A/N: Thank you so much for all the great reviews! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own PotC.
Solicitude
Blaxton stepped on a small stool that was standing rather shakily on another stool, and reached into the wardrobe, pulling a thick, soft blanket out of it. Having almost lost his balance, but somehow managing not to fall, he got down, and crept toward the door. Cautiously, he pressed the doorknob and walked into the dimly lit room.
Trying not to let the blanket touch the floor, he unfolded the fabric, and after struggling with it for a moment and getting half-tangled in it, he carefully draped it over Elizabeth's sleeping form.
Climbing onto the bed next to her, he pulled the blanket all the way up under her chin, and then leaned down, and kissed her tear-stained cheek, curling up next to her, placing one of his hands under his head, his other hand getting hold of a few strands of Elizabeth's hair.
"Don't tell Dad I cried," whispered Elizabeth, and Blaxton started a bit at finding her awake, but then smiled, and she smiled back at him, pulling him closer to her.
"You thought that that man said Black Pearl, and he really said Black Earl. Right, Mum?" Blaxton laughed, glancing up at her.
"It just sounded just like Dad, escaping the Royal Navy and sailing right into the storm," said Elizabeth with a frown.
"I knew Dad couldn't get hurt," said Blaxton decidedly, making a knot out of two strands of Elizabeth's hair.
"That man should've given me the letter from Dad first, and then talk about destroyed ships," said Elizabeth with a small pout.
Blaxton made another knot out of her hair, and then tried to tie both knots together. "Mum?" he asked after a pause.
"Yes?" Elizabeth smiled, and ran her hand through Blaxton's hair
"Why were you crying? If it wasn't the Black Pearl-"
"But it could've been," cut in Elizabeth in a low voice, squinting pensively into the semi-darkness.
Blaxton let go of her hair and sat upright, shaking his head vigorously. "Dad couldn't get hurt. He is Captain Jack Sparrow!" he explained enthusiastically.
"Yes," said Elizabeth with a gleeful smile. "This is exactly what he wrote in his letter. Which is not going to save him the trouble of explaining his leaving us in Shipwreck Cove for a fortnight longer that it was planned," she added, absently lifting her hand to brush a few loose locks behind her ear, but finding the simple task strangely impossible. She shifted her eyes from the knots in her hair to Blaxton, who raised his eyebrows, pretending not to know what was wrong.
After a brief moment of looking at each other in silence they both started to laugh.