To Love Another

To Love Another

Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean or any of the original characters or storyline, Disney owns all. The only things I own are the things that are not mentioned in the Movies, so please do not sue!

Summery: Pirates of the Caribbean 3, written my way for all you JE shippers. Just incase the third film doesn’t go our way, at least in my World it does. Hopefully a bit of something for everyone in here so R&R!

Authors Note: Hey Guys, this is my first ever fic and not just on Pirates… in general, so I would be so grateful if you could give me some feed back on it… Please review my Story.
And to those of you who have already reviewed, thanks… you know who you are! Keep reading…

P.S sorry I am a few days late updating I have been ill with the flu, but all better now so on with the story.
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Chapter Three: Jacks Back!

The first thing that Elizabeth became aware of as she struggled up from the dark depths of unconsciousness was pain, every bit of her hurt, at least she was sure she was still alive, death could not possibly hurt this much and if it did, she was going to demand a refund.

She quickly found that moving was out of the question for the moment, as just the thought of trying to convince her battered body to move seemed to make it scream in protest, so instead she tried to figure out where she was with the few senses she had left that seemed to still be in working order.

Well for a start she was lying down, and she was soaked through, but, and here she breathed a mental sigh of relief, she was not actually in the water, this fact struck her as slightly odd, cudgeling her sluggish brain she tried to figure out why and slowly the memories started to come back to her. They were all on the ship trying to get Jack back, Will had just asked his question and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the first Jack answered the question correctly, then just as Will was bout to chose the first Jack, the second had said something.

Elizabeth tried to recall what was said, but try as she might the memory kept slipping away, the next thing she remembered was everyone started to shout in dismay as Will paused then chose the second Jack instead, that’s when all hell had broken lose, wave after wave had crashed against the ship, she remembered clinging on to a rope as the ship started to tilt, the compass!, the compass had fell out of her pocket, she had thrown her self across the deck after it, just as she had got a hold of it another wave had crashed against the ship dragging her towards the edge, panic started to rise in her stomach as she recalled the horror of knowing that she was going to be swept over board, then at the last minuet the feel of strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her to safety, after that everything was a blank, so where was she?

Well what ever she was lying on was not the hard wooden deck of the ship, as her senses gradually came back to her she became aware that she was lying half on, half off of something or someone, she realized as she noticed for the first time that the object under her cheek was moving and was in all likelihood someone’s chest as the steady rhythm of a heart beat could be heard beating a steady tattoo in her ear.

She also became aware of strong arms wrapped around her holding her close as a sense of safety and security washed over her, she breathed a deep sigh and let herself relax once more knowing, without knowing, how she knew that she was safe and that who ever the arms belonged to, they would keep her from harm.

Unconsciousness was just starting to take a hold of her tired mind once more when she felt the arms that where holding her safe start to gently pull away, as the body under her cheek slid out from beneath her before gently placing a kiss on the top of her head as a hand tenderly stroked the hair from her face, she tried to call out to beg the person to stay, to not leave her alone, but the dark depths of oblivion were to close, the last thing she knew was the smell of rum and old leather and a name lingered in her mind as she succumbed to unconsciousness once more, Jack?

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Will groaned as he raised his arm to shield his eyes from the stabbing brightness of the sun, he sat up sharply as memory returned with a rush and just as quickly wished he hadn’t as a sharp pain in the back of his head made itself known. Still groaning he lifted a trembling hand to feel the back of his head, wincing as his probing fingers encountered a large painful and sticky lump in the area of all the pain.

Lowering his hand, he stared in surprise at the blood now coating his fingers, ‘what on earth hit me?’ he wondered, as he raised his eyes to search the beach he somehow found himself lying on, for some sigh of the rest of the crew, he smiled in relief as he saw them spread out across the golden sands looking like so much flotsam, all of them in the process of regaining consciousness if the assortment of grunts, groans and swearwords were anything to go by.

His smile started to slip however as his searching eyes were caught by a body lying some distance away from the others that did not seem to be moving, it vanished all together as he realized that the body was Elizabeth.

Stifling another groan Will dragged his protesting body to its feet and stumbled over to were Elizabeth was lying, falling to his knees besides her he reached out and grasped her shoulders turning her over to face him as gently as he could, her face was very pale and a large bruise was starting to form on her temple, relief flooded over him as he noticed the steady rise and fall of her chest.

“Elizabeth? Elizabeth, come on wake up, Elizabeth!” Will called her name and patted her face gently as her tried to bring her round, at first he got no reaction, but as he carried on, his pats to her face becoming more like slaps, she scrunched her face up in a frown and raising her hand to push away his slapping hand finally opened her eyes.

“Will… where are we? Are the others all right, what happened?” Elizabeth asked in a rush, one hand reaching up to clutch at his shirt.

Smiling in relief, Will reached up to cover her hand with his own as he tried to get a word in edge ways so he could attempt to answer the confused babble of her question. “Calm down Elizabeth, I don’t know what happened but we seem to have been washed up on a beach somewhere. I can only assume that the ship was wrecked when those waves hit us… How we ended up here I have know idea, but as far as I can tell, the crew are all here and apart from some cuts and bruises they seem to be fine!”

