Chapter 9
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I'm getting used to it.
The next week was less eventful. Cold and rainy outside, everyone contented themselves by pouring over what reading the library offered. Elizabeth allowed Pearl to be carried down the stairs when she threatened to attempt them on her own again if she didn't. While she still spent the majority of the time sleeping she was obviously growing stronger. The men would take turns holding her arms as she tottled around the library. It was nearly painful for them all watching her shuffle around like a child, but her stubborn refusal to quit and anger any time anyone offered her any sympathy kept their spirits up. By the end of the week she could make it from the foyer to the library and back three or four times per day if she let herself rest between.
As the week wore on boredom goaded Norrington and Jack into practicing the sword with Will. Chairs were brought into the gigantic marble hall so that the girls could sit and sew or read as they watched the men practice. It became abundantly clear that Will was the better swordsman, and Jack's stumbling attempts were woefully lacking unless he managed to cheat his way into an advantage while Norrington lay somewhere in the middle.
"Your form is too perfect," Pearl informed Norrington one day as he collapsed at the girls' feet to watch Jack take his place against Will.
"And there's something wrong with that?" he asked.
"Two somethings, actually," she informed him. "In the first place you pause when you switch methods in order to find the proper stance. Every time your opponent forces you to shift form you leave yourself open. If you would just be satisfied by being a little less than perfect you would be much faster."
"And the second problem?" he asked.
"It makes you predictable. When Will forms a move he knows exactly what your response is going to be. It gives him time to formulate his next move without giving you the same luxury. See, Jack is the exact opposite. Completely unpredictable."
"Not much in the way of form," Norrington pointed out.
"Aye, but he's lightning fast. That makes up for it."
Norrington nodded. "That's how you fight, isn't it?"
A smile flirted across her face. "Mostly, although that year I spent in Paris taught me some form. I usually sort of hide it. Pirates tend to get snooty if they think you have more skills than you should."
"What did you do in Paris? Besides study?"
She shrugged. "Spent Jack's treasure. Well, I helped earn it, so it was more fair than that, but you get the idea. Actually I spent most of the time with my bust bound and hair cut off short tarrying around the University."
"You're educated?" Norrington asked.
"A little. Something else I hide most of the time. Literature, mostly. Tickled my fancy. You don't have to sound so surprised."
"I'm sorry. I just..." He shrugged helplessly. "You never fail to surprise me. How many languages do you speak?"
She shrugged. "English, obviously, and French. Monique, my friend in Tortuga, taught me that afore I got to Paris. Spanish, since we are in the Spanish Main. Latin, obviously, since I studied in University. I can bumble my way through a little Aztec tribal language if I need to. My gypsy friend's taught me some."
"More than me," he noted.
"More than most anyone," Diamond put in with a proud smile.
The next week the storms cleared out, the sun re-emerged, the ground warmed, and the group moved into the back gardens which were full to bursting with fine English roses. Pearl developed a habit of pilfering them to braid into her hair that left the gardener incredibly upset.
The servants carried out couches and chairs and everyone marveled over how nice it was to have real light again. The men had plenty of open places to practice the sword without servants having fits over the damage to draperies and marble.
At first Pearl spent the majority of her waking time sewing, reading, or playing her fiddle for Jack and Diamond, who spun gittily around the gardens, as well as Will and Elizabeth, who found themselves the less than willing focus of tutorage by the pirate and prostitute on the finer points of improper dance.
Norrington was content to watch, once he got over his embarrassment at the provocative nature of the dancing going on before him, laughing and joking with Pearl, although Elizabeth did occasionally pull him into the grassy circle to dance a more tame step. Will didn't seem to mind and even Norrington admitted the experience was not entirely painful.
As she grew stronger Pearl took to meandering around the mazes the paths of the gardens, her steps finally firming. She seldom collapsed in an exhausted heap any more, and slept only through the night and for a few hours in the afternoon.
The most startling change, however, was in her appearance. It was as if being in the sun and fresh air breathed new life into her. She refused all of the hats and umbrellas Elizabeth offered her. Her skin began to loose it's pail shade, becoming darker. The breeze put color in her cheeks. She started gaining weight, losing her pinched look. While she still sat a great deal there was an animation to it, a near-constant shifting and energy that mirrored her father's, which had been absent over the past month or so.
