Unforgivable

Okay...had to throw a bit of a spanner in the works for them in the baby-making department. Don't worry, though...I don't do unhappy endings!! It will all work out in the end, I promise!! Hope you enjoy...


“Milady!”

He swept the bedroom door open with an elaborate bow.

“Can’t see what the mad rush is for,” Elizabeth grumbled, unimpressed. “I was perfectly comfortable downstairs and I hadn’t finished eating yet. Couldn’t you restrain yourself for another half an hour?”

Jack threw her a long-suffering look.

“Lizzie, Lizzie. I know m’irrestible. I know ye can’t think of anything other than getting yer hands on me fine body. But do try to focus on somethin’ else just for a few minutes, eh?”

She glared at him, opened her mouth to retort – then stopped. Narrowed her eyes, sniffed suspiciously, and stepped past him into the bedroom.

A moment later Jack found himself staggering backwards under the enthusiastic force of her embrace.

“Oh! It’s a…Oh!”

“Yer welcome, luv.” Regaining his balance, he peered over her shoulder at the oversized tub of steaming, scented water.

“Sure it’s like ye wanted, then? All hot and steamy and - er - smelly?”

“It’s wonderful! Perfect!”

“Oh good.” He paused. “So. Were ye plannin’ to immerse yerself in the aforementioned wet and stinky stuff before or after ye choke the life out o’ me?”

Elizabeth grinned, gave him a final squeeze and let go.

“You have no idea how long I’ve dreamt of this! To smell of…” she sniffed the air again. “To smell of lavender oil instead of fish and saltwater! Utter bliss!”

“Hmm. Know which one I prefer fer meself,” Jack mumbled under his breath. Then, raising his voice, “Glad yer so easily pleased, darlin’. Carry on. Enjoy.”

He ambled past her, discarding hat, coat and weapons on the way, then sank into the room’s only chair to pull off his boots.

Glancing up, he read the hopeful expression in her eyes and shook his head vehemently.

“No, no luv! S’all yours. M’just getting’ comfy.”

“Hmm. We’ll see about that. When was the last time you had a decent bath, Jack?”

“Well. I …erm. That is, I mean…”

“Exactly! So you’ll be using the water too when I’m done.”

He blanched.

“M’not getting in that – that – pungent stuff! What kind o’ pirate captain goes round smellin’ like a bloody garden?”

“The kind who would like to share my bed this evening,” Elizabeth replied firmly, and began to undress.

He glowered at her furiously. But as shirt, boots and breeches were thrown unceremoniously to the floor, he found his resolve weakening.

“God Lizzie,” he murmured, eyes roving hungrily over her naked body, “What is it ye do to me? One sight of ye like that an’ I find meself seriously contemplating smellin’ like a wench just t’keep ye happy. I’ve oft been called mad but this is really…this is just…”


“It’s called love, Jack,” Elizabeth smiled, moving towards him to tangle her fingers in the knotted strands of his hair. “And it’s a form of madness I’m also suffering very badly from, it seems…”

He grinned, pulled her closer and nestled his cheek comfortably between her breasts.

“Suffering badly, are we? Well I’ll confess its bin a torturous pleasure at times, losing me heart to you. More torture than pleasure, in fact, afore ye came after me that day in the hold.”

Closing his eyes, his fingers traced over the curve of her hip, remembering.

“Made an entry in your inventory that day I’d dreamt of fer months, darlin’. Since then s’been a decidedly more pleasurable kind of torture.”

He pressed a low, measured kiss against the curve of one breast and closed his eyes.

“Luv?”

“Hmm?”

“Water’s getting’ cold….but I’m most definitely not, if ye get me meaning. Ye’d best get in yer bath now afore m’tempted to take a dive of me own…”

“Jack!” She used her grip on his hair to yank his head upwards.

“Oww! Elizabeth that wasn’t nic…” he began, then her mouth descended on his.

After regretfully few minutes, however, she broke away and stepped back, smirking.

“Just a taste, Captain. An incentive, if you like. In case you had any plans to disappear when your turn comes to bathe.”

