Hook's Wendy

Late the next day, the door of Hook's cabin slowly creaked open. Smee cautiously looked inside finding it dark as could be. He paused listening for a moment, but heard not one sound, perhaps it was safe to enter. Pushing the door open further, he felt as though
he was walking into a lions den, and at any moment could become supper. "Capt'n?" He called out dreading a response, for it would not be a friendly one. Still no sound could be heard. Smee took a deep breath, carefully walking inside leaving the door open wide so
he could use the light to see.

The cabin was a complete wreck, a shambles from top to bottom, and everything in sight was in pieces. Never, in all the time he had been Captain Hook's first mate, had he seen such destruction of the cabin. Only God knew how many rum bottles had been emptied and shattered against the walls. "Capt'n?" He said again, making his way through the wreckage he reached the drapes and threw them open, flooding the room with light. Turning around, he saw the damage was even worse with light filling the room. "Holy
Mary mother of God." He whispered under his breath, struck with complete awe. Shaking his head he looked about, and began to dig through the rubble.

"Capt'n? Capt'n where are ye?" Smee called out, hoping to find some form of life. Finally, he saw James' hook catching the light and hurried over to the shining object. His eyes went wide and he frowned seeing it stained with blood. Quickly he started pulling
away the broken bits and pieces that had once been furniture, finding the Captain lain out and completely unconscious. "Oh Capt'n. What have ye done to yer self?" There were cuts and scrapes over his arms and across his chest. Some came from his rampage through the cabin most of the night, but most were self-inflicted. Preferring to tear himself apart rather then breaking down in complete and utter despair. It was obvious that he had far to much to drink. "I'm just a simple first mate Capt'n, but I know what poisoning yer self with spirits looks like."

Smee quickly rose to his feet and ran out to the deck shouting out. "GET THE DOCTOR UP HERE WITH HIS KIT!! Some of you others, get up here and clean up this mess! There is a lot of work to be done!" He shouted before rushing back inside. Smee was greedy, and always made off with the ships treasure when he thought there was a chance. For some strange reason however, even with the Captain's poor treatment he remained loyal and quietly watched over Hook, making sure that the crew was kept in check when the Captain was unable to fulfill his duties. It was rare, but it did happen sometimes, such as now.

A few hours later, Liam sat beside James on his bed. Checking his pulse to make sure he still had one and making sure the bandages he had fashioned were tied and replaced when needed. "Alcohol poisoning. Looks as if the old codfish tried to drown himself in spirits."

"Methinks he had good reason, wouldn't ye try to drown yerself if ye watched yer wife murdered before yer eyes, and you were helpless to save her?" Liam narrowed his eyes looking up at Smee.

"No sir, I wouldn't. Ye act as if he is the only one who suffered a loss last night. The crew is afraid to speak, but they don't know how to feel. Glad she is finally gone, upset that she is dead, fearful of what the Capt'n's gonna do when he wakes. What about that boy. Pan flew in and stole him away, if he finds a way back he's in for a rude shock." He turned his eyes back to Hook, and tied another bandage around the wound in his arm. Smee stood there staring at him grinding his teeth.

"The Crew, the lost boys . . . .aren't ye forgettin' the one person who feels as if he's lost more then anyone else?" Liam just clinched his jaw again attending to James' wounds. Smee shook his head, "Yer a damn fool doc. If she was nothin' else, at least she was faithful to the Capt'n. I think she would have killed ya if you tried to make an advance toward her." He narrowed his eyes and spoke very directly, "Don't go makin' trouble. Don't breathe a word to anyone about yer selfish grief. For that's all it be. Don't dirty the dead's name by makin' the Capt'n or the crew think she was guilty of somethin' she wasn't."

Liam stood suddenly slamming his hand against the bedpost, looking as if he was ready to attack Smee but he stopped himself. It was a good thing, considering Smee had already reached for his dagger and was more then prepared to use it. He grit his teeth together before speaking instead of staying silent as he had done all this time. "He didn't deserve her! He kidnapped her, stole her away from the mortal world, made her part of our CURSE! He lied to her, about her family about her past! Even if she found out the
truth she could not return to her home, Neverland would have reached out and torn her apart when she tried to escape! Oh no Smee, you cannot tell me he deserved her. Sure, I was with the rest of the crew the day we forced her to walk down the isle and pledge her vows to him." He said with disgust motioning towards James who lay sleeping in the bed. "She was NOT just a mere woman, or a whore like any other that's been taken aboard this ship. She was intelligent, smart, beautiful . . . . I could see why he wanted her but he had no right to just TAKE HER!" He shouted. Smee balled up his fist and slammed it hard into Liam's face knocking him to the ground. For the little old man he was, he could certainly throw a punch.

