Birthday Masquerade

Here's an update. For all of you who want some mischievous Lily behavior…well…just wait.

(Lily's POV)

I don't know what my parents said to Jarrett. Will and Elizabeth had successfully managed to keep me away from the house as we all went and visited Elizabeth's father, who was Andrew, Tomas and Isabelle's only remaining grandparent. I didn't want to visit. So I didn't. I broke away from them and went to the beach. I was suddenly very angry with Andrew. He had had a family of sorts his whole life. He always had at least one grandparent and had known about everything. He knew all about mum but because none of them knew about mum being pregnant, none of them knew about Jaden and myself.

He knew, none the less. Jaden and I didn't know about anyone. We never knew about our father, or the fact that we had a grandfather or aunt and uncle or even a cousin. Sure, mum was to be blamed for the most of that, never allowing us to ask questions about our family.

I sighed and stood at the edge of the water. Every so often the tide would bring it up over my boot clad feet. Despite the previous day's storm, the sky was clear and there were very few signs that there had actually been a storm…apart from the slight damage to my ship. I looked over at it and watched as some of the crew repaired it. I started walking again and stopped at the spot where my mother had died for a few brief moments. I made a face and looked away at the sight of the blood that still marred the sand. I continued to the other side of the docks and looked up at the great big stone building by me. The place where my father had nearly been hung once. He enjoyed telling that story, how he escaped. Elizabeth had told me later that he hadn't jumped, he tripped over the low wall and fell straight into the water without even knowing if his ship would be there.

"Are you wandering aimlessly again, Lil?" I looked to my side to see Isabelle approaching me.

"You could say that." I said. I smiled at her as she stopped next to me.

"I've been meaning to ask you what you'd want for your birthday next week." Isabelle said. She may have been the youngest of all of us but she was by far the most considerate. Tomas actually acted a bit like my father. He was the one that demanded the most attention. Isabelle was very much her father's daughter. Will was always thinking of the rest of us before himself.

"I don't know…just keep going with your traditional gift." I said. For the last three years Isabelle had been giving me some sort of jewelry for my birthday.

"I guess I could do that." Isabelle said. "You wanna know what I want for my birthday?"

"What?" I asked. I needed all the help I could get when it came to finding gifts for my cousins.

"A shell." Isabelle said. "A nice one. Maybe a big one like in that picture I showed you before." I thought about it and smiled, remembering the picture she showed me.

"I'll see what I can do." I said.

"Aunt Maddie said that they're done talking with that new person on your crew." Isabelle said. I raised an eyebrow but followed her back to my place. Was I really just staring at nothing for so long? Or did visits to the old governor only last a few minutes? Who knows.

I didn't see Jarrett when I got home and I frowned, hoping to have been able to talk to him. We didn't pass him on the way so I had no idea where he could have gone.

He's Norrington's son. The old man must still be about somewhere if Beckett was still around.

I frowned even more at that thought and sighed before going into the kitchen and helping mum and Roselyn prepare dinner. So I guess I was gone for a while because it was just after lunch when I left and now it was almost dinner time.

I was upset to say the least. All through the next week I didn't see Jarrett. Neither mum nor dad would tell me what was said between the three of them and so, mad at them, I refused to talk to either of them for a few days. Dad got me to forgive him by threatening to give the ship to Jaden unless I talked to him. That resulted in a good twelve minute argument between us but in the end I agreed to speak to them again.

So now it was mine and Jaden's birthday and, as usual, we were woken by people shouting happy birthday and there being a big cake. Ok, let me rephrase that. I was woken up the shouting. Jaden was woken already and they all came into my room. The cake this year was huge though! This made sense because it had to be shared with a bunch of people. I actually think it had at least two square cakes in it.

To clear it all up, here's a list of who was going to be eating the cake: Me, Jaden, Andrew, Tomas, Isabelle, Mum, Dad, Will, Elizabeth, Tara, Roselyn and Gibson. The closest people to all of us. I had expected to see Jarrett, if only for him to ask when we would be leaving, but no. He never showed up. I walked through the town and didn't see him. Feeling much more upset then I had to begin with, I headed back home to get ready for the party.

Every year, somehow Elizabeth had managed to make it so that there was a masquerade party on mine and Jaden's birthday. Both of us loved masquerades and to have one on our birthday was like having a double treat.

I was sixteen and so proud to get that far and still be…well…a virgin. So far as I knew, no other woman (save maybe my aunt) in my family has ever made it to sixteen intact. I felt a since of pride at that accomplishment, so did my mother. She told me that I should enjoy it because it wouldn't last for too long.

I would have been confused if not for the fact that I knew that, by the time I was eighteen, if I ever wanted a child, the exact one I wanted, that was the time to get it. Thanks to Calypso.

"Do you want your hair up or down?" Mum asked, playing with my dark hair and twisting it around somewhat.

"Umm…I don't know." I said, watching her in the mirror. Mum loved my hair and it was fun to watch her do stuff with it. I had gone from cute pigtails to the most elegant of hairstyles and still managed to remain a pirate.

I should get a prize.

"Let's leave it down." Mum said. And so for the next hour or so she curled and twirled my hair until she was happy and then pinned the front strands back and away from my face. I could easily get a mask on and it would sit comfortably with this hairstyle. Even so, mum still did some dark eye make-up.

