A/N: Hey, I'm back! This is a pretty fast update for me. Especially on this story!
Disclaimer: I don't anyone you recognize. That doesn't keep me from wishing I did, though. Oh, the things I could do if I had a Genie.
SHOUT-OUTS:
Mercury Gray: I knew you wouldn't give up on me! Jack may show his face in this chapter, but I'm not sure. We'll see where it takes us.
Whiffet: ducks head in shame Yes, I've been very bad about updating. But I'm starting to get more of a feel for this fic, so, hopefully, it won't be so bad after this. Here come the sisters! And the niece!
Athena Diagon Cat: Thank you so much for taking a look at my Norrington fic. It is nice to know other people like him, isn't it? Hope you enjoy this chapter.
The Last Evenstar: Oh, you reviewed! Thank you so much. Yes, there are Elizabeth/Norrington fics out there. They aren't numerous, but they do exist. I myself am fond of Norrington, obviously, but Elizabeth does not belong with him. I'm glad I swayed your opinion in regards to PoTC fiction. I've really enjoyed several that I've read.
Julia: Another follower! You are all such wonderful friends! My feelings about Norrington is that the man has been doing his 'duty' so long that he's almost forgotten how to relax and let himself go. Don't worry, I'll take care of that later. Victoria can be summed up in one word. Flirtatious. But things might change for her, too, on this little trip. Thanks for your compliments regarding Will and Liz. I was hoping that I was doing justice to them.
Disco Lil: Of course I gave you a shout out! I couldn't ignore you. And I enjoyed your Norrington story. Well, I'm enjoying it so far. grins I agree with you. We'll have to torture poor James before we can make him happy.
"Cecily! Cecily, you should be in your room! Not traipsing about up here on top!"
"It's called the deck, Edwina."
"What is called the deck?"
"The top of the ship. And it's not a room. It's a cabin."
"I should say it's not a room. It is barely a decent accommodation."
"Edwina, please. What if the captain heard you? He's doing this for us only because he admires James so much. The trip would've been much harder if we weren't under the protection of the Navy."
"Well, it isn't his ship. Why should he take offense? The ship belongs to the government, as you just pointed out. By the way, have you seen Victoria this morning?"
"Not since breakfast. I have the feeling, though, that if you find Lieutenant Harrison, you will find Victoria."
"Who is Lieutenant Harrison?"
Cecily sighed. In all the weeks they had been aboard the H.M.S. Horizon, Edwina had not bothered to get to know the crew at all. It embarrassed Cecily, really. Her older sister made no secret of the fact that she considered the crew to be beneath her. Cecily, on the other hand, had made several friends among the crew members. Chief among these were Lieutenant Harrison and Captain Starling. Victoria had also made friends with Lieutenant Harrison. In fact, Cecily was beginning to think that Victoria might be falling for the young lieutenant. This was not unusual. Victoria 'fell' for someone every other week, it seemed. But Cecily had the feeling that Lieutenant Harrison might be different.
"Cecily? You did not answer my question. Who is Lieutenant Harrison?"
"I am Lieutenant Harrison, Mrs. Barclay. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
'Again,' Cecily added silently to the sentence. But Lieutenant Harrison's appearance put a smile on her face. The young man reminded her of her brother. He was earnest and eager to please, gentlemanly to a fault, and tended to hide his emotions from others.
Edwina, upon seeing her daughter standing next to a strange young man, looked said young man up and down suspiciously. She extended her hand which, to her approval, he took and dropped a light kiss upon.
"I apologize for keeping your daughter from you, Mrs. Barclay. This is my day to be off-duty and Miss Victoria had requested that I give her a thorough tour of the ship long ago. I hope you do not mind."
He was so polite and well-spoken that Edwina Barclay melted immediately. Had she known that her daughter and Lieutenant Harrison had actually spent the last three hours touring the ship and gazing into each other's eyes, it is likely she would not have been so polite in return.
Realizing that Lieutenant Harrison had the situation well in hand, and thankful that her sister was now distracted, Cecily moved away from the group quickly and quietly. She made her way to Captain Starling, who greeted her with a smile.
Captain Starling was a rather handsome, dashing man in his mid-thirties. He, like Commodore Norrington, had risen through the ranks rather quickly. Unlike James, however, Captain Starling had used his family's position in English society to gain his promotions. Cecily was not aware of this. Nor was she aware of the fact that Captain Thomas Starling had decided that Cecily would be his someday.
