The endless view of open water around us created solitude that Jack and I haven't had since meeting again on Queen Anne's Revenge. It also created a sense of hopelessness, but Jack knew where we were going. I was unfortunate enough to be the one rowing.

I looked down at my raw, tingling hands. My palms were red and covered in bloody blisters from the excessive rowing of the wooden oars. Jack said it was my punishment for abandoning him in Tortuga twenty years ago, and that was punishment just for being part of it. That was without even informing him that it was my idea so I was glad that I kept that piece of information to myself.

Jack grabbed his hat that was laying by his feet and placed it on his head. Sweat was gathering above my eyebrow and my shirt clung to my skin as my entire body hurt from the vigorous workout. I wished I had my hat, but it was still on the Queen Anne's Revenge. The sun was blazing down on us with no end in sight. My palms were on fire as I continued to row, trapping us in the open ocean.

Jack finally spoke up, "the years without you have been... tolerable, but not ideal."

My arms were aching from the various muscles that were working hard to fight against the waves. But the pain subsided when Jack spoke. I said back, "just admit you missed me."

He shook his head and didn't look at me. "I never said that."

Jack's gaze fixed on me and I kept trying to row the unsteady boat. Suddenly, he reached forward and took the oars out of my hands and placed them in the boat. I was confused until he began to crawl over towards me. I leaned back in my seat, using my abs to keep me from falling. His hands were on either side of me, gripping the sides of the wooden boat to steady himself.

The wood creaked gently under his weight. He gripped the boat so tightly, I thought the wood was going to break. "You are the very scourge of my existence," he hissed in a low voice. My lungs squeezed all the air out of them, and then he said, "and the object of all my desires. I'm in love with all of you. The east, the west, the north, and the south of you I wish to further explore. Especially the south. I'd love to gain complete control of you, darling."

"Jack—" I breathed out.

He ignored me. "Night and day, I have dreamt of you. I did not ask to be plagued by these... stirrings. I am driven to distraction every time you enter the room. Do you even know all the ways a lass can be seduced? Just imagine all the things I could teach you, darling."

Jack leaned down, just enough for his lips to brush against the skin of my cheek. A shiver followed his chapped lips, but it made my eyes roll up to the sky. He continued with a voice of velvet, "I have spent every day wanting you, dreaming of you, and dreading the day when I find you betrothed to death, or another man. The temptation of you has been irking me."

My toes curled in my boots as Jack got closer, and I was slowly losing myself to him. His eyes were intense and a smirk emerged across his lips as we were falling for each other all over again. The years haven't changed him, and I found that to be a good thing.

Jack slipped off his jacket and he let it fall to the floor of the boat. He grabbed the collar of mine and slowly slipped it off my shoulders. I could feel the raw passion and desire that leaked from every pore of his body. My eagerness and burning hunger for Jack's lips overwhelmed me as my hands moved along his shirt, feeling the fraying strings and the textured linen just under my fingertips until I reached his collar. My fingers scrunched the fabric into my palms, and I pulled him down so his lips were smashed to mine.

Jack pulled back gently, only to come back more powerful and dominating. This made my butt slip off the seat and I fell to the floor boards of the boat with Jack on top of me. The hand that was supporting his weight quickly caught itself on the rim of the boat by my head, causing his arm to be up by his ear. His other hand quickly caught my lower back, and he lifted me up slightly so my hips were against his with my back arched. This didn't stop him, not even to come up for air. My fingers tingled with excitement as I gripped his shirt in my hands. When he touches me, I know that heaven is real. I bit his lip slightly, and softly moaned against his swollen lips, "Captaine."

Jack kissed me like he had been lost in the desert for years and I was his first drink of water. He carefully lowered my down and he used his hand to trace my torso, down my hip, and he grabbed my thigh eagerly. I felt a little moan escape my lips when I finally allowed myself to surrender to him. His hand slid further down my leg until I felt him take off my boot without pulling away from our kiss. He only deepened it. We rocked the boat, which caused water to slosh up and soak through my white shirt. Jack's lips moved to my jaw, and I felt him suck and nibble gently on my tanned skin. This allowed me to look down and see that my shirt was now see-through from the sea water. I wish I had a waistcoat or something to provide a bit more covering.

Jack's lips pressed against my jaw and he slowly made his way down my neck. I let my head hang back to grant him full access. Against my skin, he mumbled breathlessly, "you are as beautiful and wild as the untamable sea. Tu me fais de l'effet."

I chuckled softly in my surprise. "When did you learn French?"

He snickered back, "there's still a lot you don't know about me, love."

