Please note that this chapter has adult descriptions in it. For the explicit version, please read this on Archive of Our Own. If you wish for a more censored version, please read this on fanfictiondotnet.

Birds of a Feather

The Curse of the Black Pearl

Chapter Forty

Where to Draw the Line

One benefit Will had being on a Navy ship instead of a pirate crewed one was that every day there was time for a nice strong cup of tea. He was so glad of it that Will had to stop himself from running as he headed below where the hot cup of deliciousness awaited.

William Turner loved tea. Steeped for five minutes, one and a half spoons of sugar, cooled to a nice lukewarm temperature, and never a drop of milk. He wasn't sure where he had gotten the affinity as neither his parents nor his friends had a particular fondness for it. In fact, his mother outright hated the stuff.

…Maybe. Honestly these days Will didn't know what to believe of his mother. Both she and his father had lied so much to him, but there was something more deceptive and consistent in his mother's betrayal. She had every opportunity to help him and set him up for success when she found out she was dying and ultimately she had just left him for the wolves and he didn't know why.

Perhaps she actually even liked tea?

Will shook his head as he passed into a hallway towards the galley. Up ahead he could see the produce room, which was easy to spot as while the door existed, it almost never was closed.

He refocused on the tea awaiting him and the other sailors. Will really did adore the stuff, and seeing as Elizabeth was one of many heirs (or rather her sons would be) to the Skylark Tea House fortune, she had kept his addictions well fueled for the last eight years.

Actually it was a bit of a comfort knowing how much he liked tea and could relate to the Skylark family over it. He wasn't sure exactly how he would get more of Elizabeth's uncles and grandparents to accept him as a member of the family when he wed Elizabeth. (His stomach flipped as he once more marvelled over how he could now say when instead of if.)

Will knew that at least it wouldn't be hard to win over Elizabeth's Uncle Simon. Simon Skylark – the second youngest Skylark child – had moved his family to Antigua five years earlier to campaign for abolitionism. He had gotten into a feud with his father that – on paper, if not in practice – had since cooled down over the use of slavery on the Skylark tea plantations. Since settling in Antigua, Simon operated the only slave-free sugar plantation in the country. But it meant a difficult life for the family, his three daughters, Jane, Emma, and Katherine (aka Katie) being unable to marry, and their home having been burned down by racist neighbors twice. Simon always said that it didn't matter what he and his family suffered because those in slavery had it worse tenfold and that needed to stop.

Will mused how Governor Swann no doubt felt immense guilt about the dynamics of slavery beliefs in the family. Before her death, Katherine had convinced Simon to join her and Rebecca in the abolitionist campaign. The Governor for the sake of his politics did not actively fight against the institution of slavery (something Rebecca had apparently dragged him through the mud on in several occasions,) but he himself refused to participate in the trade. Meanwhile, Will had heard that Nathaniel Swift point blank refused to discuss the matter, even when it was pointed out that he must have seen things during his time in Africa.

But Will could tell Simon was a good man from the many times he had come to visit Weatherby, Elizabeth, and Philip. In a strange way, Philip had always been counted among the Skylark grandchildren as if somehow the Swifts owed the Skylarks a grandchild. But Simon especially had a fondness for the misfit boys who ran around with his niece, Elizabeth and so had a friendly relationship with Will and Philip. Simon would be quick for Will to win over.

It was the other Skylarks who were the problem.

He supposed Michael would be easy enough. The man was still shy, reserved, and didn't like conflict. If Elizabeth said Will was the man she would marry, Uncle Michael would say, very good and carry on as if nothing was the matter. In fact, Will was almost certain that the older man was intimidated by Will already, the blacksmith's apprentice having stood taller and stronger than Michael when they met.

Will had actually already met the whole Skylark family, minus some distant poor relations on Agnes' side. When Will was fourteen, Elizabeth and Philip had convinced the Governor to bring Will along on a three month trip to England to visit their families. They had made visits to Philip's Swift grandmother and each of his aunts, and in turn they visited the house of each of the Skylark Uncles. Finally they attended a large dinner party at the Skylark manor where Elizabeth's grandfather, Charles had invited his brothers and all of their families.

It was a very awkward dinner for Will when the Skylarks kept thinking he was a servant. He ended up escaping to the garden and skipped the dinner portion altogether.

