Title: Forever
Author: Evil_Little_Dog
Rating: Teen
Disclaimer: This is a derivative work, and, as such, I make absolutely no money writing this. Darn the luck.
Summary: Wendy's grown up life is not what she expected.
Notes: Warnings for domestic violence/abuse.
Wendy once had been a very special girl, the only girl ever taken to Neverland. Oh, there had been mermaids, and Indians, and fairies there, but she'd been the only one Peter coaxed into going.
But that was years ago, when she was a heartless little girl. Now, she was an adult, and adults had to do adult things; they had to marry, and once married, had to obey their husband. Even when he said terribly fightful things, and followed those words up with his open hands, and later, his fists.
Wendy tried to make the best of it, but her husband had a temper, and he thought he should take his temperaments out on her. She bore the bruises, hiding them under her clothes or with make-up as she could, explaining them away when she couldn't. She tried to speak to her brothers, but they brushed her off. Her mother was worried, but couldn't help her. Her father gently suggested Wendy try to follow her husband's wishes.
After a particularly bad night, where her husband had started yelling, moved up to punching, and threatened to throw her into the street, Wendy curled up in the window casement, as she had so many years before. She'd blocked the door with a chair, but her husband prowled the hallway, rattling the door knob and screaming at her to open the door. Reason didn't work, neither did pleas. The chair did - but only until she needed to leave the room. Wendy shivered at the thought.
Tears rolled down and soaked the neckline of her nightgown. Wendy wrapped her arms around her knees, trying not to startle each time her husband rattled the knob. The sound at the window forced her back against the window frame, even though, truthfully, her husband couldn't reach the third-story window.
A face peered in at her, and Wendy thought she might be dreaming. She'd recognize that pointed chin and fey eyes anywhere, though she'd only seen them in dreams for so many years. Her fingers fumbled for the window latch, the glass opening with a squeal.
Peter Pan drifted through the window, landing light as a dandelion seed on the rumpled rug. He prowled around the room, seeming to ignore Wendy to explore. "This isn't the nursery."
"No, Peter, I outgrew the nursery many years ago." Wendy clutched the neck of her nightgown. Tremors raced through her body, making her teeth chatter. "I'm an old woman now. Married." Not with a child yet, though it wasn't for lack of trying on her husband's part. She feared what he might do a baby.
Peter tossed her a careless glance. "Where are John and Michael?"
"They live in their own houses, with their wives."
"And the Lost Boys?" He went on.
Wendy wondered if he realized how ruthless he sounded. How could a little boy sound like that? "Grown up, some married, some not."
Peter sneered. "All of you grew up!"
"This isn't Neverland, Peter."
The door knob rattled again and her husband banged on the wood. "Who are you talking to? Wendy? Open this door!" He had to be bruising his knuckles on the wood. "Wendy! I demand you open this door!" The heavy boom against the door made her think he kicked it.
"Who's he?" Peter's face screwed up even more as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
Wendy swallowed, wiping her eyes. "My h-husband."
"Oh." The corners of his mouth turned down.
Her husband kicked the door repeatedly, shouting at her to open up and let him in. Wendy shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself to ward it against the chill. "Peter, why are you here?"
"I came to ask you back to Neverland. Your wolf cries and the island isn't as colorful. I can't imagine as well. The pirates are quiet and the redskins are, too." He rubbed his chin. "I thought and thought why, and I finally realized, you aren't there."
Wendy dashed the tears from her eyes. "Really?"
Peter offered her his hand. "You can fly, you know that? And you can come back to Neverland at any time."
"But I'm a grown up, Peter." She stared at his hand as her husband kicked the door again. Escape, a little voice in her head said. "Not a child."
Peter laid his hand on her cheek. "You're the Wendybird. You can be whatever you want."
Her breath rattled in her lungs. That couldn't be true, could it? It was never that easy, not since she was a child. Still, almost without thought, she rose to her bare feet. Wendy shivered at the cool wind coming through the window, the way it pressed the damp fabric of her nightgown against her skin. "Peter, if I go with you, can I stay a while?"
His smile warmed her down through bones. "You can stay forever."
She took his hand, her feet leaving the floor. Peter led her through the window, and up into the sky.
X X X
The disappearance of a young wife brought out Scotland Yard and investigations for some time. The way she vanished out of a third-story window made the investigators blame the husband for her untimely death. He swore he'd never laid a hand on her, which the young woman's mother and brothers denied, citing bruises and requests for help.
In the end, no one knew what happened to the woman once known as Wendy Darling - except for those dwelling on an island situated beyond the second star to the right, and due East.
~ end ~