Entranced by the sight before him Jack moved his hands as though to cup something, but all he did was hold them like that without actually touching the object of his attention. Then, completely unable to help himself, he leaned forward and kissed the sweetly shaped bare bottom of James Norrington. James was sprawled belly down across the mangled sheets of his bed, with one arm hanging over the side. He lifted his head to peer sleepily over his shoulder.

Jack grinned broadly, and then he gnawed on the well-rounded flesh, though not hard enough to hurt or leave a mark. In fact, it probably was little more than a tickle as James squirmed reflexively under him, buttocks twitching a little. Jack stretched out to lie on top of him as though James was a part of the mattress.

They sighed in near-unison. James was becoming accustomed to Jack draping himself all over him. He had admitted as much earlier in the night, after first pretending to be horribly put out by it. Jack knew better. He was getting better at reading his lover's moods and the hidden meanings behind his usually sarcastic words.

"I should go to work," James said half-heartedly. His mouth was pressed against Jack's right bicep, muffling his voice. After a moment he nudged the arm with his nose, simply for the contact. His lover's personality quirks warmed Jack through and through; James usually did things like that when they lay together after lovemaking. His commodore was a surprisingly tactile man for all his emotional distance from most other people. Once James finally got his hands on Jack he was unable to keep them off again. He touched him at length and often, simply because he could.

Jack wriggled, rearranging his arms and legs so that James was more solidly pinned down. "You'd leave me all on my ownsies in your big empty house?"

His lips curving into a smile, James said, "Usually you leave at dawn to meet the tide." He glanced toward the window and the lightening sky. "It seems you are about to miss it."

"I told Ana I might be a day late. If I don't show up by the time the sun rises she'll know I'm not coming today. By this time day after tomorrow she'll look for me in your jail." Jack trailed his fingers through the short silky hair at James's nape.

"So she doesn't know you come to see me?"

Jack placed a soft kiss on James' shoulder, just over the snarling tiger leaping off his right shoulder blade. It tickled him to no end to know that his straight-laced lover had gotten himself decorated when he was a young midshipman. It had also been James's first encounter with rum, a drink he had refused to drink again, until Jack had pouted prettily at him the night they became lovers. James often blamed the rum for that, too, but then he always kissed Jack's frown right off his face, so it wasn't a serious issue between them—more like a starting point.

"Nay. Ana might have her suspicions but so far hasn't voiced them. If she thought she knew she'd crow about it."

"I thought you were the cock of the walk on the Pearl."

"My magnificence is rubbing off on my crew," Jack said haughtily.

"Insufferable," James snorted.

"I have the most beautiful man in Port Royal as my lover, which is definitely something to be proud of."

James laid his head on his arms and attempted to hide the pleased look on his face. He might have succeeded if not for that happy gleam in his green eyes. He wasn't one to bait the hook for compliments, but even so, "Then I am a trophy—a prize?"

Before Jack could answer that they heard a knock at the door downstairs.

"Blast!" James shifted under Jack, tension causing his muscles to tighten suddenly. "Normally I would be dressed and breakfasted by now. Since I gave the household staff the day off my entire schedule is upset." He caught sight of Jack's confusion and explained, "The marines are here to escort me to the fort."

"Surely you know the way by now, love."

"It's a ritual set in place by my predecessor that I've found comes in handy some days, and at night when the cutthroats are out and about."

Jack ran his hand over James's head. He knew his love had enemies. He was glad Jamie had armed protection when he needed it, but he also knew he could take care of himself. Still, a little extra help wouldn't go amiss if it meant keeping James safe.

"Tell them you're sick," he said unwilling to give up just yet.

James turned his head so he could look Jack in the eye. "I can't."

"Why not? Is there something pressing at the fort?"

"No. I am sworn to do my duty to the best of my abilities. Spending the day here with you does not constitute the best of my abilities."

Jack contrived to look thoughtful. "Dunno about that. It seems like you were at your best around midnight and three o'clock this morning.

Trying to remain the picture of commodorial responsibility despite his lack of clothing and the shadow of stubble along his jaw, James lowered his eyes. Before he could work up a response Jack added, "Would the place fall to ruin with you not there?"

"Hardly." Beneath the snort underlying that word, Jack also heard something that told him James was considering not leaving him.

