Weighted down the way they were, the trip back took considerably longer, and by the time they stepped out of the forest and onto the beach again, they were both soaked in sweat, in need of another bath, and most of all, thirsty.

While they were gone, Roach had apparently converted the pitch-boiling fire into the dinner prep station, and the mouthwatering smell of grilled fish wafted towards them from across the beach, where the crew was gathered by their makeshift camp in a few loose groups. Stede's stomach promptly responded with a rumble.

Ed was apparently in the same state. "Dinner! Fuck, yes!" he exclaimed and strode onto the sand with renewed vigor. "Let's hope he made enough, 'cause I'm eating at least three of those suckers!" Stede followed him with a laugh.

Two figures disentangled themselves from their group and came trotting towards them. Lucius was waving his hands above his head, irritation written all across his face. A few steps behind him, Oluwande was following at a more sedate pace.

"... god, there you are finally, where were you, we were all worried sick about you, you could have at least told somebody where you were going…."

Oluwande just shrugged. "Yeah, we were gonna send out search parties, but then Roach started cooking and we were all hungry, so…."

" 's fine, wouldn't've found us anyway," Ed said nonchalantly, ignoring the put-out boy across from him. "Any rum left down there?" He shifted the weight of one of his bags and the clanking noises inside drew Lucius' gaze like a magnet.

"Well, wherever it was you two slunk off to, looks like the trip was worth it." Lucius regarded their burlap sacks with undisguised curiosity, but when neither Ed nor Stede offered any explanations, he shrugged and leaned towards Stede conspiratorially. "Was it worth it in other ways, too? I mean you were gone a long time…"

Stede was already blushing even before Lucius could wiggle his eyebrows, and Ed saved him by giving the ship's chronicler a good-natured shove as he stepped past him and towards the campfire, Stede hot on his heels.

"You don't need to know that any more than you need to know what's in the sacks, boy," he called over his shoulder, but the grin in his voice was apparently all the answer Lucius needed.

All Stede could do was keep his head down and grimace at the squeal of delight behind him as he fled across the sand.

The next day, Ed stood at the wooden railing of the crow's nest, his pipe clamped between his teeth as he surveyed the view. He did a three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn while the lush green landscape of the non-existent island was growing smaller and smaller behind him, but the wide and impossibly blue waters of the Caribbean Sea were unmarred by any other vessel as far as his spyglass could see.

Far down below Mr. Buttons was at the helm, taking advantage of the favorable winds to steer them towards the Republic of Pirates. It had not been Ed's first choice of destination, but it was the closest port of call, and despite being a cesspool of crime and human debris, it was also the place Ed had the most connections to quickly get the Revenge properly repaired and restocked for the Big Trip. Not to mention that Spanish Jackie - who was the best fence in Nassau - still owed him a few favors, and now seemed to be the perfect time to call those in. If anyone could get him some sweet deals on the bulkier parts of his loot, it would be her.

He needed all the return he could get, for he had every intention of cramming all those useless rooms on the Revenge full of provisions, equipment, ammunition and trade goods. Whoever needed a rec room and jam room anyways?

The thought of their impending voyage reminded Ed to have a stern word with the crew and swear them all to secrecy about China before the Revenge docked and they all started on their tour of the taverns in Nassau. They could lie and spin any crazy tale they wanted while bar-hopping, as long as they didn't divulge their actual destination.

The two of them had finally revealed their travel plans to their combined crews during dinner at the beach yesterday. Stede had given them the choice to either accompany him and Ed to China or to stay behind in Nassau with a generous severance pay and no hard feelings.

Every single one of them decided on the spot to come along for the ride.

They talked it through as a crew for the next few hours on that beach, deliberated the upcoming voyage at great length and in even greater detail, and their unwavering loyalty to Stede had touched Ed deeply. It was putting a smile on his face even now, but that was short-lived when his thoughts turned to Fang and Ivan.

They had agreed to stay on just as everyone else had, but for Ed's plan of transitioning Blackbeard from himself onto Izzy to work, he needed his fellow pirates to back up Izzy wherever he was going.

It all rode on Izzy's decision. Would he take over as Blackbeard, or set out for himself – or even stay on as part of this crew?

