Author's Note: Thank you all so much for your reviews!! They mean a lot to me!! And any suggestions you may have about the story (plot, characters, writing style, etc.) are truly taken to heart and I do consider them!!

Chapter 4: How Things Have Changed and the Ring

Samantha just stared at Jack as he chugged down his rum, which had been brought to him a few moments earlier. Samantha hadn't even touched her mug yet. "Wait a second here. Lemme get this straight. You no longer have the Black Pearl? Why the hell not!?!"

Jack's eyes glazed over with something like hate and anger. "You've missed a lot since you went away, Sammi... Ya look different, too." Jack mumbled as he stared at her. His hate wasn't directed to her, but to something that had happened to him during the two years Samantha wasn't around.

Samantha sighed. "I told you what happened already. When I hit the water when you and I fell off the tower, I blacked out and then woke up in my home."

"You didn't just fall asleep and wake up here, like you did last time?"

"No, Jack!"

There was silence for a moment before Jack spoke. "Would you like me to just tell ya what's been goin' on?"

"Yeah!!" Samantha squeaked. But what she was about to hear was nearly heartbreaking...

"This may take a while, so just relax and drink yer damn rum..." He eyed her mug for a second, "'fore I do... Well, it all began shortly after you disappeared. Barbossa's men, my old men, were set to hang after the whole Isla de Muerte incident. But while in the Port Royal jail, they were set free by some other cockroaches not even worth the title of pirate, men from the ship called the Dark Knight..."

Danielle, poor thing, just continued to lay there... on the floor... tipped over... gagged... and bound... alone.

"God, this is crap..."

Meanwhile, Rolland and some of the other pirates from the Dark Knight had gone into Tortuga for supplies.

Captain Ratner stayed on the ship, watching over his crew and thinking about that 'damned woman'... She had really rattled the captain with all her 'improper talk'. She spoke like a man and dressed like she was from another world.

But she was the one. She was the one who was with the dastardly Barbossa, the one who went to the Isla de Muerte, the one who would make Captain Ratner and his crew enormously wealthy...

Rolland found a quaint little bar in Tortuga that he decided to go into on this night. "Get what ya need to, boys. I'll meet you back on the ship." Rolland called to the others as he walked through the door to the bar. The other pirates just nodded their heads and went about buying supplies. And yes, at night.

Rolland sat down at a table in the corner. A barmaid immediately found him attractive and within minutes he had a mug of whatever drink the woman could get her hands on.

Rolland sat there by himself and looked around. Then he saw something quite interesting. A certain Jack Sparrow with a woman... and quite a stunning looking woman, if Rolland did say so himself. Her clothes was interesting, too. Kinda like that one woman's... He continued to stare at her until he caught sight of her ring. His eyes got big as he stared at the ring on her right middle finger.

"No... it can't be..."

"OK, Jack, so what your saying is that these dudes from this ship, the Dark Knight set Barbossa's men free, with only one thing as a price: the gold of Isla de Muerte?" Samantha said curiously.

"Aye, something like that, love."

"And then once they got on the Dark Knight with the other pirates they went searching for you and the Black Pearl?"

"...And obviously they found us." Jack said as he leaned in closer to Samantha and took a swig of Samantha's rum.

"Hey! That was mine!" Samantha said.

"Well, I thought you said when you get drunk you get violent and mean, love." Jack said with a smirk before taking another swig.

Samantha had totally forgotten about the time when, two years ago on her last little 'trip' to the Caribbean, she told Jack about how she doesn't usually drink because of her...reactions. "Heh, right. Forgot about that..."

"Now, as I was sayin'..."

When Rolland saw Samantha's ring he almost hit the floor. How could a woman like her have found such a valuable ring like that? He had no idea that it was a family heirloom.

To him, and any other pirate that happened across it, it was the Ring of Fortune. It was said that the owner or keeper of the ring gained enormous wealth and great fortune once it was in their possession, and that it prolonged their life by years. Pirates never actually came out and said they believed in such a thing, but the idea never left their mind. And generation after generation of pirate had been told what this beauty of a ring looked like.

