Hello again…

2nd attempt at PotC FanFic… The first one wasn't too bad… I think… Anyways, this one starts kind of slow, so bear with me, it'll get better… I promise… I'm putting another one up on Wednesday for Mia… Anyways… Here goes...

Rum's Effect on Love

Chapter One

As the young woman awoke, she rolled over in bed and grasped her father's pocket watch on the bedside table. 8:30 AM.

Sitting up quickly, she grabbed her head, which began searing with pain. "Ugh… Too early… Head hurts…"

"Oh, Miss Lexi, you should never have gone out to Tortuga for drinks with that dirty man when you're engaged to be married!" cried the housekeeper Samantha.

"Which dirty man would you be talking about this time, dear Samantha, because with my choice in men, you'd better be more specific," Lexi commented with a laugh as she slowly climbed out of her oversized bed.

"Poor, poor thing. That rotten Mr. Sparrow has gotten you so sick you don't even know whose company you were in last night," Samantha said, noticing the slight perk of attention from Lexi when she'd mentioned Captain Jack Sparrow.

"I was out with Jack?" Lexi asked again, a smile budding on her fair-skinned face.

"Yes, Alexandria, you were. And you're to leave with him this afternoon. Your father has arranged it."

"I am? And Father agreed? This must be a dream…" Lexi stated in shock. Her father, Will Turner, rarely allowed her to associate with Jack Sparrow, and when he did, she took full advantage of it. "I must pack my things. Wait... he's taking me on the Pearl then, isn't he... Well I won't be needing anything at all then, will I?" she asked the air as she shed the dress she had worn last night, which was badly in need of an ironing, since she had slept in it last night.

She merely glanced at her mother's jewelry box which held the engagement ring from Aidan, the man her father had arranged for her to marry, before pulling out a pair of loose brown pants and a black sleeveless top from a chest in her closet, her usual "pirate" attire. She then grabbed her tan overcoat, a white head wrap and some jewels Jack had plundered in previous raids.

At the young age of seventeen, Alexandria Kristyne Cherice Turner, or Lexi as she preferred, had her father's dark hair and athletic body, but many who knew her said that she had her mother's eyes and personality. Lexi's mother, Elizabeth Swann-Turner, had died during childbirth, and Will hadn't the heart to remarry, although he was in love with another woman. Instead, he raised her along with the housekeeper, Samantha.

"Have a good day, Papa!" Lexi called as she ran down the stairs and to the large double doors in the front of the house.

"Lexi, come here for a minute!" her father called after her.

Walking slowly back up the stairs to Will's study, she said politely with an angry edge, "Yes, Papa?"

"I'm warning you, young lady. If your lips so much as touch a container with an alcoholic drink in it, you'll be home as soon as I hear about it and the next day you'll be married to Aidan so that you can't be with Jack unless he's there also. Understood?"

"Papa, you're being so unfair! I'm seventeen years old and I can't have a few drinks with a man who just so happens to be a very spontaneous pirate, and you're forcing me to marry a man whom I have met once in my life who I absolutely despise! If mother where alive you wouldn't be able to treat me like this!" Lexi argued.

"Alexandria Kristyne Cherice Turner! You will not speak of your mother in that context!" Will shouted.

"In what context?" she yelled back. "It's true! Jack told me all about how mother was to marry Commodore Norrington, and how you got her to fall in love with you! So don't tell me mother wouldn't let me run-off with a pirate, because she ran off with you when you were a pirate!"

After a strange, mysterious silence, Will muttered, "Don't remind me of that time. I am not proud of how I won your mother's heart, but I am glad I drew her away from Norrington. And since then I have not sailed on a pirate ship but once, but you're mother loved to sail with Jack on the Black Pearl, so I did not hold her back. She loved the water, and I could not keep her away. And obviously you have inherited that love of hers, along with a soft-spot for pirates."

"I would call it more than a soft spot, Father," Lexi mumbled.

"I heard that," Will stated monotonously. "And I knew it long before you did."

"What do you mean to say? That you're keeping me away from Jack because you knew how I felt about him?" Lexi asked bitterly, anger bubbling inside her.

"Lexi, it was only pathetically obvious. Any spare moment that you could get, you were running off to see Jack on his ship or in Tortuga. I did not want you to live your life like that, especially with Jack, being thrown in prison once a week," Will said defending his decision.

Speaking politely as a lady was supposed to, she faced her father and said, "Thank you for your... shall I say, and I use the term loosely… Support?" she forced a smile, adding, "I'll be going now. I can't tell you when I'll return, but I shall keep your advice close to heart, although I cannot promise I will head to its suggestion."

Turning on her heal, she walked out of the study and down the stairs. She knew her father was watching her from the doorway, but did not turn to face him as she heaved open one of the doors and stepped out into the cobblestone streets, brightly lit by the noon-day sun.

She brooded over her fight with her father while walking through the streets of Port Royal, not noticing the sunlight slowly dimming, and the rain drops beginning to fall against her body as she walked, even though the argument was nowhere near the worst the two had been involved in.

Hardly noticing where her feet were carrying her, she found herself walking through the cemetery towards her mother's grave, which she visited regularly all throughout her life.

Kneeling at the foot of her mother's headstone and gliding her hands over Elizabeth's name, she muttered, "Mother... If only you were alive, you, and only you, could make Papa see reason. I love Jack. I don't want to marry Aidan... I won't marry him because I don't love him. I will always love Jack... I'll only love Jack. He's the only man I want to marry... ever… Even if I can't tell him…"

As she stopped talking, the rain stopped falling, and one solitary tear slid down her check and fell on her outstretched arm.

Standing up, she walked quickly down the hill to the port, where she saw Jack standing in the crow's nest of the Black Pearl. Smiling to herself, she quickened her pace and silently boarded the pirate ship. Stealthily, she climbed up to the crow's nest and slid silently over the side behind the infamous pirate. Tapping him on the shoulder, she said, "Captain Sparrow, I believe you requested my presence this evening?"

"Ah, Lexi, me lass, that I did. I enjoyed your company so much last night, that I wanted to be with you, and only you, this night. I believe that you made a wonderful match for me last night…" he trailed with a drunken grin.

'Now why couldn't he wait for me before he started drinking?' she thought defiantly to herself with a grin.

Yeah! PotC is awesome! I like the mayonnaise scene… They should've left that in… And LotR: RotK comes out on Wednesday… Yeah!!!

Rina… I hope you had fun at Tinsel with Greg… Anyways, Kate's going to be so jealous because we saw Giorgio in a tux… Is he a good driver?

I should be updating this within the next two weeks, since break is the week after next… That is unless Mia decides to set me up… She'd evil like that… If you've read any of my other FanFics, you should know what I mean by now…

That's it I guess… 'Till next time… Love ya… Cari