Chapter 8

Though it had miraculously morphed into night again now, the tropical temperature that Margot had apparently returned to Neverland was sticking and the humidity in Hook's cabin was rapidly beginning to grow, making the still roaring fire grow more and more uncomfortable.

"Smee!" the Captain hollered and, of course, the little man was already back on the ship and waiting close at hand for any order from James Hook.

He barreled through the door almost immediately, "Yes, Captain?"

"Get this blasted hot fire put out and light the lamps instead, send someone in to do it. I need a searching party sent out to find Miss Belle's mother," Hook began.

"Miss Belle? Captain?" Smee asked, already beginning to put together some things himself. This was the first time his young Captain had ever really introduced their new striking visitor. But Smee had also been one of the few people to even notice Margot's mother, the older and more human Tinkerbell… and he had recognized her. "You mean we gotta go find Tinker-"

"Yes, the larger fairy that was unfortunately caught up in the chaotic crossfire on deck this afternoon!" Hook hissed, trying not to be too obvious but also shutting Smee up before he stupidly blurted out any important revelations too early. "You saw her, she looked very much like Margot! We know that she is still alive out there somewhere on the island, assemble part of our crew and bring her back safely so that she may be reunited with our guest."

The bosun offered a cursory pirate salute before turning on his heel and exiting the cabin to execute his orders.

Hook cursed under his breath while his back was still turned to Margot, desperately hoping that Smee hadn't given away any information yet. If the young woman didn't understand who her mother was, James considered, was it even ethical for him to be the person to reveal that information? He just wasn't sure, best to keep all his trump cards close to the vest. Definitely didn't have anything to do with maintaining control of all of the information for his own benefit… or, wait? It definitely didn't have anything to do with worrying over Margot's best interests. Right?

For Satan's sake, James wasn't even sure what he was protecting anymore. His reputation as a villainous rogue or as a gentleman pirate? Before Margot's arrival it had been so much easier for Hook to keep a foot in both doors.

When he did turn around to face her again, well, it was clear that whatever Smee might have let slip was not at all on her mind. One hand was haphazardly piling her silver-blonde hair on top of her head in a desperate attempt to get it off of her clearly damp neck. Her second hand was scrabbling frantically at the back white silk ribbon laces of her dress, trying to wrench them off but Hook had done them up almost as tight as a seamstress.

"God damnit, why is it so hot now?" Margot railed. Ok, so she'd no realization that her taste of fairy dust had caused yet another sudden weather shift, either, so it seemed. Well it certainly remained to the Captain's benefit that she so far continued to remain blessedly unobservant. Reliance did tend to ensure compliance.

To the matter at hand, though, Hook had no concept of air conditioning so he was somewhat at a loss for why exactly she seemed this terribly impatient to rid herself of her clothes. Not that he was complaining…

Until the door to his cabin swung open abruptly and two crew members rushed in to work on carrying out the duties bestowed unto them by Smee - namely, putting out the roaring fire that had been better suited for Pan's blizzard and to light all of the oil lamps and candles in his cabin for light instead.

Typical pirates, the men who entered his apartments stopped cold but exchanged lecherous smiles at the site of Margot trying to undress herself.

"Miss Belle," James called out, striding over to stand in front of her, after sending the men a withering glare, to which they rightfully responded by looking terrified he might gut them right there, "I believe I have mentioned that the weather in Neverland can be rather capricious… which is why some members of my crew are here to help rectify the situation!"

Margot stopped her frantic ministrations upon glancing behind her to see the two new pirates now in the cabin. Again Hook admired the lovely blush that graced her features and his pleasure only increased to see her flustered in that way so specific to a young woman. She'd caught him off guard a few times with some particularly illustrious sinful language, sure, but he could also more than glean that Margot was still a relatively inexperienced young lady, naive to most of the pleasures that might await her… She didn't seem to be a true maid anymore, not by any means, but her hidden kiss betrayed the truth. Any man that had yet had that most fortuitous opportunity of carnally courting Margot had clearly wasted it, so far. No one had yet managed to obtain that kiss.

If Hook hadn't decided how badly he wanted it for himself already, he'd say that was tragic.

It was because of these thoughts, as much as the presence of the crew members still fluttering around with their chores behind them, that Hook decided to continue seeing what further reactions he could elicit from Miss Belle - this apparent human-fairy hybrid - and decipher what they might mean. Better still, how they might benefit him. Best of all, how they might piss off Peter Pan.

