Title: To Have and To Hold
Author: Squeezynz
Chapter: Six - Safe Harbour
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Hook lowered the specially designed telescope from his eye and cursed volubly. The crewmen working near him moved prudently out of his range as he whirled from the rail and stomped across the deck.
"MISTER GRANT!" Hook bellowed, throwing the scope at the nearest pirate, the man juggling the instrument for a few precious seconds, his face going grey, before managing to clutch the Captain's property to his chest, safe and sound.
"Yes Captain?" Hook's henchman slid down the rope and landed beside him.
"We're losing them!"
"Aye Captain...they're threading the needle and heading for the sand bar."
"I reckon you have the right of it Mister Grant...and this old bucket won't be able to get close...will she?"
"Sorry Sir...not a chance. Even if we stripped her to the ribs she'd still ride too low in the water."
"Damn."
"We know that he was injured...won't they have to hole up somewhere while he recuperates?" Smee's quaver reached Hook above the slap of the waves and the singing of the wind in the rigging.
"Quite right, Mister Smee...and with his precious Wendy beside him, he's even less likely to want to be looking for a fight."
"We could take the fight to him?" Grant suggested, not flinching when he found the gleaming hook on his Captain's right hand scant inches from his throat.
"I think you might be right again Grant. Just bursting with good ideas today, aren't you?"
Grant visibly swallowed, a grey tinge underlying his scarred face, a tick starting under one eye. Hook smiled at the evidence of his henchman's nervousness.
"Calm yourself man...I have no desire to have the crew swab the decks again. Come to my cabin, we'll discuss the best place to land and the likelihood of where they'll berth the Nymph."
Jerking his head at Smee to follow, Hook swept past his men and slammed open the door leading to his cabin. Released from the tension of anticipating bloodshed, the pirate crew set about their duties and prepared the ship to cease its headlong pursuit.
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The Nymph was finally clear of the towering sandstone needles known as The Sisters, her crew raising a ragged clear as they cleared the turbulent water that marked the passage through. Stubbs relinquished the wheel to the helmsman and flexed his fists to loosen the stiffness in his muscles from fighting the rudder. He noticed Harry watching him.
"All ship shape and Bristol fashion Doc."
"Which is more than I can say for our Captain." Harry retorted, leaning his arms on the rail beside the burly Quartermaster.
"What happened?"
"Only tried to run before he could walk and burst a stitch."
Stubbs chortled. "And you're surprised? Don't you know the lad well enough by now."
"I thought I did. Anyway, I stitched him up and left his pretty nurse with him to keep him...er...pinned to his bed."
This time they both laughed.
Stubbs wiped his eyes. "I don't know why the boy ever thought he'd have any problem bringing her round...'tis obvious she's smitten with him."
"If you'd seen them when I walked in, you'd be calling the banns even now and getting yourself fitted with a new suit of clothes for the wedding."
"Then we're home and hosed laddie," Stubbs whacked Harry on the back and almost pitched him overboard.
"There is the small matter of bringing it all together...and she didn't bring the other book, which means either Hook already has it, which I think most likely...or it's been left behind."
"And there's the original medallion to find yet." Stubbs added gloomily.
"Quite." Harry stared out at the distant shoreline, the tree shrouded cliffs rising steeply towards the mountain range and the high volcanic cone beyond.
Stubbs heaved a huge sigh and pushed away from the railing. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder and started across the deck.
"At least we've lost our tail...I reckon ol'Hook will be taking the long way around after the last time."
Harry grinned at the first mate and walked off in the opposite direction, heading for the crew quarters and his other patients.
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"We seem to be plain sailing once more...Peter?"
Wendy lifted her head and stared down at him, her mouth curling into a soft smile as she gazed into the sleep relaxed features of her patient. The medicine had worked its magic and she sighed, glad that he was out of pain for a short time. Easing herself off his chest, she found she had to disentangle his fingers from her hair, needing the removal of all the pins to allow it to tumble around her shoulders before she could pull him free. With him comfortably unaware, she felt free to look her fill of him with no-one to witness her brazen appraisal.
