A/N: Here is the second chapter. I think this is when the story really gets started; you can expect much more fun chapters from now on.
Wendy was guided by one of the man to a small passageway of rocks heading towards the island. She thanked him and then started jumping from one rock to the other. When she jumped on the last one before land, someone appeared in front of her— Peter Pan.
"Peter!" she exclaimed.
"Is it true, Wendy, that you are now a pirate?" Peter twisted his nose.
"Maybe."
Peter gasped. "What! You must be joking, you must! Why would you even want to be a pirate?"
"Fame. Glory. Fortune. I haven't really picked one yet, any suggestions?" Wendy smiled sweetly.
"No! No suggestions!"
"You seem so bothered, Peter, why?" asked Wendy innocently and giving a step forward on the rock.
Peter fell silent for an instant. He bit his lower lip.
"Come back, Wendy, please!" blurted out Peter all of a suddenly.
That was very unlikely of him, and Wendy knew that all too well. But she was not ready to give up an adventure that had turned out to be quite fun unless she felt to be fully persuaded. She crossed her arms.
"No. Why should I?" asked Wendy.
"The boys miss you, that's why!" stated Peter matter-of-factly.
"Oh do they? They are the only ones, I suppose," she said, closing her eyes and turning away from Peter.
"John and Michael miss you," continued Peter, hopeful.
"I'm sure they do. But is that all?"
Peter turned a slight shade of pink. "Tink misses you, despite everything—" he made a long pause which seemed to last for ages. "Well I… I miss you too, Wendy."
Wendy opened one of her eyes and stared at Peter for a long moment, just to get him to feel butterflies in his stomach. At last, she smiled and opened her other eye.
"Of course I'll go back!" she stated happily, loosening her belt and letting her sword fall on the rock. She went to the edge of the rock and jumped over to shore, right into Peter's arms.
Petter hugged her affectionately, feeling the soothing warmth of her body brushing against his skin.
"It's great to know you missed me, Peter," said Wendy as soon as she had steadied up again. "For a moment back there in the Jolly Roger I thought you'd never want to see me again. I really did."
"Well but I don't," Wendy looked at him quizzically and Peter hurried to complete the sentence. "I meant, I don't not want to ever see you again!"
Wendy smiled. "O.K., that is good enough for me. Shall we go home then, Father?" she said, holding out her arm.
"Why of course, Mother," he bowed and then gripped her arm tightly.
"Look at yourself Peter, a fine young gentleman." She mused.
"The only part of that that I like is the 'young'," Peter shuddered. "'Fine' and 'gentleman' have no meaning to me. Unless of course," he grinned wickedly "It is Hook you're referring to, then I'll find a hundred meanings."
Peter lift off into the air, but Wendy pulled him back down with a weary look on her face.
"You know, Peter, you really shouldn't say such things about Capt. Hook," she said. "He's not such a heartless old man as one would think."
"He's not?"
"No!" exclaimed Wendy. "He is a man of feeling. He might be a grown up, but he sure knows where his heart stands—and that's piracy."
"Well, way to go wasting a perfectly good heart," Peter rolled his eyes sarcastically, lifting off again. "Now let's go!"
"No!" Wendy pulled him back down. "You don't understand what I'm saying at all, do you Peter?"
He mumbled a few times before finally admitting: "No, no I don't."
Wendy stared at him for a very long moment. Had she been fooled by another one of Peter's sudden outbursts of manliness and feelings? She couldn't quite tell. Although she saw an innocent little boy standing in front of her, deep down she knew Peter was not such thing. But she also didn't know what else he was, if not an innocent little boy. And on top of all of that, Wendy did not know what she was.
Now, Wendy wasn't so good at telling apart her childish and grownup sides and she often made wrong decisions based on that lack of understanding. That was one of those moments.
Wendy pulled her hand away from Peter and swiftly jumped back to her floating rock.
"Where are you going, Wendy?" called Peter, flying over to the same rock as she was.