"Does it not run itself on your days away?"

"I could send word for Theo to take charge," James mused.

"Then it's settled."

"Except for one thing..."

Jack's hopes fell. He knew how stubborn his Jamie could be. "What would that be, love?"

"You need to get off me so I can go down and talk to the marines."

"Oh." Grinning sheepishly, Jack rolled to the side so James could sit up. When he was upright he bent to quickly kiss Jack. James' hair was standing on end making him look younger than his thirty odd years; it made Jack smile all the harder. James grabbed his robe, and put it on, covering up all that loveliness with rich, flattering blue, and left the room, tying the belt around his waist as he went.

Jack waited a moment and then crept out into the hallway and to the top of the stairs, where he could crouch at the corner and listen to the conversation below. He peeked around when he heard James say in a raspy voice, "I believe I'm coming down with a cold, gentlemen." He was holding the robe closed at his throat with one hand, his arms were held tightly across his chest and abdomen to reinforce his misery. The marines were obviously trying not to gape at their commanding officer, who stood before them decidedly out of uniform and wig, brown hair tousled beyond saving with a brush, in bare feet, unshaven and wearing only a robe. Jack bit back a chortle at the tableau downstairs.

"Give my compliments to Lt. Groves. While Captain Gillette is away on his mission, the Lieutenant is to oversee the duties of the day. Tell him I have the utmost confidence in him. I think..." and here his voice became even rougher, "I could be..." he paused to cough once, twice, "contagious."

The marines, the two who had apprehended Jack at the dock the day he and James met, took cautious steps backwards—away from the wretchedly sick looking man, saluted, and started to leave. Then one turned back and asked if they should fetch a doctor, which was gratefully declined. They remembered to wish their Commodore good health and finally left. Jack fled back to James's bedchamber. He was lying on his side with his head propped on one hand when James returned, fairly stomping into the room in anger.

His face showed his disgust with himself. "I swear you are corrupting me, Jack Sparrow."

"Never told a fib before, Jamie?"

"That was an outright lie," he snapped.

"All you said was that you might be coming down with a cold." There was a long pause while they stared at each other. "Oops."

James sat on the bed, his displeasure already fading. "Doing a little reconnaissance, were you?"

"That's a military term—too restrictive for my tastes. I prefer to call it information gathering."

Smiling slightly James said, "That is so much clearer."

Jack sat up and crab-walked over to sit next to James who swung his legs up onto the bed and tucked his feet under himself, sitting cross-legged. He barely got settled before Jack moved even closer, finally pushing the robe out of the way and sitting in James's lap with his legs wrapped loosely around his waist, the heat from their bared bodies intoxicating in the closeness.

"Comfortable?"

Jack answered by taking James's face in his palms, taking a moment to rub the scratchy bristles under his fingers, before leaning forward to brush a kiss over his lips. His body had been interested in joining with his lover since he awoke, revived since their last go very early this morning. Now that interest intensified at just the memory of the things they had done together in the last six or seven hours. He reached around to stroke the endearingly pale skin of James's back and shoulders. How a man could live in the Caribbean for ten years and stay untouched by the sun but for his hands and face, was a puzzle to Jack. He silently vowed to kidnap Jamie one of these nights and keep him shirtless and barefoot on the Pearl for a week. Just to darken his skin a bit, of course. Then his hands wandered on James's body, finding a resting place on his hip only to slip down a few seconds later to cup the softer flesh below that.

James retaliated by running his hand up Jack's leg to his thigh and leaving it there. Jack picked it up and placed it farther up on the inside of his thigh. Always a quick learner, James took the hint and stroked the soft skin there with his fingertips. Jack moaned low in his throat, dramatically falling onto his back, arms over his head, and shamelessly opening his legs wider so James could have a better playground if he so wished.

He did wish and Jack quivered in anticipation when long, confident fingers played his body like a finely tuned instrument. Given that James was a talented player of the fortepiano it meant that Jack's senses were quickly spinning out of control from the soaring music that only they could hear... touchsmelltastesee.

The crescendo when it happened crashed over Jack and swept him away on a raging sea of sensation. Jack shrugged off the mixed metaphor as such things no longer bothered him. Dimly he felt James climax right after he did, but it was just too much effort to remain awake so he gathered his love to him and snuggled into his warm, willing body.