And so he tested for another reaction, by deftly reaching behind Margot with his good hand, tugging her flush against him, and using then his hook to loudly rip down through the silken ribbon at the back of her silver gown. Both the sound of abruptly torn fabric paired with Margot's sharp intake of breath did have his Hook's first immediate desired effect: attracting the attention of the previously smirking scoundrels and letting them know beyond a shadow of a doubt - Margot was his and not to be played with by any member of his nefarious crew.

"Out dogs," the Captain commanded, his rich velvet baritone now frosted. He surveyed his cabin and saw that the roaring fire had quickly and successfully been put out and only a few more of his oil lamps or candles remained to be lit, which he could take care of himself if need be. James had to admit that it was truly to his crew's credit that they had learned to accomplish whatever needed doing as quickly as possible, lest their insides meet the sharp curve of his hook. "Search our stocks, see what other ladies' clothing we might have found or scavenged from one of the wrecks. Go into Pirate Town if need be, but bring back options for our guest, the blasted Neverland weather is far more temperamental than normal."

As any fool could sense the tension in the air of the Captain's cabin, the two men nodded curtly to Hook and hightailed it out of there while they were still lucky enough to be alive.

"Better?" James asked her, the moment the door was closed, looking down at her in his hold.

"Better?" she intoned, dumbly, as arousal pulled at her insistently. Jesus, he was fucking attractive. And he smelled good. And he really knew how to manhandle a gal in exactly the best fucking way. And-

Annnnnnd, oh, he knew exactly what the fuck he was doing, Margot realized, when she looked back up to his face and found him smirking victoriously. He'd removed his famous heavy scarlet velvet coat at some point and was now just wearing a loose black silk gentleman's blouse undone at the top to reveal both a trace of his muscular chest as well as a partial look at the leather brace he wore to bind his hook to his arm. The weight of carrying it around constantly appeared to have had the effect of building the muscles in his back too, from how he towered over both herself and everyone else so menacingly.

"Yes, do you feel better? You had a sudden turn and got quite… hot," Hook said teasingly. She'd gotten caught ogling him again and she really needed to stop doing that, Margot decided, as she took a cautious step back from the Captain. Yes, he'd been helpful. Yes, he was professing to help her and her mother now, too, but - you do not know this man! Margot had to admonish herself internally.

Why was he so interested in her exactly? Why did he want to help? He was a pirate at the very least. Despite how true or untrue the villainous reputation that proceeded him might be, pirates weren't typically inclined to help random people that fell into their path's right?

Poor Margot Belle, however old she had just turned, she hadn't quite grown up enough to master the art of concealing her feelings. Then again, she was like her father Peter, in this regard. Maybe the combination of Pan's overly excitable nature with a fairy's natural ability to only really feel one very intense emotion at a time was simply an unavoidable liability. She couldn't hide a single damn feeling from him. Hook wondered idly if she could be tutored to maintain a better poker face while he read each and every thought that quite obviously popped into her head.

"Oh, um, yes, thank you. This dress, this gown? Isn't exactly perfect for tropical weather I think… Do you have that dress I was wearing when I got here?" Margot asked, her eyes scanning his apartments in an effort to avoid eye contact while she also continued to put some distance between them, slowly backing up even more.

"That spare scrap of cloth?" James scoffed, "My beauty I'm afraid we'd already gone ahead and tossed that out," he lied; it was still stashed around here somewhere. "To be frank, I think I'd find you less tempting completely nude than trussed up like that again."

"Right, I just bet you would."

"Shall we test the theory?" he asked, matching each step she took backwards beat for beat, until the backs of her knees hit his bed again and she plopped down onto it with that adorable look of surprise he was growing quite fond of. "You do keep ending up in my bed you realize?"

"I haven't really been out of here at all actually," Margot replied, her tone now just the slightest bit accusatory.

"You arrived here falling out of the sky in a drunken stupor, you've almost died putting theories that needing no testing to the test, and the moment you stepped outside of this room, you saw your mother get shot. I've been trying to persuade you since you first awoke, perhaps it might be best to slow down for a moment?"

Margot eyed him with extreme wariness. Maybe it was her own raging attraction she felt so distrustful of, more than James himself. Her mother had raised her to be so endlessly distrustful of boys, of men… and in turn, she'd always wanted more of those mysterious, brooding, masculine things around. It had definitely affected her judgment before, why would now play out any differently?

