The baby was crying. Again. Ruby rubbed her forehead, clicking the television off, before she trudged up the stairs to find the problem, wondering all the while how she had gotten herself roped into this.

It hadn't been her fault, she reminded herself. Granny had volunteered to watch baby Alexandra so that Ashley and Sean could have a 'date night', but then there had been a 'crisis' at the diner, and Ruby had gotten stuck with the kid. It would be easy, Granny said. She'd probably sleep the whole time, she claimed. And she'd be back soon enough, she had assured her. But none of those things seemed to be holding true.

She frowned as she drew near the spare bedroom where they'd set the crib up, wondering when Granny had started putting blue strobe lights in the guest room. Sensing something was wrong, she lunged towards the door, shoving it open just in time to see a few fairies lifting the baby princess through a shimmering blue portal. "Hey!" Ruby yelled, running forward and reaching out for the baby, but her fingers only closed around her pink baby blanket, and a few seconds later the fairies had disappeared, with the baby, into the shimmering blue abyss. Without a second fault, Ruby followed them through, jumping into the unknown with the baby blanket still clutched in her hand.


"What is it?" A burly voice asked, wonder in his tone.

"It's a woman, you nitwit. We haven't been here so long you've forgotten what a woman is, have we?" A more nasally voice answered, as Ruby's bleary mind tried to focus on what was going on around her.

"But is it real?" The first voice again, and to answer, Ruby was struck hard in the side, and she groaned in pain.

"Alive too, it seems." The second voice answered, and Ruby slowly reached around to her side, blinking her eyes slowly.

"What should we do with her?" The deep voice asked again, wonderingly.

"Take 'er back to the ship, obviously. Captain'll decide what's to be done with her." And then something struck her in the head, and the world went dark again.


When she next woke, it was to the stomach-churning sensation of unfamiliar hands in unwelcome places, and she found herself coming to her senses much more quickly, squealing and shoving rough, dirty hands away from the buttons of her shirt, kicking her feet out and pushing herself back until she felt a solid wall at her back. It was dim, but as adrenaline started pumping through her veins, she could make out that she was in a small, candlelit room, with at least three large men rapidly advancing on her, laughing raucously. Her head was pounding and she couldn't exactly make out their words yet, but if their smiles were any indication, it was something lewd. Her enhanced sense of smell picked up the scent of sweat, sour milk, and…sea water? Her fight or flight instinct kicked in, and her mind slowly clearing, she reached into the neck of her shirt, ignoring the way the laughter increased in volume as she fumbled in her bra for the little plastic cylinder.

They didn't suspect a thing even as she held it at arm's length and compressed the button, squeezing her eyes shut, she turned her head away and shielded her own face with her arm even as they began hollering, the pepper spray burning their eyes, noses and faces. They backed up, hands scrubbing their faces fruitlessly, and she found her feet, racing towards the other end of the room. There was a staircase, and apparently drawn by the men's shouts when they'd expected screams of a much more feminine nature, a door at the top swung open, spilling sunlight down into the room below, and Ruby had just enough time to press herself into the wall next to the staircase before they came thundering down, waiting until they had blinkingly passed her by to race up the stairs behind them, emerging into the sunlight.

She made it only a few steps before another man noticed her and charged, but she was ready this time, and summoning what strength she could from her wolf, she drove her fist square into his face, and he was knocked onto his ass, and she ran forward, ducking under another man and bowling another over with the force of her momentum. She just had to find a way…a way…out of here…her mind reeled as she registered the sights around her, rigging and wood floors and she staggered against the railing as she realized that there was no getting out of here…because 'here' was a ship, and looking down over the railing, she slowly registered the fact that the only way out was into the dangerous looking waters below.

She drew in a ragged breath as the weight of this realization pressed down on her, her hands on the railing the only thing keeping her on her feet. So, she could stay on board with a bunch of angry, horny men, or jump into the sea and probably drown. She was still debating when she felt someone approach behind her, something sharp and pointy pressing into the small of her back.

"I wouldn't try anything cute with me, if I were you." Came a smooth, almost amused voice behind her, a hand coming to rest on her waist to turn her around to face him, the hard edge behind her sliding along her waist, resting with a casual threat against her stomach, and she drew in a sharp breath as she looked up at him. Her eyes traveled slowly up, over black layers of silk and leather, gaudy jewelry, to a jaw covered with stubble, a mouth curved up in the same amusement his voice carried, to dark, smouldering eyes that somehow managed to be bright and threatening at the same time. Those eyes captivated and terrified her, but even as she stared up at him, she could feel the cold, hard tip of steel traveling up her torso, between her breasts and over her collarbone.

Just as it scratched her throat, her hand shot up in an automatic reaction to threat, survival instinct kicking in, she wrapped her fingers around the curved blade, gasping as it bit into her fingers, but not releasing it, instead letting it cut deeper into her hand as she pulled the point away from her throat. His eyebrows shot up, seemingly surprised, and he looked away from her eyes to their hands. Released, she followed his gaze, more surprised by the hook she was clinging to than by the ruby red droplets of blood welling from her own hand. "Hook?" She said softly, looking back to him with eyes wide with intrigue.

"The one and only," he answered with a wicked looking grin, reaching over with his hand to extricate his bloody hook from her hand. "My, you are the spirited thing, aren't you?" He commented, looking away from her to one of the men who had drawn closer while she was distracted by the captain's eyes. "I do like a spirited woman. Mr Smee," he called over his shoulder, although his eyes were still on the woman before him, "escort our lovely guest to my cabin, would you?"