Morning was just dawning, pink and orange, spilling gloriously into the windows of Jack's cabin... there was a quiet knock at the door, and Elizabeth said, softly, "...come in..."
The door crept open slowly, and Bill's merry blue eyes peeked around to his son and daughter-in-law, just as he had left them moments before, nestled in each other's arms in Jack's bunk, Elizabeth laying on top of the blankets, gently stroking William's face, their hands lovingly entwined. William was awake, holding Elizabeth's head against his shoulder, his right arm holding her body against him, his face buried in her lavender scented hair. They both smiled as Bill grinned, and he stepped into the cabin, dragging behind him a bleary eyed Jack Sparrow. "Look what I found lurkin' about out there... a pirate...asleep out there on th' main deck... snorin'...imagine that..."
Jack had his hat and bandana pulled down low over his face, and looked at Bill out of the corner of his eye like as if he were with the Royal Navy. It was clear that he did not quite seem to know where he was, then his eyes landed upon the Turners. Jack smiled a little, keeping the left side of his face out of view, waved his hands about in random circles, swayed a bit and said, in a sleepy, hoarse voice, "...mornin'...how are ye, lad?" Bill let go of his arm, and as he did, Jack put a hand up to rub his eyes, only to flinch in pain. It was then that Elizabeth saw the swelled up side of his face... she gasped in horror, and her hand shot to her mouth. William sighed and whispered, "Just what did you do to him?" He looked at his wife sideways, as one eyebrow shot up.
"...Oh, Jack!" Elizabeth got up from the bunk, and immediately went over to look at Jack's face, lifting up his hat. He instinctively backed away from her and frowned, grumpily. Elizabeth felt guilt suddenly washing over her like a wave, reddening her cheeks, and she said, sadly, "I swung the chest at him ... I didn't want to give it up..." she looked sadly into Jack's pained brown eyes, and said, with feeling, "I hurt you... I've hurt you so many times... I'm so sorry..." she reached up, gently, and lightly touched his swollen jaw... this time he did not back away, "... look at what I did to you..."
Jack sighed, "... I always have said tha' I admire someone tha' does whatever it takes... funny tha' ye always seem t' aim whatever it takes right at me..." Elizabeth looked down at the floorboards in utter shame. Jack chuckled, and she looked up into his laughing eyes, "...Ye owes me a couple o' teeth, Izzy... sorry, I mean 'Mrs. Turner'..." he raised his index fingers to punctuate his remark, then grunted with the pain that shot through his face.
"A couple of teeth?" Elizabeth looked at Jack in shock, then back at William, who had closed his eyes in disbelief. William shook his head and said, weakly, "Jack comes to procure my heart from you to save my life, and you knock out his teeth..." Elizabeth was looking from Jack, to Bill, to William, and back at Jack. Her hazel eyes began to well up.
Something about irony of it all seemed to strike Jack as amusing, and he smiled. He flinched in pain, then smiled wider. Then he started to laugh in the curious silent way that he always did... his face grinning and his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. "Ow...I tries t' save yer husband's life an' I end up spittin' a bloody tooth into th' China Sea... funny ol' world, innit? Ow..." William's pale face broke into a grin, and Bill started to chuckle.
Elizabeth puckered up to almost cry, then she, also had to start laughing a little. As Jack painfully placed a hand over his bruised jaw, Elizabeth slipped her arms around his neck and embraced him, warmly... "Thank you, Jack...it looks as though 'Izzy' shall spend the rest of her life trying to make everything that she has done to you right... and honestly, she does not think that she can..." she whispered into his shoulder.
He smirked and shrugged, "... I shall just try me best t' keep me distance from 'Izzy... for a lot o' reasons...'" he grinned. "... ow... bugger."...
...after Elizabeth kissed William, softly and lovingly, Elizabeth went down to the galley to see if she could perhaps make some coffee on the stove. She knew that Bill would be leaving with the longboat soon to bring the crew back to the ship, and they would need warming up. She paused at the top of the steps to look over at the island, in the distance, and she thought to herself that they could not leave soon enough... she hoped to never see that island again. She looked back into the cabin doors in front of her, as she left them open to let in the cool breeze, and she smiled with pride. She saw her beloved, being propped up in the bunk by his tall father... one of the sweetest and most wonderful men. She could not ask for a better father-in-law. Bill was gentle, loving... Bill laughed easily, and he insisted that she call him Father, also. Her heart took,a strange little twist in her chest as she thought of her own father, dead at the order of Cutler Beckett.
And she looked at Jack, who had settled into a chair, and who was leaning forward to listen to something that William was saying... they had their hands clasped together like brothers... Jack was smiling, albeit painfully, and her handsome William was reaching over to emphasize something that he was saying to the captain by patting his knee. Jack replied, waving his hands in the air for emphasis, and William nodded and grinned. She once again put her hand up to her mouth to still her trembling lip, and blinked hard to stay the tears that were brimming. She never felt so relieved in her life... she was here, on the Black Pearl, able to hold her husband and the love of her life, in her very arms. Now... not ten years from now, but now... and she thought herself to be the luckiest woman in the world. She thanked Calypso... for allowing her to know that there was a future, and hope, and the love and caring of not just one, but three men in her life...
As she returned to the cabin with steaming mugs of coffee, Jack was telling his companions of a conversation that he'd had during the night... it was being met by some skepticism, being that Jack had a tendancy to hallucinate or dream vividly, but he insisted, in his softest of Irish brogues, that he'd had a conversation with a mermaid. "... she said tha' she was rather enamored wif th' captain o' th' Flying Dutchman, an' I says 'well, he has already been laid claim to, as it were', an' she says, 'oh no, not Captain Turner! It's James Norrington I've set me cap for!'" They all laughed, but Jack looked miffed... he could have sworn he'd had a conversation with a mermaid... or maybe not... he bobbed his head to one side, and tried to remember...
The rest of the crew was brought back from the island, and they all insisted upon seeing the now mortal William Turner the Second for themselves, and who could blame them... after they all had strong black coffee and hard biscuits as soon as they boarded, they set themselves to work to leave this place behind them. Mr. Gibbs grinned widely as he kneeled down on his knee to shake William's hand, warmly, placing his other hand over William's. He did not tarry, as William was tired, and there was much to do to prepare the Black Pearl to sail. Mr. Pintel and Mr. Ragetti both grinned and waved from their places out on the main deck, as they directly put themselves to their tasks, and Mr. Cotton's parrot squawked, "Wind in the sails!"
Jack soon declared the cabin off limits to all, so that the Turners would have some privacy. He had the crew ready a cabin that the Turners could call their own... he had already made up his mind that, now that William was back among them, he and Elizabeth would always have a place upon the Black Pearl... it was far from certain what the young couple would do with their future, but the captain was secretly hoping, deep down inside, that they would include him...
The Pearl was soon ready to make sail, but before they were to depart for Singapore to requisition supplies at the abundant marketplaces, Captain Jack Sparrow had one more thing that he wished to do... one more thing that involved the now empty Dead Man's Chest... the chest that was now mysteriously missing one of its solid gold hinges...
To be continued...