The moments that followed Hook's words, were swallowed up in silence. Belle was simply too shocked to do much of anything, not even gasping in response. If the pirate was disappointed by her lack of reaction, he hid it well, Hook eyeing the telescope and the adjustments he was continuing to make. But a smile hinted at the corners of his mouth, Belle blinking than narrowing her eyes at it in annoyance.

Wishing for rather than suspecting, Belle would accuse him of teasing her. Hook would lock eyes with hers, that smile curving his lips and sending a shiver down her spine at it's lewd suggestiveness.

"Trust me princess. When I do tease you, it will be with more than just words."

He'd actually laugh in response to her blush, a warm throaty sound of amusement that wasn't as mean as she had expected it to sound. But still it grated on her nerves, Belle hardly wanting to amuse him. Nor did she want to guess at what he meant, Belle more than a little knowledgeable about the things that went on between men and women thanks to the wealth of information available to her in Storybrooke.

It wasn't just sex, and lover's passion, that she had read up on. Belle loved books, almost to the point of obsession. Back in the Enchanted Kingdom Belle had read any and all that she could get her hands on. It was much the same in Storybrooke, but the topics had been expanded, details explicit, information vast. Belle hadn't even made a dent in the large amount of books found in Storybrooke's library, finding she had more than a single person could ever hope to read.

At least not in the average's person's lifetime! The library's vast selection, had been the first and only thing to make Belle envy Rumplestiltskin's immortality. But as much as she wanted to read, Belle also wanted to experience. To live life not from the safe pages of her books, but to go and have adventures, love, and happiness. She wanted the freedom to choose the time, place, and people she experienced those things with.

Hook was most decidedly not one of those people. And even if Neverland WAS real, it was not a place she wanted to go. Not without Rumplestiltskin by her side, and a suitcase or two packed. Not that Belle knew what to bring to such a place, aside from some clean clothes. Neverland had never, ever seemed like an ideal vacation destination, the land in her books a place for children and pirates.

It still amazed her, that the books in the land of Storybrooke, could have so many stories based on the lives of the people of the Enchanted Kingdoms. Of course the details were often wrong, the situations warped to the point of disbelief. Why Belle's own story had such fanciful happenings as talking furniture, and Rumplestiltskin had been a literal beast in appearance according to the people of Storybrooke's realm.

The story of Belle and her beast also had something the real one lacked. A happy ending. Belle and Rumplestiltskin were still trying to achieve it, their happily ever after continuing to elude them. Hook had just made himself the latest obstacle in their path, and Belle wondered how rough things would get if Neverland was involved.

She wasn't sure what to expect from Neverland. Wasn't sure what could and could not be believed. Neverland was a place Belle hadn't been familiar with until she had stumbled upon the story of Peter Pan in Storybrooke's library. Now she was wondering just how many other stories that she had read, were based on real people and events, lands sealed away from Storybrooke and the Enchanted Kingdoms.

Belle was quick to accept certain things. She wasn't about to accept her role in Hook's insane scheme of revenge, but she could accept the fact that Neverland might be real, and that the pirate before her was indeed that famous captain from the stories. But Belle couldn't imagine how he intended to get to that place, let alone what twisted things he would attempt once there.

He had already outright implied teasing, but Belle refused to dwell on that particular bit of worry. Instead she let out a deep exhale of breath, straightening her spine, as Belle gave Hook a fierce look.

"Turn this ship around." She was the princess her father had groomed her to be, royal and commanding. Ordering not requesting, and expecting to be obeyed. But she was lacking the royal guard to enforce her demands, Hook staring back at her a long moment, before laughing again.

"Maybe if you had said please." But he was teasing her again, smirking, and seeming far too amused by her.

Belle hesitated just a moment, then spoke in a strained voice. "PLEASE."

"Too little, too late, princess." Hook answered, then gestured her closer. She didn't want to step anywhere near him, Hook shrugging then looking up at the sky through his telescope. A self satisfied grin curved his lips, Hook spying something he liked.

Belle hated that curiosity curled through her, the woman taking a step forward before she could stop herself. "Neverland can't be real." Belle said, hoping, wishing for it to be true. And knowing no matter how much she might want otherwise, she was going to be woefully disappointed.

"Oh, it's real all right."

"But...no one in the Enchanted Kingdom had ever even heard of that land, let alone BEEN to it!" Belle protested.

Hook lowered the telescope, to look and tsk chidingly at her. "My crew and I have been to it. And just because you never heard any whispers of a land, doesn't mean it does not exist. It was just almost impossible to get to."

"Then how did YOU get there?" Belle demanded, her question sounding far too angry even to her own ears.

"The first time? Ah, that was with a magical bean." Hook shook his head. "You'll be thankful we're not traveling that way. Magic beans for all their power and worth, are decidedly a rough and wild way to travel."

"Not to mention the beans are all extinct!" Belle snapped, and was hardly impressed at what Hook said next.

"Luckily we will be traveling in style this time." He tapped his hook on the railing of the ship, his expression fond now. "My ship is the fastest, best there ever was. Made of enchanted wood, it's able to sail to just about anywhere given enough pixie dust."