"Sure, just slow down and jump into bed with you, is that what you mean, then?" she asked, purposefully batting her eyelashes up at him. He was close again. He'd followed her over here as she backed away and now James was standing practically in between her legs where she perched on the edge of his silk black sheets.

But at that question, he abruptly stepped back from her and his bed himself, backing across the room in two long strides to lean backwards upon his enormous desk again.

"My apologies, madame," Hook mused with faux sincerity, "We don't often have many women here in Neverland. And with absolute certainty, I can verify we've never had a visitor as exquisitely beautiful as yourself."

Fuck, she felt her cheeks burn scarlet and that made them hotter even still, she simply could not get the upper hand with this guy.

If she only knew, with every new blush, every seductive little response she gave, Hook was growing more and more entranced. Lucifer, he wanted her. And that persistent ache was only growing more unbearable with each heated moment passing between them. What witchcraft was this?

And that passing thought was all it took. Suddenly Hook was suspicious and on guard again too, though he wouldn't let her know that. For all he knew it was witchcraft; maybe that had been Pan's secret hold on the island this whole time. Hook maintained his unflappable demeanor.

"Well, Miss Belle, while we wait for your clothes or word on your mother's wearabouts," James said, redirecting the conversation briskly but deftly. "Shall we try to uncover more of the mystery of your arrival here? You mentioned it was your birthday…"

These were not charms the Captain had needed in quite awhile but nonetheless they were returning rather effortlessly, he was somewhat proud to note. Like he was still a young man of Eton or his first years in the British Navy, before turning to piracy, he was finding himself still quite capable of gently taking charge of his conversation with a woman.

Partly, this behavior had been instilled into him because it was considered appropriate for men and women of society of his time. He had no real clue of the centuries that had passed to get to Margot's period but if he had any inkling of what dating was like these days, he likely would have better understood why the young woman was so receptive to it.

He was too polite to just come out and ask how old she was, but Margot knew when someone was trying to suss out her age. "Oh yes, just last night… er, however long it's been since I got here. It was my birthday and Halloween. That's why I was dressed up. It was my 26th…"

James again couldn't stop himself from appraising her appreciatively upon that revelation. Yes she'd clearly been an actual adult woman this entire time but having it confirmed aloud was still a relief. One did get so tired of dealing with children and, far worse, teenagers.

But also, 26 years, or somewhere around there, that's how long Pan had been at this blasted war now, blaming him for Tinkerbell's disappearance. His estimates had been exceedingly close. And all along it had been Pan's fault himself; because he had gone ahead and grown up, he'd done the most grown up thing a young man could do, really.

And just what would this startling information do to Pan when it was ultimately revealed? Better yet, if it was revealed that he, the infamous Captain James Hook himself, had stolen that hidden kiss from Peter Pan's daughter? Well it just might break his heart, Hook thought, and then maybe they'd be able to get out of here and back to the real world again finally once and for all.

Suddenly there was a sharp rap at the door.

"Yes?" Hook barked out, "Come in!"

The two men that had been in just moments ago reappeared with the just ordered new clothing options. Margot was curious because these appeared to be from different periods. Yes, there was another large ornate box that looked like it was from the 18th century but there were also more bags that were more discernible to her as actual suitcases. A square leather box that looked like it was from possibly the 1930s. A retro-future style hard black 1960s mod style suitcase. That one intrigued her; it was the most modern looking of the bunch.

After the two crew mates had deposited it all on the floor, left the cabin, and returned Margot and the Captain to their privacy again, Margot hurried over to the pile of clothing. Clutching the still far too warm fur silver bodice of the Marquis' daughter's dress around herself, she began to open things and rifle through. Hook watched on with sincere interest while she busied herself, trying to get any more of a sense of her that he could. Despite now knowing her lineage - a mystery to even Margot still - she continued to beguile him at every turn.

How did she get here?

"These are good," Margot said decidedly after a few minutes searching, and piling some dresses and undergarments to the side. "I should keep some of these around, at least until I figure out how to get the hell out of here, right? And I'll put this one on now…"

In the rummaged pile of clothing Margot had only even bothered with the sack of sheer slips from the whore house at Pirate Town and one of the suitcases that he remembered had washed up in an "airplane" wreckage. He eyed the flimsy dresses with distaste, she'd looked quite wonderful in that gown more befitting of her beauty after all and, seven Hells, the dress that she'd picked to put on now? It was barely any better than the silk scrap she'd first arrived in.

