Uma pauses when she hears a soft, but unmistakably familiar laugh.

Deez?

Her brow furrows as she looks around.

She was nowhere near the forge-

Could her Baby Girl be feeling better?

And if she was feeling better-

She takes off down a side tunnel and slides to a stop.

What the-

She could've sworn this tunnel was a dead end, but there was no denying the soft blue shadows of her Baby Girl's fire pouring out from halfway up one of the walls.

Huh.

What had Deez-

She frowns as she gets on her hands and knees and follows the light through the small entrance, only to find Deez and Daniel huddled up together.

Smiling.

They were both smiling.

Damn.

She hadn't thought about the thing in months, but what she wouldn't give for T's camera.

"Hey Uma." Deez greets as she continues to write in a notebook on her lap.

Daniel looks up with a smile as he taps his fingers to his head in a salute.

"Oh, that's Uma."

Daniel nods.

"The last conversations makes way more sense."

He snorts.

She chuckles as a knot in her chest loosens.

Deez was smiling.

Writing.

It was almost as if nothing had changed.

"So, were you ever going to tell us about this hidey hole?"

"T already found it." Deez frowns as she looks up, "sorry, at this point if someone finds out, I assume everyone knows."

"Wouldn't that be lovely."

She wished.

"I should have gotten you after Daniel used the ointment on me, but he said he likes to write too, so-"

She blinks, "wait-" she turns to Daniel, "you can write?"

Daniel gestures to himself and then to the rest of the cave before he throws his hands in the air.

"That's fair. If no one asked, you can hardly be blamed."

Daniel nods with a small 'hmph'.

"Look at this," Deez passes her a sheet of paper.

She settles on her legs before looking over the writing in front of her.

Her eyes dart up, meeting Deez' knowing gaze, before she looks down again.

Daniel's handwriting was beautiful.

Almost as beautiful as-

Nope.

There was no fucking way-

But-

How the hell else-

Were they related?

Cousins or-

Maybe half siblings?

Had Faustina's mother been from the ring? Or something like it?

"His parents taught him about medicine, so we're super lucky to have him. Also, he's really funny. And-" she rummages through the trove next to her before she picks something up and thrusts it in front of her, "look!"

She looks down at the rope in her hand. It was the same kind of knot they'd learned from Smee when she first got her ship.

"His dad taught him that."

She turns and studies Daniel.

This was getting-

Weird.

Well, weirder.

Everything about Daniel kinda was.

Even the boy himself was peculiar.

Too smart for everyone's good.

Too familiar to be a true stranger.

Her eyes narrow before she turns to Daniel, "was your dad a sailor or something?"

Daniel grins widely as he bobs his head, yes, then proceeds to point to her hat and then sword and holds up a hook.

She blinks.

"Wait-" she frowns, "your dad was a pirate?"

Daniel nods.

She frowns as questions flood her.

Oh, god. It was like with T all over again.

Every time she floundered her way through one answer, several more questions took its place.

Like, Frollo-

There was no way in fuck that Frollo had produced two offspring that looked nothing like him, Harry's siblings all had their dad's eyes even if nothing else was similar.

She takes a deep breath.

Her millions of questions would have to wait. For now, it was enough that Faustina, T, and Daniel were here.

Her's.

She smiles as she ruffles Daniel's hair.

He was their Little Demon now.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Baby Girl. At least," she eyes the notebooks and stack of papers, "that's what I hope this means."

Deez taps her pencil against her lips before she looks up, "this is where I want to be, if that helps. Here, with my family."

Her chest fills with warmth as her lips curve into a wide smile, "I'll take it."

Deez had dodged the question, but she at least hadn't tried to lie about it. Something she knew Gil was sure to be proud of.

"I'm not ready yet, but I'll talk when I am."

She blinks, "you-"

She wanted, so badly, to say that she didn't have to but-

"Only when you're ready."

They both grin when Daniel nods firmly, but continues to happily write as if he finally didn't have a care in the world.

Nothing.

Not so much as a nibble.

