Yes! I am finally back!
And due to the absurd
amount of time left
between now and my
last update, this is a
quite lengthy chapter
(I think...) as an apology,
and a thank you to those
who still check for updates!
I swear to you it isn't a lost cause
as the next chapter is already
in the works!
Thank you again lovely readers!
-( R.H.J.
Chapter 15: The lust of battle was in his eye
Hook suddenly barked orders into Smee's face then, orders that Wendy was deaf to as the realization hit her. They were surrounded by merciless and bewitching mermaids who would just as soon kill her as they would any Captain. But why the attack? Why now?
Oh those mermaids! Cold, horridly mean things that would love nothing more than to see her murdered. Peter was the only soul she'd ever seen them warm up to, and that was still precarious.
Smee rushed off suddenly, slamming the door shakily behind him. Wendy felt her heart hammering madly as she looked into the paling face of Hook. The fact that he looked even mildly worried scared Wendy beyond belief. He wasn't ever to look surprised or taken aback. He was an adult; he was supposed to be in control.
He wasn't moving from where he stood, instead he seemed rooted there as if by magic. His arms at his sides, and only his bewitching eyes flicking around the floor before him. He seemed to be calculating, seemed to be thinking.
"Captain?" Wendy whispered darkly, her eyes never leaving his stoic face.
"This is Pan's doing," Hook commented hollowly. "He's gathered his little mer-friends to take down my ship. And we both know why he has done so." At this Hook's light eyes traced Wendy's face, finally resting on her own widening eyes.
"He has not forgotten you."
Wendy did not speak, finding that words were entirely fruitless at this point. At once her heart jumped with joy at the thought that Peter of all people had not forgotten her after all. That he instead had been devising her rescue this entire time.
But, in the same measure, as she looked into the unfathomable eyes of the Captain, Wendy realized that maybe she did not want to be rescued quite yet.
Or...perhaps at all.
Suddenly, there was a loud thud from the opposite side of the boat, sending Wendy tripping into the willing arms of Hook. He grasped her to him tightly, so tightly in fact she thought she felt his own heartbeat in her chest.
"They come for you," Hook whispered into her hair, "but they shall not take you from me."
Wendy's eyes closed a moment, her cheek resting against the Captain's reverberating chest as he spoke. Did he expect her to protest? She couldn't. No. She did not want to leave him. Not yet. There was something in this man she was fated to find. She had been meant to come here. Meant to discover his secrets.
But...there was a small pull, a longing to see her beloved childhood Peter. A desire to go home into the arms of her loving parents and even horrid Aunt Millicent! A need for the love of a family that Hook was not able to give, should he ever desire to do so.
"I will come back," Wendy said softly, her eyes looking into the Captain's. "You have my word."
"Don't you see that I can't Wendy?" Hook said almost pained, "I must have you all to myself."
"But I will return," Wendy swore, meaning it. "I give you my word."
"I know that you ardently believe that now," Hook murmured, stroking her cheek with a tender finger. "But you will too soon forget me. You will return with Pan and then to your London home...You will have your brother's and parents and fiancée and you will want to stay because it is real. You will realize you have grown up...in the Neverland of all places."
"Stop it," Wendy pleaded urgently, burying her face in the Captain's chest.
"So you see why I cannot give you up willingly," Hook insisted darkly, holding her ever more tightly as he spoke. "To do so would mean to give you up forever, and I cannot do it."
"I am not property," Wendy said with steely resolve, pushing back from his warming grasp, "and if I desire to return to you I shall. I am one of my word."
"I cannot take that risk." The Captain's once moony eyes were growing icy, his commands expected to be obeyed without questioning.
"If you keep me here, I am forever your prisoner."
"Better here and my prisoner than gone and free."
Wendy felt her eyes brimming with tears, "I was so foolish," she whispered, looking furiously into Hook's face mere steps away, "I honestly believed your heart to be full of real and tender feelings...I truly believed that I was more than mere gain in your eyes."
"You don't understand," Hook insisted, stopping suddenly his eyes darting to the ceiling as cannons began to go off at a mad velocity. Crashing and screams were heard, and Wendy felt her stomach dropping. Those eyes were upon her again.
"I must go."
Without so much as a tip of his hat, the Captain was gone, slamming and locking the door behind him as Wendy resolved to keep her tears from falling.
