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Anna ducked as another rum bottle came flying from somewhere and shattered on the road, adding to the rest of the garbage that littered the street.
"Come along luv," Jack said as he walked briskly towards a tavern. Anna jogged to catch up with him.
"I can't believe you find this place inviting." She told him, spreading her arms to encompass all of Tortuga. Gibbs, who was walking along side Jack, chuckled.
"It's not about being inviting lass, Tortuga is one of the last free ports in the Caribbean." He informed her.
"Who has the rest?" She asked as they entered a tavern called the Faithful Bride.
"The East India Trading Company!" Gibbs shouted over the noise that met them at the door.
"Aren't they the ones that branded you a pirate?" She asked Jack. At her question, he pulled down his right sleeve that was rolled up to just above his elbow, covering the P that was burned into his arm.
"Right, nasty bunch they are to, if you ever go into pirating luv, avoid them." He told her.
"No worries." She replied as they found a table that was still standing in the corner of the room and claimed it.
"So lass, what'll you have?" Gibbs asked, preparing to go to the bar. Anna shook her head.
"I don't drink." She said as she leaned back in her chair. Now, that wasn't entirely true. The fact was, she couldn't drink, it was against the law for people her age to drink and even in this fantasy world, she still held those laws to be true. A hat, the owner of which was passed out over the rail of the balcony that was above them, fell silently onto their table
"Nonsense, everyone drinks." Jack insisted, picking up the intruding object. "Surprise her Gibbs." He told him and the older man walked off.
"That's disgusting." Anna told Jack as he tried the hat on. "You don't know where that's been."
"Yes I do, on his head." He said, pointing to the man that was still hanging over the balcony. Anna smiled and took this time to survey her surroundings. The bar was crowded with smelly, dirty, drunken men with a drink in one hand and woman in the other. The few tables that were upright wouldn't be for long as its patrons passed out and knocked them over. She couldn't keep track of all the spilt beer on the floor, and it was a wonder the owners stayed in business with their customers breaking almost everything in sight, but besides that, it really wasn't such a bad place. Anna sighed and rested her head in her arms, trying her best not to fall asleep, which she apparently was unsuccessful at because she woke up when she felt something placed on her head.
"What?" Anna reached up to find what someone had put up there, her hand came into contact with leather and she pulled off the hat that had fallen onto their table.
"It didn't fit me, so now it's yours." Jack told her. She was tempted to throw the hat as far away as she could, sure it was infested with lice or something of the like, but it was such a nice gesture, she controlled the urge and put the hat back on.
"Thank you Captain." She said. A few seconds later, Gibbs came back with the drinks. He gave one to Jack and set an identical looking one down for himself, then he placed something amber colored in front of her. Anna sniffed it and wrinkled her nose.
"Uh, what is this?" She asked, poking it with her finger. The liquid sloshed around and some overflowed, spilling onto the wooden tabletop.
"Just drink it lass." Gibbs instructed. She figured a little sip couldn't hurt, so Anna gulped and slowly raised the glass to her lips and took a tiny sip. It was better than she expected, she had to admit, but her standards were very low. She took a larger sip the next time and felt the warm liquid flow down her throat.
"Mmmm, not to bad." She commented. Gibbs smiled and held up his glass.
"Cheers," He said and downed half his glass, as did Jack. Anna couldn't help herself and quietly sang,
"Drink up me hardies yo ho." Then she drank the entire glass.
"You said you didn't drink." Jack pointed out as he watched. Anna shrugged and twirled her glass around.
"I usually don't." She said. He laughed and finished his rum, or that's what she thought it was, but at that moment she wasn't concentrating on Jacks beverage of choice. She felt a little dizzy and her vision went blurry momentarily and she was regretting that drink.
"What was I thinking?" She asked herself, holding a hand to her throbbing head.
"You need a dress." Jack said out of the blue a while later. Anna lifted her head from where it was resting on her hand.
"Excuse me?" Anna cringed at the sound of her own voice.
"You need a dress luv, if we ever go ashore in someplace higher class than Tortuga-"
"Which is every other port in the world." Anna interrupted.
"It won't be presentable for you to be walking around in trousers and a shirt." He finished.
"And where would I be going to get a dress, and where would I be getting the money?" Anna asked him, dreading going dress shopping in this day in age. Fifty pounds of skirts, tight corsets, and three hours of getting ready, just hours of fun.
"We'll be getting a dress at the shop up the street see, because it is my money we will be using. So if you'll be so kind as to follow me." Jack stood up and made for the door. Anna groaned inwardly and followed suite, only she didn't make it quite as far as him. The moment she tried to stand up, a wave of dizziness rushed over her and she stumbled forward.
"Easy luv," Jack cautioned as he helped right her. "It seems to me that you should not have partaken in the drinking of that rum." Anna nodded her agreement and tried to regain her balance. During this whole process, a short man and his buddies a few tables over had gotten up and were watching this ordeal intently, and when Jack let go of Anna, the short man made his move.
"Why don't I help this pretty lady home?" He asked, grabbing her arm. Anna tried to wiggle out of his grasp but he was to strong and she wouldn't have been able to get out even if she had been sober. Jack smiled and took hold of Anna's other arm.
"That won't be necessary mate," He said and gently pulled her towards him. The other man, who was not so caring, jerked her the other way and Anna felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.
"I said I'll take her, so I can enjoy her company." The man said, and Anna realized why he wanted her. With renewed vigor, Anna tried desperately to get free, but the man just laughed and yanked with all his might, which was too much for Jack and he lost his grip. Anna found herself face to face with the man, who was roughly the same height as her. She heard a scuffle behind her and guessed this guys friends had grabbed Jack to stop him from interfering with their friends plans.
