It was late at night in the city that never sleeps. But if you were looking at just the right area of dark night sky and squinted your eyes, you could barely see two glowing figures flit past above the Empire State building.

Back in Brooklyn, Sam Barkley had just fallen asleep in her small bedroom after a long day of zipping around the city on her skateboard. Sam had skated about 4 blocks to surprise her mother at the sandwich shop she worked. But Angela, who had had a long day, was more concerned on getting her daughter home and in bed. So Sam had grabbed a sandwich and was sent away by her mom, skating angrily back home. Her mother found the activity dangerous, so she usually only skated when her mom was busy working.

The minute Sam's head touched her pillow she was out like a light, not even bothering to change out of her ratty skinny jeans and baseball tee. She had long since given up being tucked in. The autumn night was cool, but Sam found it difficult to sleep without the window open. Being a city girl, the noise of outside comforted her like a gentle lullaby, and Darling woman had kept the window open for centuries. It was a good thing, for if Sam's window hadn't been the only one open, than a certain innocent flying boy may never have found the address he was looking for.

Peter Pan peered into the window of the plain apartment, a buzzing fairy flitting around his head. Peter rolled his eyes, Tinker Bell hated every Darling woman he ever associated with, and so he couldn't for the life of him imagine why she always tagged along to collect them. Slowly pushing the window doors open Peter stepped into the dimly lit room and surveyed his surroundings.

The room was nothing like the other nurseries Darlings had kept over the years. In the other nurseries it had been obvious that children spent their days in the room playing the day away. In this room, all the toys had been pushed into a corner as if they were never used. A messy bed was pushed into the other corner with a petite girl sprawled across. In the middle of the room was a table with school supplies, books, and drawings sprawled across. The rest of the room was somewhat empty, with the exception of a few clothes scattered around the room.

For a moment Peter was unsure if he had landed in the right house, until he further examined the room. Right above the bed was the only flair on the wall, a taped picture of whom Peter assumed to be the girl on the bed smiling in the arms of Angela, who Peter easily recognized.

Peter stood around for a minute, frankly not sure of what to do. This was the first situation, besides Wendy, were there wasn't a massive St. Bernard to detect the fairy-boy's presence and alert the children. Before Peter could decide how to attract Ms. Petites attention, Tink beat him to it, viciously pulling on the girl's messy, straight brown hair. Peter braced himself for the flurry of girl emotions that were bound to surface at any moment, but none came, so he opened his eyes to see no change in the softly snoring female. Tinker Bell looked just as exasperated as Peter, she was used to Darling women trembling at her abuse. She wasn't fond of any of them. Wondering what was up, Peter shook her vigorously until she wearily opened one bright green eye.

"Are you dead?" He asked. The bright green eye was torn from his vision as the lid covered it once again, the girl turned over.

"Of course not, idiot." She responded, somewhat amused. "Never seen a sleeping girl before?"

Saying that Peter was bewildered was an understatement. Not only had she not been disturbed by the fact that a boy had woken her up in her sleep, but she also responded so smoothly that she must have thought she was dreaming. So seeing as the only way to ensure she was completely awake, he shook her viciously some more.

"HEY! Knock it off." She snapped, whipping a pillow around against Peter's head.

"Well are you coming or not?!" He snapped back at her. Sam sat up in bed so fast Peter recoiled away from her in fear of his head being knocked off.

"AM I COMING?" She roared. Peter backed up further, glad that his precautions had been necessary.

"You think you can barge here into my room, LATE, wake me up, and drag me off to Neverland?" The mention of Neverland confirmed that she was indeed a Darling, but the attitude was a whole 'nother mystery to Peter. Sam placed a foot on the floor and stood up from her bed, hands on her hips. It would have looked a lot more threatening if she hadn't been a whole head shorter than Peter. But all in all, it was still a terrifying sight to behold.

"I have been waiting for you for over a year and now you decide to barge in and take me off?" Ok, so she is mad Peter concluded. But mad at him for being late? Or was she just cranky and tired? Did she not want to go? Peter was definitely not used to this hostile type of greeting. Where was the excitement of seeing him? He was so used to being adored by Darling women in the past.

"Sorry?" He tried.

"Oh, sorry. SORRY!" She screeched. "Sorry just makes everything better!" Tinker Bell, who had had enough of this tiny girls attitude, decided to result to her earlier method and raced toward Sam's head to begin another round of hair pulling. But just before she had made contact with the destination Sam turned to her, practically blowing steam out of her nose, and exclaimed "CAN IT BLONDIE!" The force of her rage nearly sent Tink flying backwards. Seeing the tiny fairy recoil at her words was enough for Sam to calm down. She sighed.

