Usual disclaimers – pah!

With thanks to Rose Pearl, Orlando's Hot Chick, Mrs. Depp, Kissmysash, Kat (you like LotR as well? Good!), A Depp Girl, Cayenne PP, Miss Sophia, beatlechicksteph, Chelsey, PirateAurora and of course Hils.

Rose, no Shay and Patience for a while but if you want their story let me know my email or PM.

Orli's Chick, I had intended for them to go to Tortuga to start with until I looked on a map and realised that it was take a small fishing boat forever to reach there – San Juan is a lot closer.

Chapter Five: 'I might argue that you can never spend too long in the captain's company,'

'Ya ready?' Davy asked, peering at her through the dim lamp-light in the kitchen as they prepared to go on their adventure.

'As I'll ever be,' she smiled, feeling comfortable in her shirt and breeches and a too big coat of Jack's. She had told her neighbour that she and Davy would be visiting friends in Charlestown for a couple of weeks while Davy had been out looking for a dory to either buy cheaply or hire, managing to lease one that belonged to an old fisherman who just took it out in the bay every now and then.

They tiptoed from the kitchen door, crossing the lawn quickly then climbing the shoulder high wall at the end of the garden, keeping to the shadows as they crept down the passageway that ran at the back of the gardens, grateful of a moonless night. They made it to where Davy had hidden the small boat and stocked it without any mishap and pushed it off the shingle beach, working quickly to loose the sails, taking advantage of a stiff breeze to get away from Newcastle harbour without being spotted.

'What about the reefs?' Jenny asked, suddenly remembering the treacherous necklace that ringed the whole island.

'We're shallow enough ter be all right,' Davy assured her. 'It's fairly deep around th'harbour an' th'reefs don't come up that high.'

'That's all right then,' she sighed with relief. 'All of a sudden, I'm glad Jack made me learn something about navigating by stars!'

'Yeah,' Davy chuckled. 'He's a good captain. Not many would bother learnin' his crew stuff, but he does.'

'He is a good man,' Jenny smiled, toying with the wooden heart around her neck. 'If this wind holds, we should be there in a few days, hopefully.'

'Aye, hopefully,' Davy agreed, steering the boat northwest once they were clear of the coral.

'Jenny!'

She opened her eyes quickly at the sound of alarm in Davy's voice, having dozed throughout the night. 'What is it?'

'Th'bloody Navy!' he hissed, yielding the tiller to Jenny and squinting through a spyglass which Jack had left at the house which he had brought along for their journey, at the sight of HMS Adventurer, coming up on their starboard stern, albeit some two or three miles away. 'What th'hell are we goin' ter do?'

'We sail on. They're not going to take any notice of a small fishing dory, are they?'

'Bloody 'ell, I don't like that idea much,' Davy Phillips cursed.

'It's an opportune moment to get close and see what we're up against,' Jenny grinned, taking the offered spyglass and looking through it herself, wishing the rising sun were behind them and not facing. But the flag of the British Navy was all too clear to see, fluttering in the stiff breeze.

'Ya've spent too long in th'captain's company,' Davy grumbled, looking very unhappy with the prospect of being that close to his nemesis.

'I might argue that you can never spend too long in the captain's company,' she laughed, steering the tiller and changing course slightly, to hopefully bring them a little closer to the large vessel in order to see more detail of the ship and crew. But the Adventurer was simply too far away and their little dory would never be able to get any closer to her. If anything, they were already starting to lose ground.

'At least we'll be well rid o'them b'fore we get ter San Juan,' Davy retorted sourly. 'But if we don't loose sail, we won't make San Juan.'

'Aye aye, Cap'n,' Jenny chuckled as she set about unfurling the main sail on the single masted vessel.

'Sail ho!'

Jack already had his spyglass trained to where Ben Watson was pointing and soon picked up the billowing sails ahead of them as the ship headed for the Mona Passage which seperated Hispaniola and Porto Rico, smiling to himself as he recognised the shape of a brigantine, low in the water.

