AN: this chapter deals primarily with Anamaria and Port Royal, but the Pearl is bound to show up! *hehe* Merci beaucoup for the reviews! Alas, I've decided to go along with several other fanfics and have Norrington's first name be "James."

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Chapter 7: Unfortunate News and Unlikely Alliances

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Ana, or Alice as she was called here, was bored. It had only been a week and yet she was gong out of her mind. She'd tried to help Will in his shop ("Ana, I'm sorry but you can't be of help. What would people say?"), she'd tried to even help the maids clean, ("Miss, please, beggin' your pardon, but you're a guest of Ms. Swann and I can't allow that,") and now Ana was fed up. She rose and dressed in one of those blasted gowns. The maids were terrified of her, she knew, since the day after she'd arrived when they'd tried to make her wear a corset. Bloody thing was almost as bad as having a sword stuck in your side, and she'd threatened the maids with just that if they ever tried to make her wear one again.

She chucked a little as she pinned up here hair, something she'd gotten rather skilled at. It was useful too; she never had to deal with her long hair falling into her eyes. The boys back aboard the Pearl would be surprised if they ever saw with that. Ana pushed open the door of her bedroom and descended the staircase. She crossed to the dining room where she knew Elizabeth would most likely be eating breakfast.

Ana opened the door a little, caught sight of two figures standing interlocked together by the window, and immediately drew back and quietly clicked the door shut. She stared at the door handle a moment with a wry smile. Elizabeth and Will. He had been at this house almost every day and the soon-to be Turners were constantly stealing moments of privacy. Ana wasn't going to interrupt that.

She walked to the parlor and went in, hoping that perhaps one of the maids could fetch her something from the kitchen (yet another place that she herself had been forbidden to go in). A man in a red jacket was standing there, his back to her. She could see his white powdered wig and shiny black boots and realized this must be a soldier with rank. Instinctively, tried to back out of the room, only to have the man spin around and catch her.

"Excuse me, I'm so sorry," she said meekly, not looking at the man. Redcoats were trouble, especially if they recognized her.

"That's quite alright. I was hoping for a word with the governor. Have I seen you before?" he asked curiously.

Ana's eyes jerked up. She knew that voice. It was Norrington. Commodore Norrington, she corrected herself. The ship she was working aboard had had a scrap with him a year ago, one which she had barely managed to escape. He was well-known throughout the Carribean as a master pirate hunter. Ana was almost surprised that Jack himself had escaped from him. "I don't believe so, Commodore. I'm visiting my friend Elizabeth here in Port Royal for the first time."

Ana realized her mistake as soon as it left her mouth. She had called him Commodore, and they weren't supposed to have met before. Ana brushed one ankle against the other, feeling the comforting presence of her dagger strapped to her ankle.

Commodore Norrington blinked thoughtfully. "But you know me?" he asked.

Ana's mind worked furiously. "Elizabeth pointed you out to me a few days ago down by the harbor when I arrived, sir."

He nodded and seemed to accept that. Ana suppressed a sigh of relief. He bowed to her, and Ana managed a shaky curtsey, something she hadn't attempted in years. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss--?"

"Alice," Ana supplied, she paused a moment. "Alice Jackson." Commodore Norrington kissed her hand, and Ana fought the automatic reaction to slap him.

"Miss Jackson, I must say, you do look familiar to me. Where is it that you come from?"

"I," Ana paused, trying to remember the biography that she and Elizabeth had developed the first day. "I'm from Port William. My family owns a small banking business there; I doubt we've met before, Commodore."

"Please," he smiled graciously, but Ana could see questions in his eyes, "Call me James."

Ana smiled sweetly at him, and was about to reply when something slammed up against the door. She instinctively took a step back, and Commodore Norrington put his hand in front of her as he stepped around her, hand on the hilt of his sword.

The door opened, and a grimy, heavyset man with graying, balding hair and a somber expression hurried in, breathing heavily. He was holding a pistol in his filthy hands, and quickly closed the door behind him.

Norrington went to draw his sword. Ana was hit by recognition. "Gibbs!"

Gibbs looked up and recognized Commodore Norrington, looking confused, be pushed out of the way by a darker-skinned woman in a grey dress. "Gibbs, what's going on? Why are ye here?" she asked him angrily.

Gibbs looked from the woman to the Commodore. "Ana?" Ana realized he was there for the first time. Ana reached around him and relieved him of his sword, angling it so it pointed at his jaw. While doing this, she also took his pistol off of his belt, tossing it to a couch.

Norrington's eyes widened. Ana looked at him with gravely serious eyes, "Commodore, please sit. I don't want to hurt ye, but I can't have ye harming anyone either."

Commodore Norrington sat, his eyes going from the woman to the grimy man. "Ana? You're not Alice Jackson?"

Ana lowered her sword, debating what to tell him. Being a runaway slave was better than being a pirate. "No. Commodore, I'm a runaway slave and if ye want to drag me back and collect the bounty on my return, then you'll have to fight me first. Mister Gibbs is helping me."

The redcoat looked at the filthy man more closely. "Gibbs. I remember you. A fine member of the king's navy, you were."

Gibbs nodded bleakly, and Ana could tell there was something he needed to tell her. "Gibbs, out with it," she commanded sharply.

Gibbs' eyes shifted back and forth, and it appeared that his mind was working overtime. "Ah, we have a problem. Them hunters," he paused.

"Hunters?" Norrington asked sharply.

"Bounty hunters, after Ana," Gibbs told him.

Norrington looked disturbed. "Bounty hunters have been outlawed by the King's Decree issued several years ago."

"These ones ain't stopped by any law," Gibbs replied with a bitter smirk. "Them hunters, Ana. They uh, took someone thinkin' it was ye."

