Norrington's Darling

Proposal

POV: James Norrington

Everyone stared at her. Zuri met each of our gazes with a confident challenge. The pirate spark was back in her eyes. As much as it hurt knowing it came from her need to go back to the pirates she'd grown up with, it made my heart swell to see her get back into her rhythm so easily.

"Alright, then," Barbossa said. "Let's hear this proposal of yours."

"I propose that we swap the ships. We take this ship instead of that floating mess and we say to Beckett when James gets back to Port Royal with that ship he can say that you all attacked and captured me. Thus, we solve the problem of having a sinkable ship." She frowned at me. "But that leaves you with a sinkable ship."

"I can deal with a sinkable ship," I promised, "but the other parts worry me. If we switch the ships, we'd have to paint out the names and we'd need to get all the weaponry switched out. And if I go back to Port Royal claiming they captured you, it's only a story we can sell if I demand we give chase like the original plan."

Zuri frowned. "I suppose you're right."

Elizabeth huffed. "I liked your plan," she told Zuri, "even if somebody doesn't."

I raised my hands in defense as she glared at me. "I'm just pointing out the flaws in a plan."

Zuri sighed. "James is right. I'm to go on the death trap."

"Zuri, I will not let you get onto that—"

"She can do what she wants!" Barbossa snapped.

Zuri placed a hand on my chest. "James, it's alright. I'll be fine. I don't want to get on it either."

"Then don't," I begged. "Please, Zuri. If anything happened to you—" My voice broke and died away. I cleared my throat and tried again. "If something happened to you, I don't know what I'd do with myself, knowing I let you kill yourself on a suicide mission on some piece of floating garbage."

"HEY!" Barbossa, Elizabeth, and Turner chorused.

Zuri kissed me. "I can handle myself, Jamie. Believe me, if that ship sinks, I will swim the whole world just to find you again."

I hugged her tightly, squeezing my eyelids shut to keep back the onslaught of tears threatening to spill. When she finally pulled away, I felt like my world was being ripped out of my hands.

"So this is goodbye, then," Zuri said, her voice quivering. She, too, seemed to be struggling to breathe.

"I...I guess so," I stuttered.

"I don't want to go," she whispered, but she took a step away from me. Then another. And then another. She kept my gaze, both our eyes filling with tears, as she backed away from me. Finally, she turned and took hold of the third rope Elizabeth had brought over when she swung to our ship.

Now or never, James, my heart whispered.

"Zuri, wait!" I yelped, just as she was about to swing over. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into an intimate kiss. I dropped to one knee and pulled the ring out. "Zuri Sparrow, you are the love of my life, the moon in the night sky guiding my way, the sun warming my skin. My sweet, sweet beloved...will you do the honor of marrying me and calling yourself my wife?"

Her lips parted beautifully. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes!" She dropped the rope and flung herself at me. She brought my head up and she kissed and kissed and kissed me. Our tongues danced and there was a sweetness to the taste of her, to the feel of her body against mine, to the way she caressed my face that seemed to have suddenly burst forward in full force.

"Zuri. Zuri. Zuri." Her name was the only thing I could say as we kissed, never able to get enough of the other. My name, likewise, was a chant on her lips, even as Elizabeth gently pried her out of my arms. It was only the two of us, the cheers of my friends and comrades and Anamaria, Elizabeth, and William falling on deaf ears.

"We'll get her back soon, James," she promised.

"There is an island," I said, "several leagues north of here. A beautiful island. Bring here there and I'll bring her home for a nice, quiet wedding."

"Wedding," Zuri murmured, a smile stretching across her face and reaching her eyes. She laughed and her smile that she gave me was enough to light up the darkest of rooms.

"I love you, Zuri," I breathed.

"I love you, too, Jamie," she said and she squeezed my hand tightly. "I'll be back before you know I'm gone."

She gave me one last lingering kiss, cast a glance over her shoulder, then waved until I couldn't see her—and probably for a long time after that—from the other ship as they departed. I stared after the limping ship for a long time.

When I finally turned around, the remains of my skeleton crew were grinning at me.

"Well, James," Theodore began, clapping me on the shoulder, "you're gonna be a married man!"

A smile twitched at my lips. "I'm engaged!" 

And then I fainted.