With a light finger she traced over his winged brows, following their shape before softly moving down his face, his short prickly whiskers tickling her finger tip.
"You need a shave." She whispered, following the line of his jaw around to his mouth, her fingertip smoothing the outline of his lips which had so recently been busy on hers, their touch sending shivers of delight down her spine and along her nerves. She trailed her finger down his neck to the pulse that beat at the base, his collar bone leading her fingers to his shoulders and back, pausing briefly to trace an old scar high up on his chest before moving on. His skin felt soft and warm against her hand and she briefly lay her cheek against his chest, the steady beat of his heart plus the rise and fall of his ribs evidence enough that he lived and breathed and existed beyond her many dreams of him in the years past.
It was true that she had tried to forget him when he didn't return for her, but she'd never quite managed to evict him completely from her thoughts, and especially not from her dreams. Although she had to admit that he'd never looked quite this handsome or quite so accessible in any of her recent dreams.
Blushing at her temerity she snatched her hand back and pulled the covers up high, her cheeks burning as she stared at the outline of his body under the covers. She thought she'd seen as much as she wanted of his body the previous day when he'd first been injured, but she'd been wrong. Having seen him as naked as anyone can be, she was almost tempted to pull the covers back and look again.
"Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you." She quoted primly to banish her wicked thoughts, averting her eyes and moving around the cabin collecting all the items displaced by the erratic movements of the ship. But no amount of bustling and tidying up could quite banish the images of firm golden flesh and long, muscled limbs. Unable to cool her burning face, Wendy sought a distraction and found it in a collection of books securely held in a corner shelf. Finding a volume of the selective works of Shakespeare, she pulled the stool to the end of the bed and sat herself down, immersing herself in the familiar characters and poetry, successfully distracting herself from thoughts of a carnal nature.
Harry came to check on Peter an hour later and brought a tray of food for Wendy. He explained that they were currently negotiating a channel through a sand bar that guarded a lagoon that in turn allowed access to a deep canal named Cannibal Creek. There they would find a safe harbour to allow the ship to be restocked and for Peter to recover in peace.
"There aren't really any cannibals on Neverland...are there?"
Harry grinned at Wendy and shrugged. "As far as I'm aware the cannibals were banished many years ago, long before I came here, and probably long before you arrived for the first time."
"Oh...well that's a comfort. I don't suppose you have the time to talk for a moment do you?"
"As it so happens I can spare you a moment or two." Harry grinned and leant against the cabin wall.
"Good. When I was last in Neverland, six years ago...Peter and I were just children, myself not quite thirteen. I knew about the Indians, and the pirates with Captain Hook and the Jolly Roger. I was shown the Mermaids and the Fairies, so I know something of Neverland's secrets, but can you tell me where you, the crew and this ship came from?"
"Ah..." Harry rubbed his chin and shuffled his feet.
"I can understand why there might be a new band of Lost Boys, after all I appropriated the last batch and took them home with me. But I distinctly remember there only being one pirate ship, the Jolly Roger."
"Yes...well...ah." Harry said unhelpfully.
"I mean, did you just spring into being? Were you all marooned here? And why is Peter the Captain? I'm sure he's a very good Captain...but he's a little young, and I always thought Captains were supposed to be more...er...mature. Certainly not the youngest in the crew."
"You're right, of course...but...er..." Harry shut his mouth with a snap.
Wendy sat on the stool and gazed intently at the Doctor in expectation of answers.
"Well, see here...it's a bit of a mystery to us as much as it is to you."
Wendy pursed her lips and opened her eyes wide, willing him to continue.
Harry felt sweat trickling down his back. "You see...we're not exactly who we appear to be...in a manner of speaking."
"I'm sorry but I don't see...if you're not who you appear to be...who are you supposed to be..when you're not being who you appear to be?" She paused for a second to consider what she'd just said. "Hmmm...I think that's the right way to put it."
