A/N - woah, how long has it been. A month? Seems like a lot more. Oh well. So I've made a lot of changes in my Fanfiction line up, but I will tell all of that in the authors note at the end of this chapter. I really wanted to update, and I'm sure you really want to read. So I'm keeping this brief.

Sickness of the Heart

Chapter 12 - Curious

Wendy was not sure how long she had been in Neverland. Days, weeks, months? Who knows .You were never able to tell in Neverland. Not that it mattered anyway. The days spent there were always filled with joy and laughter. The pain and suffering of Wendy's illness had almost completely gone away. Though she still had to keep herself at a slow and steady pace to maintain health. Peter neverminded that very much. He either sat by Wendy's side while she did her motherly duties around the house or he would go out on his own and find an adventure.

Wendy opened a book that sat isolate on the table. Skimming the last chapter she had read, she leaned down so that she was able to lay flat on her stomach. She stretched the book out in front of her and laced her ankles. She turned a thin page using one hand and fanned herself with the other. The underground home was unbearably quiet. The boys had all gone on some sort of adventure no doubt. Wendy was not allowed to go on adventures anymore. It was both dangerous to her health and life according to Peter. Wendy wondered if Hook even knew if she was here. Of course if he did, he sure wasn't acting like he cared.

Growing increasingly bored with her book, Wendy set it back down on the table and went to stand by the door. She smoothed out her light blue sun dress. Now that she was away from the sometimes very cold London, she wore this kind of thing everyday. She couldn't even imagine wearing the unbearably hot nightgown. Heck, she didn't know how she standed it when she first went to Neverland. From the humid breeze that was coming through the cracks in the bark door, Wendy was willing to bet that it was a most beautiful day out.

'Hopefully Peter will comeback soon and I can go out with him." She thought to herself. Leaning up against the cool dirt walls, she let her eyelids drop for a second. The front door to the home opened and Wendy was hit with the glorious summer breeze.

"Speak of the devil." Wendy laughed to herself when she saw Peter slip under the pull up door. Peter flashed her his famous cocky grin.

"So, do you speak of me like the devil often?" Peter playfully tapped her nose. Wendy giggled.

"Only when you leave me here to BURN to death in this heat." Wendy said dramatically but with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Peter walked over to the table at which a large basin of cool water was kept. He dipped his hands into the liquid and splashed the water onto his face. Wendy took up the chair across from him and eyed Peter. Once Peter finally sensed her gaze, he looked up.

"What?" He asked.

"It's awfully nice out Peter... A lovely day to go to the beach, don't you think?" Wendy asked while displaying her very best 'puppy dog pout' . No one could resist that face. her bottom lip thrust forward, large watery eyes and puffed out cheeks. Peter rolled his eyes (something he had learned from Wendy) and smiled back at her.

"Fine, lets go."

Wendy mentally cheered for herself. Dashing off into the back bedroom that was given to her, she pulled down a suit case. After a second of digging through her various clothes she had packed from home, she finally found her pastel pink bathing suit and cap. She quickly slammed her door shut while she began to dress. Meanwhile Peter stood outside the door, rolling his eyes.

'Girls ...' He thought ' They can never just go out in what they've got on!' But to him, it didn't matter how long Wendy took to get dressed. Wendy was now safe in Neverland. Even though she still had a couple of bad days where she had to stay in bed, she was getting better by the day. But even with that factor, something still worried Peter. He was afraid her health could go right back to where it once was if there weren't certain precautions taken. From a small crack in the front door, a bright yellow light shot into the room and came to a rapid stop right next to Peters head. The small hourglass figured Tinkerbell collapsed on Peters shoulder while trying to catch her breath.

"What's wrong Tink?" Peter asked with a hint of worry in his voice. Tinkerbell coughed and sputtered for a bit before answering.

"I have just been informed that something has been stolen from the fairies. Something important!"

"What is it?" He tried to hurry her along, his curiosity growing with each second wasted.

"A spell book with a most terrible power has been taken There are spells and concoctions listed in that book that if in the wrong hands, could cause damage to not only Neverland, but to you as well." Peter face flushed of all color, but he somehow managed to keep his determined expression.

"Hook..." He mumbled softly. " I knew there had to be a reason he was coming to shore so often." Peters mind was filled with nothing but worry and grief. Surely Hook knew of Wendy's return by now. The mermaids saw her come in, and they hated Wendy. They were also on good terms with Hook, they must have told him by now.

