Disclaimer: I don't own POTC. Chapter title is a poem by G.F. Savage-Armstrong.

Chapter 3: The Wee Lassie's First Luve

Will nodded. "She's perfectly safe, Ana Maria and I made sure that nothing will happen to her."

Peter entered the room. "Miss Camille, excuse me, but Annie would like to-hello, Cadence!" he said, waving at the child.

Will's eyes widened, approaching Camille and looking behind her at his daughter. "Cadence, just what are you doing back there?" he asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Cadence said nothing, but looked up and pointed to Jack. Jack's jaw dropped. "You little traitor!"

Will looked at his friend tiredly. "Jack, I'll ask you one more time to stop giving Cadence these ideas. You are not her father, after all."

Jack opened his mouth in protest, but Will was completely right (even though Jack wasn't involved this time). Camille caught the look in his eye and spoke up. "I'm so sorry darling, I tried my best," she said to little Cadence. "You'd better listen to your father."

As Will coaxed Cadence into following him once more to the washroom, Annie came in holding something. "Telegram for ya, Miss Quartamaine. Said it was urgent," she said, pressing the parchment into her hand.

Camille examined the seal quickly, and took it off, handing it to Jack as he leaned in to read beside her. Both of their eyes widened at the same time, causing Annie to clutch at her chest. "What is it? What's the trouble?"

Camille quickly regained her composure, laughing nervously. "There's no trouble, Annie. We're going to have a few guests shortly, that's all. They are the Thatcher family from the Fuego Del Reina down by Peru, more or less. They've decided to come and visit Jack and me in Port Celebros," she said, showing Annie the letter. It did say just that, but as Annie and Peter left she looked at Jack.

"Why are the Thatchers coming here?" she asked worriedly.

Jack was racking his brain, searching for another explanation than the obvious one. "I suppose they could merely want to visit." But they both knew that it had something to do with the treasure they had discovered on The Rune.

Camille felt a pit in her stomach. "Jack, I don't like this one bit," she confided in him.

"Neither do I, love. But it's best to see what they know before jumping to any conclusions," he said wisely.

She nodded. "You're right."

Jack turned and faced her, rubbing his hand along her dress and resting it on her waist. "You are so beautiful in that dress, Camille."

She smiled. "Thank you." She kissed him, groping about his body where women were not supposed to grope. He returned the favor, slipping his fingers down between her breasts and squeezing her slightly. She giggled as they continued to kiss.

About one week later, Camille was in her mansion's library. (Technically it was Will's because women couldn't own property, but WHATEVER) She was perusing through the collections of literature and poetry as she usually did. It was midafternoon, and she was the only one in the house at the moment.

She had just finished reading a poem by William Blake, and it happened to be the very last poem of the book. She shut it, anxious to begin a new book of poetry. She couldn't remember where she had gotten the book, and wandered around a bit by the two cases it had to be from. Finally, she saw the space where it went, at the top of one of the cases.

She looked at it and sighed. The ladder had broken several years ago, but they had not needed one since Peter enjoyed climbing the shelves to get books on the top for Camille to read. But since she didn't have his nimbleness, she would have to use her own.

She took her shoes off, not wanting to get any type of serious injury, and began climbing. When her feet were on the second shelf, she heard a creaking noise. Startled, she shifted her weight so that her other foot was on the bookcase right behind the bookcase she was climbing. This seemed to work, except now she had to climb one shelf higher to reach her desired location. She did so, and had barely touched her foot to the shelf when it cracked in half.

She gasped, dropping the book and clutching the top shelf out of instinct. She looked from side to side, deciding which was the best way to climb back down as the books began spilling out from beneath her. There was another creak, and to her horror the bookcase that she was hanging on for dear life was beginning to fall. "Oh no!" she cried. Not only was she going to be crushed by a bookcase, but the Domino effect was also going to take place.

As soon as she was close enough to the ground, she lay flat on the floor and covered her head with her hands. She could feel pieces of wood and dust and books falling on her, and prayed that she would not be trapped under anything that was heavy.

When all of the noise died down, she shook herself free from the mess. Luckily, two of the cases had collided, forming a small peak so that she was not injured. But she was covered with books. She stood up, brushed herself off, and looked around the library. From now on she would wait until Peter was home.

"Camille?" Jack called. He coughed a couple of times, waving his hand back and forth to clear some of the dust. "Camille darling, are you all right?" he asked, trying to make his way through the sea of chaos.

"Yes Jack, I'm fine," she said, nearly tripping over a broken shelf as she made her way towards him. "But I'm afraid I've lost my shoes."

"I would think that shoes would be the least of your worries," Jack said, looking around. "Christ, woman. What in the hell were you doing in here?"

"I was climbing the shelves, to put a book back on the top one, and the entire library just came collapsing down on me!" she explained.

Jack examined one of the cases, knocking on it and then squinting his eyes to get a better look at the wood. "Well, it's no wonder the place didn't do it sooner. This wood's been all rotted out," he said, sniffing it slightly. "Pity."

"Yes, well I'm just glad that it was me and not one of the children," she said as they stepped over the mounds of books to get to the door and back into the main hallway. "I suppose I had better change out of these."

"Nonsense, a little sawdust never hurt anyone," Jack said, brushing off her dress and removing small wooden particles from her hair.