Chapter Text
The gunshot jars the smile right off Edward's face, but more is the screaming cry that he hears right after.
"Stede." He says, knowing the voice immediately. He drops everything and runs toward the sound. Stede is sobbing when Ed finds him. Just shaking and sobbing. Ed feels his heart all up in his throat at the sight. He sees the body too. That fucking admiral again. He sure looks dead. But Stede is still sobbing so Ed has to grab him to check.
"Are you hurt?" He demands and Stede screams again at the touch, struggling, wild. Ed gets an elbow to his face for his trouble. That was going to leave a hearty bruise, but he doesn't care. Just grabs Stede's face, such a good face shouldn't be all twisted up, and he shakes Stede gently. "It's just me, mate. Are you hurt?" He repeats.
Stedes eyes seem to focus on him at last. Ed can't help but feel relieved but Stede still looks completely stricken, tears covering his face. Ed gently wipes at them and Stede flinches… Ed feels his gut twist at that but tries not to take it personal.
"I'm not… Chauncey he… God he's right. Oh God. He is right… about everything.I’ve just been fooling myself." Stede babbles to an increasingly concerned Ed then he turns abruptly and vomits in a bush right beside the two of them. Ed winces a little but keeps a hand on Stede's back, rubbing gently. "Mary, I have to get to Mary."
He says and Ed feels an unpleasant jolt… Mary. There's that name again. After what he'd heard in the bunk today Ed had finally put together that it was Stede's wife… and really it was silly to be jealous of a woman Stede had literally left…
"Fuck okay… you lived here in Barbados right? She must not be far." Ed says and frowns, looking around. Thankfully it seemed like no one else had been drawn by the noise.
"Have to make it right… have to do something right for once in my life. I have to, I have to." Stede keeps babbling… he's in shock, Ed slowly realizes. He's seen shock do funny things to all sorts of people in his long career. He's seen them throw themselves off ships, walk right into a bullet or a blade. He wouldn’t let that happen to Stede. He would have to try to draw Stede out of it.
"Come on, you do plenty right… we can find Mary if you want. I'll come with you." He says immediately reorganizing his plans. Stede needed to see Mary right now, then that's what they'd do. China could wait… He didn't care where they went as long as he was with Stede.
Stede is looking at him again, staring. "Ed?" He asks finally like he's only just realizing it's him now. Then there are more tears immediately. “What have I done?” Ed reaches for him and Stede gasps like he's just been stuck with a knife but he doesn't flinch this time. Ed takes that as a good sign and draws Stede into his arms… God it felt good to hold him. Had anything ever felt this good? Of course it would be a lot better if Stede wasn't shaking and sobbing in his arms still.
Ed didn't know what that Chauncey guy had been saying to Stede before he shot himself but he sort of wished he was alive again so he could shoot him through the eye himself. Always outsourced the big job but for Stede he could make an exception. Stede was the exception for everything and the bitter-hot rage he feels thinking of the Admiral holding Stede at gunpoint tells him it wouldn’t be all that hard.
"Come on love, we've gotta get moving. The guards are going to loop around soon." He says and step by step he coaxes Stede into walking with him. He gets them out to a road but only long enough to check road signs and find their way to St Michael. Stede is clinging to him but now that his sobs have died he is, instead, shockingly silent.
Ed doesn't like it. Stede was not meant to have his words swallowed by brutality. Ed loved hearing Stede talk. Absolutely loved it, the man was a veritable fount of information… and so Earnest all the fucking time. Ed didn't know how he didn't get exhausted. This silent Stede was making him nervous… afraid. Ed has them stop just outside of town… the sun has come up now, painting the skies of Barbados lavender, then blue.
"Hey listen… they're probably gonna be looking for us, man." Ed says and he takes Stede's face in his hands, making the man look at him. "But they should think we took off from the dock, won't be expecting us here. Your house is around here, right? Got a place there we can hide?" Ed asks him, waiting patiently. Finally he gets a nod. It’s more than he’s gotten out of Stede the whole time they were moving.
Stede grabs Ed’s arm and starts pulling him along. He doesn’t need to look up at where he’s going now that they’re near the town. Ed starts to understand it’s because he’s traveled this way a thousand times. This is his home… just as much as The Revenge is. Suddenly he’s struck with just how little he knows about all this. Stede talked about anything and everything… but his wife? His Children? Barbados? He didn’t talk about that. Ed has no idea what he’s going to be walking into here.