'Do we chase?' Drew McCarrick asked, the eagerness in his voice plain to hear.

'Aye, Mr. McCarrick, we give chase.'

The crew roared their approval as they set about making their ship ready, loosing as much sail as possible to take advantage of the strong following wind and soon caught up with the heavily laden brigantine.

'Mr. Penhaligan, fire a warning shot off their bow,' Jack ordered as he stood at the bowsprit, pistol at the ready.

'Aye aye, Cap'n,' the master gunner complied and the sound of the shot reverberated across the water.

'Strike yer colours an' no-one will get hurt,' Jack called as they edged closer to the Kortanaer.

For a long time there was silence from the other ship, none of the crew moved a muscle as the pirates closed them down and Jack was wondering if there would be a fight after all, but then there was a flurry of activity and the Dutch ship's flag slowly started to decend, much to his relief.

'Grappling hooks at th'ready,' he called. 'Take what ya can but no harmin' anyone unless they look like harmin' you, savvy? Off ya go then - wha…!' Jack found himself flying through the air as the Kortanaer opened fire on them.

'Return fire!' he yelled, scrambling to his feet. 'Sink th'bleedin' bastards!'

David Penhaligan immediately complied with his captain's wishes and urged his gunner crew to fire all the port cannons that were still operational, looking through a hole which had been blown in the hull, to assess the damage to the enemy ship, smiling with grim satisfaction when he saw that they had inflicted more damage than they have received.

'As ya like, men!' he ordered, wanting as much as Jack to blow the Kortanaer out of the water for daring to fire upon them.

Jack took both pistols he had thrust down his sash and took aim at the deck of the Dutch ship, firing one and taking down a man, then firing the other but he had to dive out of the way as a carronade on the opposing deck blast out some grape shot, and his own shot embedded itself in the capstan. Jack stayed lying on the deck as the guns on the deck below him blast out once more, inflicting yet more damage to the hapless brigantine.

'Cap'n suh. They're raising a white flag,' Bisi informed him from the helm.

'Too bleedin' late,' Jack snarled as he stood. 'Much too bleedin' late. Master Penhaligan, let them have another two or three rounds. Olabisi, start taking us away – slowly. John, Daniel, get th'injured below.'

'Damn! I wish we still had Cotton,' he thought to himself, although Drew McCarrick seemed to be proficient enough in treating injuries. But they had not had wounds such as those inflicted on some of the Pearl men by the surprise retaliation.

'Are we not goin' aboard, Sir?' Joshamee Gibbs enquired, blood pouring down his face from a cut on his head.

'Too many wounded, an' I don't trust 'em,' Jack snapped, glaring crossly at the Dutch ship. 'Go below an' get yerself seen to.'

'I'll be all right…'

'That is an order, Mr. Gibbs!'

'Aye aye, Cap'n.' The quartermaster hurried below, clinging onto the railing as he went down the steep steps feeling very lightheaded.

The Black Pearl rocked twice more as her cannons let lose grape, chain and ball shot, whilst the crew on deck hurled hand grenadoes onto their rival's ship, causing mayhem as they exploded.

'Shall I head back for Tortuga, Cap'n suh?'

'Nah, we're closer to San Juan, we'll make fer there.'

'Aye Cap'n,' the former slave agreed, taking out a compass from his ragged, cut off breeches and checking the bearings for Jack had spent many hours teaching him.

Jack cast a glance back at the striken Dutch ship, still fuming that they had opened fire when he had no intention of harming them. 'They weren't ter know that,' a voice in his head reasoned and he shrugged as he went about checking on damamge to both ship and crew.

'Port ho!' Jenny cried, smiling to herself as she had always wanted to do that. She kept the course true for the harbour entrance of San Juan, relieved to have arrived at last - the past five days had been harder than she imagined. She tried not to think of the journey back.

