Hello my freaky darlings, I am still locked away in my cell and have been forced to write, hence this chapter! () Don't blame me if the story starts getting silly, being left alone for 24 hrs with Pirates of the Caribbean will do that to anyone! Please, please, please review for my sake, as it will stop certain friends from hitting me. So read on avast!

A big thank you to all my reviewers as always, you rule!

Endoreovende: Thanks a lot. I have tried to make the story unique though there may be a spot of girl-saving to be done later on? Sorry for not updating sooner!

JessieRose: Thank you for being a steady reviewer! I shall try to keep the story going as long as you keep reviewing (and I manage to fend off my friends…)

Useless-random: Thank you again my steady reviewer! I was hoping that someone would pick up on that (Disney is my muse…). I promise that this story shall be long and there may be a sequel if I can get out of this cell… rattles bars Let me out!

Disclaimer: I do not own POTC as of yet, but if the scheme I have in mind works, that will all change very soon!

You?

Grace stared in horror at the harbour of Tortuga. Everywhere she looked there were drunks, whores, more drunks and debauchery in general. With the lights shining out the town's many pubs, Grace thought it looked like hell itself.

"Quite a sight, aye?" came a voice from behind her. Grace looked quickly round to find Jack smiling, almost apprehensively at her. Grace nodded slowly, not trusting herself to speak. With that, Jack returned to the eagerly waiting crew on deck.

"Hav a drink on me!"

In exactly 2 seconds Jack and Grace were the only ones left on the deck. Jack, noting that Grace was staring after them, offered her his arm.

"Me lady?"

Darting a look at him, Grace silently slipped her arm in his. Barely able to stop himself from grinning, Jack and his lady stepped smartly off the ship.

Wandering through the streets of Tortuga, Grace had never been more nervous in her life. The sheer number of drunken, foul-mouthed men was overwhelming. Jack was normally not bothered by the general population of Tortuga, but now he too found the number of drunken, foul-mouthed men (who were leering at Grace) overwhelming. Simultaneously, the couple crept closer to each other.

Jack had already decided to take Grace to one of the less violent pubs and spying the entrance, he led her inside. Having sat her down at a nearby table, he swaggered up to the bar,

"Hallo Jack, wot brings you 'ere?" cried Rob, sending various glasses flying behind the bar.

"2 bottles of yer best rum, mate." replied Jack, clinking a handful of guineas.

"Coming right up."

Looking around at Grace, in the corner of his eye he noticed that a man opposite him at the bar was also taking a large amount of interest in her. He decided to strike up a conversation.

"Wot's yer name, mate?"

"Wot's it to you?" came the disgruntled reply. The large, loutish man drained his pint, still staring at Grace, practically drooling.

"Like her?" asked Jack, conversationally.

"Aye." Jack didn't like that answer. The man looked down to find the tip of Jack's sword at his throat.

"sump'm wrong Jack?" asked Rob, stunned.

Jack deliberately took the bottles of rum, leaned over to the now sweating stranger and whispered, "she's mine."

Jack promptly executed a terrific turn and strode over to Grace, who had been watching the entire episode, wide-eyed. Jack offered "old shipmate.", by way of explanation. This being the first time he and Grace had been alone for some time (that is, without dozens of crew members watching them) Jack wanted to ask Grace a lot of things, most importantly her opinion of a certain pirate, but for a rare point in his life he could not find the words.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes." Said Grace, and smiled gently. Pleased, Jack smiled back, his eyes crinkled tenderly.

"Errm"

"Aye?" asked Jack, curiously.

"Where did you get that?" she asked, pointing to the tattoo on his right arm. Jack glanced down at it, startled for a moment.

"Oh wot that? Oh well I've had that ever since I became I pirate."

Grace leaned in slightly. "And how long ago was that?" Jack, encouraged by this interest, also leaned forward, looking deep into her eyes.

"Do yer really want to know miss?" as he spoke he gently grabbed her hand.

