Elizabeth Turner took her daily morning walk along the beach, with a basket in her hands. It was the only thing that helped her in her deepening sadness at being parted with her husband, her lover, her very life. She had stood on this same beach in what seemed like so long ago, and watched him disappear into the surf... she had then watched his ship melt from her vision and into the waiting horizen. The green flash had warmed her face in that sunset, but it only made her heart feel as though it had stopped for a moment. She knew that this was how it was to be, and knew that William would come back to her someday... she simply did not know, for certain, when... would it be sooner than ten years? She hoped with all of her heart that it could be, but if need be, she would count the days... months had passed since they parted, and she could only mark off each day as one more until she was forever reunited with her beloved.

She had kept the chest with his living heart in a safe place, and every day she would go to it. When she was feeling lonely and low, especially during the nighttime hours, she would curl herself around the chest, and would find a great deal of comfort in hearing the heart beating strongly, inside. It would make her smile with happiness when it would beat faster as she tightened her arms around the chest... she would close her eyes and imagine William's strong arms around her. The chest, itself, was a hard, cold inanimate thing, but the heart inside of it was beating, strong and true, alive and real, and she would protect it with her own life. At times, she would awaken in the morning, to find herself still wrapped around the chest, her hands gripping it tightly... the only thing that would keep her from dissolving into despair was the steady, constant, strong beating from within... he was with her.

On this morning, as she walked, bare footed, through the lapping water, her thoughts were interrupted by an object that bobbed against her ankle. She looked down to see a brown glass bottle, sealed with a cork and wax, and she picked it up to observe it more closely. There seemed to be something inside of it, and she smiled with amusement to see that it was a piece of rolled up parchment. Curiously, she popped the cork off of the bottle and pulled the parchment out of the bottle's thin neck with her tiny fingers.

As she unrolled the parchment, Elizabeth's hazel eyes widened. They then filled with tears, and with a gasp, she dropped to her knees in the wet, sticky sand ...

"My dearest Elizabeth,

I am hoping with all of my soul that this letter finds it's way to you. I have no other way of trying to reach you except by placing this missive into a well sealed bottle and throwing it into the sea. I am the master of the sea, as it is, but I find that I am limited as to even what I can do, so perhaps with fair currents and Calypso's blessing, you shall know what has happened so far. I have sent countless messages to you, and have recieved no response, but I keep hoping. If I repeat myself in my letters to you, please forgive me... it is only that I want to include you in my life as it is, and I do not know if any of these messages are reaching you. How many months has it been, my love? Too many since I last saw your beautiful face, kissed you, and held you in my arms. I miss you so much. I love you so much."

Tears began to stream down Elizabeth's face... her eyes were filling so hard that she could not read for a long moment. She wiped her eyes hard with the backs of arms, then focused on the parchment in her trembling hands.

"Davy Jones left his duty so derelict that I have really had to work diligently to make things as they should be. There is so much to learn, so many souls to guide that have had no place to go for so very long. With Father's and the crew's help, I have been able to finally do what Jones left undone for so long. I am hoping that this keeps me in Calypso's favor, but I have not had any feelings as to whether what I am doing is right or wrong; I can only go with what I,myself, feel is right and just.

My crew is a good crew. They are all glad to see Jones go. They are all fine men, and all, save for one or two that elected to go on, have stayed with me to help me with my tasks as the new Captain of the Flying Dutchman. They are as loyal a crew as any captain could hope for. In many ways, they have made the adjustment much easier for me, although they can not alleviate the pain of missing you as much as I do. They understand. They have all left loved ones behind, and many of them have been brokenhearted, yet they are loyal to me and my mission. I can say with great happiness, dearest, that my heart is NOT broken... it is safely being guarded by you... as you always know, my heart has always been yours!

