Disclaimer: Peter Pan does not belong to me. If he did, I assure you I'd be living with him and all the Lost Boys in Neverland by now. Duh. Oh, and I'd replace Captain Hook with Captain Jack Sparrow…savvy? (Mmmm, Johnny Depp…) ^_^

Peter had waited for this. He hadn't fought with, teased, or even seen the good Captain in such a long time; since Neverland had begun going wrong, in fact. Peter knew he was slowly growing older. It was this fact that depressed him. But it excited him at the same time because he was growing bigger and stronger as well as older. He'd always been able to imagine himself as strong as he thought he needed to be at any given time, and he'd nearly always succeeded at whatever task held his attention. But now he truly was stronger. He could feel it in his arms, his legs, the way he sprung away from the ground when he flew and shot straight up so quickly. It frightened and delighted him at the same time.

Now, finally, Hook was coming for him. Hook probably imagined Peter would be weak and frail because of the current state of Neverland. Well, he'd show him. Peter Pan is only as frail as he believes himself to be! And now, with this bigger and stronger body, he'd defeat Hook for good.

"Teaken!" Peter shouted for his second in command, already swinging his legs over the side of the hammock. "Prepare the Boys, Teaken, Hook comes!"

Peter jumped from the hammock, and immediately his legs gave beneath him. He yelped in utter surprise as he landed on all fours on the floor. He shook his auburn head and tried to stand again, thinking he must have fallen; silly thing to do really.

Peter slowly regained his legs beneath him and stood. He remained vertical this time, but his legs shook almost violently, and this confused Peter.

"Tink, what's wrong with my legs?" He asked, staring down at his quaking knees.

Tinkerbell sighed and placed her tiny hand on Peter's arm. "You are weak, Peter," she chimed gently. "You've not been well for quite some time."

"Peter Pan, weak?" Peter scoffed. "That's impossible. I've grown bigger and stronger! Look at me." He spread his arms out and puffed out his chest.

Tinkerbell shook her head affectionately at him. "You silly ass," she teased. It was true, though, what Peter said. He had indeed grown. He was nearly a head and a half taller than he used to be, which caused him to almost have to stoop when he stood in his room in the tree house. He was bigger, and had developed the slim and firm muscles of a young man, but they were unused and only made Peter a bit clumsy because they had developed so fast. It was as if his pituitary gland was suddenly in overdrive. Tink remembered the week before when he'd called out to her and immediately clapped his hands over his mouth, frightened of his own suddenly deepened voice.

"Tink, I have to fix this," Peter growled in frustration, hauling Tinkerbell out of her silent thoughts. "Hook is coming. I can't fight him like this!"

Tinkerbell's eyes widened. She asked Peter if he was sure, but she already knew the answer. Peter nearly always knew when Hook was near.

"Of course I'm sure! He and his brutes will be pulling up onto the shore any second now and I can't even walk!" Peter shouted. "What is happening to me?"

Tinkerbell flew in front of Peter's face and gently turned his head to the window. "It's not just you, Peter, it's Neverland. You know that. You've seen it. It's why you and all the boys are growing older, bigger," Tink amended when she saw the panicked spark in Peter's eyes. "It's making it all happen too fast, and your muscles can't catch up just yet. That's why you're a bit shaky sometimes. It goes away in time, remember? Just be patient, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about-"

"Nothing to worry about? Did you not understand me? Hook is coming, Tinkerbell, Hook. The man who wants nothing more in the world than my head on the wall of his Captain's quarters is coming for me right now and I have no control over my body, and you think it's nothing to worry about?!" Peter yelled incredulously.

Tinkerbell stopped and considered that a moment. "Well, I suppose that is rather a problem…"

Peter growled in frustration and knelt on the floor. "It wasn't this bad this morning…I didn't feel this bad…"

Tink flew towards him and landed on his shoulder, trying to lend him comfort. "Do not fret, Peter, your boys will help you."

"The boys can take the other pirates, you're right. But not Hook. Hook is mine." Peter clenched his jaw.

Teaken banged the door open and skidded to a stop into the room. He was half bent at the waist, gasping for breath. "Pan, sir, glad…to see…you well…" Teaken puffed.

Peter scowled unhappily. "No need for the formality, Teaken. I'm no leader."

Teaken raised his head sharply at this. "Sir?"

Peter lifted his right hand in front of him, and shook his head in disgust as it trembled involuntarily. "Look at me, look how weak I am. I'm no leader," he repeated. "I'm sorry, Teaken, I've let you and the other boys down."

