Summary: Hook meets the woman of his dreams. Literally. The only problem? She is married in actuality. And her marriage is not the happy one she tries to portray in reality. Not to mention Y/N has a secret she failed to reveal in their shared dreams. Can Hook persuade her to leave her husband and seek the safety of his love instead?
Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with AEW. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination.
Content/Trigger Warnings: Domestic Abuse against a woman, some sexual harassment within AEW

In Dreams

You opened your eyes and took a look at your surroundings, absolutely in awe. A beautiful wooded area stood before you. It was the most breathtaking, ethereal forest you'd ever seen. It was vivid green with trees everywhere, and flowers all over the place. You walked a ways and found yourself on a grassy knoll. Reaching down, you plucked a yellow wildflower from the grass and brought it to your nose. The smell was the sweetest smell you'd ever experienced.

"I'm in a dream," you realized aloud. "But it's the most beautiful dream ever!"

Briefly, you wondered if you'd passed away in your sleep–that you were in heaven.

"But if that's the case, where is Jesus? Where is everyone else? My family that's died before me, my pets?"

"Do you always talk to yourself?"

You spun around and discovered you were being watched. By a man.

A very handsome man. He was leaning against a huge tree, his legs crossed at the ankle and arms crossed in front of him. His dark eyes trailed over you, head to foot and back up to your face. His bushy, dirty blonde curls brushed over his eyebrow and you fought the urge to go up to him, move his hair out of his face so you could get a better look at him.

He wore a white tank top and gray sweat pants that hung low on his slim, sculpted hips.

"I…I…" You stammered softly. "I thought I was alone in my dream. Who are you?"

"What are you talking about," came his reply, his handsome face growing confused. "This is my dream. Who are you?"

You shook your head, "I'm Y/N. Y/N Last/N. But… I'm dreaming too. I'm real. You're the one who's in my dream. Unless…." You continued to yourself, "Maybe we're sharing a dream."

"We can't be sharing a dream," the man said. "That's not possible."

"What if it is," you said, astonished. "If you swear you're real, and I swear I'm real…."

"People don't share dreams."

"Well, what do you think is happening?"

He shrugged, and smirked. "I think you're in my dream and I'm about to take advantage of that fact."

"What are you talking about? And what's your name?"

He moved closer to you. "Tyler Senerchia. But most people call me Hook."

"It's… nice to meet you, Hook." You held out your hand for him to shake, and he did take your hand in his. But to your surprise, he turned it slightly and brought it to his lips, brushing them softly over the back of your hand.

"Wh-what was that for," you asked, gently tugging your hand back. He was being somewhat forward. And while you weren't happily married, you were married nonetheless.

Not to mention… you had a daughter.

"I told you. I'm taking advantage of this dream. I don't dream about beautiful angels… well, ever…. So I'm going to kiss you. And enjoy it–immensely."

You felt your face flush as you looked down. An instant later, Hook's fingers were tilting your chin back so you were looking him in the eye. "Don't get shy on me," he chuckled.

"I-I…" you floundered for your words. "I find you to be very handsome, Hook. But… we can't… I-I…"

His face moved closer to yours and his eyes dimmed to an even darker shade. "I always get what I want. And right now, I really want to kiss a beautiful woman. So you'd better have an exceptionally good reason why I can't or shouldn't."

"I'm married," you said immediately, taking a step back.

Which did no good. He only stepped up to you again, and pulled you into his arms–squeezing a sharp exhale from you.

His eyes scanned your face, slid down to your mouth, then back up to your eyes.

"Not near good enough, sweetheart."

With that, his head lowered to yours…

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

You were jarred awake by a sudden pain to your stomach.

You came to just as your body fell from the bed to the floor.

"Quit talking in your sleep, or go sleep on the sofa!"

Dazed, you shook your head lightly, and instantly realized your husband had literally kicked you out of the bed. You held your midsection where his kick had landed, and you massaged at your ribs to see if any were broken.

Luckily, not this time.

Gingerly, you lifted yourself to your feet and grabbed your pillow. Seeing as you couldn't promise not to talk in your sleep again, you were indeed sleeping on the sofa. Uncomfortable as it was going to be. You'd be exhausted the next day.

Heading for the stairs, you took that moment to peek in at your three-month-old daughter Sienna, to make sure the commotion had not woke her. You breathed a sigh of relief when you found her to be sound asleep.

"Thank goodness," you whispered softly. You were terrified of what would happen when your daughter grew older and she saw the abuse you took from her father. You had no idea what to do.

