Disclaimer: If I owned pirates I would not be writing fan fiction... don't sue me, I have no money anyway

Author's Note: SO... I finally had some brain flow on this one... which is good because it's the one that's been stuck in my head for the past two weeks... lets see how far I can get before the flow dies... Here's one chapter, I'm hoping another one will pop up by the end of the week... Enjoy!!

(Second Note: This has been reposted because someone complained that it was all in bold, sorry, that wasn't intentional, I just wasn't paying attention...)

A year after being brought on board, young Josey spoke enough English to have conversations with her father and Jack. But they were having continuous trouble trying to keep her in hiding. She was curious and kept sneaking around. Not only that, but she required increasing amounts of food. As it was she was all skin and bones. Living on the scraps from the kitchen was certainly not going to work much longer.

Jack was trying to come up with new ways to solve this problem when an alarm was raised up on deck. Naturally curious he told Josey to stay where she was (sitting on the floor contented with the sketching paper and pencils her father had managed to present her with) while he went to see what was wrong. He was sure it was something to do with another ship, but he wasn't going to wait until the last minute to find out.

And he was very glad he didn't wait. A rather large ship was headed straight for them, Jolly Roger flying high. Bill pulled his young friend aside and commanded him to put the little girl below in the brig where she should be safe (as long as they won the battle). Jack rushed to do so, not wanting to miss any of the fighting, but the girl was gone. Wide eyed in panic the young man scrambled this way and that. At first he called out her name in a loud whisper, but as he grew more frantic he started to shout. After one such outburst a cannon ball slammed against the side of the ship.

Finding the girl was going to have to wait.

Running back up on to the deck Jack received an order that involved helping with sails which he eagerly ran to carry out. The older men were preparing for battle already, they were no match for their attackers from afar. Now it was up to sheer manpower to secure their victory. All the boys were up in the rigging now, out of the way but with a good view of the battleground.

The enemy was starting to pull up beside them now, and the first few brave souls were swinging over to their ship. Those stupid fools fell to pistol shots, mostly from the boys above them. It got very jumbled up on deck after that. Clashing, screaming, and the constant cracks of guns and even a few cannon shots. Jack was enthralled with the fighting men, until something much smaller caught his eye.

"Josey!" He had screamed her name, trying to catch her attention, to warn her to stay below, but there was no way she could hear him above everything else. Knowing that the girl was too sheltered and innocent to know what was really going on, Jack made the quick decision to slide down from his relatively safe roost and 'rescue' her.

He was quick enough to avoid having to draw his sword as he dashed to the stairwell that the girl was coming out of. He threw his arm around her waist and dragged her, screaming, back to where he was supposed to have put her in the first place. But as he entered the room he noticed two strange men coming in from the other side.

"Oh bugger," he cursed. He had no choice but to put down the little girl and draw his weapon. The men laughed. Honestly, what could a 13 year old boy do to two grown pirates? But they were about to be shown just how wrong their assumptions were. He was smaller and weaker, but he was also faster and smarter. By the time they had made it halfway to him he drew his pistol and shot one man in the head. While the other watched his comrade fall dead, he was run through by the boy.

Sheathing his sword, Jack then looked frantically for the girl he had again lost track of. But she hadn't gone far this time. She was wide eyed, terrified, but still curious enough to be walking toward the fallen men.

"No, bad idea," Jack started toward her with every intention of snatching her up again and finally throwing her in the brig. But to the shock of them both, the man he had run through was not quite dead. Actually, he wasn't at all dead. He had the strength to snatch up the little girl and hold his sword to her neck.

Luckily for Josey she really had no idea what was going on. All she knew was that some strange man was holding her and she didn't want to be held. She kicked and wriggled and cursed at him in Spanish. She managed to slip down far enough in his arm so that she could get a good bite on him. He reflexively released her and Jack lunged to pull her away but she had turned to retaliate and the man caught her by the throat before her protector could get to her. He began to squeeze, choking her with ease. Jack started pulling out his sword but a pistol shot rang out from behind him, scaring him half to death. When he realized he was still alive, and that it was Josey's attacker who had taken the bullet he finally turned to see who had come to their rescue.

His face paled instantly as he saw his own father standing in the doorway. The one man they had been trying to hide this little girl from had just saved her life.

Speaking of saving her life! Her spluttering cough suddenly registered in his mind and he looked back to see if she was really going to be alright. He reached out a hand to her, but she ignored it and threw her arms desperately around his middle instead. She stayed pressed against him for a moment before noticing that he was distracted. She followed his gaze and, gasping at the sight of the strange men, leapt behind Jack for safety. This man was twice the size of Jack, he was bigger than her father even, and she had had enough of scary men for one day.

