🎶Featured Song: The Power of Love
By Huey Lewis🎶

After refusing to listen to her father Maggie snatches an enchanted pocket watch and gets herself sent fifty-four years back in time to 1697!

There are many reasons why one would want to go back in time. To see a deceased loved one again, to stop a war, to warn someone of a freak accident that would kill them. The reason for the topic of time travel was because Maggie and her father had just acquired a powerful and amazing treasure, a pocket watch that could give them the ability of time travel!

Unfortunately for Maggie, Captain Jack already had an idea on how to use the time travel watch. Not a good idea, mind you... but an idea.

"We take these bottles of rum, bury them in a chest and then we set the watch to bring us two hundred and seventy years in the future!" Captain Jack explained. "We go to the year 1992, dig up the rum and bring it back to our year! Imagine how amazing rum will taste when it's aged two hundred and seventy years?!"

"Daddy, it's 1752!" Maggie told him. "If we're going to age the rum for a hundred and seventy years, we have to travel to the year 2022! Not 1992!"

"Details, details!" Jack rolled his eyes. "And why aren't you excited? We now have the power of time travel at our disposal!"

"The reason I'm not excited is because you woke me up at six in the morning to row to an island and dig up a chest" Maggie's voice took on an aggravated tone. "And the chest, that I assumed was full of treasure, contained a single pocket watch!"

"An amazing pocket watch with brilliant and mind blowing abilities!" Jack corrected excitedly.

"...And after helping you, I can't even use the pocket watch to do what I want with it!" Maggie complained.

"Maggie" Jack sighed deeply. "You can't use the pocket watch to assassinate Henry VIII and team up with his six wives to change the colors of the Union Jack from blue, red and white to purple, red and white!"

"Why not?" Maggie shrugged.

"Because history is not your plaything!" Captain Jack exclaimed. "The littlest thing you do in the past could wreck the future! Besides... it was my idea to find the pocket watch so I get first dibs on using it. And right now I have some rum to age-ify!"

"Age-ify isn't even a word!" Maggie told him.

"Hush!" Jack told her. "Now come help me bring bottles up from the rum locker."

"In a minute..." Maggie reached for the pocket watch on her father's desk.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Jack snatched the magical artifact out her hand. "This watch is not a toy!"

"I just wanted to look at it" Maggie shrugged.

"I said no! This watch can be as dangerous as it is powerful" Jack warned her. "It's not safe in the hands of an inexperienced individual."

Maggie looked at him. "Oh! And where did you learn to wield magical watches?"

"For your information, smart mouth" Captain Jack said. "I came across this very watch in a pawn shop as a boy. I know how powerful and dangerous it is. So if anyone's going to be hurling themselves through time, it's going to be me!"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "You never let me have any fun!" She moaned.

"Because you never do as you're told!" Jack retorted. "If I knew for sure you'd use your head and be responsible about things, then prehaps I would let you hop through time."

Maggie's jaw dropped. "I'm not responsible? Is that what you're saying?" She repeated. "That's ridiculous! I am very responsible! I clean my cabin all the time!"

"I asked you to clean it this morning and I've yet to see you do it!" Jack called her bluff.

Suddenly the door to Maggie's Cabin swung open and Scrum came out with a broom and feather duster tucked under his arm and a mop and bucket hanging from his other arm.

"I just finished sweeping and moping your room, Miss Maggie" Scrum told her.

"Good job!" Maggie nodded. "My knives?"

"Sharpened and polished" Scrum confirmed.

"My bed?"

"Made."

"My desk?"

"Organized."

"My laundry?"

"Washed. Lightly starched. Folded and put away."

"My books?"

"Dusted."

"My stuffed animal collection?"

"Arranged by color and cuddliness as you requested."

"Excellent" Maggie grinned. "Thank you, Scrum."

Captain Jack stared at them in disbelief before interrupting. "You had Scrum clean your cabin?!"

"He had to!" Maggie told her father.

"I lost a bet with her..." Scrum shrugged.

Jack rolled his eyes. "You are supposed to clean your own cabin!" He scolded her. "I told you to do that!"

"And I said I'd get it done" Maggie told him. "And it got done... by Scrum!"

"This is what I'm talking about, you never take responsibility for anything!" Jack snapped.

"Yes, I do!" Maggie exclaimed. "I was responsible enough to get Scrum to clean my room, so I could monopolize my time to play. While also taking the time to teach Scrum a lesson on how to be a gracious loser, I might add."

Jack sighed heavily. "Until you can show me your responsible, Missy, I don't want to catch you playing with this watch, understand?"

"Sure, Dad..." Maggie muttered.

She pouted, watching her father storm over to his desk and lock up the pocket watch in his desk drawer.

"Now go to your cabin!" He told her sternly.

Maggie got up and walked to her cabin, shutting the door behind her.

"Aww! Why'd you tell her to do that for?" Scrum whined. "I just moped that floor!"

Maggie sat on her bed and sighed, contemplating her father's word: "Until you can show me your responsible Missy, I don't want to catch you playing with this watch!"

Maggie smirked. "If that's the case" She whispered. "I'll just play with the watch and make sure Daddy doesn't catch me doing it..."

☠⏰☠

That night, Maggie waited till her father fell asleep to sneak out of her cabin and into his. She stepped lightly and slowly, making sure to avoid the squeaky boards in the deck. She looked over at her Dad's sleeping form in bed, he was still snoring away. She made her way to his desk, carefully kneeling beside it and studied the combination lock on the drawer.

Now if I were perpetually drunk pirate who belittled my genius daughter's vast intelligence, what combination of numbers would I use... Maggie thought long and hard. His birthday, perhaps...?

Maggie scrolled the numbered dials to read 06-09-1693, and tried to pull the drawer handle. It rattled, but didn't budge!

