AN: I thought heavily before publishing this story on upgrading it to an "M" status. I ultimately concluded that nothing within it would truly transgress the boundaries of the "T" rating, so I decided to keep it as such. However, be forewarned that this story – beginning with this chapter – will push the boundaries of "T".


"And if you want love, we'll make it.

Swim in a deep sea of blankets."

– J. Mayer


As the first strands of daylight began peering through the open shutters, Will Turner slowly came to awareness. Feeling the weight of Elizabeth's head resting upon his chest, he softly smiled, stirring slightly to pull her closer. In response, she snuggled into his body, sliding her leg up to lie across his thighs and becoming still once more. Will bent, nestling his nose into her hair and breathing deeply, releasing the breath as a contented sigh. In the days of her youth, when she was forced to play the role of the proper lady, his wife smelled of lavender with a touch of vanilla – a scent he would recognize anywhere as distinctly her own. He wasn't certain if it was due to her embracing of the tropics and the pirate lifestyle or just because it was difficult to obtain in its unadulterated form but, since his return, Will now noticed a hint of pineapple and orchid alongside the familiar lavender. Either way, he found he loved Elizabeth's new scent just as well – even more, in fact; it seemed to better suit her true personality.

Reaching down, he slipped his hand beneath the sheet to lightly stroke the soft, warm skin of her upper thigh, already feeling himself beginning to want her. As his desire built so did his caresses, become increasingly intimate with each sweep across her silken skin. The past months had been like his every adolescent fantasy come to life, having Elizabeth in his bed each night, waking to find her warm body lying beside his each morning – and what a body. He had always loved and adored her, long before he discovered the emotions were shared, but physical intimacy was still relatively new for them and the intense pleasures they could derive from each other never failed to amaze Will. Had it not been for their son, he doubted either of them would have the fortitude to ever get out of bed. He certainly didn't have it now, he thought, as he continued to gently fondle her leg, his body responding to the wonder of touching hers.

The regrettable reality suddenly invading his thoughts, Will abruptly stopped himself, removing his hands from her body as he remembered he had a long day ahead of him at the forge with no time this morning for dallying with his beautiful wife – no matter how much certain portions of his body might protest to the contrary. Carefully wrapping his arms about Elizabeth, he delicately rolled her off of him and back onto her pillow, hovering above her to survey the damage, but she appeared to have peacefully slept through the exchange. He smiled as he regarded her serene expression, her hair forming a halo around her head on the pillow, lending her gorgeous features an angelic note, particularly so beneath the soft beams of the early morning sunlight. Unable to resist the urge, he bent down and tenderly brushed his lips across her forehead.

Pulling back, Will discovered Elizabeth's eyes were now open and a lazy smile upon her face as she slipped her arms about his neck. "Leaving without a kiss good morning?" she asked, her tone clearly amorous.

In the weeks since his return, she had discovered that Will often awoke hungry for more than just breakfast and they had grown accustomed to making love in the morning as well as at night – and this particular morning, Elizabeth had a raging appetite.

Will returned her smile. "How remiss of me," he replied, his lips descending upon hers, instantly setting his body afire.

As his tongue slid over hers, Elizabeth pulled his body the rest of the way down to lie against hers, discovering in the process that she was not the only one with a craving that morning. Will let out a muffled groan at the contact and reluctantly broke the kiss. Her body beneath his was maddening, making the thought of leaving her to go to work all the more impossible.

"I must go, Elizabeth," he sighed. "I've a large new order to begin which requires an early start."

She frowned, her arms tightening possessively around him. "No," she pouted. "You must stay here with me. Our bed is warm and welcoming – and so am I."

She engaged him in another, enthusiastic kiss to prove the point.

Pulling away, Will nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck, his mustache and goatee rubbing against the sensitive skin, sending sensations through Elizabeth that were not helping his cause in the slightest. "And how would it look if, after only a single month in operation, I began neglecting my work, turning away legitimate orders, and simply not opening for business?"

Her hands slid down his back to grip his hips, pressing him closer against her. "As if you'd much rather stay with your very eager, very naked wife," she whispered into his ear.

Will sighed again – this one dangerously close to a rather lubricious moan – placing a kiss to her collarbone before lifting his head to look at her. "And I would, but I must allot at least some time for the smithy. I want it to be successful. An occasional early morning away from you won't do too much harm. We'll more than make up for it tonight," he murmured against her lips, kissing her one last time before beginning to move from atop her.

