Merry Christmas!! (one day late)

Many, many thanks to reviewers Wills_Elizabeth23, Calenlass Greenleaf1, shewhoshallwrite, AKA Parfait, Pirate RN, Telcontar Rulz, sweetmissbean, Traveler of Worlds, and lynxlan! Thank you, thank you!

And for all of you that have been with me since the beginning, thank you so much! I can't put into words how much I appreciate it!

Another massive thank you to Arquenniel and Caomhe of Tyrone! Without you two, this story would never have made it to completion!

Anonymous Reviewer Replies:

AKA Parfait: Thanks very much for the review! I like both as well. :)

Wills_Elizabeth23: Thanks very much for the review! Your guesses, as you will see, are very accurate. :) Merry Christmas to you, too! And I'm hoping to upload the deleted scene next week.

Chapter 32: Epilogue

Will hadn't been so utterly consumed with worries in a long time. His hands were shaky and his tongue might as well have been a chunk of sawdust. Holding still was harder than fighting a horde of undead pirates with one hand behind his back. His lungs felt like someone was jumping on them, making his breathing and heartbeat irregular.

"Why is it taking so long?" Will muttered before whirling on the Governor, biting back a grimace at the shot of pain in his still healing back. "Does it usually take this long?"

"William, my dear boy, it's hardly been four hours. The birth of a child is a lengthy process and cannot be rushed."

Will, however, had stopped listening to the Governor at 'my dear boy'. "Why is it so quiet in there?" Will's eyes were narrowed at the door that stood between him and Elizabeth. "Is it supposed to be that quiet?"

"I'm sure the midwives are doing their best to help Elizabeth."

Will nodded absently and forced himself to sit down. A beat later and he was standing again. He'd faced skeletal pirates, exploding ships, sadistic captains, and countless other dangers only to pace like a hungry lion before the room that held his wife and future child.

She'd gone into labor only five days after they'd left the Pearl. They'd been finishing up their noon meal. She was smiling as she lifted the last dish off the table. Then there had been a crash and Will was suddenly being told to fetch the doctor, which he'd done as swiftly as humanly possible. The last glimpse he'd seen of her was her face contorted in pain, sweat beading on her forehead and hands fisted in the cloth of the bed sheets.

"Are you sure she'll be fine? Perhaps I should be in there with her…" Will paused his pacing for a tense minute then resuming it with more energy and vigor than ever.

The bedroom door clicked open and Will was standing directly in front of it in the space of a second.

"Is everything well? Is Elizabeth well?"

The poor midwife nodded with a weary smile. "You may go in now." She blinked and Will was inside the room, leaning over his exhausted wife.

His hands smoothed away her damp hair. "Elizabeth," Will's voice couldn't have sounded more relieved.

Her face was pale and there were great circles underneath her eyes but to him she had never looked more gorgeous. Smiling gently, her amber eyes shone up at him, "Will."

"I'm so proud of you."

She nodded her response.

"Mr. Turner?" The midwife was approaching with a white bundle in her arms. "I think you have someone to meet." She settled the cocoon of soft blankets in Elizabeth's arms and quietly left the room.

Elizabeth tenderly brushed back the blankets from the tiny, new face. "Meet your son, Will."

The baby blinked slowly at his mother's voice and Will received his first glimpse of the clear eyes beneath the dark eyelashes. They were perfectly blue, as blue as the Caribbean sea on a warm August morning.

"He's beautiful." Will whispered, his own eyes wide with awe as he offered the child his finger.

The little hand latched onto his father's proffered finger.

"He looks like you already." Elizabeth's slender fingers slid through the infant's downy head of dark, curly hair.

"He's got your nose."

"And your hair and eyes."

"But-"

"They'll turn brown. I know they will." Elizabeth smiled up at him radiantly.

Will glowed down at his little family and warmth filled his being. He was complete. This was home. Here, with his lovely, vivacious Elizabeth and an incredible new son. This was where he belonged.

The End

I'll try to get the deleted scene up next week. :)