A/N: To my wonderful reviewers: thank you very much for your reviews:)

Please appreciate the general peacefulness of this chapter... It will not last forever... (evil grin;)

Spoiler: Author: "The calm before the storm..." / Ragetti: "Literally or figuratively?" / Author (irritated): "We did have a literal storm already, didn't we?"

Disclaimer: I don't own POTC.

Chapter 25

He watched her sleeping. He watched her with curiosity, wondering how she could ever fall in love with him. He stroked her hair very gently, as to not wake her up, trying to imagine the future that he has never thought he might have. He has never thought about the future. There was no future. Pirates did not have future. Every day could be the last, and nothing was important enough to care, if the next day would indeed prove itself to be final.

He has never had anything. Neither a family, nor a home, not even a house. Sometimes he felt as if he came from nowhere. Appeared, at some point, having only his life to carry on with. And he did not really know what he would do with it. Until he discovered that he belonged to the sea. Until he became a pirate. And then, later on, when he has got the Black Pearl, he finally has got something that he could call his. And he hoped for nothing more. It was good enough. And it was even more than he has ever expected.

And among the things that he least expected was also something that he now had. He had somebody who loved him, and whom he loved. The simplicity of it was almost embarrassing, but it was something unimaginably wonderful, nevertheless.

He fell asleep, but then woke up again, and just watched her sleeping, thinking about the past, and about the future. Now, there was future. Now - he did care.

Elizabeth woke up and opened her eyes. It was still dark yet. She wondered what time it could be. She slowly turned over onto her left side, and then she came face to face with Jack, who looked at her with his head propped up on his elbow.

"Hello Lizzie", he said with a smile.

"Jack!", Elizabeth smiled faintly, not completely awake yet. "Is it still night?", she asked with a drowsy smile, moving closer to him.

"It's almost daylight, luv", said Jack, putting his arm around her, and hugging her close.

"Where were you, Jack?", asked Elizabeth, cuddling up to him. "I was waiting, and waiting", she sighed sleepily, "and waiting..."

Jack propped her chin with his hand, and looked her deeply in the eyes.

"I'm here now", he whispered, and kissed her passionately on the mouth.

"But where have you been?", asked Elizabeth, breaking the kiss, trying to sound serious. In fact, she found it quite amusing, noticing Jack's sheer disappointment with her insistence on that topic, instead of another one.

"I had to take care of our ship, darling", replied Jack defensively, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand.

Elizabeth fluttered her eyelashes, and a trace of a smile flashed across her face. She straightened up, and sat on the bed, looking at Jack quizzically.

"What's wrong, luv?" Jack looked slightly bewildered. He quickly realized the mistake he was making lately. Namely, he was carelessly forgetting that his beautiful, lovely Lizzie was also the unpredictable Miss Elizabeth Swann.

But this time unpredictability did not mean aloofness.

"Nothing, Jack", said Elizabeth softly. "It's just that... you said... it's our ship."

Jack straightened up briskly.

"Of course it is!", he exclaimed resolutely, noticing at the same time that Elizabeth's dress was slipping down her shoulders.

She smiled, but then noticed his gaze, and tried to fix the dress, somewhat irritated.

"I actually thought it all over", she said pointlessly pulling up the sleeves, which were stubbornly slipping down all the same. "And-"

"And what?", broke in Jack, pulling her towards him, with a mischievous grin.

"And", Elizabeth wanted to continue, but his face was just too close.

"And this is why, ye were sleeping with me coat in yer arms, aye?", he asked, enjoying the dwindling of her self-assurance.

"No", countered Elizabeth, narrowing her eyes. "I decided not to compromise my-", she stopped in mid-sentence, as his lips began wandering along her neck, and her bare shoulders. "Jack!..."

Jack looked up at her, grinned, and caught her lips in a fervent kiss.

"Jack..."

"Yes, I also have a feeling that this is where we left off yesterday...", he whispered.

A certain thought rapidly flashed across Elizabeth's mind.

"My father!", she exclaimed.

"Where?!", Jack cringed, looking around.

"Oh, not here", said Elizabeth nervously, breaking free from Jack's embrace, and slipping out of the bed. "But when he wakes up, he will wonder, where I am. I must go back to the cabin I told him I would sleep in", she explained, rushing towards the door.

Jack rolled his eyes, and went after her.

"Jack, could you...?", she smiled faintly, turning back to him, so he could fasten her dress.

He stared at it for a moment, until her request eventually reached him. While he was fastening the dress (which he merely attempted to unfasten), it occurred to him that he had very little experience in fastening dresses. Unfastening, sure. But fastening?... Especially without really unfastening it in the first place before...

When he finished, he spun Elizabeth around, and locked her in his arms.

