Author's note: Here's something surprising, a chapter I actually like! I
think it's cause Will is just such an awesome character to write, I do have
so much fun with him. Oh and some people are skimping on reviews! I knew
that would happen if I posted more than one chapter at once! Mind you it is
a crime I am guilty of as well, I just wish I had more feedback about each
chapter. But no pressure I told you I'd post them all before I left and I
am. So here's chapter 15.
Elizabeth had hoped to talk to Will in the morning, to straighten things out, but he had been cold and unresponsive. It seemed as though every time she attempted to make an apology the two of them would start arguing, and one of them would end up stewing in the bathroom.
Elizabeth had finally given up and left Will to his reading while she prepared for the evening. Now they were on their way to the club, on their way to finding out how to crack the computer and send Will out of her life entirely and Elizabeth didn't even have the nerve to apologise.
The car was quiet, both parties focused entirely on the other, both stewing over things past said and both too prideful to take the first step.
Elizabeth decided to try and make small talk, feeling anything was better than silence.
"I never told you how awesome you looked in those clothes Will, they really suit you," she said lightly.
"I would tell you how speechless I was when I first saw you as I stepped out of the changing room, how you knocked the breath out of me because you were so stunning, and how I still think you are absolutely beautiful, but you would most likely think I was trying to kiss you again, so I'll remain silent," he retorted coldly.
Ouch. That killed Elizabeth, the only thing was he was right. Had he done that she would have thought he was only trying to get on with her.
"Ok, I deserved that," Elizabeth said silently to herself.
Gratefully she saw the club in the distance.
"There it is Will, Maria's Party Palace. Do you remember what I told you?" she said softly, gingerly.
"Do not look at anyone, do not talk to anyone, try not to let people know that I exist, does that about cover it all?" he sneered at her.
"Yes," Elizabeth said sheepishly. "I just don't want you to be recognised is all, the last thing we need is another scene like in the mall yesterday." She kept attempting to lighten the mood.
Will kept shooting her down. "I'm not sure, maybe I should act more like the Orlando Bloom you keep telling me about, then maybe I will finally be able to get your attention," he sneered.
This was going well, Elizabeth was punching the accelerator, trying frantically to reach the club. She'd never seen Will this harsh, he was a child sent to time out, throwing a tantrum the entire way.
Not soon enough they had reached the club and turned the car over to the valet, who kept looking at Will in a condescending way. Elizabeth noticed that the women in the crowd kept looking at Will as well. She looked at him again and realised why.
Will was styling, in a p-h-a-t kinda way. His mussed brown curls were hanging around his face, playfully hiding his gorgeous eyes, on occasion adding a mystery to his smooth walk and movement. He had a grace and stature that had been lost in the twentieth century, plus he looked exactly like Orlando Bloom.
Elizabeth grabbed Will's arm, pulling him toward the door and the bouncer, she had to get him out of the public eye before someone caught on.
"You on the list?" the towering mass of black bouncer boomed down at them.
Elizabeth was instantly intimidated, the towering man, glaring down at her was slightly more than she could handle. "Umm, should I be?" she asked weakly.
"Look, lady if you're not on the list." the bouncer started to shake a finger at her menacingly.
"No I think I'm on the list! I just. it's just that. I think that. I'm supposed to," Elizabeth was trying hard to put a sentence together but it wasn't working famously for her.
"Listen lady I don't have time for." the big black guy started to shake his finger at Elizabeth again, but didn't get very far as Will came out of no where, grabbed his arm and twisted it around his back, crippling the large black man instantly.
"You don't have time to keep me and my friend waiting," Will said sternly. "We're here on an appointment with Hen, so you will be letting me and my lady friend through, savvy?" Will said with an almost fierce, Jackish expression.
"Yes sir," the bouncer said in a high-pitched almost frightened tone.
"Thank you," Will said, as he let go of the bouncer, grabbed Elizabeth's hand and marched them both into the club.
Once they got inside, Will let go of her hand and let out his breath in a sigh. Elizabeth was stunned, what had that been, she'd never seen Will so tense and scary.
"What was that?" she asked in the same, almost frightened tone, displayed by the bouncer.
"That was me embracing my Pirate side, and rather foolishly I'd say," he said with an almost smile.
"Why do you say that?" Elizabeth asked, still a little confused.
"That man was huge! He could have flattened me!" Will said glancing back at the door as if it may change its mind and spit him back out into the street.
