As Barbossa headed towards the dock, he walked a little taller. Admittedly, he felt somewhat smug, having just left the bed that he'd shared with Elizabeth. But what virile man wouldn't? She was young, she was beautiful and he'd taken her three times. And he finally had a night of pleasure that he didn't pay for – it had been genuine. He'd been starting to think that he'd never have another encounter that didn't involve the exchange of coins, and while that was acceptable to a degree, once in a while, a man wanted to be wanted for him and not for his money.

Elizabeth had certainly made him feel wanted. The looks of pleasure that had danced across her face multiple times, her quiet whispers and sighs in response to his touches, her nails clawing at his back – it was a night that he knew he'd never forget. Barbossa smirked. It would probably become part of his late night fantasies, in fact.

"G'mornin', Mr. Gibbs," he greeted as he approached. "Beautiful day for piratin', ain't it?"

Still sporting a headache from the night before, Gibbs did not return Barbossa's unusual smile. "Aye, Cap'n. You be in a right agreeable mood this mornin'."

Barbossa winked. "Yes, Mr. Gibbs, I am," he agreed, but he didn't expound. "How many crewmen are we waitin' on?"

"Eight including Elizabeth, Cap'n."

"We'll wait a bit longer before leaving then."

After Elizabeth composed herself, she cleaned up, dressed and headed downstairs. Ragetti was waiting for her.

"G'mornin', Mrs. Turner," he greeted with an awkward wave of his hand and a nod. "Cap'n says I'm to escort ya to the dock."

"Would you mind calling me by my first name?" Elizabeth asked, forcing a smile. She'd just climbed out of a bed that she'd shared with a man that was not her husband – the last thing she wanted was to be called by her married name.

"If that's what ya want…Elizabeth," Ragetti answered hesitantly as they left the inn.

"It is. Thank you."

Elizabeth listened half-heartedly as Ragetti tried to make small talk while they headed towards the dock, but she couldn't really concentrate on anything except the sore muscles between her legs; they were a stark reminder of what she'd done the night before. She walked slower than usual, wishing her escort wasn't in such a hurry. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice her discomfort.

When they reached the dock, Elizabeth kept her head down and walked straight onto the next longboat heading for the ship. The captain stood on the side with Gibbs making sure all of his crew was accounted for, but she didn't look at him when she passed – she couldn't. She sat down in the boat, her back facing him, and she spoke to no one. She felt like everyone knew what had happened last night – as if it was written on her face. It was unnerving, and her eyes still burned from her earlier tears. She'd never been so conspicuous. She wished she could just crawl into a hole and hide.

During the quiet boat ride back (most of the crewmen around her were suffering from too much drink to engage in much conversation, thankfully), Elizabeth couldn't stop images from the night before from replaying over in her mind – Barbossa's naked body marked with numerous battle scars atop hers, the searing look in his eyes while they were joined and the rare expression of relaxed contentment on his face that followed – they all consumed her thoughts. In her mind, she had sex with Barbossa all the way back to the ship, and it made her squirm uncomfortably where she sat. His guttural growls and moans echoed in her ears, and it sounded so real to her, she thought for sure that the crewmen near her could hear them, too.

The way he'd made her feel, though – it had been so much more intense than with Will. She told herself that that was normal because Barbossa was older and had more experience, but a part of her wished it hadn't been that way with him; she wanted her husband to be the only one to make her feel such things. She'd also assumed that Barbossa would be rough with her, and she'd been a little leery of that, but he'd been extremely gentle with her. In fact, he seemed to know when to be gentle and when to be rougher without her having to tell him. Her body still tingled from his touch – even sitting in that damned boat – and she desperately wished it would stop. She could still feel his hands upon her skin, touching her most intimate areas, and she could feel his mouth on hers, as well, and it made heat rise to her cheeks that she hoped no one noticed. She was inundated with Barbossa, and it was more than she was prepared to handle.