I have a bit of good news to share... at least, I note with some amusement, I hope that you will think it is good news! Guess who is on the Dutchman with us? None other than our friend, Jack! No, darling, have no fear, Jack has not so soon met his death, again! We found him adrift in the Caribbean Sea, in a tiny little dinghy ("The Sparrow's Revenge") during a storm, knocked out with the oar that he held in his own hands. He has lost the Pearl to Hector Barbossa, again, and set out alone to find it, and believe it or not, the Fountain of Youth. That's right; Jack is alone, again. Sadly, he is not improved since we last saw him. In fact, I think that he is worse. I am worried about him, and hope to keep him along with us as long as I can, as I don't know how long he could last on his own, now. Of course, he is just as confident as ever, but he is talking to himself a lot more, these days. He hallucinates more, now, and becomes lost in thought a great deal... his mind drifts. Because he is aboard the Dutchman, we can not submerge, but I am finding that we can coax just as much speed from this ship with knowledge that Father and Jack have provided simply by being the sailors that they are. I swear, love, that Jack is the wind, itself.

Please do not be hurt or jealous that Jack is here, and you cannot be, my darling. You know how it must be. Somehow, Jack knows that I can be released from my bonds to the Dutchman if I can prove myself above and beyond the calling of my duties, and is determined to regain his ship and help me to be reunited with you. I am hopeful that we can get his ship back, but am trying to be realistic about my own fate. At least you and I know that we can be reunited forever at the end of 10 year's time ... I am wishing that it could be sooner... I know that Jack has always had much patience to plan things and make them come to fruition, and I must give credit to him since he was the one that read the chart correctly and solved the riddle to escape from the Locker... but we know that his mind is not what it was before. I do not know if I can rely on his senses, but he seems to have his scrambled mind made up that we will think of something.

Perhaps we can make it happen. It would require a great deal of valor, sense of fairness, and love. I do not know if I have enough of any of them, but Jack, in his infinite optimism, seems to think that we can formulate a plan and make it work. I know that I have so much love for you that if that were the requirement, alone, I would be in your arms right now. But I think that it requires love for others, also. And just the right combination of all of the qualities that I mentioned, above. There is a reason for everything, dearest, and it is not for us to question why things are the way that they are... unless of course, it's Jack, who questions everything.

It's amusing, really, as he and I have seemed to switch places, a bit... I am the one that is willing to be patient if it means that you and I can finally be together forever, and Jack is the one that can hardly wait to come up with some way to free all of us! In all seriousness, I think that he is feeling that he is to blame for you and I being parted... but in truth, he is the reason that I am not truly dead, and that you and I are not parted forever. I am not sure that he is looking at it that way... all that he sees is that you and I are not together right now... just as he and the Pearl are parted. Poor Jack.

Well, my love, I must close and go back to my duties. I love you and miss you so much, and I hope that this bottle makes it's way to your island. Please write back to me, in the same fashion, and I shall answer you right away. If this is the only way that we can be together for now, I shall write to you a hundred times a day! In the meantime, keep hoping... and keep a weather eye on the horizen.

All of my love to you, my darling,

Your Will

PS - Jack says to tell "Izzy" hello! He knew that would irritate you.

Elizabeth Swann Turner clasped the parchment to her chest, weeping with utter joy. This letter had been in Will's very hands... the hands that she craved to have running through her hair, caressing her with love. Her mind was racing, as was her very heart. She gasped for breath, then raised her eyes to the beautiful, gleaming blue sea before her on this lovely morning.

"I love you, Will!!! I love you!" she cried out. She reached her arms out to the horizen, then clambered to her feet clumsily in the unforgiving sand. She threw the brown glass bottle into her basket, along with the sea shells that she had been gathering, to run back to her cottage and place the letter inside of the chest, tied with a ribbon from Singapore, for safekeeping. She would immediately take up her quill, and put her own loving and happy words to the paper that had been on her table ever since the night that Will had left... he was alright, and now she knew that she would be, also. Will was alright... Will was alright...

"I love you! I love you! I love you!" she chanted with the rhythm of her running feet. Oh, try as she might, she could not seem to make her feet run quickly enough... she clutched the letter to her heart as she ran, as if she, like Jack, was the very wind, itself...

Author's note: No, Elizabeth is not pregnant right now, as we are led to believe at the end of the movie. That will be explained later in the story... there will be lots of surprises! ---Pirate Cat gives a big, happy, Jack-like wink---