Dark Waltz

June 27, 2004

OceanGirl28

Rating: PG-13 for drinking, descriptive kissing, violence, and sexual references

Summary: Elizabeth Swann's life is a never-ending waltz from man to man, deceiving each and every one into thinking she loves them... but there is only one man Elizabeth longs to dance with, and that man in out of her reach. Her father forbade her to see Will Turner long ago, yet can she obey such an order? Will she listen to her father... or her heart? What will her actions lead to? Perhaps the end of both of them. W/E shipping. No flames, please!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and a few characters. Everything else belongs to the creators of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Chapter Four, Miss Swann

Two days passed and Elizabeth found herself greeting guests for tea that afternoon. After much talk of weather, taxes, books, and other dull subjects that Elizabeth did not partake in, her father asked her to play her new piece. She stood up, placing her tea cup down upon the table, and walked towards the piano bench. Smiling falsely at the small audience, and nodding sternly at her father, she turned to play. It was a relatively long piece, Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. Elizabeth banged the keys loudly to purposely anger her father. When she finished, she curtsied as the audience clapped lightly and flashed polite smiles. Their disapproval made her smile even larger, as did the looks on her father's and Miss Harrison's faces. Soon the guests began to leave and her father saw them out. Miss Harrison sat there, staring angrily. Elizabeth smiled back at her, happy to have embarrassed them. When all the guests had left, Governor Swann walked back into the Great Room, glaring at his daughter.

"You are a disgrace!" he yelled, "I cannot even come to think that you would pull off a stunt like that, Elizabeth! My daughter, my own daughter! Do you have any idea how dreadful that banging sounded?"

"Yes, father." Elizabeth replied softly, "I'm sorry, I must be going deaf."

"Don't speak to me that way, girl!" the Governor yelled back, "You're lucky I am a good man not to slap you across the face!"

"Good man? Good man!" she yelled back, then Miss Harrison interrupted, "Do not raise your voice to your father, Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and ignored her, "Go on, slap me. Slap me right across the face, father... or are you too good a man?" she asked, mockingly.

Governor Swann glared at her for a moment, then turned and walked away as Miss Harrison motioned for her to sit at the piano. "Don't touch me!" she whispered, pushing her hand away. She stood back as Elizabeth walked to the piano, angrily sitting down. Miss Harrison seemed rather shocked with her sudden behavior, and Elizabeth was rather startled with her actions as well. "That was a terrible thing you threatened your father to do, girl." she said, "Maybe he should've done so; it may have taught you a good lesson in manners."

Elizabeth took a large breath, swallowing her anger, and began to play. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the butler walking towards the door and opening it. Lord, who could be here now? She asked herself. She saw Will enter the waiting room as she stopped playing, making a dreadful sound on the piano as her hands hit many of the bottom keys. She locked eyes with him. It was the first time she had seen Will for months, and he looked well.

"Governor Swann," the butler said, "There's a delivery for you from the smithy." Her father rushed downstairs and Will handed the sword to him. "Here you are, sir." he said, glancing once more at Elizabeth. "Thank you, boy. Now it's best that you run back to the shop now and thank your master for me."

Will knew that the Governor did not want him to be around his daughter and he nodded. Will then turned towards Elizabeth, who was still gazing at him. "Elizabeth." he said, bowing. She shook out of her trance and nodded slightly in return, catching his eye once more before he left. "Excuse me, boy!" Miss Harrison interrupted, and Will turned around - a questioning yet polite expression on his face. "You will address a lady higher than you as 'Miss'"

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide in embarrassment and anger. How dare she! How dare she insult Will like that! The one thing she always felt uncomfortable talking with William about was their differences in class. Will looked as if someone had just spat on his face, yet managed to half-smile politely. "My apologies, ma'am." he replied to Miss Harrison, then turned to Elizabeth, who's eyes were hooked on her feet. "Good day, Miss Swann." Before he left he could see the tears in her eyes, and regretted leaving her in such a state.

She sighed, could they at least have said a few words? No. Her father would disapprove. She sat there, thinking. "Go on, continue." her father said, angrily. She rolled her eyes and was about to play when Miss Harrison said, "Do not roll your eyes at your father, girl." She fought hard not to roll her eyes once more, as she continued playing. Miss Harrison had her practicing till her hands grew numb, and she decided to skip dinner and go straight to bed.

As she lay there, she could not get the image of Will out of her mind. Elizabeth hugged her pillow, thinking of his hair that his gentle hands always seemed to find a way of running through, his chocolate brown eyes that sparkled in the light, his luscious mouth on which often had a silly grin in her presence, his strong, muscular body. She had noticed that his voice was much deeper than before as well, and it no longer cracked when he spoke. Just then her maid knocked on the door and slowly opened it, interrupting her thoughts. "I'm sorry miss."

