His Heart's Desire Chapter 5
Chapter V: The Rescue
Title: His Heart’s Desire
Author: tammsla
Beta: teh amazing saime_joxxers, You so rock chickie! :D
Disclaimer: Do you really think I’d spend my time writing fanfiction if I owned the franchise?
Word Count: 6,929
Warnings: A kiss. Wow. :p
Pairings: Norribeth!
Summary: This is a series of one-shots. They will follow the chronological order of CotBP only, since I didn’t really care for DMC or AWE. Each one-shot stands alone and proceeds from a different part of the movie. Some will have James and Elizabeth engaged already, some won’t. Some may have a thread woven through it from a previous one-shot, or take up where the last left off, but they are not built on each other and are totally independent of each other :D
Author’s note: Oops! I’m so sorry this has taken such a long time to post; my beta actually got it back to me last week and I forgot I hadn’t posted it, so don’t take a pitchfork to her xD
“’Poor Jack! How terrible for you, Jack!’ Well, it is now!”
Jack stomped and snorted halfway round their little “island paradise” before stopping short.
White sails.
Blasted white Navy sails.
And a longboat filled with men who served in said Navy.
Jack groaned. “There’ll be no livin wif ‘er after this.”
As the boat neared the shore, Jack slinked back to the fire to await his fate.
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Lieutenant Gillette had no more hoisted Elizabeth up to the decks of the Dauntless than she was throwing herself into James’s arms. She had yet to give him an answer, of course, since she had fallen off the battlements, been rescued by the irate pirate she had just unwillingly shared an island with, and then managed to get herself kidnapped by the pirates who left her on the island; but he was hers just the same to her mind.
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James felt his face split wide with a relieved, joyous grin. She is safe! Thank You, God; we got to her in time!
It was only just beginning to prickle at his conscious mind that his heart’s dearest desire was snuggled against his chest. James quickly wound his arms - oh how they ached for her! - around her precious form.
“You came for me.” Her eyes were not wide in wonder; rather they were serious and content, as though all had transpired just as it ought.
With that one statement, James felt every weight resting on his strong shoulders seem to lift and his face bore a look of such happiness that, as the staid and formidable Commodore melted into the happy little boy he had once been, even Sparrow had to smirk.
He reluctantly loosened his hold on Elizabeth as she turned to her flabbergasted father, seeming to pay no attention to the sailors around them, some of whom were still agog at the position she had put herself and their Commodore in - especially considering her current state of dress.
“We must go back for Will.”
And with that statement, James felt the return of those same weights a thousand times over as the joy drained from his face; the happy little boy melting away while the staid and formidable Commodore returned with a look black as thunder. He released her fully from his arms and began to stride away from the steadily rising voices of his love and her father.
“Elizabeth, you are safe and we are going back to Port Royal with all possible speed.”
“Father! We can not just leave him to die!”
“Then he should not have engaged in piracy!”
“Even to save me?!”
Elizabeth turned and ran frantically to forestall the Commodore as he stepped lightly up to the wheel.
“Commodore! Please do this for me…as a wedding present?”
James whirled round, first with elation and then with a sick feeling of having been shot in the stomach. She still thinks only of him!
The Governor stepped closer, “Elizabeth, are you…accepting Commodore Norrington’s proposal?”
Staring into said Commodore’s eyes, as if trying to convey some message, Elizabeth answered, “I am.”
“A wedding! I love weddings - DRINKS ALL ROUND!”
Rum-soaked pirate! Shut your mouth! Elizabeth’s thoughts were apparent on her face, and obviously not at all charitable towards her former rescuer. At any other time, James would have laughed to see his Governor’s Daughter looking so transparently uncivil toward a member of the race she held in such high admiration; but this was not a time for humor.
“Mr. Sparrow, you will accompany these fine men to the helm and give them the bearing to Isla de Muerta. You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase, ‘silent as the grave’; do I make myself clear?”
Jack was no fool; he recognized the deadly calm and succinct tone of the Scourge of Piracy. James could practically see the wheels turning in his filthy mind: P’haps bidin me time might bes’ serve me in’res’ now….
Jack gave a gold-encrusted grin and swaggered a bit before answering. “Inescapably.”
James, Elizabeth, Gillette, and Governor Swann sighed as one in their exasperation before two marines led the pirate to the helm.
Sparrow disposed of for the moment, James turned his attentions to his apparent soon-to-be father-in-law.
Governor Swann gave the young Commodore a deep searching look and, content with what he saw, stepped forward with a bittersweet smile.
“Take care of her,” he said quietly. Then so as to be heard by all, “I am going below. I declare all of this quite disturbs my constitution.”
James gave a quick nod in answer to the Governor’s softly voiced order and turning, offered his arm to the woman who had long held his heart.
“Elizabeth?”
She stepped forward, accepting the proffered arm as they turned to a section of railing far enough away from the working sailors to afford them some semblance of privacy.
“Elizabeth, I am…concerned that your answer was perhaps…less than sincere.”
Elizabeth’s heart was touched by the vulnerability displayed in his deep green eyes. Tenderly, one hand grasped his as she lifted her other to his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb.
“James, please trust me. I do not ask this out of love for Will; my heart lies with you. It was you who held me the night I dreamed of my mother’s passing on the voyage from England. It was you who took the time to share your exploits with a precocious little girl. It was you who comforted my nerves as I took my place in society. And it was you who even stood between myself and the odious Lord Gillingham when he tried to steal a kiss that night in the arbour.” Here, she paused to stare very carefully into James’s eyes, trying to make him understand. She knew he had cause to question her veracity, and she did not begrudge his need for assurance.
“You are the man I love, and I will have no other; but next to you, Will is my dearest friend. He has committed crimes, yes; but they were committed for the sake of saving me. He was willing to give his life for me, just as you would if it were necessary. I would not see him harmed in such a venture. And though I know you and Father would see me safe in Port Royal, there is not time enough to return to port and then set out again if you would see him any way other than freshly fished from the sea.”
For a moment all James could comprehend was that Elizabeth - his Elizabeth - was not enamored of Turner! She loves me! She loves me! She loves….me…
Then the full meaning of her words began to sink in and James knew she was right. Turner was not the man who held her heart, but he was the man who had saved her from the Pearl. If she had loved him, James knew he would have felt an obligation; now he felt only the need to return a great favour.
Never taking his eyes from his beloved’s soft gaze, James addressed his bosun.
“Mr. Otter, a little more sail if you please!”
As Elizabeth wound her arms around his neck, James felt his face split wide with another grin; this one more joyous than the first. As he took her into his arms again, they leaned closer to one another and his lips captured hers in a dance older than time…