Time Line: Post AWE

Rating: PG-13 (Just because you never know what I might write)

Author: Kitten a.k.a. Cat

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Pirates of the Caribbean. I do however own the story line.

The Beginning

Elizabeth reached the small island shore and ran to the waiting arms of her darling husband William, but it was not the warm loving embrace she had expected, his touch was cold and clammy. His once warm eyes, seem dim and darker, his skin pale from lack of life. He released her, sensing her tension "Elizabeth" he said softly "we need to talk."

In her heart she knew what would be said long before the words were spoken, but she waited for him to broach the subject.

Throughout the afternoon, they talked. They spoke of life and love, of the past, the future and what it now entailed and William at last reached the point where he must tell her some harsher facts. Taking her much smaller hand in his own, he looked up to meet her gaze "My darling, I cannot and will not expect you to waste your life waiting for a man you may only see a handful of times" he silenced her protests with a finger to her lips "I no longer am alive, and it is not fair that I tie you to a dead man, and his duties" he smiled just then, a small smile of acceptance "I want you to go on, live as we should have, find love, find adventure but most importantly, just live, live for me" he reached out and caught tear trailing down her cheek "promise me this."

"But Will, the curse, if I do not honor you" she shuddered at the thought of Will becoming like Davy Jones "you will be cursed as Jones was, that I cannot live with."

"But my darling wife, you will be honoring me, and I will feel no remorse or anger for you moving on, for I am asking you to" he smiled and drew her closer to him "the sun is nearly set and I must leave, all I ask of you is that you meet me here, ten years from now, so that you can tell me the tales of your life" he released her and stood, brushing the sand from his pants "I will take the chest somewhere safe, where no man of mortal means could find it" he looked back to her again "remember I will always love you, but I release you from this marriage" his words faded with the wind as he vanished before her.

She quickly stood, looking out at the horizon just in time to see the flash of green as he crossed to the plane of death.

Sighing deeply, her heart was not nearly broken as she thought it would be, in fact it was relief she felt, freed from a marriage that never stood a chance, nor one that had been consummated, technically she was neither Mrs. William Turner nor his widow, she was as she had been, simply Elizabeth Swann. Shaking the sand from herself, she made her way to the dingy that had brought her here from the Pearl, she looked out in the distance, Jack's precious ship still waited for her, and she began the trek back.

It was Mr. Gibbs that helped her back aboard the pearl some hour later. She smiled in appreciation "Thank you Mr. Gibbs."

"No problem Mrs. Turner" he returned the smile, noticing her falling smile "Taint all that bad Miss Elizabeth, you will see him again" he attempted to cheer her up. Seeing that he was making her downed mood worse, he changed course "Well then, the Captain would like to speak with you in his cabin, and I must get this ship underway." He walked away without another word.

Slowly, Elizabeth made her way below to Jack's cabin, knocking ever so softly; she heard his muffled response to enter. When she opened the door, she saw him hunched over this map table, in apparent concentration. His voice was far gruffer than she had expected as he turned around to face her.

"So the whelp has deflowered my fair maiden" he slurred roughly, has he tipped his bottle of rum.

"Your drunk" she replied coldly.

"And you are no longer my swan" he countered as he closed the space between them "guess I should of claimed the last kiss before you officially became Mrs. Deadfish" pausing for a moment before he laughed at his own joke.

"Jack what is your problem exactly" she began, her hands on her hips "You knew I intended to marry Will and I married him" she sighed as she shook her head in defeat "I will never understand you Sparrow" as she turned to leave. Her hand on the knob and suddenly his hands were on her shoulders and spun her around.

His rum filled breath, mixed with the intoxicating scent that was Jack, sand, sea and a untamable wildness "Why did you marry him?" he asked as he pressed her back against the door, his hands on each side over her head.

She dropped her head "Jack this is so much more complicated than that" she began "I" but she was interrupted as his lips claimed hers. She melted to the kiss, her arms snaking around his neck as he deepened it, his dropping down to pull her closer.

"Lizzy" he breathed as he broke the kiss "my Lizzy."

Reality claimed her, as she pushed him back "Jack I can't" she began.

"I know" he interrupted "I had to have one last bit of you for myself" he released her and staggered back a few feet "What be your heading Mrs. Turner?" he spit before turning back to the map table.

She noted his broken compass sitting there, her thoughts flew back to herself holding said compass and the direction to which it pointed. A bolt shot through her, as reality dawned on her and her true feelings toward the somewhat intoxicated swaying man before her, but she bit back her words and summoned the strength to push those urges down "I have no heading" she managed, her chin dropped as the truthiness of that statement also sunk in "I have no home to go to" she finished while staring at the floor, her hands wringing as tears bordered on falling. She looked up, her eyes glistening with unshed tears "what do you suggest Captain for the fallen daughter of a dead Governor and the wife of the Ferrier of the dead."

Had he turned around, perhaps even in his drunken state, he would of seen the truth of her statement, but he could not face her again "I will take you Shipwreck Cove" he paused to take another drink of rum "while you may no longer be the daughter of a Governor and the wife of a live man, you still are Pirate King and will always have a home there" he again tipped the bottle "tell Gibbs and we will be there by morning."

She took that as her leave, pausing before shutting the door, she looked back at him, the man that had stolen her heart without her knowledge, and the one with whom she would not share that knowledge. He had claimed one last taste of her; she had been robbed of her wedding night. Without thinking she shut the door.

Shaking his head, Jack let a single tear fall, the one tear for the one woman he had let into his cold heart. So it was shock that when said woman snaked her arm around him, he spun around "Lizzy?" he asked.

"Curiosity" she replied as she pulled him to a kiss.

The morning light, found him exhausted. The night had been spent in such wonder that he was pretty sure it didn't happen. The shocking thing had been when he found he had been the claimer of her innocence. The moment too heated, he didn't ask why her Husband had not, he relished in the thought that he alone had claimed this fiery siren, his murderess, his Lizzy.

tbc?