The Blacksmith's Daughter

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Anna...

(Revised: Okay so I really liked the concept of the beggining of this chapter, i'm not changing that, but the WillOOC and whole 'abusive suitor' had to go, i'm trying to make this true to it's time, which is hard when, like I said before, I came from Degrassi fics aka modern teenager, angsty fics. I hope to have revised chapter two and the new chapter three up by Sunday morning, late tonight. xoxo emmalee, thanks for hanging in there fans, 7-22-06)

Chapter One (Sweet Dreams, Silly Dreamer)

She always tended to avoid the blacksmith shop, usually staying just in the living quarters. Seeing her father past out on the floor made her sick. But, today she had a few minutes to spare between chores and her shift at the dress shop. Upon entering the shop, the smell of sweat and metal reached her nose and as she guessed it, her father was slumped in the corner, a bottle of rum, still half filled, balanced on his chest. His snores were loud and annoying but just a small price to pay. She climbed the ladder up to the loft and walked to the window, or what was left of the window. Her father said the sunlight gave him headaches and Anna was close to telling him his hangovers and excessive drinking brought on the headaches. She didn't though. So, the window was covered with crooked, splintering boards of wood. Anna wondered if the boards were crooked because her father had a heart and knew she liked gazing out the window, even through a gap or if it was just because he was drunk when he nailed the window shut. She believed it was the latter of the two.

Anna dusted herself off and carefully walked over to the window, longing to watch the ships porting in full view, but even so, Port Royal was just as amazing looking threw a gap between boards. She crouched down next to the window, bringing her knees to her chest, she never took the ladylike manners her mother had taught her to heart. She squinted her gleaming eyes to see more clearly through the crack. Even though the ocean and docks were far away she could still view the tiny little ships coming and going, to and from the port. Anna allowed a smile to cross her lips, longing to be on a voyage, to somewhere far, far away. She was lost in the crystal clear water, nearly drowning in a neck deep daydream and that was her favorite place of all to be.

Will entered the shop feeling all giddy inside, a goofy smile configured on his beautiful face. He seemed, and glowed, happiness and the description of being ecstatic was possibly an understatement. It was only after the buzz of happiness and the thoughts in his head quieted down to a soft purr that he heard the humming. Will figured Mr. Brown was humming in his sleep until he glanced up and saw her figure crouching by the old window in the loft. He then walked over to the ladder and climbed it in a quick way and situated himself across from Anna. He looked at her with questioning eyes, noticing her pale yellow dress embroidered with lace was too big, nearly swallowing her, and slipping off her shoulders in a casual fashion. She noticed his presence by giving him a quick glance and looking back out, threw the crack.

"Anna, if you'd like, I could take those boards down, for you." Will offered, running a hand along one of the boards. She shook her head and laughed. "My father would have new boards up the next sober moment he had a chance at." Anna continued to laugh, laughter was good and even better when William Turner laughed as well. "Maybe so . . . " Will let the sentence linger as their laughter subsided. "But, even so, for a whole half a day you would have a perfect view of Port Royal." She sighed.

"It's just a view and whether I see it threw a crack or a grand bay window, it will simply be a view, if you could find a way to have me be on one of those little ships-" She pointed at the window, through the gap, "You'd be my hero and I might just have to kiss you."

She was joking, but all the same Will's face turned an awfully cute shade of red, making Anna giggle, petite, soft giggles, that sounded morelike hiccups. As the heat fell from his cheeks, he chuckled softly, bringing his hand up to rustle her loose hair, in a brotherly fashion.

In fact, Anna and Will were much like brother and sister. Will was protective of Anna, ina fraternal way that big brothers are. They teased each; Will teasing Anna for the way she daydreamed and Anna in return picking fun at how Will fancied Miss. Swann. They had heart to hearts, talking about anything under the Caribbean sun, from what their mothers were like to Anna telling him some stories her father had told herself as a young girl. On occasion, they fought. One time they fenced with each other, to settle a heated argument, it wasn't very pretty though, Anna lost, miserably. Her father never liked the idea of a woman and a sword, so she was never taught how to fight. Will was very apologetic at that though, claiming he thought she would at least know some fencing, being the blacksmith's daughter, and all. She didn't speak to him for a week.

