Chapter Two

The sea stretched out before him, a million miles of glittering blue. Jack could not think of one place he honestly thought of as home, except the Black Pearl. It was where he was meant to be.

Weeks of sailing, no matter how much he loved it, could not dispel the thoughts that swirled about his mind constantly. There was a perfume he could smell even in his dreams, a skin that he longed to touch when he was alone in his bed.

He thought that sleeping with her would quell that hunger, make him no longer wish to kiss her lips. That was all that was between them, right? Pure lust?

But the hunger would not be sated and the longing of desire was more real than ever. He had been with her at least three times that night, and still when he stole out at sunrise he longed to go back and see her again- feel her again.

It wasn't just lust, and that's what made it dangerous. It was something more than that, something he couldn't quite name. She was married to that damn whelp and stuck on land, babysitting while waiting for her one day with her husband every ten years.

He had wanted to shake her, to make her brain rattle around a bit so she would see how bloody stupid that was. The Pirate King did not belong in some cottage. She belonged out on the water, seeing the world….on the Black Pearl.

Jack shook his head, moving closer to the mast. After all she had done to him- killing him, sending him to the Locker- he still wanted her. Because she was him, inside. She was more pirate than anyone else he had ever known: ruthless, loyal, in love with adventure. But her loyalty had her stuck in a marriage that she did not want, living a life she wasn't meant to lead. And Jack couldn't bear to watch her do it.

But she had tasted so good. He touched his lips, remembering. It was different than before he died, when she had devoured him and he just let her. This time it was he who did the ravishing, who made her cry out and beg and pull at his hair.

And she had said it- as she started falling asleep- that she loved him. And the world had stopped for a moment. Jack knew better than anyone that such things said in a moment of pleasure was not to be counted; yet…he knew she meant it.

He had seen the look on her face when he walked into her cottage that day, the pure happiness had radiated from her at seeing him. She had missed him and more than that, she trusted him- more than she had ever trusted Will, although he doubted that she would ever figure that out.

She had no idea what she wanted, that he knew. She wanted to keep her vows to Turner, but the pirate in her was winning the battle for her soul. She would not be able to resist the call of the ocean forever.

At least, he didn't think so.

Bugger. He let out a long breath. Tia Dalma was right when she said what vexed men was women. His night with her didn't do anything but make him obsess over her more.

"Captain?" Gibbs appeared by his side. "Are we heading back to the island soon?"

"In a few months. After this voyage is done."

"Will you be seeing Miss Elizabeth again then?"

Jack glanced at Gibbs and then quickly looked away. He had the feeling that Gibbs knew all about that night, although he didn't know how. He didn't want to be lectured on the subject and besides, what did Gibbs knowing about being with a woman? He thought them evil creatures for the most part and he would just say being with her would bring all sorts of trouble, namely the trouble of a child.

But Jack had been with many women, too many to count, in many ports. He had no children yet and…it definitely wouldn't happen with Elizabeth Turner, the thorn in his bloody side.

"No, decidedly not. Now, Gibbs, I have business to attend to below deck. We're low on rum."

For once, he knew Gibbs was right. Best to stay as far away from Elizabeth as possible, and just think about that night when…whenever he was with another woman.

Or when he was alone….

Almost four months after Jack had mysteriously vanished from her life yet again, Elizabeth walked down the street, holding Rue in her arms. The town was full of delightful things- smells, sights, sounds- but all she could hear was the beat of her heart, as steady and true as that of Will's.

What Will must think of her. Her eyes burned with unshed tears and she lowered her head, watching the ground as she walked. When she had married him, she had made vows- to be with him no matter what and even though he was now on the Flying Dutchman- those vows still held true.

And Jack..beautiful Jack, with his dark eyes that sparkled in the moonlight- he haunted her, possessed her. When she thought of him…she would turn feverish and weak like she was ill.

It was passion, what she had for him- swirling and dark and turbulent like a hurricane. Her passion for him consumed her and she felt like someone else now inhabited her body, a body that longed to cheat on her husband again. A thousand nights with Will wouldn't compare to that one with Jack and she knew it. She didn't want it to be true, but it was.

