Oh another thing! Sorry to be really annoying with these author's notes. The reason why I didn't start this chapter in the morning when they both wake up is because 1) it wouldn't interesting. 2) it wouldn't be interesting because they wouldn't wake up in each other's arms because I think that would be a tad unrealistic. I don't picture Jack as a roller in his sleep and Audrina can't roll around causing a situation like that because of her arm. Well, erm, on with the story.

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Tortugan Beginnings

Lucas' Promise

The Next Afternoon

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Audrina had never been happier to be out on the deck, the wind playing with her hair and the August Caribbean sun hot on her face. The pain in her arm had subsided but not by much. It still throbbed but she was able to ignore it for the most part. A part of her was terribly self conscious; she was worried that everyone knew she was a woman. The other part told her to screw them all, what did she care what they thought? As usual, she was dressed in her manly attire, her hair braided and the hat shadowing her eyes and the gold hoop adoring her ear lobe. The wrappings around her chest weren't as tight as usual but she was still conscious of them. Her chest still throbbed from the bruises that they left and she was yearning to go back into the cabin and be rid of them.

The crew didn't bother her; they knew she had been injured recently so no one said anything to 'Jimmy Hart.' Some of the crew, did in fact, question her identity; especially after Lucas had called to her three days ago when they took the Jade Lady. Gibbs hadn't said a word and of course Cotton hadn't either. Jack had known for weeks and then there was obviously Lucas Hart. Still, Audrina felt as if too many people did know her true identity. Turning, she smiled to be face to face with her brother. His light eyes seemed to be brimmed with worry and his dark-skinned face equally as concerned. The sight of her smiling face had caused him to grin equally as wide. The sight of her sister did cause him to be incredibly cheerful, his worries seemed to drain away when she looked all right and not in too much pain. Their reunion did take their minds off of everyone around them and when Jack's voice whispered behind them, they figuratively jumped out of their skin.

"Go take this matter into my cabin, mates." Jack grinned when he saw their reaction to his voice. "Scared ya, didn't I?"

Audrina glowered at him but felt the smile twitch at her lips and she couldn't suppress it. She owed the Captain a lot, he had kept her identity secret as it was meant to be and had been kind to her overall. "Thank you, Captain."

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Safely inside the cabin and away from prying eyes, she wrapped her arms around her brother's neck, pulling him close to her. He was surprised when he felt tears against his neck and her body shaking with sobs. Lucas was worried, very worried. His first thought was of course: Captain Jack Sparrow. Never in their almost six years of pirating did he ever see Audrina Hart crying as much as she was right now. Narrowing his eyes, he remembered that the last time she was like this was when Captain Robert Ulysses raped and beat her. No, he remembered. It wasn't that she was raped or beaten that made her shake with sobs as she was doing right now. A little more then a month later, the bastard forced her to kill his baby in her stomach. That forced all the walls around her emotions to be destroyed. Lucas couldn't think of words to say and was thankful that she pulled away from him, her eyes still stained with tears.

"Lucas…." She barely murmured underneath her quieting sobs.

Lucas felt his heart thump against his chest, a hatred burning for Jack Sparrow. Who else could make her cry like this? But he had to have done something other then rape and beat her. "Aud….why do you cry?" He managed in a soft voice, his heart lodged into his throat.

Audrina tilted her head and to his amazement, chuckled but it felt like the laugh was brimming with sadness. "I don't know, Luc. I don't know."

Lucas clenched his jaw and lifted his eyes to look at the cabin. Jack Sparrow, he'd kill the bastard for whatever he did to his little sister. Five minutes younger but she was his little sister all the same. "What did the bastard do!? Tell me!" He was shaking with rage now, often as he did when he heard of what the bastards did to her.

"Nothing, Luc, nothing. That's just it. He didn't do anything." She smirked, and shook her head. "I woke up and I realized, although naked, he didn't do anything."

