Thursday. 10.50 pm.

The Admiral's Teashop. Portsmouth.

The atmosphere in the teashop was comfortable for the most part. My regulars had gone home to bed, leaving myself, the crew of the Flying Dutchman and Elizabeth and family to populate the small rooms.

I sat behind the counter watching as the sailors consumed impressive amounts of something I knew wasn't tea and got steadily more rowdy. They wouldn't get too loud though, for fear of waking up little Emily or Rose and incurring Elizabeth's infamous wrath.

About half way through the evening, I was getting tired of just sitting there and a major part of me was campaigning against my stubbornness to go and talk properly to James. He sat a little way away from the other sailors and as he felt my gaze on him he glanced up, meeting my look with his deep, unfathomable eyes.

Sighing, he rolled off his seat and began dragging his feet towards me as if drawn by my gaze. As he did, I noted with some amusement that he was swaying slightly.

"James, are you drunk?" I asked in disbelief.

"Of course not," he snapped, but I could tell he was a little tipsy.

After that incident in Tortuga, I knew he hadn't touched a drop of the stuff and I wondered why he had now.

He stopped in front of me, standing straight except for the slight swaying. "I must tell you something," he declared, clearing his throat.

He paused but I didn't reply, not sure what he expected me to say.

"I'm not especially good at this," he admitted, "I know men who can sweet-talk a woman into anything while I, on the other hand, can barely converse comfortably with them."

I didn't know what he was getting at so I just waited patiently, wondering where this conversation was leading me.

"Firstly, I would like to apologise. I know you must think me a lamentable idiot for what I said to you and pathetically childish for carrying on the disagreement, but I do beg your forgiveness and am truly sorry for what I said. Can you ever forgive me for my actions?"

I swallowed and tried to calm my racing pulse. His voice was halting and he looked so uncomfortable that I couldn't resist.

"Of course," I blurted, trying to put my thoughts into words. "I'm so sorry too."

He smiled softly and let out a barely detectable sigh of relief. I opened my mouth to say something else but James silenced me with a gesture.

"I am aware there has been some confusion as to where we stand and I feel it my duty to clear this up."

I sighed, my happiness disintegrating; I knew what he was getting at now. It had been a nice fantasy thinking he might like me as I liked him but that was over now. I steeled myself for the final blow and ordered myself not to cry. I'd already shed more than enough tears over James Norrington for one reason or another.

"You must know that I am very fond of you by now. You were a credit to me as my maid and I have come to like you equally as much now you are – "

He paused, unsure what to call me now.

"Not your maid," I supplied.

"Yes, thank you," he said with a small smile. "What I mean to say is – "

This was it, and I must not cry about it.

"What I am trying to tell you is –"

I must not cry.

"Oh blast!" James cursed.

I looked up, momentarily roused from my desolate revere. "What is it?" I asked.

"I've completely forgotten what I rehearsed to say last night," he admitted, smiling tightly.

"What were you rehearsing?" I asked, confusion eclipsing my sadness.

"I was trying to say to you that–" he began, then seemed to think better of it.

With a shrug, he leant across and kissed me, full across the mouth, if not slightly lopsidedly.

I jumped from sheer surprise, breaking away before I had really registered what was happening.

"What was that?" I asked breathlessly.

"I was simply trying to express how I feel," he told me with his eyes slightly pleading. "As words seem to have eluded me, as normal."

My mind finally caught up with events and I decided he had hit upon a thumping good idea. Before I could think myself out of it, I grabbed James by the collar and smashed my lips into his. There was a pause as he absorbed my actions and the world seemed to stand still, then he kissed me back passionately. I drunk him in hungrily and the room around me slipped away.

I felt that I should be thinking something profound, clever or interesting in a situation such as this but all my over-baked mind could muster was firstly how delicious James tasted, then secondly that it was about time.

I pressed my lips against his desperately, weaving my arms around his neck and locking myself in place. This time I was not to be moved.

