People, let us be logical here. Could Will and Serenity get together without me having to put an AU label on this whole thing? It's not to say they won't in the future, but it's very possible that you might have to read a couple of epilogues before we get to that point… *evil grins* haha! A/N cliffie!!! muahaha
This chapter is dedicated to Truffles and to Kelly Bloom, my two most faithful reviewers!
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Chapter Eighteen
Caribbean Winter
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The days passed dreadfully slowly as Port Royale sank into a Caribbean winter. The temperatures cooled slightly but that was really the only change in the weather. Will remembered the English snows as he worked on the swords to be finished for the recruits. He could see the white blankets covering the world through his eight-year-old eyes, but remembering caused him to think of other things, things long gone, things long passed away. Memories caused him to grit his teeth and work with a renewed fervor, trying not to think of all the things that had gone wrong in his life as of late. Let's make a list, he thought sarcastically as his hands pounded away at the shiny steel that lay before him on his knotted worktable. Things that have gone wrong in William Turner's relatively short existence: Mother. Father. Elizabeth. Serenity. Did I already say Father? Unable to focus, he threw his tools down onto the table and sank down into Barnaby's favorite chair. The only reason that the blacksmith was not sitting in it drinking beer at the moment was because he was sitting on some stool in some bar drinking there. This is comfy, thought Will, slumping down and slowly dozing off.
The only thought that kept him buoyant in those slightly shorter, darker days of winter was the hope that maybe Elizabeth was finally coming around. In the few months of time that had passed since he had received the order from the British Royale Navy, Will had thought up excuses to call on the Swann household. Elizabeth usually was there, and she would smile and once again ask Will to call her by her first name, and once again Will had to politely decline and a shadow would pass over Elizabeth's spark-filled eyes and dim the rest of their conversation. They would then talk for a bit and then Will would go home to sleep in the rope hammock while Elizabeth would retreat up the gracefully curving staircase so that her maids could tuck her into her four poster bed under soft sheets.
While her feet were being warmed by the hot bricks slipped under the covers, Elizabeth would think of Will, awake but dreaming of him as if she was asleep. She could see his lovely eyes swim before her as if he was standing there, he could feel the warmth of his body behind her as if he was lying next to her on the bed… but it was all a dream. Elizabeth would then get up and open the compartment in her bedside table and clutch the necklace to her breast, hoping that something that once belong to Will would provide the same warmth that he himself would if he had been there with her. The gold was smooth against the soft tips of her fingers as she held it to her into the night, thinking of how he would say in his warm voice again tomorrow, At least one more time, as always, Miss Swann.
At least one more time, as always, Miss Swann.Why will he not call me Elizabeth? She thought in despair. I know its proper and all, but will he not let go of tradition for even a single moment? She could hear him speak her name in her head, but she wanted it to be real- realer than all the dreams that she had been dreaming of him since they pulled him out of the icy water that day on the crossing. My parents named me Elizabeth for a reason, she thought, so that people could call me Elizabeth! But he won't, not even when my father is not around, he wouldn't do it. I wish he would warm up to me a little…I wish that he would show that he feels the same way about me as I feel about him…
He had been coming to call more often, though, which was a good sign. Often he would have a flimsy excuse, about the swords or something like that, but Elizabeth liked to hope that he was coming just to see her. She spent the winter saying goodbye to Will and anxiously waiting for the next time she would be able to say hello to him. He doesn't still like Serenity, does he? Said a pessimistic voice in the back of Elizabeth's pretty head. She has someone…that Irishman, Connor O'Malley. A fine one he is, though, Will should be mine by now! Hasn't Serenity choosing Connor over Will shown him that we were meant to be? Fate must have sent Connor here…only fate could have done this…
And in her mind's crazy ramblings about fate, she would drift off to sleep and wake up to the Caribbean morning…
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One January morning found Serenity and Connor walking down to the dock, arm-in-arm. Connor was looking for news on his ship, which would most likely be leaving in a few months' time. "I'm looking for news on a ship…" Connor would say, "Have you seen this captain…" By the end of the morning they would have nothing, but the ship that Connor had sailed on remained in the dock, so he wasn't worried. "Someone will come get me when it's time to leave," he said, sounding assured, but also a little sad. He had grown to care for Serenity deeply in the months that he had stayed in the Caribbean and he would rather stay in that moment forever than sail back to Ireland, to famine and rain and potatoes…
Serenity had seemed to catch his mood and was also feeling a little down. She didn't want Connor to leave either, but she felt so confused inside that there was a little part of her that didn't want him to stay, either. Love had grown between them since he had come to the Caribbean but she still harbored feelings for Will inside…feelings that could never completely be altered. She wanted to change them more than anything, but she couldn't. Serenity was sure that she would never be able to completely forget him…completely forget what was a part of her.
