A/N: If you haven't gone back and read chapter 3, it would be highly advised as I reposted it as an actual chapter instead of a note.

Elizabeth gazed down at her son, sleeping in his basket. He was just over a year old and the most active little boy she had ever known. When he was awake, she could hardly keep him still long enough to get him dressed. Especially, since they had been living on land for a while. It was easier to contain him on a ship, but land was a different story. But, nonetheless, she was glad her son was healthy and normal. In the light of the moon, his blonde curls glowed around his face like that of an angel. As he lay sleeping, Elizabeth thought he looked like a little cherebum. In a sense, he was her little angel, a miracle to get her through the long years without Will. The morning would bring the two year anniversary of her wedding and separation from Will. Another year gone and eight more to go before she would see him again. It would be a long day for her, but one filled with her son's activities to divert her from grieving too much. Just as the sun began to rise, William stirred in his basket.

"You are your father's son," she mused to herself, "an early riser."

Just as he woke, Elizabeth lifted him from his bed and placed him in her lap. For a few moments, he looked up inquizzitively at his mother with his wide, curious eyes. Elizabeth gazed back at him lovingly, humming a small song to keep him calm as she began to dress him for the day. It would be their last day on the small island they had settled on a year ago. Ana had stayed with her to help with the baby and for complany. Elizabeth had decided that she would spend a year at sea and a year on land until Will came home to occupy her thoughts and time. Not only did she have a duty as Pirate Lord and King of the Brethren Court, but as a mother to her son. So, every other year she would spend at sea with her son, sailing to all the ports where the Pirate Lords were located to check on things and then spend a year on land, spending private time as a family with William. It seemed to be the best thing for everyone involved.

The Empress was waiting for her arrival in the harbor. After dressing William, she began to gather his things to take on the ship. Ana was in the other room of the house gathering her own things as well. A few men from the crew came ashore and began to take things to the ship from the house. Elizabeth directed them on what to take and where to put it as she held her son in her arms. The last thing taken was her clothing trunk that kept Will's chest safe inside the bottom. She looked with one last definitive sigh at the house and followed the trunk to the shore where she, William, Ana, and the two crew members with the trunk got into the long boat and rowed to the ship. Once on the ship, the sails were lowered and it made its way out of the harbor to the open sea. Elizabeth settled into her quarters with William and Ana. William was quite content to play on the floor with a few wooden toys that he could grasp. Elizabeth gave a few orders for Ana to carry out, which included taking over the helm until the afternoon so that she could get her son situated and eventually napping. When Ana left the room, Elizabeth sat on her bed and watched her son play on the floor. He seemed happy to be at sea after their year on land. It hadn't been easy for either of them.

When William was three months old, they docked at the exact island where Elizabeth had spent her last day with Will. She decided that the island is where they would live and wait for Will to come home. As soon as they were ashore, they set out for the shack that Elizabeth had preciously occupied before going out to sea. Though it wasn't much, it would be home to two women and a baby. When they arrived, the shack was still unoccupied, so they made themselves at home. Ana let Elizabeth take the bigger room in the back for herself and William and took the smaller one in front. Once everything was situated, the shack looked more like a home.

The first few days were an adjustment to not being on the open sea. William cried more at night without the rocking of a ship to lull him to sleep, so Elizabeth improvised and placed his basket on two curved tree limbs to make it a cradle. It worked as soon he was sleeping through the night again. She and Ana worked out a schedule to live their lives by. Every other day they would go down to the beach and do the washing and once a week they would go out and gather enough food for the next week. Each time, Elizabeth would create a sling from a blanket to carry William in. The island was a perfect place for all of them to live. Within a few months, it felt like they had always lived there. William grew bigger with every month that passed. Soon, he was turning himself over on his stomach and trying to crawl. Elizabeth marveled at each new thing her son learned to do on his own, but still enjoyed most the times where he was in her arms while nursing or being rocked to sleep.

The months crept by peacefully, much to Elizabeth's relief. It seemed that no one else lived on the island, which was perfect. She and Ana were able to go about their routines in peace. During the year on the island also brought a special occasion, William's first birthday. In the early morning hours, Elizabeth took her sleeping son into her arms and cradled him close. For all the pain it took to bring her son into the world, she was so happy to have him with her. He was a part of Will that she could keep close. In her son, she saw Will's curiousity about his world and her own love for pirates. For not only did he fall asleep to his pirate lullaby, but he constantly grasped at Elizabeth's necklace, her piece of eight as Pirate Lord of the South China Sea. His love for pirates did not concern her for she knew that in time, she would teach him how to be a pirate and a good man, like his father. She kissed his forehead and brushed his light curls away from his face.