"No, come in." she replied, smiling. Martha had always been so kind to her. She was also only four years older than she. 'Twas a pity she had to work in this dreadful house. "The master would like to know if you are well?"

"Tell him I am perfectly fine, just weary from today's events." Elizabeth replied, "I shall eat a large breakfast tomorrow."

"Yes, Miss." Martha replied, closing the door. It was then Elizabeth drifted off to sleep, dreaming of Will.

The weeks went by dreadfully slow. Her lessons of being proper eventually took hold of her, and she found herself strangely unable to stand up to her father. Miss Harrison seemed to have taken notice of this, and took delight in the fact. Another month passed and Elizabeth had nearly lost all of her dignity, and became accustomed to her father's ways.

One night at a small dinner party that Captain Norrington had attended, Elizabeth continued to catch all of his glances at her. She stayed quiet and wished she had something to cover herself with; or make herself disappear. She kept attempting to subtlety rest her chin on her hands, or cross her arms, attempting to cover herself. Whenever she did so Miss Harrison would kick her foot under the table, and Elizabeth knew she thought it bad posture. Was it not also inappropriate at the way Norrington was looking at her? Unfortunately she was the only one who seemed to notice. After much thinking, Elizabeth came to the conclusion that she was only being paranoid, and that Captain Norrington was, indeed, looking at her face.

After dinner the Captain left to discuss what she assumed were matters of business with her father. She felt greatly relieved at his absence and conversed in subjects of King George and his taxes. She met quite a jolly man named Mr. Wentworth. He was kind and humorous with a pot belly and rosy cheeks to match. Elizabeth liked the man... yet did not agree with his thoughts on the King. "God save King George!" he yelled as he left the room, most likely heading to the tavern. Elizabeth could tell that he was quite drunk and the guests seemed to take it well; so she assumed that dear Mr. Wentworth was always that way. She continued to talk of how fine the weather was until after realizing what she was talking about, and grew quiet. What was happening to her? She knew that she was not enjoying this life... it's just that she seemed to have gotten used to it; something she had tried dreadfully hard not to do. Eventually the guests left, including the Captain. Once everyone was gone, Elizabeth's father beckoned her to his study. Confused, she entered.

"Elizabeth." he said, smiling. She grew more confused, for it was the first time in months he had done so in her presence. He sighed happily and motioned for her to sit down. "I'll stand, thank you... " she replied, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

"As you must know, I spoke with Captain Norrington earlier." he said, and a gut-wrenching pain grew in her stomach. "It seems that you left a better impression on him on his last visit then I had thought!" Elizabeth's eyes grew wide in fear of what her father was trying to say. "He has asked if he may court on you... " Her mouth opened to protest when he added, "and I have accepted."

Elizabeth's mouth gaped open. "But I have no interest in him!" she choked out, as the knot in her stomach tightened. "I'm sure that once you get to know him you will see what a fine man he is." her father replied, "and quite well-off, I must say. He comes from a family of great descendants." Elizabeth couldn't take it anymore and shook her head, tears swelling up in her eyes. She banged on his desk with a protesting hand. "Father! He is over twice my age!" She gritted through her teeth. He stood up as well, so that he was eye to eye with her. "Age does not matter when it comes to your future, Elizabeth!" he whispered. "My future? You mean your future! You have no care in what happens to me!" she stated.

"That is a lie and you know it!" he protested, yet she continued to glare at him. The Governor sighed and sat down, placing his hand to his forehead. "You will obey me, Elizabeth," he said, "and spend time with the Captain tomorrow afternoon. He is paying you a visit." Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak once more but he held up a hand. "Go! Leave me be."

She sighed angrily and left the room. She did not want to spend any time at all with the Captain. She had no interest in him, and the only interest he had in her was not what mattered. Sighing, she wondered what would become of her. Elizabeth tried to picture her life with Norrington, and she felt as if she would be sick. Then out of no where she pictured what her life would be like with William... and took pleasure in it. Her already red eyes swelled up with tears as she knew it would never be.

A little more in this chapter. Do you think that I'm dragging it out? It seems like it, only I tend to rush my other stories and one bad thing happens after another. Most of my reviewers for 'Norrington's Choice' seemed to enjoy all the action, but as I tried to keep writing it I lost the touch, and it turned into trash. If you're a 'Norrington's Choice' fan, I'm sorry. Maybe one day I'll go back to it and make it better! But for now, I'm focusing on this story.

By the way, I'm terribly sorry for lack of updates, and for shorter chapters. As the story progresses the chapters will get longer.

Terradaina: Thank you for your correction. I had considered that as I wrote this story and decided to just leave him as Commodore anyways... but now I've changed my mind and he is currently going to be Captain, haha. Also yes, I agree. I believe it's wrong that people dislike Elizabeth only because they're in love with Will and jealous of her.

Turner-Bloodline: Haha thank you for your review! However it isn't going to end like the movie -evil laugh- ;D

Love to you all,

OceanGirl28