Ana's eyes widened, and her sword dropped all the way down to her side, with a sudden sinking feeling she had a good idea of what had happened. "The captain?" she asked, trying not to give too much away to Norrington.

He nodded bleakly. Ana sank down in a chair. Norrington looked like he was desperately trying to figure out what was going on and couldn't. Ana looked at Gibbs with a spark of anger in her eye, "How did ye let this happen?" she demanded.

Gibbs looked sheepish. "'Tis a long story."

"Do ye know what they'll do to him?" Ana demanded harshly. "Those men have no respect for anyone, no humanity. They'll use him to get my location, Gibbs!" Gibbs was looking significantly afraid, and she shook her head with an angry sigh, springing up from where she was and walking towards the door, "We're going after him. Hang the bloody code."

"The code? The Pirate code?" Norrington asked from where he had been forgotten.

Ana realized her mistake immediately. "Aye," she said, looking at him through hard eyes with a humorless smile, "The Pirate Code." Norrington made to get up and reach for his gun, but was quicker, holding it lazily out in front of her. "Norrington," she said sharply. "Jack Sparrow saved my life, and I sure as hell ain't going to stand by and do nothing while he's tortured, and ye or no bloody army is going to stop me."

"Jack Sparrow?" Norrington repeated dully.

Ana nodded like she were speaking to a simpleton. "Ms. Swann and the governor aren't aware of what I really am, Commodore. So I'd appreciate it if ye didn't punish 'em or anything or the sort."

"They think you're just a runaway," he stated.

"Aye, Mister Gibbs was an acquaintance of Elizabeth's when she first came from England and he brought me to them as good people that they are," Ana lied.

Norrington didn't look fully convinced, but he nodded. "How do you know Mr. Sparrow?"

"He's my captain. He protected me when we first came in contact with the hunters over a week ago."

"I see. Do you know where these bounty hunters are taking him?"

Ana eyed him warily. "Nay, but they're on a ship called the Incorrigible captained by a man named Evans. It's a start; we'll find 'em."

"I have little doubt that you will." Norrington said knowingly with somewhat of a wry smile. He frowned. "This ship, the Incorrigible sounds familiar to me. I'll have to check my files, but I think it is a wanted ship."

Ana frowned, "And what if it is?"

Norrington stood with a flourish and bowed. "Then we shall see. I will return shortly."

Ana frowned at him. "Yer not going to arrest me?"

"No," he said with a smile teasing the corners of his lips. "Miss, I despise slavery in all forms and I will not return you to such a hell."

Ana blinked at him, "I'm a pirate, ye heard me."

Norrington did not reply to this, but his smile grew into a true one. "I will return shortly. I suggest you inform Ms. Swann and her fiancé of the truth." He picked up his sword, which Ana had left beside the chair, but made no attempt to recover his gun, and left.

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Anamaria paced the room, Gibbs sitting by the window, and Elizabeth and Will perched on a loveseat nearby, hands intertwined. "I don't know if I trust him," Ana told them.

Elizabeth looked somewhat torn. "I have always thought James to be a good man. He might be somewhat blinded by the law at times, but willing to do the right thing nevertheless."

"Beggin' your pardon, Miss Elizabeth, but here in Port Royal they like to hang pirates, not take them to tea." Gibbs said gruffly. "This is our lives we be talkin' about. Jack's too."

Will shook his head. "I don't see how we can go after Jack with just the Black Pearl. You said The Incorrigible was very heavily armed, right?"

Ana shot a look at Will and Elizabeth. "Who says you be comin'?"

"We'll go with James on his ship," Elizabeth spoke up. "I don't see what the problem is."

Ana frowned at her and spoke through gritted teeth, "The problem is that we don't think we have enough force to take on the Incorrigible by ourselves. Norrington's men and ship would give us a great advantage, but how do we know he isn't going to march us off to the gallows once it's done?"

"Because he will give you his word as an officer."

Ana spun around, raising the pistol clutched in her white knuckles again. Norrington stood in the doorway with two other soldiers. They were not holding any weapons, and Norrington raised his hands slightly as a sign of non-hostility. "And why should I trust your word?" Ana asked hotly.

"Because," Norrington stepped cautiously into the room, motioning his men to stay back, "If I wanted you dead, I would have done it now while you were not prepared and leave Mr. Sparrow to be tortured and killed as his captors saw fit."

Ana's hands shook at his last statement. Elizabeth rose and put her hand over Ana's which held the gun unsteadily. "Ana, we can trust him," Elizabeth told her softly. Ana slowly lowered her gun as the governor's daughter marched over to Norrington, shoving her finger in the officer's face. "And if we cannot trust him, then he will pay very dearly, understood?" Elizabeth firmly told the military man, who nodded meekly.

"Let's go, lass. We can't wait all day." Gibbs told Anamaria impatiently. "The Pearl's waiting offshore."

Ana whirled to face Will, "We're shoving off in a half hour, you can either be on the Dauntless helping, or you can stay here, aye?"

Will nodded and the Commodore spoke up. "The Incorrigible is guilty of sinking several of her Majesty's vessels and causing thousands of dollars of damage and hundred of deaths around London in the past twenty years." He smiled ironically, "Far more than the Black Pearl is guilty of, who's present crew and captain have not committed any crimes so far."

Ana looked a little surprised. "So ye know where they are?"

"A reliable contact of mine knows that this man Evans works for someone in Wittenburg. Chances are that he would take Mr. Sparrow back in that vicinity." Norrington told her.

"Then lets go!" Ana said sharply, handing Norrington back his pistol.

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AN: Okayyyy I'm taking a poll. I get Norrington a girl? I don't really like introducing original characters.but I feel bad for him!