Mark

Norrington watched dispassionately as Lord Beckett's piggish features turned from shock to glee as his eyes focused on the briny still-beating heart of Davy Jones stuck unceremoniously in the sack on his desk. He knew what Lord Beckett intended to do with it, and he knew what it meant to pirates, and perhaps he'd become a bit of a pirate himself in the end, but now wasn't the time for such doubts. The deed was done.

Lord Beckett closed the sack and immediately struck it from his desk, putting it in a drawer out of sight as if he worried that Norrington would have second thoughts about the transaction. "You wish your freedom with this favor?"

"And to be reinstated, of course." Norrington stood a little straighter at the memory of who he once was: a proud Commodore set to rid the Caribbean of Pirates. In this move, he had done so, albeit in a way he would not have chosen. It lacked honor, but then of late, so did he.

"Of course. Although," said Lord Beckett, his head up haughtily. He remained seated as pleased his rank. There was no reason to stand, so he did not. "I do wonder what would have moved a Commodore to have allowed Jack Sparrow..."

"Capt--" Norrington stopped and lowered his head.

"Yes," said Lord Beckett, his grin bordering on wolfish. "What would move Commodore James Norrington to have allowed Captain Jack Sparrow to escape arrest on Port Royal?"

Had Lord Beckett asked that day, Norrington would've easily have answered that it was love of Elizabeth. But after seeing her behavior, after working with her on the ship and seeing the way that she looked at Jack after nearly marrying Will, it left too bitter a taste in his mouth to say anything but, "It was a matter of honor."

"There is no honor in pirating." Lord Beckett appeared little more than amused with Norrington's hesitant answers, which was quite grating.

"Honoring the wishes of someone I held dear," Norrington corrected.

"You no longer hold this person dear?"

The answer was unequivocal. "No."

"I see." Lord Becket thrummed his fingers on his desk and his lips curled into a sly smile. "But he eluded you again later, in a hurricane? You returned whereas your crew did not."

"I wasn't aware that acts of God were punishable to citizens under British law. Or is this yet another brilliant decree from the East India Trading Company?" If there was one thing that Norrington didn't care to answer for or think about, it was the incident that had led to his resignation.

"It was most peculiar, you returning without your crew, but also that you returned to Port Royal without a ship. I suppose it was sea turtles?" asked Lord Beckett.

Norrington found this line of questioning off the point of his pardon and wished to say so; however it was impolitic to chastise a Lord, no matter how smarmy he may be. "Indeed."

"There is a look a man gets when he has known something perhaps he should not have. There is an indelible mark that is left on even the most honest of men. Something in the eyes... searching, wondering. A mark I see all over you, sealed by Captain Jack Sparrow were I to guess. What say you to this?"

His heart had already been racing at the notion that his fate would be decided by this negotiation, but a fresh surge of adrenaline hit his system as he was called out. Norrington's true mistake had not been letting Sparrow go in the first place. His pursuit into the hurricane had been reckless and many men had lost their lives; a moment when he had lost perspective, driven by the need to prove his self-worth after being rejected so brutally.

None of those miscalculations was nearly so damning as convincing himself that the Black Pearl had returned to the wreckage of his ship to do anything but pick through the debris for things of value; he'd convinced himself that Sparrow had returned to save him. True enough that Sparrow had helped nurse him back to health, but he was forced to face the fact that the kindness had more to do with availing himself of certain liberties. Liberties that Norrington's broken heart and recovering body were more than willing to grant.

"Your hesitation answers for you. Jack always did have a weakness for powdered wigs. It would seem that his standards have decreased through the years, alas." Lord Beckett raised his right hand and waved his fingers in succession to dismiss Norrington. "I shall send on your pardon along with a letter to the King recommending you be reinstated. I should expect that this time, you shall be less capricious with your crew. Good day."

Norrington stood for a moment, both humiliated and overwhelmed with frustration and even jealousy over Lord Beckett's words. Each syllable stung in its own way until the pain resolved to show a greater truth. While Captain Jack Sparrow may have had him, he'd had Lord Beckett as well. Though that fact didn't make him any better than Lord Beckett, it did seem to level the playing field in some inexplicable way.

"Sir," said Norrington. He gave a nod and lifted his chin to walk away not as a shamed sodomite, but as a redeemed soldier.