Hey, Sorry it's been a while and I'm sure it's not worth the wait, but here you go. And the spin-off is up if you want to have a look. You don't have to and I'll love you just as much either way.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

LV
XX

A high white ceiling cut me off from the sky and walls boxed me in, hiding me from the outside world and everything in it. The only access to everything I loved was a window. A window that, through my own choice, remained shut and locked. Sunlight showed everything clearly, but even it couldn't warm the room. I had been having such a good dream. Well, the ending had scared me, but the fact of the dream was I was free. Free to be with the man I loved and the one who loved me back for all the right reasons. It was too high a cloud to come down from quickly. It was best to take it slow on the way down. It gave me more time to prepare for the landing, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

It was very bright. Brighter than it usually was. Had I shut my curtains properly?

Then my senses slowly started to wake up and catch up with my mind. I felt something. A breeze tickled my face. I froze for a moment I even stopped breathing just to listen. I could hear the sea. I could hear the sea from my room too, but never like this. It was almost right by my ear and it sounded different. I didn't wake me up be shrieking at me, it brought me gently back to reality. I ran my tongue across my lips. They were deliciously salty. And I could hear a heartbeat. A heartbeat that wasn't my own. I started breathing again and a beautifully familiar scent filled my senses. "Jack?" I said before I could stop myself. His chin moved from the top of my head and I felt his lips on my skin as he kissed my forehead.

"Hello, Belle," I could hear the smile in his voice. I removed my head from his chest to look up at him. I pressed the back of my hand against his cheek and studied his face for any missing details. Nothing.

"You're real," I said aloud.

He grinned his special Jack-grin, reserved only for people he thinks are slightly mad. I get that grin a lot. "I was last time I checked," he said. I smiled and leaned in to kiss him.

***

I smelled where we were headed before we got there. Tortuga was busy and a live with people. The usual drunken scene was taking place and I wondered how the people of Tortuga ever rested. They always seemed to be on the go. It must be the rum acting as a kind of fuel to keep them going. It seemed to work for Jack. We pulled up alongside the jetty where ships of all different sizes and shapes and flying an array of colours and flags were moored. Much more beautiful and exciting than the docks of Port Royal, even if they were more disorganised, but that was the attraction. Jack leapt up and out and tied the boat in one of the few free spaces and I scrambled out after him.

"Where to now?" I asked. I wondered what his plan was, but we hadn't discussed it all. I couldn't see the Pearl, but I presumed that it was what he was here for; it was the most important thing in the world to him. But I could see no ship that even slightly resembled her.

"The Faithful Bride," he said. "We can get a room there, better than sleeping in that bloody boat, eh?"

Having had no experience with staying in Tortuga I said nothing and hoped that its living accommodations were better than the smell and more hygienic than the streets. I had previously thought that it was impossible for anything to be more unsanitary than the streets of Tortuga, but I didn't want to assume this and be in for any kind of shock. A pirate's life was unpredictable at the best of times.

Tortuga was, as ever, completely unchanged. The pub that we had first been united with Gibbs was just as noisy and messy rowdy as ever. It was full of people who seemed to be eternally drunk. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if he was lying out the back of the pub in a pile of pig muck. I thought that Jack may want a drink first, but he pushed his way straight through the crowded tavern to where a small, unshaven man was standing serving the already drunk men and women. Jack pulled me along behind him by the hand and shouted to the bar tender over the rabble.

"Got a room?" he asked.

"Aye," the man replied. The scars on his face twisted and showed up white as he spoke. "One left. You want it?"

"Aye."

"Usually price then," said the man, scrubbing an empty glass with a dirty rag. His eyes slid over to me as Jack fished out some money. "Ain't seen you before," he commented. I felt like I was on exhibit. I stared back at him, hoping that if I stared hard enough he would stop staring at me.

"Isabel Norrington," I said. He grunted and nodded. He went back to his glass and said no more. Clearly I didn't get to know his name in return. He took the money from Jack in exchange for a key, spared us another grunt and turned back to his customers. Jack tugged on my hand.

"C'mon, love," he said. I followed him through the crowd to where a dimly lit spiral staircase ascended into the gloom. The stairs were carpeted in a worn and faded threadbare material and it was only wide enough for us to go single file. It opened onto a landing where several doors turned off and it was in front of those doors that Jack stopped me. He slipped the key into the door and it juddered open. He took my hand and bent to press his lips to the back of it. "After you, Madame," he stepped back to let me in. I smiled and walked in. It was a reasonable size and surprisingly well furnished. There was a large double bed in the middle of the room, a small table and three chairs by the window which looked out onto Tortuga and the harbour. Jack lit some candles as I sat down on the bed, lost in thoughts about the future. Where would we go? What would we do? Whatever it was, I had no doubt that it would better than I could even try to imagine. The mattress dipped as Jack sat down next to me and I turned to ask him what we were going to do, but I could tell by the look in his eyes and I knew he had something else on his mind. My heart began to beat a little faster.

His arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer. His gaze was so intense it sent tingles racing up and down my spine. They played havoc with my mind. I couldn't think properly. I didn't want to think. Thinking was so… it was so…

He ran his thumb along my jaw line until it stopped at my chin and he tilted my face very gently upwards. With his thumb still under my chin he traced the outline of my lips with his forefinger. His hand then moved to the side of my face and slid down to rest on my neck. I closed my eyes. I could feel his breath on my face. My own breathing seemed different somehow. It was less… less… His lips brushed ever so lightly against mine and every word I had ever known was completely wiped from my mind and my memory. Every word except 'Jack'. The warmth of his lips pressed harder on mine and his kiss was so gentle it made me want to cry. My arms slipped around his neck and I kissed him back. One of his hands moved to the base of my spine and he kissed me harder than before. I pulled him closer to me and pressed my body right up against his, but still I didn't feel close enough. No matter how tightly I held him I wanted more. It wasn't just something I wanted; it was something I needed too. I had to be closer to him or the desire to be nearer would burn me up from the inside out.

Every touch made my skin prickle as if it were on fire and each kiss made my lips tingle a little more. His kiss deepened and all the breath I had left me. I let him push my onto my back without any resistance, but when his hands moved to untie my dress something made me stop him. I pulled away. He propped himself up on his hands to look me in the eye. "What's the matter, Izzy?"

"I… I can't…" I said. I was in as much shock as he was at hearing me say that. I could see the doubt forming in his eyes and I rushed to stop it from staying there. "It's not that I don't love you Jack, I really, really do, and it's not that I don't want to… I just… I can't. I don't really know how to explain it…"

"I do," he said, brushing the hair from my face. I waited for him to go on, not quite sure what to expect. I didn't want him to be upset. I didn't want him to doubt me or think I didn't love him. I especially didn't want us to argue. Not now. But I didn't really see how he could explain it when I, myself, did know how to. "You're too moral," he said simply. "Some things we're taught are harder to forget than others."

He knew me better than I knew myself.

"Sorry," I said quietly. He smiled.

"Don't be, it's not your fault Izzy." He moved up to rest his head on a pillow and pulled me up beside him. I laid my head on his chest and he kissed the top of my head. Guilt and worry were twisting around in my stomach. What was wrong with me?

"I love you," I said, so I could be sure he knew that.

"I know," he hugged me tighter. "And I love you too. That's why I can wait, love. I've waited a long time for you, another while won't hurt."