Don't worry, I'm as surprised as you are that I'm updating again so fast!

"Isabelle!" There was a loud bang and I tried to open my eyes. Regaining consciousness was like trying to swim against a current I wasn't strong enough to face. The water was thick and I was groggy. "Isabelle!" the voice called again and I felt it pull at me, bringing me up from the depths of wherever I had been. I had been immersed in a dream so vivid that I now had absolutely no idea where I was. I opened my eyes and saw a room that I recognised, but wasn't awake enough to register why just yet. I sat up in bed as the door opened.

"James?" I said as my brother stuck his head round the door. I was filled with such a sudden rush of love for him and a strange kind of relief at seeing him standing in my doorway that it pushed the sleep from my limbs and I leapt out of bed. I ran to him and threw my arms around him.

"Izzy," he laughed, hugging me back. He sounded surprised. "Are you alright? What's got in to you?"

I pulled back and looked at him. I was so happy to see him, but I couldn't work out why. "I don't know," I said thoughtfully. "I had the strangest dream, James. It was so vivid. So real… but I can't really remember it now." He frowned, slightly bemused at my story of a dream that had been so life-like that I had completely forgotten it. Well.. not completely. "You were in it, I think."

"I was?"

I nodded and tried to remember. "Yes… but you… you…"

Died? I think he had died in my dream. That's horrible, I can't tell him that. No wonder I had been so happy to see him. He was smiling. "Was I already Commodore in your dream?" he asked.

Commodore. Of course. Today was his big day. His big promotion. "James," I said, pushing him out of my door. "You need to get ready immediately. I don't know why you're standing here when you have much more important things to be doing."

He started to laugh again. "I had to check that my lazy sister was remembering to get herself out of bed. Good job I did."

"Shh," I scolded. "Get going."

I shut my door, but heard his laughter carry on down the hallway. It was lovely to see him in such a good mood. I turned back to look at my room, still mildly surprised that I hadn't recognised it when I had woken up. It had been mine for almost ten years now. I went to my window and looked out at the sea. It looked beautiful today. Very blue and calm. It looked like James was going to have the perfect day. I sat down and realised how quiet it was now. There was nobody around to talk to and my room was tucked so far away from anywhere that there could be noise. Although this was what I was used to, what I had grown up with, there was just something about it that didn't seem right.

The needle bit in to my skin and I inhaled sharply to stop myself saying anything regrettable. The pain brought with it a strange sense of déjà vu and I found that I wasn't surprised when James entered the room.

"Isabelle?" he said and I put down needle and thread. James was looking nervous, but I suppose he had every right to be.

"Yes, Commodore?" I replied with a huge emphasis on the 'Commodore'.

"Oh, stop it Izzy!" he protested, but I knew that he had secretly enjoyed it. Commodore was a position he had been working towards for some time. "I've had to put up with you all week! And I'm not even a Commodore yet!"

"I'm sorry, James," I said, but I didn't really mean it. "'Commodore Norrington' just sounds so odd!"

"Well, I think it has a certain ring to it," he said haughtily and I laughed because it had taken me less than a minute to draw his true feelings out of him.

"Now, now," I said. "Don't let your promotion go to your head James; you know my teasing is the only thing that keeps you grounded!"

He smiled and then let a silence fall. "Izzy," he started and then stopped. There was another silence.

"James?" I prompted him.

"Izzy, would you mind awfully if I asked for Elizabeth's hand in marriage?"

This didn't surprise me in the slightest. I had always known that this day was coming. The probability of my brother and my best friend getting married getting married was huge, but there wasn't all that much that I could do about it. It made sense from a business standpoint, but I had also always known that James's feelings for Elizabeth were more than that. Was there a reason to object? Something gnawing in the pit of my stomach told me that there was. I knew that Elizabeth did not feel the same way about him, but her father would be thrilled with the match, so I doubted that the choice in the matter would be entirely hers. But there was something else. Something I was missing. Something I was forgetting…

Then James's eyes met mine and I knew it didn't matter. "That was not one of those questions where my opinion actually counts is it? You have already decided. You just asked to be polite."

"Pretty much, yes." he nodded.

I swallowed down every objection I had because I knew that my main one had temporarily slipped my mind. There was something awful going on and it seemed as if I was the only one who could feel it. "When will you ask her?" I asked.

"Today," he said and my heart sank. "After the ceremony."