Everything would be different once they returned to the ship – it would have to be. She could no longer hide behind her marriage. The wall of some semblance of propriety that had stood between them had been destroyed in one night. There were no more secrets between them – they'd gazed upon each other's nakedness, they'd listened to each other's moans and sighs and they knew each other's taste. It created an awkward intimacy that Elizabeth hadn't expected. How could she have expected it? As soon as she'd lain with her husband, he'd left. There was no way she could have known how she'd feel afterwards.

She'd wanted to be with Barbossa, though. She'd made her choice freely. She could have returned to the ship instead of going back to the tavern – she could have returned to the cove even – but that's not what she'd wanted. She'd had weeks of dreaming about him and having conversations with him that – after he'd kissed her in fury – had all converged in her gut and had made her decision for her. It had all felt so right last night.

However, now that the fury had dissipated and the sunshine of reality burned bright upon her, Elizabeth thought that she'd made a horrible mistake.

When Barbossa saw Ragetti escorting Elizabeth to the dock, he'd fought the huge grin that wanted to spread across his face, allowing only a small smirk instead, but it hadn't appeared for long. Not that he'd anticipated her to run up and embrace him, but he assumed that she'd at least look over at him – maybe offer him a shy, knowing glance. But as he watched her walk towards the longboats, Elizabeth did not look at him. She didn't look at anyone.

Barbossa's eyebrows furrowed together. Elizabeth kept her head down, and her arms were folded across her chest as she gingerly headed for the boats. He could tell that she was sore, though she tried to hide it, but he didn't think that that was what was bothering her.

His good mood suddenly wasn't.

Fifteen minutes later as he rode back to the ship in the last boat, Barbossa was irritated – beyond irritated, really. He knew why Elizabeth had acted the way she did, and he didn't like it one bit.

She regretted spending the night with him. And that made him furious.

Barbossa crossed his arms and shifted where he sat. Why did her regret of their time together bother him? He'd gotten what he'd wanted, after all. Why should he care what she thought?

He shook his head. He did care, dammit. As much as he didn't want to, he did care about her, and he didn't want her to have regret for what happened. That hadn't been his intent when he'd kissed her on the dock. It hadn't been his intent when he'd spoke with the innkeeper earlier in the day in the hopes he'd return with her later, either.

As Barbossa continued to see-saw back and forth between guilt and anger, he finally settled on the latter. How dare she try to make him feel guilty because of her choice? He'd not coerced her in any way – not even with drink – yet she was acting as if he had, in a way, as if she had been a victim of circumstance. She was the one that had come back to the tavern. She was the one that had joined him at the inn. She was the one that had whispered in his ear that she'd wanted more numerous times throughout the night.

Barbossa glowered at the boat ahead that she was riding in. Ornery strumpet.

He remembered then why it was bad luck to bring a woman aboard – even if said woman was the blasted king. They were confusing and contradictory creatures that should remain ashore. Sparrow was right – they did vex all men.

Well, he'd not give her reason for offense anymore. If she wanted to wait around ten years at a time for ten minutes with the fumbling whelp, then he'd gladly leave her to it. There would be plenty of dock walkers at the next port who would happily accept his coins in their pockets and him in their beds without making him feel guilty about either the next day. He would not pay for sincerity with guilt.

Blasted woman king. He should have left her in Ap Lei where she belonged.

Elizabeth didn't see much of Barbossa over the next twenty-four hours, and for that, she was grateful. She needed time to think – time to accept what she'd done – so she could figure out what to do next.

She'd told herself that their evening in Madagascar had been a one time occurrence; a moment of weakness. She'd been lonely and missing Will, and Barbossa had been – well, he'd just been the opportunistic pirate that he was. Of course he wasn't going to tell her no or remind her that she was married. Their complicated and tightly woven past had converged upon them on the ship, and then their misplaced desire took the helm, causing them to engage in activity that they otherwise wouldn't have engaged in. Right. That's exactly what happened.