Norrington spent many long afternoons with Master Nethers, looking over the farm. He was impressed with the man's knowledge, and how productive the farm really was. He promised to visit more often, and Master Nethers said he hoped so.
Norrington knew, however, that it was Pearl's company he would miss the most when they left. She had charmed him, as she had most of the household servants. She had an ability to talk to them without talking down to them that they hadn't expected.
Jack quickly learned that the stable hands kept rum on hand, and took to disappearing in the evening to nip at it. Norrington couldn't help feeling relieved despite himself, not only because Jack's sharp tongue was removed, but also because Pearl seemed calmer away from him. It was as if Jack was such an oppressively outrageous character his daughter had to fight to earn a piece of the spotlight.
One day they were all lazing about in the warm sunlight when Pearl suddenly sat up and announced, "I want to go for a walk."
"So go," Jack suggested lazily from the large chair he was tucked into with Diamond. Those two seemed to be constantly together now, and their open flirting left little doubt of their spending nights together as well.
"Not in the gardens," she said. "I know the gardens by heart. I want to go see the farm."
Elizabeth sighed heavily. "I don't suppose there's any harm so long as you don't outdo it. And you take someone with you. Not that it matters. If I told you no you'd probably just say you were going through the gardens and slip off first chance you got."
"Indeed I would," she agreed. "You're learning. Why don't you come show me around, Edward?"
"Oh, I suppose," he agreed, leveling himself to his feet and following the skipping girl. "Slow down. You don't want to tire yourself out right away," he added, breaking into a trot to catch up with her.
"I won't," she called amiably back to him as she twirled and spun her way down the path.
As she approached the gate she sped up. "Pearl, don't you dare--" he called just in time to watch her jump with a gleeful cry as she planted her foot on the low brick wall and pushed herself over. She landed lightly on the other side, laughing as she twirled in the sunlight, while skirts flashing as they spread around her.
Norrington shook his head and sped up a bit himself, hoping over the low wall to catch up with her. She took his hands in hers, spinning them both and laughing joyously. "Oh, heaven be praised, I'm FREE!" she cried.
He laughed, his arm fitting easily around her waist as he pulled her close. "No flittering off just yet, Miss Sparrow. You're not healed."
"Ug," she sighed out. "I'm sick of people telling me I'm not well. Shouldn't I know better than them?"
"Aye. And if you would tell the truth about it now and again we might believe you."
Pearl shrugged. "Pirate. I wouldn't want to be too honest. It might get to be a habit." Grinning she grabbed his hand and led him up the path. "Come on!"
"Where are we going?" he asked, adjusting his stride so he could walk with some dignity and still keep up with her jittering, dancing steps.
"There's a tree atop a hill up here. I've seen it from my window. It reminds me of a painting Mama had when I was a wee thing. I want to get a gander at what's on the other side."
"Fields," he told her. "That's all that's around here."
"Well, it's worth seeing," she answered.
At her quick pace they easily reached the small hill. He watched her carefully as she climbed the hill, but she showed no signs of tiring. At the top of the hill she grinned. "Oh, 'tis beautiful."
Norrington climbed up beside her, and found he had to agree. The land rolled out beneath them, a small creek winding its way through. Wild flowers swayed in the breeze. "It looks like waves," she remarked.
"Do you miss the ocean?" he asked, looking at her with concern. He found it hard to stay concerned, however, seeing her like this after her prolonged illness. Her skin was touched with the lightest shade of a tan. Her face was earning its old, rounder shape back. Even her arms were looking less skeletal. She wanted to join their sword practices, saying she needed to start building up muscle on her arms again. They had talked her out of it so far, but he knew she would be joining them soon.
The light green gown she wore that day was beautiful, mixing perfectly with her creamy petticoats. She had laughed when he had mentioned how odd it was to see her in skirts all the time and told him she liked skirts well as the next woman, she just couldn't climb rigging in them.
She turned toward him, amber eyes sparkling in the sunlight, red hair gleaming almost painfully bright. "Do I miss the sea?" she repeated. "A bit, I suppose. I haven't been gone from it so long, and don't remember most of that. I think mostly I miss being able to do for myself. I don't do well at being taken care of."
"I hadn't noticed," he remarked with a smirk.
"Think you're terribly funny, do you?" she asked as she moved into the shade offered by the tree. He followed. She sighed again as she regarded the surroundings. "Land this pretty, I wonder if I'll ever long for the waves again."
