The Weakness in Me

Elizabeth’s back was a graceful arch, decorated with the golden spirals of her hair. Will reached out to touch her back as she shivered, leaning forward again. Her skin was soft and pliant, alabaster against the tanned and scarred skin of the man she straddled. Will allowed his hand to drop, gracing past her hips as they rocked, tracing the muscles of her thighs. He shifted, laying back against the pillows, looking up at Elizabeth as she moved her body. Her eyes were closed tightly, her slips slightly parted, and he head cocked to one side as if there was a certain amount of curiosity involved in the carnal act Will was witnessing. He allowed his eyes to wander over her body, watching the other man lift his hand and cup one of her breasts, kneading it briefly before pinching one of her delicate pink nipples. She let out a soft cry and arched again, exposing her tender throat. Will would have reached to touch that expanse of soft skin himself if Jack had not pulled her down, attacking her throat with his lips. A soft purple mark was left behind when she pulled away again with a vivacious smile. Jack’s hands were on her hips, pushing her down on her back as they both shifted, her legs wrapping around his hips in the new position. Their muscles strained, and Will found himself reaching once again, tracing the line of Jack’s spine, feeling his powerful muscles as he moved his hips. Elizabeth moaned and Will moved himself, leaning over Jack’s back, kissing his shoulder blades, caressing his sides. Jack glanced over his shoulder, the baubles in his hair making a soft chiming sound in time with his movements…

The dream hung heavily around Will’s head as he awoke with a groan. The room was pitch black, a soft blue glow of moon light emitting from beneath the curtains the only clue to the fact that it was still night. Will sighed and reached down, feeling the stiffness of his erection. It was an odd dream to be so aroused by, considering how angry he had been at the pirate after they’d been released from prison. He couldn’t imagine why he would want to see his wife and Jack together, much less join them in their odd act of fornication. He knew that Elizabeth would never succumb to Jack. She may have invited him to tea, but Will knew it was only to make peace. She didn’t really care for the pirate. They had argued about this fact upon their return from the prison. Still…
“I see you’re never sated,” Elizabeth’s voice broke him out of his dream fogged stupor. He looked around the room for her. She was sitting beside the window in one of the high backed chairs, her head turned to look at him. The sun was shining across her features in such a way that made her stunning, turning her hair golden. One of her eyebrows was arched, and she was regarding his obvious state of arousal, “I was wondering if you’d climax before you woke, how you were going about things.”

“Elizabeth…”

“In my father’s house, I used to have a wonderful view of the port. I could see all the ships coming in and out of port. I would know when James was around, or when he was out to sea. I could see the pirate ships coming in, trying to be inconspicuous… yet still drawing attention to themselves. The pirates never really could lie about what they were, even from a distance. I think you have that same general defect, William. You can’t lie about yourself, really, even from a distance. You’re going to tell me, reassure me that the moans I heard this morning from my bed as I was dressing myself had something to do with me. I’m certain they did. Yet, I’m also certain that they had something to do with Jack. At least he made an effort to not hurt me, William. You… you’re not making that much of an effort. Bloody hell, you are my husband and a pirate has more care for my heart than you.”

“What… what am I lying to you about myself?” Will couldn’t think of anything else to say in response. How does one respond to an open, and true, appraisal of their actions that point towards them being a downright heartless bastard?

“I’m leaving, William. I can’t stand to look at you right now. The thoughts that I’m having, the things that I can’t help but say to you because I know they are true in my heart… I can’t stand it any longer. I’m going to stay with my father for a few days. I have already finished packing. I started yesterday, when we got home because I knew it would come to this. Please, don’t try to contact me. I’ll say something horrid,” Elizabeth gathered her skirts around herself and stood.

“Elizabeth, please… don’t go. I’m here, aren’t I? With you.”

“It’s not enough to physically be here, William, if you expect this marriage to last. It’s not enough. You have to resolve this… this lust. You have to be with me fully. I will not tolerate another’s presence in my relationship. Is it really that hard to understand? I loved you. I still do. And you… you are making me feel as if my love is meaningless to you. After all we have been through, after all the years we have known each other… you still allow yourself to succumb to the rummed up charms of Jack Sparrow. Some love,” the tears she wasn’t allowing herself to cry were obvious in her voice. She shook her head, her hair falling over her shoulders, then left the room, slamming the door behind her. It was as if another kind of door closed for William. That special connection to his wife he had felt since they were children was closed off. He felt stung by her words and unforgivable in his actions. He felt angry and guilty all and the same time and his head swam with emotion. He pulled himself out of bed and ran to the window, where he could see his wife getting into a carriage, ready to pull away from him for what seemed like forever.

“Elizabeth!” her named was choked as it came out of his throat and she looked up at him with anger in her eyes.

“What is it, Mr. Turner?”

“I… I love you.”

