When trapped in a car with a decomposing body by a blood-thirsty turkey, there's nothing much to do but talk...

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Oh my god."

"Calm down."

"H-he's dead."

"No kidding."

"We're going to die!"

Pan shot a look at the frantic Wendy Darling.

"How are we going to die?"

"Death by turkey or…inhaling corpse fumes take your pick!"

Pan snatched her forward, shaking her by the shoulders. "You need to calm down right now!"

Wendy slapped his shoulders and didn't stop. "You calm the bloody hell down this is your fault!"

"My damn fault?" he yelled as he tried to still her hands. "Don't you even think about turning this on me you fucking crow!"

Before Wendy could scream back at him the turkey that could be the reason they met their end pecked against the window. Wendy gasped and slid back until she was pressing Pan into the opposite door. They held their breath as the glass started to crack, both too terrified to come up with a plan.

With a snarl, the turkey stopped, and returned to watch them from a few feet away.

Pan and Wendy sagged against each other in relief, only realizing that they were too close when she felt Pan's heart pounding against her back.

She slid away and kept her eyes on Pan, knowing that if she had to see Jekyll's decaying body she'd might faint. She'd be damn if she did something like that for Pan to hold over her head after all of this.

"Okay," Wendy gasped, pushing her hair from her face. "Did you bring a cellphone?"

Pan closed his eyes for a moment before shaking his head. "Left it at the office. You?"

Wendy slumped against the seat. "It fell out while we were running."

Pan rolled his eyes and slumped beside her, glancing around for a towel or a stray piece of clothing to throw over Jekyll's head so that he wouldn't have to stare into his beady eyes. However Jekyll had kept his car in pristine condition and there wasn't even a wrapper on the ground.

"OCD dick." Pan growled.

"I beg your pardon?" she gasped.

"Not you, him." Pan scoffed, nodding at Jekyll.

Wendy grimaced, the sight of the dried hole in his temple filling her stomach with bile.

"It looks like he was shot." Wendy gulped.

Pan followed her gaze, frowning when he discovered she was right and saw his brains splattered on the passenger window.

Wendy massaged her temples as she fought for her sanity. Between the smell and being trapped in a small car with a corpse and Pan with a flesh-hungry turkey just outside, she was understandably starting to get edgy.

"Okay, we can't just sit here," she said.

"Oh you sure?" Pan deadpanned. "I was really starting to get comfortable."

"We have to make a distraction, have…to run again or something."

"Because that worked out so well a second ago?"

"Because if we don't we're going to end up like him!" Wendy spat in Jekyll's direction.

Pan took hold of her shoulders again, shaking her until she stopped sputtering.

"We are not going to end up like this asshole," Pan reassured, squeezing her shoulders. "We are going to live, but if you don't calm down I'm going to kill you myself."

Wendy slapped his hands away. "Don't threaten me. I'm sick of everyone doing that."

"Well it seems to calm you down." He shrugged. "You really should think about taking a yoga class."

"How can you joke at a time like this!"

"And now you're hysterical again." Pan sighed.

"Oh…shove it!" Wendy spat.

Pan snorted, leaning against the door and following the angry turkey as it circled the car.

"August will have to come back eventually." Pan concluded. "He'll notice the mess and call Graham. Finding Jekyll might distract him enough so that we don't get our arses locked up."

"Yes, let's hope the site of a dead body leaves your criminal record polished!" Wendy spat, running her hands through her short hair nervously.

Pan was right though; she needed to calm down. Having a panic attack in a small car with a dead Jekyll and Pan would probably lead to her jumping out and getting pecked to death by the turkey.

"What are we going to do?" Wendy sighed, breathing carefully through her mouth to avoid the smell.

Pan settled beside her, careful not to let their shoulders touch. "Got a pack of cards?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Wendy snorted, though she subconsciously felt inside her pockets. She felt the remains of a pack of gum and a crumpled receipt from the diner.

A thick quiet followed, and it was more terrifying than both the body and turkey. Wendy hadn't been able to handle silence well lately.

Wendy nodded to Jekyll. "What happened between you two?"

Pan stared at her, trying to keep a passive expression but his eyes wavered.

"Nothing." Pan stated simply.

"Poppy cock." Wendy scoffed.

"He took Belle, I was trying to find her, that's all." Pan growled, fidgeting in his seat.

