Thank you for the reviews thus far, it's good to know this is entertaining enough to distract you for a few moments from reality. Here is where you'll see the first glimpses of other POTC characters, and the beginning of the first movie. I will warn you, if you are only interested in ready cute, fluffy stories then within a few chapters this will be significantly darker and more intense. Also, the physical intimacy between the characters will increase and if that makes you blush then again perhaps read a different story. With that said, onward and upward!

Ashlynne didn't have to look up from the charts to know that it was James who moved into the room and was currently "browsing" the charts and maps that lined the walls. That silly man was seriously bothering her. Okay so most of his bothersome traits that drove her crazy were his uncanny ability to make her nearly melt at just a look, his great looks-quite delicious in fact—his wonderful smiles, his smell, how wonderful it felt to have him so close to her...she growled and concentrated harder on the words on the pages in front of her. He was a distraction that she didn't need, and certainly didn't want.

In the week or so since they'd retrieved the new Governor Swann and his daughter Elizabeth, and had steered onto their course for Port Royal, she'd had more than a few more "polite exchanges" with the lieutenant. With each passing conversation/exchange, she found her heart warming more to him, and got the distinct feeling that something of a similar nature was occurring within him as well. The advantage she had over him in this regard was that she did not have to doubt her sexual orientation. More than once she'd taken note of him almost physically shaking himself whenever his eyes had strayed, and that had only been the few times she'd seen it; heaven knew how many other times he did that.

"Have you updated the duty roster?" He asked once he was standing near her chair, a log book in hand.

Ashlynne gave him an odd look but nodded. He was searching for something, some sort of information, from her. He didn't often come in here during the morning watch. He was usually out and about above deck, catering to Governor Swann, or entertaining the young Miss Swann. Something had gotten to him since they'd fished that ship's boy up the day before. She too found his presence alarming. The obvious remains of the pirate attack had been enough to put her on high alert but to also find a survivor, when there were not often any survivors of pirate attacks, well that had her double guessing everyone and everything. The boy's life had been saved on purpose, by the pirates or by the victims of the attack she was not certain, just as she wasn't certain if he was truly amnesiatic or just a world-class actor.

Even the Miss Elizabeth seemed to have become a changed child since the boy was retrieved. Where she'd been an open and curious girl before she was now suddenly a bit more skittish and, while that could be logically attributed to having witnessed the remains of what reality was in the seas around these areas, Ashlynne had a feeling that the skittishness came from something that the girl was hiding.

After the boy, Will, had been fished aboard, the girl had been left alone with him just long enough for something to happen. Ashlynne had not had a clear enough view of them from where she'd been standing and watching by the cabin door but she knew exactly how much time had passed from when the boy was placed on board and when the lieutenant had returned to the pair of children. Definitely long enough for the boy to say or do something or for the girl to observe or take something. Whether or not it was a mutual secret, again Ashlynne couldn't tell. The boy seemed to have had his memory washed out with seawater and was not the most reliable source for any information prior to waking up to the sweet face of Elizabeth.

"Are all the remaining stocks tallied and accounted for?" Again his voice held an edge that tipped her off to the fact that he was stalling for something, or someone. She nodded but did not speak.

Silence reigned in the room for the next few moments, save for the sound of breathing and turning pages. Ashlynne couldn't stop her curiosity and would from time to time glance in his direction. However, he never seemed to move or look away from the log book. That fact disappointed her, and the fact that she was disappointed annoyed her. Ashlynne growled and reached over for the ruler. She was such a female sometimes it was damned annoying. Why couldn't they be more like men? Always surging with testosterone, having an excuse for anger and territory issues, never really dwelling on consequences or silly things like emotions. Yes, she knew her brief assessment of men was rather negative, but she was feeling a wee bit negative at the moment.

She glanced in his direction and studied him more directly. He looked as he ever did, pristine and downright edible. She continued to study him until her eyes went crossed.

"Is there a problem?" His voice made her jump and nearly fall out of her chair.

"Nay, there is nay a problem. Though I am curious as to why yer in 'ere when yer usually out there."

"I am a lieutenant and you are a clerk. I have an obligation to oversee your work and make sure it reaches optimal standards." His gaze on her turned fiery and intense so fast she couldn't help but nod silently and look back down at her charts. That look made images pop up in her mind that were best not thought of. She shook her head to clear it.

"Have you ever been to Port Royal before?" his voice was dangerously close to her ear and brought her out of her idle wonderings.

She shouldn't have done it, but she turned to look at him and found her nose touching his, his eyes peering deep into her own, their lips only inches away from each other. Her mind went blank and only pure pride kept her mouth from falling open and her knees from going weak. For his part, he seemed just as surprised by the sudden change in proximity and quickly retreated a space.

Blinking into the space where his face had been she questioned, "What was that?"

"Have you ever been to Port Royal before?" he repeated, though his voice sounded almost pained now.

Ashlynne blinked a few times before she answered, "Nay, this will be me first time."

He nodded and she turned her attention back to her charts, this time with her senses even more on alert. If she closed her eyes she could just picture…

She felt one of his hands reach around and trace her jaw line then down her neck to her collar bone before it rested on her shoulder, his other hand tracing the outline of her lips and she had to dig her nails into the palms of her hands to keep from falling on him. She was under a spell, surely she was under a spell. That was the only thing that would explain these happenings.

One moment she was blinking back at his intense stare and the next she was tasting his soft lips with her own. The kiss started out soft, curious, then as they grew accustomed to one another it increased to something more. His mouth slanted over hers, his tongue diving in and out. Her hands first clutched at his shirt then delved into his hair, holding his face at just the right angle for her to try to take control of the kiss. She took her turn in the assault, her tongue rubbing against his in his mouth, tasting him intimately and thoroughly. She found herself standing and pressed against the table moments later, his arms branding her body as they held her fast between him and the table, and that didn't bother her one bit.