"Never, Peter," Teaken said quietly, coming to kneel in front of his leader and friend. "You could never fail us. This isn't your fault, you've done nothing wrong."

"I know that, damn it!" Peter growled. "I would never do something so stupid as to hurt myself or the island like this. It's those worlders, they are to blame." Peter narrowed his eyes as he raised them to the window.

"Yes, but I've found the answer," Teaken breathed excitedly.

Peter looked away from the window immediately, and focused his bright green eyes on Teaken. "Have you?"

Teaken nodded slowly. "She's here, Peter."

Pan's eyes widened a bit. "And…?"

"She's agreed to help us."

Peter didn't move for a moment, didn't react, but a second later he let out a breath that he felt he'd been holding for ages and ages, since this whole problem had begun. A brilliant smile crossed Peter's freckled face and he hugged Teaken like the brother he felt he was. When Peter pulled back, his infamous cocky smirk was back in place. "I wasn't worried, were you?"

Teaken could only laugh. Peter laughed along with him and winked at Tinkerbell, who had joined him and Teaken in celebration, glowing so brightly she seemed nothing but a ball of light dancing about the room. Peter laughed and laughed until his sides hurt, and he suddenly straightened up with a burst of speed and began to fly tight circles around the room. Tinkerbell clapped her tiny hands in absolute delight. Besides the fact that his weakness had obviously passed for now, it was the first time Peter had flown in days and she was so relieved.

Peter stopped in midair and hovered in front of Teaken upside down. He flashed his white teeth in a grin at Teaken. "So, what did it take to get her here?"

Teaken rolled his eyes. "More than you want to know. Wait until you meet her, Pan, you'll know what I mean."

"Is she beautiful like Wendy?" Peter asked, his voice a bit distant.

Teaken smiled. "Like you wouldn't believe."

Peter laughed. "A real knock out, huh?"

"In more ways than one!" Teaken snickered. "She's got a mean right hook-"

"Gah!" Peter immediately fell out of the air and landed on all fours.

Teaken started. "What's wron-"

"Hook!" Peter cried as he dove towards his hammock and grabbed his dagger.

"Hook? What about him?" Teaken asked in confusion.

"He's coming. Here." Peter explained as he slid the dagger into the sheath at his right calf muscle.

"Here? Now? Are you sure?" Teaken asked, guard up now.

Peter nodded and grinned in excitement. He pulled a long green vine like cord from on the hammock as well, and slung it over his shoulder, tying it across his body and finally connecting the ends to the cloth at his waist. The cord held the sheath to his short sword which he wore across his back. He ran a hand through his wild red hair, and pulled the knot on the sword's sheath tight against his right hip bone, which peeked out just above the waist of his soft, dark brown, animal skin pants that fell just below his knees. His feet were bare, and they barely ever touched the floor as he flitted back and forth across the room, preparing himself for his favorite game: war with Hook.

Teaken tried to make his weary mind think as quickly as Peter was moving. "But-why? I mean what provoked him? You haven't been near him for quite some time, and I know none of the Lost Boys have done anything to piss Hook off. You forbade any of us to go near him without you."

Peter shook his head. "It's not us, it's her. He knows she's here."

Teaken blinked. "How can he know? She's been nowhere but the lagoon and this treehouse, and you only just found ou-"

"Perhaps the mermaids have been selling secrets." Peter shrugged and held up his short, thin, golden sword up to the light, inspecting it. "He knows. How is not important."

Teaken could only take what Peter said and accept it. He was nearly always right about things concerning Hook. The odd connection between the two foes never failed to confuse Teaken, and on some occasions, it frightened him a bit.

Peter slid his sword into its sheath on his back, satisfied with its condition. "Bring Grinz and Slightly, we'll shadow the pirates first, lead them away from the Tree if we can. Tell the others to prepare, and wait for my signal." He stepped to the window, and placed one foot on the ledge before turning and flashing an arrogant smile at Teaken. "Tell the girl to look out her window and watch the fun." With that, he took off out through the window and silently cut through the air towards the caravan of pirates. Tink rolled her eyes and flew after him.

Teaken chuckled and ran to his room grabbing for his own weapons as he called for Grinz and Slightly.

"What's all the hub-bub, bub?" Grinz called as he hung on a vine outside of the window Teaken was nearest.

