Room to Breathe

Gonna have a bit of Lily freaking in this chapter. Lol…should be fun.

"Norrington…James Norrington." Jarrett said.

I swear I stopped breathing. No way…there was no way that my parents' tormentor was the father of such a…a…well…Jarrett's father! My jaw was hanging open, my eyes were wide…I bet I looked slightly manic as I stared at him.

"You…you're kidding…right?" I asked. "Tell me you're kidding."

"No." Jarrett said. Then it hit me. He knew who I was and didn't bother to say anything. My parents had told me all about James Norrington and, even though I didn't get the chance to see him twelve years ago on the Lost Islands, I know he was there. There was no way that Norrington wouldn't have told his son about Jack and Madison Sparrow ruining so much for him.

"You jerk!" I said, grabbing my stuff and standing up.

"What? What did I do?" Jarrett asked, standing up as well.

"Oh don't play stupid!" I said. "You knew who I was. I told you right away who I was! Did your father send you out to hunt me down or something? Lord knows that man has it in for my whole family just because my parents supposedly ruined his life!"

"Lily I swear he didn't…" Jarrett started.

"Don't even try!" I said. "You didn't even mention it until I asked you. If I never did, you probably wouldn't have mentioned it! You would have let me go along, never knowing that you were the son of my parents' tormentor!"

"Lily will you let me explain?!" Jarrett asked.

"No!" I said. "I don't want to hear your excuse. I don't want to see you again!" I started off the dock but he caught up and grabbed my arm lightly.

"Lily just listen to me, please." Jarrett said.

"No! Let go!" I said. I struggled, dropping my things in the process. It was a good thing too because after a minute of struggling, we wound up falling into the water. After surfacing, I saw Jarrett laughing. I splashed him and he just splashed back, still laughing. I stared at him, somewhat astonished, before starting a splashing competition that lasted for the next ten minutes before we dragged ourselves out of the water and lied down on the sandy beach.

"He didn't send me after you." Jarrett said, finally. "I actually…for lack of a better term…ran away because he wouldn't stop pressuring me to join his precious navy and practically forbid to even think about life as a pirate."

"Honestly?" I asked, looking at him.

"Honestly." Jarrett said, looking at me. I believed him.

"Well you know…if we can keep that bit of information hidden from my brother, then you can join us in sailing for a while." I said, looking at the sky which was now becoming speckled with stars. "He sort of knocked your father unconscious once…long ago."

"Long ago? How old are you?" Jarrett asked.

"Only fifteen." I said. "It's a long story…maybe I'll tell you one of these days."

"I look forward to it." Jarrett said. I smiled but didn't look at him.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"Eighteen." Jarrett said.

"You were six when I was three then." I said, thinking about it.

"I suppose so." Jarrett said.

"I turn sixteen next month." I said. "Along with my brother, cousin and friend, Tara. My friend, Roselyn, the one who never met her father…she turns seventeen the month after that."

"I turn nineteen in…four months I think." Jarrett said.

"I've been gone for a while." I said after a silence that lasted a few minutes. "I'm surprised Jaden hasn't come looking for me. He's gotten very protective lately."

"Well he is your brother." Jarrett said.

"Yes but I'm older…I think." I said. "I can't remember anymore." Jarrett laughed softly. "I best be heading back to my grandmother's. Why don't you meet me here at noon tomorrow and I'll give you a tour of the ship."

"Sounds like a plan." Jarrett said. We stood up and I headed back to Gramma's house. It wasn't until later that night, when I was almost asleep, did I remember my sketchpad and charcoal. There was no way I was sneaking out this late without someone in the house noticing so I just lay in bed and hoped that it would still be there tomorrow.

"Lily…there's someone at the door for you." I grumbled and opened my eyes to see Gramma standing over me. I looked over at the other bed to see Roselyn gone. "Everyone's already gone to prepare the ship for the storm." She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back. I got out of bed and got dressed quickly before going downstairs to see Jarrett looking at a painting on the wall. It was one of the first that I did. It was of the Lost Islands and I had done it in a sunrise, when I first remember seeing them.

"Hello." I said. Jarrett looked at me and it was then that I noticed he was holding my things from yesterday behind his back. "Oh…thank you so much for getting those and…how did you know this was where I was?"

"Well I went to the docks to see if you were possibly there and I heard your friend mentioning you." Jarrett said. "She also mentioned that this road was pretty deserted and that this house and the neighbors' house are the only ones on it."

