Disclaimer: I own nothing from Pirates of the Caribbean, and Terrence's ship, crew, and adventures are all her own.

Quick A/N: How I've missed you all! (sobs) It has been ages, hasn't it? I want to thank from the bottom of my scurvy heart the readers who kept emailing/reviewing me, telling me to update ASAP. Huzzah! -PineAppleLint

Without further ado, Chapter Seventeen…

-Taking one look at his shocked face, Terrence knew he was getting the wrong idea. "Jack!" she gasped, "This isn't what it looks like…" Before she could finish her sentence, Sparrow pounced at Brookes, sword bared.-

Jack had no feeling in his limbs as he tackled Brookes, sending them both tumbling to the floor. He felt numb as the crazed thoughts ran through his head. Terrence and Brookes, Brookes and Terrence, Brookes bedding Terrence, touching her where only I can touch her…

Brookes' skull slammed onto the floorboards as Jack pinned him, holding his gleaming sword painfully against the first mate's pulsing throat.

Brookes froze, eyeing Jack in disbelief and fear. "Captain Sparrow, I…"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut your throat open, ye son of a bitch," Jack responded in a low, savage tone, eyes flaring with jealousy and hate. His free hand held Brookes by the throat. Brookes gurgled in reply, eyes bulging.

"JACK!" Terrence screamed, springing to her feet. The alcohol rushing through her veins caused her to sway unsteadily as she said, "Get a hold o' yourself!!!"

"You've been drinking," Sparrow commented, smelling the rum on Brookes' breath, applying a little more pressure to his windpipe.

Terrence hastily threw her shirt back over her head and grabbed his arm, tugging on Jack with all of her strength. "Are ye MAD?! Let him go, dammit! Jack, let him go!" Jack lost his balance with Terrence's insistent tugging and fell back, giving Brookes enough time to scamper out from underneath him and rush out of the cabin in a frightened dash.

Sparrow picked up his sword with a growl, getting to his feet in order to pursue his victim, but Terrence pulled him back down next to her again. He pushed her away from him and sat there in a numbed state.

"What is wrong wit' you?" she cried angrily, pushing at his shoulder with all the strength she had, "You made me look like a fool in front o' me first mate, Jack…"

"I don't care what your little fuck buddy thinks, Terrence."

She laughed a hysterical laugh, pulling her wild hair away from her face as she sat cross legged on the floor next to him. "You really think so?"

The cloudiness in Jack's mind eased a little, but he wasn't able to shake off the image of Brookes behind Terrence, concentrating on her half-nude form for the life of him. How his hands had been running up and down her back, caressing Terrence as she let out soft moans of pleasure…

The betrayed, enraged look on Jack's face hadn't disappeared. Gallagher sighed.

"Jack, he was cleanin' up a wound. That's all. You should know better. Brookes is like a brother to me. Has been that way ever since I met him."

Jack stared at her in disbelief, hanging his head in silent grief.

She stood up and pointed to the supplies on the bed. She turned her back to him and held up her shirt, showing him her angry, bleeding gash. The blood had long since seeped through her shirt and the beginning of her breeches.

The cloudiness of Jack's mind vanished, and Jack felt like a damn fool.

She had been moaning in pain, not in pleasure. Brookes had been helping, not taking advantage. But what upset Jack the most was how he had felt so used, like a pawn in a game. How for one instant he had wondered if she had never really loved him.

It scared him shitless.

"We were drinkin'," Terrence confessed, "I can tell ye that. And we were fencing, and we had a little accident. So Brookes…"

"Enough. Enough," Jack growled.

"But ye want to know what's the worst thing about this entire situation is, Jack?" Terrence questioned, running a hand across her dirt-smudged, pretty face, "It's knowing that ye don't trust me."

Jack opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted yet again.

"I'm a grown woman, Jack, a sensible one at that. I have enough decency and brains to know not to jump into bed with any given person. I can control myself, and…"

"I know," Jack said tiredly, shaking his head, "I know." Terrence stared at him in bewilderment. For once in his life, Captain Jack Sparrow looked ashamed.

She said quietly, "You owe me an…"

"I'm sorry."

He wouldn't look at her. She crouched next to him and gently brushed a few dreadlocks from his face, taking a few fingers and rubbing them against his tanned, stubbly cheek.

"I don't know what I was thinkin', Gallagher," he said suddenly, standing up and pacing around the room, "I'm not the jealous type…"

She smiled. She loved it when he tried to lie.

"…but you're beautiful. Alluring. Seductive. And captain of a ship run by a crew of men. It does tend to make a man uneasy."

She sat on the edge of the bed and watched him pace. "I know, Sparrow. But ye just have to trust me on this one."

"I do. But ye have to admit I walked in on a rather interesting display…"

"I understand."

Gallagher suddenly found herself in Jack Sparrow's arms, his lips painfully crushing down onto hers. She struggled at first in pure surprise, but relaxed when she felt the desperation in his grip on her, as if he would never let her go.

"You're mine," he growled into her ear between nips of his teeth and caresses of his lips, "Mine, pet."

"Yes," she said breathlessly, holding onto him by the front of his overcoat as he picked her up, wanting no space between them. By the time he set her down on the mattress, their chests were heaving and he looked satisfied with himself.

She stared up at the ceiling in silence. Jack sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the floor.

"Jack?"

"Yes, luv?"

"Let's never go through that again."

He grinned devilishly. "You mean the kiss? Fine. I suppose that can be arranged…"

"No," Terrence said with a roll of her eyes, "The jealousy incident. No more incidents of this kind, savvy?"

"Savvy, darling. I swear on pain of death that if I ever get enraged with jealousy again, ye can punish me to your lil' heart's content."

Sensing double meaning, she glanced over at him.

He winked.

A little sentimental this chapter, I know. The hilarious hijinks and the adventure shall continue with chapter eighteen. Please review! : ) Reviews are dandy.