This is not to say that Cecily Norrington was stupid. If anything, she was exceptionally bright and a good judge of character. But she had led a sheltered life under the thumb of her older sister, which in turn made her rather naïve and very quick to trust people. In the instance of trusting Captain Starling, she was making a grave mistake.
But Cecily knew nothing of all this now and she returned the smile Thomas gave her.
"How much farther, Captain?" she inquired.
"We're not too far from Port Royal now, Miss Norrington. Only two more days, if the weather stays fair."
"The weather has been very much in our favor, hasn't it?" Cecily, of course, knew how perilous it was to cross the ocean. No matter how large and well built the ship was, there was always danger.
"I don't believe I've ever been at sea this long without a storm or some sort of trouble," Thomas admitted. "Perhaps the mere presence of three such lovely ladies has tamed the wild ocean."
Bred to be ladylike and gracious, Cecily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She merely blushed and looked away, as she had been taught to do when a gentleman pays a compliment. Thomas, clueless as he was when it came to the inner workings of the female mind, congratulated himself on paying Cecily a compliment. She was spared further nonsense, however, when a shout came from the crow's nest.
"Captain! Pirates!"
"Where?"
Both Cecily and Thomas looked in the direction the sailor pointed. Cecily could see only a small speck, but Thomas had pulled out his spyglass and could see the speck much clearer. It was, indeed, a pirate ship.
Yet another difference between James Norrington and Thomas Starling was this. James knew it was his duty to fight pirates, but he detested it. He hated killing, he despised hangings. But he did it because it was his job. Thomas, on the other hand, reveled in fighting and harbored a deep hatred for pirates. All pirates. Had the circumstances been different, he would've attacked the pirate ship without hesitation, even though he had standing orders to fight only if it were necessary. But there were three women on board. Even worse, all three women were closely related to the Commodore, who would be Thomas's new commanding officer. No, they would not attack.
"Chart a course around the ship. We must avoid battle at all costs," he ordered. The crew rushed about to obey their captain. He turned and smiled at Cecily. "After all," he continued, "we carry precious cargo."
Cecily smiled back before taking her leave of the captain and going to her own cabin, where she indulged in a small fit of fury. 'Cargo' indeed! Captain Starling may be a good man, but he certainly knew nothing of paying compliments to ladies. Cecily Anne Norrington was not cargo. Not an object to be traded and bought.
When her small temper fit was over, Cecily walked over to one of the windows and looked out over the ocean. She had realized long ago how much of a pull the seemingly endless expanse of blue had over her brother. And she even felt a fraction of that pull herself. Cecily felt bold out here, surrounded by the water instead of insipid people she neither liked nor cared for.
She had felt as if she was in a cage on more than one occasion. Particularly when she was being pursued by suitors. Of course, all that pursuing had lessened considerably since her illness four years ago. She had never been particularly strong after her battle with scarlet fever. And her beauty, once legendary, had faded somewhat. Therefore, the number of suitors had dropped. But Cecily didn't care. She wasn't terribly interested in marriage, anyway. At least not anymore.
This train of thought was bound to lead to unpleasant memories which Cecily did not care to muddle through at the moment. So she turned away from the window and crossed the room to her trunk, taking out one of her favorite books. Then she settled down into a nearby chair and read, determined to forget about the experience she had almost called up in her mind.
"James, do stop squirming. You're acting like a schoolboy."
James rolled his eyes and stood still while Will watched with poorly disguised amusement. He was actually enjoying watching this spectacle. For once, Elizabeth wasn't playing 'dress-up' with him.
All of this was actually very innocent. James was expecting his sisters and niece today and the Turners had agreed to accompany him when he met the ship. When they arrived at his house, they had found the usually calm, collected Commodore in a general state of disarray. He had been clothed, of course, in his dress uniform, but it was all askew. It looked as if he had just thrown it on. He was fussing with the ties and the buttons, trying to get them all to work correctly. And Will was not the only person to notice that James' hands were shaking. Actually shaking!
In the end, Will helped James for the most part, but Elizabeth had insisted upon inspecting. She was now circling James like a hawk, looking for all the world like an admiral trying to find fault with his troops. In short, she was making James even more nervous than he already was.
"You look too dignified," came her final judgment. Will looked confused. James turned to Elizabeth, his eyes questioning.
"How can one look 'too dignified'?" he asked.
"Well, I'm not certain. But you seem to have accomplished it."
