Just a quick refresher from the other story, so you don't get lost:

Leo and William - David and Snow's sons. Leo is almost a year older than Meriel (three years older than Finn) and William is Finn's age.

Lorelei - Neal and Tink's daughter. She's a year older than Finn.

Rom - Red and Graham's son, aged about ten here.

"Eleven o'clock, Finn. Repeat that back to me, so I know you heard me."

Finn rolled his eyes. "Eleven o'clock. I heard you."

"Don't get smart with me, my lad. I can put a halt to your whole evening." Hook looked sternly down at his boy, trying his best not to sound like an overbearing father. He was failing. He turned his son around, and pointed up at the mast.

"Now, when you pull out of the dock, don't go unfurling the sails right off - you don't need to be barreling out of here. Slow and easy until you're free of the shipping lane. Are we clear on that?"

Finn didn't answer. Hook brought his gaze down only to find his son watching a local merchant's daughter's behind as it sashayed down the dock.

"Finn!"

"What?" He answered, not shifting his eyes from his target.

Hook folded his arms. "Gads, was I this bad at your age?"

Finn rolled his eyes. "From what everyone tells me, you were this bad until Mother."

"Look lad, I realize you're feeling quite the man - it is your sixteenth birthday, after all - and I'm willing to step back and let you take your first voyage on the Jolly without me, but if you and your friends leave so much as a scratch on that hull..."

"I know," Finn sighed. "I'll be scrubbing floors at the castle for a month."

"Or more!"

"Or more. Understood."

Hook clapped him on the shoulder. "I believe I see your uncles now. Keep an eye out for Rom, will you? He's determined to sneak out with you, and his mother will tear my hide off if he disappears. Literally."

"She has nothing to worry about. Rom's would turn tail and run if he knew what William and I have planned." He realized what he'd just said, and tried to recover. "None of which is even remotely beyond the pale, of course... I just meant - "

Hook held up a hand. "I know what you meant, Finn. God help me, but I do. Just be careful. Think before you do something rash. That's all I ask."

Shouts began to ring out from the dock as the young men raced up the gangplank, followed by a lovely young woman with long, blonde hair and a slightly upturned nose.

"What are you doing here?" Finn asked. "This is a male-only excursion, love."

"I know," She said. "I just came to give you your birthday present."

"Hello Lorelei," Hook said. "Does your mother know you're keeping company with these hooligans?"

"I'll keep an eye on them all," Leo promised, coming up behind Lorelei. He looked at her pointedly. "Don't you have someplace to be?"

"I'll be leaving soon." She gave him a dirty look and walked over to Finn, extending a small, cheerfully wrapped package. "Happy Birthday, Finn."

He unwrapped it carefully, pulling out a very tiny vial that glittered and glowed in the fading sunlight. He held it up, turning it side to side.

"Is that..?" Hook marveled.

"Pixie dust," She affirmed. "I found it on the bottom of a trunk that held Mum's clothes. It was scattered, and there's not much there - it must've shaken out of some of the things she's worn. It may be the last that there is."

"Lorelei...this is...amazing! Thank you!" Finn gave her a hug. She didn't release him right away, putting her lips near his ear instead.

"It doesn't compare to the birthday kiss you gave me," She whispered. "But I felt like I had to repay you somehow."

Finn had the grace to flush, pulling at the collar of his shirt. He gave her an uncomfortable smile. "Yes, well, we'd better get underway. I have a curfew to maintain, after all." He shifted his eyes to his father.

Hook didn't miss the exchange that just happened, and as Lorelei descended the gangplank, he pulled his son aside. "Finn. Tell me you're not flirting with her. She's a relation."

He gave his father a sheepish look. "She's not a blood relation. And it was only one kiss, on her birthday."

"She's your half-brother's half-sister. That makes her practically family."

Finn sighed. "It won't be repeated. She's making me nervous the way she moons over me, anyway. I should never have done it."

Hook slid an arm around his son's shoulders. "Finn, my lad, with a face like we've got, comes great responsibility. You can't be leading a girl down a path when you have no intention of seeing it through. Leaving a string of broken hearts behind you may sound quite dashing, but it's not good form. Not good form at all."

Finn gave him a sardonic grin. "Are you done with the fatherly advice for now? Can we start our evening, please?"

Hook gave him a gentle shove. "Go on with you, then. Enjoy yourselves." He turned to go, then stopped, as if remembering something. "Oh, and Finn?"

"Yes?"

"Forgot to give you this." He tossed him something, and Finn caught it in mid-air, holding it up to the waning light.

"A ring?" He turned it over in his fingers - it was gold and very heavy, with a pattern of leaves encircling it.

"There's a fascinating story that goes with it," Hook offered. "But I'll save that for another day, as you're in hurry to be off. Your mother and I agreed you should have it when you're older."

Finn slid the ring onto his finger, and to his surprise, it fit perfectly. He held his hand out, examining it. "I quite like it. Thank you!"

"You're welcome. Now off with you, my lad. And Happy Birthday."

###

"I'm sorry, sir. I've been given express orders." The tavern owner gave a shrug, and continued wiping down the bar.

"But you were the last one. There's no one else." Finn protested.

"She went right down the line, she did, spelling it out for all of us." The tavern owner explained. "One drink per hour, with a maximum of three. And none after ten o'clock."

Finn leaned across the bar, sliding a handful of gold coins toward the man. "Have a heart, mate...isn't there anything you can do?" He gave the man his most endearing grin.

"I'll not risk angering the palace," The man replied, shaking his head. "Or your father. Sorry, lad."

Finn turned away from the bar, fuming. His uncle Leo sidled up next to him.

"Any luck?" He asked.

