The second man who knew why the Dauntless was anchored at the very edge of Port Royal's bay was busy securing the rowboat to the ship with a hastily tied line. He seized the rope ladder and began to climb. When he heard the officer above him begin to whistle a drinking tune, he froze, the ladder swaying slightly. When the whistling--their signal that someone was watching--stopped, he began climbing again. He threw a leg over the bulwark and the officer drew close.

"Nice to see you, Captain," The officer whispered.

"You too, Cap'n," The invader grinned broadly and slid a large ruby into the officer's hand before drawing him down for a tender kiss on the lips. "Congratulations, love. Well-deserved and well-received, aye?"

A slight bow from the officer as the ruby was slid into his pocket. "You know I'm not supposed to take these gifts of yours, Captain."

"What James don't know, love, won't hurt 'im, savvy?"

With an affectionate smile, Captain Groves waved the invader on into the wardroom of the warship where the third man who knew why the Dauntless would anchor at the very edge of Port Royal's bay waited. As he watched the figure swagger silently across the deck, he sighed. "Still the best pirate I've ever seen."

Captain Jack Sparrow stepped into the faint light from the wardroom doors, cast a furtive glance about, then slipped through the door. Dressed in boots and captain's greatcoat, as well as his customary hat over red scarf, he patted the right pocket of his coat and drew up short as the austere figure appeared suddenly before him.

"I wondered how soon you would return," James Norrington kept his hands behind his back as he drew himself to his full height. "I am truly at a loss to understand how you can claim to love and respect me when you cannot keep an appointment."

Jack removed his hat and set it on the table, his lips forming a pout though his eyes twinkled with mischief. "I kept it. I was jus' a bit behind time is all. 'Sides, you never give me your love and respect."

Though the voice was harsh, the look in the eyes was endearing. "Because you're a pirate!"

Jack lowered his head as if chastised, looking up through his lashes at the Commodore. "But why can't I have them both?"

"Because I said so," Norrington replied. He brought one hand out from behind his back to reveal that it held a set of shackles. "Must you always be so deucedly late, my love, for your 'sentencing'?"

"Ah, love," Jack waggled his eyebrows and smirked, "'Tis only so ye can more appropriately punish me, savvy?"

"Indeed," James smirked back, lifting one of the cuffs to wave it at the pirate. "Behind or before?"

"'At depends, my sweet," Jack began to unbutton his coat, turning his body away from the officer. "D' ye have the key this time?"

James narrowed his eyes and stepped closer. He licked his lips and raised his eyebrows. "Mister Sparrow, . . . are you naked?"

Jack drew himself up and gave Norrington a superior look. "Absolutely not. Got me coat, hat and boots on. Ain't that enough?"

"The question is, pirate," James suppressed a leer and took another step closer. "Is that too much?"

Without warning, the pirate pulled a set of irons from his own pocket. He seized James's wrists to pull them behind him and locked the irons in place. "Gotcha."

Norrington stiffened, trying the irons mildly. "I trust you have the key?"

Jack poked his head around James's shoulder. "Search me."

"Literally or figuratively, Sparrow?" Norrington refused to be baited into panicking at the moment. "Because for me to literally search you, I will need my hands back."

"Everybody says I talk too much," Jack said quietly, a purr to his voice that ran a thrill down the Commodore's back. He placed a hand to Norrington's chest and shoved him backwards into a chair. "But that's 'cause I have to. What's yer excuse, love?"

Jack straddled his captive and lowered himself onto Norrington's lap. He finished unbuttoning his coat and revealed that James's suspicions were correct. He tugged the wig off of Norrington's head and ran his hands through the dark brown locks. When he noticed that Norrington was staring hungrily at his body, studying it like a map of a new territory, he curled his fingers into the hair and pulled the head back so that the blue eyes met his. He pushed his pelvis forward so that he could feel the heat and pressure of Norrington's erect cock through the linen of his trousers with his own member. He leaned in and brushed his lips delicately against the Commodore's.