Maggie's breath hitched as she heard her father roll over in bed. She glanced back at him, he shifted positions in his sleep, but didn't awaken. She sighed softly and went back to work.

Right, what other numbers would he use...? She thought. Wait... no, he's not dumb enough to use my birthday, is he?

Maggie glanced back at her father's sleeping form.

He just might be dumb enough... Maggie thought.

She twisted at the combination lock's numbers to read 03-18-1729 until it opened with a definite clunk!

Maggie snorted softly. Wow, he really doesn't think that highly of me! she thought.

She carefully opened the drawer, snatching the pocket watch. Once she had it in her grasp, she turned the pocket watch over in her hands, staring at it in admiration. It was pure silver, a little tarnished around the crown, but still a lovely antique. She flipped the top of the time peice open and studied the face of the watch within. The hands didn't move and as Maggie held it to her ear she could hear no ticking. She wondered if this thing even still worked?

She began to crawl quietly out the door and onto the deck. Until suddenly her father began to get out of bed! Maggie's eyes widened before she scurried into his closet to hide.

She tried to keep her breathing steady and silent as her father got out of bed and went to the water closet. A small room in the cabin that held a chamber pot. Maggie grimaced at the sound of her father urinating nearby. Well, as long as she was far away so she didn't have to smell it!

Maggie peeked out of the crack in the closet door as Captain Jack walked back to bed. Suddenly he stopped and noticed the drawer... Maggie had just realized she left it open when she took the watch!

Jack's eyes scanned the rest of room and noticed the crack in his closet door. He walked over and swung open the door.

"Maggie!" His voice took on a stern tone as he noticed the watch in her hands.

Maggie had no choice but to dive between his legs and make a made dash out of the Captain's Cabin and out to the main deck. Jack came storming out of the cabin after her, but he was surprised to find she had vanished...

Jack glanced around the deck suspiciously. He knew she couldn't have just disappeared into thin air. Maggie was good, but not that good.

"Ah-choo!"

Jack's head whipped upwards and saw Maggie had climbed up into the rigging like the little monkey she was.

"Get down here, girl!" Jack demanded. "You know you're not supposed to play with that pocket watch!"

Maggie scowled at him from above. She refused to come down. Why should she? So she could hear the same long-winded speech her father gave her earlier? Maggie had assisted her father on plenty of escapades. Why couldn't he just trust her to be responsible?! He looked at her as if she was some silly, fidgety little girl! She could handle the watch and it's powers, if he'd only give her a chance!

"Magnolia! I want you and that watch down here by the time I count to three!" Jack snapped. "One..."

Maggie glared down at him. She knew she could do it...

"Two..." Jack glared back up at her.

Maggie deliberately looked away from him and gripped the pocket watch in her hand. She knew she was capable of doing it on her own! If only her father knew what it was like to be a kid and the constant frustration of not being trusted with anything!

"Three!" Jack snapped. "Magnolia Morgan Sparrow! Get down here NOW!"

Maggie smirked. "Of course, father!" She replied, before flipping the pocket watch open and pushing the crown of it downward.

Maggie watched with wide-eyed awe as the hands of the watch began to spin round and round uncontrollably! Suddenly the watch began to crackle and glow as bright white bolts of lightning began to emit from it, contorting and engulfing Maggie. She was forced to close her eyes as the lightning became too bright and suddenly she felt her entire body being twirled and jolted in mid-air, around and around and around...

☠️⏰️☠️

When the bright lightning ceased and the spinning finally stopped, Maggie struggled to stay on her feet. She stumbled over to a large wooden barrel and proceeded to hurl the contents of her dinner behind it. When she was done, she leaned against the barrel, breathing heavily as she tried to get her head to stop spinning.

She looked around at her surroundings, although it's hard to look at anything when it wouldn't stop spinning. One thing that was certain was that Maggie was no longer aboard the Black Pearl, or any ship for that matter. She was in some kind of cobblestone alleyway...

"Are you alright there, Luv?"

Maggie turned to find to see a man in a red coat with long black hair and dark sympathetic eyes. He couldn't have been no older than twenty-five. There was something familiar about him... but Maggie couldn't put her finger on it. Heck, she was so dizzy she couldn't put her finger on her own nose!

"I'm fine, thank you" Maggie nodded to him. "I just got into town and it was a... a bit of a rough trip."

"Looks like ye haven't even got your sea legs yet" the man observed her as she tried to walk. "Yer sure you wouldn't like some help."

"Thank you kindly, but I think I can manage" Maggie smiled at him.

But as she did, an announcement poster on the alley wall behind him caught her eye. It was an flyer for a ship's live feed auction, but the date... the date read July 28th 1696! When Maggie left the Pearl, the year was 1752!

"1696..." Maggie breathed in disbelief.

"I'm sorry?" The man asked her.

"Th-that poster behind you..." Maggie pointed to it. "1696... is that-- is that the current year?"

The man chuckled. "No! Of course not!" He shook his head.

"Oh good!" Maggie laughed in relief.

"That posters from last year! It's April of 1697!" The man explained.

Maggie's eyes widened and her breath hitched. She began to feel dizzy again, only this time she was seeing stars...

☠️⏰️☠️

Maggie awoke to the tell-tale sound of a tavern in Tortuga. She had been to so many with her father that the sounds alone were undeniable to her. The clanking of tankards, the men and wrenches shouting over one another and the live band strumming along. Maggie opened her eyes and found herself laying in a booth, she sat up and scanned the room. She was in the Faithful Bride Tavern, one of her and her father's usual hangouts. But it was different, everything was newer, cleaner and less rickety. Well, as newer, cleaner and less rickety as a pirate tavern could be!

