Sorry for the missed week! We had a lot of things hit us all at once and things got real crazy. But we're all good now, and getting back to writing and posting chapters.

Thank you all for your continued patience with us!

Lots of Love,

-Dark-

"Uma!" Her Baby Girl's voice rings in her ears, "Harry!"

"Uma! Harry!" Her Sweet Boy echoes. "C'mon, wake up guys!"

What was happening? Something wraps around her waist, clinging to her tightly.

"Umes." Her Problem Child snorts in disbelief, "Hook."

She frowns at the sound of glass clinking together and rolling.

"Oomph!" Harry groans.

"Really?' Deez snaps, conjuring an image of her Baby Girl telling T off, "Why?"

"Ow." She reflexively rubs her temple after something clips it.

"T!" Gil's stern voice barks in disapproval.

"Oh c'mon, it's not like they can feel it." T scoffs.

"No one has your ointment right now." Deez snaps, "People feel things-"

"Stop throwin' books." Gil orders, his voice brimming with annoyance.

Throwing-

Someone was throwing books?

That was new.

Usually her nightmares involved tentacles not projectiles.

She fights to open her eyes.

Stark white and soft blue slowly come into focus, confusing her with the nearness.

"B-Baby Girl?"

She felt so real as her arms closed around the warmth buried against her.

"We're home."

Another dream? A happy dream?

Or her nightmares becoming crueler?

Her family. All here. Surrounding her.

She smiles as she breathes in deeply, pressing her nose into the earth and salt-scented softness.

But it couldn't be her Baby Girl. She didn't smell right. Where was the peppermint Harry had taken to putting in her hair?

"Uma." The arms around her squeeze tighter, "you're not usually so hard to wake up." She hears someone take a deep breath. "Why do you guys smell like alcohol?"

More clinking.

"I wonder."

She slowly pulls back to find herself staring into blue encircled by rings of darkness.

Here it came.

Images of Deez hurt or sick.

Anything to torment her.

"I- I'm so sorry, Baby Girl." She hesitantly reaches out, afraid to touch her, terrified if she didn't touch her, she'd vanish.

The blue eyes blink several times, "why?"

Did she really need to list her sins? "I wasn't there for you. There were so many times you needed me, and I just-" She blinks, falling silent at the soft touch against her lips.

"No."

She frowns as she studies her Baby Girl's disapproving face.

"Is this what drunk looks like?" Deez asks over her shoulder

"Sometimes," Gil offers, his tone thick with concern.

"Ya ain'nah bein' fake?"

"Fake?" Gil pauses. "Oh," a heavy sigh follows, "no, Deez got us out."

The bed shifts before she hears a splash. "What was that?"

"Harry shoved his head in the tub." Deez furrows her brow.

She lifts her head and looks towards the tub, "Are they still here?" she asks, doing her best to ignore the desperate hope in her tone.

A grin slowly lights up Harry's dripping face, "Ya be ah wantin' ta be seein' for yerself." He walks over and drags her out of bed, ignoring her protest, "I think we can'nah be holdin' decent like conversation 'til we be ah clearin' the drink."

She stumbles as her feet hit the cold wood, both hands rubbing at her eyes as she tries to not focus on the way the room spun.

What the fuck was happening?

"In ya be ah goin'." She hears, her only warning before she feels a hand at the back of her neck shove her under the water.

"The fuck was that!" She sputters as she comes back up before turning to hit Harry's shoulder.

"Be ah lookin'," Harry grabs her by her shoulders and spins her in place.

She blinks as she sees Deez running for the towels as Gil watches her with his wonderful boyish grin.

"What? How?" Her eyes narrow as she turns to Harry, "Ya sure I ain't dreamin'?"

"I get it." Deez smiles as she dabs at the cold water running down her face, "I kept thinking you guys were a dream when I first woke up here after Gil found me." Her lips purse to the side, "Father, that feels like forever ago." She shakes her head. "But we're here, like really here."

She looks between Gil and Deez several times, unable to fully convince herself she wasn't dreaming.