Jack's hand made it's home under my shirt. His rough fingers gently traced my torso again before cupping my ribs as if I were a teacup. His rough touch thrilled me as an explosion of gratification waved through my entire body. I grabbed a hold of his hat and transferred it to my own head, and he didn't mind. He brought his lips back to mine and his tongue influenced mine in a faithful dance, as if we've done this our entire lives. He melted and molded my lips, softly going back and forth with my tongue.

"You know, if you were wearing a dress like a proper lady, we could be having a lot more fun, darling," Jack said. I knew he was joking, but was also serious.

"I am not a proper lady."

He smirked, "right you are."

Jack was surprisingly good at slipping my trousers down to my knees. His stroking touch was gentle, and his lips left mine to travel down my chest, stomach, and hips. I felt him humming against me, and I thought he was going to take a bite. He made his way back up to my lips and he nibbled my ear. I could feel him slowly losing control, tormenting himself to wait.

"Don't torture yourself, mon sauvage. That's my job," I managed to say with the steadiest voice I would muster.

"I take a cruel joy in seeing you tremble and writhe beneath me. Hearing your groans and wails makes me want to go on without pity until you beg for mercy. Until you lose your senses," Jack said breathlessly.

"You are where I want to go. I missed you."

His hand slipped into my thick, tangled hair and he wrapped his fingers around the strands. He pulled my head back gently, making my chin stick up in the air. He came back down, hovering over my body and kissed every inch of my bare skin. He managed to say, "get on your knees and show me how much you missed me."

Suddenly, a voice rang out calling his name, which made Jack pull his lips from mine and hang his head in annoyance. His forehead was pressed against my chest as he let out a growl from the back of his throat. He groaned, "now what?"

"Jack! Jack!" The voice echoed to us. Jack lifted up his head and we exchanged looks of confusion. Who could be out here? "Jack! Over here!"

I sat up enough to look off to the side of the boat and noticed that the current was bringing us toward an island, with Gibbs standing on the sand calling out to us. He waved his arms in the air so we could see him. I whimpered softly and rested my head back down. Who am I kidding, I was prêt-à-manger. Why are we always interrupted?

Jack looked back at me and leaned down again as he said breathlessly, "let's ignore it."

He dipped down and pressed his lips against mine. His hand slid further up my shirt, exposing my stomach to the blistering sun and his rough hand massaged my breast tenderly. His mustache tickled my nose as his tongue begged for access. I gave in, but just for a moment. I hummed against his lips as I put my hand on his shoulder and pushed him up. He looked back at me like a puppy dog with his big brown eyes, confused and dismayed by my action. I said, "I am not going to make love to you on a boat with Gibbs watching."

Jack kept his position and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm a man, love. I have needs."

"I have needs too. And I need Gibbs not to be here," I sassed.

"Gibbs has had three wives. He knows how this works," he sassed back.

He dipped down again but I pressed him back up before his savory lips could meet mine. "Jack. That's weird."

"Come on. Let's get a little seaman in you."

I laughed, "Jack—"

"That's what I call 'im. Little Jack." He grinned.

"Jack."

"I want you, love, all of you. Every inch. Every crevasse. I want to explore you, for you are the greatest wonder I've ever laid my eyes upon. I just want you. I've waited for you for years. Please, don't make me wait another moment."

I smirked at him and simply said, "pity."

Jack grumbled, "fine," as he sat back up. He reached for my boot and slid it back on my foot for me. I pulled my trousers back up and made sure they weren't going to fall again. He sighed and said, "I swear to the heavens above, you will be mine."

"Whatever you say, Captaine."

As my punishment for this, Jack made me row the rest of the way to shore. The break felt great, and now the waves were working with me so it made the short journey not so bad. I had the motivation to bring us to shore quickly so we can pick up where we left off.

We reached the sand and Jack ran up to Gibbs while pulling his jacket back on. I was bringing the longboat further up the shore as the sun was going down. I grabbed my coat from the boat and began to put it on so Gibbs did not see me indecent from my wet white shirt.

"Gibbs, you filthy, besotted shell back, you made it!" Jack shouted with glee. I followed him up the beach towards Gibbs.

"Aye!" Gibbs said, sitting on a pile of drift wood.

"And I trust we managed a profit from our joint enterprise?" Jack asked.

"Feast your eyes," he said and gestured to a ship in a bottle that he placed next to him on the wood.

"A ship in a bottle?" I asked and turned to Jack. "We came all this way... just for a ship in a bottle?"

