Ah, Tortuga. Smashing place. (Not.) Well, here's a few scenes, some of which involve our dear Jack-slapping prostitutes. A bit of good fun, in my opinion. Please enjoy, read, review, whatever. Comme toujours, everything is Disney's.

6. Recovery

I had never seen any place like Tortuga before.

We landed at dusk, and the first thing that I saw were two obviously drunk men on the quay who were throwing off-balanced punches at each other's faces. Jack saw my look of alarm and smiled reassuringly at me. 'Only gets better from here, love,' he said, and helped me out of the rowboat. Staggering a bit on my cramped legs, I followed him, wondering if 'better' in his book meant more rowdy or less.

To my distaste, Jack's perception turned out to be the former. The tavern we entered was filled with drunkards pouring rum into their throats by the tankard, saucy prostitutes flouncing about before lewd-eyed sailors, and intoxicated brawlers whacking anyone who came within a few feet of them with chairs, swords, fists, or whatever else was available. I sat down at a bench, trying my hardest to look inconspicuous as Jack wove over to the bar and ordered two mugs of rum.

'You there!' slurred a dirty-faced man, tripping over his feet and throwing an arm around my shoulders to steady himself. I wrinkled his noise at the foul odour that reeked on his breath. 'How'd you like to come with me back to my…'

'Let her alone, she's with me,' I heard Jack say sternly as he returned with the mugs of rum in one hand and his sword drawn in the other. Grumbling in disappointment, the dirty man slouched away, and Jack slid onto the bench opposite me.

'Cheers,' he said happily, raising his mug and taking a long swig. 'No need to look so startled, love,' he said, putting his mug down on the table with a dull thud and raising his eyebrows at me. 'Didn't I mention that Tortuga's a pirate port? Lots of shady and untrustworthy folk about…'

'Jack Sparrow!' said a voluptuous red-headed hussy, rustling her skirts as she strode over to our table. She fixed Jack with a dazzling smile, which he returned nervously, and then noticed me. 'Who's she?' she asked, her eyes narrowing as I tried my best to look neither threatening nor weak.

Jack cleared his throat. 'Erm, Scarlett, this is my friend Anamaria. Got her out of a spot of trouble concerning the East India Trading Company and we've both come to stay on Tortuga while we recover from what injuries we sustained.'

The prostitute had stopped glaring at me and had her full attention trained on Jack. 'Oh, Jack,' she gasped, stroking his cheek with her hand, 'how brave of you… and, what's this? Oh, you've got a black eye, poor baby… Giselle!' She waved her hand and another hussy, this one blonde, sauntered over. 'Look at what's happened to poor Jack!'

Giselle gave a sympathetic coo, and she too began to pet Jack on the head, her lips pursed in a tiny pout. 'Jack Sparrow, you've got to stop getting yourself into these fixes! What did you do this time, take out the whole Navy by yourself?'

'Rescued her,' said Scarlett, jerking her head in my direction without looking at me. Giselle too shot me a less-than-friendly look before looking back down at Jack.

'Well, you come with Scarlett and me, Jack, and we'll take care of all your physical problems,' she said, rubbing her hand slowly down his back as Scarlett leaned in a bit towards his face.

Jack glanced at me apologetically and coughed. 'Sorry, ladies, but… I've got a broken rib that needs setting.'

The prostitutes pouted. 'We promise we won't be too rough…' began Giselle, but Jack waved his hands hurriedly in the air and said, 'No, no, it really doesn't feel at all well… I'll get it fixed and catch up with you two lovely ladies later, savvy?' And, quickly downing the rest of his rum, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out the door of the tavern.

'Sorry about that,' he muttered to me, 'old acquaintances, you know, not too friendly towards people they haven't met before…'

I nodded, tight-lipped. For some reason, I was not irritated half so much by the unfriendly way they had treated me as I had been by the fact that they obviously had known Jack more than just as acquaintances in the past.

Jack pulled me down several dark alleyways, past more taverns, pig sties, and sword shops, until we finally stopped outside of a dingy inn. 'In we go,' said Jack, holding the door open for me. I stepped into a dusty room filled with a few dilapidated chairs and tables. 'Two rooms, please,' said Jack, slapping some coins down upon the counter. The innkeeper grunted and nodded for us to go upstairs.

Jack showed me into a small room with a lumpy bed and a small table next to the window. 'I'll be just across the way, if anything happens,' he told me.

'Jack, I'm… I'm sorry, but I haven't got any money to pay you back for the room, and the rum,' I began, but Jack snorted and waved his hand in the air.

'Not to worry, love.' He pulled a small purse out of his pocket and shook it, smiling in satisfaction at the jingle it made. 'Stole it off of Scarlett when she wasn't looking,' he explained. 'Ought to cover a doctor and a week or so of lodgings. So don't fret about anything to do with cost – this is Tortuga, no one carries his own money with him!'

I smiled weakly. 'Thank you,' I whispered. 'Good night, Jack.'

'Night, love,' said Jack, pocketing Scarlett's purse. He tipped his hat at me before turning on his heel and striding into his room, closing the door with a sharp snap.

I woke up the next morning when someone rapped loudly on the door of my room and entered without waiting for a response.

'Morning, love,' said Jack's voice cheerily, pulling the curtains away from the grimy window as I pulled the blankets up over my head. 'Brought the doctor here to see you – might want to wake up some time soon.'

With a sleepy groan, I poked my head out from under the blanket, blinking at the disgruntled-looking little man seated beside my bed. 'Well, come on, now, show me this flesh wound of yours, I haven't got all day,' he wheezed, pulling a pair of spectacles out of his bag and perching them on the end of his nose.

