James had watched as the Endeavor went up in flames, the ship bursting with fire and splintering into thousands and thousands of pieces. The fireball warmed his skin and engulfed men he had once considered subordinates and comrades. But he was not thinking about them. Cutler Beckett was gone from the world. Of that he was certain. No one standing on deck would have survived the blast. No one could have survived the bombardment from the two passing ships. James gave them only a moment's thought before remembering Isabelle's violent reaction in the boat last summer when Jack Sparrow had been taken from the world. He also remembered back to a few weeks before when Captain Sparrow had returned. Isabelle had been struck ill for an entire day, weakened for several after that. She had a connection not only with Jack, but with Cutler as well. James shifted his attention from the disappearing stern of the Endeavor and sought out Isabelle, even as everyone else's attention went to the armada beyond.

Isabelle was at the far side of the deck from him and he caught sight of her just as she staggered backwards into the thick mast of the Black Pearl. The deck between them was clogged with celebrating pirates and he was forced to stop, duck and push the loud pirates aside. He occasionally lost sight of her in the melee, and a few times was even stopped by the pirates on deck, but he always sought her out again as soon as the crowds thinned. As he drew near, he saw that her eyes were tightly closed, and her jaw set. Her fingers held tightly to the ropes lashed around the mast and held to them as if they were the only thing supporting her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as if she had just run a great race. James reached her side and half toppled into her as crewmen pushed by to get a better view of the retreating armada.

"Isabelle?!" James grasped her arms and held her close to him as she began to slide down the mast, her knees no longer able to support her. His arm went about her waist and his other hand went up to cup her cheek. They were pressed close to the mast, the press on deck necessitating it and he stared down at her as she slowly came back to herself.

Isabelle opened her eyes and slowly took everything in. Everything seemed brighter, sharper, and clearer to her. Every sight, every sound was sharper and louder. Every color was brighter and every smell assaulted her. She smelled blood, damp, rot, salt, and gunpowder, and something else, though she wasn't sure what it was. She saw the sky shining bright blue above her, pennants flying gaily in the breeze and smoke drifting over the bright teal waters of the Caribbean. Cheers carried over the water which glinted brightly in the sun. Never before had she seen the world as she was seeing it now.

James watched as she looked around and took in her surroundings as if she were seeing them for the first time. Her eyes centered on him and he was shocked at how bright they seemed. "Isabelle?" He asked again, wondering what was happening behind her dark eyes.

He saw her lips move wordlessly but the cheers from the crew of the Black Pearl drowned her out. They both turned to see everyone tossing hats into the air and firing their pistols in celebration. Hats began to rain down upon the deck around them and the euphoria rose as a wave from the pirate fleet. She shuddered at the blast of emotion and clung to James' jacket in the noise and exaltation around them came to a crescendo.

Isabelle took it all in. Part of her felt overwhelmed, and yet another felt relief. Having Cutler gone from her was as a balm, but it was also like having a wound opened and exposed. Sadness settled in the wake of the celebrations and Isabelle felt it weigh down upon her. She felt the air drawn from her and turned her gaze to where Elizabeth stared out at the Dutchman.

"She needs to go ashore…" Isabelle breathed, her eye lids drooped and she shook her head trying to overcome the wave of exhaustion that now bogged her down. James looked over his shoulder and saw Elizabeth but shook his head.

"I'm more concerned about you…"

"She needs to go ashore." Isabelle repeated as she weakly pushed him away from her. She tipped her head back against the mast and gulped at the air. "She needs to go now…Please, it's more important that you help her."

"Wait here…." James said pressing Isabelle gently back into the mast. He moved his way back through the teeming masses, trying to keep his eye on Isabelle. He didn't want to leave her side, he wanted to comfort her any way he could. But he knew from past experience that the best way to do that was to give her space. He turned quickly and moved across the decks to gather Gibbs and Jack and tell them what Isabelle had intoned to him.

