Can't Make You Stay...Wont Make You Leave...

As they flew onto the shores blooming colors of brights and greens, and above the trees but below the clouds, a little golden twinkle glowed brighter. Tinkerbell looked up as she felt his return and saw the reason for the most vibrant flowers and sun light the Neverland had seen in ages. No jealousy or hate, spite or otherwise. There was no room for anything other than his joy, which overflowed from him and spread throughout the region, empowering all. A wicked smile overcame her lips as an idea formed in her head. She quickly set out to gather her kind and flew to the tree house just a moment before Peter arrived. Still lost in the image from the water, he slowed to a halt and turned back to his Wendy. With smiles of happiness and love, thoughts of each other, and nothing else, he gently let her down a shoot before following her in.

"Oh Peter...it's just like I remember it..." she said as she descended into the dim underground home.

Tinkerbell flew up behind Wendy still lost in memories of the days of her stay, towards Peter, and smiled ever so kindly as she chimed "Do not lose this again..." She then flew up and away as the rest of the fairies came out of hiding and light up the room with their golden glows.

'I shall not, Tink ... I will make her remember...' His heart beating as loud as the fairies' glow, Peter walked towards her, bowed, and offered her his hand. "May I have this dance" he said in his most serious of tones. '...how it feels to dance in the arms of a wind...'

She smiled a smile that shinned brighter then the golden glow surrounding them, and bowed to him before taking his hand. "Of course, my good sir..."she playfully said.

No more words were spoken. There was no need. As he placed his hand upon her waist and lifted her up into the air, the lullaby of that night four years ago, rippled from their touch. He looked up at her as she floated above, her pink satin dress dancing gracefully around her form, a golden aura surrounding her. The angelic incarnation of his happy thoughts. They danced the night away, entirely immersed in each other's presence, for in that one moment, nothing else existed. No worries of a life left behind, waiting for her return. No concerns with the desire for a carefree existence, at the cost of an eternity of solitude. Only two people, deeply in love, even if one did not truly know what the feeling was.

"Wendy..." he said as his smile slowly disappeared.

"No...Peter" she whispered quickly as she raised one finger to his lips. "Do not speak ... Not again ... Mention nothing about everything else."

"Wendy...My Wendy..." He said as his possessiveness of her name warmed her heart. "I have to speak." The loniness once again burdened his soul, as it tugged at his heals, bringing him back down to the ground, gently pulling her down as well. Sensing the change in the mood of the two, the golden glows slowly crept away.

"Peter..." she said, with eyes begging for him to silence.

"I do not wish for you to leave... not again" he whispered, as the shine in his eye dulled away, like a storm cloud blanketing a sunny spring's day.

"I am sorry...I must..." she said in a whisper.

"I know...that wish of yours to grow old...why?" His eyes searched through hers for the answer to his query. He could not understand, how she could make the choice she had made. How she could actually, want to age...away from him.

"Why?" She asked as she moved her eyes away from his haunting gaze. She could feel his searching in her heart, for an answer she did not want to speak. A moment's hesitation and she said, "... Because...you made me want to..."

Surprised at her words, he absently let go of his hold on her. Unable to speak, he simply starred, waiting for the explanation of her accusation.

"Peter...you...won't ever understand..." she said as she slowly walked away from him, towards a chair by the fireplace.

Being one to think of himself as rather clever, her attack on his understanding troubled his ego. "Do you mean to say that I am not able to comprehend?"

"No....not that...you simply will not WANT to understand."

"Try it and we will see..." he said as he drifted towards her.

"Peter...I was afraid to grow up...it's true...and I wished with all my heart, for an escape from the sentence my father gave me that night..." Her sapphire eyes slowly crept back to his face, pleading for his understanding, afraid to continue. "...that is why you came...you...heard my cry... and...you did save me...you brought me here... and helped me say goodbye to my childhood with one last great adventure...and I realized that...growing older has it's own magic..."

"Magic?? In adults??? Wendy...that cannot be!" He said sure of his words.

"Yes...Peter...it is quite possible."

"Wendy, look around you. This home, this world, this life...it was not meant for the old. It is everything a child could ever want...it is the magic of child's heart...this is true magic!"

"Yes... Peter...I know...this is simply divine...but...a child is simply the outcome of a greater power...a greater magic..." she paused, afraid to say the word that had sent him fleeing in fright and anger years before, "Love."

The mere mention of the emotion sent a cold shiver down his spine. He furrowed his brow as his eyes showed unease and resentment. "Wendy..." he said in a slightly harsher tone.

"Yes Peter...I know..." she said as she shook her head. "You do not feel it...or wish to know of it... but I can't help it...I want to..." she paused as her voice quivered and her eyes pled for forgiveness. "...I do."

A moment of uncomfortable silence overcame the room. "I do not wish to take anything away from...not now...not ever...I've learned Peter...I learned that I can not make you give it up...so I wont..." Silent still, he only gazed at her as she continued to explain. "I will do what I need to do...and you will do...what you want to do...it is as simple as that."