The door to Wendy's room opened and standing in the door way, Wendy stood with her hands on her curvy hips. Her pastel pink bathing suite hugged her body, showing off just how much she had grown over the year. Even if she still held a girlish, childlike innocence, She had indeed grown to become a young women in appearance. But the thing that really got to Peter was that he had never seen so much of Wendy exposed. Wendy giggled when she noticed Peters gaping mouth and blushing cheeks.

"So... Do you like it?" Peter stuttered for a second before nodding. Wendy brushed past him and began to ascend the stairs toward the front door. Peter ran to catch up with her and pulled her back before she could step outside.

"Maybe we should stay here. What if your not well enough yet." Peter had to think of someway to make Wendy stay home.

"I'm fine. If this is about my bathing suit, I could always wear something over it."

"No no... it's not that...it's just ... what if... Hook! ..." It was the only thing Peter could think of. Maybe that threat would make her change her mind. Instead of worrying, Wendy laughed.

"Hook isn't doing anything. He's been ignoring all of us. Now lets go!" Wendy quickly took Peters hand and drug him off before he could argue.

The sun was at it's highest point in the sky, casting small shadows of two children running through the cool beach water. Wendy ran out towards the open sea until the water reached her waist She spread her arms out wide and let the breeze blow through her chestnut brown hair. Peter was hesitant at first. A deep dread was caught in the very pit of his stomach, but seeing Wendy stand there was just so tempting. With a wicked grin, he went charging into the cool waters and threw a big handful of water at her back. Wendy let out a small yelp escape from her lips as she slowly turned.

"Your mine now Pan!" Wendy laughed and retaliated with her own handful of salty water. Peters eyes opened wide with shock as a blast of icy water his bare chest. Wendy picked up another large handful of water but Peter saw it coming. Right before the water hit him, he began to glide back to the shore with Wendy running through the water under him. Clearly out of breath, she collapsed onto the beach. Peter fell from the air and collapsed beside her. He listened to Wendy's angelic laughter ring throughout the massive Neverland coast. Peter stood from the beach and walked a few feet from where Wendy lay.

"Where are you going?" She asked curiously.

"You'll see" Peter began to walk along the sand in a specific pattern. Then Wendy realized it, he was drawing something in the sand. After a few minutes of Peter diligent work, he finally stepped away from his masterpiece and beckoned Wendy toward him. Wendy stood beside Peter as she let a small "awww" passed her lips.

"Peter ... It's perfectly lovely!"

Engraved in the soggy sand of the Neverland beach was a large hearts with various other little drawings enclosed within it. Most of which were little stick figures that looked to represent Peter and Wendy. All of the small figures within showed scenes depicting the first time Peter had ever taken Wendy to Neverland. Wendy took Peter hand in hers and led him down to the waters edge.

As both children stood there with laced fingers, Peter could not help but forget all about that silly book of spells. His thoughts were far from it. The only thought now was 'how do I get rid of this blush before Wendy notices.' She was just so beautiful, how could he not be embarrassed around her. Maybe he was growing too? Maybe he was getting those 'feelings' Wendy was talking about. It was much to confusing to even think about. Soon they both lost track of time. Peters mind was way to lost in other thoughts and Wendy was just rendered speechless by everything that had happened to her thus far.

"Hey Peter?" Wendy's voice brought Peter back to reality.

"What?" Peter looked back at Wendy too see that she was still looking off into the horizon.

"Look, over there." Wendy pointed off past Peter. " Isn't that the Jolly Roger?" Peters head quickly snapped in the direction Wendy was pointing. All of a sudden, all the worries and fears Peter had thought had left him came flooding back as he observed the ship. The Jolly Roger was definitely not in its usual position. Normally the ship was anchored so far away from the shore that it looked like a mere speck against the vast horizon. Right now, the ship was so close to the shore that he could clearly make out every barrel on deck. Not only that, but it appeared to be getting increasingly closer. That only meant one thing, Hook was planning on coming to shore again. It was time to get some answers and stop this for good. Taking Wendy with him was way to dangerous. Since Peter now had Hook under his watchful eye, he did the only thing he could think of doing.

"Wendy, go as fast as you can back to hangmans tree. Make sure you go unseen. I'll take care of Hook." Without hesitation, Wendy nodded and took off toward the forest. She turned around one last time to see Peter speeding toward the Jolly Roger.