"I'm sorry Tinker Bell, it's not you who I'm upset with." She fixed Peter a look. The confusion shared between the flying boy and fairy generated enough energy to melt the polar ice caps. The conflict between the moody Tinker Bell fairy and Darling women ran deep. Any child who had heard of Neverland had heard of the fairy and her antics, and most would be cautious of meeting her.

Sam slid on her skater shoes and placed her NY Yankees baseball cap on her head.

"Come on," she said, "Neverland awaits."

It took a while for Peter to register what she was saying. All he saw in front of him was this alien girl that was incredibly violent and didn't seem to speak English. Peter was clever, but one could only understand women so much. He definitely wanted answers. "So now you want to come!?" He exclaimed in all his exasperated glory. Ok, probably should have calmed down a bit before starting, Peter realized the second the words came out of his mouth. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Of course I want to come." She replied in a condescending tone. "Neverland's bound to be more exciting than this dump."

Now, considering that Peter had passed about a million buildings, streets filled with loud metal moving machines, and someone covered in shiny paper screaming on a soapbox to get here. He concluded that anyone who thought this place was boring was crazy. But of course, Sam loved New York City. It was her city. She didn't find it boring at all. With her mother busy working all the time, she could usually find ways to entertain herself. What she had meant by her words was that she was flipping excited to go to Neverland and didn't want to wait a second more.

Peter shook his head, clearing it of all thoughts he wouldn't even begin to understand. He considered leaving without her, but it almost seemed like breaking a promise to Wendy, even though there was never exactly a rule stating that he had to bring her on an adventure. He could always wait for the next one. But he decided against the ideas, the Lost Boys would be upset if he didn't bring them a Darling woman to tell them stories and kiss their heads. Besides, even Peter had to admit that there was something different… and very intriguing about this tiny doll of a girl in front of him.

"Alright, off we go", Peter started careful to watch his tone with the girl. "Can you fly?"

Sam snorted, "Does it look like I can fly?" she asked arms crossed. Peter decided to ignore the sarcasm.

"Tink?" He called. Tinker Bell had been watching the exchange between the two quietly; unsure of exactly what was going on. Before she could refuse assistance to the girl, Peter quickly grabbed her and shook her all over Sam, showering her in the soft glittery fairy dust. Sam smiled and reached up to the dust, which almost melted at her touch, it was so light.

The whole sensation was like being in a warm summer rain, and Sam loved storms. Before she could even feel it, Sam looked down and saw that she was floating, the breeze blowing in through her window softly making her dance in the air. She couldn't help it, Sam giggled.

Peter watched her with delight as she started pushing herself around the room. There was something magical about seeing someone fly for the first time, like watching someone slowly fall in love. Everyone reacted differently, but the effect was enough to create butterflies in your stomach.

It was just then that Peter suddenly realized he didn't even know her name. This girl who had punched and yelled at him and had already felt like they had been on an adventure was nameless in his mind.

"Hey!" Peter called, momentarily stopping her mid-air. Sam stopped from doing forward rolls around her bedroom and lightly blushed.

"Yeah?" She asked. In a much nicer tone now that flying was causing a rush of endorphins to go to her head. Realizing the question he was about to ask was a bit ridiculous, Peter blushed too. Darn it! Why was Peter blushing so much? This wasn't like him. He was cool and collected around every Darling woman he met. What was it about this girl?

"What's your name?" Peter asked casually. She responded normally enough, perhaps realizing that she hadn't actually told him her name.

"Sam." She replied, and then continued rolling.

"Just Sam?" Peter asked, surprised she hadn't relayed her entire full name as well as perhaps her medical records and family history. Sam gasped.

"Oh I apologize you gracious!" She exclaimed dramatically, doing an over the top curtsy in mid-air. "Samantha Elizabeth Wendy Barkley the First." She replied in a quite impressive British accent. "And you good sir?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow. Drawing attention to her deep green eyes. Deciding she was trying to play, Peter too rose to her eye level and bowed. Petericus Maximus of the Neverland region, leader of the Lost Boys and slayer of Pirates."

That last part slipped out before he could stop himself. He had forgotten that Darling's were pretty against slaying things, but as if further proving she was nothing like her ancestors, Sam looked downright impressed.

"Cool." She approved, "seriously though, call me Sam." Peter didn't dwell on his slip up. Maybe she thought he was joking.

"Alright Sam, ready for adventure?" He asked her, holding out his hand like a true gentleman and flashing his smile. Sam ignored it but smiled widely.

"I thought you'd never ask." She exclaimed as she burst out the window.