The Oldest Story in the Book
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's Note: Holy cow. You people have been holding out on me. I was starting to think no one was reading this, and then I get billions of reviews. Well, not billions. I wish it were billions. But a great plenty. So I've worked hard and gotten this put together for you. All of you nay sayers who claim reviews don't make anything go faster are liars. This would take at least another week without reviews. Remember that in future chapters.
He ran through the curving streets straight to the Turners' house. He pounded on the door twice before leveling it open. Taking in the closed parlor doors he made for them with a quick nod for the maid. "Bitsy," he remarked in greeting.
"Sir, you canna go in there," Bitsy said. "They have company, they do."
"I'm sorry, Bitsy, but I have important business with them," Norrington answered, pushing open the doors.
Elizabeth and Will were sitting in the parlor alone in the pool of candlelight. He ignored the oddity of the empty room as he bowed to the Turners, unable to completely ignore proto call. "Apologies Will, Elizabeth, but I have something important I need to discuss with you."
As Elizabeth opened her mouth to reply Norrington caught sight of a slight movement in the shadows beside the open door. Moving on instinct he turned and unsheathed his sword to level it at the potential attacker's throat. He wavered when he heard a small gasp of surprise, and wavered still further as Pearl stepped forward, ignoring the sword at her throat as she came into the pool of light, a small child balanced on her hip.
"Shhh, luv, it's all right," she whispered to the girl as she soothed her hair out of her face. "We just startled Edward, is all. He's going to put his sword away now."
Norrington could only stair in numb surprise at the woman. She had aged in the three years since he had seen her, her face losing much of the soft, round, youthful look he remembered. Her skin was still well tanned, her hair still cut boyishly short. She wore her pirate gear all the way down to the sword on her hip.
But it was the girl that drew his attention. Her hair was long, the same flaming red as her mother's and curling in the humid Caribbean air. She had Diamond's round face and small nose. She wore a simple cotton dress although it seemed to be in good condition. Her slightly tanned skin was sprinkled with freckles, her bare feet hanging at her mother's hip. What drew his gaze, however, were her eyes. They were a familiar blue-green, like a shallow Caribbean pool, shot through with threads of brown. His eyes.
He quickly put his sword away, stepping toward the girl. "Hello Emerald."
Pearl looked up at him curiously, eyebrows raised, but the answer to her unspoken question came from across the room. "Marden has a big mouth," Jack remarked as he stepped from the shadows. "Hello Edward."
"Jack," Norrington answered as the pirate crossed the room to hold his hands out to the girl in his daughter's arms. "Come along, little luv. Time for bed."
The girl went into his arms easily enough, eyes trained on Norrington. "Who is he, Granpa?" the girl asked. "I don' like him much."
"That's understandable, luv," Jack told her. "He did just pull a sword on you. But it was an accident, and your ma is fond of him, even if I ain't. You'll like him in the end I'd wager. As for who he is, now isn't the time. We need a bedtime story. How about Blackbeard?"
"Jack, you can't tell her that story right before she goes to bed," Elizabeth called as she hurried after him. "She'll have nightmares!"
"Never has before," Jack answered.
Will stood to follow his wife. "I'm not even going to make an excuse. I'll just let the two of you talk."
"Thank you, Will," Pearl said as he pulled the doors shut behind him.
She looked up at Norrington, sighing and moving over to sit on the couch. "So I suppose you want to berate me now."
"For what?" Norrington asked as he crossed his arms and glared at her, sarcasm ringing out clear in his voice. "Oh, you mean maybe the fact that I've had a daughter for the past three years I didn't know about? Why would I be upset?"
Pearl rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad you finally found your sense of humor. Where did Maggie find it shoved?"
Norrington found himself losing his patients, an uncommon occurrence that only angered him further. "So are you even going to tell me why you didn't inform me that you were pregnant? And don't you dare try to tell me I don't have the right to be angry. Maybe in Tortuga not informing a man he has children is acceptable but here in the real world--" He stopped short when he saw her face. He swallowed hard when he realized what he had just said.
