Disclaimer: I don't own PotC characters, just my own!

Note: I really hope you like this story, I've been working really hard, please review!

CHAPTER 2 - Found

"Well, Well, look at what we got 'ere," Jack said in his half-drunken state. "What's your name, luv?"

"Vic-Victoria Ca-Carlynton," Victoria stammered.

"How do ya do luv, I'm Cap't Jack Sparrow. Welcome to me Pearl, luv. Now, what are you doin' 'ere? So nice of you to drop by."

Jack moved closer to her. God she was beautiful, he thought to himself. So formal, so pretty, like a china doll. But what the hell was she doing in his cabin?

The captain was quite friendly. A little too friendly, Victoria thought.

"Well, um, please, please don't throw me overboard! I just want to get away from Port Royal!"

"Why do you want to do that?" the Captain asked.

"I just want to get out! You don't understand how bad my life is there! Please let me stay!"

Victoria's heart was beating so quickly, she was afraid she was going to have a heart attack. She only thought of what she had to do to stay on the ship. Hopefully it didn't involve anything of the sexual nature…

"I don't know, luv, what do you expect me to do? I'd love to keep ya locked away in here, but I doubt you'd agree," the Captain said, his eyes roving over her body.

"Oh, no, I'll work, I promise! I'm quite good with my hands, and, I can sew and cook and clean a little and-"

"Now why would ya want to stay on an 'ol pirate ship? I got plenty 'o reasons for ya to, but it could be danger-"

Victoria gasped as the captain crumpled to the floor in a deep slumber. He was obviously more drunk than Victoria realized. Hopefully, he wouldn't remember much of tonight. As she crept into the closet, she quietly shut the door. It was small, and not much was in it.

"It'll do," Victoria said to herself as she curled into a little ball on the floor, using her laundry bag as a small pillow. How she longed for her soft bed filled with goose feathers back home. But the hard wooden floorboards were just fine.

(break)

"Did you find who you were looking for?" Will asked Elizabeth as he climbed into bed with her. Elizabeth's eyes wondered away from the pages of her novel and over to Will. She didn't get a chance to go to Victoria's estate, Gibbs had called them away earlier than expected. She was hoping to convince her friend to come with her to the ship; she knew how horrid Vicky's life was there, she had witnessed several of Vicky's mother's beatings when she was a little girl visiting. Elizabeth was so happy on the Pearl, she wanted Victoria to have the same happiness.

"No, I didn't have time, I was too late," Elizabeth whispered as she stared into space.

"Darling, what's wrong?" Will asked as he wrapped his arms around his wife's shoulders.

Elizabeth looked over to Will enough for him to see the single tear that rolled down her porcelain cheek.

She broke down and immediately began to tell Will her plan to rescue Victoria. As Will intently listened, he remembered Victoria as a child. She was always so pretty, in fact she looked a lot like Elizabeth. She had the same caramel colored hair and fiery personality. At one point, Will thought he may have had a boyish crush on Victoria.

But that was all put behind him. His wife was terribly saddened by the fact that her friend had no one anymore, so he was bent on making it his mission to find her as well. He knew that the ship was going out to the Caribbean, going to some new islands there. They would probably not return to Port Royal for at least another four months.

"It will be alright, darling," Will soothed Elizabeth as he stroked her hair and whispered to her. He placed a chaste kiss on her forehead and turned to blow out the candle on the nightstand.

"I love you Will," Elizabeth whispered as she snuggled down next to him and closed her eyes.

(break)

The morning sun shone through the crack beneath the door as Victoria opened her eyes. Her body was stiff and numb from sleeping on the floor, and she was a little sea sick, too. Remembering that she was still on a ship, in a cabin of a ship, in a closet of a cabin of a ship, she quietly lifted the latch of the closet and opened the door a half and inch.

She panned the cabin, no one was in it. Victoria fully opened the door and stepped out into the room. She heard lots of different elements of the ship outside the cabin door. Sails were being hoisted, the decks were being scrubbed, and an incredibly masculine voice was giving out orders.

Victoria walked over to the desk to her right. There were many items scattered about it. Among the many different compasses, jars of ink, quills, a bottle of rum, and blank pieces of paper, there was a large map.

On it was a charted voyage around the Caribbean. Port Royal was the first stop, then there was a small island, and a smaller island after that.

Uncharted, no doubt, Victoria thought to herself.

As she continued to look around the desk, she turned to see the Captain, looking in on her.

"What are you doing with that?" he asked as he began to move toward her.

"Just looking," Victoria smartly shot back. She was angry that he was giving her a hard

time. They were out at sea and that was that. It didn't matter anymore. She had so much confidence that she pondered going on deck.

"Touchy, luv, but I don't appreciate you going through my belongings."

"Fine. I won't." Victoria pushed past the captain and went out on deck.

