DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OR ITS CHARACTERS.

Chapter 7: Drinks and the King

I've been a wild rover for many a year

And I spent all me money on whiskey and beer

And now I return with gold in great store

And I never will play the wild rover no more

And it's no, nay, never

No, nay, never, no more

Will I play the wild rover

No, nay, never, no more

I'll go back to my parents confess what I've done

And I'll beg them to pardon their prodigal son

And if they embrace me as oft times before

Then I never will play the wild rover no more

Colleen sang absent mindedly to herself as she read over her mother's letter for what seemed to be the eightieth time that hour. The songs she sang were so familiar to her, that they needed no conscious thought for the words to spill from her mouth and for her throat to spin their tunes. Still the words on the paper hadn't changed in spite of the happy songs, still she was condemned to a bed with a man whom she didn't know, and had no care to ever know, still she was being taken from the life that she loved to be bound to land.

It was the day after the trial and Colleen was already up and about where her family was still in bed nursing hangovers from the previous night's drinking. Most of Shipwreck Cove wasn't up yet either making the streets the best place to be if you wanted to be alone. Colleen hadn't even bothered to make herself decent (pirate as she was, she had still been raised a lady), and her too-big-for-her shirt had slipped down one shoulder as it was not held on by her snug vest. Her calves were bare and showing as well since she hadn't bothered to put on her boots or stockings before she'd left the inn. Her hair was flowing haphazardly over her shoulders being free of its usual confines after neither having brushed nor braided it. Nor was her hair held tame by her usual harlequin bandana. Overall, Colleen looked like she'd had a hard night, and had simply pulled her pants on before getting out of bed, which was in fact what had happened.

Colleen was sitting on the docks mulling over the letter and Gabriel's words, she tried desperately to sort out the things that had kept her awake most of the night. Suddenly Colleen looked up as something at the mouth of Shipwreck Cove caught her eye, a large ship. She raised one hand to shield her eyes as she squinted into the morning sun to try and view the flag. To her confusion the ship was sporting the same flag that Rackham's ship, the Fortune, did. This made no sense, so she decided to wait about for the ship to dock and then have a peek at the Captain to see who this mysterious and strangely beautiful ship belonged to, she especially liked the black sails.

An hour later the ship had docked and Colleen slipped on board to look around while the crew unloaded empty provision barrels.

The wood of the deck beneath her feet felt damp and cold from the sea, she ran her hand along some of the spare docking ropes as thick as her arm and savored their prickly feeling on her skin. Colleen stood in the center of the deck and closed her eyes and let the presence of the ship wash over her. She turned in a circle and smiled in an expression of pure joy, a feeling coursing through her that she hadn't felt since the Pendennis sank. It felt like home.

"Oi! You there!"

An authoritative voice snapped her out of her reverie and she spun around in surprise. Colleen took in the people staring at her, both men, both looked oddly familiar.

"Are you on me crew? Who're you?" the one on the right spoke, he had a big grey coat, and dark dreadlocks and was standing with one hand poised in the air. "Well?"

"Oh! Well I'm Colleen Killigrew of the good ship Pendennis… well I was, it got sunk off the coast of Brazil so I guess I'm not on that ship anymore. But anyway, no, no I'm not on your crew, I were just admiring the ship. Is one of you the captain?" she babbled.

"I am." They answered at once then glared daggers at eachother.

"I told you before Barbossa, if they're your charts, that makes you chart-man!"

The man called Barbossa rolled his eyes before turning back to Colleen.

"Where are our manners?" He said striding towards her.

"My name is Captain Barbossa, pleased to make your humble acquaintance Miss Killigrew." He said taking off his hat and bowing to her in a sweeping gesture, before taking her hand and planting a polite kiss on her fingers.

The other man, obviously not to be out done, strode up to Colleen and said, "And I am the legendary Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl." He said putting stress on the ship's name. Then there was a pause before Jack stepped forward dipped Colleen and kissed her full on the mouth. Colleen too stunned to do anything didn't think to push him away until after he'd let her up.

Again Barbossa rolled his eyes and then gave another polite bow. "Excuse us Miss Killigrew but we need to report to the Brethren Court to which we be long overdue." With that Barbossa swept by Colleen and Jack leaving them standing on the deck alone.