"It could have been yours," he pointed out. "Lord knows I offered often enough."
"Please don't start gnawing on that old bone," she begged.
"No worries," he told her. "I've made my bed. I'll not leave it empty and spite Maggie. She deserves better than that."
"Aye, she does," Pearl agreed. "An' I don't."
"I never said that," Norrington pointed out.
"No, you haven't. You've been very careful to avoid the issue all together when you can. Leastwise when you aren't trying to gall at me."
"I'm not trying to gall you."
"Oh, aye. 'I could have been yours.' That wasn't meant to gall?"
"Well, I, I just, you hurt me, Pearl. Am I not allowed to take my own shots at you?"
"Oh, aye. I'd suggest you do," she answered. "But don't pretend that isn't what you're doing."
"Probably doesn't bother you in the least anyway, does it?" he asked.
She looked up at him in apparent surprise. "Do you really think that?" she asked.
"Sure. I mean, you go on and on about never falling in love. You're a pirate. The last thing you would ever want would be a Commodore."
Pearl began to laugh, shaking with mirth. "Oh, Edward. The things you don't know about women could fill a library."
"So enlighten me."
"All right. I may be a pirate now but growing up on the streets o' Tortuga I thought I was going to be a prostitute. Edward, all girls dream of their white knight coming to rescue them. If a woman ever tells you she doesn't, she's lying. It's spoon-fed to us. Cinderella and all that. We just learn to put the dream away and accept reality. Anyway, my knight never rode up on a white horse in my fantasies as a girl. He sailed in on a gleaming ship. Told me I was too good for this place and these people and carried me away and married me and we had babies. A Commodore would have been an excellent find." She smiled at the shocked look on his face.
"But I'm a big girl now. I gave up those dreams a long time ago. I'm too grounded in reality to believe it could ever work. But, the truth is, some dreams die harder than others. So yes, it does gall when you remind me that I've given up all my dreams for a healthy dose of reality. So I remind myself how lucky I really am, not working the streets o' Tortuga, that I'm sailing the high seas and doing what I love and I try not to think too hard on what I might be giving up." She finished with a wave of her hand as if to dispel the last lingering remnants of her childhood hopes and dreams.
"I'm so sorry," Norrington remarked.
"I'm not," Pearl answered with a shrug. "If I weren't born in Tortuga and sailing around on my father's ship I never would have met you."
Norrington gave a dry chortle without humor. "Maybe that would have been better."
"Nay." She reached out to take his cheek in her hand and turn his head to meet her eyes. "Never say that. Not ever. We had some time together, which is a fair sight better than none. Speaking of which," she added, scooting closer. "We have some more time now. Why not make the best of it?"
"Pearl-" he began, but she silenced him with a finger on his lips.
"I am a pirate, Edward. I take what I want." With that she leaned forward to seal his lips in hers.
She followed him as he tried to draw away until he was backed against the tree, her hands snaking into his hair to keep him firmly in place. He didn't hold out long against the clever woman. He didn't have a chance, after all. She knew how to drive him crazy. His arm twinned around her waist to draw her closer to him as he moaned into her mouth.
Suddenly the sound of soft laughter intruded upon their interlude. Drawing away he opened his eyes to look around, but could find no source for the sound.
"That's just our luck," Pearl remarked, voice husky with lust. She cleared her throat to dispel it before continuing. "All of the trees on your property and we end up below the giggling tree." More giggling issued from above as she looked up. "Oh, wait, no, it's children. Ahoy up there."
"How can you see me?" a boy's voice emerged from above. "I was hid real good."
"Indeed you was," Pearl agreed. "I got good eyes. I was a hawk in a previous life, I was. Why don't you come on down, the both o' you?"
"A hawk?" Norrington asked as the children descended.
"You just be jealous 'cause you was a peacock," she answered.
He winced at the atrocious language. "You could at least speak properly."
"The kids'll feel more at ease if I don't," she answered before reaching up to take the boy's hand and help him to the ground.
He was a dirty little retch, probably five or so, wearing clothes that were patchwork at best. His hair was shorn off extremely short, falling only to his ears in choppy patches. Probably an effort to control lice, Norrington considered.
The girl Pearl lifted down beside him was little better. She was younger, although probably just barely. She wore a ragged grey dress, but was at least a little cleaner. Her dark, grimy hair was captured in two braids, red ragged yarn braided in as well. She curtsied as soon as her bare feet hit the dirt, murmuring, "Apologies, sir."