She couldn't believe the things he had done to her and how her body responded, how she responded. And what's worse, how bloody careless she was…hadn't she learned from Rue's birth that children were a tad hard to prevent?

She rested against the wall of a stone hut. He never came back. Each day she waited, waited at her door, for Jack to come sauntering through it with all his usual bravado. And each day, she was bitterly disappointed.

Why did he do that? She could still hear her own voice, her whispered confession of love, still feel his warm hands on her skin. He hadn't said anything, disappearing like a ghost before she woke. Why? Was that all she was to him- a quick way to slake his lust? Was that all she had ever been, a mere curiosity?

The more she thought about it, the more enraged she became. It wasn't fair to pin all the blame on Jack- oh no, she had wanted him just as much- but she would have never expected for him to treat her that way, to never see her again. She had believed, deep down inside, that he was a good man- an honest man. Pirate to the core, but a man of noble character.

How it hurt to be wrong about that.

She pressed a hand to her mouth, feeling sick in the heat. It was no good to be wandering about town like this with the baby, exposing him to the sun. She knew what she was doing- biding her time and waiting for Jack to return.

That time had passed. She knew she would just have to accept the fact that he would not be coming back and move on with her life- her life with her son, and being faithful to her husband. She hoped, prayed, that Will did not know what she had done. Her infidelity she wanted to carry to her grave, never revealing that or the fact that she was in love with a rogue pirate.

A rogue pirate who had broke her heart into a million pieces and was sailing the seas and probably enjoying the carnal pleasures of whores even as she spoke. A pirate who didn't love her…who would never love her.

The only love she could count on was Will's. His love was for certain, eternal- like his service on the Dutchman. The time was nigh to start being a real wife to him and to lay all thoughts otherwise to the side.

She kissed Rue's forehead, heading toward the small shack at the back of the village. She knew what to do: she knew this woman. This was the place all the wenches went to when they found themselves pregnant…a place where the problem would conveniently be handled, like it never existed.

She was not going to have Jack Sparrow's baby. She would only have one child, Rue, the son of Will Turner. Her husband deserved better than this- to come home and find a child that was not his. And Jack…she didn't need anything to remind her of him. He had to be dead to her or…or her heart would never belong to Will.

She had to go ahead and do this, before it became too late.

But her nerve almost failed her that night as she walked to the shack. Could she really do this…not have her child? Never mind that it was Jack's, it was also her own. A part of her, like sweet Rue was.

She stopped outside the door, taking a deep breath. She raised her hand to knock when she heard two voices inside speaking in hushed tones.

"That's what they're all saying, Opal, that Jack Sparrow was here last week- THE Captain Jack Sparrow. Stole into port all secret like and went to the tavern."

What? Jack was here? Her heart started racing in her chest and she strained to listen.

"And I heard Thea was upstairs all night with him. That girl has all the luck, for being such a cheap looking thing."

He had come to the island…and hadn't seen her. Had spent the night with some other woman..in some other woman's bed. While she had waited by the fire, praying he would come.

The lump in her throat constricted and she took a step backward. No. She would not go in there and have this done, knowing the two women would tell the whole town….

And next time Captain Jack Sparrow came into port, he would go to the tavern and hear how Elizabeth Swann had come to get rid of her problem. And…oh damn, then he would know his night with her had been more than what it was.

No. She would never give him the pleasure of knowing what he had done- made her with child and killed her soul. He would never find out about his child, she would make sure of that.

She would go, with Rue, to a place where no one knew them. There, she would have her baby. Her baby, and come back in nine years to see Will again. She would just have to explain it then, or hide the child away…she would cross that bridge when the time came. But Jack Sparrow would never find out about the pain he had caused her.

Undoubtedly, he had wanted to pay her back for his death. He would never hear from her again, but most important…he would never know his child.

She walked purposefully toward her home to collect Rue. She would take the first ship out to the New World in the morning. Time to begin a new life…as Elizabeth Swann Turner, a woman bound by her vows, not her passions.

To be continued…..