Will helped her to her feet as he spoke, Elizabeth looked around and saw the rest of the crew stumbling their way over to them, as she watched them with dazed eyes she realized something, or to be more exact, someone seemed to be missing. “Er… Will, I assume then that we are all still alive and still in possession of our souls?”

Will frowned at her in confusion, “Er… yes, so it would appear. Why do you ask?”

Elizabeth looked back at Will, concern in her eyes, “Will, if we are all still alive and in possession of our souls, that means we won, right?” with out waiting for an answer she continued, “So if we won, where’s Jack?”

Will had no answer for this, he glanced about at the others that had now gathered about them then turned to search the beach, it lay smooth and empty in every direction, no Jack to be seen. Will turned once more to the others, “Has anyone of you seen Jack?”

They all turned to look at each other before turning back to Will and Elizabeth, shaking their heads as Gibb’s spoke up, “You er, you don’t suppose he’s dead do you?” at the horrified looks of the others he rushed to continue, “What I mean to say is, do you think that Calypso person killed him, she sure is a treacherous one just look at how she tried to trick Will, she called that wave down upon us when Will here won. What if she was trying to kill Jack again, you know, kind of give him back to us then kill him straight away so she could keep him. Seems like the type of thing she would try…”

As the possibility that what Gibb’s said could be true, they all turned to stare out to sea, afraid that all they had been through might of all been for naught.

“If you’re waiting for a ship to come and rescue us, id say you are just a bit premature, Lizzy here hasn’t even had time to burn the rum yet!” they all froze, hope rising in there hearts, then turned slowly, hardly daring to look to see none other than Captain Jack Sparrow standing fit and well behind them.

The air was filled with the sound of relived laughter as they all converged on Jack, all of them trying to pat him on the back or shake his hand all at the same time, “Easy lads, easy on the goods or are you trying to kill good old Jack after all your trouble?”

Smiling sheepishly, they backed away giving Jack some room as an embarrassed silence filled the air. “Aye Jack. Tis good to have yer back…” Gibbs spoke up at last, “but where had you got to? You gave us quiet a scare; we thought that Calypso person had killed you again when we couldn’t sees you, and what happened on the ship? Oh and what made you give such a dammed fool of an answer to Wills question?”

Jack leaned back slightly giving Gibbs an affronted look “I will have you know it was a very cleaver answer to a dammed fool question, no offence lad.” Jack said placing a friendly hand on Wills shoulder, “You see what Willy boy here failed to remember when asking his question was how that particular question relates directly to the story of Davey Jones and Calypso herself, so of cause she new the right answer and so did her copy of yours truly. So when said copy gave the right answer, my only hope of getting Will here to realize who the real me was, was to give an answer so stupid he would know only the real me would be able to give it, fortunately that was when I remembered the answer that Ragetti had given in answer to the same question back in Tia’s hut, then all I could do was hope Willy boy here was quicker on the uptake than he was at asking questions, as you can see by my gracious presence he was, luckily for us all I might add. And as to where I was, when I came to you lot were still out cold enjoying your beauty sleep and let me tell you listening to you snore Gibbs can get rather tedious after a while, so I took myself off for a wander see what I could find, no rum alas, but I did find a convenient tree to hang me coat on, it’s a real bugger to dry properly once it gets soaked”

Will looked down at his feet, embarrassment turning his cheeks red as Jack explained what had happened on the ship, “Ay lad, don’t feel bad, it all worked out in the end damned stupid question or not, and look at it this way, if you had asked any other question I would not of been able to give an answer that made it so obvious that I was me if you see what I mean?” he heard Jack say to him as he patted him reassuringly on the back.

“So what do we do now?” Will asked, shaking off his embarrassment to turn to Jack only to see him staring off at something along the beach, “Jack?” Will prompted when he did not reply, just continued to stare off along the beach.

“What? Oh yes, well er… I suggest we split in to groups and start looking around this place, try to figure out where we are, we could be here for a while unless you have a ship tucked away that I don’t know about, thought not!” Jack answered at Will’s apologetic look.

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Elizabeth turned at the sound of the familiar voice coming from behind her, a smile lighting up her face. She took a step forward as the others crowded around Jack only to stop as her smile slipped and fell away, wiping her hands nervously down the leg of her trousers she turned to walk back along the beach away from the happy crowd to sit staring out at sea, unaware of the pair of kohl lined eyes that watched her sadly as she walked away.

The time she had both longed for and dreaded was finally upon her and for one glorious moment she had forgotten and allowed herself to be happy to see him back with no thoughts of gilt clouding her mind and heart as she had stepped forward knowing only the desire to hug him to her, to feel his solid form in her arms, to reassure herself that he was not just a figment of her tired mind, but she had stopped as reality had come crashing back, she was the reason he had died, she had betrayed him with a kiss, what right did she have to be part of the happy group surrounding him, to share in the joy of the group of people that had struggled so long and so hard to bring him back, she could not bring herself to approach him only to see him turn away from her, and what would she say to him, how do you greet the man you sent to his death, her mind could give her no answer, so she had turned away to sit staring out to sea, her heart heavy as tears slid slowly down her face.

