The Twinkling of an Eye
Title: The Twinkling of an Eye
Author: Ericadawn
Pairing: Elizabeth Swann/James Norrington, Elizabeth/Will Turner, Elizabeth/Jack Sparrow
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Nothing out of the ordinary but definitely NC-17
Disclaimer: PotC belongs to Disney, Ted and Terry.
The winds howled and the rain roared down onto the Black Pearl who rocked helpless in the escalating waves.
“Bloody hurricane,” muttered Jack who Elizabeth had never seen so annoyed. It could have happened to anyone. The storm’s direction had suddenly changed without warning and placed them right in harm’s way. With trepidation, she bit her lip and looked for something to do. That wasn’t much as she attached the compass to her trousers.
The ship was shook so violently that she was tossed off her feet. Elizabeth reached for the railing to steady herself and that’s when the ship was hit again so she found herself flying over the side into the churning, dark water along with assorted barrels and things that hadn’t been stowed away properly.
Shutting her eyes, she saw nothing until she had popped back up. There was a salty taste in her mouth and a slightly burning sensation in her nostrils from where the water had invaded. Elizabeth blinked and saw a rescue attempt being hatched on the Pearl. A hook was being held down for her by James and she swam until she could grasp the metal with all her strength. He was pulling her up when another wave struck and James tumbled into the sea beside her as the waves carried the Black Pearl farther away.
“No!” Elizabeth screamed and splashed the water.
“Sorry, love!” yelled Jack, “Hurricane!”
Normally, a ship could lay anchor, but if that was done in this situation, it would be dashed to pieces. Yet it was still unbelievable that they would sail off without her…them. She looked over at James and he swam closer.
“What are we to do?” Elizabeth asked as loudly as she could to be heard over the storm.
“Just stay afloat!” was the reply as he took hold of a small barrel.
“All night?” Elizabeth questioned as she grabbed the barrel as well. It sank under their combined weight and she let go. However, he took her left hand and promised, “I won’t let you go ever.”
Instinctively, they moved closer and closer for some sort of warmth in the cold ocean. The rain continued to pour, the wind howled and the water rocked against them in such a way that Elizabeth yawned despite the droplets that landed in her mouth and closed her eyes for what she assumed would only be brief.
In the morning when she woke, her head had been on James’ shoulder. She pushed away a bit, embarrassed. His green eyes flickered open. They looked different than they used to…more worn maybe…less pompous? Those same eyes caught her looking and she changed her gaze to the sky; pale blue with wisps of cloud. It looked so innocent compared to the wrath that had come from it during the night.
“Always looks so blue afterward,” James commented with that bitter tone he was so fond of using lately, “as though nothing ever happened.”
He wasn’t looking at her and she wondered if that was on purpose…she recalled that his resignation letter had mentioned something about a hurricane and the loss of the Dauntless. Then, she turned her attention to where he was staring.
“Is that an island?” she questioned, noticing an inconsistency with the horizon.
“I believe it is,” James agreed.
“We could swim there,” suggested Elizabeth, starting to become hopeful at their situation.
“That’s a league and a half away,” he said, incredulous with one arm wrapped around the barrel.
“I’ve done it before,” she countered in such a way that his expression softened. She knew that he knew what she was referring to. After a nod, they started swimming. The sun and exercise eventually warmed them. Hours later, they flopped onto the sand so close to the edge that the water lapped onto their bodies.
James and Elizabeth just stayed like that for a good hour before slowly getting up to explore their surroundings that had been covered by debris, including the barrel that they had clung to all night. Elizabeth sighed and pronounced, “Uninhabited.” James narrowed his eyes and scanned the area in concentration before correcting, “Not quite.”
He began walking and she followed soon after, enjoying the sensation of dry land once again that didn’t rock. Still, she had no idea what he thought he was seeing until he took up a piece of rope from the sand and pulled. It revealed a cache of rum. Elizabeth laughed and exclaimed, “Rumrunners!”
Unlike last time, these bottles were new and free of dust. Their owners would be back…they’d just have to buy passage. James took the nearest bottle and dropped the door with a heavy thud. Part of Elizabeth wanted to criticize, wanted to chastise his drinking and warn him that it was most unbecoming, but no sound came from her lips.
He had already removed the top and was taking a swig. Then, he looked around and she actually thought she might know what James was thinking. They needed a fire.
“Everything is so wet, how could we ever make one?” she asked as he handed her the bottle. James shook his head and said, “”But this will do.” It turned out that the barrel had been a keg of gunpowder and he emptied some of it onto the driest material they could find. Then, his hands took out a second pistol which Elizabeth hadn’t noticed that he even possessed. The first one had been lost in the Faithful Bride. James took out the ball and cloth as he poured the powder onto the pile. Then, he fired with the top of the gun facing the powder so that it emitted a spark that ignited the powder below. He jumped back in a swift and natural manner and Elizabeth had to comment, “You’ve done this before.”
“A few times,” James admitted before taking the bottle from her, taking a swig and setting it down. She hadn’t been impressed with Jack’s knowledge since he was a pirate, but she now saw James a bit differently. Will would have to teach her other skills when they returned home…Will.
With a sigh, she sat on the sand as James removed his drenched coat.to set by the fire. Despite the man standing in front of her wearing only trousers and an undershirt, she still thought of Will. Would she ever see him again? It was easy to forget that he wasn’t looking for her; he was in the clutches of Davy Jones.
She pulled out the compass and checked the heading…somewhere Northeast. A frown crossed her features and she told herself it pointed at Will. The acrid smell of smoke filled the air from James’ successful efforts. He ripped off a coconut, cut it in half with his sword and handed her a piece.
Never had Elizabeth eaten a coconut before and James realized that, too, with a smile. He tipped the coconut so that white liquid dripped into his mouth except for a few drops that hung in his dark beard before cutting it in half again to eat the soft insides. Elizabeth tried to repeat his actions, but the coconut’s juice ran mostly down her front. Despite obviously trying not to, James burst out laughing and she suppressed an urge to chuck the rest of the coconut at him. Instead, she started laughing, too. It felt good…freeing. It felt good to hear him laugh, too. He dropped his coconut pieces on the ground, took up the bottle and stole a sip before passing it to her. Elizabeth accepted it and drank a long, deep swallow so it burned as it moved down her throat, more proof that things were real. Once she had proclaimed the drink vile, but in order to keep up her male guise, Elizabeth had to drink her daily rations and repeated exposure had begun to make the drink considerably more pleasurable.
The hot Caribbean sun wasn’t drying her as fast as she would have liked and it didn’t seem to brighten her mood despite the laughter they had just shared. She sat down by the fire and James followed her lead as the bottle passed back and forth. Once again, she opened the compass and looked where it pointed.
