How many ways had Timetra suggested he tell the crew about Jim? At this point it'd probably be easier to count the ways she hadn't suggested it.

Silver sighed into his hands and leaned on his elbows on the desk.

It was painful having to see Jim chained to the mast. It had gotten to the point that he avoided going on deck just so he wouldn't have to see how Jim was forced to sleep in the elements, or how he could only move within a small radius of space, or how he gazed longingly up at the sky. He was just like Silver; he wasn't made to be caged up.

And here Silver was, caging him up.

It's for his own safety…

He groaned softly. His heart ached. Sure, Jim understood why he was doing this…probably…but that didn't mean that either of them were happy about it. Silver only hoped that Jim would forgive him like he had so many years ago.

Three days since getting some of the coordinates from William and Silver still hadn't been able to think of a good way out of this.

He desperately wanted to believe Timetra. Nothing his crew had ever done should lead him to believe that they would turn on him. Everyone was almost like a family. But he'd been betrayed before by people he'd trusted and viewed as family. He'd lost the only man he'd seen as a father in a mutany, if he lost the one he saw as a son in the same way…Silver knew he'd never recover from that heartbreak.

So he continued to stew in his frustration and growing unease.

The longer they sat here doing nothing, the more time Raith had to try and find them. The Stargazer wasn't equipped to handle a firefight with her ship, and no matter the efforts he'd put into trying to find Raith and her ship, nothing had turned up. He didn't know her numbers, her location, or if she was still interested in getting her hands on either Jim or Will.

That wasn't true. He knew Raith. She'd be seething about the damage Jim had caused and he was certain she was chomping at the bit to get her claws on him again.

He couldn't let that happen.

But Raith wasn't the only problem they might have to deal with.

There was no saying if anyone had been able to get a distress call sent to the Navy when Raith had first attacked the Eclipse. It was likely a ship - more likely multiple ships - were heading this way now to collect the wreckage and search for survivors on the planet.

While Silver didn't fully trust his crew with information on Jim, he did care about them. None of them deserved to be arrested and thrown in prison - or hanged - because he'd been hesitant to take action.

Silver rocked back in his chair with another groan and he gazed at the ceiling.

He only had a couple options to work with when it came to moving forward and none of them were any good. Didn't stop him from cycling through them in his head for the millionth time since picking Jim and William up.

The first would make his crew happy. So he assumed at least.

Get the coordinates to what the Navy was after and get a big payday selling it on the black market.

But that came with a huge problem.

Jim would never tell him the coordinates. He knew it without even having to ask. And Heaven have mercy on his soul if he ever thought of laying a hand on Jim to try to force the coordinates out of him. Silver shook his head violently and let out a shaky breath.

Well…maybe Jim would tell him the coordinates, but Silver didn't have the heart to ask. Jim was a good kid with a strong conscience. He'd turn himself in to the Navy if he gave up the coordinates, and then he would be in prison. And while he'd be safe, Silver would feel guilt for the rest of his life for putting Jim in that position.

So that option was completely out of the question.

The next option would be to just get Jim and Will out of there and drop them off in a safe port. He'd be happy to see Jim and William walk free. He knew he'd see Jim again out and about in the galaxy. They had a way of finding each other that could almost be called fate, if Silver believed in that sort of thing.

But this of course also had its own set of problems.

Silver had no doubt that William Delaney would immediately rat him and his crew out to his superiors the INSTANT he had access to a communicator, and Silver again couldn't put his crew in any more danger than he already had.

The only solution to that would be to let William in on his and Jim's friendship. Surely he must be trustworthy if Jim liked him well enough to call him a close friend. Silver snorted at the thought. He didn't even trust his own crew with that information, people he'd known for years, there was no way he'd share that with a total stranger. Whether he was Jim's friend or not.

Even if William was trustworthy and vowed not to share the information, who knew how good his resolve was and with them being in the Navy, Silver really didn't put it past their superiors to interrogate either of them for information on how they got to whatever port town they'd be dropped off at.

That wasn't the only problem with this plan.

What the hell was he to tell his crew?

No. That plan just wouldn't work either.

"Heaven have mercy," Silver felt as if something deep inside him could crack and split open at any instant. He hadn't slept. Hadn't eaten. Three days trapped in his cabin and he was sure the crew wondered if he was even still alive.

Silver tapped his fingertips on the desk rapidly. He could help Jim escape. Just as Jim had helped him years ago. He still owed the boy for that.

It wouldn't be hard to set Morphy on a 'job' and have him unlock Jim and Will's shackles in the dead of night. Jim was a smart kid; he'd figure out that Silver had set him up to it and he'd immediately take the opportunity and get the hell out of there.

Then he wouldn't have to worry about telling his crew what was going on.

But, of course, this came with its own set of problems too.

