Anamaria stood just inside the doorway for a long moment after the Commodore and Gillette hurried out. She looked a little surprised to see Groves again so soon after taking great pains to return him to the fort. She seemed surprised to have been left so abruptly alone with him by the man who had most reason to disapprove of her association with the lieutenant. After the moment had passed she stepped farther into the room. "So," she said. "You need looking after?"

"Of course not," Groves replied. "I think he meant that I should look after you."

Anamaria crossed the room, slowly looking around at the office of the man who had once been an enemy but who had now become a hesitant ally. She found it suited him. Functional, uncluttered but not sparse, tidy but not spotless. There was a proper place for everything in it but a few elect items seemed to remain deliberately out of place. She paused next to the Commodore's desk and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Think he'd mind if I sat here?"

"I think he'd mind very much."

She dropped into the chair behind the Commodore's desk and faced Groves with a rebellious smirk. Until recently she wouldn't have imagined teasing the lieutenant like that. She wouldn't have even imagined being in the Commodore's office of her own free will. Her eyes drifted away from the lieutenant's and she glanced out the window that faced over the harbor. The sounds of battle were distant, but steady. The fighting hadn't died down since she had rushed up here with the news of Ruby's capture. She found herself anxious for news of the woman's rescue.

"There's nothing he wouldn't do for her," Groves said.

Anamaria looked back at him. "What?"

"The Commodore. He'd do anything to make sure Ruby stays safe. And I'm sure he's thankful to you for alerting him."

She shrugged. She still wasn't sure what to do with the hesitant approval she and the rest of the pirates seemed to be receiving from the Commodore's officers. Or, if not approval, then at the very least there was a noticeable lack of immediate and irrevocable disdain. What was there instead was hard to describe, but it was almost something like trust.

Groves was still sitting quietly on the sofa. He seemed content to be in the pirate's presence but also anxious to be somewhere else. With the Commodore, Anamaria guessed, saving the town. And she knew he would be if not for his burned hand and the strength the injury stole from him. She noticed the small bottle of medicine sitting untouched on the desk, and she picked it up. "What's this?" she asked the lieutenant.

"That," Groves said, glaring at the bottle. "An instruction from the doctor which I have chosen to ignore."

"You'll probably feel better."

"I feel fine," he muttered, turning his glare towards the window. From where he sat all he could see of the battle were distant flashes of cannon fire.

"You're cranky."

"I am not."

Anamaria raised her eyebrows.

He sighed, giving in. It was true that he wasn't at his best. But it wasn't the pain that was souring his mood, though there was a considerable amount of it. It was the knowledge that every moment that passed was a moment closer to Norrington's resignation. It was knowing what such a thing would mean for the Commodore but not how it would affect the town or any of the people in it, including the lieutenant himself. It was a nearly uncontrollable rage that made him want to find Beckett and kill him before Norrington could sacrifice himself.

Anamaria frowned. "What?"

Groves hesitated, not sure if he wanted to step down that path with her. He wasn't sure he wanted to spread word of the coming demise of Norrington's good name. But he couldn't stop himself. "The Commodore plans to give Beckett his resignation in the morning," Groves said, then just looked at Anamaria and waited for her to react.

She didn't. Not really. Anamaria held the lieutenant's gaze for a moment, then turned and looked out the window. The blasts from the Black Pearl's cannons seemed to have stopped. The sounds of confusion still carried up to the window, but the shouts of fighting men were fewer and farther between now. The battle was dying down.

"I wouldn't really know anything about that," Anamaria said, after a moment of heavy silence. "Titles and reputations and proper men's jobs don't mean much to me. And I don't really know anything about the Commodore. As a man, I mean. What I do know is Jack. Jack and his ship. That ship's like a part of him, it's like they're one person, and if he were ever to give it up it would only be for the most honorable and desperate of reasons."

Groves wasn't sure what he thought about having the Commodore so easily compared to a pirate like Jack, but he did have to admit that Anamaria seemed to understand. Groves didn't have to tell her that he was angry at the injustice of it all, that no man as good as the Commodore should have to give up something so close to his own self, that he could barely stand the thought of Norrington giving in to Beckett's heartless demand. Anamaria met his eyes again and he knew she knew.

