INTO THE CARIBBEAN

CHAPTER FOUR – Jailbirds

"Oh, being rough, eh? Didn't know you liked it so."

"Be quiet, Keller." Wesley warned through clenched teeth. The stairs couldn't be any longer than they were for him right now.

"Don't worry, darlin', I'll keep it a secret."

She jumped down the last step, arms bound behind her, and Wesley walked around her like she was a plague.

"Do you have any arsenal on your person?"

"'fraid not this time, Wess. Want to check to make sure?" She wiggled her eyes at him suggestively, and he flinched with disgust.

"I'll take your word for it, Keller."

Alex shrugged, gave him a wink, and strolled into the cell. She observed the familiar small, damp surroundings, and turned around to the officer. "You know, you should really liven this place up a tad. It's so depressing. Smells ghastly, too."

"Enjoy your stay." Wesley sarcastically told her with a smug yet loathing grin. He locked the cell behind her and turned to leave when he heard a loud, forced cough from behind him. He groaned. Turning around, he looked at the young woman behind the bars and at her smirk on her small face.

"You aren't going to just leave me here with these on, are you?" She shook the chains behind her. Without a word, he motioned for her to turn around, and then he hesitantly inserted the key into the cuffs on both hands, turned, and slid them off before quickly retreating back towards the wall.

"Wesley!" Another officer yelled from the top of the stairs, out of Alex's range of sight. "We need you up here, immediately!"

"Right on it, sir!" Wesley called back, looking over his shoulder at Alex.

"Bye, Wesley." She innocently smiled, and then puckered her lips and blew him a kiss, in which he shivered and quickly ascended the stairs. Humorously, Alex laughed, and soon her laughter died down into a sigh as she took her place in the corner of the cell underneath a small, barred window too small for anyone to climb out of, including her small frame.

Stealing…ha! He's probably just locking me in here just to get back at me for hurting his manly pride. Alex thought with a low chuckle. Oh well, she'd just have to endure the rest of the day before they would release her in the morning. They always did.

She watched a group of men in the cell next to hers, men who looked like they were dressed in beggar's rags and played in the mud with pigs all day long, the dirt now dried and crusted onto their worn skin. They were crowded around one man who held a large bone in his hand, and they were all whistling and calling towards the grey dog who was the keeper of the key. The dog sat not three feet away watching them with a curious yet bored look, tilting his head to and fro, teasing them with the ring of keys in his mouth.

One man, the smallest of them all, noticed Alex and smiled a toothless grin at her. She groaned and looked at him in disgust. Maybe he was the cause of the smell down here, if not the majority of it.

"I've seen ye around 'ere before. What's this, yer fourth time 'ere?" He cackled.

"Most likely, but what's this…your fifth week in here? Pity." Alex retorted. The prisoner narrowed his eyes at her, murmured a curse under his breath, and returned to his cellmates.

"That's what I thought." Alex smirked. She watched the group until she lost interest and she yawned, exhaustion already overtaking her. Might as well get some rest…nothin' else to do. She lay on her back on the floor nearest to the cold, stone wall. She shifting and turning herself numerous times until she found herself most comfortable on her back. Yawning, her thoughts began to wander.

Immediately, they wandered to Will.

What was he doing right now, she wondered. Was he working on another well-crafted and beautiful sword? Or was he practicing again, like he often did, and even sometimes with her? They haven't done that, she noticed, not lately. Was he thinking of her at this moment or were his thoughts on Elizabeth, as always? Wait…did he even know that Elizabeth was threatened by that bastard of a pirate? Alex let out a heartless chuckle. If he did, he was probably worrying about Elizabeth, not about her being stuck in a jail cell once again. If she had a bottle of rum, she would make a toast to Elizabeth, congratulating her on being a fine damsel in distress.

She'd have to do it when she got out, but for now Alex let the calm blackness take her over for a few hours and into the unknown.

Silence filled the hallway save for the sounds coming from outside – the free world. The torches were lit, granting light, and the guard was taking his time walking down the hall, surveying the prisoners with a watchful and cautious eye. A group of men in one cell played it off innocently, acting like they were either sleeping or having a polite chat with the other, while the next cell remained silent, but once the guard disappeared up the stairs for the rest of the hour the men quickly jumped towards the front of their cell, bone in hand and a whistle from their lips.

Their loud and sudden racket woke Alex.

"Agh," She groaned with her eyes clenched shut. "Could you all just shut up already!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself, luv." A deep voice slurred from above her…or was it behind her? She was too dazed out to know exactly, but that changed when realized the voice seemed familiar. She got up too fast, a dizzy feeling swarming her head, but once that disappeared she turned around to see who the voice belonged to that was now in her cell…

…and it came with chocolate brown eyes and a golden smirk.

