"There's one of the most terrifying pirates on the isle," says Gonzo, arms crossed, on the deck of the Lost Revenge. The braids on his head move as he denies in disbelief, and his eyes gleaming fiercely contrast with the image of the amused pirate.
Gil nods, looking in the same direction as his mate. Few times have they been so still, so calm.
"Captain Uma's fearsome first mate," he says, and he can't help a little mockery creep into his voice, hiding the fondness behind the words.
Desiree, incredulous, shifts her weight from one foot to the other, holding onto her rope in a carefree pose. She knows she should be sweeping the deck, but there is something there that is preventing her from moving. It is like the curiosity that invades some marine animals for the yellow and hopeful light of a lighthouse. A little natural, a little inevitable.
"The cruelest child of Captain Hook," she continues. Because that is how they knew him, how he is known on the isle. And each one of them knows what he is capable of; they know he's fair and ruthless when he should be. A hurricane without indulgence. The pirate who gives no quarter.
Jonas, tall and wild, snorts a suppressed laugh and Bonny, attracted by the sight of the pirates together, arrives alongside them. She whistles in admiration and lets out a harsh laugh. Luckily the captain is not around, because she would give them a good reprimand for not working. But the view ahead may make the scolding worthwhile: not every day Harry Hook is seen being tender.
They have known him for many, many years, when they were still a handful of children playing to be pirates. As first mate, it is his job to take care of the penalties of discipline and he is very good at that, also at protecting the crew and imposing respect among the isle. And many would describe him as chaotic and intense.
He's definitely crazy for the captain.
And although they have seen him melt with love and desire and loyalty for Uma, perhaps none of the crew of the Lost Revenge ever believed that they would see him like this: making strange sounds, and speaking with a voice so soft that it does not seem his own, with the bright and dazzled blue eyes as he holds his little daughter and shows her the rough sea, the thunderous surf, though Nerea is too young to understand it.
The baby, however, also looks at him with attention and adoration. Her eyes, inherited from Harry himself, wide. And her vast lips like Uma's fixed in an expression of rapture. As if he were the world. And Gil knows, Harry and Uma are the world to her. Harry kisses Nerea's face, not once, not twice, but ten times. Right now, he's all deceptive quiet.
"It's too weird," Bonny concludes. Because no matter how many times they've seen him act like this since Nerea was born, just three months ago, it's still puzzling.
The others don't even have to nod. The man is so busy admiring his baby that he doesn't even notice them. And the crew stands there for a moment, contemplating them as if they were also in a spell, until their concentration is broken when the captain climbs the stairs from the upper deck, made a hurricane, and it is as if a wave of energy is moving with her while she takes strong and furious steps. She gives them such a hard look that she makes everyone go to work immediately, and then she disembarks.
From his place near the string, Gonzo sees Harry look in the direction Uma left, scowl, and squeeze Nerea a little closer to him. Discreet, as discreet as he can, Gonzo approaches Gil.
"What's wrong with Uma? She has been in a bad mood for two days in a row".
For some strange reason, she seems not to want to get close to Nerea. It all started a couple of days after she threw the two robbers into the sea and reclaimed the docks as her territory. Since then, Gonzo has seen the baby in Harry's arms most of the day. And Harry looks a little off-kilter and worried for Uma.
Gil takes one look at his best friend and sighs.
"She's been having a bad time," he confesses, and he seems deeply concerned. "I'm sorry, Gonzo, I can't tell you. Uma would be very angry".
But it's weird, and it leaves Gonzo uneasy, because it's never mattered how bad things are, Uma doesn't leave them. It wasn't even her decision to stay outside the barrier when she tried to win their freedom in Auradon, and Gonzo and everyone aboard knows it.
Gil ends the conversation, but Desiree and Bonny and Jonas wait for the right moment to talk to Gonzo. They find him a couple of hours later. Their muscles ache because, even though Revenge doesn't set sail anymore (and that hurts them more than any kind of hunger, more than any sharp glass wound) it must be kept in good condition. It is their home, the only place they have where they can honor themselves as a family and where their dignity is more than a foreign concept.