"You'll get no apology from me," she said in a low growl, rising from the couch to stalk toward him, "if you're going to stand there holier-than-thou and denounce me for a common whore. I can take my daughter and leave if this is the sort of father I've brought her to. I'd say she's a fair sight better off with Jack and Marden to look to."
He turned away from her snapping eyes. The Marden comment hurt. Worse, she was right. If he rejected her for what she was he rejected his daughter as well, and he desperately wanted to do better for his children than that. He took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm sorry. I'm a bit out of sorts. I don't often let my temper get the best of me. But this situation, I'm sorry Pearl. I'm afraid you've caught me a bit off guard. More so than usual."
For the first time in his life he watched Pearl concede the point. "And you have every right to be angry. But you must give me a chance to explain." She stepped forward, began to reach for him, then appeared to think better of it. She turned away, dropping her arms to the side. "At first I didn't know, which made not telling you much easier. And then my friend always said sailing while you were pregnant was bad for the baby. And then Jack said sailing during my mood swings was hazardous to the crew's health. So I spent the rest of the pregnancy in Tortuga, and I couldn't leave the baby right after she was born. Plus Jack said if he had to listen to that 'screaming monkey of a granddaughter' he would jump off the ship. Which would be bad for some reason, I'm certain. So I brought her as soon as I could come. I could have had the Turners tell you, but that just didn't seem the way to do things."
Norrington stared at her. He wanted to be angry. Had a right to. She herself had admitted it. This was his daughter, after all, and he should have known. But everything she had just said made perfect sense. And although he loved his wife dearly there was a part of him that would never forget that this woman had owned his heart first. He didn't want to start off the first real conversation with her in three years in the form of an argument. In fact, as a general rule, arguing with Pearl Sparrow at all was a very bad idea. In the end his wish to keep his sanity won out, and he settled for asking the really important question.
"So how long are you going to be here?" Norrington asked.
"I don't know. As long as I think I need to get Emmie settled. She's going to stay here with the Turners."
"What?" Norrington asked with disbelief. "Why?"
"Because I want her to be whatever she wants. I could act like a proper noble, but I would be bored silly by the life. Maybe if Emmie grows up here she can learn to withstand this sort of life. Love it, even."
"You couldn't stand that," he interrupted. "Your daughter married off to some noble? Living on the land her whole life?"
A smile flirted over Pearl's face. "Better than at sea in danger. I may be selfish, Edward, but never when it comes to the safety of those I love."
The use of his name brought all of the feelings he had worked so hard to bury rushing back to him. So few people called him Edward that it was hard for him not to look at it with a certain amount of emotion. He loved her, and most likely always would. There was no use denying it. And now they had a little girl. If only–no, better not to go there.
He needed to stay on subject. Yes, that was the answer. Keep his mind on the business at hand. "But what about you? How can you stay here, on land, long enough to raise her?"
Pearl nodded. "Ah, straight to the crux of the problem. I can't. And I won't."
"Pearl," he gasped out. "You can't. Surely you can't leave her here."
"It'll hurt," she admitted. "I don't like it. But it's the only way. Leaving her will hurt, but staying would kill me."
"Pearl, you can't just leave her here. I refuse to allow you to do that to my daughter!"
Pearl stared at him for several long moments. For a terrified heartbeat he was afraid she might actually kill him. Jack had told him, in perfect seriousness (a very unusual state for Jack) that Pearl didn't hold grudges, she took payment in blood, and was very talented with knives of all sorts.
Instead she laughed. It started with a light chuckle, then moved deeper into her throat. Before she finished her head was thrown back in a full throated laugh as Norrington watched her nervously. She settled back on the couch, laughter subsiding into chuckles. "Five minutes ago you didn't know she existed and now you're telling me how to raise 'your' daughter?" Pearl asked, wiping tears from her eyes. "Oh, Edward, you are precious. Speaking of children, I heard about your son. Congratulations."