"I repeat, poppy cock." Wendy said. "Everyone I've met in the last week is…connected! You and Belle…then you and Jekyll…even you and Mr. Gold—"

"Small town!" Pan reminded her with a snarl. "Everyone has something to do with each other. It's not a big deal, and sure as hell isn't worth talking about."

"…you owe me." Wendy muttered.

"Oh my god…are your seriously pulling that card?" Pan exclaimed, rubbing his face aggressively.

"You swore if I helped you and Belle you'd tell me why she was taken."

"I...thought I'd be dead before that happened." Pan mused.

Wendy took a deep breath. "Alright, let me put this another way: I have had three panic attacks this week. I chopped off most my hair," she lifted the remains of her hair for emphasis, "and if I have to sit in here with you two," she pointed at Jekyll, "so for the love of any and everything holy, bloody humor me."

Pan smothered a smirk, finding her disheveled state inappropriately amusing. It reminded him about the first day she stepped into the office. She had tried to seem all high and mighty, she was actually stressed out of her mind. He passion had infuriated him at first, but he had calmed, and made it a personal mission to keep her in a state of fury.

"Fine, since we might be here a will." Pan agreed with a sigh. "But as warning, any mental scaring you may receive after this conversation is not on me."

Wendy blinked, surprised Pan would give in so easily. "Deal." She agreed. "Now…you and Jekyll?"

Pan glanced at the decaying carcass of his former foe.

"We fucked," Pan answered blandly. "For investigative reasons more than pleasure."

Pan's words sunk deep in Wendy's brain, followed by an unpleasant and very disturbing image.

"Oh my god…" Wendy gagged.

"You're not one of them, are you?" Pan spat, a glimmer of uncertainty in his eyes.

"Oh no," Wendy grimaced. "No never. I just…thought you had better taste than…" she motioned to Jekyll with her eyes.

"Like I said, investigative reasons." Pan muttered, turning to stare out the window.

"I'm sorry," Wendy apologized quickly when she sensed he was shutting down. "Please continue?"

Pan snorted, folding his arms behind his head. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Wendy blushed and curled her legs under her as he relayed his tale.

"He was hired as a coroner around the same time I was brought on to the paper. I was barely there a week when a story fell into my lap." Pan smiled fondly, a reminiscent look in his deep green eyes.

"The…mayor story?" Wendy inquired, recalling a few tales of his successes during her first week at the Mirror.

"Nah," Pan waved her off. "That came later. This was a bit more terrifying."

"Then why are you smiling?"

Pan wagged his eyebrows at her. "Because that's what made it most rememberable."

Wendy rolled her eyes and made a mental note to look of the warning signs of a psychopath when they got out of this.

"So," Pan began, a new life in his voice, "right after he started working at the hospital, people started disappearing. First it was a car crash survivor, a woman just passing through. She had gotten banged up and was ready for release the next day."

Wendy nodded intently.

"Then…she just disappeared. Even the video footage on the security camera had crashed just before her disappearance. It was so bizarre, but Graham wrote it off as an unauthorized check-out and kept a search out for her."

Wendy stared at him, his tale making her skin crawl already.

"A week later, the same thing happened to a local. She injured herself gardening—twisted her leg pretty bad— and had to be put in a sling. She would have been checked out the next day."

"But she didn't." Wendy concluded.

"Same pattern. Disappeared the night they were supposed to be released, glitched security camera. It was personal now, and Graham went into search-dog mode trying to find them both."

"But it was Jekyll all along," Wendy connected, "When did Graham find out?"

Pan's fingers drummed against his jagged pants knee, and he licked his lower lip.

"He didn't, I did."

Wendy blinked, the information barely surprising her, but still adding a sense of tension to the story.

"Back then I was the newbie, the grub work guy, only allowed to cover sewing meetings and annoying garbage like that."

Wendy snorted, recalling that her first week of mind-numbing boredom at the paper was by Pan's hand. "Sounds familiar."

"Consider it initiation." Pan waved off before continuing. "I started doing a conspiracy board in the back, trying to figure out why two women who otherwise had nothing in common would go missing back-to-back. I even lifted the camera footage from the police station to try to find something that Graham hadn't seen."

"What was it?"

"I saw that about ten minutes before each of the women went missing, Jekyll would walk by the rooms. Wouldn't go in, just go by. Right afterwards is when the footage would glitch and fast-forward twenty minutes."

"So he would pause the footage and go back to take the women?"

"I thought that at first too," Pan said, his hand now rubbing up and down his pants leg, "But I'll get to that."