The two of them walked idly down the road that ran parallel to the ocean, Serenity's hand tucked in Connor's elbow, as usual. His skin was warm in contrast to the slightly cooler air. "Now that's a fine ship," said Connor in his lilting accent, pointing to one of the docked boats. Interceptor was written in capital letters across the stern of the ship, under the British colors fluttering in the breeze.
"That's the fastest ship in the Caribbean," Serenity said. "It's the pride of the Royal Navy."
"I've heard of a faster one," teased Connor. Serenity rolled her eyes and grinned at Connor. She also had heard tales of the Black Pearl, the scourge of the Spanish Main, black sails fluttering in the wind under a whipping Jolly Roger. Many nights had found the occupants of her fathers inn sitting in the parlor, telling their tales of ships manned by the damned. "'Neigh uncatchable," the sailors would say. "Hell wouldn't even take in the captain of the Black Pearl…"
"The Black Pearl?" said Serenity, raising her eyebrows.
"Do you believe in it?" asked Connor.
"I'll believe in it if it berths in Port Royale and takes Elizabeth Swann prisoner," said Serenity dryly. Connor sensed that she didn't especially feel like talking about Elizabeth, so he didn't pursue the subject. "Have you ever seen a pirate?" she asked after a moment.
"No," said Connor, shaking his head and glancing out at the horizon as if expecting to see the Black Pearl sitting there. "I've been lucky."
"I don't know if I'd mind if I met a pirate," said Serenity thoughtfully. "It would be a nice change of pace around here, don't you think? Liven things up a bit."
"Just as long as they didn't destroy your town, or kidnap you, or worse," said Connor, smiling.
"Yes," Serenity agreed, "just as long as they didn't kidnap me, or worse." Connor laughed quietly but then fell silent, gazing out to the sea once more. Serenity saw where he was looking and followed it out to the horizon. Sailors, she thought. They'll never be able to stay off the sea for too long. As if to prove her correct, Connor sighed deeply. Serenity could tell that he was itching to return to his ship but she knew that she could never understand exactly how he was feeling. She nestled her arm deeper into the crook of his elbow to comfort him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "When you leave on your ship," she said, "will you come back to Port Royale?"
A smile pulled at the corner of Connor's mouth. "I don't think I could stay away for too long," he said, turning to meet Serenity's eyes.
"But you can't stay away from the sea, either," said Serenity.
"That's a sailors life," he said. "When you're out on the sea and it's a bad day, you want nothing more than a warm, dry bed back on land. But when you're here," he continued, "there's nothing like the rocking of the boat under you, or the flying feeling that you get when you're up in the lookout and looking up at the sky and there's nothing above and nothing beneath ye." He pulled out from under Serenity's hand and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Some of the curls that had come loose from where it had been bound behind her head blew in his face as he looked out to the ocean. Serenity was trying to imagine how it felt. Surely that feeling, the ability to let go of reality for a moment, was worth giving up a warm bed and dry food for.
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"Yo ho, yo HO! A pirate's life for me!" sang Daniel, dancing rowdily around the dimly lit pub with a mug in one hand. It was an afternoon late in February and Daniel was already drunk. " We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs, drink up me 'earties yo ho! Yo ho, yo HO! A pirate's life for meee!" he sang, slurring the verse. "Da na na na na…and even hijack! Drink up me 'earties yo ho!" he fell over onto a chair and swigged a drink from the mug, running it all down his shirt in the process.
Although the sight of Daniel was a sad one indeed, it was not too uncommon a sight in the same smugglers town that he had visited before. Daniel had decided that, to celebrate hearing absolutely no news of the Vengeance whatsoever, he deserved a drink.
"Yo ho, yo ho, drink me a pirates life for me 'earties!" he sang.
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R/R!!! Please? I'll give you ice cream with a cherry on top and all that false crap…
:0)