Chapter 8 - Swimming in the Sun

Jack would have laughed at the question had the mans expression told him he was joking. Had he heard of Howell Davis? Of course he had, he couldn't imagine many pirates who hadn't. Davis had been sneaky like any good pirate should be, and as gold thirsty as most.

"Aye I've heard of him, good pirate"

"Well then you must have heard of his lost treasure then", Jack nodded. Said to be hidden in Brazil, no-one had ever uncovered it, hence the phrase 'lost treasure'.

"What exactly ye getting at?", Jack was usually the one making the proposition, rather than listening to it and this man was taking his time.

"Well captain I happen to be in possession of a map, a map that points to Davis's lost gold", he looked around as if fearing someone to jump out and capture him. Jack however stayed in his position, not giving away his interest.

"And 'ow do you know it's real? The map or the treasure?"

"Cos I was a part of Davis's crew"

Jack scoffed, "hows that? Davis's crew became Roberts crew and they were hung not too long ago", the man shuffled about at this, clearly uncomfortable.

"I was left for dead at Principle Island after I was shot"

"What's your name?" Jack asked, still skeptical.

"Abrey"

"Well Abrey why should I believe you?" Jack tipped his hat to get a better look at Abrey. Abrey fidgeted a little under his gaze but continued anyway, he hadn't spent 3 years waiting for the perfect opportunity to throw it away under a suspicious stare.

"Maybe you shouldn't captain, I only 'ave a map and a offer to split the treasure with ye, providing you take me to it" Jack considered this, he never said no to a new adventure, and a lost treasure was always a worthy trip.

"But like I said 'ow do I know the treasures real? nobody's found it yet" Abrey had the cheek to laugh at this, he laughed in the face of Jack Sparrow.

"Cos everybody always looks in Brazil, but the treasure's right here in the Caribbean", Jack almost couldn't believe it, in the caribbean? Abrey noticed the surprised look on his face, "Yep, most don't believe it, which is why I found you, you've got a reputation for adventure captain". Jack let this sink in, the treasure was in the caribbean and here was this apparent member of the ex-crew offering him a slice of it, true he had a reputation but he didn't trust Abrey.

"So what are ye suggestin? I take you to the treasure and we split it? I'd have to see this map of yours"

"But I was hoping..."

Jack cut across this with an icy stare,"No map, no trip mate".

Abrey seemed to have expected this and quickly changed his tune, "Aye, I thought as much, but since its me map I think I should get a larger cut of the treasure".

Jack grinned slyly, "Ahh but ye need me to get there, so it'll be 50/50, do we have an accord?", he held out his hand, defeated Abrey shook it.

"Aye, captain Sparrow, we have an accord".

Louise sat on the railings of the pearl, swinging her legs and watching Tortuga just a short distance away. It looked like a explosion of colour from her spot, with the occasional sound of a gunshot. She felt very content with the night and this was why it took her as long as it did to notice the slightly swaying figure making its way towards the docks. She watched them get closer and as the took a swig from a bottle that they apparently kept at their waist she realized who the cocky saunter belonged to.

"Jack what are you doing back so early?" for some reason he hadn't seen her sitting there because the sound of her voice seemed to knock him backwards. He scuttled forward and squinted at Louise giving himself enough time to work out who it was.

"Ah, Louise luv what are ye doing here?" even through the dark she could see the gold of his teeth as he grinned.

"Just enjoying the night Jack, and what are you doing back from Tortuga so soon?" he was now standing next to her systematically drinking from his rum bottle.

"Had a little business to take care of darlin but I'll be on me way back soon enough"

"Business? awww all work and no play will make you a dull boy", she flicked his hat as she said this sending it flying off the top of his head, Jacks became flustered and rushed for it falling to the floor. Louie laughed wildly at this until he reached up and pulled her backwards by the back of her shirt, she saw his grin in slow motion as she fell backwards landing in a heap on deck. "Argh! Jack!"

He smirked as he got up brushing off his hat, "I'm anything but dull, luv"

"Thanks for sharing" she huffed, but he was already walking to his cabin, which he seemed to spend no time at all in before coming back on deck. He began to make his way to the gangplank, "You aren't leaving me so soon are you?". He stopped and turned his head to look intensely into her eyes, she wasn't used to eye contact like this, feeling herself get lost in the deep brown pools she waited as he opened his mouth and she expected something deep and meaningful.

