۞

As William ran into the front door of the tavern, sword in hand, a massive melee was in progress, a fight that was on a grand scale, even for the Faithful Bride. Tables were turning over, candles were splattering on the floor, chairs were flying, bottles were breaking, bodies were tossing and in the middle of the din, a drunken voice was shouting, "Ye lyin' scab! Sparrow, I'll bloody kill ye!!!"

William's eyes searched frantically for Jack as he ducked and swayed, finally taking shelter behind the bar. The shouting was deafening as a chandelier swung above and a mug, full of ale, flew past his head. He finally spotted the captain of the Black Pearl, skittering up the stairs to the second floor balcony, eyes wide and hat nearly knocked off, being pursued by an extremely large and extremely inebriated sailor whose nose was already bloodied and a bit off center. The man was in a black rage, as Jack managed to stay just ahead of him on the stairway, both of them scrambling over other brawling fight participants... much to William's horror, he saw Jack's hands desperately tugging upon the hilt of his sword... a sword that was not the one that he had used for fifteen years, and that was stubbornly stuck in a scabbard not meant for it.

William leaped out from behind the bar, sword flashing, throwing anything and everything that he could put his free hand upon, anything to make it to the stairway. He averted his eyes for only a moment, and when he looked back, Jack had been caught by his hair, and was being pulled backward... of course, Jack was howling in protest at this indignity, but it did not matter, as he completely lost his footing and fell back, feet flying up, and landing squarely upon his opponent. The two of them tumbled down the steps, as, absurdly, a small band of pirates in the center of the room struck up a sprightly chanty.

William, in desperation, picked up a potted plant and bashed another pirate in the head to get him out of the way, shouting, "JACK!!!" at the top of his lungs. The sailor that was wrestling poor Jack to the floor was screaming, "I'll kill ye, Sparrow!"

Just then, another sword was flashing at his side, furiously, it's owner screaming like a wild banshee, in a surprisingly feminine voice, "Not our cousin, you won't!!!" William turned in surprise at his side, he had been joined in battle by a highly incensed Elizabeth. He grinned as she fought like a tiger beside him... her husband's cousin - their best friend, and the captain of the ship that was her little family's home - was being threatened, and she was not taking it lightly.

Together, they made their way quickly through the crowd, just as they saw Jack get completely pinned to the floor by the boot of a drunken man nearly twice his size, whose intent was clearly to send him back to The Other Side. As the wildly angered pirate raised his sword to deal a death blow, William caught him from behind, deftly flipping the sword from the man's hand with his own, and knocking him completely cold with a swing of his free fist. Elizabeth scrambled to pull Jack to safety, as Jack's hands still struggled to pull the stubborn sword from the unrelenting scabbard.

As they tried to untangle Jack from the sailor that had collapsed in a heap on top of him, two loud gunshots blasted out, and plaster fell from the ceiling, and the entire din stopped, as a furious, deep, unearthly voice thundered, "Bloody stop this right now, ye scabrous hounds! Ye've made me namesake an' me only grandson cry!!!"

Standing upon the bar, as if he had simply materialized out of thin air, smoking pistols in his raised hands and bright blue eyes flashing with fury, was the tall and almost ghostly form of a livid Bootstrap Bill Turner... and standing in the doorway of the Faithful Bride was an equally livid Gisele Chevalier, holding a crying Little Will.

"Even if I serve th' Flyin' Dutchman, all o' ye are in th' presence o' three generations o' th' Turner family, including baby Will," he yelled, as silence fell over the tavern, "..ye're also in th' presence o' three generations wot have served th' Black Pearl! The Turners are th' family o' Captain Jack Sparrow! If ye take him on, ye takes on all of us, an' I wouldn't advise that!!!"

A murmer broke out among the crowd, as pirates let go of each other, swords were slowly sheathed, and the chairs that were still whole were uprighted. Elizabeth hurriedly sheathed her sword and ran over to Gisele, whispering her thanks with a smile, and gratefully taking her crying newborn son, as William helped Jack finally get to his feet, brushing him off and then hurrying all of them out the front door of the tavern and onto a side street.

As they all stood there and stared at him, Jack rubbed the back of his head where he had nearly lost several dreadlocks, then looked back at all of them. He stared at them all for a moment, then muttered, inexplicably to each of his shoulders, "Oi! I thought that's why they called it Liar's Dice, didn't you, mates?" He smiled brightly as he looked up at Bill, who was shaking his head at the captain, and starting to chuckle. "... good t' see ye, mate!" Jack broke out a bottle of rum that he had slipped under his coat, pulled the cork with his teeth, and offered it to Bill.

Gisele and Elizabeth fussed over baby Will, as Bill took a swig of the rum and explained, "Captain Norrington gave me leave for a few days t' come meet my new grandson, here... ye can imagine me surprise when I got t' Tortuga City only t' find out that William, here, had not checked back with Elizabeth. She an' I were wonderin' what might be th' problem, when we heard th' ruckus from th' Faithful Bride clear out at th' docks..."

