Author's Note:
Title: I owe many thanks to Manechka, who helped me properly conjugate my Latin title. I do not know Latin, so I was depending on an online translator, which proved to be woefully inadequate. It took a real, live Latin teacher to help me get it right, and she was very patient and helpful with me. I had to change the title three times before I finally settled on "Protegit Ergo Amat." The literal meaning is "he loves, therefore, he protects." The more figurative meaning is more along the lines of, "out of his protection comes love." It is through the act of caring for her that he comes to care about her, in other words.
Flying Dutchman's curse:
One reviewer asked me about the curse of the Dutchman's captain, whether he could only go on land every ten years, or whether after ten years the curse would be broken and he could be with Elizabeth for good. There are two different answers to this question. One is what the writers have stated in interviews, which is that if Elizabeth were faithful to Will for the ten years, his curse would be broken and he would be human again and could be with her.
The other answer, which is what I am using as a basis for this story, is what the films actually showed. Namely, that Will would have ten years at sea for every one day on land. Support for this answer is given in AWE when Bootstrap Bill tells Will that it was a high price to pay for what had been done: "One day on land, ten years at sea," and Will replies, "Depends on the one day." Nothing is said here about Will's being able to live on land again after the ten years are up, but there is a great deal of emphasis placed on the "one day" line. This leads me to believe that it's only one day for every ten years.
This view is also supported by what Calypso tells everyone about Davy Jones. "...And every ten years, him could come ashore and be wit' her dat loves him." She is the one who set the curse in the first place, and she didn't say "After ten years..." she specifically said, "Every ten years..." he could come ashore. So, there will be no curse-breaking. I really do not think Elizabeth would hang out on a hillside and wait around for the rest of her life, so that she could have one day every ten years with her husband. That's just not her, not the Elizabeth we have come to know and love. She's very much a proactive person. She wants something, she goes after it. She's a pirate, in that respect. She would not be content to spend the rest of her life waiting. Apologies to the W/E 'shippers.
For the J/E 'shippers, I also believe that Elizabeth hung out with Jack quite a bit during the intervening decade. In the films, I don't believe they had an affair, but I do think they stayed friends and kept in touch. The after-the-credits scene in At World's End definitely points to some of Jack's influence in the life of young William Turner III. Look at his tricorne hat. Look at his outfit. Listen to what he's singing. I do think Elizabeth and Jack would have kept up with their friendship during most of that time, even if it didn't develop into anything else. I don't think that young Will's having an "Uncle Jack" would have been completely out of the realm of possibility... and considering the amazing on-screen chemistry Jack and Elizabeth shared throughout all three movies, I don't think a romantic relationship is outside the realm of possibility either, as long as they could find some way around the whole marriage-to-a-dead-man problem.
So my opinion is that the writers changed their minds about the ending after the movies were already made, and then just tried to cover their tracks by saying that Elizabeth's faithfulness would have broken Will's curse. There is absolutely nothing in the actual movie that supports that view, and plenty that would support the opposite view. So that's what I'm using as a basis for this story, and that's the canonical support for it.
Apologies that the author's note is longer than the chapter update, which is below. Must stick to those FFN guidelines, you understand!
Jack asked around and found a few members of the Shipwreck community who were willing to help the settlers in New Flimwell. He loaded up the Black Pearl with some livestock, grain, tools, some lumber, and half a dozen retired pirates who thought they would try a quieter life than Shipwreck offered.
They sailed back to New Flimwell, where Jack and Gibbs went ashore with the helpers. They brought them, with some extra supplies, straight to the pub, and introduced them to the landlord, Mr Quimby.