Disclaimer: I still don't know who all this belongs to! Peter Pan, of course, belongs to J.M.Barrie, but I'm working off the 2003 movie so... Oh well, it's just not mine, ok?
Two updates in one day? Unheard of! Go me. Don't flame, go with constructive criticism.
III
Wendy sat on a chair, adding the last few words to the page she was writing on. When she was done she beamed at the finished piece, and then up at the man sitting beside her.
"It's done." She told him.
"I can tell." He said, laughter in his voice. Wendy liked to believe that she chose Richard as her husband because he was good and kind in his own person. But she could never shake off the feeling that it was his similarities to Peter that convinced her finally to say yes to his marriage proposal. She had promised peter all those years ago that she would stay young in her heart, and she had, thanks to Richard. Whenever either of them felt that the other was being a bit too grown up, they would gently tease them, and the other would laugh and apologise, "So how does the story end for young Peter Pan?"
"Why, he and Tinkerbell fly back off to Neverland, of course, and leave Wendy and the boys to grow up." She replied, "How else could it end?"
"With a kiss?" Richard asked jokingly. He loved the stories of Peter Pan, but didn't quite believe them real.
"Oh, it ended in a kiss for Wendy, and for the boys, but not for Peter." She smiled, "I imagine he has quite forgotten what a kiss is."
"What a terrible ending for the poor boy!" Richard exclaimed.
"Oh no, not really." She assured him, "Little boys are not hugely interested in kisses you see, they rather dashing sword fights and adventures. Peter had his one kiss, and if he ever wants another, I'm sure he could charm another young girl into flying away with him. This book is a warning you see, so that all little children know that if they ever meet Peter they can never keep him. I wish I'd known that."
And he laughed again, loving his wife for her little eccentricities, like talking about her story as if it was real. The children certainly loved them, Jane especially, and Richard imagined that once it was published all little children would love the tale of Peter Pan. But he just wished that it had ended in a Happy Ever After.
As if reading his mind, Wendy said, "All little children have to grow up, except Peter. He is the embodiment of childhood. He could no sooner of grown up then I could have stayed young. But I am happy, and so are the boys, and so, I imagine, is Peter, because I doubt he remembers us, or if he does, I doubt he misses us. Can you think of a better Happy Ever After?"
"You know me too well." Richard said, kissing her forehead, "May I read it?"
"In the morning." Wendy replied, "I will read it to you and the children in the morning, and after we can go and nit pick all the little details that need fixing. But I would really like to go to sleep now."
"As you wish, my fair Wendy." He said, and they changed into their nightclothes and climbed into their bed. Richard never saw Wendy's hand reach out to the note book that lay on her bedside table, and pull it into her bad, holding it against her stomach. She closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
III
It was the mermaids who first sensed the small girls arrival in Neverland. They whispered about it amongst themselves, and the curious fairies listened from high up in the trees. One fairy, who knew Peter Pan especially well, decided that this sounded like a possible adventure, and flew off to tell her friend. She found Peter sitting high in the trees, and whispered of the new girls arrival.
A hope Peter had not even known he had rose up inside him, and a mischievous grin lit up his face. Ordering the fairy to take him to the girl, they set off.
III
The annoying thing about visiting Neverland in her dreams was that she always appeared by her hut, but more often than not, that's not where Peter was.
She looked, as always, just as she had looked when she had first met Peter. She was even wearing the same nightie, although the real one had long been disposed of. The only difference was that she now held a small black notebook, which Neverland had never seen before.
It was when Wendy had finally decided that she was quite lost did she hear the distant crowing. A smile lit up her face as the crowing grew louder, climaxing with a boy bursting through the canopy above her and soaring around her.
"My Wendy is back!" he called triumphantly, "And I did not forget, oh no! My Wendy is back!"
The smile slipped from Wendy's face, and she suddenly realised how cruel her mission was. But it would not stop her. She had promised, to herself if not to Peter.
"Peter, I am not 'your Wendy'." She chided him; "Remember what I told you before I left?"
"You told me you would come back." He told her, smiling.
"And I told you something else, do you remember?" He shook his head, "I told you that I would marry, and I did. I am not your Wendy, I am someone else's."
"Who's?" Peter asked, looking hurt.
"I am Richard's Wendy." She told him, "And I am my children's Wendy."
"You were mine first." He reminded her.
"Yes, I was indeed, and a part of me will always belong to you." She was aware that she was condescending him, but she had long ago forgotten how to talk to a child as a child did, but for Peter she would try, "My first secret kiss was always be yours."
