Chapter 1

A/N: Hey there, peoples! Long time no nothing, if that makes any sense (it probably does, but I'm too stupid to think straight). Yeah, I've been saying I was going to put up another Meg/Jack fanfic, so.........here it is! I've had this banging around in my head for quite awhile, but never quite got around to writing it out. But here it is! Chapter one! With hopefully more to come!

This story is a bit darker than the one before it, simply because of what its about, which you'll have to read to find out, I'm not tellin' nuthin. sticks out tongue So yah.........I'll be sure to put in some funny bits, I'm not THAT dark (I'm actually quite pale). So enjoy, and don't forget to read and review!

Disclaimers: I only own Meg, partly because she's a part of me and partly because I came up with her, so nyah. Don't own Jack, although I'm saving up and will be able to buy him in about 150 years, give or take. Wish I owned Will, but then people would be having catfights over him, and that's just too much mess.........

I checked my reflection over and over, picking at my dress over and over again. It couldn't show. It just couldn't. Not that it mattered, he would find out sooner or later, but.........just not now. Soon, but not now.

Rough, familiar hands snaked across my waist and held on. I gave a quiet shriek and spun away, lashing out the back of my hand as I did so. One of those hands grabbed mine, and I was stuck looking face-to-face with Captain Jack Sparrow. My love. My lust. My enemy on a variety of levels. He screwed up his face into a pathetic rendition of a pout. "Is that what I get for trying to play with you nowadays?" he teased, sidling up to me. My breath came in short spurts, and I started to feel light-headed. "Hey." He waved a hand in front of my face. "You okay, love?"

"Yeah, uh-huh," I gasped, trying to appear normal. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"No," he said softly, sliding closer to me. I took a step back. "You see, it's always like this now. I come close, you slip away. You won't bed with me anymore, you rarely come up on deck except to lose your breakfast, which is strange in itself, and you constantly fuss with your dresses." He scratched his head. "Not that it matters to me, but I didn't think you were the kind of girl to care about a thing like that."

"I don't!" I retorted defensively. "I'm just studying the poor quality you always manage to scavenge for me!" I regretted the words as soon as they rolled out of my mouth. "Oh no! No, I didn't mean it like that!" I wrapped my arms around him tightly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what's come over me, I'm so sorry, please don't be mad at me, I'm sorry!"

He slid a finger under my chin and raised my head so I looked him in the eye. "I know you didn't," he said gently. "I'm sorry for being so intrusive like that."

"You weren't intrusive," I replied sincerely. "You were being caring, and I just bit your head off. I'm so sorry."

"Look, stop saying you're sorry, I know that, and if you keep it up, no one will believe me when you claim to be a pirate. Including me."

"Sorry." I cringed. "I mean.........uh.........damn........."

He grinned, the smiling lines on his face crinkling. "You're something else, all right," he murmured, kissing the top of my head. "And I'm glad you're my own."

Now would've been the perfect time to tell him. I mean, it wasn't that hard. 'Jack, we're having a baby.' 'Jack, you're going to be a father.' Something like that. And yet I couldn't bring myself to say it. Look at me. The new cowardly pirate. Inwardly, I cringed. I kissed Jack on the lips, and he returned it eagerly. For about 20 seconds, which doesn't seem very long, but is.

A sudden hard rock of the boat threw the both of us on the ground, and Jack shifted so I landed on top of him. My heart suddenly went to double time, and I could feel sweat on my back falling down to the top of my legs. Jack stroked my face with the back of his hand, brushing aside loose strands of hair. My muscles froze, time stood still, and all I wanted was for things to stay that way.

And then there was a pounding on the door. Damn. "Sparrow! Sparrows? Aw hell, Jack Sparrow!"

"It's CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow!" he bellowed.

"Whatever." Ah, the capriciousness of Annamaria. "Need you at the helm, now."

"Fine, fine," he grumbled, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. I smiled at him, and stroked his cheek. He made a noise of approval, and I inched up on him until my hair brushed his cheeks. He opened one eye, and then both. "Can we resume this later?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, can you?"

He groaned. "MAY we resume this later?"

I smiled down at him and nuzzled against his collarbone. "If you're lucky," I purred seductively, teasing him. And he knew it. He rested a hand on the small of my back and sighed in contentment. And said something that made me freeze.

"If I could have one wish, it would be that nothing would change as of now."

I raised myself up on my hands, giving him a puzzled look. "What?"

He shrugged good-naturedly. "I mean, sure I like excitement and adventure and a dash of danger thrown in the boot, but this.........this is REALLY nice. We can go where we please, do as we like, and we have each other all to ourselves."

"Except for Annamaria and her planned interruptions."

"Yeah, she's got a knack for that."

I took a shaky breath. "So what you're saying is, if you could, you wouldn't EVER want things to change? Ever again?"

He smiled at me. "Yeah." He kissed my hand. "That's what I mean."

A sharp pain gutted me in the stomach, and I groaned and curled away. It wasn't the baby. It was guilt. Sharp, stabbing, unrelenting, unforgivable guilt. Guilt at harboring a lie as big as this.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, sitting up on his elbow. "Meg? Meg, you okay?" I nodded mutely. "Are you positive?" Nod. "Are you sure?" Nod. "Are you lying to me?" Shake. "Damn, thought I'd trip you up on that one." He smiled, but I didn't smile back. I tried to relax.

"Are you planning on going up to the helm?" I asked quietly.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that," he said brightly, getting up slowly. He gave me his hands, and he pulled me up from the floor. He gave me a look. "Now, are you SURE you're okay?"

A lightbulb appeared above my head. "Jack? May I ask you for a big, huge, extremely important favor?"

"You can ask, sure. I'm not a genie, though, I don't grant all wishes."

"Could we set course for Port Royal?"

He looked confused. "Uh, in case you forgot, I'm an outlaw there, and you probably are as well. I mean, you ran away with a pirate. If that's not a social downer, then I don't know what is. And I thought you didn't like living in Port Royal. It was too constricting, something like that?"

"I never said I wanted to LIVE there, and yes, I do hate it, but.........I miss Will and Elizabeth," I said quietly, lowering my head and going for the kill. "We haven't seen them in a year and a half, and he's my only family and I miss the two of them terribly and I want to see them, not forever but for a week or so, and I just want tospeaktoElizabethaboutsomethingveryimportant and no, I can't say what." All in one breath. Must be a new record.

Jack considered it. "What about the risks? What if we get arrested for showing our beautiful faces there?"

"Disguise us. Please, Jack, please........."

He was silent for a moment. "Oh, all right. I'll tell them to set course." He stumbled back a bit as I grabbed him around the waist again in joy. "Whoa, don't make me fall there, okay?" He hugged me back. I never wanted to let go. "Now," he said importantly, throwing in a fake 'ahem', "I'm off to change our course."

A/N: So.........? What do you think so far? Review please, send me anything: roses, turkeys, flames, s'mores, Reese's, I don't care. I need input before I continue here!