"Ye haven't answered me question, mate. What's yer excuse?" Jack lowered his mouth to Norrington's jaw, nibbling lightly at the tender skin there. One hand began to untie the silk that wrapped about Norrington's neck. As the fabric pulled free, he began to nibble harder at the flesh, finally choosing a spot to bestow a love-bite near the collarbone. "Well?"

The Commodore groaned quietly. "Reluctantly, Sparrow, I have none."

"Thought so," Jack chuckled, his hands working to unbutton the shirt so that he could place skin against skin. As he pushed the fabric aside, his right hand brushed across something unfamiliar on the Commodore's skin, a rough place almost like a scar that hadn't been there the last time. When he touched it again, Norrington gasped and made a vain effort to pull away.

"Please, that's not quite healed," James's voice was a bit tentative and Jack wondered who had hurt his lover.

"What happened?" Jack pushed himself away so that he could examine the skin. What he found there was stunning. "Did you get a tattoo, Commodore, love? 'Cause, ye know, the King's Navy don't approve of such."

Etched on the pearl-pale skin almost immediately above Norrington's heart was a picture of a sea sparrow, wings spread as it sailed over the waves. It was not the same as his own tattoo--no setting sun and the bird was obviously lifting off instead of diving—but there was no mistaking the look of the creature. What surprised Jack was what the bird carried in its beak, a small red heart. He couldn't resist stroking his fingers lightly on the skin around the still-swollen tattoo.

"It's rather embarrassing," James said quietly, his eyes glued to the motion of Jack's hand. "A few nights ago I got rather drunk . . . 'Someone' gave me a bottle of rum and it was the only liquor I had. In any case, I over-indulged and wandered down to the Bell and Hook, thinking I might, well, hoping you might be there. Foolish, I know. Instead, I found myself talking to a sweet young woman who told me how flattered she had been when her sailor had her name etched in his arm."

"So ye decided t' flatter me in kind?" Jack asked, genuine affection behind the mischievous gleam in his eyes. "It's beautiful, love."

Norrington sighed. "Yes, well, I decided against having your name written out. I wasn't entirely sure the man who did this could spell it. So I asked him merely for the sparrow. He added the heart, to my chagrin."

"Me reputation gets around, love," Jack squinted at him. "So, ye think this artiste knew who you are?"

Norrington's head raised to meet Jack's gaze. "There is no need for you to go to Port Royal, Jack. Nor for you to take any action in regards to the matter. I am capable of dealing with a blackmailer if necessary."

Jack tilted his head to the left, the black eyes having grown cold and fierce in protectiveness. "Jus' 'cause I shot Black Pete fer stabbin' ye, love, don't mean that's the way I deal with all of my problems. I much prefer t' use my wits."

"A point I am sure that would be lost on the lout which would necessitate a violent turn. I would prefer that not happen," James said, shifting uncomfortably to allow his hands to regain their circulation. "Do you have the key to these cuffs?"

Jack just smiled and reached for the buttons on his breeches.

Ellis Groves sat at the desk in his quarters and regarded the ruby that Jack had given him. He knew the problems it could cause for himself and for the Commodore if it should be discovered that he was accepting these gifts. He sighed and removed his wig, running his fingers through his black hair and wishing the hands were Jack's instead. It had been while Norrington was recovering from a stabbing that he and Jack had realized and consummated their mutual attraction. An unspoken agreement had been reached that James was never to learn of it. He stretched, feeling several stone lighter now that he was off-duty and his uniform coat was hanging on a hook by the door. James would see to it that Jack got safely off the Dauntless when the time came.

He pulled out his logbook and dipped his quill into the ink. Normally, the words--routine by now--came to him effortlessly. He marked down the date "17 June, 1727 anno domini" but that was all.