Elizabeth wouldn't tell Will. It had been a mistake, and it wouldn't happen again. There was no need to hurt him over nothing. As soon as her journey was over, she'd return to Ap Lei to wait for the husband that she loved. Yes. That's exactly what she'd do.

Barbossa stomped around the ship, barking orders to the crewmen in a more gruff way than usual. Elizabeth was purposely avoiding him, and he was so mad, he couldn't see straight. He'd considered going back to Madagascar and putting her off there so that she could return to Ap Lei. He wasn't sure how long he'd allow her to continue hiding from him on his own ship.

Suddenly feeling like someone was staring at him, Barbossa turned around and caught Elizabeth's gaze from across the deck. She looked away the second their eyes met, but it was enough time for him to cast a menacing glare her way.

Ornery strumpet king.

Elizabeth was reading when a knock on the door startled her. Her heart beat a little quicker as she walked over, hoping that it wasn't the captain. She wasn't ready for that.

When she opened it, she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Good evening, Mr. Gibbs," she greeted. "Everything all right?"

"As much as it can be," Gibbs answered, looking rather uncomfortable as he nervously fumbled with his hat that he held in his hands. "Um…I've been sent to tell you that you've got crow's nest duty tonight."

Elizabeth frowned. "Crow's nest duty? Since when am I on that?"

Gibbs grimaced and shrugged. "I just do what I'm told, Elizabeth."

"And who told you this?"

Gibbs glanced towards the cabin next to hers. "The cap'n did."

"I see. Well, thank you for letting me know. I'll be out in just a minute."

Gibbs quickly left, and Elizabeth closed the door behind him quietly. The crow's nest? At night? She'd never done that before, but when she remembered seeing him earlier in the day, she knew he was doing it out of spite. The look that he'd given her had been rather hateful – he knew that she regretted what had happened, and he wasn't happy about it, so he was trying to get even by giving her crow's nest duty.

Well, Barbossa would get over it, eventually, she reasoned. She wasn't thrilled about the crow's nest, but one night wouldn't hurt her. She certainly wasn't going to give that old scallywag the satisfaction of getting mad about it because that's probably what he was hoping for.

Bloody pirate.

Elizabeth didn't return to her cabin until almost three in the morning. She'd thought that she'd be able to sleep a bit longer the next morning, but she thought wrong. At six sharp, Pintel banged on the door reminding her that she was to help with breakfast.

Continuing her avoidance of Barbossa, Elizabeth counted down during the day, hardly able to wait to get back to her bed to sleep. She even skipped dinner.

"Again?"

Gibbs didn't know what was going on, nor did he want to. They'd only been back to sea for four days, but everyone had noticed the captain's sour mood and Elizabeth's new responsibilities. The crew whispered about it when neither was around. Gibbs had also noticed how Barbossa's countenance had changed after seeing her behavior when leaving Madagascar, and he had a suspicion that he dared not voice.

"Aye. The cap'n said you're to be on the crow's nest again tonight."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. It was getting harder to not be mad. "Fine," she said through clenched teeth. "I'll be right out."

That bastard. Sending in Gibbs to wake her up. Then she got an idea and grinned. If he thought that he wanted her in the nest, perhaps she needed to show him that that really wasn't the best place for her.

About four hours later, with the full moon high above the quiet ship, Elizabeth started ringing the bell to alert the night crew that she saw something in the distance.

"Whatcha' see up there?" Bellamy, a young lad they'd picked up in Madagascar, called up as he ran closer towards the mast.

"I'm not sure exactly," she replied. "Go get the captain, though. We can't take any chances in this stretch of water."

Bellamy hesitated. This was only his second pirate ship, and the last thing he wanted to do was make his new captain angry at him. "Are ya sure? I've been told that he gets mighty angry when woken up in the middle of the night."

"I'm positive," Elizabeth repeated. "I can't tell if what I'm seeing is possibly a war ship or just a merchant vessel."