After a moment or two Jack turned to Colleen and said, "Care for a drink."

Colleen shook her head and replied, "I'd love one, or seven…" and she needed it after an introduction like that.

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After a few rounds of drinks Colleen had spilled almost her entire life's story to Jack while learning virtually nothing about him. Other than that he captained the Black Pearl, he knew Pizzarro (which was an oddity because Colleen thought he'd been dead for a while now), that he escaped a marooning by riding on the back of three giant sea turtles, and that he loved rum, French doors, and peanuts. By far it was the most confusing conversation that she'd ever had in her life, which interestingly enough got less and less confusing as she drank.

The "date" had ended when Jack had watched her finish her fourth drink and had leaned over to whisper a proposition in her ear, while his hand inched up her thigh suggestively. Colleen's eyes flew wide open and she gave an indignant shriek and gave Jack a slap that sent him sprawling.

"I'm only seventeen you pedophile!" she cried and stormed out of the bar.

Jack straightened himself up after that and said to the bartender, "I guess she's not paying then."

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Colleen strode through the crowds in a huff muttering to herself about: "How do I attract these kinds of people? Where do they get off thinking that every woman in Shipwreck City is a whore? How many times is this now? Nine, that I've had an old dog attempt to court me? Is there no decency among pirates anymore?"

This was when Thomas found her again and called out to her, "Hey Colleen!"

"Not now Enid, I'm busy thinking about how I attract men." Colleen groaned nibbling on her thumb-nail, and tripping over her feet.

Thomas stopped in his tracks. "You're drunk aren't you?"

"What?" Colleen's eyes shot up and she finally recognized Thomas. "Oh, hello Thomas, I was just talking to Enid about how I seem to attract strange old men. And yes, I am a little drunk."

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Four pints… or was it five?" she stopped in her tracks and contemplated.

"Well you're going to have a headache in the morning…" he muttered, then he walked forward and pulled Colleen along behind him. "Come on you sea-witch, time to get you sober…"

"Oi, where you takin' me!" she shrieked indignantly.

"Isn't my fault you got drunk well before noon. So now it's my responsibility to clear your head before the Brethren Court meets." Thomas said still pulling her along behind him.

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By nightfall Colleen had in fact been sobered and was nursing the subsequent headache with her water logged bandana pressed to her temple and a chair in the quieter and darker corner of one of the taverns.

Captain Killigrew was the one to stumble upon Diggles and Colleen huddled in the corner as she went to the bar for a stiff drink before hell broke loose in the city. With the Brethren Court in session something was going to be decided tonight, and there were a wide range of opinions on what should and should not be done. It was likely that a few brawls would break out between the factions before the Court announced their final decision.

The factions were all led by various captains and crews, all of which seemed more like gang members now. The village surrounding Shipwreck cove had isolated the pirate city, not wishing to have to deal with the brawling buccaneers while they had nothing to do with the politics.

Captain's Samuel Bellamy, Cheng Chin, Anne Bonney and Mary Reade all wanted to fight the Company's forces, no matter how powerful for their freedom. On the other side Cheng I Sao, Jack Rackham, and Benjamin Hornigold wanted to simply stay put in Shipwreck Cove and use it as the fortress it was. Blackbeard adamant to oppose Bellamy and to appease his former teacher Captain Hornigold, took the side that was most opposed to his character, to shack up in Shipwreck Cove and hide. The Killigrew clan had decided to stay out of the politics and remain a neutral party. Having neither ship nor means to acquire a new one at the moment, they held no real political weight so they decided to wait to see what the outcome was and offer service and barter a way out to whatever ship left Shipwreck Cove first.

Elizabeth Killigrew had just ordered her drink and then turned to find a place to sit when she spotted Thomas and Colleen, so she moved to join them.

"You look ill Colleen." Captian Killigrew said sitting next to Thomas.

Colleen looked up quickly upon hearing her cousin's voice and then groaned.

"'m just drunk Captain… or I was…" she said letting her head rest on the table.

Captain Killigrew frowned. "You know better than that Colleen."

"Yeah, well I couldn't well help it! There was this man who kept on buying my drinks, an' I didn't want to be rude so I drank 'em. I think his name was Jack Swallow or John Starling or—"

"Sparrow?" Elizabeth Killigrew offered with a knowing smile.

