Disclaimers: POTC isn't mine, nor James Norrington, and so on...

Thanks a lot to all my readers, I really appreciate your views.

After the funerals, the less injured men were carried to their own bed, and so was Captain Norrington carried to his quarters too, leaving only two men in the medicine quarters.

Knowing she couldn't be at three different places at the same time, she gave a pot of seaweeds balm to one of the crewmembers so he might pass it around in their quarters, and told doctor Davis what to do with the two remaining men if any problem happened. As for her, she obviously went straightaway to the Captain's quarters to look after him but Lieutenant Groves gave her the express order to rest for the evening and come back in the morning.

'You need to sleep Lawrence, today has been a harsh day for all of us, especially for you. Go now, you can come back in the morning.'

'And what about James?' she asked watching her Captain whose eyes were still closed.

Theodore smiled. 'I'll look after him, don't worry.'

She put a fresh wet rag on Norrington's forehead and left to her quarters.

Her mind hadn't processed yet the traumatic events of the day, and so she calmly and thoroughly cleaned herself before putting on her night clothes.

She laid down on her bed, and tried to sleep, but as soon as her eyes were shut, images flashed in her mind. Threatening pirates, Simon's smile, injured men, fighting, life going out of the dark-skinned pirate she had killed, white masses dropped to the sea, Andrew's compassionate face, James being stabbed…

She instantly rose from her bed and threw water on her face to chase those haunting visions, but it wouldn't leave her.

The sound of men screaming, James shouting her name, the laughter of the scary pirate, Theodore's solemn speech during the funerals, Tim's voice, all the sounds echoed in her mind as well.

Plagued by those terrible events, she sat on the wooden floor and rocked herself, her knees in her arms, and she cried and cried and cried until physical and emotional exhaustion got the best of her and she blacked out, oblivious to the cold.

After a few hours, she woke up with a start, for even in her dreams it all played over and over again. She changed for her day clothes and went out to feel the fresh air of the morning. She couldn't stop thinking about what happened yesterday, the horror, the atrocity of battles, the black heart of some men, Death taking with her both innocents and not so innocents, but still there was hope. As long as good men lived and fought for justice, life was worth living. And thus her mind shifted to higher thoughts, the men in the medicine quarters and her Captain needed her, she would look after them until they could walk on their own.

She was surprised to see doctor Davis, up and about, still looking after the two men with the help of another man.

'How are they, doctor?'

'They'll manage, you have of great help yesterday, Mister Reynolds, I don't even want to think about what would have happened without your presence. So… thank you.'

'I was merely doing my duty, sir. Saving lives was the top priority.'

'Yes that also, that also…' he coughed. 'Anyway, I'll let you look after our Captain if you don't mind. Your expertise seems … err, more in need than mine…'

Lawrence understood how awkward he must have been for a doctor on board of a ship belonging to the Navy to have been given orders by someone half his age and with no official medical qualifications whatsoever. Now she felt awkward herself, realizing how bold she had been in the heat of the moment, and forgotten her position. She bowed her head and thanked him before going to the Captain's quarters.

She found Lieutenant Gillette, visibly exhausted, seated on a chair by his Captain's side.

'Ah, Lawrence! Come to take my place?'

'That was indeed my intention, Andrew.' She smiled at the over cheerfulness of her friend. 'Has he awoken yet?'

Gillette shook his head, which caused the young girl to frown and bite her bottom lip in worry.

'Alright, I suppose it's only normal due to the severity of his injury. You can go to sleep now, Andrew, James is in good hands.'

'Oh I know he is!' Her friend smiled. He realized neither Groves nor he had told her about their discovery, but he was too tired to start on the subject and this kind of discussion could well wait another day or two.

When he left, Lawrence proceeded to change Norrington's bandages, and cover his healing wound with the balm. His fever hadn't broken yet, and so she spent the next hours replacing the rag on his forehead by fresher ones. She was too worried to see time pass, and so she was surprised when Groves came to take her place at noon.

The end of the afternoon and early evening's shift was Gillette's, and hers was at night, so while she waited for her turn, she either visited the injured men in the crew's quarters, helped doctor Davis, or took up her former tasks of when she wasn't an officer. With the couple of men that had been killed, her help was more than needed and so she happily obliged, happy to fill her mind with the task to do, and not the dreadful past events.

Two hours before midnight, she took her shift at the Captain's bedside. She was to wake Lieutenant Groves at the break of dawn, but she never did, his sleep was more needed than hers. After all, he was to command the ship with Lieutenant Gillette, and that required a clear mind, so she gave him, without his knowing, a few hours more to sleep.

James Norrington had woken up in the early hours of the evening, only to fall back into unconsciousness, but that was a good sign nonetheless. He was less feverish and his heart rate had stabilized, but still, Lawrence worried.

She took his left hand in hers hand stroked it with her right thumb.

