In Love with a Pirate

Everything is in his hands again

Claire Stirred as she finally came to, and was confused when she felt something soft and plush underneath her. She opened her bleary eyes and immediately recognized where she was...Silver's bed. She felt a surge of panic as she struggled to roll over into a more defensible position. Once she felt at least a bit more capable of defending herself, she glanced around the room and gasped when she laid eyes on Silver sitting in a chair by the bedroom door. With shaky arms, she pushed herself against the wall in an attempt to get any amount of distance between herself and him.

"Oh...relax lass, I t'ain't gonna hurt ya." He sighed, as he saw how banged up and desperate to get away from him she was.

"Just fixin' ya' up, t'ats all."

She became wide-eyed as for the first time since she woke up she realized her shirt was missing. Claire looked down at her bare but properly bandaged abdomen, and a blush formed on her cheeks. She quickly grabbed a blanket from his bed and covered herself with it as she trembled.

Silver watched her with great amusement and couldn't help but smile at her antics. Then he chuckled as she refused to look him in the eyes.

"Ya needn't be so shy lass. T'ain't like I haven't seen ya shirtless before." He smirked.

Claire just glared at him, but found herself feeling too exhausted to stay awake. As she felt herself start to drift off again, all she could think about was the baby. She had to make sure her little one was okay.

Silver noticed how bone-tired she looked, and decided that she should eat something after having had nothing for two days.

"Well, ya best 'ave some'tin ta eat while ya still can." Silver left for a moment, and then returned with a bowl of soup in his hand. He walked towards her but paused when he heard Claire trying to find the strength to say something.

"Hey...Sil--ver?"

"Aye?"

"I need you–to-Ch..check--the..." Her words slurred together as she closed her eyes.

"Don't ya worry about a t'ing, I already checked the rest of ya."

"...baby." She barely managed to get the last word out before sleep finally took her.

Silver was a little confused as he tried to interpret what she was talking about, but then...it hit him. That last word she said was baby, and the two of them had made plenty of opportunities to create one. He was in a mild state of shock as he first connected the dots, and he stared at Claire as he dropped the bowl of stock. She was pregnant? He...he was gonna be a dad. Wait...she lost a lot of blood, and got a pretty gnarly injury to her belly...was the baby okay?!

Silver snapped himself out of his trance, then ran to his med-kit and grabbed the stethoscope. He ran fast as his legs could carry him to get to Claire, then he slid to his knees and ripped the blanket off of Claire. He gently shifted her on her back at an incline and looked at her with worry in his eyes. He opened up her pants to expose her lower abdomen, where he then placed the chestpiece of the stethoscope, and listened intensely.

Nothing.

"No...Blast it!! NO!" He clenched his flesh hand in a fist as he continued to search for any signs of life in the womb.

What had he done? What had SHE done? His breathing picked up a bit as he could feel himself growing almost resentful. Why? Why would she be so careless if she knew that she was pregnant? Why would she do something so reckless...when she had so much to lose?

After what felt like a lifetime of fruitless searching, he heard the very faint sound of a tiny heartbeat.

*Thump-thump--thump-thump*