Chapter Nine

"Here we go," Jack murmured as the door to the blacksmith shop slowly opened.

"Come in," Will said, his eyes falling on the man who walked in just behind Jack.

Once they were all in the shop William Turner Sr. slowly turned and met his son's eyes. "Hello son," he said softly. "You're looking well," he said, drinking in every nuance of his son's appearance.

"Thank you," Will muttered, "Wish I could say the same for you," he said, noticing the bags under his father's eyes and his thin haggard appearance.

Bill chuckled weakly, "This is one o' me better days," he informed him, trying to smile.

Will nodded his head, "Jack says you're sick," he said quietly.

"Lets not talk of that right now," said Bill gently.

"Alright," Will replied, his tone hardening, "Lets talk about why you haven't been around since I was a kid."

Bill winced slightly at his son's tone but nodded, "Fair enough," he murmured resignedly. "When I left ye and yer mother when you were a kid it was one of the hardest things I ever did and I had every intention o' returning."

"So what stopped you?" Will demanded.

Bill sighed, his eyes becoming distant as the memories came over him. "Barbossa happened," he said quietly. "As you probably know I was a part of the crew and that Jack was originally the captain."

"Yes," Will said tensely, "I also know you most likely had some part to play in betraying Jack and marooning him on an island to die."

"Well, I did nothing to stop it at the very least and I should have," Bill said, his voice heavy with shame and regret. "I was supposed to be his friend and I just let it all happen."

"If yer going to tell the story mate then tell it right," Jack suddenly said, speaking for the first time since bringing Bill. "Give yerself credit where credit is due, ye gave me prior warning to the attack and ye were ready to fight for me."

"Yes, and I should have went through with it," Bill said with self-disgust in his voice.

"Why didn't you?" Will asked, despite himself getting caught up in the story.

"My fault, I told him not to," Jack said, speaking up again.

"Why would you do that?" Will asked, surprised.

"He said it was useless for me to risk myself. Said it would only get us both killed and that I had too much to live for but that all he had was the Black Pearl which he'd lose whether I helped or not," Bill explained heavily. "Not that it mattered in the end, the way things turned out, as I ended up losing you and yer mother anyway," Bill said bitterly. "I didn't know what I would later do though and so I let Jack convince me not to help him and a part of me was glad that I wouldn't have to get involved. So when Barbossa and the others had their mutiny I didn't participate, but I didn't do anything to help Jack either."

Throughout Bootstrap and Jack's story Elizabeth listened in silence. Bootstrap had glanced at her every now and then throughout his narrative but he hadn't said anything to her yet. She understood that he needed to explain to his son first and for Will's sake she was more than willing to allow him to do so.

"So you were loyal to Jack all along?" Will asked.

"Of course," Bill said in surprise, "He was me best friend and my captain and I've always regretted not helping him, which perhaps played a big part in what I did next despite the fact that Jack had told me not to do anything in an effort to keep me from losing you and yer mother."

"A lot of good that did," Will said bitterly.

"Aye," Bootstrap agreed. "When we found the treasure and removed it from that cursed stone chest we quickly realized the rumors were true and the gold was cursed. We didn't yet know how to lift the curse though, only that it involved returning all the pieces back to the chest."

"And so you sent a piece of it to me," Will said.

"Aye," Bill said again. "They deserved to be cursed and in a moment of rashness I sent a piece to you, neverminding that I was damning myself as well as them. I was young and maddened by grief and guilt; I didn't think they'd ever be able to find ye. I thought I was right clever, I did." Bill fell silent here, his eyes glazed and far away. "Then they launched me into Davey Jones locker for punishment and only in those watery depths did I fully realize everything I had done."

"How did you get out?" Will asked.

Bill shrugged nonchalantly, "I took off me boots," he said simply. "Barbossa was a diabolically clever fiend in many ways but how he thought strapping a canon to me bootstraps was gonna keep me in the water I'll never know." Will couldn't help but grin a little here and even Bill chuckled, though his eyes were still troubled.

"Why didn't you come back to us then?" Will asked.

"I'm not sure, except that I knew Barbossa would set about trying to find out how to lift the curse and I didn't want to not know something that he knew. After the Pearl had sailed away and I was free o' the canon it occurred to me that the town Barbossa was headed to was not to far off and I couldn't just stay there in the water forever. So I started swimming. O' course a ship is much faster then a man, especially when that ship is the Black Pearl, so by the time I managed to get there the Pearl was already gone." At this point Bill's voice was growing hoarse and he started coughing again. He pulled a cloth from his jacket pocket to cover his mouth and when he put it back Jack spotted the blood on it but Will didn't seem to. By Elizabeth's expression Jack could tell she saw it too but he caught her eye and subtly shook his head, warning her not to say anything. Elizabeth reluctantly nodded her head to show she understood and wouldn't comment.

