Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own nothing related to Pirates of the Caribbean. That belongs to Jerry Bruckheimer, Disney, and a bunch of other people. Only original characters and plotlines are mine.

AN: Another day, another update, which I hope that everyone enjoys. Thanks so much for reading, and please don't forget to review!

Chapter 7: A Place for Everyone:

As the men of the Black Pearl ate, drank, and entertained their way through the evening, I was busy studying the women serving in the tavern, doing what I did best.

Much to my disappointment, many of the women weren't really fit for any kind of permanent relationship with a man. Most of the females were older, seasoned wenches, likely trained in more than just serving food and drinks, and they clearly had no intention of taking anything further than one evening with a customer.

As for the younger girls, a few of them seemed just as focused on their 'nighttime work' than anything else. The ones who weren't in the trade of wenching were either dim-witted, or too shy to put themselves forward.

But there was one who had my attention: the plain, meek little thing behind the counter.

She was plain in every sense of the word, so much so that if a person were asked to describe her, they wouldn't even remember having met her. The girl stood about five feet tall, and possessed a head of lank hair that was a pale brown, as well as a narrow face with a tiny trace of pink in the cheeks and lips.

'She has the prettiest blue-green eyes, though,' I admitted.

And much to my relief, she appeared to be as sweet and gentle as the women around her were harsh and loud. I instantly knew that this tavern wasn't the right place for her, and could feel that she was meant for a warm house somewhere, married to a good man who would care for her.

Reaching over, I patted Jack's arm to get his attention. "Captain?" I whispered. "I think I've found a potential bride for one of your crew."

I bit back my laughter as he almost choked on his rum. "What?" Jack gasped after regaining his senses. "Already? You do work quickly, don't you?"

"More like it's just a stroke of luck," I replied. "Now, there will be a few problems in regards to where the poor lass is going to stay until I can pair her with one of the crew. Not to mention which member will take a shine to her, who she will end up with, and where you are going to put the wives of your crewmen once I find them."

The look on Jack's face was one of bewilderment and concern. He clearly hadn't given this plan of his much thought, and I could clearly see a spark of panic forming in those dark eyes of his. The hand that was clutching his mug tensed, and I anxiously waited to see what he was going to do next.

Inside of Jack's head, a million thoughts were going off at once. It was fairly obvious that neither he nor Gibbs had thought this little idea of his through, and now Jack was going to have to do some fast thinking.

First, where to put potential brides on the Pearl? Neither Evie nor Anna-Maria were going to give up their cabins, and stowing women with the crew was not an option! Even Cotton's parrot knew better than that!

'Then I'll have to find a permanent place to store them,' Jack thought to himself, scowling as he took a deep drink from his tankard. 'Gah, I'm making them sound like kegs of gun powder instead of actual people.'

Wait a moment! There were a few storage rooms standing empty, the places where the crew stored the empty powder kegs before refilling them in port. Once they cleaned those rooms up, put a bed in there and a bit of furniture, they'd have a rather nice area set up for those potential brides.

As for a more permanent place, there were few places that Jack could think of to stash the wives of his pirate crew. They had to be kept safe from the law, and away from any enemies that Jack or his men might make. Such places were rare in the world, and Jack did not relish the idea of finding such a haven.

Just then, an idea tickled the back of his head. There was one place where pirates were welcome, and which was kept secret and safe from those who didn't sail under pirate colors. That place was Shipwreck Island.

The isolated, secret island would be the ideal place to stash the women acquired for his men. It was a fortress that was well-supplied with food and goods coming in from numerous sources, and it had its own freshwater source. Plus, given that it was immense and more than half-empty, there was always room there for more inhabitants.

'Besides, Dad might like hearing the sound of children running through the halls. He always said the place was too quiet, which is funny, considering how many older pirates live there with their wenches…'

And given that the older generation had rarely produced little ones, the place was growing quieter by the day. Jack had little doubt that most of his father's old crew would welcome little tikes or lasses to bounce on their knees and tell their old stories and adventures to.

He glanced over at Evie, who was looking at him in worry. "Luv, I think I know the perfect place."

I was shocked that he actually agreed with me, and so quickly. "Oh, really?" I managed to stammer before taking a sip of my water.

"Of course," Jack replied. "It makes sense that we put all the ladies in one place. Can't have them settle in a 'proper' town, where they'll always worry that someone will find out their husbands are pirates."

"And it'd be nice not having to travel to a dozen different ports so that the lads can visit their mates in the first place," Marty put in, taking a drink from his own cup.

"Aye, there's that too," Jack acknowledged. "Can't have men getting jealous when one or two of them get time with their wife and the others have to wait for their particular 'stop.'"

I sighed in relief. "Wonderful. And what about temporary quarters for those who have to stay aboard until we next visit this…destination of yours?"

