Disclaimer: If only I could sue Disney/Bruckheimer and get rights to Captain Jack Sparrow…
Squirrel feels safer under her now-dry cloak, her face hidden by the hood. She sees Anamaria smile at her warmly, and averts her eyes.
"Wh-why are we h-here?" Squirrel asks Mister Gibbs as he walks past.
Mister Gibbs smiles just like Anamaria did. All friendly and chummy. "Well, the captain's visiting a friend 'o his here. Will Turner." Squirrel doesn't recognise the name. "Problem is, Miss Squirrel, we don't exactly have rights to be here, us being pirates and all, so a few of us have to sneak ashore and speak to Will's…" Gibbs winks at Squirrel, "Wife-to-be." A few crew members chuckle. Squirrel scowls in the shadow of her cloak. Another joke she'll never get.
"Alright!" Jack swaggers onto the deck, and Squirrel resists the urge to about-face and stare at him. "We need a few willing volunteers to come ashore with me and have a chat to young Will and Elizabeth. Anyone?"
Squirrel pretends to be interested in the town as they sail closer. And then, suddenly, she doesn't need to pretend.
It's just like Tortuga, only… better. The streets are organised, there are no fights, soldiers oversee the traders, making sure no-one is cheated, and Squirrel swears she can hear cheery singing and music coming over the water. If Tortuga was hell, the hole where Squirrel spent her youth trying to survive, then Squirrel wanted to spend the rest of her life in this little haven, forgetting everything that had ever happened to her.
It was as if she felt she'd finally come home.
Squirrel feels a hand on her shoulder, and looks up into Jack Sparrow's cocky-grinning face. "I'm guessing you'd want to explore this place, aye?" Squirrel bites back a curse, and turns back to watch the British flags flying over the well-fortified walls.
She can sense Jack looking over his shoulder, confused. "I'll take that as a yes." He whispers, close to her ear. Squirrel feels a shiver run up and down her spine. Stop that. She scolds silently, trying to stop herself from blushing. She fiddles with the coin around her neck, feeling the rough edges of the bullet.
"Alright then!" Jack grins. "To the boats, and to Port Royal!" Squirrel turns and reluctantly follows Gibbs and Mister Cotton. Mister Cotton's parrot tilts its head at her.
"Here be monsters." The bird mumbles with a squawk. Mister Gibbs looks up, first at the bird, then at Squirrel, from where he is untying a lifeboat. He sees Squirrel's vague nod, and frowns slightly, but busies himself with untying the lifeboat.
Squirrel steadies herself with one hand as she jumps into the lowering boat, then scrambles to the far end as Jack climbs in. She hunches deeper in her cloak, and ignores Jack when he smiles at her.
If I can get away from Jack and hide somewhere in Port Royal, Squirrel thinks, watching Jack carefully from under her hood, I'll be a lot better off.
Gibbs sits down beside Squirrel, smiling warmly. "You'll love Port Royal." He says. Squirrel tries not to squirm away. "It's a beautiful place."
"I b-bet." Squirrel says shortly. Gibbs frowns slightly, and he and Jack exchange glances. Jack shrugs.
With everyone with an oar each, Jack taking two since Squirrel can barely even lift one, the rowboat makes quick progress towards the docks of Port Royal. Squirrel looks around, trying to pretend she isn't fascinated by this strange new world.
Finally, the boat comes close to the docks, and Jack clambers out. "Mister Cotton?" He turns back, grinning down at the three in the boat. "Take care of the boat. We may need to make a hasty retreat."
"Wind in the sails." Mister Cotton's parrot squawks.
Jack holds down a hand to Squirrel. After a moment's hesitation, Squirrel takes it, and allows herself to be hoisted into the docks of Port Royal. Mister Gibbs climbs up after her.
"Right." Jack says, waving and bobbing his head as he swaggers down the docks, attracting stares from every trader, sailor and navy officer, "First thing we gotta do is have a chat with young Will. Gibbs?" Gibbs comes to Jack's side, leaving Squirrel behind the two pirates. Go now! A voice screams. Squirrel tenses herself as Jack and Gibbs talk quickly, waiting for the chance to hide behind a pile of crates or to leap up into a ship's rigging.
"Meanwhile." Jack says, stepping back suddenly and draping an arm around Squirrel's shoulder. "Me and the young Miss will pay a visit to young Bootstrap." Gibbs nods, and disappears down an alley. Jack leads her into the town square.
Squirrel looks up, hood falling away as she cranes her head to look as high as she can. This town looks even more beautiful and peaceful close up.
"Welcome to Port Royal, luv." Jack says. Squirrel realises Jack still has not let go of her shoulders. With a sigh, Squirrel allows herself to be steered through the town, pausing only to readjust her hood so it hides her blushing face.
There isn't much time to wander around and see the sights, though. As Jack and Squirrel round a corner, a platoon of guards comes into view. They recognise the pirate immediately, raise their bayonets, and charge.
"Time to go, luv!" Jack turns Squirrel around, and this time it's Squirrel who is struggling to keep up with Jack.
"Stop them!"
"Don't let them get away!"
"Get the pirates!"
"S-since when d-d-did I be-become involved w-w-with pirates!" Squirrel angrily asks Jack as they hide in an alley to catch their breath. Jack shrugs and grins his trademark charming smile.
"Since you set foot on a pirate ship?" The redcoats come into view, and the pirate and the grey-cloaked girl start running again.
Another platoon approaches from the other side of the street.
"Now what?" Squirrel gasps. Jack looks around quickly.
"In here." He whips open a door and pushes Squirrel inside, then slips inside behind her.
Squirrel gives her eyes a few minutes to adjust. The room is pretty dark, but there is a fire in one corner, and the room is filled with swords and blacksmith's tools. An old donkey, tied to some sort of mechanical wheel, brays in alarm as he sees Jack, and starts walking around in circles, setting the wheel creaking and turning. Jack grins, gold teeth sparkling.
