27.
Months later, and Hook was still learning to deal with the mood swings surrounding Wendy. As if her regular moods weren't bad enough, now he had to deal with her pregnant, and now due in just a few weeks.
Their new house, Hook shuddered to look at it, a sign that he was settling, was small, but Wendy adored it. Or at least the inside, the outside was a light blue, she always shook her head, "Blue!"
Then Tiger Lily was running around helping as much as she could. Wendy had grown very found of the Native, but her mother would often come by and wonder what she was doing here.
The house had stairs, a problem for Wendy as her stomach grew. He of course saw her struggling one evening and went to help her.
"Don't touch me! I can get up the stairs myself!"
"I was trying to help," Hook barked.
"You helped enough by putting me in this position!"
Hook glared, "Women!" he stormed out.
Of course she had to go up the stairs again, but this time Hook stayed seated. Only a few moments into it and he heard soft weeping.
"Wendy? Are you alright?" he ran swiftly over to her and she turned away.
"No!" she wept.
"Are you hurt?"
"You didn't even try to help me!" she cried, "You didn't!"
He stared, appalled, "You didn't-"
"I thought you loved me!"
"Wendy I-"
"Just go away!"
He gave a heavy sigh, "This is ridiculous," he pulled her up and gently brought her upstairs. The moment she was there she became angry, but not at Hook.
"Oh I'm useless! Completely useless, I don't know why I bother!"
He kissed her nose and put his hand gently on her swollen stomach. She really was carrying small, something she had no idea how she managed, her mother hadn't carried small at all, so she assumed she would be so large. But here she was, only the stomach getting larger.
Truth me told, Hook thought looking around the neat house (Wendy was incredibly clean), he wasn't sure he was ready for any of his. Being a father? He was Captain James Hook! His soul purpose in life was to kill a child; he didn't think he could manage one of his own. He knew for a fact he couldn't. He loved Wendy, more than anything, but if he had to choose between now, and the time he had on the ship with her, he would take the ship without a thought, dragging Wendy behind him. He wanted the churn of the ships, the smell of salt in the air, Wendy tucked beneath his arm. That's all he wanted. Not to be civilized or to be a father.
But then he'd look at Wendy, her eyes glowing, and he would forget that. All he could see was her, the small baby, and himself.
Wendy would be sitting on a couch reading a book and he would fold her into him, she was perfect this way. But when he did this he thought of how he had misled her so often. She turned him into a kind man, a caring and loving man. Not Captain Hook! The moment she was out of sight, he was back to his old ways, the scowl on his face, and the cruelty in his eyes.
He could ever get rid of being a pirate, not even when it came to Wendy. He was possessive, jealous, and selfish all around, he tried his best not to let Wendy see it. She wasn't stupid though, and he did his best to control the urge in him to slice open every man's throat who even glanced her way, to have her always next to him, close enough so he could protect her when everything went wrong.
But no. He would never to that to her, although he might want to, he knew he would never do it. She was too strong willed for one, and if he even dared do such a thing she would pull away from him. There was no controlling Wendy.
He hoped the baby would at least listen to him.
"Tiger Lily," Wendy said under Hook's arm on the couch, "Do you think it will be much longer? I'm so impatient for this to end."
Tiger Lily jokingly rolled her eyes, "Much longer than you want."
"Of course."
Tiger Lily looked at Hook pointedly, and then casually motioned for him to follow her to the dining room.
"Excuse me my beauty," he kissed her quickly and then followed.
"Captain," Tiger Lily said quickly, "You must return to Neverland."
Hook's blood pressure spiked, "Why?"
"For Wendy and the baby," Tiger Lily said, "The fairies, they've been coming here. They're ready to meet you."
"Meet us?" he cried incredulous, "They've done nothing but torture us!"
"You have to Captain!" Tiger Lily said panicked, "Or you'll never be able to stay together!"
Hook pinched his nose, "But she's with child, we can't possibly."
"You must! Now more than ever."
He sighed, "Why?"
"It's your only chance to stay together."
"When should we leave?"
"Now."
888
"I can't," Wendy shook her head, "I won't hurt the baby."
"There's no evidence saying that it will!" Hook said angrily.
"James you don't understand," she cried, "I have to take care of this now, I can't loose the child."