That this wasn't just some new torture.

A night terror just waiting for her to believe they were alive.

Her eyes sting as her vision blurs. "You…" her voice trails off.

"We're here, Uma," Gil reaches out and rests a large hand on her head, "all of us."

"We found you guys, the ship." She looks down as Deez passes the towel back to Gil before she wraps her arms around her waist, "That felt like a dream too. Seeing her in one piece."

Her arms immediately close around Deez, her tears finally falling in earnest when she feels Gil's arms wrap around them in a crushing hug.

"We missed you too," Gil whispers into her hair.

"Aye Sweet Boy." She hears Harry whisper hoarsely, "We- we be thinkin'-"

"The worst?" Gil raises his brow as he lifts one arm to drag Harry into the bear hug.

"Aye."

Gil chuckles, the sound rumbling wonderfully in his chest, "Ya can't get rid of us that easily."

The four slowly fall to the ground where they stood as Uma and Harry break down, becoming incoherent as they run their hands over Gil and Deez, checking for injury as well as assuring themselves that this really wasn't a dream.

He shakes his head at the pile of tears on the floor.

Don't even. It's sweet, and you know it.

A slow grin tugs at his lips, didn't say it wasn't.

He walks over to the farthest hammock and pulls himself into it as he watches quietly.

You could join them.

Nah. I miss this. Just watching like this.

Seeing how happy they are just being together.

He still couldn't believe it.

Had never been so happy to be wrong.

For her to be wrong.

I never assumed they were dead. I just- If we didn't look-

He sighs.

Then it wouldn't be real.

He got it.

This was real though.

The good kind of real.

The real he never thought they'd get again.

He grins as Gil picks them up and settles them in the bed, the four of them curling around each other as if the motion hadn't disrupted them in the slightest.

Uma's joyous laughter fills the room, chasing away some of the bone-deep cold.

Deez's death grip around their Captain seemed unrelenting.

And the way Harry's eyes were lit up.

"I thought-" Uma sniffs, "I just- I missed you so much Sweet Boy." She clings to Gil tightly. "Missed you picking us up like we're nothing." She turns and reaches out to squeeze Deez's hand, "Never thought I'd feel your warmth again." More tears gather in her eyes as a sob chokes her.

Touching them.

Making sure they were real.

Making sure that they were actually there.

"Aye," Harry chuckles wetly, "We be- We be-" He wraps around Deez and nuzzles her possessively. "It jus' be so nice feelin' ya in me arms." He looks up to grin at Gil, "Ta be havin' ya next ta me."

Gil chuckles as he presses all of them closer to him, his eyes shining with happiness he hadn't seen for days.

His eyes drop to Deez, smiling at the way she'd managed to curl in Harry's lap, hug Uma to her with one arm, and cling to Gil's leg at the same time.

He glances at his bag with a frown, wanting so bad to commemorate the moment but afraid to shatter their reunion.

Snap them back to reality.

I can draw it. There's no way I'm forgetting the looks on their faces.

They're so beautiful.

Magical.

So wholly and utterly them, in their rawest form.

His grin widens as he nods his head.

He didn't know his heart could ache like this.

Ache so painfully with happiness.

Fill so delightedly with warmth.

He'd missed this.

Missed them.

He blinks away the tears blurring his vision.

Fuck.

He'd missed them so much.

Me too.

He could hear the tears in her voice.

The tightness.

The joy.

It was just so surreal.

Insane.

And from the sight of it-

The sight of them-

He clearly wasn't the only one.

It was just-

Deez.

Gil.

Uma.

James.

Yensid.

Harry.

How the fuck were they so damned fucking lucky?

How had they beat the fucking odds?

How had they all managed to survive when so many-

Pain pierces his heart as more tears gather in his eyes.

Just how?

He touches the back of his head tentatively and grimaces.

He'd been hit in the head plenty of times.

More than he could count.

This isn't a dream T. It just feels like one.

How are you so sure?

Sniff.