All of the men looked up from what they were doing and stopped. This was another woman, other than Elizabeth or Anamaria. Someone new.

"What are you all staring at? Get back to work!" Victoria cried out as she briskly walked the deck.

"Missy? May I be askin' your name?" A man asked Victoria as she moved to the bow of the Pearl. She turned and realized it was the larger man from the previous night. Seeing him in the daylight, he looked quite friendly, like a sea-loving grandfather.

"Victoria Carlynton," she replied to the man dressed in a cream colored shirt and navy vest. He had a short ponytail and long gray sideburns. She also noticed a small flask in his hand.

"Well, welcome to the Pearl Miss Victoria, I be Gibbs, the first mate. Did Jack bring you along for the ride?"

"Um…yes, yes I am Jack's guest," Victoria lied. She didn't want to go around telling the whole crew she was a stowaway; they would certainly throw her overboard.

"Picked you up in Port Royal, eh?" Gibbs chuckled. "Funny, I thought he hadn't left the ship…anyway, are you hungry me dear? Elizabeth could surely fix you something."

"Elizabeth? As in Elizabeth Swann??" Victoria asked excitedly. This could be the ship she had been searching for!

"Well, Elizabeth Turner now, she should be in the galley at half-past."

"Oh thank you so very much, Mr. Gibbs!" Victoria praised as she turned on her heel back to the cabin. She needed to find something suitable to wear if she was to meet her friend after one year.

(break)

Elizabeth didn't want to get out of bed. She was incredibly tired, she didn't sleep much on account of her heartbreaking sadness of not finding Victoria. Will had risen with the sun, she remembered him squeezing out of her arms and kissing her for a long time. How she loved him. She was glad she was with him, out in the sea, with no one to care for but him and herself. She somewhat missed her father. But the only thought that was always in the back of her mind was Victoria.

It was that bond she had with her best friend that made her heart ache so.

She was hungry though, and immediately rose at the thought and dressed. Usually she rose with Will, and he would help her get dressed. Although wearing dresses on a pirate ship wasn't exactly practical, she was used to it and continued to do so.

Lacing up acorset by herself was extremely difficult without help, so she decided she wouldn't wear one today.

In fact, Elizabeth decided that wearing a dress today was utterly pointless. She went to the dresser drawer and pulled out an old shirt and pair of pants of Wills. They fit a little big, but they would suit.

They were the same she wore when she went looting the night before.

Elizabeth thought to herself that she really was becoming a real pirate.

Lacing up some practical boots, she stepped outside to the mid-morning Caribbean sun.

The smell of the salty sea engulfed her like a wave, and moving towards the stern, she recognized Will talking to Cotton, another crewmember.

As she began to walk to him, Anamaria stepped out in front of her.

"'Morn, Anamaria," Elizabeth spoke.

"'Morn to you as well, Elizabeth. Did you hear the rumors yet?"

"No," Elizabeth replied. "I just rose, what rumors?"

"That there's another woman on board besides us, a stowaway."

"Maybe Jack just brought her on for some fun."

"I thought that at first," Anamaria whispered, "but he didn't leave the ship last night, and he knew the course for the next few weeks. Where would her drop her?"

"That is peculiar," Elizabeth nodded in reply, "You and I, we should find her and see what she's doing here."

"Good plan; at midday, we'll search this pearl high and low. She can't hide for long."

"Right. But I'll go get some brunch, I am starving. Meet me at the helm at midday."

(break)

Victoria scoured her laundry bag for a suitable dress.

"Damn, Jenny, couldn't you pack anything else?" She asked out loud. She was sitting in the middle of the cabin floor, digging through the bag.

Once again, the door opened and the captain stomped in.

"What in God's name are you doing?" He asked annoyingly.

"I am finding something suitable to wear." Victoria replied, continuing to rumage through the bag and keeping her eyes off the captain.

"Suitable to wear? Darling, the most suitable thing would be to go nude. I do deem that the crew and well as I wouldn't have it any other way."

"How dare you!" Victoria shouted as she stood up. "You mangy, miscreant 'Captain' of this piece of-"

"You can insult me, luv, but if you ever insult my Pearl I swear I'll throw you to the sharks," Jack promised as he tightly gripped her arm. "I try to be kind to ya but all ya do is mock me. This is my ship missy, you were the one who decided to become a 'stowaway'. You should consider me your savior, since I let ya stay."

"Yes, I-I guess you're right. I'm sorry, sir."

"It's Jack, luv. Not cap't or sir, or mister. Jack." he said as he looked into her beautiful blue eyes.

Victoria gazed back at him and his equally dark ones. "Jack," she whispered.

He loosed his grip on her arm. "Well," he said, "When do you want a tour?"

"A tour?" Victoria asked.

"Of my Pearl, luv; if you're goin' to be stayin' here, you might as well know your way around."