Tangled:

A Pirates of the Caribbean Story

A young girl of 17 put her hands on her lower stomach and watched the horizon, searching for the ship that was a week late. It was a ship with black sails and it was carrying her lover, the father of the baby currently taking form inside of her. As the sun set, she sat at the end of the dock and let the tears that had been threatening to expel all day finally fall. Her flaxen hair whipped in the coastal wind, but she didn't bother to retie it this time, so it caught the last of the fading sunlight and turned golden brown in the playful light. She blinked her once bright, blue eyes against the tears that continued to fall off her face and onto the bodice of her simple, pale green dress. The sailors who saw her at the docks everyday passed her now, frowning, with looks of pity on their old, wise faces. The girl, ignoring the murmurs behind and around her, continued to watch the horizon as the sun sank deeper into the water and the world grew steadily darker.

Finally, when the only light was the moon, the blonde haired woman rose from her place. As she looked back into the town where she had grown up, the town where she was now a figure for rumors and scandal, someone whom her parents had disowned, she knew she couldn't go back. She stepped off the deck and onto the sand, then walked towards the shore. She knew he wasn't coming back, because he never did keep his promises, and now, this time she wasn't going to wait around like a pathetic house-wife. She let her fingers lace through the trinket hanging from her neck, and then she pulled until it fell gently into her palm.

With one last look at the small, glittering opal she had been given by her love, she cast it into the open water watching it be washed into the current of the ocean and then sink to the depths forever. Feeling strangely smug as she walked off down the beach, the soon-to-be mother never looked back at her once perfect life. And had she looked back that night? Well, she would have seen first hand what happens to dreamers like the man she had been waiting for; the one who weeks later, would come home.

Five Years Later; Pirate's Island Located Somewhere Off the Coast of Jamaica;

"Mama, that man in the corner is awaitin' for sumtin' to drink." A woman with elbow length dirty blonde hair, freckled nose, bronzed skin, and dull blue eyes looked down at the little boy and smiled. He was the perfect cross between his mother and his father. Dark brown hair fell into his navy blue eyes and skimmed the length of his chin, while his freckled skin and sweet smile lit up his face. The woman, Charlotte, smiled at her son and ruffled his hair with her palm. John, the little five year old, laughed and hugged his mother around her legs.

"It's pronounced waiting, Johnny, and something. We may live on this filthy island, but you will speak in a proper manner." Charlotte said while dusting her hands off on her white apron that was covering her simple gray dress. Now 22 years old, Charlotte had fled her old life, jumped onto a merchant ship, got off at the first stop which had been this island, and had her child. She had changed her name last name to Bradshaw and made a new life for herself.

"Yes, mama." John said while straightening up and 'being the man of the house,' as his mother jokingly laughed. "And what have I told you about being out in the tavern, hmm? You are to stay behind the counter with Ms. Sweeney or back in the house until I come home." Charlotte said as John looked to the floor. With another 'Yes, mama' John went back behind the counter to where a older, motherly woman was wiping the counter off. Charlotte smiled before setting off to where a man in the corner sat, hat pulled low on his face. Sitting next to him was a man with a graying beard and a sign-up sheet. Apparently, they were looking for a crew.

Charlotte wiped her hands and walked over to the back table, holding a tray and two empty glasses. Cutting the sashay in her walk down to a minimum, so not to look like the harlots that littered the tavern, she smiled and brought herself up to her full height as she reached the table.

"What can I bring you, gentlemen?" Charlotte asked, her proper upbringing shining through in the way she spoke. The graying man looked up, smiling, while the man whose face was hidden under the hat turned his head sharply. With an uneasy feeling, Charlotte set the empty glasses down and grabbed a pitcher of rum from a passing waitress. "Thanks, Ninny." She said to the waitress who she had been friends with for awhile. "I assume it would be rum?" She asked questioningly to the two men.

"Aye, missy, that'd be fine." The older man said as Charlotte poured the glasses. She slid one glass to the other man at the end of the table, and the man caught it without looking up.

"Good luck with your crew," she said as she heard her name called from behind her.

"Charlotte! Com ge' yo boy bufo' I throw 'im ou' gain!" Throwing back her hair, Charlotte rushed forward to grab John from the tavern keepers rough hands. Marty, whose real name was Martha, had let Charlotte work at the tavern for the past five years, but she had always told her that John was to be kept out of sight unless he was doing work. "Righ' now he's abein a nuisance."

"Sorry, Marty, it won't happen again." With a look that could have sent the most scurvy of seadogs to the depths, Charlotte took John's arm and dragged him back into the kitchen where she sat him down on a stool by the hearth. "John, what have I told you about being out in the tavern? Stay with Ms. Sweeney." John nodded fervently as his mother scolded him. With one last narrowed gaze, Charlotte backed out of the kitchen and into the bar area, promptly running into a man.

"Alrigh, luv?" The man asked and Charlotte froze. That voice, that hat, this man's aura surrounding the table. She knew who he was immediately and felt the emotions from years ago swell into her heart again. With a steadying breath, she righted herself and tugged down on her apron.

"Quite, thank you." She said in clipped tones while turning on her heel and making her way back into the kitchen. Charlotte found John sitting where she had left him; when he turned to look at the intruder, his face paled and he got up from the stool.

"Mama? Are you feeling well?" Charlotte had to look away as she gripped back the tears. "You want a glass of water or sumthin?" John asked again. Leveling a hand to her eyes so no one would see the tears, she let John hug her around her petite waist and took a steadying breath. The sounds of heavy boots hitting the ground on the door in front of the galley, pacing.

"I'll be right back, Johnny. Stay in here for just a moment more." Walking out of the kitchen for the second time she halted to stare at the man. When he noticed her presence, he turned towards her and lifted his hat high enough on his head that she could see his face. The same deep brown eyes, rimmed with blackened kohl, the same charming grin with gold teeth, although they were perfectly straight, and the same long, aristocratic nose.

"Charlotte," He spoke her name on a whisper and she shuddered against his words. It sounded so familiar to have him say her name once again. "It's been too long."

With a sob, Charlotte spoke quickly and quietly, "You need to leave me alone and not bother me or my boy. Just go back to your table and I'll send another barmaid over to help you. Goodbye, Jack," Quickly, she turned around and made for the safety of the rest of the tavern, but a bejeweled hand caught her arm.

"Now just' wait a minute," Captain Jack Sparrow said as he spun her around to face him. His tone wasn't angry, but pleading, "I jus' wanta talk." Charlotte raised her hand to take his arm away when the kitchen door swung open. There stood John, ready to defend his mother and it was terribly hard not to note the striking similarities between the two males.

"Mama?" John asked, while letting his weapon (a stirring spoon) drop from his hands. Charlotte sighed and blinked back her tears.

"John, meet your father."

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Hello! So, this is my short story that I will be writing to help me get over some writer's block and just because I had this as an idea, but didn't want to be committed to writing a big chapter story. I hope that you can all enjoy, because it's going to be good for me to write. The updates will probably come at least three times a week; I won't hold myself to it though, because I'm already writing three Harry Potter stories as well.

Enough of my babble though. Give me a shout out if you like it, and I'm taking names if you would like to be entered into the story. I'll probably just use one name for now and then do this again towards later chapters.

Hope you're having a wonderful day!