Lucas gazed at her, bemused but still shaking with rage even though he knew that Jack Sparrow didn't do a thing to her. "How come Jack Sparrow can control himself and not those bastards? Why is the world so bloody cruel, Luc!? I watched a man's bowels fall out of his body by my own goddamn blade, Lucas!"

Lucas watched in amazement as the tears flooded her face again. "Audrina, we can stop this, you know. We can live in Tortuga and I can work on the docks." He lifted her chin with his forefinger. "It doesn't have to be like this."

"No. We'll starve. I can't let you do that, Luc." Audrina was shaking her head now, the tears drying on her cheek. "Promise me we will never leave the Black Pearl. Promise me. Jack Sparrow is the only man that hadn't raped me or destroyed me in some way. The only one."

Lucas smiled at his twin sister and pulled her close to him again and rested his chin on her head. Her hat had been long discarded on the floor. "I promise, my sweet Audrina. No bastards will hurt you ever again." Kissing her cheek, he walked towards the door and looked at her whilst smiling again. "Rest a little bit, why don't you?"

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Jack hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the sister-brother conversation but heard her sobs through the door and Jack Sparrow was rather like a cat. Curious and curiosity did kill the cat. Her sobbing voice plagued him, especially since he was the one that triggered her crying, more or less.

Her meager confessions about her life overwhelmed him; he didn't expect such things from the fiery Audrina Hart. He also didn't expect her brother to be so caring yet so enraged. The Hart family was definitely plaguing Jack Sparrow. "How come Jack Sparrow can control himself and not those bastards? Why is the world so bloody cruel, Luc!? I watched a man's bowels fall out of his body by my own goddamn blade, Lucas!" Those words, her voice saying those words, reverberated in his head. It troubled him more then he would like to admit. He would never force himself on a woman and her confessions that many had saddened him and he was a man that was rarely saddened. It seemed like there was another side to the strong willed Audrina Hart and he felt himself wanting to know her.

Jack broke out of thought as he heard the doors opening. Panicking for a moment he whirled around and occupied himself for a moment with the maps on the wall, hoping to seem busy when Lucas Hart came through the doors. As he did, he gave his captain an odd look, as if he wondered if he had in fact been eavesdropping. Jack turned and faked a mock look of surprise.

"Oh, didn't hear ya comin' in, mate!" He cried and Lucas' brow only knitted together more. "How is the luv?"

"Did you hear anything, Captain?" He asked softly and Jack's brow arched a bit, contemplating whether or not to tell him he in fact had heard the whole thing.

Deciding against it, "A little, mate, but I tried not to eavesdrop." Jack easily lied.

Lucas gave a sigh of relief. "I hope this isn't out of line but Captain, can you make sure she rests? Please?" He silenced for a moment and before leaving, he turned to him again. "You have to forgive her for anything she says, Captain. You don't know what she's been through."

Jack was surprised at the boy's boldness but forgot it; he knew he would be acting similar if it was his sister that was in Audrina's position. If he had a sister, that is. "Aye, mate. I'll make sure of that." A moment of thought and he lowered his eyes from the boy's face. "I don't take anything she says or threatens to me personal, mate."

Lucas nodded and left the room quickly, eager to get away from Captain Sparrow's dark eyes. When he left, Jack felt himself respecting Lucas far more then he respected many boys of his age or many years older. It was an unspoken respect between the two of them, especially since after he heard Audrina's words with him. Jack Sparrow wondered how much he had gotten himself into when he picked them up in Tortuga. With a wolfish grin he thought, it always starts in Tortuga, doesn't it?

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Audrina was asleep, her knees curled up to her stomach and her chin resting on them. It looked like an uncomfortable position but Jack didn't want to move her. In fact, he was scared to even touch her. He wondered how she had managed that position whilst on the floor. Cocking an eyebrow, he remembered many times when after a night in Tortuga, he had simply collapsed on the floor. The morning was hell after. Jack reached out and touched her shoulder, hopeful that she could snap from her slumber. He frowned when she did not. He wondered if that was tears dried on her cheeks but he couldn't be sure. Sighing, he gathered the girl in his arms and placed her gently as he could upon the bunk. She moaned in her sleep and Jack cocked an eyebrow but averted his eyes from her sleeping face to her chest. How in bloody hell does she sleep with those bandages? Jack silently wondered.

