In Search of Paradise

Chapter Nine

Elizabeth sighed and closed the book she had just finished. She stretched in the seat and then took a moment to enjoy the view of the sprawling gardens. She was sitting at a small outdoor table on the stone patio out the back of her father's mansion. It had always been one of her favorite places, the smell of the salty sea air mixed with the fresh scent of flowers and foliage. She would often spend her time sitting there, daydreaming of far off places and people. She smiled as she remembered her and Estrella dancing along the patio, dreaming of being swept off their feet by the handsome sailors who filled the town when a navy ship was in harbour. Blushing slightly she realised that the daydream of her youth had come slightly true. Will Turner was a captain after all.

She smiled as she thought of Will. They had stayed longer than first intended and were now going in to their third week in Port Royal. She had been stubborn about staying, insisting that she must until her father was better. Will had not argued, and she could have sworn she had seen a glint of admiration in his eyes as he had turned away.

Her father, for all his misgivings was also glad that she was staying, although he would never admit it. She didn't miss the meaning in the warm smiles though, and she knew that her presence was doing him a world of good. In a way it was strange for her to be so at ease, she could not remember the last time she felt so at peace in the old house. A frown crossed her face as she realised why.

"Something has upset you?" Will asked as he sat down, placing a glass of lemonade in front of her. "When I left you were happy… "

"No," She managed to say her mind racing. "I just don't understand. Lord Beckett has not made an appearance, surely he would know by now that I am here."

Will suddenly looked slightly guilty. Elizabeth noticed instantly and narrowed her eyes.

"What did you do?" She asked slowly.

"I'm sorry, I am, I was going to tell you… Jack has a friend that well does a number of illegal things…" He trailed off obviously unsure of how to explain without getting himself or Jack into any trouble.

Her heart constricted and she felt like she was going to faint. "You didn't have him killed!" She cried staring at Will.

Will started choking on his lemonade. "Of course not!" He cried indignantly, "I just got you on the plane under a different name. I remembered you telling me that he was always watching and I figured it would by us, me, some time to win over your father." Will explained quickly.

Elizabeth took deep breaths to calm herself and blushed slightly as she realised the stupidity of her suggestion. The peaceful silence and calm returned with the knowledge that she was safely out of Lord Beckett's reach. She let her eyes roam over Will's handsome face as he read the newspaper. 'I could get used to this' She thought quietly before the thought popped into her head. "What name?" She asked suddenly, curiosity getting the better of her.

He blinked for a moment as he repeated the question to himself and Elizabeth tried to keep the smile from her face as she watched Will turn a light shade of pink. Quickly regaining his composure he answered quietly. "Elizabeth Turner"

It was her turn to blush. "W-what?" She stammered her eyes meeting his.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth, I don't know why… I…" He trailed off his dark eyes pleading for forgiveness.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute, "I'm not upset" She told him after thinking for a moment, "but I am still confused, I mean surely Beckett would have worked it out by now. Surely my Father has told him that I am here" She said changing the topic, even though she couldn't stop repeating the words 'Elizabeth Turner' over and over in her head.

"Perhaps he has other things to attend to?" He suggested. It seemed an innocent enough suggestion but the small knowing smile on his face seemed to indicate that he knew more about the situation than he was willing to share. "Come on, let's go to the beach" He said getting up with a grin.

She loved the way his eyes sparkled whenever he talked about the ocean. "Sure" She said calmly while inwardly her heart was thumping. 'I'll take any opportunity to see you shirtless' she thought with a sly smile.

Jack was waving wildly at Lord Beckett from the deck of the man's gigantic modern yacht. He had a bottle of Cutler's best rum in one and the helm of Cutler's boat in the other. Ok, so Will hadn't exactly told him to go and steal the man's boat, but he hadn't told him not to either so Jack had taken some liberties in the instructions that his son had given him. He was doing what was asked; he was keeping Lord Beckett busy. And it wasn't as if it had been easy. He had set off all sorts of alarms, hit another boat and broken the gangway just trying to get it out of the small private dock.

Still it had been worth it to see the man's face when realised that it was his boat that was being haphazardly taken out to sea.