----

Peter stepped lightly onto the deck of the wooden vessel without being noticed. Of course, that was probably only because there was no one on deck to notice him. The deck was completely empty.

'Strange...' Peter thought to himself. The whole ship was completely silent So quiet that it gave Peter an anxious feeling. Almost as if at any moment, the whole world could collapse and your scream would echo around the world. Peter tiptoed over to the door that lead down to the lower levels of the ship and stepped inside. Still no noise, just the same nerve wracking feeling. Continuing to sneak around the lower corridors, he noticed that one of the doors were cracked just slightly so that Peter could hear a slight humming noise coming from within. Peter squinted into the crack to see Hook sitting at his big oak desk reading a book. Stacked next to him was a big pile of what seemed to be twenty more books.

"Hook..." Peter stepped through the door. "What are you playing at?" The pirate slammed his book closed so that he could meet Pan eye to eye.

"That would be not business of yours boy. Now run along and play." Hook reopened his book and settled back into reading.

"But what about your ship? Why is it so close to shore? Where are your men? Answer me now!" Peter screamed.

Now slightly annoyed with peter. Hook roughly slammed his book down. No one gave orders to Captain James Hook. Especially not that brat, Peter Pan. "It is of no concern to you Pan, as to where I sail my ship. As for my men, they are already on shore as we speak. Peter puffed out his cheeks in a pout, trying to copy Wendy's puppy dog pout.

"Why are you actin' so funny Hook?" Peter just couldn't help but tease the man. "Don't you love me anymore Hooky?" With that being said, Hook finally had had enough. He strode over to where Peter stood and picked him up by the vine strapped around his shoulder. With a mighty heave, he tossed Peter clear out of the room. As Peter quickly scrambled to his feet to charge back into the room, Hook slammed the door right in his face. Hook smiled proudly to himself as he listened to Peter throw a fit out in the hall. He remained calm and sat down as if nothing happened.

"My intentions will be made quite clear soon Pan, be patient." Hook whispered to himself. He held the book up in front of his face. The front of the book read ' Curses of Neverland '.

----

Wendy carefully made her way through the woods. She found it quite impossible to make it through soundlessly. It seemed as if every move she made either triggered a twig to snap or a bird to chirp. It also didn't help that her feet were bare. After every other step, Wendy had to stop to pull a thorn out from the bottom of her foot.

"I'm sure t'e Cap'n said it wus this way."

Wendy heard someone talking after she shyly jumped over a low hanging branch. That was most definitely not a bird. She paused for a second, but only silence met her ears. Soon enough though, she heard the heavy footsteps of someone coming right in her direction. Thinking fast, she ran behind a tree and scrunched her body up into a tight little ball.

"This is whut ye git when ye ferget a map!"

"We don need no damn map. All were lookin' fer is a Pointless plant!"

"Pointless Jukes? Far from such, Hook needs it te complete that spell O' his. Last ingredient. Ye know whut t'e spell is fer, don't ye?"

"Course I do! Pan won't be flyin' from this one. Damn sure O' that!"

Wendy remained stiff as a board as she saw a two big sets of boots trudge right past her. Luckily the men past without even noticing her. Wendy heard both of the men laugh as they slowly faded into the distance. As soon as she knew they were gone for sure, she took off running towards hangmans tree. No longer caring about the twigs pinching at her feet. Whatever the pirates were talking about was aimed at Peter. She stood at the base of Hangmans tree. She looked around to check for intruders as Peter had told her to. Once she was sure everything was safe, she pulled down on the vine to open the door.

"Please... Don't hurt Peter ..."

A/N - Ok yes, its been awhile. I really hoped you liked that Chapter. The next chapter should have a lot more adventure to it. Ok now about my new line up. I am really trying to decide what to do with my story "I believe in dreaming." Right now it is on hiatus, at least until I know what to do. I'm contemplating deleting it, but if I don't do that then people are going to have to deal with updates being far few and in between. Or I can just keep it up and not update it. The reason why I don't work on that story that much is just because is because it really was my first long story project. Anyway, if you want more information on this topic, go read my profile. I've explained everything. I'm also working on writing a Kingdom hearts fanfiction. I'm planning it, so once its done and if you like kingdom hearts. Read.

P.S. This story has reach over 100 reviews! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! and sorry to keep you waiting.