Maggie turned her head and saw the man in the red coat sitting at a nearby table behind her. She got up and walked over to him.

He turned to her as she approached him. "Good! You're alright!" He said. "Have a seat, Miss...?"

"Maggie Sparrow" she introduced herself.

"Sparrow?" The man quirked a brow. "That's your real name?"

"Pretty sure" Maggie nodded.

"Ah, well Miss Sparrow" He began. "What brings you to Tortuga? A young lass like yourself has no business treading streets like these all by herself. Where's your mother?"

"My mother passed away shortly after I was born, sir" Maggie explained, her voice took on the soft tone her father used when she was sick.

The man nodded with sympathy in his eyes. "Shame that" He tsked. "Have you a father?"

"Yes! But he's--" Maggie was cut off by a sudden racket that occurred in the tavernas kitchen. Pots and pans clanged to the floor and a stack of dishes could be heard smashing to the floor.

"...My father and I got separated" Maggie continued. "I was hoping to get back to him."

"I see" the man nodded. "Do you know where he was last headed?"

"It's... uh, complicated" Maggie told him. She stuck her hand in her pocket where the watch was, but when she pulled it out she was horrified to find it was broken!

"No! No, no, no, no..." Maggie groaned. It must've gotten smashed when she fainted in the alleyway!

The man looked down at what she was holding. "That's unfortunate" he said. "A nice pocket watch like that is hard to find!"

"It was my father's..." Maggie sighed heavily.

"Really?" The man said. "I assumed you got it from Finnigan's."

"Finna-what?" Maggie asked.

"Finnigan's Pawn Shop" the man said. "I was there just a few day's ago. I saw a pocket watch that looked exactly like that in the shop window.

Maggie's eyes widened. She suddenly remembered what her father had said earlier:

"I came across this very watch in a pawn shop as a boy..."

That must mean there's a future watch and a past watch! Since she accidentally smashed the pocket watch from the future, there was still a chance that she could use the pocket watch from the past to get back to her own time!

"Sir! Where is Finnigan's Pawn Shop?" Maggie asked anxiously.

"Saint--" the man started before being cut off by another ruckus in the tavern's kitchen. This time some bar maids were shrieking incoherently and the chef was growling at something.

"...Saint Antonio Island" the man finished.

"Oh..." Maggie's hopes fell. Saint Antonio was a four day journey from Tortuga and with no ship at her disposal, it was impossible.

"Speaking of which, my crew and I are headed back there tonight" the man said. "Provided we sign up enough new recruits in time."

Maggie hopes soared again. "So you have room for one more on your crew?" She grinned.

"You know a man?" He replied.

Maggie frowned. "I was referring to myself..." she said.

The man looked at her as if she had crabs crawling out of her ears. "You?" He asked. "But you're just a little girl! So small and... a girl!"

"But I'm a hard worker!" Maggie assured him. "My father Captains a ship of his own, so I know how to trim sails, scrub decks, lash riggings and more! Please hire me, sir!"

"Aw Luv, you seem like such a sweet kid..." the man looked guilty. "But I need strong able-bodied men on my crew. Adults, someone I can--"

Another loud commotion came from the kitchen. Maggie glanced over and saw plates being whipped at a large seven foot chef, who used a soup ladle to block and smash them one by one.

"...Someone I can depend on" the man continued. "Besides the position is known as Cabin Boy, not Cabin Girl!"

"But you could be the first Captain to hire a Cabin Girl!" Maggie tried to tempt him.

"I really am sorry, dearest" He told her, frowning.

Maggie sighed, feeling hopeless.

"Oi!" Came a voice behind them. The two turned and noticed the large chef from the kitchen had snuck up behind them. For such a large man he could move surprisingly silent.

"Does this belong to you?" He held up the hook he had instead of a left hand. A little boy was dangling by his shirt collar from the hook. He looked to be about three or four years old and was covered in cake and frosting from head to toe! He grunted and kicked his little legs in mid air, attempting to attack the chef.

"Ye God's!" The man groaned. "Jack Christophe Edward Teague! What did you get yourself into now?!"

Maggie's eyes widened. "Jack?!" She cried.

"Aye, this is my little welp of a son" the man told both Maggie and the chef.

Maggie stared at the cake-covered boy in realization. He turned up his nose and glared at her with his big brown eyes and then Maggie knew for sure, it was her father! Well, at least not yet he wasn't...

"He was wreaking havoc in my kitchen!" The chef growled. "We found him in the pantry, gorging himself on some rum cake. Then he came flying out and knocked over a shelf of pots and pans! He broke about forty plates and I caught him trying to sneak a peek under the waitresses skirts!"

"Good lord!" The man groaned. Maggie only now discovered that he was her grandfather, Captain Teague.

"Jacky, where is your Nanny?" He asked the boy. "She was supposed to be watching you!"

"She said for me to tell you that she quit!" Little Jack told him.

"Quit?!" Captain Teague unhooked his son from the chef's metal hand and brought him close, so that their noses were only two inches apart. "Boy, you better smarten up! I mean it this time! That is the third Nanny you've run off this week! You need to behave yourself!"

Jack responded by blowing a raspberry in his face.

Teague growled. "I've had it with you!" He shouted. "You're going to learn some respect, boy! One way or another!"

"Sir!" Maggie piped up. "Did I not just hear you say you need a new Nanny?"

"No... but I suppose I do now" Captain Teague replied.

"Well, why not me?" Maggie asked. "I can watch the... little guy."

"You know how to take care of a child?' Teague said skeptically. "You practically are a child!"

"But I'm very responsible for my age!" Maggie told him. "And who better to teach a child, than a child?"

Captain Teague thought it over. "Well... I suppose that makes sense" He shrugged. "Very well, you will be Jacky's new Nanny. Keep him out of harms way and insure he doesn't bother my crew or I and we will grant you safe passage to Saint Antonio Island."