"Okay," Wendy nodded. "So then…"

"Then," Pan continued gleefully, "I decided to do some more personal investigation."

Wendy grimaced. "That's when you began your…relationship with him?"

Pan scoffed bitterly, and Wendy noticed how his shoulders tensed.

"It wasn't a relationship," Pan said. "It was a farce to find out how he was involved in the kidnappings. Nothing more."

"From your point of view." Wendy pointed out. She was surprised when Pan didn't respond with a half-cocked remark. If anything, he looked a bit uncomfortable, and it made a guilty chill run up Wendy's spine. She'd never seen him so distressed.

"Pan, did Jekyll do something to you?" Wendy asked carefully.

Pan gulped, forcing a cocky smile even though Wendy could feel his hands shaking. "Let's just say he didn't like keeping his hands to himself."

Wendy's own hand creeped up to stroke her short locks. "He hadn't changed much then." When she looked up again, she found Pan staring at her. Together, they turned to Jekyll's corpse. It was so easy to forget that the pile of rotting flesh in front of them was making their lives a living Hell a week ago. That even in death is phantom fingers could still squeeze the life out of them.

"It's nice, by the way."

Wendy looked back at him, her fingers slipping from her locks. "Pardon?"

"Your hair," Pan fidgeted, not quite meeting her eyes. "It's different."

Wendy waited for an insult to follow but Pan remained docile, leaving an opening for her to thank him or let the comment lie.

"He kept touching it," Wendy admitted, nodding offhandedly to Jekyll. "The whole time we were under the library he wouldn't stop touching my hair."

Pan sent a searing look at Jekyll's corpse. "See his tastes never changed."

"What does that mean?"

"Blonde hair. That was the connection. The car crash survivor and local: both were blondes."

Wendy felt her stomach turn and before she could stop herself she was lurching her stomach contents on the car floor.

"Oh…for the love of…" Pan stopped with a frustrated growl and allowed Wendy to finish before he looked around for something Wendy could clean herself up with. He held his breath as he crawled over Jekyll to reach the dashboard consol.

"Pan!" Wendy coughed when she saw what he was doing.

"You want puke all over your chin?" he shot back, using the tip of his finger to open the console. Nothing. Looks like there was only one other option. Sucking in his stomach, Pan reached to grab the scarf around Jekyll's neck. It came off surprisingly easy and Pan fell back in his seat with a satisfied huff.

"The shit I go through for you." He growled as he threw the scarf at Wendy.

"Likewise." Wendy said, hesitating before wiping her mouth furiously and dropping the garment onto the floor to soak up her vomit. "I don't know what came over me."

"The realization that you were almost a target probably," Pan shrugged, staring out the dusty, cracked window.

"How did you figure out the connection?" Wendy inquired, hoping the continuation of the story would distract them from her current embarrassment.

"Every time we had a…coupling…"

"Oh god." Wendy coughed, breathing slowly.

"Shut up. He would play with my hair," He met Wendy's unsettled expression. "It's not as romantic as it sounds. Anyway, it just sort of clicked one night. Both women were blondes; the only real connection they had. I just didn't know how they were connected to him until I snuck into Graham's office to do an extensive background check.

"He didn't think to do that?"

"No, he did," Pan said, smiling cockily. "He just didn't know what I found."

Wendy rolled her eyes, though she was happy to see the smile back on his face.

"I found out he was from your neck of the woods originally," Pan specified. "And that his record appeared squeaky clean."

"But you found…"

"A seemingly innocent story about the death of a woman attached to his file. Most of the details weren't there but I have my ways of digging up unwanted information." He wagged his eyes at her and Wendy couldn't help the tug of her lips.

"I found out she died from a lover's quarrel gone wrong. He claimed she fell from the four-story window of his apartment, but the woman's father insisted that he drug her up there to kill her, or some crap like that." Pan said with a wave of his hand. "Either way, the father had enough power to cover the matter up for reputation's sake. He sent Jekyll to the states with a glowing reference and he was able to wreak havoc here."

"No one suspected he was a homicidal maniac." Wendy mused, sparing a side glance at the corpse.

"The last step was to tie it all together with solid evidence."

"Solid evidence?"

"Where would a mentally unstable coroner keep his victims?" Pan challenged.

Wendy gulped. "Where no one would think to look."

"Yep. His morgue." Pan concluded, his face void of the glee from before.