As Jack turned away to give directions to the others, splitting them in to groups and telling them where to go and what to look for, Will glanced around in the direction that Jack had been staring at wondering what had caught his interest and saw Elizabeth sitting on the beach not far away staring out to sea, only then did he realize that she had not been with them when they were greeting Jack, his stomach clenched as he realized that this was it, they had got Jack back but that was not enough, if he was serious in his desire to see Elizabeth happy no matter how it hurt him, he had to step aside, no matter how much he wanted to be the one to go to her and comfort her and tell her it would be alright, he couldn’t, if he did she would stick loyally to him, would tell herself she loved only him and that she was a fool to think of Jack, she would marry him and he knew she would spend the rest of her life feeling trapped and never being truly happy constantly wondering what if?

What if? And as much as the selfish part of his soul cried out that he loved her and that once this was all over everything would go back to normal and that they could make it work, the realistic part new that things would never be the same or normal again, everything they had gone through over the last few months had changed them all and they would never be able to go back to the people they had once been.

He also knew that both Jack and Elizabeth were two of the most stubborn people he had ever met and if they were to ever be happy, they were going to need a few gentle nudges if not, out right shoves before they would admit to needing each other. Sealing the aching pieces of his heart away, he geared himself up to give them a push, no time like the present after all.

Will pulled himself together as Jack came back from bossing the crew around giving him a solid slap to the back that nearly knocked him nose first into the sand, “Right then, you and Lizzy are with me, we need to find fresh water, rum would be better but I have a nasty feeling we will have to settle for water!” Jack through over his shoulder as he staggered of towards the thick forest that started at the edge of the beach.

“Er… Jack, take Liz… I mean Elizabeth with you, I need to speak to Gibb’s about errr… something!” Will through back over his shoulder at Jack as he started to walk after Gibb’s as fast as the deep sand would allow. He wanted to get away before Jack could stop him, Will had forgotten one thing when deciding to push Jack and Elizabeth together, and he was an awful liar.

Jack came to a stop so fast that he nearly fell over as with arms wind-milling wildly, he spun on his heel to stare at a retreating Will with a mixture of surprise, disbelief and just a touch of fear, “Will!” he hissed “Will” Jack half staggered half ran a few steps after the retreating figure of Will Turner before grinding to a halt and turning to stare a the solitary figure left sitting staring out to sea some distance away.

He looked from one to the other a few times before throwing his hands in the air. He turned around and with one last very rude gesture in Wills direction set of back along the beach towards Elizabeth, trying to tell himself that the churning in his stomach was hunger and not nerves, he was Captain Jack Sparrow after all and he was not afraid to face one little woman no matter how much he lo… er, no matter how much she irritated him, there that was better.

Jack stood staring at Elizabeth’s back as she sat watching the sea, seemingly unaware of his presence, several times Jack opened his mouth, hands waving as he started to say something then changed his mind, until it occurred to him how absurd he must look even for him, standing there like a fish out of water, mouth opening and closing, hand gesturing wildly but no sound coming out, mentally telling himself to get a grip.

He reached out and tapped her on the shoulder with two fingers, “ARGH” they both jumped and yelled as Jack’s tap caused Elizabeth to jump and scream which in turn made Jack jump and, well he would not say scream exactly, but may be he did give a bit of a yell, a very manly one of cause.

“Er… right then, it would appear love, that you and I, as in me and you, er… us have been elected to be the ones given the dubious honor of being the ones upon whom tha task of finding liquid refreshment in this, our currant home for the foreseeable future has fallen!”

Elizabeth stared at Jack trying to make some sense out of whatever it was he had just said as he stood watching her, an expectant look on his face, “We need to go and find a source of fresh water love, so if you have finished admiring the view, we should get a move on!” Jack said as he offered his hand to help her up as she continued to stare at him with out saying anything.

Turning slightly pink at being caught staring, Elizabeth dragged her gaze away from its hungry scrutiny of his face and glanced down to his out stretched hand as she reached out and clasped it with her own, allowing him to pull her to her feet, she allowed her hand to linger in his for a bit longer than necessary enjoying the feel of his rough callused hand as it gently but firmly griped hers before reluctantly pulling her hand from his, she looked around and noticed that they were alone, it was then that what he had said registered.

“Where’s Will? Isn’t he coming with us?” she asked hopefully, she really didn’t won’t to be alone with Jack.

“Sorry love, it’s just me and you. Seems darling Will had an urgent meeting with Mr. Gibb’s!” Jack said over his shoulder as he set off once more across the beach towards the forest.

Elizabeth watched Jacks retreating back in consternation, glancing round the still disappointingly empty beach in the hopes of finding something to get her out of what she was sure would be a very uncomfortable few hours, and finding none, she breathed a heart felt sigh and with slumped shoulders, trudged off after Jack who was waiting impatiently for her at the edge of the forest.

As she reached him he raised his eyebrows at her before bowing and waving one hand towards the forest in a mocking ‘after you’ gesture, cocking one hip Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, Jack shrugged and without saying a word pushed his way into the forest. Elizabeth rolled her eyes then stepped forward to follow him and promptly got smacked in the face by a tree branch as it sprang back into place after Jack passed by neglecting to hold it for her, it smacked her full in the face.

