Disclaimer: Sadly, James Norrington isn't mine. He - as well as all other characters mentioned in the following story - belongs to Disney.
Spoilers: Nothing I would consider a spoiler, but since this story is set between CoBP and DMC I guess you should have seen both. (Just to be on the safe side.)
Author's note: I have to thank subplotter for beta reading this story ages ago.
Propriety
By IceCream_Junkie
He had always tried to be a proper gentleman.
His mother had once told him that young ladies liked to have a proper gentleman for a husband. They liked to know that they would be taken care of, she'd said.
Therefore, James Norrington had always tried to be the perfect example of such a man. He had worked hard and always had given his best, which had helped him to climb through the ranks rather quickly. But his striving for perfection had also made him his own worst critic.
The same damn striving for said perfection had made him wait until he was Commodore before he asked for the hand of the woman whom had caught his eye.
Elizabeth Swann was probably the most beautiful young lady of Port Royal, and being the Governor's daughter made her a good match for a high ranking naval officer like him.
But it was not her beauty that first led him to consider her as a potential wife. It was her liveliness.
Most young women rather resembled brainless dolls and were paraded around by their husbands for their beauty, but had nothing else to them which would have been worth talking about.
Miss Swann on the other hand was definitely the liveliest young woman he had the honor to know. And she certainly was not afraid to speak her mind no matter how unorthodox it might be.
While other men might find this behaviour repelling, James had to admit that it was rather appealing to him.
But his bad luck – in the form of the cursed Jack Sparrow – had taken from him everything that he held dear.
Elizabeth – after going on her own little pirate adventure – had found his propriety boring and had preferred a common blacksmith's apprentice and wanna-be pirate for a husband.
Then, as if that wasn't enough humiliation, his ship sank when he tried to catch Sparrow, and she took his naval career right with her to the bottom of the ocean.
That day, James Norrington decided to damn propriety to the darkest corner of hell, ease his pain with a debatably (un)healthy amount of rum, and leave the stuck up society of Port Royal behind.