Fic: Fate Intervenes 11/16 [PotC, Sparrabeth, NC-17]
Title: Fate Intervenes 11/16
by GylzGirl
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Sparrabeth. Spoilers for DMC.
Summary: Elizabeth is in trouble and it seems Jack, and something he asked her a long time ago, are her only hope.
Other headers attached to chapter one.
THANK YOU's to: desiringpirates for the beta, mythicvictory and lunafox for the offers and Karen for all the beta work she's done on this bloody thing so far.
****************************
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Letting Go
Elizabeth awoke the next morning when a determined sunbeam targeted her right eyelid for illumination through the canopy of palm leaves above her. She turned her head away from the brightness only to have her left eyelid likewise assaulted. With a grumpy moan, she sat up and willed her eyes to open. She was alone in the bed of green leaves.
She stood; stretching sleep-stiffened muscles and began to walk to the edge of the trees to see if she could find her husband on the beach. Sure enough, once there, Elizabeth spotted Jack. But he was not on the beach. He was fully clothed, waist-deep in the ocean with a sharpened shaft of wood in his hand and all his attention focused on the water.
She began to walk onto the beach before she realized that she was still completely naked from the previous night's lovemaking. Elizabeth turned back toward their camp to get her dress but then stopped, a mischievous smile crossing her face.
Bold as a morning sunbeam, Elizabeth strode from the cover of the trees onto the beach without a stitch on. Midway to the waterline, Jack had yet to notice her; his focus still on the water. She bit her lip. If she was going to go parading around a beach naked as the day she was born then, just like that sunbeam, she demanded his attention. Elizabeth locked her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head, thrusting her breasts forward with the movement. She released a loud, exaggerated sigh and kept Jack in the corner of her eye.
Jack was biding his time, waiting for a particularly meaty red porgy to swim just a little bit closer. The fish had been teasing Jack like a Tortuga tart for a good hour or so. It would wiggle its tail lazily and then dart out of the way just as Jack would lunge the spear towards it. It had even swum between his legs a time or two. Jack was just teaching the porgy a few new swear words when Elizabeth's voice drifted to his ears. He looked up and dropped his spear. There she was, his beautiful Elizabeth in all her unhidden glory, sex-rumpled hair shining gold in the sunlight, perfectly unashamed in her nakedness. God, she was beautiful. Jack gulped. He was instantly hard.
Using reserves of will-power he wasn't even sure he possessed, Jack turned from this vision on the beach and reclaimed his spear from the ocean before it floated away. He was not likewise so lucky with the fish he had lined up before. There was no longer any sign of it. "Bugger," he said, softly.
Grinning, Elizabeth walked across the beach and into the ocean. The water was a little cool so she took her time wading into it. Slowly, she made her way to where Jack was standing with his back to her. She cleared her throat.
"Morning, Love," Jack said without turning around. He was answered with a large splash of water across his back. He turned to her, surprised.
Elizabeth laughed when she saw how wide Jack's eyes had gotten. "Cold water?"
Jack smiled and reached his arm forward to stroke her pebbled nipple with his fingertip. "You tell me, Love."
She caught his wrist and placed a kiss on his palm. "Come and play with me?" Elizabeth dropped his hand and quickly splashed him again. Before he could recover, she had moved away several feet, laughing again.
Even as rivulets of water ran down his face and dripped from the end of his nose, he couldn't help but grin. "I'm trying to catch us some supper."
"Why bother? We're not allowed a fire to cook it, remember? And I'm certainly not eating raw fish."
He smiled at her. "Clearly you've never been to Osaka."
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me you've actually eaten raw fish?"
"Of course."
"Ugh."
"Come now, Liz. You've had stranger than that in your mouth. I know, I was there."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "So have you."
His grin widened. "And then some."
Elizabeth's hand moved down to the water but Jack beat her to it. He sent a huge splash her way, soaking her chest, face and hair. She laughed and wiped the water from her eyes.
"You have your swim, Lizzie. I'll catch some fish and we'll risk a small fire in the daylight if it means getting a meal that actually fills our bellies."
