Chapter: Exorcism


He wasn't pretty unless you were in love with him.

Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros


The door to Jack's cabin was ajar. Will, his work completed for the night, stopped on his way to his own sleeping quarters to glance in and assure himself that all was well. The room was empty.

His brow furrowed. Where could that man have gone in his state? Surely not out to do actual work on the ship. Will had noticed the longing in Jack's face whenever he took his brief walks around deck, the desire to perform the duties that he had for the majority of his life. But no, Will would have seen him if Jack had decided to join the crew.

Slowly, he turned around in the direction of Sophia's cabin; the door was closed and he heard faint shouting from within. Feeling unpleasantly like an intruder, Will walked with careful steps to the door and pressed his ear to the coarse wood.

". . .so cold t' me, after all that we've shared? You don't understand tha' you're killing me because I love you an' you don't seem t' care!"

". . .Jack, James died. Five years ago. I came back from the ship and they told me he was killed in an accident. I died that day. I lost the will for everything. . ."

Will grinned as he made his way to his cabin. It took them long enough.


Jack kissed Sophia eyes and the tears that continued to fall from them. Everything was a blur: his hands stroking her damp body, her legs intertwining with his own, everything.

She was just as he remembered.

Sophia couldn't stop weeping as sensation and feeling returned to her with Jack's touch. She had been living for too long in coldness. Finally. She stripped away Jack's clothing swiftly, crying out as he finally pressed the full length of his body to hers, heat, blessed heat, rushing into her being at last. She grasped his face between her hands and kissed him, this man who had given her a reason to live again when she had had none. She realized only now how empty her life had been.

Their lovemaking was not gentle—they would have time for that later. Now they needed to be connected, whole. Jack latched his lips onto her shoulder and sucked as he stroked his thumb over her nipple roughly, relishing the knowledge that a scarlet mark would replace his mouth by the morning. She was his at last.

Sophia's eyes slid closed and all of her breath escaped her in an immense gasp, leaving her panting with need. She could feel Jack smirking against her skin and she slid her knee up his inner thigh in response, releasing a husky chuckle as he stilled above her and made a low sound in his throat. A familiar tension grew continuously in her lower belly and when he touched her very center, her soul, her self, she felt it heighten to a point she had not thought possible. He was languidly slow, torturing her with contact that he knew was only slightly lighter than she needed, keeping her writhing at the threshold of her desire.

The sight of her, eyes screwed shut, lips open and flushed with passion, gasping with abandon, nearly cost him his restraint. Smoothly he left her breathless with need on the precipice, and moved over her.

Sophia spread her knees and shuddered as Jack's hardened length touched her, her shoulders curving into her body to suppress the climax she felt approach already. She wanted to wait for him.

And yet he did nothing. He gazed down at her, the lines of his face rigid with desire, and stilled.

Sophia closed her eyes. She couldn't wait much longer. "Jack. . ."

The sound of his name from her lips undid him. Jack looked at her steadily as he slid into her sharply and forced himself to watch her reaction despite the pleasure that surged through him and rendered him immobile for several seconds, sure that if he ventured to move even an inch he would loose control. She closed her eyes, tears still quivering on the long lashes that lay against her cheek, and released a long moan. He couldn't stay still any more. With a groan, he began to thrust quickly, his breath ragged; for five years he had waited for this. Waited for this woman.

Sophia grasped Jack's shoulders and pressed her face against the side of his neck as she bore the weight of his thrusts and lifted her hips to meet his own. She licked the saltiness of his skin and pressed her mouth to him, her breathing shallow.

She felt the coil of release grow in her belly and her inner muscles reflexively squeezed the length of him as he moved within her. Jack stilled for only a moment, his eyes glazing over with passion and his own need for release.

Sophia screamed as she came. That scream was the final exorcism of all her demons, and finally she was free. She felt her womb contract and spasm against him and heard Jack hiss through his teeth as the flood of him gushed into her.

They stayed still a long time after their torrential passion, their breathing as one, limbs trembling as the last of their ecstasy washed over them. They clutched themselves against each other, willing this moment to last for an eternity and not wanting to part. Sophia was finally the one to break the spell, drawing away from their embrace to kiss his jaw, his cheek, his lips, her hands stroking the sweaty hair away from his temples. Jack leaned into her touch, the muscles in his arms and back shuddering as he fought to stay immobile over her. At last Sophia drew him to her, curving her body into his on the bed. They needed no words—any exclamations of love or passion were unnecessary. They did not need to hear how one another felt; they could simply sense it, feel it. Emotions.


Sophia woke when night's silent power still reigned over the sea. It was so quiet. Her eyes flicked open.

Jack slept beside her, his breath a comforting sound in the calm. She watched him for a long while, not daring to touch his skin lest he woke, wishing that she could spend an eternity with this peace.

Sophia eased carefully from the bed and slipped Jack's shirt over her bare shoulders, leaving the front unbuttoned as she creaked open the door and stepped into a world bathed in moonlight. The water moved as if sewn with silver and black thread, the white orb hanging heavily in the sky casting shadows and light over the waves. Sophia smiled, and tilted her face up to the stars.


"She waited for me, standing straight, alive. . .And when I approached, more timidly than a little child, she did not run away. No, no. She stayed. She waited for me. I actually believe that she slightly, oh, not very much, but ever so slightly presented her forehead to me. And. . .and. . .I kissed it. . .I, I, I. And she is not dead. And she stayed normally beside me after I had kissed her like that, on the forehead. Oh! It's so good to kiss someone! . . .I fell at her feet and wept.

- The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux


Author's Note: EDITED! Repeat, EDITED! I've added some things in and changed the quote at the end (the Phantom of the Opera breaks my heart). I wrote the un-revised version of this chapter so quickly that I felt it needed polishing and just more in general. I hope I managed to improve upon it.

My usualdasb thingies I use to separate different sections of the chapter aren't working so I have to use the ugly ginormous lines. Go figure.