Elizabeth gave a little chuckle, grateful for the release in tension. "Come on, we only have ten minutes to find Hen before he closes the door," Elizabeth said as she grabbed Will's hand and led him into the depths of the club.
*****
Will was still angry at Elizabeth, still hurt by her denial of his feelings for her. But he had more important things to focus on right now.
One was his display of ruthlessness, what was that? He hadn't thought, just seen the man scaring Elizabeth and snapped. It had scared him, he had put both of them in danger, he had thought foolishly and only chance luck had saved him from being ground into a bloody pulp by the huge man.
Second was the blaring noise of the music and crowd within the club. He had gotten used to the music at Elizabeth's apartment, been comfortable with it, but here he couldn't find the beat, because his head was throbbing everywhere. He couldn't concentrate, couldn't think, it was all so loud! And people were everywhere, bodies on his left and right, men and women all moving and bopping to the music.
Will squeezed Elizabeth's hand a little more tightly as she led him through the throng and out to a balcony that overlooked a massive crowd of seething bodies below them.
"What are we going to do?" Will shouted above the noise.
"Look for a door, an extra room, an opening, something that Hen could use discreetly," Elizabeth yelled back.
Will scanned the dance floor, looking at the closet walls for any sort of opening. He wasn't willing to brave that massive throw of people below them.
"I can't see anything!" Will yelled.
When he turned to Elizabeth because she gave no response he saw a grave look on her face. He followed her eyes and saw a small door guarded by a smartly dressed and obviously paranoid man across the room, directly through the maddened crowd.
"Are you sure it's him?" Will called to her.
"Positive," he saw her mouth sadly.
"Can we go around?" He yelled to her again.
"No, we have no time," she shouted as she pointed to her watch. "We only have eight minutes left, we have to go straight through."
"Okay," Will said as he prepared himself.
"Take my hand," Elizabeth said as she searched for his.
Will had never feared anything in his whole life more than that crowded mass of people. So many things depended on whether they were feeling generous enough to let him pass. He grabbed Elizabeth's hand, and suddenly confidence shot through him, it was her confidence, in him.
"Don't let go," came Elizabeth's stern warning.
"I won't," for a moment the two just looked at each other, both scared, but both knowing that they trusted enough in each other to pull through this.
"Let's go dancing," he said with a feigned smile.
Together they moved down the stairs and out onto the dance floor, it was mad, the energy within the crowd was palatable. Bodies were everywhere rubbing against one another in sometimes suggestive and sometimes threatening ways. Will and Elizabeth entered and immediately began to get lost in the crowd. It was impossible to tell where they were, the direction of the door which had been so clear to them before was now lost as they were pushed one way or another.
Will struggled to hold onto Elizabeth's hand as they danced their way through the crowd. People were bumping and jolting them and Will felt his grip tighten involuntarily. He pushed the people out of his mind and tried to focus. He wasn't here, he was back in Elizabeth's apartment and they were dancing alone together. There were no other people, they hadn't fought and everything would be all right, they could just keep dancing. Will relaxed slightly, momentarily lost in his reverie, he could handle it, he just had to keep focused. He wasn't in a crowd of people in a dance club that made Tor'tuga look like the Vatican city, he wasn't moving through a crowd of people with morals more loose than Captain Jack Sparrow's tongue. And that wasn't just a hand that had been feeling dangerously close to the inside of Will's legs.
"Whoa!" he yelled as he forgot everything else and shoved away the drunken woman who was encroaching upon him.
"Aw, come on I was just having a little fun," she sputtered as she spun around, seeking her next victim, and smelling of sour milk.
Then Will realised that he had let go of Elizabeth's hand in an attempt to push the drunken scarlet woman away. Frantically he searched the crowd, the noise and people, which had been so easy to ignore before, was blaring in his ear, he was disoriented and scared.
"Elizabeth!" he yelled into the crowd.
Frantically he searched for a foreign sound above the noise. People were grabbing and pushing him, he couldn't see where he was going, but he hoped that Elizabeth was moving in the same direction.
"Elizabeth!" he called out again. He had to find her; he just had to think this through.
He stopped and pushed his way against the force of the crowd pushing against him. He focused his mind once more as he tried to pick her voice over the crowd.
Then he heard it, "ill!" a voice called out from the mob.
"Elizabeth!" Will called again, as he began to push his way toward the sound ahead.
