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“So, when were you planning on telling me you were pregnant?” Edward asks, casual as anything between puffs of his pipe, leaning back in his chair with his boots kicked up on the desk as Izzy takes his usual place in front of him after being summoned.
“What?” Izzy croaks, his eyes going wide. The subtle action is more telling than any verbal denial, but Edward can tell Izzy is going to try to scrape one together anyway, so he cuts him off.
“You quickened today, didn’t you? Saw it, the way your eyes went all wide and you tried not to touch your stomach out there on deck,” Edward explains, taking his boots off the desk in favor of leaning forward now, “I know what happens on my fucking ship.”
Izzy stumbles over his words, only managing an, “Edward, I…” before Edward interjects again.
Edward’s eyes narrow, meeting Izzy’s for too brief a second before Izzy tears his gaze own away. “Answer the question, Izzy.”
“I wasn’t,” Izzy finally admits, unable to look at Edward as he says the words.
“Hmm,” Edward puffs on his pipe thoughtfully for a moment before continuing, “Bit late to get things taken care of quietly, mate."
Izzy continues to look pained and decidedly not look at Edward. “I know.”
“So what was the plan?” Edward questions, “Going to leave me high and dry with no explanation when you went into confinement? Bit of a shit thing for a First Mate to do to his Captain.”
“I wouldn’t be away long. Couple of weeks, maybe,” Izzy tries to explain, “Didn’t see a need to bother you with it. Take to land when I’m due, have the babe, meet back up with the ship as soon as possible.”
Of the two of them, Izzy isn’t the master planner, but usually he has much better thought through ideas than this, and Edward can’t help but frown as he tries to figure out what is going on. “Iz… did you know you were expecting before today?” he asks carefully.
Izzy very briefly looks at Edward, sees the way Edward’s eyes soften, like he’s giving Izzy an out, before having to look away again. “No way of knowing, of course, but I suspected,” he answers, his voice small.
The frown on Edward’s face deepens, and the gears in his mind turn, trying to figure out what it is about the situation he is obviously missing, until Izzy interrupts him by speaking again.
“Look, you know now. I can make arrangements. It won’t affect my duties,” Izzy huffs, already turning toward the door, clearly ready for the questioning to be over and expecting to be dismissed.
Edward does Izzy no such favor of dismissing him, instead pinning him in place with his stare, looking him up and down before finally asking, “Who’s the other father?”
Izzy pales at the question and takes a moment to gather his words before answering, “I don’t see how that’s your fucking business.”
Something flashes in Edward’s eyes. He stands, coming around the desk to step closer to Izzy, make Izzy look upwards at him. “Well, being your Captain,” he says firmly, “I think it is very much my fucking business to know who the hell knocked up my First Mate.”
“Edward-” Izzy huffs, starting out angry but by the second syllable it becomes pleading.
“Izzy,” Edward growls, leaning in, letting Izzy know there will be no mercy given here.
For a brief second, Izzy finally meets Edward’s gaze. “You.”
That makes Edward pull back, eyes wide in shock. “What?”
“You heard me.” Izzy says, his voice forced into something approximating firm and steady.
“I think I didn’t hear right,” Edward says carefully after a brief moment to pull himself together, his voice tight, narrowing his eyes at Izzy, “because it sounded like you said I’m the one who got you pregnant.”
Izzy takes another moment to steel himself before nodding, not backing down. “That’s right.”
The look on Edward’s face fades to confusion then, brow furrowed and mouth twisted into a frown as he leans in again, as if to get a closer look at Izzy and have something that makes this make sense revealed to him. “How?”
“Think you know how, Edward,” Izzy snaps, even as he crosses his arms in front of his stomach as if to protect it as Edward looms over him.
Edward shifts backward as he realizes that Izzy feels threatened by the proximity, his own stomach rolling as he pushes a brief flash of memory out of his mind. “You’re sure it’s mine?” he asks when he feels like he isn’t going to be immediately sick.
“I know who I let fuck me,” Izzy snaps again before his voice goes softer, his arms settling at his sides again, “Could only be yours.”
All Edward can do is look at Izzy, eyes zeroed in on his stomach where Izzy’s vest betrays nothing, covering any swell that may be there, before looking back up to Izzy’s face, Izzy’s eyes once more averted. “What?” he murmurs, the gears in his mind turning, trying to figure out why in the world Izzy is standing in front of him pregnant with his child and far enough along to have quickened.
Izzy meets Edward’s eyes again, desperate and ashamed. “What do you want me to say?”
“You’re having my baby, Iz!” Edward huffs in frustration, not understanding anything going on in his First Mate’s head, “Why?”
