Carrier AU (16 Weeks)
Whitebeard sat heavily by the medical bay doors. Sunny, one of his younger daughters, began to immediately treat his wounds, he did wave her off but his daughter ignored him. He chuckled and ruffled her hair, earning a swat to his hand.
"Guararara, alright, alright. I'll behave, dear girl," Whitebeard chuckled. "Now, how about you tell me how your brothers are doing?"
Sunny huffed but grabbed her board from her belt, scribbling at it. Sometimes his daughter didn't want to talk, which was perfectly fine. Sunny didn't tend to interact often with Division members, mostly just the Commanders, her Division and Whitebeard himself. She had always been a shy child, not enjoying big crowds, so they all tried their best to accommodate for her.
'Ace is being seen to by Sam. He had some wounds on his hands, it looked like he had cut into them with his nails, and then there had been a slight cut on his stomach. Marco had already healed them before Ace got into the infirmary. Ace is asleep right now.'
"That's good to hear. Ace is probably exhausted," Whitebeard smiled. "And how are you feeling?"
Sunny smack his arm with the board, scowling but scribbled on the board again. 'Stop distracting me. I can't write and treat you at the same time, Pops.'
He threw his head back and laughed. "You figured me out then huh?"
Sunny shook her head but went back to work, already working on the bullet wound he had taken, Teach had managed to shoot his stomach. After the little bastard had the cheek to say how he was his son, that he shouldn't want to hurt one of his children. The traitorous scum had killed Thatch and held Ace hostage for weeks and he had the nerve to say that?! The very thought made his blood boil.
He could feel Marco's haki, how slowly it began to ease. He could feel Sam's calm aura, the relief pouring off her in waves and he couldn't help but settle. It was calm inside the infirmary, Ace was fine, Sam wasn't worried and Marco was being reassured.
Meanwhile, everything outside the medical bay was chaos. Haruta had tried multiple 'stealth missions', to gain entry to the infirmary, only to be booted out by the girls. Izo had taken to pacing before the doorway. Vista was sharpening his swords before going off to the brig to replace Jozu who was guarding it.
Whitebeard was only letting his more experience Commanders near it for now.
Teach was down there, chained to the wall so tightly, the traitor wouldn't be able to move an inch. His ship was gone, along with his crew. Whitebeard had sunk them all to the bottom of the sea.
They had made sure to go and find Ace's things first. They even secured the Striker which Deuce was horrified to find had bits and pieces of it taken apart by what seemed like the Blackbeards attempt to see how it worked. Deuce was frantically trying to repair her, his son screeching at anyone who wandered close.
Believe it or not though it was Banshee who was the most stressed out right now. His daughter was trying to cook up a storm in the kitchen, while many of her fellow former Spade pirates tried to calm her down. Banshee though had burst into tears, crying about Ace being pregnant and how much more he would eat with a baby on the way.
That had sent all the cooks into a panic.
Whitebeard just laughed at the chaos his children where causing themselves. If they just used their Haki like most of his Commanders were properly trained to this wouldn't be a problem. They would see that their sisters were calm and that Marco was slowly becoming more and more relaxed as time went by.
Whitebeard wasn't going to bother reminding them though. This was highly entertaining. Especially now that Haruta had gathered up Saber, Jiru, Kotatsu, Stefan and Curiel to assist in 'breaking and entering' into the doctors domain. Stefan's tail and wagging while Kotatsu cowered behind Saber, hissing at Whitebeard's dog.
.::.
All but Kotatsu had been thrown out. Kotatsu was curled up at the end of the bed by Ace's feet, purring contently. Marco meanwhile watched as Sam booted Haruta out the door before shutting it and rolling her eyes.
"Morons," the redhead scoffed as she approached the bed. "Well, physically Ace is pretty much fine, thank the Seas for that. Mihar got all the medical records the Blackbeard pirates kept on Ace before Pops sunk their ship and comparing them to the data I've gathered Ace and the baby are both doing well."
Marco let out a sigh of relief, his Phoenix crooning.
"His stress and exhaustion are concerning but those should hopefully be easier to manage now that he's home, safe and sound. I'm more concerned about the seastone exposure, his wrists are a state because of it but thankfully it doesn't seem to have harmed the baby. Ace will just need to rest his arms." Sam continued, handing him the report. "Anyway Commander Marco, I'm going to go inform Pops, then put Haruta to work. The idiot can keep busy by telling our allies Ace is safe and the traitorous scumbag is secured instead of trying to break in here."
With that Sam turned on her heel and strode off. Marco chuckled lightly at that before drawing the curtains, hoping to get some privacy. His Phoenix wasn't happy with all the nurses cooing and admiring Ace's stomach and honestly it made Marco annoyed too.
He sat down in the chair by Ace's bed and smiled. Ace was fast asleep, breathing deeply and he was just content to watch his lover sleep. Although he would feel better if Ace was in their nest, tucked in and cosy. Their nest had to be redone completely, no matter how much Ace liked their bed already.
It had needed more pillows and blankets. Everything had to be incredibly soft too because Ace had a weakness for soft, fluffy things. Marco had even set up Ace's hibiscus flowers on the desk and those candles Ace's fire always responded well too. He wanted Ace to rest in complete and utter comfort. Marco and the Phoenix both wanted to spoil their pregnant lover.
Gently he took Ace's hand and ran his thumb just above the bandaged wrist, frowning. Ace's wrists were a state, all darkened, bruised and swollen and his body was weak and exhausted from all the seastone exposure. Ace would need to rest his hands for a while.
He couldn't help but smile when his eyes met Ace's stomach, all the muscles now given way to the expanding skin, letting their baby grow comfortably.
He kissed Ace's palm, smiling warmly. Ace was home. He was safe.
The traitor was imprisoned, he could sense Teach down below in the cells, where Jozu's haki and now Vista's remained. He would never hurt anyone ever again. Teach was going to be executed, and all of them would get to witness it if they wished to.
Teach would never hurt any of them ever again.