"Will!" her voice was becoming clearer now, and Will quickened his pace.
"Elizabeth, where are you?" Will yelled.
"Over here," it seemed as though her voice came from a thousand different places.
"Over where?" Will called out.
"I don't know? Over here, where I am!" Elizabeth's voice was panicky and that scared Will even more.
"I'm coming Elizabeth, just keep talking," Will was trying to follow her voice but it was distorted by the noise within the club.
"Why did you let go?" she asked, her voice getting closer.
"I was being attacked!" Will yelled back. "Keep talking!"
"YOU were being attacked, you left me in a crowd of randy men! It was all I could do to slap the ones who got close enough!" as she talked Will could hear her voice calming, as if she could feel a connection between them as they spoke.
Will was getting closer, her voice was clearer through the crowd; he just needed her to keep talking!
"What do you see around you?" Will asked, yelling at the top of his lungs.
"I see people, people and more people. hey watch it buddy!" Will was worried but that increase in tone helped him to hone in on her location. Frantically he searched through the horde of dancers, and almost yelled for joy as he saw a flash of her jacket and hair within the crowd.
He pushed and pulled through the mass of people frantically in order to reach her. He elbowed and shoved his way past at least twenty people before finally sighing for relief as he came up beside her, her back still to him.
"Sorry about that Will, I had to dispatch someone," she called out loudly, not realising he had found her. "Where are you?" she called into the mass.
"Don't worry, I'm right here," Will said as he placed a weary hand on her shoulder.
And was promptly elbowed in the gut and thrown into the nearest person by a very annoyed looking Elizabeth.
"I told you, I'm not interested!" She yelled at Will, before she could double-take, "Will!"
Will was surprised at how much force her elbow carried and struggled to regain his breath.
Elizabeth was at him in an instant.
"Oh Will! I'm so sorry, it's just that there was this guy and he was getting a little to frisky if you catch my drift and I wanted to put him in his place," she screamed above the crowd.
"Don't worry I think it worked," Will yelled as she helped him to his feet again. "So what's the plan?"
He held onto Elizabeth protectively, not wanting to lose her again. He watched as she checked her watch and looked dismayed.
"Four minutes left," she called. "And we don't know where we are, or where to go. It's over Will, we can't get through," she hung her head dejectedly.
"It's not over Elizabeth, we'll find a way," he said as he grasped her tightly.
Suddenly the club went silent, and a slow and moody melody filled the air.
Elizabeth had hoped to talk to Will in the morning, to straighten things out, but he had been cold and unresponsive. It seemed as though every time she attempted to make an apology the two of them would start arguing, and one of them would end up stewing in the bathroom.
Elizabeth had finally given up and left Will to his reading while she prepared for the evening. Now they were on their way to the club, on their way to finding out how to crack the computer and send Will out of her life entirely and Elizabeth didn't even have the nerve to apologise.
The car was quiet, both parties focused entirely on the other, both stewing over things past said and both too prideful to take the first step.
Elizabeth decided to try and make small talk, feeling anything was better than silence.
"I never told you how awesome you looked in those clothes Will, they really suit you," she said lightly.
"I would tell you how speechless I was when I first saw you as I stepped out of the changing room, how you knocked the breath out of me because you were so stunning, and how I still think you are absolutely beautiful, but you would most likely think I was trying to kiss you again, so I'll remain silent," he retorted coldly.
Ouch. That killed Elizabeth, the only thing was he was right. Had he done that she would have thought he was only trying to get on with her.
"Ok, I deserved that," Elizabeth said silently to herself.
Gratefully she saw the club in the distance.
"There it is Will, Maria's Party Palace. Do you remember what I told you?" she said softly, gingerly.
"Do not look at anyone, do not talk to anyone, try not to let people know that I exist, does that about cover it all?" he sneered at her.
"Yes," Elizabeth said sheepishly. "I just don't want you to be recognised is all, the last thing we need is another scene like in the mall yesterday." She kept attempting to lighten the mood.
Will kept shooting her down. "I'm not sure, maybe I should act more like the Orlando Bloom you keep telling me about, then maybe I will finally be able to get your attention," he sneered.
This was going well, Elizabeth was punching the accelerator, trying frantically to reach the club. She'd never seen Will this harsh, he was a child sent to time out, throwing a tantrum the entire way.
Not soon enough they had reached the club and turned the car over to the valet, who kept looking at Will in a condescending way. Elizabeth noticed that the women in the crowd kept looking at Will as well. She looked at him again and realised why.
