It was just in the evening not long after the newly formed crew of the Barnacle had their adventure on Isla Esquelética in attempt to find the Sword of Cortés, which turned out to be stolen by the hands of Left Foot Louis. Even though they didn't find the Sword, a few good things came out of it.
The trio, Jack Sparrow, Arabella Smith, and Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III, had earned themselves a few new crew members, Tumen, Jean, and Jean's feline-turned sister Constance. Jean and Tumen were navigationally equipped and knew what they were doing. Jack thought they were right fine sailors indeed. He didn't like the cat very much, but the three pretty much came in a packaged deal.
The crew had also picked up a ton of treasure from Stone Eyed Sam's treasure room in the palace. It was much more than enough than they needed for supplies and such. On top of it all, Jack had defeated the angry cursed pirate, Captain Torrents, with the water from the brim of his newest hat, which he had just unfortunately lost to a trader in Isla Puerta. The one little souvenir he did get to keep though was the eye of Stone Eyed Sam. He kept it with him in his pocket at all times to remind him of their very first adventure.
The crew all sat in a circle on the deck of the Barnacle eating tonight's dinner, which was biscuits and dried beans. It was apparent the ship was running low on supplies, and the Barnacle was on it's way to Antigua to stock up. Jack picked at his food whilst he was writing an entry in his Captain's Log, Tumen quietly ate and kept to himself, Jean practically scarfed down his food, Fitzwilliam delicately ate like it was fine dining, and Constance sat on top of a barrel eating some pickled fish. Jack noticed Arabella, who was sitting next to him, was not touching her food at all. She sat cross-legged as she hugged her stomach.
"You alright, lass?" Jack asked with concern. "You're not eating."
Arabella shrugged and bit her lip. "I'm fine. I'm just not really feeling good right now."
Jack watched as Arabella got up and walked to the other side of the ship.
Fitzwilliam gently wiped his face with his handkerchief and put his food down. "I'm going to go comfort the lady," he announced.
"Oh, no no no. I will be going to go comfort her!" Jack insisted.
"What makes you think you can comfort a lady? It would be much better that a gentleman like me does it," Fitzwilliam scoffed.
"I beg your pardon! I am very good at comforting ladies, I'll have you know! Besides, Arabella is much more comfortable with me since I've known her longer."
"Only by three days!"
"Are you sure you two really want to duel this out with the miss not feeling well across the deck here?" Jean questioned.
Jack and Fitz looked over at Arabella. Jean was right, this wasn't the time to duel anything out.
"Jack is correct, though," Jean continued. "He had known Arabella a bit longer so he should be the one to comfort her."
"HA!" Jack laughed.
"Fine! Go comfort her. If you screw up, I'm not helping you," Fitzwilliam fumed.
"She'll be fine. I'll check on her in a minute," Jack said waving his hand.
He closed his Captain's Log and looked down on the deck next to him. There was a big dark red spot right where Arabella was just sitting. It was probably half the size of the palm of his hand. He furrowed his brows in confusion. He had never seen that spot there before. He leaned over to the spot and rubbed his finger on it. It was kinda wet...and sticky. He leaned into it more with his nose almost touching the spot and took a couple sniffs. "Yuck!" Jack quickly sat back up and gagged. Blood. And it was fresh too.
"Jean, did your beastie sister thing kill something?" he asked, looking over at Jean and holding up his finger with the blood on it.
"Non. Not today, I don't think, Capitaine," Jean answered, shaking his head. Constance hopped off the barrel and strutted over to Jean. She curled up into his lap and he began to pet her.
They all looked at each other, wondering where the blood came from. Jack shrugged it off as he pushed his book and his food off his lap and he got up to go see how his first mate was doing.
Jack strode across the deck to Arabella. She was looking out to the sea and her auburn hair blew into her beautiful face. She still appeared to be in great discomfort. The self-appointed captain leaned his back against the railing cleared his throat, catching the girl's attention.
"So," he began. "How're you feeling?"
Arabella shrugged again and looked at Jack. "I've not been feeling too well for the past day. Not too bad...I've just been in pain and unhappy. I've also have been having weird cravings"
Jack looked away and thought for a moment. He then turned back to her. "Hmm..., I can gather from what you are telling me that you're probably pregnant."
"Oh, shut up!" Arabella said, slapping Jack's arm playfully. Jack chuckled a bit and Arabella couldn't help but laugh a little as well. The pain returned and she stepped away from Jack, further towards the bow.
Jack saw something on the deck from the corner of his eye and he looked down to where Arabella was just standing. Was he seeing things? He rubbed his eyes and looked at the spot again. Nope, still there. He held up his finger, which was still blood-stained, and he stared at both the spot and his finger. Yup, it was the same blood.
"Hey, Bell," Jack looked up at Arabella.
"Don't call me, Bell, please," Arabella interrupted from afar.
He was about to tell her about the spots he had just found when he saw something that made him double-take.
The former barmaid's skirts were torn a bit from their mission, so the boys, and at this moment Jack was able to see her feet, and what was in between them. Another dark red spot was between her feet. Something dripped from under her skirt onto the spot. Jack's eyes bulged out of his head and his jaw went agape. He looked at his finger, then back at the spot under her skirt.
"Lass..."
