Disclaimer: I don't own Sir J.M. Barrie. I couldn't possibly. I also don't own Peter Pan since that's his and the rest of the characters belong to their rightful owners.
A/N: I saw Finding Neverland January 4th of this year. I know because I started this fic the morning after at 1 or 2 am. I can't remember which. I also finished this on the same day. Not that it was that difficult. I nearly forgot I had put this in my notebook a week or so ago until I realized today that there was a Finding Neverland section. So now I add mine to that pile. I hope I spelled everything right.
At the End
Years after J.M. Barrie had done his most notorious work on Peter Pan; he was napping in one morning when he felt a sudden tap on his shoulder. It wasn't an unusual occurrence for a Llewylan-Davies child to come inside his room and wake him up by their tapping, their bouncing and gabbling to him to get James Barrie out of bed. It had become less and less of a habit of the young boys as they had grown up slowly. As they grew up, J.M. Barrie and all the others around them aged as well. Their grandmother had passed away years ago and Barrie himself felt that he soon woud be joining her. He just wasn't sure when.
"Good morning, Mr. Barrie," a voice said cheerfully to him.
"Huh?" James replied sleepily. "Who's there?"
"It's me," the voice replied. "Peter."
"Oh, Peter," he replied without opening his eyes. "Please knock before entering my room. I've had a very long night."
The boy next to his bed laughed and it sounded like musical bells chiming together in key. "No, not that Peter, Mr. Barrie. Peter Pan. Don't you remember me?"
"Peter Pan?" James questioned as he opened an eye to peer at the figure beside him. "Peter Pan?" he repeated again in astonishment as both of his eyes flew open with astonishment.
"Of course, Mr. Barrie," Peter replied with a slight giggle.
"But how could it be you?" James asked in astonishment.
"How could it not be me? You created me, Mr. Barrie. How is it me?" Peter Pan asked with a slight riddle.
"How is it me?" Barrie murmured to himself as he decided he was just having a dream. "Why are you here?" he questioned the boy next to him.
"Why? Because I've missed you, Mr. Barrie? How are you? How are the boys?" the boy asked before overwhelming him with questions.
"Whoa, young man," James Barrie said with amusement. "One question at a time. What do you want to know first?" He asked the young boy as he sat up in bed to look at him.
"When are you coming to Neverland again?" Peter asked plainly. "The Lost Boys want to hear more of your stories."
James chuckled. If this was a dream, it was a very amusing one at that. "Well, when would you like me to come back? I'm sorry I haven't visited you in a long while."
"That's alright, you can come now!" Peter replied cheerfully as he nearly pulled James out of his bed. James chuckled at his enthusiasm. "We'll go and get Peter and Michael as well. I know they'd like to see the pirates again," Peter said as he flew towards the door.
"No, Peter," James Barrie said sadly as he reached for his bathrobe. "I don't think they'll be coming to Neverland anymore."
"Why not?" Peter asked curiously as he turned towards his creator.
J. Barrie sighed sadly. "They're grown up Peter. They have their own families. They've gotten older. We've all gotten older," the never-aging boy as he himself looked down to his wrinkled and arthritic hands as he pulled his robe around himself.
"They've grown up?" Peter cried in horror.
"I'm afraid so, Peter," James replied. "Neverland is just a fond memory that they tell their children."
"Will their children come with us sometime, Mr. Barrie?" Peter asked curiously.
"Oh yes," James replied with a warm smile. "In fact, I believe you already know them."
"I do?" Peter asked himself curiously. "I do! Well, let's go then! Are you ready?"
"I'm always ready for an adventure," James Barrie replied as he opened the window to his room. "Will we be off to get the children as well?" he asked the boy in his room.
"No," Peter replied as he flew over to the window. "Not this time. I nearly forgot that there's a lovely lady who's become our mother. She asked to see you."
James smiled. He knew who Peter spoke of. "Well then, we mustn't keep her waiting, should we?" he asked before Peter led him out of the window to Neverland.
….
"Uncle Jim?" Peter asked as he entered J.M. Barrie's room after knocking. "Uncle James?" he asked the silent figure in the bed.
"Darling, he's not breathing," Peter's wife said as she entered the room behind her husband before rushing to Barrie's side.
Peter made his way to his guardian's bed to feel his wrist for a pulse. He sighed when he found no sign of life left in the old wrinkled body of the playwright.
"He's left us for a much better place," his wife told her husband, trying to comfort him as much as she could.
Peter had heard her but his eyes had become fixed on the open window of Barrie's room. Slowly he made his way over to it as a boyish look began to appear on his face. The window had been closed but was never locked on the request of his Uncle James. Now Peter wondered who could have opened the window. Peter and his wife were the only others in the house and they had been together all day. Could it have possibly been the boy from Neverland that James never wanted to lock out? It was if he believed and he soon did when he saw a few scattered leaves underneath his feet.
"He's left for Neverland," Peter murmured softly with a faint smiled on his lips though tears were also stinging his eyes. "To die would be an awfully big adventure," he said, repeating the line from the play that J.M. Barrie had written about his family. As soon as he said it, he could feel a flood of childhood memories coming back to him. Memories that he had made with James, his mother, father, grandmother and brothers. Someday he too would tell the story of the boy who never wanted to grow up. He would tell the story of Peter Pan and Sir J.M. Barrie.
