Chapter seven: Arrival
Characters: Elizabeth, Lord Beckett, James, Mercer, Groves, Murtogg and Mullroy with mentions of Governor Swann, Will and Jack.
Rating: M
Warnings: Oral sex, but not explicit.
Word count: 3,381
Chapter summary: This chapter takes off where the last chapter was left. Elizabeth passes Beckett's test and is granted the freedom to wonder around the ship... just as they approach Port Royal.
Disclaimer: Pirates of the Caribbean and its characters aren't mine.
Notes: I haven't updated since January – because I jinxed myself with the studying lots thing! Oops!

Arrival

Elizabeth wrote in her dairy when she arrived back to her room. She decided to include her feelings about the situation that had fallen upon her over the past two days and what had happened with Beckett in his quarters.

'... I can now say with certainty that I'm not looking forward to going home. It's a few weeks away and I know it will plague my thoughts until the very moment we arrive. And perhaps the very day that we arrive will be the day that I am forced to watch Will, Jack and the others hang. To make things worse I have remembered that in my room, unless they have been moved, there is a small pile of wedding gifts which I don't think I will be able to even look at let alone unwrap.' This was followed by 'Due to me having my courses, Beckett had me… he forced me to… oh, how can I phrase this? He had me pleasure him with my mouth. It was most improper, I think I may have enjoyed it just as much as he did, and now I feel just like a harlot; the only difference being that I wasn't paid for my services.'

She stopped and thought for a moment before she continued. 'I should include Beckett's little test.' she thought. She dipped the quill in the ink pot before continuing.

'After Beckett was finished with me he sent me back to my room neither unescorted nor followed by anyone. It was a test he had set for me.' The quill made a scratching sound as she wrote more and the ink became less thick at the end of the quill. 'On the way I had a small talk with James. He was as nervous as always talking to me but at least I managed to understand how Beckett's test would work. He explained that Beckett had in-fact planned to give me the test and informed people he knew would be in the area that I was allowed to be unescorted, this way those in other areas of the ship would catch me out and he would then know that I was not to be trusted. I will admit, that was clever, no, cunning of him.'

She stopped and dipped the quill into the ink pot again. 'James also told me that if I passed I would be allowed to move freely aboard the ship as long as I don't go down to the brig or disturb the officers and sailors. I can't help but wonder why he is giving me this sort of freedom. Has he really decided he can trust me that much? I guess for now I can say that I'm in his good books and I plan on remaining in them until he can really trust me. I just wish that keeping in his good books didn't involve anything sexual; but because it does I'll just have to bear with it.'

When Elizabeth had finished writing in her diary and had put her things away she undressed for bed; anxious of being interrupted, she didn't let her eyes leave the unlocked door until she was in-between the sheets.

When the morning arrived so did Mercer with a tray of food. He placed the food on the table. Elizabeth sat up in her bed only just waking when she heard the tray being placed onto the table.

"Lord Beckett is allowin' you to roam the ship unescorted, providing you stay away from the brig and the sailors and don't disturb him and the other officers. Am I makin' his terms clear milady?" Mercer asked.

"So I don't even get a 'good morning my lady' before you start regurgitating my husband's commands?" she retorted. "I find that rude..."

"I'm not 'ere to provide friendly conversation. Do you understan' the conditions or not?"

"No need to be so snappy about it! Yes, I understand," she said. "But might I inquire as to why he is allowing me such freedom?"

"I wouldn' have a clue milady. I never dare to question his actions." And with that he turned to leave.

"So I don't get a goodbye either! I shall tell my husband about your rudeness towards his dear wife!" she called out, but to her knowledge it was too late, she guessed that he hadn't heard her – he'd already left and closed the door behind him.

While Elizabeth dressed, Beckett was seated at his station in conversation with Lieutenant Theodore Groves. Groves had just boarded from a mail sloop to inform Beckett of the situation back in Port Royal.

"The house is almost ready sir. The servants are making the final preparations but all the main work is completed. As for the pirate situation in the area – it was efficiently dealt with towards the end of last month and we haven't had any trouble since." Groves said.

"Excellent." Beckett said, feeling pleased that all had gone well in Port Royal with the small pirate retaliation having been defeated and that all of the renovations to the mansion had been completed. He reached into the top drawer of his desk and removed a bundle of letters. He passed them over the desk to Groves.

"Sir?" Groves asked, confused.

"You're to go back to Port Royal aboard the mail sloop; even if things are running smoothly we can't afford another problem to get out of hand, I know you're capable of handling things. Admiral Norrington is to go with you along with a small handful of sailors." Beckett said reaching for his cup and saucer.

"Of course sir," Groves said, accepting his orders obediently and without question. "I'll get the Admiral and leave immediately."

Beckett sipped his tea as he watched Groves leave; he began to consider how nice it would be to notify Elizabeth that they would be in Port Royal sooner than expected.