"Why were you spying on us?" Edward demanded. Pearl obviously did not approve of his interrogation as she crossed her arms and shook her head.
"We wasn't spying," the girl objected as her brother took a stance much like Pearl's, crossing his arms and regarding the Commodore with a guarded expression. "Leastwise we wasn't spyin' a'purpose. Our Ma told us to stay out o' the way o' the finery as is staying at the big house. We just didn' wan' bother you."
"Who do you belong to, luvs?" Pearl asked as she moved in front of her and kneeled down to get on her level.
"Me father be Marcus Falthers, though everyone calls him Mac. He works these here lands."
Pearl looked up at Norrington. "Know the name?"
"No. I can't be expected to know the names of all my workers."
Pearl rolled her eyes. "'Course not. They just put bread on your table and cloths on your back and keep this place running. Why should you bother with a silly thing like their names? What's your name, luvely?" she asked of the girl.
"Rose," she answered.
"Well, pleased to meet you, Rose. I'm Pearl, and this is Commodore Edward Norrington. You can just call him 'Norry.'"
"I beg your pardon?" Norrington sputtered.
"You may have my pardon," she answered. The girl giggled. "And you, boy-o. What might your name be?"
"I ain't no boy!" he objected, pulling a stick from his belt to wield it like a sword. "I's a pirate!"
"'Course you are. How silly of me not to have noticed," Pearl remarked, feigning surprise as she help up her hands in mock surrender.
"Me too!" the girl crowed. "Well, I ain't no pirate now, but some day I wanna be."
"Don't be stupid," the boy ordered. "Girls can't be pirates."
"'Course they can. Pearl Sparrow is, and she's a girl," Rose informed him. Pearl and Norrington exchanged looks.
"Yeah, but she's seven feet tall and can control the weather."
Pearl couldn't help but laugh at that. "Says who?"
"Says everyone," the boy answered.
"Do you know her?" the girl asked eagerly.
"Can't say that I've ever met her," Pearl said with a smirk. "But Edward has."
"What was she like?" Rose demanded eagerly. "How tall was she? Did she call a storm down on you?"
"She was distinct pain," he remarked. "She was about her height," he said, with a motion toward Pearl. "And I can't tell you exactly what she looked like. She wore a wig."
"I can't imagine why she would cause you any trouble," Pearl remarked sarcastically. "I mean, you were only trying to kill her father."
"He's a pirate. I'm a Commodore. It's my job to hang pirates, particularly when they kidnap young Ladies."
"Only if it bothers the young lady," Pearl told him.
Suddenly both adults became aware of the children staring at them a bit oddly. Norrington cleared his throat, shifting a bit. "Yes, well, we should be getting back, Pearl. You still are not well and it will not do to run yourself ragged."
"Well said," Pearl agreed, turning to the children. "Would you two like some tea? They'll probably have biscuits of some sort as well."
"What?" Norrington asked.
"Oh, come. They can be our entertainment for the afternoon," Pearl dismissed him as she hefted the girl into her arms. "What was your name, young pirate?" she asked of the boy as she led the trek back to the house.
"David," the boy answered.
"That isn't much of a pirate's name," Pearl remarked. "You need to be Rampantly Raucous David, or Devastating David, or Disgusting David."
"I like Disgusting," the boy commented.
"Do you have a terrifying name, Mister Norrin'on?" Rose asked.
"No," he answered quickly.
"Pirates all just call him 'the Bloody Commodore,'" Pearl informed her.
"Ew," she remarked.
"Indeed," Pearl agreed. "And then there's you. Even women need a proper pirate name. I mean, Miss Sparrow didn't have to worry over it because her father's name was enough to terrify most. And Pearl is a very nice pirate's name. Suggests she's a treasure and all. And Rose is a mighty fine name as well, but we need something to start it out proper, so people don't get the idea you're some helpless flower. How about the Restless Rose?"
"Oooh," the girl sighed. "I like it."
"Pearl, you're corrupting the children," Norrington scolded.
"Ah, but corrupting people is my favorite pass time," she told him with a grin. "You should know that."
"What's that mean?" Rose asked.
"Nothing you need worry over, luv," she said as she led the group through the gate.
"Everyone, we have guests!" she called.
The Turners appeared first, followed by Diamond and Jack with his familiar swagger.
