Well, I did not expect to actually write this all tonight. I've been focusing on school. I have two fifteen page papers that have be written by Thursday. I guess my brain figured that I needed to get this out if I expected to get any research done. Anyways, I like to thank DayDreamer1212, Jordan Lynn 7, Bubbles227, and Becky Motormoth for reviewing, favoriting, and/or following the story. Enjoy the new chapter!

Storybrooke – Present

The sound of the doorbell broke Isabel's concentration. It echoed throughout the house and took her gaze away from her son who was playing outside. He stopped what he was doing, turning his attention to where she was standing at the window. She nodded before going into the front door to get the pizza. The door in the kitchen slammed shortly after she returned to the living room. His footsteps thudded around the kitchen. Cabinets and the refrigerator opened and closed, and Isabel just listened to Peter bang around. Everything sounded normal. He sounded perfectly fine, perfectly like the Peter she's always known. Then she heard it. Somewhere in his grabbing of plates and opening cans of soda was a tremor of discord.

Walking into the kitchen, she watched him. His shoulders slumped. His gaze remained downward. Peter Pan was not a happy boy. If they were in Neverland, their surroundings would reflect his emotions. The island would shape and shift to tell everyone how he was feeling. Storybrooke couldn't, and it didn't. The world in which it existed refused. Regina had been right to send everyone there. She truly wanted a world without magic, and that's what everyone was thrust into. Honestly, Isabel was thankful that she had all those years with her son where she didn't have to be a fairy. She got to be herself. Isabel. Mother, teacher, coffee enthusiast. She woke up knowing that her son loved her. That hadn't necessarily changed, but the feeling she got from Peter told her that he was still as conflicted as he had been before. Without a doubt, Isabel knew it had to do with who his father way more than anything. Peter had his boys back. They played together at school. A few had come over to stay the night. Everything for Peter was pretty much in place, but if he was anything like his mother, thoughts crept in during the night that he couldn't shake for days.

He smiled up at her, handing her plate with two slices of pizza on it. "Are we eating in the living room?"

"We are. I figured it's movie night so why not?" she smiled back at him and took the plate.

One of the things that had been important to Isabel prior to the curse was family traditions. Friday evenings were the only times they would even consider eating anywhere other than the kitchen table. It was their movie night, and they normally would choose where they ate.

It usually was dependent on what they were eating. Grabbing lasagna from Granny's meant the dinner table. Ordering pizza or Chinese meant a fort in the living room on most nights. That was what Isabel had just finished when thoughts about Peter's wellbeing took over. The boy was rather particular when it came to forts. Since they no longer lived in a hollowed out tree in Neverland, forts became Peter's newest obsession. He figured that one day he would write a book on how to build one. His mother would be his co-writer, and one day they would change the way pillow and bed sheet forts were looked at. They would no longer be flimsy things kept upright with chairs and various other pieces of furniture. They would be something much more sophisticated. Of course, Peter had a tendency of dreaming silly dreams; big dreams but still rather silly he had to admit.

To Isabel, the fort was a time for the two of them to really get to the heart of what was bothering them. If she were being honest with herself, talk of Peter's father had to come up that night. Otherwise, they would both probably never speak about it. It was their only chance, especially since Terence was working. Peter may not have noticed, but Isabel did notice how Terence always changed the subject when her husband came up in conversation. Peter knew very little about their past. He knew Terence was sent to Isabel's village to look after her, and he did the same after she left. He had no clue about the duel where Terence lost. He certainly didn't know that it was Terence who got the fairies to take them in. Isabel would rather not have Peter asking why she never gave Terence a chance. She would much rather he be content in knowing that his father had been her true love until she gave him up. Then Terence stepped up to take care of them.

Isabel did realize that, in a way, she was lying to her son again. Leaving out the details of her life with his father even though he had been asking was very much like lying. It was a lie of omission, and she would one day fill in all the gaps. Until then, Peter would have to be content with what he was being given.

"Mama!" Peter waved his hand in front of Isabel's face. "Earth to, Mama! Wake up! Your pizza is going to get cold and I'm going to eat it."

Isabel looked down at him once her attention was back to the present. "You most certainly will not eat my pizza, Peter William."

"I will if you don't pay attention," he told her with a smirk. She shook her head, going into the living room with plate and glass of soda in hand. Peter moved around her, making sure he beat her to the fort in the living room. Grinning up at her, he took a large bite of pizza and spoke with his mouth full. "Slow poke."

"You didn't tell me that we were racing, Peter, so you cheated," she laughed as she sat next to him. "And what have I told you? Don't take such large bites and don't talk with your mouth open."

"You know, you used to preach manners to me in Neverland. Didn't listen there so why should I listen here?" he shrugged.

"Because it is part of being a gentleman," she took a sip of her soda.

"Being a gentleman is only important if you grow up to be a man," he said. "I'm never going to."

"You have a point there," Isabel nodded. "So what movies are we watching tonight?"

"Depends on how many we're watching. If it's two then it's going to be the two good Ninja Turtles movies. If it's three, then we're going to watch the Jurassic Park movies," he answered.

Isabel thought for a moment. "I think just two tonight. I think it's been a very busy week."

Taking another bite of pizza, Peter nodded. "I think that's fair. I'm sorry I made a fuss the other day."

"It's perfectly fine considering everyone else is going through somewhat the same transition that you are. Just...let's not make that a thing, okay? As long as we're here, you have to at least act like you aren't an uncivilized heathen," she giggled.