Elizabeth was using her newly given freedom to be above deck. It was nice to get some fresh air, especially before it became noon and the sun would become far too unbearable. The wind was blowing her dress and hair about and she had to keep moving it out of her eyes. She leaned on the railing of the ship. 'With this wind we'll be in Port Royal soon, too soon,' she thought to herself. She heaved a sigh and looked out to the horizon line then watched a group a sea gulls down below as they braved the choppy sea to sit on the surface of the water and dive below it for small fish.

Beckett was above deck now too. He was ordering Mercer and a few others to do something at the other side of the ship when he spotted Elizabeth by the railing and made his way over to her.

"Enjoying the fresh air are we sweet?" Beckett said, coming up to grab her hips from behind.

His voice and touch were sudden, and because Elizabeth's mind was off elsewhere it startled her and she quickly turned around to face him; trying to pretend he hadn't scared the living daylights out of her.

"Yes, very much thank you." She replied with a fake smile appearing across her lips.

"Did you see the mail sloop leave just before?" he asked.

"Yes. I noticed some of your men went aboard." She replied. 'James included...'

"Yes. Groves notified me earlier that the sailing conditions ahead are-"

"Perfect; I figured as much." she interrupted.

"While you are correct, next time, don't interrupt me." Beckett said angrily. "And get out of the sun; your tan has been slowly fading away over the months and your skin has softened, don't ruin it now."

"Sorry my lord," she said.

In that instant she decided to return to her room until dinner because she had nothing better to do. She walked away without being called back by her husband, so she gathered he didn't really want to talk to her - when did he really? Beckett went off in the opposite direction to get back to some paper work at his desk. The one person she knew and wanted to talk to aboard the ship who wasn't in the brig was James and of course to her misfortune he would leave just as she was given the freedom to walk around the ship as she pleased. She had already seen for herself a few months ago the amount of guards that were watching the brig so she couldn't even try to sneak down to see Will. On her way back to her room she wondered if it was just a coincidence or something more that she was granted this freedom just as they approached Port Royal and that James wasn't aboard the ship.

Some hours later Mercer knocked on Elizabeth's door to inform her that dinner would be served shortly. Two nights in a row – she could only wonder what the great occasion was and hoped that it was not just another arrangement to pleasure him. She quickly ran the brush through her hair and pinned it back with the large clasp she found in her drawers months ago. It wasn't until she was out the door that she realised she'd just automatically gone through the effort to make herself look decent for him. She decided she had done it for her sake.

On her way to dinner she passed Murtogg and Mullroy who both simultaneously said "Evening my lady." with a bow of their heads. She replied "Evening gentlemen," as she passed them. She noticed that even under Beckett's command they were still the same – arguing about everything, as they had been.

She opened the door to find Mercer leaning over Beckett whispering something to him, to which Beckett whispered something back as his eyes locked with hers across the room. Mercer left as she took a seat at what she could now call her end of the table. The staff removed the lids of their meals with an almost immediate flick Beckett's hand and Elizabeth instantly took in the smell of highly salted meat and vegetables. To eat a different dish was something to look forward to when they reached Port Royal. Of all the brussel sprouts she refused to eat but was eventually forced to as a child, she now wished they were there in front of her and she would eat them willingly.

The thought of her being able to think about things like that without Beckett saying something struck her as unusual. He was always the one to start conversation at dinner. She decided the silence should end and came up with something which sounded wifely enough to say, after all last night she had been told off for not enquiring. "How was your afternoon?"

"It was-" he hesitated. "What makes you ask?"

"I'm just inquiring about my husband's day, that's all. You complained about how I didn't last night." She said taking her knife and fork in her hands.

"I spent the entire afternoon at my desk working; how do you think it was?" he said starting at his food.

"Clearly it must have been..." she decided to stop and think so she could choose her words more carefully. "…enough to make you want to have dinner with me and maybe later you would want me elsewhere?"

He chuckled at her remark. 'Elsewhere...' "Mhm, but you're still bleeding." He said. It wasn't that hard to tell with the lingering smell of blood.

"That did not stop you from enjoying my favour last night." She said. 'Harlot, you sound like a bloody harlot! And it's perfect; I know this'll keep him pleased!'

"Indeed it didn't." He said with the memory of her sliding her mouth up and down the length of his cock fresh in his mind. "So are you implying that you would do the same for me again, sweet?"

"Could I be possibly implying anything else, my lord?" she said answering in an almost riddle like way with her seductive tone and a quick quirk of her eyebrows.

"Very well, it should be most interesting." He said. "You've certainly surprised me; I didn't think you would ever offer. I suggest you do it more often..."

"I might very well do that... sometimes, only sometimes."

They made very little conversation after that and focused mostly on their meals but Elizabeth did bring up that she felt Mercer was being rude by not saying hello and goodbye and Beckett said he would talk to Mercer later.

Beckett finished before her, not eating all of what was on the plate. Drinking tea during the day limited how much he ate for dinner. He sat and watched her as he waited in anticipation for what would happen after she had finished her meal. He noticed that she wasn't sitting up straight and of course he had noticed prior to that, on many occasions, that her table etiquette would need refining. He made a quick note to himself that when they reached Port Royal he would have both of those problems rectified as soon as possible.

