Hi, guys! So. This is my first dip into POTC fanfiction. I've dabbled only in Labyrinth before and haven't written in. Wow. 3 years? I've found a sudden resurgence to want to do so, but only in this fictional world at the moment. This is a start.

This story is set 5 years after AWE.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Pirates of the Caribbean franchise nor am I profiting off this story.

Warning: adult themes lie ahead. Ye be warned.

Jack found Elizabeth before he even set foot on the main floor of the notorious of all tavern's in Tortuga.

He was at first oblivious to those who vied for his attention, arrested by the brief glimpse of her. She was even lovelier than before. How that was possible he couldn't say. She'd always been exquisite. Perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder, he thought.

He hadn't seen her in five years. Five years since the battle between The Black Pearl and Beckett's armada. Five years since he saw her leave the Pearl and abandoned whatever hope there had been for the two of them. Not that there had been much from the get-go, he had to remind himself.

In the years that had passed, he had come to terms with his decision to sacrifice his plans of stabbing the heart of Davy Jones if that meant Elizabeth could carry on being happy. He couldn't just let the whelp die. For her sake more than anything. Thinking back to that moment, having Will stab the heart seemed like a good idea at the time. Elizabeth could still be with him. Even if she did only get to see Will once every ten years. But then word spread a year after the battle that Elizabeth had leaned into her title of Pirate King, only to become a rather infamous pirate in her own right. He mostly ignored the tall tales, wondering only what had become of her marriage to Will. He assumed it didn't end in a happily ever after, and he couldn't help but think what a waste it all was in the end. Or was it?

A derisive smile curved his lips when their eyes finally met, shaking him out his previous thoughts. Elizabeth did not return the sentiment. Instead, she lifted her chin and looked away. A deliberate snub. The cut direct, exactly administered but unable to draw blood. She had already inflicted the most grievous laceration years ago, making him rather impervious to further injury. He brushed off her disregard with ease.

Gibbs stepped around him when it became clear that Jack was rooted to the spot and noticed what had caught Jack's attention. He looked at Jack in surprise.

"Jack. It's a fool's errand," he cautioned, already surmising what was going through Jack's head.

Jack's lips, known widely for their ability to charm women breathless, curved in blatant anticipation. "Leave Miss Swann to me. Or, King Swann, I should say."

Gibbs hesitated a moment, then nodded reluctantly and continued to make his way into the tavern, his path clear of the crowd that besieged Jack.

Tempering his irritation with the importunate guests blocking his path, Jack tensely acknowledged the flurry of greetings and inquires directed at him. He didn't want to be bothered by them right now. He had business to attend to.

Those eyes had locked with his for only a moment, but the sharp shock of her magnetism lingered, the pull of it undeniable. It drew him forward, called to him on the primitive level it always had, like a moth to a flame. Despite the danger of burning, he could not resist.

His jaw clenched. It was time to close the distance between them. One look had shaken his control, and all he could imagine was pulling her into his arms, lowering his mouth to hers. He was already familiar with her lips, so erotic in their shape and plumpness, and hoped - no, prayed - that they would melt into his. He wanted to trail his mouth down the slim column of her throat and lick along the ridge of her collarbone. He wanted to sink into her lush body and sate his driving hunger, a hunger that had become so powerful he was very nearly mad with it.

He'd once wanted everything – her smiles, her laughter, her ferocity, and the view of the world through her eyes. Now his need was baser. Jack refused to allow it to be more than that. He was Captain Jack Sparrow, after all.

What would it be like when he held her in his arms again?