Title: First Impressions
Author: SlayersGrl
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters from the movie. I'm just "borrowing" them…

Summary: A young woman and her brother find themselves in the midst of a pirate attack. Katherine realizes she must do anything to protect her little brother, even if it means facing one of the most feared pirates on the open seas, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Author's Note: Finally, some more action! I even managed to sneak some angst in here… What fun! As usual, R&R! Please? And thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! You guys keep me motivated to keep writing! I have a really difficult time actually finishing anything I start…

Reviewer Responses:

u-ne-korn: Thanks for reviewing again! Oh, and also thanks for pointing out the proofreading thing… I gotta learn to read through the chapter before I post it at 2am… I fixed everything I could find, but let me know if I missed anything.

Lady Fae: Glad you liked it! I'm trying to update quickly. These chapters are actually getting written faster than I thought they would be…

Alaskantiger: Aye, hurrying!

JessieRose: Thanks for adding this to your favorites! You even deleted another one in order to add it… Wow!

kinder: Good to know you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!

Captain 'Phoenix' Aquamarine: How ironic… your penname is 'Phoenix' and I was actually planning on using the phoenix as an important part of the story later on… Guess you'll have to wait and see what I have planned…

Léaglen: Thanks for letting me know Jack's in character so far. I'm so worried about re-introducing him at the end of this chapter…

ShaneLover1: Yay, another second-time reviewer! I hope I can keep it interesting… Still got a few plot ideas to work out, but my muse has been very cooperative lately.

Silverdracowolf: Hehe, I rather liked that line myself... Ah, sarcasm…

GiveMeTheWind: I guess the main goal of all siblings is to be annoying. Twins are especially bad at that… My sister drives me nuts! Katherine sorta reminds you of yourself? That's a little odd considering you think you're almost the same as Jack… haha! I'm hoping Katherine can learn to be a little more open and carefree by the end of the adventure… Right now she's stuck in the proper society of the time. Maybe I can get Jack to rub off on her a little!

Chapter 3: Ransom!

After an exhausting evening, I finally managed to get Jacob into bed. He was obviously as tired as I was because he was asleep within minutes. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite so lucky. I tried to fall asleep, but my mind kept wandering back to the events of the day, mainly the strange feeling I had about the ship down by the docks. My exhaustion soon won out though and I fell asleep at last.

I'm not sure what woke me. I thought I heard voices outside. I listened for a moment, but could hear only silence. Suddenly, there was a series of loud bangs coming from the main entrance of the house, like someone was trying to knock the door down. I cautiously stood and went over to open my bedroom door. Peering out just in time, I saw the heavy wooden door fly off its hinges and slam to the floor.

Now that that obstacle was out of the way, a small group of men flooded through the opening. One look at their unusual attire and drawn cutlasses confirmed my worst fears: pirates. My next thought sent my heart racing. Jacob!

Not caring that I was only wearing my nightgown, I quickly dashed from my room and ran down the hallway to Jacob's room. I had just reached his door when I heard a shout from one of the pirates. I realized they must have seen me, but it was too late to do anything about it. I threw open the door and ran in, making sure to turn the lock behind me.

My brother, having heard the commotion downstairs, was already awake. "Katherine! What's going on?"

"Pirates…" was my only reply. I was too preoccupied with scanning the room for any possible weapons to even consider formulating a coherent response. My eyes soon settled on the metal candlestick by the bed. It may not have worked before, but it was all I had at the moment… I grabbed it and then dragged Jacob over beside the bed, positioning ourselves so I was between my brother and the bed, and the bed was between me and the door.

"Are they coming?" Jacob whispered, one hand gripping my own. I could feel he was starting to shake in fear.

"I promised I would protect you," I replied, firmly squeezing his hand to try to reassure him. "I just never thought it would be from pirates again."

Further conversation was halted by a pounding on the bedroom door. All I could do was raise the candlestick in one hand and hold onto my brother with the other. A minute later, the bedroom door suffered the same fate as the front and collapsed to the floor.