He lifts an eyebrow, but does as instructed.

The potent smell of alcohol scrunches his nose, but-

The mustiness of worn wood.

Salt.

Lavender.

Clove.

Soap.

The familiar scents envelope him as some of his tension seeps from him.

Feel the sway of the hammock.

Its fibers.

He runs the rough material between his fingers with a flash of memories, the emotions attack another pierce of his heart.

Pain.

Guilt.

Shame.

So conflicting with the warmth the floods him as-

Happiness.

Glee.

Comfort.

-hits him.

There was no stopping them this time.

The tears.

Convinced yet?

He swallows.

Was he?

Everything was beating at him. Nearly overwhelmingly.

She sighs.

Brace yourself.

Brac-

His eyes widen as he bites back a cry, his eyes dropping to his shoulder.

Bitch!

What? When was the last time you felt pain in a dream?

His brow furrows thoughtfully before he takes a deep breath and lets it out.

The last of his tension drains away.

Never.

This is real.

They're real.

We're back.

We're home.

He wipes the tears away with a swipe of his sleeve.

Still a bitch move.

Still a bitch.

He shakes his head as he returns his attention to the others and smiles.

He tilts his head at Deez's quiet protest.

"I-" Deez wipes a hand over her face as she finally loosens her hold on the other three and struggles to sit up.

"What's wrong, Baby Girl?" Uma frowns as her hand lingers in Deez's hair.

Deez smiles as she sobs, "I've missed this. Missed that. I- I just-" She closes her eyes before she resumes her tight hold on them, "I love you. All of you. I love you so much!" She shakes her head as her grip pulls them somehow closer, "you too T."

He tilts his head to the side, "same."

Uma's head whips around in disbelief. "Problem Child!?"

"T!" Harry cries out before he rolls out of bed and looks around.

His eyes widen when their gaze meets.

Harry was crying all over again.

"T!" Harry shakes his head as he stiffly walks to him, "T, ya be alive!"

He braces as Harry's trembling hand cups his chin.

"I know, right?" He looks away, unsure what the weight in his chest was, "I'm shocked too."

Harry snorts, "Ya would be ah takin' it that way." He whispers around his grin before he bends and presses a calm kiss to his cheek.

Huh.

Harry sobs before he pulls him into a tight hug.

He sucks in deep breath as pain radiates through him.

"You tricked me Harry!" Deez pouts, "You walked over all nicely and then that gentle kiss. But you should probably let T go before-"

"It's fine." He breathes out as he drops his forehead to Harry's chest.

"What be wrong?" Harry's eyes widen as he pulls back slowly, "Where ya be hurt?"

He snorts. Where wasn't he?

"Don't worry about it," He shakes his head slowly.

"No." Uma sighs as she scoots to the edge of the bed, "No, Harry and I are being selfish. Let's get a better look at you guys. Tend injuries and talk about what happened."

"Or, hear me out, we just all be selfish and bask in the fact we managed to all live through that." He shrugs before he turns to Gil and Deez.

"I vote that." Deez quickly chimes in before she tackles Uma.

"Seconded." Gil nods as he pulls them both back to him.

Uma and Harry exchange wary glances.

"Please?" Deez begs as she hugs herself to Uma, "I just want to let this be my real until the other real feels less real."

"What she said," He points to Deez.

Gil nods, "Yeah."

Harry frowns as he watches the group on the bed before turning back to him, "Aye, I suppose we can be lettin' things slide ah few more minutes like." He sighs before he tugs at the back of his hood, "Least ya can do be lettin' me play with yer hair."

T!

"Nope." He snatches the hood.

"Then ya can be talkin' with me ta soothe me nerves while I be looking ya over." Harry smiles far too pleasantly for his liking.

As much as I usually love that look-

His eyes narrow as he looks the boy over, "About how the next time we drink I can tell ya'll to fuck off when ya'll say four?"

That's not what I meant.

Harry glares, "The cove were destroyed and Uma be findin' evidence that were makin' us think two o' us be gone. And it were all I could be ah doin' ta hold onta the hope ya'd be comin' back ta us."

