One Night

"Well," Jack said awkwardly into the silence. "I wouldn't advise sleeping in the women's quarters.only Anamaria is ever there and you two seem to have ahh..not exactly hit it off upon your reacquaintance."

Elizabeth stood. "I can go home to sleep. You're docked in my town, remember?"

Jack nodded sheepishly. "Oh yes, I forgot. In that case, I had better go share Anamaria's sleeping quarters. So she won't be lonely without the company she was expecting." Jack tipped his hat at Elizabeth and stood.

"But first I'll escort you upstanding young woman off my ship" Elizabeth smiled.

"Not so young, anymore, Jack." He offered his arm. She didn't take it. Jack didn't press the point.

As she was getting off the ship, she turned to him. "We will get him back, won't we, Jack?" He appeared startled. A single tear fell from her eye, tracing it's way down her still smooth cheek. On instinct Jack reached up and swept it away.

Will saw this from his sleeping place onboard, and cringed. He imagined them together- her long legs entwined with his, his hands grasping her breasts, his lips kissing her warm, alabaster neck, and he cried silently to himself. Oh, Elizabeth, Elizabeth. How could you? I love you. Why wasn't I there, to stop you, to protect you, to save you. Billy was supposed to be ours. Oh, Elizabeth. He buried his face into his pillow, stolen from Jack's bed.

"We will get him back, won't we, Jack?"

"Of course, love, he's my son." Jack said, as if it were obvious and nothing to worry about. Will heard this and felt his heart break a little more. Sweet little William wasn't his. Will drove his head under his pillows, his arms over his head, and heard no more. The Captain's conversation with Elizabeth continued.

"And you'll be here in the morning, correct, Jack Sparrow?" this time her tone was accusatory.

"And leave you here alone in your time of need? Miss Swan, excuse me, Mrs. Turner, even I have a bit more decency than that."

Elizabeth voiced her doubt of that before bidding Jack a goodnight and making her way back through the wreckage of the pirate war. In the horror of Billy going missing and the revelation he was not Will's son, she had forgotten about the scuffle. She saw, to her delight, it was not too serious. Jack's crew had arrived in time, and saved the day. She smiled. That was a bit ironic. Then she made her way home to her other children, to her father, and explain why she and Will may never come back. She bowed her head as she walked. Or how she may never come back. Will may not have anything to do with Billy anymore- after all, it was decided now that he wasn't his son. But then Elizabeth remembered Will's words.

"You are still my wife. Billy is still my son."

And she cried out upon remembrance, because she wanted to hold him so badly, to thank him, for telling him how he didn't deserve her and how sorry she was. But she couldn't do any of that, because instead of being at her side, he was on a pirate's ship. Because of what she had done. She cursed herself, over and over, a thousand times and she, hobbled by grief and fear and doubt, went home.

Jack made his way hastily down to Anamaria's quarters, stopping only to grab as many bottles of rum as he could reach. He paused for a moment outside her door, smoothing his hair down. But before he could finish, a long, thin, muscled arm snaked through the door and pulled him in by the collar. His cry of indignation was immediately silenced by her rough kisses, which drove him back against the wall. Jack didn't mind.

"I have a son," he gasped, as soon as he could breathe (admittedly, a bit after he had gotten there.) Anamaria took a step back and glared at him.

"What?" and she was like fire and ice all at once. Jack took a long swig of rum, and sat down hard. In a moment of uncharacteristic tenderness he pulled Anamaria over in between his legs, and into a gentle, chaste embrace. Her heart went out to him immediately. He repeated, unbelieving, his words, and as he said them, a cry caught in his throat and they were muffled against Anamaria's breastbone.

"I have a son."