Pan paused his typing as Wendy whimpered in her sleep. She'd been doing that all night, keeping him awake while Sydney slept through it all, lucky bastard.

Since he couldn't sleep both from her restlessness and his own anxiety, he had tried to come up with an outline for the next story in paper. The town was already buzzing with Belle's return, theories and accusations staining the air. Everyone was turning to the police for answers, and between going after Jekyll and clearing up the remains of the De Vil case, they were stretched thin. Sydney had agreed to pull the Mirror staff together to come up with a game plan after he, Pan and Wendy were questioned.

It was going to be a busy, exhausting day, and Pan was already both thanks to his roommate.

Finally, Wendy woke from her nightmare, looking around frantically to be sure she wasn't in the prison her mind had created.

"Another nightmare Wendy?" Pan sighed with agitation.

Wendy barely nodded, her eyes focusing at some point at the end of the bed.

Pan let out a long exhale and closed his laptop. "Want to talk about it?"

Wendy glanced his way, shocked that he'd actually offer compassion rather than a snarky comment of how he couldn't concentrate because of her.

"Do you really want to hear about it?"

Pan winced. "Would I have asked if I didn't?"

The shining hope in Wendy's expression vanished and Pan instantly regretted snapping at her.

"I don't know what you want, Pan." Wendy sighed, lying on her back and closing her eyes.

Pan threw his arms up in aggravation. "I'm trying to be nice here!"

"Then why does it still sound like an insult?" Wendy threw back.

Pan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm going for a walk."

Wendy glanced over at him. "Are you going to go see Belle?"

Pan held his tongue and grabbed the crutch the hospital had provided him. Though the wound on his leg from de Vil's knife had healed, the drugs Jekyll had pumped into his system had left him shaky on his feet, and everywhere else for that matter. Dr. Whale had ordered him to strict bedrest, but he was too restless to obey.

"I heard the nurses talking about her, about how Sheriff Graham and Mr. Gold went to my apartment to find her."

Pan's jaw clenched at the mention of his name. "I promised her I'd keep her safe, didn't I?"

Wendy scoffed. "Technically, you promised her I'd keep her safe, which I did."

"Sloppily." Pan snarked acidly.

"Thoroughly." Wendy fought flippantly. "Jekyll never got to her or found out where she was. I know it's killing you to thank me so I'll go ahead and say it: you're welcome."

Pan threw his legs over the bed. "Thank you? If I hadn't stabbed that giant in the neck you would be dead!"

Wendy sat up, glaring at him. "You wouldn't have to stab him in the neck if you had gone to the police like a normal, rational person!?"

"Oh don't you preach to me about rationality you stupid, bloody goose!"

"I'm more rational than you'll ever be you damned knuckle head!"

"Hey!"

Pan and Wendy paused their feuding when Sheriff Graham stuck his head in the door.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two reporters.

"You got about five hours?" Pan grumbled.

Wendy grabbed her pillow and tossed it at his head.

"Hey, HEY!" Graham exclaimed, stepping between them. "That's enough."

Pan gripped the pillow in his hand and wondered if he'd have enough time to smother Wendy while his back was turned.

"Anyway," Graham said, pulling a wheelchair out from the hallway. "I have to question you two now. Who wants to go first?"

Pan and Wendy looked around the room, neither too eager to volunteer.

Graham sighed decidedly. "Pan, get in the chair."

"Like hell I am!" Pan protested. "I can walk!"

"Hospital policy, now get in the chair."

Pan's face enflamed and Wendy had to hold back a snort. Still, she understood his need for dignity. Peter Pan was too proud for his own good.

"Actually, I'm going step out for a minute. The room's all yours."

"Oh, thank you Miss Darling." Graham acknowledged, giving Pan a sideways look.

"Yeah whatever bye." Pan responded, readjusting himself into a comfortable position.

Wendy rolled her eyes and carefully eased out of bed. An ex-ray had confirmed that Jekyll's lackey had cracked one of her ribs, but luckily it was just a surface crack and would heal in the next two weeks.

Graham watched her leave, turning to Pan with a glare of annoyance.

"What?" Pan growled.

"Nothing just…that was really shitty of you is all." Graham stated as he flipped open his notepad.

"Excuse me? What the hell are you talking about?"

Graham slapped his pad shut. "The girl has been through hell the last two weeks, all courtesy of you."

"Oh my God again with this!" Pan exclaimed. "She's a damn reporter! She knows the risks!"

"Risks she wouldn't be in if you weren't so damn stubborn! Going off half-cocked on your own is one thing, bringing someone as unexperienced as Wendy is another. You're going to get her killed if you keep this up."

Pan's tongue grew heavy. While Wendy's well-being had been grazing his mind lately, the idea of her death had yet to sink in. It seemed ridiculous to even think about her dying when she was with him. Peter Pan didn't fail, and he most certainly didn't die. As long as Wendy was by his side, she'd be okay.

Right?

-,-,-,-,-

"Wendy!"