And while Ed very much doubted that Izzy would go for option number three, it was nevertheless not entirely out of the question, not after Stede's surprise offer from this morning.

Ed leaned backwards against the mast and took a long drag from his pipe, staring out over the vast ocean while in his mind he replayed the scenario that happened in the captain's cabin a few hours ago:

Ed reclining on the sofa, Stede perched on the arm of it, when Izzy arrived to answer their summons after Ed had filled Stede in on his conversation with his former first mate.

"Stede knows the deal," Ed began without preamble. "So, have you decided yet? About being Blackbeard?"

"Not yet." Izzy crossed his arms. "'s a lot to think about."

"Well, think faster, man, 'cause we need to have this settled before we dock in Nassau."

"It'll be settled by then," Izzy affirmed, his gaze flittering between Ed and Stede.

Ed acknowledged this with a nod. "Well, in the meantime, take this." Ed lifted the other reason for the summons from his lap and held it out to Izzy, a rolled-up parchment, tied with a string of twine. It had taken him a few hours to compose and he was quite proud of the end product.

Izzy eyed the scroll suspiciously. "What's this?"

"A letter of recommendation, of sorts," Ed said. "From me. For your next captain to look over. Tells how indispensable you were as Blackbeard's right-hand man. Or you can just keep it for yourself. To remember the good old days."

Izzy darted a glance at him, then looked back down at the rolled-up sheet, brows drawn together in confusion. "You don't know how to write, Edward."

Ed shrugged casually. "True. But I made it anyways. Check it out." He watched Izzy's face while his former first mate unrolled the parchment.

The sheet was divided by two crossed lines into four panels, each depicting a different scene; it was a short, crudely drawn comic strip, but the storyline was clear.

The first panel showed a ship flying Blackbeard's flag, chasing another vessel.

In the second panel, the ship was getting boarded by what was clearly a group of stick figure pirates, armed with swords and pistols, who then happily engaged in various levels of maiming the hapless stick figure crew of the doomed ship all throughout panel number three.

Izzy seemed to be particularly mesmerized by the fourth and final panel, where dead stick people lay in puddles of black ink, four armed and smiling stick figures with beards of various lengths standing over them. There were just enough details to make out Izzy, Ivan, Fang and Ed.

Izzy looked at the parchment for a long time, eyes shimmering. His lip was trembling slightly, so Ed leaned back into the lounge cushions, giving his old companion time to compose himself.

Finally, Izzy drew himself up, and there were splotches of color on his cheek. "This is…uhm…" His voice was low, and even hoarser than usual. "Fucking overly sentimental, but…thank you." He rolled the parchment back up and Ed noticed the extra care he gave to trying the string around it tightly.

"Stede helped. A little," Ed said.

Izzy regarded Ed for a long solemn moment, then suddenly squared his shoulders and turned to look Stede – who had been a silent observer during this entire exchange – squarely in the eye. "Bonnet -" Izzy stopped, drew a breath. "Stede."

Stede's eyebrows rose slightly at the unfamiliar address, but he quietly waited for Izzy to continue.

"For what it's worth, I'm…." Izzy cleared his throat and although Ed suspected his next words, he was surprised to find Izzy's usual 'I'd rather chew glass than apologize' look gone from his face. Instead, he looked…sincere. "I'm sorry I sold you out to the English. It wasn't my call."

His voice dropped lower. "It's your life, after all, and everyone should live their lives as they see fit. I should've just…" The sentence ended in an awkward shrug, and Stede salvaged the moment by rising from the sofa arm.

"Well," He straightened up to his full height, then offered Izzy his hand. After a moment's hesitation, Izzy took it. "Hatchets can be buried and adversaries can part as frenemies, should you choose to leave this crew, Mr. Hands," he said as they shook. "But if you decide to come along on our little trip, then there'll be a hammock and a place at the table for you on the Revenge."

Ed blinked, surprised and a little dismayed, at the unexpected invitation, but Izzy seemed even more surprised. Still gripping Stede's hand, he gaped at him openly for a moment before he caught himself. "As…as part of your crew?" he asked. Stede nodded.