"Yes...um...that's a very good question. The problem is...I can't answer it for you."
"Oh...then who can?"
Harry crossed and uncrossed his arms, his eyes roaming over the room as if looking for inspiration. "Well not our patient...at least I don't think he knows." His forehead creased in worry.
Wendy drew herself up off the stool and stamped her foot in exasperation, wishing she was wearing her sensible half boots to make the gesture more meaningful and noisy.
"For heaven's sake...I'm starting to think that I must be hallucinating all this," She flung her arms wide, narrowly missing the lamp hanging from the ceiling beam. "So no one can tell me anything...not you, because you seem totally incapable, and not Peter because he doesn't know anything to start with."
Harry tried to unravel her logic and when he did he flashed her a broad grin. "In a nutshell."
Clenching her fists, Wendy stifled an angry squeal. "I am sorely tempted to jump ship and find Captain Hook, maybe I could wring the answers from him!"
Harry's face froze in horror, taking Wendy at her word. "You can't do that...it would be an unmitigating disaster...for all of us!"
"And that's another thing!" Wendy started on another tack. "How can Hook be alive after being swallowed by a crocodile?"
By now Harry had had enough. "Nope...sorry, not my province at all. I'll leave that story to Peter. Let me know when he wakes up and I'll check the bandages. Enjoy your lunch."
Not waiting a second more, the Doctor all but ran out of the cabin and along the passageway, the outer hatch banging behind him before Wendy could reach the end of the bed or call out to detain him.
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Captain Aramis was rapidly coming to the conclusion that Fairies were quite the most infuriating creatures imaginable.
He shifted slightly on the moss covered rock and fixed a patient smile back on his face.
"As I tried to explain...there was no time. Hook already knows all there is to know and is bound to be hunting them even now."
An angry cascade of bells greeted his remark and he felt an overwhelming urge to roll his eyes.
"I am well aware that I was only supposed to use the medallion and the dust in the case of an extreme situation...I considered this just such a case. I couldn't find out what had happened to the girl until I came here myself. For all I knew she had been kidnapped by the blackguard and carried off to who knows where! Then what would you all do...hmmm?"
A slightly more subdued chorus of chimes greeted his rhetorical question.
"Yes...quite. I'm aware there were other candidates for the post, the dratted boy hasn't exactly been shy around the females, but she was his first, and hence the best," A loud chime interrupted him. "Yes I know that...but the girl has spirit and the boy wanted her, what was I supposed to do?"
A trill of bells answered him and he shrugged.
"Well I did my best...you forget, it's been a very long time since my last visit here. I was surprised that everything still fitted!"
A quiet chime made him smile.
"Now you're just flattering me. But enough m'dear, what are we to do?"
He listened as his fairy companion filled the air with a torrent of tinkling bells, the Captain nodding his head occasionally until the report ended.
"Well...it seems pretty clear to me. We have to get the book back from Hook before he can get his hands on the other one and the girl."
A quick trill made him raise his hand to stop it.
"Yes I know that nothing can be done until they are all combined, my medallion as well, but that won't stop him making free with his prisoner if he manages to wrest her from the boy. We have to make sure it doesn't happen."
They sat in silence for a moment, the sounds of the forest calmly soothing after the noise and bustle of London.
"Well...I must be off. I don't suppose you know where the Nymph is?"
The Fairy chimed several times.
"Ah...Cannibal Creek, of course. It's a bit of a trek...I don't suppose...?" He looked hopefully at the fairy but received an emphatic shake of the tiny head. "No, I thought not. After that last attempt I suppose it is better if I use my legs, it was just a thought."
Rising up, Aramis dusted off his trousers and shook out his coat tails before picking up his hat and setting it once more on his gray head.
Clapping his hands together and giving them a rub, he grinned broadly at his fairy companion.
"The games afoot Watson! Time for the off!"