You were forced to keep the abuse quiet. The first time Derek hit you, you went to a lawyer to file for divorce. But that ended quickly when he gave you another beating for that "stunt", as he called it. He made it clear he'd kill you if you tried it again.

And you believed him.

You headed down the stairs to the living room and laid down the best you could on the loveseat that you called a sofa. You needed to upgrade to an actual sofa but you couldn't afford to at the moment.

You scoffed at the thought. "When will we ever be able to afford one?"

Derek was a lowlife. You knew that now. He lived off meager unemployment simply because he could, and kept the money for himself, to boot. While you worked two jobs trying to make ends meet for him and your daughter. You stayed exhausted and usually, in the fall and winter months, sick along with it thanks to the drafty old house you lived in.

It didn't used to be this way. Derek had seemed like a good man at one time. He didn't have a lot of money but that honestly didn't matter to you. You fell in love with him whole-heartedly at one time.

At one time.

The first time he hit you was while you were pregnant. In fact, it was right after you told him about the baby. He was trying to cause you to miscarry, you knew that now. But by the grace of God, your baby had survived and lived to see delivery.

How long would it be before Derek started hitting Sienna?

It wasn't the first time the little voice in your mind had asked that question.

"What'll I do?" You wondered aloud quietly. "I can't let him hurt her. I'll have to find a way to leave before it gets to that point."

But still… The idea terrified you. You could make it on your own, you knew you could. You'd been doing it after all. But… you had no doubt that Derek absolutely had the nerve to kill you if you tried to leave again.

And then where would Sienna be?

You tried to fight off the beginnings of a panic attack, but failed.

You laid huddled up on the loveseat, crying. Crying in fear. In anger. In frustration.

If only…

If only Hook from your dream had been real. He seemed like the type of man that wouldn't put up with that kind of treatment toward the opposite sex.

You rolled your eyes then. Like some dream man was coming to your rescue.

Angry at yourself, you scrunched into the fetal position and cried yourself to sleep till you awoke only a couple hours later to the sound of Sienna's cries.

She was hungry. You were sure of it.

Sleepily, you stood to your feet and headed to the kitchen, where you started a bottle for her.

WIthin minutes, you had the bottle heated and were walking up the stairs to the nursery. The closer you got to the nursery the louder SIenna's cries seemed.

"Hi, little baby," you said softly in greeting, gently lifting up your baby girl and putting the bottle to her lips. She immediately took it in and began drinking. A soft coo passed her lips as she drank the formula.

"That's my girl," you whispered, stroking your thumb along her side. Tears burned your eyes again as you looked down at your baby. "I will never let him hurt you. I promise."

Sniffling, you put the sleepy baby back into her crip once she'd finished her bottle. Then you were heading back downstairs to get ready for your day, while loud snores came from your bedroom.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

Hook scanned the bewildered look on Y/N's pretty face and let his gaze fall back to her mouth.

"Not near good enough, sweetheart."

He leaned forward and prepared to kiss her, closing his eyes. But after a moment of no human contact, he opened his eyes and found that he was in his hotel room, laying in the bed on his back.

"Ah, man," he groaned, flopping onto his side. "What kind of dream was that," he wondered aloud. "I never have dreams like that."

That's what he said out loud, but not what he really thought. What he thought was that he'd just met an angel and was already head over heels in love with her.

While he inwardly tried to brush off the dream, it was sticking with him. THe woman had been absolutely stunning. Not typically the type of woman he was attracted to, but for some reason this one was haunting him.

Stretching, he decided to get up and hit the gym.

"Nothing like a good workout to make me forget about it."

He stood to his feet and pulled on a pair of sweatpants over his boxers and his white tank top along with them. Then he had his sneakers on in record time and was headed to the elevator.

Once he entered the gym, he headed straight for the punching bag to release some of the pent up frustration he was feeling from his dream. He unleashed some punches and worked on his foot-work at the same time. For the next fifteen minutes he worked the punching bag over. Big time. Then he was headed for the weight bench, and began bench pressing. From there he did pull ups. He was a man possessed. The dream had really gotten to him. And no matter what he did–or how much he did–it wasn't enough to erase the woman's face from his mind.

Huffing and puffing he sat down on a bench and fought to catch his breath.

"All that work and I still can't get her out of my mind," he scoffed to himself. He shook his head and indulged himself in another thought about her.

Her eyes… They were haunted, but beautiful.

"There's beauty in sadness." La bellezza nella tristezza, he thought. The saying fit the woman to a T. He wondered if he'd dream of her again. He hoped so.

Then he felt silly. She was just some figment of his imagination. What did it matter if he dreamed of her again or not?

