Before Will even thought of beginning his story and where to begin for that matter, a certain four year old came running in the room after slamming the door to his oldest brother's suite and then slamming his bedroom door and locking it and then finally running in his brother's closet and shutting that. He must have found clothes and coats to pile on top of himself because the sound of something falling was heard through the walls.
Will and Bill simply shared a glance to each other.
"Aidan Benjamin Edmund Seastone-Turner you get over here right now!"
The teenager wiped his eyes as his father pressed his lips onto his forehead and pulled a few curls before getting up and curiously stepping over to the closet. He knocked on the door.
"Aidan, it's your father," he called and knocked again. "Can I come in?"
"No, you'll kill me too," a sobbing voice whispered.
"How can I kill you if I don't know what you did?" wondered Bill.
"Mummy will tell you and then you'll me too," Aidan sobbed.
"Why does your mother want to kill you?" wondered Bill.
"And Uncle Gabriel and Uncle Alex and Grandfather and Aunt Colleen. They're gonna kill me," Aidan sobbed.
"Father," Will called. He motioned his father to approach.
Bill went to his teenage son's side. "What?"
"You go talk to Mum about what he did and I'll get it out of him," Will suggested.
"I'm not sure I want to go near your mother right now," replied Bill with a raised eyebrow.
"Papa, I think you should calm Mum before she breaks down every door in this house looking for him," Will said. "And I want my doors."
"Fine," Bill sighed. "But this doesn't get you out of telling me your story."
Will shook his head. "No, I need to do some explaining."
"How about tomorrow then? It's quite late and you do need rest to recover," said Bill.
"No!" Will cried. Once again making a sharp sudden movement, he pressed his palm across his chest. "No," he said much calmer. "I think I'll only—well, it depends on Aidan. I get the feeling he really did something bad."
"What makes you say that?" asked Bill.
"For one, he's crying and hiding. Two, the instinct of an older brother tells me something happened. Three, I can hear Alex and Grandfather yelling for him too," Will said.
Bill's eyes narrowed. He leaned his head closer to the door and concentrated on the sounds around him. Alexander and Richard were definitely hollering for Aidan and they were not happy. They sounded more frightened than upset.
Suddenly, Aidan ran out of the closet with his hands over his mouth. Thankfully, he found a bowl before vomiting all over his older brother's floor.
"Aidan?" Will said quickly.
"Aidan," Bill called, immediately going to his son's side.
When he reached his littlest one's side, he noticed a familiar smell coming from the four year old. He wasn't sure, but it smelled like alcohol. Aidan couldn't have known where the key was and Will said he snuck drinks at night and Aidan slept all night. Richard bore out a hole for the key and had a block placed on top to keep the key more protected from young hands since there were quite a few children in the house. Looking at it, no one would suppose the key was hidden there. The only possible way Aidan could have gotten to any alcohol was if he took it from someone's glass when he wasn't looking.
"Aidan, do you have something you want to tell me?" he asked softly.
Huge tears fell from the four year old's eyes as he shook his head. He immediately ran for his brother's bed and hid under the blankets.
Will felt a head rest on his leg and little arms wrap around that leg. He quickly thanked everything holy that his brother didn't grab his right leg. Concerned, he patted his brother's head.
"I'm going to have a talk with your mother," Bill said, his voice curious and frightened.
Will gave a nod of his head as he watched his father leave. Once he heard his main door open, he waited a few moments before pulling the blanket down. Aidan was clinging tightly to his thigh. His face was buried into his brother's leg and was bawling softly.
"Come here, but gently," Will said, opening his arm. Aidan shook his head. "Papa's gone."
"You sure?" Aidan asked.
"He's not in here anymore," said Will.
Immediately and not as gently as Will would have liked, Aidan slumped against his brother's torso and wrapped his little arms around his brother's neck. Will hummed and rubbed his back. He pulled his blue blanket further upward to wrap it around Aidan. When he went to kiss his brother's head, he also smelled the scent of alcohol.
"What did you do? You know I won't kill you. I'm your biggest brother. You can tell me anything. We made a promise remember? No secrets," said Will.
"You did it first," said Aidan.
Will swallowed hard. His brother smelled of alcohol and he was just sick and he was running away from the house who were all chasing after him and he just said "you did it first". That was never a good sign. "What did I do?" he asked.
"You drank the bad stuff first. I saw you," said Aidan.
Will's head slowly fell back until it slammed against the wall behind him with a knock. He exhaled slowly and shut his eyes. Great. His youngest brother was looking up to him for advice and how to live. He was teaching his brother the worst habits imaginable.
