My Darling Girl *Disney fanfic*

31. The Elegant Captain Hook

"Yes, I'm jealous." She snapped. Hook took a step back from her. "I'm jealous of every woman! Because I'll never look like that. I'll be like this – trapped in a child's body – forever." Tears filled her eyes and she glared at him. Hook dropped his gaze guiltily.

"I don't think of you as being a child." He murmured softly.

"But you don't look at me and see a woman either." Wendy's voice caught in her throat, a sob threatening to escape. "You don't look at me... the way I want you to."

She ran, fleeing – her face flushed and tears slipping down. Hook watched her disappear down into the hold. His feet were rooted to the spot, his tongue tied. What words could he reasonably offer?

**

Tinkerbell's directions brought them to an island that hadn't shown on any maps. Scuttle fanned himself with his hand, sweat dripping down his face.

"The sun is beating down something fierce," he complained. If he'd wrung out his shirt, he could had collected a puddle of sweat from it. The crew were dotted lazily about – most trying to sit in any patch of shade the masts and rigging offered.

Scuttle looked across at Flit, who was stretched out on his back – deliberately tanning. "You're mad," Scuttle chided – clicking his tongue like an old mother hen. "My old man sat too long in the sun once, it drove him mad. My ma had to throw a pan of cold water over his head to calm him down – a neighbour tried to get the constable involved."

Flit shrugged his scrawny shoulders. Unconcerned. "Here, what's that tattoo on your chest?" Scuttle asked, only just noticing it. The tattoo was of a heart – with a woman's name written over it. "That for an old flame?"

"It's for me mam." Flit replied, unabashed. "I got it done on my first crossing without her."

"You got your mums name tattooed in a heart across your chest!?" Scuttle exclaimed. He laughed suddenly. "No lass is going to believe that one lad, you've dug yourself into a right hole – if I'm not very much mistaken."

Scuttle kept trying to tease the lad but Flit shrugged off his remarks. So, Scuttle tried to get the other lads on board but everyone was too disinterested or lazy to bother. It was the heat, Scuttle reckoned – it was knocking all their spirits. He continued fussing about Flit's future – inventing all kinds of upsets that a girlfriend might feel about the heart. 

Flit listened without protest, but his ears were also pricked for sounds from below. He wondered what was going on in the Captain's quarters.

                     "I need you to stay with the ship, Wendy." Hook argued. He was exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes. He'd been struggling to sleep for days. "You're the only person I can trust."

"This was my plan – I want to see it through." She shot back, crossing her arms.

"It was also your plan to allow Tinkerbell aboard. I don't trust her. I can't leave her alone on the ship. That's why one of us has to stay here."

"One of us," Wendy snapped this up. "Why don't you stay? This was my plan. I should be the one putting my life on the line."

Hook ran his hands through his hair. His voice was hoarse, he needed sleep, he had a pounding headache and the last thing he had energy for was an argument with Wendy. He sat down heavily and sighed.