Disclaimer: Mari is mine. Nothing else is; deal with it. I have to. :P
A/N: This is set right after the (as yet uncompleted) Sins of the Father. For those of you who have not read that fic, Mari is Jack's twenty-year-old daughter. Along with Will, Liz, and everyone's fav. Commodore, the two get swept up in an adventure. Afterward, everyone starts their journeys home (or to lands unknown). This is how James gets back to Port Royal. Hope you like!
Commodore Norrington attempted to concentrate on the sunset. It was, after all, a particularly beautiful one. The clouds were drenched rose and gold, and the horizon was a rich indigo line. The sea was awash in the sun's sinking golden glory as the stars showed their faces in the deepening night. However, any movement Norrington was tempted to make was rapidly cut off by the protest of badly sunburned flesh.
Although he was a seaman, James had been bound to a desk rather than a deck for several years now. This was not a position that served to sun-proof skin, as it were. Thus, it was a rather poor moment in time when Commodore James Norrington had put aside decorum and propriety to discourage the ribbing of his new pirate companions. By noon he had been the only fellow aboard the Crimson Cutlass still wearing a shirt. This was a source of unending amusement for Mari's crew.
During a spout of particularly undignified anger, Norrington had thought inwardly that he'd have done better staying aboard the Black Pearl. But, of course, hindsight was as clear as Caribbean seawater.
"Yes, of course," Mari had said sarcastically. "It'll look ruddy wonderful for the good Commodore to descend the plank of the most infamous pirate ship in the Atlantic."
"I don't plan to tie up at the docks, my lass," Jack had replied, "Too expensive."
"Precisely my point. It's one thing for young Will and his bonny lass to trip back into Port Royal out of nowhere –it seems a habit with them- but Commodore Norrington ought to return under...less conspicuous circumstances, as it were. The Cutlass is not nearly so well known as your lovely Pearl. We can easily go into port under false colors and say we fished the poor man out of the ocean."
"I have been tempted to throw him overboard," Jack said contemplatively. "But, it's really up to you, mate." Jack turned toward the officer, his chocolate eyes suddenly hard and dangerous.
"But, keep in mind, old Jim, that's my whelp you'll happen to be sailing with."
The Commodore had simply looked down his straight nose at the pirate.
"Believe me, Captain Sparrow, I don't intend to forget."
Neither pirate knew quite how to take that remark, he remembered. He began to smile, and winced. Bloody pirates.
Suddenly, an unintentionally cruel hand gave him a mighty pat on the back. James yelped involuntarily, and pressed a glare on his attacker. Mari stood next to him, her expression bland and slightly amused. Norrington understood then that she knew all about his current painful situation.
"There's a reason besides modesty that young Will remains clothed at sea," she said quietly. "He –unlike some, it seems- does not enjoy resembling a lobster."
"I had forgotten the large space between my last true bout at sea, and this catastrophe," Norrington explained. Mari nodded, and produced a small jar full of something sticky.
"This is something I...liberated from an apothecary in Singapore. It should aid your recovery, as long as you're not recaptured by the urge to denude yourself."
Norrington took the jar from her, wincing as he did so. Sweet merciful heavens, it hurt just to move!
Mari watched him with a slight frown, and reclaimed her jar.
"On second thought, follow me, man. Ye'll tear yerself apart, doing this alone."
She walked briskly to the cabins, flung open a door, and ushered him inside. Norrington paused at the door, noting that these were Mari's quarters, and that –pirate or no- technically she was a lady. His inhibitions were quelled, however, by her searing glare.
"It's either this, or get flogged by salt spray. I don't care which ye choose, but you might, in the morn."
Norrington entered the cabin.
Once inside, Mari turned up a lamp and gestured to the bed.
"Off with yer shirt. And no arguing; I be captain of this vessel, and that was an order."
James removed his shirt painfully; the movement combined with the rasp of cloth saw him clenching his jaw (more than usual) when the task was done. Without instruction, he lay on his stomach on the bed, feeling more uncomfortable by the moment. Mari's boots clumped toward him; there was the sound of a cork popping from glass and then a hand on his back.
The salve was absolutely wonderful. It cooled his abused skin immediately, numbing the pain as well. Mari worked efficiently and in silence. Norrington felt her closeness acutely and spoke before he really knew the words had formed.
"Would you marry me if I asked?"
The hands stilled for a moment, then resumed.
"Ye just did, mate; but I'm a bit confused. I thought ye were in love with dear Liz?"
Norrington sighed. "My feelings for Elizabeth were real; I cared for her. But now I know...now I know why she chose a struggling blacksmith over a well-to-do officer."
"You're saying you...get a grip on yerself, man! Ye've known me for eight months." Mari's voice was disdaining, but also rather strained. Norrington rolled up on his shoulder to regard her face-to-face.
"I should like an answer, my lady."
Mari responded by smearing salve on his chest. It was better than meeting his eyes.
"Can ye imagine the wedding? My father- my father, dear Jim, walking me down the aisle? To give me to a Naval officer? And the bride's side would be woefully under-seated; too many outlaws in the family. And my dowry! All I've got of my own in the world is my Cutlass. How can ye ask me...and expect a consent?"
Norrington almost smirked. Mari Cutlass was babbling; she never babbled. She was witty, sharp, incoherent, or scathing. But never a babbler. He took her hand from its ministrations and inspected the fingers thoughtfully.
"What if things were different?" he asked. "Say, perhaps, you were simply a woman, and I were simply a man, and there were no such complications to vex us. What would you say, then?"
"I suppose...I suppose I'd have to...Shouldn't you have asked my father about this, first? Isn't that what gentlemen do?"
"I thought you made your own decisions, Captain."
Mari regarded the floor in a most un-Sparrow-like manner. James gently tilted her face toward him and merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'd say yes." The words were almost inaudible. "But, I'm a pirate, and your and officer. Our fates are not our own, Commodore."
"Our fates, no," James said slowly. "But, this moment...this moment is what we make of it."
Mari's eyes met his, two sets of calm brown pools. James had captured both of her hands during their interview and kept them now. Mari half-smiled in her own distinct manner and leaned forward. James did the rest.
The kiss lasted a few moments only; more than that and their fates would have changed utterly. And, no matter what else he might feel, or want, Commodore James Norrington was first and foremost two things.
An officer and a gentleman.
A/N: Aww! We get to see a side to these two characters that ppl don't usually see; I like things like that. Do you? Review and tell me!