"Now that the curse has been lifted," Barbossa called out to his motley crew. "Everyone is to return to the ship for some long overdue celebratin'!"

As the men, once again mortal, made their way out of the cave boisterously, Elizabeth made to follow them, though she was confused. She didn't understand how her blood had worked, but she supposed it was no matter. It was over – the curse was lifted – so now she needed to focus on how to get home. Someone grabbing her by the wrist snapped her out of her reverie.

"Where yeh be goin', Miss Turner?" Barbossa asked, a predatory grin on his face that was flesh-colored once more.

"I'm returning to the ship. Isn't that what you just ordered everyone to do?"

"Aye, but we not be returnin' with the crew," he informed her as they remained on the huge mound of treasure by the chest.

Elizabeth tried to free her wrist from his hold, but he would not let go. "Why not?" she asked. "There's no more reason to be in here."

Barbossa tugged on Elizabeth's wrist and pulled her to him, causing her to gasp when she collided with his chest. "There's still a bit of blood to be paid just yet," he told her with a knowing wink.

"No!" Elizabeth exclaimed in instant fear, pushing and railing against him, not understanding what his wink meant. "Don't kill me! The curse is lifted! What more do you –"

"Kill you? Why the blazes would I do that?"

"The blood," she answered, her lips trembling as she continued to fight him. "You're going to kill me!"

Barbossa wrapped an arm around Elizabeth's waist to still her struggle, allowing his free hand to descent to the apex between her legs, his fingers boldly dancing across her sex that was still hidden under her fancy dress. "That not be what I had in mind," he explained as he leaned close to her, his voice deep and gravelly. "My desires be more of a…physical nature."

Elizabeth's eyes widened in both alarm and surprise, her throat suddenly dry as cotton. "Physical? As in –"

"As in I'm goin' to lay with yeh before we return to the ship," Barbossa informed her, his cautionary tone telling her there would be no argument. "Right here in this cave. Right now."

Elizabeth was indignant, her fear instantly switching to anger. "You will do no such thing!" she exclaimed, continuing to fight against the pirate's fierce embrace. "You despicable, awful –"

Barbossa ignored her protests and scooped her up in his arms, pushing the chest of cursed gold over with his dirty, black boot. It caused an avalanche of coins to spill and cascade down the mound, tinkling and rattling as they went.

"Put me down!" Elizabeth yelled, squirming in his firm hold. "Let me go!"

"I only be given' yeh this one choice," Barbossa warned her as he carefully descended the mound of treasure and sliding coins. "I either take yeh as a proper lady, or I just take yeh. Considerin' that we be headin' back to a ship full of men that haven't had no physical pleasure in years, yeh might benefit from being wed to me. Without the protection of bein' my bride, there be no tellin' what they might do."

Elizabeth quickly took inventory of the situation. If she fought Barbossa, he could injure her and leave her there in the cave to die, or worse – he could turn her over to the entire crew back on the ship, and they could do unspeakable things to her. She really had no option – she didn't want to be stranded, she certainly didn't want to be injured, nor did she wish to be passed around like a common dockwalker. She reasoned that one man was better than a ship full, and it was better than taking her chances trying to fight him. Even if she wounded him – or even killed him – what would happen to her then? She immediately understood what choosing the lesser of two evils meant.

"Come on, Missy," Barbossa prodded impatiently as he knelt down to carefully place her on the incline of coins and gold. "Me loins be about to burst, and I'll only wait so long for a decision before I make it for yeh."

Would Barbossa be true to his word? Would the other men leave her be? Elizabeth supposed that, in some way, this was how it was supposed to be for her; living amongst pirates, married to their captain, their consummation occurring in a hidden cave with cursed gold as their wedding bed. She tried to put on a brave face, but she was scared. She was terrified. Her decision was made, though.

"I prefer to be a proper lady," Elizabeth answered. She sounded more confident than she felt.

Barbossa dipped his head before tossing his hat aside. "Very well, m'lady," he purred, shrugging off his heavy coat and unhooking holsters before crawling on top of her. "We be gathered here today to join us in matrimony." He slipped one arm under her, digging into the loose coins as he did so. "Do you, Elizabeth, take me as yer husband?" He reached down and pulled the material of her dress and shift up, bunching it between them and baring her legs to the damp air of the cave and the cold metal under her.

"Y-Yes," Elizabeth whispered hesitantly, every muscle in her body clenched tightly in uncertainty and apprehension. Occasionally, she'd heard the maids talk about men, but she knew nothing of lying with one. What would happen? Would it hurt?

Leaning over on one arm, Barbossa loosened his breeches and released his thick erection from its confines. "And I, Barbossa, take you, Elizabeth, as my wife," he continued, his voice raspy with years of unfulfilled need.

When calloused fingers touched her bare sex, Elizabeth closed her eyes and gasped from the physical contact. He slid them along her wet folds, and when he flicked the fleshy nub nestled in between them, Elizabeth moaned and lifted her hips instinctively for more contact. She hadn't anticipated the pleasure, but she liked it. Maybe being his bride wouldn't be so bad.