I raised an eyebrow at Jack. 'Do you mind?' I asked pointedly. Jack looked questioningly at me for a moment, and then scooted out of the room.

The doctor examined my side with his lips pursed in concentration. 'Hmm… you received this injury five days ago?' he asked. I nodded, inhaling sharply as he poked at the gaping wound. 'You're quite lucky, you know – no important internal organs pierced, by the looks of it, no sign of infection, even though these bandages haven't been changed in quite some time, and it's healing up as well as possible. I assume you've been resting, not exerting yourself in any way?'

I nodded, deciding that lying in the bottom of a rowboat for several days could be counted as rest.

'Good, good,' muttered the doctor, snapping his bag closed and standing up. 'Well, I'll change those bandages for you and wash out that cut. You stay here in bed for the next few days, don't go running about if you don't want that to reopen…' Still muttering to himself, the doctor walked out of the room. Less than a minute after the door clicked shut behind him, I heard the handle turn and looked up to see Jack creeping back in.

'Jack!' I whispered furiously, pulling the covers up over me.

'You'll be all right, then?' he asked unabashedly, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

'Yes, but I'm not supposed to go out and about in the town for the next few days, he's afraid that the wound will open back up.' I glanced towards the door. 'Are you sure that doctor is completely reliable, Jack?'

''Course I'm sure,' said Jack, sounding slightly offended. 'Best doctor in town. Patched up just about every kind of injury in his time – you wouldn't believe some of the ways people have managed to win bar fights around here… and, here, don't believe me, look at this.' Jack pulled open his shirt to reveal several wounds on his chest clearly made by bullets. 'Courtesy of the East India Trading Company,' he explained, 'nearly killed me a few years back, and probably would have, if I hadn't managed to get to Tortuga in time. Still not convinced?' he asked, grinning wickedly.

I sighed, slightly mollified. 'And how are you, Jack?' I asked, feeling slightly bad that I hadn't had the manners to ask before now.

Jack shrugged. 'Been better, been worse,' he answered airily. 'Going to go see if I can have a few teeth put in to replace the ones Beckett got rid of for me.'

'Is your rib all right?' I asked, undeterred. Jack smiled sheepishly at me.

'Just cracked. Not too bad.' I looked at him, unconvinced. 'All right, now don't you go telling the doctor about this when he gets back, but technically I'm not supposed to be out of bed myself for the next few days…'

'Jack Sparrow!' roared the old doctor himself, stomping furiously back into the room. 'Back to bed with you right this instant, you scoundrel.' Clasping his hands apologetically, Jack slid out the door as the doctor began to daub some liquid into my wound that stung horribly.

I spent the majority of the next week staring aimlessly at the ceiling of my room, bored nearly to tears. The only bright spot of my day was in the evening, when Jack (who had somehow managed to persuade the doctor that he was fit to wander about the town) would bring me my dinner and tell me about all the sights he had seen that day. For some reason, each fight, each trick, each near escape of his own seemed so much more vivid when told through his eyes – I imagined that had I been there myself I would not have been more entertained.

Even when the pirate was not seated by my bedside, relaying stories to me, I often found myself thinking about him. Would he really take me with him, teach me to fly above the law, away from the troubles and cruelty of the world? Oftentimes I would be startled out of my daydreams by the thought of those glinting, black eyes, filled with mischief, but not with anger, more like a little boy who steals candy from the kitchen than like the heartless killers I had been told all pirates were. The thought of his eyes sent shivers up my spine, which I tried and failed to ignore.

After a week's time, the doctor finally decided that I was well enough to get up and go about the city. I soon fell into the rhythm of the place, and decided that I might as well get a job so that I could pay Jack back for everything he had done for me. I managed to get a position as a bartender at the same tavern that Jack had taken me to the night we arrived, and learned quickly how to stop the advances of drunken customers who took a bit more than just a friendly interest in me.

'Now that,' said Jack, walking over to the bar one day as I slapped a man so hard across the face that he dropped to the floor, 'is more of an education than I could ever give you in terms of pirating.'

'Jack!' I said, and hastily began to wash out the dirty mugs in front of me. 'What are you doing here?'

'Two reasons, love,' said Jack, leaning against the bar. 'To get a large quantity of rum for my own personal use, and to make sure that you aren't getting into too much trouble.'

I stopped cleaning. 'I appreciate that,' I said quietly.

Jack shrugged. 'Well, I'm stranded here without a boat, and therefore have no way to go about pursuing Barbossa and my Pearl, so I might as well, eh?'

'Can't you join someone else's crew?' I asked.

Jack looked horrified at the thought and drew himself up to his full height. 'Love, there's a reason my name is Captain Jack Sparrow,' he reminded me. 'I fully intend to sail my own ship out of this glorious port, under me own colours, with me own crew.'

I set down my rag and looked Jack square in the eyes. 'Let me help you,' I said. 'I'm getting a fair wage in this job, and I was planning on paying you back for the doctor and all, but instead let me buy a ship with the money. You can teach me how to sail and act as captain until you get your own ship back, and I can keep the ship and be a captain in my own right.'

Jack raised an eyebrow. 'Fair enough, love,' he said. And so, after a month's worth of hard work, we managed to bargain a suitable ship off the hands of an old pirate who was ready to give up sailing anyway. The ship was small enough that it could be sailed by only two people, if need be, which was fortunate because Jack had had no luck in finding a crew, and so it was that on a fine sunny morning, Jack Sparrow and I sailed out of Tortuga with the wind in our sails, a stock of rations, and (at Jack's insistence) a large quantity of rum.

Can't forget the rum, of course. Please review!