AN 1: Thank you very much to those of you who have reviewed and those of you that will!
12:00 noon
- A new pirate threat
Commodore Norrington sat stiff-backed in his chair, his fists clenched in his lap. On the immaculately tidy desk in front of him lay a small piece of white card with a thin gold border and neatly written words in blue ink. The commodore's face was a dramatically pale shade and his green eyes bulged slightly as they struggled futilely to overcome the cruel force that drew them to the card.
It was an invitation. Elizabeth's wedding invitation. And it wrenched his already broken heart. He knew it would come, that it was inevitable, that she would never change her mind. Yet, that didn't stop it from hurting afresh.
James Norrington was trying to move on, really he was. There just wasn't anywhere to move on to. Unless he was willing to accept bachelorhood once and for all. But he didn't want that. What he wanted was a wife, a woman to love who would love him in return, and the promise of a family.
What kind of cruelty was at work to make him love with his heart and soul a woman who felt nothing for him?
Young Turner made Elizabeth happier than he ever could, and so he could do nothing but support the engagement. However, that didn't mean he didn't regret not being the man who made Elizabeth Swann's face light up and her heart quicken.
He still had his title, for the sunken Interceptor had been replaced by the Challenger. She was a fine ship, a little larger than her predecessor with more firepower, but slightly less speed and manoeuvrability. The infamous escape of Jack Sparrow had dented his reputation a little and tales of the pirate's latest exploits kept the old stories alive, though most versions had misplaced the truth along the way. Lieutenant Gillette was still bitter about that day thirteen months ago.
However, Commodore Norrington hadn't seen head nor tail of the Black Pearl for months. He continued to plan methods of catching Jack Sparrow, his plots growing more outrageous by the day and so very rarely being shared with anyone let alone being put into action.
For days on end, Norrington would spend the daylight hours and a good portion of the night in his office. Sometimes he would stare out into the street below, daydreaming and hoping to catch a bittersweet glimpse of Elizabeth. Other times he would complete his paperwork with intense care that baffled his superiors. Then there were the hours he spent pouring over maps and trading routes, speculating where Sparrow might be and devising ways to catch the man that deep down he knew he didn't want to catch.
For what would he do once the last real pirate threat in the Caribbean was hung?
The sudden, unexpected but instantly recognised booming of a ship's cannons brought him jumping to his feet and hurrying to the window.
Unsatisfied with his view that failed to reveal the attacking ship and knowing where his place was, Commodore Norrington ran from his office to the battlements, adrenaline rushing through his blood.
He was just pondering the possibility of Sparrow being brash enough to attempt to sack Port Royal, when who should he almost literally run into but the pirate captain. He wasn't alone, accompanying him were Elizabeth, Turner, a female pirate and…a beautiful, fair, young woman in a blue dress - what was a girl like her doing with pirates?
"It's not me!" Jack Sparrow blurted out at once.
Norrington gave him an incredulous look, looking the physical proof to the contrary from trinket-adorned, long, dark hair to brown-booted toe.
Agitated, the pirate captain quickly amended, "I mean the Pearl isn't attacking!"
"Then who the hell is?" the commodore demanded, his expression becoming serious as he hurried forward to the dock.
True to the pirate's word, the two-mast ship with its guns blazing in the bay certainly wasn't the Black Pearl. In fact, Commodore Norrington had never seen it before. That meant one thing: there was a new pirate threat in the Caribbean!
Excitement more than trepidation rose within the commodore as he hurried to the fort, where his captains had already started to return fire.
3.00pm
- Found and caught
The Royal Navy dealt with the Valiant Dragon taking moderate but not serious damage to the fort and town. The pirate ship turned and limped off, the wind in its favour taking it safely away before Commodore Norrington could make chase with the Dauntless or Challenger. However, flushed from the battle and feeling more alive than he had in a year, Norrington vowed to set out and catch the pirates come the dawn of the next day.
There was one other thing on his mind, which, try as he may, he couldn't leave until tomorrow. James Norrington had to find the girl with Jack Sparrow that had caught his eye.
Without informing his men about where he was going, Norrington left the fort and went in search of the mystery woman. He wandered through the labyrinth of Port Royal's streets, unsure where to look first.
Turner's shop would be a foolish place for Sparrow to go now that the commodore knew he was in town, but then again the pirate captain might deem it safest as Norrington wouldn't think he'd go there. However, it seemed Jack Sparrow had thought of him considering that too, for the blacksmith's was empty.
The house Governor Swann had bought for Elizabeth and Turner was the next possibility. Attempting to unravel the pirate's possible threads of thought about hiding there tangled Norrington's thoughts into a large, tight knot of circular logic, and so he checked it out anyway. Again, empty.
