"Misty!" Paul hissed, relieved. Drew's head snapped up and he groaned as he saw Misty, before dropping his head back into his palms. Misty slowly started to grin.

"That's great Drew! You two will be so happy!" she nearly squealed, very un-Misty like. Paul growled.

"Yes. He can either leave or turn us into a traitorous ship." Paul pointed out.

"Traitors to who? The other pirates?" Drew snorted, standing again.

"He has a point." Misty agreed and Paul threw his hands in the air, exasperated.

"Fine, tell me Drew. If we come face to face with Zoey and the Shining Gem, would you be able to attack them or put them in jail? After everything they have done for us?" Paul questioned and Drew rolled his eyes.

"Okay, the one exception." he allowed, "Listen to me Paul, I won't force you or anyone to do what you don't wish to do, including the crew. I'll leave it down to a vote." Drew decided, bargaining, and causing Paul to nod slowly. "Misty, go gather the crew." he demanded, and Misty complied, darting out of the room.

"But Drew, if we vote to stay pirates...you won't leave the Rose for her...will you?" Paul asked, unnaturally timid. Drew avoided his eyes, walking passed the desk.

"Come on. Let's go take the vote, don't want them to get impatient." Drew commanded, and Paul's eyes widened as he realized what it meant.

No matter what, Drew was staying with May.

In next to no time it seemed, May was being engulfed by her family. "Oh! Thank goodness you're okay!" she recognized her Mom's voice, but she was too busy trying not to choke on Dawn's hair as she hugged her tightly to care.

"Are you okay?" Caroline moved over to May, after hugging her husband.

"I'm fine." May assured her.

"Yes! Thanks to that wondrous Andrew Hayden!"

Caroline, Max, and Dawn looked at Norman as if he had grown a pokemon's head and started talking to them through it.

"Are you feeling okay?" Caroline asked slowly, checking him over for head wounds. Norman laughed.

"Stop it dear!" he chided. Brendan huffed.

"Yes, dear Andrew Hayden saved Maybelle. Pushed her out of the way of a killing blow." he informed mockingly.

"And took the blow for her! Just making sure it didn't kill him!" Norman chipped in happily, "Maybe I was wrong about those pirates!"

And that was all May ever wanted to hear.

"So the option is truly yours." Drew finished a speech on their two choices. To stay a pirate ship or become pirate hunters. The crew had stayed respectfully quiet up until this point as Drew spoke, but now burst into noise.

"People." Drew growled, annoyed, "People!" he roared and the silence was back. "We'll take a vote." he informed them and a low murmur broke out.

"Well, what if someone doesn't like the decision made?" someone from the back questioned.

"Alternate arrangements will be made." he assured them all, waiting for more questions he was sure would come.

"Privacy! I don't want my vote exploited!" someone else objected. Drew discreetly rolled his eyes.

"Paper." he answered, "We'll write it on paper and put it in this." he grabbed one of the crewman's hats, holding it up for everyone to see. The low mumbling finally slowly went away as paper was passed around.

"Write yes or no very clearly. Yes to become a pirate hunter ship, no to stay the same." Paul added, glancing at Drew before very clearly writing something for him to see.

NO.

Paul kept his gaze locked with Drew's as he folded the paper and put it in the hat. Drew simply calmly held his gaze as he put his own paper in the hat.

YES.

It took the crew a few minutes to slowly trickle their way forward and vote, but eventually they all did.

"Final call." Drew held the hat up, eyes scanning the room for a few seconds. Finally, he nodded and started tallying the results.

37

5

Drew and Paul both looked on, stunned at the results as the majority of the crew broke into a cheer. They locked eyes as Drew smirked.

"And so we will become pirate hunters." he declared softly.

Norman excused himself from his family, and slipped away. He walked down the hall, whistling slightly. He paused just in time as he reached the corner, almost running head first into Drew.

"Andrew!" he cried joyfully, "Just the man I was looking for!" he nodded, "Did you talk to your crew yet?" he asked eagerly. Drew nodded, also smiling.

"Yeah, we have officially decided to become pirate hunters." he informed I'm proudly and Norman clapped.

"Brilliant." he cheered and Drew shifted.

"I have a request to make." Drew started quietly and Norman nodded his consent to continue. "I understand that you have not known me long, but I am...requesting your daughter's hand in marriage." Drew spit out before he could take it back. Norman jumped slightly. He eyed him warily again.

"I will contemplate it and let my answer get back to you." Norman nodded and Drew released a breath, grinning.

"That's all I ask." he nodded.

A/N: More of a filler. I just got back from NaNo land, which I won! Overshot by 11,000 words actually, which basically meant that I had to reread this entire story to see where I was in it...Forgetful old me, so focused on NaNo...