Pirate Radio

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2

 "George. Wake up." It wasn't the usual kiss on the temple that woke him but a light shake of the shoulder.

"Uh- what's wrong?"

"It's Heth. He's upset." Ezra explained and it took George a moment to process it. So it wasn't time for his shift yet? And there wasn't a cup of tea waiting for him?

"What time is it?"

"Just passed midnight."

"Oh." George pushed himself up and slowly opened his eyes, which he'd successfully kept shut until that point. "Where is he?"

"Just outside."

George left the cabin and immediately spotted Heth standing awkwardly by the stairs. He'd cried, that was obvious enough, but he was also trying to hide it and kept dabbing at his eyes with his palms.

"What's wrong?" George asked, instinctively opening his arms for Heth to enter his embrace. "Where's Calvin?"

"We fought."

"You what now?" Heth and Clavin didn't fight. Ever. They sometimes had disagreements or intellectual debates but they never got upset with each other.

"We fought."

"What about?" Ezra who was still in the cabin caught George's eyes and gave him a concerned look but also tensed up like he was only still there because it would have been rude to just walk passed them or shut the door in their faces.

"Nina."

"You fought about Nina?"

"I fucked up and now he's mad at me." Heth sobbed. "He's mad at me, George, and so is Nina and I'm not sure how to make this better. How do I make this better?"

"Whoa, easy Heth. You have to start from the beginning."

"Oh. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So-" he stopped to take some time to get this breathing under control whilst George continued to hold him close. Ezra was looking at a file like there was nothing he wanted more in life then to read it cover to cover. George tried to send Ezra some sort of telepathic brain waves letting him know that he didn't need to be there. But like all the times he'd tried to unlock his secret telepathy as a kid, his efforts where in vain.

"Nina was upset." Heth managed to get out after a while. "I'm still not sure what about but when I asked her she got even more upset. I think it's the way I asked her. You know I get worried - "

"I know."

"I think I might have been overbearing and she ended up crying and I didn't know what to do and then Calvin started yelling at me and saying that I needed to be less intense with my concern and things like that. And I just don't know how to be less intense with my concern. But I don't want to upset Nina anymore and I don't want Calvin to be mad at me."

"Okay, Heth, mate, listen." George said taking a step back so he could look Heth in the eye. "Nina's hormonal. I mean, I'm not really sure how this pregnancy thing works but I figure she's probably going to start crying a couple of times before the baby get's here. But at the end of the day she loves you and he loves you and it's all good and well, yeah?"

"What if it's not good and well?"

"I promise it will be." It wasn't George who spoke. It was Calvin. When had he shown up? Why was George so bad at noticing when people showed up? Okay, so maybe that question was better left for another day. In that moment there where more important things to worry about, like the fact that Calvin straight up face planted after he took a step that just so happened to coincide with a studded sway of the boat. It wasn't' much of a sway, nothing drastic, but this was Calvin and George witnessing him trip over absolutely nothing on more then one occasion.