Elizabeth pouted as Jack turned his back to her again. She dropped below the waterline and reemerged a few feet away, floating on her back, looking up at the clear, blue sky.
Jack attempted to locate his phantom red porgy, but the little bastard, no doubt realizing how delicious it would taste, had long since swum away. Speaking of creatures that knew full well how delicious they were, Jack stole a look at Elizabeth. She floated oblivious to him; ivory skin, gold hair, rosy nipples riding mild waves of liquid azure. She was his own mermaid; his siren; his Elizabeth.
With a sigh of resignation, Jack took up his spear and headed back in to the beach. He stabbed it into the sand. Quick as he could, Jack stripped off his wet clothes and left them hanging on the end of the spear. He looked out over the sea and Elizabeth still had yet to notice him. Smiling, he ran out into the water and dove under as soon as it was deep enough.
He broke the surface right beside Elizabeth, startling her. Jack quickly took hold of her and positioned her thighs around his hips. The movement of the water caused them to rub against each other in quite a pleasant way. He kissed her smiling lips. "We starve to death, you've only yourself to blame."
"I'm not the slightest bit hungry just now. You?" She deliberately stroked her sex along his length.
"I confess to other cravings at the moment."
"Really? And what is it you want?"
"You, Love." Jack quirked a smile and thrust up inside her. Elizabeth's eyes fluttered shut and her lips parted as she relished the feel of him filling her. He loved the sight of her like that, so shameless in her lust. It made him so proud, both at how free she'd become and how it was his touch that let loose this side of her.
Elizabeth's muscles gripped at his cock and a hiss escaped Jack's mouth. Her eyes opened and focused on his face. A satisfied smile crossed her features. She began to slide herself along his length, helped by her buoyancy in the ocean and Jack's hands on her bottom. The water added a level of sensuality to their lovemaking that Elizabeth was beginning to find very captivating. It made her regret not having tried more in that bathtub back at Madame Larrouse's.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Love?" He said in a husky voice.
"When we get the Pearl back…" Her words died in a gasp as he unexpectedly thrust into her hard.
Jack smiled at her. "Yes, Love?"
She smiled back. "Can we get a tub?"
Jack laughed and brought one hand up to touch her face. "You're enjoying the water, I take?" He moved his other hand from her backside and brought it to slowly tease at her clit.
Elizabeth nodded wordlessly as she chewed her lower lip. With only the water now supporting her, she placed her hands onto his shoulders and used her hold to pump herself up and down his member. Her breasts glistened wet as they rose and fell beneath the waterline with her actions. Jack moved his hand from her face and let it drift lazily back and forth across them. She whimpered and increased her pace.
"Yes, Lizzie. We can get a tub. We can get one so bloody big that we have to move the bed out. Anything ye want, Love. Just keep moving like that."
She nodded again and twined her hands into his hair, tugging slightly. At the same time, he could feel the start of her completion pulling at his cock. Release came swiftly for him then. He growled her name and before he'd finished, he was drowned out by Elizabeth's calling out, "Jack!" as her orgasm ripped through her.
They clung to each other, Elizabeth's face resting in the crook of his neck. Her breath puffed softly against his skin there. Jack laced their hands together, bringing her palm to his mouth and kissing it. She squeezed her shins against his outer thighs and carefully lifted until he slid from her body. She then resumed her former position, legs wrapped around him, holding him tight.
Slowly, Jack walked them towards the beach. When, Elizabeth began to feel gravity take over from the water, she lowered her legs to the wet sand and walked in his embrace to the beach. Once fully out of the water, she smiled up at him.
"I'm starving for some fish. What about you?" She made to run but Jack was too quick for her. He threw his naked, squealing wife over his shoulder and ran his hand up her thigh. Elizabeth stilled her thrashing but continued to laugh. When his fingertips stroked slowly up and down her still-sensitive sex, the laughter turned into a moan.
"Now behave yourself, Lizzie. Wiggle around too much and I may drop ye."
