A/N: Here I am again, sorry for the wait, SSL hours and other graduation stuff… anyway here's chapter 8. Enjoy!

Chapter Eight

"We're here," Jack announced two and a half days later when Port Royal was finally in sight.

"Really?" Bill asked nervously, squinting at the distant land.

"Really," Jack told him, concealing a slight grin.

"We can't go in yet though," Bill pointed out. "Your pardon doesn't start until tomorrow."

"Aye, but ye would give some excuse even if me pardon started today," Jack told him, his eyes on the town in the distance. Bill didn't say anything, but Jack knew his silence to be a concession to what he had said. "Lucky for ye there's a cave hidden in coral about fifteen minutes from the docks," Jack said. "We'll hide the Pearl there for the rest o' the day and tomorrow we'll see yer son. Meanwhile ye'll use the time to rest and calm yer nerves as best ye can."

Bill was about to respond when another bout of coughing attacked him. "Sounds like a plan," he finally managed to say. "I'll help ye get the Pearl hidden," he muttered, staggering slightly.

"Ye'll go to bed," Jack said shortly, he knew his friend was feeling very weak. Bill glanced up at him but before he could argue Jack said, "Yer no use to me like this William. I can manage all by me onesies, savvy? Get to bed."

Bill nodded stiffly, "Suppose yer right," he mumbled, turning and making his way unsteadily toward his cot. He stumbled as he reached the doorway but managed to catch onto the doorframe and make it into the room and shut the door.

Jack sighed and shook his head, he knew Bill was a proud man and it had hurt his pride to be told he was in no condition to help, however, he also knew if he hadn't sent Bill off deck when he did he would have collapsed soon. Bill knew it too but in addition to being full of pride he was as stubborn as a mule. As Jack carefully guided the Black Pearl through the coral reef and into the cave his thoughts turned to Will and Elizabeth.


"Three more days," Elizabeth said happily.

"Are you nervous?" will asked anxiously.

"No, I've got my share of excitement though. How about you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Oh, plenty of excitement here my love," Will said, his eyes dancing happily.

"Three more days," Elizabeth murmured again, resting her head on Will's chest as he embraced her. "Jack's due tomorrow," Elizabeth commented. "I think Father is already dreading his arrival."

"Your father doesn't like Jack much, does he?" Will asked with a grin.

"Well he admits that Jack is a good man, he just thinks he likes to cause a little too much trouble," Elizabeth explained.

"You can't argue with that," Will laughed.

"No you really can't," Elizabeth agreed, also laughing.


Before too long it was the next morning, the first day of Jack's pardon and said pirate captain steered his ship out of the hidden cave and in plain sight at the dock. "This feels strange," Jack commented to Bill with a grin. "Having the Pearl in plain sight like this, where everyone can see her."

"Aye," Bill agreed weakly, trying to sit up. "Are we going to see them now?"

"I've been thinking about that mate," Jack said. "I think I should go first, just to give Will some type of warning, then I can bring him here to see ye."

"Good idea, except I don't want him here," Bill said, coughing a little. "I don't want him to see me like this. I want to be standing on me own two feet when I see me son."

Jack nodded in understanding, "How about this mate," he said, "I'll see them first, warn Will to make sure he's ready, meanwhile ye'll rest here and when yer son is prepared I'll come get ye so they won't have to see ye here, savvy?" With another cough Bill gave his consent to this idea and Jack said, "I'll see ye soon mate," and he got up and walked out on deck and off the ship onto the dock.

"Captain Jack Sparrow, how do you do?" a voice greeted.

Jack glanced across the docks and spotted Commodore James Norrington standing there with a slight smile, where he had apparently been watching the Black Pearl. "'Ello mate," Jack said, also with a grin. "Doin' just fine, how 'bout ye?"

"Good," Norrington informed him. "I'm on duty at the moment, thanks to you of course," he said, meeting Jack's eyes.

"It's where ye belong mate," Jack told him, walking with his odd swaying gait to stand before the Commodore.

"Yes," Norrington murmured in agreement. "Well if you would be willing I have time to accompany you to the blacksmith shop where you will most certainly find young Mr. Turner and perhaps even Miss Swann."

"Then lets go," Jack said and they both walked off together.

