Fanfiction: All Your Nights Belong to Me: Chapter 33!
Title: All Your Nights Belong to Me
Style: Prose
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG - 13
Length: Ficlet
Pairings: Beckington
Warnings: AU, AWE, Slash, Unanswered Questions, etc…
Authoress: cassiopaya
Characters: James Norrington and Cutler Beckett with a supporting cast.
Word Count: 616
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Dedication: ophelivia
Summary: James Norrington is given a choice: he can serve Lord Beckett during the day or he can serve him at night.
Notes: Chapter 33, here be plot and more mystery! Also, I torture poor Norrington again. :)
Fic Index: http://cassiopaya.livejournal.com/61458.html
***
Morning came suddenly and James nuzzled his face into the pillow, not quite ready to face the day. Stretching his legs and popping his joints from sleep, he rolled over and groaned. Rolling back over onto his belly, wide awake, Norrington inspected his welted bum and lightly touched his skin. It was still hot to the touch, but Mr. Mercer’s treatment seemed to have kept much of the swelling down, and bruises had not yet begun to purple his backside.
Sighing, James eased himself to the side of the bed and dismounted to his feet without ever brushing his buttocks across the edge of the mattress. He looked for his clothes about the floor and grunted as he picked them up, stretching the skin over his welts. Norrington dressed with care and thought that if he could manage the rest of the day without sitting, he should be fine. James was looking forward to setting out to sea and away from Beckett’s lechery.
Although his coats put weight on his backside, James found he could walk without too much stiffness and gathered up his feelings and locked them away before leaving the room. The hallway was deserted and James walked towards Beckett’s office and passed just close enough to hear voices inside. He would have to sneak about there another time. Turning the corner, he came upon the staircase and began to descend. Stopping in mid-step, Norrington saw the woman from yesterday was there at the foot of the stairs.
She met his eyes deliberately, holding a finger tip to her lips, and turned about, walking away. James stood still, unable to move, until the woman threw a look back over her shoulder. It was a signal to follow and Norrington nearly bounded down the steps after her. The woman was surprisingly quick as the hem of her skirts swished about the casement of the doorway leading into one of the parlors before passing out of sight. James hurried after her and into the blue parlor.
“James,” she breathed, as if they were lovers, and clung immediately to him. Hands limp at his sides in shock as she pressed her face against his neck and pressed her lips against his ear. “It is not safe to talk here,” her moist whisper against his ears pooled down his neck, across his chest, and into his belly. Norrington’s cock was at full attention and he wrapped his arms around her, least she flit away. “Madam, you have me at a disadvantage,” he began, but she pressed her fingertips to his lips.
“Meet me at the Blue Dog after Noon. Tell no one,” and with that last bit she was pulling away from him and Norrington let her go, bewildered. “But why? Why all this subterfuge?” James asked, referencing her blank not from yesterday. She pressed her finger to her lips and looked over his shoulder before sliding around him to the exit. “What do you want with me?” Norrington questioned her in a hissing whisper, “Who are you?” She paused, considering his questions, and answered, “I am the Housekeeper.”
And then she was striding out of the room and James felt as though a great piece of ice had fallen into his stomach. The Housekeeper? He knew he had seen her before, but now he worried if she had seen him…with Cutler Beckett. Norrington trembled as he thought of the possibility of blackmail, of exposure. A queasiness roiling in his belly forced him to sit heavily upon the delicate sofa. James tried to think. If she meant him harm would there be a need for amatory advances? He would go to the Blue Dog and discover for himself.