A/N: Hey everyone!!! Sorry it's been a while since I last updated. My internet has been doing something weird for the past few days so I haven't been able to post this chapter. Enjoy!!!

Chapter 22

First Lesson

Izzy awoke the next morning and opened her eyes to something bright. The sun was already up and was blazing through the window, and onto her face. She scrunched up her eyes so she wasn't staring at it.

Izzy felt a hand on her stomach and turned her head to see Jack watching her. She smiled into Jack's eyes, remembering the night's happenings. He smiled back and started to rub her stomach with his hand, back and forth. Jack leaned over and kissed her tenderly.

"Mornin' love," he said pulling away.

"Morning," she said. Izzy rolled on top of him and kissed him. Even though he hadn't had rum for hours, he still tasted like its sweet flavor.

"Mmmm…" she moaned.

"D'you want to get up, love?" he asked.

Izzy shook her head.

"No."

"Good, cause neither do I."

He rolled her onto her back and positioned himself over her. He spread her legs and slid himself inside her. He pulled her into a kiss as he started to move inside her. After minutes of powerful love-making, he collapsed on top of Izzy while still inside of her. He nestled his head between her breasts and sighed.

Izzy smiled, content. At the moment everything feels right, she thought.

"Jack!"

There was pounding on the connecting door.

"Jack! Get up!" Elizabeth yelled. "You promised me an interview!"

Jack sighed again, but this time in disgust. Izzy thought she heard him curse.

"I'll be out in a minute, Lizzie!" he yelled.

"Hurry up for God's sake," she shouted back. "It's already midmorning! I'm in your office."

"Damn woman and her book," Jack said quietly against her skin. "I'm very comfortable right here."

Izzy's eyes twinkled.

"As am I," she said softly so Elizabeth couldn't hear her. "You better not keep Elizabeth waiting, though. She seems all nice on the outside, but you can sense the edge underneath."

"You're right, love, she's dangerous. Trust me, I know from experience," he said. "I'll go meet her and get this bloody interview over with so she can finish her damn book."

He slid himself out from between her legs and Izzy instantly felt empty. He gave her a warm kiss and rolled out of bed. He started to pull clothes out of a dresser and dropped them on the bed to get others. When he started to dress, Izzy watched him cover his naked self with cloth. She was very disappointed by this. When finished, he leaned back over her and gave her another kiss.

"We'll have our first sword lesson when I'm done with Lizzie, okay love?"

She nodded.

"I'll be in the crow's nest, as usual."

He grinned and left the room.

She watched him leave the room and then her mouth dropped open. Her clothes were in the connecting room. If she wanted to leave the room dressed, she'd have to go into Jack's office where he sat now with Elizabeth, naked to get her clothes. Then she'd have to explain that she'd spent the night in Jack's bed.

"Bloody pirates!" she muttered. "Always making things complicated."

Izzy slipped out of Jack's big bed and started to silently rummage through his drawers. She found discovered a shirt in a drawer and slipped it over her head. It was large enough to cover all of her down to her knees.

She went to the door that led to the hallway and put her ear to the door. When she was sure that no one was out there, she snuck from the room and dashed down the hallway to her room.

Jack entered his office to find Elizabeth facing the window behind his desk.

Damn! He thought. His clothes and Izzy's lay beside her feet.

Elizabeth turned and smiled at him.

"Busy night, Jack?" she asked innocently.

She reached down and started to pick up clothes.

"From the looks of this, I'd say so," she said. "I wondered how long it'd take you to get Izzy into bed."

Jack frowned at her.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing to do, Lizzie," he said. "We both enjoyed it. Just ask her."

"No, I don't think I will," Elizabeth said walking around the desk to face him. "It would embarrass her if she knew that I knew that she was sleeping with you."

"Lizzie, you make it sound like I raped her or treated her like a whore," Jack said. "I was good to her."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"On my honor," Jack promised.

"What honor?"

"Well, let's pretend I have honor. So because we're pretending that I do have honor, I'm saying on my honor."

"Fine Jack," she said. "I'll pretend you've got your honor, but I'll hold you to it. Now on to business, what happened when you were in Davey Jones's Locker?"

Izzy sat in the crow's nest, hours later thinking about the night's memories. She was so happy. She wondered if Jack felt the same way. She hoped he did.

I think I'm falling in love with him, Izzy thought. I wonder if he's falling in love with me? Maybe he's already in love with me. Wouldn't that be nice…

"Hello love," a familiar voice said.

Izzy turned to face the man she was beginning to love.

"Hello."

She smiled.

"I've borrowed Lizzie's sword for you," he said. "When we stop in a few days to resupply, we'll find you one of your own, love."

"Okay."

They jumped to the deck and Jack handed her a sword, handle first.

"Lesson one, you never, I repeat never hand someone a sword by handing them the blade. If they're not paying attention, first of all their stupid, second, it could be very dangerous. Lesson two, how to hold the sword."

Jack looked at the way Izzy was hold Elizabeth's sword and inwardly grimaced. They had a long way to go.

"Not quite love," he said. "Like this."

He adjusted her fingers on the blade.

"Lesson three; try swinging the thing around a little bit. But make sure you don't let go."

Izzy swung Elizabeth's sword around to try to get the feel of it.

"Good, now on to lesson four. We're going to do many things at once now. We're going to circle, blades crossed, to work on your foot work."

Jack slid his sword from his scabbard and crossed it with Izzy's.

"Now follow my lead."

They started to move in a circle.

"Cross your feet, love," he said. "If you don't you'll trip, good. You don't want to look at your feet. If you do in a fight, you'll be dead in less than three seconds. Keep your eyes fixed on my sword arm. You want to be able to try to tell what I'm goin' to do next."

Izzy crossed her feet, following Jack in a circle. Never once had she looked at her feet, but had been looking at his face. Now, she was looking at his sword arm.

At that exact moment, Jack moved his sword arm in a swipe at her side. Without thinking, Izzy blocked it. Both had stopped moving and were now staring at each other.

Jack's eyes were wide open in a surprised look which Izzy had never seen before.

"I'm goin' to experiment, love," he said after a few minutes of thought. "Just bear with me."

With that he started to lunge and dive, sending his sword at Izzy in strategically placed attacks. Because of his slow pace, Izzy stopped each of them easily. His pace became faster and he started to move. But his movements weren't in the circular pattern they'd worked with minutes ago. This new pattern was all over the place. To Izzy it felt like a disoriented dance that didn't have a set step.

Both started to gain a sweat, but neither stopped.

He was testing her, she realized. He hadn't thought she'd last this long.

But at that moment, Izzy felt something hard against her back. Jack had maneuvered her in their "dance" so that her back was now plastered against a mast. He now had his sword point pointed at her throat.

"Lesson five," he said. "Always pay attention to where you are, love. If I'd been your enemy, you'd have been dead. I think that's enough for one lesson."

He left Izzy standing against the mast, panting hard, and wondering what had just happened.

Coming up…

What just happened between Jack and Izzy?

Will Izzy find out that Elizabeth knows?

What does Jack feel for Izzy?