Okay, so, yeah this was a story i started writing that begins after the second book of a series that is a prequel of sorts to the actual story of Peter Pan and the movies and such. Yes, i am aware that they made a fourth book, but at the time it didn't seem like they would, so i wrote this feeling slightly like their ending was rushed. Hence, i was both vindicated and embarrassed as my point was proven because they wrote another book because though my point was proven, my story was now moot. so, in a rebellious rage (not really, a rage takes effort and im lazy), i continued to write this story, hence the length you will see in chapter four, when i was informed of the new book. sad to say, but the length of ch 4 will probably not be seen again, not that you care if you're reading this because you probably just want to get to ch 1. anyways, just to warn you, you kind of have to have read at least the first book to understand what is occuring. if you haven't but still wish to read this, one i love you and two i might write a little summary of the big details that will affect this fanfiction in a different chapter, as a sort of prelude, but it will be a different story on my profile than this one, so look it up if you get confused, this will probably only happen if its requested, though. thats why i called this story "the afterstory" as thats what it is. You could read it without reading the books though, and the most you'll miss out on are probably some horrible pun jokes.

wow, that was long, for those that didn't read that thing right above this, i'll cut to the chase as you are obviously in a hurry:
this is lighty rated but K+ instead of K because of language, which doesn't get that bad but for over compensation reasons, watever, its K+
I don't own anything about Peter Pan or any characters in this story except my OCs obviously
Warnings: possible OOCness, use of OCs but not in a bad way, some minor character bashing might occur but I doubt it, confusion might occur if you haven't read the Peter and the Star-catchers books

A/N: this is the last thing, i promise, but i use the lines feature to mostly signal a change of scene or time jump, but maybe just because something happened and i felt it was necessary, so there! :)

Ch. 1- The Guests

There was going to be another meeting, thought James.

From the way his father is acting, it will be tomorrow night. James knew he had to participate in, or at least observe this one, whether his father wanted him to or not. George Darling, his father, often held these "business meetings" in the conference room. James had long since discovered that certain business meetings his father holds have nothing to do with normal business at all (unlike the ones his father held in the dining room with his real business partners; those were absolutely uninteresting and dreadfully boring) when he was spying through a rather large and obvious keyhole in the door and was caught by a maid. After receiving a most severe and unpleasant punishment, and being told never to spy on a meeting again, rather than "never spying on a meeting again," the opposite happened. James had decided then that he needed to get into a meeting, whether he was wanted, or not. Though, no matter how he tried, he never could get in. This time, though, he was extremely determined, and extra careful with his back-up plan in case begging and pleading didn't work.

So, on the morning of the meeting, before anyone arrived, James put his begging skills to the test and pleaded using every bit of an excuse that he had. This never works, and today was no different.

"Please, Father! I promise I will behave myself and I won't interrupt anything important and I won't say a single word!" His father put up nothing less than absolute refusal, though he did say, "You will attend these meetings when you are old enough and have learned enough about life." This was the first time James had heard George Darling say no in that particular way, and he almost forgot his plan and decided to wait and study his books until he was old enough to attend the meetings. Almost.

Since James had expected the rejection from his father, he had another way to get to the meeting. I'm going to wet myself I'm so nervous, thought James, ashamed. This was one of the very few times that he had ever disobeyed an order from his father, and he knew that if he was caught, the punishment would be unimaginably horrid (and also very painful).

The meetings were held in a building separate from the main house. It is a circular building that could easily be mistaken as servant's quarters. This was obviously the point of the shape and state of the building and the reason his father held the not business, business meetings there. The building was (luckily) in bad need of the repair it was going to get next fall, thus making it far easier to climb. And it isn't like James had never been in the special meeting room. He had gone in there several times after realizing the difference between the two types of meetings his father held. When it is not being used as a meeting room, the inside is rather boring and flat. It was very much like any other room that one would hold any ordinary meetings in. James had noticed one thing, though. The table always had ten chairs set up at it, even though there were only nine people that attend the meeting, including George Darling. There was always one extra chair every single time James looked. Even more interestingly, the extra chair was at the one of the heads of the table. He knows this because, twice, he was allowed to show the guests to the meeting room and see them sit down. He had thought that the chair was for Lord Aster or Bakari, as they were his father's closest friends. But when everyone had finished settling themselves into their seats, the empty seat was always the one at the head of the table, right across from his father, who was always seated at the other head. James thought that maybe the seat was reserved for him when he was allowed to attend the meeting. This was just a childish fantasy that James had, though he secretly let himself believe it. Shows what he knows.

