So now we've come to the end of the movie-verse trilogy that involved Norrington. I hope you, dearest readers, will pardon me for not sticking to the backs of the other movie characters and instead focusing only on Norrington. I will continue to do that from here on out, though rest assured Sparrow will no doubt rear his mischievous head again before too long. Thank you for the continued support and encouragement. I hope you like this update; please again let me know what you like/dislike or would like to see more of. Cheers!

"As much as I hate him, you know you're going to have to talk to him eventually. This ship is only so big." Parlan continued to whittle on the bit of scrap wood he'd found, taken from their previously broken mast. He didn't bother to try to make eye contact with Ashlynne, who seemed intent upon staring the life out of the ocean surf that lapped against the side of the ship. "We won't make Tortuga until tomorrow if the winds are good."

"Aye." He barely heard her mumble, the wind near stole her words away. "I ken."

At the sound of voices, Parlan glanced towards the upper deck and saw that Hope was "airing" out Norrington; this was the first he'd been up and about since they'd fished him out of the water three nights before. Hope had kept him confined to quarters until the hole in his chest had mostly sealed itself, which in typical cursed fashion did so at an alarming rate. He'd be fully healed and right as rain within another day; after which they all thought it best to retrieve the pendant and put it away for safe keeping.

Since his rescue, they'd been witness to the releasing of Calypso, an epic battle between a united pirate front against Beckett's armada, the ensuing defeat of Beckett's fleet, and the "uncursing" of the Dutchman. While Norrington had still been stowed away, they'd briefly stopped by Shipwreck Island and learned more of the details of the battle from Teague himself. Ashlynne hadn't been too keen on the fact that Will was now the captain of the Dutchman but it'd been Hope that had pointed out the merits of such an arrangement and quieted Ashlynne's grumblings. Curiosity thus satisfied, they'd decided to chase down Sparrow in Tortuga, which also meant a return "home" for the majority of them.

"What do you suppose he's going to do with himself, now that he's a living dead man?" Parlan looked at Ashlynne over his shoulder and saw that her head began to turn to look as well but at the last moment stopped and continued staring downwards at the water. "He certainly can't return to Port Royal or resume his commission with the navy. I can only assume he'd be a lousy farmer and most likely a horrible fisherman as well. What's left for him, do you know?"

Ashlynne's voice was low when she replied and Parlan had to lean over a bit to hear her, "Donna ye think that nay a moment has gone by that I havenae thought that? That I havenae realized that in my selfish desire that he live, I could have just cursed him to a worse life than the one he'd had before?"

"Ashlynne, that isn't what-"

"His scruples with bendin' the law here and there will keep him from bein' able to live in Tortuga; e'en if he found an honest vocation there, he'd nay be able to sit idly by while such happenin's as they do happen occurred there." Parlan saw her shoulders rise and fall with a deep sigh. "Nay, I see no other route for him but to leave for the colonies and hope for a position as captain of a merchant vessel in those parts."

Parlan raised his eyebrows at her words but kept his mouth shut. So along with blaming herself for cursing him to a new kind of hellish living, she felt he'd not be able to survive in Tortuga but had gone far enough as to imagine where he could survive?

"And that fact bothers you?" He asked in spite of his better judgment to keep silent.

Her growl and another deep sigh was his answer. Parlan smiled to himself and resumed his whittling. She may be angry at Norrington now but she still loved him, in spite of it all. Parlan did not find the match to be the healthiest but it seemed to be one of the most tenacious ones he'd ever encountered and so, for once in his life, he decided to step out of the way and merely watch what would happen.

It was petty of her, she knew, holding a barely wakeful moment against him, but he'd said HER name and that cut deeper than she thought it could. Why did the confounded man have to insist upon staying inside her heart if he only meant to torture her by calling on another's name once he came through to the other side of death? What sort of trick was fate playing with her, cursing her to love a man who either tried to kill her physically or torment her mentally?

Ashlynne continued to watch the mermaids as they weaved in and out of the surf by the side of the ship. They seemed content to play with the porpoises this morning and had not attempted to attack the ship. She wasn't about to take any chances though, and kept her eyes on them in case she needed to order her men at the ready. No need to alarm them unnecessarily; they'd all been through enough and witnessed enough to merit at least one lazy morning of sailing.

"Well," she heard amusement in Parlan's voice and almost looked up at the sound of it, "if you were hoping to avoid him till Tortuga," she did look up then, just in time to see Parlan push away from the railing by her side and for the sight of an approaching James to greet her, "you missed your chance."

