Note: This chapter contains some light swearing, light violence, and a little more "marital bliss." Read responsibly or not at all. Thank you!

It was the first time that Elizabeth and Jack made port as a married couple, and it had to be Tortuga.

Gibbs told Jack when he picked them up again in the Pearl, that there was at least one man aboard who didn't want to stay with them if they weren't going to continue as pirates. True to his word, Jack sailed to Tortuga so that the man could get dropped off. Gibbs had wanted to sail straight to the Isla Muerta first, but Jack refused. If they picked up the treasure first, the deserter or deserters would have to get their share. If they dropped off the deserters first, that meant more treasure for the remaining crew.

"That way it's a reward, see?" Jack told him. "If they want to do the right thing, this may be the only reward they ever get. But look on the bright side: at least it's immediate!"

Gibbs agreed swiftly.

Tortuga was exactly the same as it had ever been—sailors drinking, whoring, and brawling all over town. The air stank with that special tortuga blend of fish, alcohol, cheap perfume, vomit, sweat, and piss.

Elizabeth, walking between Jack and Gibbs in her sailor's outfit, replete with sword, wrinkled her nose. "I can never get used to the smell," she remarked.

Gibbs chuckled. "Aye, it stays with ye for a while."

One of the clusters of people they passed had a statuesque blonde detach herself from it and step out onto the street behind them. "Well, if it isn't Jack Sparrow!" she called out. "Have you ever got some explaining to do!"

Jack whirled, with his usual flair, and swaggered over to her. Gibbs and Elizabeth trailed behind.

"Ah, Giselle! You're absolutely right, darling. I do owe you an explanation. I can tell you, however, that you'll get it a lot sooner if you tell me what it is I'm supposed to be explaining," Jack said.

"You haven't been to see me in almost a year!" she pouted. "I had to hear from others that you'd even been in Tortuga at all! Now, I ask you, what could be so important that you had to make a stop in Tortuga and not come see your Giselle? Hmm? Let's hear that explanation, Jack!"

"Truth?" Jack asked.

"Of course!" she simpered.

"I got married."

"What?"

Jack nodded. "I got married."

"You? You got married? Who'd marry you?" Giselle asked, still skeptical.

"No one you know."

"I know a lot of people."

"She runs in different circles from you, pet."

"Just tell me, Jack. Who did you marry?"

"Governor's daughter, actually."

SMACK! His head whipped around when she slapped him.

"A likely story!" she cried. "You don't have to tell me lies, Jack Sparrow! Feeding me all that rot about getting married, and a governor's daughter at that—no, if you don't want to see me anymore, you can just say so. No need to lie!"

"'M not lying!" Jack protested, holding his cheek. "And I don't want to see you anymore!"

Giselle pulled back to slap him again, but Elizabeth had her dagger at Giselle's throat in less than a second.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on Jack Sparrow!" she hissed.

"'Oo are you, 'is bodyguard?" Giselle demanded, holding her head very straight.

Elizabeth smiled without humor. "You might say that. I do have an interest in guarding his body. I'm his wife."

"You?" Giselle asked, eyeing Elizabeth's outfit. "Wife! You're thin as a lath. Didn't know Jack's tastes ran to young boys… or girls who look like them."

Jack scowled. "Shut it, Giselle!" he ordered.

Giselle went on taunting Elizabeth, heedless of the dagger at her neck. "You look like a cabin boy! Jack, I thought you said you married a governor's daugh'er!"

Elizabeth twisted the dagger a fraction. "My name is Elizabeth Swann… Sparrow," she introduced herself. "Daughter of Weatherby Swann of Port Royale."

Giselle's face fell. Hispaniola wasn't so far from Jamaica that she hadn't heard of Governor Swann.

"Giselle 'Arris," she replied. "You can put the knife away, Miss Sw—er, Mrs Sparrow."

Elizabeth slowly lowered her dagger. "You ever lay a finger on my husband again and you'll see it much closer," she warned, waving it under Giselle's chin before sheathing it again. "And another thing: you're not his Giselle. You're to have nothing to do with him from now on, you hear me?"

Giselle crossed her arms and huffed. "You going to let this cabin boy talk to me like that, Jack?"