He glances at Gil, for either of them.

He knew it was bad.

"We ain'nah exactly usin' good bait-" he says as he pulls the net in, trying to keep the worry from his voice.

Not that he'd ever been able to pull one over on his family.

"But we still should'ah caught somethin' by now…" Gil frowns as he casts another net. "Think it's her?"

He bites his lip as he looks out over the surface of the water.

Her.

Ursula.

"Ain't great we haven't seen so much as a tentacle." Gil studies the waves in concern.

"Aye, but Uma would be ah feelin' her if she be gettin' close like. Yensid be ah teachin' her the spell for it."

"Yeah…" Gil agrees slowly, "still… I don't know. We never talk about it. Which we shouldn't. But, was jus' thinkin' if she has anything to do with it."

"She might. Just cause she ain'nah been 'round don'nah be meanin' she ain'nah bein' out there."

"Yeah," Gil agrees solemnly.

"Why don'nah we be ah checkin' the traps?" He offers as he settles his net, "no point in wastin' energy if the fish ain'nah bitin'."

"Can't argue that." Gil nods as he ties off the nets' anchor before he starts heading to the first trap.

He tilts his head to the side as he watches Gil.

The tightness in his shoulders.

The thoughtful furrow of his brow.

The way his hands flexed at his sides.

Yep, something was bothering their Sweet Boy. Bothering, and pissing him off.

He was pretty sure he knew at least one reason Gil was angry.

Which, when it came down to it, might actually be two.

Senior. And, most unfortunately, Faustina.

And he could only imagine how upset he was over Deez.

It hurt to see her finally wake up, only to run off.

He takes a deep breath before he follows after Gil.

"Anythin'?" He asks as he walks to his side.

"Not worth eatin'." Gil gestures to the five meager fish.

"Well, we could be ah tossin' them in the shallows that be making pools. Keep 'em ta be eatin' later."

Gil nods as he tosses the trap back in the water before he goes to grab a bucket.

"Ya be ah wantin' ta talk, Mate?"

"'Bout what? The prick plaguing us? Angel betraying us? Or my Treasure running away and not being able to see if she's alright? Or the fact we're running out of food?"

"Aye, any one o' those be ah good topic ta be ah talkin' 'bout."

Gil rolls his eyes as he dumps the trap into the bucket, "anything ya can do ta change any of it?"

"We be ah workin' on the food end o' things-"

Gil snorts. "Yeah, that's where I'm at with it, too."

"Mate," he grasps Gil's shoulders, "be ah takin' a breath. Our Treasure be awake now."

Gil glares at him for a moment, before he looks away and takes a deep breath. "You're right." He agrees after a moment. "But did it have to be him?"

"Look-it, I ain'nah bein' happy over the how neither, but I be ah thinkin' me Pirate Princess be doin' something crazy desperate like 'cause we all be gettin' crazy an' desperate like. An' it be workin'."

"I don't like it."

"Nooooo-one be ah likin' it Sweet Boy," he gestures grandly all around them, "but it be bein' what works, so now we be ah movin' on ta the next problem."

"That actually helps," Gil admits with a sigh.

"An' if ya be really worryin' like," he looks around, "we be ah given' her time, why don'nah ya be ah goin' ta find her. Ya be ah havin' ah way with helpin' her calm down like."

Maybe that would help Gil too.

"But Uma said-"

"Ya be teachin' me how ta be handlin' this, go be ah findin' the Treasure."

Gil stares at him for a moment skeptically, before he grins, "I'mma tell Uma ya said that!" He yells over his shoulder.

"I think Uma be understandin', Mate." He whispers as he watches Gil leave.

He turns back to the traps.

Best he keep the breeding pools a complete secret, anyway.

It was one thing to suggest holding on to fish until they were big enough to eat. But they weren't sure how Deez and Gil would handle knowing they were going to raise fish in caged water.

Poor bastards.

He didn't really like knowing he was keeping something trapped either, but it was that or starve.

And he'd be damned if he was letting one person get sick like that.

Permission.