And poor Samantha never even knew what was coming.

Rolland quickly left the bar to get one of his fellow crew members...

"Oohh, I see. They then found your ship but since you saved the old Black Pearl pirates from the curse, they let you go and they brought you and your men to Tortuga..."

"Aye. 'O course, we didn't go without a fight, but they had us outnumbered."

"Of course."

There was an awkward silence then. Jack didn't want to continue his story. It made him uncomfortable, but when he caught sight of Samantha's ring, his attention was now focused on her right hand.

"Sammi, where'd you get that ring?" he questioned with wide eyes as he grabbed her hand and held it up, studying closely the gold ring.

"Um, my grandmother. She gave it to me on my twenty-fifth birthday."

Jack looked at her. "Your only twenty-five!?"

Samantha got a dangerous look in her eyes. "Yeah, Jack, I'm only twenty- five!! ...Ya know what, just continue with the friggin' story."

"Alright, alright. Didn't mean any harm..."

Rolland found one of the other crew members, his nephew, actually. The boy was only about nineteen-ish. He had shaggy blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was wearing clothes similar to Rolland's. His name was Jotley.

"Alright, my boy, you know what ya have to do?"

"Aye, uncle."

"But be clean about this. Don't get all clumsy on me and attract attention. 'Member, she's with Jack Sparrow. Just walk up to her, swipe the ring, and run to the ship. I'll meet you there."

"Jack, stop shugging down the damn rum and tell me the rest of your story!!"

"Don't get whiny about it, Sammi, it jogs me memory..."

"Yeeaah."

"Well, now that me n' me crew had been dropped off at Tortuga, Barbossa's men had the Pearl now to themselves." Jack paused for a moment and anger flashed in his eyes. "They took the Pearl, but never finished the bargain with the Dark Knight pirates. They took off before they showed the pirates where the Isla de Muerte was. In fact, they never planned on showing them."

"Isn't that going against the pirate code or something?"

"Aye, it most certainly is. They made a bargain, a promise, and it was never kept. The Pearl pirates are now looked down upon by nearly every sea- loving man in the Caribbean..."

"And so now they have your ship and everyone still thinks your the captain?"

"No, course not, they know I'm not the captain anymore. Stories spread fast in the Caribbean, love. you'd be surprised. Then there's the whole Will and Elizabeth incident with those damned pirates. That one's still in progress..."

Rolland sat back down where he had been before to watch the whole thing go down. He was letting his nephew go for the ring because he knew there was the chance he would be caught. Rolland would rather have a naive child take the rap than a hated pirate that had so much ahead of him.

Jotley found Jack Sparrow and the woman he was with and he slowly made his way to them. He looked like an innocent person just heading to the bar for a drink or two. He got closer and closer. He was getting nervous, but he had to do this. He had to do this to prove he was a worthy pirate. He had no idea what he was getting himself into or the huge problem he would be causing...

"What the hell do you mean 'Will and Elizabeth incident'?!?" Samantha said in a high pitched voice.

"Well, perhaps about a week ago or so, the pirates who stole my damned ship... again... went to Port Royal to pay the Turners a visit."

"So they got married?"

"Aye, been married nearly two years. See, the pirates went there and kidnapped the both of em'. They took them because Elizabeth betrayed them and, well, they just plain hate Will. I've been told, by rumor o' course, that they're going to the Isla de Muerte to hold the two for ransom and get their gold."

"Question. Why did they wait so--"

Samantha was quickly cut off because a man had grabbed her hand and took her ring, her grandmother's ring. The man, or boy, however you want to look at it, took the ring and ran towards the door, leaving Samantha and Jack in shock.

I feel Danielle needs another apperance in this chapter, but all she was doing was lying on the floor complaing about the pirates.

"Can someone help me?! Anyone!? ...I hate you guys! I really do!"

Author's Note: OK, if you have any questions about the story so far you can email me or leave it in the review and I will answer it come next chapter. Or you could just tell me what you think of the story... So, please review!!!