I halted at the other side of the small hall at the centre of Tia Dalma's shack, turning hesitant to enter the room Miranda had been walked by McConaughey about an hour ago and just eyed at the closed door with a sigh. Not knowing what was it that prevented me from going inside, as it was clear to me how uneasy seeing her in such bad shape had made me after witnessing her close to faint. Her reaction also likely to be explained with shock she'd obviously felt with the rest of us after Barbossa had walked down the flight of stairs (even me not being able to accept that instead of being dead he was very much alive, although at the grotto of Isla de Muerta Jack had shot him in the heart after the breaking of the curse. Killing him). But when I'd seen the way Miranda had looked back then, so exhausted and flushed, I knew her behavior of the time had been caused but the fever that had ailed her since our escape from the Dutchman several days prior. Taken everything that had happened me not considering it a miracle that she'd turned out worse after not gaining much rest between running away from Jones' crew and battles with the Kraken. My concern going all out to her now, as I refused to concentrate on my own worries, most of them centered around Elizabeth and what I'd seen back at the Pearl before its sinking…

I let out a new, this time frustrated sigh as shoved any thoughts regarding Elizabeth and Jack out of my mind, breaking free of them in fact as I then saw the door of Miranda's room to open and McConaughey stepped outside. Surprised to find me standing there, but soon enough his expression turned only grim after nodding at me in acknowledgement. Me casting my eyes towards the room but didn't catch a glimpse of much anything before the man shut the door again.

"Is she well?" I asked, studying McConaughey's features when he looked up to me with a tilt of his head. Although he didn't seem all that worried his severity however not making me any more relieved as he replied.

"She's running a high fever, caused by the infection of the wounds that has spread to her whole back. The salt water and the heat combined haven't been that good for the healing ulcers and they have started to fester. She's fine now for the time being, but I cannot say when she'll be completely recovered, even though the woman claimed to have her back to her normal self in a jiffy…"

I made a slight smile at the man's previous remark, but it was only a short display of amusement as during the past few days I'd followed Miranda's state to worsen even she'd tried to hide it from both of us, aware that with bad luck she would turn even worse and…No, I didn't want to even consider it. After everything she'd been through it to be hard for me to believe her to be bested by mere fever when she was in the good care of Tia Dalma and McConaughey. If it only weren't for the heartbreak that could become the end of her…

I closed my eyes briefly, rubbing them as remembered Peter and withheld the wave of sadness myself upon thinking my best friend and his unexpected demise during the Kraken's second attack. As much as Barbossa's unnatural appearance me not being able to believe Peter to be gone, and could only imagine how miserable Miranda must've felt about his death. Her sorrow if grave enough even being able to hinder her recovery, under the influence of pity and compassion in my heart me then deciding to go check on her after all. Not wishing to make her any more rueful by expressing my own distress about Peter's passing, but to be with her now that she needed company more than ever. It however seeming like McConaughey would've read my thoughts as after but a couple of steps his forestalling hand landed on my shoulder, him returning my surprised gaze with a strict shake of his head.

"I'd advice not going in there now. She needs time of her own without any of us telling her how to feel and when."

I made a subtle nod as cast my eyes down to the floor pensively, feeling McConaughey's rather attentive irises to take in my ragged bearing in deep ponders of his own. Me eventually locking questionable gazes with the man as silence continued undisrupted, us staring at one another, his somewhat suspicious turning countenance soon causing me to frown and I finally broke free of his stare by turning around. Heading back towards the parlor like room, but McConaughey's grievous turned voice stopped me from leaving as it spoke up behind my back. Me confronting him slowly and watching him fold his arms across his chest, his eyes eventually peering towards the parlor to look at Elizabeth remarkably as he addressed me sternly.

"Is not you concern quite misplaced on Randa?" he questioned, stupefying me momentarily and my brows knitted together in bafflement. Me not following.

"Why?"

"Just that what I've learned of you two since meeting ye, is that she has granted ye the freedom ye required to concentrate fully on yer own life instead of hers. So ye going in that room to console her might not be the best move ye could make after what ye agreed on aboard the Dutchman, taken that ye have another woman here more in need of yer attention."

