Disclaimer: Yadda yadda. Don't own it. Wish I did.

Chapter Two

Jezebel looked up at the sky. The stars were out, and shining brighter then she'd ever seen them. How long had she slept for?

She decided that she was going to explore the ship, and when she found what she was looking for, she was going to get what she wanted and get the hell out.

The only flaw: no plan.

What if she was caught? What if Captain Sparrow returned and found her? A million questions reeled through her mind, and her heart pounded inside her chest. And not to mention the insufferable throbbing ache she felt every time she took a step.

She walked over to the man leaning against the wall, just to make sure that he was really asleep. At first, she waved her hand in front of his eyes to see if they would flutter, next, she gently shook him. When he didn't move, she shook him harder. He didn't wake. She leaned down closer, and moved her finger across his bottom lip. She brought it to her nose. It smelled of alcohol. She laughed to herself. "He should be out for while."

She looked into the crows nest one last time. 'He could be faking.' She looked again. His mouth was open, and he was slung over the sides.

"Or perhaps not..."

"We're ye talkin' to?"

Jezebel's heart stopped. She closed her eyes and slowly turned around. But when she opened them, it was not who she expected.

"Oh, um... I was... looking for the loo."

He looked at her queerly."It's right in there," he pointed into the room she just left, "across the way in that door by the chest."

"Oh. Thank you." She nodded her head and turned her back to him. She rolled her eyes when she was sure he could not see her face, and entered the room. Closing the door, she noticed Gibbs standing in his same position and looking at her. He looked confused. When the door closed, she leaned against it and heaved a sigh.

She looked around the room. It was much larger than all of the other rooms on any ship she had been on. The bed was rather large, occupying a third of the space in the room, and a desk next to that... and cupboard, and then a chest of drawers.

"Wow." And it was certainly much larger than her room at the tavern. Willis had never been a very generous person when it came to things of that nature. He was a greedy cheapskate no matter who you happened to be, and remained that way until he died. He didn't leave anything to anyone, including the tavern. Eventually, Isabella and Melinda took it over together once they whored enough money together.

She eyed the cabinet on the far wall. Naturally, she was interested. She enjoying going through other people's things, it made her feel like she knew them afterwards. Or... she could just take something that she particularly liked.

Jezebel limped over to the cabinet.

-

Jack returned to his ship for a night's rest. He kept thinking that there was something... or someone, rather, that need attending to. On well. He'd deal with it in the morning. He climbed up the ropes on the side of the ship, and jumped over the rest of the way, landing on anything but his own two feet.

He stood, and brushed himself off, and tried to play off the incident as if it never happened. His first mate approached him.

"Evenin', Mister Gibbs." He patted Gibbs' back.

"Evenin', Captain."

"How did things go?"

"You know the lass, the one you had me bing back to the ship?"

"Yes..."

"Found her lurking around just a few minutes ago."

Jezebel opened the cabinet. It was full of rum. Rum from Mexico, from England, Brazil, the Caribbean, and India.

"Man sure does like his alcohol." She grabbed a bottle of the Brazilian, and took a swig. It stung her throat, but she enjoyed it. The only run she had been around was the kind in the kegs at the tavern. And it wasn't very goo, so she stayed as far away from it as she could manage. But this – this was very good.

She removed the bottle from her lips again, and noticed that there was half a bottle left. 'Might as well not waste this little luxury...' she thought. She raised the bottle to her lips again, and began to drink.

Jack silently walked to his cabin, and opened the door. Once the door was open, he leaned against the door frame and watched her. He looked a little closer at the bottle in her hand. It was his Brazilian rum. It was strong... stronger than most, and she had drank the entire bottle!

After taking the very last sip, Jezebel turned around towards the door. And there he was. She stayed in her place, and watched him saunter over to her with a smirk across his face.

"'Ello luv." He look the bottle from her hand, looking at the label. "For a thief, you have great taste in yer rum."

She swallowed hard. Her head was spinning. It probably wasn't a brilliant idea to drink a large quantity of rum after losing the day's food intake over the railing.