"That's not fair, luv", he said, putting a sad expression on his face.

Elizabeth laughed, and brushed her lips against his.

"You're such a lier, Jack."

He stared at her questioningly.

"I know exactly where you were last night", said Elizabeth, entangling her fingers in his dreadlocks.

"Ye do?", asked Jack doubtfully.

"Yes", nodded Elizabeth. "And I'm proud of you, Jack", she said softly, with a smile.

Jack blinked, trying to figure out what she was talking about. Could she possibly be proud of him because he punched the whelp? Well... Probably not. Especially, that there was no way she could know about it already.

"That's... nice of ye, luv, to say so", he said, smiling hesitantly.

"No, that's nice of you, Jack", smiled Elizabeth, and hit him playfully on the shoulder. "I mean... noble of you."

Jack's eyes went wide open in sudden comprehension, as he finally understood what she was talking of. She thought that he did not come, because... Oh, dear. Oh, my sweet, naive Lizzie.

"Yes, yes", he chuckled. "Yes", he sighed, realizing that now it was not possible to drag her back to his bed chamber, as he vaguely planned. Well, at least he gained some respectability in her eyes. Undeservedly, but still... Not that he prefect respectability over...

"Jack, you're hurt!", exclaimed Elizabeth, suddenly noticing something.

"Hurt?", asked Jack confused once again.

"Your arm!", said Elizabeth worryingly, delicately touching his shoulder.

Jack looked at his arm. Their was blood on the upper part of his sleeve.

"Oh, that", he waved his hand dismissively. "Hardly a scratch, Lizzie. That ships' stealer's bullet barely brushed me. Don't worry, my lovely luv", he grinned, and kissed her.

She temporarily gave up, letting him kiss her as long as he wanted, except that he apparently did not intended to stop at all, so, regrettably, she had to make him stop at some point.

"Well, Captain Sparrow, I'm going to worry about whatever I choose to worry about", stated Elizabeth decisively. "And I'm certainly going to worry about my husband's... my fiancé... your wounds."

"I'm flattered", smirked Jack, looking at her intently, delightedly studying her glimmering eyes. He loved the way she reacted to his kisses, surrendering completely, leaving herself at his mercy, even if she pretended to be in a perfect control of the situation. And the way she always tried to change the topic.

"Good", Elizabeth tried to sound matter-of-factly. "Now I'm going to cleanse this", she said resolutely, and went away to get some water. "Do you have a clean cloth, Jack?", she asked.

He did have. And he was really happy seeing her worrying about him. It was yet another new thing in his life.

Elizabeth sat Jack down on the bed, and poured water on the small cotton cloth.

"Take your shirt off, Jack", she said plainly.

"I like where this conversation's going", said Jack with a roguish smile.

"Jack!", she exclaimed sharply. " I'm serious."

"I hope so. But ye know, Lizzie... Ye really don't need to put so much effort in inventing pretexts just to see me naked. A polite request would do."

Elizabeth was about to scold him for these musings, but then he actually did take his shirt off, and it utterly distracted her from the prospect of yelling, so she remained silent.

The "wound" was indeed insignificant, and it actually looked more like a bruise, except for some blood around it. He shuddered lightly, when she touched him.

"Oh, I'm sorry", muttered Elizabeth, thinking that he shuddered because of the pain brought by her cleansing attempts.

Jack said nothing. He just stared at her. She felt his stare, and it was making her blush even more than she was already. She tried to focus on what she was doing, but it was quite difficult to ignore the fact that she was in love with him, and he was half-naked, and she has not seen a half-naked man whom she was in love with before. Why she did not ask him just to roll up his sleeve?!...

Jack watched her intently, feeling stranger and stranger with every second. He did not want her to take her hands off him. She was touching him very gently, cleansing the wound carefully, and then applying a dressing. It did not escape his notice, that her hands were slightly trembling. He himself was nearly shivering, and he could feel his heartbeat in his ears. He could not recall any woman who had such an effect on him before. It was almost unbearable.

"There...", whispered Elizabeth contently when she finished, and was going to take her hands away, but Jack caught her wrists, and pulled her towards him, pressing his lips against her ravenously.

Elizabeth nigh unconsciously began running her hands across his chest, and his back, utterly amazed by the sensation caused by the contact with his bare skin.

Miraculously, she managed to brake the kiss.

"Put a fresh shirt on, Jack", whispered Elizabeth, and ran out of the room, slamming the doors behind her. When she got to the corridor, she leaned against the wall, and regaining her breath with difficulty, she said to herself with a forced smile: I'm proud of you, Elizabeth.

She walked slowly down the corridor, smirking to herself, deep in thought, unable to notice that she just walked past somebody standing in the shadow...