#

Jack regained consciousness to a loud thumping accompanied by louder curses. He recognized Jamie's voice doing the swearing and smiled to himself. The Commodore was most definitely a sailor through and through. Burrowing into the sheets, Jack groped around for a pillow and drew it over his head to silence the uproar occurring below decks... downstairs. The sweet siren of sleep had just drawn him back into her welcoming arms when several pairs of booted feet stomped into the bedroom. Jack peered cautiously out from under the pillow. He saw two Naval uniforms, tensed, panicked, and was about to scramble out from his nest, when James sat on the bed and planted a hand firmly on his back to hold him in place. Jack relaxed only to the point where he was not about to take flight and remained where he was, even though he felt James's anger at the intrusion transmitted through his touch. James seemed to want him to remain anonymous. Jack thought hard about where he had left his clothing and effects. They would surely give away his identity. Then he remembered he had left them downstairs in the kitchen where he had sneaked in and promptly seduced James. In fact, Jamie's uniform was down there as well, the wig hanging, as he had last seen it, on a nail in the pantry door.

"Oh god, James, my apologies," a deep voice said.

The other speaker didn't exactly speak but merely sputtered in embarrassment.

"When Murtogg and Mulloy reported that you were feeling under the weather, I never dreamed that you had... company."

Sounded like the fellow had not yet figured out who Jamie's visitor was. Jack surreptitiously nudged the covers further over his head.

"Yes, well I suppose my reputation must have prefaced that lack of assumption, Theo."

Ah, it was Groves and another officer. Jamie sounded highly put out that no one—not even his best friend—would think he had a lover.

"Forgive us, James," the other one said finally finding his voice. "It is my fault we barged in here like this. When I returned early from the mission all set to report to my commander and heard from Theo that said commander was ill, I immediately thought the worst and rushed right over here."

"With Theo hot on your heels, of course," James commented dryly, his tone considerably looser than before. A bit of humour had crept into his voice. "Your concern, Andrew, is as always overwhelming but much appreciated... this time."

And that would be the good Captain Gillette, Jack surmised. If he recalled correctly Gillette was not an admirer of Captain Sparrow, but Groves was more open to the idea of a pirate being a human being rather than something to be put on display on the gallows of Dead Man's Cay. Obviously James had a plan or he would not have allowed them up here to his private room, especially not while Jack was present and in his... present state of undress.

"Maybe we should go," Groves offered haltingly.

James sighed. "No. This is most..." He stopped and everyone waited.

"Gentleman... Andrew, Theo, you are my best friends and I have always shared everything of importance in my life with you. This situation," he paused, "since you both chose to ignore the fact that I do have a life apart from you..." He stopped altogether, shifted restlessly and finally said, "Damn it! I had thought to perhaps someday tell you about my lover."

The hand on Jack's back had been rubbing lightly during the entire stumbling conversation. Now it redoubled its reassuring circling and Jack knew James had reached a decision.

"If our presence will embarrass the lady, perhaps we should go," Gillette stated graciously.

"If the "lady" was capable of being embarrassed I wouldn't have let you up here in the first place," James shot back.

"A whore, James? All of this for a bought woman?"

James chuckled, finally getting a firm grip on his sense of the absurd. Jack felt his own body tremble with the effort to keep from also laughing out loud.

"Not a whore."

"Not Mrs. Turner!" Gillette was outraged.

"Certainly not!" James shouted back sounding just as irate. "Are those the only two options you would have for me?"

The two officers spluttered incoherently while attempting to placate their commanding officer. It was obvious to Jack's ears that at this moment they were not thinking of an angry James Richard Norrington as their best friend. An angry James was a terrifying individual.

James fought to regain his equilibrium. Attuned as he was to his lover's nuances, Jack readied himself and when the encouraging tap on his shoulder came, he shoved back the sheets and sat up, emerging from the bedding like Venus on the half shell, or so he fancied himself. He grinned at the stunned officers.

"Good morning, gentlemen," he said pleasantly. "So pleased you could join us. Well, perhaps not in the sense that you join Jamie and me in bed, because I am fairly certain Jamie wouldn't like that and I really don't care to share him, so it's more in the sense that you have joined us in this lovely room on such a beautiful morning."