Isabelle was grateful for the space he afforded her. There were so many thoughts flitting through her head at such a high rate of speed that her head pounded as the guns of the Pearl had pounded minutes before. She slid slowly to the deck and sat with her head leaning back against the mast. Activity eventually slowed and a slow silence descended upon the decks of the Black Pearl. Isabelle was lulled and comforted by the ebbing feelings that permeated the sailors on deck and she quickly drifted into a dark and dreamless sleep.

"What do you mean she said Elizabeth had to go ashore?" Jack asked as he chewed on one of his grimy nails. "Why didn't she tell me? I'm captain!"
James looked at Jack with distaste and near growled. "She seemed tired. I don't think she had the strength to force her way through the ranks to find you."

"Mmm." Jack looked down over the decks in an effort to find the flaxen haired empath but didn't see her in the confusion below. "Very well." He said with a dismissive wave. "Go prepare a boat. Be sure Elizabeth wants to go ashore, though I have no doubt of Isabelle's incredible talents…I don't think I've known her to ever be wrong in the past…."

James and Gibbs moved quickly across the decks and snatched up a few of the more trustworthy deck hands to help get the boat onto the davits and into the water as Jack looked on from above. Elizabeth went with a certain amount of trepidation and nervousness about her. She said good bye to both Jack and James, tears in her eyes at the thought of what she was about to face. One day with her husband. Three words stood out in that thought: Husband and one day. It was hard to believe that she was married to William Turner and now she was to spend such a short amount of time with him. She had planned on spending the rest of her life with him. One day ashore, ten years at sea. Elizabeth's heart ached at the prospect of being wed to an absentee husband. How was she to go on? What would society think? What would she tell people? Would William come back in ten years? Would he still love her if she'd lost her looks and he'd stayed ever young? She shook her head as she seated herself in the small boat and took up the oars. Banish those thoughts, enjoy the time given you. The thoughts tripped through her head. The darker thoughts were not the path she wished to travel down, not with what awaited her. She didn't want to think dark thoughts when her time on the beach with Will would be so short. She didn't want her sadness to temper her time with her husband.

James watched as Elizabeth rowed herself away from the Pearl. She was a married woman. He knew he should be happy for her; happy that she had finally found what she had wanted after so long. But a part of him was saddened that her wedded bliss should be cut so short by circumstances. There was nothing that could be done for that though. He knew that even though Will would be an absentee husband, tasked with ferrying the dead from this world to the next, Elizabeth would always love him and would remain true to him until the end of days. Elizabeth was, as they said in social circles, off the market now. He knew in his heart that she was a strong young woman; she always had been and would make the most of the cards life had dealt her. He would always do what he could to help her, but he had been shown a different path that was not to join with hers at this late juncture.

The crew of the Black Pearl moved away from the rail where they had watched Elizabeth Turner depart. The young woman was on her way. There was still work to be done here though before they could get any rest. They slowly went about securing the deck of the Pearl. James joined them before going back to where he had left Isabelle at the mast.

She looked as if she had merely crumpled to the decks, her legs melting out from beneath her. Her head lay at an impossible angle upon her shoulder and for once there was none of the stress that usually sat so heavily upon her features. James looked around and noticed that other crewmen were heading below decks to their hammocks. Jack and Barbossa had retreated to their own respective quarters and now James and Isabelle were, for the most part, the only people left on deck. The rigging creaked softly over head and the swift breeze blew the smell of battle from the decks. James stood and backed slowly away from Isabelle. He didn't want to wake her, as uncomfortable as she looked. He would not deny her the rest she needed so desperately. He moved across the deck and lay in a comfortable looking space between one of the guns and the rail. The sun streamed down through the masts and sails above them and soon enough James too succumbed to the exhaustion that had settled on them all.