Will was styling, in a p-h-a-t kinda way. His mussed brown curls were hanging around his face, playfully hiding his gorgeous eyes, on occasion adding a mystery to his smooth walk and movement. He had a grace and stature that had been lost in the twentieth century, plus he looked exactly like Orlando Bloom.
Elizabeth grabbed Will's arm, pulling him toward the door and the bouncer, she had to get him out of the public eye before someone caught on.
"You on the list?" the towering mass of black bouncer boomed down at them.
Elizabeth was instantly intimidated, the towering man, glaring down at her was slightly more than she could handle. "Umm, should I be?" she asked weakly.
"Look, lady if you're not on the list." the bouncer started to shake a finger at her menacingly.
"No I think I'm on the list! I just. it's just that. I think that. I'm supposed to," Elizabeth was trying hard to put a sentence together but it wasn't working famously for her.
"Listen lady I don't have time for." the big black guy started to shake his finger at Elizabeth again, but didn't get very far as Will came out of no where, grabbed his arm and twisted it around his back, crippling the large black man instantly.
"You don't have time to keep me and my friend waiting," Will said sternly. "We're here on an appointment with Hen, so you will be letting me and my lady friend through, savvy?" Will said with an almost fierce, Jackish expression.
"Yes sir," the bouncer said in a high-pitched almost frightened tone.
"Thank you," Will said, as he let go of the bouncer, grabbed Elizabeth's hand and marched them both into the club.
Once they got inside, Will let go of her hand and let out his breath in a sigh. Elizabeth was stunned, what had that been, she'd never seen Will so tense and scary.
"What was that?" she asked in the same, almost frightened tone, displayed by the bouncer.
"That was me embracing my Pirate side, and rather foolishly I'd say," he said with an almost smile.
"Why do you say that?" Elizabeth asked, still a little confused.
"That man was huge! He could have flattened me!" Will said glancing back at the door as if it may change its mind and spit him back out into the street.
Elizabeth gave a little chuckle, grateful for the release in tension. "Come on, we only have ten minutes to find Hen before he closes the door," Elizabeth said as she grabbed Will's hand and led him into the depths of the club.
*****
Will was still angry at Elizabeth, still hurt by her denial of his feelings for her. But he had more important things to focus on right now.
One was his display of ruthlessness, what was that? He hadn't thought, just seen the man scaring Elizabeth and snapped. It had scared him, he had put both of them in danger, he had thought foolishly and only chance luck had saved him from being ground into a bloody pulp by the huge man.
Second was the blaring noise of the music and crowd within the club. He had gotten used to the music at Elizabeth's apartment, been comfortable with it, but here he couldn't find the beat, because his head was throbbing everywhere. He couldn't concentrate, couldn't think, it was all so loud! And people were everywhere, bodies on his left and right, men and women all moving and bopping to the music.
Will squeezed Elizabeth's hand a little more tightly as she led him through the throng and out to a balcony that overlooked a massive crowd of seething bodies below them.
"What are we going to do?" Will shouted above the noise.
"Look for a door, an extra room, an opening, something that Hen could use discreetly," Elizabeth yelled back.
Will scanned the dance floor, looking at the closet walls for any sort of opening. He wasn't willing to brave that massive throw of people below them.
"I can't see anything!" Will yelled.
When he turned to Elizabeth because she gave no response he saw a grave look on her face. He followed her eyes and saw a small door guarded by a smartly dressed and obviously paranoid man across the room, directly through the maddened crowd.
"Are you sure it's him?" Will called to her.
"Positive," he saw her mouth sadly.
"Can we go around?" He yelled to her again.
"No, we have no time," she shouted as she pointed to her watch. "We only have eight minutes left, we have to go straight through."
"Okay," Will said as he prepared himself.
"Take my hand," Elizabeth said as she searched for his.
Will had never feared anything in his whole life more than that crowded mass of people. So many things depended on whether they were feeling generous enough to let him pass. He grabbed Elizabeth's hand, and suddenly confidence shot through him, it was her confidence, in him.
"Don't let go," came Elizabeth's stern warning.
"I won't," for a moment the two just looked at each other, both scared, but both knowing that they trusted enough in each other to pull through this.
"Let's go dancing," he said with a feigned smile.