"Well, hello again…" Captain Jack Sparrow chuckled amusedly. Speechless from anger, Alex only glared at him in shock. "Feeling alright, lass? You don't look too good." He inquired innocently. He was sitting in the corner of the cell looking both bored and mysterious, but now Alex only seemed to have one thing on her mind. And she didn't mind showing it.

"You rat bastard!"

Jack looked at her in surprise at her sudden outburst. "Well, good evening to you as well."

"How dare you threaten Elizabeth after she saved your ass from Norrington!"

Jack only shrugged carelessly, inflaming Alex's anger even more. "You're lucky I haven't strangled you yet, you worthless cad." She glared.

Jack laughed. "Right, of course you would…and even if you tried…well." He slowly looked over her body, letting his unfinished sentence linger in the chilly air.

"Hey, eyes up here. Hey!" She shouted when he didn't listen. He looked at her with a sly smirk, and then returned to his previous position, resting an arm on his knee and tilting his hat slightly over his eyes.

"So you're acquainted with the Swann girl, aye? You should tell her that free-falling from cliffs isn't her thing. I advise reading or knitting as a healthier hobby."

"Shut up, you can't tell me to tell her what she should or should not do!"

Jack laughed deeply. "Why not?"

"You threatened her life, that's why."

"But she's still alive, isn't she?" Jack looked at her from under his hat with piercing eyes, unusually seeming darker from the small amount of light, and Alex barely noticed a small shiver creep down her spine. She didn't answer. "Isn't she?" He repeated again, his tone demanding an answer.

"…yes." She quietly answered.

"So it's settled then. Sticks and stones." He rested his head back against the wall.

"…what?" Alex asked as she stood up, brushing the straw and dirt from her breeches and long sleeved shirt.

Jack sighed exasperatedly. "Nothing. Say, you wouldn't happen to have some rum hidden on you, would you?"

"Unfortunately not." She gave a small chuckle and sat against the flat of the wall opposite of his side, letting a sigh escape from her.

Jack used a ringed finger to tilt the corner of his hat up, and he observed her suspiciously. "What's the change in attitude all of a sudden? A second ago you looked like you were about to jump on me…which I wouldn't mind, you see…but now you look what seems to be normal." He explained cautiously.

Alex shrugged. "I suppose you did her and me a big favor by using your piratey way with her. Reminding her that not everything in life is trustworthy." She gave him a guarded glare to prove her point.

Jack chuckled deeply, nodding in understanding. He watched her a little while longer as the men in the cell behind him continued to persuade the dog to come closer to them. Her black hair was short like a man's, coming to just below her jaw. It was cut in a messy fashion, a style he had never seen worn on a woman before, with bangs that covered her plain dark brown eyes. But he didn't complain. It revealed her neck, a smooth part of skin that looked untouched.

"What's your name, anyways?" Jack finally asked in a low yet interested voice.

"Alex Keller. And you're Jack Sparrow."

"Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please." He corrected, and Alex scoffed. "Your name…short for what?"

Alex hesitated. "A name I don't like." She replied.

Jack chuckled. "I see."

Finally relaxed, despite the aching in her hip and cramps in her legs from sitting so long, Alex rested in the corner across from Sparrow on the opposite side of the wall, the corner where the wall met the cell bars. She had begun taking count of how many hours would be left until she saw the first rays of light shine through the window above them, because then she would finally be free. But about Jack Sparrow's fate, she wasn't quite sure yet.

"What do you think is going to happen to you tomorrow?" Alex asked as she stretched her legs.

"Most likely be hanged for piracy." Jack carelessly replied in a low voice. Hanged? He sounded like that happened to him every day, a usual routine in his book.

She wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"Oh." She answered. Alex stole a glance at him – she couldn't tell if his eyes were shut or not, the shadow from his hat hid that feature from her. He had been quiet almost the whole night since they last talked, and she wanted to talk to him some more. It wasn't every day she shared a cell with a pirate, who so happened to be Captain Jack Sparrow. She was almost tempted to ask why he needed another ship if he already had one, though the name of it escaped her. Almost.

What was it now, nine o'clock? Was it even midnight? She lost track. Usually the guard would be switching his shift every hour or so. Had they been doing that? She didn't notice. She was exhausted, and her eyelids were beginning to grow heavy.

As she began to drift off, the noises around her became louder.

"Come 'ere, boy. Want a nice, juicy bone? Come here." The prisoner beckoned as his cellmates whistled and sweetly coaxed the dog. "Come on."

"You can keep doing that forever, the dog is never going to move." Jack told them in a bored voice without giving them so much as a glance. The smallest prisoner, the one who was giving trouble to Alex earlier, turned and glared at him.