"So what did you do when you found they had left?" Will prompted once Bill had recovered.

"Asked around in some taverns and bars. Apparently Barbossa had gotten a hold of some obscure scrolls and documents dealing with curses and his crew had been none to quiet about what they said. I wasn't sure how much the townspeople truly believed but from what I gathered Barbossa suspected that the blood of the people who removed the coins was needed to lift the curse. He was right of course and from then on I knew he would go after ye for two reasons: the coin, and my blood," Bill paused here and sighed before continuing. "From then on that coin could've been the end of it all and I mourned that I had ever sent it to you. If it weren't for that I could have went to him so he would use my blood and I wouldn't have to worry about him coming after you. As it was I had to stay away, otherwise he would use me to get to you and I couldn't risk that. However if I had tried to go to you meself there were so many ways he could've found out and I didn't want to make his path to you easier in any way."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Will asked quickly.

"That curse was peculiar, if the curse was on ye it seemed to give ye another sense so that ye could find the coins and other treasure," Bill said slowly, thoughtfully. "But I suspected that ye could do more with that sense. It seems to me that at times I was aware of Barbossa and his men when I had no earthly business knowing what they were up too. I knew whenever they had found another coin that helped to make them all the closer to finding the complete 882. More importantly though I suspected that sense could be turned around and they could possibly sense me, I don't know if they ever did though, maybe since they were always together in that big group it made it easier for me to feel them, so to speak. I was all alone so maybe I was harder to sense, I dunno, but I thought better safe then sorry and if they ever started to sense me while I was near yer mother and you then all would've been lost. So staying away seemed the best way to keep you and yer mother safe for the longest length of time. Do ye understand?" Bill asked nervously as he finished explaining.

"You stayed away for our protection? To keep us safe?" Will asked quietly.

"Yes. Maybe there was a better way to go about yer safety," Bill said uneasily, "But I was scared and the thought of losing me family forever was more than I could bear."

Will nodded slowly, pain in his eyes. "So you didn't want to stay away?"

"Course not," Bill said gently.

"Where did you stay for all those years?" Will asked.

"Little place called Jamison Port. It was out of the way with just enough people for me to lose myself in," Bill told him.

"You mentioned that place earlier today Jack," Will remembered suddenly.

Jack nodded and Bill said, "Imagine me surprise when I spotted him there one day. I had thought he was long dead and he had thought the same of me. Yet there he was and being chased by a handful of naval officers to boot!" Will snorted at this point and Jack and Bill grinned reminiscently.

"Jack said that you made him promise never to mention you to me," Will said.

Bill nodded, "I had it in me head that I could only bring danger and pain to those that I loved." Bill shook his head as he thought of that visit with Jack. "And after he told me that yer mother was dead yer safety some how became even more precious."

"Jack told you that Mother was dead? But how would he have known that?" Will asked in confusion.

Bill glanced to Jack questioningly, "He didn't know ye knew Carol Anne?"

Jack shook his head negatively as Will said, "You knew my mother?"

"I suppose he didn't," Jack said to Bill. "I knew her," he added to Will. "The last time yer father went off with me was not the first and yer mother knew me only as Jack and as her husband's business partner. I even had dinner with ye all a couple o' times."

"I have no memory of seeing you as a child," Will said in surprise.

"Yeah well, I didn't go to those dinners like this," Jack said, motioning to how he looked now. "Yer father wouldn't have allowed it."

"I think yer mother knew what we really were but that didn't mean we had to parade it in front of her," Bill said. "Jack took the beads out of his hair and smoothed it back. In those days he didn't have a beard or mustache and I had him take the kohl off his eyes and wash up."

"Aye," Jack said, remembering. "I couldn't even wear me bandana or hat, or any o' me normal clothes really. We wore the clothes expected o' merchant sailors."

"So you fooled her?" Will demanded.

"Again, I think she knew what we were," Bill said. "From little comments she would occasionally make to me from time to time about my profession I got the sense that she knew or at least suspected."

"She was okay with it?" Will asked in surprise.

"She loved me. She knew that I loved her," Bill said quietly. "She knew anything I did, it was in the effort to provide for her and ye."

Will nodded and turned to Jack, "Alright, so I met you when I was a kid, and I can see how I didn't recognize or remember you the next time we met, but how did you know that my mother was dead?"

