When James came home that evening, Amelia was already preparing for bed. She sat at her vanity and brushed her hair. She began to braid it when he spoke up from the doorway.

"Don't braid it. Please? I like it down." He was leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed and staring at her.

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Oh." She braided it.

James came over to her and leaned close to her so that he could speak right into her ear. "Don't be upset with me." He tried to kiss her neck. She got up from the vanity chair before he could.

"I'm not upset. I'm just tired."

He took off his jacket and waistcoat, and then sat on the bed to take off his boots. "I had to go, Amelia."

"I know. I said I wasn't upset." She kissed him on the forehead quickly; he could tell she didn't mean it. She climbed in on her side of the bed. When James was in his nightclothes, he got in beside her. She turned over so she was facing away from him. He tried to put an arm over her waist, but she scooted away.

"I suppose the honeymoon is over, then?"

"It ended the minute you walked out the door this morning."

James sighed and turned his back to her.

The next morning, Amelia woke before he did. She dressed and went down to breakfast. She was eating a piece of toast and reading a book when James joined her, dressed in his civilian clothes and no wig.

"Good morning, my darling." He kissed her on the top of the head and took his place opposite her.

"Good morning." She didn't look up. He gave her a look, and then picked up his tea and took a sip. She turned the page. "May I ask you something?"

"If it means you'll talk to me, then absolutely."

"What was so important yesterday that Lord Beckett needed you?"

"I can't tell you that."

"You can't?"

"I won't. It will make you upset."

"You've already done that. So tell me." She looked at him. He groaned and covered his face.

"Alright. Beckett has made a deal with a certain pirate to become a privateer. He is sending this privateer out to cripple ships and bring the prisoners back to Port Royal for interrogation. He wants my men and me there when the man comes back with the prisoners, just to be sure nothing...unforseen happens."

"That's the big secret? Naval men do that sort of thing all the time. Pirates are..."

"He is to hang the prisoners when they have confessed."

"What?"

"It is a new law in the Caribbean waters. Any man or woman found guilty of piracy or association with a pirate will be put to death."

"How can you say that so calmly?" She stood up from the table. "These people are being forced to confess, some of them with no guilt whatsoever, and they will die anyway?"

"Yes."

She crossed to him and stroked his cheek. "Always indifference, never emotion. I know your heart, James Norrington. And you would never do this. Don't you realize what this means for me?"

"You are reformed, my dear. You are not a pirate." Amelia stormed out of the breakfast room. James caught her in the hall. "I won't let him hurt you! I told him when I gave him the heart that you were never to be harmed."

"And what of my father? And my friends? Are they to be sent to the gallows?" She tried to push him away. He pushed her against the wall instead.

When his lips met hers, there was a fiery passion that neither of them had experienced yet. It wasn't love. It was anger. She bit his bottom lip, and he pressed his body against hers so hard that she thought she might suffocate. She tangled her hands in his hair. When they separated, they were breathing so heavily that neither of them could speak at first.

"There is nothing I can do for your friends. Their fate is unfortunate. But I have to work for Beckett. I have to keep you safe."

"You have to cover your own hide, is what you mean." She pushed him and turned to pin him to the wall instead. "If you weren't working for Beckett, you would be back on Tortuga, drunk and disgusting like I found you."

He put his hands on her shoulders. "Amelia, I..."

"Who is the pirate that has betrayed us all? Name him."

"Davy Jones," He said through his teeth. "Beckett controls him because he has the heart."

"And Beckett thinks he can control him forever, does he? Why does he need Jones to bring in all the pirates, hmm? When he's got men like you to pull the lever and let them hang."

James turned them again so that she was against the wall. He kissed her again, so deeply that her head hit the wall as well. She pushed him and slapped his face. "Don't think that you can just kiss me and this will all go away!"

He slapped her back. "I won't be spoken to in this manner in my own house! You're my wife! You will comply with my decisions! Is that clear?"

She said nothing.

"Look at me!" He pulled her face up to look at him, and wouldn't let her look away. "Is that clear, Amelia?"

"Crystal, Admiral."

"Good." He kissed her again, and then lifted her up and carried her up the stairs.

Later that afternoon, they lay in bed together. James was making slow circles on Amelia's back with his index finger. She had tried to stay angry at him, but she understood that he was only trying to keep her safe, and if that meant doing Lord Cutler Beckett's bidding, he would do it.

"I'm sorry for slapping you." He kissed her forehead.

"It's alright."

"No, it isn't. I will never hurt you again. Ever."

"I know you won't." She turned her head and kissed his shoulder.

"Amelia?"

"What?"

"I've been meaning to ask you this." He moved his hand to her shoulder, where a black sparrow tattoo was etched. "Where did you get this?"

"I got it when I was thirteen. As a sign that my father is Jack Sparrow."

"Did it hurt?"

She smiled at him. "Like hell."

"Amelia?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you sorry you married me?"

"What?" She sat up and looked at him.

"We've been married two days and we've had two fights. Don't you think that's some sort of sign?"

"No." She rested her hands on his chest. "Look at me. I could never regret marrying you. You are the one that I am supposed to spend my life with."

"Good. Because I love you, you know? I know that I seem...cold and distant. But I can't help it. I do love you."

"You think throwing me against a wall is cold and distant?" She laughed and kissed him on the lips. "Don't think that you'll get out of this easily, Admiral Norrington."