She was to leave again. He opened his mouth to order her to stay...but quickly regained control of his tongue, as he sealed his lips, biting the lower one. There was no making her stay...It would never be. Even after all this...he would still have to let her go..."Yes...I guess that is the only way" he said with false bravery in his words. "...Already you are older than I..."

Wendy giggled softly, cutting off his words. "I older than you? I know for a fact that I am no older than 16...but you...you have no recollection of your birth...and as of now... you also resemble 16."

Peter stiffened as he gasped in surprise. "What?" Wendy's giggles quickly seized as she saw the horror in his eyes. "You...did not know?" She stared at him as his every muscle remained the same. "You have grown as much as I..."

"What?" he asked in a low voice.

"See for yourself..." she said as she reached for his hand and pulled him towards the only mirror in his underground home.

"It can not be" He moved past Wendy to gaze into the mirror. He stared at the young man looking back at him, and finally saw what he had refused to acknowledge. He had grown.....and it hadn't bothered or hurt him at all! The strange things that were surfacing all along, the connection he felt for the girl before him, the longing for something he did not know. It all made sense right then and there. He was growing. He could not help it. He did not wish for it, but it was happening all the same. Brave as he was to fight off countless enemies throughout the ages, he never once found the bravery to face his greatest fear...leaving childhood. Frightened, he pulled away from the image, looking desperately at Wendy. But as his eyes rested upon her loving blue orbs an unexplainable calm took hold. His heart was still wailing, crying out for the aging to stop, holding on to the spark of youth that still remained; but something, or someone else was saying something to soothe the fright. Where was that voice coming from? His eyes slowly moved down his arm and to his hand, where he realized that he had tightened his hold on Wendy's soft hand, and she in turn, had done the same. The feel of her tender touch, emitted comfort and aid, and he felt the might of a thousand men.

"Peter..." she said as she walked closer to him. "Are you...all right, Peter" It was she, the voice in his head. She was telling him things would be allright. That she would be there, by his side...helping him every step of the way. She was saying that she was brave enough for the two.

"I...I did grow..." he said calmly as he ran his hand along his prominent jaw line."It must have been all those times I stayed by your window..."

"What?"

He paused, tranquil and more collected than he had been in a long time. "I've continued visiting your window...I said I'd come to hear you're stories...and I did...but sometimes" he paused as slight embarrassment tinted his face. "...I'd simply come...because of you..."

"Oh Peter...why did you never speak to me?"

"I ...I couldn't...I was afraid....and I do not get 'afraid'!" He said as his tone strengthened

"Peter...what...what does this all mean..." She said, as her countenance became sadder. "...if you continue to leave Neverland...you will eventually become a man anyway...and....I can not stay here forever..." she said as tears began to flood her eyes. She knew what had to be, but could not bring herself say the words.

Unwilling to allow her to shed any more tears, he slowly took her hand in his and gently lifted it up to wipe them away. Without thinking he said softly "Then we shall grow older together..."

Shocked, her eyes widened as she pulled away from him. "No...Peter...No! Do not say things that you do not mean! You will not grow older! You are the Neverland! And the Neverland is you! You will not abandon it...I know you can not!!!" "I know... and I will not abandon it..." The words passed through his lips only a step ahead of his reasoning "I don't know how long I've been here...but I am quite sure that it has been longer than 16 years..." He looked around his home. "I am not ready to leave it yet...and growing older still scares me..." He said as his eyes gently land upon her again. "..but maybe, time is finally catching up, and telling me it is time to move on..."

Words of a child, were not on his tongue. It was obvious that the years that had passed had matured his mind, and giving him the courage to face his biggest adversary.

"Wendy...I propose this to you...stay with me in Neverland...and then...we will both go back to London...and so shall continue...so we both will age only slightly at a time...giving us both enough of a childhood to last us an eternity..."

"And then what? After we have matured? What then? Will you truly go to an office? Or will you then fly away... back here...and never die?! I cannot go through that!!!"

He shook his head as he closed his eyes and leaned in closer. "What have I said so many times before? To die...would be an awfully big adventure...and to live is also...and Peter Pan...is all about adventure..." He smiled his heart melting smile. "Peter..." she whispered through a slight smile. "You will have your adulthood, and everything that comes with it...and I will have my immortality..." He paused and looked deeper into her eyes, "you will tell my story to children who will then live to tell it to other children, and so I will never grow old..."

Tears flowed down her cheeks again, although these smelled of sweet bliss. "I want always to be a boy, and have fun...and as long as children still know of my adventures, then I will be forever a boy..."

"Oh Peter!" she said as she threw her arms around his neck. Of all the nights she dreamt of him, never once did he choose to stay, for always she thought Peter Pan would never grow old. Now, while awake, she dreamt the one dream, she never could while asleep.