"Aidan, just because I did something isn't a good reason for you to do it too," Will told him.
"But I wanna be just like you. You're my biggest brother," Aidan said, curling into his brother's chest.
"Aidan, alcohol is bad for you. Don't drink it," Will said.
"Then why did you?" wondered Aidan.
"Where did you find the key?" asked Will.
"I asked you first," said Aidan.
"I did it because I'm older and it's what we drink at school at night," Will said quickly. "Now answer my question."
"When everyone was out of the room I took a chair and stepped on it and looked for the key and I found it under a piece of wood in the right corner," replied Aidan.
"What did you drink?" Will asked, trying to contain his mix of emotions that was beginning to make him feel sick to his stomach.
"A drink of everything and I left the bottles on the table because someone was walking in the room and I didn't want to get caught," said Aidan.
"Do you feel any better?" Will softly asked, brushing the back of his fingers on both his brother's cheeks.
Aidan shook his little head. "My belly still hurts a lot."
"I think you should go lay down then," Will told him softly.
"I'm not going out there!" Aidan told him. "Mummy and Alex and Gabriel and Dirk and Grandfather and Colleen and Christian and everyone else is going to kill me."
"Father is talking with them now. I think if you go to your room they will let you be and when they see that you are sleeping I know they won't bother you. All right?" said Will. Aidan nodded. "And if they do start yelling at you then just run in here and I'll cover you."
"Can't I just stay in here with you?" Aidan softly asked, giving his brother those irresistible eyes that only his brother didn't seem to be bothered by.
Will looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a half smile as he shook his head. "I have to talk to Papa about something that happened to me a long time ago. You can stay in here until he comes back though. I'm sure he'll see to it that you get tucked in bed all warm and safe."
With a small nod, Aidan curled tighter into his brother's body. He was in a lot of trouble for something he didn't understand. Everyone drank what was in the cabinet. All the adults did and he saw his oldest brother drinking out of there too. His oldest brother didn't get yelled at for it so why was he? What was so bad about it? And why did it make him so sick? No one ever told him not to drink it so there was no reason for all of them to be yelling at him and saying they were going to kill him.
There was knock at the door that caused Aidan to squeeze his brother's body.
"Ow!" Will said, hiding all evidence of the scream he contained locked in his throat.
Alexander's head followed by his body entered through the doorway. There was no anger on his face, just a spot of disappointment. There was however, worry in his eyes.
"I'm sorry," Aidan sobbed, little tears falling from his eyes as he was clinging to his brother.
"Aidan, you need to let go of me. You're crushing my ribs and my ribs are broken and it hurts badly enough without you crushing me," Will told me, feeling the sting of painful tears biting at his eyes.
"Come here you," Alexander softly said as he gently pulled Aidan into his arms, one arm under his little bottom and the other around his shoulders. "Your papa tells me you were sick. Is this true?"
"Mm hm," Aidan nodded with low eyes and a trembling lip.
"Do you still feel sick?" wondered Alexander.
Aidan simply shut his eyes and nodded as he curled against his uncle's body.
Alexander sighed. "I guess I can't blame you at all. I did the same thing when I was thirteen years old. No one told me any better either."
"You drank the bad stuff too?" wondered Aidan softly
Will nodded and motioned him to leave. It seemed to be timed because when his uncle left his father walked back in not a moment later.
Bill sat down beside his son and smiled at him. "Talk."
"Look, it probably won't make any sense to you so don't interrupt me. I think it's a perfectly good reason and I didn't know what else to do to make anyone listen and you still didn't listen to me," Will told him.
"Will, I already know," Bill said. "The day after your birthday we told you to grow up and become an adult. I know. We tried forcing to grow up overnight and you didn't know how to cope with it so you did the only thing you could think of and rebelled. You and the rest of us got out of hand and everything simply escalated."
"So why are you making me explain?" Will asked frustrated.
"Because you need to tell me what you did so I can help you get your life back," replied Bill.
Will turned away. "It only took you a year to realize it and no one else has any idea what happened. I should be explaining it to them not you."
"I'll tell them for you," said Bill.
"The night of my sixteenth birthday was perfect," said Will. "I had all my friends. We had a huge party. Everyone I knew I invited and I got to chose who came and who didn't. George was there. The King of England was there and he hardly goes anywhere. I think Navy Headquarters shut down for the night because I invited them all. Uncle Jack and Edward and Anamaria were there and so was Barbossa. It still amazes me no one was arrested that night. For the first time ever, I thought the ballroom was too small. Theo was the one who dealt with the music. The food was amazing. I got engaged to Elizabeth. That night was perfect. I didn't think anything could ever go wrong.