Maggie nodded. "You can count on me, sir" she saluted him. "Rest assure Captain, I will guard him with my life..." ...Cause if anything happens to him, I won't have one Maggie thought.

"Good to know" Teague nodded with a nervous and uncertain look on his face.

As Captain Teague went back to signing up men for his crew, Maggie brought her four year old father outside the tavern and wiped the rum cake off his face with a wash cloth and a water trough. Even Maggie had to admit her father was adorable as a child. She had always tried to think of what her father would look like as a child, but he always just looked like her Dad to her. Now she stared at him with soft brown shaggy hair, large brown eyes, soft sun-kissed skin, chubby cheeks and his balance was even slightly better. It was a far cry from the dread-locked, cheek-boned, scruffy drunk father figure she knew and loved.

Maggie smiled at him. "You know, you're really quite cute" She told him. "I really didn't know what you'd look like."

The little boy glared her down, his little jaw clenched in anger.

"My name is Maggie, by the way" she introduced herself.

"You're a girl!" Jack told her.

Maggie nodded. "Correct" she tried to keep a positive tone. "Why? Was that not obvious?"

"I don't like girls" Jack said. "They smell funny."

"Well, you should like girls" Maggie told him. "Especially girls named Morgan. If you find a girl with that name, you should see about making a baby with her as soon as possible."

"What?" Jack cocked his head sideways, confused.

"Nevermind" Maggie sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Now come lean over the trough and let me wash the cake out of you hair."

"No!" Jack snapped. "The water's too cold!"

"No, it's not!" Maggie told him. "It's still warm from the sun earlier."

"I DON'T WANNA!" Jack shrieked.

"Alright! Alright! You don't have to shout!" Maggie told him. "Here, I'll show you the water is fine!" She reached over the trough and dipped her hand into the water. "See? Nice and--AHHH!"

The next thing Maggie knew, she felt the heel of a little boot kick her in the backside, which sent her flying facefirst into the water trough.

She came up, sputtering and coughing. She could hear her four year old father giggling to his hearts content.

"Oh! You little--" she snarled. Her eyes widened as she saw Captain Teague looking out the tavern window at them. "--Mischievous munchkin!" She cooed, wrapping her arms around the boys neck, holding him close. "Isn't that sweet? He wanted me to play in the water with him!"

Captain Teague nodded and went back to his business inside.

Maggie huffed and flung Jack backwards into the water trough as she trudged her way out of it.

"Help! I'm drowning!" Jack sputtered.

"The trough is only two feet deep!" Maggie told him. "All you have to do is stand up!"

Jack stopped and climbed to his feet, realizing the water only came up to above his waist. "Oh..." he said dejectedly.

☠️⏰️☠️

It was going on ten p.m when Maggie, Jack and Captain Teague's arrived at the ship, the Misty Lady. Maggie had only ever been aboard her grandfather's current ship, The Troubadour, but she had never seen his first ship. The Misty Lady was a huge ship with a reddish exterior and armed with several cannons. It's Jolly Rodger depicted a skeleton holding a speared heart in it's hand and the bow's figurehead was of a mermaid.

Maggie didn't have time to take it all in though, Jack was climbing up the ship's rigging.

"Jack! Be careful! You could fall and hurt your--"

As she was talking, the tiny pirate uncermoniously tossed himself onto the deck, landing on the deck with a loud and immediate thud!

"Oh my God!" Maggie gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. "Is he alright?"

"Oh yeah" Captain Teague nodded dismissively. "He does that all the time. We were worried he would hurt himself at first too, but he never does."

"What?! He just tosses himself from the rigging and onto the deck as a form of entertainment?" Maggie asked concerned.

Captain Teague shrugged "Keeps him quiet, doesn't it?"

Maggie jumped as her pint-sized father landed onto the deck again. Then he shook himself off and got up to crawl onto the rigging again.

"He's even landed on my head a few times" Teague informed her.

"Somehow I always knew that was the case..." Maggie muttered, thinking back to her father's eccentric behavior and insane thinking.

"I need to chart our course" Captain Teague said. "Get the boy ready for bed, will you?"

Jack threw himself onto the deck again. Maggie turned to look at him and heaved a sigh.

"Jack! Maybe you should stop throwing yourself around like that?" She told him "You could seriously hurt yourself."

"But I like it!" Jack told her.

"Yes, but I'm sure your little head doesn't" Maggie told him. "C'mon, why don't you show me your cabin?"

"Alright" Jack sighed dramatically.

They entered the tiny nursery cabin Jack stayed in. He had a cot, a dresser and a few wooden toy ships littering the rug on the floor.

"This is a nice room" Maggie nodded, looking around. She picked up a stuffed rabbit from where it sat on the bed. "Aww! What's this guy's name?"

"PUT HIM DOWN!" Jack shrieked.

"Alright!" Maggie jumped, dropping the rabbit back onto the bed.

"Don't ever touch Mr. Bunny Man!" Jack told her. "My Mummy gave him to me! He's supposed to protect me when she's not around!"

"Oh, sorry..." Maggie muttered. "He's quite handsome..."

Jack glared angrily at her as he reached over the bed and pulled the rabbit to him. Maggie didn't like the way he glared at her. It reminded her too much of how he glared at her when he was scolding her as an adult. Normally she was used to that, but it was all too weird to see it with his four year old face.

"Well, it's getting late" Maggie sighed. "Why don't we get you ready for bed?"

Jack stared up at her with his eyebrows furrowed in a mix of confusion and anger. His little jaw jutted out in deliberation.

Maggie walked over to the dresser and looked in the drawers for his nightwear. She found a nightshirt and turned to put it on him. But when her eyes fell on her young father, she gasped.

