Tenshi-san: ...I was listening to Rod Stewart. (Shut up.) And I particularly like the song Forever Young. Which is why the one shot was titled Forever Young. I'm a sap. And onward to prove myself a good Peter Pan fan fic author. Some of the scary fluff out there scares me...
Disclaimer: Please don't sue me, I own my university ID, and some tea. That's it. No copyrights in that list.
Father Figure
That's all I wanted
Something special, something sacred-
In your eyes
For just one moment
To be bold and naked
At your side
Sometimes I think that you'll never
Understand me
Maybe this time is forever...
Say it can be
That's all you wanted
Something special, something sacred-
In your life
Just for one moment
To be warm and naked
At my side
Sometimes I think that you'll never
Understand me
But something tells me together
We'd be happy
(Baby)
I will be your father figure
(Oh baby)
Put your tiny hand in mine
(I'd love to)
I will be your preacher teacher
(Be your daddy)
Anything you have in mind
(It would make me)
I will be your father figure
(Very happy)
I have had enough of crime
(Please let me)
I will be the one who loves you-
Until the end of time
That's all I wanted
But sometimes love can be mistaken
For a crime
That's all I wanted
Just to see my baby's
Blued eyed shine
This time I think that my lover
Understands me
If we have faith in each other
Then we can be
Strong
I will be your father figure
Put your tiny hand in mine
I will be your preacher teacher
Anything you have in mind
I will be your father figure
I have had enough of crime
I will be the one who loves you
Until the end of time
If you are the desert
I'll be the sea
If you ever hunger-
Hunger for me
Whatever you ask for
That's what I'll be...
So when you remember the ones who have lied
Who said that they cared
But then laughed as you cried
Beautiful darling
Don't think of me
Because all I ever wanted
It's in your eyes baby, baby
And love can't lie, no...
(Greet me with the eyes of a child)
My love is always telling me so...
(Heaven is in a kiss and a smile)
Just hold on, hold on
I won't let you go, my baby
I will be your father figure
Put your tiny hand in mine
I will be your preacher teacher
Anything you have in mind
I will be your father figure
I have had enough of crime
(So I am gonna love you)
Until the end of time
I will be your father figure
I will be your preacher
I'll be your daddy
I will be the one who loves you until the end of time
--George Michael
Galen leaned against a tree awaiting Peter's return from the real world. He was more than a little worried. And he would be the first to admit he had ulterior motives for wanting the abuse of Peter to stop. He hated what was happening to Peter on many different levels, the Neverland was his home, and Barbarrossa was putting it in danger. That alone lost the Captain brownie points; Galen was protective of the island. But there were other reasons why Galen was upset.
Galen owed his very existence to Peter. And in more than one way at that. Peter had 'rescued' Galen after he had fallen from his pram, and given him a home. Peter had not killed him when Galen had begun to grow up. Peter had given him permission to feed information to Barbarrossa when he had been threatened. Peter was the only reason Galen was standing under that tree.
And that made Galen angry; he didn't want to be beholden to anyone, much less a psychotic immortal boy. But Galen liked being upright more than he liked anything else, and he could live with being in debt to Pan. He could not, as it turned out, live with being dead. Those terms were mutually exclusive.
And he could not live with Peter being dead or worse. Galen was nothing without the Neverland. And the Neverland was nothing without Peter Pan. So he waited Peter's return nervously.
When Peter finally made an appearance what seemed like an eon later, Galen was even more worried. The boy all but collapsed on to the ground, and could barely make it upright. Galen darted forward and helped him to his feet. "Peter, what's " and he was shaking like a leaf. His head shot up, "He's..." Peter broke away from Galen's grasp and tried to run. Before he got more than three feet, a pirate emerged from the shadows, and caught the boy.
Barbarrossa came into view behind Galen. "Now, Pan, what did you do with that lovely girl?"
Peter hissed. "I won't let you touch her!"
"Not even if something were to happen to dear, sweet, trusting Galen?" Barbarrossa smiled cruelly, "Did you really have the arrogance to believe I wouldn't have a watch on you?"
"Do you have the arrogance to believe that he will survive what you want? That this place will survive?" Galen looked at the smaller man, sadness and confusion in his gaze. "Do you think Peter likes it?"
Barbarrossa moved forward, and caressed the flinching boy. "Oh, he hates it. And he never stops fighting. He really is afraid of me, isn't he?"
"Stop it. Don't do this."
