Wow! Has really been over two weeks since I updated? Sorry…

As always, reviews are replied to in the order they were received, except for the dedication, of course.

This chapter is dedicated to:

blackfuzzdevil:

Well, at least Sera is…

Drink-Up-Me-Hearties-Yo-Ho: hehe! Loved the review. You really think that there should be French pirates that are sexy? I'll see what I can do, though the muses might refuse…

Sarah-K-O-M: hehe! Bed head humor, weak, but good. Thanks, I liked the name, hence why I picked it ;) and guess what? You got the quote (Yay)!

Tricksterstheifgirl: thanks, the chapter name was probably one of the quickest I came up with, just kinda popped into my head…and sorry, but Sarah beat you to the punch on the quote.

MoonSeaEarth: yup, that I do. It's just who I am ;)

Twadrummer: ooo! Holiday? Where? And what is tenterhoks?

Le Jack: Yeah, but it is a minor problem, no? and, hey, when I get on a roll, I kinda just keep going…

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Wayfarer

Kipp stood still in shock for a moment before moving forward to check on the figure sprawled on the floor of the ship's brig. The door swung easily on its hinges. They must have been in a hurry to forget to lock it. He thought to himself, positioning his light to better see. First he gently prodded the figure wit his foot, just in case, getting no response, he bent down and brushed damp blond hair off of the face. Anger entered him seeing the dark bruises on her cheek and the cut on her lip. Where he came from, how he was raised, you simply didn't hit a woman.

Turning, Kipp placed the lantern on a crate and scooped up the unconscious girl, one arm under her knees and one under her back. Retrieving his lantern, he moved back up the steep stairs with some difficulty, since he never had the occasion to practice such an action.

Once on deck his first mate, Taidhgan, approached him. "That's an odd cat, captain." he studied the unconscious form. "The captain's wench, do you think?"

"Honestly, Taidhgan? I'm not sure. If she is, or rather was," He glanced at the lifeless form of the former captain of the Wayfarer, "well, we'll just have to see." He glanced around. "I see my uncle left us to take care of the mess."

"Aye. What do you want us to do with her?"

"Set a charge, sink her. She won't be worth the trouble of hauling her to try to sell."

"Aye, captain. But I meant the girl."

Kipp looked down at the battered face and sighed. "I'll put her in a cabin, and have one of the boys guard it. Did Jack say where he was headed?"

"I believe he was going to bring that little lass to Port Royal." Taidhgan said.

"Then that will be our heading as well." Kipp replies, shifting the figure in his arms before crossing the boards that connected his ship to the Wayfarer.

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Black Pearl

"Jack!" Gibbs called to his captain "You can't mean to let that lass on board! Tis bad luck to have women on board! Even a miniature one." He added under his breath.

"Anamaria is in charge of the girl." Jack said, already approaching the helm.

"Why with me?" Anamaria demanded from behind Jack. He swiveled in place.

"Womanly companionship, luv. The girl stays with you as you are the only other woman on this voyage, even if you rarely act it." That last remark earned Jack a firm slap before Anamaria walked off.

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Huntress

Katrina groaned and forced her eyes open, squinting as light assaulted her eyes. The last she remembered, there was a black ship, Toussaint screamed at her then hit her, she heard Sera call her name… Wait! Sera! Where was Sera? Katrina sat up abruptly, clutching the side of her head as a wave of dizziness hit her. After a moment, when the room stopped spinning, she rose shakily to her feet and glanced around the small, unrecognizable cabin she was in. Just where was she? She wondered the grabbed a hold of the wall to keep her balance as the floor rocked beneath her. Still on a ship.

Katrina shook her head, immediately regretting it as the dizziness came back, dimming her vision. She leaned against the wall, Sera. She reminded herself and followed the wall to the door, slowly turning the knob and peeked out. There was a hallway made of wood, and a young man sitting against the wall just outside, sleeping. Pushing the door open wider, Katrina froze when it squeaked on its hinges. But the young guard just shifted and mumbled something that sounded like "furry sea boots" in his sleep. Katrina let out a breath that she had been holding, resisting the urge to giggle and forced the door the couple extra inches she needed to squeeze through.

Once in the hallway, she glanced one way than the next, one end had stairs that led down, the other way disappeared around a corner. Deciding that she defiantly did not want to head down into the ship, Katrina settled on the corridor that had the corner, but to do that she had to pass by the young man sitting in the hall.

Taking a deep breath, Katrina lifted her skirts and looped them over her arm, blushing slightly that the action bared her legs to the knee, even though there was no one to see. Carefully, as to not step on the young man's sprawled out legs, she tip toed past him. Relieved that nothing went wrong, she let down her skirt and took a few tentative steps, pausing and wincing when a board protested very loudly under her inconsiderable weight.

"Hey!" Katrina heard the guard behind her. "Wait!"

Catching up her skirt, Katrina dashed down the hall. Glancing back at the corner to see the guard scrambling to get up, she didn't see where she was going until she bumped into something solid just around the corner, causing her to fall back onto her butt. Katrina's eyes followed legs encased in black boots to just below the knee, to brown pants followed by a white shirt which was covered with an unbuttoned black vest… and food from the tray the man had been carrying, and finally his face, which was a mixture of surprise and confusion. Katrina silently gaped up at him.

Pounding footsteps brought Katrina back to focus as she glanced at the young man, a boy, really running up to her, who stopped short. "C-capt'n!" he exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I didn't- I mean- she…" the boy trailed off.

The captain gave a sparse smile. "You fell asleep again, didn't you, Alex?"

"Yessir." The boy answered, hanging his head.

