Jack's nimble fingers pulled a twisty lock of hair away from her face. Elizabeth felt him gently run the comb through her wavy hair. So careful was he that whenever the comb's teeth met with the smallest of tangles, Jack would take the section in one hand and comb it out with the other, just to avoid pulling her scalp. He carefully but efficiently had removed all traces of tangles and wildness. Though Elizabeth's hair hadn't deteriorated to the point of matting and collecting objects - unlike other pirates who shall remain nameless - all the time she spent in the wind on the sea had resulted in its less than glamarous condition. Will would have been appalled if she'd let it end up looking like Jack's mane, but lately, Elizabeth's locks hadn't looked like those of a governor's daughter. But then she wasn't the governor's daughter anymore, at least not in actions and lifestyle.

Jack adored playing with her hair. He was forever running his hands through the silky strands. He'd been unimpressed to say the least when last night when he accidentily yanked poor Elizabeth’s head right back after encountering one particularly tangled section. Of course it hadn’t helped matters any that Jack’s rings had become ensnared by mess. And it REALLY had been ill-timed because while there was nothing Jack loved more than to be entangled with Will and Elizabeth, getting his hand caught and wound up to the point of breaking up their amorous activities and having to use a dagger to cut himself free, was not amusing by any stretch of the imagination.

As the two of them sat on the bed, Elizabeth facing away, they made easy small talk about the affairs of the ship.

This morning Jack had insisted Elizabeth remain with him while Will took care of their affairs in Port. Will was now more than capable of running the Pearl’s affairs and could easily do so without them. At his questioning gaze, Jack had claimed he and Elizabeth were going to do each other’s make-up and asked if Will wanted to join them. Will had shook his head, rolled his eyes and left. To anyone else Will’s reaction could have easily been mistaken for amusement or annoyance but Jack knew it was more affection and an unspoken, “Fine Jack, if you don’t want to tell me what you two are going to be up to that’s fine.”

Except it wasn’t fine – not totally.

Will had become more comfortable with the idea that not only did he share a relationship with both his wife and Jack, but that the two had a relationship of their own. It had not been an easy adjustment. Indeed, there was a time when Will had very nearly put an end to their triangular arrangement. And though that was some months back, and Will had long since accepted the way things were between his lovers, there was still a nagging feeling of doubt and jealousy in the back of his heart when he left the two alone. Will knew that Jack and Elizabeth had not fooled around without him present until he’d told them he was alright with it, said the words even though he didn’t feel them. His doubts and fears about their relationship had always been obvious and it meant a great deal to him that they respected his hesidency and reservations enough to wait.

Things were good now, stable, but Will was beginning to wonder if he would ever be totally comfortable with the idea of Jack and his wife having sex without him. Lord knows, he’d seen them do it enough times right in front of him (not that he’d ever tire of the sight) but away, without actually being there … it still felt wrong - just a little nagging worry of doubt. Though he did his best to hide it, Will expected Jack probably saw right through him.

So Will had gone into port alone, without question and tried his best not to think about what those two might be getting up to, half so he wouldn’t feel that little itch of worry and half so he wouldn’t spend that entire day flushed and erect, his mind running wild with erotic images of his two lovers at play…

*********

When Jack had finally finished combing Elizabeth’s hair to perfect order and shine, he began braiding it, starting at the sides, near her temples. He made small rows, completing each thin, long braid then repeating the process on the other side of her head to keep the look even.

Elizabeth polished his gun. Or, rather, she polished and cleaned all their pistols. Not only would it help keep their weapons in good working order, it also made them shiny, and Jack loved shiny things. Elizabeth always thought that must be a part of the reason Jack adored her hair so – it was shiny and nearly glittered in the sun. Well, it used to anyway, before she’d let it become such a rat’s nest.

Elizabeth hadn’t noticed until last night what a mess she had become, until Jack had been forced to cut his way out of her ‘medusa’s tentacles’ as Jack had called them. Not like he was one to be saying anything about such things. She had seen and heard right through his harsh words and knew that he was upset about having to hack at her hair like it was some kind of common rope. It really hadn’t been such a big section he’d cut out, barely noticeable really, but all the same…

Anyway, Jack’s love of shiny things was obvious right from the start. Not only was he forever decorating his person with some shiny, reflective, jewelry or bead, but he was forever finding similar things for both herself and Will. By “finding” she meant trading, liberating, pilfering, and occasionally outright stealing.

