A/N: I see someone is reading my fic. I hope you are enjoying ND so far. Please send a few reviews my way. This fic is not going to be as long as Different Styles of Persuasion my prequel to this fic. It is just to finish off from where DS left off.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the POTC characters or the movies. Disney does. I do not own the lines I borrowed from Gone With The Wind
Chapter 3
Must Follow The Script
Niece listened to James' deeply pained voice, as Harper was helping James changing into his new uniform, "Beckett wants me to leave for The Dutchman immediately. I am sorry we only had a couple of weeks as newlyweds my love, but I must do as I am bid. I already have suspicions about Beckett's purpose. Maybe my being there will make things easier. We have to follow the…" His hand waved in the air and made small writing gestures, watching Harper as he did so. Harper paid no attention and continued with the last touches to James' appearance.
"I understand," she replied softly, her eyes going first to Harper, then down at her clasped hands in her lap. She was afraid that James could see right through her if she looked at him. Hoping he would think she was just distraught that they would be separated. And not that she had an ulterior motive to follow him and board The Dutchman.
"All done Admiral," Harper spoke through his nose, as he tidied up the room, leveling a distaining look at Niece. Harper did not like her way of helping with household duties. He thought she should be the Grand Lady and do nothing. But being raised in the 21st century, she got board at times, so she helped out here and there.
There was a scratching at the door, and Mrs. Higgins voice came from the other side of it. "My Lord, Lt. Groves is here to beg you hurry."
"Let the Lt. know I will be right down Mrs. Higgins. That is all Harper, you may leave us," James said with a flourish of his hand.
He walked over and pulled her gently to her feet, holding her close as he borrowed a line from 'Gone With The Wind,' "Now come here so you can give me a proper kiss goodbye."
"Don't say that, it is bad luck. It is not goodbye, it is I will see you again soon," she whispered, as she hungrily accepted his kiss.
"Stay here, you will be safe here. I will come for you after I have finished what needs to be finished and I find Will. We will talk about what has happened here, and how that may affect us. Then we will make plans to try and get back." He kissed her again, more demanding this time than before, brushing his lips across her forehead as he turned to take his leave.
As she did before, as soon as James left the house, she followed him to the door. She looked out the window as he mounted his stallion and rode away with Lt. Groves. Then she hiked up her skirts and ran up the stairs to grab the things she had hidden to turn her into a Dutchman creature. She debated changing into pants and a shirt, but thought better of it. She may not have enough time to get into town and change again, when she arrived at the hidden boat she had to get her out to The Dutchman.
Good thing it was getting dark out, she thought as she scurried from shadow to shadow on her way to the stable. She wouldn't think of what she would have had to do if it was daylight out. She hoped that no one had unsaddled Shadow. She had left him in his stall with his saddle on, since no one had been at the stable, when she returned from her rendezvous with Will. Unfortunately one of the grooms must have unsaddled him. She decided to just put a bridle on him, and ride him bareback down to the harbor.
She pulled him out of the stall and over next to a bench, hiked up her skirts, and stepped up onto the bench. Shadow tried to sidle away from her, so she quickly slid her leg over his back. Even though she had a troublesome feeling in the back of her mind, about horses in this century not being used to being ridden bareback with a dress on. Just as she got on him, he ducked his head and started bucking. She tried to pull his head up to stop him. She was an excellent rider, but from her century on horses from her century. Except when they bucked, she was the first one to admit, that she could not stay on a horse long if it started bucking. No matter what century it was. Unfortunately the same thing happened here, even though she tried to pull his head up to stop his bucking. The second jump she was tossed unceremoniously off the right side, into a heap of fabric, legs and arms into a wall, with a puff of dust and a 'woof' sound emanating from her lips.
"I am sure you haven't heard of 'Alpo.' But in a word, if you don't let me on your back in these skirts, you are going to become dog food," she grumbled as she got her wind back. She quickly grabbed the reins, tying them around a post. "This is not good, horse. I happen to be in a hurry."