The nearest port was more than a week away, and it'd already be a stretch for the boys to commandeer one of the longboats while not alerting anyone without stopping in a storeroom and stealing some supplies. So they'd be going hungry. Again. And with no way to communicate with Jim, Silver would just have to put faith in the cosmos that he would make it to safety and Raith wouldn't pick him up again.

All this and the fact that Jim and Will were set in the middle of the deck where everyone could see them and there was always a set of eyes on them.

Clearly, that wasn't an option either.

Another idea, which Silver liked the most of all of the ones he'd had, would be to keep Jim and Will on with the crew. Well…he'd like having Jim on his crew. It took him a long time to admit how disappointed - and a little heartbroken - he'd been when Jim chose to go to the Interstellar Academy over shipping out with him. He understood, he really did, but he loved the kid more than he'd let on to anyone and he missed him something awful between the rare occasions they ran into each other.

William on the other hand…even if he stayed for Jim, there was no saying that he wouldn't try to call the Navy to rescue them the minute he had a moment to himself.

So, while Silver was loath to discard that idea, it wouldn't work.

Now, if they could get rid of Will, that'd make all of this so much easier. But Silver wasn't about to kill Jim's friend. And if he ordered one of his crew to do it, eventually it'd come around to Jim and that just wasn't a betrayal he thought Jim would be able to forgive him for.

"Can't keep sittin' in here…" Silver heaved himself out of his chair. Only a few steps and he was at the door and moving through it, heartache at seeing Jim chained be damned, and he stood at the bridge with his hands on the railing.

He couldn't help it. He looked toward the middle of the deck.

Silver hadn't realized how early it was. The sun was starting to wash the sky in warm reds and oranges, and it would have been a beautiful sunrise indeed if they were in any other situation.

Jim was curled up in a tight little ball on his side, one arm tucked under his head, with his jacket pulled over himself. Silver smiled a little. He looked like a kid when he slept.

His friend rolled in his sleep and tucked himself around Jim, nuzzling his face into the crook of the smaller man's neck and shoulder.

"Hm."

It wasn't his place to stick his nose into Jim's business. He'd said that he and William were friends, nothing more, but after seeing the two of them together, it was painfully clear that William wanted something more from their relationship. There had to be a reason Jim wasn't willing to return the feelings.

They were both fine looking young men with successful careers. And the two of them had obviously done something that Jim was embarrassed Silver might have seen. So there was some level of attraction there-

"Quit tryin' te play matchmaker," Silver mumbled to himself. He wasn't good at it, for one thing, and it wasn't exactly the most ideal of places to do that, for another.

William nuzzled harder against Jim's left shoulder and Jim let out a low, breathy moan.

Silver stiffened. His first instinct was to become protective and go over to separate them. This was a very bad place to be put in a vulnerable position. But after a cursory look around the deck showed that it was only himself and the one person on watch at the bowsprit and he relaxed the smallest amount. His second thought was to give them privacy. Should I go back to my cabin?

Jim's eyes flew open and he turned his head to look at Will after a moment's hesitation. He went pale and scrambled out of William's embrace, waking the other man up at the violent motion, and he sat with his legs hugged tightly to himself.

William stared blearily for a moment and then moved toward Jim with a stricken look on his face, "Oh shit, your shoulder- wait…didn't they heal you?"

"It's fine, just…" Jim's face flushed and he pulled away from Will, who was trying to pull the shirt out of the way to look at his shoulder. "Stop, seriously, it's fine."

Before Silver could reach the bottom of the stairs to the deck and actually separate them this time - Jim was clearly uncomfortable and William just wasn't seeing it - Sidon had charged from someplace and put himself between Jim and William. It caught all of them off-guard. Silver stopped dead, having not even seen Sidon, which was slightly concerning considering how huge he was.

Sidon loomed over William, teeth bared, a rumbling snarl coming from his throat, "Don't touch him."

"What the fuck?" The man retorted, recovering from his shock and going straight to anger.

The Zora stood to his full height over William, his snarl growing deeper and more threatening. William stood as well, defiantly puffing his chest, "What do you mean 'don't touch him'?"

"Exactly that, boy . Don't. Touch. Him."

What's gotten into you?! Silver started forward again. His gaze met Jim's, and the young man jumped to his feet and put himself between Sidon and William.

"Woah, guys," Jim spoke quickly, nervously, and he laughed in an attempt to defuse the tense atmosphere, but it only came out sounding awkward, "If you're gonna get in a fight, maybe ask the big boss if you can take it away from right here, yeah? Can't exactly get out of your way and I'd rather not get crushed…"

The two other men immediately backed away, as if suddenly conscious of how Jim stood between them.

"Shouldn't ye be gettin' te yer watch, Sidon?" Silver asked softly as he reached the group.

Sidon shot one final glare at William before doing as Silver ordered.

"What the hell was that?" William snapped at Jim. "What's going on between you two, huh?"