"I swear, I woke up the next day and all of you were suddenly telling me that I had to think about my future financial status and where I would like to apprentice. You were talking about my wedding which we still don't know when or where that will be. School was such a sudden priority. You took me in town and bought me new clothes that made me appear more like an adult. I come home and you're moving my things out of my room. Anything that resembles a child is being moved. Grandfather makes me attend more etiquette lessons and I'm to follow them in my daily activities.
"A week after my birthday I wanted to kill all of you. My life suddenly changed and that's when I got this idea in my head that I wasn't going to do anything of what you wanted me to do anymore. And that's when I started rebelling. My first act of rebellion was simple. I just didn't do what any of you told me to do and when you sent me to my room I simply read. Then I went to school and I began noticing I was being treated different there as well. Sure I was taking classes a year ahead of my age and two years ahead in some and everyone knew that, but I felt they were pressuring me to grow up and take responsibility too.
"I snapped and I knew who to go to let loose. Stephen, Terry, Jonathan, and Baldwin were the ones to find because they had everything. They couldn't believe I wanted to join them one night since they thought I was prissy and perfect. That was the first night we went to the rock and drank and the next day was the first time ever I wasn't at class without telling someone. I felt free when I wasn't in class and I could do whatever I want on the grounds because everyone was in class. I felt more free when someone didn't know where I was and I could do anything I wanted. There is this adrenaline rush that feels wonderful every time I rebelled against something. I'll admit I felt horrible when my professors tracked me down and asked me where I was the first few times, but I got over it.
"Every weekend we went to the rock and had drinking parties. There were women there but since I have an unbearably high tolerance for alcohol I could drink as much as them and still have most of my mind. If they got too close to me then I pushed them away. I never got into another girl's bed beside Elizabeth. She never did anything to me and I wasn't going to lose her just because of what all of you were doing to me. Some days I simply didn't go to school because I felt like fishing or running or just laying out in the grass or going for a walk in the woods. I liked to go into town and watch the people. I knew my grades were slipping and I didn't care. All of you expected me to be the smartest, most brilliant mind there was and I knew that so I just stopped going. After awhile, as you probably noticed, especially when you and Mum were called for a meeting, I didn't care."
"Let me tell you something Little One. When I got that letter saying your mother and I had to discuss a few things with your headmaster including your level switch, I was a frightening sight with destruction in my path. I think I may have pushed Gabe out of the way once or twice," admitted Bill.
"I know you wanted to kill me. I remember hearing you walk down the hall while I was sitting there," said Will.
Bill gave a shrug of his shoulders. "You are so smart and to see you put back in the level you should be, that hurt a lot. When you dropped out of the medical course, I didn't know what was wrong with you. You are medicine smart just like Alex. It killed him to receive that letter. None of us knew what had happened. We just knew we were disappointed."
"I know it hurt Alex a lot, but even he was telling me to grow up. I was sixteen years old and no one seemed to understand me, and I didn't know what to do and I found something like I liked to do. Rebelling was my way of keeping calm really. I did what I wanted when I wanted and when I was told I had to do something, well, I went and did what I wanted." Will looked at his father. "And I know none of you were pleased with my stunt at the Christmas Ball."
Shaking his head, Bill turned away. He sighed heavily. "Can I ask what brought that on?"
"You wanted me to wear the complete noble attire and I wanted to wear what I felt like wearing so I just wore my trousers and boots and tunic and my old, comfortable coat. I thought being there was good enough. Elizabeth didn't mind. She never saw me in all the noble clothing anyway. It wasn't me. She didn't mind that I wore normal clothes and, for the record, she disappeared with me after the first half hour. We went to the guest house and let the party resume," said Will.
"We looked in every room and you two weren't there," said Bill.
"I know, that's because when I saw someone coming we temporarily left," Will told him. "We didn't do anything, she just wanted to know why I was behaving the way I was. I told her what all of you were doing to me and I was rebelling. She never believed it was right for me to rebel like I was, but she wasn't going to tell me how to live my life. She understood why I was doing it. Just in the half hour I was around all of you she saw how you were treating me and telling me to sit up straight and stand tall. Even while we were dancing she noticed you were making motions to me to do something."
"Will, she did talk to me about our treatment of you for the record," Bill said, but not looking at him.
"Then why didn't you just take her advice?" Will asked.
"I was too stubborn and ashamed," admitted Bill.