He'd been waiting for what felt like hours to go check on his Treasure.

It had fucking killed him.

Not that he didn't understand.

Deez had to be overwhelmed-

And when his Treasure was overwhelmed, she ran.

Ran, and hid.

He knew that.

Knew he'd done a bad job at containing his concern. There had just been so much going on-

But that was the point, wasn't it?

If it had been a lot for him-

He grimaces, yeah.

Damn it.

He sighs as some of his anger towards his troublesome Angel dissipates.

"Treasure?" He prompts as he walks into their cavern, "you here?"

He frowns at the silence before he goes to check the forge.

After finding it empty though, he grows concerned.

Shit, where was she?

And did she know her father was still here?

He frowns as he starts running.

Where was Deez?

"Here."

"Treasure!" He turns and grins as he races to sweep her off her feet and crush her to his chest.

His eyes narrow as he tightens his grip on her.

She was up.

She was talking.

So why was she still freezing to the touch?

He shuts his eyes as he shakes away the thought.

They could figure out what was wrong with her later.

Right now all he cared about was-

"Sorry," Deez whispers before she takes a slow breath.

"Shit," he immediately loosens his grip on her, "sorry. Sorry. That was stupid." He presses his forehead to her, "you okay?"

"Daniel put some of Fasutina's ointment on everything, so it feels a lot better." She looks down and flexes her scared hands, "just weird."

Daniel? Daniel had tended to Deez?

How?

He shakes his head, "oh," he sighs in relief, "still, sorry. I just-" he nuzzles against her head, "I was worried about you."

Deez bites her lips, "I know. I'm sorry I ran, I just-"

He shakes his head, "stop." He kisses her forehead, "just stop." He pulls back to meet her gaze, "that was on me, I should've let ya go sooner. You just woke up, and it was a lot at once. I get it. And I'm sorry I didn't help." He states quickly before any of her darker thoughts could settle..

He freezes when Deez puts a hand over his mouth, "your turn to stop." She whispers, "because you did help. I just, don't trust myself right now. So when I couldn't feel anything, I just, needed a moment."

He kisses her hand, "I know you did, I'm not upset you needed some time, I'm upset that I needed to be reminded to give it to you."

Deez chuckles, "we're going in circles."

He grins, "just gotta make sure it sinks in."

She shakes her head as she slowly hugs his arm. "Okay."

He smiles down at her, "so, what are we doing?"

"Daniel and I were writing-"

He grins with the fluttering in his stomach, "you're writing!?"

He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Deez write something outside of meetings-

What had gotten her back to it-

Wait.

"Daniel can write?" He tilts his head to the side.

Is that what got his Treasure writing?

Their Little Demon?

"Yes, very well, actually." Deez grins up at him, "I've learned a lot about his family. They're the ones who taught him about healing herbs and patching people up."

Huh, that was-

His brows knit together.

There was something there. Something important. He could just feel it, but for the life of him he couldn't put his finger on it

"Cool," he grins. Whatever got her smiling like this was gold in his book. "Interestin' hobby ta teach a kid."

"He knows a lot of things like that." Deez takes another deep breath as she drops her hands.

He chuckles as he nudges his chin against her head, "why don't you get back ta writin'? I can work on Uma's anklet. I just-"

Felt better in her presence.

"-missed you."

"I'd really like that." Deez nods before she lays her head against his chest.

It was crazy to him how such a simple action could melt away his fears.

Awwwww-

What a fluffy chapter!

Though to be fair the next chunk of chapters are pretty light with the Fam celebrating Deez's waking up-

-And us going insane with all of the going ons' surrounding it.

What are your thoughts about Gil's state in this one?

I'm personally worried about all of them, but Gil is the only one pissed at other members of the fam-

Shockingly, or not, specifically his Angel-

Lots of irony surrounding that one.

Happy D is back to writing?

Find it surprising Daniel can write?

The Fam's getting pretty damn suspicious about T/Daniel/Faustina's relations… Who do you think is going to point it out with confidence first?

Much love and appreciation

-Twisted