“You actually believe, don’t you?” he questioned despite obviously knowing the answer.
“You used the compass to find Isla de Muerta,” Elizabeth reminded him.
“Yes, that was not what I meant although I do relish in giving Sparrow grief,” James explained holding out his hands over the fire, “But you believe that finding this chest will get him back.” She looked into heat and smoke and tried to ignore the silence. However, she couldn’t and mentioned, “Mr. Gibbs says that Jones’ heart is placed inside.”
There was an incredulous snort and James took another swallow.
“Is it any more difficult to believe than being attacked by undead pirates who appear as skeletons in the moonlight?” asked Elizabeth, cocking her head in his direction.
“I’ve tried my best to forget. There are other events that held significantly more horror for me than that night,” James uttered softly, “like the day Captain Jack Sparrow was almost hung.” For Elizabeth, that was a day that held a lot of happiness because she finally got to be with Will and Jack didn’t die. This was selfish; she now realized that it was completely ignoring what must have been absolutely humiliating for James and a thought struck her that she had to ask.
“Did you give him that one extra day because of me?”
He inhaled deeply and admitted, “He appeared to be honorable around you on that island and did help in your safe return.”
“Then, why pursue him at all? Why not let him go?” Elizabeth questioned into the afternoon air.
“Those good acts are overshadowed by his other acts that were strictly motivated for his own gain,” James explained, stretching out his legs before continuing, “He’s not someone I’d risk my neck for.”
Yet they had, that’s what the warrants had said.
Elizabeth wondered if he knew and they sat in silence again until he chopped off another coconut. More of the juice ran into her mouth this time and she lazily ate at the insides as she studied James who was so much more relaxed than she had ever seen him. She was taking advantage of it…she wondered whether there would be a point when he told her that it was none of her business, but he never had when she was a child asking everything.
“You could have stayed in Port Royal. My father would have seen to it for you to have another job except you left. Why?” Elizabeth asked and laid her head against her knees.
“You can’t have expected me to stand by and willingly watch you marry another man,” said James with his piercing green eyes on her, “I couldn’t bear it as well. I could never hear you honestly accept my proposal because I’m not William Turner.”
How Elizabeth longed to disagree, to state the different reasons she had come up with for why James just wasn’t the one, but really…James had just said the only reason that really mattered. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from James, unable to say anything for quite some time. Despite being so insistent on his being truthful, she appeared unable to reciprocate and she hated herself for it.
Eventually, as the hour grew longer, she found her voice.
“I don’t know why that is, what it was that made him the only I’ve wanted to be with…perhaps it was just the medallion…,” mused Elizabeth aloud.
“You were wearing a medallion around your neck when you were pulled out of the water…” James commented in an asking way. The water started to pick up again as though another storm was on its way.
“I stole the necklace before you could see it when he was in my care. I didn’t want you to see that he wore a pirate medallion and hang him,” Elizabeth explained although it sounded so weak when she actually said it.
“You thought so little of me that I would hang a boy of only a dozen years?”
“I didn’t know you that well and you had just finished describing how every pirate deserved to be hung!”
She hadn’t meant to be so loud and saw the hurt cross James’ face before he became defensive again, “It does not appear to have done much good now that we are all condemned to such a fate.”
Elizabeth was able to conceal her surprise, but he knew! He did know about his death sentence. However, rain drops fell from the sky and put out the fire so both of them ran to the middle of the island that contained a denser mass of coconut trees. It was drier, but there wasn’t much space. Elizabeth and James moved up against opposite trees.
However, she woke up with someone sleeping beside her and it took a moment to remember that it was James. Rain was still collected on the tree fronds until a gentle wind shook some of it loose so that it landed on James’ face and woke him up. He tossed his coat around his middle before Elizabeth thought to take a look.
James softly spoke, “It was Groves. He’d been working for Beckett the entire time and it was only after I resigned that his conscience got the better of him. He admitted everything, including that Beckett was preparing warrants.”
“And you didn’t say anything?” cried Elizabeth.
“I wrote a letter and gave it to your father. He was supposed to turn it over to you after the wedding,” said James, “But Beckett’s timetable was closer than I anticipated.”
“Coward!” she accused, standing up and complaining, “what a man can do and what a man can’t do…”
“What’s that?” he asked, getting to his feet as well.
“Something that Will mentioned once…it seemed like an apt description,” Elizabeth continued, “You could write a letter, but you couldn’t say it to my face.”
James’ brown trailed in his face as he spat, “I could say the same of you. You had ample time to break off the engagement before Sparrow’s hanging yet you didn’t.”
“When I was young, I was under the impression that you were self-involved, cared only for military matters and was a pompous ass,” Elizabeth rambled in a rash, maddened manner, “but perhaps it was my later estimation of you that was mistaken!”
“I don’t see how it hasn’t occurred to me before,” James exclaimed, “despite your fancy clothes and station, you’re nothing but a scullion!”
They looked at each other, absolutely seething for almost a minute before they suddenly walked away for the opposite end of the island. There, she stalked back and forth getting more upset with herself than James. The hours drifted into time for the mid-day meal and yet she was alone.
James was the only other person on the island and he hated her. Who knew if the rumrunners would ever come? Perhaps Beckett’s men had captured them as well. All she had was a compass that didn’t point north and herself who was incredibly hungry if the noise coming from her stomach was any indication. Elizabeth sank to her knees at tide-level so the water ran towards and from her repeatedly. There was nothing to be seen except the scattered debris of hurricane and time. Before she knew what she was doing, she started crying. It was absolutely hopeless.
Elizabeth realized what she had to do and turned back the way she came. She hadn’t even reached halfway when she saw James walking towards her. After a few more steps, they were within a few feet of each other and it almost looked like James’ eyes were red from crying as well.
There didn’t seem to be a need for a real apology as he cut down two coconuts for their food.
“I do want to believe in Jack because of Will,” Elizabeth admitted between bites, “because he’s the only way I know of to get Will back.” James gave her a nod because she knew that he had already suspected as much.
“I love him, I really do, but…” she started and wasn’t sure whether to continue yet she did, “He tries to live up to my father’s expectations.” James handed her a new bottle of rum that must have been gotten in her absence and she took a sip before going on, “I don’t want someone my father thinks is best for me, that’s another reason I was against marrying you. I want Will, the real Will, the one that I can see when he’s teaching me the sword. Deep down, I know there’s more to him than he lets on, but he hides it from everyone. He acts as though the reserved blacksmith is his true self and it’s not. He’s…he’s a pirate.”
A crazy thought struck Elizabeth’s mind.
