Disclaimer: Because everyone loves pirates.

"What are the chances of that?"

"Pretty good, if you think about it."

"Really? I thought that if you decide to rob the only ship between here and the East Indies that happens to have nothing of worth on it, and it turns out to have Squirrel's last living relative on it, the chances would be pretty slim."

"Walk the plank. Brawk!"

"Your real family, Squirrel. What are you going to do?"

Squirrel sighs, suddenly looking very tired. The pirates around her cease their arguments to look at her. She rubs her eye.

"I d-don't know…" She says finally. "I j-just don't know…"

Jack sits down on the bench beside her and drapes an arm around her shoulders. "It is your choice, love." He says gently. "You have family, you know."

Squirrel frowns. "I know. It's h-here, on the Pearl." She bites her lip. "It's just…" She sighs again, then looks into Jack's eyes. "Am I my mother? Leaving my real family behind for something I love?"

"That could be a good thing." Ana says, making a cat's cradle with a length of string. "Maybe being like your mother is the right path to walk."

"Here be monsters." Mister Cotton's parrot squawks. Mister Gibbs nods.

"Cotton's right. It may be risky, but you have to do something about it."

Squirrel frowns. "My grandfather… I never thought he'd still be alive." She frowns deeper. "I didn't even know I had any family left. Aside from Dawn."

"And she doesn't count." Ana says dryly. Jack grins and nods, but then his expression sobers.

"It is your choice, Squirrel." He says again. "You've got your freedom now."

Squirrel sighs again. "Freedom is having somewhere to return to." She says softly. She looks up. The crew of the Golden Lion are watching her, as well as Lord Redcliffe. Her grandfather. Squirrel bites her lip and looks down. Jack stands up and walks towards the nobleman.

"She's not sure what to do." Jack tells the nobleman carefully. "She's had a really tough time on Tortuga, you have to know that. But I've given her the freedom to choose whether she stays or goes."

"And I must thank you for that." The nobleman says, still slightly wary of Jack, even though the ropes are gone and the Golden Lion's crew are free. "But I must make a request of you." Jack tilts his head and listens, face serious.

Squirrel watches the exchange between the pirate and the nobleman, unable to hear what they're saying. She sighs.

"What d-do I do, Ana?" She asks her friend. "What should I do?"

Ana shrugs. "Whatever you feel is right, I guess."

"What if I don't know what feels r-right?" Squirrel asks softly.

Ana sighs. "Squirrel, you've been more than a friend to all of us. We all care about you."

"Wind in yer sails." Mister Cotton's parrot agrees.

"I don't want to leave." Squirrel says firmly, forcing her stammer aside. "But…" She grits her teeth and lowers her head. "By the powers, Ana… My real family? I don't know…"

"Well," Jack says, sauntering back over, "Me and your grandpa have come to an accord. He'll overlook our little misunderstanding if you'll go to your little island home."

Squirrel stares at Jack.

"Only for a day," Jack says, holding up his hands defensively. "What happens is, the Pearl's allowed to dock without repercussion, and we are allowed to wait in the harbour for one day. Then, you can decide whether it's a pirate's life for you, or if you wanna stay there." Jack looks out at the ocean, trying to hide his discomfort. "Course, that's only if you want to."

Squirrel looks back at the crew of the Pearl. Her family and friends. She looks over at the man, Lord Redcliffe, her grandfather, a living relative. She could have aunts, uncles, cousins… Squirrel lowers her head and bites her lip.

"Just one day." Ana reminds Squirrel gently. "Just meet them, find out what your mother lived like. Then you can come back."

"Or stay." Jack says, feigning nonchalance. Ana glares at him, then changes her mind. Jack scuffs his feet against the deck.

Squirrel sighs. "Alright. One day." She looks out at the ocean. "One day, I meet my family, I see the Redcliffe family home, then …" She sighs again. "Then I can choose who I stay with. I choose my family."

"I thought ye weren't supposed to be able to do that." Gibbs tries to joke. "You know, ye can pick your friends but not yore family?"

Squirrel does not smile. "Maybe there's an exception in m-my c-c-case."

Squirrel stared out at the water, watching the lights of Tortuga flicker and flare, and its denizens as they fought and screeched and laughed throughout the night.

"He's late." She murmured. A sudden breeze whipped the woman's cloak up in the air, and the black sails of the ship rustled and flapped. The Black Pearl's timbers creaked in the water.

"

"The sooner Jack gets back," Anamaria sauntered over, frowning, "The better. I can't stand it here. It's so… so…"

"I know." Squirrel said, not taking her eyes from the streets for an instant. "I did live there, remember?"

Ana nodded, then sat down on the crate beside the cloaked girl. "What are you thinking about?"

"None of your business, ma'am." Squirrel let a smile cross her face. "When we m-met my grandfather. Jack really stood up for me, didn't he?"

Ana threw her head back and laughed, frown lines smoothing themselves out. "Of course. And you know it."