"You could have told me earlier!" I felt my unexplainable panic rising. I had to get to Elizabeth as soon as possible. Perhaps she could remind me of whatever it was I had forgotten.

"No," he grinned. "You cannot keep a secret." That wasn't true. I was very good at keeping secrets. I kept hundreds of them. I just kept very few of them from Elizabeth. "I will see you at the ceremony, Isabel," he said. "I am leaving now."

I filled with relief. This gave me time to get to Elizabeth before the ceremony. I stood up and walked over to my brother. "Good luck James." I said giving him a quick hug.

"Thank you," he said, looking fairly queasy at the thought of everything that he was about to do today. I waited a moment before I left the room and hurried to get ready. If anyone was surprised by my sudden changed in plans they never said anything. I kept my eye on the clock, making sure that I would have time to get to Elizabeth's before she left. I put on my finest coat and there was a knock on my door.

It opened and I felt nothing but ice-cold shock at the man I saw standing there.

"Morning, Izzy!" he smiled, looking up at me with sparkling green eyes.

"George!" I smiled, stepping forwards to greet him. I hadn't seen my old friend in a long time. He had been at sea for the past two years. I think. Mixed with my surprised was an odd sense of dread when I saw him. Perhaps it was because I hadn't seen him in so long that I was worried our conversation would be awkward.

"Good to see you!" he sounded sincere. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine thank you," I smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm well," he grinned and then his eyes roamed over my coat. "Going out?"

I jolted back in to action. "Yes," I said, stepping past him and out of my house. "I need to get to Elizabeth's."

He caught my arm and stopped me from walking. I think the reason this succeeded was because it took me by surprise. George had never laid a finger on me before, but I was filled with an instant sense of fear. I turned and looked him in the eye. I relaxed. George was a friend, he wouldn't hurt me and my fear was an overreaction. What had gotten in to me today? "I don't think that's a good idea," he said pleasantly. I frowned.

"Why not?"

"Well, she'll be busy getting ready, will she not? And you should be relaxing before your brother's ceremony," he said gently. "This could be a stressful day for you too."

"But-"

"If it's because you'll be bored, I can always keep you company," he grinned. I smiled at him.

"George, you're so kind," I pulled my arm free of his grasp. "But I really need to get going." I walked a few steps away from him and then turned back because I felt horrible. "You can always come with me though," I offered with a smile. He smiled back and fell in to step beside me.

I set a brisk and hurried pace through the streets of Port Royal and when I got there my knock on her door was constant and far from lady-like.

The door was opened my Elizabeth's dry-humoured butler. "I take it by the volume and urgency of your consistent banging that this is an urgent call Miss Norrington and not simply a pleasurable visit?" he asked and I smiled.

"All my visits are pleasurable you should find," I said as I stepped past him.

"Of course Miss," I heard him reply.

I knew this house almost as well as I knew my own, so when I stepped in to the entrance hall I knew instantly that something was wrong. I hesitated in the doorway. Everything was in its right place. Governor Swann looked just as he always did. Everything that was unsettling me hinged on the man standing in front of him holding out a long box for Governor Swann to inspect.

"Mr Adderson?" I asked, stepping forwards again and both men looked up.

"Ah, Isabelle," Governor Swann greeted me. Charles Adderson, the son of a local baker, bowed his head in my direction. Why was he here? "Come over here and tell us what you think of this sword. It's for your brother."

I glanced down at the sword that lay in the box. It was a very nice sword, as far as I could tell. "It's lovely," I said. "This is Mr Brown's work I take it?"

"Yes, Miss," Charles replied. I glanced around. If this was from Mr Brown, then surely Will, as his apprentice, should be the one delivering it.

Will.

Of course. Will. He was the reason that Elizabeth would never consent to marrying James. How could I have forgotten that?

"Is Will alright?" I asked. George stepped forwards, probably as concerned about our friend as I was. Will had never missed a day of work before and I doubted he would hand over such an important delivery to a man who knew nothing of the blacksmiths. Charles looked at me as if I had asked him something in a language he didn't understand.

"Will?" he repeated.

"Yes. William," I said, to be clear. "William Turner."

"William Turner?" I heard Elizabeth's voice and we all turned to look as she made her way down stairs in a beautiful new dress and her hair piled elegantly on top of her head. She smiled at me as she came down; I seemed to have amused her.

"Elizabeth!" he father exclaimed, "you look stunning."

