She was not dead...surely. And she was not really dreaming. She was floating somewhere in between worlds. Something had awakened her,but she wanted to ignore it, and to slip back into that velvet dreamland.
The noise was persistent, however, and she began to recognize it as that raggedy parrot, taunting her through the door.
That meant that it was time to dress and begin the days duties she remembered, as the hazy heaviness of sleep began to drift away.
At the same time she was remembering that she had to return to a sort of reality...she realized that she was not alone in her bed. The sound of breathing came from beside her, and her arm was pinned to the mattress by the weight of someone else's arm.
Smiling, she sat up, leaning over to look at him properly.
He was laying awake, and glaring coldly at the ceiling, so that for a moment, Wendy was afraid she must have displeased him in some unfathomable way. She pulled the sheet up to her chin, and was about to speak, when he said;
" You know...I think I am going to murder that bloody bird." He said it so calmly that she at first thought he was teasing. But as the parrot's clamor became even more grating and obnoxious, he threw back the covers and stood.
Wendy did not try to resist watching him this morning. He was even more attractive in the weak sunlight that came filtering through the porthole window, and she shamelessly drank in the vision of him as he strode temperamentally to the door and flung it open.
She only colored a little when she realized he was standing fully nude in her doorway...and that the entire ship's crew was returned, albeit, a little hung-over.
The bird said something uncouth about his appearance, and was answered with a stiff kick from one of his bare feet.
The bird squawked angrily, and hobbled away on it's funny peg leg, leaving behind only a flutter of feathers in it's wake.
With a satisfied smirk, Hook returned to the bed, only to find Wendy laughing at him.
" What is so funny? " he demanded testily.
" You...and your temper! That poor bird is probably confused about your change of instructions!" she giggled.
" That "poor bird" is nothing but a figment of our imaginations. It is lucky I don't do anything worse to it." he sniffed.
" Does this mean I am not supposed to come to your cabin and attend you today, Captain?" Wendy asked, teasingly.
He fixed her with that predatory blue gaze again.
" Oh you can attend to me right here. I have no intentions of getting out of this bed, or allowing you to do so, until all of my whims are satisfied." His voice was low and throaty, and it vibrated through her in a pleasing way.
" Barbaric!" she chided, yet she leaned over him to kiss him.
Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her onto him so that she lay full length along his body. She exclaimed a little. This way, he could fell the warmth of her skin against his, but need not crush her into the bed. Not that she had minded last night.
Last night. The images returned to them both, like vivid dreams, or the pictures that you imagine accompanying your favorite story. Each scene was as brilliant as a stained glass window, every detail was burned permanently into their minds.
He recalled the heat of her skin as he had possessed her finally, his body opening hers for the first time. It had seemed as if she had been made especially to suit him, and he had wondered, even at the height of his pleasure, if she were real, or was he merely ensnared in a dream?
She remembered the moment when the last mystery was solved, and her innocence finally lost. The burn of his intrusion as it stretched a part of her she had known existed, to allow himself full and complete immersion inside of her.
Perhaps her terrific amount of innocence in such things is what kept her from being scared. She had been curious, then surprised, to say the least. But after he was there, it seemed so natural, so full. She had her breath stolen from her as he began a rhythm, like the one his fingers had played earlier...soft and yet passionate, like waves on the storm-laced sea.
Together they had mimicked the motion of the ship, for what had seemed like hours, and again she had had that sinfully pleasurable feeling rip through her. She lost count of the times that it had happened, that feeling...being only lucid enough to realize that each time made the last fade in her mind. Each new one became such a painfully good thing that at the last, she had actually cried out...then fallen limp and swooning back, and down, down, down, until she had met with sleep.
That was the last she remembered until the moment of waking this morning. And now, she was lying on top of the man who had wounded her in the most bittersweet way a woman could be wounded.
What would Aunt Millicent have said?
Wendy couldn't remember her well enough to really worry. She felt as if she had been here for years. And at the moment, with him rubbing her back in such a manner, she wouldn't mind staying for a thousand more more.
" And...are you well, this morning? he inquired, as delicately as he knew how.
Thankfully, he didn't have to explain his question. Wendy smiled shyly and lowered her eyes.
" I am. "
" That is a relief. When you swooned last night, I was afraid perhaps that I had killed you." he said, grinning in a disturbing way.
Wendy looked appalled for a moment.
" A person...cannot truly die from such a thing, can they? " she asked.
