Title: Madly in Love

Summary: When Wendy came back from Neverland and started telling people about her experiences, they all thought she was crazy… literally. Can she convince anyone to believe her? And what if they don't?

Author's Note: Well, I'm sure you're all anxious to know when Peter makes his big entrance… well it's not in this chapter. Sorry! He does come near the end (which isn't terribly far away). If you guys can hold out long enough, you'll get to see him.

Just a random funny note, I keep forgetting that Peter Pan was set in an earlier period, so I'll have written a whole chapter or something and be reading through it and realize "Wait, was linoleum invented by then?" So then I have to go look it up and see if certain things were around in that time. And I'd just like to say that, yes, it was invented. And by the way, "Skittles" is just the traditional name for Bowling.

Wendy and Eliza didn't talk long. Just minutes after Eliza told Wendy how long she'd been forced to stay, a kindly-looking nurse stepped in and invited the two to the recreational room for their free time. Eliza got up silently and walked down the hall while Wendy followed at her heels.

Eliza seemed like the tough, experienced inmate, despite the fact that she was so young, who was a good choice to befriend. She knew where things were, how things operated, and she was strong willed. Besides that, she was fairly close in age to Wendy herself. She was a pretty good find in a confusing place like the institute. And although she was blunt and sharp tongued, Wendy had a feeling that this blonde little girl was secretly very lonely and sad. She was probably like a lot of the other people admitted in here.

Anyway, Eliza led Wendy to the recreational room which room that looked somewhat like an unsophisticated parlor, with a large leather couch, matching armchair, and coffee table being in the center. However, no decorative lamps or rugs or window drapes furnished the space. But this room, for a change, was grey.

"Yes, this is much better," mumbled Wendy cynically.

"Pardon?" said Eliza, looking up over her shoulder.

"Nothing," said Wendy quickly. "She probably thinks I'm nuts… well, I'm in the right place."

Wendy kept forgetting that this was not civilized society where people were polite and manners were required. This place, strange as it was, didn't demand etiquette or proper conversation. Of course the people in it were a tad batty, but in here they were real and open. As she watched a group of men playing cards, she saw one man slam his cards down on the table and another laugh and tease the loser. The former yelled and left the table while the rest continued with their game, leaving the quitter out. And as disrespectful and unsportsmanlike as that was, it was how they were really feeling. The people in the mental hospital got to express their feelings with the one excuse that they were a little weird upstairs.

Wendy smiled and almost felt comforted. She might enjoy some of her time here… slightly.

"Hey, Mindy!" called Eliza from the other side of the rec. room.

"It's Wendy."

"Right, right. Come over here!"

Wendy swiftly obeyed and scuttled over to Eliza's side.

"Ever played Skittles, Wendy?" asked Eliza. A brunette boy about the same size as Eliza peeked out from behind Eliza and smiled when he saw Wendy, and she cheerfully smiled back.

"No, I've never heard of it," admitted Wendy.

"Oh my god, where have you been?"

"I don't get to play much. The only games I've ever played are chess and draughts… or checkers; which ever you might call them."

"Well, Noodle and I are going to teach you. It's quite fun," said Eliza. Then she turned to the boy hiding silently behind her and said, "Noodle, meet Wendy. She's my new roommate. Wendy, Noodle."

"Hello, Noodle. How do you do?" said Wendy politely and smiled inwardly because of the boy's peculiar name. Noodle did not speak, only waved and blushed.

Eliza handed Wendy a heavy, black ball with three holes in it and went to the other end of the room to set up ten slightly faded white pins in a pyramid shape. Wendy glanced over at Noodle to ask what she was doing but the second that she turned his way, his gaze fell to the floor and Wendy decided against it.

"These are the pins. The whole point is to knock down all ten. You have two chances to roll that ball and hit the pins. You count how many you hit and add them all up at the end," Eliza explained as she traveled from the pins to Wendy and Noodle. She took the ball from Wendy and stuck the proper fingers in the holes before rolling it on the floor towards the pins, which clattered together when struck and left only 3 standing. "Easy, right?"

