Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

I wanted everything to go perfect, I really did. I mean, as perfect as it could on my part, because God knows what Elizabeth shall do to ruin everything. I went first to the cook, Old Rose, and asked her to make a picnic basket for Will and I. I asked for wine and cheese, bread, and small fruits. Simple things, really. She was all too happy to comply, because I'd given her a good amount of money.

Then I went to Mary and decided to ask her two favors. One, that I could borrow her silver dress, which Jeremy had finally ended up delivering shortly after we had finished dinner. As fond as I was of the lavender dress I bought, the silver one was really magnificent. Mary obliged quite happily, assuring me that I would look quite stunning in the silver dress.

"I'll buy you another one, Mary, I promise, because I feel awful that I'm wearing your dress before you," I said, but Mary shrugged it off and asked me what my second favor was going to be.

"Listen," I whispered from behind the screen that was around my bath. Mary just made a little tutting sound as she hurried around my room, opening the bed and putting that hot pans underneath the blankets. Elizabeth was out in the gardens, picking flowers to wear in her hair or what not.

"I know that Elizabeth is planning to do something awful to me tomorrow, and so I am not going to let her get away with it. So, when Will comes over for tea…well…do you think you could…oh I don't know -put vinegar in her tea…salt her scones…"

Mary sighed and came in with a robe, handing it to me and walking out again. "Christina, I really thing you're taking this too far. What if she doesn't do anything to you? It'll be rather harsh for you to punish her like this."

I came out from behind the screen in my nightgown, my hair hanging wet down my back. "That's just the point. To punish her. How dare she go over there, and try to seduce Will like that! Its just an awful thing to do! And she has got to learn that she cant have everything she wants, she cant always have her way!" I said angrily.

Mary sighed again. "But the blame is not on her alone," she said. I looked at her sharply. "I mean, yes, most of it is because she shouldn't be making a minx of herself at all…but what about Will? He loves you, I'm sure of that, but if he goes along than he is as much to blame as she is," Mary said. And damn it she was right, but I did not want to believe that.

"But if she never tempted him…then he wouldn't have - "

"You can't know that," Mary said.

"But I do! He said he loved me!" I whispered, even though I didn't believe myself. Mary picked up a brush from my bed table and ran it through my hair, gently combing out all the knots and braiding it so it would be wavy for tomorrow.

"Christina, if you do all the things that you want to do to her, you'll be just as bad. And Will didn't fall in love with someone like your sister, he fell in love with you. If you ask me, the only way you'll win is if you have faith in yourself, and trust in him. Maybe you should tell him how you feel -"

"No! Mary, if I tell him how afraid I am that Elizabeth will take him away, he'll think that I don't trust him -"

"Do you?"

"Yes! I mean…Will…I don't think he'd lie to me. Not intentionally, unless he wanted to keep me from getting hurt…or maybe because he'd just feel very uncomfortable lying to me…after all we are best friends…"

"And now you are engaged," Mary prompted. I gave her an irritated look, but went on.

"It's her I don't trust. How can she hate me so much, Mary? She's my sister…did I ever tell you what we talked about on the island where we were marooned with Jack? We talked the way we used to, before mother ran away…she asked me if I loved him, and I said yes. When I asked her, she didn't answer, because the Commodore had come to save us…But she knew I loved him."

"And you know the way she is…perhaps she doesn't realize it, but she always puts herself before everyone else. Maybe she doesn't see what she's doing is wrong," Mary said.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked incredulously. "She called it witchcraft when Will chose me over her. I think it implies that she knows the lengths she's willing to go to get him are wrong."

Mary sighed for the fourth time. "If you really truly want me to, I'll go through with your plans. But I don't think any good will come of it, Christina…I think you should trust Will, and trust yourself. Talk to him," Mary said, getting up to blow out the candles. I bit my lip, and tried to make up my mind. I felt a bit uneasy about going through with the sabotage of my sister, but I knew that if I was in her place I wouldn't do all the things she was planning on doing.

Mary was heading to leave and still I had not given her my decision. Should I trust Will? Could I trust him, without getting hurt? Mary said to have faith in myself, but how could I do that when all my life Elizabeth's been the prettier one, Elizabeth's been the one with all the suitors and all the marriage proposals. She's even been courted by the Commodore, who, next to my father, was one of the most influential people in Port Royal. And after all that, when I finally found someone who I could love, she wanted to take him away.

"Mary, I don't know what to do…I'm still so angry at her. But I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to. So don't…I'll leave her be. I'll trust Will," I said. Mary smiled and closed the door on her way out.

