Chapter 7
Disclaimer: Not mine. I don't even know who I would have to claim to be if they were mine.
Author's Note: Finals are over! Yeah! Happy dance
Norrington's horse shifted beneath him, chewing at the bit and stomping impatiently. He reached down to pat the animal's flank, feeling impatience sneaking up on him as well. He had forgotten how good it felt to be on horseback in his years on the sea. He had taken lessons as a boy, as all proper English boys of rank would, and had throughly enjoyed the lessons despite having to give them up as other engagements began to weigh on him. Remembering that his mother's country house contained a stable he began silently plotting to begin taking afternoon rides every opportunity the weather provided. Perhaps, he mused, he should invite Jack and Will along, and Elizabeth if she wished to come. He would wager Elizabeth and Will would pick it up quickly enough but Jack would most likely be something worth seeing. Somehow he got the feeling the old sea dog of a pirate captain wouldn't have much talent with horses.
As if his thoughts had summoned them the rest of the party appeared. Will and Elizabeth came out first, Elizabeth gesturing wildly as she argued with her husband. Norrington once again thanked whatever saints might be watching over him that he hadn't married Elizabeth.
Everyone had expected willful, argumentative Elizabeth Swann to bowl her quiet husband over when she married William Turner. Instead he had found a way to be so patient and kind to her, stubbornly refusing to loose his temper, that she often became too frustrated to continue the argument. He watched Will claim victory yet again as he pulled his wife close to whisper something into her ear and kiss her forehead. With a sigh she threw her arms into the air in defeat. Norrington caught Will's eye in that moment, and they shared a smile.
Jack and Diamond appeared behind them, a securely wrapped Pearl held firm in Jack's arms, the three of them making nearly as much fuss as Elizabeth just had. He urged his horse toward them, chuckling as he watched Pearl free her arm to try to shoo her hovering mother away only to have her return the offending arm to its prior place and secure the blankets around her more firmly.
Jack turned to Will and Elizabeth, sheltering his daughter for a moment, to order, "You two in first, turtle doves. I'll hand Pearl up to you."
"You know, I think I could handle the one step up into the carriage," Pearl remarked with a snort as Will moved to help Elizabeth into the carriage. She settled into the bench on one wall as Will climbed in.
"We've had this discussion already," Jack told her. "And it's pointless now anyway," he added as Will turned to accept Pearl as easily as if she weighed no more than the blankets she was wrapped in. She probably didn't, Norrington mused. She had only just begun eating solid food again, a process that had to be handled slowly. She still had an emaciated look to her that, despite what the rest might tell her, he doubted she would ever entirely loose.
Will withdrew into the carriage to make room for the two remaining passengers. Jack gave Diamond a hand up into the carriage, waiting for her to settle onto the bench across from Elizabeth's before climbing in himself and settling next to her as close to the wall as possible.
Will placed Pearl between them before sitting next to his wife. Pearl leaned toward her father, resting her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her to hold her secure and placed a kiss on her forehead. Jack's eyes met Diamond's and he thought he saw something pass between them before Jack's eyes shifted. Looking up at Norrington, who was looking in to make sure everyone was settled, he gave him a thumbs up. Norrington nodded in response, turning the horse as the footman swung the door into place. "Let's go!" he called to the lead of the party.
Pearl slept through the entire first half of the trip, only waking when Norrington called a halt next to a beautiful field teeming with flowers and containing a large tree that would be an ideal source of shade for a quick lunch.
Elizabeth tried to persuade Pearl to stay in the carriage, but finally gave up when she threatened to steal someone's sword and stab herself through the heart if they didn't let her out of the "oppressively hot box of death."
Edward dismounted and went to the carriage door as the footman opened it. Jack moved to pick up his daughter but with a sudden bust of speed she bolted past him to make a break for the carriage door herself. While she did manage to get herself to the door her legs failed her on the steps to give out beneath her. Using reflexes more accustomed to catching sword strikes aimed for him Norrington managed to catch the girl before she hit the ground.
"Pearl!" four voices called above, half sounding terrified, the other half scolding.
"Sorry," she said, addressing the voices in the carriage although her eyes were on the man cradling her in his arms. She raised a hand her forehead as she blushed crimson. She hated showing weakness, and she'd managed to deal her pride a major blow with that move. "Thank you, Edward. If you would just put me down-"
"I don't think so," he cut her off, tossing her a bit so that he could shift his hold to get a firmer grip on the woman. "Elizabeth, would you grab a blanket?" he asked as he turned to lead the group toward the tree.