He was stark nude. His... little dinghy... was out for everyone-- not to mention his future daughter --to see. Maggie shielded her eyes, this was a side of her father she hoped she'd never have to see! But then Jack tore out of the room, still naked as the the day he was born!

"Jack! No!" Maggie ran after him, while trying not to look at him.

Jack giggled as he ran out and around the deck of the Misty Lady.

"No! Come back, Baby Daddy!" Maggie exclaimed from his cabin doorway. "Eww... that sounds way too incest-y!"

Maggie shut her eyes as she attempted to chase and catch her father, while also trying to avoid looking at his naked body. She blindly ran passed the ship's mast and banged her shoulder against it.

"Ow!" She hissed, holding her shoulder.

"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" Jack taunted her, running away.

"Jack! Get over here!" Maggie growled, casting her eyes upward.

"Hey! Watch this!" Jack swiped one of the crew members hats off his head and bent over placing, it on his bottom. "Hello, my name is Captain Cheeks" he pretended to make his rear end talk. "I'm making my rounds and I'm a little behind..."

Maggie stood there stunned, as a crew member laughed loudly from across the deck.

"And this is the man who gave me life..." Maggie muttered in dismay.

☠️⏰️☠️

It took Maggie over an hour, but she finally caught the tiny pirate, got him into his nightshirt and strapped him into bed. She had to stap him to the bed with belts, since he kept trying to leap out or throw himself off the bed!

Captain Teague had his crew set up a cot for her on one side of Jack's room. Maggie collapsed onto it, she was exhausted! If she wasn't chasing Jack, she was wrestling with him to get him cleaned up or dressed. And if she wasn't doing that, she was cleaning up after the messes he made. While she was chasing him, Jack ran into the galley and knocked over barrels of supplies and a few chairs. Then when she finally got him back to his cabin, he proceeded to jump on his bed and crawl under it, so Maggie couldn't catch him to dress him.

Maggie sighed deeply, rubbing her forehead. She had only been her young father's nanny for several hours and already she was ready to retire! No wonder the last nanny had made a run for it! Little Jack Sparrow was a nightmare to care for!

It didn't take Maggie long to fall asleep, but she was soon awaken by a noise. It sounded like a clock... no, wait...

She turned her head towards Jack's bed. He was still strapped to the bed, but he was clicking his tongue loudly.

Maggie groaned. "Go to sleep, Jack!" She told him.

He fell silent.

Maggie rolled over and tried to fall back asleep.

Then Jack started making bird noises, even louder than the clicking noises before.

"Jack!" Maggie whisper-yelled.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Stop it!" She hissed.

The boy fell silent again. Maggie waited to see if he would try anything again, he didn't and she sighed in relief. She laid back and relaxed as she began to slowly drift to sleep. Finally...

"Maggie!"

"WHAT?! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY! WHAT, BOY?!" Maggie exploded in frustration.

"...I have to go potty" Jack gave her a wry smile.

Maggie sighed. "Of course you do!" She said sarcastically. "God forbid you'd go before I strapped you into the bed!" She reluctantly got up again.

☠️⏰️☠️

The next morning went no better. As it so happens, Jack swiped Maggie's knife out of her boot while she helped him go potty. He proceeded to use it to cut himself out of his bed straps. This morning, Maggie was awaken by Jack climbing onto the dresser and jumping onto her body as she sleeping. Then he decided to go for another naked run around the deck as she tried to dress him. At breakfast, he complained that his oatmeal was too mushy ...and then it was too hot ...and then it was too cold. And then he got insulted and tossed his bowl overboard, because Maggie made the comparison between him and Goldilocks!

Maggie had had enough! Wither this boy was to grow into her father or not, she wasn't going to put up with this any longer! No wonder parents spanked their kids! Maggie was getting close to yanking a belt off the nearest crew member herself!

Maggie was cleaning up the second bowl of oatmeal --which Jack deliberately spilled across the deck-- when she heard him screaming and sobbing from his cabin.

"What now?" She moaned.

Maggie headed for his cabin and found nothing wrong, except for her pint-sized Daddy kicking and screaming on the floor. He hammered his little fist against the floor boards and kicked the side of his bed, while tears streamed down his reddened face.

"What is it now, Jack?" Maggie asked him.

"Leave me alone! I don't want you!" He shouted, swinging his little fist at her.

Maggie dodged it and sighed, rolling her eyes. "Well, what do you want?" She asked, frustrated.

"My Mummy! I want my Mummy!" Jack howled.

"Well, you'll see her again!" Maggie told him.

Jack quieted down and looked at her, sniffling. "I will?" He asked her.

"Yes" Maggie nodded. "If you promise to stop yelling and be a good boy, I will make sure you see your Mummy again."

She took one of the rags she was using to clean the oatmeal and used it to wipe the tears from his face.

She held it to his nose. "Blow..." she instructed.

For the first time ever, little Jack obeyed her and Maggie wiped his nose.

"There..." she swept his bangs out of his face. "You want to look nice when you see you Mummy, don't you?"

Jack nodded and leaned forward, hugging Maggie. She even thought she could see gratitude in the boy's eyes. And somehow even after all the torture he put her through, this moment made it all worth it.

☠️⏰️☠️

The rest of the day went by smoothly, Jack did as Maggie told him and Maggie grew to enjoy her job as his nanny. They played games, colored pictures and Maggie even taught him how to fold a paper tri-corn hat. By dinner time that evening, Jack was a well behaved child. So much so, that the crew of the Misty Lady stared in shock as he ate his dinner amongst them in the galley.

"I must say, Miss Maggie" Captain Teague watched his son finish his plate and leave the galley. "You're really nothing short of a miracle worker."

