Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own Pirates of the Caribbean or anything else Disney. I do however, claim Charlotte as a figment of my own personal imagination.

"Now tell me what's become of my Pearl," Barbossa ordered, before taking a nice, big bite out of a green apple. But no one responded. They were all too shocked. Barbossa? Alive? It made no sense at all. He'd been shot dead when the curse was lifted. There were two witnesses standing before him. Yet there he stood, as fine and dandy as though no harm had come to pass him.

Charlotte was the first to speak. "Tia, you cannot be serious," she said, stumbling away from the stairs. She backed into Will, who had risen from his seat. His hand reached out to steady her.

"Now, Sparra child, ye know yer Tia's not one t' lie," Tia Dalma replied, shaking her head. "Yer the one that said ye'd risk all fer yer father's sake." This earned her a hellish glare from the pirate child, who then stormed out. "Leave her be," she warned Gibbs, as he started after her.

Outside, Charlotte still felt the air was stifling. She was in a right rage. How? Why? It wasn't fair. None of this was fair at all. She had just lost her father and now she was being told that, in order to save him, she would have to ally herself with his mutinous first mate. The mutinous first mate that stranded him on an island to die. It was madness. And she would never consent to it. She would rather go it alone than throw in her lot with the likes of Hector Barbossa. She shuddered at the thought of his name.

"Charlotte?"

It was Will. She turned to face him, not bothering to hide the livid anger that coursed through her. She wanted to snap at him, take out all her frustration on him, but she could see the storm of emotions brewing in his eyes. His lover had just shared an intimate exchange of spit with his best friend, who was now presumably dead. He had been offered a way to save said best friend, but it meant working with the man that ordered his father to be killed. Now there was something the two shared in common.

Clearing her throat, Charlotte asked, "What can I do ye for, Will?"

"Rum? Whiskey? Scotch? A bituv all three?" the saucy bar tender asked.

William Turner shook his head. "No thank you, Miss. I'll just wait until Jack finishes his...erm, business," he finished, assuming that Jack was in the back room with that woman doing...well, he didn't want to imagine that.

"Now, now, Mister Turner, assuming makes an ass outuv you and I," Charlotte laughed, wagging her finger at him. "Me mama and papa are allowed t' do as they please, anyway." Her eyebrows rose at his shocked expression. "Jack didna tell you that he'd a child by one of his lovers?" She shook her head, gathering her response from the young man's silence. "Well I be his one and only close t' legitimate daughter, Charlotte Sparrow. Pleased t' make your acquaintance."

The blacksmith shook the hand that was offered to him. He couldn't imagine that this dark haired, sea-eyed beauty could have any blood relation with the scallywag that was Jack Sparrow. "But...How? Why?" he sputtered.

Charlotte sat herself down behind the bar and sighed, a far off look in her eyes. She'd loved the tale of how her parents fell for each other since she was a child. "Well ye see, Mama was the daughter of a well t' do sea merchant in France. One day while she was out strollin' on the docks, she met a young man. 'is name was Jack Sparrow and he was travelin' round the world. He stayed in port a few days more than he'd said he would and the truth o' the matter was tha he'd fallen for the fair haired maiden.

"If he weren't pirate he mightuv stayed, but the sea was 'is mistress wot he couldn't stay away from. So he left the girl, leavin' a bit more of hisself than he meant to. Five months later, she set sail to find 'im. Knowin' he was pirate 'n all, she took off fer Tortuga 'n waited. Waited nigh on nine years afore he found her on this rock. But by then he'd gotten 'is Pearl and was on'y there t' pick up a crew. Ne'er crossed 'is mind that she'd want 'im. Ne'er crossed 'is mind that 'is love-makin' might one day produce anythin' more'n pleasures o' the flesh.

"Left us with more'n a shiny shilling, but left us none the less. The sea would always be 'is one love, though he promised t' come back. Course two years later, when he showed up it wasn't the way we'd've liked. Went near outuv 'is mind after losin' the Pearl an' bein' marooned. He stayed for about a year, then left 'n came back with the tide. This be the first time in the last year or so I've seen 'im. But who's countin'?"

Will couldn't help but admire this woman. Yes, she was a woman. She wasn't the girl she'd been two years ago when he'd met her in Tortuga. Even in the face of despair she could think of another before herself. If only he could do that. No, right now he was concerned with how to deal with Elizabeth.

"A bit of advice, if you'd be so kind," he implored, leaning against the railing.

Charlotte's bubbly laugh broke the stillness of the night. "Ever the gentleman, aren't we? Well, ask away," she said, opening the door for communication.

He sighed heavily, knowing that if he did not face this now, he never would. "You saw it too, didn't you?" he questioned. He watched her nod. "Then what do I do? I love her, yet I cannot say that she feels the same way towards me. For all I know..." He paused, unable to continue.

"For all ye know she could've been playin' wit' yer heart from the beginnin'," she finished for him. Now it was his turn to nod. "Well listen to it then! Yer heart, I mean," she added when she saw the confused look on his face. She felt jealousy starting to form within her, though she knew not why.

That wasn't exactly what he'd wanted to hear. He'd wanted to hear that he was wrong for thinking that and that she'd done it for a damn good reason. Why? Because his heart was telling them that Elizabeth wasn't the girl for him. The girl for him was right there in front of him and he'd known that from the moment he'd looked into her blue-green eyes. Her eyes held so much emotion, much more than Elizabeth would dare to exhibit. Even though Elizabeth had a free spirit, which Will loved about her, she was still a lady at heart. She longed for the thrill of adventure, but that life would never suit her. She would be better off reading about it than actually living it. Will on the other hand, he had pirate blood in him. He would answer the sea's calling eventually. When that happened, if he truly sought to have someone to love, she would need to be able to answer that call with him.

"Wot say it?"

"What?"

"Wot say yer heart?"

I love you. "I don't know..."

Her eyebrows rose as she appraised him. Something was stopping him from listening. He was blocking off the answer he looked for, perhaps because it was not to his liking. He's to your liking, the traitorous part of her brain smirked. There was no way she would openly admit that. He had a fiancée after all. He wouldn't have asked Elizabeth to marry him if he didn't love her with all his heart. You love him with all your heart.

Charlotte was finding it increasingly difficult to quiet the voice of her desires. She needed to leave now before she started something that they would both regret later. "Well, if ye cannot hear it now, I'm sure it'll come t' ye eventually," she said, resting her hand atop his.

He felt his skin light on fire where she touched him. Her hand fit well with his. They weren't smooth, like Elizabeth's had been before she'd taken up the sword, but they weren't heavily calloused like his either. They were...perfect. Everything about her was perfect. Her personality, her body; every little detail down to how her hands felt against his. It was horrible for him to be thinking thusly, but it was true. It was far too true for him to ignore.

"Thank you." His voice was soft, hushed. He didn't want it to betray his true emotions. He wasn't ready to face them yet. Smiling, he brought her hand up and placed a sweet kiss on the back of it.

That was it. She was melting thoroughly on the inside. How was she supposed to resist that? She had been looking for this kind of love for her whole life. After growing up listening to her mother go on and on about how wonderful it was to be in love, even after waiting for years to find out that she wasn't the only woman he ever loved, Charlotte had developed a sort of desire for a fairy tale romance. As a kid, she had wanted nothing more than to find the man that would love her until her dying day, no matter what happened. The man who, come what may, would stay by her side. And here he was. Only she had found him too late. He was already taken.

A/N: This chapter was written before I saw At World's End. Starting with the next chapter, there will be spoilers. You have been warned. Although by now, I don't now why you haven't seen AWE yet...