I'm on a role for this story!

"...If you love someone you say it, you say it right then, out loud. Otherwise the moment just...
passes you by... "

"What are your intentions, exactly?" The young princess whispered, half surprised that her voice came out as shaky as it did. Cutler, who had been looking out the window, turned from it and darted his now silver eyes on Lila. It startled her, but she kept quiet nonetheless. She was starting to really question this man. Not only because of the fact that he had yanked her out of that boat by gun point, but because Will and Jack were tied up rather tightly in the corner while she was sitting at his table drinking tea.

Well, she wasn't drinking it. It was just there.

"You Highness." Cutler said pleasantly as he offered her more tea. She shook her head, so he placed the pot down and smiled at her. Sitting down he said in that same chillingly pleasant voice, "I can assure you that my intentions are exactly as your own-"

"I can assure you that if you so as lead me-"

"Miss Parrish-" He began, leaning closer to her. "-my dear great-grandson or how ever the hell he is related to me, he didn't want the crown for himself." Jack felt Will tense up beside him as Beckett spat that. "You want to keep your crown, I want it." He smiled as realization hit her. She pierced him with her green eyes as she spat, "Never."

A grin spread across Cutler's face as he looked behind her. Lila knew who he was looking at, and didn't dare to look back. "Well, well, well. I guess Mr. Turner-"

"Captain." Lila instantly corrected him. Cutler looked down at her and stared at her for a long time as he said, "Captain Turner, my mistake. It would seem as if he moved passed the dear, late Miss Swann and moved to the fair princess-" He stroked her cheek gently as he said that. His touch seemed to have an affect on Lila. She froze at his touch. Not like when she did with Will, but out of pure fear.

Cutler Beckett had that affect on people as it would seem.

" 'ow the bloody 'ell are you standin' there?" Came an amused voice from behind them. Cutler looked irratated. Whether that was because Jack had that affect on people, or because his threat had been interrupted, Lila didn't know.

"Did you not gag them?" Cutler asked one of the men guarding the door. The man shrugged as Jack said, "I mean, 'ell! I've got your skull-"

"I was raised by magic, Sparrow. I have no need for human qualities." Had she not been scared to death at that moment, she would have laughed at the face that Jack made when Cutler said that. Hell, Will was even trying not to laugh. "You think it's funny, do you Turner?" Cutler made a warning move towards Will making Lila scream, "Don't hurt him-" She put her hands to her mouth.

Cutler whirled around and smiled as he strolled back over to her. Jack was now staring at her with an unreadable look on his face. Cutler grabbed her face, making Will struggle to get free of his ropes, as he said, "So it is true. Well, my love, I hope that you have told Captain Turner that you love him. Because if you don't-" He snapped his fingers, and his men picked up Will and Jack and led them out the door. When Will's gaze locked on Lila's for a moment, Cutler whispered in her ear, "-the moment may pass you by."

Lila felt a tear roll down her cheek when they pushed Will out the door. "You're a bast-" He took her face and pulled it to his before saying, "Don't be saying things that you'll regret later, Your Highness. You will indeed regret it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lila spat at him, "In an instant I could have my father's navy after you. You don't know who you're dealing with, Mr. Beckett. But I advise you to learn." He grabbed her harshly at the sound of her tone and hissed, "Listen to me, Princess. I know exactly who I am talking about. I'm talking to my future wife." Her eyes got wide at that statement as he smiled and said, "Then, you'll be happy because you'll still have the crown, but I will too. And if you refuse to do as I say, I'm sure Captain Turner will-"

"You leave him out of this!"

"I seemed to have hit a nerve." He said with a slight smirk. He looked to his men and said, "Allow Miss Parrish to make herself at home. I don't want my fiancee to feel unwelcome." And with that, he left, leaving a tearful Lila behind.

"You remind me a lot of her." She was pulled out of her thoughts late that night. Everyone was already to bed, and Lila did not want to lay eyes on Cutler anymore than she had to. She had already decided that she was only doing this for Will's safety. Because if it was up to her, she'd give that damned crown up for him.