He shrugged. "We've got a storage rooms where we keep empty crates and barrels, but most of the time the spaces are half-empty. I figure we can clear them out completely, or make the barrels and crates into rough tables or stools as we clean the rooms up. We can move beds in and it should be right as rain. What do ye say?"

I nodded. "That sounds alright. It'll give the married pairs some privacy, which is important. Hopefully we won't have too many pairs aboard before we reach –I'm sorry, where are we going to take the women to?"

"Shipwreck Island," Jack replied, causing a few crew members to choke on their rum. "Aye, it'll be the perfect place! Lots of room for women and future children alike, and it's a pirate haven, so why not?"

"Shipwreck Island?" I asked, looking over at Gibbs.

"It's where the Pirate Lords meet whenever there's an emergency concerning the future of piracy," he replied. "Never thought it'd be a good place to raise a family, though."

Jack waved aside his first mate's concerns. "It'll be fine. After all, I came up with the idea, didn't I?"

Groaning, I went back to my food and drink.

The next morning, while the crew tried to sleep off the night before, I headed back to the tavern with Anna-Maria, my guard. Unlike the men, we were feeling refreshed after a full night's sleep; the others had stumbled aboard in the early hours of the morning, or so Anna-Maria had reported to me. Since she'd escorted me home last night, Anna had gotten a full night's sleep, and was almost chipper (for her) as we headed into our destination.

I was relieved to see that it was not only open, but the girl I had spotted was there as well. Standing behind the counter, she was focused entirely on cleaning and drying mugs while the other women served drinks and breakfast to the few patrons they had.

"Something for ye two ladies?" drawled a male voice to our left.

Turning, I saw that it was an older man, balding on top, with white hair around the outside of his head. He resembled a squinting pig, and he was just as dirty and smelly as one, too.

"I was merely wondering if I could have a word with the girl behind the counter," I said casually, feeling Anna-Maria sliding protectively up beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her hand slowly drifting towards her cutlass.

"Penny?" the man asked suspiciously. "What's the girl done? If she stole your man or some nonsense, you'll have to come pick a fight with her after breakfast."

"No, no, it's nothing like that," I assured him. "I just want to talk to her…maybe while my friend and I eat?"

The prospect of bringing in more custom was enough to pacify him. "Aye, go ahead. Just make sure you don't distract her too much –the little thing is a tad bit jumpy, and I hate paying for broken things."

Rolling my eyes, I turned towards the bar and took a seat right. It was hard getting her attention, as she kept her eyes focused on her work, and the only time she spoke was to take our orders. Once a plate of eggs, bread and cheese were set before me and Anna, I ordered a mug of fruit juice from Penny and smiled kindly at her.

"So, your employer tells me your name is Penny," I said, attempting to start a conversation.

She flushed and looked away while muttering, "Yes, Miss."

I peeked around, and saw that the pig-like owner was out of sight. "Tell me, Penny, how would you like to get out of this tavern for good?"

Convincing Penny to leave wasn't as difficult as I thought. She apparently hated the tavern (who could blame her?), and was more than willing to do anything to get away. Anna-Maria and I provided the perfect excuse, and a few coins tossed at the tavern owner appeased whatever arguments he had about losing one of his serving girls.

I had thought that, after finding out what kind of ship it was, Penny might change her mind and decide to run. Instead, I was amazed at how calm and excited she was as Anna led her onto the deck.

"I've seen and met plenty of pirates in my life, Miss Watkins," she told me as we walked below decks. "Some were good, some bad, but that's to be expected. I'd heard that the men of the Black Pearl were not only pirates, but that most of them were good sorts. So the way I see, there shouldn't be much of a problem for me settling onboard for a while."

And that was that. Anna and I spent the next day getting to know Penny while the men cleaned out and (sparsely) furnished the makeshift cabins. The moment one of the rooms was finished, we settled her there, which didn't take long –she had few possessions, and was used to living in small spaces, so it was not much of a new experience for her.

However, the idea of possibly marrying one of the crew was, to her, a little nerve-wracking. Like many other women, she'd seen marriages turn sour, and was more than a little worried that this might happen to her as well.

"If you don't 'take' to any of the men, I'm sure Captain Sparrow will leave you in whatever port you wish," Anna-Maria told her, though I knew she was praying that it would work. "And you won't be forced to marry anyone. We can promise you that."

It wasn't until we were back at sea that I realized we had another problem: Penny needed to earn her keep, and Jack had already given me most of what he and the crew deemed "female work," meaning the chores in the kitchen and the mending of sails.

It was Penny who came up with the solution. Apparently she was very good at cleaning and organizing things, so Gibbs assigned her the task of organizing the galley's storeroom. Since it had just been restocked, and it had always been a mess since long before I came aboard, that was no easy task.

Penny had it completely organized within three days.