Whether it was because she had offered to do the same thing she hated being forced to do last night or it was just one of those nights where time progressed quickly; dinner went by faster than she wanted and suddenly Beckett was pouring her a glass of wine, something that had become almost like a ritual before she was lead to his quarters for their intimate relations.

Tonight he was positioned sitting at the edge of the bed and she was on the floor on her knees. She'd just finished giving him the same as last night, though this time he insisted that she learnt how to combine the use of her mouth with her hands, and of course to avoid having him in her mouth as often she gave more hand than mouth, and he hadn't complained.

After doing his breeches up he lifted her chin and wiped some stray release over her moistened lips with his thumb, making her open her mouth to taste that final amount. She licked her lips and kept repeating the words 'whore' and 'slut' over and over again in her mind. She removed his hand from her chin and asked "Will that be all, my lord?"

"Yes." He replied. "I'd say that was the best effort so far sweet; an excellent combination of performance and obedience." He removed a stray tangle of hair from her face and pushed it behind her ear.

She thanked God that he was as satisfied as he was.

"You can stand up now you know... and you may wash your hand and rinse your mouth out if you want."

She replied with a rather stupid "Huh? - oh!" before she stood and fixed her skirts and then went over and to repeat the same mouth cleansing ritual as the previous night. She cleaned her hand and rinsed her mouth out removing the taste of his release, or as much as she could. She turned back to Beckett expecting to still see him where he was perched on the bed but he'd got into it instead. It seemed unusual that he slept on that one side of the bed when it was as big as it was. "Since you that first time you had me you haven't shared a bed with me for the whole night. Why is that?"

"Because if we shared a bed your body temperature would make getting a night's sleep in the warm weather all the more difficult." He said. "Why do you ask? Could it be that you actually want to?"

"Well... I always wanted to wake up in the morning after a passionate evening entangled in the sheets with my husband. It's not that I want to get in the same bed as you. It's because you are my husband." She replied.

"I see..." He said. "But whatever happened to hating every moment you had to spend with me and refusing to enjoy it when we are intimate?"

"I gave up. You honestly didn't think that I liked being abused when I refused or when I was difficult did you? Especially since what you did to me when I tried to escape that time... and without being abused I began to enjoy it, to some extent."

"And now you enjoy what I do to you so much that you offer to do it?" he asked.

"Yes... And I keep reminding myself it is a part of my station to make sure that you are satisfied." She said. 'And I've been guessing that fertilisation is too, it has to be the reason for the determination.'

"I had expected that it would take a little longer for you to get this far... but I can see that I have gravely underestimated you." He said.

'I had expected to do it forever. I also underestimated myself...' "I should be getting back to my room then. Goodnight, my lord."

"Goodnight," He said. "But would you mind blowing the candles out for me please?" he asked her, he sounded unusually kind.

She blew out the candles and without any further word she closed the door and left.

A few days passed and Elizabeth stopped menstruating. She was ordered to bath in the evening by Lord Beckett and then dress in her finest dress the following day. This however, was not so he could have her. By noon tomorrow they would have arrived in Port Royal; he wanted her to look presentable for when they went ashore. He told her this at dinner, and also that he would be going to the offices. He would send Mercer with her up to the mansion.

She woke the next morning, or almost noon as it now was, and dressed in a maroon dress and made herself look the best she could. She hid her diary in her dress and waited for the ship to make port. When the ship had finally made port Mercer came to inform her and the two of them made their way above deck. Elizabeth and Mercer left the docks in one carriage and Groves and James who had come down to the docks left in another with Lord Beckett.

As the carriage was weaving its way through the main streets of Port Royal on the way to the mansion, Elizabeth's stomach filled with butterflies and it seemed to get worse as they got closer. She looked at Mercer and smiled. "What do you think of Port Royal Mr. Mercer?" she asked trying to get rid of the awkward silence.

"It's no better than London." He said.

"What do you mean?" she asked in attempt to make conversation.

"In London it's cold an' damp. Here it's hot, humid and sticky." He replied.

His tone gave away that he was uninterested in talking to her. She guessed that he was doing it because Beckett had had a word with him. Oh yes, that's right he had said 'Afternoon' when he came to tell her that she was required above deck. So he must have had a word with him.

"At least the water doesn't reek as the Thames does." she laughed, but it was a rather fake one. She had heard from her father that the Thames had grown to smell unbearable, and so did most of London because the population and grown and the sewage couldn't cope. In fact, there was no sewage to speak of really.

"That is a blessing indeed. A' least the master lived on the outskirts where it was nice."

"I thought he might have." She said. No, she knew he had.

The carriage came to a halt in front of the mansion and Elizabeth peered out the window and looked up at the large house that towered over her. She and Mercer were let out of the carriage by a footman who then went and opened the door to let them in.

She made her way up the steps anxiously. This was it. She was home... and surrounded by the memories that had been made there over the years. She swallowed hard as she was lead inside.

More soon: I have the next chapter started so I promise that it defiantly won't be a seven month wait again! Please review!