Fortunately for Elizabeth, it was a very leafy branch with rather thin twigs so it was more of a slap than an actual smack and it was surprise more than actual pain or the force of the blow that had her sitting on her behind in the mud, Jack had stopped and turned to stare at her, at the rather loud oomph the fall forced from her, “Really Liz, you are going to have to be more careful or we will never get anywhere, so if you are quite done playing can we get going?” and so saying, he turned once more and pushed further into the tangled mass of the forest leaving Elizabeth sitting staring in outrage once more at his back.

Elizabeth let out a strangled scream of frustration and threw a handy clod of mud at his retreating form which of course missed by a mile, “I really am going to have to learn to throw straight sometime!” she muttered to herself as she struggled to extract herself from the undergrowth which seemed determined to make getting back on her feet impossible, finally and with much cursing she managed it, and still muttering curses at a certain pirate pushed her way in after him.

At least there was one good thing that came out of getting hit in the face, it had completely taken her mind of her guilt, she was far to busy fuming at the outright cheek of a certain good for nothing pirate, she glared holes in his back as she followed him as close as she dared, not wanting to lose him in the dense forest but not wanting to get hit in the face again either.

It wasn’t long before she found her eyes wandering over the rest of him, and it occurred to her that she had never taken the time or had the chance to really study him before, for instance she had always known that his hair was long and so dark it was nearly black, but she had never noticed how long and how thick it actually was or the fact that from what she could see, there was no hint of grey in it.

She frowned, wondering how old Jack was, if she had to guess she would of said mid thirty’s, but the lack of grey made her wonder if he could be younger as it was her experience that people with hair that dark usually started to show a bit if grey at about that age, especially if they had a hard life and no one would call piracy easy, it was in her opinion usually quite stressful, her contemplation of his hair naturally lead to the shoulders it was lying on.

Her glare softened as a hint of feminine appreciation entered her expression, he had, she was forced to admit, very good shoulders. They were wide and well toned from all the years spent working on a ship and from all the time spent using a sword, the soft material of his shirt showed of the play of his muscles as he moved, hinting at the strength they contained.

Her eyes wandered to his back following its line as it tapered down to a narrow trim waist, her fingers itched to trace the line her eyes had just taken, her eyes were drawn to his legs as he tripped slightly over a tree root, gutting up out of the earth and hidden by the dense foliage, the first thing she noticed was that they were not skinny, she had not really thought of men’s legs before, it was not something she would normally be interested in, however she had noticed that most men of her acquaintance, no matter how larger or well built, had really skinny legs that to her had always seemed to look slightly ridiculous in the tight stockings and breaches the currant fashion demanded men of her social class wear, especially at formal functions.

Jacks legs were different, although not overly large, you could never describe them as skinny, the lose fit of his pants doing little to hide their toned strength and eye pleasing shape from her appreciative gaze, her eyes wandered up his legs as she watched with interest as the soft worn fabric pulled tight over the muscles of his thighs as he walked, her appreciative gaze traveled slowly higher till it finally came to rest at his backside.

She stared in fascination, a small smile curling her lips as she watched the flex and clench of his buttocks as he walked, her hands itched once more with the desire to reach out and feel for herself if they were as firm as they looked, and that was where her thoughts came to a screeching grinding halt, her face flamed a brilliant scarlet as she realized what she was doing, she Miss Elizabeth Swann, the governor of Port Royals daughter, was ogling a man and not just any man, but Captain Jack Sparrow, and (here her face turned an even deeper shade of red if that was possible) she was enjoying the view if the heat growing in her stomach was any indication, oh god!

Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment wishing the earth would just open up and swallow her as she realized she had been wondering how certain parts of his person would feel under her hands, no, no, no she could not of possibly been… but yes she forced herself to admit, she Miss Elizabeth Swann had been wondering what it would be like to grope none other than Captain Jack Sparrow, not a nice word, but she forced herself to admit, the one best suited to describing the way she was thinking.

She continued to follow him almost squirming in embarrassment, her eyes firmly glued to the forest floor and away from temptation, and that was how she missed the fact that Jack had come to a sudden halt, arms waving wildly as he attempted to regain his balance and so avoid falling down the shear drop that had suddenly opened up at his feet, still wobbling slightly he half turned to warn Elizabeth when she crashed into him, the sudden impact of their body’s and Jacks startled yell jerked Elizabeth out of her embarrassed contemplation of the safe if boring forest floor.

Her head jerked up, her eyes growing wide with panic, her mouth falling open in shock as she saw Jack lose the battle with gravity and start to topple backwards, she reached out automatically trying to grab hold of him and pull him to safety, sighing in relief as she felt his strong grip close around her wrist, her relief was short lived however as Jacks weight pulled her forwards with him, she let out a frightened scream as she was dragged over the edge.

She toppled head over heels before landing with a teeth rattling splash in the large pool that lay at the foot of the cliff they had just fallen from, the sudden chill of the water made her gasp in shock, water poured into her mouth and down her throat as she sank to the bottom, trying not to panic, she managed to get her feet under her and with as much strength as she could muster, launched herself upwards.