It was a feat that impressed everyone, and it made things so much easier on Mr. Cotton that the old man practically hugged the life out of her when he saw how tidy the place was.

After that, Mr. Gibbs decided to give Penny the nearly impossible task of organizing the storage rooms that housed the other supplies on the Pearl. He also assigned Marty the Dwarf as a helper to her, explaining that Marty would be able to answer any questions that Penny might have about the supplies and what they were used for.

Even I couldn't have imagined what happened next.

"He's smitten with her," I murmured to Anna as we relaxed in the afternoon sun.

She looked over at me, puzzled. "Who's smitten with who?"

"Marty," I replied, looking off from our position at the bow of the ship towards the mast. "He's smitten with Penny."

Anna shook her head in amazement. "I never thought he'd show interest in any woman –he's always been a firm bachelor. But you're right: there he is, sitting next to her and actually smiling a bit! When was the last time you saw Marty smile?"

That was a good question. The answer to that was: never. Well, alright, almost never, but still, it was hard to remember when I saw the tiny man show any emotion other than 'grumpy.'

But I have to admit, I never thought that Marty of all people would find a match with one of the women I'd brought onboard. I'd intended for Penny to possibly like one of the men who were less rough around the edges, but I couldn't complain –at least I'd found a marriageable girl who could love a pirate, and gotten her onboard the ship.

Glancing at the mast, I saw Penny seated on an overturned bucket with Marty beside her. They were chatting comfortably together as she braided a set of thin ribbons together and he carved something out of a piece of wood. It was a rather homey image –the two of them sitting together like a married couple beside a fire, talking over nothing or everything…

Something dropped beside me right before it smacked me in the arm, drawing my attention. It was Mr. Cotton's parrot, and it was eyeing me closely as it whistled and clacked its beak at me. Sighing, I reaching into a pouch on my belt and drew out a dry biscuit, which I swiftly broke in half. One half went to the bird, which 'chuckled' and daintily accepted his treat with one claw.

"Silly bird," I muttered, reaching out to catch whatever bits and pieces fell while it ate.

When it finished the biscuit in general, the bird squawked and leaned forward to finish what lay in my palm. After those were gone, I reached out and gently scratched along its head. A contented low trill flowed from its beak, and Anna laughed.

"You spoil that bird, Evie" she chided me. "Honestly, you shouldn't feed it every time it asks you to. It's bad for it."

I continued scratching the bird as it tilted its head one way and another in an attempt to have all of its itches soothed. "Well, I can't help it. He's just such a pretty bird." I smiled at it. "You are a pretty bird, aren't you?" I cooed to it.

"Rawk, pretty bird!" it said, echoing my words.

I laughed and gently gathered it up in my arms. "Come on, Anna. Let's get Cotton's voice back to him."

"She really is something, isn't she, Gibbs?" Jack asked from his place at the helm.

"Aye," his first mate agreed. "Not only does she work hard, she gets things done fast. Just look at what she did with that lass, Penny!"

Jack smiled. "Aye, I never thought I'd see the day where of all the men of my crew, Marty would find a bonny lass to call his own!"

Gibbs took a swig from his flask. "Don't get your hopes up about me, though, Captain," he warned. "You know how I feel about such things."

"And yet, you've managed to get used to having not only one, but two women aboard the Pearl," Jack teased. "I think our Evie might have you happily paired off before she departs the Pearl for good."

His first mate snorted his disbelief and left, muttering to himself about the dangers of marriage and women who disliked men and their drinking. Jack couldn't resist a chuckle at his friend's expense, his amusement lingering as he watched Evie descend into the bowels of the Pearl.

Yes, she was a special young lady indeed. Jack greatly admired her ability to find a good, marriageable woman so quickly, especially in an old, rundown tavern. Who knows –if they ever stopped in Tortuga on the right day, she might even find a handful of wives for the men!

'Not me, though,' Jack smirked. 'It'll take a very long time indeed to find Captain Jack Sparrow a decent wife, if she finds one for me at all!'

He honestly had no hopes when it came to Evie finding him a bride. If she somehow managed to find wives for the crewmen that desired them, but didn't find one for him, Jack was willing to pay her off and leave her wherever she wanted. True, it was his plan to find a wife, but having a plan and actually succeeding in following it through were two completely different things altogether!

"Always remember, Jackie," a voice warned in his head, "There comes a time in nearly every man's life where he wants to marry, start a family, and eventually settle down. Just look at me and your mum."

He shuddered at his father's lingering words. Teague had told him that long ago, when Jack had reached that particular age where men enjoyed the company of many women and all they had to offer. Still, just because most men (including some of Jack's own crew!) wanted to "settle" and marry, that didn't mean all men did.

"And certainly not me," Jack muttered to himself. He was quite content with the wenches he found in port…when he could get them.

No, certainly not for him.

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