Ahoy there mateys! Arrgh! I'm finally back with another chapter. To all my loyal fans who are still reading at this point, my dearest apologies and I can only hope that my writing in the future will somehow begin to make up for the lack of what has been written over the past few months. Please, please, please review and let me know you are still out there :-)

Chapter Twenty-One

Anamaria's first day of searching for a crew had been rather uneventful. She had only managed to recruit a total of twenty sailors and at the end of the night she found herself at the bottom of her second bottle of rum at The Briar Rose. Gathering herself together, she was beginning to make her way to the door when she saw Giselle serving mugs of liquor to a table of rowdy pirates. The women locked eyes for a brief moment before Anamaria began moving towards the door again. She was getting close when she heard the heavily accented voice behind her.

"Well, well, who do we 'ave 'ere. If it ain't Cap'n Jack Sparrow's good friend," she paused before adding, "And it looks as if she's drinkin' alone."

Anamaria turned and gave a sarcastic smile to the buxom barmaid. She then proceeded to make her way out of the room again.

"I'd ask where the captain is tonight, but it isn't nice to tell people I told you so," Giselle said.

Anamaria sighed heavily and then turned to face the girl again. She really didn't want a confrontation. She was tired, feeling more than a little tipsy, and to top it all off, she had a lot of hard work to look forward to in the morning. All she really wanted was to go back to The Sea Wench and get some sleep.

Giselle took Anamaria's pause as an opportunity to continue with her assumptions, "I'm sorry, you're probably 'urt that Jack's gone, but that's jus' the way 'e is."

Anamaria didn't usually lie in situations like this, but she wanted to shut the girl up with as little conversation as possible. "Jack is waiting on the ship for me: my ship actually. Yeah, like I've told you before, I can take care of myself. I've got a real job and I earn real gold. So before you start assuming things that you don't know anything about, you better learn what's really going on. Otherwise you better keep that pretty mouth of yours busy with the things it's really good at."

Anamaria turned and left a speechless Giselle behind, moving quickly out of the tavern. When she arrived back at the ship she went straight to her cabin. All she wanted was to be left alone to get some sleep. Her head was pounding and she knew that she had serious business to attend to tomorrow. She hadn't thought it would be so difficult for her to find a crew. When Jack had established his on The Black Pearl she had easily found seventy-five percent of the crew. Why was she now having such a hard time doing the same for herself?

She sat on her bed and began to pull off her boots as she continued to ponder her situation. Some of the men she had spoken with today had almost seemed scared of her. Of course, she guessed that she did make quite an impressive sight: a one armed woman who captained her own pirate ship. It made a fearsome statement. To be in her situation she would have to be tough as nails, possibly one of the best pirates of her time. She could only hope to earn that kind of a reputation over the next couple of years. Slipping out of her sash she found herself wondering if that was possible with Jack at her side. Sure, they had made a name for themselves in the Caribbean as far as the amount of treasure they had accumulated, but fearsome was not a word that would be associated with them.

Anamaria shrugged her shoulders; maybe such a title wasn't necessary. They had done very well for themselves without ever becoming overly violent. There was a knock at her door and she sighed heavily. She had just gotten back from the tavern and she was fairly sure that no one had seen her on the ship. Besides, it was late, who could possibly need her at this point? She debated over leaving her boots on or off, but ultimately decided that she should be prepared just in case.

Groaning as she slipped her feet back inside them she called, "One minute."

She then crossed the room and unlocked her door, pulling it slowly open.

"Nuri," she said, a little surprised to see him at her door at such a late hour.

"I hope I'm not bothering you Captain Saldana, but I was just wondering if you had a minute to talk about our future crew," he sounded apologetic for disturbing her.

"No, no, it's fine Nuri," she said, moving away from the door. "Come on in."

Nuri followed her across the room and she led him to the conference table. He chose the chair beside her, but almost immediately slid it backwards so as not to get too close. She thought how different this scene was from the one she had shared with her captain. Even during meetings Jack had always been overly sexual towards her. She supposed that some people would try and say that he had pushed himself on her or acted inappropriately, but she didn't believe that. It had been obvious from the beginning what the two of them had wanted from one another. Why deny that? She had wanted him and he had wanted her, there was nothing wrong with the acknowledgement. They had a good relationship because not only did they not deny their feelings towards each other, but they also had a great deal of respect for one another's sailing abilities.

"Captain Saldana, I'm just a little concerned about the state of our crew after today," Nuri began.

Anamaria sighed heavily. She was well aware of the lack of success they had suffered today and did not feel like hearing about it at this particular moment.

"We will find more crewmembers Nuri. Don't worry about that. And they'll be good ones."

"I don't doubt that Captain," Nuri said. "It just seems as if we filled Captain Sparrow's ship so easily. Why does this seem so much more difficult a task?"

Anamaria sighed as she rubbed her temple, "I should have warned you that it wouldn't be easy Nuri. Not only am I a woman, but I'm also what most people see as severely handicapped. Until I establish my reputation, people are going to be skeptical of my sailing abilities."

