Chapter Three: The meaning of freedom

Declaimer: Not mine!

The wind blew her hair back, she'd let it out of the pony tail even though she knew it would be all tangled after this. The slender girl shrugged when the thought occurred to her, she could worry about that later. Right now she was happy to simply feel the powerful animal beneath her and watch the green grass fly by under the stallion's black hooves. She smiled, feeling so free riding the horse through the wide, open field with no saddle or reins just the two both them running wild.

"Elizabeth!" Will called to her, breaking Elizabeth's concentration. "I really hate it when you ride that wild beast around with nothing on him." maybe she liked risking her life (at least that's the way he looked at it) but Will was anything but excited about her doing it.

"Oh Will." Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him. "You worry too much!" she urged the stallion on to an even faster pace. She'd been riding horses most of her life, so she knew how to handle him.

Will winced. Was she doing this just to tease him? "Elizabeth please, you know how I feel about you doing that." Will bit his lip, he'd never told her why he didn't like her around horses—he shook his head to rid himself of the bad memories, now was not the time to think about that. "Well if you hurt yourself don't come crying to me." he tried without much success to make light of the matter. Please Elizabeth stop riding that stallion!

Elizabeth noticed how upset Will seemed so she reluctantly signaled her mount to stop so she could slide off. She straightened her dress before walking over to him. Will mentally shook his head; how on earth could she ride in a dress?

"Will, is there something you'd like to tell me?" Elizabeth asked gently. He always looked so anxious when she rode, and he usually didn't act like that—he wasn't someone who worried about everything. Except he totally freaks out when I go near a horse.

"It's nothing, really." replied Will, smiling weakly at her, hoping to cover up just how afraid he really was for her. "I'm fine."

But Elizabeth didn't believe him. "Will." she pressed reproachfully."I keep feeling like there's something you're not telling me, and its not a good feeling." she turned away, Will was the only person she had left now, she wanted him to trust her. She wanted him to have someone to tell his troubles to, Elizabeth sighed, she felt free, protected and loved around Will. She wanted him to feel that way too.

Will, seeing how depressed she looked, quickly hugged her tightly. "We came here so you would tell me what's wrong, remember? Not to worry about my fears."

Elizabeth merely nodded. She felt much calmer about the whole thing now. Pulling away from Will she told him all that had just happened. Her eyes watered slightly when she got to the part where her father actually died but she didn't really start crying. "You're the only one I have left now." Elizabeth whispered, looking into his hazel eyes.

Will licked his lips, unsure as to what to say. He knew what it was like to be alone in the world, to loose your family and feel like you'd never be happy again. But that didn't mean he had the faintest notion how to comfort her. Will hadn't had anyone to reassure him until he'd met Elizabeth, and they'd been too young then to go real deep with anything. "Lizzy, I'm so sorry." he finally said, sitting down in the tall grass, motioning for her to sit next to him. She complied without hesitation, in fact she completely laid down, staring up at the blue sky absentmindedly. Will leaned over Elizabeth, putting his arms on neither side of her. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked softly, getting even closer to her.

"Maybe." she breathed, hoping he'd kiss her and knowing he was probably too shy, he'd never kissed her on the lips before. "I haven't told you the worse part yet though." she wiggled her nose, realizing that statement would ruin the moment.

"What?!" as Elizabeth had expected Will quickly backed off. He couldn't possibly imagine what could be worse then the news she'd already given him! "What in the world happened today?" he asked in shock.

Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh at Will's dramatic reaction, but she quickly grew serious again. She suddenly felt rather shy, she concerned this worse then her father dying but would Will think the same? Elizabeth had been in love with him since that day they'd met, but what if he didn't feel the same way about her? Well now was as good a time as any to find out. "My father made me promise to marry Norrington before he died, but I don't want to marry him. He's too old for me and too formal." Elizabeth said in slight disgust. "Plus I never have and never will love him." gaining courage she added, "There's only one man in this world I'd ever want to marry and that's you."

Will turned bright red upon hearing this. "M…me?" he stammered, too apprehensive to look her in the eyes. Was he just hearing things, or had Elizabeth really said she wanted to marry him?

