The Morning After
Will woke up with his head feeling as if someone had ran over it with a horse, complete with rider and a cart of heavy luggage. This was the last time he accompanied Jack anywhere, and definitely the last time he drink rum (or any other kind of hard liquor for that matter). Funny, the last thing he remembered last night was the sight of a very familiar face, then he must have fallen unconscious before it fully registered to him who he saw. Of course, that person was in the same room with him at the moment.
He could feel a cool, soft hand was on his forehead, rubbing it slowly. His vision cleared and he could make out the ceiling. "It's about time you woke up, I was getting worried for you." That voice, it sounded incredibly familiar. The hand left, and Will turned to meet the gaze of his fiancée.
Elizabeth was sitting on the bed, dressed in what appeared to be very wrinkled breeches and a loose jacket. Her hair was dishevelled and messy, he had a feeling she had sleep beside him all night. Nevertheless, she still looked absolutely radiant and his heart burst with happiness at the sight of her.
"Here, drink this, it'll help with the headaches."
He looked at the mixture, wary of anything liquid. "What is it?"
"It's tea."
"They have tea in Tortuga?"
"Not exactly, but Emma had some at hand and she was kind enough to offer us some."
"Emma?"
"You'll meet her later, after you get out of bed."
She helped him up and he let her bring the liquid to his lips, it had a pleasant smell. The moment it touched it, he immediately turned away. "Are you trying to burn my lips off?" Elizabeth put a hand on her hip.
"That is what you get for lying to me and sneaking off with Jack to go drinking, in Tortuga of all places!" She said, quite angry.
"Wait, how did you find out?" Oops, wrong thing to say.
Her eyes darkened. "Believe me, I have my ways, let's just say I owe Anamaria a few gold coins."
Will raised his eyebrow. He should have known, he didn't know whether to be mad or happy with the female pirate.
"Will it be enough to say that I'm sorry and that I'll never do it again?" He asked, taking her hands in his and caressing them with is rough fingers; that always worked whenever she got mad (which always managed to make her more lovely).
A smile tugged at her lips, and her eyes relaxed a bit. "For now, but I expect you to make it up to me when we get back to Port Royal."
Will nodded, and brought his hand to cup her cheek, bringing her lips to his. The moment when their lips almost touched, her face swerved and she kissed his face instead. "I am not kissing you when you smell like alcohol." Lots of shrieking and laughter followed this, and suffice to say, Elizabeth did kiss him nonetheless, a lot one might add.
"Elizabeth, we should have Commodore Norrington sing at our wedding," Will said when the displays of affection finally ceased.
*
The sunlight shone through the windows and beat down on his eyelids. He squinted them shut, but to no avail. There was no more darkness, just the light and, now that he realized it, a substantial amount of pain. He tried to turn onto his side, to discover that the muscles in his arm and chest hurt, as if something had ran on top of him the night before and had came close to breaking every bone in his body. Which, now that he thought about it, could have been the case. And to top that off, his head was throbbing away as if one of Will's hammers had been pounding non-stop on it all night. Slowly, one by one, he played the events of last night back in his head, backwards. Well, he knew he had been knocked unconscious by that gang in the alley, what in the world had he been thinking going in there so indiscreetly, and drunk. Of course, he not needed to ask himself that because he obviously was not thinking last night.
Yup, alcohol tended to slow, or even stop, the thinking process. Then, thinking back before that, he let out a groan as he realized he had actually, God forbid, sang, in front of Jack, Will, and the whole pub. Great, he might as well stay in this bed until the end of his days, that bloody pirate will never let him hear the end of this. That bloody pirate! Since when had Norrington been the type to drink away his troubles? This was the absolute last time he went along with anything the pirate had in mind (the last time he did such, a good number of his men had been killed). And this was definitely the last time he did Elizabeth a favour.
He let out a sigh, what in the world was he going to tell her when he got back? That he let her precious fiancée get drunk, and in the process, gotten drunk himself, sang, and got a good beating? If the governor was to find out… Norrington did not even want to think about it. He shuddered inwardly. Yup, staying in the bed was beginning to look even more appealing. His head throbbed again at the thoughts. He could not run away this, and he would accept the consequences of his actions as they came (and his headache along with everything-else-ache was the first one he would face).