I tried to go to sleep for the longest time. Shortly after Mary left, Elizabeth walked in and placed flowers by my bed. Then she went to bed. I couldn't even begin to contemplate what she meant by that, and decided to ignore it. After tossing and turning, lighting a candle and attempting to read, blowing out the candle and counting sheep I still couldn't sleep. I even picked up the flowers that Elizabeth gave me and smelled them, plucked the petals of one daisy and then put them back down.

This turned out to be a mistake because as soon as I put the flowers down, I sneezed. And sneezed. And my eyes started to water and my nose got completely stuffed.

"Oh, Elizabeth!" I said thickly, grabbing the flowers and tossing them out the window. I went out of the room and wandered through the mansion, eventually ending up in the kitchen. I walked as quietly as I could to the maids quarters, where Anita, Old Rose's daughter, lay sleeping. I knelt by the bed and hoped she wouldn't be made at me when I woke her.

"Anita, wake up!" I hissed. She opened one eye groggily and looked at me.

"Yes, miss? What are you doing here?" she said, obviously irritated.

"Anita, I'm so sorry to be waking you up at this hour, but there's a favor I have to ask," I said. She nodded glumly, sitting up.

I whispered my favor to her and she smiled giddily as I said it. She looked at me with wide eyes. "What a funny sight that'll be," she said happily. I handed her a sash from my hair, made of fine silk and red dye, and she smiled, tucking it into the front of her nightdress. "Thank you, miss," she said, laying down to go to sleep again.

I went back to bed and this time when I lay down, even though I could hardly breathe, I fell asleep almost right away. If Elizabeth wanted to play games with me, I'd just have to play along. Still, that didn't explain the sense of foreboding I had. I wondered if Elizabeth was feeling ill about this too, but somehow I doubted it. I sighed, just wishing that for once she could behave like a real sister to me, wishing I could behave the same in turn.

Mary woke me the next morning by shaking me harshly. "Wake up, Miss Swann! Wake up! Its nearly noon!" she said. I bolted up.

"What!" I gasped, tossing the blankets off and hurrying in front of my mirror to hurriedly brush my hair. Mary grabbed my arms.

"Never mind that, miss, I'll do your hair for you in a moment. But get dressed - oy, do hurry! That ruddy sister of yours, she told your father that you weren't feeling well, and he wouldn't let me in to wake you! He said to let you sleep!" she mumbled, pulling off my robe and dumping it on the bed. I hurried behind the screen to pull on my shift and Mary scampered up behind me to lace my corset.

"Oh, Mary, not so tight, I can hardly breathe as it is," I groaned, gasping for breath.

"That sister of yours, she'll stop at nothing, will she? I cant believe she put those flowers there, and now you're all stuffed up, poor dear…and she took -" Mary stopped off and hurried away to the closet, pulling out a dress.

"Mary, what did she take?" I asked. Mary said nothing only laid the dress on my bed and gestured to it. "Mary…where's the silver dress?" I asked, hoping against hope that it wasn't what my sister decided to take.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss, but she took it! And it would have looked so lovely on you too! I tried to get it back, I really did, but she said she would have told on me when I went to the town in her dress. She said she'd have me fired!" Mary cried, her head in her hands. I stood there dumbly, and then hurried over to her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Don't cry, Mary, dear, she wont tell. And if she does, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you because of it," I said quietly as Mary cried.

"Why is she so cruel?" Mary asked, wiping her eyes.

"That's what I'd like to know. Well, there's nothing to be done for it now, I suppose," I said, my nose inhibiting my speech. I turned and walked to the bed where Mary had laid out my lavender dress. "This really is a lovely dress," I said lightly, trying to make the best of it. Mary sighed and picked it up, helping me into it and lacing up the back.

"Not as lovely as the silver one. I'm so sorry I couldn't get it back, Christina, I really am," she said. I smiled halfheartedly.

"I'm not upset with you in the least, Mary. After all, its my fault you couldn't get it back. Next time we go to the town, we'll have to be more careful," I said. Mary mustn't have heard, because she didn't respond.

"There is one thing that I saved from her, though." Mary handed me the necklace Jack had given me, the beautiful necklace made of black pearls. I held my hair up, still messy as it were, as she fastened the necklace in the back. "There you go, miss. At least you have something now," she said. I grinned and turned around as she began to hastily comb and braid back my hair in a simple French braid.

She glared at me as I winced and motioned for me to turn around, quickly powdering my face. "There, at least your nose don't look so red now, but nothing will cover up that awful scratch on your face," she said.

