Santa did not bring me our handsome captain, so I still am unable to lay any claim to the pirate, however, Maddie is still mine! Happy New Year!


Hook stood and fingered the fairy jar in his pocket. They were complaining about being in the dark. He had never realized how much fairies whinged. It was excessively. He hissed at the beings to be silent, and, after a moment of grumbling, the tinkling sounds fell quiet.

He was in front of a set of large doors that led into the hospital. He studied the building suspiciously, as it did not look like any that he had ever known. It looked too clean and filled with light. He was reluctant to enter. Everyone knew that they were dingy, dark places where people came to die. He watched men, women and children, young and old, walk in and out of the structure.

Hook lifted his head, straightened his shoulders and walked up to the entrance as he saw others do. Lips set into a grim line, he strode towards the doors, which opened magically, and quickly walked through them, not wanting to get caught when they closed. Once on the other side, he expelled the breath he did not realize he'd been holding. Although he lived with Neverland magic on a daily basis, this modern witchcraft was most unnerving and unfamiliar.

He stopped short, stunned by the interior of the building and its grandeur. Someone ran into his back, and Hook whipped around. He snarled at a man, who was dressed in the blandest and most shapeless set of trousers and shirt of monochrome color that the pirate had ever seen. The hue reminded him of Smee's pea soup, he thought idly, while the stranger quickly stepped away, apologizing. Hook sniffed, the man instantly dismissed, and continued to gaze around at the entry space. Then, in a moment of contemplation, the pirate looked down at his own clothes. After seeing the dull and colorless costumes of the men the first time he'd been in Maddie's world, he'd decided to wear a more sober suit of plain dark wool with a dark shirt. He was here to rescue his mermaid, and he didn't want to garner any unnecessary attention. If he was caught, not only would he be trapped forever on land, a pirate's worst nightmare, but Maddie would be abandoned to her fate, and they would be parted forever. Hook absently ran his fingers across the dark silk stocking that camouflaged his hook while he considered his next move.

The man saw a large round desk in the middle of the entry, with a sign that rather helpfully declared, "Information." Hook strode towards this possible font of knowledge and then stopped short. Three fearsome looking women who reminded him of the Harpies of Greek legend guarded it. Doubt crowded his mind as he realized how much he did not know about the modern world. It would be so much easier if he could just use simple violence and force for this adventure. For a moment he hesitated, then reminding himself that he too was rather fearsome, he gathered his courage and made his way towards the prettiest one of the lot, who he had to admit was not actually pretty at all.

"Can I help you, sir?" asked the woman, who upon closer inspection, seemed to be angry at the world and its population simply on principle. He silently mused that she seemed not to fear him, but then Maddie never did either. Perhaps it was just an attribute of the brazen modern woman.

Hook looked down his nose at her, and cocked an eyebrow. The woman cracked her gum, stared balefully back at him, and then looked down at the hangnails on her fingers. Apparently he had been dismissed out of hand by the female. The pirate cleared his throat, reminding himself that these...ladies held information dear to his heart, and said, very carefully. "My dear lady, I am searching for Miss Maddie...Burnett. She arrived here on-" he frowned while attempting to remember the date on the strange bracelet in his pocket "-May 31 of...err...this year." He finished lamely.

The woman, who reminded Hook more and more of his crocodile nemesis, grunted in a cheerless manner and banged away on a board that had little protuberances on it. Then, once she finished pounding, the angry she-beast peered at a box in front of her. Without glancing at the man, she replied, "She's in ICU. It's on the northern campus in the Keppler wing, the eastern side of the western annex of the southern Davis-Glass building on the fourth floor in room 451."

Hook blinked. Then he fervently hoped that he could find a map. Did they even have maps in this time, he wondered fitfully.

Still not looking at him, she reached under the desk and whipped out a piece of paper, and slammed it down on the desk counter. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was, indeed, a map. She heaved herself out of the chair, reminding him ever more of the Great Beast he'd defeated weeks earlier, and, more quickly than he could have imagined, began to draw circles, arrows, lines and stars across the parchment all the while rapidly imparting directions.

When she stopped to take a breath, Hook reached out to take the page, but she slammed her paw down onto the map and said, "Are you a relative? Only relatives are allowed in the wing she's in."

He stared at her. Surely, this ...woman could not be serious. His eyes tinged red at the edges, and the desire to gut her bubbled up inside him. He fought to maintain his composure and said stiffly through his anger, "Miss Burnett is my intended."

The woman stared at him dully.

He tried again. "We are affianced."

There was no reaction.

"She is my betrothed."

The blank look on the woman's face seemed to be getting worse. Really, Hook thought, the crocodile had been more intelligent than this...person.

"She is to be my wife."

The eyelids of the Great She Beast lifted a bit at the word "wife," which seemed to cause the map to magically unlock from her death-grip. He quickly pulled the hard won treasure away from her hand before she could change her mind. He turned to go.

