AU: In which Peter, Wendy, and several others work at the Daily Mirror in Storybrooke.

pt. 3 Wendy meets Felix, who offers her a bit of advice.

I know it's strange to do this, but I'd like to dedicate this chapter to dearly departed Robin Williams. His movies helped me through a lot of fights with my sister

Monday morning came around in the same way it took Wendy to get over the train lag: too slowly. But she hardly noticed the days going by as she unpacked, tried to get some food into her delicate system, called her mother, and dreaded the upcoming work week. That Pan boy had really put a damper on her optimistic mood. He was rude, exceedingly so, and had disrespected his superior in front of various employees, something that probably gotten him kicked to the curb and stoned if he had been in London.

You see, Wendy Darling had a sixth sense when it came to people. She could take one look at them and instantly see just who they were inside and out. Of course, there was a blunder or two every now and again, but all and all she was pretty dead on. From what she had seen of Peter Bloody Pan, Wendy knew that he was unspeakably rude, didn't respond well with authority, though he was, as the Americans said, "the shit", and anything other negative thing that was running though Wendy's mind.

However, as Wendy went to her closet to pick out her outfit for the day, she made a vow that she would make amends with the rude-as-hell man-child and start writing soon as possible. Picking out clothes always brought Wendy out of a stump.

Her clothes had been the first thing she had unpacked when she entered her new apartment. Wendy was a fashion nut. She wasn't too into the trend game because she loved experimenting with styles of her own. Her grandmother, rest her soul, had been a seamstress to the Queen herself, or so she said, and taught her how to use a sowing machine when she was nine. At ten, Wendy was constantly scolded for littering her bedroom with magazines as she tried to come up with designs of her own. When she entered high school however, she discovered she had a knack for writing poems and short stories, a skill she wanted to turn into a career. If anyone ever asked how she wound up in a small dot on the map like Storybrooke, Maine, she honestly would not be able to give them a clear answer. She wanted a change of scenery mostly.

After her grandmother died, things just began to slowly fall apart. Her father began to work more, her mother began to cry more, and her brothers began acting out more than they ever had. After Micheal was accused of throwing eggs into a teacher's swimming pool, Mrs. Darling suggested Wendy use her university certificate to travel around. It wasn't until she took her first step onto American soil that her father called her to tell her that the doctors had found a lump in Mrs. Darling's breast. She wanted to turn around right then but her father told her Mrs. Darling would be heartbroken if she put her dreams aside. Wendy had cried herself to sleep that night, but swore the next morning that she would make her mother proud.

That was the only reason she was returning to the Daily Hellhole—Mirror.

After a glass of orange juice and a waffle from Granny's, she headed to the paper, timing herself so that she was there at least fifteen minutes early.

She stood at the glass door, listening of the gentle sounds of early morning chatter and the hum of what Wendy was sure was a printer. Taking in a deep breath, she pushed the door open and stepped in.

Much to her chargin, the people standing in the room were no other that Sydney Glass and that demon of a boy Peter Pan.

"Miss Darling!" Sydney greeted with glee. "We were just talking about you. Good morning!"

Wendy took his offered hand. "Politely I hope." She and Sydney shared a chuckle over her statement.

"Don't count on it." Pan snorted.

Wendy caught the comment and went around Sydney to stand in front of Pan. They eyed each other, neither wanting to apologize, neither wanting to even be in the presence of the other. Luckily though, one of them was more mature than the other.

"Good morning Mr. Pan." Wendy greeted with the sweetest smile her defying jaws would allow. "I apologize for the lack of…" Wendy swallowed the painful lump in her throat; this apology might just be the end of her, "manners, on my part the other day." She added some emphasis on the word manners in devilish hopes that he would catch on that she shouldn't have to be the one apologizing. However good breeding had taught that if she fought rudeness with manners most situations could be resolved.

Then again most situations didn't involve Peter Pan.

"You're voice," Peter replied with a heavy sense of annoyance, "is by far the most agonizing sound I've heard to date. The fact that you used it for some useless apology just adds to the aggravation."

Wendy's face turned a bright pink, her blood instantly boiling. "And you," she spat, manners be damned, "are the most insolent, immature stinkbug on this side of the country!"

"Okay that's it!" Sydney exclaimed, stepping between the two. "Look, I get you two don't know each other just yet—"

"Nor like each other." Pan injected.

"I digress." Sydney said sternly. "You're both going to be working together so you better get used to each other or you're both fired!"

Pan burst out laughing. "Yeah bloody right. You firing me would be like Mayor Mills asking you out on a date: it's never going to happen."

Sydney's entire expression dropped. All at once hurt and some deeper emotion Wendy couldn't quite contemplate took root in the deep, tired lines of his face. She could feel the overwhelming pain he was in hovering on the heat of his skin. She almost wanted to comfort him, but he started to walk away before she got the chance.

"Just get to work." He grumbled under his breath. Wendy gasped lowly at the shakiness of his command.

After the office door closed quietly, Wendy shot daggers at the smirking boy. "You vile rotten monster! You really hurt him!"

"Oh please like you even know what we were talking about."

"I might not know who you were talking about, but whoever it was they obviously meant a lot to Mr. Glass. You hurt him to his core. You need to apologize."

