Tilly stood by the railings of the Revenge watching Ed and Stede dual. They each had their swords drawn and they seemed to be moving through a well-practised series of steps. Ed stepped back on his left foot and Stede stepped forward on his right. They swung their swords towards each other and Stede used the momentum to push Ed's sword away with his own.

Stede lowered his sword and grinned at Ed, "How was that?" He asked,

Ed couldn't help but grin back with an equally bright smile, "It was good," he said, "You're getting better, you'll be a pro sword fighter in no time."

Stede handed his sword back to Ed as Tilly pushed off the railings and walked over to them,

"Hi Tilly," Stede greeted warmly, "Anything we can help you with?"

Tilly took a deep breath and turned to Ed, "I was wondering if you'd teach me to sword fight?" She asked.

Ed's eyes widened in surprised, "Oh, erm, Izzy would probably be better at that," he stuttered, "I mean he's a much better sword fighter than I am."

Tilly's face fell, "But you were just teaching Stede,"

"Ah, well, we were just messing around really, it wasn't a proper lesson. Seriously, you should ask Izzy,"

"I don't want Izzy to teach me, I want you,"

"Oh…well-"

"If I am going to be a pirate, I need to learn how to defend myself and I don't understand why you won't help me!"

"If it's just about defending yourself then you should stick to knife throwing. You've already made progress with Jim and it's better to get really good at one discipline than be passable to several."

Tilly stared at Ed for a moment, "Fine, if you don't want to spend any time with me you just need to say so." She turned on her heals and march across the deck. She was hoping she'd hear Ed call after her, but no such luck. She slumped down against the mast and slide to the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face in her knees.

"Are you alright?"

Tilly looked up to see Stede standing over her. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes; she hadn't even realised that she'd started crying, "I'm fine," she said,

"Okay," Stede nodded. Tilly appreciated him not mentioning the fact that she was blatantly lying.

Stede sat down on the ground next to Tilly, "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.

Tilly stayed quiet for a moment, "I don't understand why he doesn't want to spend any time with me," she said, "He said he'd help me and let me stay on the ship, but then he spends the entire time avoiding me!" Tilly ran her hand through her hair, "Maybe he just doesn't like our family, I mean he's spent his entire adulthood avoiding Mum! I guess at some point you have to conclude that he just doesn't want to spend time with any of us. I just thought, even though this situation sucks and scares the hell out of me, maybe the one good thing that could come from this would be that I'd finally get to know Edward, but then he just brushes me off like I'm some nobody, not his actual family!" Tilly turned to glance at Stede, who was still sat there just quietly listening to her, with a patient look of understanding on his face.

Tilly's eye's widened as it suddenly dawned on her exactly who she was complaining to, "Oh my god! I'm so sorry," she said, "I shouldn't be talking about Edward like that to you. He seems like he's very good to you,"

"It's okay," Stede said, "I am also this ship's Captain, and it is my job to keep my crew happy, even if that means listening to one of you complaining, rather justifiably so, about my boyfriend."

Tilly smiled at Stede, "Thank you," She said, "You're a good Captain,"

"Thank you. I'll talk to Ed, you're right, it really isn't fair that he's avoiding you."

Before Tilly could reply, they were interrupted by Olu walking over to them, "We're going to play a game of Swede Ball if you want to join us," he said,

"Swede Ball?" Tilly asked,

"It's a game we invented, come on, we'll show you."

Tilly smiled and got to her feet, "Sounds fun."

Olu turned to Stede, "How about you Captain?"

Stede pushed himself up, "No, thanks, I'm going to go find Ed." He left the crew, all loudly explaining the rules of their game to Tilly and made his way to the captain's quarters. He pushed open the door and walked in to find Ed sat on the bed surrounded by what appeared to be letters. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Ed jumped at the sound of Stede's voice, clearly not having heard him come into the room. "Nothing," he said, as he hurriedly gathering up the pieces of paper into a messy pile and turned to look at Stede.

Stede could feel his heart break as he took in the unshed tears shimmering in Ed's eyes. He frowned and sat down on the edge of the bed, "Are you okay?" he asked.

Ed sighed, "It's nothing, it really is,"

"Anything that upsets you isn't nothing,"

"I'm fine. I was just reading some old letters from my mum,"

"And that's sad?"

"Not really." Ed held out the pile of letters he'd just gathered up.

Stede looked at Ed for a moment before he took the pile and started to read the one on top:

Dear Edward,

After such a long and lovely summer, the weather has finally turned and it's starting to get cold. We even had the first frost last night. This, of course, means that work for Paul will be drying up for the year, as the ground will soon be too hard to dig, and the flowers will soon stop blooming.

