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 Eight: Older, Wiser folk of knowledge…

Will received a telegram:

" Will Turner:

We are running a little behind.

The curse is complicated. Like a spell rather than something we can break.

We need you to keep our Captain for one more week.

Thank you so much!

- Anamaria & The Crew. "

William was not sure, if he should be rejoicing that his time with Jack would be lasting much longer, or if he should be upset… After all, he loved having Jack around very much, but he was starting to miss his old life. He was missing those long nights when it was just him and Elizabeth.

He caught himself before he surrendered to the lush memories and he shook them from his mind. "Jack!" He called. There was no response other than the loud, coughing fit and those deep, sharp gasps for breath. Will took that as a sign that Jack was at least awake already…

He climbed up the stairs slowly… still very tired from their previous night. When he came to the door of Jacks room, he leaned on the doorframe and let out a long sigh through his nostrils. Jack held his tongue and kept quiet, not wanting to start up another coughing fit.

"How are you feeling, Jack?" Will asked in a low whisper and he came to sit on the corner of the bed that Jack laid in. Jack only nodded slowly. "Hungry?" Jack shook his head… he dare not speak a word, for fear he might go into another coughing fit. Will lightly brushed his hand over Jack's as it laid motionless on the covers. Will smiled, "Alright, you just give me a shout if you need anything…" Jack nodded in response.

Will left the room… feeling more worried than he was before. He missed the freedom that he had without Jack… He was beginning to miss everything. He looked back at the door and he heard Jack coughing uncontrollably again. He sighed. There was not anything more that Will wanted to do but to help Jack get better… but nothing that he kept with him was working. Jack's coughing fits began to last longer… sometimes he'd cough up to at least fifteen or twenty times before the fit passed. Just the other night, Jack was coughing so harshly that he could barely breathe and his gasps in between were sounding more like long, loud yelps. Jack's face would turn a bright, burning red and his eyes would begin to water… Oftentimes he would clutch at Will's hand whenever he grew scared because he could not breathe…

Will gnawed at his bottom lip, he felt stuck. Jack was terribly sick, and Anamaria and the crew would be back sometime next week. He was not sure if Jack was going to last that long… and he found himself in a position where he really needed help.

"Jack!" Will called from downstairs, hoping that even though Jack did not give a verbal response, that the pirate was at least awake and listening. "I'm going to go run a few errands! I'll be back very soon!" Will did not want to imagine what horrified look might have been on the pirate's face when he heard Will calling to him. However, he shook it off and threw on his coat. He would rather leave Jack alone for a few minutes and get some help rather than stay by Jack's bedside and watch him erode.

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Will pounded on the door ferociously.

"Governor Swann!" He called. "Governor Swann!" He heard footsteps from the other side of the wood and felt a sudden relief of tension… He raised his eyebrows at the sudden realization that he did not know he was even tense to begin with!

The door opened, and the long, curly powered wig poked out from behind the shadows of the door and a familiar voice was heard,

"William?" The Governor's voice called. Mr. Swann then pushed the door away and revealed himself to a still, twitchy and agitated Will Turner. "Why, what a pleasant surprise. I'll go get Elizabeth…" The Governor turned away to leave but Will held out his hand to stop him.

"No! I didn't come to see Elizabeth."

Governor Swann turned his head and raised his eyebrow. He looked at Will curiously before speaking,

"What did you come for then, Mr. Turner?"

"I came for knowledge." Will's head lowered a little and he felt his cheeks blush. This would be a fairly embarrassing conversation to have with the Governor, but he felt it would be his only option. "You've raised a child before…"

"What?" As Will expected, the Governor may have misinterpreted the situation…

"I'm baby sitting my brother, and he's sick…" Will let out a long breath that he did not know he was holding in when he saw the Governor's face soften. "… My brother has whooping cough and it doesn't seem to be going away."

"Whooping cough, eh?" The Governor's lips curled a little into a small smile and he let Will come inside the house.

. . .

"How long has it been like this?"

