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Mr. Gibbs kept holding her hands, as he said, softly, "It isn't a friendly town t' th' likes of us, Miss Elizabeth. When ye left here as a wee lassie, ye were one o' the elite ones... one o' high birth an' good breeding. That sign has always been there, but ye never woulda noticed it had I not pointed it out t' ye. Ye would still be able t' visit there, yourself, but I couldn't bring meself t' accompany ye except t' watch over ye.'

"... ye see, if ye look around, how many do ye see on these streets tha' look like any o' th' crew o' th' Black Pearl... especially her captain?'

Elizabeth looked about her at the passersby. He was right. Jack, in all of his handsome, dark, beaded and flamboyant glory, would have stood out as plain as day... as would any crewman of the Pearl. She felt shame and anger begin to bubble up inside of her, as the differences between the two worlds that she had inhabited in her life suddenly collided violently in her mind. The world that she had left behind, the bigoted, high brow, confining and corseted world of the aristocracy... and the free spirited pirate world that she chose over it. How much it hurt to have it suddenly come into such contrast in front of her eyes. She placed her hands over her large, pregnant belly and felt her child move within... a child with pirate blood. She angrily thought about this blessed baby's family, by adoption...

Mr. Cotton... a fine man who had been a shopkeeper in the Caribbean until his town was raided by the natives who had been pushed off of their land. He was an innocent bystander who tried to defend his family, only to have them murdered in front of him, before his own tongue was cut out, and his home burned.

Marty... a native of Tortuga who would have been stared at and ridiculed in this port city simply because of his small stature.

Mr. Pintel... from the poorest area of London, who had taken in his nephew, Ragetti, when Ragetti's prostitute mother had died of tuberculosis... Mr. Pintel had promised his only sister that he would look after the lad, no matter what, and they had stuck together, ever since.

Mr. Gibbs... a lifelong sailor from Wales who had lost his dear wife during childbirth... his baby son had also died, and he drowned himself in drink after being drummed out of the Navy, lost in rum upon Tortuga until befriended by the daft Captain Jack Sparrow.

And Captain Jack Sparrow... the illigitimate son of a pirate captain and an Irish gypsy lass, surviving alone against the odds at the tender age of six, after his mother's death ... the dark gypsy skin that he was born with considered "of colour" by the upper classes. The sign above the sweet shop doorway held all strikes against him.

Elizabeth was stunned... all of her loved ones that she now cherished were considered "riff raff" by those who had borne her, Elizabeth Anne Swann Turner, daughter of Weatherby Swann, appointed by the King of England as the Governor of Jamaica. The governor's daughter, who chose to love and marry a humble blacksmith, and who had more family among her pirate friends than she ever had by blood.

As all of this sank in with her, Elizabeth's blood began to boil, and she looked sideways at Mr. Gibbs, whose eyebrows shot up. He had seen this look from the lass, before, and it did not bode well. Joshamee Gibbs wished like hell that Jack looked more normal than he did, and that he had accompanied them into town in order to "protect" this fiery lassie.

"Mr. Gibbs... we need to buy some sweets!" she exclaimed with a wicked, wicked smile.

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Jack helped the crew to haul the long boat up onto the deck of the Black Pearl, and helped Elizabeth out of the boat and onto the main deck, clearly relieved to see her and Mr. Gibbs return safely in the evening light. Elizabeth climbed nimbly down, only slightly holding her belly and smiling brightly at Mr. Ragetti as he gingerly patted her hand and fussed over her swollen feet... "Look there, Poppet! Now ye needs t' be sittin' down an' havin' a bit o' a bite t' eat... we had a fine stew fer supper an' ye be eatin' fer two, now! Wot would Mr. Will think?" he fussed, as Elizabeth laughed merrily at his attention. Jack looked at him, annoyed, as Mr. Pintel pulled a chair out for her to sit down upon. Ragetti scampered off to the galley for a hot bowl... he was taking Elizabeth's condition very seriously and was surprisingly helpful to her since Will had been gone to help James.

As the crew removed the various parcels from the long boat, Jack turned to Elizabeth and said, absently, "Soooo... did you an' Gibbs have a fine visit t' the city, then? Didja relives some fine moments from your childhood..." he looked so serious, that Elizabeth hesitated to speak. She decided to blunder forth with what was upon her mind since that afternoon...

"Jack... I understand, now..." she began, and he tilted his head a bit and leaned forward as if to listen more closely. She cleared her throat and continued. "I never really noticed just how ... different... things are, now. I saw a sign above a doorway, today..."