The captain released one hand from the tray and shook it, losing some splattered fruit, then used the back of the same hand to brush some spilled water from his chin. "Escort the lady back to her cabin, will you, lad?" he gave a grin which seemed oddly familiar, though Sera was sure she had never seen this man before. "I need to get her a new lunch, as it seems she didn't like the first one I was bringing her."

"Yessir." The boy, Alex, sounded encouraged in the trust his captain clearly still had in him. "This way, miss." Alex gave an elaborate bow, gesturing back towards the cabin.

"But..." Katrina began.

"I don't want to sound rude, miss, but where would you go in the middle of the ocean?" Alex spoke up.

Looking up at the boy, she realized that he was right. With a resigned sigh, she pushed herself off the floor and made her way back to the small cabin. Inside, she sat on the edge of the bed and stared blankly at the wall.

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Black Pearl

Sera was delighted. She was allowed to wander around, instead of being locked in some smelly old room, supposedly for her safety. Also, she wasn't followed, or rather, escorted everywhere she went, though a watchful eye was kept on her by the lady that told her to "stay out of trouble".

And so Sera meandered around the deck. She had never been on a ship before and was fascinated by everything. Every time she saw somebody doing a job, she would stop and study them. She understood the moping and scrubbing of the deck, the maids back at Bridgewood cleaned the floors all of the time. The sails seemed odd though. It was like a very large sheet hung out to dry, but it wasn't wet. Sera quickly forgot about the oddness when she noticed the crew scaling the ratlines. She watched in amazement as they seemed to skim the rigging. It looked so easy. making her way to the railing where the lines were connected, Sera grabbed the lowest rung and looked up. from her vantage point it appeared very high. The farthest up she had ever been was the fourth floor attic at Bridgewood, and even then, she hadn't been tall enough to see out of the dust smeared window.

Sera set her jaw in a stubbornly determined fashion and began to clumsily climb, hand hand, foot, foot. Climbing by placing both feet on one rung before moving onto the next. When she thought she was high enough, Sera paused to look around, shielding her eyes from the bright sun with one hand like she had seen grownups do.

She was concentrating so hard on what was around, she forgot where she was and her feet slipped. She screamed, wildly grabbing at the rigging and flailing her feet around, trying to regain her footing. Once her feet where gingerly back on the rat lines, Sera entwined her arms around the ropes. Staring wide-eyed at the deck which now appeared impossibly far away, panic and terror freezing her in place.

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Anamaria was arguing with Gibbs, neither of them willing to budge an inch on the subject, when a small scream cut them off. They both turned to see a small figure dangling form halfway up the rigging.

"Shit!" Anamaria swore before racing for the ratlines, surprised when Gibbs passed her and bolted up the ropes faster then she'd ever seen anyone go. Gibbs reached the pale and trembling little girl in record time. He reached for her arm, and she twitched a bit then tightened her hold on the ropes.

"It's alright lass." Gibbs cooed, trying to reassure the nervous girl. "How 'bout you let go and let ol' Gibbs take you back down?"

Sera furiously shook her head, still not taking her eyes from the deck below. Suppressing a groan Gibbs decided to change tactic. "Ye look like a lass that likes sweets." Sera, at the prospect of getting a treat, tore her tear brimmed eyes away from the far off deck. Gibbs leaned toward her conspirally "I happen to know that cotton has a hidden stash of sugar cubes."

"Cookie?" Sera sniffled.

"I'm sure we could manage." Gibbs grinned indulgently. "But yer gonna havta come down to get it."

"Carry?" she asked again.

"Alright, but lass, ye got to let go of the riggin'."

Sera nodded and loosened her grip, giving a squeak when Gibbs swung her onto his back. "Now hold on good and tight." He commanded. Carefully he returned to the deck and set the girl firmly on her feet then bent down with his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "No more climbing on the ropes, ok?" He asked gently.

Sera nodded and hung her head. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"What are ye all lookin at?" he stood and growled gruffly at the crowd of crew members that had formed to watch the drama. The crew drifted away until only Anamaria was the only one still standing there, arms folded in front of her, giving Gibbs a speculative look.

"What?" he asked Anamaria just shrugged and walked off. Gibbs started to follow her when he felt a tug on his shirt and looked down to see Sera giving him puppy eyes.

"Cookie?" she repeated.

With a short laugh, Gibbs scooped her up and headed down to the kitchens.

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Sera watched as the nice old man bullied the other man into giving up some sugar cubes. But was soon distracted by the bright bird sitting on the other man's shoulder. Which she bribed to sit on her shoulder by offering one of the sugar cubes. Sera reached up and patted the bird on the back a beatific smile lighting up her face.

"There now, Cotton," Gibbs said "ain't that all worth it?" Cotton nodded, a wizened twinkle in his eye.

Sera popped a sugar cube into her own mouth and her smile grew wider. With a happy flounce she headed up the stairs to enjoy the rest of her treat in the sunlight Once on deck Sera found a stack of crates propped up against the quarter deck and crawled up onto the nearest one, settling down to enjoy the sugar. The parrot hopped down beside her and cocked his head "Yo ho.. yo ho." He squawked. Feeding him another cube, Sera smiled, that reminded her of a song that Kitty had sung sometimes when she thought she was alone. Sera happily started humming the song.

"And really bad eggs…" a voice above Sera sung quietly along with her humming. Sera twisted to look up. Jack was leaning on his elbows which where propped on the railing "I love that song, luv." he grinned at the girl, which she returned and kept humming, Jack singing along.

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Alright, first things first Taidhgan is pronounced TEE-gan. It's Irish.

YEEAAH… That's about it.

Reviews are as good as Not burning your fingers on a hot pan while making lunch which I did today, and let me tell you, typing is not fun with a burnt finger.

Quote:

-Sit……. I meant the dog.