I found myself face to face with a pirate… again. This time, I refused to be taken by surprise. I decided to maintain my safe position behind the bed. At least that way they wouldn't be able to ambush me from behind.

"Well, well… what do we have 'ere?" the pirate mumbled to himself. Then, to one of the men behind him, he added, "Looks like the lass wants to fight…"

The following moments were somewhat of a blur. I remember the pirate in the doorway suddenly charging at me and grabbing for the candlestick. I jumped out of the way and then swung the weapon back around to connect with the back of the man's head. I watched as he slumped to the floor, but then another pirate grabbed my right arm. I tried to wrench myself free of his iron tight grip, but had little success.

"Grab the boy!" one of the men shouted.

I turned my attention away from the man gripping my arm and tried to locate Jacob amongst the chaos. I saw him being restrained by one of the pirates and tried to move towards him. That's when the pirate holding my arm decided to hit me in the head with something hard. Everything rapidly faded to black and I collapsed to the floor.

The next thing I remembered was waking up on the floor with a splitting headache. I tentatively reached a hand to probe the source of my discomfort: the back of my head. I pulled my hand back to reveal the presence of blood.

The sight of it brought the memories flooding back. "Oh, God!"I thought, "Where's Jacob?"

I quickly scanned the room, but could find no trace of him. There were, however, reminders of the struggle that had taken place earlier. The door was still lying on the floor and various objects were strewn haphazardly around the room. It almost looked like someone had been searching for something.

Noting the distinct lack of my brother's presence, I knew I needed to go search the rest of the house. I quickly placed my feet beneath me and stood up. Two seconds later, I realized that probably wasn't such a good idea. The room began to tilt at an alarming angle and I had to grab the side of the bed to keep from toppling back to the ground. I closed my eyes while I waited for my balance to return. When I was finally prepared to make the first step towards the door, I was slightly more prepared for the dizziness. By keeping one hand firmly on the wall, I was able to make my way down the hallway and to the top of the stairs.

The first thing I noticed was the body lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. My heart nearly stopped when I thought it might be Jacob. But upon closer inspection, I realized it was the maid. I slowly walked down the stairs, trying not to lose the contents of my stomach on the way. At the bottom, I knelt down and reached a hand out to touch the woman's arm. Her skin felt ice cold and I quickly withdrew my hand in horror.

I was suddenly reminded of the sight of the dead sailors lying on the deck of the ship. I shook my head to clear the image from my mind. The action only served to aggravate my already pounding headache and I had to focus in order to keep from passing out.

"Jacob. I need to find Jacob," I reminded myself. I noticed sunlight streaming in through the open doorway. The sun had already risen, meaning several hours must have passed since the attack. That also meant the pirates were probably long gone…

"Jacob!" I began to shout while quickly making my way through the rest of the house. I continued until I reached my father's study. There, attached to the door with a knife, was a note.

To make sure you comply with our agreement,
I have taken your son. You will bring the
Bird of Paradise to the usual meeting place
in two weeks. In exchange, the boy will be
returned unharmed.

Signed,
Captain Zamora

I could only stare at the note in disbelief. "What is going on?" The enormity of the situation finally dawned on me and I realized I needed to get help. I grabbed the note and ran out the door, heading straight for the fort.

It was still very early in the morning so the streets were practically deserted. As I raced towards my destination, I glanced out towards the cove. I noticed that the strange ship from yesterday was gone.

My frantic flight through the main entrance of the fort startled the two guards who were slightly dozing off. They shouted after me to stop once they realized I had run right past them. But I didn't plan on stopping until I reached my final destination: Commodore Norrington's office.

After passing two more sets of stunned guards, I reached it. Without even knocking, I simply flung open the door and burst into the room.

"Miss Scott!" the commodore exclaimed, startled by my unexpected entrance. "I… are you ok?" he asked, taking note of my appearance.

I realized I probably looked like a complete mess, wearing only my nightgown and having dried blood matted in my hair. But to be honest, I really didn't care. I had to help Jacob.

"You have to go rescue my brother!" I practically shouted at the man in response, completely ignoring his question about my well-being.