Once they reached the shop Commodore Norrington knocked on the door, which was promptly answered by Will. "Commodore," he greeted. "Jack!" he shouted, spotting the pirate captain who flashed him a grin.

"I believe he is here for you," Norrington said as Elizabeth came to stand beside her fiancé.

"Yes he is," Elizabeth said, ushering both of them in.

"No, I really can't stay," Norrington said politely, "I have to get back to the fort. Duty calls."

"Thank you for bringing him," Elizabeth called out as Norrington waved and exited.

"We didn't expect you so early in the day Jack," Will commented after the Commodore had left and the shop door was again closed behind them.

"Why wait?" Jack grinned, "I said I'd be here and here I am."

"Where's your crew at?" Elizabeth asked. "They can't be here"

"Course not," Jack agreed, "They're in Tortuga, I'll be going back for them after yer wedding. Speaking o' which, how are you two holding up?"

After they had made small talk for awhile Jack decided the time to mention Bootstrap had come. "Say Will," he started after a moment when there had been a lull in the conversation.

"What?" Will asked.

"Ye remember the man ye saw on me ship?" Jack questioned.

"You mean the one I asked you and Gibbs about?" Will said slowly.

"That's the one," Jack said affirmatively.

"Yes I remember," Will said, his heart beating a little faster. He had thought of that man more than once since his brief stay on the Black Pearl. There was something about him that picked at a distant part of his brain and he couldn't place it.

"Ye remember what ye were told about him?" Jack asked calmly, quietly wondering how Will would take this news.

"Yes, Gibbs told me he was a new member of the crew and you said he was an old friend of yours," Will recalled correctly.

"Aye, and all that was true mate," Jack agreed but before he could say anything else Elizabeth interrupted.

"Jack, what's the point of this?" she asked, voicing Will's impatience.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that one myself," Will said.

"Patience lad, there's no easy way to say this," Jack said, for the first time showing a little unease. "That man is yer father Will."

"What?" Will asked faintly, after a moment of stunned silence.

"Ye heard me correct mate," Jack said.

"My father is dead," Will said automatically. "Two of Barbossa's crewmen told me that they had launched him out in the ocean with a canon."

"Aye, that happened," Jack admitted with a nod. "That, however, doesn't mean he's dead. You forget, he had the curse on him at the time."

"So, he's alive?" Will asked, now in complete shock. Jack simply nodded and Will said, "Why didn't you tell me when I was on the Pearl and asked you who he was? For that matter why didn't you tell me when we first met and I asked you about him?"

Jack was quiet for a few moments, seemingly contemplating his response as he drank some rum from a flask. Finally he said, "I was only keeping me promise to him. The last time I saw him was about seven years before I met ye. I saw him in a place called Jamison Port and he asked me to promise him that if I ever met ye to do what I could to keep ye safe and the way he saw it that included not giving ye any hint about him, his whereabouts or the fact that he was alive."

Will didn't seem to fully understand why this would be his father's wish but he nodded anyway and said, "What about last month? Why didn't you say something then? Why didn't he come to me when we were on the same ship?"

"Again, he didn't want ye to know," Jack said.

"Alright then," Will said, his voice strained. "Why are you telling me now?"

"Well ye see, that's why yer father was back on the Black Pearl in the first place," Jack explained.

"What do you mean?" Will asked tiredly.

"He wants to see ye again Will," Jack said quietly. "A couple of weeks afore ye showed up in Tortuga yer father found me and he asked me to help him meet ye. We had planned on him coming here with me but when ye showed up there in the flesh he hadn't been expecting ye and he panicked, but he's ready now and he wants to see ye."

"When you say he's ready now, do you mean he's…" Elizabeth said, trailing off and staring at Jack intently.

Jack met her eyes and nodded, "Yes, he's here now, still on me ship in fact."

Will started visibly and said, "He's here now!" For some reason, though he knew his father had recently been aboard Jack's ship it hadn't occurred to him that he could still be there, so close to where they were having a conversation about him.

Will stared at Jack in total surprise and Jack said, "Before ye see him mate, there's something ye should know. I am right in assuming ye'll consent to see him, right?"

"Yes," Will managed to mumble faintly, his mind swirling with emotions.

"Right," Jack said, "Well ye should know that he is not doing very well. He's been very sick lately."

"Sick?" Will murmured, glancing to Jack questioningly. "How sick is he?"

