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I nod, rolling toward him "I’m sure I want this, Eric"

"I know, but I’m your friend…I have to triple check"

I sh his "I know you are, but this is the best thing for ht now"

"And if he finds you over there?"

"Eric," I warn "Please don’t I have to believe I can changehis head "I’h so e, you’re super tough"

I laugh softly, but his statement isn’t so far froo, I had a nice happy faed My dad started going funny, and disappearing all the ti sweetly sounded like, and then one night he just left and I never saw hiain

I know my daddy was a bad ot sick two years after he left, and she died Eric was always ed to keep in contact with h foster homes Then I met Kane He was my foster brother in my last home, he was older than me, but I fell for hiood - until he started beating ht I snapped, and here I a closer to Eric

"Yeah," he says, nodding "I know"

And we leave it at that

Because there really is nothing else to say

We spend the rest of the day just chilling out Eric falls asleep in the afternoon, so I head up onto the deck and over to John’s navigation office I’m about to step in when I hear him on the radio

"Are they still in these waters?"

The radio crackles, and a voice can be heard over it "We haven’t seen the"

"I’ll turn my radar on, just to uests, and I don’t need pirates ju this a trip they won’t want to remember"

Did he just say pirates?

He turns and sees me at the door, and quickly ends the call

"Did you say pirates?" I ask, a little confused

"I did" He sighs "Unfortunately, we have occasional problems with them"

"As in ‘arrrr’ pirates?"

He looks confused, his eyes are narrowed and he’s shaking his head slightly "Yes"