Elizabeth reached up and pulled him back to her. "But I'm not ready to share you yet."

"Don't I always make it home each night to love you?"

"Yes," she begrudgingly allowed, "apart from those few nights I unwillingly fell asleep before you returned."

"Only two."

She smiled decadently. "You kept count?"

"Of course," he freely admitted. "Did you believe I wouldn't? As tired as I was, all I could think of was coming home to bed to have you kiss away the stress of the day."

Elizabeth smiled again, well pleased that he too had missed the constant proximity they had shared before the opening of the new smithy. "You should have awakened me."

"And thought only of my own selfish pleasure?"

"No," she laughed, confessing, "you might have thought of mine. As I recall, one of those nights in particular I was so desperate for your touch I very nearly went out into the night to hunt you down."

A passionate kiss was Will's reply, pushing her already raging appetite into a ravenous frenzy, and she immediately set out to cajole him into reconsidering his departure. "Must you really go?" she asked as she dotted soft kiss across his jaw line. "Just think of the enjoyment to be had in a day spent entirely at home. William won't be up for hours yet, leaving us plenty of time to ourselves – however we choose to employ it."

She returned her lips to his, kissing him relentlessly. Just as he began to respond with equal fervor, she pulled away, smiling as she felt the effects of her success pulsating against her inner thigh. "Then, later, we can have a family picnic down at the beach. The day will bring pleasure to us all," she seductively whispered, bringing his mouth back to hers.

"Elizabeth, it's a tempting offer, but you know I must –"

She interrupted his protest with another voracious kiss, her hands slipping down his flank in tantalizing strokes. Will knew what she was about. Elizabeth had always enjoyed making him want her, but he never minded; the end result was as much to his favor as her own. But today he truly did have to leave.

With great effort, Will broke away, her lips still seeking his. "Elizabeth," he repeated breathlessly, "I want nothing more, but I honestly can't spare the whole day."

"Just the morning then," she conceded, to which he chuckled, placing a kiss to her throat. "We're both so very hungry, Will. Would you really leave when there's a feast yet to be had?"

Elizabeth brushed against his arousal enticingly and he let out a low moan as his eyes fell closed. She took advantage of the moment to avidly nibble his shoulder.

"But the order," Will said weakly. "Truly, I – I can't stay," he continued to insist, though his fingers began to wander along her curves toward her chest.

Now it was Elizabeth's turn to whimper softly. "Hang the order," she murmured. "You craft many a fine thing, but that's not where your hands do their best work."

His lips found her neck, his teeth biting into the flesh as his lips suckled it, causing Elizabeth to gasp. "Your skin is so soft," he breathed, lips continuing their assault as his hands moved over her body. "I wish to touch every inch of it……How I want you, Elizabeth."

She arched off the bed into his body, temptingly rubbing against him again – as much for her benefit this time as for his. With a groan, Will rolled off of her to lie on the pillow beside her, reasoning that distance would bring clarity to his fogged mind. Dazed, Elizabeth opened her eyes at the sudden loss of contact, wishing his hands upon her body once more. Rolling across him, she sat up, straddling him, the sheet falling to rest low across her hips, proving each with an ample view of the other.

Will eyes roved over her body and he smiled lasciviously, all thoughts of the smithy and outstanding orders leaving his mind. "Perhaps I could spare a little more time," he said, fingers dipping beneath the sheet to play at her hips.

Elizabeth returned his smile, leaning over him to run her hands up and down his muscled abdomen and chest, her breath quickening and her body beginning to tremble. Will laid back and watched her, his own desire mounting as much from watching hers build as from her actual touch.

She slowly lowered her chest to his. "Do you know what you do to me?" she panted, her hair falling about them as she bent to seek his mouth.

He was intoxicated by the sweet taste of her lips and would have been content to drink from them much longer, but her mouth soon left his, traveling down his neck to focus on his chest, which she seemed to favor at the moment. Her tongue teased his skin, briefly following the path of his scar before breaking away to toy with his nipple, taking it into her mouth.

With a low growl, he reversed their positions, his body pressing hers against the mattress as he claimed her lips once more. Pulling back, he looked into her eyes and saw the naked lust there that surely must be mirrored in his own.

Elizabeth feared his pause meant he still intended to go and she wrapped her arms tightly about him, her hand caressing his hip before gliding across his lower back to his bottom. "Stay and love me, Will," she implored.