"Thank you, sir" Maggie beamed. "He's an alright kid. He just misses his Mummy."

"Ah Luv, we all do" Captain Teague nodded sadly. "But unfortunately, his poor mother met her end with some headhunters six months ago."

Maggie's fork went clattering to her plate.

"Jack's mother passed away? Already?" She asked.

"Yes, poor dear was taken from us too soon" Captain Teague nodded. "We tried explaining to the boy that his mother isn't coming back, but... How can you explain death to a four year old?"

Maggie heart dropped into her stomach, like a ship dropping it's anchor. She didn't know her grandmother had died that early on in her father's life! She had just promised Jack, that she would return him to his mother! He must be too young to understand death? What was she going to tell him now? Maggie had never known her own mother, so growing up without her was easy. But her father actually had memories of his! How could she look him in his big brown four-year-old eyes and tell him she wasn't coming back?! It figures, the one time she didn't even mean to lie to her Dad and she gets in trouble for it anyway!

As she walked back to Jack's cabin, Maggie's legs felt as heavy as her heart. She walked slowly, trying to come up with a way to explain to her little father that his mother was indeed not coming back to him. She thought about lying and telling him his mother was going to be gone for a while longer. But the prospect of dishonesty only made her feel worse about the situation. Surely, it would be better to give him the truth, even if it hurt him. It was important for children to know the truth eventually. But he was so young and so innocent...

Maggie finally took a deep breath and opened the door to Jack's cabin. He was lying on the rug by his bed, drawing something with his crayons.

"Jack... I--" Maggie started.

"Maggie! Look what I drew for Mummy!" Jack held up a drawing.

"Oh..." Maggie gave a weak smile. "What is it?"

Jack scoffed and smiled. "That's me and that's me Dad and that's my Mummy" he pointed to the different figures in the drawing.

"And what about that one?" Maggie pointed out a fourth figure in the picture.

"That's you!" Jack explained. "Cause you're gonna be there too. I want you to meet her, cause you took care of me for her while she was gone."

Just when Maggie thought her heart couldn't shatter anymore. She blinked back the tears that prickled the back of her eyes as she listened to him. Her father had told her before that he wished Maggie could've met her grandmother.

"Jack... I need to--"

"Do you think my Mummy will like it?" Jack asked.

"Like what?" She asked.

"The picture!" he held it up to her.

"Oh! Yes. Yes, your mother will..." Maggie trailed off. That would just be another lie.

"Maggie...?" Jack stared at her, a flicker on concern crossed his eyes.

Maggie took a deep breath, blinking away tears. "Jack, I need to talk to you" Maggie told him.

She kneeled beside him next to the bed.

"Jack..." she began trying to avoid his gaze, but holding his hand. "Y... you know when you try to do something and at the time, you just assume it's something easy. And when you try it, you realize it's not easy at all? O-or rather... when you say something about a situation that --at the time-- you think you understand, but you don't! And later, upon realizing you really don't understand, you find that you made a terrible mistake?"

Jack stared at her in bewilderment, then he began nodding his head. "Oh, yeah!" He replied in an understanding manner. "Kinda like how... when you want something to happen and it can be if you want it to be, but even if you don't it still might be, in which case you would be correct. Except for the fact that I have no idea what you're talking about, so I find it impossible to confirm. Sorry, Maggie..." he grinned.

She stared at him. The fact that he was acting and talking like her father made this even harder.

"Jack, listen" she said softly. "I need to tell you that... I-I can't take you back to your mother because... she's dead... and if she's dead, I can't take you to her. It's impossible. I'm sorry...""

Jack looked at her as if she had just slapped him across the face. "What do you mean?" He asked, the hurt reflecting in his voice. "You said--"

"I know what I said... I know I promised!" Maggie told him. "But... Jack, your mother... she died. I didn't know that when I promised you..."

"But you said you'd take me back to my Mummy!" Jack snapped.

"I know I did!" Maggie said sadly.

"You lied to me!" Jack accused her. "I hate you!"

"Don't say that! Please don't say that!" Maggie told him as her tears began to fall. "I didn't mean to lie to you! Really! I..." she reached over to hug him, chances were he needed it just as much as she did.

Jack shoved her away. "Get away from me!" He shouted. "I don't want you! I want my Mummy! I hate you! I hate you, Maggie! I hate you!"

He scrambled under the bed and balled himself up under there.

"Jack! Please!" Maggie began to sob and hugged her knees.

Maggie knew the boy had no idea that she was his daughter. But it still hurt to her to hear her own father say he hated her. Maggie was done with being responsible, she was done looking after this boy. She wanted to be treated like a kid again! A kid who depended on her father, not the other way around! She tried to be responsible, she tried to get through to this tiny boy who would be her Dad, but it was hard! Even when she thought she was doing something right, she still managed to screw it all up again!

Maggie sobbed there next to the bed, she couldn't remember for how long. She was tired, frustrated and heartbroken all at the same time. Normally in times like these, her father would hold her and wipe away her tears and help her believe things would get better. But there was no way that would happen now... she had no one... she was alone...

Maggie jumped as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her softly. She looked up and saw Jack, crying as well.

"I'm sorry, Maggie" He sniffled. "Stop crying please... I don't like seeing you cry."

"I can't..." Maggie choked on a sob. "I'm sad..."

"Well, I can't stop if you don't..." Jack told her, wiping his tears away with his sleeve.

Maggie took a few deep breaths and wiped away her tears, then wiped away his. She wasn't sure wither the little boy was comforting her out of sympathy or some sort of paternal instinct that had surpassed the power of time, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

"Y'know... you're not completely alone" she told him. "I don't have a mother either."

"You don't?" Jack asked. "What happened to yours?"

