The Eyes Of Another Man

04/23/09

Fanfiction: Pirates of the Caribbean, post-AWE

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Don't own the Pirates, aren't making any money. All credit to the big-eared mouse.

He heard the sand shift beneath his feet. He felt the solidarity of unmoving ground below, so unlike the eternal toss of a ship. He breathed deep the thousand conflicting scents of the island, Jamaica's trademark perfume. He smiled. Ten years was a very, very long time to be so deprived.

But his eyes never moved from the young woman waiting on the shore.

God, she was beautiful. He'd spent every waking moment of the last decade, and most of his dreams, picturing her exquisite face, her slender body, but not a one of his memories could compare to the reality of her radiance, the sheer glory of her smile, the ache in his chest just looking at her. Elizabeth. Oh God. No man could consider himself so lucky as he. She was just too beautiful. No man should have to leave her after only a day. Oh God.

There was a child clinging to her skirts, a lovely little girl with spilling golden curls and fine features that could only belong to the daughter of his beloved.

But she was young. Very young. Too young. He stared at her, something very, very cold overflowing in his chest. The girl looked up at him with wide, innocent eyes and they were not the eyes of William Turner and they were not the eyes of his beloved. They were the eyes of another man.