Uma gave them that, and that's why Gonzo followed her in the first place. Not because of the power, but a bit because of the adventure and because, despite being tough and fierce, she treated them like people. Not just lackeys, manpower for the ship or henchmen. She took them and protected them because they were hers. She gave them a purpose and the promise of freedom.
Even if neither of them was going to admit it, Uma was like their mother when the crew formed. Their leader. And Gonzo cares for her, for Harry, for Gil, Bonny, Jonas and Desiree. Not from the beginning. It is something that he has accepted over time.
It's lunchtime and neither Harry nor Gil are in the kitchen. Uma hasn't come back.
"Maybe it's the hormones," suggests Jonas, his mouth full of stale bread. "Do you remember all those mood swings she had when she was pregnant? If Harry wasn't already, he surely would have gone mad".
All four shudder at the memory. A pregnant Uma hadn't been the easiest person to deal with.
Gonzo denies.
"I don't think so. Gil said she's having a hard time. I think it is something more".
But none of them have ideas. They know that Uma feels responsible for their freedom, or rather their lack of freedom, and they know that she is stressed by the insufficient amount of food that has arrived from Auradon and that it is difficult to manage without wondering when they will stay empty.
"Maybe Des and I can talk to her," Bonny suggests, playing with her knife absently on the wooden table, though she doesn't sound very convinced. Not all the people on the isle, not even those who have lived in Auradon, are so open to feelings, (a lifetime of pain and having to prove their worth every second is not so easy to erase) and Bonny only shows her affection with them. Talking about emotions, however, is not typical of pirates, nor of the people of the isle. But she is not ashamed of wanting the well-being of her captain.
It's kind of funny how things change. They used to be a group of children who had to lose their innocence too soon, running through the alleys and docks of the isle; teenage pirates whose hips hung cutlasses and knives, but who still hungrily sought protection.
Now they are men and women who have voluntarily chosen to remain pirates, to remain loyal to their captain, because Uma has something that doesn´t makes them hesitate, but attracts them, calls them and tells them that this is their place. By her side.
And they want to live up to who Uma, Harry and Gil are. At the height of what they have been given to them.
On the Island, in Auradon or on the high seas, Uma's pirates know they are lucky.
Uma hard kicks an empty can that is in the middle of her way. From where she is standing, on the dock, she can see Harry on the deck of the Lost Revenge, pacing the deck with Nerea in his arms, and Uma feels her heart break.
How could she go back to her, take her daughter the way Harry does, if her body has decided to betray her?
A few days have passed since the thieves' incident, and the stress of surviving, dealing with the responsibility that comes with having reclaimed the docks as her territory again, now adds that one of Uma's worst nightmares is reality. She cannot feed her daughter.
She doesn't know why. She doesn't know how it happened. No matter how long Nerea has stuck to her chest, she just can't.
The thought that her baby is hungry makes her heart stop, desperation creeping up her throat and threatening to choke her. It is the frustration what drives her away from the Lost Revenge and she tries to think of some solution. She even thinks about finding a nurse, though, if she has to be honest, the idea of bothers her. Nerea is her daughter; Uma carried her in her womb... and now she can't protect her. She has never felt more helpless, more annoyed with herself. That is why she cannot go back to the ship now; she really needs to think.
Uma knows that she will do whatever it takes for her well-being. Even swallowing her pride and allowing someone else to feed her. The problem is... they are on the Isle of the Lost. Most of the pregnant women that Uma finds do not yet have breast milk to give, others do not want to, and the women whose children have just been born seem to be barely able to support themselves.
At one point in the day, she decides that she has to calm down, compose herself, and go back to the ship. Her family awaits her there, and she has never run away from her problems. So, she tells herself that she can't become a coward and pauses for a moment, inhaling deeply. The humid heat of the isle is overwhelming and she feels her skin become soaked with sweat as she continues on her way to the ship.
The crew don't ask questions when she returns. Uma can't help but feel a pang of guilt over the way she's been avoiding them. She is not being the leader they need. The one to which they have loyalty. For a moment, once she's on board, she's only able to hold onto the rigging, feeling her heart pounding as if it is going to overload at any unforeseen second, nausea creeping up her throat.