Deciding to stop thinking for now, he closed his eyes. Perhaps sleep will bring him some temporary peace of mind. Yes, the mattress wasn't comfortable, but it would do for now. His eyes shot open again. Mattress? Why was he laying on a mattress? How was he laying on a mattress? Another ache vibrated through his head, and he decided to let the matter rest until his mind decided to produce painless thoughts.
Just as he was about to drift off again, he heard the door open and softly closed. He opened his eyes to see a maiden quietly made her way inside. She was carrying a tray that contained a cup, and a bowl with a cloth. He examined her closely as she came to stand beside his bed, placing the tray down upon the bedside. She looked fairly young, a bit older than Elizabeth, with dark hair and eyes. She seemed familiar to him somehow, but he couldn't place it.
"Oh, how wonderful, you're awake." She said, smiling, when she saw him. "It's about time to, it's almost eleven. I was beginning to fear you would never wake."
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Emily Watts, sir, and I would like to thank you for rescuing me."
So that was the reason she looked familiar. "I'm sure it wasn't a very good rescue, being that I was..." And he trailed off, too ashamed to even utter it. How absolutely ungentle manlike, she most think him absolutely daft.
Instead, she chuckled a bit and dipped the washcloth into the water. "No, you managed to drive them away. It was a very heroic rescue nonetheless."
He had a feeling she was just trying to make him feel better, but there was sincerity behind her words, mixed with some amusement. Which reminded him, "How did I get back here last night?"
"Mr. Sparrow and Mr. Turner brought you back. This might sting a bit." She dabbed the cloth upon the wound beside his eyes and lips, which did sting.
He could imagine he wasn't too desirable to look at, and he immediately felt more embarrassed. When she finished, he looked at her. From what he gathered, she did not seem like a common bar wench, and she seemed educated. Which led him to his next question. "May I ask how a lady like you doing in Tortuga?"
She smiled, "Well, how did you know I was a lady?"
"The circumstances point that you aren't from around here, and I could tell from your bedside manner and your amazing grasp of the proper English language."
Miss Watts poured some liquid into the cup, and handed it to him. "Here, drink this, it'll help with the headache."
"You're not answering my question."
She thought for a moment, "Well, if you must know, I am a governess and sailed from England on a merchant ship that decided to dock here. And that's all."
"Why do I feel as if there is more to that story?"
"There is, but I think you should be getting your rest instead."
She did have a point there. As curious as Norrington was, his head still ached. Though talking to her did make it better. He raised the cup to his lips, instantly recognizing the smell. Tea! Oh, glory of glories! His headache felt better instantly.
"How in the world did you come by this?"
She smiled, "Let's just say that I never go anywhere without tea."
"Then we have something in common, Miss Watts, though I seem to have neglected to this time around."
"Then you are somewhat lucky that I'm here."
He touched the wound near his eye, "Well, I wouldn't exactly say 'lucky' since it was your presence in Tortuga that got me injured."
Her eyes narrowed. "I did apologize, if you would like me to apologize again, I will," she said, obviously offended but trying to hide it.
"…No, the tea makes up for it."
"Well then, I'm glad I was useful in some way," she huffed, picking up the tray and heading for the door. "I'll leave you with your tea, be dressed by lunchtime."
"Are you giving me an order?" He asked, partly serious, no one gave a commodore orders.
"If you don't mind taking it, since from what I gathered, your judgement has not been very sound lately."
Well, she did have a point there. "Very well, but this is going to be the only time I take orders."
"Do not be so sure about that, Commodore. I'll see you at lunch." She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Norrington leaned back against the bed. She was certainly an interesting person, someone he wouldn't mind getting to know better. And she seemed charming enough. This outing suddenly did not seem so bad anymore. He took another sip of tea. Nope, he thought smiling, not too bad at all.
*
A/N: There, that was the second part, I hoped you like it and leave a review. That's the end of bachelor outing. Tell me if you want me to write something about the continuation of Norrington and Emily's relationship. And I hope Emily didn't come off as a Mary Sue. And look for a separate part of this story that deals with Anamaria and Jack's interaction. I just love the two that I thought they deserved a separate story! Oh well, blabbing too much, please review! Reviews feed the muse and make nice fluffy stories come out faster!