The ruby winked as the lantern above him swayed. He lifted it in his hand, weighing it. Sparrow knew many things about many things. Though Ellis had never mentioned to him the fact that his father was gravely ill and his mother left to support the two of them and his three younger sisters, Jack was always giving him gems, coins, what-have-you. Small items, the kind that could be easily concealed and readily disposed of. Ellis, of course, disposed of them by sending them to his mother.

Had James told him? Mentioned in some casual way the difficulties his family was going through? Or had he himself slipped? Revealed the situation in satisfied, half-sleepy mutterings after an encounter in his bedroom? Or was Jack some angel or demon sent by Who Knows Whom to give solace, comfort, great sex, and plunder to the deserving in exchange for their hearts and souls? Abruptly, Ellis slid his logbook aside and opened the bottom drawer to his desk. He drew out a battered journal and flipped back to a blank page, pausing only long enough to smile at a poor excuse of a sketch of Jack asleep in his bed. He refreshed the ink in his pen and began to write, furiously. When he finished, he paused to read the words before adding three words at the very top of the page.

"Mother was right," He murmured. "I should have worked more upon my letters. But the navy is more lucrative--if only because of him."

He re-read the words on the page again, knowing that it wasn't a "proper" poem or sonnet but not caring because the voice in his head let it sound so right.

The Commandeered Heart

I was warned
Advised you were dangerous
That your wit
Sharper than a dragon's tooth
Was seductive

I was cautioned
Given notice you were cunning
That your weapons
Harmless though they appeared
Were lethal

I was admonished
Reproached
That your beauty
Wild as the stormy sea
Was asphyxiating

And yet
And yet

Despite the chains about it
Despite the ropes securing it
Despite the locks fastening it
You stole my heart

"Commandeered.
Nautical term."

Pirate.

Understanding that he was risking his career and his life, he left his cabin dressed only in his shirt, breeches, shoes and stockings. There was another place he had to be tonight other than with his logbook.

James regretted the cuffs on his wrists as soon as Jack's tongue began to tease across the head of his already-aching cock. While he did not expect Jack to remain faithful to him, he himself had no real desire to be with any other. Elizabeth Swann had ruined him for other women by breaking his heart--as she had Will Turner's. No other man possessed the same appeal as Jack. Expecting fidelity of Jack, and knowing he had Will Turner aboard the Black Pearl, would be worse than foolish. Jack had admitted at one time that Will was the only one who could make him give up sharing his affections with others but that Will understood him well enough not to ask.

"Remind me," James said, his voice strained with pleasure as the lips encircled his manhood and began to draw at it. "Remind me to send Mr. Turner a gift one of these days. Does he still prefer wine to rum?"

Abruptly, Jack looked up from his position between James's knees. "Are ye tryin' t' ruin the moment, love?"

"Sorry," He replied. "Please, carry on."

"And the answer is 'yes.' Despite all me efforts," Jack grumbled though James could hear a smile in his voice.

He could feel the twin braids on Jack's chin lightly tickling at his balls as the tension built in his groin. He allowed his head to fall back, eyes fluttering closed, while Jack licked the head of his cock quite thoroughly, scooping the pre-cum out of the tiny hole repeatedly before opening his jaws and letting James's manhood slide inside. He was on the verge of release, his balls drawn up tight to his body, when Jack stopped, leaning back a bit to regard him with a mischievous air.

"Jack, please," James arched his hips out of the chair several inches in a vain attempt to get the pirate to continue.

"On one condition, mate," Jack said, his husky voice causing James to come closer to his goal but not quite close enough.

"And that is?" James snapped.

Jack grinned. "I want ye t' tell me what ye'd do t' Cap'n Groves if he would come int' the room right now, hmm? Provided ye invited him in t' join us."

"Must I?" He said, tight-lipped. A hint of warmth in his cheeks told James that he was turning crimson in the face.

Jack chuckled. "Yer call, mate. I don't have t' finish though. Better yet, I can leave ye 'hangin'' here with yer stiff a-waggin' in the breeze an' yer hands in them pretty bracelets, savvy?"