She moved her face forward and bit his bare behind. Jack gasped and nearly swooned as all the blood in his head rushed south. Quickening his pace, he ran into the trees and knelt on their bed of leaves. Very carefully, he slid hands up along Elizabeth's body and unfurled her from his shoulder until she rested against the greenery.
Her still-wet skin shimmered in the dappled sunlight. Her damp hair kinked and curled as it started to dry. Jack leaned over to kiss her. His drenched dreadlocks slipped over his shoulder and landed, wet and cold, across her breast. She gasped and he pulled away, afraid he'd hurt her. Her hand wiped at the moisture left behind and she began to laugh.
Jack lay down beside her, propped up on his elbow, watching her. She kept laughing until he started to pout. Then she reached out and cupped his cheek.
"You make me so happy." He smiled at this bit of information. "I'm so glad I married you. I never want to be without you." Her face turned serious. "I couldn't go on without you, Jack.'
"Yes, you could. And you would. You'd never give up like that."
"Perhaps I could try, but I wouldn't want to. You're so deep in my heart now, I believe the pain would kill me." Elizabeth glided her fingers over his chest.
"Pain like that doesn't kill you, Love. Just makes you wish it did. You're so much stronger than you know." Jack's eyes met hers.
"Not as strong as you, Jack. I know if something happened to me, you'd be all right."
He gripped her chin with his hand and forced her to look at him. She gasped in surprise at the suddenness of the movement. "Do you not think I feel the same for you? Do ye not understand, even now, how much I love you?"
"Please don't be angry," Elizabeth said, the slightest hint of fear in her voice.
"Angry?" He released her chin and slid gentle fingers to her cheek. Jack exhaled shakily and Elizabeth realized that what she mistook for anger was really just frustration. "Why do ye think I agreed to marry you?" he asked, finally. His voice sounding tired. "Me poor fool heart was already lost to you. Figured I might as well have a try at yours. Only fair, really."
"You didn't know you had it? It certainly seemed obvious to everyone else; James, my father, your damned compass, even Will eventually."
Jack smiled. "I knew ye had a fire for me; a lust. I had no hope it were more than that. Course, that didn't make what I felt any less. And it didn't deter me from trying to win you all the same."
"So everyone knew, save us? Perfect."
"Peas in a pod, Love. Peas in a pod." Jack bent his head forward and kissed her deeply. Elizabeth's hands slid into his hair.
When they broke the kiss, they looked into each other's eyes. "I'll never be with anyone but you, Jack. I know that you promised me freedom in that regard. I just wanted you to know that you're all I want. No one else could compare. I'll never exercise that freedom."
He dusted her forehead with a kiss. "Truth be told, I never imagined ye would. It's not in your nature."
She laughed. "Not in my nature? I broke one engagement to become engaged to Will. And then I fell in love with a pirate while still engaged to Will. You must have thought me the most inconstant woman in the world."
"Your first engagement was naught but a means to an end. The Commodore would have seen through it himself excepting he was too busy picturing you naked in his bed to work out the details. Speaking as one who had done the same thing, I can attest that it be a very distracting image indeed." His smile grew. "In fact, now speaking as someone who has actually seen the sight meself, he's earned me respect for not springing hard on the spot when he thought of it." She blushed and he was fascinated that she could still have that response to his words when they'd done so much naughtiness to each others bodies. Jack cleared his throat and continued. "Will, being your childhood sweetheart, was someone ye loved dearly. You mistook that for being in love. You're not the first, nor will you be the last, to make that mistake."
"It was no mistake," she said quietly. His eyes darted to hers. Elizabeth touched his cheek and held his gaze so there would be no sting in her words. "I did love, Will. Was in love with him as deeply as I knew was possible at the time. But, once we were out of the confined little world of Port Royal, we grew into different people. And in doing that, we grew apart. My heart was claimed by another and that love was stronger than reason, stronger than anything I was ever prepared to feel. And Will wasn't in love with me anymore. He remained in love with who I had been. He just couldn't understand that I was not that woman any longer."