John and Michael walked slowly around the island, talking quietly from one to another. They had been walking for some time, away from the Lost Boys and the still tied Peter back in their little home in the trees.
"You cannot order the boys about like this," Michael was insisting, looking to his older brother in earnest. "Peter is the life force of The Neverland...you cannot just tie him up and order him about."
"You aided me," John retaliated anxiously. He too was starting to feel the chill in Neverland, the eerie stillness in the air around them. And for once, he was frightened of his childhood paradise.
"At your insistence and out of sheer panic." Michael was growing irritable at the finger pointing. "Wendy's life is at stake...I suggest you untie Peter; gather the Lost Boys and we do what we should have done from the very start. Attack the Jolly Roger with all the men we have. Perhaps we can still gain help from Tiger Lily's tribe."
"Truly foolish idea."
"It's all we have. You know Hook, John. Wendy shall not be alive for much longer. To do anything else would be to murder her."
John looked into the intense eyes of his younger brother, taken aback at the mere determination and found his resolve breaking. He had felt all this time that as the oldest in this group it was automatically his calling to take charge. But looking at Michael, he knew he had been fool hearty.
"You are right, Michael," John agreed as they turned back towards the camp. Their footsteps grew quicker as they began to realize that there was a mighty uproar in the direction of the camp.
Moments later by the hollows of trees the Lost Boys were yelling and flailing about as if they were all seized by some horrible illness. Tootles was the first to come rushing over, panting to John.
"It's Peter," the rosy cheeked boy rasped out quickly, "he's gone!"
"Gone?" John echoed in disbelief, now seeing the Lost Boys gathered around the spot where Peter had been bound. John felt crestfallen as he noticed the strands of thick rope simply upon the ground, seemingly sliced.
"Was no one watching?" John demanded angrily, "did not a soul see a thing?"
The boys looked to one another rather shamefully, for they had been in charge of looking after Peter if John and Michael were absent. But, they'd heard tales of new treasure under the waterfall and had been far too excited to wait.
Besides, none of them really wanted to wait with the then furious Peter Pan, who hadn't uttered a word to them the entire time they had been with him. Betrayal seemed to be in the air.
"We thought that you were on watch," Nibs admitted rather embarrassedly, placing a grubby hand behind his head.
"Well this is a fine kettle of fish," Michael muttered angrily under his breath. Michael shook his head frustrated, and then with a voice dripping with absolute sorrow, that can only come from a brother or sister, he uttered his dear sister's name and angrily rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve.
John had said little during this spectacle, and now walked over to where the rope still lay, and with a heavy heart suddenly bent down, his fingertip tracing the rope a moment before he stood in alignment, adjusting his spectacles as he looked through them at his fingertip.
"What is it?" Michael had taken note of his brother scrutinizing his fingertip and drew over quickly, seeing that familiar look of realization upon his brothers' face.
"Fairy dust."
Wendy stood in that very spot for what seemed like hours. The sounds had diminished quite a bit upstairs, but she was hard pressed to move an inch. She felt rooted to the spot, but out of fear or anger she couldn't quite place.
Suddenly, as if a large thundercloud had descended solely over the Jolly Roger, the light in Wendy's room seemed to diminish quite noticeably. In a sudden flash she felt fear suddenly creeping up her spine and she turned slowly, her heart thumping madly as she shifted.
There, blocking the light was a large, furious looking mermaid outside her small cabin window, clutching the the edge of the said window with inhuman strength. Wendy had never truly been at the end of a mermaid attack. She'd enjoyed watching them once; envying the lofty way they sunbathed and the grace they exhibited when skimming through the watery depths of the lagoon.
But now, the cruel looking mermaid smiled maliciously, showing her pointed incisors in a cruel smile, her large black eyes then glittering with malice. Her hair was a dark ebony, and glossy from the water, her webbed fingers long and bony with sharp nails on each, and her face paler than humanly thought possible.
Wendy was almost transfixed at the sight of a mermaid this close even if it was through glass. It wasn't a traditional beauty this creature possessed, but more an ethereal kind of majesty that compelled Wendy to look closer even through her fear.
Of course, her lack of action was a poor decision in the end, and before she could scream or even move, a thick clammy arm had crashed through the cabin window.
Wendy screamed, knowing that to rush to the door would be pointless, it was locked. Her eyes dragged around the room desperate to see anything that may help her. There was nothing in the room to defend herself with. The Captain had long ago removed everything that could be seen as a weapon.