Jack said, "Giselle, she's my wife. I'll let her do whatever she damn well pleases. If it pleases her to defend my honor from every other woman I've ever bedded—

"—And it does!" Elizabeth put in, before she turned away and started talking with Gibbs.

Jack grinned and went on, "—Well, that's her prerogative, innit?"

"But Jack!" Giselle wailed. Then she started to smile, and leaned in close to him to whisper. "You ever want to be with a real woman again—I mean one who looks and feels like a woman—Jack, you just come see me."

"Giselle, you're already on her bad side 'cause of my past with you. If you want to avoid her worse side, ye'd better keep yer distance, dearie."

Elizabeth had her back to them and appeared to be wheedling Gibbs for something. Jack heard the words "Blackbeard" and "bottle."

Giselle gave Elizabeth a long look, taking in the hat, the sword, the dagger, the brace of pistols, and gulped. "What—what's her worse side like?"

"She faced down Davy Jones on his own ship," Jack said. "You'll notice that he's dead, and she's still alive. That was after she killed me, brought me back to life, and got voted the Pirate King. Most recently, she defeated Blackbeard's daughter singlehanded and sent her packing back to Spain."

Giselle's eyebrows rose and her mouth fell open a little.

"That's the woman I married," Jack said proudly. "Governor's daughter, Pirate King, fights like a hurricane… and with all that, she's the sweetest, cleverest, most beautiful and beguilin' woman in the world." He looked over at Elizabeth, apparently forgetting that Giselle was even there.

Elizabeth, still conversing with Gibbs, felt his eyes on her and looked around at him, falling silent mid-sentence. She looked at him for a long moment, and then smiled.

He smiled back and strode over, closing the gap between them. He slid his arm around her waist and tenderly kissed her mouth.

Gibbs cleared his throat pointedly.

"Huh?" Jack looked up. Gibbs nodded in Giselle's direction.

The tall blonde woman stood there alone, watching them with a sad smile. "I, uh, I wish you both joy," was all she said, and then she turned and started walking away. Her shoulders were slumped a little.

Jack noticed Gibbs watching her walk away. He caught Gibbs' eye and jerked his head in Giselle's direction. "Catch up later, eh?" he said.

Gibbs broke into a grin, nodded, and hurried off after Giselle. "Giselle! Miss Giselle!" he called.

She slowed down and smiled as he caught up to her and offered his arm.

She took his arm and started off. "'Ow've you been, Josh? Haven't been to see me in ages!" she said with a red-lipped pout.

"Ah, well, you know how it is. Never a dull moment, when you work for Jack."

Jack went around town and saw to the provisioning of his ship, and a while later Gibbs caught up to the both of them as they were heading toward the tavern. He looked a little disheveled, but quite pleased with himself. Jack greeted him with a grin and a bump of fists as Gibbs fell silently into step with him and Elizabeth as they walked up the street.

Jack led the way to his usual tavern, the Faithfull Bryde. He waved them to a table in the corner while he went to the bar to pick up his mail. Elizabeth and Gibbs sat down and ordered their drinks. Elizabeth was about to resume her pleading for Gibbs to tell her the story of the Pearl in a Bottle, when suddenly Gibbs looked up and his face fell. "Oh, dear," he said.

"What's the matter?" she asked, turning around to see what he was starting at. A buxom, auburn-haired beauty had approached Jack and was talking to him. As Elizabeth watched, the woman reached out and touched Jack's beard, apparently remarking on the missing braids. The touch turned into a brief caress.

"She'd better get her hands off my husband," Elizabeth said to Gibbs, who only smiled.

Jack stepped back and said something that infuriated the woman—Elizabeth fervently hoped it was about his marriage—and the woman drew back and smacked him right across the face.

"That tears it," Elizabeth muttered, crossing the room in four swift strides. An instant later, Elizabeth had the woman's arm bent painfully behind her back. She gasped in pain.

"What's this one called, Jack?" Elizabeth asked.

"This is Scarlett, darling," Jack replied, holding his face. "Scarlett, meet my wife."

"Wife?" Scarlett exclaimed.

"Yes, wife, Scarlett," Elizabeth said, twisting Scarlett's arm a little more, just for emphasis. "I may call you Scarlett, may I not? I think, as you have carnal knowledge of my husband, I have a right use your Christian name. You may call me Mrs Sparrow. Here's how it's going to be: Jack is off-limits to you from now on. If you ever so much as touch him again, friendly or no, I'll make sure you're scarlet, all right! I know Jack hasn't always acted the gentlemen—probably he made you promises, or owes you money, hmm?"