"You never were that woman, Lizzie. Not really. This is who you've always been, in your heart of hearts. You've always had some measure of pirate in you, I'll warrant. Elsewise, all those stories wouldn't have fascinated ye so as a lass. As for inconstant, you loved Will enough to spare his heartache and return to Port Royal to go through with the marriage you no longer craved because your heart truly lay with a scallywag pirate who'd sailed off without you. I'd call that fool-heartedly constant, meself. And as for falling in love with said pirate, you forget one thing."
"What's that?"
"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." He grinned.
Elizabeth laughed. "I see. I was simply helpless the moment you decided you wanted me. There was nothing I could have done about it." She smiled at him.
He put his arms around her. "Laugh if you will, Lizzie. But we're here. And we're married. And all logic to the contrary, we love each other. So, do tell me I'm wrong."
Elizabeth toyed with the bead at the end of one of his beard plaits. "I don't think I can."
"Then it's best not to try." Jack shivered a little as she tugged on his braid. "If it's any comfort to you, Love; it's unlikely I'll be wandering much meself; kind though your offer was."
"Really?" He nodded. "I must say, I am surprised."
"One thing being mutinied upon as you sleep teaches you is to be very careful who's around you when you close your eyes. I kept company with but a few women the whole time Barbossa had me ship. And only because I knew that whilst they might accidentally pummel me into the next life, they'd never willingly lead me into any real peril."
"That's more than you can say for me." Her smile faded and Elizabeth looked down.
Jack placed a finger under her chin and tilted it up until she met his eyes again. "You didn't lead me into that peril, I did that to meself. And I swept you and Will and me crew along with me. You did what was needed. And you came back for me. I'm here now; alive and well and loved by a beautiful lass. Ye can't keep flogging yourself over slights I've long since forgiven you. Had things happened in any way other than they did, we wouldn't be where we are now. And I wouldn't take back marrying you for anything. You shouldn't have any regrets, Lizzie. I don't."
"But…"
Jack put his finger to her lips. "Shush." He smiled. "I want ye to do something for me." She nodded. "I want you to hold on to me. Go on." She slid her arms around him. "Tighter, Love." Elizabeth held him as tight as she could and still leave them breathing. "Good girl. Now, let everything else go."
This was not where she was expecting holding him to lead. She inhaled in surprise. Before Elizabeth could stop them, tears pricked at her eyes. Jack gathered her to him, cradling her head against his chest. "Leave the dead in their graves, Love. Leave the proper governor's daughter back at port where she can keep the noble merchant sailor company. Be here now. Live this life with me."
Jack held Elizabeth to him as she cried. She mourned her losses. She mourned the life she was expected to have lived. She mourned the comforting pang of her own guilt. Jack understood all too well. Guilt might mean pain, but it also gave things a reason for happening; your fault. That could be a strange comfort against the chaos of the world.
All of these emotions, Elizabeth's body now cried out, finally releasing the vestiges of everything she'd been through, like leeching poison from a wound. Jack closed his eyes and smiled. He knew now that, at last, she would heal and be truly herself; truly his, without any ghosts from the past trying to drag her out of his arms.
Jack rocked Elizabeth in his embrace, whispering gentle nothing words to her until her exhausted body succumbed to sleep. He carefully laid her back against the leaves, kissed her lips and left her side.
Jack went back to the beach, reclaimed his spear and clothes. He walked into the water for a second chance at that great fat fish.
CHAPTER TWELVE: An All-Consuming Fire
Previously:
CHAPTER ONE: The Proposal
CHAPTER TWO: A Clean Start
CHAPTER THREE: Vows
CHAPTER FOUR: Marr-i-age
CHAPTER FIVE: Honeymoon
CHAPTER SIX: Dark Horizon
CHAPTER SEVEN: Pirates
CHAPTER EIGHT: What Happens in La Vega, Stays in La Vega
CHAPTER NINE: Rude Awakening
CHAPTER TEN: Deja Vu
Following Chapters:
CHAPTER TWELVE: An All-Consuming Fire
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Talon's Reach
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Slain
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Departure
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Scars
Crossposted to sparrabeth, pirates_bride and deppfanfiction.
by GylzGirl
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Sparrabeth. Spoilers for DMC.
