Title: The Old, the New and the Unexpected

Author: Would it be anyone else but me, Legolas-gurl88?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nope. Nada. Zip. Zilch. None. Zero. Zip. Nil… Darn!

Story time!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

12. Cold Tea

Will awoke with a yelp. The healing wound from his chest gave a nasty throb. He clapped a hand to it with the arm in which his shoulder wound was on and he yelped again. Grasping his shoulder, he slid out of bed. He looked around the cabin for his shirt which he found on the floor. He supposed Jack or Gibbs had thrown it there, carelessly when proceeding to take the bullets out of him. He put it on and walked out.

As he passed every crew member, they stopped and shook his good hand, congratulating him on his bravery that was blamed on the pirate blood in him. He walked up to Jack, who was steering the wheel.

"Good morning, Will." Jack said, "You should really be in bed, you know. Like I always told Natalie, 'The slow pirate gets things done faster.'"

"First of all, that doesn't make sense. Second of all, have you seen Elizabeth?" Will asked. "And what time is it?"

"Will, you should learn to read the sun. Then you could stop asking me the time. Anyway, it's about 12:00 in the afternoon."

"How long has it been since Elizabeth and the girls visited me."

"You mean after the operation? 'Bout… I dunno… a day… maybe more."

"What?!" Will yelled. "She promised I would only have to sleep for five hours!"

"Look at it this way, Will. Now, you're even better than you would have been had you gotten up five hours after the de-bulleting. Besides, nothing has been happening. 'Cept Little Ann falling and scraping her knee. That's the only excitement we've had since you came back on deck. By the way… Will. That was a noble thing you did. Offering to take the bullets for your family. It's what your father would have done."

"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment."

"Aye. 'Bout your question as to where Elizabeth is… she's below deck with the other girls. She's teaching Diann and Little Ann how to cook."

"She's been wanting to teach them. But they always wanted to swordplay instead of cook."

"I suppose they were made fun of at school."

"Yes. But they got through it."

"Have things been hard for you, lately, Will? I mean with your Blacksmith Business and all?"

"Isn't it always hard when you have to earn money to keep your family's head's under a roof?"

"Aye."

"Daddy!" Came the squeal of Little Ann. As Will turned, his small daughter jumped on him and clung to his chest. His wounds started to smart, but he resisted from yelling and instead, gave the girl a hug.

"Anamaria Elizabeth Turner! Get off your father!" Elizabeth called, pulling Little Ann away from Will and she carried her. "You'll hurt him even more!"

"It's alright, Elizabeth, I'm fine." Will said, "You're the one who should be worrying. Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I was right next to you, Will. I was about ten seconds from waking you, but I knew that that was probably the most sleep you had had on this voyage! I just couldn't wake you!" Elizabeth said.

"Daddy," Little Ann said, before Will could respond. She jumped out of her mothers' arms, kneeled on the floor and pulled her pant leg up to her knee, showing a scrape. "I fell on the floor yesterday. Look! I've got a scar!" She said, proudly.

"I don't think that will be bad enough to leave a scar." Will said, kneeling down next to her.

"Can you kiss it and make it feel better?" Little Ann said. Will leaned down a little and kissed his daughter's knee.

"Does it feel better?" He said.

"Yes, but I want a scar!"

"Why?"

"Because they look neat!"

"Ana, you don't want your knees to turn out like my hands, do you?" Will said, holding out his chafed and scarred hands.

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because I love you!"

"If you love me, you'll do well to try and keep your knees just like they are." Will said, kissing Little Anns' forehead.

"Dad!" Diann said. Will stood up and hugged his oldest daughter. She lifted her legs off the ground so she was immobilized.

"Diann Marie Turner! Get off your father! One, you're much too big! Two, you'll hurt him even more! How many times do I have to say that!?" Elizabeth said, exasperatedly.

"Look at it this way, Elizabeth," Will said, "We don't have another daughter."

"Thank Goodness!" Elizabeth said. "I hate saying things twice! It's horrible!"

Will laughed.

"Sorry. What did you say?" He jested. Elizabeth shot him a glance that said, 'Don't mess with me, pal' and he stopped laughing. Diann and Little Ann rushed down the stairs to watch Gibbs play cards with Mr. Cotton.