"Thank you," he said automatically.
"I trust he is healthy? And Maggie?"
"Yes. A strong boy. And Maggie had a rough time of it but she is recovering now. I worried for her. Especially after you." He hadn't meant to add the last part. What was wrong with him?
Pearl only nodded. "I was lucky, I suppose. Emmie was an easy birth. Diamond always said I was as well."
Norrington crossed the room to sit next to Pearl. "I'm sorry I wasn't there," he told her.
"It wouldn't have been possible," she informed him.
"I know. But I am still sorry."
"Edward, it's better this way," she sighed. "I want you to understand that. If you had known you would have tried to get me to marry you. And break your promise to Maggie. And then you would have hated yourself by the end. This really is better." He nodded grudging agreement. "You have to be careful," she continued. "You're friends with Will and Elizabeth, which is good, but you can't begin spending too much time over here. People will get suspicious."
"What do you plan to tell everyone?" he asked. "I don't think telling them you're a pirate and can't raise your daughter would be quite the way to do things."
"No. I'll dress as Bethany Maltrey. Say that she's my niece, and Elizabeth's cousin's girl. Since Elizabeth is married and I'm well on my way to becoming an old maid this would obviously be the better place for her to be raised. After a while I imagine Emmie will begin to believe it herself, and in the mean time any untored things she might say can be explained away as a vivid imagination."
"But you must want her to know," he argued. "You said you wished her to choose which life she wants. To do that you must intend to make her into a pirate."
"I don't intend to make her anything," Pearl answered. "I intend to return when she's old enough and offer her the chance. The choice will always be hers."
Norrington gave her a half smile. "Knowing her mother, I'd wager it won't be a very hard choice. She'll follow you to sea without a second thought and never look back. How old is old enough?"
Pearl sighed. "I was seven when Jack took me onto his ship. That's too young, I know, but I thought perhaps I would tell her then. Give her a few years to get used to the idea before she comes onto the ship. Will's promised to teach her the sword, and both of the Turners have sworn to see her educated. I think ten should be a very nice age to bring her into the family business."
"You know, it isn't the family business. It isn't my business," Norrington pointed out.
"You sail," Pearl answered. "Like it as not, it will be in her blood."
"What if she resents you?" he asked.
Pearl shrugged. "She'll have to get over it eventually. I'm her mother, no matter what I do to her. Besides, if she has any measure of my logic, or Jack's, she'll see that it was for the best."
"And what if she resents me?" he asked with a sigh.
"Well, there's no way around that. There are days when I resent you," Pearl responded. "Edward, there's nothing you can do. Accepting her as yours publicly would be the end of your career. It would ruin you. To say nothing of Maggie. And now you have your little boy to think of. And she never has to know, if you don't want her to. I'll not tell her if you ask me not to. I'll let her believe she belongs to some random pirate."
"Has she asked?" he queried.
"Of course. I've told her that I know who her father is and that she shouldn't worry over it."
"It's something to think about," he remarked.
"Well, you have five years to do it. You're fortunate, really, her being a girl. She'll never have any claim on your titles or estate. It could have been a very big mess if she were a boy. More so if your proper heir were a girl. This way if you pull together something in the way of a dowery--which I'm not asking you to worry about as myself and her grandfather will see to it ourselves--you can say you've done as much for her as most other fathers would. It seems fate has seen to everything."
"So it would seem," he said morosely. His gaze fell on the window, and he stood with a sudden cry. "Maggie will be worried sick! I promised to be home early tonight."
"Then you had best go," Pearl said with a sad half smile. "Give her my best."
Norrington nodded and hurried toward the door, but found himself stopping suddenly. "Would you like to come?"
"I beg your pardon?" Pearl asked.
