AN: This chapter is set after the big battle scene at the end, when Peter takes the Darlings back home. This is a collection of Peter/Wendy fics, so they won't be continuing every chapter. New Chapter = new plot. But I guess there's really no plot for these sort of stories. Hope you enjoy.
The Journey Home
Peter gallantly steered the ship through the cloudy waters above London as it sailed back into the real world. Meanwhile the Lost Boys scampered about the deck, trying out each contraption, climbing the riggings and acting as if they owned the ship. Wendy, who was standing beside the leaf-cloven captain, looked on in amusement.
"Can I have a try at that?" she asked Peter, motioning to the wheel.
He stepped aside with a bow and watched her eyes light up with glee as she took control of the vessel. She was rather good, he considered, watching her closely. And there was that kiss again, very conspicuously sitting in the corner of her smile – he could see it. So it wasn't gone. It was still there. He wondered hopefully if she would give this one away.
Something tugged at Peter's ear. It was a thought – the same thought that had been circling him since the pirate mayhem had calmed down. He brushed it away again, but it kept coming back. The thought would not leave him be. He had to answer it.
Wendy was concentrating very hard on navigating the huge ship. So hard, in fact, that she didn't notice Peter approaching until he was standing in front of her, only the wheel between them. He grabbed the spokes in either side of hers to stop the wheel moving and was given a questioning look in return.
"Wendy," he started, then threw off the pirate hat due to a sudden rush of heat. "Wendy, do you…love me?"
Her surprise was equal only to Peter's nervousness. But then her eyes became bright and sang, "Yes, Peter!"
"How could I not?" she answered verbally, and they smiled warmly at each other.
John interrupted the moment by declaring rather loudly that he was hungry. "We're sure to have missed supper by now," he said, and Michael nodded vigorously.
"Well, let's see what I can find in the Captain's cabin," Peter told the boys, who became very excited about feasting on Hook's food. Wendy watched with laughing eyes as Peter scampered into the cabin with a burst of energy. She supposed she was to blame for his newfound happiness.
Peter returned on deck with a few loaves of bread, apples, cider, leftover lobster and potatoes, and set them all down in front of the boys.
"Supper is served," he declared needlessly, and took two apples with him up to where Wendy was standing by the wheel. But she wasn't there. He hovered around the port side and found her staring over the railing into the cloudy sea. He flew up beside her and placed an apple before her.
"I'm starting to have second thoughts about this," Wendy said without turning, and picked up her apple.
"What, about going home?" Peter bit absentmindedly into his apple. She nodded and took a juicy chunk out of hers. "Don't worry, I'll bring you back to Neverland whenever you like."
Wendy turned in surprise and accidentally sent her apple flying overboard. "Don't you want me to stay?"
"Of course I do," Peter replied as casually as he could manage, "but I wouldn't want to deprive you of any decision and then see you regret it."
She thought it a very considerate thing to say and smiled at his thoughtfulness. Then her eyes caught sight of the bleeding wound festering on his forehead.
"Someone should see to that," Wendy told him. She raised her hand to brush away strands of blood-dried hair. Her touch sent shivers across his bare skin, and as a result, his apple dropped to join Wendy's in the cloudy sea.
She pulled back her hand and studied Peter closely.
"I never thought you were scared of anything, Peter," she said softly. "Not Captain Hook, not the crocodile, not even death. But over again, I find myself face to face with your greatest fear."
"Growing up?"
"No, your feelings, Peter." Wendy turned morbidly back to the railings and continued watching the skyscrapers sticking up through the thick cloud.
They simply could not part on such terms. Peter had another thought tugging at his ear.
"Wendy, you've got something there," he pointed to the right hand corner of his mouth as if there was a piece of apple skin. She tried brushing whatever it was away with the back of her hand.
"Gone?"
"Nope"
She brushed her hand harder across her mouth.
"Gone now?"
"Nope, still there"
"Where?" she asked, a little frustrated
"Allow me," Peter replied. He lowered his face to Wendy's and gently pressed his lips to hers. He could taste her surprise, and could sense that starry-eyed feeling upon him once again.
As they parted, both kept their eyes shut to savour the moment.
"Is it gone now?"
Peter opened his eyes to see Wendy smiling playfully at him.
"To tell the truth, I don't know if it ever will be," he replied.
"Land ahoy!" yelled Slightly from the main deck.
Peter and Wendy straightened up to see the open window of the Darlings' nursery looming ahead. He squeezed her hand and whispered in her ear, "Keep the window open, 'cos I'll be back."