Did she want to live without him? Not right now, she didn’t. Bridgid drug her tired ass up and began to walk slowly toward the surf. She entered the water, ankle deep then thigh deep, then the water began to wash over her. She felt as if her life were over now that Jack Aubrey had deserted her.

Then it happened. She thought the sudden tug at her ankles was a shark or the undertow. It wouldn’t be long now before she found Davy Jones’ locker. Not long now.

Swept off her feet she relaxed to let it happen but to her surprise she was lifted and cradled into a pair of arms that felt very unfamiliar.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she bitched as she took to beating on the chest of the man who handled her. "Unhand me you…." She looked up into his face and screeched. "Pirate!" What the hell?

When he bent to touch his lips to hers she grabbed onto his hair and jerked his head back. "Don’t you even try it!"

"Easy, love. I was insuring that you were breathing is all, savvy?"

"Are you drunk?" she asked "I’m talking, therefore I’m breathing."

"Well we can’t have one without the other, love. Though with some woman I wish we could find a way. "

At this point he dropped her square on her ass on the beach. "Ouch. Scallywag!"

"Thank you kindly." the man dipped his head. "Captain Jack Sparrow, at your service Madam."

She reached a hand out to him and when she did so she finally realized she was naked as the day she was born. "Jeeze Louise, be a gentleman and give me your coat or something."

He rolled his eyes before slipping out of his coat. "I wish, I mean I thought you’d never ask, love."

Grabbing the coat from his hands, Bridgid slipped her arms into it and wrapped it tight around her. "Sparrow is it? You can call me Morgan. Bridgid Morgan. "

He got right up in her face and she gingerly backed off as he spoke. "Very well Morgan Bridgid Morgan. How did you come to be here, love? Walk the plank of some Frigate did you, poppet?"

"I did not and please don’t stand so close to me. You’re making me nervous. I ..I was left here by my…by my…" she sighed and began to cry again.

"Ah, jilted by a lover. Tsk tsk and such a fair one you are. No worries, love. Captain Jack Sparrow will take care of that mangy filthy cur of a bloke who did this to you."

"Jack Aubrey is not a mangy filthy cur. He’s a magnificent man and don’t you dare say a bad word about him or I’ll …"

"You’ll what, love? Shiver me timbers? Hang me from the yard? Have me set in stocks to be pummeled by local gentry? Posh."

Bridgid scowled at the man. "My Jack would rather see me at the bottom of the sea then in the hands of a pirate like you."

"I see that to be true, love. He left you here to die of starvation or some other scruvatious malady, Savvy?"

"Did you just make up a word, Sparrow?"

"I don’t know, love but spell check approved it so it must be valid." He is looking at you dear reader.

"Okay. Alright." she bit her lip. I’m alive here thanks in part to you. So what’s for supper? I’m feeling pretty peckish at the moment and since you were here before me you must know what’s good to eat."

"Don’t say peckish, love. It conjures thoughts."

"I’m frigging hungry you walking piece of whale shit. What can we eat on this God forsaken spit of land?"

"You’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts." He sang as he wobbled toward her again.

"For cripes sake." she scolded and kicked some sand on him. "I’ll find something, then after that I’m going to figure out how to get the hell off of this rock."

"Unless you’ve got a sail and a rudder handy and considering your current state of dress I’d say it was unlikely, love, we’re stuck here for eternity."

She was walking away as she spoke but after hearing his last sentence she turned and kicked more sand on him.

"Ah, love, is that that thanks I get for saving your hide?"

"No!" she barked before kicking more sand on him. "You should have left me drown. Spending eternity here with you and without MY JACK is a fate worse than Hell……Savvy?"

"He must be Royal Navy, Morgan Bridgid Morgan. Who else would put up with the likes of a wench like yerself?"

"Would you please just call me Bridgid?"

"Sure, love..um…Bridgid." Jack wobbled his way toward her "Let me tell you a secret, Bridgid. I have rum, plenty of rum. Smoke that.

"What kind of rum?" she asked with a cock of her head.

"Captain Morgan’s of course, love."

For some reason they both hiked up a leg and placed their hands on their hips.

"Rellie?" He asked

"Don’t think so." She replied. "I’m from the Philadelphia Morgan's…….Get the rum, Captain Sparrow and I’ll see what I can do to Russell, um rustle up some grub.