Muttering darkly, Jack shifted restlessly in the chair, one hand settling resignedly between his thighs as she lowered herself into the steaming water.

“Oh! Oh, this feels so wonderful! Blissful! Nothing can beat a good hot bath, nothing at all…”

An offended snort came from the direction of the chair but Elizabeth ignored him, closed her eyes and let the heady heat envelop her.

Her mind drifted away to a hot, sleepy place scented with lavender as the steamy water caressed her skin and soothed away every ache. Time seemed to drift as she floated in her liquid cocoon, until even the knowledge of her lover’s vibrant, vital presence faded from her consciousness.

Then, from very far away came the distant scrape of a chair, the tentative touch of lips on her flushed cheek.

“Jack…” she murmured, and his fingers were stroking her damp hair, his mouth soft and warm against her own.

“Can’t help it…” he whispered, and his hand slid beneath the water to fondle her breasts, gentle but insistent. “Can’t sit there and just watch anymore. M’hurtin’, Lizzie. Want t’touch ye so bad. So beautiful. Need you, Lizzie…”

“No…patience…” she mumbled drowsily, then moaned in appreciation as his fingers drifted over her stomach, played across the inside of her thighs, caressing and teasing.

Weightless, she floating in a dream-like stupor of heat and wetness and felt the wonderful, familiar ache grow, deep in her belly, swelling and surging like the tide.

“Please! I can’t…” she whimpered finally, and heard his soft chuckle.

“No patience, is it? Well then…”

Suddenly she felt his touch where she needed it most and her whimper this time was one of pleasure. His skilful fingers ignited a fire much hotter than the water in which she floated and she ground herself helplessly against his hand, silently begging for mercy.

“Jack!” she choked, and he relented at last, sent her tumbling into glorious oblivion.

The world disintegrated into waves of shuddering bliss that sent shockwaves through her body and a surge of scented water cascading over the floor. She abandoned herself to it, gloriously unaware of everything but the joyful contractions of her womb.

Forcing her eyes open at last to give her lover a sleepy, satisfied smile, she was confused to find him frowning.

“What…?”

“Busy!” he hissed through gritted teeth, and her dazed brain belatedly registered the steady, rhythmic movements of his arm.

“Oh! Here…let me…”

But Jack shook his head.

“No need,” he growled, then grimaced, his arm jerking faster.

She rolled towards him, ran a hand quickly down his sodden sleeve until she found his furiously pumping fist.

He groaned, and she thrilled at the rigid heat of him, throbbing with urgent life beneath their hands .

“Come to me, follow me, now Jack, now!” she urged, reaching lower, feeling his balls jerk and pulse hungrily at her touch.

His face contorted with agonised pleasure, and she bit her lip, feeling his desperation as he teetered on the precipice.

A strangled groan was forced from his lips; a moment later he froze, threw back his head and she saw the dark eyes flare with ecstasy.

She held him, belly clenching in sympathy as his release pulsed hot and urgent against her palm, forcing the tension from his body in quick, copious spurts of milky white semen.

Finally he collapsed, panting, against the side of the bath.

“Ugh,” he commented, several moments later.

“Indeed.”

“Lizzie?”

“Mmm?”

“Ye can let go now. M’finished. Done. All me shots are fired. Pistol’s empty, luv.”

She grinned and released him, then looked wryly at her hand.

“Evidently. And you were carrying a full load, as always. I’m sticky but impressed.”

Expecting his usual cocky response, Elizabeth was confused when he ducked his head instead and mumbled something under his breath.

“Beg pardon?”

“Nothin’. Never mind.”

Avoiding her curious gaze, he clambered to his feet and began stripping off his sodden shirt and breeches.

“Best get in there wiv ye, since I’m soaked already,” he mumbled, and she scooted forward so that he could climb in behind her.

Settling herself comfortably against his chest, she reached for his hand.

“Now. Tell me what’s wrong.”

He sighed heavily.

“S’no bloody good. Useless, in fact. Hopeless. Me bleedin’ powder’s damp!”

