When Lucius came to collect the breakfast dishes Stede pulled him aside and spoke quietly. "Lucius would you take Ethan for an hour or so? I'm afraid I didn't get much sleep last night, I need to put my head down for a moment and I'll need to talk to Ed when he wakes up."

"Sure. I'll send Roach in with a mug of hot chocolate. He can check on Ed while he's here." Lucius raised his voice, "Come on you." He smiled affectionately at Ethan as he held out a hand, "Let's leave your dads alone for a bit. Want to do some colouring?"

Ethan perked up immediately sliding his hand into Lucius's. "Yes please Uncle Lucius."

"Chook?"

Ethan turned back to Stede, his hand still in Lucius's.

Stede hesitated, Was he putting too much pressure on the boy suggesting this? "Try not to tell anyone about your new sister ok?" He nodded at the sleeping baby in his arms, "Let's just keep that between us for now."

"Ok Papa."

Stede had noticed Lucius's eyebrows jump when he had mentioned Hallie being Ethan's sister, but frowned at him and shook his head slightly.

Lucius pursed his lips, then smiled down at Ethan as he led him out.

Stede watched them go and as the door closed behind them he looked over at where Ed lay on the couch. Maybe they should move him to the bed, Stede knew that couch wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on. He sat and watched Ed sleep, numbly rocking Hallie in his arms.

When Roach arrived a few moments later Stede's chin was almost at his chest, his eyes closed. "Oop, wakey wakey Captain." He put the mug down on the small coffee table and nodded towards the steaming cup, "Drink this, give me the baby and go sleep. You look dead on your feet."

Stede blinked out of his snooze, "Ah, Thank you Roach." He picked up the mug. "I'll drink this while you check on Ed. Then you can take the little princess and I'll gladly have a nap."

Roach knelt in front of Ed, peeling back some of the bandages from the previous night, "Put something a little extra in it for you, will help you sleep. I'll stay for as long as you need."

A comfortable silence fell in the cabin as Stede sipped his drink and Roach nodded with satisfaction as he checked the wounds and saw no sign of infections. When he was done, he stood and moved to sit on a large comfortable wingback chair.

Stede drained his mug and placing in back on the small table he pushed himself off the chair. "Now if she starts to fuss, she might want a bottle, or a nappy change, if she starts to get overly restless or you've had enough, wake me up, I can try and…"

"Captain? Give her to me. I have three younger brothers, I'm no stranger to a baby."

Stede tried to not let the surprise show on his face. Up until now he had been more than a little apprehensive about leaving the baby in Roach's care. Who'd have thought Roach of all people had a maternal side? "Thank you Roach. No really. I know this kind of life isn't what anyone signed up for when they joined me."

"No one's left though have they Captain?" Roach spoke plainly, "We're all still here."

Stede nodded and passed Hallie to him. "If Ed wakes up, wake me."

"No can do Captain." He shrugged as Stede glared at him. "You'll be no good to anyone if you're passing out from exhaustion. Then we'd go from having co-captains, to no captains." He grinned at his own joke as he stared down at Hallie fondly.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?"

"Absolutely."

Stede reluctantly made his way to his bed and sank into it with a grateful sigh. His eyes immediately fluttered closed and he was sleeping within moments.

Roach rocked the baby in his arms, "So, now it's just you and me princess." He smiled at the sleeping face, "Let Uncle Roach tell you how to bake the perfect scones every time."

The sun was streaming in through the window when Stede woke again. As his eyes slowly flickered open he heard the soft voices of Roach, Lucius and… "Ed!" he yelped as he pushed himself up and threw himself out of bed. Almost falling over at the sudden movement. As it was, he fell to his knees.

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Captain, slow down, he's not going anywhere," he soothed as he reached out a hand to help him up.

Stede took it gratefully and pulled himself to his feet. "What time is it? Where is Ethan?" He looked around them with panic on his face.

"Shh, I said calm down," Lucius repeated. "It's just after lunchtime and Ethan is with Fang and Wee John."

As Stede shuffled closer to Ed, his muscles groaned at him, protesting the leap out of bed. He leaned on Lucius's arm more heavily than he would have liked to. His eyes met Ed's and flicked down to the baby tucked in his arms, "And how's the little princess?"

"Fine. Changed her bum, fed her and now she's happily sleeping again. She's a fucking dream, love."

Stede sat next to him and looked at her, trying to remember Alma or Louis ever being this small.

Lucius felt the air thicken with love, "We'll go check on the boy, shall we Roach?" He gave Roach a pointed look.

Roach nodded and as he followed Lucius out of the cabin he turned, "Call me if you need anything. And no strenuous activity!" He waggled his eyebrows meaningfully

Stede barely heard the door close as he pressed his lips to his husband's forehead. "How are you feeling my darling?"

"Like shit, love." Ed closed his eyes to the feel of Stede's lips on his head, a feeling he had almost resigned himself to never feeling again, "But so much better now I'm back here with you."

"Have you eaten?"

"Roach helped me eat some porridge. I tell you, that was fucking humiliating, but my hands weren't cooperating. I couldn't even hold a spoon," he admitted, embarrassed.