Grace jumped and stared in amazement at his rough hand on top of hers. She looked up again to find Jack still gazing at her, his eyes gleaming in a way she had never seen before, He carefully turned her hand over and traced the outline of the tattoo on her palm. That simple movement made Grace's throat so tight she could hardly speak. He smiled at her.

CRASH!

The nightly brawl had begun. Jack turned from the brewing fight to find Grace's hand on her lap and her eyes fixed on her bottle. In that moment Jack was highly tempted to join the fracas for it was now obvious that he wasn't going to get any tonight, but instead sighed heavily and swigged rum.

The next day, Jack woke up in a determined mood. After last night he was sure that Grace had been about to kiss him (or at the very least let him kiss her) so now, he was going to use all of his dastardly charm, wit and looks to make Grace his girl. (He was going to ignore the fact that his heart was about to burst out of his chest at the thought.).

Through years of experience, Jack knew that it was always best to get on a girl's good side before he tried to jump her, so he told Anna Maria to tell Grace to report to his cabin the minute she awoke. Jack put on his clean breeches, a reasonably clean shirt and curled his moustache. Yep, he was hot all right!

At that moment the door behind him opened and Jack turned round with his most winning grin. And there was Gibbs, looking rather shocked at his captain's exuberance. Jack was understandably deflated.

"Well where is she?"

"She's just coming cap'n."

"Good."

It was a few minutes later before Grace stepped in, slightly apprehensive as to why Jack had called, particularly after last night. Jack gave her a dazzling smile and opened with,

"Grace?"

"Yes, Jack?" she replied uncertainly.

"I've been thinking about your position aboard the pearl," declared Jack, wandering around his desk towards her. "And I've realised it's not really fair."

"Fair?" echoed Grace, perplexed as Jack ended his walk in front of her. He leaned closer.

"I thought I'd best give you some compensation." He said, winking roguishly.

Intrigued in spite of herself, Grace asked softly,

"And what might that be Jack?"

He smiled slowly and took her hand.

"Follow me."

Jack lead her into the depths of the ship, till the gentle murmuring of the sea (they had shoved off at dawn) was all around them. Finally, Jack stopped in front of a small, nondescript door.

"Close yer eyes."

"What?" Grace was bemused.

"Close 'em"

Grace puzzledly obeyed. She heard the turn of a key in a lock and the sound of a door opening. She was gently pushed inside, and the door was locked behind them.

"Open 'em"

Grace's eyes opened and widened. She gased. The treasure! All the coins, the jewels, the silks and other priceless items she had seen in her cave were now before her, transforming the dark cabin into a feast of glitter and brilliance.

"Do yer like it?" Jack asked.

"It's beautiful." Replied Grace with wonder.

Pleased beyond measure Jack added,

"Take what yer like."

"What?" came the astonished query.

"Anything yer want, it's yours. It's my present to yer."

Grace looked at him for a moment, speechless at this generosity, then, slowly she began to move among the valuables. Ingots, statues, stones winked and twinkled at her; she was surrounded by money and worth. Yet she could not choose, there was just too much. Then her eyes fell upon the necklace she had seen at her first meeting with Jack. It was lovelier than ever. She was about to take it when a voice in the back of her mind said 'no, not that.' Something made her draw her hand back and turn until she saw a pair of throwing knives, hand carved from ivory and set with silver, their blades as bright a diamonds.

"I want these." Her hands had them.

Jack for one, was confused. Never would he have expected her to pick those. It was a complete surprise.

"Why do yer want them?"

"I just do." Came the defensive answer.

"Do yer even know how to throw them?"

Grace's face fell then set furiously. She turned to a blank piece of wall, held up one of the knives in her hand and threw. The blade, funnily enough, clattered to the floor. Jack began to laugh, then a thoroughly evil and genius idea occurred to him. He grinned devilishly.

"Lemme give yer a hand."

In a moment he was standing directly behind her, his right arm round her waist and pulling her even closer to him. His left hand trailed up her arm and clasped her own hand in which she clutched the now retrieved knife. His finger delicately entwined with hers until he was holding the knife as much as she was.