"By the powers vested in me as Captain," Barbossa concluded, shifting his hips to align himself with her entrance and slipping his other arm under her. "I now pronounce us as husband and wife. I may now take my bride."

Elizabeth dug her heels into the coins defensively when Barbossa crashed his lips to hers in a desperate kiss that demanded her response. Even though she was untouched, she recognized the tidal wave of his passion when it was unleashed, and its ferocity startled her, causing her to wonder if she should have rethought her choice. When she felt the tip of his manhood prodding her virgin entrance, she squeezed her thighs together instinctively in a futile attempt to save her maidenhead. Barbossa groaned into their frenzied kiss as he reached down with one hand and hooked it behind her knee. As if he'd done it one hundred times, he pushed her leg over and out of the way before pillaging her prized treasure. Elizabeth cried out when he pierced her innocence and squeezed her eyes together, feeling like she was being split in two from the inside out. The core of her body burned, and she wondered if she was bleeding – it felt like it. Barbossa trailed wet, hungry kisses down her cheek and neck, finally burying his face in the crook of her shoulder. He growled with each thrust, frantically trying to slake his lust, holding her leg out of his way all the while.

Elizabeth was reeling from being inundated by a rush of new emotions and sensations. She was Barbossa's wife – a pirate wife – and she would share her bed with him for God only knew how long. Wherever he went, she would go, as well. She was his. In a matter of seconds, her entire life had shifted course. While she should have been furious with him, somehow it seemed right – like being with him was exactly where she belonged.

The fear that had consumed Elizabeth previously had all but disappeared. Barbossa's passionate kisses ignited a reaction inside her that she had no name for – he'd been able to make her forget everything that was happening outside the cave and quickly. Though the first few thrusts of his had been painful intrusions upon her body, they were currently providing a newfound pleasure and commandeering her thoughts. She heard herself moaning, briefly thinking of how unladylike she sounded, but she realized that she didn't care one bit. She'd never experienced such physical bliss before, and she happily surrendered to its power and to her new husband. Wrapping her free leg around Barbossa, she moved her hips in synch with his which caused tides of rapture to crash into her over and over. She tried to remember why she'd been fighting him.

"Do yeh like bein' taken by yer husband, Wife?" Barbossa whispered hotly in her ear, winding her up even tighter. "Do I be bringin' yeh pleasure?" Elizabeth bit her lip and nodded. He let go of her leg and reached down between them to rub the pearl of her sex. "How about this? Do it feel good? Tell me, Wife – I want to hear yeh."

Elizabeth gasped, overwhelmed by his ministrations upon parts of her body that she'd never imagined could feel like they did. How had she never discovered such things on her own? Her muscles tightened, and her breath grew ragged as she struggled to form coherent words.

"Yes," she breathed. "Don't stop – feels so good." Ecstasy claimed her moments later, her inner walls pulsing and spasming for the first time, causing her exclamations to echo off of the cave walls around them. She was certain that she saw stars.

Unable to hold himself a minute longer, Barbossa submitted to his long years of pent up desire and released himself, spilling his now virile seed inside of her with a thunderous roar. Elizabeth had never heard such sound from a man before, and it made her grin. She hoped to hear more and soon.

"I meant what I said," Barbossa panted when his gaze met hers as he tried to catch his breath. "Yer mine now. The crew won't touch yeh." He kissed her lips that still trembled from their consummation. "I'll have a bath drawn for yeh when we return to the ship."

"A bath?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"You'll be a might sore," Barbossa explained with an almost apologetic smile. "A hot bath will help ease any discomfort. We have a honeymoon to celebrate, and I don't want yeh in pain for it."

After he slipped from her, Elizabeth modestly pushed her dress back down while he rolled to her side to refasten his breeches and holsters. The tone of his voice had been surprisingly gentle, and she was caught off guard by it. "You almost sound like you genuinely care," she said.

Barbossa chuckled as he turned to face Elizabeth. He grabbed a handful of coins and dropped them randomly along her torso. "There be all kinds of treasure, Mrs. Barbossa."

Elizabeth woke to a golden stream of sunlight warming her face. She blinked a few times and yawned before sitting up in her bed. What a dream that had been; it seemed so real. What really caught her attention, though, was the tingling between her thighs – it was a little disconcerting. Since when was she attracted to Barbossa? She shook her head. His comment from the night before must have really gotten to her. She was most certainly not attracted to him.

A knock on the door startled her. With no warning, it opened, and the subject of her dream leaned in as she scrambled for the sheet.

"I know yeh be king and all," Barbossa quipped. "But the crewmen be needin' yer help out here."

"You could have at least waited for me to say 'come in'."

"Yeh could have gotten out of bed on time like the rest of the crew."

Elizabeth crossed her arms. "You know, you shouldn't barge in on a lady. What if I'd been getting dressed?"

Barbossa smirked as his eyes quickly roved over what little bit of her nightgown he could see, wondering if she wore anything under the thin material and hoping that she didn't. "Then yeh might have found yerself back in bed," he taunted with a mischievous wink. "Ten minutes, and I come back, so get up."