She decided it would be faster to put a saddle on him, than try and get on him without one again. She hurried to the tack room, hefted a saddle from one of the racks, and dumped it on his back, not taking time to slowly cinch it up like she usually did. She just yanked the cinch tight and got on. Hoping it wasn't the skirts, but the bareback part that Shadow had the aversion to. Thank goodness it was, because nothing happened. She nudged him with her heels as she turned his nose toward town. They walked in the soft grass until she got far enough away his hoof beats wouldn't be heard at the mansion, and kicked him into a canter.
It took a few minutes to reach the little boat that she had hidden that afternoon, after she got back from talking with Will. Knowing then that she needed to find a way to get out to The Dutchman, before she went back to the mansion before James got home. She also found a couple of small barrels to use as flotation devices, since she always panicked in small boats of she didn't have a life preserver.
She dismounted and tied Shadow to a palm tree. She pushed the leaves and foliage aside to look out at the harbor. She looked up and down the beach before she walked out onto the beach, squinting to see since it was almost dark. The Dutchman was off shore a ways, and there was a lot of lanterns and activity onboard. The Endeavor was closer, but dark and all was quiet. She looked to see that there were bobbing lights of longboats close to The Dutchman, and people going up and down a ladder. They looked to still be loading people or supplies. She had made it in time.
She hurried back through the foliage undoing her dress as she pushed her way through. She got her costume out and changed quickly. She hoped it would be alright, with what she had to work with, it would have to do. She had stripped some palm fronds keeping the part that had the sharp stickers still on them. She sewed them into the sleeves of an old dirty shirt with some padding for the arms. She had also found an old glove in the stable, she had managed to put some crab legs around the fingers that she had found left over from a meal they had. She hoped it made her look like she was turning into a sawfish/crab.
She striped the saddle off the horse, but left him tied for the moment. She didn't want him to get back to the stable before she got far enough out not to be recognized, pouring out some grain to keep him there even longer. She had her hair tied up with a strip of cloth, and tucked all but the ends up under a hat and went to the boat to pull it out to the water. She stopped dead in her tracks. The Dutchman was just getting under sail. "Nooooooo," she groaned, "Damn and double damn."
Her mind worked hastily trying to figure a way to get out to The Dutchman, but it was no use. There just wasn't a way to get to the ship before it was in open seas. She hid the boat again, and saddled Shadow back up. Then went and changed into her dress. She mounted up and started slowly toward the mansion, thinking as she went.
She hadn't got very far when she remembered that Will was still here probably waiting for The Endeavour to get under sail. Obviously it wasn't leaving tonight like The Dutchman did. Maybe she could find him… On second thought, he had told her what was happening to this point. Probably a shortened version, but what she needed to know. She shrugged her shoulders, she needed to 'practice patience' for now. There was no sense in getting caught talking to the supposed enemy.
She thought back in time for a moment. Lt. Groves had seemed a little in awe of Jack Sparrow. She might be able to get information from him when she needed to. That would be the better thing to do. For the time being she would stay here in Port Royal, riding to the cove every day to see if either The Pearl or The Zeus where there. Knowing Will would come back to either Port Royal or the cove if he had the chance. And knowing James would come back here thinking she would be here, since that is what he had told her to do.
Again she turned Shadow's head toward the mansion, her home for now. She wondered what was happening in the 21st century. What her friends and family were doing, and if the other characters were trying to get back to take them home. She was sure they must be. Her eyes misted, she wiped at them, then she thought, 'there is nothing I can do for now. I must be patient and wait it all out.' Besides, she did think she would eventually get home.
A/N: I tried to stay as close to the timeline in AWE that certain things happened. I had to deviate a bit, to make The Endeavour and The Dutchman come back to Port Royal, before going to Shipwreck Cove. And The Pearl and The Zeus be at the small cove on the other side of the island from Port Royal. In order to work it into my story.
