Disclaimer: POTC is not mine.

A/N: Just while we're at it, I would like to apologise to the Orli fans for the 'young girl's fantasy' and 'no-one special' lines… Sorry. Hey, I'm sixteen, but I think Johnny's more of a man than Orli will ever be… But that's just my opinion… I'll shutup now.

Squirrel is sitting on the floor of her cabin, surrounded by papers when Jack walks in. Squirrel looks up, and surreptitiously folds a paper between her fingers, hiding it in her cloak. Jack motions to the mess scattered around Squirrel.

"Wha's all this?"

"M-my n-notes. I k-kept then t-to m-make…" Jack comes over and scoops a handful off the floor, "H-Help me r-r-remember m-my mistakes, and t-to show…" Squirrel coughs nervously and adds in a lower tone, "My s-skill."

"October 17th: Left-Hand Jon, full house - tick... Broken Nose: 6 4 3 5 6 2 4 1 - tick for each number?" Jack reads an excerpt from one of the papers. He frowns at Squirrel, confused. Squirrel bites her lip.

"I c-can r-read the f-flow of games, l-like d-dice or c-cards. I c-can r-read p-people."

Jack throws himself down on the floor next to Squirrel, rummaging through the papers, looking for something. He finally finds the one he's looking for.

"July 28th: Jack Sparrow." He looks up from the paper, a grin on his face. Squirrel hopes he can't read her secret code in the border. "Royal flush? X - Full House. Dice: 6? 3? 4? 2? 8? All crosses next to them… Silver dress? XXX Red d. and gold d. XXXX?" Jack looks up. "There seems to be a lot of crosses and question marks in this one. Can't you 'read' Captain Jack Sparrow?"

Squirrel blushes and shakes her head. Jack frowns again, tilting his head to one side.

"Why not?"

"I d-d-don't know. Y-you're…" Squirrel mulls over the word. "D-different."

"How?"

Squirrel thinks back, trying to remember. "You're un-unpredictable."

Jack waggles his eyebrows at her. "Unpredictable?"

Squirrel blushes bright red. "I m-mean, it's h-hard to t-tell what you're th-thinking…"

Jack smirks. "Yeah, awright. So we're a little hard to guess at. So… this is your skill? You can read the flow of chance, and know what people are thinking."

Squirrel nods. "M-my uncle used m-my skill to r-rig the d-dice and c-cards... and to kn-know who to d-d-de-deal with."

Jack looks at Squirrel, his face serious. She swallows. Finally, Jack asks, "So why didn't he 'deal' with me?"

"I…" Squirrel turns away and pretends to shuffle through some of her papers. "I… I n-never t-told h-him… about h-how I c-couldn't r-read y-you."

"Really?" Jack smiles. "That was nice of you."

Squirrel swallows her cowardice and looks Jack in the eye. "I w-was scared I w-would be b-beaten again." The cowardice rises up in her like a rotten meal, and Squirrel looks away again.

The pair sit in silence for a moment, where the only sound is the shuffling of papers. Jack hands the ones he holds back to Squirrel.

"So..." Jack says after a while, "That was one of the reasons you didn't believe me when I said I rescued you because I wanted to?"

Squirrel nods slowly. "I d-didn't know if I c-c-could be-believe you."

Jack puts a hand on Squirrel's cloaked shoulder and turns her to face him. Squirrel's hood falls away, revealing her frightened face and wide brown eyes. Jack's own eyes look deep into hers.

"Believe me, Miss Squirrel." Jack says. "You may not be able to predict me, but you can sure as hell trust me."

Squirrel opens her mouth and closes it several times, aware of the hot flush on her face. However, these are normal reactions around Jack, as far as she was concerned. It must've been something in her eyes that betrayed her. Jack raises an eyebrow, and leans closer.

"What are you hiding? What little secret are you hiding from Jack?"

"N-nothing!" Squirrel says, too fast for it to be nothing. Squirrel quietly tries to hide the map in her boot, but Jack's other hand whips out and grabs her by the wrist. Squirrel and Jack, equally unbalanced, fall. Squirrel gives a slight squeak, partly out of surprise, partly out of shock, and partly because Jack is now lying on top of her.

"'Scuse me, luv!" He grins, pulling the map from Squirrel's hand, "But pirates don't much like secrets. Savvy?" He opens the map over Squirrel's face, blocking her view of his face. Squirrel, red as a beetroot now, can imagine the surprised look on his face. The paper is lifted, and Jack is grinning.

"Enjoying yourself down there?" He teases. Squirrel pushes him off and scrabbles to her feet, heart thundering away. Jack grins again, and then looks closer at the map.

"Where did you get this?" He asks, focused entirely on the yellow piece of paper in front of him.

Squirrel frowns slightly, biting her lip. "My father gave it to me." A split-second later, she realises she never stuttered. Jack, however, seems not to notice. He's absorbed with the map. So absorbed, in fact, that he barely notices as Squirrel slips out of the room, and then bars it behind her with an oar. Anamaria stares at Squirrel strangely, and Squirrel grins back stupidly, still on a Jack-induced high.

"Where are we going?" She asks, climbing up to the helm.

Anamaria shrugs. "Just around."

Squirrel looks up at the Negro woman. "Thankyou, bitch."

Anamaria frowns down at Squirrel. "Excuse me?"

"Thanks for being a real friend to me, for making me learn that my stutter was just an act. But you are a real bitch for spying on me like that."

Ana shrugs, insult seemingly forgotten. "I was only following the Captain's orders. Speak of the devil…" Ana raised an eyebrow at Squirrel, smiling slightly, "Didn't you just lock him in your room?"

"He found the map." Squirrel shrugs, then freezes. Ana knew about the amulet, but not the map. The Negro woman's eyes light up in surprise, and Squirrel mentally curses herself for her stupidity.

"You had a map?"

Squirrel sighs. "Yes, it was hidden inside the amulet."

"So it was part of your father's gift."

Squirrel frowns slightly. "Yes. He said the amulet was lucky, and he said that if I ever wanted adventure, the amulet would show me one."

There is the sound of someone hammering away at wood with both fists.

"Well, Jack tells me you're one of us now," Ana grins, adjusting the course of the ship slightly. "So why not bring us along on the adventure?"

There is the slow steady pounding of someone throwing their shoulder against wood.

"I don't know." Squirrel says, looking out at the ocean. "If my father wanted me to go on some great adventure for treasure, shouldn't he have gone him-himself? If it is treasure at all."

The oar buckles slightly under the continuous blows at the door. Ana leaves the helm and walks with Squirrel towards the source of the noise.

"What do you mean?"

"If we had a chance for riches," Squirrel explains, "I think we would've taken it. We were a very poor family, me and my father."

"And your mother?" Anamaria asks gently. Squirrel doesn't reply. Ana bows her head. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." Squirrel says, taking one end of the oar. "On three?"

Ana grins back. "On three." Inside, Jack goes back as far as he can go into the cabin, preparing to slam one last time into the door.

Both girls grin at each other, then lift the oar. "Three!"

Jack charges through the now open door, and does not stop until he hits the helm with an 'Oof!'. Squirrel and Ana giggle, then make themselves scarce.

A/N: -grins-