"Yeah, that's it. Jack Sparrow."

"That was the Captain of the Black Pearl, Colleen."

Colleen sat up again. "Really?"

Her cousin nodded. "I met him once, Captain Jack Sparrow… interesting man."

Colleen snorted her agreement.

They sat in silence for a little while longer and Captain Killigrew finished her drink. Before standing she said:

"Thomas take care of Colleen, she looks a little worse for wear. And neither of you journey out into the streets after dark! There's bound to be some fighting going on and I don't want you two getting into any of it!" She stared at them pointedly.

"Yes, Captain." They replied, but managed to sneak out into the streets to see what was happening when gun shots were fired.

Sam Bellamy's crew had met Blackbeard's in the street and had been circling each other and snarling like dogs. Finally one had pounced on the other and a fight had broken out. It was Bellamy who came upon the scene and fired off one of his pistols into the air to break it up. He berated his crew for acting like animals instead of men, and Colleen and Thomas showed up when Blackbeard had come across the scene as well.

"Bellamy, it's been a while." Blackbeard growled in mock levity.

"Teach." Bellamy replied through gritted teeth, and gave the other Captain a curt nod.

"So's your boys are makin' trouble again Samuel?" Edward Teach replied, it was the first time Colleen had heard Blackbeard stripped of his nickname.

"Actually you'll find that it was your boys who started it Edward… I was just scolding mine for stooping to their level…" Bellamy's voice was calm and controlled.

"I think you'll find a good strip o' leather works better than words." He spoke the next words to his crew, "Twenty lashes for the lot o' ye, upon return to the Revenge…" Blackbeard stared Bellamy down.

"That's the difference between you and me, Teach." Bellamy said. "You have to resort to force to keep your men in line. Mine simply need a few choice words and my will be done…"

"Oh cut the drama and kiss already!" a new voice howled.

All eyes turned on Mary Reade who had just entered alongside Anne Bonney, both wore manic grins on their faces.

"We all know you two're just brimming with all this sexual tension!" Mary giggled, goading both of the men to see who would snap first; naturally it was Blackbeard.

"That's rich coming from you, Mary Reade… Have you finally convinced Anne to leave Rackham for you yet?" he retorted.

Anne snorted her disapproval. "Well Blackbeard, she does have bigger balls that you, after all, she's willing to stand up and fight the Company to get out of here. Since when were you such a lily-livered coward?"

This war of words progressed into a two-on-one match between the two female captains and Blackbeard. It was finally broken up by Bellamy when he fired off a second pistol.

"Alright, there's been enough fighting tonight. So let's all calm down and crawl back to our respective corners of this city… We're all in this together regardless of the decision of the Court. It's not up to us, so let's go get some food and drink. I for one will flog any man on my crew who is involved in another fight! What do you say Captains, can we coexist peacefully until morning?"

"Yeah, alright." Mary Reade said returning her cutlass to her belt.

Teach grumbled a bit before relenting and putting his own cutlass away. The crowd began to disperse then feeling that the show was over.

"Well Bellamy, care to join us over at the India Trader for a drink?" asked Anne Bonney revealing the tavern the crew of the Fortune had holed up in.

Bellamy shook his head. "No, not tonight. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be my last chance to get a message sent out before we're completely cornered. I'm going to spend tonight thinking of something to write to Maria."

"Ah, that's right." Mary said with a sympathetic look in her eye. "Maria Hallett your… um, your… what exactly is she to you?"

Bellamy smiled ruefully. "My lover, I suppose. I was on my way back to Massachusetts to marry her when the call was made to come here. I'm a month overdue, Maria will be furious!"

Colleen took in the man with an appraising eye. He was a young Captain but one of the most powerful. He had very dark hair, almost black in luster, which is probably where the name "Black Sam" came from. He was of medium height and build with warm brown eyes and a generous smile, and was dressed in finely tailored clothing. He typically wore black leather boots, and black trousers, a crisp white shirt and an off-yellow printed vest. He also wore two belts one for his cutless across the shoulder which also held two of the four pistols he wore, the other was fitted over a blood-red sash around his waist. To top the outfit off he wore a bulky blue Captain's coat, and a red bandana under a tricornered hat, and a handmade bone necklace given to him by a slave he had freed in the shape of a sea turtle. His reputation was that of a gentleman-pirate, he possibly had his love for Miss Maria Hallett to thank for that, it seems that even now in the darker days of the profession, Samuel Bellamy was as always thinking of Maria. Had Colleen been a different sort of girl she might have swooned, but she was not that type of girl, so she sighed instead.