Scarlett nodded.

"You're going to release him from whatever promises he made to you, as the ones he made to me in the eyes of God and man supersede them. You're going to generously forgive whatever money he may owe you. And if you ever strike him again, I will track you down and make you suffer. Now I'm going to let you go, and you're going to walk away. Savvy?"

Scarlett nodded, and Elizabeth released her arm.

Rubbing her aching shoulder, Scarlett eyed Elizabeth from the top of her tricorned head to the bottoms of her folded leather boots. Elizabeth casually rested her hand on her sword-hilt, as Jack slung an arm over her shoulders.

Scarlett blanched. "Congratulations!" she said, and scurried away across the room.

Author's Note: If you ought not to be reading love scenes, due to age, maturity, personal preference, or sensitivity reasons, please skip this next section.

Jack was grinning widely. "We'll be needing a room as well," he told the innkeeper, who was bringing him his mail.

"We're not going back to the ship?" Elizabeth asked.

Jack took his mail and the room key from the landlord, and waved goodbye to Gibbs, who gave him a nod and a knowing smirk. Jack took Elizabeth's hand and led her up the stairs. "Not tonight, love."

"Why not?"

"Because after seeing the way you put those tarts in their place, I have to have you."

"You have to—what?" Elizabeth exclaimed, her voice coming out almost a squeak of surprise. She lowered it to a whisper. "Here? Now?"

"Now," Jack confirmed. He unlocked the door to their room and ushered her in. "Here. Right here."

"But—what—why...?" Elizabeth was nearly speechless with shock.

Jack locked the door behind them, grabbed her hand, and reeled her in. "I don't think you realize what it does to me when you get all badass like that, my darling," he said, taking off her hat and starting to undo her shirt-buttons. He kissed her neck and bit her shoulder as he pushed off the shirt.

"I think I'm starting to get some idea," Elizabeth replied, with a gasp as he slammed her up against his body. She responded fervently to his fiery kisses, and then laughed a little as she pushed him away so she could tug off her boots. "It's a little odd, though."

"What, love?" Jack asked, pulling off his own boots and dropping them to the floor.

"That you should like it so much. It's not exactly ladylike," she said.

Jack scoffed as he removed his sword, pistols, and sash, before grabbing the tail of his shirt and pulling off his shirt and waistcoat over his head in one smooth motion. Now clad in trousers alone, he reached for his dagger. "Whatever you're still wearing when I reach you is getting cut off you," he warned her with a hot-eyed look as he took a step toward her, and then another.

Elizabeth shivered and shoved her trousers down, kicking them off and facing her husband in her naked skin. She bent over and scrabbled in her belt for her own dagger. Jack let out an appreciative groan at the sight of her bent over. She found the dagger and straightened up to face him. "The same goes for you," she informed him, brandishing the knife. "In five... four... three... two..."

His trousers whooshed to the floor and he stepped out of them. "You're gorgeous when you're only wearing a dagger," he told her. "Not sure I want you wavin' it around me bits, though."

Elizabeth grinned, baring her teeth. "Doff your trousers when you're told to like a good lad, and I won't need to, will I?" she teased, eying him with appreciation as she sheathed and set down the dagger.

Jack was only a couple of inches taller than she was, and his body was actually rather slight, but Elizabeth remembered how incredibly strong he was. He had effortlessly supported her weight along with his own when he had parachuted her off the Dutchman a year ago. His skin was golden-brown all over, and his body—though not heavily muscled—was toned, athletic, and flexible. The scars made him look dangerous; the shorter hair and beard made him look years younger, and the wicked gleam in his eye gave him a puckish appeal, like a mischievous little boy. Now that Elizabeth knew how much pleasure he could give her with his body, she found him impossible to resist.

"Besides," she continued as an afterthought. "I like your bits."

Jack pulled her into his arms, her body pressed against his, skin on skin. "They're quite fond of you as well," he assured her, finding her lips with his own again.

Elizabeth broke the kiss and pulled him down to the bed with her. "Good arrangement," she panted.

Jack gave a grunt of agreement, and then there was no more talking.