Disclaimer: Captain! Captain Jack Sparrow! Sadly enough, he don't be-long t' me.

A/N: Whoo! It's been a while since I did one of these. Here you go - I thought I'd introduce the Sparrow/Grey family a bit more.

John looked over at his mother. She looked nervous, uncomfortable. She pulled at her collar, as though wishing she still had her cloak with her. Kelly had 'appropriated' it when she was two - a comfort blanket - and Squirrel had been glad to give the cloak to her daughter. But now, it looked as though she were regretting that decision.

John pushed through the crowd and made it to his mother's side. "What's wrong?"

Squirrel looked at him fondly, reached up to ruffle his hair - he'd shot up in the last few months, he was taller than she was - and smiled. "Nothing's wrong, Johnny," she said in that soft sea-breeze of a voice. Then she looked around, the corners of her eyes tightening. "No, I'm… I don't feel I should be here."

Johnny followed her gaze. Jack and Kelly were sitting at a table, both laughing and hamming it up to a crowd of cheering onlookers; father and daughter, dancing drunkenly to a reedy fiddle. But their drunkenness was a sham - their eyes were bright and Kelly's light fingers made Jack's coin purse all the heavier.

"Are you worried about Kelly?"

Squirrel looked back at John and shook her head. "No, I…" She pulled at her collar again. "It just doesn't feel right, being here…" She cast her eyes around the room. "Too many memories, John. You remember?"

John nodded as a loud cheer broke out on the other side of the room. He and his sister had been weaned on stories about their father, but only recently has their mother shared her own story. Kelly and Johnny had both taken their mother's tale to heart - unlike stories about their father, they knew that what Squirrel said was plain and simple truth. Jack? Well, stories about him could be taken with a pinch of salt most times. Like that story about how he arm-wrestled a kraken…

"I haven't been here in so long." Squirrel whispered, almost to herself. "I almost expected to find her here, still… but…"

John gave his mother a brief hug to reassure her, but Squirrel was still troubled.

Off in the corner, Jack stumbled, belched, and fell to the ground. Kelly kicked her father a few times, shouting with slurred words. The crowd dispersed, seeing as how the entertainment here for tonight was ended. As Kelly 'helped' her father to a chair, she looked over at John and winked.

Piracy works well on both land and sea.

Squirrel gave her son's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm tried. I think I'll head back to the Pearl."

"I'll come with you." John said. Squirrel smiled at him gratefully. After motioning to Kelly that they would be leaving, Squirrel and John left the crowded tavern and walked quietly down the streets of Tortuga. The drunks, the beggars, the pimps and the whores all avoided the pair; it was clear these two didn't want anything they were selling.

Squirrel shivered. "Too many memories. Sometimes, I think I'm over them…"

John looked at his mother. They'd been to Tortuga so many times, and they were mostly pleasant visits. But there was that time when Squirrel had gone missing for hours, only to be found standing and staring and a burnt shell of a building. She'd come looking for her home and it wasn't even there anymore. It was both a relief and a burden for Squirrel. Another time, she came and found the sailor called Sharkey. He was doing well for himself, and his face lit up when he recognised Jack. It took him a moment or two for him to recognise Squirrel. And then there was those times when Jack would be recognised by girls from the brothels, and they called out to him. The look in Squirrel's eyes before she closed them in stubborn acceptance was enough to make Jack snarl at the wenches to get themselves gone. Johnny knew his father had a sordid past, but this was one checker he continued to try and dye away; he knew how much it hurt Squirrel to hear them calling out…

"I thought I'd see her here."

Johnny put his hands in his pockets. For all the times in Tortuga, his mother kept searching for one face among many. One girl. One name he knew from the stories; a name he both hated and pitied.

"Dawn?"

Squirrel looked at Johnny. "Yes." Her smile was sad. "I just keep hoping…"

Johnny shook his head. "Don't, mum. Don't go dredging around. If Dawn is gone, then she is gone. Don't blame yourself - she made her choice to stay. You were given a chance, you accepted. She was given that same chance, and she didn't take it. But it's not your fault. Let it go."

Squirrel looked thoughtfully at her son. "You don't often speak, Johnny-boy," she smiled, putting him in a headlock and rubbing her fist into his head, "But when you do you make a lot of sense." Johnny freed himself with a grin. Squirrel sighed sadly. "Sometimes, I wish I could have just said goodbye."

"Not worth it," Johnny said, shaking his head. They turned down a side street, a shortcut to the docks.

"She's still family."

Johnny shook his head again. "Look at the charts, Mum. She's the daughter of your step-uncle. She's not family at all."

Squirrel sighed. "No, but…" She sighed again. "I suppose you're right." She smiled at her son, then frowned. "Kelly was hiding something from me the other day."

Johnny put on an innocent face. "Yes'm?"

Squirrel scowled playfully. "Don't give me that, my boy. You two are as thick as thieves."

Johnny raised an eyebrow, and continued to smile.

"What did she do? And none of that 'pirate's code' nonsense about protecting your shipmate."

Johnny scratched his chin. "Well… I can tell you what she didn't do…"

A shadow fell across the path in front of them. Squirrel and John both halted.

"Good evening, miss."

The voice was flat and determined, but backed with a kind of heat that Squirrel knew well; Johnny smelt his mother's fear and steeled himself. His foil sang clear as silver as he drew it, while Squirrel readied her short blade. Mother and son prepared themselves.

"Wouldn't you say the moon looks lovely tonight?" The man purred, seemingly disregarding the drawn weapons. Johnny, without taking an eye off the stranger, looked up. All along the rooves that lined the alleyway were men with muskets and pistols.

Outnumbered and outgunned. An ambush.

Neither mother nor son spoke. They turned and ran back the way they had come. A shout, and there was the sound of feet behind them. The street ended suddenly, the torches fainted, plunging the night into even bleaker darkness. And then the battle was joined.

Johnny knew nothing - only the sound of his blade on cloth, on steel; he felt his mother's back against his as they faced enemies on both sides. He tasted copper in the air - his mother was screaming.

"RUN JOHNNY!"

He ran a man through and kept fighting, stubbornly refusing to move. A blade went for his face, he parried it. His mother stumbled, he turned to protect her.

A kick in the hamstrings felled him - he watched them swarm around him, silver blades readied. With a snarl, Johnny flipped himself upright and slashed and swiped at all who came near him.

Squirrel was gone. He heard her scream, and in the shadow and out of his reach. She was being carried away.

"RUN!" She screamed, before a fist to the side of the head knocked her out cold. The blade clattered from her fingertips, skittering down the cobblestones towards the circle of attackers.

Johnny kicked an opponent, crouched, and leapt. His sister had taught him this trick when they had played leapfrog. You jump twice as high when you use someone else as a springboard. Over the heads of the confused attackers, Johnny stopped only to scoop up his mother's sword. Then he was gone, darting down the alley, back towards the tavern where Kelly and Jack danced, oblivious and laughing.

A/N:More coming soon - also, I promised someone I would never write a fic where Squirrel would die… sadly enough, as soon as I made that promise, it started taking shape in my head. Don't worry! It's not this one!

Heh. Can anyone imagine Jack wrestling with a kraken? Hey, maybe it's POTC2 foreshadowing!