He responded to my actions quickly, slipping his fingers into my hair and wrapping an arm around my waist. We kissed back and forth for a long moment oblivious to the cups we knocked off the counter beside us as we ground our bodies against each other.

Finally, we reluctantly broke off the kiss, gasping quite considerably.

If I'd been able to tear my eyes away from James face for a moment, I would have noticed that everyone in the room had gone strangely quiet. If I had been able to turn my attention away from his deep green eyes, I would have seen that everyone in the room was looking at us with equal measures of surprise and glee on their faces, but I had no attention to spare that wasn't already busy exploring his wondrous face. Not that there was anything there that wasn't already stamped across my heart.

"That was fairly eloquent," he managed to croak, finding his voice first and surprising me again with his ability to remain calm in the face of overwhelming circumstances.

I nodded, feeling physically unable to stop smiling and sporting a blush almost as bright as my eyes. I didn't need to look to know the room was watching us but I realised that I didn't mind at all, and surprisingly neither did James.

James grinned at my astonished expression and leant across, tentatively reaching out an arm to wrap around me. At first he seemed hesitant and unsure but then he shrugged and pulled me into a gruff, but warm, embrace. There was a sudden buzz of conversation around the room that I ignored; I was now past caring about what the others thought.

I sat in James arms, the warm room and the drink I had indulged in earlier going to my head. The world around me seemed fuzzy and remote; the only real part seemed to be James.

"You're amazingly snugly when you are drunk," I said dreamily, this being the first time I'd got my voice to work since we had kissed and I hadn't even meant to say that aloud.

"Pardon?" he asked, grinning, and I blushed heavily.

This only prompted a hearty laugh from James, which stung.

"It's good to know I make you laugh," I muttered frostily.

He smiled unexpectedly tenderly at me. "I agree," he replied and my icy demeanour thawed considerably.

I struggled to keep from melting completely as he planted a numbing kiss on my cheek and I found myself hopelessly and happily unable to move.

He wrapped strong arms tighter around me and pulled me into his chest, into a hotter and more breathtaking embrace.

I wound my arms around his waist and pushed my lips up onto his and as we kissed he slipped his hand down the back of my dress, his skin cold against my warm flesh. Shivering with pleasure, I laughed merrily, grasping fistfuls of his coat and wondering if wishing alone might part him from it.

The sudden whirlwind of pleasure was over before it could properly begin, the warmth of his body beside mine was suddenly gone and I felt frighteningly alone.

His touch on the now slightly exposed skin of my back still lingered and I hung half off my chair, left completely in the lurch.

The door to the teashop clicked shut across the room where James had retreated and as I raised my flushed face from my feet I was confronted with the bemused faces of a room full of sailors and the surprised face of Elizabeth.

My own face burned with shock and bewilderment as I looked at the place James had vacated. The sudden passion I had felt earlier had fizzled out now I was alone leaving a strange ache of confusion.

Mastering my emotions I got deliberately off my seat, straightening my ruffled skirts and trying to calm my ragged breathing.

Helplessly I hurried after James, unable to stand the others' interest any longer. I found him on the small deck area outside the teashop staring silently out to sea.

I paused in the doorway, half way between the noisy comfort of inside and the chilly darkness of outside, feeling oddly loathe to leave the warmth.

With a deep breath, I stepped out into the cloudy evening and positioned myself at James elbow.

"Why did you go?" I asked him hesitantly.

He didn't answer and I tried to stop myself regretting following him.

"I'm sorry," I breathed.

"What can you possibly have to be sorry for?" he asked quietly.

"Assuming?" I tried.

A small smile touched his face and I felt the first stirring of amusement but I couldn't quite get that to translate to my face; all I managed was a weak grimace.

My mouth was dry and I cursed my characteristically tongue-tied self as I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. The misty night seemed strangely oppressive and I made to go back into the shop, failing to find an excuse to linger at his side.

To my surprise, James reached out and touched me on the arm. Stopping, I peered up into his face, desperately searching for answers to my assault of questions.

He cleared his throat as if to speak but seemed knocked off balance by my expression. "Please stop doing that," he said, looking pained.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

He waved in the general direction of my wide, over bright eyes. "That," he said.

