The Gift
Chapter 7: Pianissimo
Setting: Post POTC 3
Characters: Norrington/ OFC
Plot: A fluffy holiday love story. Who knew that James Norrington played the violin?

Lucy was sitting directly beside James and see could swear she felt a masculine heat reverberating off of him, though he was timid to make eye contact. But after two glasses of Merlot, she grew bold enough to quietly ask, "Is this Mister Norrington here tonight or the Admiral?"

His green eyes sparkled.

"I am just James amongst my friends."

"Yes, but I think my father would object to me calling you 'James'."

The bare edge of a smile creased his weatherworn face.

"And he'd probably reprimand me for calling you 'Lucy'."

Her eyes flitted between him and her wine glass. Was James Norrington a gentleman or a rogue? She hadn't quite yet decided.

"I hope I'm not to bold to call you such when we are…." He couldn't say alone, as there were others around them, deep in cups as well as conversation. "…When we are speaking in private."

"No, not at all. Hardly anyone in Port Royal calls me Lucy besides Jane and my father. I had nearly forgotten it was my name!" she jested and James blushed, questioning his own footing in this flirtation, as well.

"Are you enjoying your new violin?" Lucy finally asked.

"Yes, very much. Of course, I haven't had much time to practice, but things will quiet down nearer to the Chistmas holidays. I shall have more time then, I suppose." He looked intently into his near empty cup and added, "I only regret that I missed our date this week."

Lucy's eyes widened.

"I had no reason to come back to your music shop." Then he quickly added, "To finish Mister Haydn's newest work."

"Oh yes. Well, I have to confess I was in on your surprise." She then confided in James the background of the ruse.

"So you knew the entire time that I was Admiral Norrington?"

"To confess, I expected to see you in your uniform and recognize you by your brocade. When I first spied you through the curtain, I had no idea who you were….until I saw your eyes."

James felt his body stir, and her eyes looked hastily away then back to his.

"If you would allow me to be so bold as to say….you have the loveliest green eyes."

She added the last bit hastily, twisting her napkin within her fingers; and her compliment was a thunderbolt within him. A gentle woman had never complimented his looks before, and he held himself to be a quiet man. Especially after Elizabeth rejected him for the small, dark Mister Turner, he had begun to assume that he had some physical trait that was undesirable to the female sex…..And yet, Lucy had been looking very kindly upon him.

"I don't know how to respond," he confessed, flushed.

Lucy smirked, "Please James! I can't believe you don't get complimented on them daily."

His face looked pained.

"No. Never, actually."

She could tell that he was sincere, and her heart ached to hold him, to tell him how beautiful he was to her.

"Then let me tell you again, you have the loveliest green eyes….They reveal so much about you, and yet, they hide so much." She smiled, sadly this time. "You are a mystery to me, James."

That he had heard before from a woman. At least, some women he had courted before Miss Swann had deemed him too cold and too reserved to be a desirable mate. He didn't mean to be such, yet his nature was reserved. and it so difficult to drop his shield. He wasn't a man that often left himself vulnerable, in his line of work or in his heart.

"I wonder which is your true nature? The Scourge of Piracy, Admiral Norrington, or violinist and friend Mister Norrington. Are you a warrior or are you…" She nearly said 'lover' but instead, she quietly added, "a gentlemen?"

His brow knotted.

"May a man not be both?"

Lucy laughed to lighten the mood.

"I have limited knowledge about the duality of a man's nature."

"The duality of man's nature?" he retorted. "I have yet to decide if you are Lucy the English woman or Miss Gagliano the Italian musician. Surely we are not so different then?"

Lucy smiled and considered perhaps they were more alike than she had first thought. "I consider myself both. I am whichever is needed to fit the occasion."

"And which is your true self?" He asked.

"I suppose they both are, but then again, are we never aware of our true nature until it is called into question by some outside event?" It was a rhetorical question. "Surely you'd be better prepared to answer that, than I. As a man of war, you face life and death daily, perhaps at a seconds notice and you must act; to take a life or to spare it?"

His voice hard, "Yes, I have made those decisions often, but not without cost or question."

She squeezed his hand briefly and he lifted his green eyes to her, "Admiral Norrington has made those decisions?"

"No, James Norrington has." He said in a hushed tone, body vibrating at her brief touch.

There was a sadness in his eyes and Lucy felt perhaps she had pressed him too far.

"Admiral Norrington can be removed with change of a coat and wig, but James Norrington must bare the expense of his actions. That is the reality of my true nature." He concluded.

Her smile was tender, "That you have a heart?"

"Perhaps." James contemplated her dark eyes before he decided to conclude with honesty, "And you have touched it deeply, madam."

She was silent, but dark eyes burned him and in that instant they shared a connection nearly as close as love making. His heart pounded in his chest, breathing hastened; her bosom flushed as they held each other emotionally naked. His eyes dropped to her pouting lips with longing.

Suddenly, the contact was broken as her father interjected, "Cara, shall we make music?"

Lucy turned quickly. Her voice answered a bit too light and frantic. "Yes, Papa! Let's make music."

The dinner guest began to rise. Standing, Lucy nodded to James, "Mister Norrington, thank you for the conversation."

"Likewise, Miss Gagliano." He bowed to avoid the chance of becoming lost again in her eyes.