"Would you like to come? I know Maggie wouldn't mind. You could see my son."
Pearl narrowed her eyes at him. "Is this your way of getting out of informing your wife that I have a child by way of you? Making me tell her?"
"No," he answered quickly. He paused, to think more carefully about that before answering more firmly, "No."
Pearl smiled up at him. "Sounds like a good idea now that I mention it, though, doesn't it?"
"Yes," he admitted.
"All right," she sighed out. "Fair's fair, I suppose. All right. I should change first, and say good night to Emmie."
"Just throw on a cloak," he suggested. "I really do need to get home."
"Very well. But I must see to my daughter."
Feeling rather lost he followed her up the stairs. Pearl entered a room without knocking, Norrington right behind her. He noted with a chill that this was the room she had occupied during her fever.
The girl was tucked into bed, eyelids heavy as Elizabeth leaned forward, obviously telling the girl a story. Jack sat in the corner next to Will, obviously pouting. Apparently Elizabeth had outlawed Blackbeard tales, at least around bed time.
A loving smile spread over Pearl's face as she approached the bed. The girl smiled back, holding out her arms for a hug. "I'm going out for a wee bit, lovely," she told the girl as she embraced her.
"You'll be back, won't you?" the girl asked.
"Of course I will. I won't be so long."
"Kiss me when you get back," the girl demanded.
"You'll be sound asleep, little one," she remarked.
"I still want you to. Promise?"
"Promise," Pearl answered, kissing her forehead. "Sleep well."
"Night mama," she answered as she snuggled back down.
"I'm going over to Edward's for a bit," Pearl informed Elizabeth. "I'll return shortly."
Elizabeth sent Edward a questioning look, then shrugged. "Very well. Be careful."
"Never," Pearl answered with a chuckle, dodging the swat Elizabeth aimed for her as she made for the door.
Author's Note: So? What do you think? Please review. Please. I don't usually beg. I usually bribe. But I really, really want to know what you think. So please review.
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's Note: Holy cow. You people have been holding out on me. I was starting to think no one was reading this, and then I get billions of reviews. Well, not billions. I wish it were billions. But a great plenty. So I've worked hard and gotten this put together for you. All of you nay sayers who claim reviews don't make anything go faster are liars. This would take at least another week without reviews. Remember that in future chapters.
He ran through the curving streets straight to the Turners' house. He pounded on the door twice before leveling it open. Taking in the closed parlor doors he made for them with a quick nod for the maid. "Bitsy," he remarked in greeting.
"Sir, you canna go in there," Bitsy said. "They have company, they do."
"I'm sorry, Bitsy, but I have important business with them," Norrington answered, pushing open the doors.
Elizabeth and Will were sitting in the parlor alone in the pool of candlelight. He ignored the oddity of the empty room as he bowed to the Turners, unable to completely ignore proto call. "Apologies Will, Elizabeth, but I have something important I need to discuss with you."
As Elizabeth opened her mouth to reply Norrington caught sight of a slight movement in the shadows beside the open door. Moving on instinct he turned and unsheathed his sword to level it at the potential attacker's throat. He wavered when he heard a small gasp of surprise, and wavered still further as Pearl stepped forward, ignoring the sword at her throat as she came into the pool of light, a small child balanced on her hip.
"Shhh, luv, it's all right," she whispered to the girl as she soothed her hair out of her face. "We just startled Edward, is all. He's going to put his sword away now."
Norrington could only stair in numb surprise at the woman. She had aged in the three years since he had seen her, her face losing much of the soft, round, youthful look he remembered. Her skin was still well tanned, her hair still cut boyishly short. She wore her pirate gear all the way down to the sword on her hip.
