Elizabeth Swann had been up all morning in an excitable state, she was to be escorted today to Lieutenant Norringtons estate and given access to his library of books. It was unusual for a Lieutenant of the Navy to have his own estate but it was well known that James Norrington was the son of the very successful and very notorious Admiral Lawrence Norrington who's reputation was well known in London. Lawrence Norrington had passed away some months before they made the trip from London to Port Royal and it seemed that James had not chosen to live at the Fort like the other Lieutenants and officers. Besides it wasn't even a secret that James Norrington was in consideration very soon of being promoted directly to Captain. Usually there was a go between position between Lieutenant and Captain, something of a commander position but very recently, by the King's order some Lieutenant Commanders had been shuffled around leading to Lieutenants in some sectors taking commanding position under the Captain, James Norrington had been one such officer and he had proven to be capable enough to receive a direct promotion to Captain, eventually. Captain's definitely didn't live with the officers at the Barracks so James' first investment in Port Royal seemed to be sound indeed.
Elizabeth didn't even know why she was even thinking about what James Norrington invested in but in truth the man occupied her young mind too much as it were. She had not thought much of the man initially when she met him on board the Dauntless. He was a bit stiff with her, a little too formal but then she had heard Will speak of him and everything he had done for her friend endeared the Lieutenant to her. And now this. In a moment of weakness she had confessed to him that day that she wanted to be able to meet her friend, Will who remained even now to be her only friend. There were very few children in this port who were of her station enough to be merited to spend time with her so she was alone in her house most of the time and she so wanted to talk to Will again and had confessed so to the Lieutenant believing him to be honorable enough to not betray her confidence even if she, in his eyes was a child.
When her Father then brought up her confidential discussion with Lieutenant Norrington she had felt very betrayed until she was left absolutely astounded by exactly what her Father was saying. Books? Library? Her being bored by the books at Swann manor? That bit was definitely true but she had never confided in the man those things and yet here she was.
So he had not betrayed her confidence but instead had given her father this yarn of a story about how she wanted to read some more adventurous and educational books, which was true enough but nothing that she herself had confided in the good Lieutenant for.
Whatever the case it seemed at the while honorable to a fault, Lieutenant Norrington wasn't entirely above causing some mischief himself, which only served to endear the man to her even more so.
And so with an hour left to midday Elizabeth was all in a tither as the carriage pulled up to her house and out stepped the Lieutenant greeting her with a small bow and a genuine smile on his face. Elizabeth tried to show propriety but she suspected the bouncing of her feet gave away her excitement, she still maintained decorum though. She would not be the cause of disgrace for her father nor the Lieutenant if she could help it.
"Miss Swann," smiled the Lieutenant. "I hope this day finds you well?" he asked leaning down and offering his hand.
Heart a flutter she placed her hand on his and smiled as he gave her a bow over it, his deep green eyes meeting hers with shared mirth and if she wasn't mistaken a little bit of mischief thrown in there. The Lieutenant was definitely not as simple and straightforward as her first impressions had led her to believe.
"Very well, thank you Lieutenant," she replies accordingly, a smile pulling at her lips. "Father has seen it fit to believe that your presence will be enough of a chaperone that he doesn't wish to send another. Shall we go?" she asked indicating the carriage.
He straightened up and nodded. "After you," he intoned once again offering his hand at the steps and she was helped effortlessly onto the carriage. Settling in they were off down the road to the Norrington Estate.
Not two seconds into the ride she began interrogating him.
"Lieutenant, while I am not displeased with this offer to peruse your library, it is rather abrupt since I don't recall ever mentioning to you my frustration with the lack of good books in my father's own library."
James hummed an agreement. "Indeed Miss Swann you did not mention your frustrations with me," he agreed readily. "however this was the only possible solution I could come up with for the dilemma you did present to me yesterday."
Elizabeth frowned in thoughtful confusion, no doubt wondering what this dilemma was that she had supposedly presented for him to solve. When she didn't recall he prompted.
"You wished to be able to meet someone, if I recall correctly?"
It took seconds after that for Elizabeth to get doubly excited and James leant back for the short ride fully willing to bask silently in the ability to make Elizabeth happy in some small way.
James opened the door to his sizeable library to see Will Turner turn away from one of his book shelves and stare. Elizabeth didn't take the time to stare though, forgetting all decorum she ran to her friend and proceeded to squeeze the life out of him.