Isabelle sat up and blinked into the brightness of the setting sun. The gentle groan of the boards of the ship, and the sound of a gull screeching in the failing light served as the back drop to remind Isabelle she was at sea. She moved her head around slowly, a stiffness had developed in her neck and hissed at the pain involved in moving her head the slightest bit. Salt was heavy on the air and it filled her nose and burned her still tired eyes. She wondered briefly what had pulled her from sleep when she felt something shudder through her. The feeling was hot and spread through her entire being, starting at her toes and moving swiftly up through her core. It took her breath away. She stretched her legs out before her, working the stiffness from her joints. She reached behind her and pulled herself to her feet using the mast as a support, unsure if her legs would support her. Once steady she took slow and steady strides until she reached the rail where she could see what lay before her. She cast her gaze across the deck behind her and saw only a few slumbering members of the Black Pearl. She supposed one of them might have had a dream of loved ones from ports gone by, but she seriously doubted that. The Pearl bobbed slowly around on its anchor chain and Isabelle was afforded a view of a nearby island. The feeling of fire and passion swelled and she felt the air robbed from her again as her head rolled back.

William and Elizabeth

She quickly retreated from the rail and tripped her way across the deck to the ocean side of the ship and concentrated on the slowly descending orb of the sun. Each time the Pearl swung about on its chain, she moved as well, always keeping her eyes locked on the sun.

James awoke when he heard the sound of footsteps tread past him slowly. He blinked against the shaded light spilling across the deck, long shadows reaching fingerlike across the deck and into the sea beyond. It took him a moment to realize that Isabelle was no longer lying against the mast and he sat up to look around, wondering why no one had roused him if they were ready to make way. He rubbed his face and looked up to see no one yet awake, and then he saw Isabelle standing on the quarter deck staring intently into the sun. Her golden hair shone in the orange light of the sun and her eyes were dark, narrow slits staring into the sinking orb. A gust of wind caught her hair and the loose clothing she wore and whipped and billowed it around her. He watched her for a moment and wondered at her constant pacing around the deck, always keeping her eyes on the sun. He finally pulled himself from the deck stiffly and walked to where she stood now amidships with her dark eyes locked on the sun, hands spread on the rail before her. He watched as she leaned her head back and breathed deeply of the salty air.

"You're awake." Isabelle started and turned to face him quickly. "I startled you?"

"A little…." She breathed, clutching her chest. "I didn't think anyone else had yet awoken."

"I heard you moving about." Isabelle looked back to the sun as it eased closer to the sea. "What are you so focused on?" James asked softly, leaning his elbows upon the rail.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful." Isabelle breathed back. James looked out and saw the red disc of the sun set against a pink, orange, yellow and lilac sky. The ocean, usually a blue so bright it was painful to the eye had taken on a shade closer to a royal purple, deep, and dark and rich. The sun set the tops of the waves alight, as if it were aglitter with gems. The ship pivoted once again and he slowly took a long glance at the way the sun seemed to set the orange clay of the bluffs on fire. When he turned back, Isabelle was gone to the other side of the ship where her eyes were locked again on the sun. James moved across and laid his hand upon hers where it rested on the rail. James had to clasp her hand tightly, lest she pull it away from him.

"It is a beautiful sight…." James conceded softly.

"It's as if the whole world is new to me." Isabelle said after a long pause. "Every sight, every sound, every smell; it's as if I'm experiencing it for the very first time." They stood in silence for some time before Isabelle extracted her hand from his and moved around the ship, eyes still locked on the darkening sky. He followed her and stood, clinging to the ratlines as the extended high into the masts.

"What happened?" Isabelle's voice broke the reverie that James had slipped into as he watched the sun descend.

"Excuse me?" James asked having to pull his concentration from the sunset.

"After the escape…from the Flying Dutchman? What happened?" Isabelle's voice was soft, barely above a whisper. James sighed and leaned against the taught ropes.

"There actually isn't very much I remember." He said watching as her eyes centered on him. "I remember firing at the ropes, and then there's a bit of pain, and blackness."

"I'm sorry…."

"Don't be." James pivoted and looked back out to sea. The barest trace of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I don't know what would have happened had I stayed aboard the Dutchman. Nothing good I'd imagine."

"What happened next?" Isabelle stared up at him and saw his eyes move about as if trying to recall everything.

"I suppose I dreamt….I know I dreamt." He finally said. "There was a room, it was dark and warm and inviting. It smelled of paper, and flowers…..There was someone there on occasion, but I never did seem to be able to get close to them. They were always just out of reach…."

Isabelle stared at him for a moment and turned to dart away with the pivot of the ship. James followed suit.

