My own Peter Pan series, based on Disney's Peter Pan II: Return to Neverland. When Peter Pan and Tinker Bell come to visit Wendy, Jane, and Danny for Christmas during World War II, Wendy asks him for a favor.
Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan, Jane, or the other characters. I DO own the concept of Petra Pan, Peter's twin sister.
It was Christmas Eve, 1943, and World War Two was still raging. Londen, England was the target of constant bombing from the enemy, and many buildings were already crumbling from the nightly bomb drops. Even so, people tried to enjoy the holidays with their families.
So it was with Wendy and her two children, Jane and Danny. While Edward --Wendy's husband--, and John, and Micheal Darling --her brothers-- are fighting in England's armed forces, the three left behind set up their Christmas tree like always, and attempted to keep their spirits up.
This was how a certain, special visitor found them when he arrived at the house in London.
Peter Pan and Tinker Bell arrived at Wendy's house as they always did, and landed on the roof over the nursery. Peter was carrying a small sack with him this time, and he was carefull not to drop it. Carefully, they made their way to the window. They knew that they had to be careful, lest that the enemy --or even the Royal military, themselves-- saw them, and decide that they were targets. Peter peeked into the nursery, and was surprised to find that Wendy was not in the room.
"Huh?" he said, puzzled. "Maybe she's in Jane's room." He flew to the window that was close by the nursery window. He peeked into Jane's room. Again, the room was empty of people.
"Well, let's check Danny's room," he suggested. They flew to the next window and looked in. The little boy's room was also uninhabited. "Where could they be?"
He noticed that the window below them had a light on. They must be in there, he thought. He smiled into the night. Why not? he thought. It would be a novel way to enter the house. I've never done it that way before. He flew down to the door and knocked on it with the doorknocker. Tink flew down to land on his shoulder.
Inside, Wendy, Jane, and Danny was putting the finishing touches on the tree. Only the star remained to be placed on the top. It was at that moment they heard a knock on the door.
"Now, I wonder who could that be?" Wendy wondered aloud. She went to the door and openned it. "Yes?" she asked. Then, her eyes went wide in surprise when she saw her visitors.
"Hi, Wendy," Peter smiled, his chocolate eyes twinkling, a night breeze stirring locks of his sunset-red hair. Tink jingled a "Hello" as well.
"Peter?" Wendy gave them a surprised smile. "Tink?" They nodded. Wendy held her arms out and Peter stepped into them, allowing the woman to hug him close. Then, she released him, and invited them both into the house.
"You'd better get inside. It's cold out," she said. She led them to the living room, where the tree was. "Jane; Danny; we have a couple of unexpected guests." When the two children gave her their attention, Wendy smiled and moved out of the way, knowing that they would love the surprise.
"Peter!" Jane cried happily. "And Tinker Bell!" She ran up and gave the boy a "Welcome" hug. Danny was not far behind her. Jane let go of Peter just in time for the bigger boy to lift the smaller one into his arms, setting the sack down on the floor in order to do so.
"It's good to see you two again, as well," Peter smiled.
"We just got the tree decorated," Wendy said. "All we need is the star for the top."
"Why don't we let Peter put the star on the tree?" Jane suggested. She gave him the large, decorative ornament. Peter smiled and gave the star to Danny.
"How about if Danny and I both put the star up?" he suggested. "You hold on to the star, Danny, and I'll fly you up there."
"Okay!" the little boy grinned, showing a few new teeth. Peter floated up to the top of the tree, while Danny set the star on top. Peter had to help him secure the ornament, but once fixed, it stayed on top, shining simply in foil. Peter landed gently on the floor, and set Danny down. They all looked up at the finished tree.
Tinker Bell jingled something, then flew up to the star. Hovering over the tree, she sprinkled her pixie dust all over the evergreen. The star was covered completely in the dust, changing it from silver to gold. The tree, itself, was covered enough for it to look like golden snow. The entire tree glittered and shone more brightly than it ever had before.
"Oh, Tink!" Wendy gasped, clutching her hands to her heart. "It's beautiful!"
"Tink decided to give you her Christmas gift early," Peter smiled. "As for mine," he dug into the sack and brought out three, neatly-wrapped boxes tied with golden ribbons. He gave one box each to Wendy, Jane, and Danny.
"Peter, that's so very sweet of you," Wendy smiled. She bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Well, go ahead and open them!" he encouraged. Wendy hesitated, as did the children.
"Peter," Wendy smiled. "Would you and Tinker Bell stay the night, and share Christmas Day with us? Please?"
"Oh, yes, Peter!" Jane piped up. "Please?" She took his hand in hers and looked hopefully into his eyes. Danny looked up from his small vantage point to add his plea to his mother and his sister's. He gave him "puppy-dog eyes", hoping to persuade the other boy to stay. Nana II, who came in at that point and saw their visitor, bounded into the room, sitting up and begging for them to stay for the holiday.
