CHAPTER SEVEN: HOW IT ALL STARTED

After lunch, Jack was called away on a minor emergency below deck, leaving Sunni in the grips of the crew. Many flocked to her, immediately, demanding to know how she and Jack met in the first place.

"It's simple, mates," Sunni laughed, seeing their eager faces. "I'm Elizabeth's sister. I met 'im through 'er."

"She just introduced ye two?" Perch asked, doubtful.

"Well," Sunni smiled mischievously, "Not exactly."

Flashback

Elizabeth had just returned from her breathtaking adventure with pirates, undead and otherwise. She and her sister, Caitlyn, were locked in their connected rooms, their father taking no chances with their safety until order was restored. Caitlyn was pacing in front of Elizabeth, who was nestled in her own bed.

"I can't BELIEVE you went on a grand adventure like that WITHOUT me!" she cried, throwing her arms around.

"It's not as if I had much of a choice, Caty," Elizabeth grinned at her sister's impatient manner. "Besides, you were away at boarding school. How was I to sail to the Americas to pick you up so that we could both be kidnapped?"

"Don't rationalize this," Caitlyn commanded. Liz had to try hard to hold in her smile. Cate was never rational. "YOU met THE Captain Jack Sparrow, an' I did not! How is that even a close resemblance of fairness?"

"He will be glad someone remembered his proper title," Liz smiled to herself. "Although, I don't think it that unfair, Caty. After all, I was the one who read you all the stories about him, not the other way around."

Caitlyn let out a disgruntled cry. "Where are they keeping him?" she demanded.

"They put him in one of the new, fortified prison cells up at the fort. It's supposed to be inescapable," she yawned.

"What's he like?"

"Jack? He's a bloody pirate, what do you expect?" she paused, thoughtfully. "He is. . . he is a good man, however. Quite contradicting characters, actually. I mean, he did save our lives. I'm still trying to find a way to convince father to grant him clemency, or at least repeal his death sentence."

"Can Will Turner bust him out?"

Elizabeth's eyes lit up with the mention of Will. Then, she sighed. "No, it's some kind of special, reinforced steal door. Besides, father already granted him clemency. He wouldn't want to jeopardize that." She yawned again. "I'm exhausted, Caitlyn. It's been a very long day. Please, just go to bed."

Caitlyn growled in frustration, but returned to her room through the conjoining bathroom. She had hoped to hear all about this infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. He was right here in her very town, but she had no way of actually meeting him. She growled again. After pacing around her room, barefoot, Caitlyn threw up her hands. She returned to Elizabeth's room to demand more information. Unfortunately, her sister was already passed out cold from exhaustion. Caitlyn set her jaw and finally decided to give in to her insatiable curiosity.

In her own room, she pulled out a pair of old, leather boots from the back of her wardrobe, and then a large, black cloak. Pushing her window open, she peered down the two floors to the ground. The only route between her window and the ground was the trellis. She tested its strength by pulling on it and rattling it around. It didn't seem to budge. So, without any more hesitation, she swung a booted foot out onto one of the white frames.

Once on the ground, Caitlyn headed straight for Tillman's Tankard, a bar in town, instead of the fort. There, she picked up two rums from the back entrance. The barmaid readily supplied the governor's daughter with her request. After all, it was good to have friends in high places. And Caitlyn was a very good customer.

Afterwards, Caitlyn trudged up the steep hill to the fort where the battlements and the new prisons were.

The new prison was set inside the fort wall. Caitlyn easily got through and into it, but the prison structure looked impenetrable. She studied it in the shadows. How was she going to get in without attracting the attention of the guards? There was a window emitting a small amount of light, so she tiptoed to that and looked in. There was a guard seated at a desk around the corner, a ring of keys next to his writing pad. If she were quiet, she could climb in the window without being seen. Her only hope of seeing Captain Sparrow was if he was down the opposite corridor of the guard. She shrugged. Might as well try.