"Hey," He hisses as he holds his hands up defensively, "Just sayin' if I'd known drinking was an option- I would'ah been right there with ya. Probably. Maybe."

Harry sighs before he tugs the hood back enough to look him over, "Just, please. Please let me be playin' with yer hair, since we all be votin' selfish."

T...

"Whatever." He huffs as he drops his forehead back to Harry's chest.

He smiles as he slowly pulls the brush through T's hair, avoiding the tender place where his mate had obviously had a run in with something blunt and heavy.

Fucking T.

Still, he couldn't shake the smile.

It may have taken some persuasion, but here they were, rocking in the hammock together as he combed the worst of the tangled from the short red locks.

They were all alive.

A little battered, bruised, possibly concussed, but somehow-

Miraculously somehow, alive.

Sea gods be damned if he wasn't the luckiest bastard in the whole damn world.

He had a sleeping T's back pressed to his chest, and his eyes glued to the bed where Uma was still caressing Gil and Deez as they slept.

Sure, they'd all passed out far too soon for his liking, and was something that also seemed to concern Uma.

T and Gil were covered in scratches and bruises, but those weren't what worried him.

T looked like he'd gone a couple of rounds with Junior, what with the bruised jaw and busted lip. And his eyes were so dark he couldn't be sure if it was exhaustion or double shiners.

Add to that the dark smudges on his forehead once he finally got the hood out of his face.

He hadn't missed the way their Sweet Boy's eyes lingered on T's shoulder.

And strangely, Deez's too.

And there was no missing the giant bruised knot on their Sweet Boy's head.

He should have demanded explanations.

Demanded they let them tend to their wounds.

But, gods fucking dammit, he needed this just as much as they seemed to need it.

Needed to touch.

To see.

To know they were actually here and safe and whole.

He needed tonight.

Needed it to reassure himself this wasn't a dream.

Wanted to relish the relief.

Bask in the gratitude.

Feel fucking lucky.

Know it.

"Hard ta be belivin', aye?" He whispers, knowing Uma heard him when he sees her smile.

"Aye," She nods hesitantly, tearing her eyes away from Deez and Gil to rest on him. "I'd really thought-" She looks back down at the two as tears roll down her cheeks all over again.

"Aye, Love, same." He bites his lip as he looks down at the top of T's head.

The nightmare would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The utter defeat in Uma's eyes after the cove.

Her agonized screams every time they woke up.

The way they both called out for the ones they'd lost.

T-

He'd held on to a slivered shred of hope that T somehow made it through everything.

Desperately prayed to any god listening that T would make it back to him.

But, with the overwhelming grief, he'd known there was nothing he could do.

He couldn't leave Uma to go looking the Isle over for him, not when he didn't even know where to start.

It had been his secret agony.

It hurt like hell to feel like he'd lost Gil and Deez.

His brother.

His Baby Girl.

But the thought of losing T, and Faustina, was an entirely different pain.

Uma bites her lip her eyes linger on T before they return to the two on her lap as she sinks either hand into their hair. "How do you think they managed to find each other?" She whispers as she looks back at him, "I just-" She bites her lip before her eyes fall to T.

He frowns.

Ah. She was feeling it too.

The shame of not going out to find them.

The fact they'd given up after the cove.

Given into despair.

To drink.

To restless numbness.

Like fucking codfish.

This was probably the closest he would ever come to understanding his idiot of a father.

"They don'nah be seemin' to keen on the idea o' sharin'," He sighs, "do they?"

They needed to not dwell on the things they couldn't change.

Lesson learned.

They'd given up too fast.

He never wanted there to be a next time, but if there was one, he'd hold onto hope longer.

Her eyes drop to Gil, "I know…" She sighs. "It's not like our Sweet Boy to back them on something like this." She runs a hand through his hair. "He definitely has a concussion," She says softly.

"Aye." He sighs as his eyes drop to T, "So do this one."

