Summary: Commodore Norrington must remember his past and a little girl in order to save a member of his family. Elizabeth must remember old feelings to save the man she loves. Bootstrap must find Will before it's too late.

Ship: The HMS E/N

Disclaimer: The POTC characters are the property of the Disney Empire. Peter Pan & Associates belong to J.M. Barrie and Disney. I'm borrowing Nabakov and his Lolita for a moment or two here and there. And if you get the other references I make, you probably know who they actually belong to... Everything else is mine.

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Chapter 2: Heart of Mine

He'll always come back to you.

Elizabeth let those words roll around in her head for a moment.

Disapproval, wonderment, and a hint of hope shone in Carissa's eyes as she turned back towards Elizabeth, whose eyes fell to the sketch in the book. She saw the pencil version of herself looking adoringly up at James, as they both held King Henry the kitten.

"I never meant to hurt him," Elizabeth said, defensively. "Hasn't he already forgiven me?"

"I know you didn't want to hurt him. Everybody knows that you didn't want to hurt him. You couldn't help wanting to save Will—childhood friend, and a man that you love. You did what you thought you needed to do," Carissa said, shrugging. Then, her brow furrowed in a frown as she gently but disapprovingly added, "But you still hurt poor James by doing what you thought was best. You gave him false hope."

"Would you rather have had Will die?"

"No!" Carissa exclaimed sincerely. "But there are things that you don't know. There are things that you didn't see."

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Carissa, for God's sake, tell me. You're giving me a headache."

Just as Carissa was about to tell her, they heard someone climbing up the trellis to Elizabeth's balcony. Elizabeth motioned for Carissa to hide behind the dressing partition in the corner of her room. She mouthed the words, 'Don't disappear,' before she turned towards the balcony.

"Elizabeth!" hissed Will from just below her window. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

She just glared at him.

"May I please come in?"

"Of course," Elizabeth answered, pouting, crossing her arms and sternly raising an eyebrow at him.

'Oh please,' Carissa thought. 'James never should have proposed to her at this age. She needs to grow up. The only reason she fancies herself in love with Will is because he's been feeding her ego for years.'

"I never should have laughed at your feeling of foreboding this afternoon," he told her as he paced around her room.

"Why, has something happened?" Elizabeth asked, as her eyes drifted to Norrington's note lying on her bed.

Carissa tensed. They couldn't have found that James was missing yet. At this point, he would have only been gone for a few hours.

"No, but it was horrible of me to laugh at you. It's just that you're so impulsive... sometimes it's hard to take you seriously."

Carissa rolled her eyes.

"I accept your apology, Will," Elizabeth said distractedly. It was now starting to sink in that she had to let her father know of the commodore's so-called illness.

Will stepped in behind her. "Don't worry so much. You don't have to go looking for trouble. Barbossa is gone, and your father gave us his blessing. All that's left to you are the wedding plans. You're a woman. You like messing about with those things, don't you?"

'Stupid, stupid boy,' Carissa thought. Then, she thought about the change in the times. It wouldn't occur to Lizzie to be offended. But, as the thought hit, Carissa noticed that Elizabeth's eyebrow was raised in annoyance. Though, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

"No, I'm just worried about the commodore. He's been taken ill," Elizabeth said. "He bade me give my father this note."

"You saw the commodore this evening?" Will asked. "You saw him at his home, alone?"

"Yes," Elizabeth answered, preparing herself to make up some story about how she knew she hadn't contracted the imaginary illness.

"How could you?" Will nearly shouted. "You are engaged to me!"

"I beg your pardon?" Elizabeth asked. "And how did you know I went there alone?"

Carissa was beside herself. Had this been James, he would not have acted with this degree of jealousy.

"I was with your father the whole afternoon," Will answered. "I don't understand you Elizabeth. It seems like you spend more and more time with the commodore since he released you from your disastrous engagement. Am I not good enough?"

"The commodore is a good man who has always endeavored to show me kindness," Elizabeth said. "When I was a little girl, on the voyage from England, he tried to entertain me. He was very kind and generous to us, of late. The least I can give him is my friendship. The commodore is a good man."

"I should be getting back," Will said coldly, as he climbed out of the window. Then, he paused, reached up to touch Elizabeth's cheek, and said, "I'll see you in the morrow."

As he descended, Carissa emerged from behind the partition. She was shaking her head.

"That doesn't sound like the Will I used to hear and see running about when I was younger."

"Forgive him," Elizabeth said. "He's been bored since the Black Pearl left. He's trying to fight the desire to roam."

"You don't have to defend your boyfriend to me," Carissa said. "What I think doesn't matter here—obviously."

Elizabeth's brows raised in anger and confusion. She wanted to throttle the other girl. She had been right beside her the day that she found out that one of her dreams didn't exist. How could Carissa fault her for moving on?

"You're being unfair," she said, trying to control her emotions. "You were with me when we saw him, and you're taking his side. He gets to spend years with you. You tell him things. He knows things, and here I am, once again, in the dark."

"You want to know what I was going to say," Carissa shot back, angrily. "Fine. You didn't have to get James's hopes up to later break his heart because he was already set to go back and save Will."

She grabbed the older woman's hand.

"I'll show you," she added. "Though, it will probably be a waste because you didn't see it the first time in your selfish desperation."

With that, there was a sharp crack and in less than the time it took either woman to blink an eye, they were once again in another place and time. Elizabeth panicked because she still felt like she was falling, but then she felt herself land on something soft.

"We're sitting in the folds of the sails," Carissa hissed. "The you from about a month ago is about to pick an argument with your father. Keep you eyes on James."

Elizabeth listened as her own voice drifted up from just below her feet. She peered over the sail's edge to watch the scene unfold.

"Then we condemn him to death."

Elizabeth watched James as he raised his eyes to the Elizabeth that was speaking. He looked as if he was about to say something, but his eyes half-drifted towards her father.

"The boy's fate is regrettable," she heard her father say again. But she continued to watch James as he looked very much like he was struggling to bite his tongue. Her father continued. "But so was his decision to engage in piracy."

James's eyes were going crazy. He was looking at the governor with confusion and disapproval.

She turned to Carissa and asked, "Why didn't he say anything?"

"Quiet," she said. "No one is supposed to hear us."

"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow," James voice once again drifted upwards. "Not only myself."

"Commodore, I beg you," the Elizabeth on deck was saying. "Please do this. For me… as a wedding gift."

As Carissa watched the scene for a third time, she nodded to her younger selves who were watching the scene from beneath the stairs and from the lookout.

"This really was one of your more horrible moments, Lizzie," Carissa said. "But I think it's time to go. You already know what happens next."

"I'm about to tell him that his answer wouldn't have changed mine," she said as she linked her pinky with Carissa's.

In an instant, they were back in Elizabeth's room.

"I meant what I said," Elizabeth continued. "It was his choice to release me from my promise."

"If you did mean it, then why are you now engaged to Mr. Turner?"

"Because Will would never leave me," came her answer. "He needs me… And he's never lied to me. He's never said one thing and then turned around to do another."

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AN: Reactions! That's bloody wonderful.

Lilo-- I did know that Peter Pan, as he is now, belongs to the late 19th century. (I don't say 20th because I don't believe that 20th Century lit came into being until the '30s or so.) However, I'm not really being anachronistic... Peter Pan, as unlikely as he is to do so, will be used to create conflict. I'm rather hoping that you won't blast me for using Nabakov and Margaret Mitchell later.

Aims-- A dashing Jack Davenport would make anyone smile. A pity that I don't own him and can't fit him in my pocket.

Up next- Norrington in the contemporary world, flashbacks, and an explanation.