Disinclined to acquiesce to your request

Ten years later...

2016-06-11T00:20:13Z

Ten years. One hundred and twenty months. Three thousand six hundred and fifty days.

The first time Elizabeth counted, it seemed an insurmountable number no matter how she measured the time. Now, with only a few hours left of the thousands she and little Will had waited, time seemed to speed up and then slow down to a snail's pace by turns.

As they had so often over the years, months, hours, minutes, her eyes drift to the chest holding Will's heart and she feels her own skip a beat. How will he look, back in this world? Happy, whole, alive?

"Will we have to put it back in?" her son asks, his small arm snaking around her neck so he too can stare at the chest, an evening time indulgence they each had frequently allowed the other. Elizabeth slants a look at him, a smile in her eyes, and he gives her his sweet lopsided grin.

An uncharitable voice in the back of her head wonders if they will still have this time when the reason for it is gone. Whether or not her son will transfer all his time and affection to Will once he's home, the way he'd quickly forgotten her existence whenever the Dutchman dropped anchor in the Milliways lake. She knows that won't be the case -- Will would never let it be -- but a different part of Elizabeth thinks it would be all right even if it did. Both of them deserved it, after all. And she knows they'll always come back to her in the end.

"Mom?"

Elizabeth refocuses on Will Jr., smiling at the light in his eyes. Oh, how excited he is. How excited they both are. She pulls him up beside her and looks again at the chest, pretending to think about this irreverent, almost funny question he has asked so many times before.

"And if we do?" she asks, lowering her voice and widening her eyes. "Will you raise the lid... scoop up his heart... feel it beating, beating, beating in your hands... and..."

"No, no! Mother! Stop!" Will protests, starting to squirm with mock disgust. "Nooooooooo!" He pauses. "You do it."

She smiles. "If I must. For that, my very dear boy, is how much I love your father."

"You must," he exhales, starting to laugh. "You really, really must."

They both quiet down and listen to the waves beating against the shore. Not long now. Only a handful of hours.

Elizabeth leans against Will Jr and starts to tell him the tale of how she spotted a boy drifting in the middle of the ocean and all that followed.

It is their favorite story, and soon it will have a new chapter.

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try_corsets @ 2015-09-15T20:16:00

2015-09-16T00:25:50Z

The door opens with a bang, blown against the wall by wind and water, and Elizabeth jumps through with Will Jr. on her hip, raising her sword as she turns to fight off someone trying to grab them. The look of surprise on that someone's face only grows when he finds himself stabbed in the chest. Elizabeth plants her foot on his stomach and shoves him back off her blade with a grunt before slamming the door behind her.

Gasping for breath, she lets Will Jr. slide down her body until his little feet are firmly on the ground. She crouches, looking him in the eye, and says, "Remember. Find Uncle Mike. Stay with him or near Bar. Or James, if he's here. Understand? Good. I'll be back." She quickly kisses his forehead. "Soon."

With that she storms back through the door, sword raised, letting out a loud piratical yell for good measure.

Time passes.

Elizabeth does return, if not precisely soon. Hopefully Will Jr. found Mike. First, however, she needs to wash the blood off her hands.

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[OOC: Playlist]

2012-08-30T14:19:21Z

( King! )

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try_corsets @ 2012-04-26T21:17:00

2012-04-27T01:31:16Z

[OOC: A suitable amount of time after this.]

The decision is not final yet, not without Will's consent, even though they had discussed the name at length, but Elizabeth begins calling her son Will as soon as he arrives, wailing and kicking like he means to take on all the stormy waters of the world and live to tell the tale.

Will, Jr. is loud, irate, demanding some moments; quiet and almost thoughtful others. Elizabeth couldn't be more proud. Or more anxious to introduce him to his father. There's no telling how long the Dutchman will be able to stay, and once she starts wandering closer and closer to the door to check and see, Guppy and Demeter begin to teach her in earnest what to do with a newborn.

Eventually she is declared well enough for the short trip, and so is little Will. Without another word, Elizabeth scoops up her son -- it is only just beginning to be a thing that doesn't feel unnatural, or an ill fit for her -- and makes for the pirate ship in the lake.

It's morning. She hadn't realized that when she stepped out. The mist is beginning to burn off. Whispering to Will Jr., she tucks his blanket a little closer to his tiny chin. Quick glances spaced between a study of any possible obstacles on the ground give way to a hopeful, searching look in her eyes as she starts to make out details on the Dutchman's hull. Any minute now, she will see what she always longs to see whenever she turns a weather eye on the horizon: her husband, looking out for her.

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