She ignored her father and looked at me. "William Turner," she said again with a look I did not recognise. "Isabelle Norrington, who is this William Turner? You better not have found a suitor at last and neglected to tell me about him."

"Now, I'm not sure that's entirely proper…" Governor Swann began, looking flustered by Elizabeth's boldness.

My mouth dropped open. George cleared his throat. "Isabelle, would you like a…"

I held my hand up to silence him. "Wait a moment please George," I said and turned back to Elizabeth. She was smiling. "Elizabeth," I said slowly. "William Turner. Will. Our Will."

One of her eyebrows raised and the smile stayed on her face. "Oh, Izzy, what are you talking about?"

"Isabelle," George butted in. "Perhaps you should…."

"I'm talking about Will," I cut across the top of him. "Our Will. The one we pulled from the waters on the crossing from England. The one whose ship had been attacked by pirates. The one who works in the blacksmith with Mr Brown! I-"

"Isabelle," Governor Swann said gently. "Do you mean that young boy we found on the crossing from England eight years ago? His name was not William Turner. We will never know his name because he was dead when we pulled him from the waters. Charles Adderson is Mr Brown's new apprentice."

"What?" I whispered. That couldn't be true. I could picture his face as clear as day. "No…"

George pushed a cup of something warm in to my hands. "Drink this, Isabelle," he said. "You're getting worked up."

"No." I started to protest, taking the drink in to my hands and studying the blank faces of Elizabeth and Governor Swann. I searched for any sign that they were playing some kind of trick on me. "I…"

"Isabelle, are you alright?" Governor Swann asked me. "You seem very pale."

I nodded, but my hands felt shaky. I raised the warm teacup to my lips in an effort to mask it. "I bumped in to James Norrington this morning," George said, taking my elbow to steady the hand that was holding the teacup so that I could drink from it more easily. "He said that Isabelle had been feverish at night and woken up from a very vivid dream, not quite feeling herself."

I took a sip.

It was nice, but it didn't taste much like tea.

I took a few more sips.

Perhaps George had just over-sweetened it.

I felt more relaxed and was grateful to him for it. I smiled at him. "That's right," I said feeling rather dazed. "So I did."

"Is it possible then," Governor Swann asked, "that you just dreamt up this William Turner."

I took another sip.

"Yes," I said. "Yes I suppose I must have done. How odd. It felt so real."

"It wasn't real," George told me and I looked at him. "None of it was real."

"I know," I nodded so that he didn't think I had gone mad. "It just felt real."

Elizabeth laughed in a kind of strange delight. "What an imagination you have, Izzy," she said, taking my arm and marching out of the house with me. "You must tell me all about it. It sounds fascinating."

"It was long," I smiled. "I don't remember much."

"But William Turner-"

"Had quite a lot of love for you, if I remember correctly," I said and she giggled. We climbed in to the waiting carriage. "Which reminds me, my brother is planning to propose to you. Today."

Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth. "What…?"

"I just thought you should know." I said.

"I-I… I don't know what to say," she said. "My father will be pleased."

"Yes, he will." I paused. "But how do you feel?"

"Well…" she hesitated. "I'm very flattered, obviously, but… I don't know. This is all so sudden. I don't…"

"You love him," I finished for her.

"No," she looked surprised by my words. "But I do get on with him. It's a fine match."

Her words surprised me as much as mine seemed to have surprised her. There was something different about Elizabeth. Or maybe I had just though that she was something other than what she was. "I would have thought you'd want to marry somebody you loved," I said and she laughed.

"Oh, Izzy," she patted my hand fondly. "You read too much."

I looked away from her and out of the window. It was still so strange to me that I was having trouble shaking free from the shackles of that complicated dream. With the addition of William Turner, Elizabeth's response would have been very different. Elizabeth herself was very different because she was in love. But William wasn't real. That love wasn't real and so it looked as if Elizabeth was set to marry my brother.

I looked across the carriage to where George sat. He smiled. I smiled back.

Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you can :)

LV xx

Review Replies:

horsiepirate- THANK YOU FOR READING! I like cliffhangers too, haha :P And no, I don't like Blackbeard either!

xXSparrabelleXx- I HOPE THIS CLEARS THINGS UP FOR YOU A BIT M'LOVE.

thEcrEAtOr23- Wow, Quebec? That's amazing! I hope you had a fab time :D