Clapping one hand on the hilt of his sword, he matched action to words and marched out of the glade and along the path that appeared between the trees. A tinkling laugh followed him as he left the fairy forest and set out to find his old ship, his lips pursing to whistle jauntily as he walked in the manner of a man half his age.
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The Nymph negotiated the narrow canal known as Cannibal Creek with the ease of an old friend. The river Nefer, named by the Indians, had a wide delta that split into several interconnected channels, each deep enough for a ship to navigate, some of the wider waterways having floating islands of reeds and bull rushes, the large seed heads rattling together like sabres when the wind blew. All along the bank the thick rushes grew as tall as a man providing a ready haven for the birds that nested in them. Flocks of ducks and geese hooted and honked as the ship passed, the water churned into a froth when a large family of geese decided to precede the ship, their feet paddling the surface as they spread their wings wide and raced to become airborne before the bow wave of the ship reached them. Wendy leant on her arms and smiled at the birds as she stared down at the green water sliding past the hull. Peter was still asleep so she'd slipped out of the cabin and come on deck to get some fresh air and to see what was happening. The ship was only making slow progress, all the sails furled except a handful, the breeze very gently propelling the craft up river, barely disturbing the surface of the water with her passage.
Wendy stared at the shore and the trees that clothed the bank, their variety and lushness a direct contrast with the grey and sooty view of London from her bedroom window. Neverland was all sunshine and greenery, the colours soft on the eyes and a balm to the spirit, even the water seemed to sooth her, the limpid green filled with the waving fronds of weed in which fish and amphibians darted and swam.
She found herself wondering anew how Neverland could exist at all, an enigma that would never be decoded, a paradox that might never be explained, a mystery that could never be solved. As she pondered she watched a troop of monkey making a meal in a fruit laden tree, their raucous cries causing birds to fly up from the tree tops, their bright colours, as they wheeled overhead, like a feathered rainbow.
Sighing, Wendy pushed herself away from the rail and padded across the deck casting a glance at the helm and receiving a merry wave from the first mate, Stubbs's face split with a wide grin as she lifted her hand to wave back. Still smiling, she entered the cabin and found Peter wide awake and staring towards the cabin window, a look of profound wistfulness painting his features. As she entered he turned to face her, a smile lighting his eyes and dispelling the melancholy as she sat herself on the side of the bed.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like someone set about me with a very large stick." Peter told her, his smile lopsided as he shifted over to make more room.
"Oh dear...do you want some more medicine?"
Peter laughed softly. "Do you remember?"
"Remember what?"
"Your punishment for the Lost Boys when they shot you down?"
Wendy smiled at the memory of the flower cups and rain water.
"That was a silly pretend, as if anyone really thought the water was medicine."
"I did."
"And it nearly cost you your life...if Tinkerbell.." Wendy stopped, a lump forming in her throat as she remembered how close Peter had come to dying from Hook's poison.
"But I didn't...and Tinkerbell came back. I never did thank you for what you and the boys did for her. What happened on the ship, you never really said?"
"Well it wasn't much, really."
"Tell me?"
"I'm not sure I remember all that well..." Wendy prevaricated.
"Then make something up...aren't nurses supposed to entertain their patients?"
Wendy sent him an arch look but chose to ignore his teasing.
"Let's see...we'd been captured by Hook just outside the tree, he was waiting for us and I was the last out. He gagged us all so we couldn't call out and warn you. When they got us back to the ship I was tied to the main mast and the boys were seated on the deck in a huddle. Hook was taunting us and the pirates were all jeering and cheering and making a frightful noise. Then suddenly the sky went dark and clouds started to gather, all black and brooding. I felt something cold touch my face and looked up, it was snowing. Hook went and looked over the side of the ship at the sea which was heaving and grey and I remember lightning flashing once or twice, it was very scary. Hook cried out that you must be dead and told all the pirates to take their hats off in memory of a fallen enemy. I didn't want to believe him, but the snow started to fall more heavily and I-I-I..."
"What? What did you do?"
"I cried."
"Then what happened?"