"What were you thinking?" Diamond demanded as she caught up with her daughter.
"Obviously that I could get out of the carriage on my own. Apparently I miscalculated a bit. Although I must say, the results have been excellent," she added, snuggling closer to the Commodore's chest as he rolled his eyes.
"Don't think you're going to flirt your way out of this one, missy," Diamond ordered. "You must be more careful. You did die, after all."
"I what?" Pearl asked.
Behind them Jack groaned, "Here we go again."
"I what?!" Pearl cried.
"I thought you didn't want her to know," Elizabeth said.
"I didn't!" Jack cried. "Either of them! If your bloody friend hadn't opened his big mouth-"
"Wait, I was dead?!" Pearl cried. "For how long?"
"Just a minute," Norrington told her as her mother spread a blanket beneath the tree. "Your father got you back."
"Yes, so you should be thanking me," Jack informed her.
"I should be slapping you for not telling me," she returned.
"Your mother did that already, thank you very much. Do you see the thanks I get from these women?"
"Thank you mother," Pearl called.
"Don't mention it," she said, sitting down next to her daughter and helping the servants lay out the meal that had been packed for them.
With a growl of frustration Jack settled onto the blanket next to Diamond. Norrington, who had been moving to help the servants spread out the food, found Pearl griping his jacket. With a resigned shrug for Jack and a sniff at Diamond's smirk he sat next to the girl. Will and Elizabeth brought another blanket, settling next to one another. "Newlyweds," Pearl remarked with a snort.
"Now Pearl-" Elizabeth began.
"I know," she cut her off. "Soft foods and don't eat too much. Anything that tastes good is definitely off limits."
"Keep an eye on your plate, Edward. She'll try to steal from you," Elizabeth warned.
"Lizzie, I taught this girl all she knows of stealing and I can tell you he can sit on his plate if he wants, if she wants something from it she'll have it," Jack told her.
"I find it just a bit disconcerting that you use you're daughter's ability to steal as a point of pride," Elizabeth remarked.
"Why shouldn't I? She's talented."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You really are despicable."
"And you're incorrigible," he shot back.
"And I'm insatiable," Diamond put in with a flutter of her eyelids.
"And Will's indomitable," Pearl added. "I should know. I tried."
"And Pearl's intolerable," Will shot back.
They all turned to look at Edward, who shrugged. "I'm unconquerable."
"That's not been my experience," Pearl informed him with a grin.
"If I'm not unconquerable what am I?" he asked.
"A bloody English git," she answered with a laugh.
"A Navy prig," Jack put in.
Those gathered oohed.
"Pirate," Norrington shot back at Jack with a laugh.
"Prostitute," Pearl said, elbowing her mother.
"Blacksmith!" Diamond accused, pointing at Will.
"Commodore!" Will cried, pointing at Norrington.
"Gentry!" he called to Elizabeth.
"Sparrow!" she put in with a wave toward Pearl.
This set them all laughing so hard it was several minutes before they were all sitting upright, able to go back to eating. "I don't believe I've had this much fun in ages," Diamond remarked.
"I knew you missed me, Di," Jack said, an arm snaking around her waist to pull her close so that he could kiss her cheek.
"I missed my daughter," she corrected, pushing him away with a laugh.
"I've been told she's much like me," he told her.
"More than I'd like, for certain," Diamond informed him.
"Oh, luv, you've cut me to the quick," Jack said, flamboyantly pressing one hand to his heart, the other to his forehead and lay back on the grass.
"Uh-oh. You killed Jack," Will remarked, poking him with the toe of his boot.
"Well, his smelly carcass isn't riding in the carriage with us," Pearl said. "You'll have to carry him on your horse, Edward."
Norrington snorted. "If I tie a rope about him and drag him behind my horse he'll be lucky," he informed them.
Elizabeth laughed as she leaned over to poke at him. "You'll excuse me, Diamond, if I have trouble believing that a few unkind words from you could accomplish what undead pirates could not."
"Finally, someone speaking sense," Jack remarked as he sat back up.
Pearl snorted. "You wouldn't know sense if it bit you," she put in.
"And you would?" Norrington asked.
"I would know sense when I heard it," Jack put in. "I can always recognize it by the way it makes no sense to me."
Elizabeth laughed. "You recognize sense because it doesn't make sense?"
"Exactly luv," he said confidently.
After a few moments of relative peace (relative because of the scolding it entailed from Elizabeth when Pearl made a vain attempt to steal some roast beef) Pearl suddenly asked, "Will, your mother's dead, right?"