Resisting the urge to grab Parlan's coat and hide behind it, Ashlynne squared her shoulders and resumed her mermaid watch. Surprisingly, James didn't attempt a frivolous greeting when he drew up beside her. There was still a bit more than an arm's length between them but for the pain she felt in her heart at the sight of him it might as well have been a mighty chasm. The bastardly, cowardly, prat, how dare he-

"Are those mermaids?" out of the corner of her eye she saw him grip the railing and lean further over the side of the ship to get a better look.

She reached out, out of instinct, and pressed her hand against his chest, pulling him back. He looked down at her hand then up at her when she left it there for a moment longer than necessary. Cursing herself silently, she withdrew her hand and gripped the railing again.

"Donnae lean o'er so far. Ye never ken when they might try and snatch ye." James nodded at her words and mirrored her stance, alertly watching but not overly exposing himself to danger. "I've been watchin' them for near a half hour now and while they've been dandy playin' with the fishes, I wouldnae trust them to not suddenly decided to have ye for lunch if yer nay careful."

James snorted and Ashlynne saw him tug at the pendant, "I wonder if this would give them indigestion."

"It is nay a laughin' matter." She growled before she could stop herself. Why in the hell was she conversing with the man she wanted to hate?

"I know that, Ashlynne," she fought the shiver that overcame her near every time he said her name, "but with this new opportunity for life I'm determined to be proactive."

Ashlynne looked over at him with raised eyebrows, "Proactive?"

"Aye," he smiled at her, "no longer passive; enterprising; motivated; take charge-"

"I ken what the word means, Norrington." She refused to call him by his first name and returned her gaze to the waters. The mermaids had left them and now the waters were clear and silent of activity. She tensed, though, when she felt James shift closer.

"I mean to control the situations around me by causing something to happen rather than responding to them after they have happened."

Ashlynne fought the urge to look at him again but failed miserably, "I told ye before, Norrington, I ken what the word means."

She saw the corner of his lips turn upwards, "Aye but I failed to inform you how the word, and my newfound interest in it, involves you."

"Eh?" It seemed her powers of social discourse had failed with his statement and with the way his voice had deepened and grown more intimate by the end of it.

He shifted closer again and now, if he chose to, he could reach out and touch her face without having to lean over. Ashlynne couldn't move, as if she were nailed to the planks beneath her feet, and was mightily grateful that the man didn't reach out towards her. She didn't know what she'd do if he did try to touch her at this point. Kill him or kiss him, or both at the same time, or neither…it was a mystery to her tumultuous heart.

"In regards to you, Ashlynne Fitzpatrick, I mean to create a situation where I may court you with the goal of fully winning over your heart."

When she suddenly started coughing and his hand pounded lightly on her back she realized that she'd stopped breathing after his confession. Her coughing fit done with, he withdrew his hand and stood at attention by her side, his hands clasped behind his back. There were traces of the old James in there, the mannerisms and the like, and yet there was a new confidence about him that she found confusing. She didn't quite know what to do with this James Norrington; the old one would have never said such a thing to her while this one…what in the bloody hell did he mean anyway?

"I mean," he began to respond and Ashlynne realized she'd voiced her thought aloud, "that once we reach Tortuga I will find gainful employment and will make every effort to court you." When she opened her mouth to protest he continued, "You must admit, Ashlynne, that we were never given the opportunity to become acquainted with one another in the traditional sense." She surprised herself with compliantly nodding along with him. "Thus whatever we feel towards one another now has been heavily influenced by drastic environmental factors. I aim to find out if we would have developed such a level of attraction towards one another given the chance to approach one another as equals within a traditional environment."

Ashlynne clamped her mouth closed when she felt it gape open. She blinked at his smug looking face for a moment or two before she turned her gaze back out to sea.

"That is quite the plan, Norrington. But ye forgot one thing."

"And what is that, Ashlynne?" He still insisted upon calling her by her given name, blast him.

"In yer hurry to be proactive in yer approach to life and love, yer forgot to ask me if I e'en felt anythin' for ye still." She saw his smug expression fall into one of confusion out of the corner of her eye. "Ye also seem to have forgotten the love ye had for a certain woman, recently married mind ye, that consumed yer every thought and action up till now." His body tensed and she had to hide her smile of triumph as she continued. "Ye seem to have forgotten yer convictions against piracy and associatin' with those who find it tolerable to bend the rules here and there when it seems necessary." She turned to face him then and allowed herself to smile, though it was more of a smirk than a smile. "I donnae ken if I want to be courted by a man who doesnae ken his own convictions, who doesnae seem to have any regard for my feelin's but has more interest in his own, and whose heart leaps at every opportunity to obsess over an inaccessible ideal, be it woman or mission." She shifted her weight in order to turn on her heel and walk away but added, "I have no interest in bein' a conquest, Norrington."