She stood back and looked at him again, taking up a posture of thought. Her eyes were squinted and her mouth quirked up in one corner. James grew impatient. Will thought she looked cute.
"I know what it is!" she finally exclaimed. "It's the wig. I'm sorry, James, but the wig must go."
"Elizabeth, you know that is not a possibility. I am a commodore and society demands that I wear a wig. Besides, a lady should not speak of these things to a man she is not married to. My attire is my own business."
Elizabeth felt as if she had just been lectured by her father. James acted too old sometimes, she reflected. But she accepted what he had said. It was the truth, after all. And it seemed as though he was genuinely offended by her remark.
"I'm sorry, James. I never meant to offend you. I did overstep my bounds as a friend and I apologize for that."
James, for his part, was already feeling badly about speaking to Elizabeth in such a harsh manner. He smiled at her, a real smile, and tried to repair the damage he had done.
"I did not mean to sound like your father, Elizabeth. And I apologize, too, for speaking in such a manner. It was not called for. But I am nervous about the arrival of my family. I realize this is no excuse, but it is the only one I have. Be assured, though, that if I could do it, I would take this blasted wig off and throw it into the ocean."
His last statement both surprised and delighted Elizabeth. So he did remember that he was a person and not just a commodore! Well, that was an encouraging thought.
"I think everyone looks wonderful," Will said. "So can we go now? For some reason, the wig just does not hold the fascination for me that it seems to hold for Elizabeth."
Elizabeth frowned at Will and smacked him playfully on the arm as she passed him on her way out of the room. James just smiled at the comment and followed Will as they left the house.
Since they had spotted land, Cecily's heart had been beating so hard and so fast, she was sure everyone on the ship could hear it. After all these years, she would finally see her brother again! Glancing over at Edwina, she was amazed at how calm her older sister seemed to be. Then again, Edwina hadn't wanted to come to Port Royal at all. She had never forgiven James for joining the Navy.
Victoria stood on the other side of Edwina, and Cecily let her thoughts rest on her niece for a moment. Beautiful and refined, Victoria was a mirror image of her mother. She had the same golden hair, the same porcelain skin, the same grace in her movements. But her blue eyes were not icy, like Edwina's were. In fact, at the moment, they were sparkling with excitement. It was lucky, Cecily thought, that Victoria had also inherited some traits from her father. Such as his intelligence and sense of humor. There was no doubt that Victoria was a flirt, but Cecily was hard pressed to find any other characteristic that she disliked in her niece.
Perhaps, out here, Victoria could find happiness as well. Cecily again looked at Edwina, this time with uncertainty. She had not informed her sister that she had no intention of returning to England. In truth, Cecily had been planning something like this for years, but could never come up with an argument that would convince her sister to leave England. The doctors saying that she needed a change in atmosphere had been the perfect excuse. Now that she was with her brother, Cecily was not going to be separated from him again.
But Edwina was, thankfully, still unaware of all this. To Cecily's way of thinking, her sister was far too controlling and really quite selfish. She hoped that Edwina would not try to stir up an argument while they were here, but she wasn't really getting her hopes up too high. There was bound to be an altercation at some point.
Cecily shook her head, ridding herself of these unpleasant thoughts, and concentrated instead on the land that was growing closer by the minute. Port Royal. This was going to be her home. And as long as she was with her brother, she couldn't imagine a better place to live.
James watched the approach of the H.M.S. Horizon with growing apprehension. He was somewhat nervous about seeing little Cecily all grown up, but his true apprehension came with the thought of Edwina and, to a lesser extent, Victoria. He did not relish the thought of a reunion with his older half- sister. She was far too confrontational and he knew that an argument was inevitable. James hated arguing with women. He couldn't truly argue with them because that would be seen as 'ungentlemanly and unchivalrous'. So he always had to bite his tongue and take whatever they had to dish out. As for Victoria, he was a bit concerned as to what his niece had been told about him. Of course, Cecily would defend him, but how much of a hold did Edwina have on her daughter? Was he going to be host to a girl who already despised him?
Standing next to James, Will practically felt the tension radiating from the commodore. Subtly and reassuringly, he reached up and clapped a hand on Norrington's shoulder. James looked at Will, surprised.
"I'm sure it'll be alright, James," Will said. Elizabeth, standing on the other side of Will, was quick to agree with her husband.
"Of course it will. But for heaven's sake, James, please smile! You look as if you were being led to the gallows."