Wendy could tell just from his face that the story didn't have the triumph ending she was hoping for.

"You did find them?" Wendy pressed hesitantly.

"In the drawers." Pan frowned. "I had to sneak past his assistant to get in there though."

"His assistant…" Wendy paused, recalling the tall man who nearly snapped her neck in half in the library.

"Poole Pinnock," Pan snarled. "I have no bloody idea how Jekyll kept him by his side, but I found out that after Jekyll would pick a target, Poole mess with the security footage to cover up Jekyll taking them."

"You had the proof and took him down?" Wendy concluded.

Pan was quiet for a moment and he wouldn't meet Wendy's eyes. "Well…not exactly."

Wendy recognized the tone of a guilty man. "What did you do?"

"I…set him up…using Tink."

"Tink? What?" Wendy exploded. "Was she in on it?"

"Afterwards." Pan scoffed uneasily.

"You deliberately put her in harm's way?" Wendy gawked at him. "She's your friend, how could you?"

"Hey," Pan fought defensively. "She got burned on an expresso machine, I rushed her to the hospital. If she just happened to be the type of person Jekyll was stealing, that wasn't my problem."

"It is your problem!" Wendy yelled at him.

"She was never in any danger!" Pan defended with an air of annoyance. "I was watching the situation the whole time! I had Nolan and Graham on it and Jekyll and Pinnock were taken down…and we got Tink out of the morgue drawer before she suffocated."

"And what did Tink have to say about being part of your insane plan?"

Pan mused for a moment. "I think she called me a bastard forty times, and I'm pretty sure she locked Felix in his room for a month just to punish me."

Wendy scrubbed a hand over her face, beginning to feel claustrophobic again as her annoyance with Pan grew.

"I saved a lot of lives!" Pan insisted. How could she not see that?

"You think using one of your friends as bait without their consent makes you some kind of hero?"

"…yeah! Because it did!"

"I'm sure Tink would beg to differ!" Wendy fought. "You can't just use people Pan! It was wrong with Tink, and…bloody hell it was even wrong with Jekyll!"

Pan gawked at her, looking back and forth between her and the corpse of his former conquest. "You're defending him after what he did to those women? To us?"

"Of course not," Wendy sniffed. "But…maybe you didn't have to play with his heart like that, no matter how horrid the man was—" Wendy was cut off when Pan suddenly edged right into her face, forcing her against the dusty window.

"Don't you fucking dare try to humanize him." Pan growled as Wendy began to panic. "Do you have any idea how depraved that bastard was, why he did what he did? How he did what he did!"

Wendy couldn't speak, could barely think with Pan's intense green eyes bearing into hers.

"He would tie them down, scalp them, and then leave them in morgue freezers to bleed to death."

Wendy blinked, her nails digging into the leather seating. "I-I…"

"He was a monster you damn crow! I made sure there was irrefutable evidence against him so that he could hang for what he did to this town!"

"H-hang?" Wendy croaked.

"Small-town justice," Pan said, leaning back and giving Wendy much-needed breathing room.

"He seemed pretty alive the last time we saw him." Wendy swallowed, bringing her knees to her chest.

"Pullock knew how to pick locks," Pan concluded, eyeing her posture. "They got out of town that night with a sea of angry townsfolks just behind them."

Wendy glanced at the corpse. All that trouble—all that death—just to have him slip through justice's fingers.

What a waste.

"Then what happened?" Wendy inquired, though not as earnestly when the story started.

"Nothing. The assheads got away, Tink didn't speak to me for a month, and I earned my place on the paper. The end."

Wendy gave him a peculiar look. "No it's not. How did he get back here? Why did he take Belle? How does she fit into any of this?"

Pan held a hand up, hiding his annoyed expression by turning to the window. "Another story for the next time we're locked in a car."

Wendy frowned. "That's not fair. You promised me the story on your history with Jekyll."

"And I gave you just that," Pan spat. "Everything else after that is…"

"Collateral damage?" Wendy mocked.

"Not your business." Pan retorted sourly.

Wendy studied him for a moment. She could just see his expression in the dusty glass and connected the reason he brought his story to an end.

"You don't know what happened after he left." Wendy concluded. "You story ended there, and anything he did afterwards was beyond you."

Pan shot around to face her again. This time his eyes were squinted with rage and—though he would deny it—fear.

"Nothing goes beyond me." Pan said firmly. "I will find out what he was doing back here before Graham, before anyone! Don't you ever underestimate me!"