"Mrs. Turner." Came a small, female voice from below, "I was wondering whether you wanted some--" The voice stopped. Will looked around Elizabeth to catch sight of the girl he'd saved from the burning house in Port Royal. 'How did she get here?' He wondered. The tray of biscuits she was holding smashed to the ground and she blushed as she picked them up one by one muttering things like "I'm sorry" and "Foolish me."

"Yes, Lucy?" Elizabeth asked.

"I was wondering, Mrs. Turner," She said, standing up and throwing the biscuits into the sea. "If you wanted to have a cup of tea. But I suppose, he's up, now, so you probably don't want to--"

"Of course, Lucy. We'll be down in a minute."

"We?" She said, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course. You didn't think Will would be thirsty after sleeping for a day?"

"But, Mrs. Turner…" She said, "He's a- a- a pirate." Again, she spat out the word 'pirate' like it was garbage.

"You'll find it hard to come across someone who isn't a pirate on this ship, Lucy." Elizabeth said.

"But-- you and Misses Diann and Anamaria aren't." Lucy said. Will sighed.

"For one thing, the girls are Will's daughters, therefore, they have pirate blood in them. And I happen to be married to this particularly handsome pirate, meaning I'm as good as one. So, you either deal with the fact that you are surrounded by pirates, or you jump overboard and get eaten by a shark."

Lucy glared.

"Fine. I'll get the tea ready, then!" She said and stormed off.

"She's gonna put holes in my deck if she doesn't stop stomping around the place all the time." Jack said. "Whose bright idea was it to bring her along? She's nothin' but trouble."

"I know, but she's just angry. As am I. Why would those pirates come after my father… and try to kill Will and my daughters?"

"Seems strange, I know." Jack said, "But they're unquestionably gonna come after us now. Will has two of the medallions."

"Mr. Turner!" Came another female voice. Will spun around and saw Natalie run up the steps. It was then that he realized he had hardly seen her at all for a long time. She hugged him and let go.

"Are you alright, Mr. Turner?" Natalie said. "Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine, Natalie. And if I need anything, I'll get it myself. I can still walk."

"Aye." Natalie responded. "Hey, Dad? You want to play fish with Gibbs and Mr. Cotton? Bo is playin' too!"

"Be right there, luv." Jack said, giving the steering wheel a spin. "Just do me a favor and get someone to steer the ship."

"Aye, Dad." Within seconds, Natalie returned with Ann.

"You need me, Jack?" She said.

"Yes. Can you steer the ship for a while?"

"Aye." They switched places.

"Thanks, Ann." Jack said, walking off. Ann stared at Will and Elizabeth who stared back at her for about thirty seconds.

"What does Jack need to do that he needed me to steer the ship?" Ann asked Will.

"Play cards." Will answered.

"What? Oh, I feel so duped!" Ann said. She took a minute to recover, muttering curse words under her breath. "By the way, Will. How're you feeling?"

"Better than I was. I'm glad I got up. It cleared my head a little."

"There's nothin' like the sweet salt air to clear a pirate's head." Ann said. They all heard a stomp from below deck.

"She's going to sink us if she doesn't stop poundin' her foot on the bloody ground like that!" Ann said.

"That would probably be her way of saying 'The tea is ready.'" Elizabeth said, "Come along, Will. A good drink is what you need right now." She walked down the stairs and into a tea parlor. Lucy sat on one of the chairs.

"Um… Mrs. Tuner… do you think he is properly dressed for tea?" She said, eyeing his stained and windswept clothes.

"Lucy, he's just woken up. Give him a break." Elizabeth answered, sitting down next to her. Will sat down on Elizabeth's right side. He glanced at Lucy to find that she was glaring at him-- probably one of her favorite looks she saved for him and him alone.

"Tea, Mrs. Turner?" She said coldly, holding up the teapot. Elizabeth held her cup up to Lucy and Lucy filled it. Lucy poured some for herself and without offering any to Will, she set the pot back down and started adding cream and sugar to her own cup.

"Don't mind me. I'll just sit here." Will said sarcastically, reaching towards the teapot and grasping the polished handle firmly. He poured some tea for himself.

"Now, Will," Elizabeth said through a mouthful of crumpet, "It's rude to reach. Here, let me get the cream for you. Sugar?"

"Yes, please," Will said, taking the cream and sugar from his wife and adding too much sugar out of annoyance. His cup started to overflow when he added the cream.