He wiped his face with his hand, "Wendy," he groaned, "Please do this for me. For us."
Her face fell and she looked around their bedroom. It was so plain compared to Hook's cabin. The sight of the house hurt her; she didn't want to be here. She tried so hard to make Hook feel that she loved it, but she hated it.
"Leave me alone," she murmured.
"Wendy!"
"Please! Just give me a few moments."
He left shaking his head as he closed the white door, the narrow hall crushing in around him.
"I'll speak with her," Tiger Lily said from the stairs.
Hook felt an angry cloud well up inside him. What made her think she could talk to Wendy but he couldn't? He nodded though, not looking her in the eye. He waited, leaning against the white wall, and listening to the mumbled of voices. Suddenly he heard a small cry and he stood up. Tiger Lily opened the door.
"Your wife is sleeping," she said matter of fact, "Put her in the machine and we'll leave."
By that she meant car.
"Sleeping?" he said startled and pushed passed her, seeing his wife slumped in a chair, "You knocked her out!"
"She's safe, the baby as well. Indian trick," Tiger Lily said trying not to smile.
"You knocked out my wife!"
"Come on!" she cried tugging at his sleeve.
He still looked horrified but picked her up, rushing down the cramped stairs to their car. He gently laid her in the back seat with Tiger Lily (who still was fascinated by the metal beast) and got in the front seat.
"Damn, I don't think I remember any of this," he muttered, he had only recently learned how to control the thing.
"Go!" Tiger Lily cried.
"How do I know you're not doing this for your own gain?"
"I am," she stated simply, "But you'll gain as well. I hope to ask the fairies for forgiveness, but only after they have accepted you."
He shook his head angrily, "I shouldn't be doing this."
"Trust me."
He sighed, and then with a jolt started the car and drove.
888
When Wendy woke up she first noticed the comfortable mattress beneath her. She had been so at rest since…
No!
She sat up, a look of complete shock and despair on her face. She was in Hook's cabin.
"James!"
"Ah you're up my beauty. You always seem to suddenly wake up in this bed without any clue how you came here, it's actually very amusing," Hook said from his desk.
"What are we doing here?" she demanded, "How could you do this?"
"Calm down Wendy," he said gently, "You must understand I did this for a reason!"
"I can't believe you," she said in a low voice, "You said you would wait. You promised me!"
"I know what I said, but this is important."
"More important than our child's life?!"
"I'm trying to save that life!" he said loudly, angrily, "We've been summoned by those blasted fairies."
Her eyes were narrowed, "I will never forgive you."
He sighed hurt plain in his eyes, "Don't say that Wendy."
She didn't answer him, but he saw silent tears fall down her cheeks. He hated it when he cried, absolutely loathed seeing a woman cry in general, and to see Wendy cry only made it worse.
"You will forgive me," he said quietly as he got up to leave, "You will."
888
Hook, Wendy and Tiger Lily stepped out of the row boat and onto to the Island in Neverland. It was dark, quiet, but not nearly as forlorn as Wendy looked. She felt as if she had already lost the baby, the frozen time could be hurting it. Hook seemed to have no concerns at all, and it hurt her. Wendy knew she was always meant to be a mother, after all she had been Peter's, but she was terrified she would be a horrible one; she had abandoned Peter, and then betrayed him. What kind of mother was that? Now she was in Neverland, where time doesn't move! She could only imagine what was happening to her child now.
Hook had betrayed her…
They walked, Wendy stopping sometimes, her hand nervously on her stomach, "I'm fine," she assured them, "Keep going."
"We're here," Tiger Lily said quietly as they stood in front of a tree.
"Here?" Hook said skeptically, and Tiger Lily nodded, "I waited my whole life in Neverland to find the fairies hide out and it's an old tree?"
It was then that there was a burst of light, and the largest fairie Hook had ever seen appeared. She was only a foot tall, but slender and graceful, her aura burning brightly.
"You've returned," she said and her voice seemed to echo around them.
Gold light suddenly created a ring around them, blocking them off from seeing anything outside of it, only leaving a few trees inside. It was as if golden water was floating, and to touch it meant they would certainly drown.
"At your persistent request," Hook said somewhat annoyed.
Wendy, her brown eyes dark with anger stepped forward, "What is the meaning of this?"
"Remain calm," the fairie said, "We mean no harm to your child. She is safe."