"Hook's on his way, Pan's already flown into position. You and I and SLIGHTLY!" Teaken yelled, trying to summon the boy and explain at the same time. "Will join him and scout out the 'rats's positions. The rest of the Boys will rally up when Peter gives the call." Teaken straightened up and buckled his belt of daggers around his waist after finding the last of his knives. He blinked when he saw Grinz staring stupidly at him. "What are you doing? Get your weapons! And where the hell is Slightly?! SLIGHTLY! DAMN IT, SLIGHTLY, COME ON!"

Grinz took a step forward until he had Teaken's undivided attention. "Pan? Pan flew into position? Pan is after the pirates?" he asked, his eyes beginning to twinkle.

Teaken grinned back. "No, Pan's after Hook."

Grinz flashed his teeth in a perfect example of his namesake and let loose an elated whoop loud enough to frighten all the Neverbirds from their nests in Hangman's Tree. He sprang back out the window and latched onto a vine. The Tree sighed a bit in annoyance at the violent tug it received, but, being as forgiving as it was, only shook it's proverbial head and went back to resting peacefully.

Grinz climbed up the vine and swung himself into a room about four branches above where he'd talked to Teaken. He quickly crossed the room and threw open the chest at the end of his small bed. He took out a stiff leather belt that he buckled around his waist, and then gently lifted a layer of cloth that covered two long, shining, hooked blades; each about as long as his arms.

"Hello, ladies. Miss me?" He smiled prettily at them as he lovingly lifted them from the chest and caressed their handles. He slipped each of them into a side of the stiff belt he wore, slammed the lid of his chest shut and jumped out of the window again, sliding back down to where Teaken was still shouting for Slightly.

"SLIGH-"

"I'm here, I'm here!" A tall, skinny, blond boy walked through the doorway, ducking so his head didn't graze the top of the archway. He wore animal skin breeches, like most of the boys, and a tattered button-down shirt that by now had lost most of its buttons and one of its sleeves. "What's all the damn yellin' about?" He drawled with a slight southern accent and rubbed sleep from his eyes. He opened his eyes and took in Teaken's and Grinz's appearances, quickly waking up. "What're ya'll doing in battle gear?"

"I dunno, thought we'd go for a swim. Care to join us, mate?" Grinz rolled his eyes.

"What do you think we're doing in battle gear?" Teaken ground out. "Hook's on his way here-"

"Hook's on his way? Why?" Slightly's eyes widened a bit.

"He's coming for Mary and Pe-"

"Who's Mary?" Slightly interrupted.

"Mary Darling Bennington. The girl we need to-"

"The girl's here?! Holy shit! That's good! Right?"

"Damn it, Slightly, if you'd let me get a word in edgewise you'd know! It doesn't matter about Mary right now. Pan's gone after Hook and we need to go with him to scout the 'rats so he can sig-"

"Yes, Pan's gone after Hook, Slightly. Bloody pay attention!" Grinz cut off the question he saw forming on Slightly's face. Slightly frowned at Grinz, but turned his attention back to Teaken.

"As I was saying, we're going with Pan to scout the pirates' position so that we can signal the rest of the boys when to attack. So you need to gear up, alright? And fast, Slightly, Pan's already there, got it?"

Slightly fought down another yawn as he nodded and turned to leave. "Got it, Cap'n Teak."

"And why were you fucking sleeping anyway?" Teaken yelled at Slightly's back, all he got was a rude hand gesture in reply as Slightly disappeared around the corner. Teaken shook his head and turned to Grinz. "Ready?"

"Since I was born, Cap'n," Grinz smile was feral. "I've neglected my girls for far too long." He said, patting his blades.

Teaken smirked and looked down at his own weapons all sheathed around his waist. He tightened the belt and made sure all the daggers were in place and secured until he was ready to let them fly.

Slightly could be heard running towards the room, back from gathering his own weapons. "Ok, I've got- OW! SON OF A BITCH!" Slightly grabbed his forehead in pain. He'd run full tilt into the doorway.

Teaken winced and Grinz choked back a laugh and shook his head. "That's got to be the seventh time I've seen him do that!" Grinz chuckled behind his hand.

Out of all the Lost Boys, Slightly had grown the fastest and the most since the magic had started dying. He stood at a towering six feet four inches, and the Tree was just not built for people that tall. He's had a terrible time adjusting to the house as well as his new height. It had made him clumsy and awkward, but he was slowly getting acquainted with his new body, just like the other Boys.

"You ok, Slight?" Teaken asked.