"You don't tell me what to do." Pan hissed. They stared at each other with salted malice. Unblinking, hating the very existence of the other person. Finally Pan sighed and gave Wendy a once-over. "Fine. If I'm stuck with you, I might as well get some use out of you. Can operate a computer?"

Wendy was greatly that Pan was finally cooperating with her, but didn't stick her nose up at the assignment he was presenting.

"Yes. I can type on QUWERTY and DVORAK keyboards."

"Fancy." Pan said with an eye roll and a less than necessary amount of sarcasm. "Come here." He pointed to an empty desk on the other side of the room. This one was not decorated and a little dusty, the computer obviously a much older model than what they had scattered around. Wendy also noticed that this corner was much draftier than the rest of the room. She bit her tongue on any complaint and sat down, cracking her fingers and preparing herself to write.

"Write this." Pan dropped a thin notepad on the desk. Wendy read it.

DO NOT FLUSH TOILETRIES DOWN THE COMODES.

Wendy balked and stared at Pan's retreating pack. "What is this?"

Pan didn't turn around. If he did he might break his jaws from grinning so much. "It will be a flyer that you will hang on every bathroom door in this building." He sauntered onto his desk. "Make sure you get all forty-four of them."

Wendy was in shock. The shock quickly turned into disgust and anger and her hand itched to grab something heavy and hurl it at Pan's smirking head. However, her father's rule about being a lady flashed through her mind and she took her anger out on the keyboard.

She was certain Pan was dead set on making her quit with his pompous tasks. After she made the flyers, she went to hang them up, and found herself face-to-face with the most putrid smelling men's room she had ever had contact with.

"Oh…God no." she was going to turn around and tell Pan that there was no way in Hell she was doing this. She was a writer, not a custodian! However, she knew that if she turned around now she might as well admit defeat; and she was NOT doing that yet!

She gagged her way through the door and slapped the flyers on each door regardless of neatness. She shot out the door and crashed into something hard, well, someone.

"Whoa, easy there birdie."

Wendy lifted her head and looked into a pair of deep green eyes. They held so much compassion, so much trauma, and a dull light that comforted her in her time of need. Her eyes shifted down and she was hypnotized by a scar that ran from the space between his eyes to his cheek. It was a bit unnerving, but all and all did not take away from his handsome appearance. He cleared his throat and she snapped out of her distraction.

(Unnerving by appearance, but utterly a gentlemen. Probably keeps to himself with a very small select group of friends...)

"Hi…" Wendy greeted as she eased away from him. "Sorry, I was running for my life."

"No problem." He chuckled softly. "You're the new intern, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I'm Wendy."

"I know."

"Know?"

"Your name." he laughed.

"Oh, of course!" Wendy laughed with him.

"Felix." He greeted. "We unofficially met last week, but you were busy having a yelling match with Pan." He motioned her away from the bathrooms and led her down the hall where the air was much more pleasant. He took the rest of the flyers and studied the caption, chuckling dryly at what he knew was Pan's handiwork.

"So," Felix pressed casually, waving the stack of flyers, "I guess Pan's got you hard at work."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Oh I'm working alright." She sighed then. "I really don't think this is going to work out though. I'll probably jump into the wanted ads when I get home."

Felix did not like the sound of that. "You know, he's a pretty okay guy, once you earn his trust." Felix eyed her and was not disappointed with her reaction.

She scoffed, stopping in the hall to face him. "I rather earn a snake bite. Then again, it probably wouldn't be that much different."

Felix play-grimaced. "Seems like you've already made your opinion about him."

"Damn straight I have!" Wendy exclaimed, forgetting herself as the distaste she felt for Peter bloody Pan poured out of her. "He is the most awful, cold-hearted, insensitive slime ball I've ever met in my life!" She continued ranting to the perfect stranger about the wickedness of Peter Pan. Felix simply leaned against the wall and let her release her frustrations. Everyone was due for an outburst eventually.

"…And then he sent the poor man into a depression!" Wendy went on. "He is just so evil and-"

"My best friend." Felix said.

Wendy froze mid-sentence, a crimson heat engulfing her face as the full extent of what he just said hit her. He'd been baiting her. He was loyal to the man-child She might as well sign her own discharge paper.

Thankfully though, Felix kept smiling good-humoredly. "He's a real ass, isn't he?"

Wendy eyed Felix suspiciously. Just what kind of game was he playing? "Yeah, actually he is."

Felix shrugged. "He's been like that for as long as I've known him. I have the fortune and misfortune of seeing other sides of him, ones I will say you yourself may see yet." He leaned into Wendy's personal space, but she held her place. "You did something the other day that no one has ever done before: you stood up to him. He hates it when no one bows to him—it destroys him."

"W…why are you telling me this?"

"Because," he smiled "Pan needs domination and control, but he also needs a challenge. You're providing that Wendy. He might not see it now, but he is going to need you. Stay."

Wendy's eyes widened. That little prick needed her? What he needed was a good punch to the face, but Wendy kept that opinion to herself.

Felix gently laid the fliers back in her arms. "In the meantime, just do what he says. He'll let up eventually."

Wendy wasn't too thrilled by the bit of advice, but nodded in thanks all the same. "Thank you, Felix."

He grinned and began to walk away. "Welcome to Hell little bird. You're going to be alright."

Wendy could only stare after him, her mouth agape, her mind reeling. She stared at the flyers in her hand, Felix's words echoing in her mind and she sighed.

"It's official. Everyone here is insane."