"Who's this?" Elizabeth asked with a grin.
"This is Restless Rose," Pearl said, kissing the giggling girl on the cheek. "And DISGUSTING David," she said with a nod toward the boy.
"They sound ferocious," Elizabeth remarked.
"They are, so you had best be careful. My darling pirates, this is my mother, Diamond, my father, Jack (watch that one), my very good friend Elizabeth Turner and her very good looking husband, William."
"Pearl," Elizabeth scolded as she stepped forward to study the children. "Very pleased to meet you."
"What're we going to do with them?" Jack asked.
"Well, I thought to bribe them into telling us pirate stories using tea and biscuits."
Jack studied them for a moment. "You know any stories 'bout Captain Jack Sparrow?"
"Tons," the girl agreed.
Jack nodded agreeably. "Excellent idea. Right this way then. Where did that bloody maid go?"
"Watch your language," Pearl ordered as she moved to follow.
"Sos then he disappears right from under their eyes, swords an' all," the girl narrated in a breathless voice. Her brother, who was acting out the story on her behalf, jumped up in the air and landed in a crouch, scurrying over to hide behind Diamond's chair as she laughed with delight, applauding.
"But however did he just disappear?" Elizabeth asked.
"He knows magic, 'course," Rose answered with a role of her eyes as she took another biscuit from the rather smitten maid.
"Where did he learn magic?" Pearl asked.
"From the gypsies, 'course," David said from behind the chair.
"Naturally," Jack added.
"So anyways, he 'pears in the shadows, 'cause he ain't really magical, ya know, an' he can only go so far, an' he slinks 'way like a snake. An' they never catchs him and never knows what he's done."
The gathered adults applauded loudly, some more so than others as in the case of the somewhat annoyed-looking Commodore, and the children stepped forward to bow.
As the laughter and applause faded Elizabeth regarded the growing darkness with a frown and remarked, "I should see about dinner. Hopefully the servants have started on it."
The girl gasped as she glanced around her. "We had best hurry home. Mama gets awful upset ifn we ain't back come dark."
"Would you like someone to walk you home?" Pearl asked.
"No. We be fine," David said quickly, Rose nodding agreement.
"Well, you will come by again I hope," Diamond said as she dropped a kiss on each child's head by way of goodbye, slipping cookies into their pockets. "Tomorrow if you can."
"We can!" David announced.
"If you like," Rose added quickly.
"Oh, we would!" Pearl assured them.
"We shall see you tomorrow then," Elizabeth announced.
Pearl lay back with a deep sigh as Elizabeth went to check on dinner and the children set off toward their home. "Not too tired, are you darling?" Diamond asked.
"A bit," she answered. "Perhaps I'll nap before supper. That was just far too much fun and excitement."
"Aye," Jack agreed. "I know how rumors grow and all but you controlling the weather?"
Pearl shrugged. "I might be able to use that if I'm ever captured and there's storm coming. 'Let me out or else' and all that. It seems you haven't done so badly yourself, Jack. Magical powers?"
"So it would seem," he answered with a laugh. "And you, Diamond. A princess, are you?"
"Yes, well, I would be queen if my brother hadn't set me adrift in that boat," she said with a feigned pout that left them all chuckling.
"And then there's the bloodthirsty Commodore here," Pearl put in. "You know, you could really hang more men if you would stop torturing them to death in the brig."
"I'll work on that," he promised with a chuckle. "Actually, maybe that could do some good as well. I won't complain about pirates fearing me. Maybe if I promise not to torture them they'll just surrender."
"Doubt it," Pearl remarked around another yawn. "But you can always try it out."
Elizabeth reappeared then. "They've started the meal. It should be ready in an hour."
Pearl stood and stretched, arching her back like a cat. "I'm going to nap until then," she announced, meandering out.
"Edward," Elizabeth hissed under her breath. "Go with her."
He nodded, leaving his chair to catch up with her.
He found her in the foyer, heading for the stairs. "I forgot something in my room," he told her. "I'm just going to go get it."
Pearl rolled her eyes. "You know, I wouldn't have believed it possible, but I think you are a worse liar than Will. I'm not going to go tumbling down the stairs again. I promise." As she said that, however, she stumbled over the rug. Norrington moved quickly to catch her, laughing at the glare she shot him. "Not a word," she ordered. He nodded agreeably, pressing his lips together to stifle the laughter.