"Hook was grinning in triumph and the pirates were dancing about and I felt numb, but all at once I heard your voice in my head. You were saying - I do believe in fairies - over and over, and before I knew it, I was saying it too. The boys quickly picked up the chant and we were all saying it, even the pirates, despite threatening us to shut up, they started saying it as well. Somehow it was making them go mad, the pirates bumping in to each other and falling over, it was crazy and then the clouds started to disappear and the sun came out, melting the snow and making the sea calm down until everything was back to the way it had been and Hook was a mad as a bull, shouting and screaming that you were alive. I was so happy at that moment."
"You were?"
"I knew you were alive, that Hook hadn't won."
"What happened then?"
"Hook was very cross and wanted me to tell him how it had happened, but I didn't really know and anything I said just made him angrier. He asked me about my stories and when he found out they all ended with a kiss, he had a strange look on his face. I didn't like that look.
"Why?"
"He reminded me of a wolf, ready to eat me up if I so much as blinked."
"Then what did he do?"
"He said a lot of things I didn't really understand, about love stories and...other things, then he cut the ropes and threatened to make me walk the plank. He blindfolded me and pushed me onto the plank and tried to make me fall off but I managed to keep my footing, for a little while. I was so scared, I could hear Michael and John yelling for them to stop but the pirates only laughed and Hook thumped again on the plank and I lost my balance and fell.
"And I caught you." Peter finished for her.
"And you caught me..." Wendy felt tears prick at her eyelids. "I sometimes would dream of that moment...except they were nightmares and you didn't catch me, instead I fell into the water and drowned and the mermaids carried me away to bury at sea."
"But I did catch you..."
"Peter?"
"Yes."
"What did Hook say to you to bring you down?"
"What do you mean?"
"What did he say to rob you of your happy thoughts...one minute you were fighting up in the rigging, then you fell."
Peter looked away, his heart thumping painfully as he recalled the fateful moment when Hook's words pierced his bubble of joy and sent him plummeting to the deck.
"He said you were going to leave me." He mumbled, Wendy having to lean forward to hear them.
"He said what?"
"He said that you didn't really love me and were going to leave me for someone called a husband!"
"And you believed him?"
"He said you'd close the window, that you couldn't love me because I was...incomplete."
"Oh Peter..."
"You thought I was deficient and Hook said I was a tragedy...why did you give me your hidden kiss?"
Peter's direct question took Wendy aback, the memory of their more recent embrace making her blush hotly.
"You were never deficient...I was just angry, and when I saw you on the deck...you looked so...accepting of your fate. I couldn't bear it, I had to let you know that you were loved, that you weren't alone."
"You pitied me." Peter said flatly.
"NO!...No...I thought I had nothing to offer you, nothing that would put everything right again, and I thought Hook was going to kill us all. I thought that if I gave you my hidden kiss that at least we would have shared something that Hook could never understand, never steal from us, even if he slit our throats the next second."
"Did you love me Wendy?"
"I suppose I did."
"You suppose?" Peter's indignant shout caused Wendy to jump.
"We were children Peter...it was just an infatuation..."
"Then it was all a lie...you didn't love me then...and you don't love me now." His voice tailed off into a whisper, the sparkle leaving his eyes as he turned his head to stare once more at the wall.
"Peter...it's not that simple. I haven't seen you in years, you can't expect me to just fall into your arms." Wendy stopped abruptly as she remembered that she'd done pretty much exactly that, her behavior that morning contradictory to what she was saying now. Peter must have realised the same thing because he gave her a hard look before turning away again.
"We've grown up...lead vastly different lives, one could hardly expect complete strangers to fall madly in love the moment they meet, it's not sensible...logical."
"Why did you kiss me before if you don't love me?"
"You asked me to...a-a-a comfort kiss to send you to sleep." Wendy muttered, her cheeks so hot she thought they must have flames dancing on them.
"I see." Said Peter, patently not seeing anything.