"What happened after I left?" Squirrel asked softly. "What did you all do?"

Ana let her gaze drift over the bay. Starlight flickered in her eyes. "After you left? Well, after as we watched you walk away…"

Jack watches as Squirrel is lead down the docks. She doesn't look back, but her hands twist her cloak until it threatens to tear. She keeps her head bowed as she walks with her grandfather. Jack sighs, then turns and heads back below decks.

The crew lounge around the galley silently, all lost in thought. Jack throws himself in a seat next to Gibbs. Several moments pass.

"She'll be back." Gibbs says, breaking the dark silence. "Squirrel was born to pirating, she was. She'll be back."

"Yeah." The short pirate says. He looks up suddenly, a twinkle in his eye. "Hey, remember the time you convinced her to get that tattoo, Gibbs?"

Gibbs forces a smile. "Every pirate needs a tattoo."

Jack slowly rolls up his sleeve and looks at his own tattoo, a sparrow flying over the sea at sunset. He smiles fondly. As uncatchable as a sparrow. A symbol of freedom. It suits you, Jack.

Thankye, Squirrel.

"Well," the short pirate continues, "When you dragged her down to that tattoo parlour in Puerto Rico, you picked her a tattoo that looked like a bilge rat!"

"It was a squirrel… and Miss Grey picked it, not me." Gibbs says indignantly. "The tail was a little on the ratty side, but you could still tell it looked like a squirrel."

"It was a rat, Gibbs." Ana rolls her eyes. "Squirrel tried to make the tattoo artist make the tail quote-'fluffier'-un-quote, but you told him 'never mind, just keep going'."

The crew laugh at the expression on Gibb's face. Jack smiles politely.

I guess this tattoo does look like me in a way… I may have a pretty name, but at heart, I'm still a rodent.

You shouldn't put yourself down like that. Your days in Tortuga are over. You don't need to do that to yourself any more.

I guess so… Thankyou. For that. For everything.

Anytime, luv.

"What about the time when Squirrel convinced those privateers not to attack us?" Gibbs says, desperately trying to draw the attention away from himself. He clears his throat. "She climbed down out of the rigging, stood in front of, what, 'undreds of men armed to the teeth? and calm as you please tells 'em to turn around and go back to England!"

Ana laughs. "Stuff of legend, that. She turns those big pleading puppy eyes to that bastard captain and says," Ana raises her voice a notch, "'Why are you attacking us, sir? I only hired these mercenaries to guard me and my brother. I spent all the money my dead parents left us. Please, there's nothing else a'value here, and my brother's fever's a-worsening by the hour!' " Ana throws back her head and laughs, and several of the crew join in.

That was bloody reckless!

I did what I had to do, Captain. Besides, it worked, didn't it?

Did you break into my rum stash or something?

You're welcome.

"And what about the time…"

"How about when she…"

"Remember when Squirrel…"

Stories fly around the cabin, and the crew laugh and joke. Jack sits silently, smiling to himself, lost in his thoughts.

I promise I will never ever EVER let you be hurt like that ever again. I'd do anything, absolutely anything for you, Squirrel, even if it meant hurting me.

You mean that?

Of course I do… And I always will…

"… And she just smiles and says to 'er, bold as can be, 'Miss me?' "

The jokes suddenly end, and the laughter fades. The crew sit silently in the galley, remembering.

"She will be back, right?" Ana says softly, after a moment.

Mister Cotton's parrot fluffs his feathers. "Wind in yer sails."

"She has to." Gibbs reaffirms.

A b-boat in a harbour is a safe b-boat… But that's not what boats are for.

Where'd you hear that saying?

I d-don't know.

But it's true, isn't it.

Very.

I think you mean 'ship' though.

I might.

"Captain?"

Jack looks up, awoken from his reminiscing. The eyes of the crew are all on him.

"What do you think?" Ana asks gently. "Do you think Squirrel will come back?"

Jack forces a smile, though it only makes it halfway there. "It's up to her, really." Jack rises to his feet, his hands falling to his side. "I gave her the freedom she's always wanted. It's her choice what she does with it." The pirate captain casts his eyes around the galley, meeting all his crew in the eye. Suddenly, he claps his hands together. "Come on, you sorry lot of bottom-feeding limeys! We've got work to do!"

The pirates all groan. Anamaria rises to her feet, hands on her hips and feet spread.

"Work?" She growls. "What kind of work, Captain?"

Jack puts on a fierce scowl. "There's a hull to be tarring! There's sails to be mending! There's ballast to level, supplies to inventory… and that's only for starters! So get to work, you scabrous dogs!"

"Aye, Captain, aye!" The crew chorus, and wander away to their various tasks. Jack waits until he is alone, then sits again, staring at his tattoo.

A/N: Yes, yes, yes. More coming. PS: Happy birthday Squirrel, for the 7th of October. I'm not crazy, that's her birthday.