"Sorry luv, there's a lot of rum waiting for me", he winked and strutted off back towards Tortuga. Louise just continued to stare at the empty space where he had been, utterly confused she began to laugh, she expected something far-reaching from Jack when he'd been drinking? Barely able to contain her laughter she decided to have an early night.

Stopping momentarily on her way down to the cabin she looked back at Tortuga and could just see Jacks silhouette become part of the mass of the town, she smiled into the night, "rummy".

Louise continued her duties the next day, cooking for whoever was on board, cleaning the galley, however it didn't leave much time and it wasn't until she escaped back into her cabin after lunch that she really relaxed and let her mind wander. A week ago if someone had told her she would be aboard the pearl, with the Captain Jack Sparrow she would have scoffed at them and possibly asked why they were teasing her with such dreams. Now she was fast becoming friends with most of the crew, she had been shopping, drinking and gambling in Tortuga, and she had duties aboard a pirate ship. This life was a million miles from home and for some reason she couldn't imagine herself anywhere else, but all it took was a reminder of her friends to shake her up. Louise didn't know what to do, how to get home or guiltily enough whether she wanted to go home. That was when Louise came to a decision, there was no apparent way of getting home, so she wasn't going to dwell on it. If she was meant to get home she would, but for now she had a few hours to kill. She sat up, rather too abruptly for her now spinning head, and looked around, asking herself 'what to do?' it was then she saw the beautiful day outside and wondered to herself how pretty Tortuga's beaches were.

Jack only vaguely remembered how much rum he had drunk the night before but he defiantly didn't remember waking up and getting back to the pearl, where he now found himself. It was a hour or so past noon and he had missed lunch which Ana assured him with a content smile was fantastic. He walked into the galley with the hope of finding either Louise or some left overs, but finding neither he retreated to his cabin where he found comfort with a green apple sitting on his desk. Lying back on his bed he stretched out and slowly ate the apple letting his mind wander to his conversation with Abrey and the treasure that would soon be his. Jack didn't need treasure, the gold and riches at Isle de Muerta were enough to satisfy him and his crew for the rest of their days. It wasn't the gold that attracted Jack it was, as Abrey had said, the adventure, he lived for the adventure, the challenge, the tight moments that only one of his ingenious plans would get him out of. He could hear the familiar creaking of his ship below him and he felt an unusual peace, only broken after a few minutes by a insistent knock on his door.

"Who is it?" he slowly sat up.

"Ana" she stuck her head in through the door to and he nodded at her to come in. "Just wondering if you've seen Louise?"

"Can't ye find her?" he asked, trying to remember the last time he had seen her, then it returning to him, last night after she knocked his hat off. He smiled to himself.

"No, she's not onboard, just wondering if you've seen 'er?", Ana seemed a little more worried than usual.

"She's a big girl Ana, I'm sure she's fine" he began to walk over to his desk, which was littered with maps.

"I'm going to look for her, it's not like she can fight or has a weapon or even knows her way around", she made to leave obviously annoyed at Jacks lack of concern, Louise may have talked the talk but could she walk the walk? Jack sighed, he knew it wouldn't be hard to find trouble in Tortuga and the fact Louise was in men's clothing would speed things up.

"Hang on, hang on, I'll come with ye, don't want to lose the cook now do we?", she smiled, she still knew how to get her own way, Jack was a sucker for a woman, especially one who might be in trouble.

Although Louise was not in trouble, far from it. She had found herself walking the beach, enjoying the sunshine and by this point she was considering going for a swim, she had a change of clothes in her cabin, so she wouldn't be soaking wet for too long. She looked around and realised how long she had been walking for, the beach was deserted around her and it made up her mind, kicking off her boots she allowed her toes to sink into the sand as she took slow footsteps towards the water. The moment her foot touched the water she felt a rush of excitement flow through her and she bolted at top speed taking a running jump into the waves, with a splash she landed in the cool caribbean sea and allowed herself relax in the afternoon sun.

Ana had casually asked around Tortuga, checking the shops she and Louise had visited the day before, no-one had seen someone fitting her description and it wasn't hard, as it wasn't often women in Tortuga wore mens clothing. She made her way to the part of town where she had left Jack, and surprisingly he wasn't in the tavern she had left him in, he was however in the next bar.

"Jack Sparrow!" she screamed across the room at him.