"And since when have the matters between Miranda and I become the sole focus point of your interest?" I queried, squinting now a bit skeptically as came closer to the Englishman who appeared truthfully a bit hostile now. Standing by the doorway as if guarding it so that I wouldn't indeed take a single step inside, my own mustered questions surrounding this mystery man now resurfacing along with my irritation about the man's asperity. Deciding not to yield at the face of it this time nor let it hinder me from gaining some well deserved answers should the man push me that far with his following replies. "She's unwell and I am only worried about her."

"I don't know what yer game is with pursuing two women simultaneously, but at least I can say to truly care for Miranda's wellbeing instead of offering an illusion of consideration. What ye're doing is but cruel."

"And I don't know what you're talking about. I do care for her, and certainly not am I being cruel to her in any way."

"I saw ye,Turner. In that cabin aboard the Dutchman, acting out of line and definitely not like a man who's promised himself to another woman, whom even now ye're neglecting by continuing to fool Miranda into believing she has some hope left to regain yer affections. If ye enter that room that is and don't pay heed on me warning. Stay away, lad. I mean it."

I stiffened at the sound of McConaughey's claims, although they seemed ridiculous at first and not even the slightest true, me then starting to consider whether there was some truth about his words. Going through the same ponders like when this topic had been addressed by the man the first time during our captivity in the Dutchman's brig. After all recalling some moments that had left me more thoughtful than I perhaps should've been, yearning for the past especially that evening in Miranda's cabin on the eve of our escape, when we'd wound up reminiscing the old times and I'd found myself going back to those days with unexpected delight. Before I had even known it surrendering to the situation and getting swept into a dance with her, just like we'd done not so long ago. And to me it hadn't felt even slightest as wrong as McConaughey appeared to see it, but his so abrasive manner of bringing it up so suddenly only angered me. Me returning his stare equally earnest as it was my turn to examine the man, trying to see through him to understand why was it that he'd decided to appoint himself as the person governing over Miranda's life so avidly. After a moment of thought me thinking to have reached the correct conclusion upon witnessing his rather close interaction with Miranda on numerous occasions, especially today, me lifting my jaw as eyed at him in turn carefully.

"Do you love her then? Does that give you the right to tell me not to go near her again?" I inquired, noticing the fleeting emotion in the man's otherwise blank eyes that confirmed my observation as correct. With mixed but most of all outraged feelings me smiling at him sourly with a slight shake of my head, looking at him incredulously. "Just because you have come to have feelings for her, no other man should show her any manner of affection?"

"If that's what ye think to motivate me by all means…At least it would show ye how real affection will play out in caring for someone. There are all kinds of love in life, but what ye're offering to Randa is something I must protect her from", McConaughey responded curtly, tipping his own head at me as I straightened me posture in ever growing annoyance. Starting to find not to care much for this man in front of me as considered my answer carefully, locking but sincere gazes with the Englishman.

"I care for Miranda, make no mistake in that", I stated, however getting interrupted instantly as McConaughey vaulted towards me agitated, inclining his head at my answer doubtfully with narrowed eyes that reflected nothing but equal vexation to mine.

"Ye make no mistake in thinking me not to see through yer ploy", he announced, me leaning away from him with a slight glower as matched his stare. Unfazed. "If ye would care for her as much as ye strive to prove with this conversation, then ye would stop confusing her with yer inability to be sure with yer attachments and to whom they fully belong. What ye're doing isn't fair not only to Randa but to her as well…" At this point I saw the man to nod towards Elizabeth, me looking down briefly as felt a sting of remorse and rancor. "Don't ye think both of them deserve to know to whom ye're truly committed to?"

I gawked at McConaughey in a stunned state as he now retreated, releasing a slight sigh until looked away from me. Finished with what he'd had to say to me and next walked past me without a word more, antipathy soon dwelling up from within me and chasing all the confusing thoughts away, replacing them with the same distrust I'd come to hold for the man more by every passing day. Me whipping around and stopping him in turn before he managed to escape me.

"You're lying to her."

