Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Bugger.
Author's note: From yet another suggestion by PirateofSherwood. Thanks, mate! Pirate Cat raises her mug of rum and winks, again!
"...William, I need t' be askin' ye somethin' tha' has puzzled me, if ye don' mind."
"... Aye, Jack, what is it?" Captain William Turner was tallying up what his total winnings were from several hours of whiling away the evening, playing Liar's Dice with his friend, Captain Jack Sparrow. They had quite a little pile of peanuts on the table, and it seemed that William, surprisingly, was winning them. It was a balmy evening on the sea, and the lantern light was flickering above their heads. They could hear the soft banging of Jack's small boat against the side of the Flying Dutchman as the the dark moonless sky enveloped what seemed to be the entire ocean.
"When I last saw ye... before... well, you know... before..."
"Before the Kraken finally took you and the Pearl to the depths, and all of our worlds changed?"
Jack thought about the profundity of that statement and how petty his question seemed to be, now. He frowned, and suddenly wished that he hadn't said anything. He tried to think of another puzzlement... and couldn't.
William looked up from his figuring and said, "What? What is puzzling you?"
Jack decided that it was best to simply ask, no matter how silly it seemed. "Why did'ja decide t' wear a gold earring? Ye never wore one before."
William was startled at first, and then smiled a little... this was Jack Sparrow, after all, and his mind was not like anyone else's, especially now. He took a deep breath and a sip from his mug. "...we were on our way to Singapore, to meet with Sao Feng in order to obtain the charts to find you, and I was having a very hard time... I did not like taking orders from Hector, I hated that I thought Elizabeth loved you, and not me...I was trying to hate you..." he said softly. William held up his hand when Jack started to say something, "... I know, Jack... I know, now...that is behind us, mate." Jack remained silent, and William continued.
"... as we were sailing and Elizabeth and I were not speaking, I remembered our adventures... I remembered all of the things that you had told me during our voyage to Tortuga on the Interceptor. I questioned your motives, many times, but essentially, you forced me to grow up, Jack. You taught me about the real world... that it is not always a pretty, safe, simple place. You taught me, against my brash nature, to wait for the opportune moment. I remembered seeing the two silver hoops that you wear in your left ear, one time when the wind blew all of your hair back." William looked earnestly at his friend, and said, "... I knew that all of the beads and trinkets that you wear each have a story behind them... I knew that the earrings were no different. I wanted an earring made of gold... to force me to remember to wait for the golden opportune moment... to hope that things will someday be better... to hope that Elizabeth still loved me, and that I was not wrong about you...and to remember a friendship that I was afraid was gone, forever...I tried very hard, but I simply could not hate you because of all that you taught me. I wear the earring... for patience... for hope... and especially to remember what makes a good man," William took another sip from his mug, and looked at Jack in silence.
The captain let all of this sink in... he had not expected an answer such as that. He reached up under his hair and fingered the two silver hoops that were hidden there. His eyes became distant for a long moment, as they were prone to do since his time on The Other Side. He spoke, "... These silver earrings also have a story. The silver is from a Spanish coin that was in me pocket th' night tha' Cutler Beckett burned me ship out from under me. Even after I nearly drowned, was almost beaten t' death, then branded, I still had that coin. As ye know, yer father saved me life, an' made sure tha' me effects were looked after, includin' th' coin...once I had recovered from me injuries an' was learnin' how t' be th' best pirate I could be, I had that coin made into two earrings... an' I have worn them in th' same ear ever since."
Jack sipped his own rum, as William listened, "... one represents th' man tha' I was, th' other is the man tha' I became... one represents the Wicked Wench, one represents th' ship that she was reborn as, the Black Pearl... one represents what a man can do, th' other represents what a man can't do...an' finally..." Jack looked William square in the eyes and said, "... one represents me enemies... an' one represents me friends... I don't always know me enemies, but I know damn good an' well who me friends are... p'raps I should also have one represent me, an' one represent me best friends..."
Silence once again came over the pair, as Jack's little wooden dinghy bumped against the side of the Flying Dutchman... it was almost a comfortable sound, as if the two sailing vessels were also friends, talking to one another. William Turner the Second looked at his friend, Jack Sparrow, and nodded... they both raised their mugs, and tapped them together... "Here's to friends, mate... and to hope... and to earrings..."
Jack smiled, and his gold teeth shined in the lantern light.