At the idea, because he knew Jack was capable of such a thing, Norrington sighed harshly. "Very well. If Captain Groves was to join us, I'd . . . Damn you, Sparrow, this is quite impossible!"

"No, it ain't," Jack said. He reached a finger out to stroke it up and down the underside of James's member. "Come on. You an' I know he's the prettiest thing in Port Royal after yerself. What would ye like t' do to him?"

James swallowed hard and managed to speak. "I would ask him to-to make love to you so that I could see your face when you come in another man's ass. Then I would ask him to take you, hard enough to make you cry out, so that you would understand how it feels when I see you walk out my door."

Jack's grin had faded just the slightest bit at the last sentence. "There's more, ain't there, love? Come on, you can tell ol' Cap'n Jack. Ye want t' see him with me, aye, but what about with you? I know what he'd say if I asked him the same."

"Don't speak nonsense, Jack," James said softly, wondering why Jack was doing this. "Captain Groves isn't a sentimental weakling like myself. He would run you through for even implying such a thing."

"No, I wouldn't," Came the voice from behind him.

When James tried to turn around, a pair of strong, rough hands seized his shoulders as Ellis leaned down to whisper into his ear. "You have no idea how long I have waited for this moment, James. It's not just scalawags like Jack Sparrow who find you desirable, savvy?"

James thought he would go insane at the feeling of the hot breath on the tender skin of his ear and neck. Jack returned to his oral tricks as Ellis slid his hands down to rub James's light brown nipples. They were already alert so they began to swell as Groves began kissing his earlobe, his neck, his nape in between muttering soft exclamations of his admiration.

The treatment was very successful. In less than five minutes, James had thrown his head back in bliss, biting his lip to keep from crying out as the orgasm made his entire body quake. He felt Groves plunge his mouth onto his own, muffling him. He opened his mouth wide to Groves's diving tongue and released the cry into his mouth as a falconer releases a kestrel.

He wasn't certain if he passed out or not. His next memory was of Jack and Ellis both caressing him, their mouths burning kisses onto his face, his neck, his jaw as they spoke, nearly in tandem.

"Come on, Jamie, the night's young--."

"--wouldn't want to disappoint our guest, sir."

"--me love, ye need t' be awake fer--."

"Not too exciting, James, but--."

"--we need an audience, love, savvy?"

He feared his gulp was audible but neither man seemed to notice it. His chest heaved, the sound of his heartbeat still pounding in his ears. He could feel a trickle of sweat run down the small of his back. He looked up in time to see Jack pull Ellis forward to receive his kiss, his nimble little tongue teasing the interior of Groves's lips before he sealed his lips to the new Captain's. At the sight, his cock started to lift.

"Jack, these blasted cuffs," He began but Jack just grinned broadly as he dropped his coat, revealing the golden flesh with its glorious imperfections.

"Patience, m' love," Jack murmured as he began to undress Groves with the speed of a swallow diving at an insect. "I b'lieve the good Captain here has agreed t' do the necessary searchin', aye?"

"Aye," Groves busied his own hands moving them across Jack's body.

For James, the sight of the other officer's broad but graceful hands, nearly as dark as Jack's flesh, tracing the scars, delving into the intimate places that his own hands and mouth had explored, made him whimper in frustration. At the same moment that he most wanted to be doing exactly what Groves was doing, he wanted to be watching it, to see Jack's reactions, to commit them to memory.

Groves's clothes fell away finally and, from somewhere, a small pot of goose-grease appeared. James thought he was going to explode when he saw Ellis coat his fingers with the stuff then the hand disappear between Jack's firm cheeks. Jack's mouth opened in a silent moan as the first finger slid inside him. He arched into Groves hard, his cock beginning a subtle duel with Ellis's for contact and relief. As another finger was applied, Groves let his mouth fall on Jack's throat, licking the Adam's apple, nibbling gently at the tender flesh under his jaw.