"Oh right." I said. I put my sketchpad and charcoal on a table. "Well…now you know where a bit of my family lives. The majority of it lives in Port Royal and that's where we'll be heading in another week and a half to two weeks so that my brother, cousin and I can be with our parents to celebrate our birthdays."

"Where's umm…you're friend's parents live?" Jarrett asked. I pointed to the house next to this one. "Oh…so won't they miss her birthday?"

"She's celebrating hers with her family before we leave." I said. "Well umm…I think that if we want to talk to my brother about allowing you to join the crew then we should leave soon to do so."

"I thought you were captain." Jarrett said, smiling slightly.

"I am…I just don't want him giving me those nasty little looks of his." I said. We both smiled at that. I said bye to gramma and we left.

(Jaden's POV)

Why does Lily always have to be right about these things? I swear she caused this storm to move in faster, just to annoy us.

"Jaden if you're not gonna help then can you move out of the way and stop looking like you want to murder the mast." Roselyn said. I jumped and looked at her to see her standing next to me. I smiled at her, a smile I picked up from my dad and was rewarded when Roselyn's cheeks went slightly pink before she went over to help Andrew.

Dear Lord I am turning into my father! I thought I wasn't but with the way I was going…maybe I should start putting things in my hair. I smiled at the thought of doing all that just before showing up in Port Royal…see how dad reacts to it. I bet Lily would help me out with that…she's starting to enjoy freaking out our father.

Speak of the devil…there's Lily now and…I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the person she was with. The man from the party a few nights ago. They were walking awfully close together and he was smiling at her too much. I just know this is gonna turn out bad.

"No!" I said, standing in the study that was attached to Lily's cabin a few minutes later. She was sitting on the desk and Andrew was next to me. "Absolutely not. No way!"

"Why not?" Lily asked.

"Because…because I don't like him." I said. "He's…he's sneaky looking and…and…"

"And we don't even know who he is." Andrew said. Good…he was on my side. You'd think he'd be on my side more often but no…he usually bounces back and forward between me and my sister.

"I do so!" Lily said.

"Who then?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"I don't want to tell you." Lily said, raising her head up slightly to look snotty.

"Because you don't know." I said.

"I do so!" Lily said.

"Do not!" I said.

"Do so!" Lily said.

"Do not!" I said, slowly.

"Do so!" Lily said, obviously not catching on to what I was doing.

"Do not!" I said.

"Do not!" Lily said. I paused a fraction of a second.

"Glad to know you agree." I said, smiling triumphantly. Lily's jaw dropped and she stared at me. She closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes and suddenly I was very afraid of her. Andrew and I took involuntary steps backwards.

"Well I'm the captain and I make the final decision." Lily said, slowly. "So I say Jarrett can join us. That's final." I glanced at Andrew to see him nodding. "Good…two against one." Lily smiled sweetly and walked past us and out onto the deck.

"You…you agreed with her!" I said, looking at Andrew fully.

"Ok…remember the fact that she can control the bloody kraken?" Andrew said. "Do you really want her to start using all that against us to get her way?"

"Why does everyone keep forgetting that I can do that too?" I asked.

"We're not forgetting." Andrew said. "We just know you aren't as strong as she is. She's been doing it forever and you've really only started a few years ago." I hate to admit it…but he's right. Damn it! We are turning into our parents. Lily's acting like mum, I'm acting like dad (in some ways!!!) and Andrew is starting to act like Uncle Will.

"We're turning into our parents, mate." I said. Andrew just nodded. We went back on deck to see Lily, Tara and Roselyn all standing around Jarrett. Oh I really hated the guy. I guess Lily felt me watching because she turned around and sent me a glare of her own. She also gave me that 'it's definitely not what you're thinking' look of hers that she got from dad. Tara and Roselyn didn't stay there long before they walked away and I heard Roselyn explaining things to Tara before they disappeared into the cabin Lily had given them.

At that moment I really missed Tomas. If he was here, it would be three against three but right now the girls outnumbered us. Ok that's not completely true but with Lily as captain and the crew starting to gain respect towards her, they were bound to agree with her on most issues. Then it was just a matter of what the little inner group thought (i.e. Lily, myself, Andrew, Tara and Roselyn).

That's actually when it hit me. I could hate and distrust this Jarrett guy as much as I wanted but I could use having him aboard to my advantage. Unless, you know, if he really liked Lily (for his sake…he better not) then he would probably go on her side a lot. But maybe, just maybe, I could use this.

Bloody hell…I really am my father now.

Just thought I'd throw in a bit of Jaden's thoughts into this thing. Trust me now, this story is gonna be bouncing around between POVs like a maniac.