The silence stretched until Wendy felt as if she might shatter if she moved, words filling her mouth but held back by uncertainty and mistrust of her own feelings. Peter lay with his eyes closed, feigning sleep, but the nerve flexing along his jaw belied his relaxed exterior, his hand, under the covers, curled into a tight, white-knuckled fist. Disappointment warred with a nagging jealousy, both feelings that he had little experience with, an ache settling in his stomach as he considered the possibility that he would have to let her go back to the world she'd been wrenched from. The book must have been wrong.
"I-I-I'll see about getting something for you to eat." Wendy finally spoke, her head turned away as she smoothed her skirts. Not waiting for a reply she hurried from the cabin, not seeing the look of confused longing cross Peter's face before she disappeared from sight.
Stubbs stood back to let Wendy pass, his eyebrows climbing to his sparse hairline when he noted the tears glittering in her eyes before she entered the galley. Shaking his head he continued on to the Captain's Cabin, surprising a similar expression of misery on Peter's face before it was wiped with the first mates entrance through the door.
"How goes it Stubbs?"
"We're approaching the landing and all's well, which is more than I can say for here. I just saw your young lady..."
"She's not my young lady...never was, never will be."
"...she was crying. Now what have you done to upset her?"
"Upset her! What about upset me?"
Stubbs pulled over the stool and sat gingerly down, not at all sure it would support his bulk. "Harry said you were cooing like lovebirds when he last saw you...what happened?"
"Nothing." Peter replied, his bottom lip starting to stick out mutinously. Stubbs saw the lip and had to refrain from laughing out loud. For all his bravado and undoubted courage, Peter was still only a young man, untried in matters of the heart.
"Well nothing doesn't cause a pretty thing to cry and you to sulk."
Peter mumbled something into his chin and looked away.
"Eh? You'll have to mumble louder if you want these ears to hear you."
"I said...she doesn't love me."
"So? Turn on the charm, woo her, flatter her...all that stuff women want."
"She felt sorry for me, that's all...pity!"
"Well? Use that to your advantage...play on her sympathy."
"No!"
Stubbs sighed. "The Book clearly indicated..."
"Damn The Book...damn you...she doesn't want to be here...be with me."
"Did she say that?"
Peter glared at his first mate then looked away. "Not exactly."
"There you are then." Stubbs slapped his leg as if the matter was settled. "Play the part of the wounded hero, after all you are wounded and you were her hero, and she'll fall all over you...women like to feel needed, to hand out tea and sympathy."
"And what would you know about what women want?" Peter's mouth twisted with sarcasm as his first mate squirmed on the stool.
"Enough to know that she's the one...there'll be none better, or serve the purpose so well. She's got spirit and pluck and is pretty as a picture. What more could Neverland want?"
"Maybe you should consult the Oracle...it seems to know everything else."
"Mayhaps I will." Getting to his feet, Stubbs prepared to leave but Peter held up a hand to forestall him.
"Stubbs...before you go and before Wendy gets back...I need to take care of something."
Stubbs stared at him blankly for a moment before taking his meaning.
"Ah yes...and we don't want you falling down again, do we." Taking a step to the door, Stubbs shut it before returning to the bed and pulling the covers off the patient. While Peter braced himself against the mattress, Stubbs gently eased his legs off the bed so his feet reached the floor. Next he hooked an arm around Peter's back, careful to avoid putting pressure on his side, before lifting him upright. Stubbs easily supported Peter's weight, Peter's hand pressed against his side as they shuffled over to the wash stand so that he could relieve himself in the chamber pot. Stubbs politely inspected the ceiling while Peter passed water, supporting the lad until he'd finished his business. While he was there Peter also took advantage of the basin of water left for washing and splashed his face and hands, splashing Stubbs with droplets in the process. When finished he nudged his first mate who stopped his perusal of the far wall and turned to help Peter back to the bed. They were almost there, both of them facing the door in preparation of lowering Peter back onto the mattress when the door opened and Wendy walked in, a tray in her hands.