“Fate intervenes…” she said, wondering if the idea had any merit. James didn’t say anything as she mused, “Could it have been for the best? In the slim hope that Will and I reunite, perhaps this experience will be good for him? This could bring out his concealed qualities. Then, we could have a perfect marriage.”
There was what was unmistakably laughter coming from James’ direction.
“It’s a myth. There is no perfect marriage; it’s just invented to keep women virgins.”
“James!” Elizabeth hissed, not believing what she had just heard him say.
“And what disappointed you most wasn’t missing your wedding night?” he asked with a smirk. The same smirk that he’d directed toward her while talking about Jack on The Black Pearl. She drank a large gulp of rum and he laughed because it couldn’t be anything other than a confirmation.
“I just thought that everything would end, that I wouldn’t have to worry anymore about what people thought or what was expected of me because I’d be a married woman,” Elizabeth revealed.
“It doesn’t appear to work that way for your sex; treated more as male property than a person,” said James, “but that wasn’t what I wanted for you. I wanted you to be free as my wife to pursue your interests and not be confined to mine.”
“I never wanted it to end as it did. I would have kept my word to the end even if it included marrying you,” Elizabeth spoke softly, not daring to look at James, “It was never my intention to hurt you.”
She passed the bottle to James who paused before drinking it. The silence was nice…comfortable so she removed her jacket and laid it across the ground to her left before lying on her back. James followed suit and Elizabeth smiled, shutting her eyes for a moment.
It was more than a moment because she woke hours later as the first rays of sunlight started to caress the island. Strong arms were wrapped around her body and she knew they were James’. Being asleep, it was doubtful he knew what he was doing and she didn’t exactly want him to stop. It felt good being in a man’s arms again until she felt something hard poking into her back. Elizabeth didn’t realize at first what it was until she disentangled herself for a better look. With a smirk of her own, she wondered whether that was the standard size or James was larger in all aspects. She had seen Will without his shirt, but nothing more than that.
Impulsively, she moved a strand of hair from his face. Then, felt guilty for her actions. She had touched another man when she should have been married by now to Will. Elizabeth stood up and strode several feet away from where he lay. There was still no sign of a ship. It was as though they were alone in the universe. She leaned against a tree and stayed that way until feeling the need to sigh.
“If only I had captured Jack Sparrow, none of this would have happened,” said James, walking up from behind her, “the fault lies entirely with him.”
Elizabeth leaned further against the tree. She didn’t like to think of it that way even though James had a point in a way.
“I want my old life back. I want to be respected and admired and not a joke. Is that so much to ask for? Some redemption as opposed to this, this life I lead now where morality and lowliness appear skewed,” James complained, slumping and kicking at the dirt, “It would have been best if I died along with those men I was supposed to be responsible for…all those men…”
It was awful to hear him talk this way. At the Faithful Bride, she had wanted to stop him before he caused his own death, but she now knew that that was exactly what he wanted. He had wanted to die. Elizabeth suppressed an urge to vomit and wondered if anything could have been done. Couldn’t there have been something to save him other than her? Perhaps if he had another woman, then he could have been happy.
“Why haven’t you found someone else to cast your affections on? Someone who could actually return your love,” asked Elizabeth, standing up and turning to face him, “You deserve better, so stop loving me.”
“Could you be able to do such a feat? No longer loving Will because the future with him appeared hopeless?”
That question was answered with a shake of her head. She pictured loving Will until the day she died and she supposed that it was the same with James for her.
Elizabeth’s hazel eyes studied his form; the lengthy, unkempt brown hair, the scruff that covered his face, the sad state of what had once been his uniform and the glum look in his green eyes. She had blamed the world for his troubles but did she play a bigger role in his ruination than she had liked to think? Was it her fault?
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth whispered yet she knew that James had heard her because he looked like he wanted to say something. There was nothing that he could have said that would have comforted her as she began to cry. She had ruined everything. After the tears started running down her cheeks, He pulled her to him and held her in his sound, protective arms which should have made her feel better, should have made her stop crying.
However, it didn’t and Elizabeth continued until she was surprised by James’ lips on hers. The kiss was brief before he pulled away, but it was new and different and she liked it. She pulled on his shirt to bring him in for another kiss and felt his chest hair through the fabric.
Everything was tiring; the situation, the death warrant, the propriety that had been inflicted on her from an early age. What she really wanted at that moment was to feel alive and to ignore everything else especially that little voice in Elizabeth’s brain that was telling her to stop.
She tentatively undid the topmost button on James’ shirt as she kissed him and the bristles around his lips tickled her face. There was no move to stop her so she persisted until she was able to jerk the shirt, as well as the belt across his chest, off and exposing his naked chest underneath; all hirsute and masculine.
She rubbed her hands over the muscles, hair and scars while he placed a hand near her shirt button; not moving until Elizabeth broke their kiss and nodded emphatically to remove it. His large hands were surprisingly gentle as James freed the buttons from their holes and slid the sleeves from her arms.
She felt suddenly conscious of her breasts which were the size of a small girl’s compared to the women she had seen the men pay for on Tortuga. The man before her didn’t seem to mind though as he bent and took her left one in his mouth; shocking Elizabeth into stumbling back and she clutched at a tree before grabbing it.
James took that hand and pried the fingers off before taking his other hand and gently leaning her back until she knew to lie on the ground. The attention to her breasts was resumed and she couldn’t believe how good his tongue felt. She accidentally kicked him in her pleasure and he briefly stopped because of her boots so she shook them off.
“Take your boots off,” Elizabeth requested with her hands touching his face. Her appeal was answered and he leaned over her with their respective trousers the only clothing they wore. James went back to kissing her, but his hands that started with a caress of her shoulders worked their way downwards to the string that held her trousers on.
When the trousers were loose enough to come off, Elizabeth became nervous and quickly went for his belt, unbuckling it before he could remove her trousers. She could have stopped if she had wanted to except she didn’t. Her hands undid his front flap. However, she was too shy to pull his trousers down so she placed her hands down and firmly cupped James’ buttocks; rounded with a bit of squish that was very pleasant to squeeze.
Then, the front flap fell down in the process of Elizabeth’s explorations of his backside and she saw it. Actually seeing it was different than the outline she had seen that morning. It still seemed large despite not being completely straight and she couldn’t look away from his pink penis surrounded by dark curly hair.
She tugged at James’ trousers until he stepped out of him so that she could see all of James’ naked form. The kiss that he gave her was needy as he reached for her remaining clothing while Elizabeth’s body appeared to have a mind of its own as she arched towards him, rising up so she could watch it swell and darken as he slipped the trousers off her legs.