Jack did take a moment to sympathize with the poor man. He was having a good awful week after all. He grinned stupidly when he considered how bad luck always comes in threes. It was quite incredible that the Tax department had chosen this week to go over his finances only to find that there were a number of discrepancies that needed to be discussed… in court no less. And Jack was amazed how in the same week his "lover" had come out in the tabloids about how he "liked it rough" and "often dappled in bestiality" with elephants no less! And now his boat had been stolen...

"A toast to bad luck" Jack said with a quiet chuckle raising the bottle of rum. "Not too bad if I do say so meself – now not to get caught"

He put a bar in the helm so that it would continue to steer forward then jumped ship. "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" He sung to himself before swimming through the calm water towards the beach.

As the internet loaded on Will's work laptop he was less than pleased to find himself faced with a picture of a dark haired man standing on the deck of a yacht, rum in one hand and helm in the other. Although the picture was blurry and you could barely make out the man's face Will knew exactly who it was. He closed his eyes silently cursing the man he called father and then himself. 'I mean really, what did I expect him to do' Will thought irately. He clenched his fist and proceeded to read about the incident. As his eyes scanned the words he could hardly believe what he was reading. It seemed that Lord Beckett had had a run of bad luck.

Will snapped the laptop lid down and ran his hand through his hair, "well done you stupid fool" he growled at himself. Hopefully this would all blow over before they got back. "And if you get caught, I swear…"

Shaking his head Will slipped the laptop back into its case deciding that he wasn't in the mood to do any work now. He put his head in his hands suddenly feeling tired. Now it was a mess.

"Are you all right?" Elizabeth asked softly interrupting his thoughts.

Will looked into her concerned eyes and decided to own up. "No, I am sorry, I've done something foolish…" And he told her everything about his scheming with Jack, about the tax fraud and the anonymous lover that he wasn't sure even existed and the hijacking of Cutler's boat. "I'm so sorry, I have acted so immaturely."

Elizabeth stared at Will slightly agape and then to his surprise started giggling. "It's quite funny, actually, such bad luck, it couldn't have happened to a nicer person"

Will blinked. "I hardly thought that you would approve of this sort of thing."

"Well you have to admit it is rather hilarious. I mean elephants for goodness sake…" And she fell into a fit of laughter again. She winked at him, "Just don't mention it to my father. Besides, you were here the whole time… it wasn't exactly as if you could have anything to do with it all" Elizabeth said as she got up to leave.

He stood as well and grabbed her arm, "You never cease to amaze me Elizabeth Swann." He said quietly before crushing his lips against hers. She melted into him as he led the passionate kiss, his arms encircling her, holding her tightly. He pulled away and nestled into her shoulder still embracing her. "I've been thinking… will you sail away with me?" He whispered into her hair taking in her scent.

She smiled "I thought you would never ask"

Elizabeth glanced at the alarm clock next to her and cringed slightly when she noted the time. It had just past one o'clock in morning and she still had been able to get to sleep. Her mind was going over every little thing that had occurred since moving London and no matter how hard she tried she could not close her eyes without seeing Will Turner's charming smile and glittering eyes. She blushed when she thought about he had danced with her in the waves, water flying up around them. How he had been a gentleman when things had become a little too steamy. Had she had her way…

Her dream was interrupted by a loud crash as if the front door had just been thrown open in a fit of rage. "WHERE IS HE?" a voice roared. She felt the warmth leave her face and she clenched at the blankets, it was Lord Beckett.

Will awoke to the crash of the doors and leaped out of bed as the bellowing call echoed through the large house. 'Beckett' he thought feeling slightly guilty. He had, after all, unleashed the full stupidity of Jack Sparrow against him and that was, in his mind, something worth getting angry over. Pulling on his shirt he sighed, this wasn't really the time he would have chosen to settle any bad blood between them, but…

"Cutler? What on earth are you doing?" Weatherby Swann asked staring at the wreck of man who had just awoken his whole household.

"Where is Turner" He growled his eyes glowing with hatred.