"Hello girlie," He greeted, his smelly breath catching her off guard. She then felt his hand trail southward. Anna calmed herself down and tried to figure out a way to get out of this. She remembered a self defense class her mom had made her take when she told her she was moving to Florida, and an idea came to her.
"Get your hands off of me," She warned. The man cackled and didn't loosen his grip. Anna smirked and with all her might, she raised her knee and kicked him where the sun don't shine. Wit a cry of pain and surprise, the man let go of her and fell to the floor. Anna immediately ran towards the door but a hand stopped her progress. She turned around to find a black haired man charging her with his sword drawn, and she recognized him as one of the short mans friends.
"Oh no." She said quietly and ducked. The blade sailed through the air, inches above her head, and the man, who apparently expected to hit her, lost his balance.
Anna figured that one drawn sword was an open invitation for the rest of the bar to start fighting as the tavern erupted into a frenzy of blades crashing, mingled with war cries. The black haired man advanced again, anger in his eyes.
"Get over here." He instructed. Anna backed away; avoiding the other fights that where going on simultaneously. She knew there was no way she was going to survive this without some form of weapon, so she scanned their general vicinity for one. The black haired man thrust his sword, aiming right for her chest. Anna side stepped out of the way and dove under a table. She heard a thunk as the man tried to hack his way through the wood.
"Get out here!" The man cried. Anna could see several pairs of feet shuffling and jumping around in attempt to either avoid or thrust a sword. One pair of familiar boots that were hopping around frantically caught her interest and a quick glimpse of a white sleeve and a hand glittering with an assortment of rings assured her Jack was in a heated battle.
"I hope Jack wins." She mumbled, not having much confidence in the Captain. A loud crack brought her out of her thoughts as the black haired man split the table in two. As a shower of splinters fell on her she heard someone shout her name. She looked over to where she heard it and saw Gibbs, who was at the bar when this whole thing started, fighting with some drunk, the sword in his hand was a blur as he rapidly sliced the air. In his other hand, another sword was hanging motionless.
"Lass get over here!" He cried. Anna stood up and ran to the older man. She was a few feet away when she heard the black haired man's ragged breathing close behind. She took a deep breath and made her best attempt to jump over the bar, mind you I said her best attempt, which landed her about two feet away from her target. With minor difficulty, she scrambled up and to the relative safety of the small space between the wall and the bar. Gibbs threw her his extra sword without stopping his own fight. She quickly picked up the blade with both hands and held it up. It was much heavier than she expected and it caught her off guard.
"Ooof." She grunted, dropping the weapon. She shook off her surprise and picked it back up, and just in time. The black haired man was blindly swinging his sword, not caring who or what he hit. Anna got into what she figured was a fighting stance and swung her sword Jedi style. She almost lost her grip as the two blades met with a clank. Apparently the man was surprised that she'd retaliated and he let his guard down. Anna knew this was the quote, un-quote, 'opportune moment', and that it would probably be the last one she got. She raised her sword and prepared to strike.
"Sorry." She said softly, feeling compelled to do so, then she stabbed her sword. The man let out a cry of pain and dropped to the floor, clutching his bloody leg. Anna couldn't have killed the man you know. She did almost faint though, looking at what she'd done, but then she felt something on her left arm, and that feeling went away.
"He must have got me when he broke the table." She concluded, putting pressure on the wound. The tavern seemed to be quieting down, but there was still one battle raging. Jack was still fighting the person he was fighting before, and Anna realized it was the short man. Neither seemed to be tiring and Anna's Arm was starting to really hurt. She noticed a discarded bottle on the floor and she walked overt to it. With a swift kick, the bottle skidded across the floor, distracting the short man, and just like Anna hoped, Jack took that moment to disarm the man.
"Ta." He said and walked calmly away.
"I've got to admit luv, for a little one, you sure do cause a lot of trouble." He informed her as he approached.
"I think we better leave." Gibbs suggested. A quick look at the mess around the tavern, and they all agreed.
The cool night air felt great on Anna's hot and sweaty face as they made their way towards the docks.
"Hold up lass." Gibbs called. She did and watched as Gibbs ripped a strip from his shirt. He made to tie it on her cut and as he placed the fabric on her arm a sharp pain made her remember something.
"Hold on a minute." She said, scanning the road. She noticed a drunk stumbling down the road and jogged over to him. His eyes didn't focus as he looked up at her disoriented.
"I'm going to need this." She told him, pointing too the bottle of whiskey he held. He didn't seem to understand but right then, she didn't care. She pried it out of his hands and walked back over to Gibbs and Jack.
"Didn't you learn anything from your little adventure back there?" Jack asked curios.
"I'm not going to drink it." She said. She gritted her teeth and poured the alcohol on her wound to clean it, not wanting the experience of having an infection without modern medicine, then she grabbed the cloth from Gibbs and, using her teeth, she tied it on.
"That was just a waste of perfectly good Whiskey." Jack commented as they started walking again.
"Sorry if I don't want to die of some disease." She said sarcastically. Jack did one of his world famous grins and strode towards the Pearl.
"Be sure to get a good nights rest, luv, we're still going to purchase a dress tomorrow." He announced.
"What?" Anna scoffed, amazed that after all that he was still going to take her dress shopping. "I just don't get that man."
"Get used to it." Gibbs told her, walking up next to Anna. "You never will."
Hope this was more exciting!