"Never speak of this again ye FOOL! What's done is done, it's in the past. Any mistakes that the Capt'n made don't matter anymore, nothin' is going to bring her back and he has to live with that and SO DO YE!" Liam started to get up to return the assault but Smee had already pulled his pistol and held it right in Liam's face. "Get below deck Doc. Ye're out of yer head, and are tryin' to get yerself killed. Now go on before I have to tell the Capt'n of yer fondness of his late wife." Liam reached up wiping the blood from his lip knowing Smee was right and turned exiting the cabin. Smee lowered his pistol un-cocking it putting it away.

By nightfall, Hook's entire cabin was devoid of all the debris left behind from his rampage, and mostly put back together. Of course new tables and chairs were going to have to be made to replace the ones that had been broken, and already the carpenter was
hard at work to reproduce them.

Smee watched over James to make sure he didn't stop breathing and that the bleeding from his wounds didn't start up again. He had a sponge that he continued to pour water into James hoping to speed his recovery, there was nothing else to do but wait until the spirits had left his system.

Elsewhere in Neverland, a group of lost boys were gathered around their table in their hideout, heads together in a huddle. Peter flew into the underground hollow and walked over to the boys, Tinkerbell sitting on his shoulder. "Is she dead Peter?" One asked, poking at her a bit. Another spoke up to answer, "No dummy, she's breathin' if she was dead she wouldn't be breathin'." They were all starring at her curiously as her wet white cotton nightgown left nothing to their imaginations. One boy reached out and poked at her breast, "Wow she's really soft, you think she's deformed?" He said squeezing the soft orb. Suddenly Danny jumped up on the table next to her smacking the rude boys hand away from her, angrily looking at the one who touched her. He was small, and he was young but he'd fight anyone who tired to hurt her or do something bad to her.

He looked back at Caitlin worried sweeping the wet locks of hair off her face, frowning as tears welled up in his eyes. He placed his small hands on her shoulder and tried to shake her awake but she didn't stir. All the boys looked up at Peter, "What do we do with her? Her skin is like ice, and look her lips and her skin are almost blue." Peter walked forward looking at her giving a sigh, thinking about what was to be done.

"Get as many blankets as you can find, and get a fire going. Maybe if we warm her up she'll wake up." The boys all nodded and left from around the table to find whatever they could. All except Danny, who stayed on the table next to her trying to shake her awake again. Peter walked up next to him and put his hand on his shoulder looking into his eyes. Then patted his back to let him know he would do what he could for her. "She's a pirate red, I don't know why you had me save her. She's a lot of trouble." He sighed looking at his smallest lost boy, "But, We'll do what we can to wake her up." Danny nodded still watching her, taking his hand holding it tight. Peter watched the way the small one acted around her, and thought perhaps that was how she escaped before. They would worry about it later.

Peter looked at his shoulder, "Well Tink, maybe she'll know if that fairy is on Hook's ship." Tinkerbell flew up and spoke in his ear. "I don't know Tink, we might have to force it out of her, she's a pirate like all of those others she probably won't want to tell us." The small gold light nodded her head flying over Caitlin looking down at her curiously.

Back on the ship the next day, James eyes slowly opened, still incredibly weak from his excursion trying to harm himself as much as he possibly could to drown his sorrow. Smee looked at him quietly, before taking a glass of water from the side table and speaking softly so as not to upset the Captain or hurt his head with loud noise. "Mornin' Capt'n. Ye gave me quite a scare." He said holding the glass to James' parched lips. Hook took a few sips before violently knocking Smee's hand away sending the cup flying across the room.

"Why in the hell did you not just let me expire? I know she is still there . . .somewhere . . .waiting for me to come to her." He said closing his eyes too weak to move. Smee shook his head wanting to talk some sense into the Captain.

"Capt'n, ye be dreamin'. Ye haven't had nothin' to drink since I found ye. Yer senses are dry. Ye lost a lot of yer blood, Doc says the best thing for ye to do is sleep and regain yer strength, but to keep drinkin' so ye don't get worse." Hook continued to keep his eyes closed, exhausted and beat down by his grief.

"Why should I recover? To sleep, perchance to dream . . . . only to wake up and expect my beauty to be laying by my side, sleeping as peaceful as an angel too beautiful for even the heavens to look upon. So close all I had to do was reach out to her, touch her, and I could hold her in my arms and feel her heart beat so alive and vibrant." It brought a moment of happiness to remember her when he had spent hours watching her sleep so peacefully. Taking for granted the moments that they had together. His smile faded as his eyes opened looking at Smee, "And now where is she? Taken into a watery grave by demonic creatures, that should all share a similar fate! They could not even leave me her remains that her spirit might be able to escape, instead it will linger for her body to be laid to rest in a proper grave!"

Smee thought quickly looking at Hook who was getting upset and angry again, trying to think of anything that would calm him down and get him to cooperate. "Capt'n, ye can't do anythin' to avenge her death . . . if yer dead yerself. Ye must drink, and when
ye can eat . . . once ye get yer strength back . . . ye can do whatever it takes to see her death is paid in full by those who caused it." Smee had tried his best to not encourage the Capt'n's vengeful side. He had seen it run out of control and rampant before, and counted the bodies that fell on the deck because of it. But it seemed the only thing left keeping this man laid about before him was his hate, and malice. If it would bring him back, the he would feed it as much as it had to be. Hook's eyes half open just starred up at Smee for several endless moments.