Jack got down on his knees and smiled at the bottle. "Not just any ship, love, the Pearl."

"Oh, I thought you were joking," I said, remembering our first conversation when I boarded Queen Anne's Revenge.

"I never joke about me Pearl."

"The compass led me straight and true," Gibbs said.

"What of Blackbeard's men guarding the ship?" Jack asked.

"I employed the selfsame maneuver we perfected in New Guinea," he answered.

"Oh," he said in a high pitched voice. He turned to me and said, "we will have to teach that to you sometime."

"Teach me everything," I agreed, imploring that I would not be going back to France soon. I was willing to once again sail with Captain Jack Sparrow.

Jack smiled at me with a wink, "will do, darling."

"Seemed a shame to leave an entire fleet behind." Gibbs lifted up a sack full of bottles. Bottles that contained ships that Blackbeard had collected over his years.

"Shame indeed," Jack concurred.

Gibbs chuckled and hauled the sack of bottles over his shoulder, the glass clanking together as Jack looked out into the horizon with the Pearl in the glass bottle between his fingers. He stared into the side of it and flinched as he pulled it back. "I hate that monkey."

"So, the Pearl... any idea how to get her out?" Gibbs asked. He looked between both me and Jack fleetingly. I didn't have any idea, but I grew warm at the thought that Gibbs would listen to my idea. I'm glad I was able to break those misogynistic stereotypes he believed that women fell into.

Jack said, "we shall need a crossbow, an hourglass, three goats. One of us must learn to play the trumpet whilst the other goes like this..." he widened his eyes to Gibbs and wiggled his fingers in the air toward him.

"I know a man with a goat," Gibbs said, unfazed by his oddness.

"I can learn the trumpet," I offered.

"Good, I can go like this," Jack repeated the motion.

"On a more serious note," I spoke up, "if Blackbeard was the one who... how do you say... shrunk it... he must be the key to unshrinking it."

Jack sighed as we continued to walk down the sandy beach, ditching the longboat as the sun began to set. The clouds danced over the hues of yellows and pinks that reflected in the calm ocean below.

"We will figure it out, Annie," Jack said, "we always do."

I looked to him and couldn't help but smile. I seemed to have fallen in love with a jolly sailor bold that ploughs the raging sea. Standing here beside him, it is clear that this is where I'm meant to be. Now that I see him, it's like everything is different all at once. This fight had gone on for far too long, and my stirrings finally won. With my heart pierced by Cupid, I am home wherever Jack is.

"Jack," Gibbs began, "I have to ask... you had the chalices, the water, the tear... you could have lived maybe forever."

"The Fountain does test you, Gibbs," Jack said, "but better to not know which moment may be your last. Every morsel of your entire being alive to the infinite mystery of it all. And life is pretty good, and why wouldn't it be? I'm a pirate, after all!"

I was slightly moved by his speech, praising his character growth from the narcissist I met so many years ago to becoming almost modest. A man worthy of my love. I never thought I'd see the day.

Gibbs then asked me, "is that Jack's hat?"

I looked up with my eyes and realized that I still had his hat on. Jack plucked it off of me and put it on his own head. When he asked why I was wearing Jack's hat, I came up with a lie quick, "to shield my eyes."

"Don't you have your own?"

"Not presently. I have to get a new one."

"She has to get a new one," Jack repeated.

"Perhaps steal one. It's just the pirate in me," I said.

"It's just the pirate in her, Joshamee," he said sarcastically.

I looked at Jack. "Don't repeat everything I say."

"And stop repeating everything she's saying, man," Jack tried not to laugh.

"I'm talking to you!"

"I've missed you two," Gibbs interrupted with a nostalgic chuckle.

"Given the chance, would you try to live forever?" I asked, getting us back on track.

"Of course. And who's to say I won't live forever, eh?" Jack used his hand to emphasize the title, "Discoverer of the Fountain of Youth."

Gibbs and I chuckled warmly. Heroes may be remembered, but legends never die.

"I have no say in it," Jack said as we continued to walk down the beach, "it's a pirates life for me." He winked at me, "savvy?"

I smiled at him, excited to take on new adventures alongside Jack Sparrow. I had every chance to go back home and live my life to what was normal for me, because nothing was ever normal when it came to Jack. But, given the opportunities, I chose to stay with him. Jack traveled wherever the wind took him, and I could not see any other way to live. I promised to be by his side through the ups and downs of pirate life, on the condition that he name me his Captain. Of course, he laughed at me and demoted me to first-mate, but I would regain the title if he died. Which was good enough at the time.

It's a pirates life for me.