"Watch it, Will." Elizabeth said.

"Sorry." He said, stopping.

"Mrs. Turner… he just wasted really good cream."

"I'm sure there's more in a cupboard, Lucy. And stop pointing out Will's faults. He's not bad." Unfortunately, Elizabeth didn't hear what Lucy said next, but Will heard, "That's what you think. The bloody pirate was probably raised on the street, the rat. He's filthy." Will's face turned red with anger. He chose to ignore Lucy's comment and sipped his tea. He was angry enough to hit her, but he would never that sort of thing to a girl. 'It's a shame she's not a boy.' He thought angrily. His thoughts were interrupted by Elizabeth.

"Ask her a question." She urged. Will would have rather kissed a scorpion.

"So… er… Lucy…" He said through gritted teeth, "How're things?"

"Well," She said frostily, "I'm on a ship with a bunch of smelly pirates, a hundred miles away from home and--" She said, looking at her hand "I broke a nail yesterday, trying to pull the flour off of the shelf."

"How tragic." Will said sarcastically.

"Well, you did ask." She sneered.

"You could be a little less stuck-up." He whispered.

"Being around pirates hasn't affected my hearing, pirate." Will stood up and slammed his cup down on the table and it shattered into a million pieces.

"Will!" Elizabeth said. Will ignored her.

"Then listen to this; You are the most rude, selfish, arrogant person I have ever had the misfortune to meet! You are such a spoiled brat, I'm surprised I didn't recognize it from the start! And another thing, if you want to stay on this ship, you're going to work for it! You may be a girl, but I swear, if you get on my bad side one more time, I'll have you working until your bones turn into dust! And one last thing! Don't complain that you're alive! You could have died a thousand times if it weren't for this crew! And it's your fault that you decided to follow Elizabeth, which I wish you hadn't!"

With that, he stormed off and slammed the door behind him. He stormed up the steps.

"FOR ONE LAST TIME, GIRL, STOP STAMPING ON THE DECK!" Jack yelled. Will looked up and saw Jack appear.

"Oh, Will-- it's only you. I thought it was that brat again. What's the matter?"

"I just got insulted by someone who's life I saved!" Will said.

"What did she say?"

"Everything that I needed to hear to learn that she is stuck up. 'My nail broke!' How terrible! Her nail broke! Isn't that completely dreadful?! And here I am, with two healing bullet wounds and plenty of sword scrapes!"

"Will, no one's saying you didn't do everything you could for her. And it's true-- she's an ungrateful little zit. But keep this in mind; She's only one person. You've got the rest of the crew thinking you're a hero. While I was playing cards, your daughters couldn't stop talking about how wonderful their Daddy was! The way Little Ann talked about you was staggering; 'When I grow up, I want to be just like Daddy!' Yes, Will. She said that. So don't let one snobbish brat get you down."

Will smiled.

"You know, when you click your father mode on, you actually sound… intelligent." He clapped a hand on Jack's shoulder and returned to his cabin. He sat on the edge of his bed, thinking.

Lucy was a brat alright. But even if he had told her off, he knew he hadn't heard the last of her yet.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You tell her, Will! GO WILL! Poor Will! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! But, anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. It 'twas definitely longer than the other ones, if that counts for anything. REVIEW TIME!

Kacijo12- *Dances* Will isn't dead! EVIL LUCY! I really hope I get past my writers' block, but it would be helpful if people gave me ideas. I got some ideas, but not enough to finish the story properly. And I'm all about finishing the story in the right spot. If I don't, I criticize my work. But, yeah. Heh, heh!

Trinityelf- I feel bad about the bus thing, but I think, at least you got on and that's the main point! YAY! I wonder if Crane liked this chapter. Heh, heh…

The evil witch queen- EVIL PLANKARD! This conversation could go on for a while! Oh well… EVIL PLANKARD! Thanks!

Arwenevenstar- Thank you very much! I'm flattered, because that was a lot of pleases in your review! I like reviews! Anyway, I hope you liked this chappie!

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH! PLEASE, if you have any ideas for this story and are willing to share them, I'll gladly take ideas! Just as long as they aren't slash… it's not my thing. Some people are comfortable in writing it, but I'm not, so don't try.

HAVE A GREAT EASTER AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW ON YOUR WAY OUT!

Luv,

Legolas-gurl88