"Now if yer want to do it right," he practically purred in her ear, "Just lemme…" He drew her hand back while savouring the smell of her hair. Grace by this point thought she was about to have a heart attack, she was thinking desperately that Jack was far, far too close and yet her body couldn't, wouldn't push him away. If it could just go on a little bit longer…

At that moment Jack let the knife fly from her hand – it struck a knothole squarely in the heart.

"And that's how it's done." Whispered Jack, slowly bringing her arm back down again so that his arms were now encircling her waist. He looked at her face, which was now flushed prettily. He had seen women more beautiful than her, far more talented, but try as he might, he couldn't help falling for her. Grace stared into Jack's glittering dark eyes, a man she knew almost nothing about but who she yearned to know everything about, a man who she (loved?) and who loved….

Their faces moved infinitely towards each others, their eyes closed and…

"Cap'n!"

Jack's eyes flew open. He did not just hear that, he did not just hear that. He moved to the kiss….

"Cap'n!" The door shook with the force of Gibbs' knocks. Suddenly extremely pissed off, Jack threw Grace away, angrily unlocked the door, hurled it open and with his pistol cocked and aimed, yelled without a hint of a slur, "What the bloody hell is it?"

Gibbs replied remarkably calmly to the fact Jack was pointing his pistol at his head, in that he didn't just start running.

"Cap'n, there's a navy ship after us and it's catching up fast."

"What?" cried Jack, the slur returning. He stole an inscrutable look back at Grace and swore vehemently under his breath. He made his face go blank and stormed up the stairs, though his eyes were still furious. As Gibbs hurriedly followed his captain, Grace stood still, catching her breath. Her head was swimming with what had just happened. It was the first time a man, a man like Jack Sparrow that is, who could frankly have any woman he wanted, had tried to, well, as her brother would say, 'make advances' on her. But the fact that she had wanted him to, was more of a surprise to Grace than anything Jack had done. Still, Grace shook herself alert, she had to see what was happening up above. As she ran up the stairs, she absentmindedly slipped the two knives into the back pocket of her breeches, and carried on running.

Jack swore again as he looked through his telescope at the ship rapidly coming after the pearl. 'The Fortune' it was called, well it was bloody ill fortune as far as Jack was concerned.

"Whaddlhve us do Jack?" asked Gibbs anxiously.

"That's Captain Jack to you mate." Remarked Jack placidly, though his mind was desperately calculating a battle plan. Then he caught sight of a spit of land on the far side of the ship. It wasn't actually a bit of land at all, more like a clump of random rocks. Jack ran over to the nearer side, his dark eyes brightening. Yes, yes that might just do it. He smiled like a shark with gold teeth. He had, a plan.

"Gibbs run out every sail we've got and get rolling out the swebes, Now!"

"Wait, what are we doing Cap'n?" asked Gibbs confused.

"We are outrunning them, Mister Gibbs. After all, the pearl is the fastest ship in the Caribbean ain't she?" explained Jack, winking. Suddenly Grace came running up to them, breathlessly noticing the fact that the crew were either climbing the rigging or disappearing down below.

"What's going on?" she cried. Jack opened his mouth to speak, then abruptly shut it again and strode off, leaving Gibbs to whisper in a rather hurt Grace's ear. Jack went and grabbed the wheel from a terrified crew member and he spun it deftly, driving the ship directly and quickly round the corner of the island, effectively putting the Pearl out of the other ship's sight. Grace then came up to him, her face stricken.

"Are you going to fight them Jack?"

"Looks like we have to luv, see for yerself." He answered grimly, handing her his telescope. Grace darted to the side of the ship and aimed the instrument at the attacker. The ship was far to be true, but she could just make out the words 'The Fortune' written on the side. For some reason that set warning bells screaming in her brain, then realization hit her. Oh shit.

"Jack you can't attack that ship!"

