(Dark Carrier AU)

Marco waited patiently by Ace's bedside, he could see Ace stirring, his eyes slowly blinking open. Marco brushed back his hair. He cooed softly when Ace's eyes blearily met his.

"...Mar'...?"

"Shhh, it's alright yoi," Marco hushed. "You're just sleepy."

"Where...?" Ace slurred. "Dreaming...?"

Marco smiled. "Safe, love. You're somewhere safe."

"Tired..." Ace mumbled, his eyes growing heavy once more.

"That's okay. Just sleep yoi."

"This is a... Nice dream..." Ace smiled sleepily. "...I... I miss you..."

Marco barely kept himself composed. He ached, but kept up a smile, not wanting to disturb Ace. He didn't want to cause his lover any worry, not when they were supposed to be doing everything they could to keep him calm. The reason why he was being kept so drugged up at the moment.

"You're doing well, Ace," Marco said instead, brushing his hair back. "You've been so brave."

"Brave?" Ace slurred. "But... But I'm scared..."

From within, his Phoenix cried mournfully. Outwardly though Marco kept himself calm and relaxed. He needed to keep comforting Ace, until he slipped back under again, which shouldn't take too long.

"I know," Marco took his hand, laying a kiss on it. "I would have been too yoi."

Ace mumbled something incoherently, but he buried his head back into the pillow, mumbling about soft, before drifting back off to sleep. Marco laid a kiss on his palm, massaging the skin gently with his thumb.

.::.

Whitebeard sat beside Ace's beside, reading aloud. Sam had said it would be good for the baby, and probably Ace as well. Ace stirred awake every so often, but his son barely had any idea what was happening. He was always so out of it. He one point ended up mumbling about how much of a nag Marco was, before dropping right back off to sleep. Marco had looked so happy.

His son was taking a break at the moment. He very rarely ever left Ace's bedside, but Whitebeard had ordered him to this time. His son needed some rest of his own.

They would be back home in two more days. Sam had been on the den den mushi a lot, ordering things prepared. They wouldn't wake Ace up until he was in the doctors on Sphinx. At least then he'd be somewhere secure and safe, where if anything happened, they could treat Ace and the baby urgently.

Whitebeard finished the book, and sat it aside. He stared at his son, memorising his features. Ace's hair was longer, but his face was as clean shaven as always. It made him look so young still, despite everything Ace had been through.

If anyone tried to come and take Ace away back to Mariejois, Whitebeard would kill them. He'd cut off their head. Nobody would take away Ace's freedom again.

Never again.

He had felt like a failure ever since Thatch was murdered and Ace was captured. Whitebeard had been supposed to protect his children, but instead he lost them. Then his islands. Teach kept taking and taking, and then this apparent biological son of his was now attacking his actual children.

He'd kill that old hag too. Cut her in bloody half, especially if she did keep a child of his away from him. And if she was lying, there would be nowhere her and her brat could hide from him.

But right now he needed to focus on his youngest and the baby. Revenge would come later.

.::.

"So, how are we going to get Ace on to the island without freaking him out?" Haruta asked, he was sat at Ace's bedside, writing a report.

Marco was sleep on his chair at the other side, one hand holding Ace's. Haruta softened at the sight. Marco had been glued to Ace's side, only taking a break here and there to go freshen up by Pops' order. If anyone needed Marco, they knew where exactly to look.

Except Marco wasn't really in the mood to help anyone with anything. The amount of glowers people had gotten for disturbing him was terrifying. Only the people in his division, and Pops, weren't glared at.

"We're not," Sam scowled. "So we're keeping him under until he's secured in the doctor's house."

"So, wait, as in Marco's house or that tiny ass house we call a hospital?" Haruta tilted his head.

Haruta yelped and ducked beneath a scalpel that went flying at his head. The blade embedded in the wall, shaking in place, while Haruta carefully brought his head back up.

"Don't curse," Sam sneered. "The baby might be able to hear you at the moment."

"The wee one isn't even born yet!"

"Yes, but they are developed enough that they can hear or see, at least for some babies. That's why I've had the people read children's books while Ace sleeps," Sam replied.

Haruta blinked. "Huh, that's kind of cool actually. Anyway, what are we going to do exactly? We can't keep Ace under until he's giving birth can we?"

"Of course not. First we'll take him to the hospital and monitor him as he wakes up, and then hopefully, if we're lucky, the process of calming him down will be simple. Afterwards he should be able to move in with Marco depending on how he's feeling."

"Since when have we been lucky?" Haruta frowned.

"We're lucky right now," Sam scolded. "We have Ace, Pops is alive, and we're altogether. This could have went a lot worse-"

"How could is be any worse than this?! Ace is pregnant, don't you understand what that means? Those monsters raped our brother!"

"And we're lucky enough to have our brother back," Sam said. "We're lucky our brother wasn't so stressed out that it triggered an early labour. If that had happened to Ace again, there would have been a risk of losing both him and the baby."

Sam frowned. "For now we have to keep Ace calm until the baby's ready, for now though, we need them both to be as healthy as possible, so that the birthing will be as easy as it can be on Ace and our niece or nephew."

Haruta frowned. "Can we even call them our niece or nephew? Ace was... Ace was raped..."

"That's not the child's fault," Sam reminded. "We will follow whatever Ace wants to do once he is in his own right mind set, and not clouded by that," Sam wanted to curse, but she reminded herself that the baby could be listening. "Celestial Dragon, or us for that matter."

"What do you mean by 'us'?" Haruta frowned.

"Ace could very well try to hold on to us for stability, but we cannot allow that to happen either," Sam explained gently. "He can help him, of course, but ultimately he has to be allowed to make his own choices. Such as, if he even wants to keep the baby once he feels more in control of himself."

"I wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to..." Haruta admitted.

"I wouldn't either, nor would I if he wanted to keep them," Sam nodded. "Ace will have a lot of decisions to make in the future, but that's once he starts to feel better. Which will take time."

Lots of time. This was only the beginning of the healing process.