Will looked at him baffled before finally allowing himself to hug her back. He allowed the interaction to go on for a minute before clearing his throat.
"Miss Swann," he requested softly and smiled as she untangled herself from her blacksmith. "While I am the one who has brought about this arrangement, I would ask that you still take the effort to peruse my library for the time that you stay here, if not only to give the impression to the Governor that that is why you accepted my offer."
Elizabeth beamed at him. "Of course, Lieutenant," she exclaimed turning around to take in his shelves upon shelves of books. "This is more than I could ask for and what's more important," she pointed to the wall of fiction books on the far side of the room. "It's not all politics."
"And I get to talk to Will!" she added happily and James nodded. "Thank you so much Lieutenant! I can not thank you enough for this."
"My pleasure, Miss Swann," he turned to Turner. "Mr Turner, I understand that this is unorthodox but Miss Swann had lamented the fact that she could not meet with you after arriving in Port Royal. I confess that disappointment is not something I like seeing near the vicinity of Miss Swann so I endeavoured to make this happen."
Elizabeth coloured slightly at his words, her pleased smile stretching wider.
"However understand that this is a privelege and I would ask that you two do not inform anyone of your meeting here and the nature of said meetings, I have done this solely for the benefit of Miss Swann, I would hate for my generosity to be abused."
Turner snapped to attention. "Of course sir! I wouldn't dream of doing otherwise sir."
Elizabeth giggled at Turners seriousness but James appreciated it, the boy knew what was being asked of him and whatever they would be in the future, right now they were children and he would not have Elizabeth's honor questioned, ever. He was glad that Will also understood that.
"I will be in my study across the hall," he indicated the door outside the library. "Should you need me, I will be here to collect Miss Swann at the end of the hour as per our arrangement. Miss Swann feel free to select a book you would want to take with you when you go back home. All I ask is that you take care of it as it is part of my mother's collection and therefore quite precious to me."
Elizabeth adopted the serious countenance this time around, assuring him that she wouldn't even think of damaging his books.
Reassurances given, expectations received James walked out of the library and into his study closing the door behind him. It was easier to see them close together when they were children, he himself was surprised at how easily he was able to trust Elizabeth with Mr Turner. Granted he was not as averse to Turner himself the boy having proved himself a diligent and hardworking cadet in training but he thought he would at least feel a twinge of that familiar fire of jealousy he had harbored all those years ago when he saw Elizabeth smile for Will and Sparrrow but never for him.
He was concerned that this Elizabeth seemed to offer her smiles so readily for him but maybe that was because of her age. She was just a happy child and wanted to share her happiness with the world, him included in that. That's probably what it was. Either way he was glad that his jealous self was no where to be seen, maybe his heart would finally recognise that Elizabeth was never his and never would be and was now letting her go? He could only hope.
Sitting at his desk James pulled over to him a set of drawing papers and some pencils. In his youth he had a flair for pencil drawings, artistry that was beaten out of him by his father with prejudice as he demanded that James's only focus be the Navy. With his father dead twice over, and so much on James' mind he decided that he would once again take up the hobby. Maybe draw something he remembered from his previous life. For his private memories at the very least, he hoped it would at least calm his mind for a while and bring him peace like drawing used to all those years ago.
Elizabeth stared after the Lieutenant as he closed the door behind him leaving Will and her alone. "He really is as amazing as you said he was Will!" she said excitedly turning to her friend.
Will smiled at her. "Yes, he's something else," he said as he moved to sit with her at the long table in the middle of the library. "I still have to pinch myself sometimes to convince myself that it's real that the Lieutenant is somehow my trainer, mentor and a sort of guardian as well. I have nightmares about how my life would be if he hadn't come to Mr Brown's shop a month ago and it would not have been pretty Lizzy, I promise you that. I owe Lieutenant Norrington a lot."
"And now he's brought us together, just because I got a little emotional thinking about how few friends I had to talk to." She smiled at him. "And to think, I thought him intimidating and uptight when I first met him."
Will nodded. "He can be strict," Will hedged. "Some of the boys fooled around and the Lieutenant made sure that that they learned not to do so very quickly. But most of the time, away from people, he's the most understanding and patient instructor we have. He teaches at our level, not his and doesn't abuse his authority only asks us to respect it. And all of us do. Not many of us cadets cause trouble with him, at least not anymore . With Gillette and Groves? A little but we know not to mess about with Lieutenant Norrington, we respect him too much to do so."