"That's not surprising darling, you've been through a traumatic event, and you're covered in cuts and bruises. Maybe you need to just learn to accept some help for a little while."

Ed scrunched his nose, "Maybe." He pushed a hand through his matted hair, "Ugh. On that, do you think maybe you could help me have a bath?"

"Of course," Stede agreed.

"Are you coming to have a bath too my princess?" Ed cooed as he brought Hallie closer to his face and kissed her cheek.

"We'll have to introduce her to the rest of the crew. Only Lucius and Roach know about her." Stede moved to the bathroom and began to run a bath.

"I know, I heard snippets of your conversations."

"Oh?"

"I heard you talking to Ethan about him having a sister."

"Oh. was that presumptuous? I didn't know what to tell him." Stede moved back to where Ed sat and helping him up, they shuffled carefully to the bathroom, Ed favouring his bad ankle and leaning on Stede's arm.

"No love, you're good. Better than good."

Stede sat Ed down on the chair he'd placed next to the bath and kneeling in front of him began to unlace his boots. "No, but do you think we can really raise a baby?"

Ed winced as Stede pulled the boot off of his sore foot, "Don't see why not. Of course we'll need to stop at a port somewhere to get some proper supplies."

"You don't think it's…" Stede stopped unsure of how to say the next part.

"What?"

Stede chewed on the inside of his cheek, "Irresponsible? Child abuse? Reckless endangerment?"

Ed cupped his hand around Stede's cheek and forced him to look at him. "Stede. Do you love me?"

Stede twisted his head to kiss Ed's palm, "More than anything in the world my darling," he whispered softly.

"And do you love Ethan?"

"Of course."

"And Hallie?" Ed's thumb caressed his cheek softly.

"Yes," his voice choked out.

"Then what more could anyone want? They have two dads who adore them and the craziest best bunch of uncles and one slightly maniacal Titi, fresh sea air, adventures…"

Stede sighed and pulling his head out of Ed's hand rested it so it lay sideways on his knees, "But Ed they shouldn't be having adventures on a pirate ship. Ethan should be in school soon, with other boys his age."

"Says who?" Ed's fingers trailed a path through the soft blonde curls.

Stede felt his resolve slipping as Ed continued stroking through his hair, "Well, says society."

"Fuck society. Since when do we give a shit about what they say? If you're worried about schooling, I'm sure he can learn all sorts of things, right here. You can take him for reading and writing and Lucius for art, Buttons for biology and John for chemistry, Jim can teach him Spanish, I can take him for music, and Roach I'm sure could give him a few cooking lessons."

"What about maths?" Stede closed his eyes fully relaxing into Ed's lap as he continued to caress his head.

"Oh you never would guess it but when you left I discovered Frenchie is a secret maths whizz"

"Frenchie?" Stede sat up and screwed up his nose at Ed in surprise.

Ed nodded and smiled softly at Stede's confusion, "Mhmm."

"Frenchie, Frenchie? As in 'Cat's are witches' Frenchie?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely. The one and the same."

"But he's so… erratic"

Ed's eyes twinkled at Stede's description of Frenchie, "Maybe, but he knows his maths." Ed gently pushed Stede's head back to lay in his lap. "There, education sorted love."

Stedes's head was still for a moment, then he bounced back up to look at Ed once more. "But what do we do once Hallie is old enough? We can't ask the crew to teach both of them. We still have a ship to run."

"Then we can retire and build a house on a hill and put them in a school. Or we can hire a tutor to sail with us if we're not ready to retire, whatever you prefer love." Ed cupped Stede's cheek with his hand. "Look whatever we decide now we can revisit this discussion at any point, if you think it's not working out, or we're not doing enough. But honestly love I think kids should learn by doing, not by reading out of fucking text books." He smiled, "Now are you going to help me get undressed or are you going to force me to bathe myself while holding a baby."

It was difficult to strip Ed from his clothes while he held Hallie, but there was not even a thought of putting her down. Once Ed stood naked in front of him Stede gasped silently as he realised how much weight Ed had lost. He wondered If he'd been giving his rations to Nell, Or if there were just no rations given to prisoners on board The Guerrera. Turning back to the bath Stede turned the taps off and poured some oil into the water, if only to force his eyes off the purple marks and angry red welts that covered Ed's body.

Ed unwrapped Hallie who woke as she was brought out of her warm blanket cocoon, and Stede caught sight of the ragged dress she wore.

"We'll have to get her some clothes when we stop. Give her to me while you get in." Stede took off her torn dress and unpinned the nappy as Ed stepped into the bath. Throwing the dress onto the pile of Ed's discarded clothing he wrinkled his nose. "No hope of saving any of that."

"Burn it," Ed said darkly. "Too many memories I'd rather forget. Plus it's covered in all kinds of blood and shit. Figuratively and literally. Childbirth is fucking messy." He groaned as he leant back in the tub and closed his eyes.

Stede was silent as he processed what Ed was saying, then he scrunched his nose in disgust, "Yuk! Glad I wasn't allowed to be at my kids births."

Ed stifled a grin, "Love, you would have been passed out within the first few minutes."