Maggie sighed deeply. "Well... I don't remember her very much" she explained. "My father said that she became pregnant with me shortly after they started dating. And when I came out of her belly, it was long and hard for her and she felt really sore and weak after. And then... then she got sick and she wasn't getting any better."

"Did she see a doctor?" Jack asked.

"She did" Maggie nodded. "But that's not always enough. She died... and my Daddy was left alone with me. He was a pirate and he... he didn't know how to take care of me..." It was then a wave of realization hit Maggie.

"So what did he do?" Jack asked.

"He... he kept me and he loved me" Maggie looked at him. "And he still does... till this day."

"How does he do it?" Jack asked.

Maggie smiled. "I don't know... he just does."

"What about your Mummy?" Jack asked.

"She still watches out for me" Maggie told him. "I only have one memory of her. From the day I was born, when she was holding me."

"I wish my Mummy could hold me again" Jack pouted.

"I know your mother left you too soon, Jack" Maggie said. "But that just means you have to hold on extra tight to the few memories you made with her. Like how I hold onto the one memory I have with my mother. Do you understand?"

"I think so" Jack nodded, hugging her. "I love you, Maggie."

She sighed happily. "I love you too, Daddy..."

"Daddy?!" Jack exclaimed in shock.

"I mean, Jack!" Maggie caught herself.

Jack giggled. "You're crazy... I hope I grow up to be crazy like you" He told her.

"Oh, you'll be even crazier than me" Maggie snickered. "Don't ask how, just take my word for it..."

☠️⏰️☠️

The next morning, the Misty Lady had dropped anchor in Saint Antonio Island. As Maggie got out of her cot and walked over to Jack's bed, gently sitting on the edge. She admired how sweet and serene he looked while sleeping. She stared at him for a while, trying to make a memory of this image. After all, how often does one get to see a parent as a child? Maggie had to admit she would miss this little boy version of her father when she returned to her own time period.

Maggie sighed before gently shaking his shoulder. "Jack... c'mon, it's morning" she whispered to him.

Little Jack rubbed his eyes, groaning. "Can't I sleep in?" He asked her.

"I would let you" Maggie told him. "But we have to head ashore. I have to retrieve something in town and I'll have to take you with me."

"Mmm, alright" Jack moaned, climbing out of bed.

Maggie got out his clothes and dressed him, grateful that he kept his underwear on this time. She then told Captain Teague that they would be going out into town and they set off into the township of Saint Antonio Island. Maggie had been there once or twice from what she could remember, but the town was different from what she remembered. The shops had changed and the streets were cleaner. Possibly because the royal navy still had high influence at this point in time. In Maggie's time, Saint Antonio Island was like a smaller version of Tortuga, a safe pirate haven. Well, safe for street-savvy pirate's anyway...

Maggie finally located the place Captain Teague had told her about... Finnigan's Pawn Shop! Maggie walked into the shop with Jack in tow and began searching around for the pocket watch. She only hoped that it hadn't been sold yet.

"Jack, I'm looking for a pocket watch" Maggie told the boy. "It's about this big, silver and should be in this store. Can you help me find it?"

"Why would someone need to watch their pocket?" Jack asked, confused.

Maggie sighed.

"Oh! Cause of pickpockets, right?" Jack nodded.

"No, Jack" Maggie shook her head. "Just stay close to me and don't touch anything."

"I make no promises!" Jack told her.

Maggie sighed again before a ray of light hit her in the eyes. She put her hand up to shield the light and noticed the gleam was from a silver pocket watch gleaming in the window. Her pocket watch!

...Unfortunately it was in the hands of a man in a Navel uniform!

"Excuse me sir" Maggie approached him. "Did you just buy that watch from this shop?"

"Indeed I did" the man nodded, admiring it. "A beautiful peice. Worth every shilling..."

"What'll it take for you to give it to me?" Maggie asked him flat out.

"I beg your pardon?" The man glanced down at Maggie.

"Please sir, it's vital that I get that watch" she begged. "I'll give you anything for it."

"Anything?" The man cocked a brow.

"Father! Are we leaving yet?" Came a young and irritated voice.

A small boy about Jack's age came walking towards them. He was blond with beady blue eyes and what seemed to be a permanent look of boredom and malice on his face.

"In a minute, Cutler!" His father said.

Maggie's eyes widened as she stared at the blond boy more intently. That was a young Cutler Beckett! Before he was the jerk who ran the East India Trading Company, he was a jerk who ran his own father!

"What do you have to offer me for the watch?" Mr. Beckett asked her.

Maggie froze. She didn't have any money on her and she certainly didn't have enough to appeal to a family as rich as the Beckett's.

"Maggie! Can we go home now? I'm tired" Jack tugged on her sleeve.

"And who is this?" Mr. Beckett asked.

"Oh! That's just this kid I'm watching" Maggie explained.

"I see" Beckett nodded. "I'll take him!"

Maggie stared at him blankly. "What?"

"I'll give you the pocket watch in exchange for the boy!" Mr. Beckett stated as if they were discussing the weather. "My son could use a playmate, since the rest of our slaves are working the fields during the day."

"Maggie, what's he talking about?" Jack whimpered.

"The boy isn't for sale!" Maggie told Mr. Beckett.

"I'm willing to add twenty pieces of silver to go along with the watch" Mr. Beckett haggled.

Maggie's eyes widened. She wasn't gonna lie, that was a tempting deal! Twenty peices of silver was a lot of money! But still she would have to sell her father into slavery! And to the Beckett's no less! The family of her father's worst enemy! But Maggie was in between a rock and a hard place, she had to sell her father to get back to her father! Maybe she could go through with the deal and then free her father from the Beckett's when she got back to her own time? But then she remembered what her father told her a few day's ago...