She broke the surface like a broaching whale, coughing and spluttering as her lungs tried to rid themselves of the water she had inhaled on her sudden emersion into its cold depths, blinded by the water streaming into her eyes she flailed around in a panic before she remembered that she could swim and concentrated on keeping her head above water while using one hand to wipe the water out of her eyes.

Once she could see again, she looked around at the pool they had fallen into, it was quite large and as she had already discovered very deep in the center, it was fed at one end by a large water fall that cascaded down from the top of the cliffs that surrounded the pool, there was a small shelf of rock jutting out from the base of the cliff the water frothed and foamed as it hit it throwing up a cloud of mist that with the aid of the sunlight filtering down through the trees gave birth to a small rainbow that hung permanently in the air above, moss covered rocks were clustered in small groups on its gently slopping shores, the patches of sparkling white sand between them forming small beaches.

She spun around in freight as something behind her gently nudged into her back, sighing in relief as she saw it was only Jacks hat bobbing around on the waves caused by their fall into the pool, but if there was the hat, were was its owner? She slowly paddled round in a circle scanning the pool and surrounding shore for any sign of the Captain, except for the splashing roar of the waterfall, the pool lay quiet and still of Jack there was no sign.

Worry beginning to nor at her insides, she looked back at the clusters of rocks lining the edges, half expecting to see Jacks body lying broken upon them, but they sat there covered in naught but the soft green moss, really confused now she looked up examining the cliff face to see if perhaps he had got caught up somehow in a tree as they fell, but the cliff gave evidence that this would be impossible.

There were indeed a few trees clinging with determined ferocity to the shear wall of the cliff but the top hung out slightly over the pool, the wall then curved in gently, which was why she had come to a safe if shocking landing in the middle of the water rather than being smashed to pieces on the rocks bordering its edge, so if she had fallen safely into the pool, Jack must have as well, so where was he?

She started to peer franticly into the sparkling blue depths of the pool as something occurred to her, what if he had hit his head on a rock in the water, he could be lying unconscious, slowly drowning somewhere below her as she wasted time admiring the beauty of the place, she sucked in a few deep breaths preparing to dive under and search the bottom when a sharp tug on her leg made her shriek in fright as she was pulled under the surface, water once more pouring into her mouth choking her, she struggled franticly kicking out with her free leg at what ever it was that had got a hold of her.

The grip on her ankle slackened and she struggled franticly to the surface once more, still splashing and kicking in freight, she spat water out of her mouth between gasps of much needed air as the sound of laughter reached her ears, she stopped splashing as a horrid suspicion grew in her mind, reaching up she pushed the tangled mass of her hair out of her face, blinking the water from her eyes and found herself looking into Jacks laughing face.

“Sorry love couldn’t resist, makes us even, you being the reason we find our selves taking this unexpected swim!” Jack said still laughing like a maniac.

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him, “You idiot!” she hissed at him “I was worried about you; I thought you had drowned and instead I find you are just messing around, half drowning me in the process!” This just made Jack laugh even harder, as she watched him a sly smile crept across her face, slowly so as not to attract his attention, she paddled her way over to him, once in reach she gasped his shoulders and pushed down as hard as she could, a trail of bubbles rose to the surface as Jack still laughing went under.

Elizabeth let go and smiling smugly started to paddle her way to shore, she was unaware that Jack had swum up behind her until she felt his hand on the small of her back as he shoved her under in retaliation, Elizabeth managed to twist as she went under once more and grabbing a hand full of his shirt tugged him under with her, that was it she thought he wants to play games, I’m going to drown the laughing fool, this means war!

They struggled and tussled beneath the water each of them trying to get the upper hand, Elizabeth finally managed to break free when air started to become an issue, twisting away from the hands reaching for her ankle she shot to the surface.

Treading water, she peered carefully into the sparkling depths trying to see were Jack was. She shrieked as water exploded right next to her, as Jack surfaced, spitting water into her face as she turned to yell at him. What followed was a truly spectacular water fight, as the battle progressed, Elizabeth felt her anger drain away and a grin start to form, soon she was shrieking and laughing as much as Jack, as they kicked and splashed around in the pool, both of them acting like a pair of over grown children and enjoying every minute.

As they fought, they had moved across the pool and Elizabeth was at last able to put her feet on the bottom, spying a moss covered rock in reaching distance, Elizabeth grinned wickedly and got to her feet standing waist deep in the pool. She reached over and grabbed a handful of the soggy, slimy moss and threw it with all her might at Jack, it was then that she noticed that Jack had stopped and was just standing staring at her as the moss flew through the air and landed with a soggy splat right on the top of his head.

Jack didn’t seem to notice as slimy ooze trickled slowly down the side of his face, he continued to stare a small smirk twisted his lips and his eyes darkened with something Elizabeth could not put a name to, Elizabeth frowned in confusion, he seemed to be staring at her shirt, she glanced down and was made immediately and embarrassingly aware of just what had Jack hypnotized.

Elizabeth stared in horror at her soaking wet shirt as it clung lovingly to her every curve; the thin light weight material had become almost transparent and did little to nothing to hide her full breasts from Jacks hot gaze, her face flamed as she noticed that the dusk rose of her nipples were clearly visible were the saturated cloth clung to her like a second skin.