"Well it's not exactly a question of me attacking them luv." Jack pointed out, "It's more a question of them wishing to make us do the hangman's dance." He ended darkly.

"Well," Grace cried wildly, "Can't you just outrun them?"

"Oh aye, but sooner or later they'll find us again. Best to deal with 'em now." Stated Jack confidently. "Now get below deck quick."

"No." defied Grace, "You can't attack that ship Jack."

Jack sighed. They had already been through this and now she decided to be difficult. Fine. He handed the wheel back to the nervous man and promptly grabbed Grace in a fireman's lift, heaved her kicking and screaming to his cabin and locked her in. Not quite the contact he had wanted with her but there would be time for that later. Anyway, back to business.

"Ready the cannons!" He shouted, striding to the prow of the ship. There he caught his breath, his dark eyes snapping, watching the corner where 'The fortune' would appear. Just wait, just wait…

Suddenly the prow appeared round the corner, and all hell broke loose.

"Fire!" yelled Jack at the top of his lungs. 'The Fortune' was immediately bombarded by the Pearl. Belatedly, they tried to respond, but they were in such confusion, they were half-beaten before they had fired a shot. In the midst of the smoke and confusion, The Pearl crept up to the side of its victim and then…

"Climb aboard lads!" yelled Jack, already swinging over and drawing his sword. He would be fighting to kill this time, as he had made no promise to Grace as regarding this ship, besides, he had no doubt that the other side would be.

Landing on the ship, he was abruptly tackled by at least half a dozen of His Majesty's finest. Expert as he was, he slew them all. With the rest of his crew, the battle was soon won. The ship was theirs.

Locked in Jack's cabin, Grace was going a tad insane. What was going on? What if Jack killed Tom? Her own brother? What if Tom killed Jack, her… oh how could she forgive either of them? She started going through Jack's desk, trying to find something, anything, that could help. Suddenly, she alighted upon Jack's spare pistol in the drawer. That would do. Rushing to the door, she shot through the lock on the door. She burst through it, much to the surprise of the crew of the pearl, the handcuffed crew of 'The Fortune' and a rather impressed Jack Sparrow. And the man Jack was currently pointing his sword at was…

"Tom!"

"Grace!"

Grace immediately launched herself at her brother but was stopped, inches away, by the length of Jack's sword.

"What do yer think yer 're doing?" Jack asked, highly perplexed. Grace recovered herself, straightened up, and calmly said,

"Jack, I would like you to meet my brother, Captain Thomas St John."

Jack could not have looked more shocked if Grace had introduced the Captain as Barbossa. He gaped as Grace continued.

"Tom, pray meet Captain Jack Sparrow, leader of 'The Black Pearl' and her crew."

The idiotic fop Grace claimed was her brother then replied,

"I wish I could say it was a pleasure in meeting you, sparrow, but it is not."

At that, Jack's eyes narrowed. Jack was normally the most easy going man in the world, but as was usually the case with such men, he had enormous capacity for hate when stirred. This man, this pompous, foolish man would ruin his chances with her, would do everything within his power to ensure that he NEVER saw Grace again… Jack saw all that and more. His face went blank with anger and he lifted his sword to finish him.

"No Jack!"

Jack blinked quickly, the dark spell was broken. Grace was standing in front of Tom, her arms spread to protect him.

"You can't hurt him Jack." She begged, "you can't, he's the only family I have left." Her voice trailed off, her face pale.

Jack gazed at her sorrowfully, his sword hanging in mid-air. She was so small and slight, yet she had more power over him than the entire Navy. As clearly as he had seen before, he knew that if he killed Tom, he would kill her and himself in the same blow. His sword dropped and he turned away, his face stony. He felt a breath on his ear, "Thank you Jack." And the merest caress on his cheek. He turned sharply to see Grace leading her tied brother to his cabin. She did not look back. Gibbs hovered at Jack's elbow, wondering.

"Take them all to the brig." Jack ordered darkly, and stormed off in search of rum.