Chapter Forty-Two

Step One: Yell

I own nothing except Melissa, Kate, and any other OC's that I create.

Sorry for the cliffhanger!

Just remember that Will can only remember until the end of Dead Man's Chest – he can't remember what happens at At World's End. Thought I'd include that...Oh, and by the way, if anyone's wondering where I got the description about Mercer (you know, how he'd scare the crap out of little kids), that's what I thought of him when I first saw Dead Man's Chest. XD

I hope I wrote Beckett right...

Beckett's office was typical of any psychologist: there was calm colored walls (in this case, a light yellow), and there were a couple of paintings of flowers (which actually made Kate even more angry since it reminded her of Jack – ironically the reason that they were here) around the room. A small rock fountain trickled water down it gently, along with relaxing music playing lightly in the background.

None of these things were helping Kate to calm down, though.

"Mr. Turner, have a seat," Beckett said.

Kate remained standing. Mercer was moving to a desk in the back of the room.

"Well, we have a lady who prefers standing," Beckett said. "Unusual."

"You never told me–" Kate began.

"I never said you had to stand, either."

She suppressed a sigh and sat down on the plush white loveseat. Kate and Will both sat on opposite ends, not making eye contact with each other.

"Now, Mr. Turner," Beckett began, "I see that this is not Elizabeth and this is a counseling center for relationships. Would you care to tell me as to why Miss Swann is not present?"

Kate looked at Will, who seemed even more angry. "You ruined our wedding!"

"Let's not get off of the subject, now," Beckett said.

"To be fair, you were the one who started the conversation," Kate said.

"Ruining a wedding has nothing to do with why you're not Elizabeth Swann and why you two are here, Miss..." He looked at Mercer for a prompt.

"Sims, sir."

"Miss Sims." He wrote something down on his sheet of paper. Kate hated that – she never knew what people were writing down about her. She already hated Beckett and had known him for about half a minute.

"I'm supposed to fix your relationship in seven days," Beckett said. "I take you through a five step program that has been built by me."

"And if it doesn't work?" Will asked.

"Believe me. It works."

"Lord Beckett–"

"Dr. Beckett. I did not go through four years of school to be called Lord Beckett, Mr. Turner."

Will didn't say what he was going to say. Instead, he said nothing.

"The first step is to get all your emotions out," Beckett said. "Just yell at each other."

Kate gave Beckett a puzzled look. "Yell?"

"No, I meant yell as in quietly whisper. Yes, of course, yell."

"But wouldn't that get to be a little loud?" she asked. "Doesn't the receptionist check what's going on?"

"She knows what goes on in my program, Miss Sims."

"But are you serious about the yelling?"

"Look at this way." He leaned forward. "It's just good business."

"Good business. You consider Will and me yelling at each other, while paying you eighty dollars an hour good business?"

"I make the same amount of money if you say how my program is wrong or if you indeed give my program a try and see that it's successful. It's your choice."

Kate sighed. She wondered what yelling was going to help them with.

Nothing.

Exactly.

"You're a sadist, aren't you?" She angrily stood up.. "You can just sleep at night knowing that you got to see someone suffer today!"

"Kate!" Will pulled at her arm, but she yanked it away.

"Is that it, Doctor Beckett, you short, little priss?!" she asked.

"Sir, should I take her away?" Mercer asked.

Beckett put a finger up and said to Beckett, "No, that won't be necessary. You are free to leave, though." He turned his attention back to Kate. "Miss Sims, it would be considered wise of you to sit down so that you don't waste your money or my time."

Kate sat back down on the loveseat and held a white throw pillow in her lap. Mercer left the office. Silence filled the room.

"Don't look so eager," Beckett said to both of them. "Go ahead, start."

Neither Kate or Will was going to budge. Finally, Kate gave in.

"I guess we should talk about him," Kate said.

"Him," Will said. "You can't even say his name."

"I understand that you're bitter about it. And you have every right to, Will. It was a huge mistake on my part to lust Jack. It was right of you to get angry. I just want you to forgive me, though."

"Forgiveness. You just expect it like that?"

"I never said that! And, no, I don't. We talked about it on Sunday night when you were about to take all those pills, remember? By the way, what the hell was that about?"

"You thought that you could make your choices, Katherine, and I thought I could make mine."