Margot, for her part, was actually eyeing this new find with hungry and victorious eyes. The other casual dresses she'd found in some sack were practical, lightweight and quality fabric, but this dress from the 1960's suitcase was stunning. It was a real vintage mod white halter top sleeveless mini dress; two silver hardwear loops, one in the front and one on the back, connected the crop top of the dress and its mini skirt. She was very seriously none the wiser if this dress was inappropriate or not, and also not thinking about that in the slightest. 1) A halter top neckline was practically a turtle neck in Margot's books and if there was one thing James hadn't been able to take his eyes off yet it was her cleavage. 2) It was real goddamn vintage 1960's mod fashion; this alone could have potentially been worth the trauma inducing trip to Neverland.

"Umm… So are you…?" Margot let her question dangle.

"There's a dressing screen over there," Hook said, guessing her question and gesturing vaguely to the area behind his bed.

She looked to where he had motioned and indeed saw a lovely black lacquer privacy screen inlaid with opals and pearls. It was pretty.

But Margot didn't feel any less embarrassed, for some reason. How was this man managing to mix up her feelings like this, she was an adult woman for God's sake.

"Last time I needed to change you left the cabin…" Margot pointed out.

He shrugged. "And this time I'm not." Plus, a smirk, for added effect.

Margot held the mod dress in her hands uncomfortably for a second until he began shooing her off in the direction of the dressing screen.

"Don't worry Miss Belle, I promise you I won't peek," he said. "It'll give us a chance to keep talking. It's been quite unfortunate how we keep being interrupted."

She rolled her eyes and grumbled vaguely as she made her way back towards the privacy screen. The lacings of her dress had been so badly ripped open by his hook that it was a relief to finally drop the epically heavy gown when she finally disappeared from view. Margot let out an immediate loud sigh of satisfaction both from losing the bulk weight and from feeling the hot fabric peel away from her damp, sweaty skin. All she had on under here was a pair of underwear and, just as she'd been worried about, she was immediately over aware of how close she was to this man, to whom she was viscerally attracted, while naked.

Keep talking my ass, she also thought, albeit more than somewhat triumphantly, when he went mysteriously silent on the other side of the screen.

The moment he'd heard the heavy thump of the elegant gown hit the floor of his cabin, followed by her gorgeous breathy sigh of relief and satisfaction, his eyes locked onto the dressing screen behind his bed. He could imagine her naked silhouette behind there, especially seeing the royal silk fabrics pool around her bare ankles. Then she stepped into something white, one foot at a time and he heard her fiddle about just a second longer.

"Well what do you think?" Margot asked, reappearing from behind the screen and giving the 1960s dress a twirl, "Because I think it's pretty freaking epic."

"That is… hardly any more fitting than the cloth you arrived in! Why are you so determined to wear an outfit that leaves nothing to man's imagination?" Hook railed, sounding downright whiney in Margot's opinion. It wasn't that he wasn't enjoying drinking in the sight of her, no. Hell, who wouldn't be hypnotized by her long stunning legs, the peek of her midriff where the dress hooked together, or even just the sight of her delicate bare shoulders? Well, that was just the problem… the entirety of his despicable crew would be hypnotized.

"Dude, seriously, I can't wear any more clothes than this, I just can't. It's fucking hot outside and I'm assuming you don't have electric fans here," she huffed, "Besides what's so great about the imagination anyway? Leave something to the imagination? Ha! I don't go around hiding gorgeous things myself, I show them off, but maybe that's a personal preference."

Hook was about to voice that practicality might also have a right to a place somewhere on one's list of preferences for clothing when there was yet another knock on the door.

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, not a facial expression he often used as it reminded him of Pan, but seriously! Maybe he had trained his crew to respond a little too quickly to his every passing whim, if he couldn't get a damned second alone with this woman.

"Cap'n! We caught a fairy on deck!" a new pirate's voice shouted from outside the door before Hook could respond first.

They both came to attention at that, Margot and Hook both wondering at once if her mother had already been found. Surely not, Smee would know better than to reunite the mother and daughter before Hook had decided what was going to suit his needs best yet. That hadn't been specifically dictated in his order to the bosun but Smee knew quite well how Hook schemed and planned things at this point.