The window bars were fairly easy to open, since all she had to do was reach inside and unlatch it. Maneuvering her nightgown and cloak in through the tiny window was not quite as simple. Somehow, she managed it, and without alerting the guard. She slipped off her boots and continued on in her stockings so that the heels would not click on the concrete floor. Then, she began to methodically check each cell for the great Captain Sparrow.

The young girl moved so stealthily that the sleeping criminals never stirred. As she looked into one of the last cells, a voice behind her drawled, "Just who are ye, luv, and what do ye think ye be doin' in a prison?"

Caitlyn smiled imperceptibly and turned slowly. "Captain Sparrow?"

"Aye. An' you are?"

Caitlyn was half covered by the shadows as she answered. "I'm the sunlight to your dreary days."

Jack lifted an eyebrow, intrigued.

Caitlyn reached into her cloak and pulled out a rum. She passed it through the bars, grinning at Jack's expression.

"You are my sunlight, lass," he cried, pulling the stopper out with his teeth. He took a long, much-needed swig and sighed. "Move inta th' light, luv."

Caitlyn complied.

Jack froze with the rum to his lips as he looked at her. He could only think of one person. Elizabeth. "What be your name, lass?"

The girl smiled slightly and untied her cloak. "Caitlyn Swann. I believe ye know my sister."

Jack paused. "Had no idea she 'ad a sister." He took another drink. "So. Why ye here, lass?"

"Elizabeth was too tired to tell me about you, herself, so I had to come an' find out about ye on me onsies."

Jack smiled at her language. "Ye speak like a pirate, luv."

Caitlyn smiled. "Must be th' sailors who sailed me down from Maine. I picked too much up from them."

"So ye came down here cause ye wanted ta see a fearsome pirate captain?"

Caitlyn studied the man in the cell before her. He had jet black hair with many trinkets and beads hanging from different strands and a red bandana around his head. He still wore his leather boots and captain's coat, but he was very bedraggled.

"Ye don't look much like a fearsome pirate," she said with a slight smirk.

"Ye don't look much like a governor's daughter, either," Jack shot back.

"I'm th' runt of the family," she countered.

Jack stood closer to the bars to see that the girl only came up to his chest in height. "So ye are," he muttered. "How old are ye?"

"Seventeen."

He continued to study her. Her golden blond hair and sea green eyes that only reminded him of sailing. She had clear skin, but it was dusted with light freckles across her nose from the sun.

Caitlyn grew uncomfortable under his thoughtful gaze. She sighed and stretched out a hand. "Sit down, Captain, I don't plan on leaving any time soon." At this, she took her own seat on the dirty prison floor.

"Miss Swann, I don't think a prison floor is any place for the daughter of the fair Governor of Port-"

"Oh, come off it, Jack," Caitlyn took a drink from the rum bottle. She didn't even sputter from the alcohol. Jack noticed her sea green eyes were alight with amusement. "An' none of this 'Miss Swann' business, understand?"

Jack was silent a moment before falling to the floor, seated next to her. "Aye, Miss Sunni."

"Excuse me?"

"Are you or are you not sunshine in my dreary existence?"

Sunni smiled. "I suppose so."

End Flashback

"An' that's how me an' Jack met an' I got my name," Sunni shrugged after telling her story.

"But," a small man pushed forward in the crowd. He was a muscular man with no hair on the top of his head, and his beard braided. He was nearly three and a half feet tall. "What about ye two gettin' married?"

"What is this?" a rough voice thundered from behind the crowd. The group of crewmen parted to reveal Jack glaring at the motionless men with a stern look. "Back ta work, ye scabbardous dogs!"

"Does that include me, Captain?" a small, female voice asked from the center of the group.

Jack did a double take to see who was distracting his crew and then rolled his eyes. "You're goin' ta be th' cause of a mutiny, Miss Swann," he muttered.

Sunni walked up to Jack and flicked his nose. "Mrs. Sparrow, if you don't mind," she smiled and stalked off, as if she owned the ship.