Passage back to the harbour was not as easy as it should have been, evidently there had been some sort of commotion outside, and the tiny streets were almost literally paved with people. Not that Tortuga was ever empty, but by the general confusion and in some people's cases, fear, something very much out of the ordinary had gone on.It seemed Jack had decided that, with nothing to keep her there, Erin would rejoin the Pearl. He had sad no more than that they needed her assistance in some way, and by now the crew were used to having a female presence among them.Without the time or the patience to investigate, they pushed their way through the crowds, which was proving exceedingly difficult. In the end, Jack grabbed hold of Erin's wrist and practically dragged her most of the way there. Though not exactly delighted by this method of travel, she had to admit it was getting them where they needed to be, if very slowly, and prevented their being separated. Although she did wish he would loosen his grip; she was starting to loose the feeling in her fingers.

Erin let out a sigh of relief, they were nearly there and the Pearl was in sight, having not seen it in quite some time she was again awed by it's presence. The black sails seemed gigantic, and the woodwork on the ship itself spoke of great fondness for the craft.
The tension in Jack's shoulders relaxed, as he had seemed discomforted by it's absence, but his hold on her arm didn't slacken. His ship was more dear to him than anything, as anyone who knew him rightly understood. Raised from the depths of the ocean itself, The Pearl was the fastest ship to sail the Spanish main, the exception of course being the Flying Dutchman, once captained by the infamous Davy Jones himself, whom Jack had made a rather treacherous bargain, which had taken him to death and back again. Only would he truly have managed this with the help of a certain blacksmith and his fiancé, with whom he had such a strange acquaintance, he could almost call them friends.

Erin was contemplating her return to the Pearl and all that it entailed, when she saw in a sudden movement a man break away from the crowd. To Erin's surprise, he darted towards her with a look of purpose on his face, cutlass held in hand. Startled she stepped back. Jack lost his hold on her arm, and disappeared, swamped by the crowd. She span around, looking for him, as the stranger drew nearer.
A strong sense of fear gripped her, and she stumbled backwards. It was clear he was solely concentrated on her, his dark menacing eyed glinted dangerously. Whatever he wanted, Erin was sure it wouldn't be anything good, she needed no further incentive to run.
Fumbling through the crowd, Erin struggled to forge a path through them. She daren't look back, and kept moving on through the many people with great difficulty.

Suddenly, arms encircled her waist. Erin yelled out, and hit back with all her might.
"Gerroff! Get away from me!"
The arms, dropped her unceremoniously, "That has to be the most eloquent speech you've ever made, love"
She sighed with relief, recognising the voice as Jack's. Sure enough he was stood there grinning slyly at her.
"If I'm going to get that sort of reception every time I do that, you're not coming"
"Don't make a habit of it. Especially when I'm running away from someone wielding a highly dangerous weapon"
"You'll be doing a lot of that, especially with me around" he said, every word hinting at innuendo.
She glanced at him, and her cheeks flushed furiously when she realised what he meant.
"Speaking of… Where is he…?"
"Who?"
"That bloke who's trying to murder me…"
"Oh, him err… DUCK!"
She gaped at him, sure he had finally lost his marbles, "What?"
"Bloody duck!"
At this point Jack grabbed the top of her head, and shoved her down towards the ground.

"Hey!",
"Oh, be quiet…"
"What are you doing!?"
"Saving your life, that's what!" Jack answered, scanning those nearby for the tell tale face of the would-be assassin.
"Jack…?", Erin muttered.
"Yeeees?" he sighed impatiently under his breath.
"Do you no think he might have seen you with me?"
"It's quite plausible, I suppose-", Jack had no time to finish his sentence and she yanked on his arm, pulling him down with her.
"Well, there was no need for that."
"Welcome to my world, Captain Sparrow", she said snickering at his expression.
Jack straightened his coat, unperturbed by her behaviour.
"Can you see anything?" she murmured.
He snorted, "Obviously not. All I can see are people's ankles… And some filthy looking ones at that…"
He wrinkled his nose, another setback at having to deal with the common people, the stench, although admittedly he didn't exactly smell like roses either. There were benefits however, hidden in amongst the crowd they were practically invisible.
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" she muttered, before turning to look at him, "What do we do?" He noticed how nervous she seemed, as she looked around them agitatedly. It was strange, he had never known her to be so on edge.
Jack grinned, this was the way he liked it. He was in charge, and he knew his own mind better than any other's, so it was much easier to put his trust in himself.
He grinned then shrugged, "We crawl…"

"I do not believe you Jack Sparrow. I met you again practically five minutes ago, and already it seems you're trying to get me killed."
"Shhh… Go on!" Jack answered, urging Erin forwards. Sure enough, they were slowly making progress through the crowd. Crawling one after the other through them.
"Excuse me…"
"Pardon me…"
"Seriously, what are they even doing here anyway? Go get a job!" Erin shouted to the nearest peasant.
Jack laughed, he had forgotten how amusing she could be, especially when exceedingly pissed off.
"That's a little harsh, and if I may say, slightly hypocritical."
"What?" she stopped and craned to look at him.
"Well, seen as though you seem to have been a pickpocket by trade (funny how you're life fell to pieces without me in it)-"
Erin frowned.
"-These people would have been paying your, ah, wages, as it were. Best to keep moving though, eh?"
"You've got some cheek…" but her frown lessened, and he knew she wasn't cross. She could never stay angry at him for very long, which he used to his advantage.

That wasn't the end of it though.
"We crawl… Do you not think there's a reason we learn to walk!?"
"Well, yes. Since when did you complain so bloody much? You go parading out there and see what happens. Go have a chat with that friend of yours if you like"
"He's no friend of mine…" she muttered bitterly.
"-And the way I see it, it's not so bad. Nice view", he smirked, peering from behind her lifting a suggestive eyebrow. She leaned back to swat at him, but missed. "Swine! I should have known you of all people would have an ulterior motive."
Jack merely chuckled to himself, but the grin slid off his face as a huge shadow was cast across them both. The crowd had parted and the big, burly assassin in question was towering over Erin.
He never managed to get any nearer however, as a shot rang out and he slumped wide eyed onto the cobble stones right in front of them.
Erin looked towards Jack looking just as nonplussed as he. He looked round for the elusive gunman (or woman, he had learned always to expect the unexpected), but saw no one.

The crowd bristled at the sound, and there was a piercing silence, before their hysterical voices rang 0ut unanimously, and it became complete pandemonium. Jack blinked and came to his senses, he grabbed hold of Erin's hand and tugged. She was staring stunned at the body now laid limp on the ground.
"We need to go... Now.", he hissed in her ear, but she was frozen to the spot, wide eyed. He pulled her up from the ground, and as he tugged harder (to his relief) she allowed him to steer her around the next turn and out of sigh