"Oh, excuse us if we haven't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet." He mocked. Jack turned his head to face him as the prisoner spoke before relaxing in his previous arrangement, the beads in his hair clinking against each other as the gold in his smirk glinted. Obviously, he didn't seem disturbed.

Alex chuckled as she rolled her eyes, pulling her legs up to her chest and clasping her hands around her knees. "So, you're a pirate, eh?" She spoke up.

"Evidently." Jack smirked.

"For how long?"

"Longer than your years in age, my dear." Hedryly answered with a hint of a small grin.

"Do you like it?"

"I wouldn't want my life any other way."

"Even if it ended in the noose?"

He laughed, shaking his head as he looked up at her. "You have such a bleak outlook on life, lass. Not every pirate's fate ends with the noose. I'll be out of here by morning."

Alex scoffed. "Yeah, they're just going to let you out with an apology."

Jack grinned. "Just watch." Rolling her eyes, she rested her forehead on the cold metal bars and watched the flame on the torches dance as red and orange melted into each other.

"You know, what makes me wonder is why a young gel such as yourself is in here with a roguish man like me." Jack curiously stated, his brown eyes still hidden.

"I stole some fruit and a pouch of coins." Alex shrugged.

Jack laughed. "A little street rat, aren't you?"

Normally, Alex would have been in rage at the comment. Her life since her father died had been hard, and if not for the graciousness of Elizabeth's father, she wouldn't still have the house she and her father lived in or any food at all. But she wasn't angry. Looking into Jack's eyes, she saw that he understood. Somewhere behind his cocky façade was a man who once knew what it was like to steal to survive.

She grinned at him, and was about to open her mouth to reply when a few loud booms were suddenly heard, causing the cell to shake just a little, and Alex knew it could be only one thing: cannon fire. More followed just after the first as Alex scrambled to get up and rushed over to the barred window, pulling herself up to see.

"I know those guns." Jack said matter-of-factly, and he too quickly jumped up and looked through the window, almost shoving Alex aside. "It's the Pearl."

"The Black Pearl?" The small prisoner with a bone in hand said with wide eyes as he moved closer, the men behind him following suit. "I've heard stories. She's been preying on ships and settl'ments for a near ten years. Ne'er leaves any survivors."

"No survivors?" Jack questioned, looking at him with a smile. "So where do the stories come from, I wonder?"

Alex laughed. "You have a point."

"Of course I do." Jack winked. They both turned their heads back to watch the Black Pearl, one of the most feared ships if not the only in the Caribbean, attack Port Royal. Jack watched with a solemn blank expression as Alex watched in pure worry. She hoped Will would be alright and that he would stay out of their way. But knowing him, he would be out there trying to help fight them off if they ever stepped foot on the soil. Trying to be the hero.

"Be careful, William." Alex whispered.

Jack looked at her with a crooked brow. "You say something?"

"No." She quickly replied, not realizing she had voiced her thought out loud. She gave him a quick smile, which he didn't return. His eyes were staring out the window and quickly turned wide when the next cannon fired.

Jack didn't give her any warning when he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her down with him into the corner of the cell before covering her body with his. Alex heard the cannon blast through the wall behind them and clenched her eyes shut as she buried her face into Jack's shoulder. Once the chunks of stone debris finished falling around them the dust cleared, and Alex slowly opened her eyes, finding herself looking rather closely up into the face of Jack, who had a large and rather smug grin on his tan face.

"Well, well, well…hello there." Jack charmingly said in a low voice.

"Sparrow, this isn't the right time for whatever the hell you're trying to do." Alex glared. For Pete's sake, they just almost had their heads blown off and already he was already trying to get her to tear her clothes off for him.

"Ah, so there is a right time?" He answered smugly.

"Get off, I didn't mean that, you mangy cad."

"I'm sure you didn't." Jack winked with a grin. He pushed himself off of her and wiped the dust from his already dirty breeches, not even bothering to lend her a hand. She knew why when she looked past him at the large hole in the wall in the opposite wall, giving their side only enough room to stick an arm out. Jack saw this too and frowned, but the other prisoners were cackling with joy.

"My sympathies, friends. You have no manner o' luck at all." The prisoner sadly said, jumping through the whole and out of sight like the rats they were. Jack stood up to the small segment of freedom that barely touched their cell, and rested his head against the wall, rolling his head.

"Just my luck." Alex frowned. "Now it's guaranteed that I'm going to be stuck here the entire night. With you of all people."

Jack chuckled as he slowly turned around to face her. "And that's a bad thing? I am the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, after all. One night with me will make you–"

"Don't even say it, you arrogant bastard." Alex warned, causing him to chuckle and grin. She stood up and Jack moved towards the side of their cell. She watched with a raised brow as he stuck his hand into the now vacant space and grabbed the large bone before pulling out and kneeling at the door to their cell. The clouds and smoke from the cannons outside cleared, revealing a strong ray of moonlight through the window above.