"What?!" She turned to him and put her hands on her hips. The spot of blood was still between her feet.
Jack had difficulty forming words from his mouth. He slowly pointed to her feet with a slightly shaking hand. "Y-you're...bleeding!"
"Huh?" Arabella seemed confused. She looked down to where Jack was pointing. All color drained from her face as if she had seen something cursed. "Oh...my...stars..."
The rest of the boys sat contently on the deck. Fitzwilliam stared at his empty plate thinking about Arabella.
"I sure hope Arabella is alright," Fitzwilliam said grimly.
"Me too," Tumen quietly agreed.
"As do I," Jean chimed in. "Knowing her, she will be fine."
Just as he spoke, the boys heard a scream from across the deck that made them jump in a startle.
"SHE'S BLEEDING!"
Constance bolted out of Jean's lap and the boys jumped straight onto their feet and ran over to the source of the scream.
"Mademoiselle! What's wrong?!" Jean called out as he and Tumen ran to the panicked teens.
"HALT! Who goes there?!" Fitzwilliam followed after, pointing his sword in battle mode. He then lowered his sword when he saw what was happening.
"She's covered in blood! She sat on a nail!" the brave and fearless captain screeched, covering his mouth. His voice cracked as if he was going to cry.
Constance crept over to one of the blood spots and sniffed at it. The cat gagged, spat at the ground, and ran off below decks.
"She's on her period you uneducated dolt!" Fitzwilliam snarled as he sheathed his sword, trying not to sound panicked himself. He knew having grown up around elder sisters.
"Disgusting," Tumen muttered. Jean elbowed him in the ribs.
"What do I do?!" Arabella whimpered. She closed her legs and hugged herself.
"You've not had one before?" Fitzwilliam questioned.
"Does it look like I've had one before?!" Arabella shrieked.
"Congratulations, mon ami! You are a woman now!" Jean cheered, throwing an arm around the girl's shoulders.
"Congratulations?! She's bleeding to death!" Jack exclaimed.
"Oh lord...she's not had her period before. She doesn't know what to do—we don't know what to do..." Fitzwilliam quaked. As much as he tried to keep his strong and brave demeanor, it was clear on his face that he was panic stricken as well. "I-I think we have something below decks. We HAVE to have something, right?" The aristocrat backed away and ran below decks.
"I can't believe this is happening!" Arabella trembled as Jean comforted her.
"Hurry, Fitzy! She's dying!" Jack cried out, his voice and body still shaking.
"She is not dying!" Jean snapped.
Fitzwilliam ran back up with a mop and a large bucket of water. "Here."
"What is that gonna do?!" Jack screamed.
"Umm...I don't know! I don't know what in the bloody hell you want me to do!" Fitzwilliam retorted.
"Go and get something else! What are you waiting for?!" Jack ordered. Fitzwilliam placed the bucket and mop down a ran back below deck.
"Oh, my stomach hurts!" Arabella moaned.
"Don't worry, Arabella. You'll be fine," Jean consoled. Tumen nodded in agreement.
"Ahhh! She's having contractions!" Jack shrieked.
He scrambled around, hyperventilating and trying to figure out what to do. Just then, a cargo ship came sailing by not far from the Barnacle, going the same direction toward their next port. Jack stepped onto the railing and starting yelling and flailing his arms.
"HELP US! MY FRIEND IS BLEEDING BETWEEN HER LEGS AND SHE'S DYING!" Jack shouted. The men on the ship looked confused at first, then began to laugh. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?!"
"Stop it, Jack! Yer embarrassing me!" Arabella cried, pulling Jack off the railing.
"AHH! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Jack pulled himself away from his bleeding first mate's grip, tumbled backwards, and fell into the bucket of water Fitzwilliam had put down. Arabella's hands flew to her mouth and she screamed a little. The men on the other ship continued to laugh as they sailed past the Barnacle.
"Calme, calme!" Jean called out, trying to get everyone's attention and quiet down. He walked over to Arabella, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her away towards the hatch. Tumen quickly rushed over to the captain to help him out of the bucket.
"Come on now, Arabella. Don't worry about it," Jean assured. "Let's go below decks and clean you up. Once everyone has calmed down, we'll continue to set sail. We're almost to port, so we'll get you more...proper supplies when we get there."
Just as Jean was about the open the hatch, Fitzwilliam burst through the door. First the first time ever, his usually perfect hair was ever so slightly messed up, and his face and neck were drenched in sweat.
He stood there for a second trying to catch his breath. "My lady! I believe I may have found something that could plug it up," Fitzwilliam presented what looked like white linen that was neatly folded, and a cork with a string attached to it.
Arabella rolled her eyes, and she and Jean pushed past Fitz to the stairs and down the hatch. Fitzwilliam turned and looked over at Tumen and the dripping Jack.
"It's only been a few minutes. What have I missed?" he asked with a puzzled look.
Jack was about to say something when he recognized one of the things Fitzwilliam had in his hands that was his.
"That is my shirt, you idiot!" Jack shouted angrily. He picked up the bucket of water he had just been pulled out from and charged at the aristo with it, who had dropped the shirt and cork and began to run.
Tumen stood over by the railing looking out to sea as he listened to the two boys chase each other around the ship. He laughed as he thought to himself: what was he and Jean thinking when they agreed to join the crew?