He smiled softly. She wished him to make love to her, and when had he ever refused her anything? And why should he deny himself the pleasures of her body simply to make one more silly sword?

"I could go in later – much later," he replied, kissing his way down her chest. "In hindsight, I believe I can spare the entire morning."

"Will it take that long?" she breathlessly teased, her fingers weaving into his curls as his mouth moved down her stomach.

"To love you properly," he answered, crawling back up to her level. He regarded her for a moment, a look in his eyes that she knew quite well, and she blissfully awaited his next move – knowing that, whatever it would be, she would thoroughly enjoy it. He looked down at his hands, one stroking her waist as the other playfully taunted her inner thigh. "Not where they do their best work, hmm?"

Elizabeth bit her lip, her eyes dancing with pleasure as she shook her head 'no'.

"Prepare to be ravaged," Will declared, pulling the bedsheets over their heads.


Much later, the two began to emerge from their private washroom, Will fully dressed for work and Elizabeth still clad in only her robe and slippers. Opening the door, they walked back into their attached bedroom, Will behind Elizabeth, his arms wrapped around her waist as his lips teased her earlobe. Their sudden appearance startled Ann, the upstairs maid, who was currently making their disheveled bed.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Turner," she said, mortified, directing her apology to the one of her masters she had known the longest. "I knocked and received no answer. I assumed Captain Turner had gone off to the forge and you were already downstairs with William."

Will, who had released his wife and looked somewhat disconcerted himself, smiled kindly, if uncomfortably. "No, it was my fault," he assured her. "I shouldn't have left the door unlocked last night." He colored slightly, releasing the implication behind his words. "That is, we did alter our routine this morning."

Ann's eyes were averted, her cheeks tinted a deep puce. The situation about the house was much more delicate since Captain Turner's return from sea. He and Mrs. Turner were a particularly loving, demonstrative couple, and all four members of the live-in staff had at one time or another walked in upon them in a compromising position. The others seemed to take it in stride, but Ann, the youngest of the four who had been with the family for the shortest amount of time, was yet embarrassed by their improprieties – or at least her witnessing of them.

Elizabeth had been silent throughout the encounter, nonchalantly wringing the remaining moisture from her damp hair, allowing the few drops of water to fall to the floor. "It's quite all right, Ann," she said gently, though her voice was laced with amusement. "You may see to that later. Captain Turner and I will be downstairs shortly."

"Yes, ma'am," she said, turning and leaving the room directly – making sure to close the door behind her.

Will turned to Elizabeth, shaking his head slightly. "I don't think I shall ever grow accustomed to having servants of my own after having been one myself for so long."

She softly put her hand to his cheek. "We only have but a few, darling. I employed the smallest staff possible. You know I never embraced the pretentions I was raised to. I wished for us to live as a family and do for ourselves as best we could. Unfortunately, that required taking on a small number of extra hands."

"And you were right to do so," he replied, lightly kissing her. "Don't mind me. I'll learn to live with it. Perhaps I can think of them as members of the crew?"

Elizabeth laughed, taking his hand in hers. "Come," she said, leading him from the room. "Marta will have breakfast waiting and William should be down soon, if not already."

Will frowned playfully. "I'm not certain I care for Marta. Her cooking is delicious, but she always looks at me in a very forward manner, as if she knows things she ought not to."

Elizabeth laughed again, finding his embarrassment at the much older woman's presumption adorable – though not entirely unfounded. "You would be very thankful for Marta if you were around in the days before I hired her," she quipped, attempting to change the subject, but Will would have none of it.

"Just what exactly did you tell her about me in my absence?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing that wasn't true," she impertinently answered. Looking her husband up and down, admiring the cut and color of his shirt – and the way it hung loosely open, exposing a generous amount of tanned chest – she added, "Nothing you didn't live up to."


The household was bustling with activity by the time Will and Elizabeth finally made it downstairs. Noting the clock in the parlor as they passed through, they were both shocked to discover just how much of the morning they had wiled away in bed and in the tub – and on the settee on the way to the tub. Though they were hours later than normal, at last they made it to the kitchen where the family always took their breakfasts, finding the dinning room much too formal for such a casual meal that was often consumed in spurts –Will first, on his way to work, followed by Elizabeth who used to dine with him but had often been tired and he insisted she stay and sleep in, and lastly William, although occasionally she woke the boy early to take his morning meal with her.