Slightly rubbed his head furiously, but nodded. "Yeah, fine," he grumbled, adjusting the quiver on his back. Slightly's weapon was the crossbow. When he was younger, he'd been deadly with a sling-shot, so he thought this was just the next step up from that juvenile weapon.

"Right then, let's go," Teaken said, heading towards the window. He pulled open the pouch at his waist and handed Grinz and Slightly both one tablet of Pixie Dust. They each took one and popped it into their mouths. After closing their eyes for a moment of concentration, they followed Teaken out of the window and towards the forest where Peter was waiting, hidden in the foliage.

****

"Ok, that's it. Stop moping around, Mary. You are strong, you are in control, you are…you're…" I sighed and closed my eyes. There was no denying anything anymore. No hiding behind the shock that had worn off an hour ago, and no trying to convince myself that it was all a ridiculous dream. It had happened, it was real, and, according to Teaken, it was the only way.

To have a child. A child! I was only seventeen years old, for crying out loud! I hadn't even-

I mean, I just wasn't ready. This wasn't in my plan at all. My whole future waved good-bye to me and happily jumped off a cliff. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, it wasn't feasible, it wasn't…

Never mind what it wasn't. What mattered was what it was: the only way to save Neverland. The only way to save Teaken, and Peter Pan-

I laughed out loud at that. Peter fucking Pan, for Christ's sake! Who the hell even knew there really was a Peter Pan? I sure as hell didn't, and now these boys were saying that it was up to me to save them, and I hadn't even met them all. This was getting more and more ridiculous as my thoughts began to run wild, and I was getting more and more angry.

Who were they to ask this of me, anyway? They owed their existence to imaginative children. I'd had my childhood ripped from me much too quickly, why was it me who had to save the hopes and imaginations of all children when I hadn't had any hope at all for years after my mother was taken from me?

It all seemed so unjust, so cruel, that I quickly got carried away with my emotions. Angry tears started down my face, and that just made me angrier still. I mustn't be so selfish, I told myself. I was a bigger person than this, I was stronger than this, damn it! I was no sissy, I'd taken care of myself on the rough streets of New York City! I was not going to let this small task break my spirit!

My pep talk didn't really raise my spirits as much as I'd have liked. I turned and rested my hands on the windowsill in the room I'd been pacing and flooding with my tears for the past few hours. I had told myself that I was a lot of things, and had conveniently left out something that I truly and surely was…

"I'm scared," I whispered out into the wild as night settled over Neverland. Only the wind whispered back. It caressed my cheek softly, giving its own form of comfort as it tossed my long black hair behind my shoulders. My tear-stung eyes tiredly swept over the foliage that I could see in the moonlight. Er…moonslight? There were two moons that I could see anyway, one shining familiar white light over the island, while the other shone bright blue, causing the island to have an eerie blue glow. In that glow the trees seemed to move and cast shadows that darted from fern to fern, skirted clearings, and lept from treetop to-hang on…

As I looked closer, I saw that it wasn't the eerie blue light that made them move and dart, I saw that they weren't shadows. I blinked and leaned out the window squinting my eyes. I saw three boys, one sure looked like Teaken from here, and he whistled quietly, creating a cooing sound that I would have assumed was a bird had I not seen Teaken make the call himself. Interest peeked, I jumped up on my window sill and swung my legs over, stepping out onto the branch outside of my window. Carefully making sure to grab onto the thickest vine I could find, I started to make my way to the end of the branch. The tree seemed to notice what I was doing, and I swore it made a soft 'tsk' noise as the wind rustled the leaves around me, but never-the-less, it wound the thick vine around my waist. I jumped a bit, squeaking out my surprise, but once I looked down and remembered the kind of tree I was living in at the moment, I just gave a shaky smile.

"Um…thanks," I said quietly. The vine around my waist gave a squeeze of understanding, and allowed me to lean off of the branch a bit towards the moving shadows of the three boys. "What are they doing?" I whispered to myself…or…the tree…or whoever was listening.

One was Teaken, I was sure of that now. One was very tall with blond hair, I didn't know him. The third turned suddenly and motioned to Teaken and the other boy, and his bright teeth flashed into the moonlight (moonslight?). Grinz, then, was one of them. I saw them converge together in a small clearing. They gestured to each other silently, holding up fingers and nodding, some kind of sign language that I obviously wasn't privy to. Suddenly, a third figure dropped into the clearing to join them. They all went into attention immediately.