Anxiously, she looked for a sign that she was appealing despite not having such feminine curves as the other women and what he thought of her not so strawberry blond curls and the area they covered. Then, she saw the proof for herself as James grew very thick and dark and she felt strangely wet. With a firm hand, he spread Elizabeth’s legs apart and she felt him against her cleft.
A moan escaped her lips that she had never heard herself make before and he leaned down to kiss her. It was really a distraction as he prodded his way in until he reached her maidenhead and halted. She could tell that it was going to hurt a lot, but she kissed him tenderly on the cheek, looked into his concerned eyes and gave a small smile as well as a nod.
James kissed her on the lips with his weight resting on his elbows and her arms wrapped around his body before he plunged himself further into her. There were a few choice curse words Elizabeth would have liked to say at that time if she had thought of them, but instead, she exclaimed in pain, tears came to her eyes and she clawed James’ back.
To say she hurt was an understatement, it did in fact feel as though something had been forced where it didn’t belong and yet she had heard that it could be pleasurable despite the pain. She kissed him briefly on the lips and hugged him close; preparing herself for what would come next.
Her hands clutched his buttocks again before coming around to his front where they were connected which was gooey and bloody. Elizabeth could feel scraggly, coarse hair at his base along with two round things that when she held them in her hands, James moaned himself and slammed into her a bit.
Then, he wrapped her legs around his body before bringing it fully out of her. It was merely a temporary lapse before he drove himself into her again although the shock wasn’t as great as it was the first time. This action was repeated and Elizabeth focused more on the feeling of his flesh against hers instead of the hurt and intrusion.
The act started to become mostly agreeable and it was though a pressure started to build inside her. James appeared to have the same thing happening with him because he started making little grunts as he propelled into her and then the grunts had a different sound to him.
Suddenly, as the feeling she had kept getting bigger and bigger, she felt as though something had been sprayed into her while he uttered her name and his thrusts became gentler. Elizabeth felt the excitement explode and she took his lead by shouting, “James!” while her thighs felt wetter and wetter. With another kiss, James withdrew himself from her body one last time and lay down beside her. She felt incredibly sore, but she could imagine doing that again eventually. The sun was getting to midway in the sky and they just lay there together for quite awhile.
“Perhaps they’re never coming back,” Elizabeth said of the barren horizon.
“You found your way off an island once before,” James reminded her with a smile.
“Because I knew you were looking for me,” she explained with a smile that unfortunately faded as the worries of the outside world intruded again. He grew serious as well as she added, “If I were to make a signal fire this time, it would only attract one of Beckett’s ships who would take us to a prison cell. It would do us no good.”
“Doesn’t Beckett desire the compass which is currently in your possession?”
This was true. The compass was still attached to her trousers that were a few feet away. However, that plan was deeply flawed, too.
“I could never do that to Will. We would have to deliver it together along with the Letters of Marque which Jack has been keeping in his coat,” she argued.
“Surely Beckett could be reasoned with…persuaded…,” suggested James, turning to her. Elizabeth knew it could be done, but she didn’t like the reminder of the thought of doing that again.
“That sad, little man is capable of almost anything to get what he wants; whether it’s the compass or the heart,” Elizabeth commented, having overheard rumors of deaths.
“People don’t attain positions of power by treating everyone with kindness and mercy,” James spoke, before rising and putting his trousers back on.
“Well, they should!” she exclaimed prior to realizing that he was probably including himself in that statement.
“You don’t know what you’re fully capable of doing until that moment,” James explained with a sad look in his green eyes, “who you’re prepared to sacrifice when the lives of others are at stake.”
It was different for him. He had killed men strictly for being a pirate, but she had only killed undead pirates. They were nothing alike. Still, Elizabeth didn’t regret what they had done; blame it on the island. Then, they both heard a sound and when they had turned to the direction it had come from; there was a ship headed this way.
“The rumrunners!” she cried, bounding up and fetching her trousers. From inside a pocket, she took out the pearls her father had given her for the wedding.
“This should buy us anywhere we want to go,” she said softly and James asked, “That would be Sparrow, would it not?”
He surely wouldn’t be bringing that up again about her having supposed feelings for the Captain and the annoyance must have been evident on her face because James added with a cheerless smile, “Isn’t that who we need to find your Will?”
With a reassuring hand on the compass that would know where to go, she nodded and agreed, “Yes, I believe he is.”
Four years later, Elizabeth was once again on a ship. However, she was having the unfortunate pleasure of being boarded. Jessica ran to her side and buried her face into her mother’s leg so that only the strawberry blonde curls on her head showed. Elizabeth had a feeling she looked exactly as she had at the same age with one exception.
The other captain and his men were coming closer when Will took her hand yet there was something familiar about the captain. As he came closer, Elizabeth saw how the white wig framed his face and the tall, lanky figure that had never quite gained back the weight it once had.
“James!” she exclaimed in surprise because they hadn’t seen each other in years.
“Elizabeth, you look…” he started and she was glad he didn’t continue because she looked every inch the six months with child that she was until she noticed that Jessica had looked up, right at him which must have been the reason behind his stopping. Fear filled her as she saw the question in James’ eyes.
“This is Jessica, our daughter,” she said before smiling at her husband, Will. The older man crouched down to the girl’s level and held out his hand, “I’m Admiral Norrington, how do you do, Miss Jessica?”
In response, her daughter giggled at being treated in such a grown-up manner, but gave her right hand that was so little compared to his that James’ hand completely covered hers. However, he immediately asked what Elizabeth had been dreading, “And who gave you such pretty green eyes?”
Panic coursed through her as Will dutifully answered what she had told him, “Elizabeth’s mother had green eyes.”
She could tell that James knew the truth yet he continued the lie by saying to Jessica, “Yes, I believe your grandfather may have mentioned that. He had loved your grandmother greatly and he was a good man. It’s a pity that he never knew you.”
Then, he rose back to his normal height and asked, “I presume the colors weren’t being flown because they were in need of repair?”
From the tone of James’ voice, there was only one correct answer and Will replied, “Yes, of course.”
“Be careful going to shore as well, the rocks are not always visible here,” the older man warned before turning to his men, “I don’t see it being necessary to write a report on this.”
“It was good to see you again, James,” said Elizabeth. The twinkle in his eyes revealed the smile that his lips couldn’t and he responded, “And under as pleasant circumstances as always although Jessica made the whole exercise worth it.”
He signaled to his men and they headed back to the ship although he stayed behind a moment more. Hesitantly, he touched Jessica’s hair and spoke, “Are you going to be a good girl and listen to everything your parents say?”
Her daughter responded with an excited, “yes” and a twinkle in her green eyes that were the same as James’. He gave them a little smile, turned around and crossed back to his ship. Elizabeth watched him go with a fond sadness; she had no way of knowing that it would be the last time that she ever saw James Norrington.