Wendy immediately pulled out her sword. "I'm not going. I think this might be just where I belong."
"Why?"
"Do you really want to know why?"
"Well obviously I do, otherwise I wouldn't've asked!"
Wendy waved her sword tracing a straight line through Peter's stomach.
"Because with the pirates—with Capt. Hook—I will gain the respect I ought to have." Wendy nodded her head. "Which is something you can't give me, Peter."
"There's absolutely nothing I can't give you! But how do you suppose I should know what you want if you never asked me for anything?" he asked.
"If you care so much about me then you should know—" Wendy paused to give a wicked smile, one of the ones that usually only found their way onto Peter or Hook's lips every now and then, especially when they were together. "Capt. Hook knows."
Peter had been hurt in battle many times before. One of his worst memories was that of a splinter that got underneath his index finger's nail and when he tried to pull it out, the splinter split in half and dug underneath his other index finger's nail. It stung like nothing he had ever experienced before—until that day.
Wendy's words were sharp, so sharp that it is not even worth to compare it to a sword or a dagger because it was far much sharper. It cut through Peter's flesh like an arrow and stung thrice as bad as a splinter under each of his nails… and toenails.
Captain Hook knows.
Since when did she even call him "Captain"? That was absurd. Wendy was absurd. And Hook, oh, Peter didn't even dare thinking how absurdly absurd and old he was!
Wendy put away her sword, well aware that she had won.
"I'll see you around then, Peter," she waved him good-bye. "Now go!"
Peter didn't budge.
"I said, go!" Wendy sighed, as the boy still didn't move. Wendy felt quite satisfied at this. Because truth was she didn't want to really leave. What Wendy wanted was Peter's reaction to her departure; she wanted him to show he truly cared about her or if all the times they were together had been merely make believe. "You go right now, or I'll call the other pirates and they will—"
Before Wendy could even finish her sentence, pirates started popping out of every imaginable bush and from behind even the thinnest trees. And, dropping from a very high tree with his hook securely tied on a rope, Hook.
"Well well we meet again!" said Hook. The pirates all pulled out their swords and guns.
"Wait, don't shoot!" Wendy lifted her arms high in air in front of Peter.
Peter pulled her out of his way and into the water.
"I don't need your protection!" He said angrily. "I can fight by myself!"
Wendy splashed around the water with a surprised and at the same time hurtful expression. But before she could say anything, a manly hand was stretched out beside her ear.
"Oh my hearty, why do you even bother?" said Hook with a loud, disappointed sigh. "Come, take my hand."
Wendy bit her lower lip, staring back at Peter, who was already holding his dagger and preparing for combat. He glanced at her one last time and all Wendy saw in his eyes was anger. She looked away and grabbed the pirate's hand.
Hook pulled the girl into his arms and handed her a towel with his hook, which Wendy gladly accepted. The rest of the crew now looked anxiously at Hook for a signal; he raised his healthy hand into the air and prepared to lower it again when Wendy intervened.
"Please, Captain, would you leave him for me?" she said.
"For you, my darling? I thought you said you did not want to kill, ever," he eyed her suspiciously.
"I never said anything about… finishing him off myself! It would nonetheless be a pleasure to fight Peter Pan, win and then allow you, Captain, to finish him off," stated Wendy matter-of-factly.
Hook scratched his chin with the back of his hook. For a moment Wendy thought he would not agree. He had many aspirations, goals he had assigned himself to complete. She never thought such an obstinate man would give in to a little girl's plea.
"Fine," he addressed to his crew. "Lower your weapons and hold your fire. The Pan goes free, this time."
He sweetly ran his hand through Wendy's shoulder and pulled her close to him.
"Let's get going, now, nothing to see here, aye?" He blinked at Wendy.
"A-aye!" She agreed instantly, her cheeks turning slightly pink.
Peter watched her and the other pirates leave before dropping to his knees with a sad sigh. She had slipped through his fingers… again.