James was watching through the window when he spotted what he had been waiting for, for almost two hours; four wagons were coming through the gate to enter their estate. George Darling, as a fairly rich man who happened to have quite a few fairly rich friends and a well-established social status in the highest of societies in London, could easily afford an estate. James Darling was, at that moment, running to greet his father's friends and his own as well, though all of them were much older than he. He was extremely excited to see that Sir James's wagon was the first to arrive. He always insisted on being called just plain James, without the title. (James was named after Sir James at George and Molly Darling's insistence)

James ran toward him, and as Sir James knelt down, he received a friendly hug. Sir James had always been a great friend to James, and George Darling has known Sir James ever since they were lads. James had never felt as close to any adult, not including his mother, when she was alive, as he did to Sir James.

He failed in avoiding a huge bear hug from Mr. Ted, who was a rich, and not to mention, very successful merchant who did business across Europe, including London, shipping things in from all over Africa, the Middle East, and India to trade. So successful is he that almost all the noble ladies in high society buy jewelry from him. If you didn't have his jewelry, then you weren't in style. He was also of quite a large build, hence, the reason for James wanting to avoid the bone-crushing embrace. Apparently, he was referred to as Tubby Ted in his days as a lad and his closest and most dear friends still call him that from time to time, as a joke of course.

Then, came Lord Thomas, who James shook hands with. Lord Thomas had always been the shy type of person that didn't like to talk much. James has always liked him well enough, but never knew what to talk about when he was around. Lord Thomas just sort of had that effect on people.

Awhile later, Sir Prentiss showed up. James shook his hand as well as hugged him for he liked Sir Prentiss quite a lot, despite not knowing him very well. He then told everyone that they were to gather in the dining hall before the meeting.

Sir Prentiss smiled, "Ted will be happy, as long as the chef is still the same?" James nodded his confirmation. "Then thank goodness the missus isn't here!" James smiled, everyone knew of Mr. Ted's love of food, and pretty chefs. However, they also knew that Mr. Ted's wife did NOT like pretty chefs, simply because she was, what you might call, a jealous woman. Some things never change, and a great example of that would be Mr. Ted's love for food, and pretty chefs, and his jealous wife.

None of the first four wagons' inhabitants had last names and that was most certainly not the only strange thing about them. There were also rumors that they were all orphans, and to prove this fact all the more, no one has ever seen their parents. This didn't bother James in the least, though whenever these meetings were held, there was always a torrent of gossip in the servant's quarters. Most of these rumors frequently include the fact that many speculated as to where the four young men originated from, and how they came to know each other as old friends would. Also, some wondered why, off and on, they would get this sad, distant look, like they were millions of miles away. Luckily, the people who wondered this didn't know how right they were. James seriously doubted the whole orphanage rumor and completely ignored the gossip. After all, his father would most definitely not be friends with some poor orphan kids, and he certainly wouldn't have associated with them when they were boys. I know I wouldn't, thought James, thinking of some peasant orphans he had seen on the street before. He remembered thinking that they were poor disgusting and dirty creatures, and he pitied them, but to be friends with them had never even crossed his mind. He also had trouble imagining his role model, Sir James, being one of those filthy creatures. James thought this way simply because he wasn't taught any other way to think. It isn't that he was purposefully being cruel; it was just the way he was brought up as the first and only son of a rich lord, not to mention the lack of his mother or a female influence on his life.

James was devastated to the point of almost tearing up to find out that Bakari, the old Egyptian that his father was friends with, wasn't going to make it to the meeting due to some business in Egypt that he had to take care of. Bakari fascinated James because he was a foreigner and he always brought souvenirs for James. The souvenirs are mostly toys that Egyptian kids play with, so James always enjoys showing them off to his school friends.

Since Bakari wasn't coming, only the Asters and Alf were left to arrive, and while he was deep in thought, they were already pulling up the driveway. The Asters always gave Alf a ride, since he wasn't rich, nor did he own a wagon. Alf came walking up to James, laughing and saying loudly, "Dis place hadn't changed a'bit!" James ran down to meet him and received a handshake that nearly ripped his arm right off. Alf was a large sailor, and even though he is very old and his back gives him pains, he is a very skilled and powerful man as a result of the heavy lifting and precise work that comes with his job. He never hugged young boys because of the self-established rule that it made them into soft men. (thus the reason he received an arm-wrenching handshake instead of an, what James thought was sure to be, extremely powerful bear hug). James had thought that there might be another reason, though because Alf is such a kind person and it isn't his buisness, he didn't think too hard about it since everybody has their little quirks, and is entitled to their own opinion. You might be wondering what a sailor was doing in a lord's meeting, but James didn't rightly know, only heard rumors every now and then. The rumors were only that, rumors, and incorrect ones, but the truth, again that James does not know, is that Alf is an informant on the happenings of the more common side of Europe and more specifically London, including the backwaters and criminal underside as well. How does Alf has access to this particularly shady information you might ask? That's a surprise for later, but for now, it's one of the few benefits from his past. He has a network of informants and he uses them.