Summary: Elizabeth is in trouble and it seems Jack, and something he asked her a long time ago, are her only hope.
Other headers attached to chapter one.
THANK YOU's to: desiringpirates for the beta, mythicvictory and lunafox for the offers and Karen for all the beta work she's done on this bloody thing so far.
****************************
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Letting Go
Elizabeth awoke the next morning when a determined sunbeam targeted her right eyelid for illumination through the canopy of palm leaves above her. She turned her head away from the brightness only to have her left eyelid likewise assaulted. With a grumpy moan, she sat up and willed her eyes to open. She was alone in the bed of green leaves.
She stood; stretching sleep-stiffened muscles and began to walk to the edge of the trees to see if she could find her husband on the beach. Sure enough, once there, Elizabeth spotted Jack. But he was not on the beach. He was fully clothed, waist-deep in the ocean with a sharpened shaft of wood in his hand and all his attention focused on the water.
She began to walk onto the beach before she realized that she was still completely naked from the previous night's lovemaking. Elizabeth turned back toward their camp to get her dress but then stopped, a mischievous smile crossing her face.
Bold as a morning sunbeam, Elizabeth strode from the cover of the trees onto the beach without a stitch on. Midway to the waterline, Jack had yet to notice her; his focus still on the water. She bit her lip. If she was going to go parading around a beach naked as the day she was born then, just like that sunbeam, she demanded his attention. Elizabeth locked her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head, thrusting her breasts forward with the movement. She released a loud, exaggerated sigh and kept Jack in the corner of her eye.
Jack was biding his time, waiting for a particularly meaty red porgy to swim just a little bit closer. The fish had been teasing Jack like a Tortuga tart for a good hour or so. It would wiggle its tail lazily and then dart out of the way just as Jack would lunge the spear towards it. It had even swum between his legs a time or two. Jack was just teaching the porgy a few new swear words when Elizabeth's voice drifted to his ears. He looked up and dropped his spear. There she was, his beautiful Elizabeth in all her unhidden glory, sex-rumpled hair shining gold in the sunlight, perfectly unashamed in her nakedness. God, she was beautiful. Jack gulped. He was instantly hard.
Using reserves of will-power he wasn't even sure he possessed, Jack turned from this vision on the beach and reclaimed his spear from the ocean before it floated away. He was not likewise so lucky with the fish he had lined up before. There was no longer any sign of it. "Bugger," he said, softly.
Grinning, Elizabeth walked across the beach and into the ocean. The water was a little cool so she took her time wading into it. Slowly, she made her way to where Jack was standing with his back to her. She cleared her throat.
"Morning, Love," Jack said without turning around. He was answered with a large splash of water across his back. He turned to her, surprised.
Elizabeth laughed when she saw how wide Jack's eyes had gotten. "Cold water?"
Jack smiled and reached his arm forward to stroke her pebbled nipple with his fingertip. "You tell me, Love."
She caught his wrist and placed a kiss on his palm. "Come and play with me?" Elizabeth dropped his hand and quickly splashed him again. Before he could recover, she had moved away several feet, laughing again.
Even as rivulets of water ran down his face and dripped from the end of his nose, he couldn't help but grin. "I'm trying to catch us some supper."
"Why bother? We're not allowed a fire to cook it, remember? And I'm certainly not eating raw fish."
He smiled at her. "Clearly you've never been to Osaka."
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me you've actually eaten raw fish?"
"Of course."
"Ugh."
"Come now, Liz. You've had stranger than that in your mouth. I know, I was there."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "So have you."
His grin widened. "And then some."
Elizabeth's hand moved down to the water but Jack beat her to it. He sent a huge splash her way, soaking her chest, face and hair. She laughed and wiped the water from her eyes.
"You have your swim, Lizzie. I'll catch some fish and we'll risk a small fire in the daylight if it means getting a meal that actually fills our bellies."