A tall, familiar figure appears on the deck. Harry approaches her, with that worried expression that breaks Uma's heart, carrying Nerea. When Uma sees her, she feels all of her emotions stir, and she wants to scream and laugh and cry at the same time, but, in the end, she is so stunned that she just looks at her.
"Uma," Harry calls her, his blue eyes examining her, trying to decide if she's okay or not. "Are you fine, darling?"
He has been so patient with her. Harry has absorbed Uma's screams of rage, he has held her against himself every night, assuring her that this will pass, that it is momentary. That they will find a solution, as they have always done.
"I'm fine," she assures him, but she knows she can't lie to him. Harry's eyes are capable of perceiving every trace of her, capable of penetrating every layer of hardness in her, always reaching her heart. Uma gives in, raises a hand to hold on to him, and ends up soughing for his lips.
She feels something inside her explode. Harry tastes like hope, and his mouth is warm and longing. For a moment, Uma is lost in the kiss, absorbed by sudden hunger, and so much love that perhaps her heart will stop working at any second. She couldn't have had a better partner than him, she wouldn't have wanted anyone else.
"It's fine, it's fine," he murmurs the words against her mouth, Uma's hand is buried in his hair and she can feel Harry surrender to the touch. There's no need for words now, they know each other so well that she doesn't have to ask him in words for him to give her Nerea, and Harry doesn't have to ask if she wants. Uma hugs the baby against herself and wonders, really, how is it possible that she feels so much love, the need, primordial and a bit wild, to be protective. "I can… ask Harriet, you know".
He notices Uma's annoyance at the idea, but also knows that, by this point, she is closer to accepting the proposal. For some years when they went to Auradon, Harry lost all contact with his sisters. He didn't know anything about his father either, but things are different now. A few days after they returned to the isle, Harry ran into Harriet. His older sister, the fearsome pirate, Captain Hook's fierce daughter, is also expecting a baby; so, the idea is not so terrible. If she could feed Nerea, even for a while...
"I'll try one more time," Uma says, and sees just acceptance and understanding on Harry's face. "Just once. If I can't… then we'll go with Harriet".
The words are hard to pronounce, they harden her voice and her expression, and Nerea must feel the tension in her, because she fidgets a little uncomfortable and it seems that she will start to cry. Harry caresses her back gently to calm her down and, again, Uma can't help but watch him in fascination.
"I have to go with Gil to collect some debts," Harry tells her then, although Uma knows that Gil is perfectly capable of going alone. Harry just wants to give her some time alone with Nerea, and Uma appreciates it. "We will be back soon".
She nods.
"Take care of yourselves".
Don't let something happen to you. I need both of you.
Harry nods, kisses her forehead, and goes to find Gil. So, the afternoon begins to cast shadows on the dunes of the water, the ship rocks a little calmer than the last few days, and Uma feels protected once she is on the lower deck. In the kitchen she finds Desiree preparing some salves, talking to Bonny.
Uma wants to talk to them, tell them what is happening to her, because she wants Desiree's quiet comfort and Bonny's fierce understanding. They are her sisters, her girls. She knows they won't judge her, they won't stop trusting her for something Uma can't control. But for some reason, she just can't speak. She is closed in on herself again, and only Harry and sometimes Gil can reach her.
It hurts her to get away from them, from her people, but she knows she needs this moment alone. She turns in the direction of her cabin, closes the door carefully behind her, and lies on the bed with Nerea on her chest.
Uma can't stop looking at her. She has the same mischievous expression as Harry and his nose, but she inherited the shape of Uma's mouth and a mixture of their character. Nerea is also restless and fierce, impatient, although at times she is all eerily calm. At this moment, she looks at Uma very carefully, and Uma talks to her, tells her that she loves her and that Harry loves her too. Nerea begins to be restless because of the hunger, and Uma finds courage and sticks Nerea to her chest.
Uma would like to see a miracle. She wishes she could sigh in relief, but then Nerea begins to cry, desperate for the need to take food from her mother, and Uma cannot help it, even if she wants to, because at a time when the despair of the failed attempt invades them both, Uma just can´t stop crying along with her daughter.