the beech. After ten years he hadn't changed much, and she had wondered if she were seeing things. Since he didn't remember his name she had felt he didn't need to know it. She smirked to herself as the wind whipped through her hair.

They had stolen a naval ship that very night, it was said to be the fastest ship in the Caribbean next to the Black Pearl. Cat, as was her pirate name, reveled in the feeling of the wheel beneath her fingers and the moving deck beneath her feet. She had missed this.

Catherine spotted the Black Pearl about five hours out, this ship was fast indeed. Though they would never catch up with her, especially at the speed the other ship as going, she was going fast enough to be seen, and that's all she needed.

"Fly up a flag of truce boys, I want them to slow down so they can join the party," Cat smirked, the other pirates laughed at this as they secured the white flag onto the pole.

"Cap'n the ship's slowin 'er speed," her first mate Drake said.

"Good, tell the crew to stay low and keep their eyes on the Pearl, I want to know if their preparing their guns," she purred.

"Yes Cap'n," Drake said, tipping his hat and leaving.

They were so close now; only another hour and she would have them. Her revenge was coming to fruition.

The Black Pearl was slowing her decent, they were coming up on her quickly now. Cat steered the ship in a daze, and before she knew it they were within cannon range. Before she could shout orders to fire however she heard something that made her blood run cold, a cannon blast. Her ship was suddenly taking on water.

"Fire," Cat screamed. Her men lit the fuses and pushed the cannons through the cannon doors. They were at a peculiar angle and the shots mostly missed, and the one that hit did little damage. "Damn," she cursed.

"Cap'n," Drake yelled and she looked to see him point at the Pearl, their Jolly Roger was being hoisted. It was a strange depiction of two sparrows flying through the eyes of a skull.

"That bitch has some balls," Cat murmured as the Black Pearl turned and came at them. She was staring at the men across from her before she knew it.

"Take the ship," a woman screamed from the deck of the Pearl. The crew began swinging onto her ship and fights broke out. Everywhere Cat looked her men were dropping. "Drop anchor." She heard the woman yell again, and looked to see her swing across. She dropped onto the deck gracefully and drew her cutlass. Cat smiled and sauntered to the dark haired woman, brandishing it proudly.

"Give me back my husband and daughter or I will kill you," Cat said.

"You can have the girl, but your husband is not rightfully yours wench. He was mine first," the woman said with a smirk. "Besides don't you know any better? We are the Black Pearl, and I am its Captain. You will not live to regret your mistake, savvy?" This angered Cat and she swung clumsily at the dark haired woman.

The woman dodged to the side and swiped at Cat, but she fell to the deck and rolled out of her grasp. She stood and turned to face the arrogant woman.

"How dare you, Thomas is my husband and I will have him back," Cat growled as she attacked the woman again. The dark haired woman simply laughed a parried her blow with what seemed like ease.

"You have already lost wench, your men are dying or dead and unless you give yourself up you will soon follow," the woman said as she struck. Cat tried to block the blow, but she hadn't kept up with the sword over the last decade, she was like a rusty blade. The woman in front of her was obviously a master, and knew it. The smile never left her face as Cat tried unsuccessfully to block.

"Parley," Cat said, dropping her sword. If she didn't give herself up then she would lose, but perhaps she would have a chance at her revenge if she went aboard her old ship. The woman smirked and put her sword to Cat's throat.

"So you give yourself up then?"

"Yes," Cat whispered.

"Gabby, Jon," the woman called.

"Yes Captain?" A blond woman asked, appearing from behind Cat with a tall good looking man.

"Take this woman to the brig," the Captain ordered. The blond woman nodded and pulled her pistol, aiming it at Cat's chest.

"Move," Gabby said. Cat moved, walking along the plank to the Black Pearl. She had lost this day, but she was not beaten yet.

Rena watched the blond woman walk across to her ship and smirked. "Take anything of value and then blow 'er," Rena yelled as she crossed back to her ship to take a damage report.

She grabbed a rope and swung across, Ana rushed up to her with a large smile on her face. "Report," Rena ordered.

"Little damage done te the ship Cap'n, it'll take 'bout a 'alf a day te fix. Lost one man, Brant, but 'e took out three o the otha's 'fore 'e went," Ana said, bowing her head as she spoke of her fallen comrade.

