Caring for Peter
Wendy watched him drift into an uneven sleep and freely let her tears fall now. She really hadn't wanted to know what was wrong because now that she did she felt more hopeless than ever. She didn't fully understand what his disease in tailed but she was sure she would find out eventually. His breathing slowly steadied and she watched his chest slowly rise and fall. She let out a low sigh and stroked his forehead. She refused to leave his side. Not until he was better or could get better.
She lifted her feet onto the bed and crossed them under her and let out a sigh. He was still very pale and she stood going and getting the damp rag and placed it on his forehead again trying to bring some extra flush to his pale cheeks but there was no way of doing so. She knew it, but she had to try. Even if he didn't have enough blood to do so she had to try and get his flush back. She jumped as she hear a light knock on the door.
She stood slowly and opened the door to the hideout. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was only Tigerlilly. She still looked quite upset. Wendy stepped aside and let her in, "You OK Tigerlilly?" She asked and Tigerlilly nodded asking about how Peter was doing and wheter he had told her what was wrong. She wondered if Peter would care if she told Tigerlilly. She was his best friend and she was one of the nicest Indians of all of them.
Wendy looked at Peter and softly stroked his hair and looked back at Tigerlilly whom was anxiously pacing back and forth looking as if she would be staying for a while, "I had a feeling he would get worse!" She said and looked over at Peter, "He is very pale!" She stopped pacing and looked at Wendy and said, "Are you sure you don't know what he has?" She asked her. The moment of truth she had to tell her. She couldn't lie to Tigerlilly.
"He told me" She said looking down and Tigerlilly went to her and sat on the bed waiting for her to tell her what had happened. So Wendy did. She told her about his disease. Hemophilia. She told her all about what it would so to him and by the end they were both tearing up. Neither wanted Peter to be ill and both looked at him and Tigerlilly looked ready to have a nervous breakdown. She really wanted to stay with them but she knew that being a princess she couldn't just leave her people for a long time.
"I wish I could stay!" She said and gave Wendy a hug and looked at her, "But I cannot leave my people...." She said looking more sorry than she had in her entire life. Wendy nodded at her and told her she understood and that she promised to take care of him, "I will visit here everyday!" She promised and kissed Wendy's cheek softly looking one last time at Peter before walking out the door back towards her people with a sigh.
Wendy once more sat very much alone next to Peter's side. He was very sleepy and she watched him and screamed blood started coming out of his nose. She grabbed the rag she had been using on his forehead and began to plug his nose with it and shook him and he awoke slowly, "Peter! Peter! your bleeding!" She cried and he jerked up his nose still bleeding uncontrollably. She started crying and he turned away trying to make it stop. He knew it would take a while but he had to stop it.
The thing he didn't want her to know is it wasn't the disease in general that killed him. It was the fact that the blood didn't clot so it was hard to stop bleeding once he started. It was getting all over him and he felt just like a little boy again and started to cry. She leaned him back against the bed and started trying to stop it, "It's OK Peter!" She said trying to sooth him and stay calm, "I will make it stop!" She said confidently and took his hand and squeezed it softly and dabbed at his nose.
Luckily it wasn't bleeding super bad just enough to make him lose blood. She knew that his face was already pale enough he didn't need to lose any more blood than he had. She kissed his cheek and he still let tears fall. He had never felt so much like a little boy again. It scared him. She looked down at the blood soaked rag and groaned slowly going to the indoor water and began to wash the blood off and went back placing the damp cloth over his nose again and more blood seeped into it.
This was no normal nose bleed. She remembered a long time ago when her brother had gotten into a fist fight with another boy he had gotten a nose bleed, but nothing like Peter's was right now. His wasn't letting up and wasn't clotting in the least. She felt a few tears fall for him and kept trying to stop it. He was trying very hard not to scream in pain from the fact that his muscles were hurting much worse. His circulation was very off now so his limps were staring to hurt.
