A/N: Grrr… Fanfiction kicks ass, but when the review-system crashes… I think blood-splattering thoughts… Anyway, after writing sex chapters of almost pure angst, I just had to make this one a little more humorous. But I won't keep you long. Here's the rest of the talk!

7: Punishment

"Jack!"

I jump backwards, ridiculously afraid of his touch, but I do have a reason for that:

Ever since I killed him, this moment is all that I've thought about.

Every night and day I've thought about him touching me, him whispering in my ear. Him forgiving me.

I've been dreaming, longed and feared.

And that's exactly why it can't happen.

If he touches me, I will never be able to go back to Will.

If he touches me, I'll lose my last trace of control.

Jack doesn't look surprised at all. He's just smiling.

"Yes, Elizabeth?" He answers with the same politeness he used just a few minutes ago, up on deck, and puts his arms around my waist.

The prepared lie I was going to use lays flat down on my tongue and confuses to get out when I feel his body heat.

Jesus. I'm too old for this feeling. Even if I've been freezing most of the time since Jack died, it's not like I've been cold for all my life. I've been feeling warm before, and then it was hardly like this.

I've sat in front of the fire in Port Royal, and it feels like a completely different life now. I've been eight years old and crawled up in father's lap with a cup of hot chocolate and listened to him when he reads stories.

That wasn't like this. Not at all. That was cozy, it warmed me from the inside. The chocolate, the fire and father's soft voice created a warm, soft little ball that laid down in my stomach. I remember that, even though it was eleven years ago.

I've even been standing like this with Will. He has been standing with his arms around me, whispered in my ear.

"I love you, Elizabeth."

It's almost with fear that I realize that Will, too, warms me from the inside when he stands with me like that. That he, too, forms a warm ball in my stomach.

God, I think and clutches my hands into fists to keep from touching Jack. I can't spend the rest of my life with a man that I love in the same way that I love my father and hot chocolate. It makes no sense.

No. I can't live with Will.

Especially not when I'm with a man that doesn't make me feel warm on the inside at all, he makes me feel way too hot on the outside.

A man that sets my skin on fire just by touching it and clouds my sight and my mind with lust.

But I have to try. I have to give Will another chance. Even if I love him like a daughter loves her father.

"Jack," I repeat, slightly calmer this time. "Let go of me now."

"I don't see that happening," Jack says, amused.

I haven't realized it until now, but he has been walking towards me, and I've been walking backwards, still with his arms around me. It's a miracle that neither one of us have tripped over the other one's feet. But nonetheless, here I am, with my back leaning against the wall, and Jack is in front of me. As if he's keeping me from running away.

That's another thing I realize with fear.

For the first time in my life, there's no way out.

I'm in Jack's mercy. He can do whatever he pleases with me.

I gulp.

Okay. This is what I was prepared for, right? It's time for my punishment.

I was prepared, but I'm still terrified.

It's time. Face your fears, Elizabeth.

"Jack," I say again and grab his hands. "Let me go."

"I shall not," Jack says, smirking.

"Yes."

"What about this," Jack says, and I can tell by that devilish glint in his eyes that he has big plans. "I'll let go, if you give me an argument I think is good."

"So I need your approval?" I hiss.

I really hate him right now. He knows that my giant guilt doesn't allow me to say no to him, which he can big advantages of.

"Exactly," Jack says (God, can't he take his hands away?!) "Let's hear it."

"But, then you can just say that you don't think my argument is good, even if you do," I say helplessly, very aware of that it's that part that makes him smile like a child with a brand new toy.

"I know," Jack says cheerily. "Clever, don't you think? Now, say something."

I take a deep breath. Try to pretend that it's Will's hands. Or Gibbs's, who's ever except for Jack's!

"Jack," I say firmly. "I hope you don't think that… Meant something."

Why can't I say the word 'kiss'?

I thought this would make Jack annoyed, maybe even annoyed enough to give me a slightly better punishment than pushing me through this… Physical torture, that I will give in to any second now.

It's like in the middle ages. Jack could just put me on a rack until I told what he wanted to hear, it would have the same effect as this.

"It was just a goodbye," I continue, even though the lie tastes like disgusting, sticky glue. "And I did what I had to do. Plus… What are your hands doing?!"