Wendy forced herself to turn to that cabin window, and nearly fainted at the image of the furious looking mermaid slowly climbing through.
"Wennnnnnnnnnndy," the shrill voice rasped. Wendy felt her legs trembling in fright. How did it know her name? What was she to do?
Then, most suddenly, the creature leapt a long arm out, and grasped our heroine by the ankle. Wendy shrieked as she felt that damp grip around her ankle, colder than anything alive, and she squirmed, desperate to be freed. She fell, immediately horrified as she realized the mermaid was attempting to drag her out the cabin window, into the frothy waves below.
"NO!" Wendy shrieked, her fingers valiantly trying to dig into the wood planks below her. Her legs kicked out madly and with one free hand she attempted to punch or slap the cold hand gripped around her ankle.
Do not worry gentle readers; Wendy is a forever resourceful girl and not one to give up easily. She would not surrender to the mermaid so easily.
She suddenly realized that the mermaid's hand would be easier to escape, were she less panicked. She stilled a moment, lulling the mermaid into thinking she'd submitted. The mermaid hissed happily to herself.
Then, with sudden determination Wendy slipped through the slimy hand of her would be captor and began shrieking, praying that anyone would hear her, even those blasted mates of the Captain's on deck.
The door to her room suddenly smashed open, sending wood all around. The mermaid's hissing stopped and still on the floor, Wendy viewed as two familiar boots entered the room.
"Oh, Captain!"
Wendy sprang up from the cold floor, and saw the look of pure anger in the Captain's eyes directed at the creature halfway through the cabin window. With tears of relief streaming down her cheeks, she rushed to the side of Hook, shaking even as a steady arm came around her.
"Did she harm you?" Hook inquired stiffly, his eyes never leaving that of the stilled mermaid. Wendy said nothing but briefly saw as he brandished the revolver from his jacket's inner pocket, and she felt her stomach lurch.
"Oh no!" Wendy begged, closing her eyes tightly and turning away into his chest. Her voice was then muffled as she pleaded. "Oh please! Don't kill her!"
Hook could not believe the words he was hearing. Do not kill the creature that so obviously wanted this girl in his arms to be sent to her demise? He could not fathom this girl at times. Such...compassion for things that deserved naught.
His eyes drew from the shaking frame of Wendy back to the cold, yet confused eyes of the mermaid before them. His revolver still trained on her did not fire.
"If you return again, rest assured you shall perish."
The striking creature hissed softly before slipping back through the small window, her eyes staying upon Wendy a moment before disappearing completely with a light splash a moment later.
Hook looked down at the young woman shivering in his arms and felt the fatigue of what had gone on tire him suddenly. On board had been even worse and the carnage something horrible. Nothing of the sort had ever occurred in the history of The Neverland.
"Is it over?" Wendy whispered, dreading the answer.
"Yes." Hook's voice was even, low. "It's quite over."
"Thank you..."
"You are most welcome."
"Were there...many deaths?"
"Not too many. But we certainly put fear in their unloving hearts, rest assured."
"Are you hurt?" Wendy suddenly voiced, noticing there didn't seem to be any cuts or bruises visible.
"No," Hook replied calmly. "We were quite prepared. But, we are running low on supplies and ammunition. We set sail tomorrow night for various provisions."
"I see."
"Wendy," Hook began, his eyes searching her face before stopping. There was a long pause of unsaid wishes and words, and neither wished for it to go on much longer.
"Where shall I sleep, sir?" Wendy blurted, suddenly realizing how fatigued she was. She felt her eyelids already dropping, and the thought of a safe, warm bed was quite drawing.
"Come," Hook said, placing a gentle hand upon the small of her back. "We shall retire to my room."
Wendy did not respond, but Hook was pleased to note that the girl didn't seem half as frightened as the first time he had made such a proposition.
They entered into the cabin, with the roars of the shipmates on deck slowing down to barely noted murmurs. Hook held the door open for Wendy in a most gentile fashion, and locked it behind them as they entered.
The fire was still roaring, and Wendy walked to in somewhat of a trance. She held up her hands to the flames, rubbing them in order to warm them. She was shivering, but not just from the cold. Hook came up beside her, warming his hands as well, and looking to her out of the side of his eyes.