Author: Ericadawn
Pairing: Elizabeth Swann/James Norrington, Elizabeth/Will Turner, Elizabeth/Jack Sparrow
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Nothing out of the ordinary but definitely NC-17
Disclaimer: PotC belongs to Disney, Ted and Terry.
The winds howled and the rain roared down onto the Black Pearl who rocked helpless in the escalating waves.
“Bloody hurricane,” muttered Jack who Elizabeth had never seen so annoyed. It could have happened to anyone. The storm’s direction had suddenly changed without warning and placed them right in harm’s way. With trepidation, she bit her lip and looked for something to do. That wasn’t much as she attached the compass to her trousers.
The ship was shook so violently that she was tossed off her feet. Elizabeth reached for the railing to steady herself and that’s when the ship was hit again so she found herself flying over the side into the churning, dark water along with assorted barrels and things that hadn’t been stowed away properly.
Shutting her eyes, she saw nothing until she had popped back up. There was a salty taste in her mouth and a slightly burning sensation in her nostrils from where the water had invaded. Elizabeth blinked and saw a rescue attempt being hatched on the Pearl. A hook was being held down for her by James and she swam until she could grasp the metal with all her strength. He was pulling her up when another wave struck and James tumbled into the sea beside her as the waves carried the Black Pearl farther away.
“No!” Elizabeth screamed and splashed the water.
“Sorry, love!” yelled Jack, “Hurricane!”
Normally, a ship could lay anchor, but if that was done in this situation, it would be dashed to pieces. Yet it was still unbelievable that they would sail off without her…them. She looked over at James and he swam closer.
“What are we to do?” Elizabeth asked as loudly as she could to be heard over the storm.
“Just stay afloat!” was the reply as he took hold of a small barrel.
“All night?” Elizabeth questioned as she grabbed the barrel as well. It sank under their combined weight and she let go. However, he took her left hand and promised, “I won’t let you go ever.”
Instinctively, they moved closer and closer for some sort of warmth in the cold ocean. The rain continued to pour, the wind howled and the water rocked against them in such a way that Elizabeth yawned despite the droplets that landed in her mouth and closed her eyes for what she assumed would only be brief.
In the morning when she woke, her head had been on James’ shoulder. She pushed away a bit, embarrassed. His green eyes flickered open. They looked different than they used to…more worn maybe…less pompous? Those same eyes caught her looking and she changed her gaze to the sky; pale blue with wisps of cloud. It looked so innocent compared to the wrath that had come from it during the night.
“Always looks so blue afterward,” James commented with that bitter tone he was so fond of using lately, “as though nothing ever happened.”
He wasn’t looking at her and she wondered if that was on purpose…she recalled that his resignation letter had mentioned something about a hurricane and the loss of the Dauntless. Then, she turned her attention to where he was staring.
“Is that an island?” she questioned, noticing an inconsistency with the horizon.
“I believe it is,” James agreed.
“We could swim there,” suggested Elizabeth, starting to become hopeful at their situation.
“That’s a league and a half away,” he said, incredulous with one arm wrapped around the barrel.
“I’ve done it before,” she countered in such a way that his expression softened. She knew that he knew what she was referring to. After a nod, they started swimming. The sun and exercise eventually warmed them. Hours later, they flopped onto the sand so close to the edge that the water lapped onto their bodies.
James and Elizabeth just stayed like that for a good hour before slowly getting up to explore their surroundings that had been covered by debris, including the barrel that they had clung to all night. Elizabeth sighed and pronounced, “Uninhabited.” James narrowed his eyes and scanned the area in concentration before correcting, “Not quite.”
He began walking and she followed soon after, enjoying the sensation of dry land once again that didn’t rock. Still, she had no idea what he thought he was seeing until he took up a piece of rope from the sand and pulled. It revealed a cache of rum. Elizabeth laughed and exclaimed, “Rumrunners!”
Unlike last time, these bottles were new and free of dust. Their owners would be back…they’d just have to buy passage. James took the nearest bottle and dropped the door with a heavy thud. Part of Elizabeth wanted to criticize, wanted to chastise his drinking and warn him that it was most unbecoming, but no sound came from her lips.
He had already removed the top and was taking a swig. Then, he looked around and she actually thought she might know what James was thinking. They needed a fire.
“Everything is so wet, how could we ever make one?” she asked as he handed her the bottle. James shook his head and said, “”But this will do.” It turned out that the barrel had been a keg of gunpowder and he emptied some of it onto the driest material they could find. Then, his hands took out a second pistol which Elizabeth hadn’t noticed that he even possessed. The first one had been lost in the Faithful Bride. James took out the ball and cloth as he poured the powder onto the pile. Then, he fired with the top of the gun facing the powder so that it emitted a spark that ignited the powder below. He jumped back in a swift and natural manner and Elizabeth had to comment, “You’ve done this before.”
“A few times,” James admitted before taking the bottle from her, taking a swig and setting it down. She hadn’t been impressed with Jack’s knowledge since he was a pirate, but she now saw James a bit differently. Will would have to teach her other skills when they returned home…Will.
With a sigh, she sat on the sand as James removed his drenched coat.to set by the fire. Despite the man standing in front of her wearing only trousers and an undershirt, she still thought of Will. Would she ever see him again? It was easy to forget that he wasn’t looking for her; he was in the clutches of Davy Jones.
She pulled out the compass and checked the heading…somewhere Northeast. A frown crossed her features and she told herself it pointed at Will. The acrid smell of smoke filled the air from James’ successful efforts. He ripped off a coconut, cut it in half with his sword and handed her a piece.
Never had Elizabeth eaten a coconut before and James realized that, too, with a smile. He tipped the coconut so that white liquid dripped into his mouth except for a few drops that hung in his dark beard before cutting it in half again to eat the soft insides. Elizabeth tried to repeat his actions, but the coconut’s juice ran mostly down her front. Despite obviously trying not to, James burst out laughing and she suppressed an urge to chuck the rest of the coconut at him. Instead, she started laughing, too. It felt good…freeing. It felt good to hear him laugh, too. He dropped his coconut pieces on the ground, took up the bottle and stole a sip before passing it to her. Elizabeth accepted it and drank a long, deep swallow so it burned as it moved down her throat, more proof that things were real. Once she had proclaimed the drink vile, but in order to keep up her male guise, Elizabeth had to drink her daily rations and repeated exposure had begun to make the drink considerably more pleasurable.
The hot Caribbean sun wasn’t drying her as fast as she would have liked and it didn’t seem to brighten her mood despite the laughter they had just shared. She sat down by the fire and James followed her lead as the bottle passed back and forth. Once again, she opened the compass and looked where it pointed.