He looked up guiltily, "I was just asking around Ana luv".

She stormed over and grabbed him by the collar, "I don't think Louise is in the bottom of that mug". She continued to mutter curses under her breath as she dragged him from the tavern. Jack managed to finish his rum on the way out catching the odd word of Ana's ranting which included 'lazy', 'don't call me luv' and 'bloody rum'.

"Now don't go blaming me rum luv" his eyes adjusted to the light outside as Ana resisted the urge to slap him. "So I take it ye didn't find 'er?"

"No Jack I didn't" she seemed infuriated at both not being able to find Louise and finding Jack drinking, as well as being called 'luv'. "I've looked around Jack, she hasn't been in town, what do you think?".

He frowned trying to work out why she hadn't slapped him, let alone where Louise had gone, he thought she would have had the sense to tell someone where she was.

"I dunno, maybe she's back at the pearl by now", he seemed to be happy with this idea, but Ana wasn't letting him off that easy.

"I'll go check back at the pearl you..." she placed a finger firmly in his chest, "can ask around at the docks, and that doesn't mean sneak off to drink again", emphasizing the end of the sentence she turned on her heel and marched back to the pearl, throwing a stare back every so often to make sure he made it to the docks.

Jack sighed as he followed her "women" he cursed, one was lost, one was leading the search party, and he was stuck in the middle.

As Jack got to the docks he saw Anamaria board the pearl and call out for Louise as if hoping she would step out of her hiding place. Jack looked around, there wasn't exactly someone standing waiting to be asked about the disappearance of a woman.

"Lost someone?" he turned around to see Abrey leaning comfortably against a wall.

Jack wondered what he was doing there and how he had missed him but focused on the issue in hand, "aye, had a lass onboard but she's gone walkabouts".

Abrey nodded, "she about this tall?", he indicated with his hand, "brown hair, wears trousers and a white shirt?".

His raised a inquisitive eyebrow, "aye, ye seen 'er?"

Abrey again nodded, "saw her about a while ago, walking along the beach, that way", he motioned with his hand, away from the town.

Jack would have asked what exactly he was doing there watching his ship but apparently Louise had been out for a while, "Thanks mate".

Without wasting any more time he began walking in the direction Abrey had indicated, the tide was slowly coming in and he could tell it wouldn't be long before sunset, even though the sun was still bright in the sky. He hadn't seen anyone for a while when he saw a pair of boots sitting in the sand, looking out to the sea he saw Louise. She was lazily swimming about obviously enjoying herself, he stood and watched her for a few moments, moving freely through the water like a fish.

"Afternoon Captain!", she was now standing, the water reaching just above her waist, with the occasional wave hitting her back. Jack noticed her white shirt had become considerably see through, he tried not linger on it but she didn't seem notice.

He shook his head as if shaking off a hallucination, "Thought we'd lost ye". She smiled sheepishly as she waded through the water, making her way back to the now shrinking beach.

"Sorry I scared you Jack, hope you didn't worry too much", she ran over to her boots.

"Ana's been going crazy so expect an earful, you should of told someone where you were".

Louise laughed at the thought of Ana running about after her, "well I told Cotton". Jack laughed, "so weren't worried about me?" she asked.

"Me? no, I knew you'd be fine. I was worried I wouldn't be getting any dinner", she giggled to herself and he couldn't help but spot the way her eyes lit up when she did, he shook his head again, maybe he had spent too long in the sun.

"Don't worry, I was on my way back now. Does that mean you're staying for dinner tonight?" she looked up from where she was sitting, putting her boots on, with obvious excitement in her eyes.

"Aye, I don't wanna miss another fine meal", she jumped up with a renewed smile.

"Come on then, I haven't got all day if I'm going to cook a fine meal", Jack began to saunter in the direction of the pearl and Louise ran up after him and grabbed his arm, apparently she had now realised her shirt was see through as the other arm was crossed over her chest. Jack grinned as she allowed him to lead her back, 'women' he thought.

--Authors Notes--

That was a long one, I just couldn't decided where to split it off so I guess I decided to not split it up at all.

Again thanks to my reviewers, hope everyone liked the chapter. I know I said I'd get this done yesterday but I got a tad distracted, firstly I found a real pirate with my last name, then I was looking at some spoilers of the second film :S

I promise no more distractions though, and I have already started a rough draft of chapter 9, wooo!