Fortunately he was later joined by Elizabeth and some of her more rowdy cousins, Lily (John's daughter), John and Lucas (Andrew's sons – neither of whom Will liked), Nicholas (Edward's), Jane and Alexander (Simon's), and Seth (Michael's.) They all had their own fun, passing around a few bottles of bourbon in the garden that John had stolen from Charles' liquor cabinet.

If Will's poor status didn't make the Skylarks hate him, then the little drunken bonfire party in the garden that ultimately got pinned on him by John definitely put Will as Agnes Skylark's enemy number one. He wouldn't be surprised if upon receiving word of Elizabeth's potential engagement to Will that Agnes would make the dangerous crossing of the Atlantic just to straighten the matter out.

Probably would bring a granddaughter or two along for Philip. Since Elizabeth was a woman, when Weatherby passed, the Swann fortune would go to Philip as the closest (and only known) male heir. It was a golden opportunity that Agnes had tried to take advantage of when the Swanns lived in England. Even during the three month visit, Agnes kept trying to push one Skylark granddaughter after another towards Philip.

It was a bit of a disaster.

Michael's daughter Sabrina had fallen for Philip, but he barely noticed her even if they were the only people in the room.

Philip had gotten a bit moon-eyed over Andrew's daughter, Olivia in the same way he had over Rachel Brown, but Olivia thought she was far too good for him.

Edward's daughters, Georgina and Lydia had gotten in a vicious spat over who Philip favored, only for him to have to awkwardly announce to everyone that he was interested in neither.

John's daughter, Lily actually hit it off well with Philip and for a little bit the families thought an arrangement could work out. However, when Lily learned of Philip's desire to be a missionary, she found that wasn't a life she wanted to live and moved on to greener pastures more to her tastes.

In hindsight, Will was starting to understand why Philip had never courted anyone before Syrena. Between the Skylark granddaughters being shoved at him by Agnes, Hannah Woodberry being just assumed as his future wife without anyone consulting Philip in the matter, the way too frequent suggestion to wed Elizabeth who was basically his sister, and the rejection by Rachel Brown in favor of his best friend, Philip had a very depressing view of his future love life. It was actually quite sad that the child of a grand love story had such bleak prospects.

No wonder when Philip found a girl who he liked and liked him in return for exactly who he was that it barely took a day to start pronouncing true love.

Will was so consumed by his ponderings of the Skylark family that he didn't notice the pair of arms until they had grabbed him. His assailant was fast as he was yanked inside the produce room. They slammed the door behind Will and shoved him up against it. His instinct was to pull his dagger, but that urge disappeared when he caught sight their face. Lips crashed together and he murmured their name.

"Elizabeth."

She held him up against the door, her lips so soft and hungry. Elizabeth reached up and pulled his head closer to her, demanding and questing.

"How… could we have… wasted… all these… years?" she managed between breaks for breath. She shuddered as he nuzzled the soft skin of her neck and grazed gently over her collarbone, "Oh Will. More. Please. More."

For a moment Will was below the deck of the Interceptor tasting and exploring Elizabeth for the first time. He was learning the meaning behind each moan in her repertoire. Rough blacksmith hands grasping virgin Governor's daughter. Their bodies together in a way that was so wrong and so right and edging towards something so much more.

But then he was back in the present and his mind sound and logical… or as sound as it could be under Miss Swann's intoxicating spell.

"Elizabeth," Will pressed a series of kisses on the line of her jaw, "we can't."

"Yes, we can," her head lulled back, hands tightening their grab on his head to pull him even closer. "We finally can. I am yours and you are mine. Forever."

"Forever," he echoed.

His hands drifted down to her waist, and he pulled her against him. Will could feel his desire arisingand nearly growled when the little minx rolled her hips against his.

"Tell me you love me, Will."

"I love you, Elizabeth."

"Tell me we'll always be like this."

"We'll always be like this," he nipped at her earlobe before turning the attention of his lips to the sensitive skin under her ear.

Elizabeth shuddered, "Tell me you want me like you've never wanted another."

"I want your heart, body, and soul."

She gripped his shoulders and gave in to pleasure of the moment, "Tell me what your answer was going to be when we were down below."

