The Thrill Of You

Chapter 15

Stede's POV

"Chill out, mate, I didn't want to cover anything brightly colored in blood, the floor is basically black. So if any blood drips, hardly noticeable," Ed mumbled coarsely, his arm moving to make sure I knew he wasn't dead. I let out a sigh of relief, closed the door, and lit another candle to see what I was doing. "I'm not waking Roach for something like this, he already has to wake up early to cook breakfast," I told Ed, sitting down and putting out all of the supplies.

"Mate, I think it'd be in our best interest to wake Roach," Ed told me, though I looked right at him, seeing him lift his head and seeing him shrink back. I knew what face I was making, and it was to be sure he knew that I was serious about not waking Roach. "Turn onto your right, and take off the jacket, I can work around the shirt," I muttered, seeing him do so as I sterilized a needle to sew up both sides to his body. Ed lied there on his side with his back turned toward me, which I didn't mind seeing as the exit wound looked worse than it had been on the front.

"Bite down on something, this is going to sting," I warned as I held a towel with what had some ointment to keep the wound clean so no infection would grow. "I'm Blackbeard, I don't need- oh, for fuck's sake!" I heard him scream out as I put the towel to the wound, knowing that it was a dick move, but I wasn't taking flack from him. "Was," I sadly murmured, being more gentle now as I cleaned the flesh wound. I felt tired as I started to gently sew him up, muttering to myself about how the wound looked like there was just ripped up the skin. I cut the thread, giving the wound a little dab to clear up any leftover blood that leaked, and took a once-over to look to make sure it was sewn right.

"Gently flip over to face me, please," I sighed, carefully guiding him so as not to open the stitches on his back. I got sight of the wound, humming a bit before I looked at Ed. He was looking ahead to my left, a blank expression set across his darkened features, seemingly in deep thought. "Stinging," I warned simply, gently putting a different towel with the same ointment to prevent cross-infection against the wound, but his face didn't change, his body only tensed up a little.

The small action had pushed out more blood, and I grabbed a different towel to clean it up. "Ed, you're going to have to limit movement and such, the sword went in at an angle," I told him, grabbing the needle and sewing him up as carefully as I could. Dabbing at the last bit of blood that soaked the stitches and looking at my work. "... How'd you know how to do that?" Ed asked, laying on the ground as I gathered the supplies, leaving the bandages for last of course, and putting the blood-soaked ones in a bin.

"... It may seem like I had a merry-go-lucky childhood, but- boys will be boys. Didn't want my father to know, so I kept a kit in the barn. Push comes to shove, you figure out how to stitch a wound in a pinch," I whispered, helping Ed up to stand. I let him rest against the wall, grabbing the bandages from the table quickly. I folded his shirt up a bit so as not to get his shirt caught in the bandage, wrapping it around with ease, seeing as I didn't have to do this to my own leg once more.

"I'm... I apologize, Stede, I didn't know, I shouldn't have pushed that far," Ed whispered, his jacket hitting the floor and he was leaning against the beam for support. "It's fine, Ed, but now you just have to be careful... But thank you," I whispered back, sighing as I put the garbage with the bloodied towels. I helped Ed to the closet so he could change out of his pants, standing outside to make sure he didn't need any help or God forbid that he fell.

Though as I heard the door starting to open, I scampered away quietly in the door, hiding away a bit and sitting on the couch as if nothing happened. "Stede?" I heard Ed's voice echo a bit, even though his words were hardly that of a whisper. "Sitting on the couch," I told him, seeing a silhouette pass by the window before feeling the couch sink in a bit, knowing that Ed sat beside me. "I... I couldn't sleep. You know- before," Ed confided, laying back against the backing of the couch. "Oh, dear, that's... Not very helpful," I responded, though I was sure it was less than helpful, but I had no idea how to respond otherwise.

"Yeah, I guess sleep deprivation isn't the right headset to ask... 'Stab me'," Ed told me, to which I nodded and looked at Ed. The moonlight, which I'm sure was soon to be reaching the full moon, was casting over his face a bit, his beard's gray strands standing out with the dim white light. "I'd guess not... Is there anything that will help you sleep?" I asked, keeping my gaze on him as he turned more toward me. "Just gonna try to sleep, don't worry. I'm sure the stab wound would have taken a bit of stamina," Ed reassured me, slowly sitting up and getting up by himself.

"Well, you said something of an errand run, you need your sleep," Ed told me, wincing once he finally stood up properly. I nodded, standing up as well and sighing as I stretched, feeling the weary feeling wash over me as I wanted to sleep. "As do you," I whispered, knowing full well that he wasn't attending our errand, considering he couldn't get up without wincing, imagine how difficult it would be to hide. He needed rest to heal though, and that was more than enough reason to sleep.

Getting to the bedroom, I let Ed sleep next to the window, seeing as I would need to slip away in the morning. I grabbed my nightgown, and went to the bathroom, before heading back to the room for a quick second. "Be right back, terribly uncomfortable sleeping in pants," I told Ed, hearing a hum as his response as he eventually settled on sleeping on his back. I proceeded to go to the bathroom, undress, and stand there basically naked, but after putting on my nightgown, I grabbed my clothes and went back to the room.

I threw my clothes into my closet, planning on dealing with it in the morning when I was to dress. I slid under the covers, got situated, and sat there for a few minutes before I had an idea. I scooted closer to Ed, not having a long way to go with the size of the bed, but as soon as I was close enough to hear his soft breathing clearly, I rested my head against his shoulder. I barely put my foot over his, trying to let him know that he was safe so he could sleep. "Good night," I whispered, smiling as I got comfortable and hearing Ed hum back in response. As time went by, I heard his soft snoring, smiling yet again before falling asleep myself.