"I have something for you . . . "

Anna looked up furrowing her eyebrows together. She studied Will, and his facial features that were twisted into a happy, toothy grin. She brought a slender finger up her chin, slightly tugging on her lower lip. Before she could speak, he pulled out a small, tattered, leather bound book from inside of his vest. Will handed the rather short book carefully to Anna, whom took it with shaky hands. She carefully thumbed the pages, her eyes growing wide, staring at the blank pieces of parchments that were bounded tightly together.

"Will, this must have set you back some, I can't accept this!"

She said, shaking her head and extending her arm to give the little book back.

"Not by much, Anna. I made it myself, I simply bound some parchment together with a piece of hide from an old vest that grew too small on me. I can by you a quill and ink, after I get paid."

Will shrugged his shoulders and Anna looked unconvinced, bitting her bottom lip, which didn't fare too well with her chapped lips. She thumbed through the pages, her eyes now casting a glimpse of excitement.

"Thank you, Will!" Anna wrapped her arms loosely around his neck and he smiled, over her shoulders.

"I knew you'd like it!" Will beamed, stroking his chin with his fingers a few times, studying his ingenious thinking out of the corner of his eye.

Anna ran her index finger over the leather covering. Her eyebrows were arched in amazement. She wondered what she could do with all the blank pages, and if she wrote small enough the paper would never seem to end, Anna noted.

Suddenly, her eyes became at an overcast and her face turned pink. Will looked at her confused, and he wasn't expecting her to be unhappy.

"Why the long face, Anna?" He watched her thumb the pages once more, this time more briskly. Her chin was against her chest and her brown hair was falling carelessly into her face. He lowered his head, trying to see into her eyes.

"Will, it's wonderful, really, but I shan't have anything to write . . . "

Will heaved a sigh, taking his thumb and pointer finger and lifting Anna's chin up so she was looking at him. He then took his free hand and brushed her the hair that fell into her face off to the side, and Anna couldn't help but have her heart speed up as his hand grazed her cheek for those short, few seconds.

"You're the biggest dreamer that Port Royal has ever seen, I imagine you'll write something absolutely brilliant in no time. Okay? Now, I have to start making that sword for soon to be Commodore Norrington." Will sighed again, rubbing the back of his neck.

Anna nodded her head, a knowing smile curving at her lips, and her cheeks blushed at the thought of how pathetic she must have sounded, seconds ago. Will stood, up and patted Anna on the shoulder before climbing down the ladder.

"A sword for the Commodore? Would that be as to why you were so happy when you walked in?"

Will glanced up at her, and nodded. "Yes, and well, I talked to Miss. Swann today . . . "

Anna crawled to the edge of the loft, dangling her head over to see Will's face and as she had guessed, he was grinning, looking unsure, and running a hand across the top of his head. She smiled back, a teasing line tugging to be audible and leave her lips, but she resisted the urge to beleaguer him like he had done to her over the years whenever she liked a boy.

She knew that even though he didn't admit it out loud, but he was a dreamer too.

-

"Tut, tut, tut . . . "

Mrs. Jones was leaning over Anna's shoulder as she worked on stitching ivory colored lace to the collar of a dress. Anna had left for work shortly after Will began to make the sword for Norrington. Anna felt her stomach growl, and Mrs. Jones gave her a disapproving look. Usually Anna ate lunch during the fifteen minutes or so time between her chores and her shift at the dress shop. She had forgotten to due so and now she'd have to wait until she got home, which wasn't going to be until at least dusk. Running her hands over the lace she had sewn on, she smiled.

"You are very slow, girl. Why I hire you, I don't know."

Mrs. Jones was a stick thin woman and had greying hair that had been twisted into a bun a top her narrow head. She waved a bony finger at Anna before turning, looking out the shop window, scavenging for customers.

"You hired me because I'm the only woman that doesn't work for her father."

"Right, right, right . . . Ooh customers . . . Annabelle do something with your hair!"

Mrs. Jones sashayed excitedly to Anna, and hustled to pull Anna's hair into a low braid, tying it with yellow ribbon that was laying on the table. Anna smiled politely, beckoning Mrs. Jones to the door.

