I'm back! The last month and a half has been insane. Within that space I was a bridesmaid in two weddings (maid on honor in one), moved to a different state by myself, had my appendix out, and started my first job as a self sufficient adult. It's been hectic. Anyway, I've slightly redone this chapter to make the speech a little less ridiculous (in response to a review, you were totally right about the dialect. Hope this is better!) and will begin new chapters soon. Hopefully you'll see something new from me in a week or so! Cheers

Chapter 4: Norrington

Mother was lighting a new candle when I burst into the cave.

"A man, mother, Robert and I found a man floating in the debris!" I quickly cleared off the table.

"A man? What kind of man?" No sooner had Mother asked her question than Robert came through the door with the half drowned officer in his arms. I moved aside quickly and Robert laid him on the long table. The three of us moved forward and leant over the sailor. He was handsome, despite his now scraggly wig and dirty face. There was something about his face; it seemed familiar somehow… "Quickly, Cora, we must see if he is hurt." I started.

"Oh." I pulled off his hat and wig, revealing a surprisingly thick head of dark hair, strands of which were stuck to his clammy forehead. "He is very warm, and he sweats." I opened his coat, examining his torso for injuries. His vest and shirt were soaked through and stuck to his very fit body. My hands shook slightly, I was not used to having many men around me, much less having their chests under my hands. I continued to look. There was a dark stain on his vest near his belt. "There." Mother took hold of the candle that had been on the table and held it close. Under the light the stain was red. I pulled his vest open, revealing a blood soaked undershirt. I pulled the shirt up over his stomach. There was a deep gash, three inches long and almost an inch wide low on the left side of his abdomen, almost on his hip. Mother gasped. Robert put one hand over his mouth. I turned my head quickly. "Oh my," I muttered before looking back. "Well then, Robert, move him to the bed in the inner room. I shall get more fresh water. Mother, will you find some clean cloth?"

"Yes dear. Robert, after you move him run to the village and tell Mrs. Vasalli what has happened. I do not know the local herbs and medicines, and we will need something to stop the infection." Robert nodded and lifted the officer. I took up two buckets and ran to the spring. By the time I came back Robert had gone. Mother had a stack of clean rags and was trying to remove the man's coat.

"Here, let me help you." I pulled him into a sitting position with some difficulty. I held him there while she pulled of his coat, vest and shirt. I laid him back down as carefully as I could. With my arms around his bare torso I felt how fierce his fever was. His whole body was covered in a layer of sweat and his skin was incredibly hot to the touch. We began removing his shoes and stockings. Robert ran back into the cave.

"I told her…what happened…." He was standing with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. "Cold seaweed compress…change when it dries….can't… breathe…" Mother put her hands on his shoulders.

"Take a moment, son, catch your breath." She turned to me. "Cora, take a pail and gather as much seaweed in water as you can and bring it back. Robert and I will get him into clean trousers." I nodded and ran down to my bower with a bucket. When I returned, once again soaking, the officer was lying on the bed wearing a pair of Robert's drawstring britches. Mother had a wet cloth in her hand and was beginning to clean the wound. "Here Cora, wash the gash. It has stopped bleeding, but it is weeping. We must clean all the sand out of the wound to prevent it becoming more infected than it already is." I took the cloth as Mother turned to my seaweed. The man was covered in a layer of grit. I continued to wash the wound, being careful not to cause him more pain than necessary. As I gradually removed all the dirt and pus from the wound I saw that it was full of wood splinters. I winced.

I took a needle from my sewing basket and began picking the splinters from his side. Suddenly the sailor gasped and shot up. He sat upright for only a moment before grasping his stomach and falling back on the bed. He looked around, his eyes darting back and forth feverishly before they came to rest on me. He raised one shaking hand to his forehead and started, looking completely confused.

"Where am I?" His voice was low, smooth and staunchly English.

"You are on the island of Gozo in the Mediterranean. My brother and I found you afloat in half of a lifeboat after the hurricane. We brought you here, where I live with my mother." He blinked.

"Gozo? Lifeboat….Gillette! Where is Gillette?" He jumped slightly and grasped his side, as if he was suddenly becoming more aware of his injury. He glanced at the tear in his hip and looked back at me, his green eyes searching.

"Was Gillette the other gentleman in the lifeboat?" He nodded. I shook my head. "He was dead when we found you." He blinked and stared at the cave ceiling. "I am so sorry…"

"Then I am the only survivor." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I am sorry, I feel very strange. Who are you, may I ask?" I took his hand.

"Please don't be sorry. It is only right that you should be disoriented, it is a miracle that you are even alive. My name is Cora Edwards, and I am going to take care of you." He knit his brow.

"Miss Edwards. James Norrington." He nodded to me and winced in pain. I nodded back.

"Cora, please," I responded. "This is going to hurt, I'm afraid." He gritted his teeth. I resumed picking over the wound with my needle. He tried to muffle a gasp of pain.

"Cora…" James Norrington succumbed to fatigue and fever once again. I continued to pick the wood from his side.

A very tedious half hour later the wound was completely clean. Mother had made a cold compress out of the wet seaweed and placed it over the gash. She wiped her hands and picked up a basket.

