Hi Everyone! Just as a warning, this might be the last thing I post for the next few days, since I will most likely be locked in my room hermetically reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which I'm going to the bookstore to get in about an hour!... well, actually, I'll be arriving at the bookstore in an hour and getting the book in three-and-a-half hours), and sobbing over the phone to my friends about whatever cool character(s) J.K. Rowling is going to do in this time... but, as I assume some of you are probably big Harry Potter fans as well, I doubt I will be alone in my obsessing. At any rate, please enjoy, and please forgive any long lapse in updates - it's all Harry's fault.

As always, I own nothing.

16. A Ship with Black Sails

James had spent an insufferably boring three months in the Locker. Gillette's former diary had been the only unused paper aboard the Interceptor, and for some reason he couldn't bring himself to doodle on the edges of the navigational maps – while in the Locker, they were all he had to remind him of his old life, the real world that he used to inhabit. He wondered if the lengthy narrative he had written for Elizabeth had indeed been able to leave the realm of her dreams and reappear in the material world… he also wondered if she had had the patience and curiosity to read it. True, he had not had time to get the whole story out, but he knew that he would have many more days of intense boredom with which to finish writing his life's history before he decided to leave the Locker.

Needless to say, he was more than happy when, after what seemed like an eternity to him, he found himself falling through the dark nothingness that had become so familiar to him. Relaxing, James enjoyed the drop through the blackness and wondered where he was going to end up this trip.

When the lights began to reappear, James found himself on an all-too-familiar deck. He almost thought he could see Pintel and Ragetti swabbing the deck and flicking grimy rags at each other, while in the meantime Elizabeth chased Jack about the deck, complaining about a letter of marque that she had taken from Beckett at gunpoint… James looked up. The black sails of the ship billowed against the brilliantly blue sky of the Caribbean. Squinting, James noticed a new banner furling in the wind, a Jolly Roger with a small sparrow insignia.

'Like it?' said a voice into his ear. James started – he had not even seen Elizabeth creep up behind him. Her face was bronzed to a deep golden-brown, her eyes twinkled merrily out from under the wide brim of the black hat he had seen her wear aboard this very ship. 'Jack had it put up last time he managed to get his hands on the Pearl.'

'Elizabeth!' Before James could stop himself he reached out and hugged her. She grinned.

'It's about time you got the nerve to do that without apologizing and stammering afterwards, James,' she said. 'Have you been all right?'

'Rather bored,' answered James truthfully. 'Not much to do in the Locker right now.' Elizabeth nodded in sympathy. 'Didn't I ever tell you what it's like down there?'

'No, you didn't.' Elizabeth turned and looked at him with interest. 'I've only ever seen the shoreline, when we went to rescue Jack.'

'What?!' James was startled – had Jack died, then, and been retrieved by Elizabeth and heaven knew who else? 'I haven't heard about this.'

'Oh,' said Elizabeth airily. 'Well, then, it's a good thing I brought this.' She pulled out of her pocket a small book and waved it tauntingly in front of James, who tried to take it but had it snatched out of his grasp. 'Not until after you've told me what the Locker is like,' she said.

James laughed. 'Like I've said, it's quite boring, really. I'm stuck in the middle of a desert with no sand on the bloody Interceptor, just as it was the last time I saw it. And it's bright as day all the time, and I can't sleep, and I couldn't eat even if there was food to be eaten, and there's nothing to do but look at old maps and write long and probably tedious letters to fearless young ladies. Now, what's all this about?'

Elizabeth pocketed the book. 'I figured you might want something to read while stuck in the Locker… but you're not getting it until you leave, I don't want to have to fight for your attention.'

James raised an eyebrow. 'Fair enough, then,' he said, giving a small bow in defeat. 'So, how have you been? Everything all right in the land of the living?'

Elizabeth's eyes lit up, and she smiled broadly. 'Yes, very much so.' She gave a small chuckle. 'Oh James, you're not going to believe this… I'm a mother.'

James smiled. It was a bit awkward, he had to admit, to hear about the birth of his rival's child, but Elizabeth seemed so happy that James could not help but be anything but supportive for her sake. 'Congratulations,' he said sincerely. 'I'm sure that Will will be very proud.'

Elizabeth smiled even more and leaned onto the railing, staring out at the ocean. 'He's beautiful, James,' she said wistfully. 'He looks so much like Will, but his eyes are more like mine, I think. It's hard to tell, he's so little…' She paused, and then shot a sideways glance at James. 'I named him after you,' she said. 'James William Turner.'

James froze, then turned and looked at Elizabeth with a mixture of disbelief and joy. 'You what? Elizabeth, you didn't really?!'

Elizabeth gave an innocent shrug. 'It would have been far too confusing to have three William Turners running about,' she replied.

'But you're sure Will won't mind?' James asked anxiously. He knew that Will had forgiven him, but he wasn't sure the man would be so keen on the idea of having his son named after the man who had been his romantic rival for so many years…

'If he does, that's between him and me,' said Elizabeth firmly. 'You're the only friend I know I can count on to be there for me, James, and I feel I owe you at least this much.'

James cringed a bit – did she really feel that lonely? After all, to say he was her most reliable friend when they only saw each other once every three months…

'You mean, Sparrow doesn't come by often?'

Elizabeth laughed. 'Jack? You know how he is. He drops in at his convenience, which isn't terribly often – he spent most of last year chasing after Barbossa in an attempt to get the Pearl back, and then lost it again…'

'Barbossa?' repeated James with a frown. 'The man who kidnapped you from Port Royal and started all this pirate business, isn't it? I thought you said he was dead.'

Elizabeth sighed. 'No, Calypso rescued him from the Locker too, because he had one of the… oh, just read this later on, will you?' She pulled out the book and stuffed it into James's hand – he quickly pocketed it. 'This is all far too confusing, trying to figure out what you know and what I know, so I figured I might as well just tell you everything that's happened since I woke up the morning of your promotion.' She opened her mouth to add something else, but thought better of it and closed it.

'What?' asked James in mock suspicion.

Elizabeth blushed a bit. 'I hope you don't mind that I didn't give you back your original book. This will sound silly, but I'd like to be able to keep it with me, just so I can pretend that you're around all the time.'

James looked down at her, noticing how fragile she looked in her baggy pirate's clothes, how she wrapped her arms about her against the sea breeze. He draped an arm comfortingly over her shoulder. 'No,' he whispered. 'It doesn't sound silly at all.'

The two stood there, staring out at the flicker of the sun against the waves, neither even bothering to think about whether or not the situation was improper or not.

'What you were saying about Jack's father, and your father…' Elizabeth began.

'Yes,' answered James, before she could finish her sentence. 'It was a foolish thing for me to hate him for. I realize now that one should not be held accountable for the actions of his father.' If I can forgive Will, I can forgive Jack.

Elizabeth turned, raising an eyebrow at James. 'What about me? Can you forgive me for becoming a pirate?'

James shrugged. 'I suppose so,' he said languidly, allowing a grin to creep slowly across his face.

Elizabeth laughed under her breath, and then her face turned serious again. 'And… what about you, James? After everything you've told me, what you wrote about your conversation with Jack, can you forgive yourself for becoming a pirate?'

James stiffened, withdrawing his arm from about Elizabeth's shoulders. He still was not sure he wanted to hear himself be called a pirate. 'I'm not sure,' he answered truthfully, more formally than before.

Elizabeth sighed. 'That's what I thought.'

James nodded, lost in thought, and the two returned to staring out at the carefree waves.