"Perhaps I should carry you, just in case," he suggested.
She gave him her suggestive grin, always a sure sign of trouble, as she straightened, placing her arms around his neck and leaning close to whisper into his ear, "If you want to get close to me, Edward dear, all you have to do is ask." She punctuated the statement by kissing her away along his neck and down.
He took a moment to close his eyes and just savor the sensation. She knew how to push all of his buttons, to leave him wanting her with every fiber of his being.
But he had not become a Commodore by giving in to his every desire. He gently pulled her hands from his neck to step back. "I was worried about you. That's all."
"Liar." There was no accusation in the single word, only a statement of fact. She didn't move either, only stood there regarding him carefully. She had made the first move, she seemed to say, and was only waiting for him to continue the game. For long moments she stood there, infuriatingly patient as she waited for his response.
There was nothing to say to that. It had been half true at the most. The truth was that he wanted to be near her. He WANTED to give in, God above help him, and couldn't. Didn't know how.
Finally he settled for silence, moving across the room to scoop her up in his arms and carry her toward the stairs. She didn't protest, which was what he had been expecting. On the contrary she cuddled into his embrace. One hand snaked around his neck to trace some bizarre pattern on the skin of his shoulder his shirt left exposed. Her other hand settled over the one he was using to support her knees, brushing it tenderly with a still-calloused thumb. She snuggled her head into his chest, cleverly using her curling red hair (which was getting very long) to tease the skin exposed by the open ties of his shirt. He wished bitterly for his scratchy woolen coat as her insanely soft tresses drove him to madness. And most infuriating of all was that the little minx had her eyes closed, the picture of innocence as she rode in his arms.
He quickly scaled the stairs, walking as evenly as he could. He reached her room, fumbling her slightly to open the door. She blinked up at him as if he had awakened her from a nap as he took her into the swiftly darkening room. She smiled up at him as he carried her toward the bed, the hand on his shoulder moving up to run her long, clever fingers through his hair.
Her eyes locked on his as he lay her gently down onto the soft bed. He moved to retreat, the proximity making him extremely uncomfortable, but Pearl's arms were suddenly around his neck again, holding him in place. She really was getting stronger, or he was getting weaker. "Kiss me, Edward," she ordered.
"I can't," he told her.
"You did earlier."
"This is different," he said, trying once again to pull away. "Please let me go."
"You're right, this is different" she informed him, one of the arms hooked around his neck cinching tighter to pull him closer and keep him in place as she freed her other hand to stroke his cheek. "We were in public with two giggling children up a tree. Now we're in private, and you have a very willing woman that you love laid out on a bed for you."
"I will not betray Maggie," he informed her.
"Don't you already?" Pearl asked. "You love me. You love me and you'll marry her. Isn't that a betrayal?"
He looked away from her. "It's different."
"How?"
Damn her, Norrington thought desperately. Damn her and her insane, circular pirate logic. "It just is."
"That isn't an answer. A judge would never accept it if you stepped into a court and said, 'it just is.' Come Edward. You obviously believe strongly in this. Convince me. Give me hard logic. Tell my why it's more of a betrayal to Dear Maggie for you to sleep with me than it is a betrayal of me for you to marry her."
"You said no," he answered.
"Aye, I did."
"You told me to find someone and get married."
"I want you to be happy. It makes it no less a betrayal. You do not belong to her, Edward. Not yet. Not here, not now. Right now you're mine and I'm yours and that's all there is to it." She brushed his face, forcing his eyes to hers. "Please, Edward. Just tonight. Just for an hour. Pretend, if you like, that I'm your wife. I won't mind. Just, please. I need this. I need you. One last time."
She was begging. That was what caught him in the end. The great pirate, Pearl Sparrow, the strongest woman in the world, was begging him.
He swooped down on her, claiming her lips as he climbed onto the bed. "Think the others will notice?" he asked as Pearl helped his trembling fingers remove his shirt.
"Diamond will cover for us," she assured him.
For some reason right at that moment the idea of his lover's prostitute mother knowing exactly what they were doing didn't bother him as much as it ordinarily did.
Author's Note: I hope that worked. It was really hard. I don't want to screw up Norrington's character, or at least the character that I built. I think I've managed it, thanks to Pearl. Oh, and thank you to Miss ElfStalker for the incredibly kind reviews. You all make my day. You're spoiling me rotten, I'm afraid. Keep up the good work.