Title: I'll Not Abandon You
Rating: PG
Summary: Another Bootstrap/Will one-shot, this time centered around their parting.
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“Here. Take this too,” Bootstrap insisted, placing his knife in his son’s hands. “Now, get yerself to land and stay there. It was always in my blood t’ die at sea, but it was not a fate I wanted for you.”

“It was not a fate you had to choose for yourself, either,” Will reminded him, the pain in his dark brown eyes belying his otherwise stoic expression.

“Ah…” Bootstrap hesitated, unsure of what to say. He’d gone over his excuse many times in his head whenever guilt struck over the years, but now that he actually faced his son, anything he could say in defense sounded utterly pointless. He‘s a grown man now, he reminded himself. For once, just be honest with ‘im. “I could say I did what I had to when I left ye to go pirating,” he began haltingly. “…But it would taste a lie to say it wasn’t what I wanted. Ye owe me nothing, Will. Now go.”

“They’ll know you helped me,” Will protested.

Bootstrap laughed humorlessly. “What more can they do t’ me?” he asked dryly, gesturing around him.

“I take this with a promise,” Will vowed, holding up the knife. “I’ll find a way to sever Jones’ hold on you and not rest until this blade pierces his heart.” There was a slight pause before he continued. “I will not abandon you…I promise.”

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Bill Turner groaned as he woke up and opened his eyes, finding it still completely dark in the room. Being an early-riser might be beneficial while on a ship, but it proved to be very annoying when trying to spend a bit of time at home with one’s family. Groaning again, he shut his eyes and turned over, only to become aware of a third presence in his bed. Further investigation confirmed that said presence was four-year-old William Turner, who was currently sound asleep.

“Kate,” he whispered, gently waking his wife.

Still not fully awake, she turned her head in his general direction. “Hmm?”

“Have ye ever gotten th’ feeling that somethin’s come between us?”

“What are you talking about, Bill?” she mumbled, her voice trailing off as she discovered their son next to her. “Not again…”

Bill cocked an eyebrow, still keeping his voice low. “He does this often?”

“Just recently. He says he can’t sleep in his room, though he refuses to tell me why. I think something’s got him spooked.”

“Well, only one way to fix that…”

“Bill, just let him be. Whatever it is, he’ll grow out of it.”

“I’m afraid I’m not that patient, love,” he replied, grinning slightly. “We set sail again next week, and how am I to enjoy the company of my beautiful wife until then if I’m constantly worried about certain…interruptions?”

He was abruptly silenced by a pillow hitting him in the face. “Now you shush, Bill Turner, before your son hears you. Goodness knows he already hears enough from some of the local men.”

“Precisely why this must end now.” Without another word, he grabbed Will’s shoulder and lightly shook the boy awake. “Will…wake up, lad.”

Will whimpered slightly and mumbled something incoherent before turning over and attempting to go back to sleep.

“Will…Ye seem t’ have somehow made yer way into our bed, lad. As much as we love ye, I’m afraid yer gettin’ quite big, an’ our bed’s only made for two. What say we remedy the situation an’ get ye back to yer own room?”

Will’s eyes shot open at the mention of his room. “I can’t sleep in there, Papa.”

“So I’ve noticed,” Bill replied dryly. “Might I ask why?”

Will bit down on his lower lip and glanced hesitantly at his mother, who had already drifted back into sleep. “I can’t because…” he paused and scooted closer to his father, then whispered, “The pirates’ll get me.”

“Oh, the pirates’ll get ye?” Bill repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes sir.”

Knowing better than to try to argue with the active imagination of a four-year-old, Bill simply sighed, sat up, and pulled on his shirt. “Well, we’re in luck, ‘cause I happen t’ have some experience negotiatin’ with pirates. How about we go see if I can get ‘em out for ye?” Not waiting for Will’s reply, he stood and carried the boy out of the room.

“But Papa, these aren’t jus’ any pirates,” Will protested as they made their way back to his room.

“Oh they’re not, hmm?”

“Nuh-uh. They’re vicious skeleton pirates.”

“Skeleton pirates, ye say?” Bill pretended to contemplate before changing his course and entering the small kitchen. “In that case, we’ll have t’ be much better prepared.” He quickly located a candle and lit it, then performed a brief search of the cabinets. “Ah, this’ll do nicely,” he finally said, handing Will a small wooden dowel. He now carried Will over to the closed door of the boy’s room and set him down on the floor. “Now Will, we must exercise extreme caution when dealin’ with these fiends, but I’ve got a foolproof plan. Think ye can manage?”