“You actually believe, don’t you?” he questioned despite obviously knowing the answer.
“You used the compass to find Isla de Muerta,” Elizabeth reminded him.
“Yes, that was not what I meant although I do relish in giving Sparrow grief,” James explained holding out his hands over the fire, “But you believe that finding this chest will get him back.” She looked into heat and smoke and tried to ignore the silence. However, she couldn’t and mentioned, “Mr. Gibbs says that Jones’ heart is placed inside.”
There was an incredulous snort and James took another swallow.
“Is it any more difficult to believe than being attacked by undead pirates who appear as skeletons in the moonlight?” asked Elizabeth, cocking her head in his direction.
“I’ve tried my best to forget. There are other events that held significantly more horror for me than that night,” James uttered softly, “like the day Captain Jack Sparrow was almost hung.” For Elizabeth, that was a day that held a lot of happiness because she finally got to be with Will and Jack didn’t die. This was selfish; she now realized that it was completely ignoring what must have been absolutely humiliating for James and a thought struck her that she had to ask.
“Did you give him that one extra day because of me?”
He inhaled deeply and admitted, “He appeared to be honorable around you on that island and did help in your safe return.”
“Then, why pursue him at all? Why not let him go?” Elizabeth questioned into the afternoon air.
“Those good acts are overshadowed by his other acts that were strictly motivated for his own gain,” James explained, stretching out his legs before continuing, “He’s not someone I’d risk my neck for.”
Yet they had, that’s what the warrants had said.
Elizabeth wondered if he knew and they sat in silence again until he chopped off another coconut. More of the juice ran into her mouth this time and she lazily ate at the insides as she studied James who was so much more relaxed than she had ever seen him. She was taking advantage of it…she wondered whether there would be a point when he told her that it was none of her business, but he never had when she was a child asking everything.
“You could have stayed in Port Royal. My father would have seen to it for you to have another job except you left. Why?” Elizabeth asked and laid her head against her knees.
“You can’t have expected me to stand by and willingly watch you marry another man,” said James with his piercing green eyes on her, “I couldn’t bear it as well. I could never hear you honestly accept my proposal because I’m not William Turner.”
How Elizabeth longed to disagree, to state the different reasons she had come up with for why James just wasn’t the one, but really…James had just said the only reason that really mattered. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from James, unable to say anything for quite some time. Despite being so insistent on his being truthful, she appeared unable to reciprocate and she hated herself for it.
Eventually, as the hour grew longer, she found her voice.
“I don’t know why that is, what it was that made him the only I’ve wanted to be with…perhaps it was just the medallion…,” mused Elizabeth aloud.
“You were wearing a medallion around your neck when you were pulled out of the water…” James commented in an asking way. The water started to pick up again as though another storm was on its way.
“I stole the necklace before you could see it when he was in my care. I didn’t want you to see that he wore a pirate medallion and hang him,” Elizabeth explained although it sounded so weak when she actually said it.
“You thought so little of me that I would hang a boy of only a dozen years?”
“I didn’t know you that well and you had just finished describing how every pirate deserved to be hung!”
She hadn’t meant to be so loud and saw the hurt cross James’ face before he became defensive again, “It does not appear to have done much good now that we are all condemned to such a fate.”
Elizabeth was able to conceal her surprise, but he knew! He did know about his death sentence. However, rain drops fell from the sky and put out the fire so both of them ran to the middle of the island that contained a denser mass of coconut trees. It was drier, but there wasn’t much space. Elizabeth and James moved up against opposite trees.
However, she woke up with someone sleeping beside her and it took a moment to remember that it was James. Rain was still collected on the tree fronds until a gentle wind shook some of it loose so that it landed on James’ face and woke him up. He tossed his coat around his middle before Elizabeth thought to take a look.
James softly spoke, “It was Groves. He’d been working for Beckett the entire time and it was only after I resigned that his conscience got the better of him. He admitted everything, including that Beckett was preparing warrants.”
“And you didn’t say anything?” cried Elizabeth.
“I wrote a letter and gave it to your father. He was supposed to turn it over to you after the wedding,” said James, “But Beckett’s timetable was closer than I anticipated.”
“Coward!” she accused, standing up and complaining, “what a man can do and what a man can’t do…”
“What’s that?” he asked, getting to his feet as well.
“Something that Will mentioned once…it seemed like an apt description,” Elizabeth continued, “You could write a letter, but you couldn’t say it to my face.”
James’ brown trailed in his face as he spat, “I could say the same of you. You had ample time to break off the engagement before Sparrow’s hanging yet you didn’t.”
“When I was young, I was under the impression that you were self-involved, cared only for military matters and was a pompous ass,” Elizabeth rambled in a rash, maddened manner, “but perhaps it was my later estimation of you that was mistaken!”
“I don’t see how it hasn’t occurred to me before,” James exclaimed, “despite your fancy clothes and station, you’re nothing but a scullion!”
They looked at each other, absolutely seething for almost a minute before they suddenly walked away for the opposite end of the island. There, she stalked back and forth getting more upset with herself than James. The hours drifted into time for the mid-day meal and yet she was alone.
James was the only other person on the island and he hated her. Who knew if the rumrunners would ever come? Perhaps Beckett’s men had captured them as well. All she had was a compass that didn’t point north and herself who was incredibly hungry if the noise coming from her stomach was any indication. Elizabeth sank to her knees at tide-level so the water ran towards and from her repeatedly. There was nothing to be seen except the scattered debris of hurricane and time. Before she knew what she was doing, she started crying. It was absolutely hopeless.
Elizabeth realized what she had to do and turned back the way she came. She hadn’t even reached halfway when she saw James walking towards her. After a few more steps, they were within a few feet of each other and it almost looked like James’ eyes were red from crying as well.
There didn’t seem to be a need for a real apology as he cut down two coconuts for their food.
“I do want to believe in Jack because of Will,” Elizabeth admitted between bites, “because he’s the only way I know of to get Will back.” James gave her a nod because she knew that he had already suspected as much.
“I love him, I really do, but…” she started and wasn’t sure whether to continue yet she did, “He tries to live up to my father’s expectations.” James handed her a new bottle of rum that must have been gotten in her absence and she took a sip before going on, “I don’t want someone my father thinks is best for me, that’s another reason I was against marrying you. I want Will, the real Will, the one that I can see when he’s teaching me the sword. Deep down, I know there’s more to him than he lets on, but he hides it from everyone. He acts as though the reserved blacksmith is his true self and it’s not. He’s…he’s a pirate.”
A crazy thought struck Elizabeth’s mind.