"But not as first mate, I take it?"

At that, Stede's expression shifted. "Afraid not, no. Common crew member is the best I can offer."

Izzy nodded slowly, but even as he slid his hand out of Stede's grip to resume his two-handed hold on the parchment roll, his face remained carefully blank.

"I appreciate the offer, but that arrangement might not be…" he glanced at Ed. "…optimal."

Stede seemed to have expected that reaction. "Well, the offer remains standing, should you reconsider," he said, and Izzy nodded once more. Stede was being gracious, but it was a mere formality at this point, and all three of them knew it.

"I guess that's all, then." In the moment of silence that followed, Izzy ran a hand over his tie, tugged at his vest. "I will give everything some more thought," he looked between Ed and Stede, and the forlorn look in his eyes sent a pang of guilt through Ed's chest, "and I'll let you know my decision soon."

Then Izzy turned and made for the door without another word or a look back, and to Ed the sound of the latch clicking into place behind his former comrade felt like a chapter in the book of his life coming to an end.

Ed was pulled out of his reverie by the familiar sounds of someone climbing the rigging, and the huffing and puffing that accompanied the creaking ropes told him the identity of his visitor without having to look. Chuckling, Ed tucked his pipe into his belt and turned to give Stede a hand up, a gesture gratefully accepted by his co-captain when he came into view a few moments later.

At least Stede had dressed for the climb; coatless, in plain breeches and sturdy boots, a white shirt with some frill, but open at the collar to show the red silk scarf wrapped around his throat and tied off with an elegant yet unflamboyant knot. Ed smiled at the sight. You wear fine scarves well.

Stede's hair was tousled, the flush on his face almost approaching the color of the scarf. "Gosh," he gasped as he rightened himself. "Does this climb ever get any easier?"

For sailors, yeah. For you, probably not. "Sure," Ed said. "Just keep at it, and by the time we sail into Macao harbor you'll be the best rigging monkey on this boat."

"Very much doubt it, but you're sweet to say that." Stede leaned against the railing to catch his breath. He had a small satchel slung over his shoulder, from which he produced two cloth-wrapped bundles. He handed one to Ed.

"I would have liked to send up some tea, but we seem to be running very low on both tea and sugar, I'm afraid," he said once his breathing evened out.

The bundle turned out to be two slices of Roach's freshly baked bread – still warm! - a thick spread of orange marmalade between them. Ed gratefully sank his teeth into the sandwich. It was so Stede to naturally be looking after his wellbeing.

The breeze was tugging at Stede's shirt, his hair, his scarf as he stood at the railing, unwrapping his own bundle, and Ed's heart hurt with the love he felt for this man.

"Could've sent up brandy instead. Or rum," Ed said around a mouthful of bread and jam. "Both perfectly acceptable breakfast drinks."

Stede grinned and took a more moderate bite of his bread. "I'll keep that in mind for next time."

The sandwich was amazing. Thank fuck Roach was staying on for this trip. Ed made a mental note to get the man everything he needed for his galley. Anything!

"No worries. We'll stock up on everything in Nassau. And once we get to China, we'll never run out of tea again anyways."

They worked on their respective breakfast treats for a while, and Ed was just about to check if there were any more wrapped bundles in that satchel when Stede spoke again.

"Ed?"

"Hm?"

"What if we don't like it in China?" Stede asked carefully, watching while Ed mulled over the answer.

"Then we cram the hold full of spices, silk, tea and whatever else we can get our hands on from the Chinamen, come back here, sell it all at ridiculously inflated prices and get so filthy rich that we can buy our own island, complete with villages and our very own militia," he replied. "Trained by me, of course."

"Our very own island?" Stede looked equally excited and incredulous. "Where would that even be?"

Ed gave a casual shrug. "I have it on good authority that there are plenty of places up for grabs in the new Colonies, especially around the Carolinas," he said. "Matter of fact, I've heard lots of nice things about this island called Ocracoke. Been meaning to scope it out, just haven't gotten around to it yet."

A faraway look came into Stede's eyes. "We could establish a trading post there; Bonnet and Teach – or whatever our aliases are gonna be - purveyors of finest Oriental silks, teas and spices. And other assorted Black Market items. You know, Ed -" he fixed Ed with a resolute look. "That sounds like an excellent Plan B."

