16.
Wendy's feet touched the floor of the deck lightly, and Hooks followed soon after. His eyes were hungry, holding desire, and yet it wasn't the vulgar desire he had showed to women before, he wanted her forever, he wanted all of her, he wanted her to want him just as badly as he wanted her.
They looked at each other for a few moments; Wendy's blush rising to her cheeks, Hook's eyes glistening. Slowly she turned around and headed for the cabin, Hook close behind. Halfway there he took her by the waist and pulled her close, her back to his chest.
"You drive me mad," he whispered kissing below her ear.
"We're almost there," she whispered pulling away.
"Can't… hold on…much longer," he said in mock desperation.
"Don't be so dramatic," she said with a small laugh but kissed his hand like he had done to hers so many times before.
"Then don't tease me," he whispered, bringing her own hand to his lips, but instead kissed her palm.
Chills went down her spine, and she loved the feeling. She continued to walk towards the cabin; trying to get there before Hook did anything more than kiss her hand. His hand went to her waist as she opened the cabin door, and soon his arms were wrapped around her middle, guiding her inside.
"Wendy," he nearly groaned into her ear as he lifted her up in his arms.
"What are you doing?" she giggled, and covered her mouth with her hand, she had always thought giggling was foolishly girly.
He kissed her softly and then laid her down on the bed, and then went back and closed the door.
"I don't want to share you with anyone else," he said as the door clicked shut.
When Hook woke up in the morning, Wendy was still asleep. He brushed her hair with his hand and smiled. Suddenly the smile vanished, and cold fear gripped him. He had made himself vulnerable to her. She might expect things from him; she would assume he would devote his attention to her. He began to make up more excuses, the plan, the bloody plan! His crew, what would they think? She would distract him, she would need him!
His breathing became shallow, his arms became stiff. As if sensing the change, Wendy started to shift away from him, but the fear only gripped him tighter and he brought her back in his arms. He couldn't let her go either, as much as it scared him when she was here, it terrified him to see her leave. That's when he knew he was defeated. Wendy Moira Angela Darling, a young woman whom he had watched grow up, had taken over his thoughts, and his soul.
He wasn't sure if he could handle it.
When Wendy woke up she didn't do so gracefully, to her horror. She lifted her hand and without realizing it, smacked Hook in the face.
"Oh no!" she cried out as he lifted his own hand to his nose in pain, "I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine," he assured her, giving an amused laugh, "Honestly, it's fine."
She held the blanket to her with one hand and reaching out with her free hand to push his away, "I am so sorry," she said again, "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"You didn't hit me hard enough to cause real pain," he said eying the blanket, but she hadn't noticed.
"I could you know," she said offended.
"But you didn't. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't," he smiled, and then sinking back to the bed, brought Wendy down with him.
"Can you believe we slept almost all day yesterday?" she asked trying to make conversation.
"I don't really care much for the day portions," he said thickly into her hair, "It was the night that interests me."
He could almost feel the heat of her blush and he grinned.
"It was alright," she said playfully.
"Alright?" Hook said outraged, and in a swift move had trapped her underneath him, "I believe you're trying to provoke me."
She gave him a smirk in return, and then lightly pushed him off of her, "I would never do such a thing."
Instead of falling back defeated, he pulled her back on top of him, and laughed as she gave him a shocked look.
"Miss Darling," he said formally, adapting a male form of her British accent, "I do hope you were joking."
"Aye Captain," she said, one side of her mouth turning into a smile, and then laughing when he raised one brow, "Can I ask you something?" she said suddenly, her finger tracing his brow.
He nodded skeptically.
"You don't speak properly," she said, and seeing his puzzled expression corrected herself, "Your voice. It's not British enough. You said you went to Eton, did you grow up in England?"
He nodded, not enjoying talking about his past. It was one thing to do in the caves, but they were back in his ship now, "As Captain I am a man of the world," he winked, "I speak how I please."
Hook checked his watch, and then turning back to her, smiled apologetically, "Must get back to the crew," he kissed her quickly, "I'll send Smee in later. You can come out on deck later, or…" he let the words hang and she rolled her eyes.
"We'll see," she muttered and kissed him before he got out of bed.