Jack's hands are moving, and they're underneath my shirt again. His fingers are dancing across my stomach, taints me with every touch. And Jack is smiling, still, just like he's been doing during our entire conversation. Because he can tell I'm about to give up.

For my skin is on fire again. And I have to bite my lip to keep from whimpering.

"You should know better than anyone, Lizzie," he mumbles smugly.

"Jack…" I say, my voice shaking.

Then I manage to get a grip on the reality long enough to gain some perspective.

This is ridiculous.

Jack is a person, not a god. He's pirate, even. I should look down on him, not squirm around like a worm under his touch.

That thought gives me my demanding voice back. And my ability to look Jack into his eyes.

"Jack," I say in an entirely different intonation than before. "I love Will. I'm getting married to Will. If that isn't a good enough argument, I don't care if you let me go or not. Because, as I already said, I can walk on my own."

I shrug his hands off and start to walk.

And I manage to think a whole, confused mass of thoughts in just a second:

Turn around keep walking kiss him go to Will marry him JACK WILL JACK

I'm not quite sure how it happened. I see a hand flash in front of my eyes, I feel a sharp pain in my arms, and all the sudden, I'm pressed up against the wall, and my wrists are nailed to it by Jack's strong, ring-dressed hands.

"I'm so proud of you right now," he hisses, grits his teeth, dangerously close to my lips. "That you can lie and stay that calm is a classic sign that you're becoming a true pirate."

"Jack, let-" I begin, but he interrupts me quickly.

"No, I won't let go, and you're going to shut your damn mouth up and listen for a change!" He says angrily and pushes my wrists even harder into the black wood behind me. "If you say you love Will one more time, I'll cut your tongue out just to get away from it! Because it's not true, and it never has been! So never say that again. Never. Okay?"

I nod stiffly. Even though I see flaming, untamable, almost frightening anger in Jack's eyes, I feel calm in an odd way.

This is my punishment. Finally.

"And more than anything," Jack continues and loosens the grip on my wrists a little, "you still haven't answered my original question. And I'm still curios about that."

I swallow. Apparently it's noticeable that I'm giving up, because Jack lets go of my wrists and captures my hands between his own, in an almost loving way.

I will give in.

All the sudden, I just know it.

I will tell him the truth, and I will try to fight against him. But then I will give in.

He's like a mosquito bite, I think and close my eyes. It's itchy like hell, and you can try to ignore it, you can even try to scratch around it. But you don't feel any difference until you claw the bite with your nails until the blood trickles down your fingers.

So I open up my eyes again. Jack is standing in front of me, and I know what those black eyes mean. He looked exactly the same that day on the Pearl.

"I lied," I say resolutely. "You win, okay? I was sorry then. And I'm sorry still."

And then, just like I thought, I try to break free again. Pull away my hands and do another intent to go away, but then that dark fire return to Jack's eyes, and he grabs me by the waist and pushes me back into the wall in such a force I gasp.

Jack doesn't seem to notice.

"It is not. That. Easy." He says in a dark voice.

His hand slides away from my waist, over my stomach, graces over my breasts until it reaches my neck. For a second I almost think Jack is going to strangle me, but he just leaves his hand there, his fingers cold against my throat as he leans forward, so close to my face as his lips almost brush against mine as he speaks.

"You're not going to get away now, Lizzie. Understand? Now, there's no Kraken, no whelp, nothing but you and me. If you don't want this, you're going to have to kill me."

I smirk weakly. It's strange that someone who looks absolutely furious, someone who currently can kill you just by closing his hand a little more, can be so arousing.

"Is that how much you want me?" I ask, looking him firmly in his eyes.

Jack smirks back at me.

"If you didn't feel the same, I'd be dead by now."

And then he kisses me.

Not like Will. No attempts to be careful, no touching me as if I was made of glass.

He just kisses me. It's that easy.

No difficulties, nothing that pressures us to make it perfect. Because we both know that it will be.

Hands on my waist.

My hands inside his shirt.

His tongue in my mouth.

And an entire world, an entire universe that disappears when he picks me up and carries me to his bed.

The whole world disappears. Except for Will, that stands with his face pressed against the cabin's window.

The whelp wrecks everything… As usual. Review, and I'll update the next chapter, that might be the last one…