Disclaimer: I don't own the sexy Captain Jack Sparrow, or anything Pirates of the Caribbean.

AN: Okay, here is the chapter where Jack at least sees the lead female of the story, though there is sadly no meeting between them yet. I hope that this chapter is not too clichéd, but if it is, please tell me! Also, Jack's going to be OOC (out of character) for quite a bit of this story; it's all part of the fic, so please don't be mad at me. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 2: Encounters on the Ocean:

A Month Later, Jack's POV:

Humming incessantly to himself, Jack looked out over the Caribbean, admiring how glorious the sea was at night. It was an especially lovely night, with the moon glittering on the waves and a soft, cool breeze gently caressing his skin. The beads in his hair clinked together, blending in with the sound of the waves lapping on the side of his ship. It was a beautiful night, and an even better night for plundering.

Jack smirked to himself. Ah, yes, the plundering. They'd taken in more swag in the past month than they'd done in any previous year, so good were their pickings. The Navy was at a loss as to how pirates could have such knowledge of British sailing routes, causing many ships to become so plundered they were bare of everything but a few scant supplies. No one had yet figured out that it had been only one ship doing all of the looting, and the King and Parliament believed that it was due to an unusual surge in piracy. The amazing thing was that no one had apparently missed the stolen maps with the secret ship routes, nor had the routes been changed in the slightest way.

'Either they're too stupid to notice, or they don't want the merchants and the elite class to know about the missing maps and cause a panic,' Jack smirked to himself. 'Oh, well, more plunder for us, then!'

Still, they had to be careful; it wouldn't do to get more plunder than they could spend before the next attack, and the Pearl could only carry so much. If the Pearl was too full of treasure, it would be too heavy to make a quick getaway should something go wrong; so, to counteract this, Jack made sure they did only one or two plunders a week…which, in his opinion, was good enough. They would take their wares to the nearest shady town and spend, trade, or sell their goods until they were gone, then go for a few days of drinking and wenching before heading off to do it all over again.

'One of these days I'll have to give the men a couple weeks to themselves,' Jack mused, biting his lower lip. 'Gotta give 'em some time to relax and not think about raids and plundering.'

Something told him that they needed a bit of excitement, too. After all, they'd been going by a bloody schedule, for God's sakes, and pirates needed something unexpected. So, to spice things up, Jack decided to plunder the next ship that sailed by, even if that ship wasn't on the secret maps. The crew could use a little excitement, and it had been a while since they'd plundered someone not on the list, so why not?

Smirking, Jack headed down below to tell them the good news.

The Next Morning: Jack's POV:

Nothing beats a good breakfast of meat, potatoes, and rum…except following breakfast with the plotting of a good raid. Jack was happily observing their intended target float several miles away, completely oblivious to being watched and followed. He wondered if they'd even notice the Pearl if they were to approach and shoot at them, dim-witted people that they were. Jack shrugged. Well, the dimmer they were, the more likely the raid was to succeed. Snorting, he pulled out his spyglass and looked at their target, wondering if this was a merchant ship or passenger vessel. It was large enough to be a merchant, but something wasn't quite right about it. As he moved his glass to investigate the enemy crew for clues, Jack spotted a flutter of sea-green on deck and took a closer look. The vision presented to him stunned him.

A nymph of the seas was aboard that ship.

His breathing stopped, his hands nearly dropping the glass. Shaking his head, he put the tool back up to his eye, focusing it to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Jack looked again. Dark waves of hair flew behind her, floating in the wind like a cape, the brown locks having obviously fallen out of the pins she clenched in her hands. Her dress was the sea-green that he had spotted before, and there was white lace at the collar and in a cloud around the sleeves that ended at her elbows. He didn't know what color her eyes were, but that didn't matter. The woman (and it obviously was a woman, not the nymph he'd believed it to be) was attractive, and would be very welcome onboard the Pearl…especially in his quarters.

'Mine, and only mine, though,' Jack silently growled to himself. There was no way in Hell he was going to let another man touch her. If they did, he who dared to touch Captain Jack Sparrow's woman would have their hands cut off, the remaining body parts tossed into the sea so Jack could watch the sharks take care of the offending man.

