A/N - this story was inspired by a song, even though I couldn't use the actual words to the song in this story (they wouldn't fit) so, there are freshly baked internet chocolate chip cookies to any reviewer who correctly guesses the song this was inspired by :)

Disclaimer: I am ghilliekitten, I own nothing

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It seemed like hours since the last of the black sails had faded into the horizon, but young Will Turner (the third) stood looking past the trees to where the sails had been, wondering when the ship, and the woman he loved, would return. The soft colors of the sunrise had faded, giving way to the relatively harsher light of morning, and though he knew he would be in trouble if he didn't get to the smithy soon to help his father he just couldn't seem to bring himself to move.

"William Roland Turner!" he was distracted from his thoughts by his mother's voice calling his name. He turned to go down the hill in the direction of the voice, but his mother cam into view a split second later.

"There you are, I was getting worried" Elizabeth Turner looked at her son. "She was here, wasn't she?" Will only nodded. At least he wasn't getting a lecture about how he was fifteen, and supposed to be responsible. That his mother seemed to know everything was the only reason he could see that his mother had found out about Katherine. He had dreaded her finding out, had worried that she and his father would not approve of his falling in love with the daughter of Jack Sparrow, but the time he spent worrying about it turned out to be wasted. He didn't know how his mother knew this, but she always seemed to know everything that went on in his life – ever since the time he had gotten that treasure map from 'uncle' Jack, and, carefully following it to Commodore Norrington's garden had proceeded to dig up the entire garden looking for said treasure. Taking one last look at the small grove of trees by the stream where he and Katherine had been a few hours before he followed Elizabeth back to Port Royal.

A few years passed, and Will turned seventeen. The only thing he could see in his future was working in the smithy, and even though he was already accomplished as a blacksmith, it was not particularly something he wanted to do. He kept hoping that she would come back into his life – they corresponded as often as they could, through letters, but he kept on wishing that he could see her, that she would come, until one day, she did. A ship came sailing into the harbor – her ship. She came into the smithy, looking for him as the preparations for sailing were underway.

"Will?" he felt a hand on her shoulder and turned the attention away from the sword he was making, and saw … her.

"Katherine"

"Will … it's …"

"… been too long" he said, as she found his way into his arms, and nodded.

"It has been too long." She brought her face closer to his, meaning to kiss him, but was cut short when the door to the smithy opened and James Norrington entered, but paused in his tracks when he saw the scene in the room.

"Am I disturbing something, Master Turner? If I am, I can come back later."

"No, that's okay" Katherine said, taking charge of the situation. Then she turned to Will. "If you just give me directions to the hat maker's shop, I'll be on my way."

"Of course." Will said, and she gave him a significant look that they both hoped Norrington would miss. "Take a right on this street and on the third street you pass that crosses this one, take a left. It's the fifth shop on that street, you can't miss it."

"Thank you, sir" she said, wanting to laugh out loud at the formality. "Good day" she said on a sudden inspiration, nodding to Will and Norrington in turn, then she made her way to the hat maker's shop where she waited until Will came a little while later.

A few weeks later …

" I wish you didn't have to go" Will said

"So do I … but …" then an idea seemed to come to her "why don't you come with me?" she asked

"what?" he laughed as he was saying it, but when he thought about it – why not?

"Come with me! On my ship! We could use the extra help, so no one would object and then … then we could be together' her words opened up a whole new possibility to Will, who had never really considered such things, though after thinking things over, it didn't seem like such a bad idea. He promised that he would meet her at the dock before the tide went out, he went home one last time, not sure how he would explain this to his parents, and hoping that he wouldn't run into them and miss the tide. But he didn't have to take the time to think of what to put in a note, because he had no sooner placed a piece of paper on the table and was considering what to say then he heard his father's voice.

"And just where are you running off to?" Will turned to his father.

"Can we discuss this later?" he hoped his father would understand that he was in a hurry, but he gave Will a look that told him that wasn't going to happen.

"You really like her, don't you?" Unable to deny that he could just nod.

"And she wants you to run off with her and be a pirate." It wasn't a statement, but Will's answer was cut off when his mother walked into the room

"What's all this about 'pirate'?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and looked from her husband to her son. "Because if …

"Well, not 'pirate, exactly …" her son said sheepishly, so she gave an exasperated look to her husband.

"He wants to run off with Jack Sparrow's daughter" At this Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her son, as if to say 'do you now?' but he got the impression that she was far from surprised. Will turned looked from his father to his mother, and back to his father.