A house begins to come into view… fuck not a house, it’s a bloody estate. Ed’s eyes widen as they get closer and the full scope of the place comes into view. It’s absolutely fucking huge. Stede just… lived here? Who the fuck needed all this space for four people? Ed stops his awe with a side of annoyance when he spots a smaller area near the main house, looks like a workshop. That would be good. He tries to start steering them that way. But Stede isn’t budging. He’s got that blank look on his face again and he’s walking right for the main house. A door with a pretty bit of stained glass above it.
“Stede no, we can’t just walk in there.” Ed insists and he tries to dig his heels in but Stede is stronger than he looks, or just in enough of a fugue state that he doesn’t notice the resistance. He’s dragging Ed along for the ride, mostly because Ed doesn’t want to hurt him by trying to stop him.
It had taken them a while to reach the house, the sun is up properly in the sky now and Ed can hear voices inside. Ed grabs Stede's wrist, trying to stop him but Stede just opens the door. The two of them stumble into the main hall, interrupting what looked like a little tea party.
"Darling…" Stede says and for one beautiful moment Ed thinks that he's the one being addressed. It feels like his heart tears a little when he sees that instead is the pretty brunette looking at Stede in shock. "I'm home." Stede finishes.
Ed is still clinging to Stede's wrist and he watches as the shock gives way to actual vomit coming from Mrs. Bonnet. Ed winces and all Mary's lady friends surround her immediately. Ed looks back at Stede and he very suddenly lets go of him. He bites the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste blood.
Stede must see him wince because he puts a hand on Ed's back, right between his shoulder blades. "Don't worry, Ed. This is my house… I'm just… I'm very tired." Stede admits and he takes two more steps before sort of slumping on to the bench in the hall.
"Shit, Stede." Ed hisses and helps him sit up against the wall. It's then he realizes they're both barefoot. It didn't really bother him much. Ed was used to things smarting a bit… Stede though, his feet were filthy and more than a little bloody. "Um…" Ed looks up at all the ladies that are still nearby. "Could we have a basin of water?" He asks.
"Who are you?" Mary demands even as she asks one of the other women to fetch a little water. She was take charge, Ed could appreciate that.
"I'm…" Edward hesitates… one doesn't tell a room full of British citizens that you are Edward Teach, notorious pirate, while you're on the run from the British crown. He looks at Stede for ideas but finds the man is slumped over, asleep. " Fuck, " he days very quietly the looks back. "I'm Edmund Thomas… Captain Bonnet's first mate." He says, literally just slapping names together. He always thought Edmund was a little cooler than Edward… may as well be an Edmund. Without the beard he could probably even get away with it. First mate was perfect. First mates did silly things for their captains… so he could grab Stede’s wrist and maybe help wash off his feet so he didn’t get sepsis… and not look, in front of Mary Bonnet, like he was desperately in love with her husband.
He feels a little sick with all this… with Stede out of character the whole way and now Stede here, asleep, leaving him effectively alone in completely foreign territory. But Ed was a good liar. Always had been. So he could lie for Stede. He’d do anything for Stede… He wasn’t sure Stede felt the same, but oh he wanted him to. But it wasn’t really important, Ed found… if Stede just let him stay around, absorb some of his light, maybe he could let that be enough.
Right now though… right now Stede had wanted to see Mary. Ed has to stop himself from reaching out, touching Stede’s face while he slept. Well they were here now. For better or worse. Ed jumps when someone is suddenly at his elbow. He finds it’s Mary with the basin of water. Ed swallows hard. She was nice looking… looked like she had some fire in her. He supposed he could see she was worth marrying. He bites his tongue against a sharp little stab of jealousy.
“I’ve never seen him in such a state.” Mary says and Ed clears his throat a little.
“Yeah… well it was a long walk here.” Ed says and he takes the basin and starts to clean Stede up. Himself as well. He wasn’t really fit for a house this fancy. “Sorry for breakin’ up your party.” He says and glances at the ladies only to find they were starting to trickle out the front door. Apparently while he’d been staring at Stede the others had decided to leave Mary to her guests.
“It was a meeting of widows actually.” Mary says a little stiffly. She’s looking at Stede like she’s going to throw up again and the jealousy gives way to a little annoyance. No one should look at Stede like that.
“Widows…” Ed says and then he looks very pointedly as Stede who has developed a soft quiet snore… god Ed wanted to kiss him again. This would be a really bad time for that. He should have kissed him on the road here. Maybe he could have coaxed Stede into the workshop instead. Could Stede be swayed with kisses? Christ Ed really wanted to find out.
“I assumed he was dead.” She admits. “He’s been gone more than six months… run off on a ship. I never thought…”
Well she had a point there. When Ed came across him he had no idea how Stede had survived as long as he did. Ed liked to think it was likeability. A few days with Stede engendered a sense of loyalty. At least… that’s how it had been for him. Wasn’t a month after they met that Stede burned down a ship full of frenchmen for the crime of wounding Blackbeard’s pride.