“I didn’t fucking plan it,” Izzy assures, as if that is what Edward is looking for, “Thought it couldn’t happen.”
“But then it did…” Edward’s thoughts swirl, thinking back to the times in the last few months that he consulted Izzy on if and when they should make port, the times they did make landfall and he sent Izzy to fence goods and resupply. If Izzy didn't want to be pregnant, there had been opportunity for him to not be. “...And you want to have it?”
Izzy almost starts to answer before seeming to think better of speaking, instead biting his quivering lip and giving Edward a rough nod in reply.
That seems to surprise Edward even if it was the only conclusion he could come to himself; he'd mostly expected to be refuted, for Izzy to have some other reasoning. He can’t help but question aloud again, “Why?”
It takes a moment for Izzy to release his lip and take a breath, though his voice still cracks when he begins to speak. “Because it’s yours.”
“What?” Edward presses, beginning to move closer again before aborting the motion as to not crowd Izzy as he did before.
“I know it is fucking ridiculous,” Izzy says, his voice still tight but a bit more resigned than anything else, “Having a babe can be a death sentence in the best circumstances, and I didn't even have any fucking idea how I was going to hide it in the end. But you're… you. And I couldn't listen to my own good fucking sense to let it go.”
Normally, Izzy isn’t a hard read. He isn’t one to complicate things and speaks directly. But right now, Edward is looking at Izzy as if his first mate has three heads. Izzy having three heads would probably make more sense to him in this moment, would have some explanation that Edward could fathom and would at least lead him to simpler questions than the, “What do you mean ‘I’m me’?” that tumbles out of him.
Izzy gives Edward a look, incredulous that Edward doesn’t already know what he means, but the confusion stays apparent on Edward’s face and Izzy’s expression fades to something half pleading to not make him say it aloud for a moment before he finally gives in. “You’re brilliant, Edward. And beautiful. And I…” he stops himself for a brief moment before gathering his words again and continuing, “And if I'm going to bring something into this fucking shithole of a world, I could do worse than more of that, I guess.”
Edward gets the feeling that isn't what Izzy had been going to say before he stopped, but he can’t think too hard about what Izzy was going to say or it might drive him mad, so instead he just continues to stare at Izzy, taking the sight of him in again, as if he missed something the first time, all the thousands of times he’s glanced at him. “You're having my baby…” he finally says, more of a statement than a question, even if he can’t really wrap his head around the idea.
“I'm sorry,” Izzy finally blurts out, his voice tight again, an arm crossing protectively over his stomach once more, “I should have never… I can… still take care of it. We’ll need to make port a little sooner than planned, but-”
As soon as Edward realizes what Izzy is saying, he cuts him off. “No!”
Izzy pauses, looks at Edward, it now his turn to be utterly confused. “No?”
“No, I don’t want you to do that,” Edward assures, almost surprising himself as much as Izzy with the statement. He’s never thought about having a family before, never assumed it was something that could happen for him. He doesn’t even really know if he wants to be a father, if he could manage to be less of a fuck up than his own, but the idea of Izzy having his child fills him with a warmth that makes him think he could try. “I don’t want you to… I- I want you to have it.”
“You want me to have it?” Izzy asks, his words slow, like he can’t believe he is saying them.
Edward nods. “It isn’t a fucking order, mate,” he clarifies quickly, “Little outside standard First Mate duties.” He steps closer again, his movements slow and deliberate so Izzy could stop him as he reaches out to touch him, continuing, “But… yeah. I think I do.”
As Edward advances, Izzy stays stock-still, unflinching as he allows his Captain to touch him, Edward putting a hand first on his hip and then sliding it up, beneath his vest. There’s nothing of note beyond the barest swell and a slight firmness to Izzy’s abdomen,the movements within him not so strong as to be felt from the outside yet, but Edward keeps his hand there and smiles as if he’s touching something wonderful. Izzy can’t help but echo the expression, tears welling in his eyes as he relaxes into the touch. “Having your fucking babe,” he huffs in a laugh, like he is realizing the ridiculousness of it, though his voice is thick, “Gonna have to figure out a safe port, find someone to care for ‘em, all that.”
“We’ll manage. Make a plan. Always do,” Edward assures, keeping his hand on Izzy’s stomach, thumbing over it through Izzy’s shirt, still awed by the idea of what is growing beneath his touch. “Having a little one can’t be much worse than running a whole ship.”
“We’ll see,” Izzy sighs, skeptical but undeniably fond.
Edward’s eyes shift from where his hand still rests beneath Izzy’s vest upward to meet Izzy’s gaze, and he can’t help but smile almost giddily, the way he does when he’s about to pull off a hell of a fuckery. “Yeah, we will.”