“Fate intervenes…” she said, wondering if the idea had any merit. James didn’t say anything as she mused, “Could it have been for the best? In the slim hope that Will and I reunite, perhaps this experience will be good for him? This could bring out his concealed qualities. Then, we could have a perfect marriage.”
There was what was unmistakably laughter coming from James’ direction.
“It’s a myth. There is no perfect marriage; it’s just invented to keep women virgins.”
“James!” Elizabeth hissed, not believing what she had just heard him say.
“And what disappointed you most wasn’t missing your wedding night?” he asked with a smirk. The same smirk that he’d directed toward her while talking about Jack on The Black Pearl. She drank a large gulp of rum and he laughed because it couldn’t be anything other than a confirmation.
“I just thought that everything would end, that I wouldn’t have to worry anymore about what people thought or what was expected of me because I’d be a married woman,” Elizabeth revealed.
“It doesn’t appear to work that way for your sex; treated more as male property than a person,” said James, “but that wasn’t what I wanted for you. I wanted you to be free as my wife to pursue your interests and not be confined to mine.”
“I never wanted it to end as it did. I would have kept my word to the end even if it included marrying you,” Elizabeth spoke softly, not daring to look at James, “It was never my intention to hurt you.”
She passed the bottle to James who paused before drinking it. The silence was nice…comfortable so she removed her jacket and laid it across the ground to her left before lying on her back. James followed suit and Elizabeth smiled, shutting her eyes for a moment.
It was more than a moment because she woke hours later as the first rays of sunlight started to caress the island. Strong arms were wrapped around her body and she knew they were James’. Being asleep, it was doubtful he knew what he was doing and she didn’t exactly want him to stop. It felt good being in a man’s arms again until she felt something hard poking into her back. Elizabeth didn’t realize at first what it was until she disentangled herself for a better look. With a smirk of her own, she wondered whether that was the standard size or James was larger in all aspects. She had seen Will without his shirt, but nothing more than that.
Impulsively, she moved a strand of hair from his face. Then, felt guilty for her actions. She had touched another man when she should have been married by now to Will. Elizabeth stood up and strode several feet away from where he lay. There was still no sign of a ship. It was as though they were alone in the universe. She leaned against a tree and stayed that way until feeling the need to sigh.
“If only I had captured Jack Sparrow, none of this would have happened,” said James, walking up from behind her, “the fault lies entirely with him.”
Elizabeth leaned further against the tree. She didn’t like to think of it that way even though James had a point in a way.
“I want my old life back. I want to be respected and admired and not a joke. Is that so much to ask for? Some redemption as opposed to this, this life I lead now where morality and lowliness appear skewed,” James complained, slumping and kicking at the dirt, “It would have been best if I died along with those men I was supposed to be responsible for…all those men…”
It was awful to hear him talk this way. At the Faithful Bride, she had wanted to stop him before he caused his own death, but she now knew that that was exactly what he wanted. He had wanted to die. Elizabeth suppressed an urge to vomit and wondered if anything could have been done. Couldn’t there have been something to save him other than her? Perhaps if he had another woman, then he could have been happy.
“Why haven’t you found someone else to cast your affections on? Someone who could actually return your love,” asked Elizabeth, standing up and turning to face him, “You deserve better, so stop loving me.”
“Could you be able to do such a feat? No longer loving Will because the future with him appeared hopeless?”
That question was answered with a shake of her head. She pictured loving Will until the day she died and she supposed that it was the same with James for her.
Elizabeth’s hazel eyes studied his form; the lengthy, unkempt brown hair, the scruff that covered his face, the sad state of what had once been his uniform and the glum look in his green eyes. She had blamed the world for his troubles but did she play a bigger role in his ruination than she had liked to think? Was it her fault?
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth whispered yet she knew that James had heard her because he looked like he wanted to say something. There was nothing that he could have said that would have comforted her as she began to cry. She had ruined everything. After the tears started running down her cheeks, He pulled her to him and held her in his sound, protective arms which should have made her feel better, should have made her stop crying.
However, it didn’t and Elizabeth continued until she was surprised by James’ lips on hers. The kiss was brief before he pulled away, but it was new and different and she liked it. She pulled on his shirt to bring him in for another kiss and felt his chest hair through the fabric.
Everything was tiring; the situation, the death warrant, the propriety that had been inflicted on her from an early age. What she really wanted at that moment was to feel alive and to ignore everything else especially that little voice in Elizabeth’s brain that was telling her to stop.
She tentatively undid the topmost button on James’ shirt as she kissed him and the bristles around his lips tickled her face. There was no move to stop her so she persisted until she was able to jerk the shirt, as well as the belt across his chest, off and exposing his naked chest underneath; all hirsute and masculine.
She rubbed her hands over the muscles, hair and scars while he placed a hand near her shirt button; not moving until Elizabeth broke their kiss and nodded emphatically to remove it. His large hands were surprisingly gentle as James freed the buttons from their holes and slid the sleeves from her arms.
She felt suddenly conscious of her breasts which were the size of a small girl’s compared to the women she had seen the men pay for on Tortuga. The man before her didn’t seem to mind though as he bent and took her left one in his mouth; shocking Elizabeth into stumbling back and she clutched at a tree before grabbing it.
James took that hand and pried the fingers off before taking his other hand and gently leaning her back until she knew to lie on the ground. The attention to her breasts was resumed and she couldn’t believe how good his tongue felt. She accidentally kicked him in her pleasure and he briefly stopped because of her boots so she shook them off.
“Take your boots off,” Elizabeth requested with her hands touching his face. Her appeal was answered and he leaned over her with their respective trousers the only clothing they wore. James went back to kissing her, but his hands that started with a caress of her shoulders worked their way downwards to the string that held her trousers on.
When the trousers were loose enough to come off, Elizabeth became nervous and quickly went for his belt, unbuckling it before he could remove her trousers. She could have stopped if she had wanted to except she didn’t. Her hands undid his front flap. However, she was too shy to pull his trousers down so she placed her hands down and firmly cupped James’ buttocks; rounded with a bit of squish that was very pleasant to squeeze.
Then, the front flap fell down in the process of Elizabeth’s explorations of his backside and she saw it. Actually seeing it was different than the outline she had seen that morning. It still seemed large despite not being completely straight and she couldn’t look away from his pink penis surrounded by dark curly hair.
She tugged at James’ trousers until he stepped out of him so that she could see all of James’ naked form. The kiss that he gave her was needy as he reached for her remaining clothing while Elizabeth’s body appeared to have a mind of its own as she arched towards him, rising up so she could watch it swell and darken as he slipped the trousers off her legs.
Anxiously, she looked for a sign that she was appealing despite not having such feminine curves as the other women and what he thought of her not so strawberry blond curls and the area they covered. Then, she saw the proof for herself as James grew very thick and dark and she felt strangely wet. With a firm hand, he spread Elizabeth’s legs apart and she felt him against her cleft.