"Captain, I think you're doing a great job." Nuri leaned forward, gesturing with his hands emphatically. "I must admit that the crew wondered what would become of you after the accident, but you've become an even stronger leader than before."

"Thank you, it hasn't been easy," she admitted.

There was silence for a moment and then Anamaria stood, "Well Nuri, if that's all for the evening, I believe I'm going to hit the sack."

Nuri stood.

"We have a few very long days ahead of us," she stated, crossing the room.

Nuri was close behind her, "Captain, there's one more thing I wanted to ask."

"Sure Nuri, what is it?"
"Well, I was just wondering how many crewmembers we will be sharing with The Pearl?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not exactly sure I understand what you're asking," Anamaria said, smoothing her long dark hair and pulling it over her shoulder.

"Such as Decker and Muriel, people like that. Are we looking to find our own doctor and carpenter or will we share with Captain Sparrow?"

"We're running our own ship Nuri. We'll just be sailing alongside The Pearl. We'll have our own pilot, and boatswain, and master gunner. As for Decker…well, Jack's lucky enough to have happened up on his own doctor himself. I've never sailed with any other crew that had an official doctor on board."

"I see," Nuri said, nodding his head as he stepped towards the door. "You have yourself a good night Captain. Get some rest, you'll need it."

"Thank you Nuri," she said, opening the door for him.

After closing the door she made her way back across the room to her bed, but she never even finished getting undressed, falling asleep on top of the sheets instead.

Jack awoke the next morning to the scent of bacon cooking. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the aroma and thinking that things like this could definitely spoil him.

Stretching, he yawned, "Good morning Elizabeth."

"Good morning Jack," she smiled.

Jack stood and after pulling on his boots, made his way into the kitchen.

"Where's dear William?" he asked.

Elizabeth smiled again. "He's giving Thomas a bath. Early mornings are their time to share together."

Jack watched Elizabeth cook for a minute. He was disappointed to see that she was completely dressed this morning. He had hoped for a repeat of the nightgown or at least the robe from last time, but Will must have said something to her. He took a step closer to her and her eyes looked up, meeting his.

"When are you going to run away to sea with me?" he asked, just above a whisper.

Elizabeth giggled, "You're lucky Will admires you so much. Otherwise, he'd never let you get away with comments like that."

Jack smiled and took one more inappropriate step closer. "Well?" he asked, putting his hand gently on her back.

Elizabeth's eyes met his again, "Neither Will nor I are going to be sailing off anywhere with you Jack."

Just then Will stepped into the living room carrying a grinning Thomas. Jack quickly removed his hand from Elizabeth's back and smiled at Will.

"Good morning," he greeted them both, crossing the room to plant a small kiss on his wife's lips. "Jack," he nodded at the pirate, passing Thomas to Elizabeth and then taking over what she had been cooking on the stove.

Elizabeth carried Thomas down the hall explaining, "If you'll both excuse me, I'm just going to give him his breakfast."

"So Jack, can I convince you to join me at the smithy today? I've got a few large orders I need to work on, but nothing I can't handle. Maybe you could even help me."

Jack let out a small laugh. "I'd rather spend the day staring at Elizabeth. Any chance she might decide I need another bath?"

Will flipped over the bacon and laughed, shaking his head. "You're hopeless Jack."

"What! You can't hold it against me. Elizabeth is much better to look at than you."

"I can't disagree with you there," Will continued cooking. "She is beautiful, isn't she?"

Jack didn't answer.

"Didn't take long for her to get her figure back either. But she's so young. I suppose I am a lucky man."

"Aye," Jack agreed. "Indeed you are. She's beautiful, young, and she loves you. That's a rare combination my friend."

Will chuckled, continuing his cooking, "I would suspect you've found yourself in that position more than a few times Jack."

Jack smiled, giving a small nod. "But you love her back and that's the real thing. I haven't found myself in that uncompromising position but once in life."

Will cracked a few eggs, placing them in a skillet over the stove. Smiling, he commented, "I had to teach Elizabeth how to make scrambled eggs, but she still seems to have a hard time with it."

Jack laughed, "I wouldn't 'ave imagined 'er to be the housewife."

"She was definitely spoiled growing up," Will agreed.

"I hear you two talking about me," Elizabeth said, appearing from around the corner.

"I speak only in love my dear," William explained.

"I'm sure," she said, kissing him softly on the lips as she propped Thomas loosely on her hip. "I think I do a pretty good job of taking care of our home."

"You do an excellent job," Will confirmed. "Jack and I were just discussing that it's not how you were raised," he added, taking the skillet off the stove. "Breakfast is ready."

Elizabeth passed Thomas to Will and began serving the plates. Will placed Thomas in his small crib and then joined Jack and Elizabeth at the table.

"I believe I will accompany you to work today William," Jack said, his mouth full of his first bite of eggs.

"Great. We'll leave as soon as we finish breakfast," Will said.

"No bath?" Jack asked, feigning innocence.

Will turned hard eyes to the pirate, "No bath."