"You really ought not to be so tactful, Mary, it's misleading," I said sarcastically. She turned me around and pushed me to the door.

"Your husband is waiting," she teased. I grinned over my shoulder, my heart pounding wildly, and ran down the stairs to meet Will.

"Will!" I called from the top of the one of the landings. He looked up and smiled at me, and I hurried down the rest of the stairs to stand before him. He looked amazing, wearing some of the clothes that he'd worn the day Jack got away, only not as ritzy. He wasn't wearing the hat or the cape, or the sword. The top of his shirt was slightly unbuttoned, his tan chest free for my view. And view it I did, my knees nearly trembling with the affect he had on me. Unfortunately, before I got to him, Elizabeth walked in with a basket over her arm. She looked beautiful in Mary's silver dress. Her waist was narrow and the dress fanned out in gray silk and silver satin, the intricate patterns of flowers that were embroidered were as delicate as she looked. She had her hair done up and a pearl necklace on her neck. The pearls were tiny and perfectly formed, and in that instant I thought they put my pearls to shame. My black pearls that Jack Sparrow had given me - I felt horrible just thinking that I wanted to have the pretty ones that Elizabeth had.

She also had pearls in her ears, and light powder on, that hid the bruise on her nose from everyone who didn't know it was there. The top of her dress was embroidered also with tiny pearls and when she walked in I saw how his eyes ticked to her, over her face, and then over her dress - although I'm willing to wager that Will wasn't taking in the beauty of the dress as much as he was taking in the beauty of my sister.

I stopped where I was standing as she walked in, as much under the influence of her presence as he was. And I despised that fact. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to walk up to him, and he looked at me vaguely before looking back at my sister. She smiled at him, a small, knowing smile. He didn't smile, a small victory for me, unless it was due to the fact that he was too much in awe of her that he'd lost control over the muscles in his face.

I cleared my throat quietly, my face burning because I'd had to do that in order for him to look at me. Which he did, and then he smiled. But the smile quickly turned into a frown as he spotted the mark on my face. He reached a hand up to lightly brush the scratch marks with his fingers, and I trembled involuntarily. Bad enough that Elizabeth had come in and stolen the attention in the room once again, but now I couldn't even stay still while Will touched me. How mortifying.

"What happened to you?" he asked, looking concerned. I could have laughed.

"Scratch," I said simply, desperately unwilling to bring up the situation in front of Elizabeth. I turned to her and it took every ounce of control I had in me not to slap her right there.

"Thank you so much, Elizabeth, it was so kind of you to see Will and I out," I said, reaching for the basket. Her mouth smiled, but her eyes glared at me icily. I returned her glare. Will just looked confused as he reached down to take my hand. When he held my hand it was like something warm had floated its way over me. I took the basket from Elizabeth and turned to him. He looked at me for a long moment, and this time Elizabeth had to clear her throat to be noticed. I blinked and stared at her.

"Yes?" I said. Her cheeks colored and she looked down. When she looked up, she was looking at Will.

"Have a nice time," she said, dimpling at him again. I bit my tongue and turned to go, and Will gently took the basket from me. He let go of my hand to open the door, and I walked out, uttering a quiet "Thank you," as I went.

He followed me and took my hand again. "So, where are we going?" he asked as we walked down the path out of my mansion. I sighed and shrugged and we started walking down the road, away from the town and away from the mansion. Where we were headed, I don't know, but we just walked on in silence for a while.

"Are you alright?" Will asked as we came to a spot overlooking the sea. I said nothing, only walked a bit further and decide that it would be a good place to stay, right by the ocean, on the beach. I pulled out a blanket from the basket, and laid it down gently on the sand. There was a breeze from the sea and as I felt it wash over me, it almost comforted my into being completely at ease. Almost.

I sat down and motioned for him to sit next to me. We were pretty far from the shore, so the waves were a dull sound as were the gulls. There was a tree behind us, casting some shade. It really was a nice spot to picnic.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," I said, reaching for the basket and pulling out a bottle of wine and two finely crafted goblets. I was sitting with my dress fanned out around me, Will was across from me. I carefully poured him a goblet full of wine, and handed it to him. He took a sip and I was aware of him looking at me. I didn't look up, only concentrated on pouring myself something to drink.

A breeze rippled my dress and the thin tendrils of hair that had come out of my braid while we were walking. Will put down his goblet and I finally looked up.