"I don't see why not?" Peter smiled. "One night and one day away from Neverland won't hurt anything. Right, Tink?" he looked over to the pixie. She seemed to think about it for a moment, then smiled and nodded, jingling her agreement.
"Wonderful!" Wendy smiled. "Let's put your presents under the tree, and we'll open them tomorrow."
"Okay," Peter agreed. He pulled out another wrapped object, only, this one looked rather obviously like a bone. The tag on that gift read, "To: Nana II, From: Peter Pan & Tinker Bell". He put this one under the tree, along with all the other presents.
"Have the two of you eaten, yet?" Wendy asked. "We were just about to have supper. It's a modest one; just soup. But we'll have a relative feast for Christmas Dinner tomorrow."
"No, we haven't eaten," Peter admitted. His stomach confirmed this with a growl.
"All right," Wendy smiled. "Come to the dining room. I'll serve it there." The children followed Wendy to next room, where they sat down at a beautiful polished oak table. Wendy left the room, then came back moments later with bowls of hot soup.
Wendy and the children ate in silence. The food was good and warmed them up quite well. Which was a good thing, because just as they finished, the air raid sirens went off.
"We need to get to the bomb shelter!" Wendy cried. She picked up Danny and led them to the small, metal shed. As soon as they were inside, she locked the door behind them.
Peter sat on one of the beds, Jane right beside him. Wendy sat down on Peter's other side, holding Danny on her lap. They were just in time, as the first of the bombs dropped, rocking the shelter with explosions.
"You'd think the enemy would take the holiday off," Wendy said. She held on to Danny, while Peter held on to both Wendy and Jane. Tink huddled somewhere between them, illuminating their faces in her golden light.
"The only time I've heard such noise was when old Codfish fired off Long Tom, usually at me!" Peter replied.
"That's what we pretend it is," Danny smiled up at him. "It doesn't seem as scary when we do."
"Why don't we play a game?" Wendy suggested. "But we can't move around too much. This bomb shelter only has so much room."
"What kind of a game can we play?" Peter asked. Neverland had enough room for very active play. He was not sure of any games they could play in such a restricted area.
"Hmmm..." Wendy thought. "I know of a way to play hide and seek without even moving from this spot. We look around and choose a place. It can be very small, if we like. When we have chosen our 'hiding place', the other players try to guess where we are by asking questions. But the questions must be the kind where you can answer with a 'Yes' or a 'No'. And you cann't change your hiding place. If someone guesses it, then they have found you."
"Let's try it," Peter agreed. "I'll choose first." He looked around the shelter, then nodded when he was ready.
"Is your hiding place big?" Wendy asked.
"Yes," he answered.
"Is your hiding place blue?" Jane asked.
"No."
"Is your hidin' place made of wood?" Danny asked.
"Yes."
"Does your hiding place have a lid or a top?" Jane asked.
"Yes."
"Is your hiding place the trunk?" Wendy pointed to a nearby large box.
"No."
"Does your hiding place have any paper on or near it?" Jane asked.
"Yes."
"Is your hidin' place...the desk?" Danny guessed, pointing to the huge piece of furnature in the far corner.
"Yes," Peter smiled.
"Yay!" Danny laughed, clapping his little hands. "I found Peter!"
"Now, it's Danny's turn," Wendy smiled.
The game went on for hours, until they exhausted all the hiding places they could think of. One of Danny's "hiding places" was under Peter's hat, which stumpted them all...even Peter. Soon, the alert was over, and the group made their way back to the house.
"You can sleep in Danny's room, Peter," Wendy said. "And Tink can share Jane's room." Danny was delighted with the arrangement, as was Jane.
"I've got a dollhouse Tink could sleep in, if she would be more comfortable in there," Jane suggested.
"Yes, that's a good idea," Wendy smiled. "Now, off to bed. Christmas is tomorrow, you know." They all climbed into bed, where Wendy tucked them in and gave them each a "good-night kiss". Then, she retired to her own room, climbed into bed, and went to sleep.
The next morning, everyone got up early and headed down the stairs. They peeked into the living room to see if there was anything new under the tree. Peter was just as excited as Jane and Danny was.
Under the tree was four new packages that had not been there the night before. The tags on the presents read, "Peter", "Tinker Bell", "Jane", and "Danny", but nothing about who they were from. Wendy appeared as the children were looking at the boxes, eagerly waiting for Wendy to say it was okay to open them.
"Don't you want breakfest first?" she asked, smiling. All three shook their heads. "All right; you can open them." Without hesitation, the four opened the new gifts.
For Peter, there was a set of beautifully carved panpipes, much like his own, but decorated with images of fairies and delicate-looking leaves. The instrument was highly polished, and a fine, leather strap was attached to each side, allowing for the player to wear it around the neck.
"Wendy...I..." was all Peter could say. He looked at Wendy with wide eyes.
"I thought of you as soon as I saw it, Peter," Wendy smiled. "The figures, the leaves...it all seemed to fit you. Look closly at the fairies."