"What? How is that my fault?" Jim shot back.

Silver wanted to get the answers out of Jim as well. Sidon was weirdly protective of him, and dammit if Jim wasn't being secretive about something too. It was either that or Silver was wildly misreading the situation, but something in his gut told him he wasn't.

It took a lot of will power to turn away and leave when all he wanted to do was grab Jim by the shoulders and make him talk, but he knew that it wouldn't work. Jim would tell him when he was ready. Sidon, on the other hand…well he might be a bit easier to break.

Ah, look at you now, planning on interrogating your own crew. What have you come to John Silver?

If there would be any reason for the crew to turn on him, that would be it.

Which brought him right back around to the looming question Jim had asked three days ago. What do we do now?

Silver leaned on the railing at the bridge again, gazing across the deck. His eyes settled on Jim and William as they argued quietly between themselves.

Could ransom them back to the Navy.

This wasn't ideal, but it would tick off the two major requirements he had. Get Jim to safety and keep his crew happy.

The statute of limitations had run out ages ago for several of Silver's crimes, but he had a few glaring marks on his ledger that would never go away - namely a few murders and technically the arson of original Benbow Inn - and to add kidnapping and radsoming two Naval officers to that list would certainly make the bounty on his head bigger. It was also more than likely he'd have to go into hiding for good, which meant he'd never get to see Jim again.

But if Jim was safe…

"Gettin' soft," he muttered as he blinked down tears. He hated that idea more than anything he'd thought of yet, and honestly he wasn't sure he'd be able to go through with it. He had to keep tabs on his boy, it's what any good father would do and he refused to be anything like Jim's biological father.

He looked again at Jim, hoping to whatever God was out there that his expression didn't betray his inner turmoil.

William was still pestering Jim, and though he couldn't hear what either were saying, he could tell that he was getting increasingly demanding by his expression and body language.

Maybe it'd be best to sit them away from each other-

Jim turned suddenly and kissed William straight on the mouth. Silver froze. William froze. Jim pulled away and whispered something, which William nodded dazedly to, and tucked his legs up to his chest. He looked absolutely ashamed of himself, but William didn't seem to notice at all, and sat happily next to him, face alight with a smile.

Something clicked in Silver's head.

William had already offered to be the one to get the coordinates out of Jim.

William also had a huge crush on Jim.

If William was the one to betray Jim, then Silver wouldn't have to worry about hurting him. Technically he would be a part of it, but hopefully Jim's anger would be directed toward William.

A plan was starting to take shape now. One that would work to keep the crew happy and Jim safe.

Silver didn't exactly know what was going on between Sidon and Jim, but the Zora being close to Jim clearly made William jealous as all hell, which meant it would only take a couple smartly planned moves and William would practically come up with a plan for him.

And if luck was on his side, maybe William and Sidon would end up at each other's throats - it already seemed to be heading that direction anyway - and everyone knew how that fight would end.

Then Silver would offer for Jim to stay on the crew or to drop him off somewhere or maybe even let him 'escape' if he wanted to, and it wouldn't even matter anymore because the wild card - William - would be out of the picture!

Now it was just a matter of getting the pieces set up…

He had to put pressure on William. Play against his weaknesses. Put him in a position where he got desperate enough that he would do anything.

As Silver had been formulating his plan, the crew had woken and were starting to do daily chores. There weren't as many to be done since they were technically moored, but there were still a few, and he snapped out of his and looked around at the lot of them.

Perfect timing.

One shrill whistle had the crew looking at him expectantly and he motioned for everyone to follow him.

He stood with his back to the stove in the galley with his hands tucked behind his back as he waited for the crew to file in. Timetra gave him a questioning look and he smiled at her. He pulled his expression back to a relaxed mask and spoke, "Now, I'm sure yer all wonderin' why we've been sittin' 'round fer so long."

No one said anything as he paused to take a breath.

"One o' our guests 'as a bear trap fer a mouth, it seems, an' I can't g't nothin' out o' 'im-" he saw Timetra roll her eyes and chose to ignore the exasperated look on her face "-so I've had te switch methods. We're gonna check out the coordinates we've got so far an' leave the quiet one with Sidon. Think ye c'n handle yerself around one chained up Navy boy, big guy?"

Sidon jumped a little and then nodded, "Yes, sir…which…which one?"

"The little one, eh, what's 'is name…Hawkins? Don' go roughin' 'im up now, yer jest 'sposed te scare 'im a little is all, loosen tha' tongue," Silver knew Sidon wouldn't do anything. He actually expected that Jim would be in full control of the situation the entire time, if anything he'd seen up until now was any indication. That was fine. He only needed them alone so William could get anxious about what could be happening.

