Summary: When Jack and his crew find a young princess's tomb, they do not realize the danger they are in until Jack suddenly begins to think he is a child again… As the crew panics and searches for a way to return the gold and break the curse, Will Turner becomes the official caretaker of "Child Jack". As Will keeps Jack out of harms way and teaches the "young" Jack about piracy, he learns new things about Jack... and about himself.

Takes place between CoTBP and DMC

Chapter Three: Playtime with Will

"Wake up!" Jack's yelling dragged Will from his beautiful dream so suddenly that when Will's eyes opened, his vision was still blurred…"Wake up!" Jack yelled again and now William felt soft taps across his body. "Wake up!" Jack yelled again.

"I'm up!" Will yelled back. Jack fell silent and he waited for Will to collect himself.

"Hungry." Jack whined softly.

"No. You're not hungry…" Will snorted. "You're just saying that so that I'll go downstairs and make you some food so that you can stay in here and mess everything up!"

"Hungry." It was almost as if Jack didn't comprehend a single word that Will had just said… and it was that innocence that was beginning to piss him off.

"You go downstairs first. Then you can eat." Will smirked. Jack nodded and he left Will's room to go downstairs where he sat at the table patiently. Will sighed and he stood up from his bed and followed Jack to the kitchen.

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They ate in silence… almost. If it weren't for Jack's noisy, sloppy eating habits, it would have been completely silent.

Clang!

Jack dropped his fork again… Will sighed.

Splat!

Jack dropped a boiled egg on the ground. Will decided on not saying anything. Jack whined deeply in his throat, and then leaned over to pick up the egg that he dropped. Will couldn't help but glance over to Jack, who was now sitting up straight with his dirtied egg in his hand. Will grimaced when he saw the spots of grime and dirt that clung to the shiny, white surface of Jack's egg.

Jack opened his mouth and ate it, regardless of the dirt on it.

"No!" Will yelled and he stood up from his chair and whacked the egg from Jack's hand. "Don't eat that!"

Jack only stared. Then, he continued to chew on the bits and pieces that were still in his mouth.

"Spit that out." Will demanded. Jack shook his head. "Spit it out!"

"No!" Egg bits flew from Jack's mouth as he yelled. Will felt his face flush with frustration and he did the only sensible thing he could think of at the time. He reached over and grabbed Jack's face and began to pry open the pirate's mouth.

"Spit. It. Out!"

"Nohmmph!"

"Jack!" Will wasn't fooling around anymore. Jack stopped struggling and he looked up at will through his dreadlocks. He then looked at the ground in defeat and opened his mouth to spit out the gunk that he had eaten off the floor. "Good boy…" Will patted Jack on the back gently.

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"Stop squirming!" Will thought it was a pain to bathe Jack… it was even worse trying to brush his teeth.

Jack didn't heed a single word that Will had said, and he kept struggling against the intruding tool that was being shoved into each corner of his mouth. Will head Jack's head in place by clutching the long braid that was tied tightly in the back of Jack's head.

"It'll hurt more if you keep squirming!" Will sighed… Whoever heard of brushing your teeth being painful? Jack continued to wiggle in Will's arms however… and after ten long minutes, Will gave Jack a glass of water and told him to rinse his mouth… Jack, however, didn't rinse his mouth properly. Instead, he just drank down the water as well as the toothpaste in his mouth.

"Geez…" Will sighed. Jack's face distorted in disgust at the taste and he poked his tongue out to scratch it. "Don't do that!" Will smacked Jack's hand away, and Jack's bottom lip poked out slightly and shivered… "I just cleaned your teeth… your hands are dirty." Jack sniffed and in that moment, Will wished he had never said anything.

It took again, another few hours to calm Jack down… and Will found himself sprawled across a chair with his hand on his head. Jack, however, was in the other room, playing happily with a few wooden trinkets that Will had made for him.

"Will!" Jack called from the other room. William, however, ignored him completely… still upset over all of the trouble this 'new' Jack has caused him. "Will!" Jack called again. Still, Will did not respond. Jack continued to call for Will, even though the blacksmith did not reply. Jack probably called for Will at least twenty or so times before he yelled out, "Play with me!" Will's eyes widened and he sat up from where he was and finally replied,

"What?"

"Play with me!" Jack repeated. Will shook his head and he began to rub the temples of his head with the pads of his fingers. He let out a long, shaky breath… and figured that it would do him so good to just play with the pirate. Will sighed again but he stood up and walked into the room where Jack had been sitting on the floor, playing.

"Play with me!" He cooed again. Will tried to hide his smile, but he couldn't stop his soft laughter from escaping his lips.

"Alright!" He smiled and plopped down next to Jack on the floor, "What game?"