Will froze. In all that had happened after the events of what transpired below the Interceptor, Will hadn't had a moment to dwell on what had transpired. That flurry of lips, hands, skin, and touch. He had lost himself in that moment the same way he had lost himself in this moment. But like then, he was broken from the spell by a cold splash of water dealt to him by Elizabeth Swann. Now, it was the demand to answer her question, but then, below the deck of the Interceptor had been a life changing offer.

"You can have me," Elizabeth told him, her eyes dark and serious, her bosom heaving with passion. "If you want me, Will Turner, you can have me. Right here, right now. Will you take me?"

It was a question he never got to answer. At that moment they heard Gibbs yelling down the hallway for them and off to the battle of cutlery canons and shirtless ministers they went.

But now when it all had settled, Elizabeth was back in his arms, eyes dark, heaving bosom, demanding to know the answer he left unchosen. He had pulled back from her and just held her, staring at her, words scarce to grace his tongue.

Elizabeth's eyes never broke from his, "Would you have done it?"

Will sighed and since he was pinned to the door, gently used his grip on her hips to move her a little away from him, "I'm sorry. I got caught up in the moment."

She shook her head, "That's not answering my question."

"I'm aware of that fact."

"Will."

"Elizabeth," he echoed in the same serious and slightly whiny tone.

A small smile spread across her lips, "Fine, but I will get an answer from you some day."

"I'm sure you will," he chuckled. "But today, I think we need to reevaluate how this is going to work going forward."

"What needs to be figured out?"

"You know… how far things are going to go."

"Oh I intend to go all the way," she took a seductive step forward and tried to kiss him. She was surprised when he turned his head away to avoid it. "What's wrong?"

"I think you and I aren't on the same page," Will said.

She looked at him like she was approaching a wild stallion, "And what page is that?"

"Look, I know there's a lot of rumors going around right now about the extent of our physical relationship, but just because the public assumes something has transpired doesn't mean-"

"Will!" Elizabeth snapped. "What. Is. It?"

"…I'm not going to make love to you until our wedding night."

Silence.

Long, eternal silence.

She just stood there in front of him, pale, unblinking, unseeing. It was like she had been replaced by a sculpture made of ice and wind: cold and intangible. She just stood there… staring.

"Elizabeth?" Will finally dared to ask.

And she spoke.

"I'm actually going to murder Philip."

Will laughed but the look Elizabeth shot him told him that had been the wrong mood.

"Elizabeth, this has nothing to with Philip."

"Oh, bollocks, of course it does."

"No, it doesn't. I believe that a man should honour his wife by laying with his wife. It's something special to tie them together, a secret, a bond that they and they alone share."

"It's bloody society and you just regress into Miss Swann this and oh I'm just a lowly blacksmith's apprentice that."

Will huffed, knowing he was never going to win that argument, so he went with another tactic.

"How would you feel if I had slept with Rachel?"

Elizabeth was quiet.

"I'm… I'm sorry?" she looked hurt, startled, and confused.

"Rachel Brown," Will said. "The woman I used to-"

"I know who Rachel Brown is. You don't have to remind me."

"But I do because that is exactly the point. I have to be honest with you, Elizabeth. There was a point in my life where I thought she would be my wife. If Louisiana hadn't happened…"

"I would have lost you."

Will sighed. He considered his words carefully.

"I love you. I always have and always will. I want you to be the one and only, and as selfish as it sounds, I would like to be the one and only for you. But you have no idea what fate has in store. No one would have ever guessed you and I would cross paths, much less have those paths intertwine. But there is always a chance that our paths could be separated and that somewhere out there there's people that you and I will love more than each other."

"Impossible."

"Improbable but not impossible."

Elizabeth just shook her head, "So you love me, but you won't prove that to me physically."

He looked at her for her choice of words, "If I haven't proven to you the depth of my love by now, then I'm never going to be good enough for you. I don't want to tie you down into something you don't truly want."

She blinked, "Do you- Do you truly think I would ever leave you? That you'd somehow become not enough?"

"I'm not a pirate, Elizabeth. Not truly. When we return to Port Royal, I'm going to be a blacksmith. I'll provide a simple and likely uneventful life for the two of us. If that's not enough for you…"

He expected her to interrupt him, but she didn't. She just stared off into the distance, thinking, processing, disgusting the future before her.

