Lost City of Atlantis (POTC 6) + Shorts

Two Pirates and a Baby

1728
After Curse of the Black Pearl, before Dead Man's Chest
Annette's POV

Captain Jack Sparrow was more than delighted to obtain the magnificent Black Pearl once again. He insisted that we take our travels out of the Caribbean, and see what the action is over in the Baltic Sea. He stated that he wanted to sail around Sweden, Prussia, and Finland. He was captain, so we did as he commanded.

We docked at Stettin, where Jack was quite ecstatic to see what those countries had to offer. After a day of adventuring around the port, Jack retired to his cabin. I, on the other hand, had a fascinating time learning the language and taking in the culture of the beautiful city. I got a knack for it rather quickly, because I spent most of my time in their taverns.

I was exiting one of the buildings when I noticed a baby playing in the mud nearby. I frowned and bent down, and stared at the baby. He wore a nice white nightgown, but it was completely dirty from the mud he was stuck in. It began to rain so I picked the baby up, and noticed that there was no one around him. I shrugged, and walked him back to the ship.

Gibbs stopped me when I got on deck, "what's that?"

"A baby," I answered, cradling him in my arms and I used my finger to tickle his chubby cheek. He couldn't be more than a year old.

"Aye, I see that, but why is it here?" Gibbs asked.

"He was alone, and it commencé-ed to rain," I answered.

"Jack isn't going to like that."

I ignored him and walked off toward the cabin, I knocked and Jack let me come in. I opened the door slightly and saw that he was sitting at his desk, measuring the map with calipers to see where our next coordinates are.

"Annie, how's it going?" He asked.

"Bonjour... um... hypothetically speaking..."

"Oh, bugger," Jack sighed.

"What?" I asked.

"Whenever you begin with a hypothetical, it's usually not good," he said and put his calipers down.

I huffed and started over, "hypothetically speaking, how mad would you be if I found a baby and brought him on board?"

Jack sighed, "Annie, what did you do?"

"Take a guess."

Jack rubbed his eyes in disappointment, "Annie..."

I opened the door to reveal the baby in my arms. I said, "he was alone."

Jack grimaced, "yuck—children."

"How dare do you say that?" I said, "come here, hold him."

"No," Jack said.

"Jack."

"I need you to get away from me," he said, standing up from his desk and always staying on the opposite side as I tried to walk to him. He used the desk as a barrier or a shield.

"You'll be fine," I walked up to him anyway and carefully placed the baby in his arms. He snarled his lip and still tried to back away, but I finally managed to put the baby in his arms, being gentle with his head. "See? Not so bad."

"Easy for you to say," he said, looking down at the baby.

"I always wanted an infant," I admitted while cooing at the baby. I used my finger and wiggled it in front of his face, and he was absolutely entranced with it.

Jack frowned, "why didn't you?"

I shrugged, "it wasn't in the cards for me."

I had wanted to be a mother ever since I could remember. I love children, I always thought they were bundles of joy, sweet and innocent. But a life of pirating was the life for me. It's not the life for a child.