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

Summary: After a fateful encounter with a certain pirate captain, Katherine tries to live a normal life in Port Royal. Her world is thrown upside when pirates kidnap her brother and she must rely on the one person she never expected: Captain Jack Sparrow.

Author's Note: And the updating continues! Jack finally gets to make another appearance!

Reviewer Responses:

Captain 'Phoenix' Aquamarine: I'm glad you're still enjoying the story! I've still got a few details to sort out, but I should start explaining the importance of the phoenix in this chapter or the next one…

JessieRose: Thanks for reviewing again! These chapters are coming a lot faster than I expected… I hope to keep posting them quickly!

Shanelover1: Sorry about the no Jack thing… He does finally make a re-appearance in this chapter though! And thanks for letting me know how the angst was.

churchpunk42: I'm trying very hard to make this story somewhat unique. My favorite thing about the movie was how unpredictable the story was, so hopefully I can do the same in this story. Normally I would be taking much longer to work on this, but my muse is screaming at me to write, and so write I must!

Empress Guinevere Sparrow: Thanks for the complement! It's nice to know someone likes my writing style since I sorta hate it myself… I dunno, I just think I need to work on certain areas before I'll be fully satisfied with it. And Jack does appear in this chapter!

Dawnie-7: Glad you liked it! Thanks for the review!

u-ne-korn: Thanks for the comment on the angst part! I was hoping it was just enough emotion without being too much… Yeah, it kinda sucks for Katherine, but that's life, I guess…

Bluelady198: Happy to hear you're enjoying the story so far! And not to worry, Jack is now in the story again!

Chapter 4: You!

I awoke with a start, the nightmare still fresh in my mind. I had dreamed that it was Jacob's body I had found on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I could still visualize the image from my dream: his still form lying in a puddle of dried blood. Trying to clear the image from my mind, I rubbed a hand across my face and tried to focus on something else… anything else…

"How long was I asleep?" I noticed I was still wearing the same dress I had put on at home. Someone must have thought ahead because there was a change of clothes laid out on the chair next to the bed.

I walked over to stand in front of the mirror. I was appalled by the image that stared back at me. My auburn hair hung in ragged clumps around my face; some of it tinted red by the blood from my head injury. My skin was almost as pale as the stark white bandage around my forehead. I was most surprised by my eyes. They were red and puffy from crying earlier, but they also had an expression of fear.

I was afraid I would never get to see my brother again, that I would never get to tell him how sorry I was for breaking my promise.

I closed my eyes and shook my head to stop the flow of self-recriminating thoughts that seemed to invade my mind at the moment. I took a deep breath and then stared at my reflection. "There is nothing I can do about what happened," I whispered to myself. "All I can do is to wait patiently until he is rescued." I couldn't help but chuckle at that statement. "Yeah right, wait patiently…"

I decided I should clean myself up before going to find Elizabeth. I took a nice warm bath to wash my hair and to relax my nerves. Then I changed into the clean clothes and headed downstairs.

I was halfway to the kitchen when I began to hear voices coming from the room.

"Sorry, no rum…" I heard Will say, followed by Elizabeth. "You know, now probably isn't the best time for a visit."

The next voice I heard was the last one I ever wanted to hear again. "What do you mean you don't have any rum? Are you mad?!" There was a pause and then the voice continued. "Ah, I see… the little rum burner won't let you have it, aye mate?"

Under normal circumstances, meeting that man again would have sent me over the edge. After everything else that had happened, this was the last straw. My blood boiling with rage, I stormed through the kitchen door. "You!" I practically growled, one-word accusations being all I could manage at the moment.

"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself as if in confusion as to who I was addressing. For an instant, I felt sure I had startled him, but he quickly recomposed himself and acted as if it was perfectly normal for an angry woman to be confronting him in the kitchen of the governor's home. He simply stared at me for a few seconds and then proclaimed, "You look familiar luv… have we met before?"

I screamed in frustration and made to grab the nearest heavy object to hurl at him. However, I was stopped by Will who grabbed me around the waist. "Whoa, calm down Katherine. Attacking an armed pirate probably isn't the best idea right now."

I glanced over at the pirate to see what Will was talking about it. I then noticed that he had both a sword and a pistol attached to his belt. I nodded my head in defeat and Will slowly released his grip. "So what exactly is he doing here anyway?" I asked, addressing the question to the Turners.

"Uh…" Will replied, looking to his wife to give some sort of explanation. Instead, Elizabeth addressed the question to Jack. "Jack, why are you here? You know the Commodore will hang you the minute he finds you."

The man had the nerve to look offended! "So you're saying a man can't check up on his friends from time to time… You know, see how life has been treatin' ya, any children running around yet…" With the last comment, he glanced behind us towards the door, as if expecting someone to come running in.

"No, Jack, that's not what I meant and you know it," Elizabeth sighed. "I was just wondering if you had any other… gains… to be made from your visit."