"Just two days, Sir…" Will tapped his foot impatiently. "Is there anything I can do to make it better?"

"No, not really… Elizabeth had whooping cough when she was an infant, you know… Poor thing, she coughed for hours and she would turn so red in the face…" At this point Will disregarded whatever the Governor was saying,

"Governor Swann, please… " Will interrupted. "I left Jack at home alone…" Will immediately chomped his teeth down onto his betraying tongue… He prayed that the Governor did not hear that name.

"…Jack?"

"Yes!" Will's eyes darted around the room as he tried to come up with a good cover… "His name is Jack." The Governor nodded slowly… Will was worried about the hesitation he saw in the old man's eyes, but he fought his best to not show that on his own expression.

"Well, I can only tell you that the biggest thing is time."

"Time!" Will lowered his volume. "… Sir?"

"Give it time and it'll just go away on its own."

"Okay, Thank you, Sir!" Will did not wait any longer before turning on his heels and nearly running out of the house.

––––

"Jack!" Will called as he closed the door behind him. He looked around the house and was glad to see that nothing had moved. "Jack, I'm back!" He waited for a response from upstairs… but he did not hear a sound. He could not even hear Jack's muffled coughs.

Will rushed to take off his coat and he flung it to the floor, not bothering to hang it up before he sprinted up the stairs with all speed and ran into Jack's room. Thankfully, Jack had not gone anywhere, and he laid in the bed, his entire body was still in the same position that Will had left him in…

"Oh Jack…" Will sat on Jack's bedside and he scooped the pirate's cold, frail hand in his. "I miss the fun games we used to play…" The pirate's eyelashes fluttered for a few moments and he saw Jack attempt to smile. The pirate still did not want to say anything. Will did not want to tempt Jack to speak… it would surely break his heart to see Jack clutching for air during another coughing attack. "… How about a book, eh?" Will patted the back of Jack's hand and he stood up to fetch a book from the downstairs study…

When he returned to Jack's room, the pirate was sitting up straight, and very wide-awake. Will smiled and he came to sit on Jack's bedside again…

"Oooh. Look at this one," He read the title aloud, "Three Little Pigs." Jack's eyes grew wide with fascination and he gave Will a toothy grin, showing all of his teeth, gold and what not. Will slowly parted the cover and the first page and he began reading to an overly excited Jack.

He went through nearly five other fantasy stories before Jack had fallen asleep with his head on Will's shoulder. William smiled…

"I guess we'll just… call it a day, then?" He laid Jack back down onto the mattress and gently pulled the sheets over the sleeping pirate. Will gritted his teeth as he saw Jack turn over in his sleep and whimper softly… He remembered the Governor's words and they played back in his mind…

"Give it time and it'll just go away on its own…"

"But I don't have that much time…" Will whispered to himself.

Author's Notes:

Again, I had to do some extreme research on "whooping cough".

I had a hard time figuring out how to incorporate Jack's recovery in this story. I mean, nowadays it's a lot easier to recover with all of the technology we have now... But I had to figure out how Jack was going to recover without the drugs and such.

Historically, Whooping Cough does go away within a few weeks or a few days.

Anyway... Review Replies anyone? :

Cerisa:
Thank you so much for your continuing support! I really appreciate it very much and I'm so glad that you are enjoying this story so far! It really drives me to continue writing when you leave such sweet reviews.

Zoeiy3:
Welcome there, new reader! I'm so glad that you liked the story so much. Thank you again for adding it to your favorites! To anwser your question, I usually will not abandon a story unless it's not receiving reviews and is fairly dead already anyway. No, I have not abandoned this Fic and I plan to finish this one really soon. Keep staying posted for updates to this fic. (I usually update daily.)

Sue:

You're a dear! Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews and I'm so glad that you are enjoying this story that much. C:

To all who've read this far but have been afraid to Review:

I love when people R & R. It fuels me to continue writing, and I especially love when you leave little ideas here and there for me to eat off from.

It helps a lot and is greatly appreciated! Thank you, all.

- Rawiyah