"Excuse me?" She asked. She hadn't heard him. Not that she didn't want to talk to him. But she hadn't heard him. He smiled at her and said, "I said, you remind me a lot of her. I guess that's why Will fell for you so hard." Lila smiled at that. Cutler had taken Jack and Will's crews aboard his own. While most was in the brig, some was working for him. Bootstrap came to sit beside her on the steps. A small smile was on his face as he said, "His mother."

"Oh." For a single moment, she thought that he had been talking about Elizabeth. True enough, Elizabeth had been her best friend almost like her sister back during her years in Port Royal. But still, Lila didn't know how to react if Will was comparing her to Elizabeth. Bootstrap, who had been staring at the sea, came back to look at her. If Will could age, she imagined Will looking like this when he reached his father's age. But like Will, Bootstrap would never age. He wasn't bound to the Dutchman any longer, but would remain immortal unless killed. "What was she like?"

The man that had become like her father over the last few months came to sit beside her. She felt as if she could confide more in him than she could her own father. And somehow, that broke her heart. He smiled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said, "Like you. Strong. Could wield a sword when she wanted to, but she wasn't a pirate. I think that is why Will didn't stand a chance when he met you. You reminded him too much of his own mother. I knew I saw it that first time I met you. You remember her at all?"

Alena Turner had been a good friend of her own mother. Long before she moved to Port Royal, when she was about 6, she used to stay frequently at their house in London. Until she died when she was 8 around the same time her own mother was killed.

" 'Bout as much as I remember my own." She said as she rested her head on his shoulder. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I wish I did, Lila." Bootstrap said as he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "They told me that she died of a sickness. But when Grant told me that your mother died the same day, I thought it was too strange. Alena, I think, was killed as they tried to get information out of her about your mother's whereabouts. They killed her after they were done with her and then your mother-"

"Why would they have wanted to kill her, though?" Lila asked, pulling her head off of Bootstrap's shoulder.

"Amphitrite gave up her immorality as you probably know, so that she could raise you away from your father's castle. At this time, the EITC was going strong and bringing a war upon your father's kingdom. She held the Jewel of the Sea. A small amethyst that could do wonders. Calm the sea, create storms...powers that Calypso herself posseses. They needed that amethyst so they could calm the merpeople that guard your fathers castle so they could kill him theirselves. She didn't have it. So they killed her as well."

"Amphitrite? My mother's name wasn't-"

"Your father never told you??" When she gave Bootstrap a look, he smiled and said, "Your mother's name wasn't really Anne. It was

Amphitrite, goddess and queen of the sea. You never knew?"

"No." Lila said, putting her head back on Bootstrap's shoulder. Well, her father never talked about her mother. She had to have turned pirate like she had always thought. That was why she turned out to be a pirate...

Or maybe...maye all of the fantasies she had about her mother were just that. Fantasies. What if her mother was just like her father? A queen. Nothing more. Not a pirate...no, she had to be. That's why her father never talked about her. She was a pirate. Just like Lila. As she was doing this, she put her hand on the necklace her mother had given her when she was 8, the year she died.

Over a century ago, and she had never taken it off once.

Realization hit her, and she looked up at Bootstrap who nodded and said, "Yes. That's the Jewel of the Sea. Amphitrite gave it to you, because she knew that the EITC wouldn't ever dream of it being on a child." All of these years, she had had the power to do whatever she wished with the sea. "Don't get carried away, though-" Bootstrap said as if reading her mind. "-you have to learn you powers. Come in to them. Practice takes time-"

"I told you! I don't know what that damn thing is!" Came a shout from behind them. Bootstrap and Lila carefully got up, and walked quietly over to where the shouts were coming. They hid behind a barrel so they could see the on-going arguement.

"And I told you that if you don't tell me, as soon as I'm married to the princess, I promise you-" Will was being restrained by two men as Cutler yelled at him. Before finishing, Cutler grabbed Will's face as he had done Lila's and spat, "-she'll be killed. And you'll do the honors."

"I won't." Will said, looking to be on the verge of tears though his voice remained strong and murderous. "And you know that I won't."