"From whom?" he asked, trying to motion for me to sit down.

Again, I ignored him and began to wave my arms about vaguely in hopes of somehow motivating him to immediate action. "The pirates! They came to our house last night and took him! And that ship, it's gone! It must have been theirs! You have to go after them before they get too far away!"

"Miss Scott! Please, sit down and calm yourself. I can assure you there were no pirates in Port Royal last night."

"Then what is this!" I yelled, holding the note in front of his face for him to read.

The commodore's face took on a shocked expression. "Captain Zamora? But he's a privateer. Why would he ransom your brother?"

I was completely enraged at how the man could continue to ask inane questions while Jacob's captors sailed further and further away. "I don't really care what he is. All I know is he took my brother. And you need to catch him. Now! You can question his motives later!"

Finally, Norrington snapped out of his momentary state of shock and returned to military form. "Lieutenant!" he yelled, waiting impatiently until a man appeared in the doorway. "Where was the Rebellion headed?"

"Um," the young officer mumbled, trying to remember the location. "I believe it was Havana, sir."

"Right. Prepare the Dauntless to set sail. We leave as soon as she's ready."

The lieutenant quickly saluted and left to carry out his orders. Then the commodore turned to address me. "We will find your brother, Miss Scott. Until then, I need you to return home. I will have a guard escort you there."

"Wait!" I exclaimed as he began to lead me from his office. I turned around to face the military officer. "I'm going with you!"

"You most certainly are not!" he replied. "I will not endanger a civilian. You will stay here and wait until I contact you with further information."

The look in the man's eyes was enough to tell me I had no room to argue. And I should know… I had given Jacob that same expression many times.

I resigned myself to the tedious task of waiting. My only consolation was that someone was finally going to find my brother, even though I would have preferred that someone to be me.

One of the guards soon found me a coat to wear over my nightgown so I would be somewhat more respectable for the walk home. I informed them about the fate of our maid and soon a small group of soldiers was walking me back to my now empty home.

Hours later, the house was bustling with activity. I had somehow been talked into getting changed and was now sitting at the kitchen table nursing a glass of water. The doctor had come by and taken care of my head injury. I was now sporting a white bandage wrapped around my head. He said I only needed a few days of rest and I would be back to normal.

I knew I wouldn't be resting anytime soon. The events of the morning would surely be haunting my dreams. And I wouldn't feel "normal" until my brother was safe at home.

"Katherine?" a soft voice asked. Startled, I looked up to find Elizabeth Turner standing in front of me. "Are you okay?" she asked.

I didn't even know how to respond to that question. Too many emotions were raging inside of me. So, I simply shook my head no.

"He'll be all right," she replied, realizing I needed some assurance right now. "Why don't you come and stay with Will and me?"

I nodded my head in acceptance and allowed her to lead me out the door and down the street towards her home. I barely registered anything at that point. I guess I was in shock over the whole event. I still couldn't believe Jacob was gone.

I was shocked to discover myself in one of the guest bedrooms of the Governor's house. I hadn't even realized we had arrived at the property.

"You need to try to get some sleep. You look like you could pass out any minute." Elizabeth said, ushering me towards the inviting bed.

She immediately stopped after hearing my whispered response. "I failed him. I promised I would protect him and that no harm would ever come to him." I finally raised my head to look at Elizabeth's startled expression. "I…I… couldn't stop them…" The rest was of my thoughts were lost as I burst into tears. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around me and I buried my face in her shoulder. I finally released my repressed emotions and let the warm tears fall from my eyes. After a while, they stopped and I suddenly realized how tired I was.

"Everything will be alright. You did the best you could," she whispered in my ear. Then she led me to the bed where I quickly collapsed in exhaustion. "Now get some sleep. I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

I nodded my head and then allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

AN: Ok, so I lied… Jack was supposed to make an appearance at the end of this chapter, but the events leading up to that have taken up a little more room than expected… So, I guess it'll have to wait until the beginning of the next chapter…

How did I do on the angst part though? I typically only write action/humor stories, so I'm not really sure how the whole "feelings" thing turned out…