As she rocked a quieting baby in her arms, Elizabeth continued, "Luckily, Scarlett and Gisele had come to visit me while I was upon guard duty," Elizabeth smiled at her new friend, as Gisele made little sounds to baby Will,"...and once Papa Bill could sense both of you being in trouble, I grabbed my sword, Gisele packed up Little Will, we left the Pearl in capable hands, and we got here as quickly as we could..." she smiled proudly and added, "... Little Will might as well start getting used to having pirate blood..." Bill grinned broadly as he squeezed daughter-in-law across the shoulder, admiring his new grandson.

"... thank goodness all of you got her that quickly, my love," William said in a relieved tone, now that his son was content, and no one was injured. Turning to Jack, he said in an exasperated tone, "Jack, what did you do to get that son of a barnacle so riled up?"

Jack twiddled his fingers in the air, cocked his head and smiled. He fished his hands around in the pockets of his coat and much to everyone's surprise, he pulled several purses, filled with coins, out of the depths of cloth. Grinning slyly, he said, "I may be one hell of a liar, but I am an exemplary thief..."

Suddenly, it dawned upon him what Elizabeth had said a moment ago about guard duty aboard the Pearl, and his head swiveled around, alarm beginning to build in his entire thin body... "Izzy... when you said tha' ye left th' Pearl in capable hands, jus' who were ye talkin' about? Did Cotton or Marty come back t' th' ship? Even Gibbs?" He thought for a moment and frowned... no, Gibbs was not a particularly capable guard.

Elizabeth grinned and chirped, "Oh no, Jack... the Pearl is being guarded by Scarlett! She cuts a pretty intimidating figure with a musket in her hands!"

Jack blinked at her hard, for a moment, then chuckled, "... I know how intimidating she can be... I also know just how capable she is, too... a lassie of many talents..." the captain purred, a big smile lighting his face, taking the bottle of rum back from Bill and taking a long pull. Gisele considered slapping him, but thought better of it and refrained. She simply laced her arm around Jack's slender waist and shook her head at him, the feather in her blond curls dancing in the warm breeze.

As they all started to walk back toward the docks, Jack shrugged to himself and thought that perhaps he might just have to pay both of his girls the money that he had owed them since the last visit to Tortuga, especially since he had lined his own pockets well at the Faithful Bride. Scarlett and Gisele had helped his pirate family come through for him, again, and he thought it best to square things with them, his old friends... at least to avoid a slap that might be waiting for him at the top of the gangplank for causing all of this trouble... the biggest regret that he had, resulting from the evening's activities, Jack thought sadly to himself, was that he had caused Little Will to cry.

۞

William was strangely silent as they walked. His thoughts were filling his head, and as he would occasionally reach over and pat Jack upon his swaying shoulder, guilt gnawing at him. Jack took things in such a blithe manner, and once again, William was never quite sure just what Jack's scrambled mind perceived. He looked down at the scabbard that was swinging at his cousin's side as they walked along, and rubbed a hand over his own scarred chest. His heart was taking a bit of a turn as he thought about what might have happened to Jack had William not come along when he had. Jack would probably be lying dead or dying, at the bottom of the stairway of a tavern.

This caused William to stop in his tracks. The very thought of it nearly overwhelmed him. This man had saved his life so many times... he had held William's hand to stab the heart of Davy Jones with a broken sword, to keep William from being one of those waiting to be ferried to his final rest. This man had taken Elizabeth away from the Dutchman as it churned into the depths of the maelstrom, saving her life and keeping her from seeing the horrible truth that was the curse of Davy Jones. This man had been the main instrument in the plan to free William from his curse... he had been the one to bring the living heart back to the Pearl, in order to restore it to William's own body, losing two of his own teeth along the way... and because of this, William and Elizabeth were together, with their precious new baby. This odd man, who loved William and Elizabeth and Little Will, but who was afraid, until recently, to accept the same from them... had almost been killed because the weapons master of the Black Pearl had not sent him into Tortuga suitably armed, as Jack's own sword was hidden away aboard the Pearl, with it's broken blade. William swallowed hard... and the guilt gnawed harder.

Jack stopped and swung around to look at the stricken young man, and, seeing the look in William's eyes, he turned his head from side to side for a moment and said, quietly, "William... are ye alright?" They all stopped and regarded William, as he simply stared into Jack's dark eyes, his own revealing his deep, dark feelings of regret.

Jack walked back to him, and put his hands upon his young first mate's shoulders... shoulders that had borne much. He knew exactly what William was thinking, as he saw him look down at the useless sword, stuck in the scabbard.

"William... cousin... it's alright, mate. We'll figure out wot t' do about th' sword... let's get the littlest pirate back t' his wee safe cradle, savvy?" The captain patted both of William's shoulders and nodded, adding, "... ye happened along at th' right time, mate... ye have t' remember tha' I have lived this way - on the edge an' fightin' all th' way - all of me life, eh?" His head kept turning from side to side, beads jingling and a smile playing at the corners of his dark mustache... there was a small glimmer of gold.

William nodded back, and replied, with some emotion in his voice, "... I promise you that it does not mean that you must keep living your life this way, Jack... ..." and as he looked at his father, who regarded his son and his nephew with warm smile, he said, "... I promise you that... and I keep my promises." He threw an arm around Jack's bony shoulders, and they headed back toward the docks.

And as they approached the Black Pearl, William knew what he had to do...

To be continued...