"You are right, Smee . . . I can not let myself pass into the spirit world, without punishing those who sent her there before her time . . . . and took her from me." Ideas began to flood the Captains mind of how he could best take out his rage on those blasted creatures, and those lost boys would pay dearly as well. Especially that young one called Red. . . .or as Caitlin preferred to call him "Danny". Smee retrieved the glass and filled it up once more with cool water and held it to the Captain's lips. This time, Hook willingly drank from it taking in every last drop feeling very thirsty. When he finished the glass Smee set it down beside the pitcher on the side table.

"Rest now Capt'n. The more ye sleep, the faster yer body will heal." Hook gave Smee a dirty look, before shifting finding a more comfortable spot to lay, falling quickly back into sleep. The first mate shook his head, realizing that once the Captain did wake,
a terrible siege was going to be unleashed on Neverland for this, and only God knew how the strange world was going to retaliate. Checking the Captain's bandages, and replacing the ones that needed replacing, Smee sat back to watch over Hook until he was able to
defend himself again.

Caitlin stirred a bit, furrowing her brow as she could feel a poke and then a pinch to her right breast. She reached up swatting the hand away turning over on her side, "James, I'm so tired . . . please let me sleep tonight." She said still mostly asleep. Pan stepped back when she swatted his hand grasping the hilt of his dagger preparing to strike, but stopped when he saw she was still asleep. For some reason, her breasts intrigued all of the boys except for Danny. They had never seen such things before, and wondered if she was born with strange deformities or if all girls when they grew up grew things like that on their chest.

Danny ran back in from outside looking up at Peter hopefully. Pan looked back at the child and shook his head, to let him know she still hadn't opened her eyes. Danny frowned and looked at Caitlin sadly, and crawled up next to her on the table once
again. The other lost boys built the fire up a bit more and watched silently. Peter shook his head a moment, "What is so great about this lady anyway. She's no fun, and never plays games." Danny looked up at Peter a moment, before looking back down at Caitlin. He laid down beside her keeping his hand on her arm hoping she'd wake up. "You want her to be your mother." Peter said understanding now why he wanted her saved.

The next few days were long, and went as slow as possible. There was not much going on in Neverland, with Captain Hook still in his weakened state, thinking that his wife was dead. Caitlin was asleep was well, exhausted from her struggle in the cold water and the amazing amounts of adrenalin that had pumped through her veins from the fear of drowning by those creatures hands. Smee kept a close eye on the crew while watching over the Captain. They had tried a mutiny before, and now any such attempt would only unleash the demons Caitlin's presence seemed to control that Hook held deep within his soul.

Aurora had been staying silent hiding away in her small glass bedchamber, afraid to come out. Even she was shaken by the violent wrath that James displayed. Caitlin was gone, and Aurora had always thought she would have him all to herself and he would be hers. But she had never imagined he would take Caitlin's death so incredibly hard. Of course she was glad that the overgrown china doll was gone, but what if James never recovered from the loss? What if he was like this for the rest of his days, and killed everything in Neverland, or even succeeded in killing himself to ease his suffering? It was a horrible mess, and she tried to think of some way to fix it. If she could just get out of her cage, she could cast some spells that would stop his dreams and heal his body much faster.

The cover that was used to hide her away was suddenly pulled back letting light flood in. She was blinded for a moment as she had been left in darkness for quite sometime and she covered her eyes. Once her eyes adjusted she looked up to see James. Her eyes went wide seeing how absolutely terrible his appearance was. He'd not shaved in days, nor combed his hair and it went in every direction, he was suffering from a massive hangover due to his alcohol poisoning and dehydration. His eyes were a sickly gray color and he leaned his face down next to her cage. Aurora fell back against the glass, her small knees shaking as she looked up at him.

"I believe . . . we have some things to discuss Miss Sun." Reaching up with his hook he unlatched the glass door of her cage, and seized her with his good hand before she had a chance to escape. She gasped and struggled in his hand not wanting to be the subject of his attentions right now. "You see . . . I am not entirely convinced that Caitlin died due to a series of coincidences, and strange happenings." Aurora was breathing fast and hard looking up at James terrified. Hook slammed the door of the glass, covering it back with the cloth still holding Aurora tightly in his fist.

Caitlin's eyes slowly opened, seeing roots and tree limps over her head. Her eyes narrowed still tired, trying to remember what happened before she fell asleep. Suddenly there was a young boy's face looking down at her, and slowly her eyes focused showing him clearly. Peter shook his head, "Lady, what ARE you?" He asked in disbelief. Caitlin's eyes closed as she fell back into sleep.