Crossing her arms over her chest defensively, she turned her back to him as she tried to pull the clinging material away from her with little success. Squeezing her eyes tight shut she gritted her teeth in a grimace, still trying to restore some decency to her stubbornly clinging shirt, no wonder Jack had been staring, she had been standing there virtually naked to the waist, the heat from her face seemed to transfer to her stomach as she recalled the look in his eyes as he had stared at her exposed body, and a wicked little smile twitched at the corners of her mouth.

Her hands shot up to hide herself once more as something white suddenly appeared in her line of sight, she sagged in relief as she realized that it was only Jacks shirt and not Jack himself that had appeared in front of her.

“Here, put this on!” Jack murmured quietly from behind her as he held his shirt out at arms length over her shoulder as he wiggled it before her.

“Thanks for the offer, but it is as wet as mine is, what good will that do.” Elizabeth through back at him over her shoulder, being careful not to turn around and thus expose herself to him once more.

“Aye, it’s wet but it’s a good bit bigger than yours, it should hang lose enough to save your modesty, but if you don’t want it I aint complanin none about the view love!” he replied as he started to withdraw the offered shirt, a smirk coloring his voice.

“NO! Its fine, I’ll take it!” Elizabeth babbled as she snatched the offered shirt out of his hands before he could take it back.

Jack carefully moved back away from Elizabeth as she grabbed his shirt and started to struggle into it, he didn’t want her bumping into him by accident as she fought to pull it over her head and in so doing realize how close he had been standing to her in order to give her his shirt, and at the same time take full advantage of another chance to admire said view as he peered over her shoulder.

Elizabeth finally managed to get the shirt on and much to her relief found that Jack had been right, his shirt hung large and lose, although it still clung slightly to the tops of her breasts, but she noted with relief, revealed no more than the neck line of one of her lower cut dresses would.

Elizabeth looked down her fingers fiddling nervously with the tattered lace at the cuff of the sleeve as silence stretched between them, “Thank you, Jack,” she said at last as she turned to face him, “For the shirt, it er… it helps!”

Jack waved one hand at her negligently, “Least I could do luv, think nothing of it!” he frowned slightly as Elizabeth just stood and stared at him as a blush slowly rose to her cheeks. “Something wrong, luv?” he questioned at last.

Elizabeth dragged her eyes away from the sight of Jacks naked chest as she turned, making her way out of the pool to sit on one of the little beaches at its shore, “Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?” she answered evasively, and Jack noted, being very careful to look everywhere but at him, he watched her for a while before shrugging and wading out of the water to flop down on the sand next to her, bringing one arm up over his face to shield his eyes from the sun.

Silence fell once more as Elizabeth sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, acutely conscious of the half naked man lying completely at ease next to her, she had never seen a man with out a shirt on before, the gentlemen of Port Royal would never dream of allowing a lady like herself to catch them in such a state of undress, it just wasn’t done, therefore she had been completely unprepared for the sight of Jack standing half naked before her when she had turned to thank him, which was really silly as she was wearing his shirt.

The offer of the shirt had also surprised her, it was kind of him not to take advantage of her embarrassment, not the action you would expect from a pirate, he had laughed and joked with her as they had played like children in the pool, then shown her consideration and kindness giving her his shirt to save her blushes, guilt nearly choked her as she compared her own actions on the last time they were together to his treatment of her today, not one word of reproach had crossed his lips, he acted towards her as if those dreadful last moments on the Pearl the last time they were together had never happened.

“I’m sorry, Jack,” she said in a harsh whisper full of self loathing, “I’m so, so sorry!”

Taking his arm from in front of his face, he looked at her in confusion, “For what, luv? Pushing us in the pool? We might have gotten a little wet but no one got hurt, so no harm done!”

She raised her head to look at him, shame darkening her eyes, “No, I mean for what I did to you, for tricking you and chaining you to the ship, for leaving you to die. You must hate me so much and I don’t know how you can even stand to look at me!”

“Ah, so you are not sorry you kissed me then; that’s good to know!” Jack replied, with a smug smile.

Elizabeth frowned at him in confusion, while wondering if she was ever going to stop blushing that day as Jack’s mention of their kiss forced another one to darken her face.

“Jack, I have just said I was sorry I tricked you…” she pointed out.

“Aye luv, that you did, but you didn’t say you were sorry you kissed me in order to trick me, only that you were sorry you tricked me which means you weren’t sorry for the kiss it’s self!” Jack argued back, smug smile firmly in place, his look softened however as he watched her sitting next to him looking so forlorn and dejected, he sighed calling himself all kinds of soft hearted fool as he scooted over to sit next to her, reaching out he took her chin gently in his fingers and raised her face till she was forced to look him in the eyes, “And I don’t hate you! How could I, you only did what you had to do, as I told you once before, I admire a person that can do what’s necessary. You had a hard decision to make and you made it without flinching, using the best weapons at your disposal.” he said giving her a teasing wink. “And look at it this way, if you hadn’t done what you did, we probably would all have been killed. This way you kill me and save everyone else, making me look a right hero in the process, and then when old squid face calls off his beastie happy, all depths are paid in full. You come sailing to the rescue and bring yours truly back to the land of the living, which you couldn’t of done if we had all been killed now could you, instead here I am alive and well without having to worry about old tentacle puss and his nasty little pet chasing me all over the seven seas, I’d say that makes us even!”