"I'm... not a thief." She slurred.

Jack quirked an eyebrow. "Ye stole me best rum, from my cabinet, in my room, and ye drank it. I'm pretty sure tha' qualifies ye as a thief." Jezebel started to laugh. For what, she didn't know.

Jack found that amusing, and laughed with her. Jezebel stepped back a little, and stumbled over a chair. Jack caught her by the waist.

"Whoa, can't have ye hurtin' yeself again, can we?" He winked at her.

She scowled at him, and pried his hands from her sides.

Jezebel tried walking again, only to fall back into his harms. Her face was down near his chest, and he was holding on to her arms for support. She looked up at him; he was still smiling.

"I need to..." Her limbs went limp and she collapsed in his arms. "Shit." He struggled to help her up, and promptly grabbed her legs up so that he was holding her like a mother holds her child. He laid her on his bed, and covered her up with a thin white sheet. She would have the worst headache in the morning.

Jack silently walked to the door, and closed it behind him.

-

Jezebel woke with the sun beating down on her face. Her head didn't hurt as much as she had expected it would, and she downed the entire bottle of that rum... Something was wrong. But she wasn't going to take the time to figure it out, so she closed her eyes once more, and turned over so that her face was buried in the pillow.

She lifted her face off the pillow, and looked to the right of the bed. And there was Jack, strung over a large red chair like he was the Queen of England. Hell, he pranced around like a queen.

He laughed. "We thought you died, luvvie!" He picked up a bottle off the floor, and drank, all the while keeping his eyes on Jezebel.

"Why do you call me that?" She aked.

"What?"

"'Luvvie'?"

"There's nothin' else to call you. I don' know yer name, either..."

"It's... Catherine." She lied.

"Well, Catherine, you've been out for about a day an' a 'alf now."

Her eyes widened. That meant that tonight was the Black Pearl's last night in Tortuga. Her last chance.

"And since tonight is our last night," it had been like he was reading her mind, "Would ye like to stay aboard an' 'ave a meal wif me an' a few o' the others?"

Jackpot. He'd get drunk... she'd take what he had stolen... America was only a steal away.

She sat up. "Sure."

"Wonderful!" He jumped up and waved his hands around.

"But, uh, I'm gonna go back to the tavern. Isabella must be worried sick."

Really, all she needed was time to think up and plan and a person to help.

"Alright, 'ow about I row ye back to shore, and come an' get ye later?"

She nodded. "Okay."

-

"Jezebel! Where the bloody hell have you been? I've been worried sick!" Isabella proclaimed loudly, smacking Jezebel on the arm. She noticed that her foot was wrapped up in a bandage. "What happened?"

"I stepped in glass during that fight the other night," she explained.

"You're all right, though?"

"I should be... Some cabin boy sewed me up."

"A cabin boy?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "On the Black Pearl."

"You didn't take his loot yet, did you?"

"No. Damn Captain Sparrow was watching over me the whole fucking time."

"Well, Carson's been around here a few times asking for you. He looked troubled. Something happen?"

"Yeah," She paused. "He came back."

-

"What is it you said her name was?" Gibbs chased after Jack down the stairs.

"Catherine."

"Hmm."

"Whatd'ya mean 'hmm'?"

"What I mean is, when she was sleepin', I noticed a gold necklace 'round her neck that said Lucinda."

"Maybe it's not hers."

"'Er maybe she's lyin' to ye, Captain. There was somethin' peculiar 'bout that girl."

"You think there's something peculiar 'bout every girl tha' comes aboard this ship, ye old sea dog."

Gibbs stopped Jack in mid-prance. "Ye like 'er, don' ye, Cap'n?"

Jack stayed quiet for a moment. Did he?

"I dunno, Gibbs. There's juss' somethin'... familiar about her."

Gibbs nodded his head. "Aye, I suppose so, Cap'n."

-

"Ow! That's the third time you've burned me!"