But it was the girl that drew his attention. Her hair was long, the same flaming red as her mother's and curling in the humid Caribbean air. She had Diamond's round face and small nose. She wore a simple cotton dress although it seemed to be in good condition. Her slightly tanned skin was sprinkled with freckles, her bare feet hanging at her mother's hip. What drew his gaze, however, were her eyes. They were a familiar blue-green, like a shallow Caribbean pool, shot through with threads of brown. His eyes.
He quickly put his sword away, stepping toward the girl. "Hello Emerald."
Pearl looked up at him curiously, eyebrows raised, but the answer to her unspoken question came from across the room. "Marden has a big mouth," Jack remarked as he stepped from the shadows. "Hello Edward."
"Jack," Norrington answered as the pirate crossed the room to hold his hands out to the girl in his daughter's arms. "Come along, little luv. Time for bed."
The girl went into his arms easily enough, eyes trained on Norrington. "Who is he, Granpa?" the girl asked. "I don' like him much."
"That's understandable, luv," Jack told her. "He did just pull a sword on you. But it was an accident, and your ma is fond of him, even if I ain't. You'll like him in the end I'd wager. As for who he is, now isn't the time. We need a bedtime story. How about Blackbeard?"
"Jack, you can't tell her that story right before she goes to bed," Elizabeth called as she hurried after him. "She'll have nightmares!"
"Never has before," Jack answered.
Will stood to follow his wife. "I'm not even going to make an excuse. I'll just let the two of you talk."
"Thank you, Will," Pearl said as he pulled the doors shut behind him.
She looked up at Norrington, sighing and moving over to sit on the couch. "So I suppose you want to berate me now."
"For what?" Norrington asked as he crossed his arms and glared at her, sarcasm ringing out clear in his voice. "Oh, you mean maybe the fact that I've had a daughter for the past three years I didn't know about? Why would I be upset?"
Pearl rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad you finally found your sense of humor. Where did Maggie find it shoved?"
Norrington found himself losing his patients, an uncommon occurrence that only angered him further. "So are you even going to tell me why you didn't inform me that you were pregnant? And don't you dare try to tell me I don't have the right to be angry. Maybe in Tortuga not informing a man he has children is acceptable but here in the real world--" He stopped short when he saw her face. He swallowed hard when he realized what he had just said.
"You'll get no apology from me," she said in a low growl, rising from the couch to stalk toward him, "if you're going to stand there holier-than-thou and denounce me for a common whore. I can take my daughter and leave if this is the sort of father I've brought her to. I'd say she's a fair sight better off with Jack and Marden to look to."
He turned away from her snapping eyes. The Marden comment hurt. Worse, she was right. If he rejected her for what she was he rejected his daughter as well, and he desperately wanted to do better for his children than that. He took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm sorry. I'm a bit out of sorts. I don't often let my temper get the best of me. But this situation, I'm sorry Pearl. I'm afraid you've caught me a bit off guard. More so than usual."
For the first time in his life he watched Pearl concede the point. "And you have every right to be angry. But you must give me a chance to explain." She stepped forward, began to reach for him, then appeared to think better of it. She turned away, dropping her arms to the side. "At first I didn't know, which made not telling you much easier. And then my friend always said sailing while you were pregnant was bad for the baby. And then Jack said sailing during my mood swings was hazardous to the crew's health. So I spent the rest of the pregnancy in Tortuga, and I couldn't leave the baby right after she was born. Plus Jack said if he had to listen to that 'screaming monkey of a granddaughter' he would jump off the ship. Which would be bad for some reason, I'm certain. So I brought her as soon as I could come. I could have had the Turners tell you, but that just didn't seem the way to do things."
Norrington stared at her. He wanted to be angry. Had a right to. She herself had admitted it. This was his daughter, after all, and he should have known. But everything she had just said made perfect sense. And although he loved his wife dearly there was a part of him that would never forget that this woman had owned his heart first. He didn't want to start off the first real conversation with her in three years in the form of an argument. In fact, as a general rule, arguing with Pearl Sparrow at all was a very bad idea. In the end his wish to keep his sanity won out, and he settled for asking the really important question.