He looked over at her curiously. "Yes."
"What did she look like?"
"Why?" Will asked.
"I don't know. Could be nothing. I don't remember your father ever saying any more than 'she was beautiful.'"
"But why-"
"If it applies, I'll tell you," she promised. Elizabeth gave him a quizzical look. Pearl's voice was unusually steady. "Please, just answer the question."
He shrugged. "All right. I don't remember a lot. I was fairly young when she died. She was mostly English but there was a little Irish in there somewhere. She had pale skin and freckles. Dark hair, though. Brown, although it looked black sometimes. She was, I don't know, medium height I suppose. She always wore blue because-"
"It matched her eyes," Pearl put in. "They were dark blue, like the open ocean."
"Yes. She said that's what my father always said. But I thought you said-"
She shook her head. "I didn't think anything of it at the time. Just a fever dream. But if I was actually dead..." She looked down, picking at the blanket. "It's fractured, what I remembered. Just light, and the pain and the heat sort of faded away. And I was, well, scared, really. I didn't know what was going on, and it seemed like I hadn't for a long time. I guess this just felt different, which I suppose it would. Anyway, I remember being afraid, and this woman came up to me. And you just described her perfectly, Will. She even had this gorgeous sky blue dress on. She hugged me and told me not to be scared. She said this wasn't my place, that it wasn't my time. I asked who she was and she just said after all I had done for her son she had to come for me. That her husband would never forgive her if she didn't. I don't know what all I've done for you, Will, but it seemed to be enough for her. Odd that I didn't see Bootstrap. But it could have just been a dream. I mean, her appearance could be a coincidence."
Silence reigned in the group, only the sound of chewing to be heard. "Okay, this is too serious a discussion," Jack finally announced. "Time to change the subject."
A stiff, cooling breeze kicked up suddenly, throwing hair into Pearl's face. She growled as she shoved it back. "I need to cut this," she announced. "It's becoming totally unmanageable."
"No you don't," Diamond said. "You haven't had it long since you were a girl."
"There's a reason for that," she answered.
"Well, there's nothing you're going to be doing any time soon that involves it getting in your way. It's about time you cleaned up and started acting like the Lady I know is in there somewhere." Jack and Pearl snorted in unison. Diamond elbowed Jack. "I don't want to hear a word from you. It's all your fault she's lowered herself to this level."
"In my own defense I don't think it's entirely my fault. She herself may have had something to do with it," Jack pointed out.
"You may as well just go back to sleep, Mother," Pearl said before she could retort, "because it's never going to happen here in the waking world."
"Never say never," Norrington told her.
"Don't YOU start," she ordered.
Will sighed as he pushed back the remains of his plate. "I'm stuffed." Poking at his wife's shoulder he asked, "Want to go for a quick walk before we tuck ourselves back into that box?"
"No Pearl!" four voices yelled as she opened her mouth.
"You're all mean," Pearl said with a pout as she lay back on the blanket. "It will have to be a short walk," she added with a glance toward the northern horizon. "There's rain coming up before nightfall."
"Are we going to get wet?" Norrington asked.
Pearl shrugged. "I don't know."
"You can predict a storm while we race with the winds on sea but going by carriage over solid ground you can't tell?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know how fast we're moving exactly, or where precisely we're going," Pearl explained. "Besides, I have more experience on the sea."
"Well, I think a walk sounds like an excellent idea. Doesn't it Jack?" Diamond put in.
Jack shrugged, laying back on the blanket as well. "I think I'd rather nap."
"You can nap in the carriage," Diamond said, poking him in the side as Will and Elizabeth stood.
"Or I could sleep now," he answered.
Pearl chuckled as her mother stood to take his hand and tug at it. "Or you can NAP in the CARRIAGE!" she said through clenched teeth nodding toward Norrington and Pearl.
Jack shook his head up at her. "You're mad, woman."
"You would know. Come on."
Grudgingly Jack stood to follow the woman, who smacked his arm in reproach. He countered by drawing close, wrapping an arm around her waist and leaning into the prostitute to whisper into her ear. Diamond's laughter faded as they moved off.
Deciding he didn't want to think about what those two were up to he returned his attention to Pearl. "You mother is clever and all, Pearl, but she isn't very sneaky."