"What if I wasn't there? Would you have actually done it?"

There was no response from Will. His eyes were kept on her's.

"Will...You were actually going to kill yourself? Why would you do that?"

Will looked at the pillow that Kate was holding, then back at her. "You loved him."

She gripped the pillow tighter. "You thought I loved him," she repeated.

"Kate, you can't tell me that you hated the man! People who hate people do not go about trying to get in bed with them."

She felt her cheeks getting warm. She didn't dare to look at Beckett's expression.

"You haven't apologized for what you did, either," Kate said.

"What could I have done, Kate?"

"You called me Elizabeth and were hurting me!"

He sighed. "That was in the heat of the moment. I apologize for doing that. But we have much larger issues at hand than just that."

"Will, how many times do I have to say it? I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry for hurting you! I don't know what else to say."

"Looks like we're making progress!" Beckett said.

"Oh shut up!" she snapped. "Will, I'm so sorry for what I did. But if I did not want to earn your forgiveness, I would not be going to a couple's counselor with Beckett as the "ingenious" doctor! I'm doing whatever I can to show you that I'm sorry and I want us to move past this. But it's your choice to either ignore my actions or see that I'm doing the best that I can. Right now I think you're doing the first one."

Silence. There. Everything was out for Kate. And judging by Will's silence, either it was out for him, too, or he was realizing things now.

Beckett wrote something down on his notepad. "And it's a wonder why you're in couple's counseling."

The drive home between Kate and Will was silence. Will thought about what had Kate in counseling.

"I'm doing whatever I can to show you that I'm sorry and I want us to move past this. But it's your choice to either ignore my actions or see that I'm doing the best that I can. Right now I think you're doing the first one."

Kate was right. He had ignored the fact that she wanted their relationship to be fixed. He hadn't wanted to forgive her, but now he wanted to. And after her meltdown in counseling, she had made it clear that she really was doing everything that she could. Will realized that now.

That means that she loved him, right?

And if he still somewhat loved her...

Things could turn out a little better than expected. But it would be a strain, especially with Beckett as their counselor.

Would they be going separate ways soon or staying together?

Melissa heard Jack greet her just like yesterday evening, and she greeted him the same day: by loudly closing her bedroom door.

"Alrigh'," Jack said, leaning on the doorframe. "I may 'ave deserved that."

"Yes, Jack," she said, taking out a pair of blue matching blue pajamas. "You did!"

"Ah, ye're still mad at me!" he said.

"I am! I've done a lot of thinking today while at work, and I'm not talking to you."

"Oh, ye're not, are ya?"

Kate turned on the radio and undid the tie on her silky halter top. "No! I'm not!"

"Ya sure 'bout that now, love?"

She frowned. "Yes, I'm sure."

"I wonder why ye're talkin' t' me, then."

He had a point. Jack always had a point.

"So ye're still mad?" Jack asked through the door.

Melissa put on her pajamas and went into her jewelry box. She pulled out the medallion and held it in her hands.

"Stop being a baby and put it on!" Kate had said over the phone the evening that they got their medallions. "Really, what's the worst that could happen? Do you think it's going to be like one of those middle-school chain letters that say you won't get kissed by your crush if you don't wear it?"

"No, I just...Kate–"

Kate's voice didn't make her stop. Instead, it was the silence that made her stop talking. If Kate really believed that the medallion wasn't cursed, she would have let Melissa keep going, which was what she did.

"You know what? Fine. I'm putting it on." Melissa got off of her bed and clasped the medallion around her neck.

Melissa suddenly realized that this was her fault. Everything that happened at the cabin last weekend was all Melissa Lewes's fault. If she hadn't put on that medallion, there would have been no Jack, thus no one for Kate to cheat on.

She sighed, looked at it, then put it back in the jewelry box.

Kate's Blog Entry

Our doctor for couples counseling is a pansy.

Why do I even bother? Nothing's going to be solved with him! Has he even been in a relationship? I don't want to go back, but it's the only way to win Will back. -sigh- Why is my life so complicated?

XOXO,

Kate

Melissa's Blog Entry

I'm the reason that I'm unhappy. I have only myself to blame. What would have happened if I hadn't put the medallion on that night? It's weird...if you stop to think how if you did or didn't do one thing, your whole life would be totally different.

Love,

Melissa Rose