'Finally!' Davy sighed, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He scanned the harbour, seeing a couple of schooners and a brigantine – all pirate vessels, and wondered who was in town.

'I was hoping there would be more ships in that this,' Jenny sighed, her voice heavy with disappointment. She looked at the schooner anchored nearest to them, frowning as it seemed familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen it before. 'Must have been Tortuga or somewhere,' she reasoned.

'Right, now to see who is in town and if they will pass a message on to Jack,' she smiled.

'Assumin' they see him,' Davy reminded her.

'Assuming they see him,' she agreed, praying that they would.

They sailed the dory to the wharf and paid the harbourmaster their dues, then went in search of an inn where they could stay for a few days.

Jenny woke with a start before she remembered that she was staying in one of the better taverns of San Juan, if you could call it that. At least the door to their room locked. She lay fully clothed in the gloomy dawn, staring at the ceiling and wishing there was some way she could warn Jack about the troops at Newcastle. The three ships in the harbour had not been much help, one was travelling south, the other was heading off to careen their vessel and the third had only been pirating in the Caribbean a short while and, although they had heard of the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, they didn't know him from Adam. But the Captain had promised he would take a letter from her and pass it onto Jack if they should happen across the Black Pearl on their travels, so Jenny had written it before she went to bed, careful not to reveal any names or places, and intended to pass it onto Captain Malster later that day. She climbed from the bed and tiptoed across the floor, careful not to wake Davy who was sleeping on a dirty mattress on the floor, and opened a shutter, blinking in the sunlight.

'Bloody hell! Davy!' she urged, racing across the room to the door. 'They're here!'

'Eh? What?' he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. 'Who's here?' he called after her departing figure.

'Jack, you idiot!'

'Eh? Oh bleedin' hell!' he stumbled off the mattress and pulled on his boots - Jenny, he'd noticed, hadn't even bothered doing that in her haste, and ran down the stairs after her, bringing forth cries of protests from the other residents at the noise the pair of them were making.

'We'll take the dory over,' Davy said when he finally caught up with his captain's wife. 'She looks like she's been hit.'

'Oh God,' Jenny swore, suddenly worried. 'It couldn't have been the Navy, could it?'

'Dunno. Only one way ter find out.' He helped Jenny into the dory, which was moored at the quayside, then untied the mooring line and jumped in himself. They took up the oars and rowed towards the ship, taking it slowly as it was a lot larger than either of them were used to rowing.

'Ahoy there, Black Pearl,' Davy called as they approached her.

'Davy!' Pete exclaimed, leaning over the side. 'Jenny!'

'Here,' Davy threw up the mooring line and both he and Jenny climbed up to the deck.

'You are joking?' came Jack's voice as he ascended the steps from below. 'What th'hell…' He stopped dead and looked at his wife, his hands on his hips. 'What's happened?'

'Beauchamp has stationed another ship and more troops at Charlestown. Says it's a stategic point in the Caribbean.'

'Damn the man!' Jack spat, then held out his arms, embracing Jenny tightly.

'What happened to you?' She pulled away and looked at the broken rigging and rails and realised that the ship was listing slightly to port.

'Just some fools who decided to hit back. Well no, they didn't even hit back, they hit first.'

'Oh Jack,' she sighed, wincing in sympathy. 'Anybody hurt?'

'Some, but Drew patched them up well enough. How th'hell did ya get here?'

'We hired a dory from an old fisherman just outside of town and sailed,' Jenny grinned.'

'Yes, you would…' he sighed, then turned to Davy. 'Who's in town?'

'Cornish Mick an' Thomas Martins were in yesterday but obviously left during th'night, an' someone I've never seen b'fore, Henry Malster.'

'Who's he then?'

'Dunno, came up from South America he says. Fancies his chances up here, or he did until he heard about Beauchamp.'

'All right. Men, ya know what needs doin' so look sharp about it. Jen, I've got ter go ashore, d'ya want ter come with me or stay on board?'