"Thank you," Wendy said softly, "for not harming the mermaid."
"You are most welcome," Hook replied suavely, "but may I inquire as to why you wanted that creature to live? She was out to drown you."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"I could not stand to see something being harmed because of me," Wendy replied hurriedly, her eyes still drawn to the crackling flames before her.
"I see."
Hook stepped back from the hearth, watching the silhouette of Wendy against the fire. She was so pure and good, and surely due to his blood still pounding in his ears from the fierce battle above, Hook's adrenaline was still coursing through him.
There was something about how she looked and how he felt that made him want her more than ever before. The pulsating in his body was overwhelming, and he felt himself growing feral in disposition.
All inner guards against such an act were silenced now, his true belief in good form and being a gentleman were slowly being submerged by the shivers going up his spine every time the girl's eyes rested upon his own longer than a second. Could she feel it to?
He let his eyes make their way slowly up from her feet to her face, lingering a long time on her profile. He viewed the girl dart him a quick look before immediately facing back to the fire, her cheeks turning a slight pink. From the fire or himself, he couldn't decide.
Then, before his mind and his body had time for counsel, James Hook had stood, and giving his most charming of smiles at the oblivious Wendy, he decided to act on his most animalistic of instincts. For what he wanted, he often got.
"I believe you do wish to be seduced Miss Darling," Hook almost purred, his eyes upon her with steely resolve. His cloak, so heavy and suffocating was dropped swiftly into the chair before the fire.
Wendy turned, her eyes widening in shock at his words, "Pardon?"
"You heard what I said," Hook replied darkly, his boots heavily making their way to where she stood. With every booming step, Wendy's heart flipped thickly. "Before when we conversed you said you didn't wish to be seduced...but I believe now that you not only need to be seduced, you want to be."
"No," Wendy protested feebly as the Captain drew nearer, her dark eyes, with an almost dreamy quality giving her away immediately. She swayed slightly, her eyes almost closing with every inch closer his lips came towards her, until they had firmly closed at the first touch of the Captains warm mouth upon her own.
Her body went limp, and Hook's expectant arms held her tightly to him. She surrendered completely then, allowing him to covet her mouth with unusual willingness. Slowly she began to kiss him back, allowing herself to enjoy the sensation of his mouth dueling against her own.
Slowly, she felt her feet backing slowly up as Hook moved them towards the bed, his kisses intoxicating her, and as if by childhood magic, Wendy and the Captain tumbled slowly onto the bed, their mouths still frantically drawing from one another. Wendy felt his weight upon her, his wonderfully grown up weight and feel. This was more magic that any story she'd told, or any feeling she'd felt in the The Neverland.
His hand was pulling at the bodice of her gown, and Wendy did not move. Her hands were trembling, and above her head, and as much as she wished to move them, they felt leaden for the moment. She could smell the leather and cologne the Captain wore a truly masculine smell she would forever associate with him. The Captain's kisses were longer now, more passionate if it were possible, and Wendy could feel all resolve slowly melting from her. She wanted his touch and feel and taste.
"Oh," Wendy murmured lustily, feeling the thrill of his very touch searing through her in the most pleasurable way. Everything sizzled, and she felt a novice hand of hers make its way to his starched, white collar.
She felt as the Captain shifted slightly, his hair and nearness no longer so warm, and she felt his steady gaze upon her. She gasped slightly as a tentative hand came to rest upon one collarbone, drawing lazily down the length of it before stopping.
"Wendy," Hook breathed softly, "have you no idea how enchanting you are?"
Wendy felt her heart pounding madly at his words, because of the very conviction in which he uttered them. This was passion and desire she had only read about in books, always dreaming it would be directed at her but never believing it. When had her most hated enemy turned into the one person she desired most?
She hadn't time left to ponder that, for already the Captain's knowing lips were back, on her cheek, under her eye, at the tip of her nose and then finally, perfectly fitted against her wanting mouth, and she could not oppose.
The bed creaked slightly as the Captain's mouth grew needier, and suddenly Wendy's stomach began to flutter. Why hadn't she stopped this in its prematurity? This was...this was...There was no name for it. It was wrong and right and she could barely choke out an opposition.
"I am no conquest," Wendy managed to whisper determinedly. She felt Hook's mouth still and finally put away. She could not even bring herself to open her eyes and look to him. Hook's cheek rested beside her own, and he was taken aback at the feel of warm tears against his cheek. The girl was silently weeping!