Wendy's eyes widened, and her hands went protectively to her stomach. A girl. A baby girl, resting inside of her, and she was safe, oh thank God she was safe.
Hook saw relief spread throughout his wife, and it made him bolder. Gently he put his hand on Wendy's shoulder and drew her back, "What do you want?"
"Nothing you haven't already given us," the fairie said in her eerie voice.
"Meaning what?" Hook snapped.
"Before Wendy Darling left," she started, "Peter Pan told her to do something. Do you remember what that was Miss Darling?"
Hook had originally been annoyed at the fairie calling his wife 'Miss Darling', but now he turned to her urgently, "What happened Wendy?"
She shook her head, "I don't know…"
"Oh but you do," the fairie said deviously, "What did Peter give you?"
Immediately Wendy gasped, a look of horror on her face, "But I didn't know! I didn't know! He said…"
Hook put a hand on her shoulder, his grip firm, "Wendy what did you do?"
"She swallowed fairie dust."
The fairies voice now boomed, and she floated above them. Hook's face fell completely, his hand sliding off of her, a long breath escaping his lips.
"What does this mean?" she asked in a small voice.
"NO!" he yelled, his voice ragged and loud, anger filling every feature, and he rammed his hook into a tree and then pulled it out, a jagged scar left behind.
"James," Wendy took a step forward, but he shook his head.
"Why…How could you do this to her?" he rasped to the fairie, "After everything we've been through, you do this to her!"
"She took it."
"She didn't know!"
"James!" Wendy said desperately, feeling on edge.
"You can't do this!" he yelled louder to the fairie, walking up to her, but an invisible shield protected her, "You can't have her!"
"It's been done!" the fairie shouted, and then suddenly became calm, "But I can fix something."
Slowly, so slowly that it seemed to effect everything around them, the hook fell off and in its place was a hand. James looked at his hand, his hand, in wonderment. The fingers moved, an old scar that he had gotten at a child still shone, and his pointer finger was slightly crooked. It was his old hand, exactly as it was before…
He turned to Wendy, amazement in his eyes, and then back to the fairie, "What are you trying to do?"
"Show me who you are," the fairie said, "My decision may change yet, what is the first thing you will do with your gift?"
He didn't pause, he turned and gently, so gently Wendy couldn't tell if it was happening, placed his hand on her cheek. The other hand rested on her stomach, and his eyes rested in hers. Then, both hands in her hair, kissed her, kissed her more deeply, and with more love than he ever had before. She gasped, and he smiled, like he always did when she did such things. Then he took both hands in his, and smiled.
"I won't let them take you," he said in her ear.
"I love you," she said back.
"I'll always love you."
She suddenly was terrified, he said it as if they would never see each other again.
"Captain," the fairie said, "It can't last forever."
"Forever," he repeated, only to Wendy, his hand holding hers tightly as the hook replaced it.
"Captain," the fairie continued, "And Miss Darling. You must prepare to meet your fate."
"You'll never take her from me," Hook growled, taking a tighter hold on her.
"She belongs to Neverland now."
"Are you that upset that she chose to leave on her own free will that you would take her back just to change it?"
"She belongs to us!"
"She belongs to me!"
Suddenly Wendy cried out in pain, clutching her stomach.
"Wendy?" Hook said looking down at her.
"I'm ok," she said, "It'll go away in a moment."
"She's been having contractions since you stepped onto the island," the fairie grinned.
"I've noticed it as well," Tiger Lily suddenly said, Hook and Wendy had completely forgotten about her.
"You said nothing?" Hook snapped.
"She has her own needs," the fairie said bowing her head slightly, "And for your work, they are granted."
"What?" Wendy said, anger and hurt in her eyes, "Tiger Lily, why would you do such a thing?"
"I belong with my tribe," Tiger Lily said sadly, "Not with the white people."
Wendy cried out in pain again, clutching Hook's arm.
"We don't have time for this," Wendy said worried, "We have to get back to London-"
"You don't think you'll get away so easily do you? No, you will not."
Suddenly a swarm of fairies burst into the golden light, shattering it, and sped between Hook and Wendy until Hook could no longer feel Wendy's hand upon him. He called out, but there was no answer. When he was able to see again, Wendy, the fairies, and even Tiger Lily, were all gone.