She kept soaking up the blood and it at last stopped bleeding. She let out a sigh of relief and went back to the water and washed off the blood again and he curled into a ball on his side and she went back to him wiping the rest of the blood from his face and shrank onto the bed slowly and closed her eyes in relief that it had finally stopped and looked down at him. He was letting his own tears fall and said, "She promised I wouldn't hurt anymore!" He whispered softly to her.
"Who did Peter?" Wendy asked slowly stroking his hair letting the locks go in between her fingers and she kissed his cheek. She knew this disease wouldn't go away with doctor's help but there had to be some way to cure it here. She needed to ask the mermaids. They would most definitely know if there was some way for her to cure it here in Neverland. She continued to stroke his hair and he looked over at her still letting tears fall.
"Tinkerbell!" He said softly looking into her eyes, "She took me from Kensington gardens here..." He said softly to her, "She said I would never suffer as I had back home again and brought me here" He said and looked at Wendy softly, "She can fix this but she won't because of you" He said not blaming Wendy but hating that Tinkerbell was so jealous of hia beautiful Wendy. She didn't understand how much he loved her he could never leave Wendy. She felt tears roll down her cheeks again.
"Then I will leave.." She said and started to stand but he grabbed her wrist tightly.
"No I will not let her win!" He said stubbornly, "I love you too much to let you go again" He said and looked at her pleading with his eyes up at her. She re sat back down on the bed and he watched as she looked at her hands anxiously and he continued to look at her. He felt the beast come to life. He hated the beast in his stomach. It constantly made him think many things about Wendy he didn't want to. It reminded him off how beautiful she was and he tried to look away but his self control was only so great.
She took the wet cloth and began to clean his chest slowly as he watched. He was weakening and slowly started to drift back into a sleep of sorts. The beast in his stomach taking over his dreams making him once more dream of Wendy in many ways. She took the rag back away and came back to find him asleep and smiled at him. She had spent the entire day keeping him clean and trying to wipe his blood. She let out a small sigh and suddenly knew how his parents must have felt.
She felt powerless and absolutely exhausted but she stayed up just in case he had another bleeding fit in his sleep. She knew his muscles were hurting so she slowly began to massage and stroke them softly. She stroked up and down his body trying to make his blood circulation better. She looked down at him and kissed his forehead softly. He was very beautiful when the light hit him right but at the same time he was also very pale.
If he was not sick she would have mistook him for a vampire. His forehead was so hot and clammy that she put a cold cloth on it to try and cool him down. He needed to take a nice cool bath but she remembered that there was no bathtub. She would have to take him to the lake first thing in the morning. Perhaps she could get his blood to circulate a little more if she could take him to the lake, and let him bathe there.
She wondered how his parents had kept him alive for so long with this disease. She felt so sad for him. He must have been in pain a lot in his childhood as a little boy. He must have always been sick and not allowed to do anything fun. Maybe that was why when he finally was more like a normal boy he had let his adventurous hopes and dreams he had come up with while lying in bed go free. She knew why he was so different now. She assumed she would be too if she were as ill as he was. He had to have been different as a young boy. She stroked his hair trying to imagine what it must have been like for him and his family. She wondered if had even been able to attend school or play with any boys his own age. She doubted it. Maybe that was why his imagination ran free in Neverland because it was the only place where he could truly be himself. She understood him now. He had always just been a lonely little boy that had been set free by one small fairy's magic.
She hoped Tinkerbell would change her mind about healing him. She had to. Wendy wondered if she could go to Tinkerbell for him and ask maybe she could convince the small pixie to help Peter. He didn't deserve to suffer anymore than he already had before he came to Neverland. She knew he was at least 15 when he stopped growing so he had suffered for at least that many years. Why was Tinkerbell doing this to him? To remind him of what she had taken away?
Wendy felt sadened by how weak he was. Surely Tinkerbell would take pity on him if she saw his small weak and broken form. He looked more like a pathetic little 4 year old than the precocious, and ready for adventure, 15 year old he was. She tried to stay up the whole night and watch him but eventually with no one to talk to and nothing happening to Peter her sleepy eyes began to get the better of her and she slowly drifted to sleep her arm across Peter's chest and her mind rested.
