A/N: Alright, so I was watching POTC 4 and I was wondering if I should add that movie on to this one... with a few modifications, of course... Any opinions?

Disclaimer: I don't own POTC

. O f . T i m e

-Decisions -

Will nodded.

"I want to meet my dad," he said. I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out whether he was telling the truth or not.

"But... You live with him..." I attempted, trying to gauge if he was just reacting to something he had heard.

He shook his head at me, shooting me a small glare. I felt my eyes widen in slight shock.

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid, Captain Gabrielle. I can see how I don't look like the man my mother says is my father. I can tell by the way he looks at me that I'm not his. And I heard that my father was a pirate, so I want you and Captain Zena to bring me to him," he said. I stared at him for a long time, trying to figure out why. Zena, of course, didn't hesitate.

"Of course, hun. And what of your mother?" she asked. I nodded, admitting that she had a brilliantly good question.

"Bring her back to my step-father. He's the man she loves, after all, and I don't want her to get hurt," he says. Me and my sister shot each other a look, and I decided to take over.

"Unfortunately, we can't do that. We can, however, drop her off at Tortuga to find her own way back. What she meant was, when we drop her off, what do you want to do? Stay here and become a pirate or return to Mister Thorn with your mom?" I asked. The kid grinned at me.

"I want to become a pirate!" he shouted, before starting to jump around in a traditional little-kid manner.

I held back a shudder, and stepped out of the cabin, leaving my sister to deal with the child.

I walked out to face the crew, pleasantly surprised to find that we were at sea already and that, despite the fact that Jack seemed to be drunk 24/7, he made a brilliant Captain.

So I went up the few stairs to the quarter deck, observing mutely the content look on the man's face as he steered the ship.

"Any reason ye be watchin' me, luv?" he asked, shocking me out of my revery. He had tilted his head towards me slightly, his eyes staring right through mine.

"You seem so at ease," I said finally, after a beat or two. He grinned at this.

"Aye, well, I've been doin' it for a long time," he explained. I nodded, directing my eyes to the horizon. It was the middle of the day, and the heat was stifling. The sun was up high above our heads and the sky was a clear blue, empty of all sorts of clouds.

I was glad we were at sea, where the breeze was strong and cool.

I didn't know where Jack was taking us, but he seemed to have a fixed destination in mind with his compass.

"What's the destination?" I asked softly. The endless rolling waves all around us, the almost mechanical effectiveness the crew had, the sheer freedom of it all made me feel calmer.

A pirate's life for me.

"'Xactly where we ought to be, luv," he answered softly, winking at me.

I couldn't stop a small blush from rising to my cheeks as thoughts of a considerably less than clean consistency arose.

In bed? I didn't say. What I actually said sounded much sassier and considerably less sexy, unfortunately.

"Catching the Black Pearl?"

Jack Sparrow gave me a sidelong look, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips.

"Soon, darlin'. First, I thought we ought to test yer crew," he stated. I 'hmm'ed thoughtfully.

"Does that mean we're planning to plunder and pillage with Lizard-breath and the kid onboard?" The nickname I gave Elizabeth earned me another sidelong look, this one a bit more confused than the previous one.

"Well, Lizzie's been out of commission for so long now, we ought to test her skills," he stated, looking back out to the horizon.

"And the boy?" I urged, because I knew my sister would bite my head off if I didn't secure his fate.

"We'll return him to his... father," Jack said decidedly. My eyebrows rose to my hairline at that. Did he mean the boy's actual father? Or was he unaware that I knew who that actually was?

"You mean the New Davy Jones? You have got to be kidding me."

Jack's arm jerked, like he was surprised by my knowledge of this matter.

"Who told you?" he asked softly, a layer of pain buried deep.

"Zena, while we were chatting after outrunning the lobsters. Before you caught up," I explained. He nodded understandingly, and amended his statement.

"I meant we'll drop 'im wit' mister... whateverhisnamewas."

And still, I shook my head.

"The kid won't stand for it. I tried to convince him already, but he really wants to meet his dad. His real dad, the one that became Davy Jones," I stated.

Sparrow frowned deeply. His eyebrows got really close together, almost meeting in the middle. It made him look like a pouty kid.

It was hilarious.

"We can't bring 'im t' th' wimp. A pirate ship ain't for a kid, luv," he argued.

"That's what I said!" was it? I couldn't remember, Jack's eyes seemed to be piercing into my soul, "but he still has the right to meet his real dad. Let Zena handle the details."

I stepped closer, right into his space, and put a hand on his bicep, our gaze meeting.

(AN: And they stared soulfully at each other like Dean and Castiel or John and Sherlock or Stiles and Derek, then they kissed and had hot, steamy, passionate sex right there on the deck and lived happily ever after. Just kidding, sorry, I couldn't help it)

"I suppose," Sparrow agreed after a beat, looking back out to sea.

Had I imagined the weird tension? Most likely, it sounded like something I'd do.

"I'll go share the news."

With that, I left him to his musings and returned to my sister and the boy.

Little Will was curled up on our bed, sound asleep.

Zena and I had ensconced ourselves into the adjoining closet and were discussing the situation in 'hushed voices', which was basically code for 'whisper-screaming'.

"He's a kid, he can't stay on a pirate ship!" she hissed.

"Well, it's certainly better than staying with his mother!" I snapped back.

We weren't making much progress, but I seemed to be wearing her down the more the kid spoke in his sleep.

He kept on mumbling things about how the other kids at school were bullying him for all his pirate talk, which both Zena and I could relate to.

We'd always been the odd ones out, which we knew could be painful; especially when you didn't have a friend to talk to. At least we'd had each other, though we'd been in different classes.

If what we'd learned from Elizabeth (what little we heard from her) and what the little dude was sleep-talking about, he didn't seem to have anyone.

Apparently, it would be a few centuries yet before pirates became popular.

Zena eventually sighed, looking at me with a tired tilt to her eyes and mouth.

"Alright, you win. But only until we find his father," she insisted. I nodded, (had a brief moment of disbelief for the fact that I'd voted to keep the kid) and we shook on it.