"Why not?" I questioned.

"I'm finding it rather difficult to ignore," he admitted.

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. "Beg pardon?" I managed to stutter.

He swallowed, his face hovering inches from mine, then he stepped definitively away. "It wouldn't be proper."

"Says who?" I snapped, prompting only a wry grin from James.

I sighed, admitting defeat. "We're never going to make up our minds about anything," I said sadly, almost to myself.

Unexpectedly James answered. "Or perhaps the real problem is not that we can't make up our minds, but rather that we struggle to come to terms with our decisions."

I wasn't sure I had understood properly, but James did not elaborate. Instead, he took my hands in his with a small sad smile. "Don't you ever wish for something more?" he asked, "a stable home perhaps, a proper marriage, or children?"

I raised my eyebrows. Once that was all I had wanted in the world but now to give up all this for a normal life was almost laughable.

"Not especially," I said, with feigned nonchalance.

He laughed and only his slightly tight grip on my hands betrayed that he was at all uncomfortable. Unable to find a reply he instead lead me gently by the arm back into the warmth of the teashop, shielding me for the most part from the stares of the others as we walked across the suddenly quiet room.

We made our way to the counter, where we sat back down. I focused on James face in an effort to avoid seeing the expression on the faces of the others, but after a moment their attention wandered and the probing eyes left us blissfully alone.

In the cushion of the crew's renewed chatter and the clinking of glasses I let out a long sigh of relief and all the conflicting emotions that had been building up in me today spilled out all over the counter and I slumped in a heap too washed out even to cry.

After a moment I felt someone shake my shoulder gently and I peered out from under my arm at the infinite blessings of a cup of tea.

I sighed and couldn't help a smile that was growing on my face. I looked up at James in silent thanks and he accepted the sentiment with a polite, almost impassive, nod. I grinned as I remembered so many occasions I had presented James with a similar gift to a similar emotionless expression.

Surprisingly, I realised it didn't matter to me any more, as I had developed the ability to see beyond the mask, or perhaps he was finally letting me in. Whichever way it was, I could see that behind the impassive expression, James was smiling.

I hid my answering wide grin in my cup of tea, suddenly having the irresistible urge to laugh.

James raised his eyebrows at my expression and settled down beside me with a cup of tea of his own.

We sat in companionable silence, sipping tea and watching the others chat and laugh. As the evening wore on and calm slowly descended, I relaxed and wondered how I could ever have been angry or uncomfortable with James.

As he'd said earlier, we were still coming to terms with our unique situation but we had time and it was a time I was determined to enjoy every moment of.

Looking at James now, with his hair still ruffled and his clothes a little askew, the hint of a flush was barely detectable on his finely chiselled features. He clutched a cup of tea in one hand and had just picked up a near by bottle of rum with the other and was looking at them as if weighting up the good points of each, I couldn't help but grin.

Filled with a sudden strange kind of carefree daring, I reached out, grabbing a bottle of rum off the counter and holding it aloft in a toast.

"To the teashop," I said grandly, feeling a rush of love for the old place.

"To us," James added holding up his own bottle in answer.

My sudden onslaught of joy must have been obvious to James but he just smiled secretly and didn't say anything. I mastered my feelings and clicked my bottle of rum against his in the air before us.

Then I took a good long swig.

Choking, I bent forward in my chair, eyes watering.

I made a quick mental note that, however feverishly worked up or passionately happy I felt, to stick to tea in the future.

Meanwhile James laughed until his eyes watered and I couldn't help starting to laugh too. After such a long time, even at my own silliness, it felt immeasurably good just to laugh.

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. I'd be most appreciative if you might leave me a little review on your way out. :)

Hobnail: Thank you so much for the wonderful review! I'm really glad you enjoyed the stories in this little series and that Annie was believable. Sadly I giggled at the bit with James, Annie and the baby too and I was the one who wrote it. Laughing at my own jokes is bad isn't it.. ;) Thanks again!