"Cora, do you see how the compress is made?" I nodded.

"Yes, Mother."

"Good. I am going to the village to consult Mrs. Vasalli myself. It will be dark in a few hours and I will most likely stay the night. If there is anything that can be done at once I will send her son to you. Robert is outside burying the other sailor. He will be here if you need anything." She began to walk outside.

"Mama?" She turned.

"What should I do until morning? I do not know how to care for a sick man..." I was nervous. None of us had even been ill since we first arrived on Gozo. Mother smiled, came back and wrapped me in her arms.

"Don't worry, love. Clean him, keep him warm, keep a cool cloth on his face if his fever rages too hard and keep the compress fresh. You will do a fine job, my girl. Just watch and be alert, he will be fine." I squeezed her hard, grateful for her confidence in me.

"Yes, Mama. Please hurry back."

"I will, love." I watched her walk across the edge of the valley. When she was beyond my sight I looked to the edge of the beach where Robert was digging a grave for the other poor sailor. I turned, walked into the cave and looked at James Norrington, the man who had been left in my care. I took up the freshwater and some rags and went to his bedside. I dipped a cloth in the pail and began to wash. I wiped across his forehead and down the bridge of his nose. As I began to clean his eyelids an image of the bright green eyes beneath them came into my head. Those eyes and their mysterious owner were solely in my care. As I thought of his eyes my hand grew steady and I became less afraid. I gingerly washed his eyelids, his cheeks, his lips, his chin with the beginnings of a beard. I was no longer afraid, I would not let this man die while he was in my care.

"James Norrington, I am going to take care of you."

Night fell on the island. My calm disappeared with the last rays of the sun. His fever was becoming more and more fierce. He had fallen into a sickly sleep and began to thrash and moan. I wrapped him in every blanket, shawl and table cloth we had and stoked the fire as much as I could, but the damp air and salty driftwood would never burn hot enough to break the fever. It must have been close to midnight when I pulled back his covers to change the compress. The wound was now red hot and oozing pus.

"Blast…" I muttered as I wiped the gash clean and replaced the compress. He moaned in his sleep and began to mutter under his breath. "Come now Mr. Norrington, please stay still and warm…please? We must break your fever and I do not know what else to do!" I began to cry. I went through our belongings once more looking for something, anything I could use to keep him warm. I didn't know what to do and Mother wasn't there to help me. Robert had gone back to the village to get more rope to lower the body into the grave hours ago. He must have decided to stay the night, oh why wasn't he here? I paced back and forth, crying out of frustration and ringing my hands.

"What can I do?" I put my palms against my face and felt the hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I realized then how warm my face was, how warm I was, and then I knew.

"I know what must be done!" I looked at him and realized what I was thinking. "Oh dear, I know what must be done…" I walked up to him, and bit my lip. "Mr. Norrington, I do hope that you are not as proper as you sound, and if you are I am very, very sorry." I pulled back the blankets, pulled off my shoes and climbed into the bed beside him. His fever was so hot it felt like his very skin could burn me. "I cannot believe I am doing this." I pulled the covers over us. I wrapped my legs around his and my arms around his shoulders, trying to warm his body with mine. He continued to thrash.

"Just be calm." I pulled his head to my chest and began to stroke his hair the way my mother used to stroke mine as a child. He became still but continued to moan and mutter. "Shhh, it's alright," I whispered. I began to sing softly, nothing much, just the kind of song a mother sings to a child when they cannot sleep at night. As I sang I caressed his forehead with my fingertips. I massaged his temples and the soft spot in between his eyebrows. I lightly brushed the back of my hand over his eyelids. He became quiet and still. I moved my hand back to his hair, holding his head lightly. I continued to sing. He inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly and nustled his head into my neck. "Oh thank you, he rests." I rocked him slowly, slowly until the motion made my eyes droop. The last thing I was aware of before I drifted off to sleep was the slow, rhythmic breathing of the man sleeping against me.

"Ahem." I heard a cough and opened my eyes. Robert was standing in the door of the inner room with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. "I leave you unchaperoned for mere hours and this is what happens?" I rubbed my eyes and looked down at Norrington. He was sleeping peacefully.

"Wait…" I felt his face. It was still warm, but the fever had broken. "Oh thank God." I sat up and slowly extracted myself from the knot of blankets, trying not to disturb him. As I got up I pulled back the covers to check his wound. It was still weepy, but was no longer oozing as it had been. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to my brother. "It worked!" I gave him a kiss on the cheek and went into the outer cave to make a fresh compress. He followed me, confused.

"Cora? What worked?" I turned and smiled.

"Oh don't fuss so, I didn't actually do anything improper." He snorted.

"Nothing?" My jaw dropped, shocked at what he was suggesting.

"Robert!!" He grinned at me. "I did nothing! I was watching him last night and his fever raged beyond anything I could control. You know how slowly the fires burn here, I couldn't get the flames hot enough, that was the only way I could get him warm him enough to break the fever." He continued to grin. "I am not lying! Robert…" He held his hands up and laughed.

"I'm only joking, don't worry so. You should consider yourself lucky that it was me who found you and not your mother."

"Oh that would have been beyond terrible…. she would have fainted dead away!"