Jack sighed gravely, "I don't think he's going to make it much longer Will. He wants to see ye before…" here Jack trailed off, for the first time a touch of grief in his usually unfathomable dark eyes.

"Are you okay Will?" Elizabeth asked gently, staring at her ashen fiancé.

"Give me a minute," Will muttered, rubbing his mouth nervously. "Everything I've ever believed is turning out to be false," he said softly. "I had come to terms with the fact that my father was a pirate. I had even come to believe that wasn't all bad, but for years I have thought he was dead."

Jack remained silent and Elizabeth rubbed Will's shoulders sympathetically. "It must be awful," she murmured.

"I told myself if he was alive he would've been as desperate to see me as I was to see him. Why hasn't he ever tried to contact me?" Will demanded suddenly, startling Elizabeth.

"Ye'll have to ask him that mate," Jack told him quietly. Although he did know the answer he also knew that Bootstrap wanted to be able to tell him himself.

"Take me to him," Will said abruptly, standing up and staring at Jack.

"'Fraid I can't Will," Jack said quickly, also standing up.

"What do you mean? I thought you said I could see him," Will said confusedly.

"Ye can, but ye can't go there. He wants me to get him and bring him to you. Besides mate, it'll give ye time to collect yer thoughts and calm down some."

Will agreed and a moment later Jack exited the shop to retrieve Bootstrap. As soon as he was outside it struck him that he had been in there much longer than he had thought. He could tell by the height of the sun it was about an hour after noon, and for whatever reason he had noticed that Bill tended to be at his worse during these hours. Sure enough as soon as he boarded the ship he could hear his friend's hacking cough from his cabin.

He quickly entered the room and when Bill saw Jack had come back he struggled to sit up and managed to croak out, "Does he want to see me?"

"He does at that," Jack told him, his dark eyes studying his friend and gauging how he was doing. "Think ye can manage to get out there?"

"I'll have to," Bill said with another hacking cough. "Just let me get dressed into something a little nicer." Jack nodded and soon they were heading off the ship, Bill leaning on Jack ever so slightly. "I knew I'd be nervous but I didn't know I'd be this nervous," he mumbled as they exited the docks.

Jack didn't reply, he had just seen a figure he recognized headed toward them and Bill, noticing Jack tense, straighten up so he was walking by himself. "Who's that?" he muttered to Jack.

"Governor Swann, Elizabeth's father," Jack informed him as the Governor came closer.

"Ah, Captain Sparrow," the Governor said once he was in front of the two men. "Commodore Norrington told me you had arrived."

"Governor," Jack greeted, nodding his head as the Governor's eyes flickered over to Bill, taking in his appearance before moving back to Jack.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting your friend," he said.

"Bill Turner, at your service," Bill said politely, finding no reason not to give his name since he wasn't known for any piracy and certainly not by his real name.

"Turner?" Governor Swann asked as he shook Bill's hand.

"That's right," Bill said, but neither he nor Jack commented on it any further and the Governor was forced to let it go. It wasn't as though it was that unusual of a name anyway.

"I should let you two be on your way," the Governor said, excusing himself. "Good to see you could make it," he said to Jack, who nodded.

"That was easier than I thought it would be," Bill murmured to Jack once Governor Swann was out of earshot.

"Aye, but we'll have the Commodore sniffing around soon, ye can be sure Governor Swann will tell him. I doubt he'll do much though, ye were never that well known and it was a long time ago," Jack said dismissively.

Soon they were standing in front of the blacksmith's shop. "Ye ready?" Jack asked quietly as they stared at the door. Bill took a deep breath to steady himself and nodded. Jack reached out and knocked at the door.


Inside the shop Will paced nervously to and fro. "Will, you need to try to calm down," Elizabeth said patiently. "It will all work out alright."

"I just can't believe I am going to see my father again," Will said. "The last time I saw him I was seven years old. I don't remember him to much now but back then he was my hero," he said softly. "Why has he stayed away all these years?"

"You can ask him yourself soon," Elizabeth said gently. "I'm sure he had a good reason."

"Why are they taking so long?" Will said impatiently.

"I'm sure Jack will have him here any minute now," Elizabeth said calmly. No sooner had the words come out of her mouth then there was a knock at the door. "I told you," Elizabeth said, gently nudging Will toward the door.