For the next few weeks Wendy and Hook seemed to live in bliss, the entire crew now seeing their circling had finally ended. They never made mention of this, and it was acknowledged without words by the two that in public they would stay civil, he would refer to her as Miss Darling, and she would refer to him as Captain. Try as hard as they might though, everyone saw through them. Hook was too happy, and though he kept strict watch on his ship, there seemed to be less smothering fear, more morale. More than one crew member has spotted two shadows blend into each other, and they all seemed vastly amused, and only slightly jealous, by the show. Only one seemed genuinely unhappy by this, but he kept to himself. Charlie knew better than to interfere.
Although their constant arguments never stopped. Both were too stubborn to just give up on that. Sometimes the crew wondered if the loving relationship they sometimes saw was really the dominant one. The two never stopped! Wendy was to free spirited, Hook too in control. Both were opposing forces, in most ways they were so alike that the problem became themselves. Yet in other ways they differed greatly, causing more riffs in how close they were when they became stubborn.
Yet they were happy.
It was Smee that ended the bliss.
It was entirely unintentional on Mr Smee's part. He felt that he was just doing his best and Hook's next in command, and as a curious old man, he couldn't help but ask Hook the question that had been on his mind.
"Excuse me Captain," he said, interrupting Hook from his work with maps, and drawing out plans for fighting next time they needed them.
"What Smee?" he said distracted.
"I know this isn't my place," he said cautiously, and then to his dread Hook put down his pen and looked at him expectantly, "But are we- you- still going through with the, the um, the plan?"
"The Plan," Hook said with desperate amusement, "Of course. Do you think I would back out on my word, Smee?"
"I just thought…"
"You thought what?" Hook snapped.
"You and Miss Wendy seem… closer… I thought you wouldn't.. that wou wouldn't want to…"
"You thought I would break my word as Captain? Over a girl's feelings? You forget who I am Smee. I am Captain Hook, most feared captain of Neverland. I don't pause over an English temptress," he said, his voice breathlessly forced.
"The men like Miss Wendy," Smee said defenselessly.
"They will like her more if she brings back Pan."
Hook stood up, the chair skidding across the floor.
"Sir?"
"Come back to my cabin later when Miss Darling and I are both there. Repeat the same question, but do not mention this conversation.
Later that night Hook had placed Wendy on his bed, where she lay on top of the covers reading a book. He lay next to her, and after an attempt at putting his head on her shoulder, on of her arms wrapped around his shoulder and stroking his hair, he made an annoyed noise and with a small growl moved her to lay on him, his arms now around her as she read.
"What are you doing?" She demanded, "I'm not a doll!"
"You're too small for me to lay my head on, I feel ridiculous," he said kissing her cheek.
"Too small!" she said outraged.
"Better that than too big," he laughed, "How tall are you my dear?"
She gave him a suspicious look, "Why?"
"Well I'm six feet and three inches."
"A giant abnormality," she smiled wickedly.
He ignored her, "So to me you'll always be too small to rest my head upon your shoulder."
She stuck her tongue out at him, "Be that way."
He began to pet her hair as she read, so lost in the activity he almost forgot it was Smee who knocked at the door.
"Who is it?" he barked.
"Smee, Captain."
Hook's face relaxed, just for a moment, until he remembered why Smee would be here.
"Oh yes, come in."
Wendy made to move out of the bed, but Hook kept his hold.
"James!" she scolded still trying to get out, "Wait a moment please, Smee!"
"No come in!" Hook said laughing loudly as Wendy squirmed.
"Stay!" she cried and then burst out into laughter when Hook had meant to grab her waist, but ended up tickling her instead.
"You're ticklish?" Hook said intrigued.
"No!" she gasped, "No, no, I'm not!"
Hook's eyes gleamed, "Really?"
"Don't you dare James Hook!" she snapped, "Don't you dare!"
He leaned over and very carefully whispered in her ear, "Its Stroud. James Stroud."
Then while she was in shock, he tickled her until she nearly fell of the bed.
"You give me no dignity at all!" she said angrily.
"Pirate," he shrugged.
"Captain!"
"Oh yes," he said remembering, "Come in now Smee."
Smee walked in hesitantly, looking around the cabin sheepishly. Wendy now sat content on the chair, not looking at him, pretending she had not just been defeated by a foolish game.
"Captain I don't mean to disturb you," Smee said nervously, feeling Hook's gaze dig into him, "But well, you see, the crew would like to know about the, well the plan…"
Wendy's head turned towards them a little, indicating to Hook that she was indeed listening.
