When he woke up the next morning, Black Stache was almost as surprised with himself as Nova had been when she too had woken up to learn that he had slept in her room.

When Nova had gotten up that morning, it was all she could do not to cry out in surprise. Memories of last night came flooding back to her, and she remembered his close proximity and the confusion she felt. Nova thought that she must be hallucinating- surely the exhaustion and overwhelmedeness had combined to make it so that she was seeing him in her room, but she knew there was no way. She was so exhausted by her thoughts that she shut them out completely and went back to sleep.

Black Stache woke up an hour later, and Nova was still asleep. Of course, he had no idea that she'd woken up. Quickly as he could, Black Stache stood up and gathered the blanket and the pillow, wishing to leave no trace behind. He took only a moment to adjust his hair, not wishing to have the crew see him looking even slightly disheveled. He started to leave, and was nearly to the door when he tripped over the corner of the blanket that surrounded Nova, and the pillow and blanket flew from his hands as he fell, and Black Stache found himself sprawled out on top of Nova.

Before he could push himself up and make a getaway, Nova woke with a start.

"What are you doing?!" She asked, her voice ridden with rasp caused by a night of deep sleep. Her already big brown eyes widened as she realized how close they were; his full weight was on top of her and Black Stache's body was pressed against Nova's. Strangely though, he made no effort to get up. Nova tried to push him up, and when that didn't work, she tried to shimmy her way out from under him. But Black Stache didn't budge, and Nova began to shake and panic.

"I fell." He told her monotonously, failing to avoid eye contact. Nova noticed his arms rested right by her head, his fingertips just brushed her neck. Their height was the same, but the way he had fallen left Black Stache slightly above her head so that he was looking down and she was looking up.

"Did you sleep in here last night?" She asked straightforwardly, her eyes darting between his face and his body on top of hers.

"Yes. I was tired, and I had an extra pillow and blanket and didn't feel like walking all the way back to my room."

"Please, get off!" She said finally, her voice cracking and so wracked with fright that it was nearly inaudible.

Black Stache finally pushed himself up off of her and stood up. Nova immediately found that she somewhat missed the feeling that was present when he had been on top of her or treating her wounds; when he was close to her, but she was greatly relieved that the fear he brought to her was gone. She finally let out the breath she had been holding out of her slight terror.

"Well...thanks, for fixing my cuts...even if you did inflict them." She said quietly. Black Stache only nodded in response.

"Well, I must be off." Black Stache said, regaining his composure. "The crew will be wondering where I am, and they can't lead themselves, or else this ship would be run up among Skull Rock within the hour. Goodbye."

That was quite possibly the most awkward conversation he'd ever had.

Black Stache met up with Smee and resumed his usual routine of dictating the crew. He immersed himself in his duties as captain, and in the slightly rough sea and dark gloomy skies that he loved so much. Soon Nova ceased to grasp his immediate thoughts, but the whole day she was there in the back of his mind. Black Stache was (for once) immensely grateful for his incompetent crew, for they provided an excellent distraction. For hours on end he didn't care all that much about whether or not Peter was trying to help Nova escape, or what she was doing down in her cell or how she was feeling.

There was one problem, however. Black Stache had heard Smee talking with another crew member about rumors circulating. The rumors just so happened to include him and a certain prisoner, and no matter what the truth was, it was important to Black Stache that he diminished these rumors as quickly as possible. Yet as the gossip pushed Nova to the front of his mind, Black Stache quickly tried to supress those thoughts.

He was focused on his crew and The Wasp, and nothing else.

That is, until there was a loud crack of thunder that rang out through the rapidly darkening skies.

Rain began to fall, so slowly at first that nobody thought anything of it. But soon the sheets of rain became thicker and increased their speed, falling onto the deck like bullets that someone had loaded into a machine gun. Pirates ran for cover; the deck of the ship was chaotic. Things were bad, but they got worse when the prisoners began to shout and the pirates realized that the bottom of the ship was quickly taking on water. The Wasp was soon to mimic the fate of The Neverland, the ship that had sunken during the play that Nova's school performed. Black Stache shouted orders at the top of his lungs.

"Dive over the ship or you face certain death! Those of you who choose to flee the ship can swim to Skull Rock and there you are to wait for me!" He yelled, fighting to be heard over the rolling thunder and the frantically screaming crew.

The ship sank lower and lower by the second. The deck was nearly deserted and those who remained were in the process of following those who had jumped. Black Stache, satisfied with the amount of his crew that he had gotten to safety, readied himself to take the leap overboard. Until the prisoners' screams became louder, and though there were only a few, the screams rang in his ears. One prisoner in particular came to mind.

"Nova!"

Black Stache blanched and immediately ran down the stairs to the cells. Her cell was farthest down the corridor, and he ran through the rising water as quickly as he could to get there. He passed the few prisoners who were yelling and some crying or shouting profanities at Black Stache as he passed. But those were rats who had wronged him or others, rats who deserved this fate. He came for one person and one person only, and that was Nova.

He finally reached her room, and the water was up to his waist. He fumbled around for the keys on his belt; the seconds that it took to retrieve them felt like hours that passed in cruciating slow motion. He shoved the key into the lock with such force that it nearly broke, and turned it. Stache threw open the door and immediately spotted Nova, who looked frantic and had tears of terror streaming down her face, but was not screaming.

"Nova, the ship is sinking, we have to go!" Black Stache ordered, holding out his hand for her to take. She eyed his hand and didn't take it, but she followed him. Only then did he realize what he had done, holding out his hand. That was so uncharacteristic, and he didn't blame her for not taking his hand.

The two ran up to the deck and ran overboard without hesitation. The water was rough, and as soon as they hit the water, it felt like they were being pulled under with such force that every time they were submerged the two held little home of resurfacing again. They fought for minutes, but to them it felt like hours.

Until finally, unheard over the harsh sounds of the storm, a faint twinkling light that had the sound of soft bells approached. It was Tinkerbell- Peter, Prentiss, and Ted had come to help them.

They only hoped that they weren't too late.