"If you don't want her to die a quick and pain-free death, then you don't have to. Either you do it quick, or I'll make you watch and let her die a slow and painful death." Cutler let go of Will's face so fast, that Will probably would have fallen over had he not been restrained. Cutler grabbed a sword and lifted it to Will's throat. "You don't want to bring your girl into this, do you? Because, I know your mother told you where that damn Jewel is. I need it to kill Neptune! WHERE IS IT?"

"I don't know." Will said, trying to pull free of the men restraining. "I bloody told you that I don't know where the hell that thing is! My mother-"

"-was a coward."

"Don't you dare talk about her like that." Will spat causing Cutler to whirl around and look Will in the eye. If looks could kill, Cutler would have been dead insults ago. "I'll speak of her however I please, Turner. You watched me kill her, you can watch me kill the girl you love as well. Once I have the crown-"

"That was you?" Will asked him, confused. Lila felt Bootstrap tense up beside him as he was giving, though unknown to anyone but Lila, a look that mirrored his son's. Cutler laughed bitterly as he said, "Fine thing, to be immortal, isn't it? Dead for a century, back for a century more. That's my price, but a good one. I'm alive and kicking, and I swear on pain of death, that you will finish off your girl."

"The only person that I'm going to be finishing off is you." Will replied cooly. "I'm not going to lay a hand on her and neither are you-" That was accompanied by a slap which made Lila turn her face into Bootstrap who brought her in his arms.

"Good thing that you're immortal, Turner-" Lila looked back up, as Cutler put his sword at Will's chest. "-makes torturing you all the more fun-" It happened before Bootstrap could do anything. If happened faster than anyone could do anything. The sound of a sword going thru someone's body is a sound most of them never wanted to hear again. Will closed his eyes, scared of what he would see. He didn't feel any pain, but he found out why not minute later when he felt someone fall against him.

When they fell backwards on the deck, he opened his eyes to see who he had his arms wrapped so tightly around. Lila was clinging to him as Cutler took her sword out of his stomach. Laughing, he said, "What? Did you honestly think you could kill me?" Seeing his ring on her finger, he laughed and said, "I could lie and say we're married. I can kill you now-" He raised the gun to Lila's head but was cut off when Bootstrap emerged with a sword pointed at him as he yelled to Will and Lila, "RUN! I'VE GOT THEM, GO!"

"But, Dad-"

"Will, take her and GO!" Will grabbed Lila's hand as the two of them ran down to the brig, not looking back. He turned around and locked the door, before placing barrels and things in front of them to keep them from getting in. Drowning out the sounds of the fight upstairs, Will brought Lila's shaking body into his arms allowing her to cry. "Shhh, darling." He whispered against her hair as he stroked it. "I've got you, and I'm not going to let him hurt you. I promise you that."

Only one thing that Cutler had said to her was a good piece of advice. 'Tell him you love him, or the moment will pass you by'. She pulled back and looked into his dark brown eyes. She knew just looking up at him that he knew what she was about to say, but she said it anyway, "Will, I love you."

He smiled before saying, "I was waiting to hear you say that." And he leaned down and kissed her more than he had back in the boats, making up for all those years. When he felt her arms around his neck, he put his on her waist and said, "I love you too, Princess-"

"-Sorry to break this up. "Came an oddly familar voice from the back of the brig. They broke apart to see Jack's cell open and two figures walking up to them. Captain Teague grinned as he twirled the keys around his finger and said to her, "How's my favorite niece?"

Lila broke away from Will and ran up to Grant and hugged him. Laughing, he pulled her into his arms and laid a kiss on her forhead as Jack walked up from behind him. Will was, for once, at a loss for words as he stared up at Jack. Jack was grinning as he stood beside Lila who broke away from Grant and shrugged...had Jack and Lila always looked a like?

"Niece?" He repeated to Jack who walked over to him and smiled.

"Mate-" Jack whispered teasingly. "-what if I told you everything you've heard about us was a huge cover-up?"

"...If you love someone you say it, you say it right then, out loud. Otherwise the moment just...
passes you by... "

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