"Jack..." James said weakly. A quick glance revealed him dropping his head into his hands and covering his eyes. The shaking of his shoulders explained it. James was laughing himself silly. He just hadn't reached the point yet where he well and truly lost his composure.

"If you're going to fall on the floor, Jamie, please take care not to. You're a great bloody heavy fellow and you can save us the trouble of picking you up."

Gillette's expression was priceless with mouth opening and snapping shut again when no sound emerged. He had yet to get over the shock of Jack revealing his identity.

Groves took it better. His eyes lit up as he looked from one man to the other and back again. "I take it you have had the pleasure of escorting a drunken James home, Captain Sparrow?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it a pleasure," Jack said thoughtfully, "although having him willing and pliant is always a treat." James flushed appealingly but he was still smiling.

He looked uncertain, however, when he regarded his friends. "Andrew? If there is something you wish to say it would be best if you say it now."

"I am not sure what to say, James. I have always known, of course, that you enjoy bedding men, but this... Sparrow is a pirate!" he hissed in a harsh stage whisper.

"Yes, I have noticed that," James said gently in counterpoint. "Believe me, I resisted his charms for a very long time before the attraction between us became too great to ignore. For his part, Jack placed himself in my path more than I was comfortable with, but on the whole did not push too hard. I think he was the smarter of the two of us because he recognized and accepted something in our interactions that I refused to acknowledge. Eventually he showed me how stubborn I was being."

Jack shifted on the bed so that he was sitting right behind James and casually draped an arm across his shoulders in a companionable way, so as not to alarm the other men more than they might be already. He tucked the sheets firmly around his hips. No sense flaunting the relationship and ruining longstanding friendships.

"The trepidation certainly wasn't one-sided. To become involved with the Scourge of the Caribbean, the Commodore of the British Navy's Jamaican Fleet, the Great Pirate Hunter..."

"Jack," James warned in an undertone, urging him to quit rambling and get on with it.

"It was foolhardy in the extreme if I wished to live past forty."

"You are forty?" Groves asked, awed.

James regarded the officer fondly. Gillette shot Groves an exasperated look while Jack beamed at him.

"I don't look it?" he preened.

"Not a day over thirty, if that," Groves assured him. His expression revealed much esteem. From what James had told him, Jack was aware of the good lieutenant's obsession with the legend of Jack Sparrow. They would have to spend an evening on the town sometime. It wasn't often he got to meet one of his no doubt numerous admirers in the Navy.

The tension still radiated off Gillette in waves.

James stood up and went to him where he remained slightly apart from the rest, pulling his robe tightly closed as he moved. Jack was appreciative of how James balanced his private life with his duty as an officer of the Royal Navy. Even now in his own home, dressed, or undressed, as he was in the presence of the man with whom he had shared many intimacies, had given his body freely simply for the pleasure of it, he was still aware that it set him apart from his friends of many years. These two men had known him better than any other soul in life before Jack came along.

Gillette avoided looking James in the eye for a very long few minutes, stiff and unyielding, angry and confused. James waited him out, standing a breath away, patient, caring, even loving, until the Captain was firmly set aside and Andrew finally looked up to meet James's gentle green eyes.

"I suppose," he said haltingly, "that I'm still angry with the incident with the Interceptor and Sparrow's part in it."

"She would have been yours," James agreed.

"If I may speak?" Jack interjected. At the silent permission granted from all three men, he continued, "I also grieved for the loss of such a pretty ship. She was a beauty, fast, too, I'd wager, and I would have enjoyed challenging her to a chase with my Pearl. It was not my plan to see her go down. I only borrowed her to catch Barbossa and would have given her back. On that you have my word."

Judging by the way James's brows drew together Jack was fairly certain his love did not quite believe him. He flashed James a quick grin. The green eyes rolled heavenward in response.

"Were you not promoted to Captain despite the events of that day?"

"Yes," Gillette acknowledged grudgingly and then he sighed. "My apologies, James, Captain Sparrow..."

"Jack. Call me Jack."

"Very well, Jack. I've been told that I have a bad habit of hanging onto resentment."

James smiled suddenly as Groves stifled a snort and turned away. "I know. I'm the one who has told you that many times over," James said.