"He hid the girl. I want her; I want to watch his expression as I kill her."
"She went home."
Barbarrossa laughed, "Oh, I'm not that stupid, Galen. She wouldn't leave him of her volition. No, Pan made her leave. He knew what would happen, and he still did it. He must care for her a great deal to take the one protector he had and keep her safe."
Peter struggled in the pirate's arms. "I won't let you use me again!" Barbarrossa turned and slapped him.
"You say that time after time. But you end up in the same place each time. Take him to the ship."
Galen moved, trying to get to Peter. Barbarrossa spun him and stabbed him. "Now I can hardly have you interrupting my private party at an inopportune moment now can I?"
"You won't get away with this. Lili will come back." Galen collapsed, clutching at the wound. "If you think she can just sit there and let all her dreams die, you are wrong."
"She's trapped." Barbarrossa laughed, "She's trapped, and I have the prize. She may have his heart, but I have the body."
In the captain's cabin, Peter struggles against the bonds that held him to the bed. The door slammed, and his head snapped in that direction. Barbarrossa stalked across to the bed. "No, no, no, no... Please!" Barbarrossa just smiled, and stroked a hand down the prone boy.
"NO!" the scream sounded, echoing through the Neverland.
A thump woke Lili. Something was banging against her window. She moved fuzzily, loath to remove herself from the warm nest of blankets. The sound repeated itself, and she heard something no animal could make. At least no animal that inhabited a suburb. It was a wail.
She stumbled from her bed, and wondered what in the world could be outside her third story window.
No, Lili was not at her best when woken suddenly from sleep. Few people are.
The thump came one more time, and Lili threw the window open and got squarely hit by a falling Peter. He moaned as her hands touched his back.
"Peter?"
"He...he..."
"Shhh. Lie here one minute, I'm turning the lights on." She got up and switched the lights on. The sight made her gasp. Peter lay in a heap on her floor, unmoving. His already scanty clothing was ripped and torn, and his back was coated in blood, as were her hands. "Peter! Oh, no..."
Asking what had happened was a rather stupid question, and Lili didn't bother to ask it. What she did was wrap Peter carefully in a blanket and call 911.
"Peter..."
"I thought you'd locked me out again..." Lili held him gently in her lap.
"No, it wasn't locked... I just shut it because it was cold. I don't want to lose you again..."
Peter lay listlessly on a gurney as Lili tried to explain away all the problems. As pitiful and wretched as the sight of the prone boy was, 'modern' medicine proved unwilling to deal with a boy with a mysterious lack of paperwork and no immediate family.
Not that the good people of the hospital hadn't treated him. Getting him a bed was a little problematic.
"It's not that we don't want to keep him for the night, he is quite obviously not in any condition to go anywhere. But we need information for billing purposes. Information you do not have." said one nurse rather apologetically.
"If Peter ever had information, I sincerely doubt it would be any use to you. He... ran away from home so long ago I haven't the faintest idea where he came from in the first place. Bill me if you have to!" Lili bit her lip in frustration.
"We couldn't do that unless you were family, and you just stated that you weren't. And besides, you are barely legal."
"Are you saying you wouldn't allow me to foot the bill because I don't look like I have money?"
"Well, not in so many words..." the nurse now looked positively worried. Peter's eyes fluttered open and he smiled.
"I'll have you know I have money. Tons of the stuff, for the good it does me. Give him a room."
While Lili began berating the poor nurse, who had really done little to deserve such a fate, one of the doctors noticed the wane boy lying on the gurney watching the two women get into what was quickly escalating into a cat fight.
As the doctor, who was young picked up the chart and read it. And reread it. And stared down at the boy in frank disbelief. He called over the nurse. "Are you sure this is right? What the chart says is he has sustained serious cuts and abrasions to his back, among other things. He doesn't look..."
"What? Like he's been pulled backwards through hell?" Lili asked.
"I want him in observation." As the nurse started to push the gurney to an elevator, Peter caught up with the conversation. Serious levels of pain killers will do that to you.
"No! Lili, don't let them! Lili!!" Peter shoved the restraining hands of the nurse away, and attempted to sit up. Lili caught one hand, but didn't get the chance to reassure him. The last thing she remembered was pain and an all consuming darkness.
Tenshi-san: Oooh! Dramatic pause! What shall happen? Why did I use a cheesy anime-ish faint scene? Because I'm really fragging lazy that's why!