'Come on James, you can do it. I know you can. Think of all the years you still have to live… You wouldn't die without proposing and marrying and having beautiful children with Miss Swann, would you?' The mere thought of him being with another woman hurt her deep in the heart. 'You wouldn't leave us return to Port Royal without you... You wouldn't leave me, James? Not so soon…' A tear rolled down her cheek. Now that she thought about it, she realized how important James Norrington had become to her. She longed to see his emerald of his eyes shine, to see the creases at the corner of his eyes when he smiled, to hear the melody of his voice that only she could hear…

In the morning, a freshly awoken Groves admonished her.

'Who didn't wake me this morning, Lawrence...'

'As were my intentions, and it will remain so. I don't mind looking after the Captain until this hour, and by the way, I have the whole day to take a nap!'

'If you say so…'

She glanced one last time at the sleeping man and left.

Though she hadn't slept, she was feeling quite awake and so she went along with her day as the day before, taking a two-hour nap at noon before returning to her duty. However, during her short time of sleep, James Norrington had awoken and wished to speak to his, quote "officers and friends". As Lieutenant Groves was looking for her in different places, he wondered with good hopes whether his Captain now considered Lawrence as friend. He eventually found her on the main deck, sleeping between two chests, and decided not to wake her up.

'Oh…' said Norrington, looking slightly disappointed. 'Well, I guess it's best to let him sleep indeed. But now, tell me everything about the last two days!'

His Lieutenants recalled step by step all that had happened since he had blacked out, making sure not to forget any details about Lawrence's professionalism during the aftermath, including thoroughly taking of him. Obviously, neither of the Lieutenants mentioned that Lawrence was in fact a woman in disguise, as they feared their Captain's reaction might delay his good recovery.

They talked with him for another hour before he fell asleep. Feeling confident about his state, they decided to let him sleep unwatched until they had had the talk with Lawrence.

'Lawrence…'

'What is it, Theodore?' she said, untangling fishing nets on the forecastle. When she saw the serious look in his eyes, she instantly dropped the nets and began to turn pale. 'James…'

Gillette rolled his eyes, trying hard to conceal his smile.

'No, he's fine, he has just fallen asleep, he was well awake for two hours and inquired about the events of the last days.'

Lawrence sighed in relief. 'Then what, why those long faces?' She frowned, crossing her arms and looking several times at her friends.

Groves glanced around to be sure no one was within ear-reach and said:

'Why don't we all sit? Good.' He took a deep breath, feeling very uncomfortable.

'Listen we… we know about… err, we know that you are a woman…'

'You, you what? No! But… how?' She froze, as though struck by lightning. She didn't know what to do, she couldn't think of any to say to deny it.

'After your fight with that pirate' started Gillette 'When we checked whether you had been wounded… Your, err, scarf or whatever it is had gotten a bit loose and… well…' He was clearly as uncomfortable as his male friend.

Lawrence gulped, if they had seen what they claimed they had, then no lie would cover this revelation. Her cheeks went from deadly white to bright red. She dared not look at them in the eyes, so she stared at Groves' boots instead.

'Do you realise how dangerous this is? Why, why did you do it? Why did you tell neither of us? Does anyone else know?'

'I, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get caught, I had no choice really, I…' and so she told for the first time her real story.

After she had revealed her past in its entirety, Gillette took her hand and squeezed it.

'I'm so sorry to hear this, Lawrence, I mean Charlotte…, no, Lawrence!'

'Now that we know all of it, I can only wonder how you managed to do it, so far, being a woman and everything… You definitely are one of the bravest persons I've ever met' confessed Lieutenant Groves. 'And actually, that explains a lot of things!' he said, winking at Gillette who nodded in agreement.

'Such as your general built and your face, for example. You pretended to be four years younger than you are, which was clever of you I admit, only to justify your lack of facial hair'

'And let's not forget your voice too.'

'And how you look at James…' Groves chuckled.

'Wait, how I… I do not!' the young woman said, blushing even more, her eyes and mouth opening wider in shock.

'Yes, yes you do!'

She rolled her eyes, her friends were obviously teasing her.

'Please, don't tell him about who I am. He doesn't need to know. And anyway, I'll probably be assigned to another ship in Port Royal, so…'

Groves frowned, puzzled.

'We can't lie to him Lawrence, you know that. He's our superior and our dear friend. However…'

'However?' she repeated hopefully, looking at him.

'Some delay until his full recovery would be good for all of us, I think.'

'Oh thank you, Theodore!' she jumped to her feet and hugged him, then hugged Lieutenant Gillette as well.

'Thank you so much, my friends. I will never be able to thank you enough.'

'Behave like the young man you're supposed to be instead of hugging us, you silly!' Andrew laughed. 'Well, now that it's done, I can return to my place at James' side. Ah, a part of me can't wait to see his face once he knows about it…' He smiled at the idea, walking back to the Captain's quarters.

'You realise the dangers you've faced from the day you left your home? My stomach is in knots just thinking about what could have happened to you…' Groves said, squeezing her shoulder with his right arm. 'Anyway, that doesn't change the fact that I still consider you as a brother, young man.'

Lawrence laughed. 'Thank you, Theodore, I really appreciate your kindness, and also Andrew's. I'm not sure the Captain will be that comprehensive about such a case…'