"You were ashamed of me?" Will asked softly as he slowly turned his head to his father.
"William, don't tell me that shocks you," Bill said.
Will shrugged his shoulders. "Not really no." His fingers pulled at a loose thread on his robe until the thread pulled apart with a snap. "But it is different hearing it come from you. I knew you were ashamed of me, but I never heard it come out of your mouth before."
"I told you before we left on our little sailing adventure," reminded Bill.
"I don't really remember a lot before then. I know we were shouting at each other, but I cannot recall what we said," Will told him.
"Then there is no need to dwell upon it," said Bill. "Now, what is it you did during this rebellious stage of yours?"
"Well," Will said with a small release of breath that would have been a sigh and he dearly wanted to sigh. "You already know I drank every weekend to the point of passing out and one time being dragged back to the school hospital and having something shoved down my throat to make me sick for an entire day and I wake up only to see my uncle sitting there holding my hand—I still see his face and I will admit that him holding me after I woke and he knew I would live felt wonderful. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be held by someone. Other than drinking, we gambled quite often, which I'm sure you know about. I usually won. I taught them Liar's Dice. We pulled jokes on some of our professors which is why Dirk probably didn't show his face sometimes at school and—"
"Will, my brother has quite a few bones to pick with you. Gabe has your entire body worth of bones to pick with you. Dirk came home for a week. He packed everything and came home," said Bill.
"I know and I can tell you what I did, which was fun at the time," said Will.
"I already know what you did and you're damn lucky Richard and Archibald were childhood friends and continued their friendship to their elder years or you would have been expelled right there like the other three or four were," noted Bill with a stern look directly at his son.
"I know, I know. I had a feeling that was the reason I was still in school. Father, you were rebellious. Tell me you wouldn't have enjoyed it too," said Will.
Bill raised his hands and inhaled quickly. His hands moved about and lips formed words he tried to convey, but no sounds came through for a few minutes. "Will, I should be your father, but I'm going to wholeheartedly admit I would have loved to cover the main hall with whale oil and watch the professors fall on their old, pompous butts, but I have to be your father and tell you how rude and ridiculous and disrespectful that was."
"I can see you fighting not to smile," Will told him in a song manner.
The smile, full set of teeth and all came out as Bill shook his head. "Alex and Gabe wanted to do something like that when they were teenagers. Richard even talked about him and Edmund doing something. Everyone wants to do something to the professors but no one ever has the courage."
"Until we came along," said Will.
Bill coughed and lightly smacked Will across the face and pointed a firm finger at him. "But, William, that caused a lot of people shame and embarrassment toward this family. Dirk had to leave because of you. Every time someone would talk to him it was something to do with your attitude problem. They were asking him to tell you to knock it off. He had promised death threats in your honor if he didn't tell you to stop it. He left because he couldn't take it. We kept Dirk here for a week to calm him down. Dirk wanted to get his own room, but he didn't because he was afraid someone would follow through on one of those death threats if you were alone. He stayed with you to keep you alive."
"I know. He told me and I owe him a lot. I never gave him credit for keeping my butt alive," admitted Will. "Anyway, um let's see, you already know that we had nights in the cottage with women, but I generally stayed away from those. I did sneak over to see Elizabeth quite often, but I never slept with her until her sixteenth birthday. I asked every time if she was ready, but she always said not yet. I don't think she was ready that night, but it just happened and we both liked it so I'm not taking it back. School you know I was picky about and went to class whenever I felt like it. After they were expelled I got a reputation that I know I can't get rid of and I'm just glad it was late spring when we did that.
"Christmas break I spent time in the darker parts of London, you know South London and the "taverns". Again, I did nothing but look and drink. I did an Alexander Seastone. When I went down there or did any acts of rebellion, I did keep my curls down and wore the complete opposite of what I would have normally, meaning fine, noble clothing and I used a different name. I went under the name Jean Sauvageau and faked a French accent. The women loved it and the men loved the money we brought in. We had gambling tournaments and drinking games. Everyone knows I snuck away at night and slept all day. That's what I did really.
"That January, I knew I hit the point of no return. After the stunt we pulled with the Navy ships, I knew my rebelling to get the point across had gone farther than I ever intended. I had officially hurt everyone I ever loved but two and even those two were kept away from me. The King of England let us go with no punishment at all. Tell me that was just wrong. I was expecting at least a week in the Tower and they were expecting to be exiled from England. I finally realized it all went too far when I went walking in the street about a week after that incident to get some chocolate. People didn't look at me and parents kept their children away from me. Everywhere I went, people muttered behind their backs when I passed by, spat in my footsteps, pushed me around, provoked me, when I went into shops someone always watched me, and I knew I had messed up to the point that I may as well live up to my reputation.
