the joy in my heart is ablaze

In the middle of the Christmas party, Stede doesn’t look upset, or scared, or anything like that, despite the fact that he’s just pissed on Lucius and Pete’s kitchen floor. Instead, he just looks shocked, which— Yeah, that’s fair, because Ed is fucking shocked, too.“It—” Stede starts to say, then stops, swallowing thickly. He drops his head, looks down at himself, observing the slow saturation of his pants, the fabric darkening, and the steady drip of a thicker, clearer liquid out of the bottom of his pant leg that is— absolutely not piss, now that they’re looking at it, and Ed has the thought the second before Stede verbalizes it. “I don’t— It feels like my waters broke.”That’s the exact same thing Ed was thinking, but it doesn’t make any fucking sense, obviously, because—“You’re not pregnant,” Ed says, incredulous, stating the obvious, because he’s not. They’d know if Stede was pregnant. They knew last time.But, then—Stede has been a bit weird, lately. Or— weirder than usual.