Together they moved down the stairs and out onto the dance floor, it was mad, the energy within the crowd was palatable. Bodies were everywhere rubbing against one another in sometimes suggestive and sometimes threatening ways. Will and Elizabeth entered and immediately began to get lost in the crowd. It was impossible to tell where they were, the direction of the door which had been so clear to them before was now lost as they were pushed one way or another.
Will struggled to hold onto Elizabeth's hand as they danced their way through the crowd. People were bumping and jolting them and Will felt his grip tighten involuntarily. He pushed the people out of his mind and tried to focus. He wasn't here, he was back in Elizabeth's apartment and they were dancing alone together. There were no other people, they hadn't fought and everything would be all right, they could just keep dancing. Will relaxed slightly, momentarily lost in his reverie, he could handle it, he just had to keep focused. He wasn't in a crowd of people in a dance club that made Tor'tuga look like the Vatican city, he wasn't moving through a crowd of people with morals more loose than Captain Jack Sparrow's tongue. And that wasn't just a hand that had been feeling dangerously close to the inside of Will's legs.
"Whoa!" he yelled as he forgot everything else and shoved away the drunken woman who was encroaching upon him.
"Aw, come on I was just having a little fun," she sputtered as she spun around, seeking her next victim, and smelling of sour milk.
Then Will realised that he had let go of Elizabeth's hand in an attempt to push the drunken scarlet woman away. Frantically he searched the crowd, the noise and people, which had been so easy to ignore before, was blaring in his ear, he was disoriented and scared.
"Elizabeth!" he yelled into the crowd.
Frantically he searched for a foreign sound above the noise. People were grabbing and pushing him, he couldn't see where he was going, but he hoped that Elizabeth was moving in the same direction.
"Elizabeth!" he called out again. He had to find her; he just had to think this through.
He stopped and pushed his way against the force of the crowd pushing against him. He focused his mind once more as he tried to pick her voice over the crowd.
Then he heard it, "ill!" a voice called out from the mob.
"Elizabeth!" Will called again, as he began to push his way toward the sound ahead.
"Will!" her voice was becoming clearer now, and Will quickened his pace.
"Elizabeth, where are you?" Will yelled.
"Over here," it seemed as though her voice came from a thousand different places.
"Over where?" Will called out.
"I don't know? Over here, where I am!" Elizabeth's voice was panicky and that scared Will even more.
"I'm coming Elizabeth, just keep talking," Will was trying to follow her voice but it was distorted by the noise within the club.
"Why did you let go?" she asked, her voice getting closer.
"I was being attacked!" Will yelled back. "Keep talking!"
"YOU were being attacked, you left me in a crowd of randy men! It was all I could do to slap the ones who got close enough!" as she talked Will could hear her voice calming, as if she could feel a connection between them as they spoke.
Will was getting closer, her voice was clearer through the crowd; he just needed her to keep talking!
"What do you see around you?" Will asked, yelling at the top of his lungs.
"I see people, people and more people. hey watch it buddy!" Will was worried but that increase in tone helped him to hone in on her location. Frantically he searched through the horde of dancers, and almost yelled for joy as he saw a flash of her jacket and hair within the crowd.
He pushed and pulled through the mass of people frantically in order to reach her. He elbowed and shoved his way past at least twenty people before finally sighing for relief as he came up beside her, her back still to him.
"Sorry about that Will, I had to dispatch someone," she called out loudly, not realising he had found her. "Where are you?" she called into the mass.
"Don't worry, I'm right here," Will said as he placed a weary hand on her shoulder.
And was promptly elbowed in the gut and thrown into the nearest person by a very annoyed looking Elizabeth.
"I told you, I'm not interested!" She yelled at Will, before she could double-take, "Will!"
Will was surprised at how much force her elbow carried and struggled to regain his breath.
Elizabeth was at him in an instant.
"Oh Will! I'm so sorry, it's just that there was this guy and he was getting a little to frisky if you catch my drift and I wanted to put him in his place," she screamed above the crowd.
"Don't worry I think it worked," Will yelled as she helped him to his feet again. "So what's the plan?"
He held onto Elizabeth protectively, not wanting to lose her again. He watched as she checked her watch and looked dismayed.
"Four minutes left," she called. "And we don't know where we are, or where to go. It's over Will, we can't get through," she hung her head dejectedly.
"It's not over Elizabeth, we'll find a way," he said as he grasped her tightly.
Suddenly the club went silent, and a slow and moody melody filled the air.