"I kept rebelling and stealing whatever I wanted. Nothing could keep me down. After they were expelled, I hung around school and did whatever I felt like. Mostly, I went riding through the countryside. I took my horse I bought up there and rode. It's funny though. I was passing by a farm and I noticed the elder farmers trying to wrangle him up to execute him. I still had a nasty honest streak as Jack says so I had to help them. They were incredibly impressed that I was able to tame the horse. They told me I could keep him for no charge as long as I got him off their land. Cian and I went everywhere together, and his name speaks all. Cian obviously means ancient and it is as though he has seen so much pain and suffering that he's gone mad. He and I are happiest riding through towns. Tell me honest, did they send you a letter saying I was gone for days at a time?"
Bill nodded. Color was slowly seeping from his face. "Each time we received word that you were missing, you cannot comprehend how frightened I was. I never knew where you were. For all I knew you were shanghaied or kidnapped or killed. You were and always will be my son. I may have been hopeless in helping you or given up on you, but it made me sick to my stomach to know that you were missing. There were times I didn't sleep at night because I didn't know where you were. Your mother was the same way. We may have been upset, but you were our child and being our child it deathly frightens a parent to know his child is missing."
"Sorry," said Will. "I just had to get away and riding through the countryside on old roads in the rain is the best thing I ever did for myself. There was a time when it was storming and sunny all at once. I rode to Scotland and was standing on one of the hills at a Loch. The feeling of hearing the thunder and feeling the rain yet seeing the sun on the loch was incredible. It was one of those moments when you have to shut your eyes and listen and just feel the spirits around you. Cian enjoyed it too. He felt calmer after that day.
"I'm sure you were surprised when I showed up for Easter break on a new horse three days after Dirk got home. I did see the relief in your eyes when you saw I was all right and I was awake that night when you sat beside me playing with my hair. Dirk and I weren't on speaking terms really, but he did tell me he was glad to see that I was all right. We were in the stables and I was brushing Cian when he said that. He also made note that my horse felt different from others and looked different. His black is unusually black and his eyes are wild like mine were. Everyone always told me if I was an animal I would either be a bird or a horse. He said the horse had my spirit and I was lucky to have a connection to something like that.
"I wasn't home much Easter break and when I did sneak out, it was mostly to see Elizabeth. By that point I knew her father hated it when we were together. I know he would have demanded we end our engagement, but she would have left with me if he did. I know after being told that we couldn't be together, Elizabeth would have snuck here in her tunic and breeches and we both would have gotten on Cian and left London. Weatherby knows I love Elizabeth and never did anything to harm her. I know he let us stay together because I treated her like nothing between us changed."
"Why did you never behave around Aidan differently?" wondered Bill.
"He's my baby brother," replied Will obviously. "I want to be a father. You know I long for the day I can hold my own son. Aidan is only four and I did a lot when he was a baby. You and Mum once told me that you two were unneeded in Aidan's upbringing because I did it all. Aidan and I connected. For being twelve years apart in age, we're so close together. When he's around me, I can't help but to be his biggest brother. I could never hurt him, and yet I did."
"Well, his little alcohol drinking was mostly our faults," admitted Bill. "We never told him to stay out of the cabinet and he's been asking lately. We took full blame on that."
"My rebelling gave me an entire new look on life. I don't want to be noble. I still don't. If anything happens to Grandfather or Alex it goes to me until Thomas is old enough. Grandfather is old and Alex is Alex. I can't be noble. I hate everything about being a noble. I would be much happier if I lived in a small cottage in the countryside in the middle of nowhere with my wife and horse and family and Orion. No one would tell me what to do and I could do what I wanted when I wanted. Being noble forces me into having to act like someone I'm not. I'm not noble. I have a wild and free spirit, and when all of you suddenly tried taking that away from me I snapped and then all of you go and keep doing it. You would think that after I started rebelling you would have talked to me about why I was doing it and not continue to try and change me. Not once did any of you ask me why I was doing this. Elizabeth was the only one who asked," Will told him.
"And why didn't you tell us to stop telling you what to do? You could have talked to us Will and you never did," Bill told him sternly.
"Do you think any of you would have listened to me try and tell you to stop telling me what to do when it is the duty of an adult to tell a child what to do?" wondered Will dully.
