When Emily got back to the hall, her husband knew immediately that something was wrong. She was distraught, and he took her aside.
"What is wrong?" He asked her, urgently. Emily pulled her husband closer to him, not wanting any one too hear.
"Thomas, Rosaline is at the house, with a man…" She said urgently, "You have to get her to come back here."
"It's really none of my business who Rosaline spends her time with, Emily," Thomas laughed, but Emily shook her head,
"No, you really must get here back here now. I don't know what she might do… I think she might go away again. It would break her parent's hearts Thomas, it really would. And he's… he's not the type of man she should…"
"Perhaps you should be telling the Meredith Jones's about this, and not me." Thomas suggested, unsettled by his wife's desperation.
"I can't Thomas, you have to do this!" He took her hand, and tried to quieten her.
"Alright," He said, "Alright, I'll bring her back here."
"But be careful," Emily said, just before he left,
"Why?"
"Just… be careful." Emily didn't want to admit that she thought Rosaline was going to run off with a pirate.
"What was that?" Rosaline froze, and stood up. There were sounds downstairs, and voices. "Some one's here." Jack stood up and straightened his attire slightly,
"Maybe they won't…" They heard footsteps, "Come upstairs."
"Jack what are we going to do?" Rosaline hissed desperately, "What if it's my parents?"
"No worries luv," Jack headed to the window. "Y' can just make like y've been here the whole time. Who's yer dad goin' t' believe, you? Or yer friend?"
"Wait, stop. Don't you dare leave." Rosaline grabbed his arm, and Jack stopped, turning to face her. "Don't leave me again." Jack kissed her quickly, and gave her a wink,
"Y' can't get rid o' me luv," He grinned, swinging a leg over the balcony, "And Roz, y' might want to tidy up yer hair a bit, if yer havin' company."
Jack disappeared, and Rosaline glanced in her mirror. Her hair was a mess. She brushed it quickly, and straightened her skirt, just in time to hear a knock on her door.
"Yes?" She said, quite proud of how calm her voice was. Thomas entered,
"Sorry Rosaline, I know you wanted to rest, but people are requesting your presence." Rosaline sighed, and glanced out of the window one more time.
"Alright." She said, pulling her wrap around her shoulders. "I should have known that I wouldn't be allowed to get out of it that easily." She was aware of Thomas' eyes searching the room discreetly. So Emily had blabbed. But could she be blamed? She had caught her friend playing tonsil hockey with a pirate.
Rosaline kept her eyes on the trees and down back streets on the entire journey to the hall. She didn't spot Jack, and she wasn't really surprised. She had the feeling that if he didn't want to be found, he wasn't going to be.
"Oh Rosaline dear, you decided to come back. I am glad," Her mother approached her as soon as she spotted her. Rosaline looked awkward, and distracted. She was looking for any sign of the crew, but she couldn't even see Elizabeth any more.
"Well, I couldn't let every one miss me. Not on my first day back."
Rosaline talked for hours, but always kept her eyes out for the crew. Maybe they weren't even there any more. Maybe they had left. Gone for good. Rosaline shook herself. That was not true. Definitely not true.
Her suspicions were justified when she heard screams coming from the far side of the room. The music stopped playing, every one stopped dancing. Rosaline had no idea what was going on until she heard,
"No need to scream luv, I don't bite." Jack. Her heart skipped a beat, and then sunk straight afterwards. What is he doing here? He's going to get himself killed. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd, where Jack, Marti and Bill stood. Bill gave her a little bow, and Marti nodded, grinning.
"This is outrageous! Get these people out of here at once," Lady Smithe, the lady who was hosting the ball spoke up, enraged. But she too let out a scream when Jack's pistol went off into the air.
"Oh, I don't think we'll be doin' that." He said, demurely, "Not without what we came for."
Then suddenly, three guards ran into the room, their rifles raised. Rosaline gasped as she saw them all take aim at Jack.
Jack himself however, did not seem very worried about the fact that he was about to be used for target practice. In fact, he almost looked like he was enjoying it, and soon after, Rosaline found out why.
All at once, there were three sickening simultaneous cracks. The soldiers slid to the ground, revealing Will behind the first, Ana behind the second, her pistol in her hand, and Elizabeth behind the third, looking quite proud of the fact that she'd just knocked out a member of the Royal Navy.
"Hello," Ana said, to the astounded crowd. They all started looking around themselves nervously, eyeing every one with the utmost suspicion.
Rosaline couldn't help the delight showing on her face. She found it very amusing that she was the only one who knew anything about what was going on. She caught Emily looking at her strangely.
"You aren't Rosaline," She hissed, "Rosaline would never behave like this. Never. You make a choice, us or them. And believe me, you will never be spoken well of in society again. Your decisions affect your family mind. So far you have done your best to disgrace them." Rosaline was shocked at Emily's cold tone, and her harsh words. She pulled her eyes away from her gaze.
Rosaline wasn't hurt by Emily's words. She was angry. Angry that Emily would even dare to say something like that to her, when she had absolutely no idea how Rosaline was feeling. Angry that she would try and play the 'disgracing your family' card, when all she had ever done was be a credit to her family, even when she didn't want to be. Angry that Emily was so stupid to believe that she cared for her place in society, above Jack. She turned away, keeping her face expressionless, and knew that she was never going to make eye contact with her friend again. That was the end of their friendship, and Rosaline couldn't exactly work out why she hadn't seen Emily's arrogance before. Maybe because I was as arrogant as she is. She thought, more disgusted with the type of person she used to be, than she had been when she had first met any of Jack's crew.
"Who are you, pirate, and what do you want?" Lady Smithe's husband demanded, his rage bubbling to the surface. He was quite a large man, and not military in any way, except in his connections. His face was Red, and was blending in quite nicely with the uniforms around him.
"Who am I?" Jack grinned, showing his gold teeth, "Captain Jack Sparrow," There was no sound made, but a general sense of realisation settled in the room, "And I'll tell y' one thing mate. I just got a hefty share in the treasure of Isla de Corona, I've got me ship, plenty of food, plenty o' rum, and a good crew. I'm probably richer than you, in actual fact,"
"What is your point?" Smithe demanded, furious that there was nothing he could do about these pirates, and no way of telling who else was on their side.
"My point is, whilst I have all of these wonderful things, there is one thing your little town has that I want." Jack waved his pistol around the room, causing many people to back away nervously. Then, so quickly that it made several of the closest onlookers jump in shock, he slipped it into his belt, and his eyes rested on Rosaline. "What I want, is the lovely lady in pink."
Rosaline's mother made some kind of over exaggerated swoon, and fell into her husband's arms.
"Of course if ye let me have her, me crew will put yer town to our rudder. And y'll get no trouble from us again."
"Outrageous! If you think for one moment that my daughter would be allowed to run away with even a respectable man she did not marry, let alone a pirate, you are very much mistaken Mister Sparrow."
"Captain Sparrow." Jack said, "A problem with marriage you say? Well then, I have a proposition for y'. How about, the lady steps forward," Her father was about to stop her, but Jack swung his pistol around absently, and Rosaline stepped out, "A wise move," Jack said approvingly, "And now, the next part of my proposition." He stuck his hand into one of his many coat pockets, and pulled something out.
Marti saw something glint in his hand,
"Bloody hell!" She gasped, forgetting herself. "This wasn't in the plan," Bill hissed at her to be quiet.
Then Jack did something that not even Savannah would have expected, if she was there. He knelt down on one knee, right in front of Rosaline,
"Roz," He said, grinning at the shock on her face, "D'y fancy marryin' me?"