Erin leant against the wall, coat drawn tightly around herself to keep out the deviant chill that was by no means typical weather to suit her surroundings. Jack and herself had found themselves in a similar alleyway to the one before, in fact, she couldn't be entirely sure it wasn't the same 0ne. They all looked identical in this neighbourhood.
She found herself staring purposefully into the sky, still panting slightly after the brief run that had followed the previous incident. Truth be told, she had been avoiding meeting Jack's eye than anything else, in case they betrayed her feelings on the matter. She was just as determined not to notice the shaking of her shoulders, which had nothing to do with the cold.
He himself, had left a few moments earlier, to check if the nearby streets were clear of anyone looking distinctly murderous.

Erin was thankful for the moment of calm, as it gave her a chance to come to terms with the day's events. Whatever way she looked at it, she was shocked, she supposed she was naive for not understanding why anyone would want to kill her. In this respect Jack was right, she was not pirate material.
The thing was, Erin wasn't a bad person, and never had she been. She had morals and a strong sense of humanity which she was proud of, though they seemed rather useless. She never meant to end up like this. When she was young there were no uncertainties about her future, at least not it in the minds of her parents.
Coming from a fairly wealthy family she would most likely have been married off to some rich young man. Although this appealed to many of her acquaintances (dare she call them friends?), and to her older sister (a cold, unkind woman who only cared for her reflection), she wasn't like them. Erin never wanted that life for herself, she found it tiresome, and frankly lacked in anything that should keep her there, and it didn't.

In her life murder, mutiny and other happenings of a disturbing nature had become almost common occurrences, not being so blissfully seldom as in other people's cosy existences. She never really understood even though it had been a long time since she had seen herself as "upper class", the divide was still there. Even though this was never an aspect of her life she had taken pleasure in, she had grown to accept it. ,She felt alienated from all the people she had ever known, never really fitting in anywhere. She was accepted of course, with her quick wit and nerves of steel, but deep down had always felt as though she was apart from all the others she had known.
In her youth she recognised, she had been the oddball amongst her peers, although those who really cared for her she realised, had loved her for it. Though the fact that these consisted of only three cats, her brother, and her father didn't really make her feel any better. There was a similar sort of strangeness in Jack she realized, that she had always respected. In some ways he was very like her, and was a good man at heart. He of course would never admit to it, as a fellow miscreant and all.
In Erin's mind it made him a peculiar pirate, but an exceptional one even so.

Resting her face in her hands, she tried to rid the image of her potential killer's body, limp and lifeless on the ground, from her mind. The sudden stillness, and his sightless eyes staring straight through her. The thought he would have murdered her, if given the chance, did not help to ease her mind. She wanted to know who had killed him, and if indeed they wanted to do the same to her.
Sighing deeply, instead she attempted to think about her future, and what Jack actually wanted. He had been very lax in explaining what it was.
They had always been to some extent, friends, though doubtless that being the incorrect term, for their bizarre relationship. She had a great amount of unspoken admiration for him which she never divulged, his head didn't need to swell to be any bigger than it already had. Arrogant sod, she thought affectionately.

Jack came swaggering back down the tiny street.
"We better make for the Pearl while it's clear…"
Erin was waiting, arms folded, "Took your time didn't you?"
"Thought you might need it…" he shrugged.
Erin eyes him suspiciously, "Why?"
"Well, you looked like you were in shock.", Jack leaned against the wall, eyes glinting wickedly. Oh, she wouldn't like that…
"It takes more than that to scare me, you know that."
"Really?" he taunted.
"Really."
"Oh good. No worries then…" Jack answered, and made to leave.
"Jack…?"
"What now?" he turned around.
"Did you have anything to do with this?" she asked, hands on hips.
"No" he answered sharply, "I don't make a habit of asking people to join my crew, then getting them killed. That just makes no sense."
"You know what I mean, and when did you ever make sense?"
Jack laughed.

They were back to the banter again, which made things easier. Soon he would have to answer her questions, but not yet. He had to admit she still intrigued him as much as ever, even more so if that was possible. Jack was even surprised at himself, he never let anyone boss him around, but the demanding expression on her face always won him over in the end. It was the lack of rum he had decided.
"Jack… Pleeeeeease tell me what's going on…" Oh Gods, he thought, that was a dirty tactic.
"No" he said shortly, "You'll know soon enough…"
"You always do this" a scowl crossed her face, "I'm fed up of just having to trust you, which by the way, I don't!"
"Well you're just going to have to get used to it"
"Why…. You!" she exclaimed. Jack only grinned back, she was positively adorable when infuriated. Yes, there was a definite lack of rum here.
Erin opened her mouth to speak, at which point the hastily covered her mouth with his hand, "Need I say once again, be quiet?"

Erin slapped his hand away, and frowned at him, her gaze meeting his. This seemed to commence some sort of silent staring competition. She glared at him, unblinking, annoyed by the demeaning way in which he treated her. Eventually her eyes watering, she blinked.
A look of triumph crossed his face, but he still didn't look away. His unwavering gaze and proximity suddenly made her uncertain as she felt the urge to shy away. Feelings that had long lain dormant stirred, as she felt her heart skip a beat.
"Hmph…"
"What?"
"You don't trust me?"
"Only because you're a compulsive liar…" she answered, an amused smirk playing at her lips.
"You know you love that in me, Erin"
"Do not" she said, defiantly.
"Do so"
"Do not
"Do so…" they were merely centimetres away from each other now and Erin suddenly found herself mystified by the unyielding look in his eyes.
"Well, maybe a little…" she relented.
"Good", he grinned and Erin felt his arms encircled her waist, this time she didn't fight them off. He inclined his head towards hers.

The click of a gun loading resounded through the alleyway.

They both froze. After what seemed like an age Jack murmured, "As much as I was enjoying this little interlude, love, I think it may be wise to continue this later…"
She nodded breathlessly, "I agree…"
They both slowly turned their heads to look in the direction of the noise, only to see a man stood, cocking a pistol at Erin's head. She blinked, taken aback.
"Prepare to die…" he drawled, with a malevolent sneer.
Erin thought about saying something very articulate about originality, but thought it better left unspoken. Generally psychopaths and murderers did not think on the same level as she. Instead, as his finger squeezed the trigger, she scrunched her eyes closed. There was a silence and no shot rang out.

Erin opened her eyes, Jack was wincing with his eyes also closed. Clearly, he was more squeamish than she thought, or perhaps he just didn't want to see the women he had a second before been trying to lure blown to bits. She supposed it was a bit of both. Erin looked over at the man, he was staring at his gun totally flummoxed. Jack it seemed had more of an idea than he did, as he opened his eyes, and deftly snatched the pistol from the man's hands.
Jack's other arm slid from around Erin's waist as he examined it, "You pillock, it's not loaded!"
The man only managed a simple sounding "Oh", before Jack brought the pistol's pommel down on the crown of his head with a sickly crack.
Erin grimaced, "That's disgusting…"
Jack looked back at Erin with a raised eyebrow for a second, before grabbing her hand. She missed the look on his face as he turned back around, "Well, that was a close shave... Come on, there might be more of them…"
Before she could reply he pulled her after him in the direction of the port.