Now James was concentrating on the last two people who were emerging from the wagon, they would be the last ones arriving tonight. The two people were Lord Leonard Aster and his wife, Lady Louise Aster. These two elders were James's grandparents on his mother's side, yet as far as he could remember, he had always referred to them as "Lord and Lady Aster", not "grandfather" or "grandmother". As far as James knew, Lady Aster is the only woman other than his mother, who was quite possibly permitted, that was ever allowed in the special "business meetings". James's mother, Molly Aster Darling, died about two years after he was born from the stress and sicknesses resulting from giving birth to James (at least, as the cause was hidden and never talked about or specified, this is what James assumes, but you know what they say about assumptions), otherwise she might also be in the meetings, though he had no way of knowing. His father always claimed that the people in the meeting were his top business partners and advisors, but James knew better. What would a sailor and an Egyptian have to do with a rich lord like George Darling? Not to mention a woman! (Not that James didn't like those people, nor was he against women having important roles in society as some were.)

Lord Aster was a sensible man, though old, who had a peculiar way of looking at things, but he was likable and, beside the point, was James's grandfather. They got along quite well and played chess often, as the Asters only lived a few blocks away (even so, they always managed to be the last to arrive at the meetings). Lord Aster was a man of many secrets, which, anyone could tell by looking at his determined and slightly tired face, he intended stay secret. His wife was also quite strange, though in a much different way. She, like her husband, had known the four boys Sir James, Mr. Ted, Lord Thomas, and Sir Prentiss since they were lads, and they were like parents to the young men. She walked among all these accomplished and successful men with an air of motherly superiority and they respected her as much, or more than, her husband. James suspected this was because they had all been friends with his mother and, as she was Molly's mother, they respected her. She was a kind woman, and as for a grandmother, she was very easy to talk to and had been like a second, and really the only, mother to him for his entire life, despite their more formal than familial relationship.

James then greeted the last guests properly and told them that they were to eat supper before the meeting and ushered them in. His father was sitting at the head of the table already and next to him was an empty chair that stayed empty at all times in honor of James's mother. The rest of the guests arranged themselves in the other chairs and James sat in the seat that was left. He was sitting between Alf and Sir James. He wasn't completely sure that this was really luck or just the fact that the others sat this way as a courtesy towards James who, admittedly, hated the stiff and quiet atmosphere that always came before a meeting, be it regular or not. Either way, James felt satisfied, though he did notice that the everybody's attitude was especially tense this time, with what he sensed was excitement, like one would feel before meeting an old friend, James noted mentally.

James's thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Ted, who was shouting. "Excellent," he exclaimed, "absolutely delicious!" George was smiling, used to his old friend's love for good food.

"I thought you might be a little hungry from the long, hard journey you had to endure to get here," his father said. Everyone laughed, including Mr. Ted, for his own estate was only about 2.5 kilometers away and he had traveled comfortably in a cushioned wagon seat during the entire trip.

The rest of the meal passed with mostly silence and occasionally some neutral conversation. This was half because the food was so good, and half because the guests were more anxious than usual to get on with the meeting.

When the meal was finally finished, and everyone had eaten all that they could eat, Mr. Ted left to "thank the chef" for the delicious food, but this was not to be misinterpreted, as he would never cheat on his wife. Everybody else went to find something to do while they waited for the announcement that the meeting was to begin. Just then, James heard a knock at the front door and went to answer it.

He gave a slight cry of happy surprise to see Bakari, the Egyptian, standing in the doorway looking slightly flushed and a little out of breath. He was still wearing the same odd foreigner clothing, and, though he is old, he was still as healthy looking as ever.

"Greetings," said Bakari, slightly breathless, "has the meeting started yet?"

"No," replied James, "but you missed supper and right now everybody is waiting for the meeting to start." Bakari looked relieved, and James continued filling him in. "They will all be happy to see that you are here, and everyone but you has already arrived."

Bakari nodded his thanks, went to rest in one of the living room chairs, and was greeted by Lord Darling and his other guests. I wonder why he's so worn out, thought James, eyeing the sweaty horse that was the proof that he had ridden hard to get here in time. Even though he was supposed to have some business he had to take care of in Egypt, he was here. Strange, thought James, but just as well, he liked Bakari, so he didn't ponder on it for to long.

James noticed that his father was uncharacteristically impatient, even as he tried to hide it. Mr. Darling was glancing at the front door or out the window towards the front gate, like he was waiting for someone to come. But all of the guests have already arrived, thought James, and dismissed it as his imagination when his father called for the meeting to start.

Ta-da! The end of chapter uno! That wasn't so bad was it? You loved it, didn't you? You want to read more, right? If you answered yes to any of these questions, thank you so much! And regardless of your answers to these questions, please review!

Btw, sorry if this sucks, I wrote it a looong time ago, back when I was in sixth grade so yeah, plz review regardless!