"Quien es el?" she whispered the question up at her guardian in the most timid voice he had ever heard from her mouth. (who is he?)

"The Captain," he replied, lowering his arm to protect her even more. For the first time she did not look around him or even ask any more questions. Her curiosity had been frightened out of her.

Now some of the other crew members were gathering in the room. It wasn't long before Bootstrap uncertainly stepped to the front of the crowd. He had seen Jack while he was walking in, but it wasn't until the others stepped aside that he spotted his daughter.

"How long has she been on the ship?" The captain asked his son. There was no sign of anger in the man, but that was nothing new. He rarely revealed his emotion.

"More than a year," Bootstrap stepped up next to Jack, providing even more of a barricade between the larger man and the little girl. "It was my idea. She is my daughter, I had every intention of leaving her in Tortuga the next time we stopped, but we headed to England and I didn't have the chance."

Jack knew the man was lying. He may have been a pirate, but Bill Turner didn't have the heart to leave his child in that hellhole of a town all alone.

"I dragged Jack into it because I thought he could keep better track of her, but she's sharper than we figured her for."

"And yet you have managed to hide her for a year."

"Aye." Jack butted in. "Apologies, Captain, but we didn't know what else to do with her."

"Where has she been staying?"

"In ... the cargo hold." Jack started wondering mid sentence why the man cared where the little stowaway had been sleeping.

The captain shifted his gaze, and both of the girls protectors then realized that she was peaking out from between them. She in turn noticed the captain's gaze and ducked back with another gasp.

The large man motioned his subordinates to step aside. Bootstrap did so, realizing if he were to get in to any more trouble it could be the end of him. Jack wasn't quite so quick to give up. He stayed put, his arm reaching back to keep the little girl near him. But the captain stepped forward.

"Get out of me way, boy."

Still Jack ignored the command. Shaking his head, the captain stood silently for a moment and then looked over at Bootstrap. "Two days in the brig, no food, no water." He commanded. Some of the men moved forward to carry out the command and Bootstrap stepped into the cell without a fuss. "As for you," Jack stepped back a little in fear. "Five lashes," it was commanded. "Now step aside now, or it'll be five more for insubordination."

"Come on Jack," Bootstrap urged, "it's over."

Hanging his head, the boy slowly shifted from standing in front of the girl to standing beside her. She was terrified and tried to follow behind him, but he pushed her back in front of the captain.

Before anything else the large man looked over at the rest of the crew. "We best be well on our way to Tortuga by the time I'm through down here." They all scrambled out of the room. When they had gone, their commander made a gesture that dropped his son's jaw to the floor. He knelt down on one knee in front of the girl and lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. She continued shaking in fear but did not try to look away. This brought a rare smile to the man's face. "What's your name, girl?"

Both Jack and Josey were prepared to answer for her, but she beat them to it. "Josephina Maria Turner." It was nearly spat at the man, an act of insubordination that would have been punished in any other human being. But this girl was young and her innocence was refreshing to the pirate.

After quietly repeating her name he nodded. "What have you been doing all this time?"

"Nada," she answered quickly. "Es muy aburido."

Her wit completely enchanted the captain. "That is a problem easily solved," he told her before standing up. She was confused, not quite understanding what he had said, but it didn't matter. He turned to the girl's caged father now. "She's too much like you to be any good in Tortuga, mate. We'll be better off giving her lessons on how to be a pirate. She needs to learn to protect herself, if nothing else."

Just then the first mate stepped in to the room. "Captain," he dipped his head respectfully. "Shouldn't we be givin' young Sparrow his lashes?" he asked, all too eagerly.

"Aye," the man turned to his son. "Show him what happens when you keep secrets from the captain, Mr. Barbossa."

"Aye, Captain."

Jack struggled against the first mate's grip but, after a warning glance form the captain, stopped. Josey tried to run after him but the captain stopped her. She fought a little, but Bootstrap scolded her. Just as she was calming down the large man holding her back suddenly lifted her and tossed her over his shoulder.

This time Bootstrap couldn't blame her for fighting. "Teague, what are ya doing?!"

The captain turned to give an explanation to the worried father, though he had every right to ignore the question. "I told you she'd be better off as a pirate. She'll be under my charge now. You have nothing to worry about. I promise you no harm will come to your daughter aboard this ship."

"What are you gonna do with her?"

The captain gave a final smirk when he realized the other man's fear. "She's too young for that, Turner. I promise you she won't be harmed, by me or any other man."

And with that he carried the kicking and screaming girl out of the room.