She felt his hands move to her hips, cupping her rear and giving it an appreciative squeeze before moving up under her shirt. The first feeling of his fingers on her skin made her shiver. Her hands weren't idle either. They were frantically picking at his buttons until she had his formal coat undone to his belly button. She eagerly pressed both hands against his chest and the warm skin beneath the thin shirt, running her fingers up and down his chest, and purring with delight at his growl of appreciation.

One of his hands made its way to the front of her shirt and she couldn't stop the moan of pleasure when he firmly held one of her breasts. She pulled away from the kiss long enough to gasp in air and moan his name. He kissed his way down her neck, sucking over her pulse until she knew he'd left a mark. He scraped his teeth against her skin and she quivered with fiery desire. She cradled his head against her neck, wanting something, needing something, something she knew he could give...

"Mr. Fitzpatrick!"

Ashlynne stiffened and threw a horrified look over at Norrington, only realizing too late that she'd fallen into a fantasy with him only inches away. Had she moaned his name aloud? Was she blushing? Oh hell! She shook her head until her hair fell in front of her face and managed to squeak out a response, though she didn't quite trust her voice just yet.

"I asked if you could show me the log book for when the Dauntless was last in port." He was staring at her as if she'd gone daft, and Ashlynne could only assume she was for having had such intense thoughts for a man she barely knew.

"Oh, of course!" She jumped up from her seat and scurried over to one of the cabinets. She was grateful for the space it put between her and the object to her one of her most lascivious fantasies. She'd had dreams, more recurring than normal, since they'd been at sea, all featuring the lieutenant in some fashion, but to have had a day dream so suddenly and with him so near? That was NOT normal.

"Have you found it?" She realized she'd been dawdling when his voice interrupted her thoughts again.

She nodded," Aye, 'ere it tis." She came back and handed him the book in question. "Anything else I can do for ye?"

He eyed her for a moment more before he shook his head, "No, this will be enough. We should put into port within the day or so, weather permitting. I will need all logs and charts up to date by then."

"Aye, Lieutenant." She gave him a small smile and watched as he turned and left the room.

It wasn't until he left the room that she collapsed back into her chair, her whole body shaking with emotion. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time, run after him and push him away. Goodness she hated being a female! It would do her some good to be free of the constraints of the ship while they were in Port Royal. Maybe she could find some female clothing and disappear into the guise of her true sex for a few hours while on leave. She felt a shudder rake her body at an unexpected image of Norrington catching her in female garb-it involved him tying her down with a headscarf and "punishing" her for lying. Perhaps staying as a man would be best after all.

James glanced over his shoulder at the closed door of the cabin and frowned. He wasn't quite sure what had just happened but he knew for certain that the lad had mouthed his name while his eyes had been closed, an almost pained look on his face. He'd called his name a few times before resorting to near shouting. When Ashlin had looked at him again his face had been aflame and there'd been a glaze of…desire?...in his eyes. Not being immune to such things, James had beat a hasty retreat.

James continued to shake his head as he headed up the stairs to confer with the captain. They still needed to decide the rotation of who would have shore leave first, as well as the sticky subject of Will Turner and what to do with him to discuss. Even as he neared the captain with such weighty matters on his mind he still found the image of Ashlin looking at him with such surprising desire burned into his brain.

While things had grown "warmer" between them in the passing weeks, and he found himself as close to an inferior member of the crew as he felt was appropriate, things had also grown more uncomfortable between them. While he'd at first thought conversing with one another as fellow men would allow the tension between them to wane, it had in fact only grown stronger and definitely turned into more of a sexual awareness, if he was going to correctly label it, than he'd planned for.

He'd never before taken notice of another man in quite the way he took note of Ashlin. The curve of his spine, the creases by his eyes, the wave in his hair, or the unique lilt in his laugh…all these things built up to an awareness solely reserved between lovers or soon-to-be lovers. James knew this because he'd felt these things before, noticed these things before, but only once, and that had been years before his commission with the navy, and it had been with a woman. To again feel this awareness, and towards a man, was more than a little disconcerting.

At first he'd thought to avoid the lad, and that by putting distance between them it would help abate the tension. But it had only served to aggravate the frustration between them and caused him to dream of the clerk, more than once, in a most inappropriate manner. During the waking hours he'd valiantly combated the images of the clerk coming to his quarters late at night and undressing in the lamplight, the ghost touches the clerk's fingers left on his dreaming skin. By not seeing the clerk to confirm that these had been indeed dreams, it had made the efforts for sanity harder. Thus he'd decided to instead spend at least a few minutes a day talking or working with him. This did help him not feel so frustrated whenever he saw him but again it only served to bring the lad further into his thoughts and dreams. Therefore, there seemed to be no rational answer to the problem.

To be completely honest with himself, he knew he was mentally and sexually attracted to a clerk. To assuage this brutal fact, James did note that there was something almost feminine about the lad. From the way he moved to the way he interacted with the rest of the crew, his attention to details most overlooked, even his eyes and smile, they all had a feminine aura to them. It was because of this, and his own lack of time or interest in women of late, that James decided that his mind had latched onto the clerk and manifested an attraction for him.

Once they landed in Port Royal, he would discretely find a willing woman to divert his attentions and all would be right in the world again. He'd done so only a few times before, mostly right after his great disappointment in love prior to the navy. He hoped, at least, there were places to find such discrete women. He was just as new to Port Royal as the clerk, Governor Swann and his daughter. He could at least hope for that there would be an outlet to his pent up frustration.