"Excuse me, where do you think you're going, handsome? Hey! Prince Charming, I'm talking to you. We're not done yet."

His shoulders slumped a bit. He inwardly shuddered at the idea that she might find him attractive and, for a brief moment, found himself wishing that he was in Neverland fighting the crocodile. He straightened and turned back to the woman.

He smiled. "Of course, we are not, my lovely. What else must I do to gain entrance to this hospital?" False charm oozed out of every pore of the pirate.

The woman grunted again, and said, clearly unmoved by any charm, false or not, "Well, Your Highness, you need a badge to see your girlfriend. Stand at the yellow line and look here."

Hook looked around and then stood where she directed. Her paw landed on a small globe with dark hole. As he glanced down at her hand, she pressed a button and a bright white light flashed, startling Hook. Blinded, he stood stock still, waiting to see how this new modern torture would play out. His heart pounding in anticipation of a fight, the white light receded and he could see the world again. He breathed out slowly, dispelling his battle-ready energy.

The woman was talking to him again, he looked up at her and attempted to focus on her words, "...please." He stared at her in confusion, gaping like a fish out of water.

"I said, name please, or should I just write Prince Charming?" she said mockingly.

He frowned at her cheek and said succinctly, "James Hook."

She nodded and then within moments she slapped a sticky piece of paper onto his lapel and instructed him to wear it on his visit. He looked at it more closely and saw a portrait of himself staring down at the camera in confusion. He raised both his eyebrows and cocked his head to one side, lips pursing. He sniffed. He had to admit it was not his best look. However, fascinated by the newfangled portraits, he whispered to himself, "Marvelous. Instant miniatures. This age is simply brilliant." Then remembering where he was, he looked up to see if she had heard him. The pirate need not have worried. The Great She Beast had sat back down and was chatting to her clutch of demon women. He cleared his throat. The She Beast looked up.

"Yes, Your Highness?" she asked sarcastically.

"May I go now? Or dost thou perhaps require some blood and hair?" he asked with studied nonchalance.

She blinked slowly and said, "We don't do that stuff. That's the lab upstairs on the third floor." Then the woman looked back at her co-workers and ignored him.

Hook took that incomprehensible answer to mean that he was free of her attentions and strode away from the "information" desk. The modern world seemed to be an uncivilized place. There was no doubt that he must remove his mermaid from this society, even his ghastly pirates had better form. He stopped to look at the map and get his bearings. It would not do to go sailing off in the opposite direction of his destination whilst attempting a rescue.


The captain followed the signs. And, with the help of several rather pretty women who made sea-cow eyes at him, he found himself outside room 451. His reception on the floor had been surprisingly polite and with little fuss, almost as if they had been expecting him.

The floor was quiet and people talked in hushed tones and moved silently around the space. Strange and unusual sounds, which were foreign to the pirate's ear, happened continuously. They seemed to be so commonplace that for the most part they were ignored. People roamed around in the odd, shapeless monochrome costumes, except here they were a deep blue, and some wore white coats over the blue clothes. Many sat at the strange boxes with the boards that he had seen at the information desk. There was a faint chemical scent drifting in the air, and he was again struck by how spotlessly clean everything seemed to be. People talked in soft tones and a general hush seemed to fill this section of the hallway. He saw a bucket attached to the wall next to the door and in it was a file with his mermaid's name. He felt himself relax. He had found her. Surely now all would be well. He felt strangely positive about the outcome of this visit, but, for a moment, the man's courage failed him.

The pirate lifted his chin, straightened his shoulders, and then strode into the room, and stopped. Shock washed over him. He hadn't known what to expect, but it wasn't this.

In his mind's eye, she had been awake and smiling tiredly at him, perhaps even wearing an embroidered, high-necked, fine linen night-rail with her chestnut curls tumbling around her face. There were tea and biscuits on the table next to the bed, and a book resting on her lap.

Instead, in reality, she was lying unconscious in a bed, in a cheap, ugly gown, looking small and helpless, bruised and battered, with strange mechanics hooked to her arms. Her long, glorious hair lay limp around her face and on her pillow. The skin, which was not bruised, was pale, as white as their companion moon. An eye was blackened, but the bruise was fading. A gash, which was pink and shiny as it healed, matched his in placement and size on her cheek. One of her arms had a bandage wrapped around it. He didn't mean to, but a sad, harsh gasp escaped him.

"Oh, my love, my mermaid, what happened to you?" he whispered, wincing, remembering his harsh accusations and vows of harm he'd made, thinking she had abandoned him. Guilt curled around his heart. It seemed his mental punishments had played out here in her world. His breath hitched. Would she forgive him for doubting her? He took the remaining steps towards the bed. He reached out and gently touched her hand with his finger. She was so still he feared she had stopped breathing. He watched to see if he could see the rise and fall of her chest, and he exhaled when she did.