"No." Finn gave him a dark look. "My mother spiked my guns quite thoroughly."

Leo gave him a grin. "Your mother forgets that I'm old enough to buy you rum."

Finn made a disgusted sound, waving his hand at the tavern owner. "He won't sell it to you, and if he sees you passing it to me, he'll kick us out."

Leo opened his coat, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "I bought a bottle before we left home. Been saving it for just such an occasion."

"Leo!" Finn said, giving him an exuberant hug. "I owe you, mate!"

The group made their way back aboard the Jolly Roger, not trusting that Emma didn't have the whole town under surveillance. Once they shoved off, they opened up the bottle and passed them around, laughing and singing and generally making loud, ridiculous proclamations to everyone on the coastline they passed. At one point, Finn noticed William, standing morosely at the wheel. He stumbled over, putting a hand on his uncle's shoulder.

"Why so glum...chum?" He laughed too loudly at his joke and leaned back on the railing next to him, a silly, lopsided grin on his face.

"He's downhearted because he didn't find true love tonight," Leo called out, giving an indifferent shrug.

"I found true love tonight," Finn proclaimed. "Twice, in fact."

William gave him a look. "Don't brag."

"The girls were looking at you, mate," Finn pointed out. "Why didn't you talk to them?"

"It's not as easy for some of us, Finn."

"Here - I have just the thing!" Finn announced, digging in his pocket. He pulled out the vial of pixie dust. "There! This will do the trick." He passed the bottle of rum over to Leo. "Here, mate, hold this for me."

He started working at the stopper on the vial of pixie dust. "This will lead you to your true love. Or so the legend goes." The stopper came loose with a pop, and Finn held it carefully out to William. "Sprinkle this on yourself. It'll guide you."

"There's hardly any there," Leo noted, looking over Finn's shoulder.

"Maybe it's enough to find him love for just the evening," Finn pointed out, waggling his brows.

"Then I'd better sprinkle it somewhere that counts," William deadpanned, causing Leo and Finn to roar with laughter. Leo staggered a bit, falling heavily into Finn, jostling his arm. The fairy dust was jolted up and out of the bottle, landing across the back of Finn's hand.

"Oh, rotten luck, mate," Finn apologized. "That's all there is of it, too." He stared down at his hand, then blinked. He blew on it, scattering the rest of the pixie dust, and then blinked again.

"My ring," He said, puzzled. "Is it...glowing? I mean, d'you gents see it, too?"

Leo and William leaned in. "It's glowing, all right," Leo offered.

"Definitely glowing," William agreed.

Finn held his hand up closer to his face. The glow on the ring was starting to fade now, but as he looked at it more carefully, he realized that something was emerging, between the leaves circling the band.

Roses.

Small, delicate roses, intertwined with the leaves. He blinked once more, shaking his head to be sure this wasn't a trick of the rum, and when he looked again, they were gone.

"That was...odd," He muttered. He looked over his shoulder at Leo. "What time is it, anyway?"

Leo pulled out a timepiece from his pocket. "Eleven..." He did some blinking of his own, trying to get his eyes to focus. "Eleven forty."

"Bugger!" Finn bellowed. "I'm sunk. My father will be standing at the dock, polishing his hook to take to my balls."

Leo clapped a sympathetic hand on Finn's shoulder, then he leaned over and lost his entire dinner all over the wheel deck.

"Bloody hell." Finn smacked his hand over his face.

He hadn't been far off the mark. His father was indeed waiting for him, and when he saw the vomit on his deck and the empty bottle, he ordered Leo and William home straight away. Finn turned to follow them down the gangplank.

"Not so fast, Finn."

Finn let out an enormous sigh, his shoulders slumping. "Go ahead. I deserve it."

Hook put his hand on his son's shoulder. "You brought the Jolly home safely, despite your idiocy, so there's that. Were the two of them as inebriated as you?"

"No," Finn responded. "William didn't have any of the bottle. We drew straws and he was steering."

Hook raised his brows. "Well. That was surprisingly responsible of you."

Finn gave him a crooked smile. "Can I go home now? I could bloody well use a bath. Leo threw up on my leg."

Hook slid his arm further around Finn's shoulder, guiding him back toward the wheel. "You can wash up right here in the captain's cabin, once you've cleaned up the deck."

"But I didn't do it!" Finn protested. "Leo should be cleaning it up!"

"Ah, but I didn't loan the ship to Leo, now did I?"

"But - "

"Or would you rather I let you stagger home to your mother, deep in your cups and reeking of vomit?"

"I'll grab the mop." Finn turned to make his way down below.

"Finn?"

"Yes?"

"Why don't you sleep on board tonight? I'll tell your mother you fell asleep while we were talking or something."

Finn's eyes brightened. "Really?"

"Really. She's as like to skin me as you if she sees you like this. Be a little more circumspect next time, will you?" He reached down, scooping up the empty rum bottle. "Did you have a good time, at least?"

"It was fun," Finn said, grinning widely as he swayed a bit on his feet.

"Best get that mop before you do fall asleep. There's a good lad." Hook headed for the gangplank, but Finn's voice stopped him.

"Will you tell me the story tomorrow? About the ring?"

Hook nodded. "Remind me."

"I will." Finn yawned. "And Papa?"

"Yes, Finn?"

"Thanks." He started down the stairs, leaving his father smiling fondly at his back.

"Someday, Finn," Hook said quietly, "The horizon will be wide open. 'Till then...don't rush."

In case some of you missed the mention on my other story (The Memory Keeper's Daughter), my book is now out and available for download. You can find the info in my author profile here. I have a special coupon code for my readers, too! Just use ET25U for an extra discount.