"Well good luck to you Bellamy, she sounds like a fine lady-friend." Anne Bonney said giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Night then."

"Yes, goodnight ladies." Bellamy called after them as they made their way down the street. He was about to turn back to the tavern where his own crew had invaded when he spotted Thomas and Colleen still standing on the street watching him.

"Can I help you?" he said turning to face them.

Thomas looked vaguely like a mouse cornered by a cat but Colleen just smiled at him with a little too much knowledge behind her eyes.

"You're Captain Bellamy then?" she asked.

"Yes I am. And to whom do you belong?" he replied mimicking her akimbo stance.

"If you mean my employment I would suppose Captain Elizabeth Killigrew would be the correct answer."

Colleen watched as Bellamy's face split in a nostalgic grin.

"And how fairs Goody Killigrew these days?"

"Well enough I suppose, given the circumstances…"

"I heard about the Pendennis, I'm dreadfully sorry."

Colleen shrugged, "The Killigrews are a wealthy family, they can afford a new ship."

"You speak as if you were not one of them. I thought the Pendennis only hired kin?"

"Oh I am family, but not much longer if my mother has her way…" Colleen grumbled.

"An arranged marriage for a Killigrew? I never thought I'd see the day. Whom to?"

"Robert Townsend or something of the like. Never met him, never really care to."

Captain Bellamy snorted in amusement. "Best of luck to you then Miss Killigrew. But as I'm sure you overheard, I have to go and make sure my crew hasn't murdered anyone… and if they haven't I have to let my own fiancé that I'm alive for the time being. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Captain." Colleen said watching him leave.

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Colleen and Thomas had made their way back to the inn for the night and were conversing over a mostly-friendly game of cards, "mostly" implying that well-placed jabs were inserted into the winner of that round's gloating, when a woman stormed into the tavern and the bar went silent. Several of the men, whom Colleen knew to be on the crews of the members of the Brethren Court, stood, removed their hats, and bowed to the woman with unenthusiastic "your majesties." The woman was medium height, with hair that could have been naturally brown but was as bleached by the sun as her skin was tanned. She was dressed in an oriental outfit that clearly had not been made for her, or indeed for a woman at all. She looked like any other scallywag except for the way she walked. Her stride hinted at a genteel upbringing much like Colleen herself. The woman ignored all of them and ordered a drink with a miserable look on her face. When the bottle of wine and a goblet was placed in front of her she took both and slunk off to the back of the room and proceeded to drown her misery.

"Oi, sailor." Colleen poked one of the men who had stood upon the woman's arrival. "Who is that woman, the one everyone's paying respects to?"

And indeed several of the sailors who walked by her table stopped to bow to her before walking off to their destination.

"That's Captain Elizabeth Swann. The new King of the Brethren Court."

"They actually elected a king!" Thomas gaped.

"What's she Captain of?" Colleen inquired.

"Captain Sao Feng was killed by an attack of the Dutchman, Captain Swann was named captain of the Empress as he died."

Colleen kept an eye on the woman for the rest of the night. She and Thomas watched as she became more and more inebriated. Eventually Thomas bade Colleen goodnight and wandered back to the inn where his crew was staying. Colleen stayed in the bar and eventually worked up the courage to approach the woman who was, apparently, king of them all.

"Mi' lady." Colleen said with a respectful curtsy.

The woman was startled enough by Colleen's appearance to be brought out of her brooding.

"You look in need of a good ear and tight lips." Colleen said giving as friendly a smile as she could manage. "Mind if I sit?"

The woman shook her head and Colleen sat down across from her.

"Why do you look so sad?" Colleen asked, resting her chin in her palm.

"That's a bit of a personal question if you don't mind." The woman replied.

"Sorry, I haven't been in polite company for a long time, the ill manners rub off a bit."

The woman snorted in amusement.