"But Richard probably has so many of your other kisses." Peter sulked.
"None are as special as a girls first secret kiss." She assured him, and he smiled slightly. Then she did the cruellest thing yet, "Peter, I have bought you a present."
"Oh, what is it?" He asked, suddenly excited.
"Peter, can you read?" She asked.
"Read?" He looked uncertain.
"Books, words. Look," She held out her notebook and opened it up, "See these little things? Can you make sense out of them?"
"Oh that? That's easy." He said, smiling, "A lost boy brought books a long time ago, and we learnt to 'read' together." He suddenly looked troubled, "I don't know where the books are now, or the Lost Boy."
"Well this book is a present to you Peter." She told him.
"What is it called?" He asked.
"Why, the adventures of Peter Pan, of course." She laughed, and he looked delighted. He instantly sat down and began to read it, and he read very fast too. But Wendy could not watch, because she knew she had not given him a gift, but a curse. He did not have to remember all that had happened when she and her brothers had visited the island, but she was making him, because she didn't want him to forget how much he had loved her. She told herself that he had a right to know his own adventures, and that she wasn't doing it for herself, but she knew the truth.
When he was done he looked up at her, and there was surprise and confusion on his eyes, "Did that all happen?" He asked.
"Well, yes, but it is only one of your many adventures, no more important than any of the others. It's just the only one I know very well." She told him, "Don't worry too much about it Peter, it happened a long time ago, and it's only a story."
"I was very brave in it, wasn't I?" He asked.
"Oh, terribly brave." She assured him.
"Tinkerbell sounded like a good fairy." He said, and Wendy looked at him in surprise. She looked at the fairy who hovered nearby, the one she has assumed was Tinkerbell, but saw that it was not. This one was much younger, and seemed considerably shyer than Tink had been.
"Tinkerbell was a very good fairy." Wendy agreed, "She died for you, and you brought her back. She didn't like me much."
"And the Lost Boys preferred to stay with you than with me?" Peter asked, sounding quite offended.
"They wanted a mother, you see." Wendy told him, "They regretted it a bit after you left, they didn't like school much, but they soon got used to it. They're all grown now, and have children of their own. I thought they'd stay young in their hearts, but they didn't really. They grew up a lot quicker than I thought they would. I did too, I suppose, but I stayed young in my hearts and dreams, remember?"
"That's not in the story." Peter told her, looking at the last few pages.
"That's our own secret story." She explained, "But I won't mind if you don't remember. But this story here...? Please remember this one. And you can tell it to the Lost Boys if you want."
"Girls are better at stories." He smiled at her with that same mischievous smile, and if she hadn't been a grown lady very much in love with her husband it might have affected her. But she was grown, and she was in love with her husband, and Peter was just a boy. And it looked now that her book hadn't been quite so cruel. He knew it was true, but it had happened too long ago for him to really remember it.
"I'm sure you can tell them wonderfully." Wendy smiled, "After all, you're the best there ever was."
"Are you going to go now?" Peter asked.
"I have to." She told him, "My husband and children are waiting for me, and they will want to hear the story of Peter Pan."
"Have they not heard it yet?" He asked.
"Bits and pieces, but not the whole story, no. I wanted you to be the first to read it." She explained, "I knew you had forgotten it."
"I never forgot you though." He told her, "Sometimes I forgot you a bit, and then I was sad because I knew I had forgotten something important, and then I'd remember you and be happy again."
"Remembering me doesn't make you sad?" She asked, not knowing whether it was good or bad.
"No, we had fun, and you gave me a kiss, which was nice of you." He smiled, "Thank you for the book Wendy, it will make remembering you much easier. Do you have one, so you'll remember me?"
"I have a book, yes, but I don't need one to remember you." And now Wendy smiled properly, because she was truly happy, "I'll make sure you're always known Peter, and maybe one day you can take my little Jane on a big adventure. No kisses though."
"Oh no, I wouldn't want a kiss from anyone but you." He assured her, and they both laughed.
"Goodbye Peter."
"Goodbye Wendy, I suppose I'll not see you again."
"No." but it was not a sad goodbye. Although she looked the same, Peter could see this was not the Wendy he had loved, and Wendy was perfectly happy with her husband. And Peter knew that he had not been replaced, for Wendy would always have a place in her heart for her childhood friend, and Peter would always have her first secret kiss.
III
Please be kind, I'm very new to Peter Pan fics. It was very hard to write a scene with adult Wendy and child Peter without it being weird or creepy. I hope I succeeded.
Review!