"Sorry! I told you that you shouldn't have had me do it." Isabella said, with a brush between her teeth. She placed the metal rod back into the flames, and pulled up half of Jezebel's hair, piling it on top of her head. She leaned over, and opened a drawer, pulling out a silver hair comb. Isabella placed it neatly in amongst the rest of Jezebel's hair.

"What's this?" Jezebel asked, fingering what Isabella placed in her hair.

"It was my grandmother's. Lovely, isn't it?"

"Yes, but, I couldn't."

"Nonsense. The stones match your eye colour." And they did. The stones were a midnight blue, almost purple colour, and Jezebel's eyes were the colour of the sky just beginning to turn dark, where light hits nothing.

"All done." Isabella stated proudly, letting the last full curl drop down in it's place.

Jezebel sighed staring at her reflection. "This has to work. I've got to get out of here, Isabella. Or I'll be reduced to that of a common tavern whore..." She allowed her words to drift off while she toyed with her necklaces.

Isabella placed her hands on Jezebel's shoulder, and whispered in her ear.

"Let's hope you're so lucky."

-

"'Ey! You!" Jezebel tagged over a small boy, most likely around the ages of 10 and 11.

"Yeah?" He asked, running up to her.

"How would you like to help me?"

He ran a dirty hand through his even dirtier hair. "Well, that all depends on the task, miss. And that could cost you a fee."

"If you help me, you'll get 10 percent of what we take."

The boy cocked his head to the right. "What is it exactly you're havin' me doin', ma'am?"

"We're raiding a pirate ship."

And at that, the boys eyes grew wide, and the frown he was wearing before turned into a sly grin.

-

"Okay. You wait here. With any luck at all, he'll be drunk within the next hour or so."

"How will I know when you're ready?"

"I'll whistle, and you come out. When you reach the ship, we'll go down, take what we want, and you'll go back. I'll catch up with you later."

Peter nodded, and scrunched his eyebrows together again.

"But what happens if we get caught? We can't really expect a pirate to go easy on us, can we?"

"And that's precisely why we need to be quick, and you need to obey my orders."

Peter nodded once more, and walked alongside Jezebel. When they reached the docks, Peter sat down and waded his bare feet in the water.

"Miss Jezebel?"

"Yes?" She asked, turning to face him.

"Why is it that we're doin' this, ma'am?"

Jezebel smiled and sat next to Peter, letting her own feet wade in the water. The salt water stung her closing wounds, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

"I plan to go to America."

Peter grinned wide. "America? Really?"

She nodded her head. "Yes."

"What's in America?"

"Family."

"So, if they're there, why aren't you with them?"

Jezebel began to explain to him how her family traveled from place to place, and then, once they reached this island, her mother came down with the illness that took her life.

"And I've been here ever since."

His eyes widened again, in the manner that only children possess.

"You're a... gypsy?"

"Of some sort, yes."

He jumped up excitedly, splashing water everywhere.

"So you can do voodoo and everything?"

He waved his hands around, emphasizing his words. Jezebel laughed at him. "No, not quite."

"You know, I heard that the Black Pearl was cursed. And every night, under the moonlight, the sailors on it would turn into skeletons."

"Aye," a voice breathed. Jezebel jumped, splashing water on her legs, and on her skirts. "True story."

Jack smiled at the freshened up Jezebel. And stretched out his arm to her.

"Miss Catherine, are ye ready to go?"

Peter looked confused, and mouthed the name 'Catherine' to Jezebel. She winked at him, and put a finger up to her lips. She turned back to Jack, and grabbed his arm. "As ready as I'll ever be."

It wasn't very "pirate like" to be as kind as Jack was being to her. And she hoped... and she prayed that Jack wouldn't come to like her. And, of course, that her plan fell through as she hoped it would.

Jack lowered himself into the rowboat first. The Pearl was only a few hundred yards away, and Jezebel hoped that Peter could swim that far.

If not, she would surely be doomed.

-

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And, I would like to thank Jennifer and Spunky Sparrow, for being my first two reviewers. )