His hand trailed up her arm and he carefully nudged a lock of hair away from her ear. Gently grasping her hair, he ran his hand down its length feeling its softness. When it dropped to the pillow, he traced her cheek, and leaning down, he kissed her. "This is where you wake, my mermaid, just like in those stories you tell me, where love always defeats evil, where I am always the knight in shining armor, your prince, your pirate king." He whispered into her ear, but she remained silent. Straightening, he ran his finger along the edge of her jawline. "Mermaid, dost thou wish to return to Neverland with me? To be my pirate queen?" he whispered coyly. She remained quiet. He looked up towards the ceiling for a moment to compose himself.

"You must be James. You look just like she described." Startled, he turned towards the voice and saw a woman sitting in a chair. She looked sad and tired, but she smiled at him. Her eyes were filled with curiosity as she inspected him. Hook instinctively knew that this woman was important in Maddie's life, and he would not be able to rescue his mermaid without her. He bowed in his best courtly manner and introduced himself.

"I'm Kate, Maddie's best friend." She continued to inspect him, as Hook remembered the name from Maddie and his intimate discussions. "We put your name on the family list in case you came, which is why they allowed you to come into the room when you came onto the floor." She held out the golden earring, and said, "I think this is yours."

Hook nodded, and then tentatively took the earring from her palm. The chain that had been wrapped around his heart from the moment that he realized she was missing tightened some more. She had kept his earring. He watched the friend. She waved him to a seat, and Hook pulled a chair over to the bed. He touched Maddie's cool, still hand.

The woman asked, "Is that it?" He turned and looked at Kate, and tilted his head in question.

"Maddie told me about you. First, I thought she was losing her mind. But then... I started to trust that she was not, that perhaps you were real. And I saw how she felt about you. She told me about..." She gestured towards his right arm. Hook grimaced and nodded. This Kate was the closest that Maddie had to family, so he allowed the question to pass, knowing that if his mermaid's father lived, he'd have been subjected to even harsher questions. He silently pulled the stocking off his steel hook, and Kate nodded. "You're correct to hide that here."

The man nodded and covered the hook again with the silky cloth. They sat for a long time in silence while the pirate stared at his woman. He softly rubbed his thumb across Maddie's palm. Finally, he asked, looking over at Kate, "Do you think she knows that I am here?"

She nodded. "Yes...yes, I think she does, early on she called for you. I think she was looking for you." She was silent for a long time. "She loves you."

His eyes lowered, his head lifted, and his nostrils flared slightly, but he said nothing, refusing to share any feelings with anyone not his mermaid. Then feeling the gentle touch of Kate's hand at his elbow, he nodded.

Later that afternoon, he finally asked. "What happened? How did this happen? How long has she been..." He found he could not finish the last question.

Kate cleared her throat and then said thickly, "It's been two weeks. She was getting ready to leave, to meet you later that day, and she came out of the bank."

She stopped for a moment and collected herself. "Apparently, she was followed by some men. They thought that she had a large sum of money, and she didn't. But they attacked her, dragged her into an alley, and then beat her, knifed her." She gestured to her own face and the words trailed off. "She's lucky. It could have been so much worse."

Hook's rage came, his eyes tinging red, and he stared at Kate. He was used to the wicked ways of men, but tempering his blunt speech so as not to upset the woman further, he said softly, "What else did they do to her, madam? Did they...did they cause her additional harm?"

The woman's face closed for a moment, and she said, "No, thank goodness. Not that they didn't try, but a man and a police officer heard her screams and ran to her rescue, but not before this... She was conscious for a while, and she seemed to be getting better, but she simply became weaker and weaker as time passed. It seemed that when you didn't come, she started to give up." Kate stroked her friend's shoulder, and then looked the pirate in the eye. "I think she thought you were dead and simply lost the will to live."

"And the miscreants?" he asked neutrally.

Kate sighed, and said, "Well, they were in jail, but without Maddie to press charges, I'm not sure what will happen." She fell silent.

Hook scowled, considering what he could to do them, indeed, desired to do to them if he had more time. Then the pirate said carefully. "I've come to take her. She is mine. I shall not depart without her."

To strengthen his claim, he pulled out the well-read, rumpled note and handed it to Kate. Her hand shook while she read it. When she was done, the friend carefully smoothed and neatly refolded it. She handed it back to the pirate.

And then, tears brimming in her eyes, the friend simply said, "She'll be safe with you? You'll protect her? Maddie was always trying to get me to go on adventures with her, but I'm not...Well...She'll have her adventures with you? And love?"

He could only nod. He had no way to comfort this woman in front of him. He could barely help Maddie. He said softly and simply, "Thou must not fear for her. I will protect her...for always. I vow I shall not hurt her. She is my pirate queen."

Her friend drew in a ragged breath, and took the offered silken handkerchief. She blew her nose, composing herself, she responded, with more tears filling her eyes, "Then I'll help you any way I can. She wants to be with you."