Curious, Peter did so. Each fairy was rendered in very intricate detail. The wings were inlaid with Mother of Pearl, and very tiny sapphire flakes for eyes. Each fairy was flecked with tiny pieces of gold, as if covered in glitter.
Like pixie dust, Peter thought. He smiled at Wendy, then ran to her and gave her a hug.
"Thank you," his voice was muffled by her dress.
"You're very welcome, Peter," Wendy hugged him back.
Meanwhile, Tinker Bell had openned her little gift. It was a tiny china tea set. The little pixie was so happy that she buzzed around Wendy, jingling her thanks.
For Jane, there was a toy sword that was just her size, and for Danny, there was a teddy bear, simular to the one that his Uncle Michael had when he was Danny's age.
Now, Peter handed out his gifts again. Nana II dug into hers almost as soon as Peter's hand left the package. With a bound and a lick to his face, the big dog thanked the eternal boy.
"Easy, girl!" Peter laughed. "You're welcome!"
Wendy openned the small box to find a beautiful crystal necklace. The stone glittered like ice, refracting all the colors of the rainbow. As she gazed into the crystal, Wendy thought she could see glimses of Neverland.
"It's a NeverCrystal," Peter explained. "If you look into it and think about Neverland, you can see it. And if you close your eyes and think about anyone living in Neverland, you can talk to them through their mind. All the Lost Boys know I planned on giving you one, so they won't be surprised if you decide to contact any of them --or me."
"Thank you, Peter," Wendy smiled, tears coming to her eyes. She gave him a kiss on his cheek, then put the necklace on.
Jane's present was a small bottle of glittering, glowing, pixie dust on a necklace. The golden dust looked like gold glitter, but it glowed with a bright light. On the front of the bottle was a gold figure of a pixie --that looked a whole lot like Tinker Bell!
Jane hugged Peter tight, then put the necklace on. The bottle of pixie dust sparkled and glittered as she moved, giving off a warm glow.
Danny eagerly openned his gift, wondering what Peter had gotten him. His eyes lit up as he pulled out a wooden dagger carved to look like Peter's. The little boy gave a small, but happy crow.
"I think he likes it!" Jane laughed.
"Well," Peter smiled, "he had the hat. I just thought he might like a dagger to go with it."
"Thank you, Peter!" Danny shouted, skipping to where the other boy was and giving him a "thank you" hug.
"You're welcome, Danny!" Peter laughed.
They spent the rest of the morning openning the presents. Soon, it was time for Christmas Dinner. Peter sat between Jane and Danny, while Wendy sat next to Danny. Tink sat on the table at a small table of her own, right in front of Peter. There was turkey, mashed potatos, peas, and other vegtables, rolls, and pumpkin pie for desert, all washed down with milk. They had a lively dinner, and afterwards, they sat around for the rest of the day, talking, playing, and just enjoying each other's company.
Soon, it was night, and time for Peter and Tink to return to Neverland. Wendy took Peter aside to ask a favor of him that she had been thinking about for some time.
"You want me to take Jane and Danny to Neverland?" he asked in surprise. "Why?"
"For protection," Wendy said. "The war gets closer every day. Soon, the government will begin sending the children to the country to protect them. I feel that Jane and Danny would be far safer with you in Neverland than anywhere else. And if anyone asks, I'll say that they are with a family friend that is very hard to reach. Which would be truthfull, really. Please, Peter; take them with you. Check back often to see if the war is over, and when it is, bring them back. But keep them safe until then."
"Alright," Peter smiled. "I'll take them to Neverland. And I'll look after them."
"Thank you, Peter," Wendy sighed in relief. She hugged him.
"I could never deny you much of anything," he smiled. They then rejoined the two children to tell them the news.
"To Neverland?" Danny asked. "We're going to Neverland?"
"Yes," their mother smiled. "You are going to Neverland for safety. Even with Captain Hook and his crew there, you'll be far safer there than you would be here. And Peter, Tink, and the Lost Boys will be there. Between the eight of them, I know there will be nothing to worry about."
"May we take a few things?" Jane asked.
"Just a few things," Wendy said. "Whatever you can carry."
"Okay!" Jane and Danny said together. They ran upstairs to their rooms to gather whatever they needed. Wendy, Peter, Tink, and Nana II followed them up. By the time they got there, the two were ready to go.
After hugs good-bye, Tinker Bell sprinkled Jane and Danny with pixie dust, and as they already had the Faith and Trust, the two of them floated upward, then out the window and into the night. They headed straight for the Second Star to the Right, Wendy's two children completely trusting their guides.
Wendy watched them go until they were out of sight. Yes, it was going to be hard without Jane and Danny, but at least, they would be safe. And if anyone asked where they were, then she would tell them that "a family friend has taken them in for the duriation of the war". Which was not really a lie. Peter Pan is a "family friend" who has "taken the children in until the end of the war".
Wendy closed the window against the chill night air, but she did not lock it. If Peter remembered to come, he would be checking up on the progress of the war. She would never lock either him or her children out. They would always have a way to come home.
This is also up in my Peter Pan Room EzBoard, as well as some other stories.