Did she want that uneventful life? She had felt such joy and freedom dancing with Jack by the bonfire, bonding with Syrena, holding that medallion over the side of the boat with Barbossa, fighting by Will's side with sword and cannon and cutlery.

But that wouldn't be life with Will.

Then she looked at him. She looked at that boy she found in the water all those years ago. The one who had bonded with her over the loss of mothers. The one who had played with her and Philip – making him smile again after losing his parents – on the crossing from London. The boy she had grown up with. Whom she had told her secrets, vented her frustrations, shared in her joys and griefs. Who had followed her back to England to be judged under the disapproving gazes of the Skylarks. Who cursed the name Beckett and Bartholomew as if their abused kin had been his own.

The boy who fought Jack Sparrow over her honour. Who endured oceans and pirates and heathen gods just to save her.

She loved the idea of Will the pirate, but at the end of the day it wasn't the pirate that drew her.

It was Will.

It had always been Will and it always would be.

James wasn't enough even though he was brave, handsome, a great sailor and swordsman.

Jack wasn't enough even though he was pirate and passion and wouldn't hesitate to give into her lusts.

Philip wasn't enough even though in so many ways he should have been her perfect match (setting aside the adoptive brother bond that ruined any chance of that to begin with.)

She could see futures with all of them, but they all fell short.

Because they weren't Will.

Will was a different sort of freedom, the sort that she had been raised under. The freedom that loving a person so completely and unconditionally gave you. There was no acting, just being. No sacrifice, just compromise.

There was no Elizabeth Swann without Will Turner.

"I love you for exactly who you are," Elizabeth raised up and cupped his face. Her thumb stroked his soft cheek prickled by the roughness of his beard, "For everything and every way you are. I couldn't ever leave that."

Will smiled, "Then unfortunately that means loving the part of me that does not wish to consummate our love until we are bound by matrimony."

Elizabeth sighed, "Can I love it but not like it?"

"That sounds reasonable enough. But there is one thing you need to know."

"What's that?"

He leaned in close so his breath was hot on her ear.

"When I do have you," he whispered, "it will be so passionately and completely, it will be a month before you can walk straight."

Will enjoyed a little too much the desperate moaning cry she made as he stepped back from her.

"Oh, that is so not fair!" Elizabeth proclaimed.

He smirked, "I mean you are more than welcome to make me as saddle sore as you like on our honeymoon as well."

"William Turner, you are the worst tease," she playfully smacked his chest with the force that was maybe a little not so playful.

Will just chuckled.

She huffed, her expression petulant, but when her eyes met Will's she broke from the charade and joined in his laughed.

"Oh alright," Elizabeth stepped forward and draped her arms around his neck. "Well, if you aren't going to deflower me over a barrel of apples, I would still like to spend time with you. Is there anything we can do that you do approve of?"

Will thought about it, "How about you join me in a cup of tea?"

"That," she stepped back and took his arm like a proper lady. It was a gesture she had seen her mother and father perform lovingly in the past and it brought a warmth to her heart. She didn't often turn to her parents as an example of love over Rebecca and Nathaniel, but maybe she should start. "That I can do."

And as she went off to find a chaperone and a good cup of tea with Will, Elizabeth thought about how much harder than she expected a relationship with him would be.

But she knew it would be worth it.

A/N: Thus step one of my make Will and Elizabeth talk about their relationship issues like normal mature adults comes into play. I do not want to write that angsty bullshit of two people going through heartache by avoiding having just one conversation that would fix everything.

For the record, yes I checked AWE when Will drinks tea in order to make sure he doesn't put milk in his tea. While we don't see the tea be poured and prepared, the liquid did not look light enough for milk or cream to be in it. And yes, I also went back and examined the Will and Elizabeth kisses for patterns. Originally the line was going to be that Will liked to hold Elizabeth's head while kissing, but Will actually didn't really do that and instead Elizabeth tended to hold his, so I changed it to reflect the canonical kissing poses.

…Why am I like this?

Also yeah, part of my time off involved developing the hell out of the Skylark and Swift families. I'll probably append a few family trees to one of these chapters on AO3 if anyone is interested. I promise, you don't have to remember everyone, and I will reiterate people's relationship to Elizabeth or Philip whenever said people are relevant.