"I wouldn't dream of sacking the town, if that's what you're getting at, especially not with the good Commodore running around ready to hang every pirate in sight at the drop of a hat." Jack suddenly decided to change the topic and turned his attention towards me. "What's the story with the lass though? I didn't realize you were taking in strays…"

Before I had a chance to reply to that comment, Will jumped in. "She's just staying with us for a few days. Her brother was kidnapped last night and she needed a place to stay until Norrington finds him and brings him back."

"Ah… so, who was able to slip past the Commodore's impenetrable forces?" he asked, waving his arms in the air to emphasize his question.

"It was a pirate!" I answered, glaring at the infuriating man.

"Don't look at me luv! Why would I want some whelp climbing all over my ship?!"

Will decided to intervene before I started trying to throw things again. "She knows it wasn't you, Jack. It was a Captain Zamora. Have you heard of him?"

"Hmm…" Jack mumbled as he thought for a minute. "Right, I've heard of him. He's the captain of the Rebellion." He then turned towards me once again. "I hate to disappoint ya lass, but he's not a pirate. He's a privateer. There is a difference."

"Oh, and what would that be?"

"Freedom, luv. It's all about freedom."

That was definitely not the response I had expected. While I struggled to make sense of it, he continued on with the conversation.

"So, where did the Commodore run off to?"

I was the one to reply since I was the only one present when the man in question had determined his destination. "He was headed to Havana. That's where he said Zamora was going to meet my father for the ransom."

"Havana? Why would Zamora go there? Sure, it's a great place to sack Spanish ships, but it's no place to be meetin' someone for exchanging merchandise."

"My brother is not merchandise! And where do you think he'd go then?"

Jack thought about my question for a minute. "Nassau, of course. The waters are shallow enough to prevent the big Man Of War ships from getting too close, but they're perfect for giving the smaller pirate ships free reign of the area. Besides, it's right off the trade route so it'd be perfect for this type of meeting."

"Nassau! But Jack, that's in the opposite direction of Havana! If you're right, Norrington will never figure it out in time!" Will exclaimed, voicing my exact same thoughts.

"Aye, presents a bit of a problem, doesn't it?"

And I quickly realized there was only one possible solution. "You have to take me to Nassau."

Jack stared at me, possibly wondering if I had lost my mind. I was beginning to question that myself. "Oh do I, luv? And what would I get in return?"

"I'm sure my father would reward you for your assistance. And besides, you said yourself that Nassau was the perfect place for pirates. You could go raid and pillage to your heart's content for all I care, as long as you drop me off at port first!"

"Alright, but you have to agree to abide by my rules while you're aboard my ship. Think you can manage that?"

I grudgingly nodded my head.

"So do we have an accord?" he asked while extended his hand.

I again questioned my sanity, but extended my own hand to shake his, sealing my fate.

"Good, it's settled then," Jack declared, returning to his usual jovial attitude. "Better go and get packed, lass. We leave in an hour." He then turned to the other two occupants of the room. "You two coming?"

Will smiled and nodded his head enthusiastically. "Of course! I couldn't let Miss Scott go on adventure with a known pirate unattended." Elizabeth also indicated she would be going too.

Elizabeth than grabbed my arm and lead me out of the room towards the bedrooms upstairs. We stopped at the room I had been staying in first and she proceeded to grab a few garments from the closet. I simply stood by the door and watched since she appeared to know what she was doing.

"You don't have to come you know. I can take care of myself."

The other woman stopped her hurried packing and turned towards me. "I know. But I want to go. It's been a while since I've left Port Royal. And it'll be nice to see Jack and his crew again."

"How do you and Will know Jack Sparrow?" I asked curiously.

She just laughed. "It's a long story. And one that will have to wait until later or Jack will leave without us." Then she added, "Here, finish packing these things while I go get my own packing done."

Just as she reached the door, I quietly asked, "Do you trust him?"

"Aye, I trust him with my life." She paused and then added, "He's not the man he pretends to be, you'll see."

I was somewhat skeptical about that statement, but realized I had already doomed myself to at least a week aboard his ship. At least I could take comfort in knowing Will and Elizabeth would be coming along too.

An hour later we were all ready to go. We met Jack at the back of the house and without a word he set off towards the woods. He didn't even glance back to see if we were following him.

We walked in silence for about five minutes before Jack stopped abruptly and turned to face me. "Since we're going to be sailing together, I suppose we should be properly introduced." He then gave me a sweeping bow and said, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

Not at all impressed by his show, I replied, "I know who you are."

"Ah, but I don't know who you are."

I sighed. "My name is Katherine Scott."

"The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure." Then he turned back around and started leading our small group again. "Come along then, Kitty Kat. The Pearl awaits!"

"That's not my name!" I yelled.

He just laughed at me and continued his strange gait down the path.

"I'm going to kill him!" I muttered to myself. This was going to be a long voyage…