"I'll be the pirate…" Jack moved and he began to explain what the 'game' was and how it was played. "… and you'll be the Naval Officer!" William nodded. Jack stood up from where he sat and he pounded his chest like an ape and cried, "Arggg! I'm da mos' fearsome pirate ye ever saw, Will Turn Er!"

William smirked and he stood up as well. "Mr. Sparrow! You're the worst pirate I've ever heard of!" Jack looked up at Will in what appeared to be pure horror…

"Ye think I'm a bad pirate…? Ye don't mean it, do ye?" Jack's eyes widened and he looked again, as if he were about to cry. Will hadn't realized how much he'd actually insulted the pirate.

"No, Jack… I'm acting!" Jack's face softened and he gave a toothy grin, flashing his shiny, golden teeth.

"Oh. Well then, Mr. Officer!" Jack smiled and he jumped on Will playfully. "Ye have heard of me, though!" Will laughed whole-heartedly and the two of them ran around the house, fighting dragons, sea-monsters and dodging each other at the same time. After a while, Jack declared that Will was to be a pirate too, and together, they rescued beautiful damsels in distress, they outwitted numerous pirate foes and stole fascinating amounts of golden treasure. They sailed across the world and they saw many amazing things. They even went back in time to the land of the dinosaurs, and then they traveled through the future, to where all kinds of strange technology was seen.

After all of this, they sailed back home, and found themselves on the floor again, laying down flat on their backs and staring up at the ceiling.

"Will…?"

"Yeah, Jack?"

"Why can't we ever go outside…?" Will fell silent, and he wasn't really sure what to tell Jack. He felt a burning pain in his chest, when he looked at those innocent, deep, chocolaty brown eyes… He couldn't bring himself to lie to Jack… not completely, at least.

"Well… Jack…. There are these… huge… creatures outside!" Will turned to Jack and gestured at their supposed size. Jack's eyes widened and his mouth hung open,

"Creatures!" Jack echoed. "May we see?"

"No!" Will shook his head and he reached out to hold Jack's shoulders. "They're huge, ferocious, and they will eat you if they see you!" Jack gasped and his eyes seemed to grow so huge that they could have bugled from their sockets.

"They'll eat me…?" His voice was just above a whisper and he sounded… almost terrified. Will's intention was not to scare Jack… quite on the contrary, he wanted to excite Jack, not frighten him.

"Yes… but in here, we are safe. See? I'm here to protect you from being eaten…" Well… it was somewhat true. After all, he was there to protect Jack from being caught by the army, yes… He was not completely lying. Jack's breathing quickened a little and he looked around the room with wide eyes.

"W-why would they want to eat me…?" He asked again, in a soft, whispery voice.

"They'll eat anyone!" Will spoke equally as soft now, still trying not to scare Jack. "They'll eat me, they'll eat you… they'll eat anyone!"

"Did they eat my Dad…?" By now, Jack's eyes were pink and watery. "… I-is that why he's not here now?"

Will shook his head and he reached out to pull Jack into a warm embrace.

"No, no…" Will whispered softly. "He's fine. It's okay…" Jack shook violently and Will hugged him even tighter. "He's okay… he's just gone for a little while."

Jack shook again as a spasm shot down his spine. "I-I hope so…"

Will chewed on his bottom lip and cursed himself mentally… if he had known Jack would respond like this, he never would have lied, and even now he felt terrible for doing it.

Jack fell asleep in Will's arms… and once Will was certain that the pirate was out for good, he picked Jack up and slung him over his shoulder. Jack, was surprisingly not as heavy as he had imagined… not to say that Jack wasn't heavy, no… Will nearly fell over the first time he attempted to pick him up.

He carried Jack up the stairs and to the bedroom. Though, it was still daylight outside, he figured Jack would be sleeping a lot more often now that he was a "child" again. Will flopped Jack onto the bed gently, and he laid the pirate out nice and neat. Will tugged on the sheets and covered the sleeping pirate with them…

"'Night." We called to Jack in a soft voice. Jack only responded with a long, loud snore… Will chuckled but just before he was going to close the door he paused and thought for a moment. He then turned to Jack again… Then, he walked over to Jack's sleeping form and kissed him gently on the forehead. Jack did not respond… he didn't even make any sound.

Will beamed, feeling a strange sense of pride when he saw Jack sleeping. He couldn't explain the feeling… But he felt very good, and he enjoyed playing with Jack today. He continued to beam with pride and he turned away and closed the door behind him as he left Jack's bedroom. Even in the kitchen as he was cooking Jack's lunch, he still felt that pride linger… he knew now, that there was some perks to parenthood.

Author's Notes:

Ah yes... I wanted a bit of fluff in this story.

Same thing as always!
R & R