"What a piece of luck this is! Will's workshop!" There's noise outside. Squirrel leaps up into the rafters, where she feels most comfortable, while Jack looks through a gap in the door, watching the guards outside.
"Having trouble with the law again, Captain?" a voice from the shadows asks. Jack whirls around, drawing his sword. Squirrel shrinks into a corner, letting her cloak camouflage her, as it did in the tavern in Tortuga.
"Well, well, well!" Jack grins at the figure, sheathing his sword. "If it ain't young Bootstrap!" Squirrel looks at the 'young Bootstrap' critically. He's kinda cute, in a young-girl's-fantasy kind of way, but other than that, the brown-haired blacksmith is no-one special.
"You really shouldn't make this a habit, Jack." Will Turner grins, shaking Jack's hand. "The last time you came here running from guards I ended up fighting you."
"And losing." Jack reminded the young man with a bob of the head and a wave of a hand. Will frowns.
"You cheated, though."
Jack shrugs. "Pirate."
"So what are you here for this time?" Will asks, stoking the fire in the corner. "And what happened to the Pearl?"
"The Pearl's in the harbour, safely out of sight. Me, I'm here for a very special reason." Squirrel couldn't help but be mesmerised by Jack's constant swaying and jerking hand movements. She shook herself. Being up in these rafters was making her remember the feelings she had for Jack back in Tortuga.
And there was no reason for her to remember… them… STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!
"Special reason?" Will Turner says. "And this has nothing to do with the fact that half the city's guards are looking for you, would it?"
Jack holds both hands to his heart. "Your sarcasm wounds me, Will. No, I'm here coz we're a little short on supplies. And being pirates, we can't exactly dock and barter fairly without being attacked by Her Majesty's redcoats, savvy?"
"And you want my help in getting permission for you to dock. Is that it?"
Jack grins. "Actually, I was hoping that your dear love Elizabeth could do that for me." Will's face changes emotions several times, finally setting on surprise.
"I'll speak to her… But why don't you just go to Tortuga?"
Squirrel tenses in the rafters, and underneath her, a plank creaks. Will frowns, looking up, but Jack's extravagant hand movements distract him.
"We… ah, we can't exactly go back there in a hurry." Jack says, dancing on one spot. "See, we picked up a new crew member recently, and if we do go back to Tortuga… well, let's just say that we're as good as dead. Savvy?"
Squirrel grins, glad that Jack is a quick thinker, but then she frowns. Does he mean that? Does he really not intend to let me go?
"So you want to rob Port Royal instead?" Will raises an eyebrow. Jack frowns and shakes his head.
But is there anywhere else I can go? Squirrel thinks, lost in thought. Could I really stay here in Port Royal? Or would I be better off on the Black Pearl? With Jack? She blushes furiously at her last thought.
"Commodore Norrington changed his mind about you, Jack." Will says with a smile. "That was why the guards chased after you as soon as they saw you."
Jack stares at the blacksmith, horrified. "You saw me? Why the hell didn't you come to my rescue then?"
Will shrugs. "I wanted to see who the girl was that you were running with." Will pauses, looking around the room. "Where is she, by the way?"
Squirrel hunches further down in her cloak. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, she becomes aware of her amulet. The silver coin still feels cold against her skin, but the bullet lodged in it feels hot.
"Dunno." Jack says, looking around him, genuinely confused. "She was 'ere jus' a second ago."
Squirrel slowly lifts the coin out of her clothing and looks at it carefully, rubbing her fingers around the scalloped edges. A silver coin shouldn't've stopped a bullet like that. It was impossible. Silver was far too soft. It was almost is if there was…
Click.
A secret compartment.
A small piece of paper covered in red wax slides out of the coin and onto Squirrel's lap. Now why haven't I ever noticed that before? She wonders in surprise. Maybe it was because she kept it under the planks in her room, scared to wear it in case Dawn or the Uncle found it. It was from her father, a last present before he was murdered. That made it sacred to Squirrel.
Squirrel picks up the tiny piece of paper. It is small, tightly folded to fit between the coin, and slightly damp. Squirrel smiles. From her brief swim with Dawn, no doubt. The paper slips in Squirrel's grip, and falls down out of the rafters. Squirrel makes a grab for it.
Will stares, and Jack turns around. Squirrel grins sheepishly, hanging upside-down from the rafters from her ankles just behind him. Jack raises an eyebrow.
"H-h-h-hello." She stammers. "S-sorry." Squirrel tucks the tiny slip of paper between her fingers as she lets herself fall out of the rafters. The grey-cloaked girl curses her innate ability to blush upon the slightest provocation as she adjusts her cloak. The paper is secreted away.
"Ah." Said Jack, putting an arm around Squirrel's shoulders. "This is Squirrel. The newest crew member of the Pearl. Squirrel? Will. Will? Squirrel." Squirrel nods and smiles. Will holds out a hand for her to shake. She takes it gingerly, still blushing from her unintended appearance from the rafters.
"What were you doing up there?" Will asks.
Squirrel shrugs. "J-just hang-hanging a-around?" Jack laughs at Squirrel's feeble attempt at a joke.
"Ok, now that we've all been introduced, I think it's time we talked about the bartering side of things." Jack releases Squirrel. "Head back to the Pearl, luv. And keep an eye out for them guards, savvy?"
Squirrel can't get out of there fast enough.
"Nervous little thing, isn't she?" Will comments dryly. Jack nods, a strange smile on his face.
"Yes she is, Will. Yes she is."
A/N: Nerwen and Tinuviel punched me repeatedly for the 'young girl's fantasy' line. But it had to be done.