Jake POV

As we all were in the middle of dozing off, the sound of the lapping waves sung a lullaby for us. Cubby and Skully were snoring…loud…however they told me I did the same when I was asleep. As I lay there with my eyes closed I slowly begin to drift back to sleep, but then all of a sudden….

BANG!

I jolted up at the loud sound, my heart beginning to race. I knocked on the bottom of Cubby's top bunk to wake him up, but he was just as arisen as I was.

"Did you hear that?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he answered, and then began to climb down the ladder of our bunk bed and jump down on the floor. "It sounded like a gunshot." he said, heading for the small window. And the noise came again. And then again and again.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Wait a minute Jake," Cubby said. "Where's Izzy?"

My heart raced, and I immediately glanced over at Izzy's bed. It was empty. Panic surged through me as I imagined the worst, but Cubby was the one to voice the thought.

"What if….what if…..those shots were meant for….." My mind raced with fear, and I didn't waste a second. I grabbed my vest and threw it on.

"Stay here." I ordered Cubby and Skully, knowing it was safer for them while I, being the man of the house, went outside to go get Izzy and strangle her if she wasn't already dead. I couldn't handle any more late night stunts of hers. Ok, her baking a cake - fine. Not being able to sleep - I understand. But her running around outside while a pistol is being shot is where I draw the line. The moon cast a dim light on the beach, and there, panting and tired but thankfully still alive, was Izzy. Relief washed over me as I rushed towards her.

"What in Neverland are you doing out here!?" I shouted while scanning her for any signs of injury. She was covered in sweat, and exhausted, as if she had just ran a hundred miles. She looked like she was about to respond, however that was ruined by more of her heavy panting.

"I—-."

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack!?" I exclaim, grabbing her and yanking her back to the hideout. "I thought you had been shot! Now get inside!"

Izzy was still panting and wheezing by the time we reached the bedroom. I sat her on her bed before crossing my arms and tapping my foot, waiting for her explanation. Cubby and Skully stood behind me, waiting for her answer as well.

"Well?" I said. "Would you like to tell us what you were doing out there? As a gun was being fired?" Izzy was about to answer me, when she wheezed once more and then collapsed back on her bed in exhaustion. However one thing did come out of her mouth before she passed out.

"N-Nikki…"

Our faces all bent in confusion.

"Who's Nikki?" Cubby asked flatly.

"Crackers. Beats me," Skully squawked, landing on the blonde's shoulder. "Maybe that's who was makin' all that racket out there."

"No, that was Captain Codfish for sure Skully," I told the bird. "I mean, he's the only one with a pistol around here."

"Well what was Izzy doing out of the hideout with him at the time of night?" Cubby asked, looking at our friend, still passed out on her bed.

"What was Izzy doing out of the hideout in the first place is the question Cubby." I said.

"Don't look at me, I sure dunno." my crewmate said as he turned around, arms in the air, and then walked away. I watched as he made his way over to a small dresser and opened it, pulling out our deck of cards.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Um, unrelated, are ya feelin' lucky tonight by any chance?" he said in a sly tone as he shuffled the cards in his hands.

"Now!?"

"Well sure, why not? One, we don't know what's going on and Izzy's not gonna tell us till she wakes up and that probably won't be for seven hours or so. And two, I'm bored as heck and I really enjoyed not having to wash my own clothes."

"Absolutely not. You said adding punishments would make it more fun but it was terrible."

"Well when you're the winner it's the best game ever." Cubby said with a smug smile, which I glared at.

"Ah, go take a bath or something buddy," I grumbled, collapsing on my bottom bunk. "Or don't. Either way I'm going back to sleep," Cubby was quiet for a hot minute. He then came over to my bed and then shook my shoulder. "What?"

"Incidentally Jake, how do we know that Izzy is gonna spill the tea to us?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"I mean how do we know she's not gonna blow us off if we ask her who this Nikki guy is. She'll probably scream and yell in our faces. What do we do? Use sign language? Get someone else to ask? Write a letter?"

The letter!

"That's it Cubby! That's it!" I exclaim, sitting up and then beginning to dig through the pockets of my midnight blue vest.

"What? What's it?" he asked. I then pulled out that piece of paper that Skully had given me a few days ago.