Laughing Elizabeth punched him playfully. "Yes you Mr. Turner. What's wrong, are you afraid of me?" she asked mildly, successfully covering up just how nervous she was.

"No." he managed to say. But weren't they a little young to worry about a commitment like that? He loved Elizabeth, no doubt about that but he didn't even have he own place and no guaranteed means of proving for both of them. Will remembered his mother telling him something before she'd died. "Always remember son, when you marry someone they're putting a lot of faith in you, love is strong so never misuse your soul mate's trust. Your father betrayed me, I thought he'd always be there for me but he's not. I don't want you to do that, you can be better." He didn't want to do what his father had done to his mother to Elizabeth. "Lizzy I love you—" but Will was unable to finish because she literally jumped on him, knocking him off balance.

"I love you too!" she whispered happily in his ear as they both fell into the grass. Elizabeth was half laying on Will, she kicked her feet on the ground. Norrington would have a fit if he knew about this! She thought with satisfaction, placing her hand on Will's chest, she could feel his heart beating rapidly. Elizabeth gazed fondly at the boy under her, running her fingers gently though his thick, dark hair—she had him here, they were alone, why not? She slowly leaned down, closed her eyes and kissed Will passionately just like she'd seen her parents do before her mother had died. Will gasped in total surprise but didn't pull away. When their lips parted Elizabeth rolled off Will and sighed with content, she wanted to stay here forever with him and forget about her promise.

"Elizabeth." Will finally said, breaking the silence. "It's getting late you should probably get back, as should I."

Looking up she realized he was right, it was nearly sundown, she hadn't noticed how much time had gone by. The manor was right over the hill, but you couldn't see the field from the house because the hill hid it from view, which was why she came here when she wanted to be alone. This place was part of her land so technically she was still where she belonged. Elizabeth cuddled up to Will. "I don't want to go back there." she told him, watching the little band of horses being herded by the stallion she'd been riding earlier.

Will glared at her mockingly. "You better leave before you do something else improper." he said jokingly.

Elizabeth snorted in a very unladylike way. "Since when do I care what's proper or not?" she shook her head. "I spend half the day being polite and all that nonsense Will, right now I want to be free like you, I want to be able to do what I want not what other people think I should do. I'm tired of having to act like a lady." she pouted just thinking about all the lessons she had to take.

Will had to laugh at that. "I'm not free either. What ever made you think that?"

"Well, because you don't have to worry about what other people think about you, you're free to just be yourself." she replied.

An amused expression crossed Will's face. "Elizabeth, everyone is affected by the people around them, not just you, I mean I feel relaxed when I'm with some people and really nervous in the company of others. It's normal, I do worry about what people think about me too." he smiled kindly. "I don't feel free to be myself with just anyone."

Elizabeth sighed, maybe he was right, but she still felt he had the upper hand when it came right down to it. The sun had already slipped behind the mountains, soon it would be dark. Elizabeth gave Will a sideways glance as both of them got up off the ground. "I've never kissed anyone but you, and I plan to keep it that way."

"Yeah…well." Will laughed nervously, blushing as he brushed dry grass from his pants. "I've never kissed anyone like that either."

"That's because you're too shy and too decent to go around kissing every girl that throws herself at you." Elizabeth smiled warmly, for some reason the terrible events of the day seemed less horrible and less real with Will around to comfort her. As long as she had him around she'd make it through no matter what happened.

"You know," said Will, suddenly thoughtful. "I believe being free is a personal chose, you're only as free as you truly believe to be."

Elizabeth hugged him tightly. "You're my best friend Will, I love you." she whispered affectionately in his ear. "Good-bye for now." and with that she turned and began to make her way up the hill, one of the mares following in her wake in hopes of getting a scratch or two. Leaving Will staring after her as the last of the light faded from the shy.

"Good-bye, Elizabeth." he replied softly before leaving the field, still a little overwhelmed by the day's outcome.

Thanks for the reveiws you two!!!! Please people I want some more!