"Would you get off me!" Wendy pushed him back against his door. "Why do you act like an ass whenever you become intimidated."

"Intimidated?" Pan scoffed, brushing off his jacket. "By what, you?"

"By failure." Wendy corrected, watching as his confident smirk faded slightly.

"Let me tell you something no one has seemed to have told you yet," he said in soft anger. "Peter Pan never fails. Just you watch."

"I'll endeavor to be patient." Wendy snipped, glancing out the window to see their feathery friend making its way to her side of the car.

"Guess we should figure out a plan now." Wendy suggested, wanting to regain some kind of peace in the cramped car.

"Nah, we better stay tight." Pan shrugged, leaning back against the door much too comfortably.

"I rather not. I'm starting to get used to the smell." Wendy said without taking her eyes off of the murderous turkey. She felt a chill up her spine when a weight suddenly dropped in her lap. She looked down in horror and found Pan spreading out like a cat.

"What the bloody actual hell are you doing?" she exclaimed, holding her heads above his head.

"I'm bored. It's your turn to bare your soul to me."

Wendy rolled her eyes, her cheeks scorching. "Unlike you I don't have any secrets."

"Everyone has secrets Wendy Darling," Pan mused, adjusting himself more comfortably against her lap. "I'm sure you have a few hurrahs to tell about Edward."

"Edward?" Wendy's glare melted into astonishment. How odd. She hadn't thought about him since he left after the Cruella de Vil incident.

"Yeah. Tell me…about your first time."

Wendy looked down at the evil man in her lap. His eyes were flaring with mischief, ready to rip her a part.

"No." Wendy said simply, trying to uproot him from her lap. Damn he was heavy. Or just too stubborn to move without his answer.

"Hey, that's not fair." He mocked in a terrible rendition of her voice.

"Oh shove off." Wendy snarked.

"Come on. Can't be any worse than me and Jekyll."

Wendy dared look up at the corpse. "You have me there."

"So…" Pan licked his lips. "Edward."

Wendy blinked, feeling embarrassed and suffocated with him this close. Throughout their time in the car he had kept his distance, as if he didn't want to be touched as he told her the disturbing events of his earlier years. Now it was as if he needed a form of comfort from her. That, or he just wanted to make her feel as uncomfortable as he could.

That wasn't hard at all.

"Nothing…ever happened between us." Wendy stated, knowing good and well the vague information wouldn't satisfy him.

"I thought so." Pan laughed. "That buttoned-up bloke was overflowing with sexual frustration. Surprised your old man left you alone with him."

Wendy stared at him. She had never gotten that kind of vibe from Edward. He was only trying to unnerve her.

"Don't be vulgar." Wendy responded, trying to decide where to put her hands now that her lap was occupied. She decided across her chest was the safest place.

"So when you say nothing ever happened, you mean…" Pan pressed mischievously.

"I mean…nothing happened." Wendy replied with a false dramatic flair. "We kissed on the cheeks, held hands only occasionally, and he never saw me with my shoes off."

Pan burst out into laughter, loud enough that Wendy feared it would attract the turkey. Luckily the feathered beast remained occupied and Wendy was, unfortunately, able to continue her tale.

"Okay, I needed that," Pan sighed when he calmed. "Alright, your relationship with him is apparently a bust."

"Was a bust," Wendy corrected sternly. "We only dated because our fathers wanted us to. It wasn't bad but just…"

"Unbearable?"

"Boring." Wendy admitted. Saying the word lifted a very small, but still present weight from Wendy's heart. She never disliked Edward, but she had never really wanted to be with him. He played everything safe, and while he never frowned upon her hobbies and interests, he never shared them. They weren't compatible by any means.

"Damn." Pan commented. "That sucks. So who else?"

"Who else…what?"

"Did you date, duh. You may be incredibly annoying, but you're not bad of a looker. You had to have few courters."

"Well we can't all have exciting, dangerous relationships like you." Wendy teased.

Pan frowned in return. "Jekyll and I weren't in a relationship, alright."

"But he wasn't the last." Wendy stated, certain she was right.

"Well, it's not like he turned me off to the idea of human companionship." Pan agreed with a bite of bitterness.

Wendy managed to bury a snort. "Lily Tigress, right?"

Pan looked up at her. "What about her?"

"You two…at some point?" Wendy shrugged.