He stuck the entire length of his arm out and began shaking the bone in the air. "C'mon doggie! It's just you and me now. Just you and ole' Jack, come on."

"Oh my word." Alex groaned aloud as she sat on the ledge and watched him from behind.

"What?" Jack turned around quizzically.

"You can keep doing that forever, the dog is never going to move." Alex mocked his earlier statement. She even included the deep and slurred texture of his voice for effect. "Sound familiar?" She smirked.

"For your information, lass, I am very good with animals." He confidently stated.

"Because you are one." Alex retorted.

"Ah, lass," Jack grinned wickedly. "You won't know until we hit the sack together someday."

"Keep dreaming." She sweetly said in a sardonic reply. He just chuckled before returning to the task at hand.

"Come on. That's it, come on. Bit closer, bit closer." Jack called out to the grey dog, who was surprisingly inching his way towards the man with the bone. Maybe this will work after all. Alex thought hopefully. "That's it, come on. Come on, you filthy, slimy mangy cad." Sudden loud noises from up the stairs startled the dog, causing him to run down the second passage of stairs at the end of the hall. Or maybe not. "No, no, no! I didn't mean it!" Jack called out, waving both hands around after the dog. When the body of a guard fell down the stairs, both Jack and Alex turned to see who was coming.

More pirates.

"This ain't the armory!" One pirate yelled as he looked around, but the second darker-skinned pirate approached the cell. Jack stood as they met eye to eye.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here, Twiggs. Capt'n Jack Sparrow." He spit at his feet, causing Jack to narrow his eyes and cautiously watch them both as Alex watched them all.

"Last time I saw you, you were all alone, on a God forsaken island, shrinkin' into the distance. His fortunes are improved much." Twiggs laughed.

"Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen." Jack told them both with a sarcastic grin before his entire demeanor turned solemn and loathsome. "The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers, and mutineers." His statement caused the dark pirate to shoot out his hand and clasp it around Jack's neck. Alex gasped as her eyes grew wide in shock. The skin on that pirate's arm just disappeared…no, it didn't, I'm going crazy…oh God, I'm not. That's his bone. What Jack said was too low for her to hear, but the fuming expression on the pirates spoke for them. Apparently, Jack knew these men, and had angered them greatly. The dark pirate snapped Jack's head away before turning with his pirate comrade and disappeared up the stairs, causing Jack to look down at the bone and Alex to watch with her still shocked expression.

"What…the bloody hell…was that." Alex slowly asked.

"Nothing." Jack quietly replied, letting the bone drop to the floor as he picked up his hat.

"What do you mean nothing? His arm just turned from skin into bone!"

"I know." Jack answered. Not one part of him looked disturbed by that fact or even freaked out, just like Alex was. Instead, he was calm, collected, and once again very quiet. "It's best we get some sleep, lass. We'll get out of here tomorrow when things have calmed down out there."

"How am I supposed to sleep after that!" Alex exclaimed incredulously. Jack just glanced at her and shrugged.

"Suit yourself." He clumsily lay down on his back with a grunt and placed his hat underneath his head, in place for a pillow. She watched as he draped an arm over his eyes, and seemed to instantly fall asleep. His chest evenly rose and fell in time with his breathing. He was right. She should get some sleep; that's what she's been trying to do the entire evening. In the morning when she had a much clearer mind, she'd figure out what just happened, that is, if it wasn't actually a nightmare.

On the opposite side of the cell from Jack, she kicked a few small pieces of rubble out of her way and lie down on her side, her back to Jack. With an exhausted sigh, she closed her eyes and slowed her breathing.

"If you're still frightened by what just happened, you can come over here with me. I understand." Jack clearly said from behind her. She could hear the cocky grin in his voice and snorted.

"Arrogant bastard." She murmured, before drifting off into a restless slumber.

A/N: Thanks for reading so far, everyone! I hope you guys are enjoying it...if not, then I'm failing as a writer, haha.

Forensic Photographer711: Thanks! I hope this was soon enough for you, hehe.

Terriah: After a really long break, I decided to revise the story since I learned more about writing techniques and all that fun jazz. Don't worry, the rest will be up shortly, as well as new chapters. Sorry if I alarmed you! I hope you continue reading.

American Drama: As I said to Terriah, over my long "break" I've learned more about writing, and feel like I can improve this story (mostly with grammer and other writing things) but it will be the same as before, except for a few changes perhaps in dialouge or descriptions. I hope this explains things.

kitotterkat: Thanks, it feels good to be back!

Please read and review :)