Her expression of fierce concentration changed to one of almost comical horror, her eyes unable to stop their wandering all over Peter's completely exposed body, apart from the bandage about his middle, her mouth dropping open in embarrassed shock to have walked in on him.
Stubbs suppressed a groan and sneaked a look at Peter's expression. The young man seemed to be equally embarrassed, although whether from his state of undress or because Wendy appeared so shocked, it was hard to tell. They stood frozen like some strange tableau for several seconds before a faint rattle from the crockery on the tray caused by Wendy's trembling hands broke the spell.
As Wendy made to turn her back, Peter tugged on Stubbs to get himself back into bed and decently covered once more.
"I'm s-s-so sorry...I should have kn-ocked. I never thought...oh dear."
Wendy's stammered apology went ignored as Stubbs helped get Peter settled and the blankets pulled over him. Wendy remained with her back turned, biting her lip in mortification as she tried to forget the image that had greeted her entrance.
Peter was scowling horribly, his nerves rubbed raw and his side aching from the exercise. Stubbs gave the covers one last twitch, receiving a bared teeth grimace for his pains from his Captain, before standing to the side to allow Wendy to come inside.
"All neat and sweet again miss...I'll...er...leave you to it then?"
"That'll be all Mister Stubbs," Peter said gruffly at the same time that Wendy said. "Thank you Mister Stubbs."
She waited for the burly man to leave before turning her burning face towards the bed, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the food as she fussed over the dishes and getting the tray set on Peter's knees for him to serve himself.
"At this rate I shouldn't bother putting clothes on at all, you've seen me naked so many time." Peter remarked, one eyebrow raised mockingly.
"I didn't mean to walk in on you...and the previous time I was helping the Doctor."
"You still looked!"
"Well really...I didn't mean to." Wendy glared at him, anger burning the embarrassment away. "And anyway...it's not as if you have anything to be ashamed of...oh!" Wendy's hand flew to her mouth in shock at her own words, Peter's face registering an expression somewhere between surprise and smug satisfaction that she'd liked what she'd seen. Wendy decided to try and deflate his pretensions.
"I do have brother's you know...it's not as if I've never seen a-a-a naked...er...male...person before." Wendy tried for nonchalance but her voice ended on a squeak which rather spoilt the desired effect.
Peter was enjoying himself, laying back on the pillows, his injury forgotten as he lifted his arms and hooked them behind his head, a grin curling his lips as the blankets slipped down to his waist.
"And do they leave anything to be desired?"
"It's hardly a fair comparison...they don't get to run around in the sun semi-clothed or have a chance to build up the kind of muscles from sword fighting...and other things, so its hardly likely that they would have a physique like yours."
Feeling a heady rush of pure male ego, Peter deliberately flexed the muscles of his arms and tightened those on his stomach, Wendy's eyes helplessly drawn to his torso as the golden skin flexed over the musculature beneath.
"It would be worth going around without clothes just to feel your eyes on me." Peter teased, his eyes glowing with a wicked light as Wendy's grew rounder at his audacity.
"You cheeky wretch! ...Of all the arrogant, conceited dolts!"
Tormented with the picture that appeared in her mind of Peter strutting about the deck in full health and as naked as a babe, Wendy decided enough was enough and grabbed up the glass beside the bed. Whirling around she dunked it in the basin of washing water and turned, hurling the contents over Peter, the water hitting him square in the chest.
"You can feed yourself...and don't expect me to be back anytime soon Peter Pan...the next time I see you I expect you to be fully clothed from neck to ankle with as little flesh showing as possible."
Brushing her hands together, she turned and flounced out of the room, leaving Peter dabbing at the water trickling down his chest, his lunch swimming in small puddles on the tray. As he stared at his ruined meal he started to laugh, the chuckle turning into a full peal until his side reminded him of why he was in a bed with a sharp pang and cut his merriment short. Still chuckling to himself he lay back on the damp linen of his pillows and lapsed into a happy daydream involving himself, Wendy and a great deal of water.
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TBC...