Anamaria got up from the Commodore's chair and went to the window.

"What's going on?" Groves asked, realizing for the first time that it had been quite a while since he had heard the sounds of battle. "Is it over?"

Anamaria didn't reply. The siege on Lord Beckett's did seem to have come to a halt, but why? Jack had seemed pretty determined to attack Beckett with everything the pirates and the angry townspeople could muster until they ran out of either men or weapons, or until Beckett surrendered. It was still hours before dawn. It was hardly likely that either of those things had happened so soon.

She wasn't startled when Groves appeared next to her at the window, no longer content to sit across the room. "That wasn't much of an attack," the lieutenant said.

"Why are they stopping?" Anamaria asked, frowning to herself. "Jack was very clear that no one was to cease fire until the Pearl ran out of cannonballs unless Beckett surrendered first."

"Maybe he changed his mind," Groves suggested. "He does that, doesn't he?"

"Not without a reason," she said. "Usually."

Groves reached over and clasped his good hand around hers, and she let him. He looked at her face and the eyes that hid worry behind determination, and thought of the moments they'd spent together since their first forbidden kiss on an abandoned island, and he realized just how few those moments were. He wasn't sure if his interest in this woman was romance or curiosity, or whether it should be commended or forbidden. He didn't know if he was excited or frightened by his fascination with a pirate. They had no future together, and he didn't dare imagine what would happen if they did. He didn't know if he would have the courage to pursue her, and if he did, he didn't know if she would allow herself to be caught. But it would never be an issue. He wasn't sure if that knowledge made him relieved or disappointed.

"Kiss me," Anamaria said.

"What for?"

"Because you might not get another chance, and I want to remember what it feels like." Then she leaned in and kissed him before he had a chance to react. She pressed her lips against his, and it was the first time she had chosen him like this rather than simply receiving and returning his cautious advances. His pulse raced with relief and anxiety that made his sore hand tremble. Once again he had kissed a pirate, and this time he almost didn't think it was wrong. He certainly wasn't sorry for it.

Footsteps came into the room followed by a startled curse from Gillette. "Lieutenant," the Commodore's voice said.

Groves dropped Anamaria's hand and they both spun to face the doorway. Norrington and Gillette stood there with Ruby. All three looked startled, but Groves was actually surprised by how composed Norrington remained. There was a stunned, uncomfortable silence for a moment, then Norrington said, "Well, I see you're feeling better."

"Yes, sir," Groves responded, instinctively. "I am now. Thanks for asking." He didn't dare look at Anamaria, though he desperately wanted to. He just held Norrington's gaze, wondering whether he should be simply embarrassed or also concerned for his job. When another moment passed without any more reaction from the Commodore, Groves deftly changed the subject. "You found Ruby."

"Yes," Norrington replied, returning to the more important matter. "I located her with Jack Sparrow's help. The man in black is dead."

"Good," Groves said. He didn't ask for details. The arsonist was dead now, and for now that was all that mattered.

Norrington gently took Ruby's arm and led her to the armchair. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

She nodded. "I'm fine," she said. "I told you, I'm okay now."

"Where's Jack?" Anamaria asked.

"He's gone back to your ship to call off the attack, at my request," Norrington said, turning to face her.

"I should get back, then," Anamaria said, before Norrington could suggest the same thing. She acknowledged each of the officers and Ruby with a glance, then left the Commodore's office.

Once she had gone, Norrington turned his attention back to Ruby. "I can have a fresh pot of tea made, if you like."

"Actually, I think I'd prefer something stronger," Ruby said.

Norrington smiled slightly with a bit of relief. "Thank God," he said. "So would I."

Groves turned his attention back towards the window while Norrington poured four brandies. The sky was still dark with the unyielding black of this terrible night, but dawn was coming closer every minute.

Sorry for the long wait! Sort of a filler chapter - not too many left!