"I only ever have excellent plans, mate." Ed winked at him and Stede gave him a bright smile in return.

"I think things are going to turn out to be just fine."

Stede turned his gaze out to sea and spoke into the wind. "There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures."

Stunned, Ed could only stare at Stede. "That was….did you just come up with that?"

Stede shook his head with a small smile. "Shakespeare."

"Oi, I think that was the name of the bloke I stabbed in Jackie's Bar last year." Ed cocked his head, trying to dredge up the memory, but Stede patted his hand reassuringly.

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't."

Standing side by side, they looked at the horizon together, where the first few tinges of orange from the slowly setting sun was making the water's surface sparkle like diamond dust.

It was a tranquil view – so tranquil that Ed soon couldn't stifle a yawn.

Stede's hand promptly settled on his shoulder. "Ed, you need some sleep."

Ed shook his head. He could keep watch a little longer. "I need a life. With you. I'll sleep after I made sure that I'll get that." He grabbed his telescope again, but Stede gently tugged it out of his hand, then pulled him close.

They shared a tender kiss, and the pleasant scratch of Stede's stubble was something Ed wanted to feel on his skin every day from now on.

"We will get that, you've already made sure of that," Stede said. "And now there's an entire crew behind you who can take over your watch duty. They'll alert us when something is amiss. And Mr. Buttons knows the course. Trust them."

Ed blinked. Trust. Not a luxury a pirate could afford, especially not a notorious one like Blackbeard. But then again, he wasn't Blackbeard anymore, was he? And the crew he was sailing with wasn't the bunch of backstabbing pirate scum he was used to. This was a family, and one he seemed to have been adopted into. So yeah, maybe he could get used to the concept of sleeping without a knife under his pillow from now on.

And if Stede slept next to him, well – that was a bonus he wasn't going to pass up.

"Okay." Still entwined in a half-embrace, Ed reached out and brushed a few windswept curls out of Stede's face. He would try to get some sleep, but there was something he had to get off his chest first. "I can't promise you an easy voyage, or a steady ocean or favorable winds, but I can promise you that I will do everything in my powers to keep you safe from whatever we might run into out there, be it weather, pirates or the Navy." Ed shrugged, a little embarrassed about how sappy this sounded, at least to his ears.

Stede, however, didn't seem to share that notion; his mouth split into a soft smile, and were his eyes getting a little misty?

"I know you would, Ed. Thank you."

Ed made a face. "No need to thank me."

"Yes, there is. You are a wonderful man, Edward Teach," Stede said, his voice soft but intense as he stroked Ed's cheek, "and someone should tell you that every day for the rest of your life."

Ed's heart swelled and his throat thickened. "And who would want to waste their time like that?" he croaked.

"Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but I would very much like to apply for the job," Stede said.

"I dunno, mate. I mean," Ed grinned and made a show of looking down below, "there could be other potential applicants, so what qualifications do you bring to the table for the job?"

"None, other than the fact that I love you," Stede said, his gaze firm. "With all my heart."

"That's…" Ed blinked against the sudden heat surging behind his eyes, cleared his throat. He felt a muscle twitch in his cheek. "You're hired."

He could do nothing else but seal the deal with a searing kiss, and time stood still for a long moment at the lofty height of the crow's nest while Stede held Ed, Ed held Stede – and destiny held them both.

"You know…" Stede regarded him with a twinkle in his eyes when he leaned back. "If you don't think you can sleep, I might know something that'll help relax you."

Ed cocked his head and decided to play along. "Do you now?"

Stede nodded. "Mmh, I had a pretty good lesson in relaxation in a cave yesterday, I'm pretty sure I remember enough to recreate the desired effect." The smile forming on Stede's face had a wicked quality to it and Ed felt his pulse kick up a notch.

"Shit, what are we still doing up here, then?" He stuffed his pipe and telescope into his pockets and grabbed Stede's hand. "Let's go!"

Ed ducked under the railing and began to climb down the rigging, Stede's laughter following him all the way.

THE END