AN: I wrote this about six months ago, and before I continue with the story, I wanted to see if anyone would even be interested in reading it.
It's my first attempt at writing a fic that actually follows the original storyline, where I've added an OC. My OC is called Jessamine (Jane) Norrington, and she is the younger sister of James Norrington. She is 4 years older than Elizabeth Swann.
I haven't written the very start of the story, so this would probably be chapter 2, if I end up continuing it. It begins just as James Norrington has been promoted to Commodore and it covers the first meeting between Jane and Jack Sparrow.
Let me know if you'd be interested in this reading this story =)
Having witnessed her older brother's promotion to Commodore and now seeing him trying to gather the courage to propose to Elizabeth, Jane felt certain that no one would notice her absence for just a short while, so she moved quickly to the kitchens and gathered the basket of food she had had a maid prepare before hand, and hastily left the fort.
Some minutes later she arrived at the navy dock, where the H.M.S. Interceptor was docked. She quickly spotted the two officers on duty; Murtogg and Mullroy, sitting below the bridge, clearly trying to stay in the shadow as much as possible. Jane approached the two men and when they heard her steps on the wooden planks they quickly stood up and went to see who came.
"Miss Norrington?" Murtogg stated, unable to hide his surprise in his tone, "should you not be at the Capt– ehm, Commodore's promotion ceremony?"
Jane giggled at the man's near-slip of her brother's title, "yes, and I was." She told them, "however knowing that the two of you were down here on duty, all alone, missing the ceremony and the food as well, saddened me, so I felt I could at the very least bring you a bit of food to enjoy." She lifted the basket for emphasis and smiled sweetly at the two men.
It wasn't long until Jane had sat the basket on some barrels and started pulling out food and putting it on a cloth she had brought along for that purpose. However before the two men could dive into the meal she had brought them, they moved hastily to stop a man who was approaching the docked ship.
"This dock is off-limits to civilians." she heard Murtogg inform the stranger.
"I'm terribly sorry; I didn't know." replied the stranger and continued: "If I see one, I shall inform you immediately." Jane noticed the slight slur in his voice and the way he moved his hands before him, when he talked. She wondered if perhaps he was drunk.
The stranger tried walking past the two officers, but a moment later they were stood in front of him once again.
"Apparently there's some sort of high-toned and fancy to-do up at the fort, eh?" The stranger stated, "how could it be that two upstanding gentlemen, such as yourselves, did not merit an invitation?"
"Someone has to make sure this dock stays off-limits to civilians." Murtogg explained.
"It's a fine goal, to be sure." The stranger replied before he started moving the other way around the two men, whilst he continued talking: "But it seems to me that a ship like that" he motioned towards the H.M.S. Dauntless, which was docked a few hundred meters away, "makes this one here a bit superfluous, really."
As the three men continued their conversation, Jane decided to inspect the stranger to the best of her ability, given the distance and of course the fact that he was facing away from her.
He had dark brown, perhaps even black, hair; some of it was braided, some in dreadlocks and here and there, Jane noticed, he had trinkets dangling from it as well. He was wearing a red cloth of some sort around his head with a brown tricorne resting on top of it. Looking lower she noted that he wore a dark coat, grey breeches, brown boots and was armed with a sword. Jane was convinced that he must be new to Port Royal; she had never seen anyone, who looked even remotely similar to this man.
Suddenly the man slid away from the two officers and Jane noted that they seemed to be having an argument of sorts with one another, thereby having forgotten all about the man they were trying to keep away from the Interceptor, hence he was now walking aboard the ship. Jane shook her head and started packing the food she had brought back into the basket, before she moved to stand in front of Murtogg and Mullroy, who were still arguing.
"Like I said; there's no real ship as can match the Interceptor..." he trailed off as he noticed that the person standing before him was not the one he had been talking to a moment before.
Jane lifted her eyebrows at him before she pointed towards the stranger, who was now standing at the helm on the Interceptor.
"Hey!" Murtogg exclaimed when he realised what was going on and suddenly both officers were running away from Jane and aboard the ship.
Jane sighed deeply before she started walking toward the ship as well. As she approached she finally got a view of the strangers face, and overall front, as well. The first thing she noticed was that he had quite a handsome face with a bit of facial hair and dark eyes.
"What's your name?" Jane heard one of the two officers ask him.
"Smith." He replied promptly. "Or Smithy, if you'd like." He added as an afterthought and looked towards Jane, having noticed her approach. He winked at her.
Jane felt her insides twirl, though not in an uncomfortable way at all.
"..It is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder, and otherwise pilfer my wheezy black guts out."
"I said no lies," was Murtogg's reply.
Mullroy leaned slightly toward him; "I think he's telling the truth." He told him.
"If he were telling the truth, he wouldn't have told us." Murtogg answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Unless, of course, he knew you wouldn't believe the truth even if he told it to you." 'Mr. Smith' reasoned, clearly just to make the two of them confused, before he turned his attention to Jane once again.