Peter froze for a moment, and Isabel immediately realized why. He had heard those words before in a less than joking manner. Not from her but from his father as he swung his hook at the boy. Biting her lip, she set her plate on the floor in front of her. She looked down at her hands before taking a deep breath and looking back up at her son. There were tears in his eyes. Not the crocodile kind that he mustered up when he wanted his way. They were just as genuine as the day the curse broke, and they fell slowly down his cheeks. Unlike that day, Peter didn't flinch away from her when she tried to pull him into her arms. Isabel wrapped her arms securely around her little boy, pressing her chin to the top of his head. His body shook in her embrace, and she felt her heart break a million times over.

"Why did it have to be him?" Peter sniffled.

Isabel swallowed back the need to cry. It was something she really didn't have to answer, but any questions she had for Peter were answered with that one. It would have been different if his father had never been around. It would have been different if Isabel had been upfront with him. Yet, Isabel knew she needed to protect her son. There was no way the man that arrived in Neverland would ever accept the two of them. Her so-called death had turned him into something dark, and from what she gathered, some unknown tragedy just turned him into the darkest version of himself. Even when Killian had been at his angriest, he never frightened her quite like Captain Hook did. The man that stood ominously in the distance gave the tiny fairy absolute chills. Of course, Peter felt nothing but intrigue when the white sails of the Jolly Roger appeared on the horizon. He flew as fast as he could to the ship to welcome the newcomers to his island, only to be met with the malice of the ship's captain. And, since Hook's not-so-friendly introduction, Peter viewed the man as his number one enemy. Anyone and everyone else were a second or third to that man. Isabel never wondered about what changed Killian to Captain Hook.

Pulling away from Peter, she looked him in the eyes. "I am so sorry."

"No," he shook his head.

"I am. For what I said," she told him.

"But not for him?" Peter asked.

"Do you want me to be?" she asked.

He shook his head again. "No because it would be a lie."

"Do you want to know what I am the most sorry for, though?" She waited for his nod and continued once he did. "I am sorry that I didn't do more to make him want to know you. I should have told him. Then you wouldn't be feeling this way at all, but it's like you said. I am a coward. I didn't know where to begin to even tell him that I was alive or even that the amazing little boy that buzzed around the island was his son."

Peter reached up to play with a piece of her hair. "He should have known it was you."

"Maybe so, but I was only five inches tall. He couldn't really ever see my face, could he?" she asked.

"Still, if he cared for you like Terence said he did, then Hook should have known it was you," he huffed.

She tilted her head to the side. "You've talked to Terence about him?"

"Yeah," he shrugged.

"About what?" she asked.

"Just about what you two were like together," he shrugged again.

"What..." she paused. "What did he tell you?"

"He...he said you two were amazing together. That everyone knew you two were true love," Peter's eyebrows furrowed.

"And that's why you think he should have known it was me?"

"Well yeah," he answered plainly. "I mean, Snow and Charming...Henry says that they always find each other. Love and all that has a way of never dying if it's true love. Even when all hope is lost. If it's still there, then it's supposed to never die."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know if it really works that way."

"Do you believe he's gone for good? I mean really gone for good?" he asked.

"Why?" she countered.

"Because if you feel that he's dead, then he has to be dead, right?"

Isabel bit her lip. Part of her wanted to answer her son. The other half wanted to know when he got so damn logical about things. She chose the first option. "No. I don't think he's dead, but I don't know if he would be able to even make it here. I don't even know if we should want that."

"I'm not saying I want it. I'm making a point. He just accepted that we were gone. He never looked for us. We were right there in front of him, and he looked past us," Peter said. "He didn't want us."

"And you would rather have a father that wanted you," Isabel concluded.

He nodded. "Yes. Henry found Emma. She ended up wanting him."

"Yeah, but from what I gathered, it took some time." She picked up a slice of pizza and took a bite.

"We were with him for three hundred years. Right there with him. That's time enough," he argued.

"I know," she said sadly.

"Did you want him to figure it out on his own?" he asked.

"I always hoped," she told him, "but I knew it was probably a long shot. Neverland is aptly named for a reason. You never grow old. You never remember the important things. He had his reasons for being there, and he forgot everything else."

"Including that he had a wife and a son," Peter grumbled.

"You were still just an unknown then," Isabel smiled. "I didn't know you were going to be a boy until my mother told me that night she visited me."

"She knew?" he asked.

Isabel nodded. "She took one glance at me and smiled. 'Good. Your child is a boy. Maybe he won't be foolish enough to fall for a human.'"

"She didn't like that you had fallen for a human?" The look on his face said it all. He didn't like that very much.

"Nothing like that," she giggled.

"Then what?" he asked.

"Apparently, it's a family tradition for the girls to fall in love with human men," she answered. "She did. Her mother did. I did. You will break that."

"Well yeah. I'll never fall in love," he smirked. Love had always been something that Peter was sure he would never have to worry about. He was a kid so he dedicated what he considered love to things like playing games and being happy. He didn't care about romance or girls. Peter would never fall in love. Maybe the novel got it right. To love would be an awfully big adventure, but it was one that Peter would never have to worry about. Part of Isabel was grateful for that. It meant her son would never know that kind of heartbreak. As far as she was concerned, he would never know any other kind of heartbreak ever again. Not from her hand at least.