Disclaimers: I don't own POTC nor its characters.

Thank you, thank you everyone, you are awesome!

'James, why did you give me an orange out of all the fruits there were?' a puzzled Lawrence asked him when they were walking down the now safe streets of Tortuga, well, considering.

Her friend shrugged. 'I know you love oranges.'

'But how? I don't remember telling you that…'

James looked at her and smiled.

'It is one of the first things I've learned about you. I may have been interested in the singular persona that you are since you first set foot upon the Dauntless.'

Lawrence raised an eyebrow, both amused and touched by what he was implying.

'You've mentioned it once to Theodore, if I remember well' he added.

'Well thank you for your kind gesture and the attention you've given me for so long' she smiled, squeezing his right hand; she didn't know why, but she felt the need to touch him whenever she could. She remembered when he had put his arm around her waist, when they had held hands in the dark streets or in the tavern, and… 'Oh! I've slept in the same bed as he did!' she realized suddenly, blushing furiously. 'And I even slept on his shoulder for a while, and he knew it but didn't say anything to embarrass me! Show me a gentleman finer than him…'

They went to a few taverns to inquire about Sparrow, but no one had seen him since two or three days; their last hope was to check at the harbour, and even there they were deceived for the Pearl had indeed left two days ago.

'I'm sorry we've wasted some precious time by staying for the night; we should have asked here first…' Lawrence said, disappointed by the outcome of the situation.

'Not all of it was wasted time, Lawrence. That way, you have had your first real experience of Tortuga!'

'Yes, you're right, and it's been an experience quite satisfying, if I may say so.'

None of them would voice it, but both were thinking about how last night had brought them closer than ever to the other.

Having nothing else to do, they went back to the Dauntless and waited for the remaining crewmembers to board the ship.

'James, can I ask you a weird question?' Lawrence ventured, looking at her friend with narrow eyes.

'Of course Lawrence, anything you want' he smiled to encourage her.

'Hum, what's in your pocket?'

'My pocket?' he said, raising his eyebrows.

'Yes, I've noticed you keep fiddling with something without really paying attention to it, and I was wondering what it was.'

James nodded and took out…

'A ribbon?' Lawrence asked, amused.

James looked at the black bow he was holding and at Lawrence in turn; his face turned suddenly to embarrassment.

'Ah, err, yes, it…' he untied the bow and smoothed the silk of the ribbon, handing it to her. 'It was yours actually. I-I don't know why I kept it; it had slipped off your hair in Santiago de Cuba, when, you know…' He couldn't look at her in the eye; this was one of the rare occasions when James Norrington felt embarrassed, and once again, Lawrence was there.

'Oh. I didn't you had it; I had completely forgotten about it!' She closed his hand on the ribbon and let her own hand on his. 'You can keep it if you want, I don't need it.'

'He had kept my ribbon all this time with him, as a kind of lucky charm or something… Oh James, please, don't tell me you don't love me, I wouldn't believe you! Not after everything that has happened recently.' Her heart beat faster, maybe she was deluded, but she wanted to believe it; she felt she had to tell him about her feelings, she needed to be sure.

'James, there's something I need to tell you, I-'

'All the men are aboard, Sir!' said Lieutenant Pardy as he went to take his place beside Norrington.

In this instant, James closed his eyes in frustration then nodded, regaining his calm.

'Thank you, Lieutenant.' He gave order to weigh anchor and the ship slowly took to the open sea.

'Are we going to Nassau then, Captain?'

'No, we'll first go to the Isla de Muerte, then Nassau.'

James smiled faintly at Lawrence, his deep green eyes looking at her softy as a way to apologise, then followed his lieutenant to where the map and charts were.

Lawrence felt as frustrated as he was but understood that she couldn't have him for herself all the time. As she was seating on the top stairs, watching the crew doing their assigned tasks, she heard some commotion below. She frowned and climbed down the stairs.

'What is it, Mr. Clemens?' she asked a man who was arguing with his friend.

'Billy's got himself injured in a fight last night, and he won't clean it.'

'Is that true, Mr. Harish? May I look? We wouldn't want to lose you because of a festering wound, would we? It would make quite an inglorious death, if you ask me.'

The injured man reluctantly lifted his shirt and showed her the cut on his left side.

'I didn't want to trouble anyone with this trifle, Sir. It's but a tiny cut…'

'Nonsense. Let's go to the medicine quarters, I have the right thing for that kind of injury.'

'Where are all my sea-weeds pastes? They can't have all been used since I left this ship!' Lawrence said angrily, looking around to find her old concoctions.

Doctor Hunter entered the medicine quarters, frowning.

'What are you doing in my quarters, Ensign?'

'What have you done with my sea-weeds? And those are not your quarters more than anyone else's.'

'And I say they are mine as I am the doctor on board.'

'I must insist, they are everyone's! Besides, that doesn't explain what you've done with my sea-weeds ointments.'