"Well – all right then. I'll go get him."

Elizabeth smirked.

A couple minutes later, a very irate Barbossa stomped out on deck with his telescope.

"Where be this blasted ship, Mrs. Turner?" he barked.

"Off starboard, Captain," Elizabeth called down, ignoring his emphasized use of her married name.

Barbossa searched his lens for some time, but he couldn't see anything. What the blazes was she on about? He couldn't see –

And then it hit him. That wench. She hadn't seen anything. She did it just to make the crewman wake him. Barbossa grinded his teeth together and pursed his lips. He was furious. Even more than he had been the past few days. He entertained the thought of dropping her in the ocean right then.

"Bellamy, there be nothin' out there but an overactive imagination," he growled. "Do not wake me again."

As he stomped back to his cabin, the new crewman looked up at Elizabeth in confusion.

"Hmm. Must have been the moonlight on the water playing tricks on my eyes," Elizabeth offered, trying not to laugh.

Teach him for putting her up there in the first place.

Barbossa paced in his cabin. He was too worked up to go back to sleep. Everyone knew that he was not to be awakened if there wasn't an emergency, including her. How dare she do such a thing?

Bloody pirate.

He'd stayed as far away from her as he could since Madagascar – well, as far as he could on the same ship with neighboring cabins, anyway.

He hadn't missed how Elizabeth had moved slower than usual the first couple days back on the ship, and he'd felt rather proud of that. He'd shown her the difference between bedding a man and bedding a boy, and he knew that she wouldn't forget that anytime soon. He hadn't tried to purposely cause her pain, of course, he'd just bedded her properly. It wasn't his fault that she wasn't used to it.

Barbossa smirked. Properly indeed. Three times even.

He decided that he'd let tonight's incident go. He wasn't going to give her the reaction that she was looking for. If she thought that getting him up in the middle of the night meant that he'd take her off crow's nest, she thought wrong. He was going to continue to put her up there, and he didn't care if she woke him every night or not, he wasn't changing his mind. It was a battle of wills, and Barbossa was looking forward to it.

I'd like to thank the 3 people that reviewed the last chapter: BrunetteAuthorette99, Bloodsired and Black Heart.

While I'm so very thankful for their reviews, I'll admit to being a little disappointed at the same time. Last chapter was the 'long-awaited get together' chapter, yet it got the least reviews. It also had 39 views and 36 visitors, not to mention the 35 story favorites and 59 story alerts. AND I had 1 person answer the poll question. One.

Folks, us fanfic writers get no money from our time invested in writing and posting - and trust me, there is a LOT of time spent writing and editing. Hours of it. The ONLY compensation we get is feedback from our readers. When I've got that many eyes reading and only 3 taking the time to leave reviews, that tells me that what I'm posting just isn't worth their time; that it isn't good enough to warrant comments. Even just a 'nice chapter'. And when I post a chapter, that is the best that I'm capable of at that point in time. I'm always striving to improve; writers are never satisfied with their work. But I don't do this full time. I'm 40 years old, I'm still grieving the loss of my mother last year (it's a painful journey, let me tell you), I've got chickens and a garden to tend to, I've got 3 other pets in the house, I've got my business to run, my health blog to update - to be blunt - I don't have the time to put forth more energy (that I don't have, really) into posting chapters that are just going to be ignored. I don't post here because I've got nothing else to do. I post because I'm relying on my readers to give me feedback. I genuinely CARE about what others think. I'm never looking for lengthy reviews - it's about quality, not quantity. Sometimes a simple sentence or two can say more than an entire paragraph.

I'm not begging for reviews. If the work isn't good enough to encourage them, then it isn't good enough. I can only do the best that I can do each time. I'll post this one and maybe one other chapter, but if my writing isn't good enough to even get a two word review, then I don't need to be posting and wasting my time and yours. Who knows...maybe it's this site. Maybe I need to find another place to post.