SHORT CHAPTER

Elizabeth groaned as morning sun shone through the window. She rolled over and buried her head under the pillow, then suddenly sat up; registering the pain she had felt when she lay on her breasts. That was unusual, but not completely unfamiliar. She sometimes felt pain like that right before her monthly, but never quite so noticeably. The only other time she remembered feeling pain like that was… connecting it, she smiled hugely. Suddenly, Jack spoke from the other side of the room. His absence in bed had made her assume he had left already. She usually didn't sleep so late. "Luv, do you usually um, do that when I'm not around?" she suddenly realized she was cupping her painful breasts. She laughed. "No, not usually. They hurt." He raised an eyebrow curiously. "I know, it sounds strange, but Jack…last time they hurt like this was during the first month of carrying Willy." His eyes got a little wide. "You mean, you're pregnant?" "Well, I can't be sure for a few days, but I think it's a definite possibility. You may have gotten your checkerboard baby."

He moved to the bed, laughing at the memory, yet with a kind of happy seriousness. He knelt and placed his hand gently on her stomach. "Jack, don't get too excited yet. I'm not sure." He just kissed her mouth, and then sat on the bed beside her. He kept one hand on her stomach as he kissed her again. "Well then, shall we guarantee it?" "What?" He kissed her again, lying beside her. "Let's guarantee you get pregnant if you're not already." She kissed him back.

On deck, Barbossa grinned when he realized that Jack and Elizabeth would not be emerging anytime soon. He tramped up to the wheel and took it from Gibbs. He was going to have to thank Elizabeth someday for the days she got Jack out of his way. He considered barricading the couple in and taking over the ship, but he was getting to old for full time captaining anyway. He would just continue to enjoy Jack's nearly constant distraction.

Gibbs sighed when Barbossa took the wheel. He loved seeing Jack happy, but this had been going on for almost a year. One of these days the crew was going to mutiny and leave the couple on a beach where they could make love all the time without inconveniencing everybody else. Then, as he looked at the crew, he realized he was probably wrong. These people loved Jack and Elizabeth. Anamaria was laughing at something Carl was saying. That couple was grateful to Jack for bringing Carl onto the crew and performing the wedding. Pintel and Ragetti were having some strange conversation about theology. Those two were grateful to Jack for not killing them and for keeping them on the crew. Marty and Cotton were happy to get any kind of job, since they were generally rejects. All of the others had some reason that they were in debt to Jack. Even Barbossa, who seemed the most likely to rebel against Jack, had taken Elizabeth under his wing, trained her in fighting, and seemed to think of her as some sort of daughter or niece. Gibbs would never betray Jack. They were best friends. Yep, Jack had somehow managed to find a crew who would actually put up with the fact that he spent more time in bed with his wife than he did actually captaining. Gibbs was happy for them.