Chapter 20

Elizabeth returned a few minutes after Jack left. She sat in the same chair next to Will's bed, moving it closer so she could comfortably hold his hand.

"So what did my father say?"

"He heard about what happened on the news," Will said quietly. "He just wanted to ask me about it."

He thought Elizabeth might have been about to ask another question, but before she could, he said, "You know I'm not going anywhere, right?"

She looked up at him in surprise. "What?"

"It's just… It seems like you're worried that I might still… die."

Elizabeth looked down at their hands, at their fingers intertwined together. "I'm just afraid of losing you, is all. It might sound crazy, but I have this – this picture in my head… sometime in the future – I don't know when, but sometime – we're married, and I can see us playing with our kids, and reading to them, and tucking them into bed…" She stopped suddenly, turning red as she realized how much she'd just said. She glanced up at Will, and was surprised to see that he was smiling.

He squeezed her hand. "What do they look like?"

Relieved, Elizabeth smiled back at him. "There's a boy who looks just like you, with your curly hair and your big brown eyes. And there's a girl with long, dark red hair and green eyes. She looks like my mother."

"That's not right," Will said, shaking his head. "Because there has to be another girl, and she has brown hair and hazel eyes, and she looks just like her mother."

"Then there has to be another boy, to even things out."

"What does he look like?"

"You."

Will laughed. "I thought the first boy looked like me."

"Maybe they're twins," Elizabeth giggled.

Will shook his head, smiling. "Is that really what you see in our future?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah."

"I want that, too," Will said softly. "And I want to give you that." Heart pounding, he slipped his hand under the edge of his blanket and pulled out the small box. "I want that future with you more than anything else. So this is a promise that we'll have it… and that you will never lose me." He opened the box.

"Will you marry me?"

Elizabeth froze, staring at the ring in her boyfriend's hand, suddenly forgetting where she was, what was happening, everything. Nothing existed except Will and that ring.

"Elizabeth?"

She took a deep breath, suddenly snapping back to reality. "W-what?"

His eyes were so warm, and he had that relaxed, easy smile on his face that she loved so much. He took both of her hands in his, holding them tightly, and whispered the question again.

"Will you marry me?"

She swallowed hard, tears filling her eyes. "I want that future with you. I want it now."

"Is that a yes?"

Elizabeth began to laugh and cry at the same time. "Yes." She needed to be closer to him, to be able to hug him and kiss him, but he was still in this hospital bed, and she didn't want to hurt him.

Beaming uncontrollably, Will slid as close as he could to the far side of the bed, motioning toward the empty space next to him. "Have a seat."

"Is that even allowed?" Elizabeth laughed.

Will shrugged, still smiling. "I don't know. Who cares? These are special circumstances. Just don't touch any bandages and we'll be fine."

Needing no further convincing, Elizabeth slid onto the bed next to him and kissed him.

"I love you, William Turner."

"I love you," Will whispered, sliding the ring onto her finger as she curled up next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "And nothing is going to keep us apart."

"You were going to ask me that night, weren't you? The night this happened, I mean," Elizabeth asked, brushing her fingers lightly over one of his bandages.

Will kissed the top of her head. "Yeah. That was the plan, anyway."

Elizabeth hugged him tighter, pushing thoughts of that night firmly out of her head. "So when are we having the wedding?" she asked with an enormous smile.

Will grinned warmly at her enthusiasm. "You're the bride. You pick a date."

"How about May?" Elizabeth said happily. "I've always liked May."

"You know that only gives us nine or ten months, right? Or were you thinking of waiting until the year after next?"

"Heavens, no," Elizabeth answered incredulously. "Nine or ten months is long enough, thanks."

Will laughed. "All right, next May, then. Where's the ceremony?"

"Umm… on the beach?"

"The beach?"

"Well, it was between that and an actual ship."

Will laughed again. "What are we, pirates?"

"You make swords for a living, Will."

"Touché. So beach wedding, then. And what are the colors?"

"Blue and… um… what's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Oh. So blue and blue, I guess. Are you laughing at me, Mr. Turner?"

"Yes," Will grinned. "But only because you're cute when you're excited. And also because we now have to tell a wedding planner that we're pirates and our colors are blue and blue."

"Well, if we're pirates, then we don't need a wedding planner. All we have to do is ask Jack for help."

"Bad idea. He'll show up with a hat and bandana. And a sword. And a bottle of rum. And he might actually steal a ship. You never know."

"It would make for a very interesting wedding," Elizabeth mused.

Will had to agree. "I suppose it would."

Bill couldn't help the jolt of fear that he felt when his phone rang and Will's name appeared on the screen. He picked it up and held it for a moment. Please be okay, kid. He answered it. "Hello?"

"Dad?"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "What's up, kiddo?"

There was a brief pause, and then: "I'm getting married."

"You should call your dad, too," Will said as he hung up.

Elizabeth smiled apprehensively. "Yeah, I know. I'm just a little nervous. I mean… he'll approve, won't he? It's just, he's only seen you once, right? When he was here earlier?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Will said placatingly. "Call him."

"Okay." She pulled out her phone, speed-dialed her father. "Hi, Dad. I, uh… I have some news." She paused, and Will squeezed her hand.

"Did he ask you?" Mr. Swann said knowingly.

"Did he – what?" Elizabeth stared at Will, who was laughing quietly. "You told my dad?"

"No. I asked your dad. I wasn't going to have his daughter marry a man he'd never even met, was I?"

"He stopped by a few weeks ago to introduce himself," Mr. Swann said pleasantly. "And he also fixed the knocker on the front door."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at Will. "You fixed the front door?"

Will shrugged. "He asked me to. And the absence of a knocker bothered me. Okay, it was mostly because it bothered me."

Elizabeth leaned against him, laughing, and said into the phone, "You really told him he could propose?"

"Of course. He presented a very convincing argument. I even wrote some of it down in case he wants to use it as wedding vows later on."

Elizabeth laughed again. "Thanks, Dad. I love you."

"I love you, sweetheart. You two will come by for dinner some time, of course? Once Will is out of the hospital, obviously."

"Of course. I'll call you later, okay?"

"All right."

"Bye, Dad." Elizabeth tossed her phone onto the bed, leaned back against Will. "He wrote down some of what you said that day in case you want to use it as wedding vows," she said with a grin.

"That's not a bad idea, actually. It was good stuff."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Rather poetic, really."

"Is that so?"

"Mm-hm. I don't want to liken it to Shakespeare, but it was almost as good as Shakespeare. One of his sonnets, maybe."

"Will?"

"Hmm?"

"Shut up." Before he could answer, she silenced him with a kiss.

Review if you're as excited as I am that Will finally PROPOSED!