"I never would have imagined then that this would be my family now."

Ed opened his eyes and looked to Stede with a cheeky smile, "Well not much has changed has it? You're married, with a son and a daughter."

Stede made a face at him. "Not much no, apart from me actually being married to a man, a man who happens to be the love of my life, oh and we live on my ship, oh and let's see. Oh that's right instead of playing pirates with my kids, I actually AM a pirate." He leant down and kissed the tiny nose on Hallie's face, "That's right little princess, Your Papa is a pirate, The infamous Gentleman Pirate!" he said with a flourish. "Oh yes, and your dad is Blackbeard," he added flippantly.

Ed snorted. "Give her here, I'll bathe her while you wash my hair." He lifted his arms to take the small body, and cradling her in between his knees cupped water in his hand and tipped it over her tiny tummy. She stilled and made a content noise. Ed's face broke into a smile, "She likes it!"

Stede perched himself on a small stool behind Ed's head, looked over his shoulder and resting his head there they watched their new daughter kick her legs in the warm water.

Ethan burst into the cabin proudly holding a picture, his face falling at the sight of the empty room.

Lucius looked around and seeing the light spilling out of the bathroom he pointed the boy in the correct direction, "Try in there," he suggested.

When they walked into the bathroom, Lucius's heart flip flopped in his chest at the tender image presented to them.

Ed was in the bath, his knees drawn up to rest Hallie back on them. His wet hair had been braided by Stede who was resting his chin over Ed's shoulder, watching as Ed wiped a cloth over the small body on his knees, his other hand intertwined in Stede's.

Ethan stopped, he didn't know why but he felt like he was intruding somehow. "Um Daddy? Papa?" he began.

They both looked at him, noticing him and Lucius for the first time.

"Oh, Hey Chook. Your dad and I are just giving the little princess a bath."

"I, uh drew a picture," He held it out in his hands.

"Fantastic! We'll have a look at it just as soon as we get out love." Ed's eyes had already returned to Hallie's face in his lap. He traced a finger through her the dark wet curls on her head.

"Oh," Ethan nodded as he chewed his lip. "Ok."

"He just really wanted to show you what he'd been doing with me this afternoon. How are we all doing?" Lucius snuck a look at Hallie but kept his distance, He'd seen Ed naked before of course, there was no privacy on a pirate ship and Ed certainly wasn't shy, but this was different. This was private, intimate.

"Taking to her first bath like a duck to water mate," Ed grinned as Hallie grabbed his little finger and tried to put it in her mouth. "Actually it's good you're here. Can you take her while Stede helps me out of the bath?"

Lucius's eyes went wide. "Me? Oh I don't know I've never held a baby before, and…" His protests were cut short as Stede took Hallie from Ed and wrapping her in a towel pressed her into Lucius's arms.

"Just head back in there and we'll join you shortly."

"But I…" Lucius was patted on the shoulder and he gave up. "Alright, Come on princess. You too Ethan, let's get out of your dad's way."

Ethan's stomach churned as he followed Lucius out of the bathroom, ducking his head back to see his dad capture his papa's lips in a gentle kiss.

"Thanks love," Ed leant heavily on Stede's arm as he stepped out of the brown water. "Knew I was dirty, didn't think I was that dirty."

Stede held out a towel. "Sit and dry yourself, I'll go and get you something to put on." With Ed's body clean, he could clearly see every bruise and welt on his skin, more than he had first thought. His ribs were visible and his little tummy that Stede loved so much, had disappeared. The bags under his eyes that Stede had thought were dirt, somehow seemed worse against his clean, gaunt face. He swallowed heavily and resigned himself to ask Roach for an extra helping of food for each meal.

Stede returned with some forest green breeches and a navy blue linen shirt. As Ed stood, dropping the towel from his waist he couldn't help but take him into his arms. Neither of them were blind to the fact it was the first time in months they had been alone.

"I missed you love."

"I was so worried about you, I thought you were dead."

"Takes more than that to cut me down love."

Their bodies slotted together perfectly like they always had, and they just stood there holding each other as they kissed, nipped, and sucked, over every inch of each other's faces and down their necks.

When Ed reached a hand down to the front of Stede's pants Stede chuckled softly, "Come now my love, Roach said no strenuous activity, We'll have to wait for anything more, Don't want you to pop any stitches." He kissed Ed's temple as Ed closed his eyes and leaned into his lips. "How is the head feeling today?"

Ed pouted and shrugged, "Still a little fuzzy about the edges, but the main headache has gone."

There was a pause as Stede's finger's trailed lightly up and down Ed's back. "I love you." He uttered.

Ed smiled. "I love you. And I love our little family. I know this is weird as fuck love, but I wouldn't have things any other way."

"Come on, let me help you dress and then we'll have to go and see the crew, introduce them to the new addition, and work out where we head next.

A/N:
We're totally suspending all belief and deciding Stede had a hot water system plumbed into his bathroom on the revenge. ?
Also I found Titi as a Spanish gender-neutural version of auntie/uncle, and have used this for Jim. If this is incorrect or offensive, or if anyone has other idea's I'm open to hearing them.