"What say you, love?" He asked her, as he approached her slowly, "Am I telling the truth?"
Jane could feel her insides twirl once more; no one had ever addressed her in such a way before. She felt her cheeks flush. She didn't know what to say, and her mouth opened and closed a few times.
"I..ehm.. I.. am not.. sure." She choked out. "Sir." She added as an afterthought.
'Mr. Smith' smiled at her embarrassment; obviously he found it amusing. "No need for formalities, darlin'." He told her, as he came to a stop in front of her and took her hand, guiding it to his mouth, before he placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "The name's Jack." He told her, his hand still holding her smaller one as he stared up into her eyes.
"Jane" she piped out. She quickly realised her thoughtless reply and corrected herself: "J-Jessamine Norrington."
"Ahh.. 'Jane', lovely name." Jack stated with a smirk and finally let go of her hand. "Now Janey, I think I noticed before that the basket you seem to cling to for dear life, in fact contains food?" He asked her.
Jane tried not to let his use of her nickname affect her. "Eh.. yes, it does." She replied. "I brought a bit of food for the two officers behind you."
"A courteous sentiment to be sure." He stated with a nod of his head. "Then why don't you line up the feast over here?" He suggested as he gestured towards a space in front of the helm.
Jane found herself surprised when Murtogg and Mullroy didn't object to his suggestion and not long after the three men were consuming the food she had brought. Jack began to tell the three of them a story about a time when he ended up on, what he believed to be, an uncharted island. As he got deeper into the story Jane looked up at Fort Charles, wondering if anyone had noticed her absence; as her eyes rested on the edge of the Fort she noticed what looked to be her brother and Elizabeth standing there. Her brother was turned away from Elizabeth, which made Jane assume that he was trying to find a way into the proposal itself. As confident as her brother was, somehow in recent years he had started growing very self-conscious around Elizabeth Swann; Jane smiled at the thought.
Suddenly, to Jane's horror, she saw Elizabeth swaying slightly before falling over the edge of the cliff.
"Lizzie.." she whispered and subconsciously walked closer to the rail; her friend's fall towards the sea, seemed to almost pass before her eyes in slow motion.
"...and then they made me their chief." She heard Jack finish his tale, followed by the sound of Elizabeth's body hitting the water, which caused all three men's attention to turn towards the sea.
"Elizabeth!" She heard her brother's voice yell from the top of the cliff and she turned her eyes towards him only to see one of the other officers seemingly holding him back from jumping in after her.
"It's Lizzie." Jane stated to the men around her. She looked at the two officers, who seemed confused at her statement. "Elizabeth.. Swann" she explained further, but as the men seemed unable to catch on quick enough she yelled: "The Governor's daughter!"
At the last bit the two men joined Jack at the side of the ship, looking out at where she had hit the water moments ago.
"Will you be saving her, then?" Jack asked Mullroy.
"I can't swim!" He answered, which made Jack look towards Murtogg instead; he, however, shook his head, indicating that he too was unable to swim.
"Pride of the King's Navy, you are." Jack stated sarcastically as he started removing his hat, coat and effects and shoved them into the arms of the two officers. "Do not loose these." He told them firmly, before he climbed onto the rail and made an elegant dive into the water.
Jane held her breath as she looked out over the water, waiting desperately for something to happen. Next to her Murtogg and Mullroy looked up in surprise when suddenly the wind changed at became much stronger; Jane however did not notice, as she kept her eyes firmly on the water and all of a sudden Jack surfaced with Elizabeth. She sighed in relief before she turned and ran off of the ship to stand on the dock. A moment later Jack appeared in the water in front of her and Murtogg and Mullroy joined her on the dock and helped Jack haul Elizabeth out of the water and onto land.
"She's not breathing!" Stated Mullroy with an edge of panic in his voice.
Jane covered her mouth in a mix of shock and fear and looked on as Jack hurried past her, to kneel by her unconscious friend, and picked up his knife from his effects, which the two officers had dropped on the dock, when they came to help him. He used the knife to cut open the front of Elizabeth's corset and a moment later the Governor's daughter was coughing up the water that had made it's way into her lungs and stomach.
"Never would have thought of that." Said Mullroy, somewhat to himself.
Jack looked at him, before replying: "Clearly you've never been to Singapore."
Jane, who was finally able to move again, put a hand on Jack's shoulder and was about to offer him her most heartfelt gratitude, when his interest was caught by the medallion, which Elizabeth wore in a chain around her neck. Jane recognized it quickly; it was the medallion that William Turner had been wearing, the day they had hauled him from the water on their crossing to Port Royal.
"Where did you get that?" Jack asked her.
Before Elizabeth could answer, however, James and several officers came running onto the dock along with the Governor himself. In no time James was stood in front of Jack with his sword pointing straight at him, only inches from his face, and told him in a cold voice to stand up. Jane gasped in surprise at her brother's action; was it not obvious that this man had just saved the woman that he himself intended to wed?
"James, please!" Jane begged him, from just behind Jack. "He hasn't done anything wrong."