"Seems so," Wendy said smiling. After Eliza's second try, the older girl was handed the ball. Imitating Eliza's movements, she hurled the ball to the triangle of pins. All of a sudden, the ball went off course and collided with a small end table with a crash. Two of the legs were crunched off and the ball passed through and hit the wall, leaving a deep dent. The entire room looked in Wendy's direction.

"Oh no. What have I done?" thought Wendy, as the anxiousness welled up inside her. She fretfully turned to Eliza who's eyes were wide with surprise and warning. Just moments later, a nurse came barging through the door in a huff.

"What was that racket?" she demanded. "I leave for a few minutes and you start getting destructive!"

She panned the room and saw the damaged table and wall with the Skittles ball nearby. Pursing her lips into a thin line, she searched the room for the culprit and saw Wendy and Eliza standing in front of the pins, looking very nervous.

"You two, Eliza and company. Come with me immediately," she ordered harshly.

She marched the girls down to an unfamiliar office where a middle-aged man was sitting at a desk and reading a thin book. He looked up when the nurse burst in with two young ladies who were both looking very gloomy.

"May I ask to what I owe this visit?" he asked calmly.

"These two girls were throwing around the Skittles ball. Not only is there now a large hole in the wall, the French end table is completely destroyed as well," she reported and Eliza gave her an incredulous look.

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll take it from here. I've dealt with Miss Eliza Patrick here before," he assured her and the nurse nodded and left, still angry at what happened.

When the door closed, the man smoothed back some of his blonde hair and sighed deeply with his eyes closed. Wendy looked over at Eliza shook her head and smirked like there was nothing to worry about. This relieved her a little and she relaxed.

"Please sit down, girls," said the doctor. The two obeyed soundlessly and Wendy caught a glimpse of the plaque on the doctor's desk which read: Dr. Edward Powell.

So he was one of her counselors. On the list that Bridget had given her, it had said that she was to meet with a Dr. Powell everyday. The doctor in question stood from his cushy, leather chair and walked around to the front of his desk then leaned against it with his eyes boring sharply into Eliza's. He then looked over to Wendy and asked her name.

"I'm Wendy Darling, sir," she answered quickly.

He paused again and shook his head disapprovingly.

"Total lack of respect for property, that's what this is. I'm very big on respect here, Wendy. Now, I can understand why you two did this. It has to do with both of you being thick," said Dr. Powell very sternly. "What I do not understand, Eliza, is why you would do such a thing when you know how I am when I get angry."

"You don't even know what happened, Doctor," argued Eliza, who was absolutely not affected by his rebuking lecture.

"The nurse told me everything I need to know. And you, young lady, have a history for acts like this. I am very disappointed in both of you. This is not a happy face I have," responded Dr. Powell. "What sort of face is it, Miss Patrick."

"An ugly face, sir?" Eliza answered, with a very self-satisfied smirk. Wendy fought off a smile that started pulling on her mouth.

"No. It is an angry one," said the doctor sharply, then reached over and slapped Eliza across the face. Wendy jumped slightly when his hand connected with her cheek with a resounding smack, but Eliza bounced right back and ignored her stinging cheek which was now growing pink.

"I'm going to have to write this down on both of your records."

"Bloody hell, Dr. Powell, if you would just listen we could explain what really went on!" persisted Eliza and Wendy nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry, young lady. You're not exactly a reliable source with your condition."

"Her condition?" considered Wendy, as Dr, Powell pulled files from his desk drawer and was thumbing through them, probably finding their records. "What condition does Eliza have?"

Her fair-haired roommate had so far seemed like a reasonably normal girl, just one with a hard head. Even though she had been in the institute for so long, it had never occurred to Wendy that Eliza might have been diagnosed with something serious. She mentally chastised herself for being so foolish. Eliza must have had a problem if she was in here for so long. However, what kind of disorder could she have to make Dr. Powell not even give her the opportunity to defend herself?