"Oh for the love of – keep your breeches on," Elizabeth told him, tossing back the covers and hating the fact that her face was red. "I'm coming." When Barbossa closed the door, she realized that her heart was racing. He hadn't been coquetting with her, had he? No, that was silly. Barbossa was just jesting with her as he often did; he would never coquette with her. But, if that was so, why did his comment of finding herself back in bed cause her thighs to squeeze together and her stomach to feel like the ocean during a maelstrom?

"Damn dream," Elizabeth muttered as she located her clothes and hastily dressed.

"Do we be on course for Madagascar?"

"Aye, Captain," Elizabeth answered with a nod. She'd recently taken over the charts when they'd found themselves heading northwest instead of southwest. "Our direction has been corrected."

Tai Huang, who had previously been charting their course, caught Barbossa's gaze and winked. He knew that the King was excellent at charting, so in order to spend time with her to casually decipher the marks on her arm, he'd purposely led them astray; only a day or two, though, and with the captain's approval. He walked away to start working on the rigging, looking down to hide his smirk.

"Do yeh have information for me?" Barbossa asked when he approached Huang later.

"Aye, Cap'n," the crewman answered with an expectant gleam in his eyes. "You have payment?"

Barbossa pulled a ruby bracelet from the pocket of his coat for Huang to see. The Asian's eyes enlarged, obviously satisfied with his compensation, and he leaned closer towards the captain.

"There are five marks," Huang explained, keeping his voice low. "They make two words; beautiful baby."

Keeping his face neutral, Barbossa handed over the bracelet. "Much obliged," he said and turned to head to his cabin to be alone with his thoughts.

Beautiful baby. The words repeated over and over in Barbossa's head like a mantra while he stomped unevenly across the deck. That could only mean one thing; Elizabeth had been pregnant. She hadn't had much time with Turner, so that was a little surprising, but where was the child? To ink herself so, he assumed that it must have died. She must have done it as a remembrance.

That would certainly explain her personality change, Barbossa thought as he entered his cabin. Losing children often destroyed young mothers emotionally. But something nagged at the back of his mind as he paced the floor. He knew that a woman's body changed visibly after childbirth, and Elizabeth looked exactly as she did when he'd last seen her three years ago. He shook his head. Something didn't add up, and Barbossa didn't like when things didn't add up.

Later that evening, after driving himself mad thinking about what Huang had told him, Barbossa invited Elizabeth to his cabin to share a bottle of rum. They chatted for a couple of hours about safe topics – the ship, moving some people around in their duties and what to expect when they docked in Madagascar. Then he decided to ask about the past to see if she would divulge any information.

"So, tell me what the last three years have brought yeh," Barbossa prompted when their conversation had quieted. It was time for bed, but he really wanted to know about the child.

Elizabeth lowered her eyes and shrugged. "Not much really," she answered, picking at a hangnail. When her eyes met his again, they were steely and guarded. "I spent most of my time wandering along the beach or walking through the markets of Ap Lei. Teague and I talked quite a bit, too." She smirked as she pictured Jack's father. "I must know his entire life history after three years. I helped him straighten up that wreck that he lived in, as well. That was really about all I did. Not very exciting for the Pirate King, is it?"

Barbossa studied Elizabeth. Her shifty looks and fidgeting told him that something more had happened. "No, not very," he agreed, deciding it was time to ask her directly about the tattoo again – she wasn't going to mention it, apparently, and he was quickly running out of patience. "Is that where yeh got those inked marks? Ap Lei?"

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably where she sat. The wrist bearing the marks had been resting on the table, but she slid it off and into her lap after his question. She hadn't discussed her tattoo with anyone but Teague, and that had been more out of necessity than want. "Yes," she answered simply, looking down at the Asian writing, sadness emanating from her entire being. She remembered the day that she'd gotten it like it was yesterday. "In one of the markets." She should have kept her wrist wrapped and concealed. There were no secrets among pirates, and nothing was sacred. She'd hoped that no one would pay it much mind since others had them – she should have known better.

"That be a bold way to display yer love for Turner," Barbossa said purposely.

Elizabeth met his gaze then. "Who said that's what it meant?"

Barbossa lifted one eyebrow in feigned surprise. "Don't it?"

Elizabeth looked away and rubbed her wrist as if it hurt. It did still hurt, just not physically. "I'd rather not discuss it," she said stiffly. "It's late. I'm going to sleep."

Barbossa had assumed that his question would make her leave, but he'd had to ask. "Pretendin' it never happened won't make it go away." His voice was oddly gentle as he watched her stand and walk away from the table.

Elizabeth opened the door and paused, but she didn't turn around to face him; she couldn't. "I know," she whispered, softly closing it behind her.

Barbossa sighed and shook his head. Her response wasn't what he'd hoped for, but something told him she'd tell soon; he'd never known her to keep a secret very long. He just had to wait until – as Sparrow would say – the opportune moment.

Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter. Just to update, Mom has completed 2 chemo treatments, and I don't mind telling you that this is THE hardest thing that I've ever had to deal with for so many different reasons. Understand that updates will happen, but they will be delayed. Everything revolves around Mom right now. Anyone dealt with lymphoma before or with just being a caregiver? Let me know. Anything would help because I am certainly struggling.

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