"Is that what you think of my actions?" Hook whispered against her cheek, his voice thick with something the naive Wendy could not place. "That this is some game I am determined to win?"
Wendy said nothing, and the tears stilled. Still her eyes did not open. Her lips parted a moment in surprise as a silken handkerchief of Hook's wiped away her tears in an instant.
"My Wendy," Hook murmured drowsily into her neck, "how wrong you are. Don't you see that I have already lost?"
Wendy said nothing, but looked into the eyes of her captor, and she felt that he was telling the truth, though she didn't understand his cryptic wording. Lost? By all accounts he had won, he had the prize Peter desired, and she was never to leave him. What was there to lose?
Still she said nothing. And when the Captain's lips brushed against her collar and then throat and then lips, she let her eyes fall shut and her body respond. And as much as she thought she should have, Wendy did not resist. She did not wish to.
"Wait," Wendy suddenly muttered drowsily as Hook moved off from her, looking to her expectantly, although pure unadulterated lust shone in his always entrancing blue eyes. He viewed as her dark eyes drew down his chest, then forearm and finally, at his dreaded claw.
"My infirmity," Hook muttered irritably, looking at the aforementioned appliance on the end of his one strong and noble arm in pure disgust with himself. "You are repulsed no doubt; of course I shall lea-"
But before Hook could let the words out, he felt a kind and soothing hand upon his forearm, pressing down lightly. He could barely turn to face the young girl in his bed, with eyes of something so pure he could not name.
"Please, do not leave me," Wendy asked quietly. "You've misunderstood. I simply wish to see you as you are, as you have seen me."
"As I am?" Hook repeated, as if he did not understand fully. Wendy nodded slowly, her hand coming to rest upon his forearm, where the strap to his hook lay under his thick layer of clothing.
"May I?"
Hook could only nod silently after a moment of reservation, his lips slightly parted as he watched her. Wendy rolled the sleeve of his shirt up slowly, relishing this unnaturally intimate encounter. The fire crackled muted in the background, and all that Wendy could hear was the Captain's shallow breathing.
Her fingertips achingly slow removed the first leather strap of the appliance that held Hook's claw upon the end of his arm. It was a truly unique mechanism, but Wendy was glad to be freeing him from its confines.
Finally, the last strap was unbuckled, and there was a sharp intake of breath from the Captain. Wendy saw him flinch as she slipped the contraption from its bindings, and let it slip quietly onto the ground as her eyes drew back to his infamous arm. It was nothing that held much fright.
A pale half appendage, with much scarring left behind from an impetuous and sloppy youth. Lines of white zigzagged back in forth, many lightning bolts upon the end of his impressive forearm and Wendy could not help but trace one pattern light with her forefinger, causing a new shiver to consume the Captain.
Looking at him now, Wendy noted, his blue eyes unnaturally wide and vulnerable surrounded by a mass of glossy black curls, lean and toned body, although half hidden under his shirt, was pale and almost ethereal, and lips full and desirable, he was a truly beautiful man. A missing hand that had once lead up to this most masculine arm before her, his lean body and noble, handsome and now, flushed face. Features and a body that Apollo himself would be envious of, and this man thought himself a hideous monster.
"I am afraid Captain," Wendy began slowly, her eyes traveling to his majestically sculpted face, "that you haven't the slightest inclination towards your own inspiring beauty."
Wendy saw the Captain give a shy look down, accompanied by a flush to the cheeks and sudden sneer of disdain that had Wendy reeling. She too was blushing, horrified that she had voiced her most private of thoughts, and mortified that he was sneering at her and looking so furious.
"Beauty Miss Darling?" Hook's mouth was thinned into a line of disbelief and irritation at her words. "I believe you to be mocking me, now."
"Not at all," Wendy insisted, growing slightly anxious at the Captain's moody reply. "Can you not accept compliments?"
"Not when they are such obvious falsehoods." Hook was standing now, angrily looking down at her. Before Wendy could say a word, Hook had turned, and grabbing his leather straps and claw prepared for the cabin door.
Wendy, in what she would later recall as mad panic, suddenly pushed the coverlet from her legs and sprinted to the door, determinedly standing before it, blocking his exit. He was a few steps away, but did not approach at a closer proximity.