"On occasion." Pan mused. "She can hold her drink and she's good a poker. We enjoy each other's company. She's not ready to settle and neither am I."

"Tink?"

"God no." Pan snorted. "She's Felix-sexual only."

"…Felix?" she asked a bit more carefully.

"Oh yeah." He replied, though his voice was heavy with good-natured sarcasm. "And Tink flew in and snatched him up. The only man I ever loved."

Wendy actually had to laugh, a bizarre thing to do in a car with a corpse and a Pan in ones lap.

"August would be disappointed." Wendy commented.

"Not really a relationship either." Pan corrected. "Just slept around is all."

"You can't sleep around forever." Wendt chuckled, her arms relaxing a bit.

"I bet you haven't slept with anyone ever." Pan challenged teasingly.

"Excuse me if I take relationships seriously." Wendy fired back. "And are you seriously virgin-shaming, this late in the 21st century?"

Pan chortled, crossing his arms behind his head. "Of course not."

"Dating just isn't my forte, I suppose." Wendy sighed as she lowered her arms to her side, her fingers just grazing his hair. It was so softly textured and she had an embarrassing urge to run her fingers through it.

Pan felt Wendy's entire body stiffen. When he looked up at her face he was amused to find her blushing heavily.

"What?" he chortled.

"Nothing," Wendy denied, flustered. "We just…we need to get out of here. Like I said, I'm getting used to the smell."

"And here I thought we were having a good time." Pan sighed as he sat up, leaving Wendy's lap empty and mind whirling. "I was about to break open a bottle of wine and everything.

They both looked out the window to find the angry turkey pecking harshly at the ground several feet from the car, dirt flying as its beak dug deeper into the earth.

"That's going to be our skulls if we're not careful." Pan mused.

"Your rather optimistic." Wendy deadpanned.

"Just realistic." Pan nodded back.

Wendy looked around for something they could use as a weapon. Unfortunately, Jekyll kept his car immaculate.

Wendy mused on this. Even her pristine father had a few odds and ins in his car. It made it more personal, more lived in. Yet there was nothing in this car, not even an air freshener hanging from the mirror. It wasn't criminal, but was certainly odd.

A shadow moved from the corner of her eye, and Wendy twisted around to see someone just outside the dusty window. With a great scream, she pushed against Pan, and subsequently Pan pushed against the door.

They fell onto the forest floor, Pan hollering as Wendy nearly crushed his legs with her own. Entangled, they looked up to see the turkey barreling toward them with a bloodcurdling screech. Just as it was about to bring its sharp beak on Wendy's head, a body stepped in front of them, piercing the boot on the leg instead of Wendy.

"Easy Beatrice," the voice of the body, a man, said. On command, the turkey backed away. Wendy nearly sobbed with relief, and she and Pan both rolled onto their backs.

"Oh…Gods." Pan groaned.

Wendy glanced at him as the man above them started laughing.

"Good to see you too Pan."

"Shove off, August." Pan groaned as he sat up.

Wendy followed suit, dividing her attention between Pan and this August. Up close, he hardly looked like a jewel thief. He was actually rather…rugged?

"Nice pet." Pan spat, nodding to the preoccupied bird. "Did you train her to kill?"

August spared a glance at the bird, nodding to a nest of sticks and shiny bits. "She's nesting now. You came in on her territory."

Pan followed his line of sight and frowned, walking over to the nest. A moment later, he pulled Marco's missing ring from the woven debris.

"I have no idea how that got there." August defended instantly.

"Sure you don't." Pan rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Marco will believe that."

"So my dad sent you out here?" August scoffed.

"You think I'd show up here otherwise?" Pan muttered, pocketing the ring.

"You just might." August teased with a sly smile.

Wendy watched the scene bashfully, unsure just where she belonged. August looked her way and winked, eyeing her and then the car.

"Your courting skills have become sloppy, and strange."

"Think again moron." Pan spat, pointing to the bloody window.

August went instantly pale at the sight of blood and backed away.

"What the hell Pan?"

"It's a long story." Wendy broke in. "May we use your phone?"

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

The authorities arrived within the hour, and Sheriff Graham waisted no time questioning Wendy and Pan. The area had become a crime scene, tapped off and flagged with the deputy cataloging Jekyll's corpse.

"Then we just found him." Wendy at the end of her statement.

"And you didn't touch him?" Graham inquired.