Will only swallowed hard once before nodding resolutely. “What must I do, Papa?”

Bill fought back a grin at the boy’s courage. “Well, ye see, pirates o’ this sort thrive off o’ fear. As long as they know yer afraid o’ them, they’ll continue t’ plague ye. So, what ye have to do is, at my signal, burst in there real brave-like an’ declare ‘Avast ye, lubbers! I ain’t afraid o’ no pirates!’ Then, any that’re left, we‘ll take care of.”

“An’ you’ll be right behind me?”

“Aye, lad.”

“…Alright,” Will agreed hesitantly. “I’m ready.”

“Very well, then…go!”

After only a moment’s pause, Will threw open the door to his room and ran in. “Avast, ye lubbers!” he cried, brandishing the dowel like a sword. “I ain’t afraid o’ no pirates!”

“Check behind th’ curtains, Will,” Bill ordered, making a dramatic show of checking under the bed.

The boy ran over the curtains and thrust them open. “They’re gone!” he exclaimed in surprise. “It worked!”

“Aye, ye sure showed them, lad,” Bill agreed, placing a hand on Will’s shoulder. “I bet they won’t dare show their faces ‘ere again.”

“Yep…” Will yawned. “We showed ‘em…real good…”

Bill scooped his son up into his arms and placed him back in his bed. “Now, since the evil pirates have been vanquished, I think it’s far past bedtime for little boys. Agreed?”

“Aye…” Will murmured, closing his eyes. Just as Bill turned to leave, the boy spoke again. “…Papa?”

“Aye, lad?”

“Jus’ in case they come back…will you stay with me? Jus’ for tonight?”

Bill nodded and sat down on the stool next to the boy’s bed. Oh well; it wasn’t like he would’ve been able to go back to sleep anyway. “Aye, I can do that. Go to sleep, Will. I’ll watch over ye.”

Will nodded and nestled into his sheets once again, letting out a small sigh as he slowly drifted into sleep. As he sat there, Bill found himself marveling at how small and peaceful and…vulnerable his son looked. Hesitantly, he reached out to brush some hair out of Will’s face, then leaned over and kissed him lightly on the forehead. The one thing he most deeply regretted about the life he led was that he had so little time with his family, but it was for their sakes that he led such a life. He gently stroked the boy’s cheek with his rough hand, causing him to stir slightly.

“Papa…?” Will muttered without opening his eyes. “You’re not leaving me, are you?”

“No, Will, I’m not,” he replied quietly. “Go back to sleep.”

“Are you ever going to leave me?”

Bill hesitated this time. “Will…ye know my job requires that I be away sometimes…I can’t always be here…”

“I know, Papa, but you’ll always come back, right? You won’t leave for good?”

“No, Will, I’d not do that to ye,” he replied, placing a reassuring hand on Will’s. “Nor yer mother. I love ye both too much.”

“…Promise?”

“I promise, lad. I’ll not abandon ye. Now get some sleep.”

“I love you, Papa.”

“I love ye too, William.”

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Bootstrap fought back tears as he was struck with the full weight of his son's words: it was the same promise he’d made nearly two decades ago and failed so miserably to uphold. He opened his mouth to reply, to say anything that might make it better, but he was too late.

His son was gone.

I'm bumping these for you guys since I've been posting reminders in the threads with writings with no ratings.

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I put a rating....?

Oh, did you mean in the title of it? I can change it, if you like.

No, no --- you were perfectly fine, I just wanted to bump your fics since I pushed it down while reminding OTHERS to put ratings. It's not you.

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THE HALLOWFEST 2010
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Ah...okeyday

Just making sure I hadn't done anything wrong.

Okay, 30 views, and no comments for PotR?
I want your opinions, people! I'm not afraid of criticism. In fact, I welcome it as long as it's constructive. I'm always looking for ways to get better, so please help me out.

(Or, on the rare chance that you found nothing wrong with it, ye can tell me that too! An authoress is always pleased to hear her work is appreciated )

AWW!!!

that was so sweet! I can so see a little Will talking about 'vicious skeleton pirates'! must have been pretty scary for him to see the real thing! lol!

