Aletté glanced at Will, who was hovering over her ankle protectively. She smiled. "I missed you."

He slowly made his way up to her mouth, and their lips met briefly. "I love you."

Suddenly Aletté felt herself drawing close to him. She felt warmer when she was near him, needing to be touched by him, to touch him...

Her fingers nimbly found there way to his hands, whereupon she guided them to her breasts. "Will." She breathed.

He stared for a moment, before drawing his hand away. "Lets not."

"What?"

Will pulled himself back to a sitting position. "Lets wait."

"What?" Aletté couldn't believe this- a man turning down a chance to make love was something completely new to her. She didn't quite understand it. "Will, I want you to."

He turned his eyes to the braided rug on the floor. "It's not that, it's just... I shouldn't. We shouldn't, you-" He searched for the right thing to say. "We should wait until we're married."

"Why?" Aletté demanded. "I mean, you know I'm not a virgin, and you- you have a son for Christ's sake! What do you think we're preserving?"

He looked at her solemnly. "A relationship built on more than physical desire."

Aletté rolled her eyes. "For God's sake, Will, I just spent five months wishing for the sound of your voice. Your voice, Will, do you see what I'm saying?" She shifted over closer to him, her voice turning to a more pleading, honeyed tone. "We already have a relationship built on love. We do, Will, we really do. I missed you... I love you! Why shouldn't we?"

"Because this is what's right." He sounded so firm, so decided. Aletté doubted he could be swayed from his opinion. "It's not that I don't want you, Aletté... you have no idea how much I-" He caught himself. "But I just... I want to respect you."

"I already know you respect me!" She said. "I trust you, Will, I don't need marriage!"

"I do." He turned his deep brown eyes to hers, and Aletté felt as if he were staring right through her, right into her soul. "Just... trust me. Lets wait."

Aletté turned away. "It's not fair." She sulked.

"What's not fair?"

"Your eyes can make me do anything but I cant do anything to you." She blew a puff of air out of her pursed, pouting lips and sent her unruly hair fluttering wildly.

Will looked astonished. "You think you don't control me too?" A smile spread across her lips, wondering at how she couldn't even see the power she had over him. He especially loved when she was sad, the way she would whimper and bury her face in his shoulder, and then apologize for making such a big deal over something so small. "Aletté, you can dictate my every move."

She looked up, smiling a little. "Balderdash."

"Don't doubt the truth, Lady Malycho."

She giggled at his use of her formal title. Their lips met again, and then she pulled her body close to his, snuggling into him. "You're sure you want to marry me, Will?"

His arms engulfed her. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because..." Her voice throbbed with emotion. "Will, I think I should tell you everything. Now. Before you make any commitments."

"Everything?" He rested his chin on the crown of her blonde head. "What's everything?"

"I mean my past." She paused. "I think you should know about it... I want to tell you everything."

Will pondered this for a moment. Maybe it would be good for her to tell him. More for her than for him. Personally he didn't care what was in her past- all that mattered was her, here, now, that was who she was. That was the woman he loved. Her past didn't matter. But it seemed to matter to her. "Tell away."

Aletté closed her eyes, took a deep breath and began.

"When I was fourteen my mother died of consumption. I needed money, needed rent money, see. There wasn't anything, any kind of job I could get- not in Singapore, not for a woman. So I-" She gulped. "I sold myself. I lost my purity to a drunken man. He was a sailor, he didn't even bother to learn my name. I was paid extra because it was my first time. But you know what?" A little sob escaped her lips. "I would've starved on the streets if I had known that you were in my future- I would rather have stayed pure for you."

"It's okay." Will soothed. "Shhh... go on." He really was interested now.

"Well," She resumed. "I just... kept on doing that. I was one of the lucky ones, though. I never got attacked, never got taken against my will. Men didn't seem to want to make love to a scrawny little blonde harlot. I was lucky to get customers at all. Then, when I was seventeen I met a man, he was a barkeep, he owned a place called the Tuna Shack. Bill was his name. He took me in, he was like what I imagined a father would be like." She paused. "You know, come to think of it, he had a son. Said he was in England, or somewhere far-off. Lost his son, he did. Lost him when he went sailing. Never really said much about his past. But then, neither did I."