"Crackers! Jake, is that the strange letter I found?" the green parrot asked.

"Sure is Skully," I answer, rereading the letter until I find what I'm looking for. "Look Cubby!" I exclaim, pointing at the smeared name at the bottom of the letter. "Whoever wrote this letter, their name begins with the letter N."

"So?"

"So this Nikki person must have written it." I told him. Cubby scratched the back of his head.

"Ok…."

"Did I mention the letter was originally addressed to Izzy?"

"Well if it was meant for Izzy, how did you get it?" Cubby asked.

"That doesn't matter right now," I tell him, putting the letter away. "What matters is that this Nikki person knows Izzy and she knows them."

(The Next Morning)

Izzy POV

"Izzy wizzy," I heard someone coo, stirring me from my slumber. "It's time to wake up," I then recognized the voice as Jakes. Something about the tone he was using was sickeningly sweet. As in not sweet at all. I guess I must have dozed off. What was I doing last night again?

I lay there, slowly waking up, though my eyes remained closed, as I tried to get it all to come back to me. Let's see. I went to the mainland last night, like I do everynight to see Nikki. Then I brought him to Neverland . Then we got captured by Hook. And then I threw him overboard. And then… YAY HEY NO WAY HE'S STILL OUT THERE! All alone! I had to find him right this minute! But something told me that Jake may have better plans for me. Like telling him the whole ugly truth about what I was doing last night and I most certainly wasn't gonna do that.

Jake went silent for a minute, seeming to wait and see if I would arise. I didn't.

More quiet. I didn't like this quiet. Something was telling me a loud explosion was coming.

"Get up Izzy!"

There it was.

I immediately shot up after Jake's roar and looked at him with fake shock.

"I'm up! I'm up! I'm up!" I exclaimed, giving him my full attention. His light green irises were now an unsettling dark hazel and it felt like they were piercing my soul. I knew this look. He wanted an answer and he wanted it now.

"Izzy." he began.

"Yes sir?"

"You know what I'm about to ask."

"Do I?" I giggled, gambling with my life at this point. Jake didn't seem too amused though.

"Yes you do and if you don't want me to kick you out, you'll answer it."

"Just a minute, buddy!" I objected, standing on my bed to make myself taller than his sitting form. "I was here before ANY of you! What makes you think you can just kick me out like that!?" I yelled down at him. However my heart dropped when he stood up as well, now back to being about six inches taller than me. I gulped. "You win." I squeaked, before humbly sitting back down.

"That's what I thought," he said as he did the same. "Look Izzy, at first I decided not to interfere with all your secrecy, but now this has gotten ridiculous. We thought you were killed last night. I can't afford to lose any of you guys again so just tell me what's goin' on with you." I hugged my knees and hid my face.

"I….I'm afraid to tell you," I trembled. "You'll never speak to me again if I do." Jake sighed heavily.

"Izzy," he began, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm only asking because I care about you. Cubby nor Skully nor I wanna lose you again. What would we do without you?"

"Plenty much." I couldn't help but grumble.

"What do you mean?" he asked, shocked.

"You guys are always gone all the time! You're always on Neverland exploring and searching! All the while I sit here alone, being useless."

"Well we ask you if you wanna come along and you never do." Jake had a point. I never wanted to go along with them because I would always be drop-dead tired from being out all night at the mainland. But then, an idea sparked in my mind. If I went to Neverland with them, then maybe I could find Nikki. Jakey you genius!

"You know what, maybe I should come along next time. Afterall it's Jake and the Neverland pirates not pirate." I say with a grin, hoping I had made him forget his question.

"Well it's nice to see that you're done with your pouty little teenage girl phase but in the meantime you still haven't told me what happened last night." Darn it. Alright Izzy, how are you gonna talk yourself out of this one?

"Uhm…well…you see—."

"Jake! Izzy! Look what I found!" we heard Cubby call. A few seconds later the blonde boy barged into our room with Skully in tow.

"What is it Cubby?" Jake asked.

"Look!" the blue eyed boy said as he held up his newest discovery. I looked at what was in his hand, and something about it was rather familiar.

To Be Continued…

Alr, I know I've said this 50 times but next chapter is much much more exciting than this short little aftermath one.

Pls review.