" Oh, I am sure it has happened somewhere.Some overzealous lovers, found dead...locked in an eternal embrace." he teased.
Seeing her expression he trailed off, allowing her to understand that he was only joking. She frowned at him.
" That is a cruel." she said.
" Did I ever say I was anything but cruel? " he asked, brushing her hair back from her face. " And to prove I am cruel...and wicked, I am going to take advantage of you again. Right now, with no regards whatsoever to any delicacies you may have." he spoke near her ear, blowing warm breath across her bare skin.
She trembled, both from the invisible caress, and from his words.
" I am not sure..." she began, blushing.
" Oh...I am. " he reached out his tongue and used it to wet a path along her arm from wrist to elbow, then he blew again across this path. She caught her breath, as he buried his lips in the crook of her arm, where the skin was sensitive and delicate.
She watched, mesmerized, as he nipped the skin there, leaving small red teeth marks, before he kissed his way back down her arm to to her hand.
" But you are certain you are well...?" he asked against her palm.
She nodded, making only a small sound in answer.
" Then it wasn't that you did not notice this...it is only that you are ignoring it to tease me?"
She blushed a little, as she was trying to ease the extent of her weight off of what she assumed was his growing excitement.
He caught onto what she was doing, and though it amused and pleased him that she was preoccupied with that part of him, it did not divert his attention.
" Not that! Silly girl..." he practically gasped, as she rubbed unintentionally against him. " I meant this..." he held up her hand.
She at first turned a deep red, embarrassed by both her lack of perception, and her accidental diversion.
Then she noticed what he was showing her.
There, hugging her finger, as though made for especially for her, was a ring. It was of silver, and had a setting of tasteful sapphires and pearls.
" The blue is the exact shade as your eyes." he said.
He must have placed it on her finger while she slept, she thought, marveling at it's delicate structure.
" It is beautiful..." she whispered.
Engraved, in minute scale along the ring, was a mermaid, and a merman...their tails entwined at the bottom of the ring, their arms encircling the stones, in an endless embrace.
" You know what it means, do you not?" he asked, lifting her chin. " It is my promise. And if I ever make a vow...I will not ever go back on it. Do you understand?"
She nodded.
" Wendy...I want you to be my wife. " he stated. " Legally or illegally...morally or immorally. As far as I, or any one else in this land is concerned, you are my wife."
" Because you wish it." she said, smiling. " And because I wish it. That is what makes things happen here isn't it?"
" Does that mean you accept?" he asked.
" I accepted long ago. Long before you ever asked." she said, kissing him.
" How long ago?" he asked into her mouth.
" Since you first asked me to return to you."
" You are warned though--you must never anger me, I am dangerous." he said, trying to scowl.
He wasn't happy about losing control of his reputation. In fact, he would never have resorted to ever taking someone to wife before Wendy. Wendy was the first person he was scared of losing. He was, in fact, terrified that she might leave, and this ring, this tiny ring was his hope. With it, he would bind her to his side eternally.
And God help the first man who tried to take her from his jealous arms.
Some days, he felt jealous even of the wind when it blew through her hair.
If this was the only way he could be assured of possessing her...then so be it. At least that was his reason last night. He was finding it difficult to pretend to be fearsome, and jealous, and possessive this morning.
Especially now that she was showering his face with soft chaste kisses.
" I am a jealous man..." he tried. " And very cruel..."
" Yes, I've seen how cruel you are.! " she exclaimed, in altogether too eager a voice for him to ignore." And you promised to be ruthless this morning, as well."
With a sigh of pleased exasperation, he rolled her onto her back and pinned her down.
" Must I always have to demonstrate every lesson to you repeatedly?" he growled, shaking his head.
" I am but a silly girl. " she demurred.
" And you are quite the brat. Never believe that I am above spanking you, even as my wife. In fact, I might spank you every day, just because I can."
" And never assume that I will ever be afraid of you...Captain Hook."
At a loss, if not for words, then at least for a reason to go on with this half of their quarrel, he said instead:
" Let me silence that impertinent tongue of yours, Wendy Darling."
--
Outside, the world of Neverland existed.
Pirates lounged, fisherman fished, town's people began their everyday chores and rituals.
Somewhere on the other side of the island, a jealous and angry little boy sat brooding in his tree house, plotting a revenge against his mortal enemy.
But the two people entombed in Wendy's tiny room knew nothing of this world outside. Not for minutes, nor hours.
In fact, twilight had already began to dust down upon the sky before they ever emerged to face the world again.