Return of the Prodigal...Daughter?
Hi there,
Posting to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and to apologise for being so absent recently!
I do, however, bring a peace offering. I whipped this up in 15 mins so apologies for typos/errors/general crapness.
Title: Constancy
Characters: Elizabeth/Norrington
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Words: 500ish
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Elizabeth is shadowed by her memories. Can be seen as a sequel/continuation of Haunting.
Please R&R, encourage me to get back into the habit of posting and writing!
Elizabeth stands at the parapet, feeling the wind whip through her long hair. She has not been here since she broke the heart of the man who loved her.
There are heavy footsteps behind her. She does not turn, already knowing who it will be - they have danced this dance before. The footsteps stop and she looks away from the tumbling ocean, to the stones of the fort. She is afraid to look upon him, for what state could he be in? And what would he think of her after all these years? She is no longer the youthful beauty that he remembers.
A movement catches her eye and she turns to see her son playing, running past an archway. She glimpses him only fleetingly before he is gone. The man speaks at last.
“He looks so like you.” The deep tone resonates through her, stirring the heart she thought had long grown cold.
“I know. There is nothing of his father in him.”
“Dare I ask: where is he now?”
“He was lost to me. Long ago.” She answers forlornly, she cannot bring herself to name him.
“I am sorry.” He apologises, softly.
She reaches a hand out to him, still refusing to look at him. She fears to see him again, not knowing whether her heart could take the pain.
“Don't be. This was one of the few things, even you could not fix for me. You gave me all you had.” She says, as she feels his large hands take her small one. She leans back into him, savouring the solidness of his form.
A minute or two passes as the two watch the pink and tangerine sunset over the vast stretch of water. When the light begins to fade, she knows she must fetch her son and retire home. It is with a sigh that she tells him what she longs to.
“I have missed you, you know that?” There is a comfortable beat of silence before he answers.
“I know. It seems absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.” There is a smile in his voice, she knows, but it will be one of those tight smiles that do not reach the sea of his eyes.
She remarks, tongue in cheek, “So it would seem.”
The light has begun to fade and she has a long walk home. She hears her son calling for her now. She steps away from the dreamlike embrace and bids the man farewell.
She turns, and there is no one there. It is a sad, but familiar scene - the empty space in her life, for which there were once so many contenders.
She walks towards the centre of the fort, towards her son's voice. She throws one look back towards the fateful parapet and thinks for a moment that she sees a handsome officer, clattering over the cobbles, smiling at the woman he loves. But it can only be memories, memories of a life she once knew.
“I do love you, James. I know it now.” She calls, unashamed. She picks up her son's hand and begins the long journey home. A voice in the wind seems to murmur into her hair.
“And, I will always love you, in my unwavering, constancy.”