He thanked her for the glass of lemonade but couldn't help the question of, "Is this spiked?" when it was handed to him. Though really, Neal had already consumed enough booze tonight - the paint remover punch wasn't anything to write home about, nor was it ironically not enough to erase the memory of Hook reading aloud bad porn titles. Robin's Clitoral Hood, really? No thanks.
Down the hatch went the lemonade. His hand also found Emma's, resting on his knee, and he laced their fingers loosely. Of course there was a part of him wishing they could just make out like teenagers on this couch but they were both battle scarred and probably needed a little more time to work out the kinks. They had been so happy once before, he was convinced it could be that way again. But first, the story.
"You might still think I'm crazy," he winked, giving her hand a squeeze. "Well..." Deep breath! "When I was fourteen I fell through that portal, the one made by a magic bean, after my dad promised he'd go with me to a Land Without Magic and give up his power. But he didn't, obviously. He let me fall through alone. I was homeless in London until I met Wendy Darling, and her family was good to me. Things were alright. But there was a Shadow coming from Neverland, and he'd take her away at night sometimes. He was looking for young boys...just one one young boy, in particular. To prevent Wendy's brothers from being taken, I went instead."
Damn, this lemonade really wasn't spiked. Well, moving on.
"I was dumped in the ocean and would have been eaten by mermaids if Hook didn't come by and dump me on his ship instead. He didn't learn who I was until a bit later but I think, because I was Milah's..." Neal's face grew pinched with thought. "I think he might have cared. For five seconds. Before we got into an argument about my mom and he dumped me off with the Lost Boys."
So hearing that Hook had gathered everyone on his ship, including Baelfire's father, was strange - but maybe because Henry was Neal's son, maybe Hook had a conscience somewhere. Which would also mean that he'd have had to give up on the vendetta, if temporarily. That information was mindblowing, to say the least. But he remembered...
I thought pirates only cared about themselves.
Well, you have a lot to learn, boy.
"Anyway, now you know why I was able to sail the ship back from New York. But we're here, and obviously we need to get to Neverland instead."