Every part of Wendy's body ached. Still, she took a shaky breath before she answered. "You haven't died, Peter."

"I feel like I am dead." He groaned and loosened his hold around her waist.

"No. We've just fallen from the sky," she said.

While Peter had relaxed his grip, Wendy still felt the weight of his palm on her hip. Her left calf stung. She pushed herself to sit up, awkwardly splaying her fingers on his naked chest, as it was the only place she could put her hand for leverage. The minute she could sit unassisted, she snatched her hand into her lap. The lower part of her dress, so beautiful just hours before at the opera, was shredded into ribbons and chunks of blue muslin. Below the mess of material, blood stained her petticoats. She pulled in a sharp breath when she wigged her toes.

Peter propped himself up on one elbow with a moan. "Are you sure we haven't died? It hurts everywhere."

Wendy chuckled, feeling pain radiate from her ribcage. "I'm quite certain we are alive."

"Good. We still have grown-up adventures to have. And you need to learn to swordfight again." His words came in pants, broken by agonizing sounds as he strained to sit next to her.

Just as Wendy gained her bearings and looked at the drooping vines and leaves, she was knocked into Peter's side, clamping her arms around his torso to keep from falling flat again. Her cheek landed with a smack into his collarbone and she could smell the forest on his skin.

"Tink!"

Wendy was grateful Peter didn't seem to notice her disentangling her limbs from his body. Her cheeks burned when her brain appreciated his physique.

"Yeah, I'm glad we made it back too." His fairy perched on a nearby limb, radiating glitter as she shook her miniature finger at him. "We used up all your pixie dust. Wendy fell asleep just before we got here. Boy, Tink, it sure hurt coming through. All of the sudden, it hurt too much and then I woke up because…" His voice trailed off and he looked towards Wendy. His green eyes darted to her lips. "And then we landed here."

Tinkerbell flitted up near his head and then whizzed through the canopy and out of sight.

"She's going to get the Boys to bring us some water and bandages for your leg."

Wendy's gaze returned from Tinkerbell's path, the light and glimmer fading, to Peter. He stared at her. In the daylight of Neverland, his freckles were darker, his eyes brighter. Even his hair, dark auburn in candlelight before, was a nice ginger. His smile caught her off guard. "Haven't you ever seen a grown-up before, Wendy?"

"Ah, yes." She cleared her throat and tried to shift to a more appropriate distance between their bodies, despite the fact that she wanted to lean closer to kiss those lips again. Thank goodness he couldn't hear her sprinting heartbeat. "I've just never seen a Peter Pan all grown-up."

"The Boys haven't seen me either. I'm afraid they will not want me for their father anymore."

"How many new Boys do you have?" A more benign topic would surely stop her stomach from feeling all melted.

"Only Bean, Boo and Squishy."

"Rather peculiar names." Her calf pulsed and throbbed. She struggled to keep her voice even. "I can't wait to meet them." Despite her efforts, she hissed in pain through her teeth.

"Let me help you." Peter rocked forward onto his knees, his own discomfort visible on his face.

Whatever protest Wendy might have had dissolved the moment he tentatively peeled back the petticoat and brushed her calf with his warm fingers. Her objections didn't even bubble to the surface as she watched his nimble fingers pluck debris from her leg. The peculiar warm feeling growing in her body seemed to push the pain away. In fact, she was enjoying Peter's careful ministrations when he slowed his movements to a halt.

He held his breath—his eyes looked at her wounds but his ears concentrated on the forest around them. "You can come out, Tiger Lily." Wendy jumped when Peter called out to the foliage.

The shadows faded and grew, leaves lifted and fell. Wendy strained to see the princess among the shifting darkness. Had the fierce girl grown into a beautiful warrior?

"Come out already." Beside her, Peter huffed impatiently. "Fine, we are going. Don't follow us. We don't want to play with you if you're not going to be nice." Peter stood and offered his hand to Wendy.

"Tinkerbell told me you became a grown-up," came the response from the canopy above. "I couldn't believe you would do that. Even Hard-To-Hit laughed when I told him."

"Hard-To-Hit?" From the ground, Wendy twisted her head this way and that, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice.

Peter snorted. "Her dumb big brother." The explanation seemed to spurn a new idea and Peter pulled his shoulders back to display his new, grown-up body. "Let's see Hard-To-Hit try and knock me down now."

"He can," echoed the shadows.

"Won't you come out so I can see you again?" Wendy summoned her most polite smile and broadcast it to the leaves above.

"You're old."

Wendy's smile faltered. "I've been gone for some time now." She shrank toward Peter's leg. "But I'm back now and I'd like us to be friends, if you would like."

A pregnant silence blanketed the clearing. Not even the Neverland creatures dared to breach the quiet.

"Let's go, Wendy." Peter leaned down and pulled Wendy up by both of her hands. "We will need to get you settled in for the night. We don't need friends like her." He jerked his head to his left.

Emerging from the ferns, the tiny form stood as tall as she could stretch. Her hair still hung in twin ebony braids down either shoulder, framing her girlish face. No smile twitched the corner of Tiger Lily's mouth—only a pair of hard, golden eyes glared at the pair.

"Well, hello," Wendy said. Tiger Lily was every bit the child Wendy had left five years before.

The little Indian set her bewitching eyes to Peter. "Why did you grow up?"

"What does it matter to you?" He swung his body towards the Chief's daughter. Wendy could see his fingers bouncing, balling into fists and releasing.

"When did you become a coward?"

Her words stilled Peter half a heartbeat before he turned and stalked into the undergrowth, leaving Wendy with Tiger Lily.

Wendy watched the jungle swallow him and become still again. "He's no coward." She knew he needed to be alone, but wanted to chase him all the same. Regardless, she looked back to the spiteful girl.

"So you say, but I say otherwise, Wendy-bird."

"Why do you hate him so?"

A malicious smile lifted Tiger Lily's lips and eyebrows. "You are a stupid girl." Her eyes narrowed. "I could never hate him."

"Why…you hate me? You haven't seen me in years!" Wendy backed until her suitcase bumped against her legs.

Tiger Lily slinked towards Wendy, stopping just out of arm's reach. Pupils shrunk to pinpoints in the mesmerizing golden irises, the Indian princess glowered. "You fly to Neverland and ruin things. When you were here before, you left and I was glad. Peter was glad. We were fine without you. And now you're back and he has become a grown-up. You made him what he hated."

Wendy's chest squeezed with Tiger Lily's accusations. "I…I didn't change him. He chose to become an adult." Her shaky voice mirrored her hands.

Tiger Lily scoffed. She turned on her moccasined heel and vanished into the forest in the opposite direction Peter had departed.

Heart crushed and alone in Neverland, Wendy sat back down, held John's hat to her chest and cried.