"So how long are you going to be here?" Norrington asked.
"I don't know. As long as I think I need to get Emmie settled. She's going to stay here with the Turners."
"What?" Norrington asked with disbelief. "Why?"
"Because I want her to be whatever she wants. I could act like a proper noble, but I would be bored silly by the life. Maybe if Emmie grows up here she can learn to withstand this sort of life. Love it, even."
"You couldn't stand that," he interrupted. "Your daughter married off to some noble? Living on the land her whole life?"
A smile flirted over Pearl's face. "Better than at sea in danger. I may be selfish, Edward, but never when it comes to the safety of those I love."
The use of his name brought all of the feelings he had worked so hard to bury rushing back to him. So few people called him Edward that it was hard for him not to look at it with a certain amount of emotion. He loved her, and most likely always would. There was no use denying it. And now they had a little girl. If only–no, better not to go there.
He needed to stay on subject. Yes, that was the answer. Keep his mind on the business at hand. "But what about you? How can you stay here, on land, long enough to raise her?"
Pearl nodded. "Ah, straight to the crux of the problem. I can't. And I won't."
"Pearl," he gasped out. "You can't. Surely you can't leave her here."
"It'll hurt," she admitted. "I don't like it. But it's the only way. Leaving her will hurt, but staying would kill me."
"Pearl, you can't just leave her here. I refuse to allow you to do that to my daughter!"
Pearl stared at him for several long moments. For a terrified heartbeat he was afraid she might actually kill him. Jack had told him, in perfect seriousness (a very unusual state for Jack) that Pearl didn't hold grudges, she took payment in blood, and was very talented with knives of all sorts.
Instead she laughed. It started with a light chuckle, then moved deeper into her throat. Before she finished her head was thrown back in a full throated laugh as Norrington watched her nervously. She settled back on the couch, laughter subsiding into chuckles. "Five minutes ago you didn't know she existed and now you're telling me how to raise 'your' daughter?" Pearl asked, wiping tears from her eyes. "Oh, Edward, you are precious. Speaking of children, I heard about your son. Congratulations."
"Thank you," he said automatically.
"I trust he is healthy? And Maggie?"
"Yes. A strong boy. And Maggie had a rough time of it but she is recovering now. I worried for her. Especially after you." He hadn't meant to add the last part. What was wrong with him?
Pearl only nodded. "I was lucky, I suppose. Emmie was an easy birth. Diamond always said I was as well."
Norrington crossed the room to sit next to Pearl. "I'm sorry I wasn't there," he told her.
"It wouldn't have been possible," she informed him.
"I know. But I am still sorry."
"Edward, it's better this way," she sighed. "I want you to understand that. If you had known you would have tried to get me to marry you. And break your promise to Maggie. And then you would have hated yourself by the end. This really is better." He nodded grudging agreement. "You have to be careful," she continued. "You're friends with Will and Elizabeth, which is good, but you can't begin spending too much time over here. People will get suspicious."
"What do you plan to tell everyone?" he asked. "I don't think telling them you're a pirate and can't raise your daughter would be quite the way to do things."
"No. I'll dress as Bethany Maltrey. Say that she's my niece, and Elizabeth's cousin's girl. Since Elizabeth is married and I'm well on my way to becoming an old maid this would obviously be the better place for her to be raised. After a while I imagine Emmie will begin to believe it herself, and in the mean time any untored things she might say can be explained away as a vivid imagination."
"But you must want her to know," he argued. "You said you wished her to choose which life she wants. To do that you must intend to make her into a pirate."
"I don't intend to make her anything," Pearl answered. "I intend to return when she's old enough and offer her the chance. The choice will always be hers."
Norrington gave her a half smile. "Knowing her mother, I'd wager it won't be a very hard choice. She'll follow you to sea without a second thought and never look back. How old is old enough?"