My dress was beautiful. The top was white and somewhat frilly as well as hung off my shoulders. Mum put a black corset on over the top and laced it up so that it was too tight and I could easily breathe but it still did what it was supposed to. The bottom, skirt part was gold with a bit of black at the top.

(((A/N: If you've ever seen Phantom of the Opera movie, that's what I'm talking about. I love the dress from the "point of no return" song.)))

My mask was black with a gold outline and sparkled in the light. My mismatching eyes stood out brilliantly with the mask and make-up. I spun around in front of the full length mirror, admiring the dress. I lifted the mask up onto my forehead and looked at my mother.

"You look lovely, Lily." Mum said. "Now go show your father before I drag him up here to get prepared as well."

"Alright." I said, sliding the mask back over my eyes and leaving my parents' bedroom. I bounded down the stairs and almost collided with my father at the bottom. Luckily I jumped the banister quickly but didn't land very gracefully and fell on my butt.

"That was bloody magnificent, darlin'." Dad said.

"Daddy…" I whined. Dad laughed and helped me up.

"Let's take a look at you." He said. I stepped back and turned around. "Bloody…you're beautiful, Lil." I smiled. "Which is why you're staying here."

"Wait…what?" I asked, my smile gone.

"I'm not letting you go to a party dressed like that with a bunch of boys there." Dad said. My jaw dropped and I stared at him.

"I practically surfed my way through one hell of a storm to get here and you're saying I can't have fun?" I asked.

"Yep." Dad said.

"No fair!" I whined.

"Jack, let her go." Mum said, coming down the stairs in a dress somewhat similar to mine except the skirt had more flair and was red instead of gold. Dad stared, slack jawed at her as mum made a much more graceful entrance then I did. I pouted. How was she so graceful and I wasn't?

Right…I was also Jack Sparrow's child. The man who drank so much rum that it was a wonder he was still alive. That wasn't genetic was it? I'm not worrying about myself…I'm just worried about Jaden since he was practically a green eyed clone of our father.

Speak of the devil…here comes my brother now. Along with Andrew, Tara and Roselyn. Like mum, the girls were dressed similarly to myself except with different colours. Tara had a purple skirt and the top part of her dress (which was white on mine, remember) was a pale pink colour. Roselyn's was blue and pale green. Their masks, like mine, were black, but had silver trim.

"You're going like that?" Jaden asked, narrowing his eyes at my dress.

"What? It's almost identical to theirs and you're not saying anything about it to them." I said.

"They aren't my sister." Jaden said.

"Good thing too." Dad said.

"Although you did use to call Tara your sister." Mum said.

"When did he do that?" Dad asked.

"After he learned to talk." Mum said. "Neither of them liked saying 'friend' so they called her their 'sister' even though she's the opposite of them." I giggled and looked at Tara with her pale skin and white blonde hair compared to Jaden's tanned skin and black hair.

"I'm surprised you got to be captain, Lil." Roselyn said. "With these two…" She waved at Jaden and my father and I laughed again. Tara and Roselyn walked over to me and I turned around to face the same direction as them.

"We're off then…see you there." I said. The three of us hurried off. We were well aware that Jaden and Andrew were following and we just laughed about it. "I'm so glad my uncle Will allows me freedom and isn't overprotective. My father, brother and Andrew are all getting to the annoyingly protective stage."

"Oh…that bad?" Tara asked. I nodded. "I wish I could sympathize but my brothers are younger then me. They're still a bit overprotective but not much really. And now that I'm with you guys they don't have to worry…or at least they shouldn't."

"Looks like I'm the lucky one." Roselyn said.

"That you are, Rose." I said.

There was only one real downside to have mismatching eyes at a masquerade. Everyone who knew you basically knew it was you behind the mask if they looked at your eyes carefully. But the good thing about Port Royal…everyone there might have known my parents and aunt and uncle, but they didn't really know me…and they didn't know about my eyes being the way they are.

Roselyn, Tara and I split up after a while. Roselyn danced with Andrew and Tara danced with Jaden for the most part. And me? I danced with everyone. Once my parents arrived, I danced with my father. I even danced with Tomas at one point.

"I'm gonna sit down for a while." It had been a few hours and I had just finished dancing with Tara and Roselyn. I didn't feel like being on my feet much longer. Everyone else had sat down for a period of time but I had danced the whole while.

A sat at a small table in a corner. I was tempted to lift my mask back onto my forehead but thought better of it. I looked around and was surprised that, for what seemed like the first time that night, my father didn't have his eye on me.

"Let's see if you can dance as well in a dress as you did that night we first met." I jumped and looked up. It took me a moment to realize it was Jarrett behind the mask and when I did, I smiled.

(((A/N: I really don't wanna describe what he's wearing so…you people decide. Now that Lily is in that dress from Phantom of the Opera, I'm picturing Jarrett in the outfit that the Phantom wore during that song.)))

"I might be a tad bit clumsier but I doubt you'll distinguish the difference." I said, smiling more. Jarrett smirked and held out his hand. I slid my own into it and he pulled me to my feet and led me to the dance floor.

Stopping it here. My first Pirates of the Caribbean story, with Tiana. Remember that little dance bit (for those of you who read it) Well…it's not gonna be the same here. There might be some similarities but Lily isn't gonna go running off and get herself beat and raped by some guy.