'Ah, so it was yours! I threw them the first day I took post on board.'

'Why did you do that! It was more efficient than any other thing we have on board; it did save lives!'

'That's it, I've got enough with your insolence, you have no word to say in the matter of curing anyone. Just wait here, we'll see what the Commodore has to say!'

He left the quarters quickly, happy to be zealous for once.

Lawrence tried to calm her nerves and sighed; she usually wasn't one for getting easily angry but when it came to the lives of people, she couldn't stand negligence.

'Just wait for me here, Mr. Harish. I will see to your wound in a minute.'

She hurried to the hold of the ship and came back with a few sea-weeds that she was already pounding. When Doctor Hunter came back with a most unpleased Commodore Norrington, the preparation for the ointment was almost finished.

'What the Hell are you doing now!' said Hunter taking the wooden bowl from her hands.

Lawrence looked at him, her jaw clenched, looking daggers at him.

'Can you explain what this is all about now, Doctor Hunter?' asked Norrington with a stern voice.

'Ensign Reynolds pretends to know medicine better than I do; he says he's as entitled as I am to use the medicine quarters. And look at this!' he showed him the sea-weed past with a disgusted look. 'He keeps going on about his precious sea-weeds. I'm telling you, he wants to kill our men!' He looked at Lawrence and sneered. 'What are you, a bloody woman to believe in this kind of witchcraft?' He turned to his superior, hoping to see him laugh and share his opinion, but he was greatly disappointed.

James knew Lawrence would have never said such a thing out loud; looking at her, he was impressed by her calm-demeanour, even though he knew perfectly well how revolted she felt.

'Doctor Hunter, the methods of Ensign Reynolds are safe and have proven to be life-saving. These sea-weeds have saved my life a couple of months ago, so I know for a fact that they are efficient. I would appreciate it if you would allow her to see to Mr. Harish's wound.'

'But, Sir, he isn't qualif-'

'That's an order, Mr. Hunter!'

The doctor was outraged but complied eventually, though unwillingly.

'As you command, Sir.' He cast an angry look at Lawrence then sat on a table at the other side of the quarters, looking at her taking care of the injured man.

James wanted to touch her shoulder and tell her that it was nothing, that she shouldn't care about this man; he was the Captain of this ship, he trusted her, and that was all that mattered. But he didn't say a word; she was clever enough to already know that, and they were not alone. He gave her a small smile and left, thinking how much he couldn't wait to talk to her again tonight.

Hunter was obviously very angry as the situation hadn't turned out as he expected; he even started to get suspicious; something was up between the Commodore and the Ensign, they looked too close.

Once she was done with her patient, she told him he could go and went to Doctor Hunter.

He had told her nasty words and called her girls' names from the moment James had left the quarters, and she had ignored them calmly; however she felt that she had to say something to him; she didn't like this atmosphere. Life at sea was hard enough without having silly quarrels on board.

'Doctor Hunter…'

'Oh, I'm still a doctor to you, then?' he sneered, but she ignored his remark.

'I wanted to apologise; I know you are the doctor on board and I shouldn't have gotten in your way. It's just that I know this natural trick to be very efficient, and Mr. Harish had shown me his wound, so I thought I could take care of it before troubling you with such a minor wound.'

'I don't care about your excuses, Polly.'

Lawrence saw that it was desperate; she shrugged and went out to look at the sea from the forepart of the ship.

On their way to Isla de Muerte, the Dauntless passed by another Navy ship that told them they had seen the Black Pearl sailing off to the East, possibly Africa judging by their course.

The officers gathered and concluded they would trust this new piece of information and head to the Mediterranean Sea. The trip would be perilous but they took that risk, Sparrow had to be stopped.

James had hoped to talk to his friend alone tonight, but the evening had turned out differently as Doctor Hunter, Commander Johnson and Lieutenant Pardy were also present in his quarters to talk about their new plans. At one point, Commander Johnson asked Lawrence to help him with his paperwork, as his sight was declining and he would appreciate to have a new company. Lawrence accepted good-heartedly, thinking this task would be quickly done, but the day after, she was astounded by the amount of papers she had to help him with. This would definitely take weeks to get all of it done, especially since the Commander didn't help her in the least, pretending he needed fresh air for his lungs, or he'd feel seasick in very little time.

The time she spent in Johnson's quarters was time she couldn't spend with James, but she accepted this mild sacrifice; after all, she could see him anytime she wanted, and she was happy to be of any help, even though she was clearly being cheated.

James regretted he couldn't see his friend as much as before; especially since she could join him for their "private meetings" only once or twice a week now.

'I wish we didn't have to hide as much' he said one evening, sighing.

'I agree; it was so much better when Andrew and Theodore were with us… Now you're stuck with only me as company.'

'Yes, I do miss them too… But I must say that so far I haven't been disappointed' he said, smiling.