He sighed and got back to his exercise.

}i{}i{}i{}i{}i{

"Please, stop Derek! You're scaring the baby!"

"All you have to do when you get off work is fix a freaking meal! How in the world did you screw up frozen dinners?!" Derek's green eyes flashed menacingly as he berated you.

"I just microwaved it a bit too long, that's all," you insisted gently, jostling the baby in your arms to settle her. "Just calm down. Sienna is crying already."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT LITTLE BRAT!"

SMACK!

You felt the blooming fire coast up your face as you fell to the floor. You immediately shifted your weight so you were the one to take the hard impact to the linoleum. Your ears rang but you could still hear Sienna's frantic scream-cries.

"Don't you ever talk back to me!"

Sienna was taken from your arms and you groaned softly, managing to climb to your feet as quickly as you were able. "No! Put her down!"

Oh my God this is it, you thought, nausea roiling in your stomach. He's not even going to wait for her to be toddling around before he hurts her!

"If you weren't so concerned with her you'd be able to put a proper meal on the table!"

Distraught ,you shook your head. "No, Derek! Give her to me!"

You frantically followed him into the living room where he plunked Sienna down into her downstairs crib. The baby cried and screamed with fresh vigor.

You flew at him and pounded his back with your fists. "Don't touch her!"

You were backhanded for your troubles. You fell to the floor again and had no time to recover as Derek wrapped his hands around your neck and squeezed. Hard.

"Don't you ever…. EVER… HIT ME AGAIN!"

You tried to gasp in some air but Derek's hold was too tight. You clawed at his hands, trying to free yourself but he was simply too strong for you. Lack of air was becoming an issue. You felt your grip slipping from his hands. Everything was blurring before your eyes. You grew so sleepy. Your eyes closed as you heard Derek growl, "Night night."

You opened your eyes and you were in the beautiful forest once again, lying in the plush grass. But the need to breathe was still there. You knew, you just knew that Derek was still choking you in the real world.

"H-help…" you whispered in desperation, clutching at your throat.

"Y/N?"

Tears streamed down your cheeks and you had no idea if it was because of the relief at hearing Hook's voice, or from the pressure building in your head and eyes.

"Y/N!"

You heard him shout your name this time, and then the thundering of feet hitting the ground. He was at a full on run, coming to your aid.

"What is it?" He demanded, dropping to his knees by your side. "Y/N, what's wrong?"

"C-can't…. Breathe…" You choked out.

"Why not?" He gently but quickly pulled your torso onto his lap and smoothed your hair back from off your face. "What's happening to you, Y/N?"

You saw Hook fade before your eyes and briefly you saw Derek in his place, his hands still wrapped around your throat. Your eyes rolled back in your head and suddenly you were back with Hook.

"Y/N! What can I do?"

Another tear spilled from your eye as you gasped and choked on seemingly nothing.

And suddenly, out of nowhere, Derek must have released you because air invaded your lungs. You turned onto your side and coughed hard, gasping in as much air as you could manage.

"Y/N, please tell me what just happened!"

"I…" You took another deep breath and turned in Hook's lap so you could face him. "I…" You didn't know what to say. You couldn't tell him about your husband hurting you. That was too humiliating. "I was…choking. On… on some gum." You felt so stupid but you couldn't let him know what really happened.

"Are you okay now?"

You nodded. "Y-yeah."

"You can breathe now?"

"Yes."

"But you're still here…" You glanced up at him and could see his gears turning in his mind. "So…" His eyes lit up. "You're unconscious. I have to get to you. Where are you outside this dream?"

You felt the blood drain from your face. You couldn't let him see the way you live. You couldn't bear seeing the pity on his face. Or the disgust.

"I'm fine, Hook. I'm breathing now. I'm fine."

Before you could say anything else, you were awakened by cold, wetness all over your face and chest.

You gasped and rolled onto your side. You could still hear Sienna crying from the crib.

"That'll teach you to pass out when I'm teaching you a lesson!" Derek shouted, a pot in his hands. He'd evidently doused you with cold water. You'd be lucky if you didn't get yet another cold.

Shakily, you lifted yourself to your knees.

In the next instant, Derek had hold of your face, gripping it hard in his hand.

"Remember that time you tried to divorce me–to leave me?"

Tears of pure fear burned your eyes and one trickled down your cheek. You nodded in his hand.

"Remember what I told you? You do it again… I'll kill you. And the little brat. I know what to do with a body. No one would ever find you. EVER."

He released you and you crumpled to the floor again as he left the room, sobbing in horror.