"My little William," she whispered. "You'll never know how much I love you. You have so much of your father in you."

It was on that day Elizabeth decided to keep a journal of their son's progress through his first nine years of life. A collection of funny and amusing things that William would do in the coming years to give to Will when he returned home. She had just the book for the occasion. Gently, she placed her sleeping son back into his cradle and crept to the end of the bed. Inside her trunk, she pulled out a small, ivory-colored book. The cover had ivy leaves painted across it in emerald. Elizabeth sat on the end of the bed and opened it to the first page and began to write things from her son's first year of life. It would be something Will would want to read when he came home. Eventually, when William could write, she would let him write in the book for his father. Until then, Elizabeth would keep track of things.

Two months later, she sent for The Empress to be brought to their island to set sail for another year at sea. The last month on the island, Elizabeth and Ana made preparations to board the ship and how they would leave the house for when they would come back to it in another year. All the clothes not necessary until the trip were washed and packed away. Elizabeth packed away the journal, some of William's toys, and her own possessions that she wished to take with her. Will's chest was secure in the bottom of her trunk.

The last night on the island, Elizabeth asked Ana to watch William for a while while she tended to one last thing. She walked down to the shore and continued walked until she reached the rocks. It was the exact location in which she said goodbye to Will. She closed her eyes and could almost still feel his touch and kiss. The ocean sprayed water lightly on her face and she breathed in the sea air. After a few minutes, she walked away from the shore into a nearby jungle. Immediately, she walked to a particular tree and grazed her hand across it. In the trunk were carved the words W & E Turner. This was the exact place where she and Will had consummated their marriage. He had carved those words into the trunk after. Upon seeing them in the moonlight, Elizabeth fell to her knees and began to sob. It had been months since she had last cried for Will, but her emotions finally overpowered her resolve to stay strong. She missed him more than anything and wanted him. For over an hour, she sat under the tree and cried until she physically couldn't cry anymore. Once her breathing settled, she realized that she had to get home to her son. Using the tree for support, she stood up. Part of the tree gave in as she put her hand against it. It revealed a hole. Elizabeth reached inside of it and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. She held it up to the moonlight and saw her name on the front in Will's handwriting. Knowing she couldn't read it in the light of the moon, she bolted for the house. Her heart was pounding as she reached the house and got inside. Immediately, she sat down by one of the lamps and opened the parchment. It was a letter from Will.

My dearest Elizabeth,

I do not know when you will find this letter, whether it be months from now or years into my duty. As I write this, I'm sitting under the tree with our initials carved into it and gazing at your sleeping form. You are so beautiful when you sleep and even more beautiful because you are my wife. I love you so much that words could never fully describe. From the moment we met on the ship when we were eleven years old, I knew that you would be the one that I would fall in love with. As we grew older, I realized that life had little meaning if it wasn't with you. That is why I came after you when you were taken captive the first time by Barbossa. Everything I have done has been for you because I love you. I know that everything hasn't been easy for us. Lord Beckett interrupting our first wedding, going to the ends of the earth to rescue Jack, your father passing away, our wedding in the middle of a battle, and my curse to the Dutchman. It seems as if everything has been a fight for us to be together, but I promise that when these ten years are up, we'll be together always and be a normal family with children and a place to live. I promise you this Elizabeth. Ten years is going to feel like an eternity for both of us, but do not despair. Know that you will be in my thoughts all the time. You are strong, Elizabeth, and a remarkable woman. I am proud to be your husband. When you feel alone, read this letter and know that no matter where I am, I am always with you. Our hearts have connected us deeper than any curse can try and separate. You have my heart physically, but you have always had my heart. I love you Elizabeth.

Your loving husband,

Will

Elizabeth folded the letter and held it to her heart. Will knew that she would need encouragement through the years and saw to it that she would have something from him. In the letter, she could feel his presence around her. Though it was small, it was comforting. Elizabeth knew that his love was unending for her as was hers for him. Will had given her a gift that would help her to make it through the next years of lonliness until he could come home.