The captain smiled sadly and said, "Ahhhh... no Irish, no gypsies, no people o' any colour other than paper white...no human bein's..." his voice trailed off. "... now ye see why people of my ilk avoids such places, eh? Especially here in jolly ol' England, an' especially in th' strongholds o' the Navy...those such as meself are wanted by th' King fer hangin' ... an' not wanted by anyone else..." Jack's expressive hands waved in the air only slightly, and his dark eyes looked very sad in their honesty.

Elizabeth turned and stared at the captain for putting it so succinctly. Even after all of this time, he still could surprise her so. She was even more glad that she and Gibbs had done what they had done. She smiled and picked up a parcel that she, herself, had carried aboard, and was determined to change the mood.

"I brought you a present!" she exclaimed, "... something that I know that you like, and you will enjoy hearing how we procured it." She handed the parcel to the captain, who had pulled up a chair across the barrel from her, and looked at the package suspiciously. Elizabeth went on, "... we went into a sweet shop, and they had the most delectable of treats there! So many wondrous things!" She leaned forward, much as Jack did, and with a devilish look in her eyes, she pushed the parcel closer to him. "Now, keep in mind, there is enough here to share with the crew, and we must save some for William when he rejoins us in four days, but I especially wanted to get these for you..."

"Sweet shop? Izzy, ye were t' try t' provision th' ship as honestly as ye could in order t' keep down suspicion! We didn't send along enough money fer ye t' buy at a sweet shop!" Jack's face grew alarmed, as he quickly started to get up to take a look about with his spyglass, until Elizabeth grabbed his thin arm and made him sit back down. "It's alright, we didn't raise any suspicion!" Her face then grew serious, and she said, softly, "You never had any luxuries such as sweets when you were young, did you, Jack...nor are you welcome in a place such as that now, are you...?"

Jack's dark eyes looked into Elizabeth's for a moment, then down at the parcel. Such a simple thing as candies or sweets were well beyond the reach of most of those in his social class, and to steal something such as that would be so folly in it's danger that even he had not attempted it. As much as he loved sweets, he would not wish to be captured for them.

"Well! Mr. Gibbs and I came up with a plan... and we did not need the money that you gave to us for provisions. As we went into the shop, and I talked to the owner, I simply acted as though I was lightheaded with the heat! I told the shopkeeper that I wished to sit down for a moment, and as he helped the dear little expectant mother of obvious high social standing and good breeding to a chair, Mr. Gibbs picked his pocket!" Elizabeth grinned proudly.

"He WOT????" Jack's face broke into a gleeful smile, as he pictured Mr. Gibbs' beefy hands lightly lifting the shopowner's own purse from his person. Elizabeth clapped her hands together, as she giggled, "... and we 'bought' enough sweets for the entire crew with the shopkeeper's own money! And to think that he wouldn't allow 'riff raff' in his establishment!" she laughed.

Jack started to chuckle, as he said, "... I can't wait t' tell this one t' William, lass! 'Light Fingered Joshamee' an' his accomplice, 'Lyin' 'Lizabeth'!" The captain did something that he rarely did... he laughed out loud!

After they wiped away tears of mirth, Elizabeth once again pushed the package toward Jack, and urged him to open it... growing quiet again, she said to him, with feeling, "... these are for all of the times that you were denied little things such as sweets, Jack... simply because of narrowminded bigots... people of a social class that I denounce..."

Jack unwrapped the parcel slowly, as if to savor the surprise inside, even more... as he finally saw what was within, his face softened and softly inhaled... "Oooooh, Izzy! Chocolate truffles!!!! How did ye know..." And Elizabeth held up the compass, "I simply used it to find what I wanted the most at that moment... to know what Jack Sparrow's favorite sweet would be!"

Jack looked as though he had been presented with the most valuable diamonds and gold that anyone could offer to a pirate captain. He looked up at her with eyes as rich as the chocolate that he held in his hands, delicately picked up a sweet with his forefinger and thumb, and blissfully licked it. "Ahhhhh..." and as he bit into it with a great passion, he smirked at her, and said, around a mustacheful of very decadent chocolate,"...Pirate!..."

Elizabeth beamed with pride... a bit of quiet piracy for some small bit of justice in this cruel world... and as she watched Captain Jack Sparrow become completely oblivious to everything around him over a small package of chocolate truffles, she knew that she had better save back a piece for Will... and hide it!

THE END

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