Elizabeth stared at him, eyes sparkling with tears that started to slide slowly down her face as he finished speaking. Jack raised a hand to her face catching a tear on his finger before bringing it to his lips and kissing it away, giving her a small wicked smile, “Besides luv, I knew it would all work out alright in the end!”

Elizabeth stared at him in disbelief, “Jack, I chained you to your ship, you got swallowed by a sea monster and died, how could you possibly think that it would turn out alright?” she questioned.

Jack brought his hand back up to her face, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb, “Aye, your right, but you are forgetting one thing luv!” Elizabeth looked at him questioningly as he continued. “I’m Captain Jack Sparrow…Savvy!” He grinned at her giving her another wink.

Elizabeth stared at him in consternation, a small smile twitching at the corners of her mouth, the smile grew and was soon accompanied by a chuckle, it wasn’t long before she was shaking with laughter.

As Jack watched her, his own smile at the sight of her amusement died before it could be fully born, as he noted the edge of hysteria coloring her laughter. Elizabeth looked up at him, her laughter changing to sobs as the storm that had raged within her broke free at last, shaking her slight form with great gut wrenching heaves as tears poured down her face.

“Hay now, what’s all this, luv?” Jack asked in concern, Elizabeth just shook her head before throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around him she clung to him as she buried her face in his chest as the storm raged, crying like a broken hearted child as she finally let go of the grief and guilt that had built inside of her.

Jack was for once in his life at a complete loss, he had no experience of how to deal with a crying female, he had always made sure he was safely back at sea before the tears started, and now here he was with his arms full of a crying Elizabeth, gingerly he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him, one hand stroking her hair.

“Careful luv, your backsliding, an after you were doing so well an all, I’ll have you know Pirates don’t cry!” he teased her. He suppressed a sigh of relief as the crying eased off and a watery giggle took its place.

As her crying eased and finally stopped, Elizabeth became aware of a nagging little voice in the back of her mind telling her that she really shouldn’t be snuggled up in a mans arms like this, especially a man that was, A: half naked and B: Jack Sparrow, but she felt safe and comfortable, the solid wall of his chest felt good under her hands, his skin warm under her cheek, so she ignored it, letting the sound of the steady thump, thump of his heart beating in her ear drown it out.

With out conscious thought, her hands started to explore the skin they found themselves resting upon, her fingertips tracing the ridges and hollows of his muscles at his sides found an area of raised skin, it was a long thin scar running from just under his armpit down the length of his side ending just below his waist, “How did you get this, Jack?” she asked, tracing its length with the tip of her nail, she raised her head and stared at him in surprise as she felt his muscles flinch as he jumped slightly at her touch, twisting away from her questing finger.

“I forget, luv,” he said, “some old Sword fight most likely!”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, Elizabeth ran her finger down his side once more and smiled in disbelief as once more she felt him jump, his muscles twitching under her fingers.

“Your ticklish,” she accused as she looked up at him. Her surprising discovery banished the last of the storm as she tried to wrap her mind around the concept, who would have thought it; the legendry Captain Jack Sparrow was ticklish.

Jack looked at her, eyes widening in panic as he recognized the mischief dancing in her eyes, “Now luv, don’t be foolish!” he tried to cover assuming a lofty expression as he looked down his nose at her, “As I have already told you, there are some things Pirates just don’t do, one of them is crying, another is ticklish, it just wouldn’t do, very bad form you know!”

Elizabeth bit her lip as she looked up at him from beneath her lashes slyly, “Ahh, but you see Jack, I’ve always said I thought you were a good man and if what you say is true and Pirates would never allow themselves to be ticklish, this just proves I was right all along because you definitely are and I’ll prove it!” So saying she dived for his ribs again lightly skimming her nails up and down the sensitive flesh at his sides.

“Now luv, you don’t want to be doing that!” Jack raised his hands in front of him trying to ward her off but found himself falling backwards as she put both her hands on his chest and shoved, when he instinctually put his hands down to catch himself, Elizabeth scrambled over and sat straddling his stomach, pining him down as her quick little hands darted to his sides tickling furiously.

Jack snorted as he held his breath trying to hold back the giggles her tickling fingers were trying to force from him as he tried to catch her darting hands with out success, it seemed as if she had grown an extra pair of hands. Jack kicked and struggled weekly as his body shook with silent laughter as he tried to hold it in but it was no use, soon he was half yelling for mercy, half howling with laughter as her questing fingers found a particularly sensitive spot and dug in.

Gathering the last of his reserves in a final desperate attempt at escape from the torture she was inflicting, he wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled pinning her beneath him, her moments surprise at his sudden move gave him just enough time to grab her wrists and pin them above her head, panting he smirked at her in triumph as she laughed up at him, their smiles slowly died as they stared at each other, both becoming aware of the position they were in, his desperate roll had placed him directly on top of her, her legs on either side of him as he lay between them, their position crushed their hips together intimately, their faces only inches apart as they stared at each other.

