Jora watched them with her arms crossed and a brow arched high, though the effort to keep a straight face was already beginning to crack. That innocent look Sage wore was criminal, and Lyra's wide-eyed, grinning agreement only sealed the farce.

“Oh, no, of course not,” Jora drawled, dry as the sun-baked cliffs. “Clearly I imagined the trail of crumbs leading directly to you both. My mistake.” She let out a mock sigh and turned to the counter, swiping up a bit of leftover bread and popping it into her mouth with exaggerated indignation. “You’re both lucky I don’t throw you in the brig.”

But she couldn’t keep it going—not really. Not when they both looked at her like that. Like home.

At his pirate comment, she rolled her eyes and laughed. “Please. I’d have stabbed his wig right off before he got through one dinner toast,” she said, grinning over her shoulder. “Besides… I don’t think anyone but you could’ve talked me into a life like this. Chaos and sugar crimes included.”

The teasing about the jungle earned him a half-hearted slap on the arm as she rejoined him. “A quarter my ass,” she scoffed, laughing. “I still find leaves under the rugs.”

But then she was in his arms, and all of it—the crumbs, the jokes, the memories—blurred into something softer, something real. She rested against him fully, head tilted up to meet his gaze as he took her hand and kissed it, and something in her chest tightened the way it always did when he looked at her like that. Like she was everything.

And she knew—knew exactly what he meant even when he said nothing.

Their kiss was warm, familiar, grounding. When their foreheads touched, she let her eyes fall shut for just a second, breathing in the quiet between them.

“You’re lucky?” she murmured, a smirk creeping onto her lips again as she opened her eyes. “I’m the one who got stuck with the softest damn pirate in the ocean. What a scam.”

But her tone was fond, teasing only on the surface.

She brushed a hand along his jaw, gentle. “I love you, Sage. You and your stolen bread and jungle feet and bad dreams. All of it. All of you.” Her voice dipped quieter. “You don’t have to try so hard, you know. You’re already everything we need.”

Jora narrowed her eyes at the pair of them as Sage swept crumbs away with all the grace of a guilty child and Lyra immediately joined in his little “shhh” conspiracy. Her expression wavered—fighting off a smirk—but she raised a single brow and deadpanned, “You two are the worst criminals I’ve ever seen.”

She grabbed a cloth and wiped down the spot they’d so slyly “cleaned,” muttering, “And the messiest.”

When Sage suggested aiming for the chest instead of the wig, she let out a laugh. “Right, right. Gotta make it count. One strike and gone before the hors d'oeuvres,” she said dryly. “You’re sick, you know that?” she added, teasing warmth in her voice. “I love it.”

At his claim that she’d come along willingly, she just snorted. “I seem to remember a certain someone showing up in the middle of the night with a boat and a basket of mangoes,” she said, eyeing him. “And then daring me to leave everything behind. Like a lunatic. Who does that?”

Her smile softened though. “Apparently me.”

She rolled her eyes affectionately at his leaf excuse. “You say that like I didn’t spend three hours yesterday sweeping out the front steps,” she said, swatting his shoulder lightly. “You don’t see them sneaking into your sock drawer.”

Still, when he kissed her cheek on his way to cleaning, she reached over to grab a stray plate and bumped her hip lightly against his.

“Pretty good scam,” she echoed, smirking to herself as she turned back toward the sink. “Might just keep falling for it.”

Jora rolled her eyes at his logic, though she couldn't hold back the smirk tugging at her lips. “So because I’m too nice, you’ve both decided to become hopeless criminals? Great. Just wait ‘til Lyra starts getting ideas about smuggling mangoes in her school satchel,” she said with a low laugh, shaking her head.

At his comment about cleaning not being essential pirate knowledge, she lifted a brow. “Sure, but if a rat chews through a line because someone left crumbs near the ropes again, I’m not patching the sails in the middle of a storm.” She shot him a pointed look, though the glint of amusement didn’t leave her eyes.