“Your….pardon?”

“M’tryin’ t’tell ye I can’t do it Lizzie! Given the frequency of tryin’ an’ the amount of time we’ve been workin’ at it, I should’ve managed it by now. But it’s not happened, has it? Even when I weren’t tryin’ and I thought I unintentionally had, it transpired that I hadn’t. Good news at the time since we were in fact aiming to avoid said event, but in retrospect…”

“Jack…”

“I think – I’m afraid that there’s somethin’ wrong wiv me, Lizzie. Somethin’ that’s missing in me. I let ye down, and I’m so sorry...”

Realisation suddenly dawned, and Elizabeth bit her lip, pressing their joined hands hard against her belly.

“You’re saying you can’t give me a child? Is that it?”


“S’what I just said, isn’t it?”

“No!”

“Yes I did, luv, I just explained meself quite clearly, I…”

“No, I don’t mean that! I mean no, I don’t believe it.”


“Ye’d better start then.” He sighed. “We’ve scarce gone a day wivout it, luv. Ye should be heaving up yer breakfast over the rail by now. But yer not. Are you?”

“Well…no,” she admitted. “But it hasn’t been that long since we started trying, is it? Maybe we just need to be a little more patient.”
.

“S’been near on three and a half months. M’countin’.”

“You are? It has? Oh. How long do these things normally take, then?”

“When ye don’t want it t’happen – just the one night, generally speakin’.”

“And you’ve never…I mean, after one night, you haven’t…”

“No. No, I’m sure of it. No little Sparrows left in me wake. I were always careful. Though it seems on recent evidence I‘d no need to be.”

“Jack, don’t! It’s not true, it can’t be. For all we know I might be carrying your child already.”

“Aye. But I’d bet me last bottle of rum that yer not. I’m sorry, Lizzie…”

They lapsed into a thoughtful, troubled silence. Elizabeth felt tears sting her eyes and blinked them away.

“What if it’s me?” she burst out suddenly. “What if it’s my fault?”

“S’not likely, is it?” Jack muttered. “Yer a healthy young woman, s’no reason fer it to be you.”

“No more reason for it to be you, either!”

“M’older than you. Been somewhat more generous wiv me favours, too. Could easily have exposed meself to some nasty little – er – nastiness. Damaged meself.”


“Stop it!” she snapped, suddenly furious. “Stop being so defeatist, it’s not like you! I want your child and I will have it. We just have to try harder, that’s all.”

“Don’t think that’s possible, dearie. Less I abandon me Pearl and lock meself in here wiv you til I manage it. Not an entirely unpleasant solution, but hardly a practical one.”

“A solution.” Elizabeth repeated thoughtfully. “We have – may have – a problem and we need a solution. Who would know about such things? We must find someone to help us!”

An enraged growl told her that Jack was not too thrilled with this suggestion.


“Course, why not? I can get me crew together an’ tell them Captain Sparrow’s firing blanks, ask ‘em for advice. Or maybe get one of them t’do the job for me. M’sure they’d be happy to oblige!”

“Don’t be factious. There must be someone in this place who could advise us. A – a midwife, or a physician perhaps. It’s worth a try, surely?”

He did not reply, and with a sigh she pulled herself upright and clambered out of the bath.

“Fine. Sit there and sulk, if it makes you feel better. It certainly won’t get me with child.”

Jack watched through narrowed eyes as she reached for a towel and began to dry herself.

“Where d’you think yer going?” he muttered. “S’late.”

“Out. You may be too proud and stubborn to seek help, but I’m not.”

Retrieving her dirty clothes from the floor with a wince of distaste, she began to dress, purposely avoiding his gaze.

“Elizabeth.”

She paused, one hand on the door.

“Yes?”

“Take me pistol. And - and be careful.”


She shot him an impatient look.


“I can look after myself. You stay here and glare quietly. I’m sure that will help.”


The door slammed behind her and Jack groaned.


“M’sorry, Lizzie,” he whispered to the empty room. “I really am sorry…”