To Zeech: Sorry about the Dr. Pepper! :o)
To Narsil: I have other plans for our poor young man…but on the other hand, maybe he would make a good pirate….
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First thing in the morning, as soon as he understood what the crew was chattering about, Norrington stormed into Jack's cabin. "You're joking."
"Not at all." Jack leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk. "We sail in, drop off that poor fool, take whatever we want, and sail out again. There's no real port there, no Navy base, no ships. Simple, eh? We'll go ashore in the boats and be out again in a matter of a few hours. They have no army to reckon with."
Norrington swallowed. "You'll kill anyone who resists."
"Well, we don't expect much resistance," Jack said carelessly.
"I am deadly serious, Jack – I won't allow it. I'll fight you if I have to. You're proposing to sack an innocent, unarmed, harmless village of people who probably only have one set of silver candlesticks apiece. It can't possibly seem like a good idea, even to you!"
"How good an actor are you?" Jack had suddenly stopped fidgeting, and was regarding Norrington intently.
"I…what?"
"If I told you something," Jack clarified, "that had to be kept from the crew…could you act exactly as you are acting now, without giving the slightest indication that you knew any further than they do?"
Startled by the sudden change in the captain's manner, Norrington just stuttered, "I…I don't know."
Jack laughed breezily. "Then you'll just have to trust me, mate. Get out of my cabin. And if I hear so much as one word that could be construed as mutinous…I'll cut your ears off. And that's a promise."
Once again, Norrington hadn't the foggiest idea of what was passing through Jack's head, and it irritated him terribly. "Wouldn't it make more sense to say you'll cut out my tongue?" he snapped. "If you're going to make ridiculous threats, you might as well make them properly."
"Ah, but that would be a ridiculous threat. We both know that I'd never deprive myself of the pleasure of your conversation...and that I'd never allow another parrot on board. By the way, was it you who taught Cotton's parrot to ask me to bed?"
Norrington scowled. "I will not be distracted."
"Very well. Listen, I was not joking. I've been on the wrong end of a mutiny…or the right end, depending on how you look at it, I suppose… and I don't intend to let it happen again. Not a word of complaint to the others. Not a word. Do I make myself clear?"
Norrington struggled for a moment but could think of nothing to match Jack's clever "inescapably" back on the Dauntless. Back in the day when I gave the orders and he followed them, he thought morbidly as he left the cabin with only a terse nod.
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The first thing he noticed outside was Ana Maria leaning over the railing. A loud retching noise let him know exactly what she was doing, and disgust joined his embarrassment in a quick and losing battle against concern.
He approached to within a pace or two – the closest he had ever come intentionally – and cleared his throat.
She glanced over her shoulder. "What? Bloody, what are you-" but then she turned back to the sea and threw up again.
For the last week he had been working hard to believe that as a pirate, Ana Maria was exempted from all the rules governing behavior towards ladies. Now was the time to test that theory. Without being asked, he stepped up directly behind her and gathered up her hair. It made practical sense – she would undoubtedly be glad not to have her hair cross paths with the remains of her breakfast. Still, touching a woman so intimately…it just felt wrong, and he half-expected her to turn and reproach him.
Instead, she coughed and said, "Thanks."
"Are you ill?" What a stupid question.
She laughed a little before retching again. "Oh, no, I feel fine," she said. Sarcasm sounded a bit coarse and out of place on her, as though she were new to it. Jack's influence. Norrington found himself immediately blaming the captain.
After a moment she straightened up and wiped her mouth on her shirt. (On her shirt, her shirt!) "It must be the food we took yesterday… curse them for giving us-"
"Giving us?" Norrington smiled.
She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I'll be fine." She jammed her hat back on her head and walked away, and he realized with intense frustration that he'd forgotten to ask her about Jack's secret plan… and now, especially since he'd behaved so familiarly towards her, he'd probably never get the courage to approach her again.
"Bloody pirates," he muttered.
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Sorry this chapter was short, but I was done with it and not the next bit, so I decided to give you what I have. The next one will be longer. Expect it sometime this weekend. And review while you wait! Thanks to everybody who's responded so far.