Elizabeth pouted as Jack turned his back to her again. She dropped below the waterline and reemerged a few feet away, floating on her back, looking up at the clear, blue sky.
Jack attempted to locate his phantom red porgy, but the little bastard, no doubt realizing how delicious it would taste, had long since swum away. Speaking of creatures that knew full well how delicious they were, Jack stole a look at Elizabeth. She floated oblivious to him; ivory skin, gold hair, rosy nipples riding mild waves of liquid azure. She was his own mermaid; his siren; his Elizabeth.
With a sigh of resignation, Jack took up his spear and headed back in to the beach. He stabbed it into the sand. Quick as he could, Jack stripped off his wet clothes and left them hanging on the end of the spear. He looked out over the sea and Elizabeth still had yet to notice him. Smiling, he ran out into the water and dove under as soon as it was deep enough.
He broke the surface right beside Elizabeth, startling her. Jack quickly took hold of her and positioned her thighs around his hips. The movement of the water caused them to rub against each other in quite a pleasant way. He kissed her smiling lips. "We starve to death, you've only yourself to blame."
"I'm not the slightest bit hungry just now. You?" She deliberately stroked her sex along his length.
"I confess to other cravings at the moment."
"Really? And what is it you want?"
"You, Love." Jack quirked a smile and thrust up inside her. Elizabeth's eyes fluttered shut and her lips parted as she relished the feel of him filling her. He loved the sight of her like that, so shameless in her lust. It made him so proud, both at how free she'd become and how it was his touch that let loose this side of her.
Elizabeth's muscles gripped at his cock and a hiss escaped Jack's mouth. Her eyes opened and focused on his face. A satisfied smile crossed her features. She began to slide herself along his length, helped by her buoyancy in the ocean and Jack's hands on her bottom. The water added a level of sensuality to their lovemaking that Elizabeth was beginning to find very captivating. It made her regret not having tried more in that bathtub back at Madame Larrouse's.
"Jack?"
"Yes, Love?" He said in a husky voice.
"When we get the Pearl back…" Her words died in a gasp as he unexpectedly thrust into her hard.
Jack smiled at her. "Yes, Love?"
She smiled back. "Can we get a tub?"
Jack laughed and brought one hand up to touch her face. "You're enjoying the water, I take?" He moved his other hand from her backside and brought it to slowly tease at her clit.
Elizabeth nodded wordlessly as she chewed her lower lip. With only the water now supporting her, she placed her hands onto his shoulders and used her hold to pump herself up and down his member. Her breasts glistened wet as they rose and fell beneath the waterline with her actions. Jack moved his hand from her face and let it drift lazily back and forth across them. She whimpered and increased her pace.
"Yes, Lizzie. We can get a tub. We can get one so bloody big that we have to move the bed out. Anything ye want, Love. Just keep moving like that."
She nodded again and twined her hands into his hair, tugging slightly. At the same time, he could feel the start of her completion pulling at his cock. Release came swiftly for him then. He growled her name and before he'd finished, he was drowned out by Elizabeth's calling out, "Jack!" as her orgasm ripped through her.
They clung to each other, Elizabeth's face resting in the crook of his neck. Her breath puffed softly against his skin there. Jack laced their hands together, bringing her palm to his mouth and kissing it. She squeezed her shins against his outer thighs and carefully lifted until he slid from her body. She then resumed her former position, legs wrapped around him, holding him tight.
Slowly, Jack walked them towards the beach. When, Elizabeth began to feel gravity take over from the water, she lowered her legs to the wet sand and walked in his embrace to the beach. Once fully out of the water, she smiled up at him.
"I'm starving for some fish. What about you?" She made to run but Jack was too quick for her. He threw his naked, squealing wife over his shoulder and ran his hand up her thigh. Elizabeth stilled her thrashing but continued to laugh. When his fingertips stroked slowly up and down her still-sensitive sex, the laughter turned into a moan.
"Now behave yourself, Lizzie. Wiggle around too much and I may drop ye."
