Title: Torment of the Sea: Truth
Part: 13/??
Summary: The truth finally comes out.
Pairing: Jack/Will (and some vague others)
Disclaimer: I don’t own Pirates of the Caribbean, it belongs to Gore Verbinski, Ted Elliot and Terry Russio.
Timeline: Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. No Dead Man’s Chest or End of the World. Yet.
Notes: I live! I promise! I live! I hope everyone is still sticking with this story, I know it's been forever. I moved around, my show ate my life (drove me to drink, and I haven't slept in a month) and it's finals week but I needed a break and some Jack/Will slash. So here it is. Truth. The next installment will be entitled Trust and if it's not out in like...a month, shoot me. Kay?

---

Truth

It was Gibbs, ultimately who decided to approach Will during the watch that night. Although it had been at Ana’s prodding he finally made his way over to where the boy sat looking out over the horizon. “Wha’ are you lookin’ at?” he asked.

“The point where the sky meets the water,” Will replied absently. “Even when the colors change, that line never does.” He looked at Gibbs. “How much did Ana bribe you to come over here?” he asked easily.

The old pirate huffed. “She didn’t have to do nuffin’!” he protested though Will just looked on, vaguely amused. “A’right, so she hinted a lot.” Gibbs muttered something about women and ships that Will ignored. “What happened, lad?”

Will snorted. “What didn’t?” he asked.

Gibbs pursed his lips. “Ah,” he said succinctly. “So he told you.”

The blacksmith turned to the older pirate in astonishment. “Did everyone know but me?” he questioned angrily. Gibbs didn’t have to answer, the overwhelming pity in his expression froze Will from the inside out. “I was, wasn’t I,” he said to himself. “That’s why Jack threw down his blade; because of me.”

“Now lad,” Gibbs hastened to say, but Will cut him off with a harsh gesture.

“No, Gibbs,” Will said. “He kicked me out of the room because he thought I was…mocking him. I understand now.” The blacksmith’s jaw set and he glared out at the innocent horizon. “Fine,” he growled stiffly. “If that’s the way Jack’s going to be, then he can come out here to me.”

“You know that’s not likely to happen,” Gibbs said.

Some of the tension bled out of Will’s shoulders. “No,” he admitted. “But I can dream, can I not?” he whispered softly. Gibbs left him alone out on the deck, searching out Ana in her own cabin, relaying his information in a hushed whisper.

The mulatto’s eyes narrowed dangerously and she stood. “Don’t wait up Joshamee,” she snarled. “And if you give me any of your superstitious bullshite…” she warned when he opened his mouth to comment, “I’m going to kill you myself.” She stormed out of her own room making for Jack’s with intent.

Once she was out of sight lines, Gibbs crossed himself.

-

Ana didn’t knock on her captain’s door, she just barged in on him. Jack turned away from the window where he was standing staring out over the water. “Will,” he said without looking, “I thought I…”

“Shut up, Cap’n,” Ana Maria said before he could embarrass himself. “You and I must have words.” She shut the door behind her with a quiet but foreboding thud.

“None of yours, Ana,” Jack said warningly.

“Bullshite,” she countered in the same tone. “It became my business when William couldn’t perform the duties I gave him because of sleeping on ropes and your conversation.” Jack looked away. “You really think he was mocking you?” she asked him at once.

“Aye,” Jack said harshly. “The boy loves his Elizabeth, don’t you remember his crusade to save her?” he spat at her.

Ana frowned, affecting an injured face and hurt tone. “But Jack,” she said quietly, and the use of his first name brought his head up. “Wouldn’t you come save me if Hector had taken me away from you?”

“Wha..? Annie, of course I would!” He took a step forward, drawing up short at her sudden wide smile. “An..a?” he asked.

“You just admitted you’d come and save me,” she reminded him. “William was doing much of the same thing.”

Jack scoffed. “Aye, but I would hardly go and marry you after.” He quickly backtracked, “no offense.” She laughed at him for a moment, her features softening. “Don’t look at me like that Annie,” he warned.

“Jack…” she said fondly, before abruptly changing tacks again. “If you don’t get your arse out there and apologize to the boy, he will one day move on without you.”

For a long moment Jack was silent, refusing to meet her eyes before finally he said, “what should I care?” Ana drew in a great breath, ready to expel the poison of her words when he waved his hand for her silence. “The boy can do what he likes, can’t he?”

Instead, she slapped him and he grunted in surprise. “If you don’t love him, Jack Sparrow, then my name isn’t Ana Maria Hawkins!” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And if you don’t love Jack Sparrow, then why were you willing to die for him?” Jack didn’t answer. “You can lie to me all you like, Jack…” she said finally, “but to yourself, sometime you’re going to have to tell the truth.”

She left the room then, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He sat heavily, his eyes on the door as 4 bells chimed, then 8, signifying the end of William’s watch. The door didn’t open. He wasn’t going to come.

---

William waited for eight bells to chime and when they did, he froze looking at the cabin door. It didn’t open, not five minutes nor ten minutes after. Jack wasn’t going to come. He turned around away from the room he had once considered half his to curl up in the ropes that he had made his bed in the night before.

The door opened behind him and closed with a solid thud. Against William’s better judgment, he turned and looked Jack in the eye. “What do you want?” he asked, neither giving nor taking.

Jack steeled himself, before finally giving William the crumb he’d been searching for. “The truth.”

---

TBC in “Trust”