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

Chapter Seventeen

Ana Maria's home was a bit of a surprise. It was a nice, neat little place a couple of miles away from the main throb of Tortuga. Overall, the outside as well as the inside of the house was kept up, a surprise considering where the house was located. It had three bedrooms that were located towards the back and it had a small kitchen and a main room. It was small, but one of comfort.

Looking around, I turned back to Ana Maria, a smile on my face. "This place is wonderful. I didn't know you had something like this."

Ana Maria smiled. "I had enough money from my travels to buy this place just over a year ago. I wanted to be settled down for a while, where everything was constant and I knew what was going to happen day to day. The life of a pirate can be tiresome sometimes."

I smiled and nodded. I knew exactly what she was talking about. The pirate's life was so full of twists and turns and the pirate had to keep moving or find himself facing the gallows. Sometimes that constancy of a normal life was something everybody needed from time to time.

"I have two extra bedrooms, so you two can fight over which one you want," Ana Maria exclaimed, a bright smile on her face.

Jack turned to look at me. "You can have the bigger of the two rooms. I don't need a big comfort space."

I rolled my eyes. "You don't care as long as you have a space to sleep in."

Jack nodded. "You've got that one right."

Going into the room that Jack had designated for me, I put away my meager supplies that I brought with me before going back out into the main room, looking for Ana Maria. I found her sitting outside with her back leaning against the house wall. Bending down, I sat down beside her and stretched my legs out.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting out here with you," I said, leaning my head against the wall.

Ana Maria shook her head. "No, of course not. You know you're always welcome to."

"I'll bear that in mind next time," I smiled.

"So why are you really here, Elizabeth?" Ana Maria asked, "Because I know it's more than just defeating Davy Jones and his band of men."

I shrugged. "There's nothing more than that. I need to defeat Davy Jones, or I'll never be at peace."

"Peace is a state of mind," Ana Maria said quietly. "Some people can only have peace if they live a simple, quiet life while others will never find it if they don't travel the world in search of it."

"I guess I forgot what my peace is, because I can't find it anymore," I stated. "I don't know where to look anymore, or where to go. So I'm following someone else's dreams."

Ana Maria put a gentle hand on my shoulder. I looked into her eyes and saw concern for what I was doing and hope that I would find it again. I wish I had such hope for myself.

"And did you find your peace before running to the four corners of the earth?" Ana Maria asked.

"I did," I said softly, thinking of Will, "but by the time I found it, it was too late. Time and events tore us apart again."

"Then you must find it again and repair what is lost, Elizabeth," Ana Maria exclaimed. "Because a heart's peace cannot be lost forever because of the stubbornness of a person's mind."

I looked away from my friend. I knew she was right, but it was hard for me to come to a term with her advice with everything that was going on right now. It was a bitter medicine to swallow that was for sure.

"How can go back to him if we're too angry to look each other in the eye?" I finally asked, feeling the tears spill onto my face.

Ana Maria smiled and gave me a gentle hug. "Only fate will tell, Elizabeth. In time, the two of you will realize that love was right all the time and everything else was wrong. Trust in that, Elizabeth. For both of your sakes."

I nodded before standing, wiping the dirt off my clothes. "Thanks for the advice. You're a great friend, Ana Maria, and I couldn't ask for a better one."

"Just go in and have some rest. You've had a long day and you'll have a longer one yet in the upcoming days. We'll talk about everything in the morning," Ana Maria exclaimed.

The two of us said good night and I quietly went back inside and went straight to my room. Despite feeling tired, my mind was quickly running through everything that had happened during the day. Falling onto my bed, I made myself comfortable. My last thought before drifting off to sleep was the hope that Will and I would sort through our problems and find the peace and love that both of us so desperately longed for.

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Author's Note: Short and sentimental, I know, but I had to write it or it just wouldn't flow, if you know what I mean. But I hope everybody's enjoyed the chapter. This will most likely be my last chapter update until I get back from vacation, so I hope everyone can find the patience until I come back. Thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter, I'm glad everybody didn't give up on me—life can get busy at unexpected intervals.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I'll update as soon as I can. Don't forget to review, it makes the writer happy (and if you don't review very often, that's ok, too, I just thank you for reading anyway and I hope you continue reading and maybe do one review to make the writer happy!)