I think that this was very well written, and flowed together nicely.

great job with this one potr! *thumbs up* 10/10!

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<center>“Envy consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander, and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed.”
at one point, I was alejandrah.

Okay!

Here you go:

First of all, I love this line: “Have ye ever gotten th’ feeling that somethin’s come between us?” It's SO Bootstrap, and I love the sort of pun-ish quality. That was one of the highlights of it, for me. And Will is such a funny earnest little four-year-old! He reminds me a lot of my little brother.

I'm trying desperately to think of something to criticize, since I know from experience that writers do like that sort of thing, but I haven't come up with anything much besides this: When Will talks about skeleton pirates, I would maybe add in a bit of a reference to Bootstrap's days when he WAS a skeleton pirate. Some foreshadowing, or the present-Bootstrap pausing to reflect on it or something, you know?

Awesome fic, I always like your stuff

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^Well, was Bootstrap ever a skeleton pirate? That was never quite clear. I thought he didn't take any gold.


Anyway...I loved it too. Reading about 4-year-old-Will is so fun, he is hillarious and sounds very cute. Especially with the fear-of-pirates thing. I can just imagine his face when he leaps into a closet to 'scare to pirates'.

One thing that confused me...Is Bootstrap a pirate yet? And even if he is, talking like one would be a bit odd in public society if you weren't a known pirate...I think, anyway. I'm pretty sure you know more on the subject than I do.

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<center> all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us


Thank you for five-plus wonderful years of obsession, friendship and fun

*huggles reviewers*

See? It's easy!

Mel: Thank you! I'm glad someone liked that line. It was one of those lines that kinda wrote itself; it just felt right to put it there. And I had originally intended to put some kind of reflection on Bill's part about being cursed, but as I wrote it, it just never seemed to have a place that it'd fit in. I wanted the ending to be fairly brief, so I didn't want anything in there that I didn't know how to write. I have a kinda odd method of writing, in that I really just let it write itself. I start with a very basic idea of what I want, and then just plunge into it. What happens happens, and what doesn't probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. I didn't really know how to word it, so I just left it out.

RA: Yes, Bootstrap was a "skeleton pirate," or else they wouldn't have needed his blood (and he wouldn't have survived at the bottom of the ocean long enough to make a deal with Jones). He wasn't one at this point, as the treasure was not found until Will was 10, at which point Bootstrap was already long-gone. No one's really sure when Bootstrap officially made the switch from "merchant sailor" to "pirate," though. I generally just leave it vague as to just what he was doing away from home, as I doubt he ever discussed his work with his family anyway. He was a sailor, and he sent money home. That was enough.
As far as talking like a pirate, I don't think Bootstrap ever really talks or talked like a pirate. Barbossa talks like a pirate; Bootstrap talks like a common sailor. Plus, everyone "in public society" pretty much knew that Bootstrap was a sailor, a profession that was already looked down on quite a bit. When men got desperate, they turned to the sea. The able seamen were basically viewed as the men who couldn't get a job on land and weren't learned enough to rise to a position of power. Very few little boys were encouraged to become common merchant sailors in those days. You either studied hard to become a good little captain or commodore, or you became an apprentice in a more lucrative trade. So Bootstrap really just talks like a lower-class commoner.
But I digress. Basically, no. Talking as he did probably wouldn't have drawn much attention in those days.


Again, thanks so much, guys! As I said before, an authoress is always pleased to hear her work is appreciated.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes the story's just there and you'd rather not change anything. Anyway, good job, and you're welcome!

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Oh My Goodness! That is soo sad, and awesome, and...I love it! I too am finding it very hard to critisize, I did think that you would put the skeleton pirate reference again later on in the storie, but I can totally understand what you mean about it not fitting anywhere, that happens to me allot...More than Two thumbs up!

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NeverAlone

We are The Redeemed, we are the ones who are free! We belong to Jesus! We are now alive, and in this world we will shine! We belong to Jesus! ~ "We Shine" by Unhindered

Ohh, I love the way you write, potr!
I giggled so much whilst reading it, just for the image of four year old Will flailing his arms around and talking about pirates behind his curtains.

Seriously...nothing cooler than that.
Keep up the great style, and the fun one-shots!

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"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination" - Oscar Wilde

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"Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles."
"I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls."
Married Finn Jones on March 24th, 2009