"What happened?" Will asked, burying his nose in her fine blonde hair, inhaling her bittersweet musk.

"He died." She said reverently. "In his will, he left everything to me. Never found his son, Bill didn't. Poor Man. But I was given a new start. So, I stopped selling myself. I hired another girl, Danielle, and we both worked our way out of that godforsaken occupation. And then one day you walked in, with Jack and Morgan, do you remember?" He nodded. "I knew- right then, I knew you would be different. You were the only person who ever said 'thank you' when I gave him a drink. And you were the only one who ever tried to help me clean up a spill, do you know that?" She didn't wait for a response. "That was so... amazing. I knew I had to go with you. I thought that maybe you could lead me to other people like you. And, you know what I discovered? That there is nobody else like you."

Aletté took a long, pensive pause. She felt Will's breath blowing in her ear and smiled placidly. "Do you still want to marry me?"

Will laughed. He couldn't help it. The question seemed so superfluous. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Aletté pressed herself close to him. "I still wish you'd stop respecting me and just make love to me the way I want you to." There was a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Are you sure you want to marry me?" Will joked. "I mean, I'm not as experienced as Jack. Maybe you should go ask him to make love to you. I'm sure he'd be happy to oblige."

Aletté giggled, then stopped and turned from happy to almost wistful. "You know, I've never made love to any man who wasn't paying me?" Her fingers took his hands and brought them to rest on her breasts again. "It would mean so much if you would just-"

"No." He pulled his hands away, shifting so that he could face her. His hands then moved to her jaw-line. He cupped her face lovingly. "You are pure, Aletté. You just said so. That... that part of your past, that was only a job. You're pure, you are."

"Stop saying that!" She pulled away. Her voice was racked with pent-up sorrow. "Stop telling me these things- stop making me believe I'm someone that I know I'm not!" She brushed a few tears out of her eyes. "You say I'm beautiful, Will, and the way you say it, I almost believe you."

"But you are beautiful!" He interjected.

"No!" She sprung to her feet. "No, I'm not! I'm just a scrawny, silly, insignificant little ingenue with no 'Spanish figure' and no 'poise'! Stop telling me otherwise!"

"Aletté," He stood up. "You've been listening to the cruelest face of the world your whole life- why don't you start listening to someone who loves you?!"

"Because," She whimpered as his arms slid around her waist. "Because I'm afraid of falling off the pedestal you put me on. I'm afraid of you one day finding out that I'm not some beautiful, angelic princess that you say I am- that one day you'll wake up and see what the rest of the world sees- a miserable little failure, a coward, and ugly, bony, impure starveling!"

"Hush." He blew in her ear and smiled at her. "When I say I love you, I mean you. Here. Now. You standing in front of me. You who spills hot tea on me and smacks me in the nose with the door." She laughed. "I don't care about anything else, Aletté. Stop trying to be who the world wants you to be- I know who you are. This is who you are. You don't have to be all those things you just said." His lips brushed over her cheek. "Just be you."

She hesitated a moment. "You still want to marry me?"

He nodded. "I do."

Her hands made their way around his neck. "King Rico wants to have a big party. He keeps telling me that Kathrynna loves parties, and I have to remind him that I'm not my mother." She laughed a little. "What do you say?"

"Me?" Will's face lit up. "I say we throw a huge party! Dancing, music... rum. We wont get any pirates without rum."

Aletté giggled. "I cant dance very well."

"Let's see." He took her hands and spun her around. "Looks fine to me..." His eyes paused on her slim, twirling figure. "...looks perfect. Absolutely perfect."

Aletté rolled her eyes. "Don't say that."

"Why not?"

"You're lying."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are to- argh!"

Will tackled her, pinning her down on the ground. Aletté tried to protest, but her objections were swallowed up by laughter as his hands proceeded to tickle her beyond breathing. She mustered her strength and managed to roll him off of her, only ending up in the reverse position, Aletté on top, straddling Will.

And, of course, poor Ella returning for the tea tray, flustered -to say the least- at the sight before her.