Two weeks had passed since the pirates' adventure all around Neverland. Back on Pirate Island, normal life resumed for Jake and his friends. He had finished his sail wagon and had even raced it a few times. Izzy completed her collection of beautiful seashell jewelry. And Cubby finally baked his Kooky Kokonut cake, which everyone declared a sweet success.
But for all their smiles and fun, deep in the back of their minds Captain Hook was never far from their thoughts. They had often wondered how the buccaneer was doing, especially after learning from their mermaid friend Marina a few days ago that Hook had recovered from his illness and was sailing the Neverseas again.
So on this day in particular, Jake and the others were going about the island doing their daily chores. That morning they had contemplated whether they should sail to the Jolly Roger and check in on Hook themselves.
Fate however, in the form of a clear glass bottle with a note inside floating on a small wooden raft, made the decision for them. Skully was the first to notice it.
"Mateys ahoy! Incoming message!"
Jake, being the closest, got there first and plucked the bottle from the small raft. After opening it and pulling out the message, he unrolled the parchment and read it silently for a minute before speaking up to the others.
"It's a message from Mama Hook! She's inviting us over to the Jolly Roger for afternoon tea so she can thank us for all our help!"
"Yay hey yes way!" Izzy exclaimed. "Now we can see for ourselves that Hook is okay and we don't have to worry so much about him anymore!"
"Yeah," Skully said. "But considering how much ol' Featherhat gets himself and his crew into trouble, don't we always have to worry about him?"
It took a few minutes before the parrot and the pirate kids calmed down after their huge bout of loud laughter at the jest.
"Hey," Cubby spoke up. "Do you think we should bring something over to the tea party? I could make another Kooky Kokonut cake."
"That's a great idea Cubby!" Jake agreed. "It would be very good manners for us to do so."
"You might also need to make a smaller cake made from regular coconuts for Hook." Izzy pointed out.
"I thought about that, Izzy." Cubby agreed. "I haven't forgotten the look on Hook's face in the Kooky Kokonut grove."
So later that day, with the cakes baked, the small crew set sail on board Bucky towards the Jolly Roger. Within 15 minutes, the pirate ship came into view.
It took a few more minutes for Bucky to dock right next to the Jolly Roger, and for a rope ladder to be lowered so that Jake and his friends would be able to climb aboard the ship. The site that greeted them surprised them. In the middle of the deck was a long table covered with a crisp, white tablecloth. On the tablecloth sat several steaming teapots full of hot tea, and several platters filled with goodies one would expect at a tea party, including tea sandwiches and scones. And standing next to the table were the Jolly Roger crew, Mama Hook and Nanny Nell.
"Welcome, welcome my dears!" Mama Hook greeted excitedly with open arms. After hugging the small buccaneers, she guided them over to the table. "We're so happy you could make it to our little party!"
"Thank you so much for inviting us, Mama Hook!" Jake said.
"We wouldn't have missed this for the world!" Izzy added.
"We even brought a Kooky Kokonut cake," Cubby held up the aforementioned dessert. "And this smaller, regular coconut cake is for you, Captain."
"My, those look absolutely scrumptious!" Nanny Nell exclaimed. "And it was so nice of you children to bring something for this tea party."
In a short time, everyone was sitting around the table and the tea party more or less began. Party treats were dished out, tea was poured, cream and sugar added, and conversation was made. Hook, excited that there was a cake all to himself, proceeded to greedily devour it, while the others complimented Cubby on the one he made from Kooky Kokonuts. The sea pups asked Hook's crew about their shore leave. Bones excitedly gave a cliff notes version of the stories his grandpa (and his grandpa's first mate) told him. Sharky talked about the different sizes of fish he caught during the week, although it seemed that each fish he caught on each day he further exaggerated its size. Everyone politely kept quiet and praised the pirate for his skills.
As for Mr. Smee, he had finished the painting he promised to work on. To everyone's surprise, it was actually a very good work of art and they all said so, causing the first mate to go extremely red in the face and mutter his heartfelt thanks.
Hearing those words, Mama Hook cleared her throat and turned to her son.
"James? Is there anything you would like to say to Jake and his crew?"
"Huh?" Hook looked up confusedly at his mother, then realized what it was she had said. "Oh, yes, yes. Um...thank you puny pirates for your help and for helping me crew and mummy cure me." Hook seemed to rush through that last statement.
"And I would like to add my thank you as well," Mama Hook graciously professed. "Not only for saving my son from the forever flu, but for getting the ingredients back from Sneaky Le Beak after she stole them from you."
Jake and his friends were so shocked they almost choked on their teas. They looked at each other in sheer bewilderment. None of them could recall having mentioned anything about that to either Mama Hook, Mr. Smee, or Nanny Nell. A quick glance over at Bones and Sharky revealed that the adult pirates were just as confused as they were, meaning they had not said anything either. All pirates big and small looked over to Mama Hook.
"Oh, I know, I know. I realize you were all keeping it a secret from us, probably because I mentioned my hope that you did not run into any trouble when you actually did. I may have been concerned about my son that day, but that doesn't mean I wasn't paying attention."
At those words, she held up a feather.
"I noticed this stuck to the inside of the bag flap," she explained. "A falcon feather, wouldn't you agree? In fact, the same type of falcon as the one that's her pet and always hangs around her. As I was getting the ingredients out of the bag, I noticed a whiff of perfume that I know none of the ladies here wear. French Forever which, if I'm not mistaken, is the kind she always wears."