"Why do you flee?" Isabelle shook her head, not trusting her voice. He grasped her hand in a tight grasp and felt her try to draw her hand away again. "No…don't pull away from me." She took a shuddering breath and closed her eyes.

"Please…." She breathed. "Please don't."

"Don't what?" When she didn't answer he pressed her shoulder and turned her to face him. "Don't what?" He repeated with more force.

"I can't bear it…" She brushed away and paced with the pivot of the ship, keeping her eyes on the scarlet orb of the sun.

"Why? What can't you bear?" She still would not answer him and he turned her again that he might look in her eyes. "Can't bear what?"

Isabelle's eyes searched his face and glanced back out to sea. They were at the stern of the ship and it seemed to James, as the bottom curve of the sun dipped into the sea that her eyes swam with tears.

"You wouldn't understand." She breathed. He reached up and brushed at a streak of gunpowder that was smeared on her cheek. Her breath caught in her throat and she closed her eyes against the sensations that swept through her.

"Of course I won't…especially if you don't tell me." She opened her eyes and stared deeply into his. "Won't you tell me?"

She inhaled sharply as his fingertips traced a path down over her neck. God, even every touch seemed new and fiery to her. The ship began another bobbing turn around the anchor chain and Isabelle made to move with it. James blocked her against the aft gun rail and held her in place.

"Let me by." She growled.

"No." James whispered down at her. He watched as her head tilted back and she took a shuddering breath. "Not until you tell me the reason you've been pacing around this ship and staring at the sun." When she opened her eyes again they were dark, yet glowed with eerie silver light. "Tell me, Isabelle."

"Them….I didn't want to intrude on them…" Isabelle said glancing over her shoulder at the beach where the dark shapes of two rowboats bobbed at the tide line. James looked up and moved away so Isabelle could break free and move to look out once again over the open sea. "You have no right to impede my movements." She said hotly as he came to stand beside her. "How dare you?!" Anger swept up over her as she turned to face him. "I'm tired and hurt and weak! I spent years under someone else's thumb and now he's--he's…" Isabelle trailed off as she slapped her hand softly against the rail and took a pained, shuddering breath.

James brushed his fingers across her neck and forced her eyes to meet his. "Lord Beckett is no longer a part of your life. He's gone from it."

"He was a part of my life for so long…" She sighed. "So was Jack. When Jack left, there was a great void to be filled. But Cutler….his presence lifted from me like cargo lifted from a dock. I feel easier for his passing."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I feel guilt…" She shook her head and turned back to face him. "But not for his death….I feel guilt for not feeling guilt." Her eyes searched his face, hoping to find an answer there. "Shouldn't I feel guilt? He was family…."

"He disowned you."

"I know…I know…" The ship turned again and she stood firm at the rail, even as the cool evening breeze rushed at her back and raced in towards the shore. "I have to be strong…."

James could see someone moving on the shore, no doubt it was Captain Turner preparing to return to the Flying Dutchman and the task set for him by the Goddess Calypso. His day ashore was almost up, the sun easing lower to the horizon. The small boat eased into the cool evening waters and pointed its nose towards the Flying Dutchman.

"Her heart is breaking…." Isabelle said as a tear traced across the curve of her cheek. "You should go to her; she'll need your support…"

"No. She'll do well on her own now. She was always rather independent." He said with a small grin. "Besides her heart belongs to him. It always has, and always will." James caressed Isabelle's face, his fingertips ghosting over her cheek, her jaw, and settling at the back of her neck. "Her heart belongs to him, and his to her…just as mine belongs to you…." Isabelle's eyes shot quickly to his face, searching for a lie. "If you'll have it."

Isabelle found it hard to breath, a fiery heat washing through her. She gripped the rail and tried to ease back, her knees threatening to give out. She opened her eyes and locked her gaze on that of James Norrington.

"What are you doing?" Her voice came out as a whisper.

"Something I've been meaning to for some time now."

A/N: Sorry it took so long for an update, I had some problems with this chapter and the next one, but it's better now. Thank you so much, you know how much I love your reviews!!