Disclaimer: Erm. I don't own anything. Surprised?

Author's Notes; This story is a ten-chapter story, with each chapter being a different glimpse into the ten years apart for Elizabeth. Each chapter is one day per year for every year they're apart, the last chapter being the reunion (yay!). They're relatively short chapters, but if I like the idea enough, I might take some of these chapters and make them full blown-out one-shots. Dunno, though. shrugs

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

One Day at a Time
By: MJ
Chapter One: A New Hope

The sunlight infiltrated through the near-sheer curtains covering the only window in her room, the perfect rays dancing across her closed eyelids. She squeezed them shut as a wave of nausea swept over her, but she dismissed it as simply bad fish from the night before. An instant later it was gone, and she opened her cinnamon eyes to a new day. A sigh escaped her lips as she sat up slowly, her head pounding and her body heavy. She felt weak and ill, and therefore was not in an agreeable mood. She dressed quietly, her eyes sometimes wandering to the window—the only window in the room, and the only window in her house that had a view of the cliff, and therefore a consistant view of the horizon.

"Yo, ho," she whispered the words, now a laughing matter in her own brain. A fierce pirate king she was now; she had neither a ship nor a crew in her care. She only had her house, and she lived by herself on that bluff; she had bought the land and the beach with the base money she had been left with when she and Will parted… was it but twelve weeks ago? She ran a hand through her honey curls and began a low braid. "heave, ho," she continued the whispered words, moving quietly about her tiny two-story home. Feeling the nausea sweep over her again, she quickly bi-passed the kitchen, but not before she grabbed her basket. It was a Tuesday, and she needed her produce for the next few days.

She continued to hum the tune to herself as she made her way down the slope; the little town grew larger before her eyes as she went. She smiled as she passed her fellow citizens, although she was not completely ignorant to the whispered gossip they shared when she was locked away in her house on the hill. She knew they thought her crazy; a widow who waits for her husband every night. Little did they know that most of what they said was true, and she even wondered vaguely what it would be like if she were to tell them the truth. That her husband was immortal, and his beating heart was hidden deep in the floorboards of her house, in a place no one would dare venture save herself.

"How much for the apples?" She asked a vendor, picking up the bright green fruits and pinching them to check their ripeness. The kind old man smiled and bagged three of them.

"For you, my sweet, free!" He said, and she smiled warily.

"Sir, I refuse—here," she placed three shillings in his gnarled hand. He tipped his hat to her as she left, placing the fruit in her basket. She meandered about the market, buying peaches, green beans, carrots and tomatoes; inwardly, she cursed herself for not starting her own little garden. As she reached the baker's stand, about to splurge on a cinnamon roll for herself, her stomach lurched. She set down her basket and clutched at her stomach with one hand, the other covering her mouth. She groaned and fell to her knees; the lurching continuing until she finally emptied the contents of her stomach. She pushed the stray hairs away from her now-sweating face as she heaved once more.

"Miss!"

She didn't move from her spot as she felt another's presence on the ground beside her. As she heaved a final time, she became aware that the new friend's hand was rubbing her back and speaking kind words to her. She finally raised her head to see a beautiful young girl with dark hair and sparkling eyes staring back at her.

"C'mon," she offered, helping her to stand. The stranger reached down and grabbed her forgotten basket and helped to guide the frail young woman through the crowd. "Me husband's a doctor, he'll take right good care of ye," she nodded.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it, it's the least I could do fer someone in yer condition! And in the middle of the market, too," she clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Right embarrassing…"

"Yes, thank you, I had quite forgot," her face was red, but the stranger laughed.

"I'm only teasin' ye!" She said, as they stopped in front of a quaint home. "C'mon inside, and I'll call for me husband," she said, helping to ease her inside the home, and lying her down on the couch in the parlor. It wasn't a moment later that she returned with a red-haired man with bright blue eyes and a friendly smile.

"My name's Henry, miss," he said, looking at her briefly. "I see you've met my wife--?"

"I don't… know her name."

"Oh!" She smiled, sticking out her hand and pushing her dark brown locks behind her shoulder. "Me name's Ana."

"My name's Elizabeth," Elizabeth said, chuckling lightly as she shook her new friend's hand. "Elizabeth Turner."

"Well, Miss--"

"Mrs.," Elizabeth corrected without a second thought. "Er… Mrs. Turner, please," she said, her eyes glazing over for a moment before they refocused on the kind doctor.

"My mistake," he said, smiling. "What… seems to be the problem?" He asked, moving around to kneel beside Elizabeth on the couch.

"I've been feeling dizzy and nauseous… and just plan horrible for the past few weeks," Elizabeth said in a quiet voice. "Perhaps… I'm not used to being on land? I had been sailing the seas for over three years before I moved here."

"How long do these symptoms persist?" Henry asked kindly, looking at his wife briefly. Ana smiled in a knowing fashion, and left the room for a moment.

Confused, Elizabeth replied, "They go away at the end of the morning… although, sometimes I wake up from them."

"Mm," Henry said, placing his hand on her abdomen for a moment. "Elizabeth, what you have is serious, but not something that you will likely die from."

"S-s-serious?" Elizabeth gasped, and Henry's eyes widened.

"Oh—no… not in that way… Er," he fumbled over his words nervously. "Serious in the sense that it's life-altering and is something wonderful for you and your husband to share!"

"What are you saying, doctor?" Elizabeth asked, breathless. Her eyes traveled to Ana who had brought in a tray of food.

"You're pregnant," he said in a quiet voice. Elizabeth smiled at him.

"No… I can't be!" She said, although the possibility was exciting nonetheless. "I mean, I've only had sex once… er, well," she blushed, her thoughts going back to Will's final good-bye, "more than once—yet, still, just that one day." She stressed, and they understood.

"Husband's a sailor." Ana said knowingly, not even bothering to ask.

"Yes," Elizabeth said quickly, although it wasn't truly a lie, but it really wasn't the entire truth, either. Yes, he was a sailor, but he wasn't a merchant sailor or even a pirate... he was a sailor who ferried souls from one world to the next. And, he was a Captain... "I… I don't think he'll be back in enough time," she said quietly. As excited as she was knowing that she was carrying Will's child—that she would have a part of Will with her for the rest of her life—she was still scared of being alone… how was she supposed to support herself and a child? How was she to manage? How… was she supposed to raise this child without a father?

"Oh, please," Ana said bluntly, shooing away Elizabeth's woes with a wave of her hand, "I'm sure he'll be back… where could he possibly be sailing to—the end of the world?"

Even as Elizabeth laughed, her heart ached for she knew this joke to be true. Even more unfortunate was that it brought Elizabeth's thoughts to a whole new light; what about all the things Will was going to miss with this baby--? The baby's first words, steps... all the birthdays and Christmases... And after he came back for that one day, he would miss his son's wedding... his grandchildren... Tears sprung to her eyes, but she dismissed her knew friends' worries quickly. She wiped the tears away and smiled.

"I'm just going to take everything one day at a time."

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in a review.

Next Chapter: William III's first birthday... and he finds out just how much his father loves him.