She was only two paces away when she heard him call after her, "I do not love her." She froze and looked over her shoulder at him. His face was open and she detected no trace of dishonesty as he spoke again. "You are right that I obsessed over her as an ideal and that I chased after her and, with her, the glory of an ideal career with an ideal wife." He was by her side and holding gently onto her elbow before she could blink. "But you are wrong to think that I've forgotten a moment that passed between us in lieu of my obsession for a woman that never truly existed anywhere outside my own mind."

"Mayhaps," she tugged her elbow free, "what ye felt for me too, only existed in yer mind. Mayhaps this is yer twisted way of sayin', 'Thank ye for savin' me,' or e'en yer way tryin' to come out on top of the game again, by tramplin' me down in the mud." Ashlynne drew herself to her full height and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm nay sure what to believe to be quite honest. Ye've been topsy turvy with yer decisions and intentions e'er since I first met ye."

He shook his head, "Like you've been completely transparent in the time we've known each other?" He gave a fake laugh. "Before you point fingers in my direction, accusing me of inconsistent intentions and ridiculous notions on what we are to each other, you best reflect upon your own involvement in the journey we've taken." He raised his hand and pressed the tips of his fingers against her lips when she opened her mouth to yell at him. She tore her face away from his touch but kept her mouth shut as he continued. "I admit I've been a bastard to you. I've been intolerable. I've caused you much pain, and even death. I'm beyond redemption. There. Are you satisfied now?" He moved again and this time she was trapped between his body and the railing. Ashlynne found herself wondering if she preferred the gentleman imploring after her heart moments before or this predator zeroing in on his prey; then she shook herself and tried to remind her heart that she wanted neither. "But you came into my life and turned it upside down. You challenged my perceptions and threatened the very foundations that I'd built my life upon. The damage you've done to me may not be weighed in the physical, as mine to you can be, but it most certainly can be weighed in the metaphysical."

"So we've both hurt each other then." Ashlynne brought her hands up and placed them against his chest when he continued to lean in closer, both his hands gripping the railing on either side of her body. "We've both been a torment and a curse to one another. Ye killed me and I 'killed' ye by bringin' ye back to life only to live a life ye hate." His face was far too close for comfort and the scent that was uniquely his filled her senses and nearly made her giddy. "So we both agree then that this courtin' nonsense was merely ye tryin' to get the better of me and assert yer authority o'er me."

James suddenly leaned the entirety of his body against hers and she was robbed of breath. Not due to his weight but due to the insane desire she immediately had to fight to keep from swooning into his arms. Damn her body for being so weak. She fisted her hands in the material of his shirt and kept up the pressure against his chest, at least holding his upper torso away from her own.

"Nay, Ashlynne," he whispered her name and it felt like a caress, "I don't see it that way in the slightest." He brought his face closer and she turned hers to the side. His lips brushed against the skin of her ear as he spoke again, "The man who brought you so much pain died three nights ago." He tipped his head down and for a moment leaned it against her own, merely breathing together with her in the silence. Then, when she almost closed her eyes to traitorously enjoy the proximity with him, he spoke again and she tensed once more. "I believe that the man who can bring you pleasure," he shifted his hips more firmly against hers and she again nearly swooned, "and so much more is standing here before you."

Her body was splashed with a wave of cold air when he suddenly stepped away, leaving her grasping at the railing to maintain her balance. She looked up at him, expected to see a smirk, but instead she saw a look of vulnerable hope on his face and she felt her heart tug towards him, in spite of herself.

"That is why I wish to court you." He smiled a soft near sad smile then. "No other ulterior motive than to gain the heart of a woman worth loving." He turned and started away but then stopped and looked at her again, "And perhaps, in the process, become more the kind of man she'd desire to love."

He gave her a slight bow and left her then. Ashlynne could only blink at the space he vacated for a moment or two before she finally regained her bearings and stood upright, without the aid of the railing. She glanced around to see who might have witnessed the exchange but was surprised to find that the crew was nowhere in sight, not even Parlan or Hope. When she looked up towards the upper deck, however, she saw Devlin. He was smiling when she first saw him but when they made eye contact he jerked as if struck and beat a hasty retreat out of eyesight.

Ashlynne sighed and turned once more towards the sea. What in the hell was she going to do with this new James Norrington?