Elizabeth stared up at him as she lay beneath him, his solid weight pressing her down into the soft sand, she squirmed a bit as she tried to free her hands from where he had them pinned above her head only to stop as she heard a faint gasp escape Jacks lips, she watched captivated as his eyes darken again, he ground his hips even harder against her own as he slowly lowered his face to hers.

Elizabeth’s eyes dropped to his lips as they descended to meet her own, her breath started to come in small pants as a strange mix of excitement and nerves grew in her stomach as she realized he was going to kiss her, that little voice was back telling her firmly that she should make some protest, that she should stop him and that she really shouldn’t be enjoying the feel of his body pressed so intimately against her own, this time however another voice rose from the depths of her mind to challenge it one that sounded suspiciously like Jacks, “Pirate!” it whispered, “You long to do what you want because you want it, to act on selfish impulse, you want to know what it tastes like…” well who was she to argue, she had it on the best of authority that she was a pirate after all, so with a small inner smile of purely feminine satisfaction, she allowed herself to relax her eyes drifted closed as she waited for Jacks lips to meet her own giving into selfish impulse because she wanted it, wanted Jack!

Elizabeth bit back a groan at the first touch of his lips against her own, his lips were soft but firm as they slanted urgently against hers, she parted her lips as he increased the pressure allowing his tongue to slip in side her mouth, tentatively her own tongue rose to meet his as it brushed sensuously against hers, she arched her back and groaned as the hand holding hers pinned to the sands released its hold to slide slowly down her arm trailing down her sides before coming back up to cup her breast, desire shot through her scorching her with its fire at the feel of his hand gently fondling her breast, his thumb even through two layers of cotton unerringly found her nipple brushing backwards and forwards gently over the sensitive bud causing her to whimper in need as she tried to press herself even tighter against him, all rational thought was slipping rapidly from her mind as Jacks mouth and hands played havoc with her senses, when his lips suddenly tore from hers and his weight vanished from above her leaving her feeling bereft and slightly embarrassed as her eyes shot open, she pushed her self up on to her elbows and looked about in confusion to see Jack walking so fast he was almost running away from her and towards the forest.

She frowned in confusion as she watched him walk away trying to figure out what she had done wrong, “Jack, what?”

“Come on luv, best get a move on, cant hang around here all day the crew will be wondering were we are, I think I can see a bit of a trail heading of over here it looks like it might take us up to the top of this here cliff, if we can get up high enough we might be able to get a better idea of were we are!” Jack interrupted her, cutting her of before she could finish speaking. Growling in frustration, Elizabeth scrambled to her feet and storked off after him as he vanished from sight in to the forest!

“Jack wait!” she yelled after him but he just ignored her and continued to push his way through the tangle of undergrowth partially blocking the small animal track he was leading them along, she tried several more times to get his attention but each time she opened her mouth he would interrupt her before she could finish what she was saying, giving up she sped up her pace with the intention of catching up to him and physically hauling him to a stop and making him listen to her, with that in mind she shut her mouth and ducked her head as she scrambled as fast as she could up the steep track after Jacks rapidly retreating form.

She came at last to the top of the steep climb and stumbled gasping and panting her hands clutched to her sides against a painful stitch out into a small clearing at the very top of the cliff on the opposite side from the one they had fell from, Elizabeth bent over gasping and panting but at least she was pleased to note that Jack had finally come to a stop, now if she could just get her breath back she might finally be able to get a straight answer out of him for his sudden abandonment of her down at the pool.

Elizabeth straightened up wincing slightly against the pain in her side still panting slightly as she looked at Jack, “Jack what?” she tried to ask once more only to be once again cut off as Jack waved at her. “Just come have a look see at this, luv!” the quiet awed way he spoke silenced any further protest as she carefully made her way over to where he was standing, he glanced at her once as he felt her come up to stand besides him before turning back to pointing her attention off to something in the distance.

Elizabeth turned to face the way he was pointing and gasped at the sight that meets her eyes. They were standing on the top of a large plateau that curved around and went off to their left. It ended at the steep cliffs surrounding the waterfall behind them, in front of them it fell away in a steeply slopping hill that flattened of as it met the sea, the island seemed to be quiet large, from up here she could see its shores as it curved of into the distance from what she could see it seemed to be nearly circular, but that wasn’t what made her gasp.

A short distance away she could see were a narrow channel cut threw the island from the sea before opening out into a large almost circular bay, gathered in that bay were what appeared to be hundreds of ships all piled together, she stared at the pile of wrecked ships wondering how on earth they got there when her eyes were caught by a shape slightly darker then the rest lying off to one side, her hand came up to cover her mouth as she stared in disbelief at what could only be the wreck of the Black Pearl.

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose trying not to gag as the wind carried to them the vile stink of decay, a rippling in the water surrounding the wrecked ships caught her eye and she watched in horror a long slimy tentacle of impossible size rose up out of the depths to slide across the deck of the wrecked ship before wrapping itself almost lovingly around the mast, a sick feeling of fear and remembered terror churned in her stomach as she stared in horror at the Kraken.


Well guys, I really hoped you liked the third Chapter…loved it or loathed it let me know!

Review me ‘eartis Yo Ho…