James smiled accordingly, but it didn't turn into a true smile until he found himself looking at a somewhat familiar figure.
"James!"
Cecily had thrown aside all propriety the moment she saw her brother standing there. Instead of walking along with her sister and niece, she gathered up her skirts and ran towards James. The people on the dock were somewhat shocked at the sight of an obviously grown woman running like a little girl. Edwina did little to mask her disapproval, but Victoria was rather amused.
Cecily was not the only one to forget propriety. When she reached James, he caught her up in his arms and whirled her around, just as he used to do when she was a little girl, coming home from school. It was only when he finally set her down that they both remembered where they were and, unfortunately, who they were. James sobered somewhat, though not completely, but Cecily didn't even try to mask her excitement.
"Oh, James. It's so good to see you again. And you look so important in your uniform! Not to mention handsome. Oh, I've missed you so!"
With this last statement, she flung herself into his arms again and he embraced her, though he was careful to not let too much show on his face. Will and Elizabeth could see, however, that the commodore was extremely happy.
When Cecily finally pulled away, reluctantly, she noticed Will and Elizabeth for the first time. Blushing with embarrassment, she smoothed her skirts a bit before introducing herself.
"I'm so sorry. You must think me terribly rude. I'm Cecily Norrington."
Elizabeth took the proffered hand and squeezed it.
"I'm Elizabeth Turner and this is my husband, Will. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Norrington. And we don't think you rude at all. We know it has been a long time since you've seen James."
Cecily's eyebrows shot up. Elizabeth? A common name, to be sure, but this had to be the Elizabeth James had written about so often. Yes, she was quite beautiful. James hadn't written about her for the past year, but he had told Cecily that Elizabeth had gotten married. Obviously, though, James was friends with both the woman he had claimed to love and her husband. This was interesting. Quite interesting, indeed.
"Thank you, Mrs. Turner. And it is a pleasure to meet you as well," Cecily replied. Elizabeth shook her head.
"No, no. No, you must call me Elizabeth. Please. Everyone calls me Mrs. Turner these days, and it makes me feel terribly old."
Cecily smiled.
"Very well. But only if you call me Cecily. Agreed?"
A mischievous light came into Elizabeth's eyes then and, with a sideways glance at her husband, she spoke.
"We have an accord."
Will coughed, attempting to hide his amusement, as two other figures joined the group.
"James."
The commodore managed to keep from wincing at the rather cold tone of his sister.
"Hello, Edwina. It's nice to see you again. I'm glad you came for a visit at last. These are my friends, William and Elizabeth Turner. Will? Elizabeth? This is my sister, Mrs. Edwina Norrington-Barclay."
Elizabeth immediately picked up on the formality of the situation and quickly deduced that James' older sister was not at all like his younger sister. She adapted to the change in the conversation.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Norrington-Barclay."
Will said the same, after kissing 'Mrs. Norrington-Barclay's' hand. And James suddenly found himself face-to-face with a mirror image of his older sister.
"You must be Victoria," he said. The young woman nodded, not sure what to expect from this uncle of hers. She had heard conflicting stories about him all her life and didn't really know who to believe.
"Yes, sir. I'm glad to finally meet you, Uncle James."
For some reason, James suddenly found this awkward situation amusing. His mouth turned up at the corners and he smiled at his niece.
"Believe me, Victoria. The pleasure is all mine. I am very glad to meet you."
In that moment, looking into her uncle's eyes, Victoria decided to believe her Aunt Cecily. Edwina didn't know it, yet, but her hold over both Cecily and Victoria was already beginning to deteriorate. In the meantime, however, she was already making plans of her own concerning her brother. Not married at his age? It was almost as disgraceful as Cecily not being married yet. Something would have to be done.
Everyone returned to James' home that afternoon with different goals in mind. Victoria was planning on begging her uncle to give Lieutenant Harrison some time off, Cecily was planning on settling into Port Royal permanently. Both Elizabeth and Edwina were planning on finding someone for James, although the weeks ahead of them would reveal how different the two plans truly were. Will was planning on getting James away from all these females as often as possible, so the poor man wouldn't go crazy. And James? James was innocently and rather naively thinking that it was wonderful to have his family with him again. The days ahead would, unfortunately, prove him wrong.
A/N: Yes, I know. Somewhat boring. But I had to introduce a villain (well, two villains actually), as well as the rest of James' family. Please review!