At that point, Jake and the others knew they could not lie or deny it any longer. Jake gave a sigh and turned to Mama Hook with a sheepish smile.
"You're right. I'm sorry we didn't say anything to you. Beatrice Le Beak and her falcon did steal the bag from us after we gathered all the ingredients." Jake turned to Captain Hook. "You can be proud of Sharky and Bones, Captain Hook. They played a good trick on her in order to help us get the bag back and she fell for it hook, line, and sinker."
"They also dropped a whole bunch of frogs on her," Cubby added. "She really didn't like that one bit."
Judging from the satisfied look on the captain's face, you could pretty much see it in his eyes how he was imagining Le Beak's terrified reaction.
"I think you should also know," Izzy piped up. "Le Beak was the one who stole the Neverland flu bug from you, Mama Hook, and placed it on Hook's hand to get it to bite him while he wasn't looking, that day he got sick."
"Oh my!" Nanny Nell exclaimed, placing a hand on her chest. "Now why would she do a thing like that?"
"To get Hook out of the way so she can go treasure hunting herself." And with that, Jake, along with the others, launched into the story of how she had stolen the bag from them and what they did to get it back.
At the beginning of the tea party, Hook was mildly annoyed at having the puny pirates on board his ship. Now, that had evolved into sheer fury at the thought of his almost having been stuck with the forever flu, thanks to his female nemesis.
In fact, he angrily muttered "That blasted Sneaky Le Beak" throughout the story in a tone of voice that promised some kind of retaliation sometime in the near future.
Mama Hook was shaking her head at the end of the story.
"You know, I thought that bird was acting funny that day, but I never imagined it was to steal one of the flu bugs from me. I didn't even notice one of them was missing. At least it's enough to know that when I was out hunting for them, I didn't miss any after all."
With that, she reached under the table and pulled out a glass jar that no one else had even noticed until now. Inside was a tiny insect appearing to munch away happily on a leaf. It was one of the strangest bugs any of them had ever seen. It was completely midnight black, with red and purple markings along its back. Markings that were sort of in a swirling pattern…
"Um, Mama Hook," Izzy, who had come closer to look inside the jar, spoke in a quiet tone as if afraid to startle the bug. " Is this…? That isn't…?"
"Indeed it is! This is a Neverland Flu Bug!"
At these words, the startled adult pirates, and Cubby, all launched themselves backwards in an effort to get away from the jar. Captain Hook threw himself backwards the farthest.
"Blasted bilgewater, Mummy!" The terrified captain raised his voice to his own mother as he pointed to her. "Why would you bring that...that...that CREATURE aboard me own ship?!"
"Oh James, don't be so dramatic," Mama Hook scolded. "Would I have brought it on board if I thought it posed any kind of danger? This jar is completely sealed and it can't get out."
In spite of themselves, Jake and Izzy took a closer look at the insect.
"Hard to believe that something so small and fascinating can cause so much trouble," Jake muttered as he watched the bug eat and move about the jar. "What are you going to do with it, Mama Hook?"
"Well, I've got a secret storage room in my house where I keep all his friends. That's where he's going to live from now on."
"Live? With his friends?" Cubby was confused. "You mean, you aren't going to kill it?"
Mama Hook was shocked. "Kill it? Who said anything about killing it?"
"Well," Izzy provided. "You did say you hunted them down."
"Yes, but that didn't mean I planned to kill them off. I just keep them separated in their own habitats,but still able to talk to their friends."
"You said 'he' Mama Hook. How do you know it's a male?" Jake asked.
"Because they all are, dear," she answered. "There's no female flu bug anywhere on Neverland. That's what makes them so rare."
Before too long the tea party wrapped up. Despite protests, Jake and the others stayed a little longer to help clean up and wash the dishes. Then, after exchanging goodbyes with everyone, they made their way to the rope ladder to Bucky.
"Jake! Jake, wait!"
They turned to see who had called out to them and were surprised to see it was Captain Hook running after them. It took a minute for him to catch his breath before speaking.
"I mean it, you know. Thank you for helping mummy and me crew save me!"
"You're welcome, Captain Hook," Jake answered. "We're glad we could help."
"But that's just it!" Hook exclaimed. "I've been wracking me brain trying to figure it out! Sharky and Bones told us everything. All the places you went, the beasts you fought, the things you did. I still can't believe you did all that to save me! Why?"
"Because it's like we've been saying all along, Captain," Skully said. "No one deserves to be sick like that forever. Not even you!"
"That's why I hope you'll believe us when we tell you that we don't regret it and that we'd do it all again if we had to." Jake put in.
"So if you ever do need help like that again…" Izzy offered.
"You know where to find us!" Cubby finished for her.
With that, the sea pups boarded their ship Bucky and sailed away.
Mr. Smee went to Hook's side as they watched Bucky head back to Pirate Island.
"Why do those puny pirates always have to meddle in me business, Smee?" Hook muttered.
"We're just…lucky, I guess, Cap'n!" Mr. Smee answered. Then, as he looked at his captain, Mr. Smee was surprised to see a small smile of relief and gratitude grace the man's face.
Then it was gone. As quickly as it had appeared. As if it had never been there at all.
The End.
Author's note: Wow. Just, wow. I know you guys had waited forever for this epilogue to post and I'm so sorry you did. I thank you for your patience and reviews. This was my first multi-chapter fanfic and I'm glad you all liked it. This story deserved to be finished.