Wendy glanced at Pan. He hadn't taken his eyes off August since the police arrived. He was with Marco now, no doubt relaying the reason for Pan and Wendy being this close to his home just as they were having to do to Graham.

"No." Wendy said.

"Well, just the same," Graham said as he closed his notepad, "your fingerprints will be all over the car. Just stay put until we can clear you both."

Wendy nodded, noticing the suspicious sideway glance he gave Pan. He couldn't possibly think Pan had something to do with Jekyll's death…right?

Wendy shook her head. Pan was too flamboyant for cold-blooded murder, and too clever to get caught.

Much too clever.

"Do you need a lift back to town?" Graham inquired to her.

Wendy removed her gaze from Pan. "In handcuffs or a zip tie?" Wendy teased.

Graham smirked. "I'll even let you ride in the front seat."

Wendy was about to respond when the stretcher carrying Jekyll's body came by. Wendy tensed at the sight, unable to believe that just a week ago he had been alive, bringing unprecedented fear and darkness into their lives. It was even harder to believe that such a psychotic man had been reduced to a bag of rotting flesh in a plastic bag.

"If you two are done flirting, can I leave?" Pan snapped.

Graham cleared his throat. "You're free to go."

"Good." Pan said, heading back to the wooded area where he had stashed his moped, sending a sideways glance August's way.

Wendy gulped, the vibe coming off Pan much darker than it had been all day.

"Hang on." She requested off-handedly before she jogged after Pan.

"Wait." She gasped as he cranked up his moped. "Are you…is everything…" She stopped, unsure what she could ask after all they had gone through today.

"Is he another Jekyll?" Wendy asked instead.

Pan turned to her, the slightest blush on his sharp cheeks. "No. Not at all." He continued put on his helmet and prepared to take off but an annoying obstacle stepped in his way.

"You said you didn't know how Belle was connected to this." Wendy stated boldly, though the dark circles under her eye made her look less powerful than she seemed. "Let me help you."

"Thanks, but I don't work with novices." Pan said.

"Don't give me that!" Wendy snapped, putting a hand on one of his handlebars. "After all we've been through, you must know by now that you can trust me. Don't you?"

Pan grimaced impatiently, his fingers fidgeting nervously.

Wendy sighed. "Sydney and I found a few things in the library before the Jekyll incident. Everyone thought that Mr. Gold was somehow behind this." She watched Pan physically flinched at the mention of his name. Her heart ached for his pain, but more so for an answer.

"It wasn't him." Pan said quietly.

"How do you know?"

"I just do." Pan snapped, pulling his bike from Wendy's grip.

"How though!" Wendy begged, going after him. "Who is he? Why are you afraid of him?"

"I'm not scared of shit!" Pan screamed so loud the police team stopped their work to survey the team. "This is my business, my life! Stay the hell out of it you nosy pest!"

With the insult heavy in the air, he drove off, leaving Wendy embarrassed and hurt.

"…Miss Darling?"

She slowly turned back to Graham who looked unsure what to say or do.

"I'd like to go please." Wendy said, keeping her eyes down but a smile on.

"Of course, yes." Graham agreed quickly, placing a gentle arm around her back. True to his word, he led her to the front seat of the car. After giving deputy Nolan additional instructions, he adjusted the heat and began the journey back to town.

"If it makes you feel any better," Graham spoke after a long moment of silence. "I have a years worth of parking tickets I can make him pay for."

Wendy snorted. "I'll get back to you on that."

Graham nodded as he pulled to a stop at a four-way intersection. Just as he was about to go, Pan drove up to Graham's side and knocked on the window. After exchanging a look with Wendy, he rolled down the window and gave Peter a dirty look.

"What?" he demanded. However, Pan's eyes were only on Wendy.

"He's my brother!" Pan yelled through the window, speeding off before Graham or Wendy could respond.

They watched him speed off, just keeping to the speed limit to keep Graham from going after him.

"Who's he talking about? Who's his brother?" Wendy inquired to the sheriff.

Graham didn't answer right away, nor did he start driving even though the roads were completely deserted.

"Sheriff, please. I want to help him." Wendy begged.

"You can't help him, Miss Darling." Graham said quietly. "And you certainly can't fix their relationship."

"Pan's relationship to who?"

"Mr. Gold." Graham said finally. "He's Pan's brother."

-,-,-,-,-

Yikes, that took a while XD. I'm a bit muffled on what I want to do next, but I have a few filler ideas until then.

Thanks again!