Background Information: if you haven't yet read 'Inconvenient,' this isn't going to make a great deal of sense to you. I suggest you go read that before attempting to read this.
Hey! Look! I did it! Here's the beginning of the sequel to 'Inconvenient.' Well, actually that would be the next chapter. Which is actually the prologue. This is just a little bit of background stuff to fill you in on what Winn and Jack have been doing since the end of my last fic.
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This story takes place a little more than three years after the ending of 'Inconvenient.' Winn and Jack have changed little. Some of the biggest changes had occurred in Winn. They aren't all that visible. She is still a short, periodically irritable spitfire. She still has short hair (although Jack did talk her into growing it out to shoulder length instead of chin length), and still has a tart tongue at times. Jack still enjoys irritating Winn at every opportunity, and she willing gets irritated because she knows that sooner or later he'll have to win his way back into her good graces, and that is ever so much fun for them both. But she is no longer the skinny little waif that she appeared aboard the Kestrel. She has gained some weight – enough that her formally non-existent curves are now modest.
Having had to relocate her life to the confines of a ship, she has perhaps had a harder time filling her days. After a nearly disastrous blowup four months into their life together, she had discussed with Jack that her lack of meaningful occupation was driving her mad. The result was that he filled her days with chores and lessons. He even started teaching her more about fighting with a sword against not entirely honorable opponents, not that he had been happy about that since Winn had said after the first seven or eight sessions that they could not keep falling into bed halfway through the lesson. But, she has gained skill as a swordswoman, and so Jack is content that she is somewhat safer with him than she was when they had first met.
After their reunion in Tortuga, Winn and Jack did indeed go and visit grandfather Morgan, and Winn apologized for being so stubborn in the whole matter of getting married. Now that she had indeed had time to think about it, and about herself, and about Jack, and about her and Jack, she saw that perhaps it was a good idea to force the marriage.
Nextly, the newlyweds went on a little trip to Madagascar and its thriving piratous populous. After that, Jack managed to talk Winn into a visit to Singapore – and she later regretted it. Well . . . kinda. If you thought Tortuga was a town lacking in the "social niceties" and more than rife with morally questionable behavior, then let's just say that certain parts of Singapore were about ten times worse. (Winn now knew where Jack had learned to slice corsets off women, and she was none too pleased about it.) As you might believe, their stay in that part of the world was rather brief, even if Jack insisted upon showing Winn just what else he had learned there . . . but that's not really a topic for polite conversation.
Other than that, the couple has spent the last three years roaming, pillaging, and looting. For the most part, Winn stays in the couple's cabin while the Black Pearl makes raids. She, after all, still wants to be able to show her face in decent company, especially Port Royal. But it's against her nature to hide from a physical fight, and so every once in awhile she'll dig out her old blond wig and show up on the deck with sword in hand, dagger and pistol strapped to her side.
The first time that happened, Jack nearly left her stranded with Richard and Cat. He had been livid in the dangerously calm way he has. That didn't last long. When Winn refused to back down and follow his orders completely, he had then turned to ranting and raving – something he hadn't done in years. Winn gave as good as she got. Needless to say, she now is unafraid to show face in the midst of a fight, as long as she does indeed have her disguise on. Jack even made her start wearing glasses again when they went onshore together.
Jack also started spending more time on shore. Winn, still a family person at heart, insisted upon their return from their "wedding trip" that she be able to visit her family still. Actually she had said something more along the lines of, "Jack, I can't live the rest of my life on the decks of this ship. I fell in love with you, not the sea or your ship. I also love my family. I want to spend time with them."
He had replied, "You're my wife first now. Yes, I understand you are still a sibling, and an aunt, and a friend, but that's secondary to me."
"And my needs don't matter?"
"The last time we paid attention to your need to be on land, you left me here for seven months while you traipsed over the entirety of England. That is not happening again."
Winn had lost her tempter at that point. She understood how he felt. She wouldn't want to be separated from him for that amount of time either. But she still needed to visit her family occasionally. So she proposed that once every three or four months, she be allowed two weeks in which to spend with whichever relative or friend had claimed her time. Jack hadn't been happy, but he had agreed because he could see that Winn had made up her mind and either they could do this jointly, or she'd find a way to do it alone and he'd waste even more of their time together tracking her down to whichever family was harboring her.
While marriage may have tempered them both, it by no means changed them. True, they aren't who they had been, but they haven't changed so much that old friends or family wouldn't recognize them. Any who doubt this only need listen in on an argument or disagreement between the two to realize that. Winn can still be icily cold and sarcastic, and Jack still uses every unfair advantage to melt that ice. He succeeds more than he fails – Winn isn't inhuman.
Over all, the past years have been happy for them. And if unhappy circumstances did arise at any time, then Winn kept that to herself. Old habits do indeed die hard and lingering deaths, and are sometimes only buried to be resurrected later. Fears may be laid to rest, but there are always others to take their place.
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How's that for ominous? Don't worry – explanation will be forthcoming. It may be several chapters down the road, but it will come up sooner or later. And I'm sorry, but this may not be as humorous as 'Inconvenient' was. In fact, it probably won't be. I'll do what I can to throw in humor to keep things from getting too grim, but this fic is just going to be a bit not as humorous as the last. The plot isn't leaving much room for witty and funny banter. Witty banter yes, just not particularly funny. Alas! That is why I'll probably write side stories that are almost purely humor, and post those on the same days I write not so good feeling chapters of this.
Speaking of chapters, my goal is to update every 36 hours at the least, and 48 at the most. Things have picked up around here, not to mention the plot of this fic is a bit more involved and complicated than my last. They may be days that I simply write drabbles and post that in a separate story. Still Winn/Jack, and family, and friends – just not CbtP. I can tell you what days I most likely WON'T be updating. Those would be Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. With any luck, I can stay one or two chapters ahead of you all though, and that way can update even on days that I don't have time to write.
That's enough to read for now. Please send me any questions you have that weren't explained here, and I will elaborate on them as long as that won't mess with the mysteriousness of upcoming chapters. So, read on through the prologue, enjoy, and reply, because I love hearing from you all.