Pearl sighed. "I was seven when Jack took me onto his ship. That's too young, I know, but I thought perhaps I would tell her then. Give her a few years to get used to the idea before she comes onto the ship. Will's promised to teach her the sword, and both of the Turners have sworn to see her educated. I think ten should be a very nice age to bring her into the family business."
"You know, it isn't the family business. It isn't my business," Norrington pointed out.
"You sail," Pearl answered. "Like it as not, it will be in her blood."
"What if she resents you?" he asked.
Pearl shrugged. "She'll have to get over it eventually. I'm her mother, no matter what I do to her. Besides, if she has any measure of my logic, or Jack's, she'll see that it was for the best."
"And what if she resents me?" he asked with a sigh.
"Well, there's no way around that. There are days when I resent you," Pearl responded. "Edward, there's nothing you can do. Accepting her as yours publicly would be the end of your career. It would ruin you. To say nothing of Maggie. And now you have your little boy to think of. And she never has to know, if you don't want her to. I'll not tell her if you ask me not to. I'll let her believe she belongs to some random pirate."
"Has she asked?" he queried.
"Of course. I've told her that I know who her father is and that she shouldn't worry over it."
"It's something to think about," he remarked.
"Well, you have five years to do it. You're fortunate, really, her being a girl. She'll never have any claim on your titles or estate. It could have been a very big mess if she were a boy. More so if your proper heir were a girl. This way if you pull together something in the way of a dowery--which I'm not asking you to worry about as myself and her grandfather will see to it ourselves--you can say you've done as much for her as most other fathers would. It seems fate has seen to everything."
"So it would seem," he said morosely. His gaze fell on the window, and he stood with a sudden cry. "Maggie will be worried sick! I promised to be home early tonight."
"Then you had best go," Pearl said with a sad half smile. "Give her my best."
Norrington nodded and hurried toward the door, but found himself stopping suddenly. "Would you like to come?"
"I beg your pardon?" Pearl asked.
"Would you like to come? I know Maggie wouldn't mind. You could see my son."
Pearl narrowed her eyes at him. "Is this your way of getting out of informing your wife that I have a child by way of you? Making me tell her?"
"No," he answered quickly. He paused, to think more carefully about that before answering more firmly, "No."
Pearl smiled up at him. "Sounds like a good idea now that I mention it, though, doesn't it?"
"Yes," he admitted.
"All right," she sighed out. "Fair's fair, I suppose. All right. I should change first, and say good night to Emmie."
"Just throw on a cloak," he suggested. "I really do need to get home."
"Very well. But I must see to my daughter."
Feeling rather lost he followed her up the stairs. Pearl entered a room without knocking, Norrington right behind her. He noted with a chill that this was the room she had occupied during her fever.
The girl was tucked into bed, eyelids heavy as Elizabeth leaned forward, obviously telling the girl a story. Jack sat in the corner next to Will, obviously pouting. Apparently Elizabeth had outlawed Blackbeard tales, at least around bed time.
A loving smile spread over Pearl's face as she approached the bed. The girl smiled back, holding out her arms for a hug. "I'm going out for a wee bit, lovely," she told the girl as she embraced her.
"You'll be back, won't you?" the girl asked.
"Of course I will. I won't be so long."
"Kiss me when you get back," the girl demanded.
"You'll be sound asleep, little one," she remarked.
"I still want you to. Promise?"
"Promise," Pearl answered, kissing her forehead. "Sleep well."
"Night mama," she answered as she snuggled back down.
"I'm going over to Edward's for a bit," Pearl informed Elizabeth. "I'll return shortly."
Elizabeth sent Edward a questioning look, then shrugged. "Very well. Be careful."
"Never," Pearl answered with a chuckle, dodging the swat Elizabeth aimed for her as she made for the door.
Author's Note: So? What do you think? Please review. Please. I don't usually beg. I usually bribe. But I really, really want to know what you think. So please review.