"Coincidence really," Jack said breezily, "I had heard rumors of the Pearl in that general area of England not far from where ye lived, and I had headed there to check it out. They had turned out to be false but I heard of yer mother while I was there. Ye see, when someone as young and pretty as yer mother was dies it's not kept quiet, and the fact that yer family had already attained a certain amount of fame didn't help matters."

"What do you mean by that?" Will asked.

"You may have been too young to understand at the time but the young pretty single mother whose husband had disappeared? She was the talk of the town." Jack shook his head regretfully as he remembered. "Wasn't long afore I heard and pieced together who it was they were talking about. I was even at the funeral. You saw me there and ye even asked me about yer father and told me ye were gonna go and look for him. Ye must have been around ten years old," Jack recalled.

"You were… I remember you now," Will murmured. "That was you? I asked you where he was and you just said that you didn't know anymore because the two of you had split up."

"Aye, that's what I told ye," Jack said, seeming a little surprised that Will remembered.

Will just shook his head in wonder. "You were in my life long before I ever knew or suspected," he said quietly.

Jack nodded his head, "Suppose I was," he agreed. "I saw yer father roughly a year or so after that funeral and the rest you now know."

"So now you understand why I've done everything?" Bill asked anxiously, a note of involuntary pleading in his voice.

"You thought it was for the best," Will said slowly. "It was all to protect me," he said and Bill nodded in relief. "After everything was over though, and Barbossa was dead, why didn't you come to find me?"

"I wanted to," Bill admitted nervously, "But I guess I thought by that point ye would have long ago given up on me." He sighed sadly, "I was afraid and I figured there was time, always time, but now…" he trailed off and gave his son a weak smile. "I am truly sorry for all the pain I've caused ye."

Will moved cautiously forward, and at long last hugged his father tightly. "I think I do understand," he murmured quietly. "I'm just glad you're here now."

A smile creased Bill's face and he awkwardly returned his son's embrace. When they broke apart both had unshed tears shining in their eyes and Elizabeth walked forward and hugged her fiancé as well. "So this is the fiancé I take it?" Bill asked, observing them hug.

"She sure is," Will said proudly. "This is Elizabeth Swann, Elizabeth, this is my father, Bill Turner."

"How do you do Mr. Turner?" Elizabeth asked, kissing his cheek as he gave her a gentle hug.

"Please, call me Bill, Miss Swann, nearly everyone does," Bill told her.

"In that case you must call me Elizabeth," Elizabeth said courteously, "Though if you are anything like your son it may take you awhile to do so," she added with a glint in her eye as she smiled at Will.

"Well I may not have awhile, so it's a deal my dear," Bill said with a warm smile.

"Consider yerself lucky mate," Jack couldn't resist adding, remembering how in the early days of their acquaintance, Elizabeth had insisted to him that she was 'Miss Swann' and not Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiled, guessing what he meant by that and said, "Can you really blame me Jack? After all, the first time we met you put a chain around my neck and a gun to my head."

"I was bluffing," Jack insisted, "Besides, I believe yer forgetting that a few minutes before that unfortunate incident I dove into the water, putting myself at risk to save yer life."

"Yes, you saved my life and I saved yours, so we were square," Elizabeth said, recalling Jack's words at the time. Bill couldn't help but chuckle at this and the group spent the rest of the evening talking and allowing the father and son to catch up on each other's lives. When conversation came to the impending wedding Will gave his father a formal invite to attend, then as it was getting late Jack and Bill decided they would spend their nights on the Pearl and were about to leave but before they could do so Will spoke up again.

"Just one thing bothers me," he said.

"What's that?" Bill asked curiously.

"Jack said you were sick, but you have pretty much avoided any discussion of it, though you did say you had never tried to find me after the curse was lifted because you had figured there was time and then you trailed off. Also when Elizabeth was asking you to call her by her first name and said how it had taken me awhile to do so you said you didn't have awhile. I want you to be honest with me though, how sick are you?"

Bill seemed to struggle with words and after glancing at Jack whose face remained impassive thought he gave an almost imperceptible nod he said, "Well I'm dying son. My time is running out."

Elizabeth, who had been expecting this, especially since seeing the blood that had come up when Bill had coughed and she didn't say anything, but she did put her arm around Will's waist sympathetically.

"Dying?" Will repeated, crestfallen. "Are you sure?"

Bill nodded and at his son's expression said, "Don't be upset. I've done a lot of things in me life. Seen a lot, and now that I've finally seen you again and am going to yer wedding, I'll be able to die a happy man."

"How long do you have exactly?" Will asked quietly, dreading the answer.

"Not long," Bill murmured. "Not long at all."

A/N: So there's chapter nine, hope everyone enjoyed, please don't forget to review! As usual, your input is always appreciated greatly!