"Pixies...?"

"They're sorta like the Enchanted Kingdoms' fairies, only a whole lot nastier. You'd best avoid them if you can't kill them." Hook explained, and from the smirk on his face, Belle had the feeling he had killed plenty of those creatures.

"I bet you made a lot of enemies there." Belle muttered, a thought coming to her. If Hook had enemies in Neverland, maybe they would be willing to ally themselves with her. Maybe they might even be able to help her get away and back to Storybrooke before Rumplestiltskin had to waste time and energy to find her.

"Oh I have a few." Hook admitted with a shrug. "But what man doesn't?"

She didn't exactly have a flippant remark, not when Rumplestiltskin himself had enemies that numbered in the hundreds if not thousands.

"Don't worry princess, stick with me and you'll be protected."

"I don't WANT your protection!" Belle snapped. "And I wouldn't NEED it, if you hadn't kidnapped me. Now please...turn this ship around..."

"Stop asking for something that isn't going to happen." Hook answered. "We won't be returning to Storybrooke. Not until after you're completely, utterly, besotted and in love with me."

Belle really wanted to scream, both in anger and frustration. "That isn't going to happen! Rumplestiltskin will find me long before hell freezes over."

Hook snickered. "Afraid Rumplestiltskin finding you won't be happening EVER." Belle narrowed her eyes at him, and Hook grinned. "Neverland's not exactly a place he can get to. Heh...I wouldn't be standing here alive and well, if he had been able to."

"What do you mean?" Belle questioned sharply.

"You can't get to Neverland with evil magic. You need my ship or a bean."

"Rumplestiltskin's not evil!" Belle protested, and bristled at the look Hook gave her. The look that said the man thought her woefully naive and misguided. "He's changed!" She spoke heatedly. "There's good inside him, he's nurtured it, become a different person."

"Is that what he tells you? Or simply what you want to believe?" Hook asked her. "Princess..." A look that could almost be classified as pity was given to her. "He's got you completely fooled and believing his act."

"It's not an act, it's the truth!" Belle protested.

"Then if he's really changed, he might just stand a chance of getting to Neverland." But she could see Hook didn't believe that was possible. "Of course..." He added, his tone and expression now thoughtful. "There's still the curse to think of..."

"The curse?" Now Belle really did give Hook the gasp she had denied him earlier. "The curse! No! You can't take me from Storybrooke." She cast a paranoid look around, seeing nothing but water for miles in every direction. Just how far and fast had they traveled, and just where did the curse's boundary line fall when it came to traveling out of Storybrooke's harbor?

Belle didn't know, a new kind of desperation taking her over. "Hook, please. Don't do this. If we go any further, we might run afoul of the curse." She had finally stepped towards him, touching his arm out of the sheer urgency she felt. "When...if that happens, I'll lose EVERYTHING. I'll not only lose my memories, I'll lose my sense of true self!"

His expression was impassive, Belle unable to read the look in his eyes. "Well, that would certainly make things easier for ME."

Her eyelids fluttered, Belle shocked and aghast. Hook continued as if she hadn't gasped, looking thoughtful as he mused. "I mean it would certainly be easier to win your heart, if you didn't remember who you were, or who Rumplestiltskin was."

"You...you wouldn't..." Belle said without much conviction.

"It'd be easier for you as well. In fact, it would be better for both of us if you were to forget everything."

Tears prickled at her eyes, but Belle refused to cry. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of being that weak. Her hands which had been fisting at her sides, raised, Belle not sure if she was going to punch him, or make a grab for that telescope of his. Certainly the telescope would make for a hardier blow, Belle tempted to use it to clobber Hook with.

She was so upset, Belle barely noticed the smile hinting on his face. Not even after he said the following, Belle too busy sagging with her profound relief.

"Course it's a moot point." Hook was saying. "We crossed over the curse's boundary a few hours ago. Pixie Dust does work miracles, making a ship fly, and battling even the most fiendish of curses."

She had been about to question him on the sincerity of his claims that the pixie's magic had stopped the curse from taking effect, when another thing he had said registered with Belle.
"Fly?"

Hook grinned. "We can't exactly sail there on water!"

"But fly?" Belle asked, in a state of disbelief. Hook handed over the telescope, guiding her to stand between him and the railing. Such was her shock, she didn't fight, numb as Hook helped her to raise and look through the telescope.

"Second star to the right." He was whispering in her ear. "It's there that we'll find it."

The telescope must have had some kind of magic cast on it, some sort of amplification spell, for Belle to be able to see as well as she did. She not only saw the stars, she noticed details about them, the lens zooming in to show beyond their twinkling light and show the pock marked surfaces of many of the stars. Not all the same color, there were white ones, and ones of various shades of yellows and grays.

Even with the different colors, Belle wasn't sure how the pirate could tell the stars apart enough to find the one he was looking for. She supposed there was some trick to it, some secret know how that Hook had access to. Belle was left to only admire what was beautiful, or what would have been if she hadn't been feeling so desperate and worried.