"You know I would have listened," Bill told him. "You and I used to be able to talk to each other about everything."
"I know, but after you started punishing me and screaming at me talking to you was the last thing I wanted," Will told him. He slightly sighed and lowered his head for a moment then turned and looked into his father's eyes. "I think what made me snap the most was you."
Bill scooted closer to his son and rubbed his arm. "Tell me."
"You yelled at me and punished me and yet you told me you were always there for me and would always listen. I tried talking to you once and you told me you wanted nothing to do with me. The next time I did something you went off and practically beat me. All right so you didn't beat me, but you did give me a black eye from slapping me and you bruised my arms from grabbing me. I didn't know what to do because you told me one thing and did another. I was confused and afraid. I didn't know how to talk to any of you anymore. I gave up and ruined myself," Will told him.
"Is that all you did?" wondered Bill.
"What do you mean is that all?" Will cried. "I gambled, I stole, I lied, I cheated, I snuck away, I rebelled against everything, I hurt everyone I know, you ask me if that's all I did?"
Covering his mouth in an attempt to hide it, Bill began laughing softly. There were a few laughs he tried to keep in his throat, but was quite unsuccessful. He simply let his head fall back and laughed.
Poor Will sat beside him with his mouth agape and in awe. Here he was with tears in his eyes because of what he did in the past year and his father was laughing. He ruined his life and practically ruined his family's life and his father was laughing.
"William, I paid women to get in their beds, I gambled, I stole, and I cheated. All you did was have a bad attitude and not attend school," laughed Bill with his eyes squeezed shut and his head against the wall yet. "You did nothing but have an attitude. Poor thing. I thought you did so much more worse than this. All you did was let your attitude get away with you. You really did nothing but get yourself all upset. It's not as bad as you think. The worst thing you did was untie a few knots on a few ships and pull out a few nails. In an hour it all was fixed."
"But, Papa, no one trusts me or wants to be with me. I messed up badly and I can't go back," said Will.
"You did nothing compared to me," Bill said through his laughter.
"Father, mental scars hurt worse," Will told him.
Hearing the words his son spoke come through his ears, the joy and amusement all but remained on Bill's face. The realization came to him. Now it was his turn to look at his son and see the hopelessness that was on him. Will's attitude was the problem and everyone knew it was his attitude. The attitude of a person made a person. No one would believe him when he said Will was back to normal, yet Will seemed so normal. He knew, however, the moment someone told him to do something, he would immediately rebel against it. Will meant that he couldn't go back because his own mind would not allow him to go back.
Will did mess up worse than him. Everyone knew his son to be rebellious and to keep an eye out for him. There was no going back. His reputation was ruined, but people did change. With help, Will could go back to close to who he was. School was not quite an option since they didn't want him. It was either the belt or the lash. Perhaps Will could change enough to be allowed to finish his schooling. He was a smart boy and he had nothing to do but sit in bed and recover anyway. Perhaps he could make up his work that he never did to finish up his final year. Had he stayed in school he could have graduated that ending of winter term a year and a half early. There was a possibility that, with a lot of letters from Will, he could go back to school.
First of all he knew Will had to get himself back with his family. Aidan would be simple since he never did anything to him. Aidan was so small and innocent in the matter that Will would just have to be aware that when Aidan was around he was being the four year old's role model and it was he who had to teach him from right and wrong.
Dirk's relationship would again, be simpler than others. The cousins were practically twins. As long as Will kept himself in good manner then Dirk would slowly come back to him. What the cousins needed was a good, long talk together and a good apology from Will. Dirk understood a lot of things and he did admit that he wished his cousin would come back and be Will again.
He had yet to ask if his son knew about the situation with Lily and Andrew. Long ago he realized the two of them were becoming separated from each other. They loved to lay out under the stars with their biggest brother. Will loved it more than all of them. He was a natural storyteller and Bill knew that they each had their specific spot on the blanket. Will and Andrew were across from each other. Aidan was on his right and Lily was on his left. He had seen them in the library window all the time and Andrew loved telling him the story Will told them. The best part was firefly catching. Andrew used to love to catch fireflies.
Christmas break ruined Andrew's relationship. He had to hold Andrew all night and hush him. All he wanted was for Will to read him out of his favorite book which was Will's second favorite book. Captain Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates. Will didn't have to read the book to him he knew all the pirates and there were maps the two of them drew out. He was teaching Andrew to read them and make his own courses. Little Andrew just wanted a story, but that was the problem. He wanted something from Will and because he wanted it, Will's mind took it differently. Bill knew Will thought it was another demand of him. What else would he think? He was away at school so he didn't know any better. Andrew would be tough to get a relationship with again since he knew it would take a while to get the two of them in the same room together.