She bites her lip, "And Deez has a sling wrapped around her shoulder…" She swallows, "Why would she have needed a sling?"

His eyes narrow, "I don'nah be knowin'." He admits with a frown, "But T be sporitn' one too."

Her eyes drop back to T, lingering on the dark bruise before she shakes her head. "I'm… I know we need to know, but part of me is scared to. To Know the things they faced out there," She admits.

"We can be ah learnin' it together, Love," He promises, "Talk as ah family. An' if we want ta, we can even give them the out if they don't want to talk about it." He sighs, "But you and I both know we need to know how they survived. Where they've been for-"

Fuck, how long had they been stuck in this gods forsaken nightmare?

More tears fall down Uma's cheeks.

"An we need ta be ah tellin' them 'bout the crew."

She takes a deep breath, her eyes lingering on T before she exhales.

"An' we need ta be plannin' our next move." He admits with a sigh.

Needing tonight or not, they had to figure out what they were going to do next.

Information.

Rumors.

Supplies.

They needed to take stock.

He closes his eyes.

They needed to know who else-

Survived.

Uma studies T for a moment longer before she meets his gaze, "I know…" She agrees. "I just- He can't go back to the Isle alone anymore, not when it's like this, and I know he's going to be a little asshole about it."

"Aye." He sighs, "So, we all be ah doin' it. Goin' to an from in groups an pairs."

She lets out a soul deep sigh, "We just got them back…"

"You be ah stickin' with our Sweet Boy and Baby Girl, I can be handlin' our Problem Child." He shrugs, "We can be gettin' Yensid and James in on it too."

"Aye," She nods.

"Actually, now I be ah thinkin' harder, maybe we be needin' ta be ah talkin' with the Old Man first like."

She's silent for a moment before she nods, "I agree, we're so out of our depths right now." She snorts, "Magic. Fuckin' magic."

"Right?" He shakes his head, "We don'nah be needin' another thing ta be ah fuckin' worryin' 'bout." he rolls his eyes before he looks around the room, "But, we are right? Worryin' 'bout it?"

"Aye, it definitely be somethin' ta be worrying about." She nods slowly before she eyes T again for a long moment and sighs. "Don't let him go tonight."

"Oh aye, I doubt I be ah lettin' 'im go anytime soon."

"Aye," She chuckles weakly, "I have no doubt 'bout that. Wrap 'round 'im tight is what I mean."

"Aye Cap'n."

He grins as he carefully shifts, putting away all his tools before he wraps his arms tight around T.

Easiest orders ever.

Fuck if this one wasn't a bitch to write.

Feelz is definitely Dark's department, and this chap was chock-full of them.

It was a fucking roller coaster.

At least for us.

Did you guys enjoy the ride?

Or did we let ya'll down?

There was a lot to unpack here.

And I certainly wouldn't want to be feeling the levels of guilt and shame Harry and Umes must be.

It's a lot. Especially for fucking teenagers.

Like seriously. Talk about traumatizing.

And we're only ten chaps in. Which lolz. If you think they've been through the ringer now, just wait to see what they have to deal with later. We don't hold back the punches in this one, that's for damned sure. So be prepared to be hanging on to the edge of your seats. It's definitely gonna be havin' your moods swinging.

Such is our hope anyway.

Still, it was cute right?

We figured everyone deserved some fluff after so many chapters of, well, not fluff.

Was the reunion everything you'd been hoping for?

Did we meet your expectations?

Or were you hoping for more?

Let us know!

Seriously you guys, let us know. We're driven by your feedback. And we want to make sure we're in top form for when we write our original story. So anything helps. If we're like dropping balls and shit- We need to know, and we're seriously relying on all of ya'll for notes.

Cause like, for real, the more we know the better.

And come on, if you're still with us- Which honestly, shook how dedicated ya'll are. This series is no fucking joke- And we have so, so, so, much more planned I'd hate to lose ya'll now.

No kidding guys, we've got at least six more of these bitches to go. So, yeah...

Much love and shit

-Twisted