'I'll come with you. Catch up on what's been happening.'

'I was hopin' yer'd say that,' he smiled, planting a kiss on her head. 'Ever th'adventurer, eh?'

'You know me,' she grinned back, walking with him to where the ship's boat was being lowered. 'We will be able to take the dory back to Jeb, won't we?'

'Jeb? Ah, th'fisherman. Yeah, we'll tow her so far then I'll get a couple of th'crew ter sail it in. You can stay on board fer a while.'

'I can't! I told the neighbour that I was visiting friends. She'll wonder where I am after a few days and become suspicious.'

'So, whoever takes th'dory back can send a message along, savvy? I can't get anywhere near Nevis for a while, so we'd never see each other, would we?'

'How long do you expect to stay away? What if Beauchamp decides it's the best place in the whole Caribbean? What then, Jack?'

'Then, my darlin' wife, we work somethin' out.'

'Like move to Tortuga?'

'Maybe, or Tortola.'

Jenny climbed down to the boat and sat down, waiting for Jack and the crewmen to join her. 'Finally!' she smiled. 'I've actually got you to admit that it would be a good idea to move somewhere safer.'

'Safer for whom, Jen? I have a few enemies amongst th'pirates. Any one of them could… well, ya know what.'

'Yes,' she sighed. 'I know what. But it's not safe being near a naval base either.'

'It's safe for you,' he insisted, not wanting an argument in front of crew and glanced up as Olabisi and Dan Woods climbed down and took up the oars. Jenny bit her tongue, knowing that the conversation was over – for now at least.

'Where're ya shoes?' Jack asked, changing the subject.

'Still at the tavern,' she shrugged. 'I'll fetch them when we get ashore.'

'If they haven't been pinched,' her husband replied sardonically.

'I can't see there being much call for a single pair of ladies boots,' Jenny sniped. 'Especially not in the state mine are in.'

Bisi and Dan exchanged glances and wisely held their own council, not wanting to do anything to upset either their captain or his wife and started rowing for shore, a little harder than they would have normally.

'Captain Malster, meet Captain Sparrow,' Jenny smiled as the two pirate captains shook hands, then she made her excuses and headed upstairs.

'So, I get to meet the infamous Jack Sparrow at last!' Henry Malster grinned. 'It calls for a drink.' He indicated to the barkeep to bring over some refreshments.

'What shall we drink to?' Jack enquired, picking up a beaker of rum from the bar and looking at the older man cautiously, still not quite sure about him.

'How about famous reputations?'

'Famous reputations,' Jack echoed, knocking the rim of the beaker against Malster's and drinking down the rough liquid. 'What brings ya here? My wife says you were based down South America.'

'Th'Spanish were getting' too good at hittin back,' Captain Malster grumbled. 'So I decided to take a chance up here, an' what do I find when I get here? Th'bleedin' British have installed a half-decent Commodore, that's what!'

'Bad timing,' Jack grinned, shaking his head in sympathy.

'Th'worse timin', th'very worst.'

'If ya keep on yer toes, ya should be all right,' Jack assured him. 'Ya been ter Tortuga yet?'

'No… I'm a little hesitant ter go there yet awhile,' Malster admitted. 'If someone takes exception t'me, I'm finished b'fore I've started.'

'Very wise,' Jack nodded, recalling many years ago when he had first arrived in the Caribbean aboard the Black Pearl and had been given a rough ride until the other pirates found that he gave as good as he got.

'Is yer wife a pirate too?'

'No, although she can sail quite well,' Jack evaded.

'Ah, she doesn't sail with ya then? It's unusal fer a woman ter be able ter sail at all.'

'I'm not th'conventional type, neither's my wife,' Jack stated proudly, but he wished the other man would change the subject. He disliked talking about Jenny, especially to someone he did not know.

