Note to readers: Thank you guys for the reviews. A craftsman always likes to know his work is appreciated. (That line would work if I were male… which I am not… but still fun…) Anyway, if you made comments or asked questions I made sure to get back to you and take your issues into consideration and I believe the story is to the reader's liking so far.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Chapter 4:

Romanticism is Over Rated

Elizabeth woke to the sounds of the crewmen hustling about the deck. The sound of Mr. Gibbs' voice carried over them as he called out orders. They were nearing Tortuga. With a soft sigh, Elizabeth rolled over and opened her eyes.

The sighed was not what she had expected. She had assumed she would open her eyes to behold the bunk in which she usually slept while she was aboard the Black Pearl. However, this was a different, less familiar scene. With a soft gasp, she sat up and looked around, not noticing at first that she was without her clothing. When she did realize that her body was naked, the images from the night before flashed into her mind.

"Put me down! Now!"

"We both know who love. Stop trying to push me away."

"Jack, stop. Please."

'What did I let him do,' she thought to herself, her mind racing faster than she could keep up. She looked at the floor near the bed. Her clothing was still where it had fallen the night before. She got up and began grabbing it. When she found her shirt, ripped and filthy, she decided not to bother trying to fix it and grabbed one of Jack's shirts out of a small dresser near the back of the cabin. When she had finished dressing and pulling herself together, she opened the door and stepped out onto the deck.

Every man on the crew stopped what they were doing and stared at the young woman who had just exited Jack's cabin. Every man's mouth was open and gapping at Elizabeth who had not yet been seen by anyone that morning and who was now wearing Jack's shirt, which she had not been wearing the night before.

It took Jack a few moments to figure out why the entire crew and stopped what they were doing all at once but when he realized that they were all staring at his cabin, it became a little more obvious. "Bugger," he muttered under his breath.

"Uhh…. Back to work, all of you! Whatever you're looking at cannot be more important that crewing my ship! Mr. Gibbs, take the wheel," Jack said as he stepped away from the wheel and headed down the stairs to Elizabeth. As soon as he stopped talking, the entire crew jumped back to work, pretending like nothing happened.

When Jack reached Elizabeth, she had not moved. She looked at him, eyes wide and mouth open slightly. Jack's face was abnormally serious, "We need to talk." Not waiting for her to respond, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her back into his cabin, slamming the door behind them.

"Jack," Elizabeth began, "What happened last night?"

"That was sex, luv," Jack said with a grin, "Just sex."

Elizabeth looked at him directly in the eyes, "Just sex? You forced me into your bed, took my virginity, told me you loved me and then left a piece of yourself inside me. How is that 'Just sex'?"

"So are you admitting that you love me? Or are you just trying to get my pants off?" Jack said with another grin. He really was not used to the situation and was very unsure of what to say. When Elizabeth's hand struck his cheek, he assumed me must have said the wrong thing. She was up and out the door before he had a chance to redeem himself.

He loved her and he knew it. Now it was just a matter of figuring out how to tell her. If she would ever speak to him, that is. With a sigh, he rubbed his cheek and walked out of the room to continue captioning his ship.

Note to readers: Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than some of the others but it was not a good place to continue from. There needed to be a bring break between this chapter and the next so… yeah… new chapter coming soon.

Please R&R. Constructive criticism encouraged and welcomed.