She moved her face forward and bit his bare behind. Jack gasped and nearly swooned as all the blood in his head rushed south. Quickening his pace, he ran into the trees and knelt on their bed of leaves. Very carefully, he slid hands up along Elizabeth's body and unfurled her from his shoulder until she rested against the greenery.
Her still-wet skin shimmered in the dappled sunlight. Her damp hair kinked and curled as it started to dry. Jack leaned over to kiss her. His drenched dreadlocks slipped over his shoulder and landed, wet and cold, across her breast. She gasped and he pulled away, afraid he'd hurt her. Her hand wiped at the moisture left behind and she began to laugh.
Jack lay down beside her, propped up on his elbow, watching her. She kept laughing until he started to pout. Then she reached out and cupped his cheek.
"You make me so happy." He smiled at this bit of information. "I'm so glad I married you. I never want to be without you." Her face turned serious. "I couldn't go on without you, Jack.'
"Yes, you could. And you would. You'd never give up like that."
"Perhaps I could try, but I wouldn't want to. You're so deep in my heart now, I believe the pain would kill me." Elizabeth glided her fingers over his chest.
"Pain like that doesn't kill you, Love. Just makes you wish it did. You're so much stronger than you know." Jack's eyes met hers.
"Not as strong as you, Jack. I know if something happened to me, you'd be all right."
He gripped her chin with his hand and forced her to look at him. She gasped in surprise at the suddenness of the movement. "Do you not think I feel the same for you? Do ye not understand, even now, how much I love you?"
"Please don't be angry," Elizabeth said, the slightest hint of fear in her voice.
"Angry?" He released her chin and slid gentle fingers to her cheek. Jack exhaled shakily and Elizabeth realized that what she mistook for anger was really just frustration. "Why do ye think I agreed to marry you?" he asked, finally. His voice sounding tired. "Me poor fool heart was already lost to you. Figured I might as well have a try at yours. Only fair, really."
"You didn't know you had it? It certainly seemed obvious to everyone else; James, my father, your damned compass, even Will eventually."
Jack smiled. "I knew ye had a fire for me; a lust. I had no hope it were more than that. Course, that didn't make what I felt any less. And it didn't deter me from trying to win you all the same."
"So everyone knew, save us? Perfect."
"Peas in a pod, Love. Peas in a pod." Jack bent his head forward and kissed her deeply. Elizabeth's hands slid into his hair.
When they broke the kiss, they looked into each other's eyes. "I'll never be with anyone but you, Jack. I know that you promised me freedom in that regard. I just wanted you to know that you're all I want. No one else could compare. I'll never exercise that freedom."
He dusted her forehead with a kiss. "Truth be told, I never imagined ye would. It's not in your nature."
She laughed. "Not in my nature? I broke one engagement to become engaged to Will. And then I fell in love with a pirate while still engaged to Will. You must have thought me the most inconstant woman in the world."
"Your first engagement was naught but a means to an end. The Commodore would have seen through it himself excepting he was too busy picturing you naked in his bed to work out the details. Speaking as one who had done the same thing, I can attest that it be a very distracting image indeed." His smile grew. "In fact, now speaking as someone who has actually seen the sight meself, he's earned me respect for not springing hard on the spot when he thought of it." She blushed and he was fascinated that she could still have that response to his words when they'd done so much naughtiness to each others bodies. Jack cleared his throat and continued. "Will, being your childhood sweetheart, was someone ye loved dearly. You mistook that for being in love. You're not the first, nor will you be the last, to make that mistake."
"It was no mistake," she said quietly. His eyes darted to hers. Elizabeth touched his cheek and held his gaze so there would be no sting in her words. "I did love, Will. Was in love with him as deeply as I knew was possible at the time. But, once we were out of the confined little world of Port Royal, we grew into different people. And in doing that, we grew apart. My heart was claimed by another and that love was stronger than reason, stronger than anything I was ever prepared to feel. And Will wasn't in love with me anymore. He remained in love with who I had been. He just couldn't understand that I was not that woman any longer."