'I'd better go an' see if my motley crew have actually stocked th'ship instead of themselves with ale,' Henry Malster joked, holding out his hand. 'Nice meeting you at last, Captain Sparrow.'

'Likewise,' Jack smiled, shaking his outstretched hand. 'See ya in Tortuga when ya arrive!'

'No doubt,' the older man chuckled. 'No doubt.'

Jenny approached Jack, having held back whilst he spoke to the other pirate captain. She knew he didn't mind her sitting in on meetings and conversations, but other men did not always feel the same way about having a woman around when they spoke on business matters.

'Got yer boots back I see,' Jack drawled laconically, eyeing her up and down.

'Of course I did. They were right where I left them!' Jenny bobbed her tongue out at him. 'Jack, you're going to have to take me back, or part of the way back to Newcastle, you know.'

'How will I get ter see ya with th'Navy patrollin' th'area?'

'It might just be eagerness on the part of the man in charge there. Once he's settled down the patrols might stop,' Jenny argued.

'An' if they don't?'

'If they don't… we move to Tortuga.'

'What about Shay an' th'others? They could end up walkin' into th'middle of it all. We'll stay until they return, then head somewhere else, savvy? Savvy?'

'Savvy,' she sighed, wondering if she would ever be able to settle in one place again. 'I suppose I could send a message to the neighbour, saying I'm staying with my friend until my brother returns. But that would mean having to go to Charlestown to get someone to be a messenger… damn!'

'Young Michael could do it,' Jack said thoughtfully. 'When we take th'dory back, he could pretend ter have come from Charlestown with th'message. Ya'd be able ter write it on board an' he could take it.'

'Yes!' Jenny grinned. 'You're a genius, Jack Sparrow!' She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips, squeaking with surprise as he held her head in place and deepened the kiss.

'How long's th'room booked for?' he asked her huskily, his already dark eyes even blacker with lust.

'A few days,' she murmured, a blush creeping up her face as his eyes bored into hers, his thoughts shining clear in them.

'What are we waitin' for then? Lead on…'

Jenny lead the way across the bar to the stairwell, biting back moans of desire as he stroked the inside of her thigh as they climbed the stairs. She crossed the landing and opened the door to the room that she and Davy had hired, gasping as Jack pushed her roughly in and shutting the door firmly behind him.

'I need ya Jen… now!' he rasped, pulling her into a bruising kiss until they were both breathless and panting.

'I need you,' she growled, pulling open his shirt, ripping the few buttons that were done up, off, and yanking his shirt from his shoulders. She sucked hungrily on a dark brown nipple, feeling him shudder in response.

'Well bleedin' take me then!' he urged, tangling his fingers in her hair and pulling her head back up, moving towards the bed while his tongue played in the hollow at the base of her throat.

'Jack…' she gurgled, running her hands down his back and into his breeches as he pushed her backwards towards the bed. Jenny slid her hands around to the front of his breeches, the tips of her fingers brushing the tip of his manhood. She withdrew her hands and untied his breeches then took his boots off him.

Jack kicked them off then started divesting Jenny of her clothes, first her breeches and then her shirt, his fingers never straying from their task until she was as naked as he. Jenny unwound the bandana from his head, something she never usually bothered doing until afterwards, but she wanted his wild hair flowing freely when he was over her.

'I won't be able ter see ya!' he grinned, pushing her gently down on the bed and lying on top of her.

'I could always cut it for you,' she teased, running her fingers through it, marvelling at how silky it could be when it was clean and free of salt water.

'Over m'dead body, woman! I never cut my hair.'

'You did once…' she whispered.

'Aye luv, I did once,' he smiled, bending and kissing her head. 'An' I'd do it again fer you.'

'I know you would. I love you, Jack.'

'I love you, Jen.' He kissed her passionately and used his body to show her just how much he did.

Author's notes:

Hand grenados were small glass bottles or clay pots filled with black powder and mixed with broken glass or pieces of metal and lit with a fuse.