Still he opened the door himself instead of just ordering them to come in so he could do some preliminary surveillance. Sure enough, Smee was still apparently not back yet with the shore party sent out to look for Tinkerbelle and another vaguely anonymous member of his crew was standing at his door with a rectangular glass unlit oil held in his hands. Instead of encasing a candle behind its glass, the lantern held a small female fairy, dressed in glittering red rose petals.

Hook took the lantern into his own grasp to get a better look at the small creature. He didn't think he'd ever seen this one in particular before, he decided, as he began carrying it into the cabin.

"We found this fairy Cap'n, knocked out cold right here on the deck. Get her locked up in here for ya, but I think she's coming to…"

"Oh shit," Margot said, cringing a bit upon catching sight of what- of who was in the glass lantern. That Starshimmer fairy. The one professing to be her aunt. The one who had gotten her here somehow?

Hook was used to her speaking like a member of his motley crew by now but said motley crew was not. The man looked up in fascination at the sound of her swear.

"Yeah, oh, I did that. To her. Looks like I whacked her pretty good. I mean, it was an accident but also definitely more her fault than mine, so uhhh… oops?"

"You know this fairy?" Hook asked, waving the crew member out of the cabin again. He placed the imprisoned small fairy on his desk and leaned down to examine her. Indeed, she was coming to; initially, she'd been slumped over as if asleep but at the sound of Margot's voice, she was already sitting up with bleary eyes, rubbing her head as she regained her senses.

"Yeah, that's her," Margot confirmed, appearing suddenly right beside Hook, leaning down next to him to inspect the lantern.

Well, her new dress's neckline might have covered her lovely decolletage but the obscenely short length of the skirt wasn't doing James any favors now either, in terms of keeping his sexuality in check, he couldn't help but notice from the slight turn of his head when she'd come up beside her. And she was standing immediately to his right which put him in perfect view of her hidden kiss tucked into the lovely left corner of her lips. Quickly, he was forgetting about this new fairy entirely. Until-

"She said she was my aunt. I saw her in my room at Oxford on my birthday… I was pretty hammered. Next thing you know, boom! Literally. And then I'm here," Margot said.

"Your aunt?" he asked, incredulous. Tinkerbell had family, real family, on Neverland? Well that made sense, James supposed, but in all his many decades - closer to two centuries? Fuck - he'd really never seen her anywhere other than obsessively following Peter Pan.

Before he could get anymore clarification on that, the little fairy officially regained her senses and began maniacally tinkling while kicking and banging her fists against the glass of the lantern. Hook had picked up some fairy over the years but he was by no means fluent, and he was more used to interacting with Tinkerbell than any of the others. Tink had always spoken more of a human-fairy hybrid language. This he could not understand at all save for occasional words like 'pirate' and 'bad' spat out angrily.

"Uhhh…o-okay," Margot stuttered out, standing up fully and backing away from both her aunt and thus Hook and his desk as well. She was eyeing both her aunt and Hook now with suspicion. "Um, well she's really got some opinions, it would seem…"

"So you can understand her?" Hook asked.

"You can't?"

He didn't reply but that was enough in and of itself. Instead he asked, cautiously, "What did she say?"

Margot did a terrible job smiling in an attempt to convey a person completely at ease.

"Oh, well she said that you are just the nicest! Beloved, in Neverland really!" Margot tried to lie, her voice far too high pitched for its own good.

Margot and Hook locked intense stares for what was only a few seconds before her Aunt Starshimmer cried out, "Margot, run!"

Hook needn't have understood the fluent fairy to know what Starshimmer had just said. At the exact moment Margot lunged to the left, trying to barrel forwards towards his cabin's door, he matched her route by lunging towards his right. The arm with his hook was carefully outstretched in a way not to hurt her and he grabbed her with ease before she could make any kind of getaway.

But then, completely without thinking, as if on autopilot, Margot did something that shocked them both. She kissed him.

Oh my word, I do like rum: was both the first and last thing Margot had time to think as she got her one second to take advantage of the Captain's surprise and evade his embrace. She pushed him backwards hard, her palms colliding with the firm muscles of his chest just before she sprung backwards to wrench open his cabin's door.

And if things couldn't get any stranger already, she stepped onto the deck outside only to immediately begin to float upwards. Margot looked above her and there, just a few feet away in the air was none other than Peter Pan looking baffled.

"You can fly?" he asked before snarling and shaking his head, "Nevermind! Get her boys!"

That was the last thing Margot heard or saw before she felt a sharp blow to the back of the head and everything went black.