Brother and Sister, well they would have to fix themselves. He wasn't exactly sure what caused the two of them to go astray. Most likely it was Will's reputation going through to her school too and she was also suffering from his wrongdoings. She had come to him and Charlotte and asked what she should to about Will and he did tell her just to let him be alone. Well, he knew he had a hand in ruining their relationship so he knew he had to help them get it back together. Besides, Lily had some boy she liked and being twelve years old that was frightening. Will was going to have to be the one to get past not him, although he trusted Will with his daughter's boyfriend choosing since Will knew the men around his age.
Little Felicity and Thomas were simple. All Will had to do was play with them. They were too young to understand anyway and it was simply best just to not mention to the two of them Will's wrongdoings. Convincing the parents to let Will near them was going to be a different matter.
As of right now, Colleen wanted nothing of Will near them. She lost all trust of her children with him and he wasn't going to blame her. Ever since she met Will she was very fond of him and thought of him as a second son. He was everything she wanted Thomas to be, at least until he got his attitude problem.
Of course, nothing would be done until a certain Alexander Seastone trusted Will again. That was going to be one of the more difficult recoveries that Will was going to have to make. He had no suggestions to Will how to restart that relationship other than simply going to him one day and apologizing for everything and talking. Alexander was broken the most by Will's doings. The two of them were always oddly close and Will fought to get into that medical course. He spent hours with his uncle studying and Alexander was ecstatic when he got the letter. Sailing together was what they needed, but Alexander would know not to get Will sailing for a few months since he was so broken like he was. Before, Will looked forward to the weekends his uncle would come up to Eton. He always showed his brother that when he received letters from his Little One. Will was a second son to Alexander and someone each of them could talk to. Yes, the best thing for the two of them would be to simply talk to each other.
Before Will was able to get to his uncle he would probably have to talk to Christian. Christian knew everything about Alexander and it was best to learn how his uncle was during the past year. Bill knew what happened to Alexander and how his personality shifted. Alexander learned to trust less people after he couldn't even trust his own family. There were things he didn't tell him and only to Christian. Actually, he felt he should talk to Christian as well.
The one person that was probably going to be one of the easiest remarkably was Richard. He knew Richard had a past very similar to his son's except Richard had no choice but to grow up over night. It was Richard who managed to keep Will's butt out of the severe punishments he should have had. His health had rapidly decreased in the past months, most likely another reason Alexander was holding a grudge with Will. His Little One couldn't imagine the stack of letters received from Eton and addressed to Richard. Last he looked, the stack went to his knees nearly and he knew Richard sent at least twice that amount. It seemed every other weekend Richard traveled to Eton to speak with Archibald about Will.
He wondered how Will was going to take the news that he was often a subject of matter in Parliament. Somewhere inside him, he had a feeling Will knew. He had seen the nights Richard came home exhausted and kept his distance from Will. He fought to keep Will in London and out of the Tower. Richard kept the Seastone name intact and Bill even admitted to himself he should have attended more sessions. There was a day he was there yelling just as loud trying to defend his son. Will knew his side of the story, but he had no idea what everyone else was doing around him. One of the first things Will had to do when he was well enough to get around was to apologize to all the Lords of Parliament. A smidge of humility would do his son good.
Charlotte wouldn't be a difficult fix. She was his mother and she just needed to see that her son was going to be all right. Gabe would be fine once he saw Dirk and Will were all right again.
Bill knew the hardest apology and relationship correction was not anyone in the family. Nope. The most difficult apology was going to the eldest of the Beckett brothers. Harry and Theo would be a simple apology for being an idiot and Theo admitted that Will's ideas of rebellion weren't half bad. There was no change between Theo and Will. Harry deserved an apology and perhaps a little trust exam. Cutler on the other hand, that was going to take time.
He knew how close the two of them were. They spent a little too much time together at times. Every day when Will was younger and he had to work, he took his son along and let him play with Cutler while he did his work. He knew Will learned everything about sailing and navigation and the bone structure of a ship from that man. Because Cutler loved him and learned from him, he changed and now had his own family and it was all thanks to Will. Everyone at Navy Headquarters used to love Will. They would call him in to check the numbers or have him verify courses. He was different. He was someone a person wanted to become friends with. Gaining the trust of the officials could take months to a year. Will did something absolutely horrible. Abusing his privilege and trust from everyone to take that key and rebel cost him too many good friendships by both officials and family.