Trying to calm himself down, he watched the young woman stare at the sea with sadness and a sort of longing, one that reminded Jack of someone longing for a home they had left far behind. Was it possible that this woman was moving to the Caribbean from England, or was she visiting relatives? If she were coming here from Europe, it was likely that there were others onboard the ship, and that would make this a passenger vessel, and possibly a very important one, one that hadn't made it onto the secret maps for some unknown reason.

As he continued to watch her, Jack watched with fury as a tall, rather portly, redheaded man came up to the railing. The newcomer was wealthy by the looks of his neatly trimmed red beard, the expensive clothes, and the gold-trimmed lace on the shirt's cuffs and collar. Trying to keep his temper, Jack watched as the stranger wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. He snarled to himself as he saw the man engaging her in a short, obviously intimate conversation before caressing her shoulders and leading her below decks. Jack did not like the idea of the woman already being taken after he had just spotted her.

Jack removed the spyglass from his eye. "GIBBS!" he roared.

His portly first mate answered at once. "Aye, sir?"

"Make ready for tonight, and prepare for some resistance," Jack ordered, still gazing at the barely-visible British vessel. "We're going after a tough one."

He could hear Gibbs grin. "Aye, cap'n, I'll get 'em ready," the first mate replied before jogging off.

Meanwhile, Eleanor's POV:

'Why did we have to come to the Caribbean?' I bitterly thought, staring out at the sea. 'Granted, the sights are much lovelier and more colorful than England, but I hate the heat!'

Needless to say, I'm not a hot-weather person. I'd rather have a cold day complete with a hot cup of tea, several blankets, and a nice fire than this merciless sun beating down on me. At least it was better up here than it was down below; Mother was downstairs in the cabin, feeling seasick again, so up here was infinitely preferable. At least I had a breeze to keep me comfortable, and it didn't smell like someone had just been sick. My poor father…how he ever managed to get Mother out here on the ocean was a miracle in-and-of-itself, but now he has to stay below and take care of her and her terrible temper. I suppose the sea voyage was making her short-tempered as well; Mother doesn't like living in small rooms any more than she likes the sea!

I chuckled to myself. Ah, well, at least there were two good things about this voyage. One was that it is keeping my matchmaking mother out of my hair about getting married. Two: I don't have to marry that terrible lord back in England. At least Father agreed that he was a bad match…despite being wealthy, the man had terrible teeth, and he smelled funny, too. Father would secretly whisper to me that Lord Sharpe's smell could make a bull keel over. We always had a good laugh about that.

I was in the middle of taking another deep breath of sea air when I felt a familiar arm wrap around my shoulders, a pair of lips descending on my forehead. I giggled at the feel of my father's beard, it always tickled and made me laugh.

"Enjoying the peace and quite of the sea, my Ellie?" he whispered comfortingly into my ear.

"Absolutely," I whispered back. "Is Mother still angry that I didn't marry that lord back in England?"

My father snorted. "I doubt it," he replied, rubbing my shoulders. "She knows that he looked too much like her own suitors before I rescued her, so I think she'll forgive you for not accepting."

I couldn't help but smile quietly at the man that I called 'father'. I thank the Lord Above every day for giving me such a kind and caring man as father and nurturer. My father may be a minor lord, but he's one of the greatest men I've ever known…and I've known quite a few through my mother's terrible attempts at matchmaking.

How my mother, Lady Katherine of Karr, managed to ensnare my father, the kindly Lord Stephan of Kent, was beyond my comprehension. Oh, well, at least it worked out for the best; both had come from large, but not especially wealthy, families, so it was a good thing that they'd managed to merge two small dowries into a fairly good-sized piece of property. It was a pity that Father had sold it so we could move to the Caribbean manor that he'd won in a gamble. I truly missed the house I had lived and grown up in for 23 years, but there was nothing I could do about it. Oh, well, at least there wouldn't be any horrible old buzzards around; I hear they abhor the heat here (though I can see why).

"We should head down below, you mother and brother are waiting for you to read that book to them," Father muttered into my ear.

"Yes, Father," I sighed, turning to follow him down below and into utter boredom.

That night, Eleanor's POV:

Giving a small yelp, I pulled my brush through a particularly tangled bit of hair. Bloody wind, it does this to me every time. Oh, well, better fresh air and tangled hair than sitting beside Mother and having to read to her. Mother hates to read, but doesn't mind being read to, and as her dearly devoted, scholarly daughter, it is my duty to do so. It drives me mad, though, when she constantly interrupts and asks why things are going the way they are in the book, and explaining things is impossible; after all, it's the way it was written, and it's not as though I can change the happenings, now, can I?