It then occurred to him that perhaps Jack Sparrow had already left Port Royal, maybe taking the girl with him…or leaving her with Elizabeth…who would take her to the Governor's house.
James Norrington ran to the huge, grand building where Elizabeth and her father lived. He stopped at the corner of the wall to catch his breath and straighten his clothes, then looked through the tall gateway. His heart leapt into his throat. For once, it wasn't the sight of Elizabeth that caused this, but the woman walking up the driveway beside her.
Quickly building back up his confidence that had suddenly melted, Commodore James Norrington stepped boldly through the gates.
"Ah, good afternoon, ladies, Mr Turner!" he called.
Surprised, the mystery woman, Elizabeth and Turner stopped and turned, then smiled in polite greeting. Norrington walked the rest of the way up to them, careful to be quick but without appearing rushed.
Elizabeth and Turner regarded him uneasily, as they waited to find out what he wanted. No doubt fearing that he was hunting Jack Sparrow. While he noticed a slight tinge of pink rise to the mystery girl's cheeks, as her amazing green-blue eyes, which remarkably seemed able to flash every shade of the seven seas, fought not to look at him too boldly. James Norrington had not received such attention from any woman he desired in return for quite some time, however, he recognised the girl's behaviour and his heart leapt again.
Though her thoughts were at first focused elsewhere, Elizabeth noticed the reactions of Commodore Norrington and Miss Evelyn Marlowe to each other. She exchanged a smile with Will, and then introduced them.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Gillette was bristling with impatience at his commodore's inexplicable insistence on waiting until tomorrow to go after the villains that had dared to attack the British Navy port. This attitude of Norrington's was what had let the infamous pirate Sparrow get away. With the determination to point this out as tactfully as he could to his superior, Lieutenant Gillette stormed through the town in search of the commodore.
As such, it was luck rather than genius that led to the Navy officer cornering Captain Jack Sparrow and his first mate in an alley.
Gillette felt threatened by the large women with their shopping baskets full of vegetables and the unshaven men with their carts and donkeys bustling along the narrow streets with their tearaway children laughing and dashing between everyone and everything. He tightly held his unsheathed sword, as he pushed his way through the townsfolk. A man and a woman were making their way to the coast, the opposite way to which Gillette was headed, when the Navy officer almost accidentally skewered the dark-skinned female. He was about to apologise when he realised who the man she was with was.
The one and only Captain Jack Sparrow. And Lieutenant Gillette captured the infamous pirate all by himself…with a little assistance from the six fellow officers who just so happened to come around the corner at that moment.
Let the Valiant Dragon swim away, Lieutenant Gillette had himself a bigger fish soon locked in the fort jail.
Dusk
- In Port Royal's jail
"Well," Anamaria snapped, sitting down on the stone ledge at the back of the cell, "this is a fine place to spend the night."
"Oh, I don't know. The place kind of grows on you after a while." Captain Jack Sparrow dropped down from the window and sat beside his first mate, his weary motions and sigh belying his words.
Anamaria took Jack's hand in her own and squeezed it gently. "We've been in worse spots."
"Oh, aye."
She rested her dark-haired head on his shoulder, her body fitting comfortably against his as if they were two parts of one whole. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head, then leant back against the wall, tipping his hat over his eyes.
"And we'll get out of this one, just like all the others," he murmured.
The sound of the unseen door at the top of the stairs scrapping open startled the two pirates. They sharply sat up, waiting to see whom the owner of the light descending footsteps was.
Commodore Norrington glanced only briefly into their cell upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, before turning to call the grey dog that kept the jail's ring of keys in its mouth. The dog dropped his charge on command and Norrington picked it up. He moved slowly over to the pirates, looking down with apparent consideration at the keys he bounced on his palm. The commodore raised his gaze to meet Jack Sparrow's charcoal-lined eyes through the bars.
Without saying anything, Commodore Norrington threw the keys to the pirate captain. Though he hadn't been thoroughly expecting the throw, Jack caught them easily.
Jack looked down at the ring of keys in his hand and quirked an eyebrow.
"Ta…" he said, uncertainly, looking up at the commodore.
Norrington gave a brief smile, then turned on his heel and left.
Jack turned to Anamaria, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Should I be grateful or insulted or…?"
"Just open the door, Jack."
~ Fin ~
AN 2: Norrington was only supposed to have a little bit of limelight. But he eagerly took and ran away with it. I had to forcibly wrench it from his grasp. Though who can blame him, since he gets so little in the film itself and this site of fanfiction. However, he's had his moment and Jack's always going to be the one with my heart and interest, so my next story will be back in the waters most familiar to me, those of Jack-angst.
Anyway, please let me know what you thought of this story.
Until next time,
Starzangel.