"If you really want to know," the woman began. "I'm sad because my fiancé thinks I'm in love with someone else, and I've just recently found out that he betrayed the location of the cove to that short bastard who's commanding the East India Trading Company…. Why am I telling you this?"

"Because you're drunk and I'm here." Colleen said plainly.

"I really don't mean to burden you with my troubles."

Colleen downed the last of her drink. "Trust me; I could use the distraction from my own problems. Tell me more about your fiancé."

The woman smiled at the thought of him, "His name's Will. We were childhood friends; about a year ago he rescued me when pirates kidnapped me. He's a good man, one of the best I've ever met, but he's also a pirate, much to his dismay… He followed in his father's footsteps I suppose. His father was a pirate on the Black Pearl, and when Captain Barbossa went after the Aztec treasure—"

"Wait!" Colleen interrupted. "You've been on the Pearl? But she's just a legend, a ghost story."

Captain Swan smiled ruefully. "I thought so too when I first went aboard… but ghost stories are real, much as I hate to admit it." The captain then continued with her story. "Will's father didn't like how they had marooned their previous captain, so Barbossa tied a cannon ball to his feet and let him drown. Davy Jones got to him before he died and now he's on Jones' crew. I met him, while I was on the Dutchman… it's terrible, he's becoming a part of the ship… Will's so obsessed with rescuing his father from slavery on the Flying Dutchman that he's forgotten about me. I can't say that I would ask him to forget his father but… I love Will, with all my heart and I don't want to lose him."

Colleen couldn't think of anything to say except for, "Then don't."

"Pardon?"

"Forgive him. The next time you see him, forgive him, take him back, forgive him, and let him know that you're with him whatever he decides. It's what I should have done…"

"You're accent, I can't place it." The pirate king said. "Where are you from?"

"Wales, your ladyship, is the place to which I owe my way of speaking. I once called my family's estate near Cardiff my home."

"Once?"

"The port's no longer as friendly as I once thought."

"Because you're a pirate?"

"You've never heard of the Killigrew's have you?"

Captain Swann shook her head.

"No, can't say I have."

Colleen smiled. "The women of my family have a tradition of sorts. Every girl born to a Killigrew or to a woman who was once a Killigrew spends one year under the black flag. If she likes the job she may keep it and continue to sail with her sisters and cousins and aunts and such. If she doesn't, she may go back to land and live out the life her mother and father set down for her. We Killigrews are pride of some parts of Wales and celebrated in song throughout the land, so we have no fear of being caught or handed in when in our home ports."

Captain Swann raised an eyebrow.

"We attack British ships."

"Ah."

"My mother never liked this idea, not being a born Killigrew herself and had dreams of a 'better' life for me. If, marriage to a lord is in fact, a better life. She wants me to go home and give up my life on the sea to marry a man I've never met. This in itself is not what bothers me. I'm quite certain I could learn to like this man, but it's the life on land that I can't bear the thought of. I think she anticipated this and she set traps for me… she sabotaged my relationship with the boy I loved, an officer, in the Royal Navy, more than a match for me, and she set traps that I can't escape, save for never returning home."

"You could be with the man you love." The Captain stated.

Colleen smiled ruefully. "He is currently sitting in the prison at the top of this pile of rubbish awaiting marooning should he and his crew survive the battle that is to come. The East India Trading Company have his family and the family of all of those he sailed with. Their Captain was blackmailed into betraying the Brethren and the whole crew has been tried and sentenced. The worst part is, their betrayal was to attack and burn my ship, the Pendennis, and he knew I was on it even as he did so. So you see Captain, even though my heart knows this boy as the one I loved, my head seen only the fact that he almost murdered me."

The Captain was silent for a while. Then she filled her wine glass and passed it over to Colleen who downed the drink in one gulp.

"My name is Elizabeth, enough with that 'Captain' rubbish. I would like it very much if you might call me friend as well."

Colleen smiled. "Well then Elizabeth very pleased to make your acquaintance, even if the subject we bond over is broken hearts and betrayal."

Colleen and Elizabeth talked long into the night, and didn't sleep till the first rays of dawn were pink in the sky.

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A/N: Like how this chapter came out.

Next chapter: Colleen meets Will and punches Thomas, after she faces a difficult decision.