"You look beautiful," he said softly. My eyes widened slightly and I couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"Thank you," I said. "So do you." I swear I could have killed myself for my idiocy. Will smiled and opened the basket to take out some food. He pulled out strawberries wrapped in a white cloth, their red juicy turning blotches of it pink. He pulled out pieces of cheese, cut into cubes and arranged on a plate. He pulled out the finest looking loaf of freshly baked bread I'd ever seen, and he pulled out other assortments of finger food. My stomach growled loudly, and Will laughed. He arranged the food on the plate, seeing as how I was immobile, and moved to sit next to me. I felt like such fool for not being able to say something remotely intelligent. At least when I would go with him to the blacksmith's shop, I'd have something to say once in a while. But here, the silence was almost deafening, the crash of the waves on the shore far too loud, the cries of the gulls far too obnoxious.

Having nothing else to do, I took a strawberry and bit into it. It was sweet and tangy and delicious, but also very juicy and I didn't seem to know that it is probably best not to eat while on your first official outing with you significant other. The red juice spilled down my chin and if I hadn't already made a fool out of myself, I certainly made a fool of myself now. Will, however, didn't seem to find my actions completely brainless. He smiled at me and leaned closer and let me tell you that I had to fight not to choke on that strawberry.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Swann?" he asked in a low voice. My eyes widened yet again and I gasped out, "No!" but his lips closed over mine and he slowly kissed away any of the juice that had spilled from the strawberry.

I will never again eat strawberries in his presence. Or perhaps strawberries are the only thing I'll eat in his presence, if it makes him so eager to kiss me like that…

He didn't let up, only pulled away once to smile devilishly at me, and then kiss me again. And as much as I wanted to ask him to slow down, that I wanted to talk, maybe, and ask him about what Elizabeth had said when she visited him at the shop, I really, really couldn't. Not only because my lips were otherwise occupied, but because I was frightened it would annoy him too much for me to constantly be harping about my sister. I didn't want to always be worried about the mutual attraction they'd shared for each other, but I didn't know any way to learn how to ignore it.

It was lucky for me that he pulled away and we ate in silence for a while. Sometimes he would pause just to look at me, smile at me, or tuck a stray hair behind my ear, but mostly we would just munch on the lovely food that Anita had prepared. And do I need to tell you how good it tasted? The food was wonderful, even though it was just cheese and fruit and bread et cetera. Every bite was exploding with taste, the sweet-tart of the strawberry, the coolness of the wine, the bitter cheese and the soft baked taste of the bread…everything was enhanced today and I didn't know why or how. The wind felt soothing and calming, the ocean like a constant reminder of serenity. I wasn't thinking at all of Elizabeth for the moment, only of the happiness of just sitting in the shade on a blanket with Will, who would steal opportunities to kiss my lips or my cheeks, or my neck or my forehead.

But, of course, serenity has to come to an end at some moment and unfortunately the moment it ended was the moment we decided to speak.

"So," Will said, "How did you really get that scratch on your cheek, love?"

A raging seagull.

A vengeful maid.

Someone dropped a fork on me.

Anything, anything - except for the fact that Elizabeth and I were fighting over Will.

"My sister, actually," I said. Will raised an eyebrow and I continued. "We…got into a fight."

"About what?" he asked. I bit my lip.

"Nothing in particular." Will looked at me suspiciously and then out at the sea. "Alright, it was sort of about, er…you, as it were," I said.

He looked up sharply. "About me?" Gee, he's sure chock full of questions today. I nodded, my face burning again, and looked away. He slid his arm around me and tugged me closer, reaching up to undo the braid in my hair.

"Will!" I scolded, trying to grab onto the braid before it came loose. He took my hand and kissed it and that was it for my braid - and for my mind. I sighed irritably and pulled my hand away.

"I like your hair better this way," he said. I met his eyes and tried very hard to understand all these mixed signals. Either he'd gotten hit on the head really hard today and forgotten the fact that I'd seen him in compromising positions the Miss Swann who wasn't me, or he'd thought I'd forgiven him. And I wasn't doing a good job of showing that I hadn't forgiven him, but he really does have a knack for getting hit on the head.

Will leaned closer until he was sitting behind me and wrapping his arms around my corseted waist. Now if it wasn't enough of a challenge to breathe, what, with my allergy ridden nose and the sodding corset, now I had to deal with the assault on my senses as he held me and kissed my neck, and then behind my ear (considerably worse effect than kissing my neck) and then my cheek. And when I tried to turn around to tell him to stop because I was going to have heart failure, he kissed me on the lips. So I guess it proves that Will loves me and not Little Miss Pouty Lips. And with that realization I also came to know that he was kissing my unease away. If only I didn't have to go back to the mansion where Elizabeth was planning God knows what.