She wasn't yet worried to the point of distraction. Shocked as she was, Belle was aware of Hook crowding her, going so far as to press himself against her back. He was still gripping the telescope with his good hand, perhaps using it as a pretext to get this close to her. Belle frowned, brimming with annoyance that only increased when he put his hook down on the ship's railing.

She was effectively boxed in, trapped between his arms. Belle wasn't sure what to do, having a feeling if she turned to face him things would not improve. He might try for that kiss he wanted, or worse and Belle refused to give it to him easy. Of course, and this thought almost was enough to give her a grim humor. If she faced him, Belle could always kick out again, slam her knee into that part of him that was effective at cooling his lusts, at least temporarily.

But there were problems with agitating her abductor too many times. All too aware she was alone and trapped by him, Belle really couldn't risk pissing him off to the point Hook stopped playing at being nice. She inwardly sighed, then widened her eyes in surprise. They WERE alone together, or so it seemed. Belle had yet to see anyone else, and though they might be elsewhere in the bowels of the ship, she didn't think so. Not when they should be out and about, working to maintain and man the ship.

"Where is your crew?" Belle demanded, trying to ignore the feel of her body brushing his, as she turned to face him.

Some emotion flashed briefly in his eyes. Something like annoyance. "Don't know." Hook admitted. "Aside from Mr. Smee I haven't seen the others since before the curse hit the Enchanted Kingdoms."

"You weren't with them when it hit..." realized Belle. "Otherwise you'd have been brought to Storybrooke with everyone else who had been cursed." Hook was nodding. "But how in the world did you avoid the curse in the first place? Was it something that sorceress did?"

"Smart girl." Hook said, almost sounding approving. "Cora wasn't able to stop the curse, but she was able to spare a small region from being sent to Storybrooke. We were all frozen in time, the same as everyone who was sent to Storybrooke." He paused. "Worse than everyone perhaps, because we were literally in stasis. Frozen and asleep for twenty eight years."

"Try spending twenty eight plus years locked up." Belle muttered. "The queen wasn't any quicker to release me there, than she had been in the Enchanted Kingdom."

"Well you do make a valuable hostage." smirked Hook. Belle bristled in response. "Aw, come now princess. Don't give me such a look. You'll find I'm a much better alternative to the Queen AND to Rumplestiltskin."

"I doubt that on both fronts!" Belle said, and planted her hands quickly on his shoulders. With all her might, Belle began shoving, trying to push Hook off balance. He laughed and took her with him, stumbling back a few steps with his arms around her.

"You say that now, but I'm sure I'll have you singing a different song soon enough."

She kept right on pushing, trying to get free. "Never." Belle hissed. "That will never happen. Not even if a thousand years go by."

"A thousand is a bit of exaggeration, wouldn't you say?" Hook asked, and he was grinning. Belle inwardly fumed, realizing he was enjoying her efforts to get loose, the man liking her squirming far too much.

"A thousand was being kind." Belle sniffed, and abruptly stopped her physical struggles. "You could have all the time in the world, and I would still not love you."

"Ah, but lass, we DO have all the time in the world." Hook hadn't lost his grin. "Or we will once we arrive in Neverland." His eyes were flashing with his amusement, Hook relishing the things he was telling her. "Time doesn't just flow differently in Neverland, it STOPS altogether."

"You mean..." She trailed off, properly horrified.

"We could literally stay there a thousand full years, and not grow one day older." Hook finished with a nod. "So you see Belle, we're going to stay there for as long as it takes for you to fall hopelessly, completely in love with ME."

Belle's lips parted, but the gasp was silent, SHE was silent. It lent an appalled air to her reaction, Belle wide eyed and slack jawed, gaping at the smug pirate. In that moment, she couldn't even muster up a response, couldn't even sputter out some angry words. All Belle could focus on was she was in the arms of a lunatic, one who had taken her not only from Rumplestiltskin but her friends, family, and her HOME. Years might go by, a hundred or even a thousand, Rumplestiltskin might not find her before everyone she knew and loved was dead aside from him. For all Belle knew, Rumplestiltskin might not ever be able to find her, leaving her stuck with the pirate.

It was horrific, it was upsetting. It made her feel defeated in the moment, and it certainly made Belle feel helpless. Belle didn't know what she was going to do, WHAT she could do, save for praying that Hook was wrong about Rumplestiltskin's magic being too evil to allow him to find and travel to Neverland. Otherwise she was truly doomed.

To Be Continued...

Long time no update. But for some reason Taken isn't coming alive in my mind like my other Hook Belle stories. It's so frustrating. Luckily this week, I started having bits of conversation between Hook and Belle in my mind, so I was able to write out a new chapter for this fic! Hooray!

Over all I am happpy with this chapter though I think it shows I wasn't sure how the heck to end three. I feel my ending paragraphs are very shaky. Not sure when chapter four will happen. This one is my slowest writing wise story. X_X

-Michelle

Someone Else's Story, oh my gosh, thank you! :D I loved how you reacted. :D

Redbell69, thank you!

Skylish, I'm glad you think so!

Wolfiered23, thanks again! Sorry for the wait!