"Ellie, are you in there?" called a soft, youthful male voice from outside my cabin door.

I couldn't help but smile. "Come in, Edward," I called, setting down my brush and making sure I was decent.

My younger brother entered the room, his dark hair tousled and his warm, toasted-honey-brown eyes looking at me with worry. "Ellie, could I talk to you?" he asked nervously. "It's important."

I nodded and waved a hand towards a chair. "What's troubling you, Eddie?" I asked as he took the proffered chair.

"Ellie, I overheard Mother telling Father that it was time for me to get married!" he frantically whispered in a panic.

I blinked at him in surprise. "Eddie, you're not even eighteen years of age yet," I gently reminded him. "Father didn't marry Mother until he was at least in his upper twenties! You're young yet, and you've got so much to do and see before you get married!" I chuckled and winked a blue eye playfully at him. "Besides, I think she's saying this because I haven't chosen to wed anyone yet. She won't make you wed until you're good and ready."

Edward let out a breath of relief. "Do you really think so, Ellie?" he pressed. "I mean, really?"

I reached over and patted his hand. "I promise," I said, doing my best to reassure him. "And I promise to be there when you do choose a bride, just so I know who my baby brother is marrying!"

He wrinkled his nose at me. "Thank you so much for that," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

We both laughed before heading towards Mother and Father's cabin for some family time together before bed.

That Evening: Jack's POV:

Impatient for full nighttime blackness to settle on the Caribbean, Jack paced the length and width of his cabin, muttering obscenities under his breath. He really couldn't understand why simply seeing a young woman would affect him like this. His breath came faster, and he had the unnatural urge to grab the girl, swing her over his shoulder, carry her into his cabin and ravish her until dawn. True, he'd done that sort of thing with wenches in a dozen ports, but this one…

'Ah, this one is different,' Jack thought to himself.

Yes, this woman was different. How and why she was so special, Jack didn't know; he just knew that she was and he had no desire to let this woman out of his sights. As soon as he set foot onboard that ship of hers, he'd kill the bastard that had dared to touch her earlier today. Be he her husband or betrothed, the red-haired man would get what was coming to him when the Pearl raided his precious ship tonight!

Tired of his pacing, Jack sat down at his desk and tried to figure out how to conduct the raid with the least amount of death. There was no doubt that the people on the vessel (if there were indeed more than the woman and her companion) were of importance in English society, and would likely have guards on the ship as well. Unless they were trying not to attract attention, that is; some nobles didn't like having 'unwanted attention' when leaving, especially if they were fleeing enemies, suitors, or other unpleasant business troubles they were trying to forget.

Jack silently cursed to himself. 'I should have been paying closer attention to who else was on the ship instead of staring at that girl,' he berated himself. 'How would it look to the crew if I lost some of them because I wasn't looking out for trouble?'

Still, he had gotten a good look at the sailors on their target: good, strong men, but a bit lazier than most sailors aught to be. Some had been shirking their duties, playing dice or trying to look busy when that redheaded lord had come on deck. Jack mostly figured that the crew had either been hired in a hurry, or that the man in charge of hiring the crew had probably hired the first free sailors he had come across on the docks.

'Idiot,' Jack smirked as he leaned back in his chair. 'That'll just make it easier for us to catch up with them and take over the ship. God, I love it when people make my job so much easier.'

Still, he had to cover every possibility of injury and death to his crewmen. There was the very likely chance that soldiers would be onboard. Then again, perhaps not…it all usually depended on the rank of those traveling on the ship, and whether or not they wanted people to find out they were traveling. The man Jack had seen at the railing had to be a noble from the look of his clothes, but Jack hadn't seen any sort of jewelry on him that would indicate his rank. For all Jack knew, the man could be a lord of the Royal Court on a trip to the Caribbean and simply be hiding it from everyone. Also, from what Jack could remember, he hadn't seen any sort of man in uniform, and those types of people stood out like a sore thumb amongst common sailors.