“Well tougher than his looks, isn’t he?” Ed points out. “I’d think you’d know that, you being his wife and all.” he says and finally finishes cleaning them both up, the water and cloth are filthy now.
“The Stede Bonnet I know is just as soft as he looks.” Mary says with her mouth twisting down in a frown.
“Then maybe you don’t know Stede Bonnet.” Ed says, and it is perhaps a little unfair. Stede being soft is one of the things Ed liked about him so much. He’d never met anyone like him. Soft and refined but also completely ridiculous and unhinged in the best of ways. Besides, Ed’s perhaps feeling a little petty. And there’s an angry little flash in her eyes that satisfies him.
“You -uh… Got a room I can take him up to?” Ed asks her, changing the subject before they can start exchanging barbs. Not that it didn’t sound like fun.
“I can get one of the stable hands to come up and help.” She insists, like Stede is heavy or something. Ed gives her a puzzled look.
“No, don't bother. I’ve got him.” he says. “Had to carry him before. First time he had a gut wound from some Spaniards.” he tells her. He’s not sure why, but it is funny how much her eyes widen. Ed stands and he scoops Stede up. His lovely blonde head lulls up onto Ed’s shoulder and Ed takes a moment to give him a soft look. “Lead the way?” he suggests to Mary.
“Oh… Right.” Mary says and she stands, dusting off her skirts and leading the way up the stairs to the master bedroom. Christ this was a big house. Ed had only ever seen the Carmody estate from a distance… he wondered if this place was like that.
-
Ed sets Stede down carefully on the bed. He hadn’t even stirred on the way up(god the bed was nice. It felt soft too when his arms had brushed against it. Like one of those fancy feather pillows). For a moment Ed just looks at him. He brushes back Stede's hair where it had fallen into his eyes, his fingers lingering near his temple. Then he hears the steps behind him and remembers that Mary is there. He jerks his hand away as if burned and looks back at her. His heart is hammering. She doesn’t look at him for long though. She’s still looking a little sick, but staring at Stede with confusion, then she shifts that confusion to Ed again.
“Guess there isn’t much to do but wait for him to wake up…” Mary says and she must have seen something from the cautious tone she’s taking. “You’re… Edmund then. First mate on the boat that my husband abandoned his family for.” She says it with more annoyance than bitterness, but he supposed he couldn’t fault her for that. If Stede had left him instead… he honestly isn’t sure what he'd do about it. He might just completely lose it. His heart actually clenches up at the thought. Then Mary just looks tired… and perhaps a little scared. “I’ll have the guest room drawn up for you.” She tells him.
“Guest room… right.” Ed says but he glances back down at Stede… he couldn’t just leave him. “Would it be alright if I stick around here until he wakes up?” he asks her cautiously. If she said no he was just going to sneak right back here though.
Mary stares at him for a long moment. “I… suppose. I can bring you up some tea for when he wakes.” She comments slowly, she sounds suspicious.
“Tea’d be great.” Ed says quickly. “You know St- Captain Bonnet loves his tea.” He says with a tight lipped smile. What did one say to the strained wife of the man you were in love with? The woman looked like she might start spontaneously developing gray hair from the shear stress.
“That’s true enough…” She says. “The children will be home this afternoon. I suppose they might want to see him.
The way she phrases that makes Ed a little uncomfortable. Who wouldn’t want to see Stede? Well… he supposed Mary didn’t seem too happy, but Stede had left her to live on a ship. But still… with the way Stede handled his crew, Ed couldn’t see him being a bad father. Ed certainly knew examples of bad fathers.
“I’m sure he’d like to see them too.” Ed says carefully. He wasn’t actually sure. Stede just hadn’t told him anything about his family really. He's seen pictures of course. Stede keeps those drawings of his kids and Mary over his mantle. On full display.
Another awkward silence falls between them and Ed doesn't know how to fill it this time. Finally Mary just gives Stede one long hard look then she leaves without another word.
"Well that's that then." Ed mutters to himself. He hovers then decides he can’t stand it anymore and he closes the door firmly and sits on the bed beside Stede's legs touching him. He has a flash of deja-vu as he rests his hand over Stede's. Ed rubs his thumb over the stone on Stede's ring. He was pretty in sleep… Ed noticed this about him when they first met. Which was ridiculous, Stede looked half dead then. Still Ed found him completely compelling.
“I’m going to need you to wake up, mate. I don’t have any idea how to handle this.”