Lord Knows I Can't Change

Chapter Three

            "He seems alright to me." Will jumped out of his thoughts and looked at Elizabeth with a puzzled face. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile as she repeated, "I said, he seems alright. Just as I remember him." Will shook his head.

            "You didn't see his eyes."

            She raised an eyebrow. "His eyes?" Will nodded. "What about his eyes, Will?" The blacksmith said nothing. He didn't exactly know how to describe what he had seen in the pirate captain's eyes… -It had scared him, whatever it was, and it wasn't Jack, wasn't Captain Jack Sparrow.

He didn't know who it was.

All he knew was that the pirate had been holding back tears.

            "Will?" Elizabeth called, gently tucking pieces of hair that had gotten loose behind his ear. "Are you alright?" He looked up at her and sighed at her concern.

            "Yes," he lied and looked down. She laughed softly.

            "You never were good at lying." Will didn't laugh, didn't smile. Elizabeth's face twisted up in confusion as she followed his gaze, trying to figure out what he was staring so intently at.

Her eyes stopped their journey when they landed on the scar on his left hand, the same one all three of them had.

A little souvenir from the Aztec Curse, as Will had later joked.

            "You miss him?" It was merely a statement hidden in the form of a question.

            Will gingerly traced the scar with the tip of his finger. "You can't miss something you never had." He reached the end of the scar and stared at it a moment longer before balling his fist up. "I know I had him, but-… I mean… After going so long without seeing him, hearing him, you forget that you have him…" Will shut his eyes tightly; opening them a few seconds later. She frowned at them, at the fact that he was trying to act brave.

            "Did Jack's eyes look like yours do right now?" Her tone was soft and laced with understanding, her eyes were warm and full of love, of strength, something that neither Will nor Jack held at the moment. 

Will continued to stare at his fist.

            "I don't know what Jack's eyes held… -Pain? Regret? Sorrow?..." He trailed off and finally let his hand fall limply to his side. Elizabeth sighed in frustration. "I don't -I don't know." Will leaned back in the chair, Elizabeth doing the same and leaning against him, silently fuming that there was nothing she could do, nothing she could say. She slipped her smaller hand in his larger one and rested her head on his shoulder.

            "All of the above," she answered softly, "his eyes, your eyes, held all of the above." She had seen Jack's eyes in Will's and couldn't, like Will, describe what she had seen.

            "Jack misses my father." It was barely audible, but she heard it and she nodded in agreement. Will sighed and covered his eyes with his free hand. "That's why he got so upset when he looked at the sea and why he got dizzy looking at me… -I resemble him. I am him basically."

Elizabeth heard him clear his throat.

            "It takes a strong man to cry, Will." And Will just nodded. It did take a strong man to cry, and Jack had cried.

He needed to talk to Jack, and he would later that evening. He would make sure of it.

To Be Continued…

AN: First off, I'm sorry that this chapter was late. I was going to write it last night but I ended up spending like two and a half hours trying to figure out Bootstrap's supposed death, which I finally came up with a fairly reasonable explanation. This chapter was mostly just to get some things straight… and I wrote it in a way that you have to think to get the chapter, and I hope everyone does!

Either that or I'm just not making sense… Probably the latter… Er…

Anyway, this was my first time writing Elizabeth and I hope I did a get job. I have the next chapter basically planned out and I'll try to get that up ASAP. Chapters 4-5 will be when the story picks up and the second category I put this in (action/adventure) will come into play finally. ;)

Thanks to all of my reviews!! *hugs you all and hands you Jack Sparrow bobble heads*

To answer one reviewer's question- No this is not slash. Sorry. :(

I'm sorry this chapter sucked but I'm like half asleep (it's 2:33 AM) and I just really wanted to update for you guys today! Four will be better, I promise, it'll make up for the suckiness of this chapter!!

Please R/R on your way out. :)