Relevant ages here are Jack is 21 here and Crutchie is 14 (one year before what would be canon time for when this story would have it's strike)

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VeronicaWeasley: "don't you dare stop writing this" well technically I didn't stop... I just took 8 months to update it...

Newsies Square: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MORE IS HERE

Now into the story, Enjoy!

It was early on a crisp winter morning, the water was calm and there was a soft cold breeze, quite a contrast to the previous night's storm. The Lower Manhattan's crew was already up and working, despite it being just past sunrise, that was just how Jack ran his ship. The captain looked over the busy deck and smiled to himself, he loved his crew, they were like a family to him. A loud and chaotic family, sure, but a family all the same.

The morning started so normally, no one could of expected what happened next.

"There's a kid in the water!" Mush yelled from his lookout position, pointing over the starboard side of the ship.

Everyone looked over upon hearing him and a few people rushed to look over the side. Jack ran to join this group and sure enough, Mush was right. Floating in the water was what looked like a broken door, on top of said door lay a young sleeping boy with sandy blonde hair.

"What do we do?" Romeo asked, suddenly appearing next to Jack, making him jump.

He looked back at the floating boy again and knew the only thing he could do. Fixing his posture, he turned to his crew, "Get the kid aboard an' we'll figure out what ta do with him" he instructed, stepping away from the side to think.

Tommy Boy and the twins worked together to hoist the door up onto the ship and carefully lifted to boy onto the deck. Everyone crowded around, wanting to get a look at the kid. He wasn't moving let alone waking up, so Specs pushed his way through the crowd with his medical bag.

Once he got to the front, Specs knelt down to take a look and checked the body's pulse which although slow, confirmed he was in fact alive, "Alright, Blink lets-" He paused, looking around, "Blink?" The crowd was confused, eyes darting around the ship. Everyone except for Mush that was, who was standing at the back with Blink, laughing and flirting with each other. Typical. Specs cleared his throat, "Kid Blink."

"Am comin'" Blink left his boyfriend reluctantly.

"Lets get this kid somewhere warm and dry so he can recover, I'm guessin' he got caught in that storm last night" Specs and Blink got to work getting him inside with help from the twins. Jack told them to put him in his quarters so he could have some quiet whenever he woke up.

Outside the small room, everyone continued as normal, with only brief talk of the previous night's storm. Jack and Specs stayed inside by the bed, anxiously awaiting any movement.

What felt like an hour but was more likely closer to 20 minutes passed and the boy groaned quietly, causing both the older boys to turn their heads at the speed of light. "Hey kid," Jack whispered as two blue eyes fluttered open, squinting to adjust to the light. "You's safe here, I'm Jack an' this here's Specs, can you tell us your name?"

"Charlie-" The response was soft, his voice dry and strained. The pirates exchanged a surprised grin, more than happy that he was okay.

"Nice to meet ya Charlie, you're on The Manhattan, finest ship for miles" Jack announced proudly before Specs interrupted for some health checks (priorities people!) having Charlie sit up and try to move different body parts, along with saying how many fingers he held up and at one point he even made the poor kid do a tongue-twister for a reason Jack would ever understand.

"One last test," Specs assured, "I need you ta try standing up, take it slow though alright?" Charlie nodded and pushed himself to the edge of the bed, putting one foot down and leaning his weight onto it, slowly standing up with help from the older boys. Everything went smoothly until he tried to put his other foot down, he yelped in pain and almost fell over, only being stopped by Jack catching him.

"What's wrong Charlie?" Jack asked, a level of panic in his voice. Charlie shook his head in a way to tell him he didn't know.

Specs knelt down and took a look at the bad leg. Carefully, with almost no force, he prodded it and looked up to see Charlie bite down on his lip and close his eyes. "That hurt?" Specs asked with an even tone, the response was simply a nod. "Seems broken." He stood up and looked at his patient pitifully, saying sorry with only his eyes. "Hey captain you still got the old man's crutch?"

Jack paused for a few seconds before nodding and rushing off to a closet filled with things the old captain left before retiring, he fished through various maps and useless seeming objects before pulling out a wooden crutch from the very back.

Helping Charlie to his feet was a group effort, Jack handed him the crutch once he was balancing on one leg and he tried standing and walking up and down the room a few times, getting used to his new leg. "We ought a' call you Crutchie instead a' Charlie" Specs joked, proud of his joke, but the boy's face lit up at the nickname, seeming to quite like it.

"Come on then Crutchie lets find you a permanent bed," Jack ruffled the younger's hair and lead him out the room.

This had everything you could possibly want, Crutchie, Blush, Specs the medic, what more could you ask for?