Apart from then, he never really got a good look of her as a woman with the kohl gone from her eyes and the hat and hoop discarded. In a way, she was quite pretty and young. Twenty seven, she had said once when she confessed Lucas was really her twin and he looked about that age. Audrina looked far, far younger. She could pass for at least twenty. With her hair pulled back from her face with a bandana, he silently noted her full lips and high cheek bones and large eyes.

Not gorgeous or beautiful but pretty in that elegant way. She looked nothing like the whores in Tortuga and Jack never knew many women, besides Elizabeth, that weren't whores. It puzzled him for a moment that she and the whores could look so different when in they lived in the same world. They weren't the same people but grew up like so. Jack wondered why she hadn't become a whore like most have and a pirate instead. A job as a whore wasn't incredibly safe but much more so then the job of a pirate.

"Jack…." Audrina moaned sleepily, her eyes have opened. A moment later, her eyes shot open. "Jack!" She cried a bit louder and full awake.

"Glad ya know m'name, luv." He grinned wolfishly. "Are yer all right?"

Audrina smiled at his joke for a minute and groaned when she realized how stiff her body was when she brought her legs over the bed and sat there. "Fine." She replied shortly, she didn't know what else to say.

"You don't seem like it, darlin'." He probed further, wanting to speak with her about her past a little more. On the other hand, she didn't seem so willing.

She frowned and bit her lip, averting her turquoise eyes from his handsome face. "What are you implying?" She said rather slyly.

"I'm implying, Audrina, that you don't seem all right." Jack replied, taken pleasure from saying her name when it only added to her frown.

"Don't call me that." She snapped, afraid they would be overheard. "I insist that I'm alright, Captain Sparrow." She added a bit more softly, he was only concerned for her well being, wasn't he?

Jack tilted his head, mock bemusement dancing on his face. "Why not, luv? Its yer name isn't it?"

"Call me whatever you like. I don't care." Audrina replied in defeat, not taking in the shocked expression on his face. Again she moaned and pressed a flat hand against her chest. "Bloody hell, it hurts."

"What yer breasts or yer arm?" Jack grinned when he remembered that he could call her whatever he liked. "Oh, so I can call yer Rina, now!" He added excitedly, his grin widening even more.

She smirked at him. "Don't get too excited, mate, you might hurt yourself." Grimacing slightly, she shrugged. "Both, I suppose. My breasts more actually."

Jack ignored her first statement and innocently, he fluttered his eyelashes. "Oh, you mean the bandages hurt you? Well, I can help you dispose of them if ya like."

"No thanks." She replied almost immediately and he frowned at her. "I'll live, really."

He shrugged. "Don't know what yer missing, luv." A moment of silence and he tilted his head at her. "You know you don't have to go on with this…." He motioned towards her body rather awkwardly causing her to laugh. "Jimmy façade."

"I know, Captain, but it's hard not to. After all I've been through."

"I thought I told yer to call me Jack?"

"Sorry, old habits." Going to her feet, she rubbed the back of her neck and turned to him and bit her lip. "Do you think I can wash, Jack?"

Grinning, he nodded. "Only if I can wash yer."

The content look on her face quickly faded and she narrowed her turquoise eyes on him and was about to slap him for a moment. She stopped herself, reminding herself that he could do anything to her even if he didn't. Audrina knew, however, that he wouldn't force himself on her. Jack would have done it already. "In your dreams, Captain." She said with a smirk.

"Quite pleasurable dreams I might add, Rina." He said with a smile before sauntering out of the cabin, giving her a wink before he disappeared over the threshold.

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