I do not own Jack Sparrow. Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann or any of the other characters from the movie

Chapter 2

Sephora looked at Ruby. "Jack? Jack who?" Ruby didn't answer as she ran down the steps to the deck, walking to the side, where most of her crew was already gathered, looking down at the small rowboat that had just started to come up beside Ruby's ship, the Grande Lady. Her crewmates moved aside for her and Sephora who was right behind her. Ruby peered over the edge, looking down, then at her men.

"What are ya waiting for, you dogs, pull them up!" The crew immediately started pulling at the ropes and soon the boat had been pulled on board and the passengers stepped off.

"Why, Captain Ruby I nev-" But Captain Jack Sparrow didn't get through with his sentence before Ruby had slapped him across the face. His boat mate chuckled. Jack continued, "Well then, now that we are all through with that-"

"What are you doing here, Jack Sparrow?" Ruby interrupted.

"Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please," Jack smiled a big toothy smile that Ruby glared down. He stopped smiling.

"Right, my mistake," Ruby answered. "And I don't even want to know what you are doing here. Last I heard, you killed Barbossa, regained the Black Pearl and got a blacksmith for a first mate." Jack nodded.

"Indeed, all true. My first mate is Will Turner," Jack nodded at the other man that had gotten out of the boat. "Bootstrap's kid," Ruby turned to Will.

"True enough. He's a spittin' image of his father!" She looked him up and down and nodded. "Right good man your father was." She nodded once more to Will, then turned back to Jack, who was looking at Sephora.

"Well, who's this lass then, aye?" Jack smiled. Sephora stuck her chin out.

"I'm Sephora." Jack smiled bigger.

"And how old are you, Ms. Sephora?" asked Jack. Sephora opened her mouth to answer, but Ruby cut in.

"She's 18," Ruby crossed her arms and eyed Jack, who gave Sephora one last look, then turned back to Ruby.

"Well, Ruby, if you wouldn't mind, could Will and I, maybe, stay on your ship for a while. At least until we, um, come across my boat?" Will looked at Sephora, who looked down blushing. Ruby smiled and looked back to Jack. She sighed.

"Well, I guess I hafta, seeing as you have no boat to speak of….." Ruby looked around him at the small rowboat. "You two can sleep in Sephora's room and she will sleep on a cot in my room." Sephora looked highly disappointed at this, but quickly recovered as Will smiled at her. Jack nodded at Ruby in thanks and started to walk towards the quarters, but Ruby continued. "You have to earn your keep, mind you," Jack nodded and before she could say anything else, he hurried below deck. Will nodded at Ruby and smiled at Sephora, who blushed again and he hurried away. Ruby, with once last look towards the door that Jack had just disappeared through, climbed up the steps and resumed her place at the wheel.

"So how do you know them?" asked Sephora, watching Will run about, trying to help. Ruby looked out over the ocean.

"Well, I knew Will's father. A very nice man he was. Will looks just like him," She looked down, for a minute, at Will, then back out onto the ocean. Sephora looked up at her.

"And you knew Jack? How?" Sephora asked. Ruby sighed.

"I knew him," She answered, steering the wheel to the right. "There was a time when I was around your age, when my boat was over taken by the British Navy, and I was left with nothing but a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Well, it just so happens that Jack's boat, the Black Pearl, at the time, showed me some mercy and let me aboard, even though its bad luck to let a woman aboard is bad luck.

Well, Jack being the good man I thought he was, led me to believe that I might have even…..love him," Ruby sighed again, looking out over Sephora's head, out onto the ocean. "I really, truly thought I was going to marry him." Sephora looked up at her.

"What happened?"

"Well, Jack has never really liked the idea of being a one-woman man. I think he got a bit scared," She looked down at Sephora. "So the next town we raided, he conveniently forgot me." Sephora looked up at her with big eyes and Ruby looked back out onto the ocean. "At first I was heartbroken, but if it hadn't been for Jack, then I would never have commandeered this ship." Ruby rubbed the hull of the boat and her gaze returned to Sephora. "Well, you had better get that cot set up in my room then, aye?" Sephora nodded and hurried below deck, just as Jack reappeared and looked around, finding Ruby at the wheel. She pretended not to notice and sent her gaze directly out in front of her. Jack walked up behind her, but before he could say anything, Ruby began, "Tell me what happened to the Black Pearl, Jack."

"Well, love, it's a very funny story really-"

"Another mutiny, I expect," Ruby jutted in, still keeping her gaze out at the ocean. Jack seemed a bit irritated.

"Look love, you know I'm really sorry about leaving you in Atherton, but can't we get past all this and forgive old Jack?" Jack slid his arm around her waist. Ruby looked down at it, but quickly stared out in front of her, softening a bit. Jack smiled, let go and leaned on the wheel, so she couldn't steer. "Well now, the girl, Sephora, she seems to have taken a fancy to Will, hasn't she?" Ruby smiled a bit, still keeping her hands on the wheel, even though it wouldn't move.

"Seems so."

"Speaking of young girls, have you heard from old Sara Ockley lately?" Ruby stiffened.

"She…..was hanged," Her hands tightened on the wheel. Jack looked down.

"Aw love, I'm real sorry about that," Ruby nodded. Jack's arm found a place at her waist again. "I expect ya miss her. Almost as much as you miss ol' Bootstrap, aye?" Jack smiled down at her. Ruby smiled and looked up at him for the first time since he had been standing there.

"Not as much as I miss you, Sparrow," Ruby whispered, before she could stop herself. She heard the bell ring for supper. Jack smiled and leaned down, but she quickly turned her head, so he kissed her cheek. She wasn't going to let him get away that easily. Jack smiled and let go of her, turned and went below deck for supper. "Not as much as I miss you," Ruby repeated to herself and followed him below deck.