Wendy thoughts were broken by a dripping sound coming from beside here. Glancing over, she noticed a small trickle of something flowing down Eliza's chair. Eliza herself had a smug grin on her face and she sighed contently as the wet spot in her lap grew. Wendy, who was at first disgusted, then smiled too. So Dr. Powell wouldn't listen? Well, let's see if he ever uses that chair again. She suppressed a giggle and Eliza smiled triumphantly at her.

They were sent back to their cell for the remainder of leisure time as their punishment and Eliza changed into her visiting dress, which was a worn-out brown dress with cream colored sleeves.

Since Wendy could read, the institute provided her with several books which were almost all useless. The only book she even bothered to open was Pride and Prejudice only because Aunt Millicent had tried to make her read it several times, raving about how amazing it was. Remember this, she sat down at the small desk and began to read it. Every once in a while, she would look up at the clock to see if it was 3:30 yet and they could go to tea.

Eliza did what she always seemed to do, which was lay in her bed with her hands behind her head and her eyes closed. For a long time, neither said anything, the only noise was coming from pages turning slowly. About two chapters into Pride and Prejudice, Wendy was feeling like she was going to doze off so she put it down and broke the silence with the question that had been tugging at her since they left Dr. Powell's office.

"Eliza?"

"Hm."

"What did Dr. Powell mean when he said you weren't trustworthy with your condition?" asked Wendy hesitantly. Eliza looked up from her bed with an indifferent expression. Leaning on her elbows for support, she looked Wendy straight in the eye with the most serious stare.

"It's no secret around here that I have short term memory loss."

"So you'll just forget things sometimes?"

"That's right. It's actually quite frequent for me."

"Is that why you're in here?"

"I guess so. It's the cause of the reason why I'm here."

"I don't think I understand," said Wendy, shaking her head unsurely.

Apparently, I committed a number of crimes, all of which I don't remember."

"What sort of crimes?"

"Quite a variety, so they tell me. I stole a horse from my school teacher, stabbed a boy with a pair of scissors in the leg, burned part of my own house while playing in the fireplace, raped my next-door neighbor-"

"Excuse me?"

"I raped him. Molested him. You know, forced him to 'consummate' with me," said Eliza like it was as natural as breathing. Wendy's face contorted in horror. The others were bad enough but that… that was utterly horrendous!

"You defiled you neighbor?" Wendy clarified, still frozen from repugnance and shock. "Why that's absolutely revolting!"

"Why? Haven't you ever had physical relations with a boy?" asked Eliza cynically.

"Of course not! I'm not even an adult yet! I would never even think of doing such things! I've never done something so atrocious" cried Wendy, standing up from her seat.

Eliza just looked at her and a small smile crept across her face, slowly transforming into a Cheshire grin.

"Neither have I," she said. "I don't have short-term memory loss. I'm a compulsive liar."

"A what?" asked Wendy in astonishment. Eliza burst into a fit of laughter from her prank and Wendy stood motionless and entirely perplexed.

"A compulsive liar. I lie about a lot of things, most of which don't actually matter and some of which really do. I can't help it," she explained casually.

"You just lie about everything?"

"Not everything, just a lot of things."

"So that was all just a big lie. The whole thing about committing crimes and violating a neighbor, it was just a hoax?"

"You're a sharp one, Wendy Darling," said Eliza who then lay back down and shut her eyes once more.

"That was just horrid. You scared the daylights right out of me," Wendy sighed while she massaged her temples.

"Maybe sometimes that's why I lie, to see peoples' reactions," reasoned the younger lass.

"So did you lie about being in here for eighteen months too?" asked Wendy spitefully.

"…No," she said slowly. "I'd never lie about how long I've been in this Hell."

Wendy stood silent for a second or two and looked at Eliza carefully. Something told her that this was the honest-to-God truth. Eliza had been in here too long.

At that moment, there was a soft knock on the cell door and a sweet, older nurse poked her head in to remind the girls that Tea time was to begin shortly.