She nodded and closed the door to the carriage, effectively cutting off his hopes that she would run back up the stairs and into his arms. What had happened wasn’t going to be solved by simple love pledges or wishes that things would just go back to the way that they had been before… before Jack had ever come into his life. He slouched against the wall, staring down at his feet. Jack had always been in his life, in a way that was hard to describe. He was the reason that William’s mother slammed doors and cursed Bootstrap’s name when he would come in from the sea sometimes. Will pressed his palms into his eyes, trying to rub away the memories. His mother going out the door her golden hair shining in the morning light… or was that Elizabeth? Glass shattering against walls, screaming in the middle of the night. Looking down at an apple in his hand, then looking up to find his father missing… seeing him with a strange looking man behind the fruit vendors stall, talking in hushed voices. When he was older, swimming, holding a golden medallion around his neck, still in shock from the fire that had rained down on his head. He remembered turning his head and seeing a black ship with black sails hulking over him… the Black Pearl. Years later he would learn that it was Jack’s. Jack had always been in his life, behind all the turmoil, all the fights, all the terror. Now this… he slumped to the ground, biting his lip until it bled in an effort to keep himself from sobbing. He wondered if his father had fallen for the pirate the same way he had. Over a bottle of rum out at sea… There was a weakness inside of him for the pirate that he couldn’t seem to fight. It was a small voice in the pit of his stomach that demanded more of Jack, more time with the pirate, more time at sea. He gripped his stomach, digging his fingers into the skin, willing that feeling to leave him be… all the time wondering if his father had felt that same thing in his stomach until the day that he plunged into the depths of the sea.

*~*

Elizabeth leaned forward, letting the breeze that drifted from the sea lap at her face. The sea offered so many things to the citizens of Port Royal. Food, commerce, travel… death. She remembered a story of a man so distraught over the affairs of his wife that he threw himself into the ocean after a nice stroll… where he gathered the rocks into his pockets that would make it harder for him to float back to the surface. Elizabeth remembered her own plummet into the waters. Rather, she remembered the moment before, standing beside James as he dithered on, trying to get around to the proposal. The next thing she remembered after that was being chilled to the bone, staring up into the soggy cat-like face of Jack Sparrow as he fingered the medallion she had stolen from Will as a child. She’d taken it so that he wouldn’t be hung as a child pirate. Why she had worn it that day… she could think of no other reason than the dream that had stirred her from her sleep. Regardless of the reasons for its presence, the medallion had triggered all the events that had led to her present day situation. It had caused her to meet Will, and feel like his secret guardian. It brought the Black Pearl when she was a child and again when she was older. It introduced her to Barbossa and his men, to the life of adventure she had always wanted… and to Jack Sparrow.

She closed her eyes, pressing her hand against her lips to keep them from wavering in that ridiculous way they did before she burst into tears. She hated it, and she hated crying. Such petty displays of weakness classified her as the powdery women that she despised, that would drop into a faint at the sight of a mouse much less a pirate. Everyone she ever knew wanted her to be just like those women. Everyone except, well… William and the pirates. They accepted her how she was, loved her for being the headstrong person she couldn’t help but be.

Or, at least, she thought that’s what William loved her for. She wasn’t so certain about his love now. She didn’t want that doubt to be one of her weaknesses that she so carefully guarded from the outside world. She wanted William to know about the doubts she had now that she had heard and seen them together. The thought of them together made her stomach crawl up, where her heart should be, making her whole chest burn. She wasn’t sure if it was jealousy, hatred, disgust, or a combination of all those things. She hunched her shoulders and leaned against the rock wall, listening to the sea gulls and wondering what that feeling was. She could understand jealousy. William was her husband. She could understand hatred. It was Jack who was taking him away from her. Sure, he had been kind, he had tried to direct Will back to her, but that still didn’t make up for the fact that he had lured Will away in the first place. Disgust… it was the smallest factor and she wasn’t sure of its presence. The thought of Will with another man did disgust her because she knew his body so well and could not get her mind to picture it in an act of lust with another man without a shiver running down her spine. That shiver and the accompanying crawl of her stomach was not present when she tried to think of Jack with another man. She supposed that was because she knew Jack fornicated with other men. She knew he had been with William’s father, she knew he had tempted William, she knew he had slept with members of his crew… no one seemed safe from Jack, regardless of their gender. She shook her head as he mind began to wonder what it was like to be one of Jack’s conquests. In light of the present situation, that wasn’t a wise fantasy to venture on.

Her attention was drawn behind her as one of her father’s maids came out on the balcony, carrying a blanket for her. It was beginning to get cold. She hadn’t noticed the chill in her bones because her attention had been so drawn by her worries. Elizabeth allowed to other woman to wrap the blanket around her shoulders, her gaze still on the horizon. A thought had come to her while he mind had ventured on with the idea of being one of Jack’s conquests. Was it something about Jack himself that made even William swoon beneath his advances, or did one have to have some sort of weakness to him? She had felt that swooning feeling in his presence, as much as it had repelled her at the time. Was there something that made a person more likely to fall to Jack? She had resisted. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as her thoughts settled on Will, trying to find what it was inside of him (perhaps inherited from his father?) that made him fall for the pirate. There was no way she could possibly know without actually being inside Will’s head, without being there, with Jack. She tucked another piece of hair behind her ear as if the simple act of clearing her face of her hair would clear her mind of such thoughts.

It was a useless attempt.

She wasn’t sure how long she could hold out against Will. Yes, she was furious. She didn’t want to go back… but she did want the comfort that he provided her. She wanted the clean smell of his skin in the morning, the soft feel of his hair beneath her fingertips. Everything that she was so certain belonged to her before…before all of this happened. Before William had revealed that he really did have a weakness in him for Jack Sparrow.
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((I realize this chapter is shorter and more "rushed" than the others (even though it did take longer to get out). Sorry about that. It also hasn't been edited very well. However, commentary is still appreciated and edits to this chapter *will* occur))