"Hush, Jessamine." Her brother told her firmly, which only made her that much more angry with him; how dare he?
Before she could utter her disbelief, however, she heard the Governor ordering the officers to shoot Jack.
"Governor!" She exclaimed at the same time as Elizabeth's voice yelled:
"Father!" She looked to James and addressed him as well, though in a calmer tone; "Commodore... Do you really intend to kill my rescuer?"
James looked at Elizabeth for a moment before he nodded for his men to lower their weapons. Jack gestured his appreciation to Elizabeth and sent Jane a smile, causing the sensation of butterflies fluttering around to reach her gut and once more she could feel herself blushing.
"I believe thanks are in order." Stated her brother suddenly, as he reached out his hand for Jack to shake.
Jack looked at the hand in surprise for a moment before reaching out to shake it. However as soon as his hand touched James' hand, the newly appointed Commodore's other hand grasped Jack's sleeve and lifted it up to reveal the marred 'P' on his lower arm.
"Had a brush with the East India Trading Company, did we... pirate?" James asked with just a hint of mockery in his voice.
"Hang him." The Governor ordered.
"Keep your guns on him, men." Her brother ordered. "Gillette, fetch some irons."
"Brother! Being a pirate does not change the fact that Jack saved Elizabeth's life!" Jane protested.
"I told you to be quiet and stay out of this, sister!" He told her firmly, glaring at her, before he returned his attention to Jack's arm and lifted his sleeve further up his arm to reveal a tattoo. "Well, well.. Jack Sparrow, isn't it?" He asked.
"Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please, sir." Jack corrected him.
Jane looked at Jack in surprise. She had heard of him. She had heard much of him.
James looked around in mock-confusion, "well, I don't see your ship.. Captain." He said condescendingly, causing Jane to look at her brother in disbelief and anger once again.
"I'm in the market.. as it were." Jack informed him.
"He said he'd come to commandeer one." said Murtogg suddenly, from the other side of Jack.
Jane looked at him angrily, feeling betrayed on Jack's behalf.
"I told you he was telling the truth." Mullroy stated, somewhat proudly to his colleague, before he bend down and picked up Jack's effects, "these are his, sir." He told the Commodore.
James picked up Jack's things one at a time, declaring each of them more useless than the last. Jane was fuming at her brother's condescending behaviour.
"You are without doubt, the worst pirate I have ever heard of." He told Jack.
The pirate however raised his fingers in front of him, "but you have heard of me." Jack stated with a smile.
Jane had to suppress a laugh – her brother, however, did not as he suddenly grasped Jack by the arm and dragged him towards Gillette, who had just returned with the iron cuffs.
Elizabeth followed just behind, voicing her protest, and Jane followed behind her, praying that her friend's words may be what was needed to make her brother change his mind. Elizabeth stepped in between James and Jack, who was now being cuffed by Gillette.
"Pirate or not, this man saved my life." She told James firmly.
"One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness." Was his reply.
"Though it seems enough to condemn him." Jack put in from behind Elizabeth.
"Indeed." James declared just as Gillette finished cuffing Jack's hands together.
"Finally." The pirate stated and before anyone could question what he meant, he had thrown his hands over Elizabeth's head and held the chain of the cuffs firmly against her throat, as he pulled her back towards him.
All the marines raised their weapons at Jack, but seeing as he was now holding Elizabeth captured, the Governor told them not to shoot.
"I knew you'd warm up to me." Jack stated to the crowd, "Commodore Norrington, my effects please.. and my hat." He told James.
For a moment James simply glared at him, but when Jack called his title in a warning tone, James turned back to Mullroy, who stepped forward, and took his effects. Meanwhile Jane looked at Jack, who was now saying something into Elizabeth's ear, however Jane couldn't make out what he said and only heard Elizabeth's angry reply of: "It's Miss Swann."
Once again Jack said something to her in such a low voice, that Jane couldn't tell what it was, before stating in a higher voice; "come come, dear, we don't have all day."
James handed Jack's belongings over to Eliazbeth and a moment later Jack had turned her around in his arms so they were face to face, his pistol now pointed at her head.
"Now if you'll be very kind." Jack told her, and Elizabeth started dressing him in his effects. Jack looked up at the Commodore, who was clearly not enjoying the sight, and Jack smiled, before casually addressing Elizabeth again: "Easy on the goods, darlin'"
She finished fastening his belt and told him in disgust and anger: "You're despicable."
"Sticks and stones, love." Jack told her, "I saved your life, you save mine; we're square." And with that he turned her around in his arms once again and started walking backwards, still with Elizabeth in front of him. "Gentlemen, miladies," Jane noticed that he kept eye-contact with her, when he said it, "you will always remember this as the day that you almost caught.. Captain. Jack." He lifted the chain from around Elizabeth's neck and pushed her towards the crowd as he finished his speech: "Sparrow!" And then he was off, and everything seemed to turn into chaos around them, before Jane heard her brother's order to shoot the pirate. Meanwhile Jane held her breath and prayed they would miss.