Title: Dream Lover
Rating: PG-13/T
Originally posted: 31st May 2012
Originally written for: raven_40 – 'Hot Blooded by Foreigner' and 'fantasy'
Notes: AU, borderline-crack.

She knew him before she ever saw him, and the shock of it had her dropping her books all over the floor of the lecture hall. It couldn't be real, she had to still be dreaming, and yet there was no mistaking his face.

Thinking of those dreams made her blush all over, and Elizabeth was sure she was red as a tomato as she reached for her fallen papers, all the while still staring across at the new teacher of her History class. It was ridiculous, she couldn't breathe, even when she gathered her things and took her seat at last.

Clean shaven he may be, and dressed very differently, naturally, but it was him, it had to be. If his name actually turned out to be Jack, she might die. All she knew was his last name so far as it was printed on her schedule quite clearly as Dr. Smith. It wasn't what she knew him as inside of her mind, the fine figure of a man that made up every fantasy she ever had.

It was too difficult to explain, no girl friend she ever had knew of him, he was hers alone, far too private and intimate to be shared, even in a moments madness during Truth or Dare. For a girl who had never been on a boat in her life, it was a ridiculous dream, but she understood the ship out on the high seas meant more about freedom than actually sailing. Besides, her being a Governor's daughter and him a pirate Captain was not so much important as the attraction that existed between them.

The story altered, little by little, over the years, but always ended the same. He wanted her, he always wanted her, and though sometimes she protested in the beginning, it never took long for him to win her over.

It was beyond anything she had known in reality, though to say her experience of men was limited was an understatement. Somehow her imagination came alive when he was there, Jack Sparrow, who refused to be spoken of without his proper title of Captain. He certainly earnt it, dominating her in such a way that Elizabeth would always deny enjoying, except there in a bubble of passion inside her mind.

"Elizabeth Swann?"

He spoke her name so suddenly and in the middle of remembering such a moment, that the poor girl quite forgot herself.

"Captain..." she gasped, immediately coming back to reality as those about her laughed at her ridiculous mistake.

"Er, I'm quite alright with 'sir' or 'Dr Smith," the teacher assured her with a kind smile that turned into a smirk she recognised all too easily.

Elizabeth couldn't breathe, she was sure she couldn't and wouldn't until he looked away. A moment later he did just that, thank the Lord, but her heart still hammered in her chest and this whole class just couldn't end fast enough. There was not a word of the lecture that she took in, her imagination running away with her the entire hour.

It was ridiculous, madness! The only proper explanation was that Elizabeth was actually losing her mind, for this man was American and a teacher, no English pirate captain who wanted to have his wicked way with her, something she welcomed in her dreams and lived for each night as she closed her eyes. Nothing in reality had ever felt as a night in his arms could.

So caught up in thought was she, the class had ended and the room quite emptied out before Elizabeth noticed. Getting up fast she hurried down the stairs and cursed as the papers from her file slid all over the floor again. It was Dr Smith, the only other person left in the room, that came to her aid.

She tried to look anywhere else but at him until she was left with no choice when he handed her the fallen pages he had retrieved from near his feet. The one on top was a sketch she had drawn, a pirate ship with the name she knew it by in script beneath, The Black Pearl.

"Thank you," she muttered, hurrying to turn and run away until he suddenly spoke.

"Do you know what a ship is, luv?" he asked, suddenly with a voice she had only before heard in those dreams she was fighting not to lose herself in. "What a ship is..." he continued as she turned slowly around to face him. "What the Black Pearl really is... is freedom," he told her with a smirk she knew all too well.

"You... you know?" she asked, barely breathing.

"What's the matter, Lizzie?" he asked her then, "Not pleased to see good old Captain Jack Sparrow in the flesh as it were? 'S been a long time, I grant you, but you do remember?" he checked, searching her eyes for the recollection he was sure he'd seen before.

Elizabeth wasn't sure what to think. Those dreams she had, the way he was speaking to her, looking at her, it was as if he knew her truly, as if...

"They are only dreams," she shook her head slightly. "I don't know you, I couldn't be... be as she is, as I appear there."

He was before her in a heartbeat, hands at her waist and eyes locked to her own. She ought to have screamed and run but she didn't, she couldn't, because somehow she knew this was right. Somehow it made sense, even though it ought to make none at all. When he kissed her then, the world fell away, and her blood pulsed through her veins at double speed, hot as lava all at once, and she knew.

Every memory, every second, everything she thought had been imagined was real and true. She kissed him back with passion and joy, because finally she understood what had been lost to her far, far too long.

"Thank you, Jack" she whispered between kisses growing ever more heated.

"We're not free yet, luv," he reminded her of what she already ought to know.

"You came back," she said anyway. "I always knew you were a good man."

There was so much to be dealt with, so very many things they would yet have to resolve, but they were together again, despite all the odds, and that was all that really mattered. Time and tide could not keep them apart, not hundreds of years nor any kind of magical prophecy. Here they were at last, and all they needed, all they truly wanted was each other. Dreams had only sated her for so long, Elizabeth could wait no longer for the reality of those fantasies. From what she was feeling here, pressed up tight against her lover, she knew he felt just the same.

"You know," he said as he leaned back just enough to see her face, "these clothes do not flatter you at all," he told her as he had once before when he last saw her in trousers and shirt. "It should be a dress or nothing" he smirked.

"And you just happen to have no dress in your... office?" she giggled, sure of the words that came next, sure that within moments there would be no words at all, in fact, she was counting on it, on him, her dream lover that was reality again at last.