"Step aside, Miss Darling," Hook growled, "I am not in the mood to be toyed with tonight."
"And you haven't been," Wendy replied vociferously, standing her ground. "Now you may not want to hear this Captain, but I did at a time in my youth and when we first met in my maturity, find you to be contemptible, vile and repugnant and hated you with such a fervor it was almost unbearable."
At this the Captain's eyes grew cold, and Wendy viewed his patience slowly being lost. He went to move her from the door, but she stood grounded, her anger at his irrational behavior speared her onward.
"But now, as I have matured and have known you privately, there is much to be discovered of you and that which I have uncovered, I have grown to...enjoy. I no longer fear you, find you repugnant or despise you with such intensity. In fact Captain it is quite the opposite, and that is the truth whether you intend to take stock in my words or not. If you could only see past your own flaws as easily as others you would be much better off."
Her voice had risen as her speech became more impassioned, and as it ceased, there was a tinny silence in the room. Wendy's teeth were clenched in fury, and her eyes narrowed angrily, looking at the Captain's subtle scrutiny.
"I...believe your words." His reply itself was echoed in disbelief.
"Good," Wendy said in small triumph, "that is because they are true. Goodnight Captain."
With that, Wendy stepped from the door and with unusual tenacity, went to the bed across the room and slipped under the coverlet after snuffing the candle beside her bed. She shut her eyes tightly, willing herself not to shake.
Moments later, Wendy heard the slight shuffle of clothing, and boots being placed at the door and of his device being placed upon a chair. She heard the sound of candles being snuffed, and the scent of candle wax affirmed this. She heard the door being locked thrice and the firm steps of the Captain across the boards of the ships floor.
And finally, she felt the warmth of the Captain's body inches from her own as he slipped under the coverlet next to her. She would have insisted he use the sofa, had it not been for her own overwhelming desire to be near him at this moment. Something had shifted, passed between them and it still lingered now.
"I am not accustomed to such candor," came the rumbling voice of Hook moments after darkness. "And I can only apologize for my premature convictions and hope for your full forgiveness."
"You have it," Wendy murmured softly a moment later, deciding that such prior animosity between them was more abhorrent than ever previously thought.
"You have my thanks." They lapsed into verbal silence with only the waves lapping at the side of the boat for sound until the Captain spoke again.
"Wendy, would you find it most inappropriate...if I were to...embrace you?" His words were strung together so inarticulately and hurriedly, Wendy couldn't help but smirk in the darkness at it all.
"After our numerous indiscretions of today, to simply be embraced seems positively innocent."
Feeling bolder, Wendy shifted, turning to face the Captain. Only the moonlight from his small window shone in, creating an almost unearthly glow around him. Wendy felt her sigh become lodged in her throat as she noted the Captain was completely shirtless.
The ingrained belief of proper protocol and manners was unavoidable to be thought, but Wendy was finding it easier and easier to slip into the temptations of the flesh, and she could not bring herself to look away now.
Wendy felt his hand around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. She was shifted slowly, until her hips brushed against his own. Wendy saw the Captain bite his lip harshly before his good hand was raised, and a gentle fingertip traced Wendy's mouth, his eyes trained upon where his fingers trailed.
Before long, their mouths were once again at the mercy of one another, and the Captains hand had slipped down to the collar of Wendy's chemise. Again this fire-like heat was encompassing Wendy, and while the feel of the Captain so perfectly fitted against her was most invigorating, Wendy was the first to break apart.
"I believe you requested an embrace, Captain," Wendy said breathlessly, her mouth swollen from his passionate kisses, and her chest heaving from their encounter.
"I did indeed," Hook replied between intakes of breath, his eyes lazily half shut. "Forgive me, my beauty."
At this, the Captain pulled slowly from Wendy until he was at her side, still holding her, but at a more respectable distance. His head rested upon the pillow next to her own, and he gave her a gentle smile.
"Goodnight Wendy."
Many minutes later, Wendy lay in the warm embrace of her sleeping Captain, watching his chest rise and fall with every breath he took. He was even more fascinating to watch when asleep. Soon though fatigue overtook her as well, and her eyes fell shut.
And so they both slept on soundly, Wendy safely in Hook's arms, neither one of them aware of the fact that by the same time tomorrow night, they would be mercilessly ripped apart from one another by a force they could no longer control.