However, business for my shop is only picking up, with everyone coming in wanting to get their winter clothes. Tilly has started helping me with the mass of orders, although I get the impression she would much rather spend all her time at the piano. The trouble is she has a fairly limited number of potential students, although the youngest girl up at the manor will soon be old enough to starting learning so hopefully Tilly will get to take her on.

How are you coping with the approaching winter? I don't suppose it gets cold for you out in the Caribbean but still, I assume there's some seasonal changes for you, even if it's just the type of ships you come across.

Thinking of you always,
Love
Mum
xxx

Stede looked back up at Ed, "I'm afraid I don't understand," he said, how could this sweet letter bring tears to Ed's eyes?

Ed sighed, "She's written roughly once a month for the last nine years,"

"Okay…"

Ed took a deep breath, "I ran away the day after I killed my dad. I assumed she'd forget about me and move on with her life. I guess she did move on, but she didn't forget about me. She kept looking for me, and she's not an idiot, she worked out that I was Blackbeard. Then one day she heard Blackbeard was in town and she came and found me. She introduced me to her new family, that's the one other time I've met Tilly, and when it was time for me to leave, she made me give her an address she could write to, so I gave her Jackie'z. I never expected her to write but then just a few weeks later the first letter showed up,"

"That's why Tilly knew to look for you at Jackie'z,"

"Yeah."

Stede looked down at the pile of letters he was still holding, "Do you ever write her back?"

"No,"

"Why not?"

"She doesn't need reminding that she has a pirate and a murderer for a son."

Stede wrapped his arms around Ed, "Oh Ed,"

"And now she's lost Tilly too." Ed rested his head on Stede's shoulder as a tear rolled down his cheek, "Mum deserves better than to lose both her children to piracy."

Stede pulled Ed tighter against him, "Pushing Tilly away isn't the answer though."

Ed turned his head and frowned at Stede, "What you mean?"

"You've been avoiding her ever since she's come aboard and she's noticed,"

"I wasn't…I just…I don't want her to become a pirate. She deserves better than that and I guess I just thought if I distanced myself from her then less of this was my fault."

Stede sighed and ran his fingers through Ed's hair, "None of this is your fault," he said, "Tilly is a grown woman, she is responsible for her own actions and if she wants to be a pirate there's nothing you can, or should, do to stop her."

Ed sighed and sat up, "She doesn't want to be a pirate though, she's just running away from her problems."

Stede took hold of Ed's hand and squeezed it, "That's still for Tilly to figure out, not you, all you can do is support her here and now."

Ed didn't say anything for a while. He just sat there in Stede's arms. "I don't know how to be a brother," he said eventually,

"What do you mean?" Stede asked,

"Just that," Ed replied, "I have no idea what brothers are meant to do. I'm her older brother on paper only. I've never had to actually be her big brother before, and now I do, I've been fucking it up,"

"You haven't-"

Ed turned and glared at Stede, "I have been fucking it up, you literally just told me as much."

Stede paused for a moment "I never had any siblings," he said carefully, "But I think being her brother means just being there for her,"

"And how do I do that?"

"You don't try and stop her from being a pirate. You let her make her own decisions, you just help her with the ones she's already made."

Ed turned and smiled at Stede, "When did you get so wise, and I get so lucky?"

Stede smiled back at Ed, "I'm not the only one who's wise and you're not the only one who's lucky."

Ed leant forward and kissed Stede, "The fact I can do that makes me the luckiest person alive," he said.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash from outside the cabin. Ed and Stede looked at each other, then jumped to their feet and hurried out onto the deck.

They emerged to see Pete lying on the deck surrounded by the remains of what looked like a broken barrel.

"Okay, I think that's enough of Swede ball for now," Stede said,

"Ohh, Captain," Roach complained,

"Pete, are you alright?" Stede asked,

"Yeah, I'm fine," Pete said, pushing himself to his feet.

Lucius pouted, "Are you sure you don't need kissing better?"

"Welllll, now you mention it I do feel a bit sore."

Lucius grinned and took hold of Pete's hand, and the two of them hurried off below deck.

"Tilly, could I talk to you please," Ed said as the crew dispersed.

Tilly looked at him in surprise, "Yeah, sure." She walked over to him and the two of them headed over to the side of the ship.

"Do you still want to learn how to sword fight?" Ed asked,

"Are you offering?"

"Yes."

Tilly jerked backwards slightly in surprised, "Wait, really?"

"Yes,"

"Then yes, I'd love that."

Ed smiled at her, "Tomorrow morning on deck. We'll begin then."