'So it's just sailors, then,' he thought, chewing on his lower lip. 'That's interesting. That bloody idiot might just be a minor noble who caught a ride on the first ship that left England.' The corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. 'I wonder what the poor lout was running from, if he was running at all.' The situation made him wonder, but not enough to stay on it.

Jack smiled to himself. Well, back to the matters at hand. In Jack's mind, lazy sailors tended to mean less of a hassle during a raid like this: they didn't fight well during a skirmish, and would do anything to save their own necks. Less hassle meant less chance of a battle, and fewer people getting killed. Personally, Jack didn't mind slitting a few throats in a raid, but only if necessary…or if his foolish opponent tried to be the hero or was too dangerous to be allowed to live. Given the choice, survival was key, and if he had to kill to save his own skin, so be it.

'I just hope this nobleman had left Europe without any intention of going back,' Jack thought, inspecting a fingernail in the dim candlelight. 'If so, that means lots of very valuable swag and possible heirlooms for us to sell afterwards.'

Well, enough thought on the matter; it was time to get to work! Leaping out of his chair and out of his cabin, the Captain of the Black Pearl watched his crewmen get ready for the night's activities. They hadn't looked this eager for a while, so maybe doing an unscheduled attack would be a good thing for everyone.

Jack smiled to himself and put his hat on his head. It was time to show everyone what the crew of the Black Pearl was made of.

Meanwhile, Eleanor's POV:

I bit my lip, trying my best not to run out of the room screaming. My mother was proving especially difficult tonight, for reasons beyond my understanding. Edward had asked for a story about pirates, and Mother had nearly beheaded him with her sharp tongue, claiming that pirates were vile creatures and would not be spoken of in her presence. As her children, we could only nod meekly in agreement and not argue, simply sharing a look that said we would do the reading on pirates later in one of our private quarters. Instead, I had begun an attempt to read aloud one of the epics by Homer.

However, my efforts were stopped when my mother lost interest and asked me what I would do during the social season once we'd reached our new home. In response, I merely smiled and asked what she had planned for us to do, because it was safer than answering. I knew that if I answered and she didn't approve, I'd be receiving a rather large lecture on not trying hard enough to further the family's social standing. Since it was rare for me to give my mother an answer that she wanted to hear, I merely let her answer in my place, agreeing with everything she told me I would do. It never bothered me, seeing as she always forgot about what she said within days of saying it.

I held back my expression of anguish and merely held my tongue. I loved my mother, truly I did, but sometimes she could be utterly maddening! She means well: she tries so hard to arrange friendships and parties with only the best available men for me to meet with, but I know it's only because she worries about me. Mother merely feels that it's her responsibility to arrange a good future for me. I had a good dowry, but if I did not wed, the estate would go to Edward and I'd be left depending on him for the rest of my life. For some reason, this possible future bothers my mother a great deal, thus the present inquisition as to what my social interactions would be in the Caribbean.

By now my mother had stopped talking and was looking at me intensely. I saw Father standing right behind her, lighting his pipe, and he winked at me with his left eye, signaling in our private language that Mother had been talking about parties that I would need to attend…parties that would also be attended by available men of various ages. I gave her a falsely joyful smile and nodded.

"Of course, Mother, I'd be happy to attend any parties that I am invited to."

It was the sentence she most wanted to hear, so she smiled in return and sent us 'children' off to bed with a light kiss and a hope that we had pleasant dreams. Once we were both safe in our connected cabins, Edward and I finished reading aloud the book on pirates before separating.

"I wonder if pirates are the evil-doers that Mother claims they are," I said, looking down at the book in my lap.

"I think that they're all different in their own way," Edward slowly replied. "After all, not all of them kill in cold blood. I've even heard of one that helped the Navy in capturing other pirates!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Those are only stories, Eddie, pirates wouldn't really help the Navy catch other pirates," I said, trying to hide my amusement. "You've been reading too many stories on those thieves of the sea!"

Edward wrinkled his nose at me. "Whatever you say, Ellie," he said, reaching over to pull at a lock of my hair before going to his own cabin. "I just hope to never find out if Mother is right or not," he said before leaving.

AN: I'm trying to decide on whether or not to leave this story up. However, there's a chance that I'll keep it going. I'll think about it. If you're curious about the status of this fic and any others being planned, go to my bio for the latest news. Oh, and please review!