"Shame, he was a good man, and a damn fine sailor. We'll have a ceremony for him after we get out of here," Rena said. "Make sure his body is brought aboard before we blow the wench's ship Ana." Rena clapped Ana on the shoulder in affection, she knew Brant and her had been close, and then went to the helm. Ana nodded as she left and crossed to the wench's ship. Rena stood at the helm of the Pearl and watched her crew carry things across, one of which being the body of Brant. She sighed quietly as she saw this.

"What happened?" A voice asked from behind her, and she smiled as she turned to see Jack.

"It was an ambush. Some pirates that wanted to go up against the Black Pearl. We got em all though," Rena smirked, and quickly lost it as Jack's eyes fell on Brant. "We lost one though," she whispered sadly. She had always liked Brant, he would be sorely missed.

"I'm sorry," he said awkwardly. She nodded and stepped aside from the wheel.

"Do you want to steer? We need to be going soon, we're about to blow the other ship," She said. His eyes lit up and she smiled wider. Now she could work on her plan more.

"What of Jessie?" He asked.

"I was going to ask Kasha to show her around the ship actually." He looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding excitedly. Rena laughed at this and he stepped up to the wheel, holding it lightly in his sideways grip.

"Thank you," he said.

"Kasha," she yelled and waited for her friend to walk up the steps.

"Yes Captain?" Kasha asked, eying Jack.

"Go find the lass Jessie and take her on a tour of the ship," Rena said.

"Yes Captain," Kasha nodded and turned to leave.

"And Kasha?" Kasha stopped and looked at her Captain.

"Yes?"

"Stay away from the brig, got a criminal in there I wouldna want the girl to meet," Rena said, her eyes telling her friend everything she needed to know. Kasha nodded and walked off towards Ana's room to collect the young girl. Rena smiled and stepped beside Jack as the last of her men walked onto deck.

"All aboard Captain," someone yelled and she nodded. "We got a few minutes before she blows."

"Raise anchor and sails, man the sweeps. Get us outa here as quick as possible," she shouted. "Aim that way," she whispered into Jack's ear, her finger pointing away from the ship that was about to explode. He smiled down at her as he turned the wheel to coincide with her finger. He surprised her then by taking her hand and wrapping her arm around his waist.

Thomas was so strangely attracted to this pirate woman. He didn't know why but he wanted her close, he felt better when she was touching him. Her kisses were exquisite torture and he could see himself staying aboard this ship with her for the rest of his life.

After he came aboard he had realized that he truly must be this Jack Sparrow everyone thought he was, mostly because of the tattoo, but also because of the way everyone looked at him. They looked at him as if he was a long lost brother that they had just found.

He was beginning to remember things too. He could remember the way it felt to stand at the helm during a storm and challenge it. He could remember the smell of the salty sea during the rain, and he could remember the way the woman standing beside him felt as he made love to her, as they lay in bed together, as he whispered how much he loved her. Her arms tightened around his waist and her head fell on his shoulder. He could feel his love for this woman swell within his breast as she sighed contentedly.

"Rena?" He whispered. She looked up at him, her eyes were sparkling with unspoken love.

"Yes Jack?" She whispered.

"I think that I love you," he said.

"Oh Jack, I love you too, more than you could ever know." As she spoke he heard a loud explosion and looked behind him, the ship was nothing but rubble and fire in the water. He turned back to her and leaned down, kissing her lips softly.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading that, I must say I really enjoyed writing it! Please Please review, I barely got any reviews for my last chapter, made me sad :( But you can make me happy again by simply reviewing! Just click the lil button at the bottom there, (Points over) and write a few words even, I mean long reviews are nice too, but short ones are good also, anything is wonderful!

Thanks to all my new reviewers and readers, and thanks to all my old ones that reviewed, you guys are great and I always look forward to reading what you all have to say! Anyway I'll try to have another chapter up this weekend; it's a pretty long weekend.

OH and no one is reading my Cutthroat in the Caribbean, you guys should stop what your doing and review, and then go read Cutthroat, it's really good! And then review that one too of course! Ok... hope you all enjoyed this and BYE!