/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Fourteen

I didn't come out of my room for the next several days. The wound that I had received from Bootstrap Bill (or at least I assumed that it was him) made me ill every time I tried to move. Will came in and out of my room quietly, as if I was on my deathbed and he needed to be as quiet as possible. Bootstrap Bill came in occasionally to keep me company, and I was grateful.

One morning about a week later, I woke up feeling like my old self again. Encouraged, I got up and made myself look presentable. A week without grooming myself made me look hideous and I was disgusted with myself. If I was still at home, I would have been considered a disgrace for even allowing myself to come to such a state, even if I was sick.

Coming out on deck, I squinted painfully in the sunlight. It was a wonder that I didn't think to use a candle in my room to keep my eyes adjusted. I shrugged to myself. There was nothing I could do about it now.

"Elizabeth!" someone called after me.

Turning around, I saw Will hurrying towards me. I smiled sweetly at him as he came closer. But when he came to a stop in front of me, I could see that he wasn't very pleased about something.

"What's wrong?" I asked, the smile disappearing from my face.

"I've been looking all over for you. I thought you had been hurt. Where have you been?" Will exclaimed.

"I was feeling better, so I thought I'd come up on deck and get some fresh air," I said. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

Will didn't say anything for several moments. I wondered if he had heard what I said. I was about to ask him again when he finally spoke.

"It wasn't my father who hit us that night," he said.

I stared at him in shock. "What do you mean it wasn't him? He's the only one on this ship other than us."

Will shook his head. "That's because the man's locked up and for that I'm truly grateful."

"Who is it, then?" I asked apprehensively. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"I didn't want you to know yet," Will said, "I wanted you to concentrate on getting better. You know how I worry about you, Elizabeth."

I crossed my arms across my chest defensively. "You're avoiding the topic, Will. You don't want me to know who this man is. It won't be the end of the world if you tell me."

Will said nothing for several moments. I kept watching him, urging him to speak. I wasn't going to let him off the hook this time and I wanted answers. Nothing was going to stop me now.

Finally, Will looked up at me. "The man was Barbossa. He had jumped ship after an hour of battling my father. He wanted to get back into our good graces before taking us to Tortuga."

"But why?" I asked, interrupting him. I was too impatient for his slow pace.

"Why do you think he wanted to take us there, Elizabeth?" Will countered.

I felt my blood begin to chill. Barbossa could have done anything in Tortuga that included enslavement. And if sea merchants and the royal navy still came by there, he could have turned us in for the price on our heads, saying that we failed to get what Cutler Beckett wanted.

"It's all so unfair," I said, clenching my fists.

"Life isn't always fair, but I'm glad the unfairness brought us together," Will said softly.

Resting his hand on my cheek, he kissed me gently. Enjoying the kiss for several minutes, I finally pulled away from him. We needed to keep our minds on the present.

"Where's Barbossa now?" I asked.

"Locked down in the prison hold," Will answered. "That's why I was worried seeing you up here. You might have found him and started asking questions."

"Well, I've already asked the questions whether I knew of Barbossa," I laughed. "Where are we going now?"

"Back to Tortuga and give Barbossa what he deserves," Will exclaimed.

"But what about Jack?" I asked. "All that trouble and we leave him?"

"We're not leaving him," Will said. "Jack's here as well. He's been up in the captain's quarters planning on our next course of action."

I shook my head. "I don't understand you. You're hiding things from me again. I thought we promised each other that we wouldn't keep anything away from each other."

Will sighed. "I know, but this time was different."

I narrowed my eyes. "Not so different to me." Without another word, I headed back down to my room, contemplating the strange turn of events and what Will had just revealed. Before I drifted off to sleep, I concluded that my life was never going to be one of normalcy.

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Author's Note: Chapter Fourteen for everybody. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been busy and I didn't know what I had wanted for the chapter, but now I do. Thank you for your patience, I know you've been waiting impatiently. Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, I really appreciated it. I'll update as soon as I can and hopefully the next chapter will be a bit longer. Don't forget to review, it makes the writer happy!