"Probably getting up to come and see what all this nonsense is about" Weatherby snapped, "What has gotten into you"

"He has ruined my life, the worthless commoner has intervened with my fairs, told the media lies about me, and I know he stole my yacht and sunk it!" Lord Beckett growled.

"He couldn't have" Weatherby stated looking confused. "He and Elizabeth been here for the past two and a half weeks"

Cutler looked taken aback, "She has not been here, her passport has not been used." He stated looking at the governor as though he had gone mad.

"They arrived the day after you rang to tell me she wasn't coming… Why? How do you know whether or not she has used her passport?" Weatherby queried suddenly looking suspicious.

"He makes it his business to know." Will growled dangeously in answer to Weatherby's question. His dark eyes turned to Beckett "You aren't just a normal stalker are you" and he began walking down the flight of stairs towards the late night visitor. "What do you think are you doing? Could this not wait till a reasonable hour?"

"You" Lord Beckett spat the word and as quick as a flash pulled a gun and began shooting. Will ducked and ran moving in a weaving pattern past his attacker towards the front door, the opposite direction from Weatherby, trying to keep the deranged Lords attention. He was thanking his lucky stars that not only had he be trained to survive in combat situations, he had spent a lot of time duck and running as a child. Jack got a bit trigger happy when he was on the rum.

Counting silently he stood when he was certain that there were no bullets left. "Beckett, have you gone mad?" Will shouted stepping back into the house from when he had taken refuge out the front.

"Elizabeth" Beckett breathed and Will let his eyes move from the deranged man to the blonde beauty who was bravely helping her ill father up the stairs.

Will's eyes narrowed. "You will leave her alone, do you understand, leave this place go!" He ordered, meeting the crazy Lord's eyes.

Elizabeth paused in her quest to get her father up the stairs distracted by the strength of Will's tone. She and her father watched as the two men stared each other down, neither moving until Lord Becket snapped. His eyes darkened, becoming deadly as he looked at his foe with a wild hunger. "And who do you think you are boy, telling me what to do?" He growled before fluidly moving towards the two swords crossed - a wall display that had been there for years.

Will looked suddenly at Elizabeth and willed her to go but she shook her head stubbornly. He held her gaze for a moment too long and he thanked his lucky stars that all he felt was the wind moving past the back of his neck as the sword flew passed him. The young man looked from Beckett to the sword which was now lodged in the wall behind him. He smiled as he recalled the moment when Jack had given him a sword.

"You want me to use this?" 14 year old Will asked looking at the old piece of metal that Jack had put in his hand.

Jack just gave him his customary knowing look "No. You want you to use this, because the using of this finds you incapacitorially finding and or locating in your discovering the detecting of a way to protect yourself. Savvy?

Will who was by then used to these sorts of answers just rolled his eye. "All right,"

Will moved quickly, pulling the ancient sword from the wall. He didn't want to say it in case Mr Swann made the connection but he smiled slightly at the weight in his palm – 'did I mention that my father was a pirate?' He thought with a smirk. And to the surprise of the fencing champion the boy met his lunges with skill and accuracy.

"What are we going to do? Fight till the death? – I am not a murderer M'Lord!" Will told his opponent, seemingly not fazed by the powerful attacks that the madman was directing at him.

"That gives me the advantage then" he snarled and he lunged on an awkward angle. The sword sliced through the side of Will's right arm. He tensed then took a breath and swapped hands. Staring into the eyes of the deranged man he formulated a quick plan, and after a few swings he got the opportunity. In a few graceful movements Will disarmed the Lord, and with a kick to the stomach and a punch in the face the shadow of a man fell to the ground, unconscious.

Will grimaced and grabbed the wound on his arm trying to apply pressure to it. Blood stained his shirt and was running down his arm. He was vaguely aware of Elizabeth's cries as he fell to his knees. "Will" She said falling down in front of him. There were tears in her eyes.

"I'm alright" He groaned. "Just a cut" He said with a dazed smile.

"The ambulance is on its way; and the police" she told him before smiling softly. "Thank you" she whispered and she nestled her head in his left shoulder holding him gently.

He breathed deeply noting the sweet scent of her perfume and he nuzzled into her neck, knowing in his heart that what they had was meant to be.