The Zora's eyes widened a little and he nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Good man," Silver felt a tiny flicker of hesitation in his gut, but he pushed it down, "An' fer the rest o' ye, I need all hands fer this task. We've got a few coordinates, an' I'm gonna need two teams te search all 'round those spots fer anythin' o' interest."

He split up the crew into two even groups, as even as he could get them, and pulled the slip of paper from his pocket. His heart dropped when he saw that the coordinates weren't complete, but only the first number of a set.

That makes this harder.

"Sidon, go g't tha' blond one, William or whatever 'is name is, I needs a word with 'im."

He tossed the keys to the shackles to the Zora and watched him rush up the stairs. It was only a few moments before he returned with William in tow, one of the human's arms nearly engulfed in Sidon's massive hand.

Silver toyed with the man's navigation tool as he stared down at him, "Seems ye lied te me, boyo. I don't take too kindly te tha'."

William didn't say anything, but he swallowed hard and his eyes darted around the room at the rest of the crew.

"Ye see, ye told me ye'd give me the coordinates, an'..." he tapped the slip of paper on the table next to him, "These ain't coordinates."

"I don't have the full coordinates-" Silver was certain that the man spoke before he could think based on the look of regret that flashed over his face.

"Is tha' so?"

A defeated look filled William's features and he whispered, "I have one set of numbers, Jim has the other…you have everything I know…"

Silver hummed in his throat. There had to be something else. The two Navy men had been making serious progress from where Jim had first been seen at the lake and where they ended up getting caught.

"Might have te rough ye up after all," Silver let out a sigh. He'd really rather not do this, and he knew Timetra was going to give him hell later for even suggesting it, "Or maybe…we'll have te rough up yer friend, huh? Seems ye've got a soft spot fer 'im…"

"Don't hurt Jim! Please! I'll…here, I'll give you the coordinates for the points we already went to, ok?" the panic that filled William's voice was almost endearing, considering how he was only like that to protect Jim.

He shared several coordinates quickly and Silver assigned the two teams with a couple each, "A'right you lot. Go check out them points an' meet back here when yer done."

The crew hustled to the longboat hangar and Silver nodded his head at Sidon, who quickly shackled William's arms behind his back. He caught the man's arm and guided him up to the deck, and then toward the gangplank, pausing only to almost dramatically call back to Sidon, "Don' be too rough on 'im now, boyo, I need 'im in one piece still. The rest o' us'll be back in a while."

William made a panicked noise in his throat as he was dragged away from the ship.

"Hey wait! I gave you the coordinates! Don't let him near Jim-"

They were in among the trees now, out of sight of the ship, away from any of the crew's prying eyes as the longboats passed overhead. Silver paused in his trek, "Yer real worried 'bout 'im hurtin' yer boyfriend, ain't ye?"

"He doesn't want to hurt Jim," William said bitterly. He tried to tug against Silver's unmoving grip and Silver's hand tensed reflexively before he could think to stop the reaction.

"Oh yeah, boyo? Wha'd'ye mean by tha' now?"

"Are you fucking blind?" William snapped. "He wants Jim! To…to…ugh, seriously, just…what do you want anyway, huh? You can't just leave them alone!"

Silver growled softly in warning, "Remember yerself now, boy, I c'n do whatever I sees fit. Might need te give 'em more time jest the two o' 'em, don'cha think?"

His gut twisted a little at the suggestion. Of course he'd seen how Sidon and Jim had been acting almost like they were courting each other, and again he was feeling the urge to be protective of his boy.

Hold out Johnny boy, you need to get William good and desperate.

"Fuck you."

"Now, I've got te admit that yer a fine lookin' young man, but I ain't interested," Silver chuckled softly.

He let William spit and stew and whine for a while, watching as his desperation grew with each passing minute they were away from the ship. Just a little longer now-

"I'll get those coordinates for you, Jim's half, just…just keep that Zora away from him!" William cracked finally.

There it is.

"An' how d'ye plan on gettin' 'em, huh?"

The human's brown eyes darted around as he thought, "Uh…um…give us a clear chance to escape and put a tracker on me…I'll convince Jim to finish the mission…we'll lead you right to it."

Silver pursed his lips. It would land them in the same sort of problem they were in now, where they'd have to capture Jim and William again, but they'd get the thing the Navy was after, which would lead to a payday and a happy crew. And then he could just let Jim and William 'escape' again when they were safely at a port…

"Tha' might jest work. A'right, boyo, ye've got a deal," he would have offered his hand to shake, but William's wrists were still shackled.

He clapped the man on the should instead, "Now, why don'cha tell me 'bout wha' the Navy's after, eh? I c'n tell ye know."

That was going to be a much harder thing to drag out of the human, and he was almost certain he wouldn't get it out of him, and he started walking them back toward the ship slowly. Now that they finally had come to some sort of plan, relieve and exhaustion started to overwhelm the stress of the past few days, and his bed was calling to him something awful.