OK, you're going to hate me for this but here's another cliff-hanger… sort of. Well, I don't know, I'll let you decide for yourselves. Not much to say- I have my last exam tomorrow! Yay! Then me and my friends are going partying at a Chinese restaurant. All-you-can-eat buffets kick ass.

Well, you probably don't care, so as I've said so many times before…

…ON WITH THE SHOW!

***

Will strode over to her questioningly. Aletté braced herself for what she was about to do. This would not be easy. But it was the right thing to do.

She took a deep breath and began…

"Will?" She avoided his eyes.

"Why didn't you release Elizabeth? And my son- what's this about?" He tilted her chin up slightly with his thumb and forefinger, gazing into her starry turquoise eyes. "Aletté?"

She sighed. "Will, I'll let your wife and son go, but I want you to promise me something first."

He nodded. "Anything."

"I want you to leave here with Elizabeth and Jack and never come back." This hurt more than anything. Hurt more than losing her purity to a man who thought of her as just another whore-of-the-night. Hurt more than losing her mother to consumption when she was only fourteen. Hurt more than pain itself. "I want you to promise you'll never write me again, never contact me again. I want this to be our severance." She turned away so that he wouldn't see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Aletté-" Was this ever a blindside. Never see her again? "What are you saying?" He couldn't sever ties with her- he couldn't see a future without her!

Aletté felt slighted. "What do you mean what am I saying? I mean go- get out of my life!" She waved her hands angrily.

"Aletté," Will started, "I cant just leave you-"

"It's not like it was that hard for you before!"

"I never left you- you left me!" He had to tell her about him and Elizabeth- she had to know. She needed to know that he did care, that he did love her.

"You as good as left me!" She snapped, rounding on him, waving her arms heatedly. "You lead me on- you pretended that you loved me, you acted like you cared! And I- like the fool I was- I believed you! I thought that I was loved, that I was beautiful like you said! And then you pulled the 'I have an obligation to my family' card on me- do you know how much I hate Elizabeth now? Do you know how much that made me hate your son? Your family? And I wanted to hate you, too, but no! No, I couldn't hate you, I had to fall in love with you! And now- now I'm slipping back into that state again. I'm falling back in love again- and I cant take that! Not again! So I want you to go." She finished, gasping for breath after the heated spiel she had just given him.

Will stared at her, and suddenly he knew, knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that this was the woman he did not want to spend the rest of his life with, but even more, he did not want to spend the rest of his life without. She drove him up the wall. She was so stubborn he felt like grabbing her by the shoulders and giving her a good shake.

And he did.

He took her by the shoulders, but he did not shake her. Instead, he brought her face to his swiftly and let his lips trace hers. Roughly.

Aletté did not move. This was so… not like Will. At all. He wasn't soft, or gentle. He wasn't slow or subtle. He was rough, he was impulsive, and somehow it felt… right. She began to kiss him back. Her arms found their way around his neck. His hair was so soft between her fingers. His hands moved from her shoulders to her back, and she felt him draw their bodies closer together. Instinctively, she pulled her hips up against his.

When they finally drew apart, Aletté stared at him wide-eyed. He answered this stare as best he could. "Ten months ago, Elizabeth and I had a falling-out. She didn't like the amount of time I was spending at sea. She's betrothed again. I've been trying to tell you- you just don't listen. You're stubborn and headstrong and you don't listen to anyone- you keep presuming things! Aletté, you're the hardest thing in the world to love."

Aletté felt like she had reached the surface after being under water her entire life.

He loves me.

She swallowed a lump in her throat. "You love me?" He stared at her thoughtfully for a moment, not saying anything. "Will?" Silence. "Oh Jesus, Will, say something!"

Will smiled. "I want to tell you I've loved you since the day I met you,"

She frowned. "But?"

"But…" He reached up to caress her cheek gently. Her skin was so soft. "But I would be lying. I didn't love you- I didn't mind you at first meeting. And then slowly, very slowly, you started to bother me more-" Aletté didn't understand this. "-I cant stand you! I cant stand being around you- you exasperate me… and I love you for it."

She laughed. "You don't make any sense, Will Turner." He smiled. "You're the only man who ever treated my like something more than a toy, you know that?" She returned his smile weakly. "I love you, Will. I've never loved anything. But you… Oh God, Will, tell me you love me too! Please…?"

She felt herself swept up into his arms again, his lips tracing their way down her neck. "I love you." He said, though his voice was muffled by her shoulder where his lips were trailing mercilessly. She smiled and buried her face in his wavy brown hair. He smelled like salt and love. She giggled at the thought. How does one manage to smell of love?

Will pulled back suddenly, smiling. "So you don't despise me anymore, Aletté?"

She laughed. "I never did."

Will's face lit up and he lifted her slender figure off of the ground and twirled her around by the waist. "You're amazing, Aletté." He let her feet touch back down onto the smooth marble floors. "You're beautiful."

"Oh where have I heard that before?" A cool, scathing voice interjected. The pair of them spun around to discern the speaker.

Elizabeth was standing in the doorway.

***

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Don't worry- there can be more yet! There are still complications to sort out! Glad you're liking this!