I hold back a content smile as McConaughey indeed froze at the sound of my words, tardily facing me again after a short moment of thought and now watched me to pull out the pocket watch that according to Miranda was his. Him indeed recognizing it by the surprise I saw written all over his features momentarily until they morphed back into an unreadable mask, me glancing down at the silvery object.

"I found this at the Dutchman. And the name I found engraved to it is not yours, although Miranda told me it to have been a gift from your mother", I informed him, the man now turning completely around as his eyes shifted from the clock to my eyes. Albeit he didn't show it me knowing to have managed to drive him into a corner, my own visage filling with honest wonder then as I stared at him with a deep frown. "So who is this J. Martins? Who are you?"

McConaughey was quiet, not responding at first and only eyed at the clock. Finally me managing to claim his attention, but the eyes that locked with mine were now hard, him leering at me in unvoiced animosity until he did leave me with my doubts without offering a single explanation to clear them. Just walking away, his voice filled with ice when it did answer, but not to meet my demands.

"That's none of your business, Turner."

With riled tilt of my head I followed in tow, not going to let him get away from revealing the secret I'd finally issued against his expectations, his reluctance to explain himself not making me any more trusting about his true colors as stalked right after him. Everyone's eyes turning to see us storm back to the parlor after one another, me but furious as lifted the watch remarkably.

"It is now when you've accused me of being untruthful, so I see it but justified as you've forced me to account for my integrity. So who are you? Who is Edward McConaughey you are pretending to be, and who is this man named J. Martins?"

"J. Martins? James Martins?"

I turned my eyes to the pirate Pintel in surprise after hearing him interrupt my interrogation, in astonishment of his own and I along with McConaughey followed him to make a pensive grimace until he seemed to recall something. McConaughey's composed exterior finally cracking just slightly as the sailor continued, pointing a skeptical finger at him.

"I know that name…Any respectable pirate would by the bad reputation it holds...It's the name of one of the greatly feared pirate hunters of the Crown who sailed under the British colors a few years back, sinking ships throughout Spanish Main and recovering Royal plunders, since disappearing. But I'll never forget the tales spoken of him…Of ye."

I was stupefied by these news as everyone in the room gasped for shock, McConaughey or whoever he truly was exchanging a tense stare with Pintel as the crewmen started to murmur amongst themselves exasperated. All eyes once again focused on the Englishman, no one saying anything and the least I as eyed at Miranda's acquaintance and bit by bit revealed liar. Casting my eyes down to look at the engraving of the pocket watch when Pintel continued.

"Ye were one of their favorites if me memory serves…Aye, the most commissioned peeve of buccaneers in these parts, and well respected by the Crown", he elaborated, now with narrowed eyes as slight anger then took over his surprise. Him scowling at blank faced McConaughey who now looked down with a dismissive shift of his head, not denying what the pirate had said about him nor called it a lie, which it then appeared to be not.

"I earned my living", he confirmed tersely, me blinking taken aback until made a contemplative frown. Pintel now abandoning his mug on the table as stood with his wooden eyed comrade, both of them facing McConaughey with hateful glowers each.

"With the blood of ours ye bled for those imperial pigs", he spat, McConaughey's gaze snapping back up to meet his after he saw the pirate's hand to hover over his sword. McConaughey however appearing the least threatened, leveling but serious look into the pirate's eyes. "Tell me even one good reason why I shouldn't expose yer innards right here and now for all the ships ye've sunken and the men ye've slain?"

"And defining the line between yer profession and mine goes where again?" McConaughey questioned in turn, actually stunning all of the pirates who by this time had all stood after getting huffy due to the revelation of his true identity. McConaughey's attention shifting now fully to Pintel as he faced him with folded arms, tipping his head this time quizzically as measured the burly man. "We both have been led by the enticing urge to act on our innermost impulses. Killing when we wanted, looting when we wanted, living how we wanted. However the undeniable difference is that unlike yer kind I performed all those misdeeds within the limits of the law and for the sake of something greater than me own self-indulgence."

"So ye think yerself better than us?" one o' th' crewmen accosted, McConaughey quirking his eyebrows curtly at the spoken sailor, in disagreement.