But not only did the pirate captain love shiny things on himself and his lovers, he also adored his effects to be in all their sun reflective glory. This included his weapons. Will tended Jack’s sword and Elizabeth took care of his pistol. He’d never asked either of them to do it, there had been no formal arrangements, but it was just another of those things they did for each other without really being aware of it. The three of them had settled into routines and habits that complimented one another and Elizabeth thought nothing of polishing Jack’s gun, it was simply another of those routines.

“Luv, you’re going to ‘ave to let me do this more often,” Jack said breaking Elizabeth from her thoughts. “Wouldn’t take near so long if it wasn’t done so infrequen’ly.”

“Mmm,” Elizabeth murmured in agreement. Knowing how Jack loved to play with her hair (and truth be known she rather enjoyed the attention) she could easily see this becoming yet another of their habits and routines. There was an almost peaceful and domestic quality to it really, the two of them quietly tending to each others chores without the need to ask.

Pausing in her polishing Elizabeth wondered aloud, “Jack, are we becoming settled?”

“Wha?” Jack asked as he stopped his braiding.

“I mean are we settling down, are we becoming like married people?”

“Well,” Jack said, grinning as he resumed his work. “I wouldn’t really know, eh? But I suppose not. Unless o’course married folk have three parties in their bond and sail round alleviating merchant ships of their excess goods.”

“But the three of us … are we always going to be the same, to each other, Jack?”

“Not sure where you’re goin’ with this Lizzy,” Jack admitted. He had an inkling about what she might mean but wasn’t too keen on considering such things, and very much disinclined to discuss them aloud.

“Never mind, it was stupid, forget it,” Elizabeth said as she resumed her polishing.

Jack refrained from sighing. He did however indulge in significant eye rolling ending with staring at the back of Elizabeth’s neck. He was suddenly reminded of the year he’d sworn off women entirely, claiming they were more trouble than they were worth. Not that he’d lasted a year. In fact, within a day of being in port he’d already broken his vow (twice in fact) AND been slapped by three different women. But he did remember his sentiments at the time. Women were tricky creatures, sometimes they’d love you and soothe you and rip the eyes out of anybody who even looked at you the wrong way. Other times … well, it was best to take care not to walk into a trap. Jack had the suspicious feeling this might just be one of those moments. Elizabeth was strong and brave and loyal but she was also a woman, and a clever one at that. It was best not to forget that, Jack knew from experience. For all the love and tenderness she was capable of, Elizabeth had a wicked side and Jack wasn’t about to find himself on the receiving end of her anger.

So he waited.

And waited.

And waited some more just to be safe before finally deeming it a reasonable length of time to try to get her to talk.

Beginning a new thin braid, Jack began, “So Lizzy, w’as on yer mind?”

“I don’t think things are ever going to change.”

“This is a bad thing then?” he asked, hearing her tone.

Elizabeth shook her head slightly, much to Jack’s dismay as he tried to follow her movements, hand gripping a section of hair.

“Sometimes I fear Will will never adjust to the idea that we…” She sighed.

“Would very much like to screw like rabbits ou’side his presence?” Jack supplied.

Elizabeth let out a little huff. Jack thought it was rather endearing that she was still capable of sounding like an affronted virginal socialite. He also noticed that she didn’t contradict him either.

“You think he knows?” she asked after a moment.

“Hmm?”

“That when he’s not here we’ve never…”

“Made love?” Jack suggested, playing it safer with his wording this time.

Shifting around on the bed to face him, Elizabeth continued, “It’s not like we haven’t with him here, with him watching. I don’t see what the problem is. It’s not like we’re going to up and leave him.”

Jack let go of the braid he’d been holding, watched as it unraveled a bit. He rested the now empty hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder, his thumb gently stroking over her collarbone. “I don’t know, Luv. It’s jus’ harder for him I guess.” Looking into her eyes he asked, “Does it really bother you so much?”

Elizabeth met his gaze. She could see the question was asked honestly. Jack wasn’t waiting to make some remark about his own sexual prowess and joke that she found him irresistible. “I just hate that he feels like that. I can’t do it if it’s going to hurt him but I can’t go on worrying about it either. It’s not right, Jack”

“It’s just where he is, Darlin’. Maybe if we give ‘im a touch longer to wrap his head ‘round the idea.”