Since that January day, he only saw Cutler if it was at work and even then they hardly spoke to each other. Every time the word will was mentioned in any context, his eyes would lower and become pained. The brokenness that Will caused him was killing him inside. No one really knew if he existed anymore. Seeing Beck in the Seastone Manor was once on a daily basis and it had been months since he was last there. He had no idea how to get their relationship back. The two of them used to have the grandest, most wonderful relationship. When a father was jealous of the man his son spoke so highly of, there was a problem. The more time Will spent with Beck the more he was jealous. There was a time Charlotte poured ice down his tunic and told him to relax over the subject.
The only suggestion he could give Will was to simply talk to Harry and Theo first then see what they said about getting Will back with Cutler. They would know how to get the two of them back. They were his brother's after all. That relationship he knew was going to take months.
Then again, there was a literal noble problem Will had to solve. Unknown to Will, King George had written him a letter wondering if he wanted to have a talk with him. The two of them were long time friends. Will was only seven years younger than him and they believed in the same ideals. Both of them wanted what was best for the people. George wanted to spend time with him for quite a while and wanted to know if Will would have liked to attended the celebration honoring the soon to be birth of his first child. He knew it hurt both his son and the King that the two of them were forced apart by something silly. Probably the first thing Will had to do was apologize to King George then everyone else in Parliament. He wanted to see his son get his best friend back. It would make him very happy to see that.
Looking at Will and watching the tears fall from his son's eyes, he knew his son was also realizing how difficult this was going to be. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gently pulled him into his chest. Will turned his head into his chest and softly sobbed.
"Little One, don't cry. Crying hurts when you have broken ribs," he softly told him.
"But I want to cry. That's all I want to do right now. That's the only thing I know right now," Will told him.
Bill bunched his sleeve over his hand and wiped away the tears. He shook his head seeing that Will had been letting tears fall on his cheeks for quite a while. Beside him, he damped one of the cloths in the pitcher of drinking water to wring out the dripping water and gently dab his son's tears soaked face.
"There now, we'll make it better. This is going to be difficult for you to hear I know, but it is what you must do. To start getting things back to normal, you have to talk to everyone and apologize. You need to talk to everyone you feel you hurt. A simple apology is sometimes what it takes. Other times it will require more than that. Let everyone see that you want things to be normal again. I'll tell them what happened and then they can tell you some things. You need to understand what others did for you and what happened. Get both sides of the story to understand the tale," said Bill.
Will nodded. He shut his eyes. "I wish everything would go back to the way it was."
"Me too," agreed Bill. "But if we could wish away everything bad that ever happened then we wouldn't learn. And sometimes, we all need a reminder that we are only human."
Will leaned into his father again. They were back to normal like nothing had ever happened. Ironically, he broke literally too just to get his relationship back with his father. He owed his father more than he ever could provide in a single lifetime.
Bill Turner caressed his son's curls and rubbed his back comfortingly. Seeing the candles flickering on the desk and not remembering when he lit them, he knew it was late at night. Just in that small amount of time he was holding Will, he knew his son had fallen asleep in his arms. This child was his angel. He loved Will more than anything in the world.
After getting Will tucked in bed and comfortable, he pressed his lips against Will's forehead one last time and blew out one of the candles so only one was lit. With a pat on Orion's sleeping head, he quietly left his room. He made himself a promise not to dwell on his son's problems just yet.
Quietly, he slipped out of his normal day clothes and into his sleeping silks. As slowly and stealthily as he could, he lifted the blankets on his side of the bed, trying not to wake his sleeping wife. He got himself settled in bed and the blankets wrapped around him and laid his head down only to see Charlotte's eyes looking at him.
"Aidan was sick again," she softly told him.
"It was your brother's doing," Bill told her.
"I know," said Charlotte.
"Come here Lottie," Bill whispered scooting his arm under her body.
Charlotte rolled closer to her husband and laid her head against his breast and her palm over his heart. She interlocked her fingers with his once he brought his hand up.
"I know what changed Will."
She looked at him with wonder. "What? Is it going to be all right?"
"Give it time and I'll tell all of you tomorrow," said Bill.
"I knew you would bring him back. If it was going to be anyone I knew it would be you," Charlotte said as she contently shut her eyes.
Bill let his eyes fall shut too.
For the first time in quite while, months really, the parents of one Will Turner finally found that night of sleep was particularly comfortable.
A note from TurtleHeart: well, there you go. now you know what made Will change, but you need to get all the stories to understand the tale. happy readings!