When Groves pulled Jack to the deck, his arms wrapped around the pirate's waist, James thought he was going to peak again. Instead he looked away for a moment to gather some willpower. When he looked back, Jack was on his hands and knees, his face practically in James's lap again and Groves was bent over him, his hands massaging Jack's thighs outwards as his open mouth climbed kisses from the small of his back upward. Ellis laid his head on Jack's shoulder blades and spoke.

"Is this what you want, Jamie? You want to see me fuck him hard? Properly?"

For a moment, James couldn't speak, his throat constricted and his brain not giving him the words. Finally, he managed to say, "Yes, please."

At the sound, Jack's grin returned full force. Ellis pushed himself upright and buried one hand in the tangle of braids to hold Jack steady. James saw Jack spread his legs a bit more and reach backward to receive Ellis's penetrating thrust. As the cock lurched into Jack, James saw the slightest bit of discomfort wash across Jack's features but with the second thrust, the discomfort became desire. Jack opened his black eyes and met James's eyes with a look of pure passion, a look that made James wish ardently that the coupled men were two feet closer so that Jack's mouth could reach his painfully hard cock.

Instead, there was precious little he could do as he watched Groves's lunges become harder, his tempo quickening as the crescendo approached. He heard Jack make a soft, shapeless noise of pleasure and protest, a wince contorting the pirate's beautiful features. When Ellis released his hair and seized his hip to force himself into the pirate just a bit farther, Jack came, the thick, white milk splattered across the deck as Jack cried out. "Jamie!"

Seconds later, Groves's stiffened, his head snapping backward then forward with enough force that James worried he would hurt himself. He let himself melt onto Jack, their bodies a fleshy puddle. Groves had ejaculated silently but he was now muttering softly to Jack, eventually beginning to sing something to him. James had no idea what it was until Groves rolled off Jack to lie beside him.

"The hawk he rides the highest winds, / The martin the marsh's sky, / The swift the chill breezes loves, / But not the sparrow nor I," James didn't recognize the lyrics but the tune was a hymn that he knew from childhood.

"Gentlemen," James finally managed to speak though he longed to do nothing more than watch the two men, bodies entwined, as they recovered from their heights of passion. "I am not certain we are entirely safe with both the Captain of this vessel and myself in here."

"Aye, sir," Jack muttered, slowly stirring. "Come on, mate. We have a Commodore t' take care of."

Ellis managed to gain his feet with Jack's help. To James's amazement, Jack plucked the key to the cuffs from one of his braids and leaned him forward to unlock them. As soon as his hands were free, James reached for Jack, who evaded him with a quick wink.

"Not yet, love. We need t' adjourn t' yer bunk fer the next bit," He raised his eyebrows meaningfully and James found it difficult to resist the urge to scream in frustration. Instead, Ellis grabbed his hand and began to drag him to the bed on the far side of the room as Jack's thieving hands made short work of the remainder of the clothes on his back.

Groves, first to arrive, settled himself on the bed, his head and shoulders propped up by the pillows. It was then that Jack slid his arm around James's waist. "You next, Commodore. I suggest ye straddle the fine young man here up high on his chest, otherwise things might not connect, savvy?"

For a moment, James wasn't sure that he did understand. It was only when Jack pushed him forward, forcing him into the bed with a knee on either side of Ellis's beautiful chest that he understood what Jack meant. When he felt Jack climbing onto the bed behind him, forcing his knees even wider, he understood that this was going to be a most pleasurable experience.

At the first touch of Jack's agile, grease-slicked fingers against his cleft, James sighed. When Groves touched his upper thighs, his hands warm and pleasantly rough, he slumped forward against the head-board.

"My apologies, gentlemen," He whispered, using both hands to brace himself. "I seem to be feeling--."

"Shh, love," Jack said softly, his breath across James's shoulder blades causing James to shiver. "Ye needn't worry. Let us do the work."