"He has done so much for us," agreed Elizabeth. "We should do something to repay him for everything he's done."
Will had a clever gleam in his eyes. "I was just saying the same to the lads the other day. You know he's up for promotion soon."
Elizabeth nodded. "Yes, I heard Father say so to one of the Admirals he had over for tea the other day. He's going to be promoted to Captain! He's going to have his own ship to command and everything!"
"He definitely is the one most deserving," agreed Will, he glanced at the bookshelf he had been looking at when Elizabeth and the Lieutenant had walked in. "I was looking at some of the books in here when Lieutenant Groves dropped me off, there are more than a few books here on weapon making. We could look for a nice design and I could try my hand at making maybe a small pocket knife or dagger for him? I've only just graduated from forks to knives, learning with Mr Brown but I'm hoping that by the time Lieutenant Norrington gets the promotion I could be able to make those..." he trailed off hopefully.
And Elizabeth almost bowled him over in her excitement. "Yes! Yes Will that's such a good idea! It's something he can use, something made by us, well mainly you but I can help with the design and it's not the usual superficial things that most people get during events like that. It's brilliant!"
Will rubbed the back of his head self consciously still not used to being complimented like this but Elizabeth ignored him and pulled him in for another hug of gratitude. Feeling her closeness he closed his eyes and reveled in the feeling of companionship that Elizabeth provided so readily. It was not lost on him for one second that Elizabeth could only provide said companionship because of Lieutenant Norrington. Will truly did owe the Lieutenant a lot and he promised himself that he would do everything in his power to live up to the expectations that the Lieutenant had in him. It was the least the boy could do for the older man.
James looked at the finished product with damp eyes. He hadn't intended to draw this, but it had clearly been on his mind. He would have taken the time to dwell on what his mind had come up with but the grandfather clock in his study chimed, Elizabeth and Will's time together had come to a close. Trying to reign in his emotions as best he could, James put the freshly sketched picture of two too small shoes into the top drawer and got up to leave, hoping his emotions didn't betray him to the two children in the other room.
Elizabeth lay awake that night in her bed, looking out at the dark blue sky, lost in thought. She had had one of the most wonderful days she had ever had since she arrived in Port Royal. All thanks to one Lieutenant James Norrington. But it was that same Lieutenant that had her awake right now. Puzzled. The person that had come out of that study in the afternoon, while he looked like the Lieutenant, seemed to actually be a shell of himself. There was a darkness in his eyes and a shift in his mood that seemed almost palpable. He had spoken in the same way he always had, with slight authority but no force, he had said that it was time for Elizabeth to go and that Lieutenant Groves would be coming soon to pick up Will.
Elizabeth and Will had exchanged glances at that and Elizabeth had gotten up to go, giving Will one last hug which he returned but there was concern on his face too, she could see. Something had happened to their Lieutenant in the time when he left them in the library and then came to pick them up.
Elizabeth had walked out with him and he had helped her climb into the carriage but there was no real conversation in the ride back. She had thanked him again and he had accepted the thanks with grace but there was something tangible about the way he held himself, The way he looked out of the carriage window. It all felt very precarious and oppressive.
Finally when she was at her door and he was saying his farewells, she felt the atmosphere lift a little. His eyes glinted much more genuinely as he told her that he hoped she had an enjoyable visit. She wished she could offer some sort of comfort to him. He had done so much for her and it was clear that he was in turmoil but she was inept to handle adult emotions, especially adult Navy Officer emotions. And she couldn't just hug the problem away like she possibly could do with Will. She doubted that such familiarity would be welcome and even if it was, she wasn't familiar with giving people assurances, usually it was her being the one who needed to be consoled.
In the end she had chosen to go in and watch the Lieutenants carriage go back down the road. And now she was lying awake thinking about things she could do just so he would never have that look in his eyes ever again. All her solutions were more fantastical than the previous one and in the end she drifted off wondering if a batch of freshly baked cookies would help cheer the Lieutenant up, it never failed to do so with Elizabeth so maybe that's an avenue she could try.
Some darkness there in James for the children to get used to. I will warn of time jumps. I've got a lot of stuff to cover and a lot of things happen between the start of the fic and the beginning of CotBP so some jumps will be jarring. Hope it doesn't confuse people. Please review if you can. Cheers!