Had it been five minutes or an hour later? Wendy didn't know. Her legs tingled from sitting on the ground. All around her, the sounds of Neverland welcomed her back, but her head ached from crying, which led to sobs and ebbed into loneliness. Time was meaningless to the young woman left alone, with only her thoughts to betray her decision.

She heard Peter before she saw him—his clumsy man-body crashing through the undergrowth.

"Wendy! Wendy!" He steadily grew closer, howling in frustration when he landed with a thump nearby.

Still, Wendy didn't call out to him. He had abandoned her with a spiteful Indian princess. Left her alone…wounded even! No, she would make him come to her and apologize. Served him right. Sniffing her leftover self-pity into submission, Wendy pinched a bit of color into her cheeks and straightened her spine. She arranged the tattered scraps of her dress around her ankles.

"Oh come on." Peter's irritated comment came after a branch snapped, and he very nearly tumbled into the clearing. His face was bright pink, ginger hair fluffed in all directions, dispersed with bits of twigs and leaves.

Wendy straightened further still and refused to bolt forward at the sight of the gash across one of his arms. But try as she might, her chin wobbled as tears pooled again. As Peter approached, one halting step at a time, she was filled with equal parts to explode in anger and throw herself into his arms. Traitorous, fluttering heart. He stopped several feet away, eyeballing the direction Tiger Lily had come and departed.

"She left some time ago." Wendy's terse voice echoed in the canopy.

Peter jerked his head towards her. "I just ran to see if I could help Tink find the Boys."

"Do not lie to me. You ran away because she called you a coward."

He looked anywhere except at Wendy, straining with faux concentration into the shadows. "I don't run away," he said, dismissively.

Her heart imploded. He didn't even care that he'd left her alone or what Tiger Lily had told her. The pressure built in her chest as tears spilled over. "Why did I come?" she mumbled, gathering the suitcase and hat while she stood.

"Where are you going?" Suddenly, Peter was there, hand pressing on hers, wrapped around the handle of her baggage.

"Home."

"You can't go home," he scoffed.

Wendy yanked her hand from his grasp. "Don't tell me what I can and cannot do, Peter Pan! You left me here alone with Tiger Lily. And let me tell you something." She took a step towards him again and shoved his bare chest with her free finger. "I came here to be with you, not to be deserted because you are a scared little boy, trapped in a grown-up body."

"I'm not a little boy!" He pushed into her finger.

"A man wouldn't abandon me in the middle of a forest."

"I didn't abandon you. I told you, I was going to find Tink and the boys!"

"And running away from Tiger Lily." Wendy huffed, the handle with all her might. "Did you know she is in love with you?" She cocked an eyebrow, anxious to see how Peter Pan dealt with the revelation.

His cheeks puffed out, eyebrows dropped together, soundlessly. The blush crept up his neck until he finally burst out, "What are you talking about?"

Wendy shifted from one foot to the other before answering. "She certainly has feelings for you, Peter. She made it very clear to me that I needed to return home." As she watched his eyes flick back and forth between her own, Wendy felt small and unnecessary. "I can't help but think she is correct. Neverland was my dream, not my life."

"No." He reached forward and gathered her to him. She felt one strong hand at her waist and the other holding her head to his collarbone. The tang of his sweat flooded her nose. Her eyes closed of their own accord. "I don't care about stupid Tiger Lily. You have to stay. We will have so many adventures." He buried his nose into her hair.

She sighed. It would be so easy to stay. It would be easier to return and go back to her life in London—Fitzgerald, Mother, Michael. The boys would be home for Christmas soon and would certainly have stories to tell. Perhaps Slighty had finally figured out a way to shimmy to the rooftops to watch the stars at night.

"I don't know what I want."

Peter reached down and scooped up her legs with one strong arm. Wendy threw her free arm around his neck so she didn't topple to the ground. Their faces stopped inches from the other, warm breaths tickling each other's lips. He had a mesmerizing ring of gold in the center of those dancing, green eyes.

"I will take you to the Boys. We will fix your leg. Then, we will make you dinner." He turned sideways and pulled them both into the jungle. "They haven't had a mother in so long, they may never let you go."

"Peter…" Wendy wasn't sure if it was hunger or his embrace that made her stomach ache.

"You can go home, if you want." He had ducked his head to avoid a branch and brushed their noses together. Peter stopped midstride. "I'd never keep you here if you wanted to go."

Wendy turned away. Maybe he missed the hot blush coloring her cheeks. "I'd like dinner."

"Good. Here comes Tink." The fairy buzzed the pair and darted back into the foliage. "The Boys are getting everything ready. Fish for dinner."

"I like fish."

"I know."