"History is not your plaything! The littlest thing you do in the past could wreck the future!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Beckett" Maggie said with a heavy heart. "I cannot except your offer. Keep your watch!"

"Where's my new playmate?" Young Cutler demanded.

"The deal didn't go through, son" Mr. Beckett told the boy.

"That's not fair!" Cutler shouted.

"No..." Maggie smirked down at her former enemy. "That's just good business..."

She took Jack's hand and led him out the shop. Despite doing the right thing, Maggie's heart still felt like it had broken in two. There was no way she could return to her own time, with her own Daddy. She regretted ever taking that watch from her father's drawer, she regretted that the last conversation she ever had with him was an argument.

"Maggie..." Jack tugged on her sleeve. "Look what I got you!"

Maggie looked down and her eyes widened. Jack had the pocket watch!

"Where did you get that?" Maggie asked happily.

"I took it from that snooty man" Jack explained, handing it to her. "Y'know for a guy who owns a pocket watch, he doesn't really watch his pocket!"

Maggie studied the watch in her hand, it was the same one all right! She was so overjoyed she grabbed Jack's chubby little face and kissed him.

"Eww!" Jack moaned, wiping his lips on his sleeve. "You kissed me!"

"I did!" Maggie giggled happily.

"You just gave me your cooties!" Jack asked.

"One day you'll learn that girl cooties aren't so bad!" Maggie said, tousling his hair.

"I doubt it!" Jack told her.

☠️⏰️☠️

Later that day, Maggie and Jack returned to the Misty Lady. Shortly after lunch, Maggie informed Captain Teague that she had to leave and began saying goodbye to Jack.

"Do you have to leave?" Jack asked her.

"I'm afraid so" Maggie nodded. "My Daddy will be waiting for me."

"Your Daddy's still alive?" Jack asked. "But you're so old! What are you? Forty?"

Maggie's jaw dropped. "I'm only eight!"

"Wow! Forty-eight years old!" Jack said in awe.

"No!" Maggie told him. Then she sighed, she supposed that was payback for all the age jokes she had made to her father over the years.

"I'm gonna miss you, Maggie" Jack hugged her leg.

"I'll miss you too" she told him. "But don't worry, you'll see me again."

"When?" Jack asked.

"When I'm small and you're big" Maggie explained.

He stared up at her in confusion for a minute. "Makes sense" He concluded, nodding.

"Of course it does" Maggie rolled her eyes. "Oh! One other thing, Jack" she kneeled down to his height. "If you ever have a kid and she accidentally sets fire to a cask of rum... just go easy on her, alright...?"

"A'right" Jack nodded.

Captain Teague then came up to them. "I was hoping to catch you before you left" He told Maggie. "I wanted to thank you. You've really done wonders with the boy."

"You're very welcome, Captain" Maggie smiled. "So, I have to ask, now that I'm leaving who will take care of Jack?"

"Oh, not to worry" Captain Teague assured her. "We found a new Nanny for him."

"Who's that now?" Maggie asked.

"Some young lad of sixteen, goes by the name of... uh..." He glanced at the crew roaster. "Bar-ba-rose-a?"

"It's actually pronounced Bar-bossa, sir" Came a voice.

Maggie eyes widened as she turned and saw a clean-cut, tall young man with black hair. But once she saw his face, there was no denying it was the same Barbossa!

But Maggie had no time to dottle. "Here's your charge" she handed little Jack to him. "Good luck... you'll need it."

Barbossa looked at the little boy standing in front of him. "Aww, he's a cute little guy!" He toussled the boy's hair. "Look at those big brown ey--"

Jack growled and kicked him in the shin.

"--OOWWW!" Barbossa howled.

Jack giggled. "I'm gonna enjoy torturing you!" He said, leaping onto the teenage Barbossa's back and crawling onto his shoulders.

As she made her way down the ships gangplank, Maggie looked back as her young father torment the man who would become his best/worst frienemy.

"Suddenly Barbossa's mutiny seems so justifiable..." Maggie muttered before flipping the crown on top of the pocket watch. Lightning bolts emitted from the watch and she began to spin again. Great...

☠️⏰️☠️

When Maggie stopped spinning and focused her vision, she looked at her surroundings. She was back in her father's cabin aboard the Black Pearl! The watch sent her back to the exact moment when she was in the process of stealing the watch!

Suddenly her father got up out of bed to go to the bathroom, just as he did before. He stopped when he noticed Maggie with the watch in her hands.

"Maggie!" He snapped. "I told you I didn't want you playing with that wat--"

He was cut off by Maggie running towards him and hugging him so hard he fell back down onto the bed.

"Daddy! I missed you!" She told him.

"Missed me? Maggie, I sent you to bed not the Arctic Circle!" Captain Jack told her. "You're acting as if you haven't seen me in days!"

Maggie kissed his cheek. "I love you, Daddy" she said. "And I appreciate everything you do for me!"

"Right, now you're scaring me" Jack squinted skeptically. "If you think buttering me up will prevent me from grounding you for touching that watch, you're sorely mistaken!"

"I understand" Maggie told him.

"Don't give me any excuses-- You understand what?" Her father asked.

"I understand your reason for grounding me" Maggie said. "You told me not to touch the watch and I did it anyway. It must be very frustrating when I do something you told me not to. It's only fair that I'm punished."

Captain Jack stared at her like she had crabs crawling out of her nose. "Who are you and what have you done with my child?" He demanded.

"Should I go to my cabin now, Daddy?" Maggie asked.

"Stop that! I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's frightening me!" Jack told her. "Go back to whining and arguing with me!"

"Good night, Daddy" Maggie went to her cabin.

"What's wrong with you?!" Jack called after her. "Did you hit your head? Are you ill? What is it, child? What?!"