Gently, the fingers teased up inside him. Groves was rubbing his hands along his superior's inner thighs, coming close to but never quite touching his privates. For a moment, James wondered if he was going mad. This couldn't truly be happening, could it? Surely, both of these men would rather be somewhere else with someone else, wouldn't they? Instead, he felt Ellis's sturdy hands seize his ass to pull him forward a bit more as Jack pressed against him, finally moving his own firm pole into position.

At the time, he merely let himself experience the moment. Later, he wondered if they had planned the whole thing. As Jack began to enter him, slowly and far more carefully than Groves had entered him earlier, Ellis began to lick at the underside of his penis. It was only by biting his lip, hard enough to make himself bleed, that he kept from coming instantly. Jack kept pushing until his front was firmly against James's back and then, for one blissful second, time seemed to stand still. Jack's heat, both within him and against him, seemed to seep into his every pore. Ellis's hands, resting at the tender junctions of legs and trunk, stilled as his lovely lips stretched, his mouth almost a yawn, to receive James's staff. It was as if he were two men at once, one wax melting and forming to the heat of his aft partner, one marble that seemed unable to budge due to the frozen stone he had become, like a mold for the wax.

And then the instant was gone. Jack was thrusting up inside him, his braids tickling across his shoulder-blades, the trinkets catching and reflecting the light onto the bulkhead as they rattled nearly in James's ear. Ellis was laving James's cock with his tongue, one hand tickling James's scrotum, the other busy pleasuring himself. He heard Jack murmur "Jamie, I do love ye" and the words, said in that dark voice of sin itself, made the tension in his groin explode, as if hit with a cannonball. He slammed forward into Groves, wanting in some measure to apologize as it happened yet unable to do anything beyond ride it out. He became aware that Groves was making little grunting sounds as he fought to keep the white jelly from escaping him.

It was all he could do to remain upright while Jack reached his own orgasm. By the sounds of Ellis beneath them, he realized that Groves had finally achieved satisfaction, his blue eyes fixed on the face of his commander and the pirate as they came. After withdrawing, Jack pulled James down into the bunk with Groves and himself, Groves on the bottom, James face down between them and Jack holding the both of them, one leg between theirs, his arm with the sparrow tattoo and pirate brand across both of their bodies. Despite the utter exhaustion and satisfied afterglow, James wanted more. He fell asleep to dreams of Jack painted gold giving him a silver apple.

When he woke near dawn, he was cuddled tenderly against Ellis, the new Captain's head pressed against his throat, his hand playing with Ellis's hair, their bodies sticking together a bit uncomfortably. It was at that sensation that he realized Jack had gone. A slight smile played over his face until he saw the folded paper propped in the brim of his tricorn. Gently, he drew away from Groves and retrieved it.

Jamie,
Consider Ellis my little gift to you to tide you over. It is high time I got back to proper piracy.
I know there are people in this world who expect love to be something that is shared solely
between two people and maybe they are right. I may be a freak of nature in that I love so many
so well.
So, I am off to other parts. Maybe the Pearl sets out for Singapore--always did like Singapore--or
maybe we sail for England. I know not except that I will return for you, my love, if only in my
dreams.
There is a note for Ellis in his quarters so you have no need to share this one with him. I love
you, Commodore.
Ta.
Jack

He re-read the note with raised eyebrows. After that second pass, he sat down heavily in the chair. It was after the third reading that he began to smile. Jack, treacherous and cunning brigand that he was, was in all likelihood heading to Hispaniola for a shipment of rum and would be back in a few days. Nothing was ever simple where Jack Sparrow was involved.

And you swore that you were bound for glory
And for wanting you had no shame
But I loved you
And then I lost you
And I will never be the same

But I, I will never be the same
Oh I, I will never be the same
Caught in your eyes
Lost in your name
I will never be the same
"I Will Never Be the Same" by Melissa Etheridge