Disclaimer: I wish POTC be mine, but it ain't.
"Look at this!" Ana holds up yet another string of pearls. "How many of them are there?" She slips it over her head.
"Pieces of eight!" Mister Cotton's parrot squawks, holding a huge gold coin in his beak. "PIECES OF EIGHT!" Mister Cotton and Gibbs each hold handfuls of gold and silver coins, each one twice as big as any they've every seen before. They might as well be holding very expensive saucers and plates.
Only Jack isn't interested in the treasure. Not much, anyway. After a good look through the chest's contents, he wanders over to where Squirrel is sitting.
"What's this?" He asks, poking the paper. "A letter from your dad?"
Squirrel laughs softly. "No. It's from my mother, a-actually."
"Yore mother?" Jack frowns. "What's she got to do with it?"
With a smile, Squirrel holds the paper so Jack can read it.
'If you've managed to open this chest by means of force,' the letter reads, 'Then I have nothing to say to you. However, if you had the key, and you are who I think you are… Then I must apologise. Squirrel, my darling daughter, I shouldn't've kept this from you, but your father and I both decided we wouldn't tell you until your sixteenth birthday. I wonder, though, if you have discovered this sooner.'
"Your sixteenth birthday?" Jack frowns at Squirrel.
Squirrel nods. "Three years after they both died."
'Yes, Squirrel,' The letter continues, 'I am a noblewoman. However, as your father was only a merchant, he thought he didn't deserve the title of Lord Grey, which was why I left my hometown and settled in Tortuga.
'In this box is all that's left of my family inheritance. My father thought it wise to send me gifts to keep the family alive, but when he found out that I was in 'the lowest of all the scum-holes in Jamaica', he stopped sending them. So I collected what I could and hid them here. We, your father and I, left clues for you, Squirrel. I hope you noticed them all.
'Squirrel, my darling daughter, I hope you aren't angry with either me or your father for hiding this, but we want you to know that we loved each other dearly. Just as we love you. As I'm writing this, Squirrel, I can see your father giving you that amulet, the key to the chest we're going to put all of my gifts in. You're a beautiful girl, Squirrel, and I can see you growing to be a beautiful woman. Words cannot convey how much your father and I love you, Squirrel. But know that you have it.
'From your mother, Lady Rose Grey.' The handwriting changes. 'And your father, Daniel Grey. (You're mother's got quite a way with words, don't she, lass?)'
Jack looks over at Squirrel, who simply sits, smiling slightly. After a moment, Jack puts his arms around her shoulders.
"Yore mother was right." He says gently. "You are a beautiful young woman."
Squirrel feels the flush on her face and her heart increasing speed in her chest. Perfectly normal. She smiles.
"Like I said," Jack says, "I've never really talked to anyone like this before… An' I… Aww, crap." Squirrel laughs, seeing the tips of Jack's ears glow red.
"Would it be safe to assume, then," Squirrel whispers, "That you're not exactly sure how to tell a girl you love her?"
Jack nods, biting his lip.
Squirrel leans close and whispers in his ear. "I love you."
Jack grins. "Yeah, that'll work." He clears his throat, opens his mouth, but seems unable to speak. Squirrel looks up, and sees Ana, Gibbs, Mister Cotton and Mister Cotton's parrot all staring at them.
Squirrel waves the letter in the air, and pulls herself to her feet. "As it t-turns out," She says, grinning inanely, "That the treasure's not from my father. It's from my mother."
"Oh," Ana says, a knowing smile on her face and a grin in the direction of Jack. "So that's why there's so much of it. Squirrel's mother was a rich noblewoman," She explains to Gibbs and Mister Cotton.
"So what are you going to do with all this swag?" Gibbs asks, tipping his handful of coins back into the chest.
"She's letting us have it!" Jack comes over, grinning. "And since she's now officially a pirate, and a crew-woman on the Pearl, I see no reason why she shouldn't get a cut of it!"
"Aztec gold!" The parrot squawks.
"Cottony's right." Gibbs nods. "We'd best be a-sure there's no curse on this gold."
Squirrel laughs. "Of c-course there isn't. Besides." Squirrel looks down and scuffs her feet in the dirt. "Since I don't have a family now… Well…" Her face reddens slightly. "I would be honoured if you would…"
"Take the treasure and become your family?" Ana grins, her teeth as white as the pearl necklaces she wears around her neck. "It would be a pleasure, Miss Grey."
"You already are part of our family, luv." Jack says to Squirrel, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Ever since you set foot on the Pearl, you've been part of our family."
Squirrel blushes bright red, but smiles. "Thank you." She says, "All of you."
Each of the pirates incline their heads in turn.
"So what now?" Jack says, as he and Squirrel walk back to the Pearl. Gibbs and Mister Cotton carry the chest, and Ana walks behind them, snapping at them to hurry up, that they're dropping the chest, et cetera.
"Tortuga." Squirrel says with a slight smile. Jack looks at her as if she's crazy. Squirrel smiles at him. "No hurry, of course." She explains. "Maybe in a month or two." She looks thoughtful. "I would like to visit Elizabeth again, though."
Jack grits his teeth. "Not so she can tell you more lies about me, I hope?"
"Lies?" Squirrel looks at Jack quizzically. "How so?"
"Once we get back to the Pearl," Jack says, "I'll tell you what REALLY happened. Oh, and Squirrel?" He stops, and waits until Ana, Gibbs and Mister Cotton have passed by and are out of earshot. "I love you." He leans down and kisses her.
Squirrel feels herself going red from head to toe, but can't help but thinking it is the best feeling in the world. Chances of this feeling ever happening again? She wonders automatically. 100 per cent.
A/N: Hey, if I posted the sequel, would anyone be interested in reading it? … Yes, I wrote a sequel. I wanted to flesh out the characters a bit more. So shoot me.