“I’d wait forever if I thought it would help. It’s not that I have to … it’s just … it’s my decision too. He doesn’t own me.”

“Nor, I,” Jack pointed out.

“Exactly. So why do we keep it this way? Why do we barely touch each other away from Will?”

She was right, Jack knew. They did little more than kiss in Will’s absence.

“Look, Lizzy, Will’s not tryin’ to own us. An’ it’s not that we can’t.”

“It’s that we don’t,” Elizabeth said, looking away. She resumed her position, facing away form Jack, and began again polishing the pistol.

Jack leaned forward, resting his chin on her shoulder. He breathed in the scent of her clean hair. He spoke softly, his lips near her ear. “He thinks we do.”

“What?” she asked.

“He thinks we have sex while he’s gone.”

“He told you that?” Elizabeth asked, a note of something that sounded suspiciously like jealousy and hurt in her voice.

“Didn’t need to. Could read it in ‘is eyes.”

“All I see in them is fear. He tries to hide it, Jack, but every time I see it. And there’s something else.”

“Sadness, reluctance?”

“Yes, that too. You think he believes it? That we’ve just gone ahead when it would clearly hurt him so?”

“I think he believes it,” Jack said solemly. Will could never lie well with words but his eyes were even more honest.

“So what do we do?” Elizabeth asked. “What if we’re making him miserable? Nothing’s happening, and nothing can change and it never will!”

“We jus’ need a little change in the dynamic, Lizzy,” Jack said, a plan forming quickly in his head.

*********************

“You goddamn son of a raccoon!” Elizabeth screeched, struggling against her bonds.

“Such things you say,” Jack said in a falsetto voice, grinning as he continued looping the ropes.

Jack had talked her into many things before. This was by no means the first time Elizabeth had found herself in a compromising position. On the other hand, it wasn’t everyday she found herself tied naked to a cannon either…

It was her own fault really. She and Jack had developed a game of sorts when they’d decided to limit contact when alone despite Will’s transparent assurances that he was okay with it. It had seemed like a great solution to their dilema at the time, but Elizabeth now cursed their idea.

Some months back, when Will had been in Port on business, Jack and Elizabeth had first stumbled upon the game. Jack had sent Will to take care of their affairs as he had been wounded in a recent skirmish. Though the damage was not severe, the slice to his leg had Jack laid up to a degree and walking all about town was simply not going to be feasible. Despite Jack’s assurances to the contrary, Elizabeth had insisted on staying with him.

Having been busy with their various tasks running a ship, the Will and Elizabeth had had no time or energy left for fooling around for days. Jack had been similarly busy and in enough pain from the leg wound to have put aside the idea as well.

Within a half hour of Will’s departure, Jack had found his mind not only wandering into several fantasies that included his tongue and Will’s tanned and muscular back, but an erection that was not about to go away.

That was how Elizabeth had found him: ready to go despite being alone, his injured leg still propped up on a pillow.

“Lizzy,” Jack had greeted her. Then he noticed something – Elizabeth had a defininte and familiar flush about her. “Somethin’ ol’ Jack can do for you?” he asked in a suggestive tone.

Elizabeth had come toward the bed, drifted really. Eyes half lidded, lips parted, breath coming just a touch too quickly. Jack, mesmerized by her look leaned forward, closing the distance between them.

And as quickly as the spell had begun it was over as Jack forgot to be careful of his wounded leg. His surprised yelp of pain snapped Elizabeth out of her daze. Suddenly she felt acutely aware that a regular participant in their activities was missing from the room.

“Oh, Jack, are you all right?” she asked, helping him prop his leg back into it’s previous position. “You really musn’t irritate that.”

Jack nodded, ignoring the slowly receding throbbing he’d caused. Though his eyes were closed, he felt Elizabeth sit at the foot of the bed.

“Alright now?” she asked.

“’S fine,” Jack assured. He knew she was aware he detested being fussed over and would not pester him on the matter.

Elizabeth nodded and looked away. “So, it’s been rather bust lately, hasn’t it?”

“Aye.”

“Haven’t had a chance to get to … a number of things.”

“Mmm.”

“You mind if I bring the mending in here?”

“Of course not."

unfinished

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