"On the contrary. I'm very much just a same kind of simple man as are ye. I have no stand to be so hypocritical as to regard meself better of those I used to hunt for the Crown, as I have as much blood on me hands as them, as a sole distinction that I thought to be achieving something good with me actions that would appease all the lives I took during me service. But that's all in the past I wouldn't care to remember all that eagerly. "

"How are we to trust a man who used to work for the authorities?" another pirate questioned, several others sharing his sentiments, but McConaughey took their distrust nonchalantly. Not caring whether or not they trusted him, simply rounding the faces of the people around him while wearing an indifferent expression.

"Ye are welcome to stick a knife to me back if it brings ye a peace of mind. However I remind ye that regardless of me previous loyalty to the Crown and the Navy that has vowed to annihilate ye down to the last man, I still fought alongside with ye as one of ye. Although I could've taken me blade and raised it against ye in the name of King George, I did not."

"Like the rest of us ye were just trying to save ye own hide", Pintel countered, suspicious. The pirate leaning backwards then as McConaughey twirled around again to face him, significant smile rising on his lips then.

"Then me claim stands. Ye and me are not so different, are we? Differing only in to whom we choose to remain loyal to, which in this case is to ourselves and to what we believe in."

McConaughey's latest reply managed to silence the pirates and everyone were now glancing at one another speechless, with a slight grimace Pintel and his companion both soon putting away their weapons, me now taking this chance to voice out the most burning question I yet had reserved for him.

"And the name?" I asked, meeting the Englishman's eyes a tad more serious, me noticing Elizabeth to finally lift her head up to direct a baffled look up to me and McConaughey upon hearing my words. "Why do you share same name with Miranda?"

"Ye seem enough knowledgeable to poke yer nose into other people's business, so why don't ye tell me?" McConaughey retorted in frustration, after a few seconds of intense staring eventually calming down with a pent up breath, facing me again with an earnest mien when I but blinked at his remark. His answer however also shocking me when tardily my mind wrapped around the secret he finally revealed in its entirety as badgered, taking the watch back from me with a thoughtful visage.

"Because I share a lot more with her than you ever would, Turner. Tie of kinship, blood of a father. Blood of the man I was named after, James Ezekiel Martins…Man who left my mother for another woman and fathered two other children out of wedlock... My brother and sister."

I gawked back at grim McConaughey in utmost bewilderment, frowning in disbelief as laboriously I came to terms with what he'd just said, yet not fully understanding it as once more I looked at the clock and the name Martins that should've immediately tipped me off who this man really was. The coincidence being however so unbelievable that the first moment I'd read the name on that watch I'd instantly denied it to have any connection to…

"Miranda?" I stated, quizzically, but dumbfounded as McConaughey then straightened his posture with a hard look leveled at me. Him turning now slightly angry himself as slipped the clock into his own pocket after gazing at it gently.

"Now ye know why ye should've just let it go", he mused. Walking closer to me until came to a halt by my side, me actually then feeling momentary regret upon delving so deep with my demanding need to get to the bottom of the truth. Now aware of so much more than indeed perhaps was my place to know, and not only about the Englishman. "At least show me the decency of letting me tell her myself. This is my truth to tell, and ye will not further interfere now that ye've done yer part by compelling it out of me gratuitously. She hears it but from me, understood?"

I made a meek nod as the man then instantly exited the parlor, my eyes wandering about the room along with my addled thoughts. Them eventually finding their way to equally taken aback Elizabeth, but as she immediately turned her attention to everywhere but me I couldn't deter the sting of chagrin. At loss once more, not knowing what to do, the scene back at the Pearl replaying in my head for a few times until I dispelled any images of Elizabeth kissing Jack by returning my ponders back to McConaughey and Miranda. Turning aghast, still not convinced that what I'd just learned after such a long time of suspecting the man was true or not. Me however finally understanding why at times when I'd looked at the Englishman his face had conjured up a recollection of my closest friend, realizing that the reason why he'd seemed so familiar and drawn to Miranda had had nothing to do with the fact that the man was in love with her as I'd suspected, but rather…Something entirely different that hadn't even crossed my mind albeit now the truth dawned to me it felt the most logical explanation to everything.

Miranda had… a second brother.