"Father" Will said "I'm seventeen, I'm old enough to make my own decisions"

"Really?" he said the amusement he felt coming through in his tone "Do you now?" Then he smiled "I thought so when I was seventeen, and I don't regret my choice for a moment" He looked over at his wife, who nodded her agreement "Much as I don't like you going, you can make your own decisions. And if you're as sure as I was, you have my blessing. Though" he said with a hint of a smile "That is purely to find the woman you love, not to engage in piracy." Will smiled with relief, and without further ado he hugged both his parents, and with many tears from all three of them, he left, hoping that he could get to Katherine's ship before the tide went out. As Will ran down to the docks the road seemed to melt away, the plants lining the road blending into a green blur that Will was too busy running to pay attention to – he was too busy thinking about life at sea, and life with Katherine.

Life at sea was far from easy, and once Will was actually on the sea, he realized how little he actually knew. To his credit, though, he learned fairly quickly, and soon had a basic understanding of sailing. For a couple of years they sailed the seas, happy to be together, but Katherine eventually grew tired of life on the sea, and began to wish for something more – a home that she and Will could share, together, perhaps, a home where they could raise a child.

"Will' said Katherine,

"Yes, love?'

"Do you ever wish for anything more than a pirate's life?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've lived on a ship for most of my life, if not this ship, then the Pearl, and... Will, don't you think that it's rather boring? To me, it's always the same, all the same sea, except when we make port. I always expected to do this because it's what my mother and my father did, but now I'm not so sure. I don't want to always be going from one place to another." She turned to face him "I want to be somewhere and settled down – with you. Of course, if you'd prefer not to settle down, I understand."

"I'm happy wherever you are and want to be with you forever." Will said. "If you're unhappy and want to settle down somewhere, then that's what we will do."

So, the crew dispersed with equal shares of the treasure they had collected, and then Will and Katherine were able to find a house and settle down together.

When she had told Will that she was pregnant, he thought he would burst with happiness. All that winter they worked to prepare for the baby – setting up the baby's room, Will making the crib and Katherine making baby clothes, and working together on other things that needed to be done for the baby.

It was early in the spring when the baby came. During the morning Katherine and Will were both excitedly chatting, and Will made a few last minute adjustments to the nursery, mostly to have something to do. By mid afternoon, it became apparent that there was something wrong – Katherine's labor was becoming more and more painful – Will could tell, even though Katherine never said anything about it, and it worried him. Will tried everything he could think of to help her, as did the midwife who had come to help with the delivery. It seemed to Will though that the only thing he was able to do was giving her a hand she could squeeze, and tell her that everything would be okay. He wished that he could do something make good on those promises but there was nothing he could do. For a while, though it seemed that everything would be okay – despite the fact that the labor had been hard, the baby was healthy, and for a while everything was going as it should. Katherine held the baby until she felt tired, and while she rested Will held the baby and put her in the crib when she fell asleep. It was about then when the midwife came to talk to him, and he could see by her expression …

"What's wrong?"

"It's Katherine" she said, the worry lines on her forehead deepening. "She's dying"

"What?! No! Isn't there anything you can do, anything I can do?"

"I've done everything I know how to do, but nothing seems to work, she's just getting worse" He ran over to the bed where Katherine was.

"Will" she said in a small voice he hardly recognized as hers and giving her a wan smile.

"Will, I love you so much"

"I love you too, Katherine, more than words can say."

"Take care of our little baby for me"

"What are you talking about, we'll be able to raise our baby together …" her breathing became more labored, and Will started to cry as he realized she wasn't going to last.

"Katherine, please, Katherine, don't leave me here, without you"

"shh …" she said, and she tried to lift her hand to Will's face to wipe off the tears, but couldn't. "Don't cry, my love. Don't cry"

Early in the morning just as the light was coming over the horizon he nailed together two planks of wood in the form of a cross and carved her name on it to mark her grave, even though he could hardly see through his tears. By the time he had finished the baby had woken up and was crying. Wondering how he was ever going to be able to raise a child alone, he went to go see what the baby needed.

Seven years later, Will walked along the same path by the stream, the leaves left over from the previous autumn crunching underfoot even though there were new leaves growing on the trees and the smell of the spring flowers came floating on the air like perfume. He was reminded of the times so many years ago when he used to meet the woman he loved at this same spot. He smiled as he heard delighted laughter and saw the young girl who was running towards him, smiling and holding a bunch of freshly picked flowers in her hands - his daughter, Katherine.