She tilted her head at his “inherit and marry” idea, her lips parting in mock shock. “So that’s the plan? Seduce, slay, and sail off into the sunset?” she hummed. “You’re lucky I picked the more romantic option,” she added with a wink. “You—mango-basket in hand—were the more dangerous gamble.”

Her fingers curled gently around his when he caught her hand across the table, her eyes softening. “You were worth it before we even stepped foot on that damn ship,” she murmured, voice quiet but sure.

At his quip about her underwear, she let out a loud snort, swatting at his side with the back of her hand. “You pig,” she said through laughter, though the fondness in her gaze didn’t waver. “You’re lucky I still find you charming.”

She met his glance over the shoulder as he finished cleaning and let her smile soften once more. There was still a storm out there—there always was—but here, in their kitchen, with their child giggling nearby and a second heartbeat beginning within her, things felt steady. Real.

“You better be,” she murmured, stepping up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist this time, resting her cheek between his shoulder blades. “We’ve got a whole crew to raise, after all.”

Jora chuckled softly at Sage’s wide grin, shaking her head. “If she drags a crab into her satchel, you’re the one catching it,” she teased, giving him a pointed look. “I’ll be standing safely on the table, thank you very much.”

At his question about the rat, she smirked knowingly, crossing her arms. “Mhm. Not our ship, but I heard about it. Poor idiots had to re-stitch half a sail because someone couldn’t be bothered to sweep up after breakfast.” She arched a brow, the corner of her mouth twitching. “Moral of the story? Don’t tempt fate with crumbs.”

Her gaze softened when he brushed his lips across her fingers, her chest tightening in that familiar way she could never quite put words to. The way only he could make her feel. “Pompous old man’s riches wouldn’t have given me this,” she murmured quietly. “They wouldn’t have given me you.”

When he mentioned building their crew first, her lips curved into a gentle smile, her free hand lifting to brush through his hair lightly. She knew he was right—they couldn’t know yet. But she felt it, deep down, like a tide tugging at her bones. A certainty that this time, maybe, something had changed.

“We will,” she whispered, meeting his gaze steadily. “And you’re right. They’ll never know what it feels like to wonder if anyone cares. To fight every day just to keep their head above water.” Her eyes flicked over to Lyra, bent over her drawing with the tip of her tongue poking from the corner of her mouth. “They’ll always know they’re loved. That they’re safe.”

Her arms tightened a little around his waist, forehead resting briefly against his shoulder. “That’s more than enough for me.”

Jora laughed under her breath at his protest, tilting her head as she gave him a look that said she wasn’t entirely convinced. “Sage, this is Lyra we’re talking about. If anyone could figure out how to bend physics just to prove you wrong, it’d be her.” Her grin widened when their daughter glanced up at the sound of her name, crumbs on her cheek, before going back to her drawing. “See? She’s plotting it already.”

At his take on the rat story, Jora’s lips twitched in amusement. “Oh, listen to you,” she teased, nudging his ribs lightly. “Captain Sage, dispenser of discipline. Careful, or I’ll start thinking you enjoy giving orders.” Her tone was playful, but she knew he was right. Discipline had kept them alive on more than one occasion. Still, she loved that he balanced firmness with care. He wasn’t cruel—and that was what set him apart from so many others they’d known.

Her heart softened when his smile did, her thumb brushing idly over his hand as she watched the quiet shift in his face. “That’s why I followed you,” she murmured softly. “Not because of some fancy dream, but because you were worth chasing.” She leaned in to press a light kiss to his jaw, lingering there a moment.

When he promised their children would never know anything but love, she felt her chest ache—the good kind, the full kind. “And we’ll make sure of it,” she whispered against his skin. “Together.”

She glanced at Lyra again, her voice gentling even further. “No storms, no shadows. Just us. Just home.”

Her arms tightened briefly around him, grounding herself in the warmth of him before she let her forehead rest lightly against his. “We already gave her a world better than ours. And we’ll do the same for the next.”