A moan escaped her lips that she had never heard herself make before and he leaned down to kiss her. It was really a distraction as he prodded his way in until he reached her maidenhead and halted. She could tell that it was going to hurt a lot, but she kissed him tenderly on the cheek, looked into his concerned eyes and gave a small smile as well as a nod.
James kissed her on the lips with his weight resting on his elbows and her arms wrapped around his body before he plunged himself further into her. There were a few choice curse words Elizabeth would have liked to say at that time if she had thought of them, but instead, she exclaimed in pain, tears came to her eyes and she clawed James’ back.
To say she hurt was an understatement, it did in fact feel as though something had been forced where it didn’t belong and yet she had heard that it could be pleasurable despite the pain. She kissed him briefly on the lips and hugged him close; preparing herself for what would come next.
Her hands clutched his buttocks again before coming around to his front where they were connected which was gooey and bloody. Elizabeth could feel scraggly, coarse hair at his base along with two round things that when she held them in her hands, James moaned himself and slammed into her a bit.
Then, he wrapped her legs around his body before bringing it fully out of her. It was merely a temporary lapse before he drove himself into her again although the shock wasn’t as great as it was the first time. This action was repeated and Elizabeth focused more on the feeling of his flesh against hers instead of the hurt and intrusion.
The act started to become mostly agreeable and it was though a pressure started to build inside her. James appeared to have the same thing happening with him because he started making little grunts as he propelled into her and then the grunts had a different sound to him.
Suddenly, as the feeling she had kept getting bigger and bigger, she felt as though something had been sprayed into her while he uttered her name and his thrusts became gentler. Elizabeth felt the excitement explode and she took his lead by shouting, “James!” while her thighs felt wetter and wetter. With another kiss, James withdrew himself from her body one last time and lay down beside her. She felt incredibly sore, but she could imagine doing that again eventually. The sun was getting to midway in the sky and they just lay there together for quite awhile.
“Perhaps they’re never coming back,” Elizabeth said of the barren horizon.
“You found your way off an island once before,” James reminded her with a smile.
“Because I knew you were looking for me,” she explained with a smile that unfortunately faded as the worries of the outside world intruded again. He grew serious as well as she added, “If I were to make a signal fire this time, it would only attract one of Beckett’s ships who would take us to a prison cell. It would do us no good.”
“Doesn’t Beckett desire the compass which is currently in your possession?”
This was true. The compass was still attached to her trousers that were a few feet away. However, that plan was deeply flawed, too.
“I could never do that to Will. We would have to deliver it together along with the Letters of Marque which Jack has been keeping in his coat,” she argued.
“Surely Beckett could be reasoned with…persuaded…,” suggested James, turning to her. Elizabeth knew it could be done, but she didn’t like the reminder of the thought of doing that again.
“That sad, little man is capable of almost anything to get what he wants; whether it’s the compass or the heart,” Elizabeth commented, having overheard rumors of deaths.
“People don’t attain positions of power by treating everyone with kindness and mercy,” James spoke, before rising and putting his trousers back on.
“Well, they should!” she exclaimed prior to realizing that he was probably including himself in that statement.
“You don’t know what you’re fully capable of doing until that moment,” James explained with a sad look in his green eyes, “who you’re prepared to sacrifice when the lives of others are at stake.”
It was different for him. He had killed men strictly for being a pirate, but she had only killed undead pirates. They were nothing alike. Still, Elizabeth didn’t regret what they had done; blame it on the island. Then, they both heard a sound and when they had turned to the direction it had come from; there was a ship headed this way.
“The rumrunners!” she cried, bounding up and fetching her trousers. From inside a pocket, she took out the pearls her father had given her for the wedding.
“This should buy us anywhere we want to go,” she said softly and James asked, “That would be Sparrow, would it not?”
He surely wouldn’t be bringing that up again about her having supposed feelings for the Captain and the annoyance must have been evident on her face because James added with a cheerless smile, “Isn’t that who we need to find your Will?”
With a reassuring hand on the compass that would know where to go, she nodded and agreed, “Yes, I believe he is.”
Four years later, Elizabeth was once again on a ship. However, she was having the unfortunate pleasure of being boarded. Jessica ran to her side and buried her face into her mother’s leg so that only the strawberry blonde curls on her head showed. Elizabeth had a feeling she looked exactly as she had at the same age with one exception.
The other captain and his men were coming closer when Will took her hand yet there was something familiar about the captain. As he came closer, Elizabeth saw how the white wig framed his face and the tall, lanky figure that had never quite gained back the weight it once had.
“James!” she exclaimed in surprise because they hadn’t seen each other in years.
“Elizabeth, you look…” he started and she was glad he didn’t continue because she looked every inch the six months with child that she was until she noticed that Jessica had looked up, right at him which must have been the reason behind his stopping. Fear filled her as she saw the question in James’ eyes.
“This is Jessica, our daughter,” she said before smiling at her husband, Will. The older man crouched down to the girl’s level and held out his hand, “I’m Admiral Norrington, how do you do, Miss Jessica?”
In response, her daughter giggled at being treated in such a grown-up manner, but gave her right hand that was so little compared to his that James’ hand completely covered hers. However, he immediately asked what Elizabeth had been dreading, “And who gave you such pretty green eyes?”
Panic coursed through her as Will dutifully answered what she had told him, “Elizabeth’s mother had green eyes.”
She could tell that James knew the truth yet he continued the lie by saying to Jessica, “Yes, I believe your grandfather may have mentioned that. He had loved your grandmother greatly and he was a good man. It’s a pity that he never knew you.”
Then, he rose back to his normal height and asked, “I presume the colors weren’t being flown because they were in need of repair?”
From the tone of James’ voice, there was only one correct answer and Will replied, “Yes, of course.”
“Be careful going to shore as well, the rocks are not always visible here,” the older man warned before turning to his men, “I don’t see it being necessary to write a report on this.”
“It was good to see you again, James,” said Elizabeth. The twinkle in his eyes revealed the smile that his lips couldn’t and he responded, “And under as pleasant circumstances as always although Jessica made the whole exercise worth it.”
He signaled to his men and they headed back to the ship although he stayed behind a moment more. Hesitantly, he touched Jessica’s hair and spoke, “Are you going to be a good girl and listen to everything your parents say?”
Her daughter responded with an excited, “yes” and a twinkle in her green eyes that were the same as James’. He gave them a little smile, turned around and crossed back to his ship. Elizabeth watched him go with a fond sadness; she had no way of knowing that it would be the last time that she ever saw James Norrington.