"She doesn't feel the need to be," Pearl answered, rolling over to spread out on the blanket and close her eyes with a satisfied sigh. This placed her head right next to his legs. He shifted so he could lay down as well, propping his head up on an elbow by her bust, letting his legs sprawl out past her head. While the position was hardly appropriate, there was nothing inherently inappropriate about it either. He couldn't resist reaching out to run his fingers through her red mane. She purred deep in her throat at the motion, turning it into a sigh.
"Tired?" he asked of her closed eyes.
"Eh," Pearl answered indifferently. "Just pleasantly drowsy. It seems to happen after I eat. Or move."
"Or fall out of carriages," Norrington added. "You have to be more careful."
She raised a hand to flick her wrist once at him, a very Jack-like motion that made light bounce off of the black pearl rings she still wore despite Elizabeth's objections. "I'm a pirate. It's my paragative to ignore caution."
She sighed as she shifted again. The dappled sunlight fell on the silver necklace around her neck, making the ruby eye of the Phoenix glow. "I'm glad you still wear it," he remarked.
She didn't open her eyes, a smile creeping over her face. "I haven't taken it off," she admitted. "It seemed foolish, leaving a gift this valuable lying around a pirate ship."
Norrington sighed. Valuable, as in expensive. She could easily deny any emotional attachment. Just as she was wearing it only to keep it safe on a ship full of pirates. "You're impossible," he informed her.
One eye cracked to look up at him. "No, I'm intolerable," she corrected.
"That's not been my experience," he told her mockingly.
She rolled onto her side, propping her head up on an elbow, sharp eyes studying him. After several minutes of staring at him silently she inched forward slowly, smoothly, as if he were a wild deer about to bolt. Instead he held his ground, regarding her carefully as she approached.
Her lips brushed his, gently at first, a fleeting touch. When he didn't retreat she came back, kissing him more firmly, her hand finding his cheek, thumb caressing the skin.
He backed off when he felt her tongue tentatively explore his lips. "No, Pearl," he ordered, sitting up.
He had expected her to sit up as well but instead she flopped back onto the blanket, exhaustion flashing through her eyes. He worried for a moment--the trip had to be exhausting, as was moving at all for her. But she didn't close her eyes. Instead she stared up at him, eyes questioning. "I'm sorry, Pearl, but I can't. I'm engaged. I promised Maggie--"
"Maggie. So that's her name," Pearl murmured. "All right, Edward. That's lovely and all. But you're going to marry her. Take an oath. You will belong to her forever." She inched forward, the effort so obvious Norrington reached out to help her without thinking or even knowing how.
She drew closer, pulling herself up so she was eye-to-eye with him. "Till death do you part. You'll be lost to me forever then, Edward, so what's wrong with taking what I can now? When you aren't sealed to her by heaven and state?"
"Pearl, I don't..." he began without knowing how to finish. "I can't."
"Perhaps I should prove to you that you can," she whispered, leaning closer.
"Ready to go?" a voice suddenly asked behind them. While Pearl didn't move Norrington pulled back as if his nanny had just caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. Behind him Will and Elizabeth stood with Diamond and Jack. Will looked distinctly embarrassed as his eyes looked anywhere but at the couple on the blanket. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was glaring at them. At Edward, really. Diamond was grinning like a Cheshire cat and Jack had that insufferable smirk on his face again.
Jack, who had obviously been the one to speak, came forward to gather his daughter in his arms. "I had better grab you before you try to run off again," he told her.
"No worries," she answered around a yawn. "I'm too tired." She looped her arm around his neck, leaning up to kiss his cheek before cuddling closer to his chest and closing her eyes. "Love you, papa," she murmured.
"Love you too, Fledgling," he told her with a kiss on the forehead.
She was sound asleep by the time they reached the carriage. She didn't even stir when Jack handed her to Norrington, along with a knowing smile, so that he could hand her up into her father's arms once he was in the carriage.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed it. This was a fun one to write. I'm going to be working a lot up until Christmas–retail, you know– so I don't know when you'll see another chapter. Patients is always appreciated, as are reviews.
One note on that. This chapter is dedicated entirely to Mac, who made my day in a way they can probably never imagine. I got your review after what was probably one of the top ten worst days of my life. I was just about ready to break down and cry (and I HATE crying) and then I went to my e-mail and got your review. It's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me (or written to me). I printed it off in a huge font size and tacked it on my wall just to cheer myself up (right next to the Orlando Bloom picture I ripped out of a magazine-yummy!). Anyone you want to barrow, you just let me know. I'll grab Norrington if you really want him. Hell, you can have all three of them if you want. I just wanted to say thank you.