"Is this really the appropriate place to bring that up Mr Smee?" Hook nearly hissed.
Smee blinked slowly, and then understood.
"But sir, the crew must know! You promised them!"
"Damn the promise!" Hook shouted, "Get out!"
Smee nodded, "Aye sir," and left quickly.
After he left Wendy gave Hook a confused look, "What was he talking about?"
Hook went and sat down by Wendy, letting out a large sigh.
"You see-" he started and realized she was out of his grasp and he frowned, "Come here you vixen," he growled and pulled her closer. She made a noise of protest, refusing for just a moment, and then quickly agreeing, his arms folding in around her, "As I was saying, you know as Captain I am to keep promises to my crew, it is my job, my loyalty to the ship is what keeps this crew alive, or me alive actually, if I do not keep the promise there's a large possibility for a mutiny to come upon me," he chuckled as if it was a funny idea, but Wendy's eyes were horrified.
"Don't look so scared my beauty," he cooed, "My life is not threatened at the moment."
"What are you trying to tell me? What could threaten your life?"
He sighed again, stroking her hair he said, "I made a promise to my crew. Before you walked on my ship-"
"I was carried on by a vicious pirate captain in my sleep," she said, making his lips twitch.
"I made a promise to the crew that I would enact my plan to snuff out Pan and his antics forever."
Her cheeks drained of color, but she nodded.
"Wendy," he said next to her ear, "I promised you would help."
She shook her head slightly, "I can't."
"You helped me before," he encouraged, "By the waterfall. This is all of Neverland Wendy. For the good of our waters."
"I don't think I could, I can't kill him."
"We don't have to kill him!" Hook said, "Just get him out of Neverland! Take him to the States, lock him in Egypt. It doesn't matter. But of course I wouldn't have you do such a thing."
"This is his home! You said you age faster in London, sending Peter back would be a slow death!"
"He wouldn't know," Hook hummed, "He doesn't know how others grow up. Once he did, he could always find a way to join my crew when he's older."
"I couldn't help," she said shaking her head, "It's Peter. I don't trust him anymore, but he's still Peter. I don't think I would be able to."
Hook kissed the back of neck and she squirmed, it was her weak spot, "Don't do this to me," she said quietly, so quiet he wasn't sure he had heard.
"I'll go back up and tell my crew. I don't want you to do it either," he added gently, "I would never ask such a thing. I was merely stating what had happened. I couldn't bear to see you running off into the island alone, you're so delicate…"
"I am not!" she said loudly turning to face him, "I've taken on pirates and mermaids, thank you very much for noticing!"
He laughed, "And it kills me every time!" he kissed her cheek, "Don't you bother your pretty head about this, I'll have it all sorted out soon. The men like you, maybe I'll get by from association," he winked playfully, and it was then Wendy realized what he was doing.
"You're going out there… to break a promise…because of me?"
"No! I'm breaking a promise that I shouldn't have made at all."
Her brows furrowed, "What would my part in this promise have to be?"
"No, no, no," Hook said shaking his head, "I won't allow it."
"Stop your antics!" she said hitting him, but laughing, "We both know you're putting on a show. But clarify this for me, Peter will not die?"
"I will not lay a hand- nor hook- upon Peter."
"Peter will not die," she snapped, "He may be… different from what I thought he was, but you do not kill him. No one shall."
Hook glared, "Fine. As long as he kills no one else, he shall be safe"
She eyed him carefully, "What do I have to do?"
He looked pained, "I really don't want you to do this," he whispered desperately, "Remember that. If I had known things would turn out this way, I would never have made the promise."
She repeated her question in a whisper to match Hook's, "What do I have to do?"
Very long, and a lot of it seems to be fluff, but I liked writing it, so now you must read it! Sorry for taking so long with testing, AP's, finals, projects, and ten page paper, all that amazingly happy jazz made it very difficult to update. Again, sorry for so much fluff, but I just wanted to see them very happy for a whole chapter. Also about the "Stroud" comment, from what I've found Hook's real name had an S at the beginning (if this is true or not, I do not know) and I thought Stroud was a very English name, something plain for a very extraordinary man! Thank you all so much for the FANTASTIC reviews, I have the best reviewers EVER! They all make my day and keep the story going!