"You never were that woman, Lizzie. Not really. This is who you've always been, in your heart of hearts. You've always had some measure of pirate in you, I'll warrant. Elsewise, all those stories wouldn't have fascinated ye so as a lass. As for inconstant, you loved Will enough to spare his heartache and return to Port Royal to go through with the marriage you no longer craved because your heart truly lay with a scallywag pirate who'd sailed off without you. I'd call that fool-heartedly constant, meself. And as for falling in love with said pirate, you forget one thing."
"What's that?"
"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." He grinned.
Elizabeth laughed. "I see. I was simply helpless the moment you decided you wanted me. There was nothing I could have done about it." She smiled at him.
He put his arms around her. "Laugh if you will, Lizzie. But we're here. And we're married. And all logic to the contrary, we love each other. So, do tell me I'm wrong."
Elizabeth toyed with the bead at the end of one of his beard plaits. "I don't think I can."
"Then it's best not to try." Jack shivered a little as she tugged on his braid. "If it's any comfort to you, Love; it's unlikely I'll be wandering much meself; kind though your offer was."
"Really?" He nodded. "I must say, I am surprised."
"One thing being mutinied upon as you sleep teaches you is to be very careful who's around you when you close your eyes. I kept company with but a few women the whole time Barbossa had me ship. And only because I knew that whilst they might accidentally pummel me into the next life, they'd never willingly lead me into any real peril."
"That's more than you can say for me." Her smile faded and Elizabeth looked down.
Jack placed a finger under her chin and tilted it up until she met his eyes again. "You didn't lead me into that peril, I did that to meself. And I swept you and Will and me crew along with me. You did what was needed. And you came back for me. I'm here now; alive and well and loved by a beautiful lass. Ye can't keep flogging yourself over slights I've long since forgiven you. Had things happened in any way other than they did, we wouldn't be where we are now. And I wouldn't take back marrying you for anything. You shouldn't have any regrets, Lizzie. I don't."
"But…"
Jack put his finger to her lips. "Shush." He smiled. "I want ye to do something for me." She nodded. "I want you to hold on to me. Go on." She slid her arms around him. "Tighter, Love." Elizabeth held him as tight as she could and still leave them breathing. "Good girl. Now, let everything else go."
This was not where she was expecting holding him to lead. She inhaled in surprise. Before Elizabeth could stop them, tears pricked at her eyes. Jack gathered her to him, cradling her head against his chest. "Leave the dead in their graves, Love. Leave the proper governor's daughter back at port where she can keep the noble merchant sailor company. Be here now. Live this life with me."
Jack held Elizabeth to him as she cried. She mourned her losses. She mourned the life she was expected to have lived. She mourned the comforting pang of her own guilt. Jack understood all too well. Guilt might mean pain, but it also gave things a reason for happening; your fault. That could be a strange comfort against the chaos of the world.
All of these emotions, Elizabeth's body now cried out, finally releasing the vestiges of everything she'd been through, like leeching poison from a wound. Jack closed his eyes and smiled. He knew now that, at last, she would heal and be truly herself; truly his, without any ghosts from the past trying to drag her out of his arms.
Jack rocked Elizabeth in his embrace, whispering gentle nothing words to her until her exhausted body succumbed to sleep. He carefully laid her back against the leaves, kissed her lips and left her side.
Jack went back to the beach, reclaimed his spear and clothes. He walked into the water for a second chance at that great fat fish.
CHAPTER TWELVE: An All-Consuming Fire
Previously:
CHAPTER ONE: The Proposal
CHAPTER TWO: A Clean Start
CHAPTER THREE: Vows
CHAPTER FOUR: Marr-i-age
CHAPTER FIVE: Honeymoon
CHAPTER SIX: Dark Horizon
CHAPTER SEVEN: Pirates
CHAPTER EIGHT: What Happens in La Vega, Stays in La Vega
CHAPTER NINE: Rude Awakening
CHAPTER TEN: Deja Vu
Following Chapters:
CHAPTER TWELVE: An All-Consuming Fire
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Talon's Reach
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Slain
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Departure
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Scars
Crossposted to sparrabeth, pirates_bride and deppfanfiction.