Wendy clutched her styrofoam cup of lukewarm coffee, nearly jumping from her skin when Tink embraced her.

"Ow…hi." Wendy greeted.

Tink pulled back, looking Wendy up and down. "Oh my gosh Wendy I'm so sorry!"

"What? No, no Tink—"

"I shouldn't have let you left the hospital on your own." Tink cried. "I should have went with you, been with you when you went through all of this…"

Wendy shook her head. "You're here now. And…I'm really glad you are."

"Pan's being a dick?"

Wendy snorted. "He's being himself. To be fair however, he was being tortured the majority of yesterday."

Tink grimaced. "What happened to him?"

Wendy was quiet for a moment, remembering how Pan was barely functioning, how he was vomiting from whatever Jekyll had given to him.

"Everything but fucked him up the arse."

"What?" Tink exclaimed.

Wendy shook her head. "His words, not mine."

Tink nodded uncertainly and led Wendy to one of the tables.

"So much is going on now. I can't believe you found her. We all thought Gold hid her body but…wow."

"I'm still so confused." Wendy admitted, covering her face. "I have no idea what any of these small-town legends are about. I feel like I need a chart."

Tink chuckled. "We'll have to have a girls' night, catch you up on everything." She reached out and took a sip of Wendy's coffee, frowning at the watered-down taste. She glanced back at Wendy and noticed that her eyes were glassy.

"You okay…wait, that's a dumb question…"

"No." Wendy wiped her eyes. "I'm just tired and…I keep having nightmares and…I can't keep myself together."

Tink reached out to take her hand. "It's okay. Don't feel ashamed to fall apart. Pan has to do it at least once a month. Don't let him convince you otherwise."

Wendy blinked at this information. He seemed so scrutinizing about her lack of recovery. Why would he be so judgmental if he had problems of his own?

"When are they letting you out?" Tink inquired.

"Oh um, tomorrow I think."

Tink nodded. "You want to stay with me for a few days? Give the bad karma a chance to leave?"

Wendy wanted to politely decline, not wanting to be a burden to Tink's generosity. However, she recalled her paranoia spell she had after the de Vil incident. She did not ever want to get in that state again.

"Only if you don't mind."

"Wouldn't have offered if I minded." Tink said with a wink. Somehow her sarcasm was much less charring than Pan's.

"I should head back to the room. Sheriff Graham's probably done with Pan, he'll want to start on me next."

"I sent Felix his way. Come on, we have a lot to do for the paper."

Wendy nodded and leaned against Tink for support as they returned to her room. They paused in the hallway upon seeing Sheriff Graham standing outside the room, a look of irate disgust on his face. Before Wendy could question it, he stepped aside, allowing Pan to be wheeled out by Felix. Pan glanced her way, and Wendy could have sworn he looked guilty about something.

-,-,-,-,-,-,-

"Sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Tink inquired when she parked outside of Wendy's apartment.

"I'll just be a moment." Wendy promised as she jumped out, though she took her time getting up the stairs. As far as she knew, Jekyll still had no idea where she lived, but that didn't stop the paranoid fear that somehow he was waiting inside with his oversize lackey.

"He's dead and Jekyll's…gone." Wendy tried to assure herself. "I'm safe."

She repeated the last part over and over again as she opened the door, checking behind it before she entered her residence, leaving it cracked…just in case.

She also checked each room in the tiny apartment, every closet in cupboard. Even checked under her own bed. She took in a calming breath after she checked her bathroom, smiling at the absurd memory of when she, Pan, and Glass were all enclosed in this space during her father's visit. She wondered if he knew about her recent demise, wondered if he cared.

Wendy shook the thought out of her mind and collected her toiletries, chiding herself for her behavior.

A creak caused her to look up, her comb and toothbrush falling from her hand when she saw two glowing orbs staring back at her.

Like glasses.

A small whimper escaped her lips, but she didn't reach full-panic mode until the thing—until something—flicked the end of her hair off her back.

Wendy screamed and shot around but found nothing there. She sobbed and gripped the end of her hair, somehow able to feel Jekyll's filthy touch on the back of her neck.

Able to feel the lackey grabbing it as he pulled her over the circulatory desk.

As she struggled to regain her sense of reality, she scrambled in her medicine cabinet for her scissors, gathering her hair and chopping off the ends before she could make herself stop.

It was only when the strands of her beautiful curls hit her feat that she realized what she had done.

"Damn it." She whispered, clutching the jagged remains of her hair. She looked around her bathroom, somehow hoping that the answer to her anguish would be on her walls.

When it wasn't, she felt a deep-seated hatred toward the world. For Jekyll and his henchman for putting her in this state, for Pan for getting her mixed up in his nightmare, and especially at herself for her weakness. She was a Darling for gosh sake; she was supposed to be stronger than this!

Wiping the irritation from her eyes, she grabbed the things she dropped and stuffed them in the bag, fleeing her apartment and dodging Tink's look of shock when she jumped into her car.

-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-

Next chapter coming up in…five minutes…maybe ten I need some lunch.