When Kathy awoke the next morning, she kept her eyes shut. She wanted to stay in the dream she had been having. At least, she assumed it was a dream for it was all too perfect. Then she felt the arm around her waist.
"Good morning," said Hook's voice next to her.
She opened her eyes to find him laying next to her on the small bed. "Oh, thank God!" she said and held him tighter around her.
He laughed. "Why, what is it?"
"I'm just relieved that I didn't imagine everything that happened yesterday -- and last night."
"Oh," he said as he played with her tangled hair. "I thought that I had dreamt it all too." He sat up and stretched, picking up the leather harness for his hook and a fresh set of clothes from under the bed.
Kathy took the harness from him. "Here, let me put it on you." She slipped it on his stump and buckled it in the back. "It's sort of like bridling a horse, isn't it?"
"Yes, I suppose it is, in a way."
They both stood up and finished dressing. Then he took her in his arms. "What shall we do today, Mrs. Hook?"
She snorted at the sound of her new title. "I have no idea. We're stranded in a deserted castle. What is there to do that we haven't already done?"
He thought for a moment. "Look under the bed," he said.
She knelt down and let her eyes adjust to the darkness. There were no windows in the room so it was dark to begin with, but below the bed visibility was even worse. She saw the wooden box Smee had brought down the day before and a sewing kit. Behind these were extra sets of men's clothing. Too bad there aren't any women's clothes she thought. A rummage through the fabric exposed a pair of dueling swords. Kathy took them out and stood up. "Did you mean these?"
Hook took one of the swords. "Ever tried your hand at fencing, my dear?" He gestured for her to descend the stairs.
"Not really. For a woman, that sort of thing was frowned upon in polite society."
"Yes, I suppose it would be."
They stood in the center of the ransacked room. Smee sat at the far side drinking out of a flask. "Mister Smee," Hook mumbled, "Go prepare something for breakfast."
"Yes, captain." He saluted and left the room.
"There may soon come a time when you will have to defend yourself with a sword," Hook explained to her. "And it's high time I gave you private lessons."
They stood several paces apart, weapons raised. "Now all I want you to do is try and block my advances."
Kathy smirked. "Be gentle, will you?"
"Of course, milady." He bowed low and returned her sly smile. "Besides, the swords are quite dull after all these months in storage," he said as he fingered the blade.
He lunged forward, much slower than he would in a real duel. Kathy instinctually parried, albeit clumsily.
"Well done, you're still alive, but Pan won't be so easy on you."
Their lessons continued for half an hour. They only covered basic defensive moves, but Kathy's arms and legs were too exhausted to go on. Even Hook was beginning to look haggard. She tried to block but her body gave up and she tripped on the hem of her dress, falling forward onto him. He quickly moved his sword but lost his balance in the process. With a dull thud, they fell together onto the hard wooden floorboards, laughing. Hook flipped them over so Kathy was pinned between him and the ground.
"Tomorrow I'll teach you offense," he said between kisses.
They were too busy with their amorous intentions to notice the footsteps coming up the stairs. He was attempting to remove her dress without tearing it with his hook when Smee opened the door .
"I have your breakfast," he said. He stopped in the doorway, realizing he had interrupted again.
"Damn it, Smee, knock on the door!"
Without a word, Smee hastily laid the food on one of the broken tables and was about to run for the door.
"No, Smee, you might as well stay," said Hook as he stood up and straightened his shirt. "The mood has been irrevocably fouled." He helped Kathy up and gave her an apologetic roll of the eyes. She tried not to look disappointed.
They sat down to eat. "James, there aren't any women's clothes in the castle, are there?"
"Regrettably, no." He thought for a moment. "Smee will have to adapt some of my spare clothes. I hope wearing men's clothes is not too uncomfortable for you."
"I would prefer not to, but I would probably fence better without a skirt."
"True." He nodded and told Smee to bring down the clothes and other supplies from above. A minute later, he had the room set up for alteration.
After she and Hook were finished eating, Kathy stood in the center of the room to be measured. She waited for Smee, arms outstretched. A few minutes later, he had finished the measuring and had begun sewing.
Kathy sat back down next to Hook and placed her head on his right shoulder. Closing her eyes, she breathed in his strange, filthy scent. "James, this is all just a dream, isn't it?"
He picked up his flask and took a swig of rum. "How do you mean?"
"Well, sometimes I feel like I've imagined this all, as if I'll awake one morning to find that it was all a dream."
After a minute of watching Smee sewing his clumsy stitches, Hook answered. "That is every man's dilemma regarding truth. He can never be certain of reality."
"You've read too much Descartes."
"Perhaps I have, it was required reading at Eton."
"Well, if this is all in my head, promise me you will still be there when I wake up."
"Alright, but if this is a dream, what am I to do in the meantime?"
She scooted closer and put his hooked arm around her. "For now, just hold me and keep me from waking up."
The next several weeks passed without incident, until Kathy noticed something odd. She had not bled since coming to Neverland, and its implications were beginning to worry her. At first she dismissed it as another one of Neverland's quirks, just as it was impossible to grow any older. In any case, she knew she had to tell her husband.
That day, she found Hook staring out a small window in the castle turret. It was how he spent most of his days, plotting his return to power when the sky would darken once again. Since his supposed "death," the weather had turned unnaturally sunny. Peter had never had such a strong influence over the climate.
"James, may I interrupt?"
"Of course, love." He turned around and absentmindedly caressed her cheek.
"Is it possible to become with child while in Neverland?"
Kathy regretted telling him after seeing his troubled expression. She knew he would hate having a child. "No, I don't believe so," he said finally in a reassuring tone, more to put himself at ease than Kathy. "Why do you ask? Have you reason to believe you are?"
She briefly explained her predicament. Again, he told her it was nothing to worry about.
"But how can you be so sure?" She was still not completely convinced.
"Well, Lydia--" he paused, "Lydia never had her monthly, how do you say, monthly courses while in Neverland. It does not follow the logic, or lack there of, of the place for a child to grow. You've had no other symptoms, have you?"
"No."
"Then I am certain it is nothing to worry about."
They returned to gazing out cloudless sky and its mocking cheerfulness. Suddenly, Hook became tense and clenched his fists on the window sill. She saw a flash of scarlet in his eyes and was alarmed that something had angered him so. "What did you see?" she asked slowly.
"Did you not see it fly past?" he growled.
"No, I did not." He continued to stare out, eyes narrowed. "James, don't scare me like this. What did you see?"
"A pixie, if my eyes did not deceive me."
"Surely, it did not see us." They were not ready for another battle with Peter.
"Oh, it did; it sped off much too fast for it not too have seen something. Pan will know of our whereabouts soon enough."