"Good morning, Marta," Elizabeth said brightly, sincerely happy to see the cheery, rotund woman who had been with her since before William was born.

"Good morning, Mrs. Turner," she replied, rising from her place of rest at the kitchen table, where she had evidently been waiting for them, and going to tend the pans on the stove.

"Marta," Elizabeth affectionately chided, "how many times must I tell you to call me Elizabeth? We've known each other for nearly ten years. I've cried on your shoulder many a night. Certainly it's all right for you to take the familiarity."

"No," she disagreed, shaking her head, "t'wouldn't be proper."

Elizabeth giggled melodically. "Now you sound like him," she said, taking Will's arm.

"A pirate such as yourself worrying about what's proper?" Marta questioned Will.

Will glanced to Elizabeth at the word 'pirate'. Obviously, she had told the woman a great number of things. He only wondered which of them stemmed from truth.

"It was a lifetime ago," he offered in his defense.

Elizabeth kissed him softly, turning back to the cook. "What's for breakfast this morning, Marta?" she asked, pouring Will a glass of the juice already on the table.

"Ham and eggs, though a mite cold as you're so late to come down," she said knowingly, looking pointedly at Elizabeth's unusual breakfast attire.

Will looked uncomfortably away, taking a seat at the table.

Elizabeth bit back a laugh at her squirming husband. "Yes," she said, "we were….unavoidably detained."

"Were I in your place, I might still be up there," Marta said with a wink, to which Will nearly choked on his juice.

Elizabeth returned her wink, patting Will's back at his sudden sputtering. "Has William come down yet?"

"Come and gone," the older woman answered. "He was thrilled to hear you and the Captain were still …'asleep'."

Will exchanged a look with Elizabeth who hushed him with a glance.

"He gobbled up his food and said he was going out to play before his lessons. He's grown into quite the mischievous lad," she continued, her voice betraying her fondness for the boy she had known since birth. "Always running off to the beach."

Will laughed easily. "I wonder where he got that trait."

Elizabeth looked at him smartly before turning her attention back to Marta. "Is that where he is, then? The beach? He knows he's not allowed to go there alone."

"I don't know, Mrs. He didn't say where he was going, only ran out of here as quick as his little legs would carry him."

"Becoming more of a handful everyday," Elizabeth said. "I wonder if I gave my father as much trouble."

Will laughed again. "Your father, his staff, the Royal Navy, half an ocean full of pirates and sailors alike."

She smiled at the memory. "Yes, well, in this I give him leave not to follow my example," she said, setting about to eat her breakfast.


Several minutes later, having finished their meal and Will donned his coat, belt, and sword, the two walked towards the entry hall, passing Eleanor, the downstairs maid, as she came out of the study.

"Good morning, Mrs., Captain," she said.

"Eleanor, have you seen William about lately?" Elizabeth inquired.

"Yes, ma'am," she replied laughingly, indicating the window in the study. "He's in the garden, by the looks of it, imitating the Captain."

Sure enough, his parents peered through the glass to discover their son amongst the hibiscus giving his worst to a nearby palm that apparently was serving as an enemy pirate. His bandana was firmly wrapped about his chocolate curls – his tricorn hat having ostensibly fallen off in the fracas to lie at his feet, which were duly ornamented with black boots that perfectly matched his father's. Though he wore a proper sword belt, his current weapon was yet made of wood, as together he and Will were still making the genuine article to replace his childhood toy. Much to the boy's disappointment, his mother had absolutely drawn the line at allowing his ear to be pierced but, to get around that, William had absconded with a stray bit of metal from the smithy and somehow fashioned a crude sort of a hoop that in one way or other he had managed to hang from his ear without it actually penetrating the lobe.

Will smiled proudly. "I wonder which of us he really wishes to be like," he said to Elizabeth as they walked to the front hall. "I may look the part but, of the two of us, you're the one who truly acts it."

"Oh, I don't know," she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck as she prepared to kiss him goodbye. "Some evenings you play the role quite convincingly."

She kissed him thoroughly, making him once again curse the blasted order that called him away to the forge.

"There," she sighed contentedly. "You may go off to work now."

"More than four hours late," Will wryly observed.

"Yes, but you're leaving with a smile on your face," Elizabeth reminded. "Now, go make something beautiful."

"This morning, I already have."