By now, I was leaning so far out off of the branch that I was nearly horizontal. The tree heaved an amused sigh before simply lowering me to a branch below that reached out farther towards what I was trying to see. I was thankful and a bit unnerved at the same time. I mean, exactly how did the tree know what I wanted without me asking it? But this was a question for later as all my attentions were focused on the group of boys in the woods. I leaned off of the lower branch and was almost directly over the clearing. I realized my proximity and immediately leaned back, not wanting to be seen, incase I was seeing something I wasn't supposed to. Which was ridiculous really, I mean if I was meant to be the savior of this place then there shouldn't be much I wasn't allowed to do-

Wow, Mary, get a grip. Back to spying. I mean, watching. Whatever.

The fourth boy motioned behind him with three fingers. He swept his left arm behind him, pointing straight back at something I'm sure I couldn't guess. This was getting aggravating. Just what were they doing? Hunting?

Something gave a loud crack in the forest. All four boys twisted around immediately, and Grinz pulled something from his belt. The moonlight glinted off of it and I saw that he held a sword in his hand, a sword with a hooked end. Odd…I'd never seen that kind of sword before.

As tense as I'm sure the atmosphere was down in that clearing, I nearly clapped and giggled in girlish delight. I mean, come on, four strong boys, most of them half dressed, hunting around in the forest with real swords? I challenge any girl to be in my position and not have your heart flutter a bit with girlish fantasies. I watched them each in turn whip around and pull out their weapons. Turns out Grinz had two of those shiny hooked swords, blond boy pulled out a cross bow and cocked it back with an arrow, Teaken appeared to have daggers, and the other boy-

I gasped out loud as the last boy finally turned around. My heart gave a huge thump as his face finally found the moonlight and I saw him properly. I knew before I knew why, that this boy was Peter Pan. Talk about your celebrity fits, the boy was fifteen feet below me and not even aware of my presence and already my tongue was tied and my skin in a cold sweat. He certainly was not a ten year old boy as Teaken had assured me. He appeared in his late teens, around my own age if not a bit older. His eyes seemed to glow in the night, and I watched as a slow but deadly smile crossed his face. He pulled his own weapon off of his back: a sword. A long, golden sword that he deftly twisted through the air in front of him. He turned his head to the side and nodded to the three other boys behind him. His ginger hair blew about his face as he left the ground and slid silently through the air. They each flew off in a different direction, and from my vantage point above the action, I saw that they were slowly surrounding the area that the loud snap had come from. I also noticed, upon closer inspection, that the area the sound had come from was also alive with movement. Slow, careful movement, but definitely movement.

I assumed that the movement in the foliage below must have been whatever the boys were hunting. My stomach rumbled a bit with hunger, and I wondered if whatever they were going to kill would be dinner or just sport.

I waited for the boys to make their move on their prey. And waited…and waited…and got tired and sat down on the branch…and waited…

Finally, some movement caught my attention. I stood back up on the branch I was spying from, and leaned as far over as the vine around my waist would allow. The foliage right beneath me was moving, rustling. I saw a sudden flash of steel, and a large fern fell to the ground, revealing the most disgusting bunch of human beings I had ever seen.

I wrinkled my nose as I looked at them. I couldn't smell them, not from some twenty feet in the air, but I could imagine what they smelt like, and I was sure it wasn't pretty. They were dirty, barbaric Neanderthals. Something clicked in my memory when I saw the bandana that covered one of their greasy heads, and was that an eye patch on that tall, grotesquely tattooed one?

"Pirates," I whispered in realization. My eyes wide, I wondered how I could have possibly forgotten. Of course there were pirates in Neverland. Lost Boys, Indians, and Pirates. And not just pirates, I realized, but- "Captain Hook!" I gasped. Suddenly my heart beat faster in my chest. If he was as awful as the stories say he was, then I definitely didn't like being in Neverland anymore.

A.N. Wow. 12 pages. You lucky people, you! Heheh. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is it for a while. Not like a LONG while, but I'm back in school now. On top of that, I'll have a job, theatre, AND I have 2 writing classes this semester. Creative writing and Playwriting. So that's a LOT of writing…wheeee…*dies*.

Thanks for all of your wonderful support and reviews! I treasure them all so much! Please be patient with me, the last few updates were pretty quick, and now I fear they'll slow again. They won't stop, but they'll slow. You could bide your time by drawing fan art and sending it to me!! Oh…just kiddin'. I couldn't ask anything more from you guys than you've already given me. Love you all, please review!