While Jack joined Will at the smithy, Anamaria was busy recruiting sailors. She had gotten up early and immediately began wandering the docks. The stress was getting to her, but by lunch she had enough sailors to crew the large ship. That evening while the sun sank below the horizon, Anamaria stood aboard her own pirate ship and read her copy of the Articles to a group of men large enough to more than comfortably crew The Sea Wench. Her articles matched Jack's to the letter and the men signed it, eagerly awaiting their turn to leave port. Anamaria hated having to inform them that their departure was still a few days off, but she couldn't leave without Jack and he wasn't due to arrive back from Port Royal for at least a couple of days out.

As she sat at her desk later that evening, she pondered her good fortune. Was it possible that Jack's uncanny good luck was beginning to rub off on her? She smiled to herself, thinking how he always managed to get himself out of difficult situations at just the right moment. If she really thought about it, she missed him a little right now.

She yawned. It had been a long day, but she wasn't ready to go to sleep yet. Stretching, she stood slowly and decided to head into the busy nightlife of Tortuga.

In an attempt not to run into Giselle again, Anamaria decided to visit a somewhere different than The Briar Rose. Eventually she settled on The Blue Dragon, a small noisy tavern right in the middle of town. Several hours later, and as everything around her started to haze over, Anamaria decided it was time to head back to The Sea Wench. While she had been drinking, several sailors had attempted to strike up a conversation with her, but she had managed to ignore them all. Now that she was headed back through the busy streets, she recognized one of the men approaching her. She quickened her pace in hopes that he would give up his pursuit, but he did not.

"Hey there," he called, beginning to catch up to her. "I don't think women like you get to be too picky about who they spend the night with. You should feel lucky I'm willing to spend some gold on ye."

"Excuse me?" Anamaria said, whirling around and catching him off guard. "I think you've made an error sailor."

The man looked confused. "No error. You're a wench on the streets selling her services, just like the rest of 'em."

Anamaria laughed off the comment in her drunken state.

"Try the captain of The Sea Wench," she said, turning to leave.

The man came up behind her, grabbing her arm hard and spinning her back around to face him. "I don't like being told I'm wrong by a woman."

"Then it's a good thing you're not a member of my crew," Anamaria said, struggling to pull free from him.

Her answer seemed to make him even angrier and his hold on her arm tightened. "Now me and my friends here don't care what you think you're captain of. We want ye to show us a good time like you're supposed to."

For the first time, Anamaria looked over his shoulder to see two other large men leering at her. She knew that no matter how strong she was, she was at a definite disadvantage and she began to grow a little concerned. Where was Jack when she actually needed him? All of a sudden she heard a voice over her shoulder.

"Captain Saldana," the young sailor asked, "is there a problem here?"

Anamaria racked her brain to think of the man's name she remembered having recruited earlier that day, but unable to come up with it, settled for, "I believe these scoundrels have mistaken me for a common whore."

The distraction allowed her to finally manage to wrestle her arm free and draw her sword.

But the man underestimated Anamaria, drawing his own sword as he laughed. "Now she thinks she's going to challenge me," he said, tossing the comment over his shoulder to his two friends.

Despite the fact that she was highly intoxicated, Anamaria managed to disarm the man in only several minutes time, wounding him fatally in the chest. His two friends who had been fighting with her crewmate grew frightened when they saw that she intended to go after one of them next. Seeing their friend lying dead on the ground, a large pool of deep red spreading around him, they turned and fled.

Wiping her bloody sword against her sash, she turned to thank the young man. "I might have found myself in quite the predicament had you not come to my aid. I appreciate your help."

"It was my pleasure Captain. I'm Braden Rivens. You recruited me as a sailor on The Sea Wench earlier today."

"Ahhh, Braden. I remember now. You're a good man."

Anamaria began to walk away, but Braden stated, "I just happened by at the right time, that's all. I'm sure any of your fellow sailors would have done the same."

"Nonetheless, thanks are in order, I believe. Keep up the good work and you'll see yourself promoted in no time."

"That would be an honor, Captain," he said.

Anamaria turned and began making her way back to The Sea Wench. As thankful as she was that Braden had happened by, she was slightly embarrassed to have gotten herself into a situation where she needed someone else's help. The memory of the night she had first met Jack came rushing back. Her temper had cooled slightly since then, losing her arm had forced her to rely on other's help when it was really necessary. Still, she was glad now that the threat was over that Jack hadn't been there to see it. It was better that she not receive help from him if she could avoid it.

She was back at The Sea Wench now. She did not speak to anyone on her way to her cabin and made a conscious point to not speak to anyone who spoke to her. She would feel better in the morning, after a long rest.

Braden seemed like a nice enough man, but she hoped that he did not brag about his exploits to the crew. If her men found out she had required someone's assistance, it could be detrimental to her. She already had a hard enough time trying to get men to see her as captain. If they found out about tonight, it would be damn near impossible.

Snuffing out her candles, she relaxed into her bed. Briefly her mind wandered to Jack. She hoped his visit in Port Royal had gone well, but a small part of her wished he had been here, with her. She imagined feeling his warm skin brush hers. Drifting into a deep sleep she began to dream of him.