"And I have, as well."

Jack decided he liked Groves. The potential was there to like Gillette, too; the apology had gone a long way towards that.

"Now, if you will excuse us, gentlemen. My time with Jack is limited, which is why the deception today was necessary."

"Of course, sir." The two officers prepared to take their leave. Then Gillette did a surprising thing. He reached out and offered his hand to Jack who took it, receiving a firm and confident grip.

"I am pleased to finally meet you. Perhaps we could all dine together sometime?" His tone was still a smidge overly polite but some warmth crept in there.

"That is an excellent idea, Andrew." James clapped him on the arm. "Come, I'll show you out."

"No need, James." Groves also shook hands with Jack but his grip was more enthusiastic. "I'll look forward to getting to know the man who stole the heart of the Scourge of the Caribbean." Then he winked at James and followed Gillette out.

When they were alone once again James sighed and fell back into the pillows. Jack flopped down next to him and wrapped an arm and a leg around his lover, snuggling in close.

"You've told me that you trust them with your life."

"Absolutely."

"Good. I wouldn't want you fretting about any of it while we could be spending our time employing more enjoyable pursuits."

"I don't fret."

"No, of course not," Jack was quick to reassure. "But you do brood."

"What?"

"You do, love. I have, however, discovered a cure for that."

"Oh?" James raised an eyebrow, playing along with it.

"Yes. You see," Jack sat up and straddled him at the waist, rubbing his bare bum against the hardness that was quickly springing to life under him. He rose up and opened the robe that separated them and settled back down with a sigh. James's erection also rose up and nestled against the heat of Jack's body. "You see," Jack continued once his brain found its path again, "the cure involves lots of bodily contact, kissing and assorted hands on experience of that kind."

James lifted his hands entreatingly. After a second's reflection of the odd look on his lover's face, Jack took the hands and then leaned forward to hold James in his arms while he shook in reaction.

"Love?" he whispered in confusion.

"That could have gone badly. Andrew is a good friend but he's also unpredictable. I had no worries about Theo, he's positively enamoured of you and your reputation. It's almost embarrassing in an officer, actually. But Andrew could have decided that his one experience with you was enough to pursue justice and ultimately, however unintentionally, ruin my career, or at least, at worst," he amended, "ruin my relationship with you."

Jack remained silent in his arms, listening to the rapid beat of James's heart. He knew his lover needed to say this.

"He's a good man and not a cruel one, but to call him single-minded would be generous in the extreme."

"He seems to have accepted me... us."

"Oh, yes. Now that he has made the leap of faith no doubt remains as to his loyalty or motives. His word is better than gold. But for a few minutes I was not sure..." His voice trailed off brokenly.

Jack held him tighter. "Shh. It's over. No good comes of worrying about it now. He loves you almost as much as I do, though hopefully in a different way."

James sniffed and pulled himself together, rubbing Jack's arm with renewed confidence. "Indeed."

A thought struck Jack. "Um, are those two... y'know, like us?"

Pulling his head back so he could see Jack better James asked, "You mean are they lovers?"

Jack nodded.

"I'm not certain. I often thought they might be, but so far they have not admitted it. Perhaps they are not."

"Perhaps they just haven't realized yet that they could be?"

"Then finding out about us might prompt them to do something about that."

"Would that please you?" Jack asked.

"The three of us have been best friends for nearly fifteen years. Nothing would make me happier than knowing that they have found happiness together."

"Have they seen you naked before today?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me, love. Have they?"

"We've all seen each other in various states of undress. We've all stumbled back to quarters many times drunk out of our skulls and helped one another get settled for the night. There was never anything sexual about it... at least not with me." He grew thoughtful. "I believe they may have kissed a time or two. Why do you ask?"

"Hmm? Oh, you seemed very comfortable with them here while you wore next to nothing."

"It's a robe, Jack. It's hardly "next to nothing"."

"'M just making sure."

"You are wearing even less and Theo is already half in love with you."

"He's in love with the legend, not the man. Besides, he's not attracted to me that way."

"You are always surprising me, Jack."

He shrugged. "I like to keep an open mind about such things, except when it comes to what's mine."

James pulled him against his chest and kissed him hard, leaving no doubts about anything.

"So do I."

# end