A/N: Prompt #8 - Close.
Elizabeth watched Will row away.
They had been so close, so close to having everything they wanted.
And now . . .
She watched the ship until it vanished. Then she turned away and walked towards the town with her head held high.
She wasn't close enough to the town to make it before nightfall, but the moon was full, and there worse places to get caught in the dark.
The frustrating thing about the town, Elizabeth decided, was that it was so close to prosperity, yet it refused to push itself over the edge. A lighthouse to make it safer for ships, proper management of trade, a government that actually worked . . .
She was a governor's daughter. She noticed these things.
She was the pirate king. She knew how to get what she wanted.
By the time she realized she was pregnant, she was close to being in charge of the town's defenses. By the time she gave birth, she was running the town.
Henry stuck close for the first few years of his life, soaking up all the lore she could teach him. Then he got adventurous.
She wasn't surprised when he announced that he wanted to go to sea. She was surprised when he wanted to join the navy.
She watched him sail away and wished she was going with him.
And then he came home.
Came home with his father.
For the first time in years, all her dreams were there, close enough to touch.