Anna patted her head and went back to sewing the lace onto the collar of the dress. Looking up, threw her eyelashes she saw a man talking with Mrs. Jones. The old woman never looked happier, ushering the man around showing him all the fabrics and pre-made dresses, a giddy grin on her wrinkling face, and Anna laughed in spite of Mrs. Jones many personalities. Moody, curtly, nice and somewhere beyond nice to a creepy-nice.

The day was long and boring, and Anna sewed so much she thought her fingers were going to fall off if she had to embroider another flower or bird or what have you. All her thoughts had been on the leather bound empty book Will had given her. All afternoon she casually found her mind drifting off to what would be the first thing she'd write. Anna couldn't write much, and was a horrible speller at that and she wondered if Will would help her with her spelling, he was quite good, considering he was went to school in England and had some formal teaching. Anna's schooling was informal and only enough to keep her live and well.

"Girly, I don't have money to pay you for this week . . . "

Anna's heart sank, but she needed the money. Her family, she, her father and Will had been living off small rations of bread and cheese for the past few weeks and she knew she had lost a significant amount weight, her dresses that had formally been her mother's were even bigger then normal and she was always adjusting the dresses on her shoulders. Anna sighed and didn't say anything while she left the shop.

The smithy was only a few shops away and the air was briskly cooler at dusk, so she took her time walking. The smell of salt and fish was in the air of the port town, as darkness began to swallow the ocean, soon beginning to take the land. Anna picked up her pace, remembering the packet of parchment that sat waiting for her.

Anna took in one last breath of fresh air, and hurriedly entered the shop.

Smack

Anna groaned, as she stumbled to stand up, and to regain her balance. She looked to see whom she ran into and saw Will rubbing his forehead. Giggling, Anna held out her hand to help him up and he accepted. Once he was standing, they both dusted themselves off, and Anna was still laughing a bit.

"Why were you in such hurry to leave, Will?" She asked, just out of curiosity, probably really not wanting to know why Will, a strapping young man, was leaving at night.

He shrugged his shoulders, and spoke, while looking at the ground, "I thought you could use an escort or something . . . " He looked up and eyed her disheveled appearance. Her eyes looked tired, her hair was coming out of its braid, strewing over her face and her dress was lopsided on her shoulders.

Opening her mouth to protest that she was a grown woman and did not need be escorted around, he silenced her by putting his index finger over her lips to hush her.

"Hmpf."

Will raised his eyebrows and pulled his finger away from her dull pink lips, "Don't get me started on your welfare at night with roaming drunk men everywhere, we've had this discussion before, I do believe."

He beckoned her in and she followed suit, walking past him and sitting at the wooden table, near the middle of the shop. She rested her elbows on the table, her hands cupping her face staring at the little book in front of her. Anna looked up at Will, who had sat himself across from her, eyeing him with not much interest.

"You shouldn't care about my welfare, Will. You're not responsible for me."

Will groaned and rolled his eyes obviously agitated. Hetook a sipfrom a glass that was filled with water, Anna assumed and handed her a ration of bread and a small chunk of cheese that had been sitting on the table.

"Thank you." Anna murmured, backing down from the fight that was starting to come to a boil.

" I care about you Anna. It's something I can't help it. You're like my little sister or something."

The last few words made her want to cringe. Little sister. She didn't want to be Will's 'little sister'. Anna wanted him to say that it was because they were such good friends, or since they knew each other for almost half their lives, but little sister. She smiled in spite of herself and Will smiled back, glad that she understood where he was coming from.

" Well, 'night Anna."

Anna nodded her head, and bit into the rather stale bread. Will walked over to where he slept, on a cot, located on the far wall of the smithy. Mr. Brown was probably doing his runs at the three local taverns because he was no where in sight. Anna shifted in her seat feeling guilty for yelling at Will for him being protective. At least someone cared for her, she thought.

Getting up from her seat on the stool, Anna blew out the candle that lit up the side of the room she was situated in and then she softly tip toed across the room, where it was dark and the moon only slightly shining through the cracks of the old window. She kneeled down next to his bed, hearing his soft breathing. She ran a hand threw his hair, and softly spoke,

"Thanks for caring, Will"

He brought his hand up to her cheek and rubbed it with his calloused thumb.

"Anytime, Annabelle, anytime"

Will yawned and Anna rested her head on his pillow, in the way a little sister does.

Fin

Chapter One, read and review, if you will