Looking around, Bridgid was at a loss. There was sand and more sand with a few coconut palms at the high tide line. She began to scour the beach, hoping to find something edible. A few hundred yards down from where she started she found a little tidal pool and rushing up to it she found just what she was looking for. Crabs!

There were quite a few on the rocks and in the pool, enough for a decent meal for her and that pirate guy, but what could she carry them in? Certainly not the pocket of his coat as she was naked beneath it and didn’t want to deal with searching claws from pissed off crabs.

After a bit more searching she came up with the perfect vessel. It was a pretty large tortoise shell that had been abandoned some time ago. She turned it over and found that the armor was easy to remove. It made a perfect bowl.

"Testudo Aubreii!" she chuckled. "I shall name a giant tortoise for you, my love."

Grumbling a little she did her best to clear her mind of her circumstance but her heart ached for Jack Aubrey. "You better have a good reason, Jack." she uttered to herself.

Lying on her belly, Bridgid fished as many of the little red monsters as she could catch out of the pool. She piled them up in the tortoise shell, slapping them down as they struggled to make their escape. "No way, you little buggers. You’re about to be a fricassee."

Lifting her booty up and balancing the giant shell on her hip she strolled proudly back to where Sparrow was waiting.

"Hey, Pirate. I’ve got crabs!" she announced as he came into view.

"Ah wonderful, love. By the way, you can keep the coat." he slurred in response. Sparrow staggered in her direction and stopped short when he saw what was in the shell. He opened one of the rum bottles he held with his teeth and poured a good helping onto the doomed critters.

"What was that for?" Bridgid asked with an arched brow.

The pirate spit the top out on the beach.

"Just giving a dying man his due." Sparrow stated with a nod. "Now be a good little girl and get those crustaceans cooked up for us, love. My stomach feels like my throat’s been cut." he added as he ran a finger across the band of cloth around his neck. As she turned around to set the shell down he cocked his head to savor her arse. He thought about giving it a pat but his hands were full at the moment. Setting the rum down would have been against his personal credo even for a fine piece of arse.

She peered under her arm and saw the look on his face as he gawked at her ass. She stood up quickly to spin and glare at him.

"Wot?" he asked with a wobble and bobble.

"Quit looking at me so lasciviously."

"I’ve got no other way to look, love."

"Pirate!"

"Bitch!"

She moved closer and stood nearly nose to nose with him. "Would you like to eat or should I introduce you to something I learned in the service. It’s called death by crustacean."

"Please, Miss, just continue on with what you were doing. Here." He shoved one of the bottles forward. "Have a little drinky poo. It’ll take the edge off, love."

Snapping the bottle from his hand she tipped it up and drank heartily. Coughing as spitting she said "Oh bloody hell that sucked. It tastes like you washed your sweaty shirts and socks in it."

Sparrow smelled his armpits then shrugged. "More for me."

He reached for the bottle but she withdrew. "Oh no you don’t. I can deal with it….just see if you can start a fire or something so I can get dinner cooked, okay?"

He looked around for some driftwood. There seemed to be plenty and he went to set the bottle down but seeing her eye it he picked it back up again. "One for you and one for me." So, with his bottle tucked under his arm, he gathered up what he could.

It took them a while to get the fire going. Bridgid ended up pouring a ration of rum on the driftwood. After placing some dry grass under it she banged two rocks together to make a spark and it ignited. By that time the two of them were pretty shitfaced. When the rum ignited with a whoosh she fell back flat on her ass, laughing.

"Ha ha ha ha! Did you see that, Pirate! I made a fire. I created fire. I am a goddess."

She lay back with her half full, half empty bottle of rum and started to sing.

"Yo ho, Yo ho a pirates life for me."

Then he joined her.

"We pillage and plunder, we rifle and loot , drink up me ‘earties yo ho. We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot, drink up me ‘earties yo ho. Yo ho , yo ho, a pirates life for me."

Pretty soon, the two of them were up and dancing around the fire as they drank until the bottles were dry.

Leaning on him, Bridgid saw two pirates and she blinked several times. "Who does your makup, Sparrow?"

"You like, poppet?" he asked as they swayed together in their mutually inebriated state.

"No." she replied "..And I think I’m going to be sick."

At which point she threw up all over his pretty thigh high boots.

TBC